Time for obligatory Cheesy Christmas Photos!

I think this is a first for me, posing my poor unsuspecting dogs with reindeer antlers. They were all SO impressed!

I had to keep Kuna from trying to eat it off his own head. He looks so excited, he even asked for his very own pair.


Could George look any less impressed? The hardest part wasn't getting them to pose, but keeping the others away from devouring the antlers. What is their fascination with squishy soft toys? I guess they were new and intact.


Gracie was hilarious. She got angry and growled at anyone who dare come near her antlers. That dog really thinks she owns the world. You can see her glaring out the corner of her eye at George who is trying to eat her lovely antlers.


Ha! Harris looks so cute with that one defective reindeer ear.


Jack was hoping this was all a bad dream...


Lucy will stand for anything, even Kuna licking her new antlers.


And, the fun ended when he chomped them off her head. Good fun!!! Next up: Dressing them all up as New Years babies!

I have to note that I did "attempt" it with the group of 8, but Ripper was uncontrollable. He dived after them, barked constantly while ripping them off of everyone's head. I had enough, then after I hid them in the box - he sneakily opened the box and had a great laugh as I chased him around the cabin to get them back in one piece! I must say, it is wayyyyy harder to catch him in this cabin too, I can't just block one side and reach out to grab him!

Happy Holidays everyone. I'm off to Calgary to visit with the folks for a few days. I hear it's downright balmy there. Better than the -39C we had this morning!

See you in the New Year... :)

searches

The searches that send people here are always entertaining. The latest Google searches include:

"How to spell Porcupine" - hey, turns out they didn't need to do a search at all!! Doh!

And also good to know that "stacie's dogs" will bring this up as the first hit. I guess I'm the only stacie with dogs in the bazillion+ people on the world wide web!?!

Another good one from today - "Stephanie beer" haha! I'll have to pass that on to my good friend, Stephanie. Seems she has a bit of a reputation.

"dogs eating insulation" is still a popular search. I can't believe that many people have that problem...

And my absolute favourite: "Beer bottle roof insulation" - holy crap, I could have saved a TON of money if I had that valuable bit of info while I was insulating the cabin!!


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Other news - hey if anyone is on Facebook (Ellen?) and wants to connect, I'm Stacie Zaychuk.... so send me an invite! Love me some Facebook!!! :)

more of the bouncy-duo

I thought it might be interesting to see what it's like when I let loose a gang of dogs - here is the group with the new screechy ones and boy! Keep your dogs away from the computer because those girls can make some noise!



I love how excited Pooh Bear and Esther are a bit insane at the beginning as they run around me in circles barking like crazy. Ivy had to put sweet little Pooh Bear in her place on the weekend, as PB wasn't being so "sweet" - more like, freaking annoying! She ran full speed across the pen right into Ivy's side AS she was playing with the ball. That is a definite no-no! PB is slowly learning manners. Dogs are great teachers to one another. However, I have been successful at the "no jumping on me non-stop" thing after she clocked me in the chin with her head.


Pooh Bear discovers the joys of the ball!!! Watch her frolic as she has not yet understood how to keep it IN her mouth.


Gracie helps herself to the water bucket. I neglected to mention that the water is for people as well as stanky dog mouths, but she thinks she is a people anyways...

Walking around the 'hood

Well, there's still not a trace of snow. I'm really itching to get these maniacs out on the sled and/or skis! But free running will have to suffice for now I guess.... *sigh*

Took the one group down to the river and they had a total blast! This is my group of "we'd rather run on our OWN terms, thankyouverymuch" so whatever. I let 'em. Jack and Harris and Lucy actually like being sled dogs once in a while, but the rest are total slugs.


The trail down onto the river hers is kind of nasty with the lack of snow. But it's also very bumpy, damned anthills! I think we will encourage them to move sunnier pastures in the spring.


Expert trouble-makers and rabble-rousers - Gracie and George.

Kuna has perfected the art of finding dead things!!!

He also knows from past experience, that I will steal said dead things from him. So he guards it and runs away. But luckily he's lazy and doesn't get too far.


This one was very well preserved! Must have died this winter, as you can still see the nose! Very cool, the fur was brownish, the teeth look fairly new. Maybe a young wolf or coyote?


Nice chompers 'lil guy! Poor fella, but now we have more education material for our summer camps! :)


Dead trees everywhere!


They just ran and ran and ran... they had never explored down here before, and they were giddy with excitement!!


Very, very bushy...



A little x-rated material. Lucy puts up no fight you'll notice!


Beaver dam near a wee pond. Ray figures it's a great pond hockey spot!!! Oooh, should I risk the danger of skating again... hell yeah! :) Anyone up for a pond hockey game or two??!!

In cabin news - I have stairs! And yes, they look like they are "in the middle of the room" as my mom would say, but that is because I have no walls. The plan is to have a bathroom and it'll go right in behind the stairs there. Or something like that. I also need a new stove I'm realizing. This one is wayyyy too small, so if anyone would like to donate a Blaze King, feel free! ;)


Excuse the disjointed photo series, I'm feeling a bit ADD here.

George, then Kuna, then Gracie looking off into the bush for something she might be able to chase (squirrels are out there y'know!).


I call this one "frosty tree in beaver pond" - just y'know, in case you were wondering.



This is how you do dishes without cupboards or a table.


The maniacs are STILL running!!!! This picture is just depressing in December with NO snow!!
Oh well, bright side is I don't have to worry about plowing my 1/2 km long driveway...


The snowy trails! Lookit ALL that snow!!! (positive thinking...) The trail is actually from Ray and his sled if you can believe it.


Frolic, frolic!! Entertain me! :)

Back to the regular scheduled dog programming...

Pooh Bear with the most hilarious, psychotic look on her face, with Esther in the background. I let her run loose for the first time here and she was a very good girl who came right up to me every time I called her. Too bad I can't say the same for the other little goofball, who seems to be making a game of "you want me to come? Well, come catch me!!!" Argh, so annoying.

I'm so excited, I could jump outta my skin!! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!
-Pooh Bear


Harris nabs the ball, while Ripper runs (as usual) and Sage circles the ball-bearer. Sage thinks he has two very important jobs in life. Those are: 1) guard all food buckets at ALL times and 2) never let the ball get out of sight. He's really good at both. I wish he would put those efforts into something useful like scooping poop.


Pooh Bear keeps running...

Now this whole scenario was just plain weird. I let Jack and Harris play with the group of 8 here (mostly because Jack escaped), but it worked out well. Rupert loves these guys, and hasn't had much time with them lately since we've been at the new place. But now I'm thinking there is something ELSE about Jack he loves. He was trying to mount him non-stop. Jack thought it was some kind of fun game, so this went on for what seemed like HOURS.

Ears perked back, everyone is highly alert! Note the crotch-sniffing going on. Rupert must be sending out a pheremone vibe.


Ears back, tails up, let the fun begin...
(I love how the two new ones are totally oblivious to the seriousness of this interaction and boinging around right beside them like nothing is going on... haaaaaa....)




Ah well, at least they both got exercise. Even if Rupert was more, ahem, frustrated than anything.


The little turkey (PB) was digging up the snow and flipping around again. She was excited. Again. Gawd she's entertaining. Jack looks a bit wary of her on the right, while Loki is IN LOVE with the Pooh Bear.

So what better way to tell your canine crush that you like her?

Chase her! He must have been thinking: Holy crap she's fast!!

And you can't really comprehend how fun it was without video:

They are actually pretty mellow in this one, Esther kills me when about halfway through she does a big loop right in front of me while we're about to play fetch.


All the squeaking you hear in this one is Pooh Bear. :)

Esther is on a leash in this one, till I had a good feeling she would actually come back to me! Which she did and that is awesome. Near the end, I noticed a dog go running outside the fencing down the trail! I wasn't sure who it was, and counting heads is not easy when they have a large area to roam in. I finally figured out it was actually Jack sneaking out from his pen! So that gave me the idea to let him and Harris in with the "other pack" and they all seemed to like it. Although at the beginning those two stuck to my legs like a 6yr old on their first day of kindergarten! It was hilarious. And the other dogs all look at them like they are the "big dogs" - too funny.

And right now we're kind of in limbo about running. I'm feeling good enough to get out on the sled in the next week or so, BUT we don't have any snow! It's too cold for the 4-wheeler to start (or even to sit on for any length of time), so we're resorting to playing, and well, watching tv. :) The dogs aren't complaining, but they'll be happy to get out and expend some more energy. I can't wait to see how the newbies do!

Cheap entertainment!

We visited the Fitzgerald's yesterday and had a hoot with these sleep deprived parents!! Turns out they get quite silly and funny when delerium sets in. Ray and I sat there watching them and became transfixed on the whole thing. It was like watching The Learning Channel meets Seinfeld!

See the kookiness for yourself:



And hey, at least I can blame it on the beer.

Dang, these kids are CUTE!!!! Heather and Sean even have the priviledge of running water and POWER at the place they're temporarily staying at. Lucky, 'cause boy, these kids can drool.

In other news, it is FREEZING in this town lately. I guess not a surprise since it's December and all, but seeing -36C for the first time of the year is always a bit of a shock. And not having power always makes starting vehicles fun in that weather. Not to mention it was probably -50 with the killer windchill! At least if we had snow, it would make it all worth while.... *sigh*

However! I had a great weekend with the dogs and the new little ones fit in well. Pooh Bear was introduced to the BALL and latched onto it like a baby onto a nipple (man, I've been hanging around the twins too much!). She flipped around with it a few times, and I think we now have a contender for fastest dog in the yard, Ivy will have to be on her toes!!

At one point I had ten of them running loose together and other than the occasional accidental body slams into each other (I swear they rarely look where they're going!!), everyone was very well behaved! So I've got some videos of this to follow! :)