Spring Has Sprung

We can officially say Spring has spring around our area - the magnolias, the pink cherry trees and the Bradford pears are all in flower. The grass is starting to turn green and the other trees are covered in buds. The best part though is that we have 70 degree temps for the last couple of days and that means lots of walkies. Mom has just about finished with the packing and has been busy doing some patch up work and painting. We hope to be about to move within the next 4 weeks. Next week Dad is going to be looking at some houses and then it just a matter of getting the movers in and away we go.

Thankful Thursday

The Mom hasn't been sleeping to well this past week - she says her mind in constantly buzzing with all the things she needs to get done - but - there is one good thing about getting up so early and that is when you get to see  a beautiful sunrise. Not only that - but all the birdies are back - we haven't heard them all winter but now every morning their singing wakes us up to a wonderful dawn chorus.  Sadly just after we got back from our walk it started raining and it is going to rain for the rest of day.

Have back pack - will travel

I was thinking about all the States I have visited in my life and was surprised how many it was. 

Wisconsin - where I was born

Minnesota. - where I went to live with Mom and Dad

Iowa  - traveled through on our way to Nebraska

Nebraska - we we lived for a couple of years

Colorado - where we went on vacation

Kansas - traveled through on our way to Arkansas

Missouri - traveled through on our way to Arkansas and went on vacation too

Arkansas - where we lived the last few years

Tennessee - visits to my specialist vet

The next States I visit are going to be Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida- Here is a picture of me when I was visiting the Rocky Mountains in Colorado - YES - Have back pack - will travel :)

PS - Dweeb has only been to 3 states - he was born in Kentucky, went on vacation to Missouri and lived in Arkansas but he will add 4 more to the list when we move.

PPS - Mom did something to her thumb (left hand)  yesterday while packing - it is all bruised and swelled up like a golf ball so today she is taking it easy and we are going to spend a few hours visiting MY parks  and saying farewell.

We will be MIA for a few days

We will probably be missing in action most of this week as we are going to be very busy helping Mom pack and clean the house.  She has already taken 6 loads to the landfill and 1 load to Goodwill. Mom is driving Dad's BIG van at the moment so she can pack in as much as she can in the trips. This morning we finished packing our Dogville Railway away and this afternoon we will be helping Mom paint the deck. Tomorrow we will floor cleaning and polishing and Wednesday is window washing day and spreading new mulch on garden. Thursday is touch up painting day and more packing. We will be dogervising Mom the whole time to make sure she does things right. We are supposed to be in the 70's for the next couple of days and we will make sure Mom takes some breaks to go and relax at the park - we will even let her take us :) :)

Day Dreaming

Mom has been cruising around the internet checking out all the parks that we can go to once we move to Florida and she says she has found the perfect one. It is called Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park  (or Hanna Park for short) - it has 1.5 miles of pure white sandy public beaches and the actual park itself is 447 acres. It has walking paths, bike paths, dogs of coarse are allowed on leashes (boo) and lots of other amenities too. We love the area it is located in as it also close to the Navy base and we looking for a house close by it - Mom has found one already that she really likes and it is only 5 minutes away from the park. We should be moving in 3-4 weeks so until then we are day dreaming of all the new adventures we will be having. Yeah - I think we are going to look pretty good in the Florida Sunshine - (Mom Photoshopped us into this photo of the boardwalk to Hanna Park Beach).

Finding Green

One of things Mom hates the most about winter is the lack of green so whenever she finds a patch she just has to take a photo of  us with it. There is one small area in MY park that has a whole mini forest of pine seedlings and they stay green all year long - it is a bit of hike to get to them but well worth the effort.  Mom also loves to grab and handful of the pine needles as she goes past as she says they smell so good. Personally we think the smells on the ground are so much better - mmm Eau de Cologne of possum, squirrels and deer. 

The First Day of Spring

It seemed to take forever to arrive this year - but finally Spring is officially here.  There is nothing better than seeing daffodils blooming to know warmer sunnier days are heading our way.

The Answer

Our big surprise is that we are moving !!! Dad has accepted a new job in Jacksonville, Florida and we are going to to become beach babes - well probably not considering neither of us like getting out feet wet and the thought of sand in our fur makes us shudder - but there will be lots of parks and other amazing places to visit. We are so excited especially Mom who spent most of her life living within 5 minutes of the beach and misses it terribly. She keeps mumbling about the smell of the salt air, warm sunshine and lots of palm trees. The only thing we want is good air conditioning :)

Here is how Mom's evil mind set the clues
hint #1 - the hint is in the name and "Jackson" is part of it (Jackson-ville)
hint #2 - Dugongs live there but Manatees live here (manatees live in Florida)
hint #3 - the population of a city there (the population of Jacksonville)
hint #4 - there are lots of beaches and sunshine there (Florida)
hint #5 - the hint is in the name - SHE from Chewy.com lives there (Sydney from Chewy.com lives in Florida)
hint #6 - This state is famous for growing these (Florida is famous for growing oranges)

We know lots of you thought we were going to Australia and YES we will be doing that when Dad retires in a couple of years and that will be whole other adventure :)

Hint # 6 - the Final One

Here is our final hint - can you put the clues together to figure out our surprise?

And a recap
hint #1 - the hint is in the name and "Jackson" is part of it
hint #2 - Dugongs live there but Manatees live here
hint #3 - the population of a city there
hint #4 - there are lots of beaches and sunshine there
hint #5 - the hint is in the name - SHE from Chewy.com lives there
hint #6 - This state is famous for growing these

Hint #5

What's in a name? (Tomorrow is our last clue)

Hint #4

♪ ♫ Beach Babies Beach Babies ♫ ♪

Chewy.com Review - Evangers Beef Tripe

15 March 2015

Today thanks to Chewy.com - the best and most well known online pet food, treats and goodies store we are reviewing  Evanger's Freeze Dried Beef Tripe


Here's the Basics

• Beef Tripe is a unique single-source protein that is rich in essential fatty acids. Gluten-free and grain-free, Evanger's never uses additives or artificial ingredients. Can be a great aid for digestion. Because of the palatability and wholesomeness of these treats, they are excellent for finicky pets or pets with food sensitivities, as well as for use as a training reward or food mixer..
• 3.5 oz tub is normally$13.49 but it is currently on Sale at Chewy.com for $6.69

Key Benefits

• Grain and Gluten Free
• Only 1 ingredient
• Nutrient dense
• Made in the USA

Taste Test

• Both Denny and I could barely wait for Mom to open the tub - and when she did our noses were twitching like crazy because if there is one thing we love is crunchy dried beef tripe.
• The treats are freeze dried which gives then a nice crunchy texture but it is an easy crunch that even little teeth (like Dweeb has) can manage. There are all different sizes in the tub  and they can be broken into smaller bits but personally we like the BIG pieces. Mom does admit she had trouble breaking them but that is simply because of the arthritis in her hands - Dad just snapped them easily - booooooo.

Ingredients

• Beef Tripe, Beef Tripe, Beef Tripe, Beef Tripe - and absolutely nothing else

 
Negatives - Kind of - Sort of - Maybe - Not Really

• Not a one - we totally loved them. Mom also wanted to mention that they don't have any smell which she liked a lot as she remembers when she was a wee puppy her Mom use to eat Tripe and Onions and Mom would spend the day outside as she hated the smell - and no - Mom never tried it - she doesn't know what she is missing out on !!!!!!

Rating

• Definitely a 8 paw rating (that is 4 paws from each of us)

Disclaimer : Chewy.com sent us a tub of   Evanger's Beef Tripe  in return for an honest review. We were not paid or compensated for our review in any other way and our opinion is purely our own.

Hint #3

Hint #2

These two creatures are very similar but live on opposite sides of the world.

They look scary Mom

They don't eat doggies do they?

A Boooooootiful Spring Day

Wow wee - we had the most amazing spring day yesterday - a wonderful 69 degrees. The sun was shining and we walked around the entire lake all 3.8 miles of it! It was totally pawsome! Now Mom who has been in a semi vegetative state all winter isn't feeling very fit - so she walked REALLY slowly which meant we got to do lots of sniffing and even scared the bee-zee-bees out of a couple of squirrels. Keep these sort of days coming spring time - we love them. (Pppppssssss today is a hint free day - just to keep the suspense going)

Hint # 1

Here is our first hint - remember our little cousin Jackson - NO - he isn't coming back to live with us.

Tuesday Teaser

We have some super duper exciting news to share - in two weeks and yes - we will be giving hints !

The Wandering Frog

As many of you know Mom loves plants - especially ferns and tropical plants. During summer they grow like crazy out on MY deck and one of the things we love is the tree frogs that make their homes in them. Each winter Mom brings all the plants inside and puts them in the sun room and this year we also bought a little tree frog inside too. Mom has nicknamed him the 'wandering frog' as every day we find him in a different place (there may actually be more than one).  Mom has found him hiding in some odd places like -  inside a trash can, on the vacuum cleaner, on the side of the computer, inside the watering can and on the computer screen. He is most often found in the morning sitting on the window warming up though (as you can see below). He seems to be finding enough to eat as he is nice and plump and Mom admits to leaving the bugs on the plants so he has something to chomp on.

Snow Day

Last year in March we got a big a snow storm and guess what - it happened again this March. We were starting to worry we weren't going to get any this winter but it is finally here.

It started yesterday with rain all morning and then 3 inches of sleet during the afternoon and finally it turned to snow and overnight we got 8 inches. We have been having so much fun hopping and bouncing our way around the yard and playing bulldozer in it - that is just the best - you put your head all the way in the snow and start pushing.

For some reason Mom isn't too happy when we come back inside covered in snow and keeps mumbling about wet dogs and wet floors - of coarse being the good boys we are - we wait until she has toweled us dry and then straight away head outside again for some more playing in the snow. :)

Thankfully Mom was able to open our back door just enough for her to squeeze out and clear a path across the deck for us. The snow is very light and fluffy so it was easy to move and sooooo much fun to play in.

Wordless Wednesday

Thankful Tuesday

We got a lovely surprise in the mail yesterday from our buddy Goose as part of his birthday celebration. Thank you Goose and Mom Michelle - we love it. And thank you Cammie and Maggie for the idea for the photo :)