Happy 2nd Birthday to our German Shorthaired Pointer-- Ziggy!

Today is our dog Ziggy's second birthday! Ziggy has brought such joy to our family and is a really wonderful dog. When we lived in The City, we had smaller dogs, we still have DaVinci, our Italian Greyhound, but unfortunately, our MinPins, Iago and Desdemona have passed away. Ziggy definitely has a different personality then that of the MinPins and I must admit, is probably a better "family" dog. (Well, at least better than one of the MinPins who I like to refer to as "six pounds of pure fury.")

Ziggy is a German Shorthaired Pointer we got him from a fantastic breeder, Keystone Gun Dogs, as we knew we really wanted this particular breed and we wanted a puppy. I highly recommend the breeder we went through, she has a beautiful operation and top quality dogs who you could tell she really, truly loves. The place was immaculate and I was extremely impressed. The Husband grew up with GSPs and knew what great family dogs they would be, how right he was!

Thank you Zig for being such a pleasure to have in our house. You are a great "little brother" to The Son and you have such a sweet disposition.

Thank you for being the best running buddy a girl could ask for...

We hope you have a happy birthday and that we can give you as much love and joy as you've given us. We love you Big Man!

Happy...

... Birthday to my Daddy today! It's unfortunate that we didn't take many pictures on Easter because I really would have loved to post a picture of him with his grandchildren but alas, we were slackers and I don't have any. I think we're all getting together on Sunday to celebrate so I will bring my camera and we WILL, I repeat WILL, take pictures.

Happy Birthday Daddy/Pop-Pop! We love you very much!

Speaking of cameras... I got an early Mother's Day present yesterday, a new camera! It's really nice but now I am in the process of learning how to use it and that kind of well... sucks. I hate that electronic equipment no longer comes with a manual, everything is computerized, in this case, it was stored in the camera and we had to upload it to the computer. That's nice in theory but it makes it difficult for those dorks of us who actually like to read the manual and take it with us as we learn how to use our electronic equipment. Yes, I can print the manual and probably will but carrying around a bunch of 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper while trying to learn a camera is kind of irritating.

Anyway, I am also having some challenges learning how to use the software that stores the photos but I suppose it will all come to me in time. At the moment, I cannot seem to locate the photos in the program to upload them to my blog, I had to do a lot of stuff to find them on the computer but I'm hoping The Husband will know what to do later this evening. Anyway, I managed to find them in a roundabout way. Here's a couple pictures I took so far, mind you, I haven't actually gone anywhere great to take pictures to try to learn the camera so there aren't too many.

The Son at Daddy's office... we drove in to see him and to pick up the camera.


Ziggy, looking regal and handsome... as usual.

Two "brothers"

A rare appearance of DaVinci on The Blog. Doesn't he look handsome on that couch?


I got my nails done yesterday and the new camera takes really nice close-ups so I thought I'd show you, I know, not too exciting. ;)

So, there you have it for now, I anticipate a big learning curve ahead of me...

Today is a busy day, volunteering in The Son's classroom, working out, teaching swim lessons tonight... same old Wednesday. Have a great day everyone and again, a special, "Happy Birthday" to my Daddy! Stay healthy everyone!

Through the Eyes of My Child

The Son drew the picture above for me the other day. He really loves to draw and spends his time creating lots of interesting pictures that are usually of new Bakugans or some kind of robot he invented. Normally, they don't look like anything that anyone can actually figure out which is fine because that will lead to some interesting stories and descriptions, which of course, The Husband and I love. See the picture above though? Do you know what that is? Well, it's me on the treadmill of course! (I'm SO skinny! ;) ) The Son drew that for me recently because he knew I was having some "blister issues" and he wanted me to feel better. I was so excited that he drew me working out because it means that he really gets it that I am an active person and that fitness is important to me. I am so proud that I have become this good example to him. I put the picture in the front of my notebook that I use for my weight loss groups so that I can show my students. It's a big accomplishment for me that The Son sees me that way. I should also mention that he recently saw a "before" picture of me and didn't know it was me!

I've had people tell me they don't want to put their kids in the child care area at the Y and take the time to work out because they want to spend as much time with their kids as they can. Usually, it's working parents who truly don't get to spend as much time as they'd like to with their kids. Yes, it's important to spend time with your children, very important, but I also think there is great value in letting your kids see you take time to take care of yourself. Perhaps one can't work out for a couple hours a day like I am able to do when The Son is in school but when someone can take 45 minutes to an hour a couple times a week to stay healthy, is only going to be good for them and their child(ren.)

A little update about my progress, I lost another 2.2 pounds this week! I am now in a new category, the 160s! I cannot remember the last time I was in the 160s! I am meeting with my trainer today so I will also get measurements and find out how much my body fat is going down. I'll update with any good results.

Since I am posting a bit about The Son and how he views things, I wanted to let you know that he views our dogs, especially Ziggy as his brother. He actually told his Kindergarten teacher that he was the "middle" child and he had her very confused because she was sure he was an only child. Evidently, he exhibits a lot of classic traits of an "only." It took her a couple days to realize that he was referring to dogs as his brothers.... looking at the pictures below however, can you blame him? Ziggy is such a special boy, he and The Son love each other and as you can see, he's pretty comfortable thinking of himself as a brother too. I really miss Iago, our Miniature Pinscher who died a little more than a year ago but Ziggy is slowly starting to become my canine boy just like Iago was. It's pretty safe to say that as cute as puppies are, I'm much more of an "adult dog girl." than a "puppy girl."




Our other dog isn't quite as snuggly, he's a bit older and he's an Italian Greyhound named DaVinci (Vinnie for short). We think of him as the less sociable teenage brother... poor old guy. I'll have to get a few pictures of him to show you because as crazy and neurotic as he is, he's a cute little guy.

Well, I guess I should be signing off for now. Have a great Friday! Woo HOO! It's FRIDAY! Tomorrow is The Son's 6th birthday and Sunday is his party at the Y as well as the aforementioned Vinnie's 12th birthday! The MIL is coming from Maine to visit and we just have an over all busy, busy weekend. I hope yours is fun too!

The Story of the Puppy, the Tea Lights and a Zap collar

Once upon a time there was a German Shorthair Pointer named Ziggy. Ziggy was a one and a half year old dog but his family still called him a puppy. Ziggy was smart. Very smart. Ziggy was excitable. Very excitable. Ziggy's family bought him a collar that could be operated with a remote control to either "beep" him for a warning or "zap" him for a correction. The collar worked well...


when it had batteries in it that worked.

The problem was that Ziggy, being the smart dog he was, knew as soon as the batteries would wear out and his family could no longer correct him. He was a wonderful, sweet, well behaved, nearly perfect dog when his collar was working but as soon as the batteries wore out, (usually in less than two weeks per pair) Ziggy would go wild. His family didn't know how he knew, they didn't really care. The point was, he knew.

The collar required Lithium 2032 batteries. At times, these batteries were difficult to find. The grocery store that carried them always had an empty peg, the batteries were never in stock. The drug stores carried them and when they were in stock, they usually ran about $3.50 per pair. A small price to pay, in the family's opinion for a well-behaved dog.

One day, the Daddy of the family was shopping at his favorite store, Costco. The Daddy liked to go to Costco, something about the warehouse feeling and the variety of products, he just loved to shop there. One day he came home with an odd assortment of items, a "Snuggie," a mega-pack of English Muffins and a 28-pack of "flameless tea lights." The Snuggie was easy to understand, his wife was perpetually cold,


the English muffins were easy to understand too, they had 8 grams of fiber and only 100 calories, everyone in the family loved these, but 28 flameless tea lights? What did they need with these? The answer was simple. The batteries. These 28 flameless tea lights took the very elusive Lithium 2032 batteries and not only did each tea light come with a battery installed, they came with 28 additional batteries as well... for only $13.99! The family would have had to pay $98 for 56 batteries for Ziggy's collar before, when they could find them of course.


The Daddy was a hero! He knew there was a reason to continue shopping at Costco! The Momma was so excited that she sent him back the next day for another pack of tea lights and batteries and The Son in the family, he was just excited to be able to play with a flameless tea light, he thought it looked like the back of a rocket.

Ziggy? Well, Ziggy knew that his days of acting like a wild beast were over. He secretly hoped that the tea lights would be sold out when his Daddy went back to Costco but deep down inside he realized that probably wouldn't happen, he vowed that he would be a good boy, it wasn't like he had too many more options, his family had him over the proverbial battery barrel so to speak...

at least for now... he would let his people think they were getting their way, he could hold out for a LONG time. He went to sleep that night, legs pulsing with doggy dreams, tail twitching rapidly as he dreamed of capturing the most valuable prey of all, the Energizer Bunny.


Good night Sweet Ziggy... sleep tight!

A letter from Ziggy to Lily -- Re: Thanksgiving

I am taking a break from blogging today to allow our dog Ziggy to type out a quick note to The Niece, aka Lily who will be coming here for Thanksgiving this year. Lily is less than fond of dogs and Ziggy is a really sweet dog so we're hoping to help her get over this unnecessary fear. Ziggy doesn't want to spend his Thanksgiving in the basement, we really just want everyone to be happy. Rest assured that if Ziggy DID do something naughty or couldn't calm down, he'd be in the basement faster than you could say, "Please pass the turkey," but he is usually a very good dog and LOVES children. My sister will be sharing this post and pictures with Lily before she visits, we're hoping it helps a bit. So, without further adieu... here's Ziggy!


My dear Cousin Lily:
How are you today? I hear you just had a birthday... happy birthday! I wanted to come to your party but Mommy said, "no" because I tend to have "issues" in the car and it's kind of a long drive. I know you're four now, that means you're almost three years older than me! Wow! I knew I looked up to you for a reason! What a big girl you are!

Hey Lily, do you know that when you and your family come to my house, I get really excited? I love to have visitors and so I run around a little bit and want to sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff. As soon as I say hello to everyone and get all my sniffing in, I'm fine to just hang out and leave you guys alone. Just ask your cousin, he loves to hang out with me. I'm really excited to meet your little sister, I hear she's really cute and babies always have extra good (and bad) things to sniff. Did you know that doggies especially like what humans think are the "bad" smells. I know. We're kind of gross sometimes.


Sometimes I bark and I sound a little scary. I don't mean to, it's just that I'm a big guy so my voice is deep, kind of like your Daddy. When I bark it's because I love my people and I think that I'm a watch dog. I want to bark to warn anyone outside that I'm guarding the house and taking care of my family, I guess you could say, I think it's my job to keep any bad guys away and barking is how I do that.


Last but not least, when you start to cry about me being here, I feel bad Lily. I really like kids and when they cry, I get worried and have to investigate, it's just in my breed, we German Shorthair Pointers are what they like to call "family" dogs and we don't like it when kids are upset because we really want kids to be happy so if you don't want me coming around you, it's probably a good idea to try not to cry and make squeaky sounds when I'm around, it just makes me all the more curious and concerned. I would never hurt a kid. NEVER! I love kids.

Do you think you can handle all that Lil'? I do, Mommy tells me you're a really good girl and we're all so excited that you're coming to our house on Thursday. I can't wait to see you and get my sniff on! Remember that time you said I had "fancy legs?" That made me feel SO good because I like my fancy speckled legs and I know how you like fancy stuff (like Fancy Nancy) so I guess that means you like me! I'll be a good boy Lily. I promise!

See you soon! Woof!
Love, your Canine Cousin, Ziggy

edited to add... Be sure to check out the comments on this post as it's intended recipient has left her own comment. Thanks Lil!

Please step away from the banana!

"She means MY banana!"

The other day when I was unpacking The Son's snack bag, I noticed a certain German Shorthair Pointer, lurking around the counter. He stood up, swiped something from off of the counter and ran away, to hide under the family room side table that is decidedly too low to the ground for him to hide under. He doesn't quite realize that however...

Ziggy decided that he really needed the over-ripe banana that The Son didn't eat (of course.) I risked my life to take these pictures for you because there was much growling going on as I was told very clearly that the banana now belonged to Ziggy and not to the humans in the household.

"Don't make me growl louder"

Truth be told, all he does is growl and then we remove the banana and all is fine...except this time, I forgot about the banana until The Husband came home and found the banana squished on the floor under the table. Oops.

Things seem to be going well with kindergarten so far. The Son is enjoying it a lot and I'm enjoying my work out time at the Y, it's nice to not have to worry about where The Son will go and how long I'm allowed to keep him there and best of all, I just realized yesterday that we are no longer paying $150 a month for preschool! Hooray for public schools! The Son has off on Friday and Monday, we're looking forward to a nice long weekend and will celebrate at the pool for the last time until next summer.

Enjoy your Wednesday everyone! Stay healthy!

Race Report

We're literally heading out the door to Maine but I wanted to post REALLY quickly to give my race times.

5K run 35:30 (a little better than my last "best")
2 mile walk with Ziggy, my dog. 23:41- faster than I expected!


I'll probably be able to post in Maine since The Husband is bringing his laptop... we'll see! Have a great weekend everyone!

Calling All Runners!

I just registered for my third race. The first was a local 5K, the second was the mini-triathlon I did at our Y and this one is a 5K with an additional 2 mile dog run/walk! It is also affiliated with our Y so it will be very convenient for me. I'm excited and working on increasing my time and hopefully my distance since I'd love to run the 2 mile part as well as the 5K part. If I have to walk that, it will be OK, it's kind of hard to run with Ziggy since he just goes faster and faster and I can't keep up. We'll have to do a little training over the next month to get us both ready.

Race huh? Did someone say Run? Race? Food? Treats? Take me! Take me!

So, here's my problem. I am having trouble getting much past the 3.1 miles I do on the treadmill. Yes, I run on the treadmill instead of outside. I like it for so many reasons but mainly because it's air conditioned and also because I can take The Son to Kids' Corner for child care. It's just easier than scheduling my running around The Husband who works so much. I have a plan for today's run to try and get past that 3.1, I know I can do it and would like to keep working up to running the full 5.1 miles. (and you should know, I'm pretty slow but I finished my first 5K in just under 36 minutes so if I can beat that I'll be thrilled)

For today...
* Warm up stretches. I've been having a lot of hip pain and just looked up stretches to help me out.
* Mile 1- run at easy slightly challenging pace 5.3 to 5.5 on treadmill
* Mile 2- work on speed... 2 minutes 4.0+ pace 2 minutes 6.0+
* Miles 3 and 4 run at fairly easy pace of 5.0 to 5.1

It will be a definite challenge but I really do think I can do it. I have about a month to work up to the full 5.1 miles and I'm pretty sure that on race day, there will be a break between the 5K and the 2 miler so with my training I can do it!

Last but not least, if you are a runner and have any suggestions for good work outs to build both speed and distance, please, post them in my comments. I am definitely a beginner runner so I love to hear advice from those who've been running longer than I have. I also realize there's lots of info out there that I can "google" and I've done that but I'd love even more personal advice so hit me with it if you have it!

Have a great Tuesday, we're off to the Y for some running and pool time and then to karate for The Son it's a beautiful day in sunny PA!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!
Be Careful under that mistletoe this year!
Warm winter wishes from the CityFamily/CountryFamily

Baby, it's cold outside!

So Momma, could you please let me in!

Here's the reason my side light windows are never clean any more. Ziggy. We let him go out to "do his business" and this is how he tells us he wants to get back in. The wet nose is ALWAYS pressed right up against the glass. As irritating as washing those windows multiple times a day can be, it cracks me up every time.

A few days ago, we were talking about how it would probably be a good idea to give Ziggy a bath soon. It would take two people because I'm not anticipating a lot of cooperation on Ziggy's part.

Who me?
The next day, we got this sample for Degree Deodorant for Men in the mail and look who it's addressed to.

I laughed for a long time about that one. If only Zig would use his deodorant, he might not have to worry about a bath so much! I have no idea how this came addressed to him. I thought I had registered him to get a coupon for a free bag of "Snausages" in the mail but then I got the coupon and it was under my name so it can't be that. How ever it happened, it's hilarious to me!

Have a great day everyone and keep warm!

It's a dog's life!

I just got back from picking the puppy up from Doggie Day Care. Yes, Doggie Day Care. Do you believe people actually pay for that these days? I do, because I did. We've been home approximately four minutes and he's already collapsed on the floor kicking his legs in what I presume to be joyous puppy dreams. See...

I pass by the place every morning on my way home from work, so yesterday, I decided to call and check it out and it's only $15 for half a day. We all took a ride over and after touring the campus, Ziggy decided that he wanted to enroll, it was definitely what he's looking for in an educational environment. They feature 1.5 acres of open space, (fenced in of course) lots of toys and many, many dogs to play with. They also breed cats, the cats were visible in pens and Ziggy practiced his pointing as soon as he saw them. I guess he doesn't yet know the difference between a cat and a mallard...good thing he's not really going to be a hunting dog. After taking the appropriate placement exams and having his transcripts faxed over, he was good to go. I dropped him off this morning at 6:30 and he was a little nervous, scared that he wouldn't make friends, that he'd be the only one who's not yet "fixed" or most of all, scared that he'd miss his Momma. He overcame his fears and quickly made friends with Abby a little Yorkie who also attends the day care. After that, it was off to work for me.

I went to work and home again, feeling a little sad as I drove past on the way home. I went back to pick him up at 12:45 after dropping The Son off at his pre-school at the Y. He was very happy to see me and the people at the day care said he had a good day but is still adjusting. I don't know exactly what that means and Ziggy doesn't seem to want to talk about it. I noticed that he also made friends with Hank, a spunky Boston Terrier. I hope he's not a bad influence though, you know how those Massachusetts boys can be. ;) I plan on taking him once or twice a week so that he can really run, socialize and just so that he can play with other dogs. All in all, I think it was good for him. He's still hasn't declared a major and there's been some talk of pledging a fraternity...I think he mentioned Delta Omicron Gamma but that all remains to be seen. I'll keep you posted. 

Iago Veritas, 13, Loyal family pet.

June 30, 1995 - September 9, 2008

Iago Veritas beloved Miniature Pinscher of the CityFamily/ CountryFamily died today of complications related to lung cancer. He was 13 years old. 

Iago grew up in the City of Philadelphia where as a puppy, he attended "Puppy Kindergarten" in Head House Square. He chose not to continue his studies but rather to concentrate on being a loyal and loving household pet. The CityFamily/CountryFamily was blessed to be on the receiving end of that love and loyalty. Iago was well-loved by all he met. He was said to be the kind of dog who "never met a lap he didn't like." He  was a big dog in a small dog's body and in his time, was known to charm even "small dog haters" into fans of his. He was well-behaved, friendly and kind to both children and adults. 

He got his name when he was adopted by his Mommy and Daddy as a small pup of only 2.2 pounds. His Daddy felt that it would be amusing to name such a sweet and lovable dog with an "evil name" and  being an English major in college, instantly thought of the character of Iago from Shakespeare's "Othello". Veritas, meaning honest was his middle name since Iago is often called "Honest Iago" in the play of "Othello". Iago in the play was anything but honest but Iago the Min Pin was honest and true to the end. 

In his free time, Iago enjoyed playing with his nubby ball, attacking the mail as it came through the mail slot of his City House, eating dehydrated liver treats, barking at strangers on the street and snuggling up with his family and friends. His favorite place was on his Mommy's lap under a blanket. He was especially adept at finding any small patch of sunlight on the floor and laying right in it. His canine siblings might say that he wasn't always willing to share his patches of sunlight but they loved him in spite of this minor flaw. He was always proud of his bright eyes, shiny coat and wagging stump of a tail and was happy to wag that thing for anyone who could even remotely appreciate it. 

His adopted sister Desdemona (also a Miniature Pinscher) died in 2006 but he is survived by his human Mommy, Daddy and brother as well as his adopted canine brothers DaVinci and Zigfried. 

The family will be mourning Iago's loss for quite some time and asks that you remember how important your pets are and to treat them extra special in Iago's memory. 

We love you Iago. We'll miss you Old Friend. 

My heart is breaking.

In a little over an hour, we're taking Iago, our 13 year old Miniature Pinscher to the vet to have him put to sleep. Iago was diagnosed with lung cancer in March and there was really nothing they could do to help him. He's done really great until just about last week when he rapidly declined. I feel grateful that we had a few more good months with him and that he's a relatively older dog anyway. It's just so hard and I know how much I'll miss my sweet boy. 

MIL is visiting so she can stay with The Son while The Husband and I take Iago so today is really the best day to do it I think. We're having a miserable cloudy thunderstormy day too so it all kind of just fits. 

I'll post some pictures of him and a little obituary later. You're going to have to wait another day for those mushrooms. 

Why pay for obedience school?

When you can spend $1.98 and strike fear in the hearts of dogs everywhere. Or at least in the heart of my dog. See this face?

It's finally met it's match. Meet Mr. Spritzy!

Our pup Ziggy is a good puppy, but as I've said before, "good puppy" is an oxymoron and even though he IS pretty good, he's often quite bad. You may recall that he recently destroyed my Cynthia Rowley glasses. I'm still recovering from that one. He used to grab things he shouldn't have and hide under furniture. Well, now that he's too big to hide under most of the furniture, he runs around with what ever he has and wants you to chase him. Around and around and around and around you go, screaming , "drop it!" until you can't possibly run around and scream, "Drop it!" any more. It was a fun game for him, not so much for us. 

That's when, through my many google searches for obedience schools in our area, I came across the idea for Mr. Spritzy. A simple spray bottle filled with water. In fact, as I've been typing this, Ziggy got The Son's favorite toy, Skuggs and was trying to slink away with it. A few squirts of Mr. Spritzy and Skuggs is happily returned to The Son, no chasing, no "drop it!" and no irritation. Well, Ziggy might be irritated but The Son, Skuggs and I are as happy as clams! 

Here's Ziggy this morning just looking at Mr. Spritzy, mind you, he hadn't even been sprayed and hadn't done anything wrong but I needed this picture so you could all see the fear in his little puppy heart. Am I a mean Mommy or what?

So, I'm not going to say this will work forever or that he (or should I say we) won't need obedience school but for now, things in the CityFamily/CountryFamily household are feeling a lot more calm, and everyone's a lot happier.

Well, almost everyone.

"Help me."