Lucy's Take... RIP Sweet Gator

I'ves gots some bad news to share with you. My little greens gator who amazingly came back intos my life froms outs of nowhere a coupla of months ago, has disappeared agains. Here's hows it happened. Can you help me figure outs where he mights have gone?

My hooman got a littles confused last night, insteads of throwing my gator down da stairs for me to chase, she threws it up da stairs. I didn'ts want to makes her feels bad, so I went after him anyway!

I'ms comin down, ma... But's yous is supposed to be ups der at da top of da stairs... My Daddy's rights, you really is blonde!

Ughs oh! I tinks my gator has suffered an injury. Is he gonnas be okay, Mom? He's gots a really big booboo!

Yous is my favorite buddy, lil gator. I don'ts wants you to go. Hurrys up and gets better, please?

Oh no! He's gone. Did yas haves to do dat, Mom? Where is he? What's did you do wit my gator friend? I couldve's dug a bigs hole for hims in da back yard. Or betters yet, we could have takens him back to the Floridas house... Gators belong in Floridas. What's am I's gonna do without him?

Everyone Back Together Again, Finally!

For the first time in 5 weeks, my entire family is all in the same place. Well, sort of, at least we're all in the same state, which is an improvement. (Lucy's at home, I'm at the store in the north, and Rob's at the store in the south!)

I flew back home on Friday, and left Rob & Lucy to button up the Florida house before heading North in the truck.

It sounds like they had a good time together on their journey from Orlando, Florida to Hudson, North Carolina, then to Chattanooga, Tennessee and wrapping up the journey in Louisville, Kentucky! Lucy is a very well travelled little boxer! Other than the fact that she insisted on sitting on her Daddy's lap for most of the journey, I think they had a wonderful time together!

I was so thrilled to see my little boxer, but it took her a little while to show me how thrilled she was to see me. I think she was mad at me for leaving her, even though she was with her Daddy, because she wouldn't give me a kiss or even wiggle for me the first couple of hours that they were back!

But, by the time we got home last night, and I grabbed a favorite toy and started playing with her, she had decided that I had been punished enough!

Oh, it's so good to have everyone home again! Everything will return to our kind of normal within a couple of days. Now, if it would only warm up so that Lucy and I could go for a walk or play outside, everything would really be perfect.

Forgive Us For Being MIA

A new piece of furniture arrived with Lucy's Daddy on Tuesday evening, and Lucy couldn't have been happier to see it. She wasted no time curling up in the chair and making herself very comfortable! As a matter of fact, from the time the chair arrived, till I left Florida on Friday, I caught Lucy snuggled in the chair several times.

Don't you just love getting a picture of your pup that really captures the personality? That's the way I feel about this picture!

Lucy's Take...My Hooman Is Rug Crazy

And she's tinks dat I's is a decorator too.

Da UPS guy, who's is very nice to me by da way, keeps bringing rugs. He hasn't broughts me any treats, thoughs.

Rugs, rugs and more rugs.

I don'ts quite understand da obsession wit da rugs, but I will say dat she has good taste, and always asks me what I tinks.

Dis rug came today, and I helped hers put it in da foyer. She was very excited about how prettys it looked, and den she made me pose for a picture for dat darn flashy ting.

I must look goods on da rug, cause she said "it's a keeper, Lucy!".

I hopes we're almosts done wit da rug ting, cause I'm tireds of testing em out!

You's are not gonna believe dis, but my hooman left me at homes tonight and went to dinners with anutter boxer mom.

She was gones for hours, and hours, and hours. Der couldn't have possiblys been any foods left in da restaurant when dos two left she was gones so long. I can'ts imagines whats tooks so long, but I suspects she and Deanna were talkings about me and Austin and Riley.

Alls I know is, it doesn't takes me dat long to eat. Mys goodness, ma!

And she didn'ts even brings me home anyting. I don'ts tink dat was very nice. What was my hooman tinking?

Good nights, friends. My hooman says it's time to go to beds now because I wokes her up dis morning at 5:15 by laying on her face and doings da wiggles. And she's tired. So, I's guessin I better go snuggles.

Peese Esses: My hooman says dat Daddy is coming to get us next weeks! She's very, very happys and I am too! We'ves missed Daddy so much!

Your Opinion Please, Lucy!

While Lucy may not have an opinion about what color I should paint the wall behind my kitchen cabinets, she certainly has opinions about whether or not the new rugs should stay or go! I've had a hard time making a choice for my rugs and the color of the wall. But, I fell in love with these rugs the other day and was pretty sure they were a keeper. I couldn't wait to get home and show them to Lucy. Lucy thought that I had made a good choice, and although she didn't come right out and say it, I knew she approved when she made herself comfortable and took a nap on the new rug!

Lucy and I have put almost 30 gallons of paint on our new walls in the last 4 weeks. And as I'm sure many of you have noticed, it would seem that a huge portion of those 30 gallons have ended up on some part of Lucy.

I've tried to clean her off as we go, with some success. However, I noticed the other day that there were big blobs of paint that just weren't going to come off without tossing Lucy in the tub.

So, this afternoon after painting all day, I filled the tub for Lucy and called her. She's never been in the big tub at the house, and I couldn't wait to see what she did in there. She seemed to know she needed a bath...

I don't usually throw Lucy's toys in the tub with her, but then I don't usually have paint to remove from her fur either. I was thinking it would help to occupy her while I did my best to render my boxer paint free. It wasn't a bad idea, and it did keep her busy while I got some of the paint off of her. She's definitely cleaner than she was when she went in there, but there's still paint on my little boxer...

I think she had a good time in the tub, and the paint doesn't seem to be bothering her, so I guess we'll try again some other day. I'm sure that before it's all said and done, she'll have more paint on her anyway!

Control That Dog!

I have been walking Lucy with the aid of a harness for as long as I can remember. She was so sweet as a tiny little puppy, then she got POWER, and all of a sudden I couldn't hold her any more. If we were walking and she saw cat, she dragged me to where the cat was and I was left out of breath and feeling very out of control.

About a week ago, her trusty faithful harness decided it had had enough of my powerful little boxer and decided to retire. So, for the last week, I have been walking Lucy without a harness. And I'm proud to say for the most part, it has been okay. As long as there are no distractions, children, adults, dogs or other cats, Lucy walks like a wonderful little pup! (How often can that be, you ask?)

After being pulled, running to the other end of the complex on Sunday night, chasing Toby, I knew it was time to take back control. I do not mind a good jog- but being pulled behind a boxer puppy with my feet barely touching the ground, is not my idea of a good time. Yesterday, I made a trip to Petco and came home with another harness for Lucy. Why do they have to make those things so complicated to put on a dog? I swear we tried 10 different applications before we came up with one that worked. I've gotta hand it to Lucy, she was very cooperative, most of the time.

We both enjoyed our walk last evening very much. It almost seems that Lucy prefers to be walked with a harness, or is that just my imagination?

I have a real problem. I can never, ever, ever go into Petco for just one thing and walk away without getting some kind of little surprise for Lucy, and sometimes tons of stuff that we could probably do without. (Petco loves people like me- I swear they see me coming from a mile away. I'm sure they all point and snicker and say "Here comes that girl, her boxer's got that human wrapped around her paws! You watch and see, she'll have a full buggy in 5 minutes flat!")

Well, yesterday, I was on a schedule, and I had a list. I was bound and determined to complete that list. On that list at Petco: Harness, Dog Shampoo, and something to occupy Lucy while I paint...

The "Occupy Lucy while I paint" turned out to be a bully stick. This is one of my favorite things to give to Lucy. The one I came home with yesterday was 12" long, and $4.49, but being able to paint without Lucy wiggling on my lap, was definitely priceless.

Lucy's been very cuddly and snuggly these last couple of days, which I don't mind one bit. Last night, she curled up in bed next to me and put her precious, paint covered head on my lap and fell asleep.... and then came those sweet, soft, little boxer snores! I just love it when she does that. (And she was nice and warm so it was great having her right next to me.

Lucy & I's Version of Superbowl Fun

Lucy and I are from Pittsburgh, but Sunday evening as the Steelers took the field, she and I weren't watching. We don't have any form of cable hooked up in the Florida house. So, the alternative was to have Nfl.com on my Ipad and watch the score as the Pittsburgh boys where relieved of winning their 7th Superbowl by the Packers! (As you might have guessed, we're not Steelers fans! I've said it before, and I'll say it again: As for me and my boxer, we will follow the N'Orleans Saints!)

Logic told Lucy's Human that just because we couldn't watch the game, didn't mean that we couldn't have "Superbowl Food!". So, Lucy and I made a pizza, and Lucy waited eagerly for our creation to be done. She loves pizza. Or should I say, that she loves getting bites of the crust, mushrooms and little bits of melted cheese.

After our pizza dinner, Lucy and I set out for our evening walk. I was thinking it would probably be a very quiet walk, as I could tell that nobody was out and about. Of course not- they were all watching the game. However, as we rounded the corner, we met up with Lucy's friend, Toby and his human, Jason.

I have my suspicions that this could be a wonderful friendship. Toby is a handsome boy, who is about the same size as Lucy and loves to wrestle. There is always an attempt a good play when we meet up with them. There's always an escape when we meet up with them, too and Sunday night was no different. Toby is very good at slipping his collar. Instead of using his freedom to take down my little boxer, Toby decided it was a nice night for a run through the neighborhood. Which also meant that Lucy, Jason and I had a run through the neighborhood too! Jason called his wife who brought the car and apprehended Toby by opening the car door. And I finally got to meet her.

Have I mentioned yet that my neighbors here are great? I met a couple the other day that live around the block and she's from Jamaica and he's from Grenada. How cool is that?

After our unplanned jog around the neighborhood, Lucy and I were both ready to settle in for the evening. She was so thrilled to curl up with an empty plastic bottle and do some damage. And, I sat with my Ipad watching as the Packers took a victory!

We also got some exciting news on Sunday evening!! Lucy's Aunt Chloe (who looks just like a grown up version of Lucy), is expecting puppies! Of course, Lucy and I can't wait to see them. I took Lucy to see her last litter, and she was so precious with the puppies.

This picture was taken when Lucy was about 6 weeks old. Can you see the resemblance? (Lucy was still wearing her little yellow ribbon at the time!) I can't believe how teeny tiny and cute Lucy was. No wonder I fell head over heels in love with her!

You've Come A Long Way Baby

Our dogs make us better people. Or at least Lucy has made me a better person.

The other night, I was telling my mother about Lucy and how sometimes she drools. She's not a big drooler, but if there's something that smells great on our plates, or if we've gone for a long walk, she does drool. Anyway, I was telling her the other night that we got home from what was practically a marathon around the neighborhood, both Lucy and her "hooman" were a bit on the winded side. Not only were we winded, but Lucy was drooling (I of course, wasn't!). And her first order of business when we made it into the foyer, was to dispose of the drool. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen. At the time it never occurred to me that there was drool flying all over my freshly scrubbed floors, or attaching itself to my newly painted walls. It wasn't until my mother suggested it that I even thought about it.

Frankly, it just didn't matter. It can be scrubbed off, right? I got so much joy, and a great big chuckle out of that drool flying all over our foyer. Lucy just looked so adorable shaking off all of that drool.

This morning when Lucy and I made our first trip outside, I heard sprinklers running. The consequences of those running sprinklers didn't quite register right then. I had just woken up, and I hadn't had so much as a sip of coffee.

Lucy seemed anxious to get the fence, and I walked out into the yard with her. I shouldn't have been surprised to see a huge puddle of water- at least 8 inches deep. And I wasn't surprised when my little boxer decided to stick the better 1/2 of her little body in that muddy water.

I suppose I should have been thinking "MUD! Oh, no", but it never crossed my mind. Lucy had a blast, and I made no moves to stop her.

And when Lucy and I crossed the porch and stepped into the living room, I didn't freak out at the muddy little paw prints going across my living room floor. And I laughed when she made her way across the kitchen floor leaving her autograph everywhere.

I probably should have at least gasped when Lucy made her way across the kitchen floor and decided that my brand new Oriental rug was the perfect place to clean off. But, somehow I saw it coming, and instead of gasping, rolling my eyes, or even attempting to move Lucy, I reached for the camera. I guess Lucy's not the only one that's predictable.

I sent Rob the picture of little Lucy, muddy and covered in paint sitting on our new rug. I'm sure that he was a little shocked that I was reaching for the camera instead of freaking out.

... But then, I've come a long way. Muddy paw prints on my kitchen floor make me smile. I don't mind the boxer art on my car windows. It doesn't phase me one bit that I usually roll over in the middle of the night and find my toe stuck in a soup bone. It's amazing that one little 65 pound boxer puppy has turned my life around for the better in 10 months!

A Birthday Wish For My Boxer Baby

May your 2nd year of life be filled with plenty of things that make you wiggle and smile.

May you have tons of rawhide, chicken strips and soup bones to chew, plenty of squeaky toys to play with and balls to chase.

May you have fresh green grass to sniff, sunshine to bask in, snow to romp in, and puddles to splash in.

May there be tons of birds, squirrels, chipmunks and frogs for you to chase.

May there always be cheese in the fridge, turkey on the stove, yams on the counter, bones in the pantry, and fresh water in your bowl (or the toilet!).

May you always have loads of fur-friends and hooman friends to love you, squeeze you, tell you how adorable you are and give you kisses.

May you find plenty of dog parks and pet stores, and have plenty of trips to all the places you love to go!

May you have oodles of rides in the car with your ears flopping in the wind.

May you always have a soft pillow to rest your head on, a warm heater to warm your body, and plenty of blankets to snuggle in.

May you have as many games of tug o' war, fetch, and wrestle as you desire.

Happy 1st Birthday Lucy! I can't believe my baby is 1 year old today! I love you so much little tyke!

I'm The Luckiest Girl On The Planet...

As I age, which I can assure you is happening way too rapidly, I seem to be really focused in on the the blessings that have been bestowed upon me. I get all goopy and sentimental, and often teary. I'm a darn lucky girl, and I know it! Don't know some days how I got so lucky, but I know that I am! I've got a wonderful fiance, who is handsome, funny and smart and still capable after 5 years of making my heart skip several beats in a split second. I've got a little boxer who brings sunshine to my world every single day. I've got a great family and wonderful friends. So, yeah, I'm very lucky!

Yesterday afternoon, I was in the back hallway painting- my second hallway of the day. (Am I done yet?)

Lucy was staring at me like "Are you reallys gonna paint ALL days?" and dropping her toys in my paint tray on a pretty regular basis. (Almost all of her toys have had a paint bath at this point. It's her way of telling me that it's time to quit painting and play with her!) I had just fished a toy out of the chocolate brown paint and scowled at Lucy for the 10th time in 15 minutes (which incidentally is never going to clean off) when the doorbell rang. I figured it was either a neighbor or the UPS guy. I was completely shocked to see nothing but a huge vase filled with the most magnificent red roses that I've ever seen!

My handsome, smart and funny fiance did that thing where he made my heart skip several beats in a split second! I couldn't even believe it. He's bought me roses before, but he's never sent me roses! (Of course, I've never been 1100 miles away for a very extended period of time either!) It was just the most romantic, sweet thing on the planet! I am still beaming, and of course, now I've got the wonderful, fragrant smell of roses all through the house (instead of paint!). I just love that darn boy so much! And I miss him like crazy!

Yesterday afternoon after the excitement of the roses arriving, I put Lucy outside to get some fresh air and give myself a break from fishing toys out of paint. She was being very quiet, which can never be a good thing. And when I stepped out onto the patio, I found out why. Either Lucy was digging to China, or she decided to help us with the landscaping because there was a HUGE hole right next to the patio. And of course, the little boxer was covered in dirt!

Lucy's landscaping project must have worn her out last night, because still today she seems interested in doing nothing but sleeping today. It's a little gloomy out here today, no sunshine! Maybe she's decided it's a good day to be lazy, but I'm sure that as soon as I crack open another gallon of paint, she'll be ready to rumble! Of course she will- she's recharging as I blog...

Lucy Induced Giggles

Since Lucy has come to live with us, she has made us smile and she has made us laugh. She's especially good at making me laugh, and there's nothing better than to walk in a room and discover little Lucy in a pose that's just priceless. It's even better when Lucy doesn't anticipate her "hooman" running for "dat darn flashy ting" and stays where she is while I power up the camera!





On Sunday, Lucy and I had a wonderful new experience. We met a fellow Boxer Mailing List mom! It's the first time we've ever met a fellow BML'er in person, and we had a lot of fun. Turns out she had a present for Lucy (which makes her instantly great in Lucy's eyes!). Not only was Lucy thankful for the present, but her "hooman" was thrilled by it as well since it has done wonders at occupying the little boxer while I paint!



We haven't made any progress in the "brudder" for Lucy situation. Minutes after posting the blog column about the little white ghost, I found out that he had been adopted! (Which only tells me that wasn't the right "brudder" for Lucy and that it just wasn't meant to be.) I've been thinking of rescuing a boxer for months, and am still really in love with the idea of giving an abandoned boxer a home. As much as I'm sure Lucy would love and probably needs a playmate, our lives are rather hectic right now and I'm not entirely sure that right now is a great time to add a puppy or a rescue to our home right now. I want to be sure that our new family member gets off to a great start...

And besides, I still haven't won the battle that our family needs another boxer and not a dog capable of tearing a lion apart...

In case you're wondering, Lucy and I are still painting. I think I've put about 20 gallons of paint on the walls, but I've lost count. Between the sheer amount of space to be painted and the paint fumes, I'm a little bit blonder than normal!