Happy Chonksgiving from all of us! I plan to write some posts soon about what it's like to foster tiny puppies for our local animal shelter and the kinds of supplies you'll need in bulk to survive, if you want to add a similar volunteer gig to your life. But, I'm getting ready to take an extra-long Thanksgiving break (Nov 19-28), so instead please enjoy pix and videos of our latest foster babies that we're calling TATO (like mashed potatoes) and GRAVY. They are just 2 from a litter of 9 puppies born at our shelter. We went for sanity over heroics and offered to foster just 2 of them. #ChonkyPuppies
Foster Puppy, Good Deed, Good Distraction
Yeah. In the midst of everything else, we took on a long-term foster puppy for our local shelter. The new executive director there is a long-time friend and former coworker, and she specifically asked me to get involved. I've been wanting to do some fostering now that we have dogs who like other dogs enough to allow a canine visitor, so it isn't like it happened crazy out of the blue. This little guy needed us, so here we are many months later. Don't miss the shelter's video about his case and a little photo montage I made for his first birthday, which the shelter designated as June 1 (based on estimates on his age when rescued).
Happy 5th Dog Birthday, Clover
It's that time of year again. Yay, Clover! Honestly, I'm kinda freaking that it's yet another dog birthday in the house. How can she be 5 already? Don't miss this year's video tribute, and a few other news items below. Hint: Have you seen our foster puppy?
Terrible Twos Tori Style
Welcome to the Terrible Twos! The amazing and silly Tori Autumn Hawn turns 2 on Saturday, July 1, 2017. We picked that day by counting back 12 weeks from when we adopted her. As has become a bit of a birthday tradition, I created a 2-minute tribute video to celebrate Tori’s big 0-2!
2 Feet of Snow in May
Really. We got about 2 feet of Colorado snow late this week. These big storms are more common in March and April, but we have had at least some snow as late as Memorial Day. Here are a few of my fav photos from the storm.
Happy Birthday Tribute Video – Tori Turns 1
I’m not sure if I can keep up this tradition of making tribute videos for the puppy-girl’s birthdays for all the years to come, but here is the latest video that celebrates Tori’s first birthday. When we adopted her in September 2015, we counted back 12 weeks (a guess on her age) and picked a date — July 1 — as her birthday. What’s great about that is that we’ll always be able to extend her birthday fuss into the Independence Day holiday. We do the same thing with Clover’s birthday since it always fall close to Memorial Day.
Border Collie Birthday Tribute Video
Friday, May 27, 2016, is Clover’s 2nd birthday. How crazy is that? Seems like just yesterday she was a wee-one. Just like I did for the 1st anniversary of Clover’s adoption, I made a 2-minute tribute video that chronicles her second year of life. Most notably the addition of a baby sister, Tori. In many ways, this video is as much a tale of their puppy-soul-sister status as it is a celebration of Clover’s birthday.
Q and A – Raising 2 Border Collie Puppies at Once
A while back, I asked on the Champion of My Heart Facebook fan page what questions people had about what it’s like to be raising 2 border collie puppies — who are just 14 months apart in age — at the same time. The top 3 questions and answers ahead.
Rest in Peace, Ginko Cornelius Hawn
Today, Ginko crossed over. He was 4 months shy of his 16th birthday – by far, the oldest dog in our family history. Rest in peace, Monkey Man, Snuffle Man, Stinko Monster, Golden-Eyed Good Boy …
Fan of toys, fetch, and food.
Lover of Rock music. Hater of Bluegrass.
Long-suffering brother to 4 sisters (2 super bossy, 2 super sweet).
Sofa Captain … faithfully piloting the couch so that it never ran aground on his watch.
We never knew which of his potentially fatal conditions would be the one. A survivor, Ginko ultimately succumbed to the ravages of time.
So This Happened … Again. Welcome Home, Tori Autumn Hawn
Whirlwind of a week, so I’ll have to tell the full story later when I’m not so tired and preoccupied with having TWO puppies in the house. Yeah, you read that right. Here is the short version. Someone at our main veterinary hospital rescued a border collie + Australian shepherd puppy from a bad situation, while visiting family in New Mexico. Our pals at the hospital called early Wednesday morning, asking for my help finding her a home. Tom asked to see her photo. He went to the hospital to meet her and fell in love. She came home with him that day on a “trial visit.” Today, we made it official and adopted her from the veterinary hospital. Photos and one short video below.
