Fall Leaves, Marlene's Thoughts, Cosi's Telling, & Juneau's 'Splaining

I promised Echo that I would take some pictures of the leaves turning while on a ride with our horses in PGH in the County Park where we ride. These were taken yesterday. Some of the trees have already lost their leaves. The horses make a shuffling sound with their hooves walking on them on the trails. Joel & Cutter led Charlie & me for some great 2 hr. rides this weekend. In spite of the dog that wasn't on a leash & came flying at Charlie & me, we still had a great ride. Cutter came barreling after the dog to get it away from us. He is not a cow horse, but he sure loves to herd dogs who are not on a leash to protect Charlie. He also loves to chase turkeys.

Joel talked to the little girl, Sarah, who is Norris's new owner. She said to tell me that she is taking great care of him. She brushes him everyday. She said to tell me that she gives him lot of hugs & is with him alot so he won't be lonely missing his mommy! She has also ridden him & likes his fast walk. Norris met a goat for the first time & got a little startled, but he calmed down. I'm so glad that this has worked out so great for him. He has a place to run free, a girlfriend to be with (he's a gelding), & a little girl who is his new best friend. Couldn't ask for anything better for my boy!

The 1st of my TMJ surgeries is in two days. Yep, I'm scared! I'll be a whole lot better & calmer when I wake up in recovery afterwards. I'll take one of my juicy, "take me away" romance (Joel calls them smut books!) books to read once I am in a room & no longer groggy after the surgery. They are going to keep me in the hospital overnight.

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Hi Cosmos here - Mommy had to step away from the puter & I just hafta tell all that "Juneau is in trouble again!" I didn't make him do it. This was all on him . . . . .

Now move yur butt over, Cosi, & let me 'splain my side of the story. I was only trying to help! I heard mommy tell daddy that she would like the wallpaper taken down in the breakfast room & just to paint the walls a cheery color. Well, after reading our friends blogs where they helped their families remodel their houses, I got an idea. I'd help daddy take the wall paper off! But, I guess he wasn't ready yet for my help. I shulda got rid of the evidence that was laying on the floor. Then, they probably wouldn't have noticed, or not!

Oh Be Still My Heart!!

I just finished watching the 1st show of Heroes, Season 2 that I recorded on the DVR (I re-watched the last one of Season 1 again first to get up-to-date). Yes, I know that it is late & I should be in bed, but I needed some unwind time.

My son, Joshua, called me down to his room. He has been promising to clean his pig-pen of a room. I do not even go in there any more. I do not know how he can live or sleep in there with everything (clothes & mess) all over the floor. And this is what I saw --

Oh My Gosh -- he has a floor & rug -- be still my heart!!!

Earlier, we weighed Cosi & Juneau. Cosi now weighs 49 pounds & his chest is starting to fill out nicely. Juneau now weighs 31 pounds & still growing.

Norris, My Sweet Boy, Enjoy Your Retirement!

(The pictures of Joel & me riding Norris were taken on Friday, 9/21. We went out to the barn to brush him & I needed my last ride on him!) It is so very hard when you have an extra horse and not enough riders. It is the case with my Norris. I haven’t ridden him in a long time. I got Charlie because he is younger, very laid back personality, & gaited. Because of my lower back problems, a gaited horse does not give you the jolting ride of a prancing, trotting horse. Norris is a fast-stepping horse that has quick movements. Since he is 26+ years, Joel & I decided to semi-retire him. I played a lot with him from the ground. Joel occasionally rode him (but felt that he was a little too heavy to ride him all the time & he also has his own horse, Cutter), & I had a few friends who came out when they could to ride & exercise him. It was getting increasingly harder & harder for those friends to come out due to their busy schedules. I felt so guilty when we rode out on the trails & he had to stay behind in the stall. Our barn has turn-out, but not large areas where he could run & kick up his heels for hours with another horse. It is so hard finding a place to semi-retire a horse where he will be safe, taken care of, & allowed to be a horse to live out the rest of his days.

My daughter Erin had talked about our horses to one of her friends. The friend contacted her family in Maryland & told them that we were trying to find a place for Norris. They offered their home to Norris. Robin’s 12 year old niece, Sarah, had just lost her pony. They have a few acres on their property which is fenced in that would be ideal for my boy. He would also have a girlfriend, Willow. She is a 3-year old mare that was rescued & cannot be ridden. This sounded like the best thing that we could do for him! I know this, even as I am writing this though the tears are falling. I miss having him greet me when I come into the barn & nuzzling me! He took care of me on the trails for a lot of years, my sure-footed boy, & never once tried to get me off of his back.

We left early on Saturday. Here is the video of “The Poopy Walk.” When we trailer our horses, we put shipping boots on their legs down to their hoofs to protect them. It’s comical that when they start to walk, they pick up their back feet – I say that they walk like a baby with a “poopy diaper!”



It took 4 hours to get to our destination from Pittsburgh. When Joel took Norris out of the trailer, the little girl’s face (Sarah) broke into such a happy smile (just like mine does when I go out to the barn to be with them!). They showed me where he & Willow have a stall enclosure where they can come in & out as they want to. They will be fed in this enclosure. I gave him a teary hug, & Joel let him go. He was off & running with his tail curled up over his back, his head held proud, & snorting to his new friend, Willow.

(Tuesday, 9/25/07) I have gotten some feedback that Sarah has already ridden Norris around with supervision & that he gets brushed & groomed every day. I’m so happy that this is working out, really I am. I just can’t help the waterworks! I just start tearing up when I think about him. We were worried how Cutter, Joel’s horse, would be in not having Norris around. Those 2 had bonded from the time that Joel brought Cutter into our family. Cutter is finally bonding with Charlie without bullying him so much. Joel promised to take me to visit with Norris & his new family a couple of weeks after my surgery. I think that once I see for myself that he is being taken care of & loved, then I will feel so much better over this. Here are some pictures of where he is now living.

(Actually, now that I have put this down in writing, I do feel a little better. I know in my heart that I did the right thing for Norris & that is more important than my tears. I did not abandon him, he will not be stuck in a stall. Now he can run free & just be a horse!!)

The Car Game

Hi EveryPuppy,

I overheard our daddy on the phone with grandma about some good news about mommy. She saw her surgeon today. (I know I shouldn't listen in on conversations, but how else would a puppy hear about stuff?!?) The surgeon walked into the room & started off by telling mommy that she will not be wired shut. Daddy went on to say that mommy started to cry then threw her arms around the man & gave him a hug. Woo-hoo, he didn't expect that. Mommy shocked him. Daddy said that the doctors had a look on his face that was so funny. Also, she will be able to eat foods that are soft like fish, pasta, meatballs, etc., if she can handle chewing them, both after this surgery & the next one. She won't have to be on a diet of baby food like meals. So this helped to brighten her day.
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Bama tagged me & Cosmos for a new game. What car do we think we would be like. Well, after having this discussed wif the expert (daddy - cuz he knows about cars) (mommy is our typist), this is what we came up wif:


Cosi would make a great Red Ford F150 XLT

-- Nice to look at, always dependable, & not afraid to do what you ask him to do.



Now I, Juneau, would best be described as a Mazda Miata Convertible Sports Car

-- That likes to run & zip around tight spaces. Likes to chew up the road (or yur toes!). Especially a convertible cuz I like to feel the water/rain on my head & rest of my body.

I HOPE YOUR WEEK IS GOING BETTER THAN MINE!

It has been a tough week for me. On Monday I started part-time. It felt so weird for me starting work at 9:30am & leaving the office at 1:30. I’ve been working full-time for ages. I’ve applied at more positions at the University. It is going so slow. I had another phone interview Monday afternoon. Hope that they call me for an interview. One of the positions that I interviewed for has not been filled yet. What are they waiting for, call me! Went in on Monday & my boss decided to be in “power mode” & decided to make it a bashing session for me right at my desk which is out in the open for the whole floor to hear. The director of my building told me to see her side of this. Some supervisors cannot handle too well making hard decisions like, for instance, the changes in my position, so I should not let her little tirade get to me. Bullsh-t, if she can’t handle being a supervisor, then you don’t get in the position of being one. Got my blood pressure taken that night. Boy, was it high again. Played a lot with Cosi & Juneau when I got home & got to ride & play with Charlie at the barn.

Tuesday I got up thinking, what’s going to happen today at work?!?! Thankfully, it was a quiet day. Applied for another position. Well two weeks from today I will have my 1st jaw surgery. Am pretty scared about that! I will see my surgeon on Thursday. It was the concensus of my dentist, my old surgeon (who defected to Ohio 7 years ago), & Big Ben’s (The Steeler) surgeon (who put his face back together after his motorcycle accident), that I have the “best” doctor/surgeon who’ll take good care of me. I don’t doubt that, but it doesn’t help my nerves any. I had hoped that in my lifetime, I wouldn’t have to go through with this again.

And, I get to today, Wednesday. On the way to work I was making a left hand turn onto the street where my parking lot is. Just as I finished turning onto the street, a fire truck is coming right at me in my lane with his lights & siren on. I started to back up to turn up through the intersection to get out of his way because there wasn’t a car in back of me, & then, there was this car banging into my side between my door & the front bumper. Luckily, I wasn’t hurt & my car didn’t get banged too hard. But, I was shaking so hard. A policeman (couldn’t tell if he was a campus police or PGH police) told me that I was all right (Gee, thanks!) & my car was all right & I was in the right to back up to get out of the fire truck’s way. He told me that he gave the other car some paper to write up their information so we could exchange what we needed. Before I could get his name & badge #, he left.

Sorry, my ranting is so long. I feel that there is a black cloud over my head right now. I am fine & will be fine. (Just won’t have my blood pressure checked today, ha-ha!) I’ve got my family, Cosi & Juneau (who really give me so much joy by being with them & following their antics), and my horses (they have seen me through a lot of down times, too). I will get through these surgeries – just think how skinny I will be again on my hot fudge sundae diet!!!! AND, I will eventually get another job before project money runs out next March where I presently am. Got to take one day/step at a time. Joel, my hubby, can tell you, though, that I am not a patient person – I want things done yesterday. Already picked what I want to do on October 1 (the day before my surgery). I want Joel & me to go out on a nice, long trail ride. I don’t care if it rains (well sorta, but if it does, we’ll wear rain slickers!), and I want to go to the Springfield Grill. Oh, this place makes outstanding crab cakes, like really YUMMY!

I especially want to thank all of Cosi's & Juneau’s & my blawging buddies. I enjoy talking & commenting with all of you. I really look forward to getting on to the computer & checking up with all of you. At least if my jaw is sore while recuperating, my fingers can type & talk to all of you. Thanks for being there.

-Marlene-

Groundhog Holes, Rabbit Holes?!?!

Nooooo, it's a 2 Siberian Huskies' made-by-paws holes!!!! I guess Cosmos & Juneau wanted to show-off how rich our soil is under the grass, NOT!!!!! These are just 2 of several spots that we have found them excavating all over our back yard.

Inside Daisy Clover (1977-1990)

Joel used to buy tobacco from a store in a mall near-by to us. He got friendly with the manager of the store & they got on the subject of Siberian Huskies. Joel mentioned that we were looking for a companion for Ashley. This man was into showing & had a male Siberian & 3 females. He asked us if we wanted to bring Ashley to meet Clover. Clover decided that she didn’t want to be a show dog anymore by disqualifying herself at the shows. They said that we could have her for “free.” The only stipulation was to get her spayed. They said that she was an instigator of fights, so she needed to be watched.

Let me tell you about this black & white adopted, beautiful Sibe, Clovie, who became at the top of our list, one of the best girls we have ever had. Our “free” husky had 3 types of worms & a staph infection in her skin. She was losing hunks of her hair. It cost almost $300 to get her healthy before we could even get her spayed. There was no question of “ever-ever” giving her back to those people!! When Ashley had to leave our family, our girl Clover stayed.

I was asked by people, “We were told that you cannot trust huskies around children?” Wrong! Clover would sleep under the port-a-crib when my daughter was a baby. She would stay outside of the blanket on the floor looking on when my son, as a baby, was playing. She never growled nor bared her teeth at any one of us or visitors to our house. We decided to get her a young companion when she started to develop arthritis in her back legs. This way my son would have a younger dog to rough house with so Clovie would have an easier time.

When she let us know that her pain was too great & it was time for us to let her cross The Rainbow Bridge, I bought the Mister Rogers book on how to tell young children about the death of a beloved pet. My daughter, Erin, had just started 2nd grade at the time. I was so choked up, she patted my hand & said “Don’t worry mommy, I’ll read it to you.” Ahh, kids! When she got a little older she put together a photo album entitled “Our Clovie” with a letter that is still taped to the inside of it (it is so yellow!) to Clover about how much she had been loved by all of us. Clover was our very first adopted Siberian.

Czar Edric’s Ashley (1978 - ?)

After starting my own blog page from Cosmos’ viewpoint when it is about the goings on in our home & bringing up puppy, Juneau, I got nostalgic about some of my other great 4-legged family members. I got out my step stool & pulled out the old photo albums. Looking back over the years (& there are many of them!), I saw how these furry companions were not just mere dogs, but a part of our family. Each made a special place in my heart & the hearts of my family. I wanted to place an “In Memory” section in my blog pages.

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Since I had lived in an apartment all my life, there was always someone home in the building when I was alone. When Joel & I got our first house & he had to work evenings, every little squeak or knock got me worried. So, we decided to get a dog. I had fallen in love with Siberian Huskies. I read thoroughly about them. Since we had a large fenced-in backyard which would be ideal, we got our first little fuzz-ball Sibe, Ashley. Of course, his coat was the color of ashes. He thought I was his true mom. Ashley wouldn’t go outside unless I was with him. If I went back indoors, he would sit & howl. My next door neighbor had jokingly called me to ask what I was doing with him. The minute I went outside, he would stop like you turned off a switch. I was not afraid to stay in the house alone. He was my best buddy. But, he had a very possessive streak when it came to me. Someone could not pat me on the back without him growling. He never bit anyone who came to visit to our house. Friends of Joel’s would come in & wrestle with him on the floor. He turned out to be a huge guy. On Saturdays, Joel would get up early & go to work. That was Ashley's que to jump on the bed & would cuddle up with me & lay his head on Joel's pillow. During the time that he was with us, we never had an opportunity to have him around any babies or young children. Since we had both worked, we decided to get him a Siberian companion. We adopted Clover. She was just 1 year older than him. They became the best of friends. Though my house looked liked a river ran through it the first week or two. Our vet told us that when go into fights to spray water on them to break it up. It worked! Also, we had to put away their toys. Clover did not know how to share. They became wrestling companions & each other’s chew toy. The day we brought my daughter home from the hospital, Ashley lunged at her while she was in Joel’s arms. We could not trust him in the house anymore, because he would get extremely upset when the baby would start crying. Ashley put his teeth through Joel’s hand when he went to let him outside one day. The next day, he had to leave. It was like saying good-bye to my furry child, but there was no question that we had to do it. We had to take him to the humane society. Animal Friends, a no-kill shelter did not have the room. Joel kept very close tabs on him. He had specified no young children or babies for those considering adopting him. He was adopted within 2 weeks.

The Latest Word Game

Guinness, Shiloh, & Misty had answers to a new game that Juneau & are going to try! Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the questions. They must be real places, names, things, etc. If you can't think of anything, skip it. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question. You take the first letter of your first name, and then answer the questions using only that letter.


What is your name? Cosmos
4 letter word: Clip
Vehicle: Cavalier
TV Show: Cheers
City: Clairton, PA
Boy Name: Calvin
Girl Name: Cathy
Alcoholic Drink: Chocolate Toasted Almond
Occupation: Cook
Something you wear: Chaps
Celebrity: Chris Cagle
Food: Cherries
Something found in a bathroom: Crest Toothpaste
Reason for being late: Closed street
Cartoon Character: Clifford
Something You Shout: COWABUNGA!


What is your name? Juneau
4 letter word: Jury
Vehicle: Jeep
TV Show: Jericho
City: Juneau, Alaska
Boy Name: Jerry
Girl Name: Jane
Alcoholic Drink: Jumanji
Occupation: Jeweler
Something you wear: Jeans
Celebrity: James Earl Jones
Food: Jam
Something found in a bathroom: Jars
Reason for being late: Jinxed
Cartoon Character: Jerry from Tom & Jerry
Something You Shout: JUMP!

And Speaking of Gray Hair!

Juneau is doing a good job of turning mommy's hair grayer (in spite of the red she gets every 4-5 weeks) ha-woo! Friday night Juneau grabbed the tv remote control from the end table next to mommy in the living room. Her hair scrunchee was around it. Well, he took the scrunchee off of the tv thingee & took off wif it in his mouth. Mommy tried calling him calmly, then going after him. She finally cornered him & grabbed him by his tail. Before she got to his mouth, the dummy swallowed it. He has been fine - eatting & playing & pooping. We've been doing a Juneau watch on him to make sure that he is OK. Well daddy just came upstairs with a present in a paper towl - ewwww, yuckie!! Juneau just threw it up. Yep, we are happy. I have to have a talk wif that fellow cuz putting things that shouldn't go in his mouth is dangerous.

We're Baaack!

Hi EveryPuppy & 2-Legged & Other 4-Legged Friends!


Mommy hasn't had time to turn the puter on for us this past week. A lot of things have been happening. She had 2 interviews this week. So she has been pretty nervous & trying her suits on for us & daddy for inspection. We told her that there is nothing to be afraid of & that we wuv her & she'll do fine. One job sounds real promising - so keep your paws & fingers & hoofies crossed for her!

On another note, daddy has got the OK that he can start riding Cutter again. He has to take it easy cuz Cutter has to learn how to walk in his new shoes. They are called egg-bar shoes & are a complete circle. They are different from regular horse shoes. Underneath is a pad which cushions the heal of his foot. He has them on his front feet. It will take some getting used to. **UPDATE ALERT - Daddy has ridden Cutter since last Thursday increasing time out on the trails. Cutter has been doing fine wif his new shoes. Unfortunately, Cutter must have stepped on the back of his new shoe (it sticks out past his heel of his front foot) while on a nice ride through the park today & lost it. Mommy & daddy tried going back some ways that they had ridden to see if they could find the shoe, but it was really hiding.** So now Cutter can't go out on a ride until Micah (our farrier) can come out & put one back on. On the upside, he is not ouchy or sore at all. We all have been pretty worried about him.





Here's daddy-Joel back on Cutter last Wed. for the very first time in almost a month. This was a little exercise for Cutter for only 15 - 20 min. to let him stretch his legs from being stall-bound & to see if he was still lame. He did great!