AMAZING! This looks just like little Ruby (a Boston Lab - Boston terrier / Labrador retriever mix) if she was born a Frenchie… just missing are the back white toes…
Wish I had a better photo of her, but she is camera shy!
I got Ruby some veggie dog food yesterday:
One of the benefits that is actually written on the back of the food bag is “Lover Lower Stool Volume” - too funny!
Last night I thought Ruby liked it - I am mixing it in with her meat based food (no byproducts, though) until the meat based food runs out. She ate her bowl of mixed kibble lickety-split. But this morning, I can actually hear her stomach growling, and she refuses to eat her mixed kibble.
She was begging me to get her veggie dog food - not wanting to contribute to the suffering of her fellow animals and to do her part to help save the environment - and now she pulls this?! I am not going to worry, once she is hungry enough, she will bust into the mixed kibble. She is so moody…
This is little Ruble’s new fav spot in the house:
Doesn’t look all that comfortable to me, but I guess the stair is a wide one.
She is so cute! I think she likes that stair, in addition to it being in the sun, b/c she can look out and see what is going on (nothing, really), but since she is a busy body, she likes to be in the know.
Basically anywhere there is a spot of sunshine, she will lie there. Which is unusual because when we go outside on walks, I have had to cut down the length of our walk, due to Ruby’s extreme fatigue brought on by the heat and sunshine. Today, on both walks, I could only go a couple blocks before she quit - just sat in the grass, panting. Since I don’t feel like carrying her (like Boom did on Sunday), I just turned around and went back home.
Poor thing, loves the sun but hates the heat! I guess wearing a fur coat (and boots with the fur) at all times can do that…
This morning on our walk, I realized that Ruby makes me happy. We’ve been snuggling in the “big bed” since Boom is out of town, and I love having her as own personal furry heater!
Here she is relaxing while I blog. Boom thinks she is in denial about the move - excited about the grass, but not excited for the heat and humidity.
She is just the best. I am so thankful that she found and chose us to be her family.
Our plan to get Ruby down to Houston was to rent a larger SUV (my Escape is such a piece that we’d be afraid that it might break down on the way) and drive her down, stopping every 2 hours so she can stretch her legs and hopefully not puke too much (she gets car sick!).
When my good friend KB heard of this plan, she was shocked! They lived in London for about 18 months and took their pooch, Huckleberry, with them. She used a pet transport firm. and she suggested that we do the same.
If we use a good one, I am all for it - it will be less painful for everyone involved (even Ruby, since she will be flying, and only for 3 hours, not driving for 2-3 days). When I suggested it to Boom, he was all, “Ruby has a very delicate disposition, so I am willing to drive her down” and “I’ll consider the pet transport service, but it anything happens to her, it is on your head!”.
I did some preliminary research online and it looks like there a bunch of pet transport services - you can even hire someone to drive your pooch to where ever! But it is hard to choose based on a website. Hopefully KB’s firm that she used also does domestic pet transport. If I used a service that someone I know has used, I will have a slightly higher comfort level.
I think Boom would be all over it, as it would mean we could be in H-town permanently earlier - like May 11th! Assuming we find a place to live (which, btw, our realtor down in Houston said the market is kinda slow, so not to worry!).
So we’ll see - have some decisions to make…
The weather here has been quite nice the past few days. Yesterday, it was sunny and warm! I love the warm weather - to clarify, it was not hot, I was still in pants and a light jacket over my t-shirt (though I had my sleeves rolled up as I was a little warm myself).
When Ruby and I took our 2nd walk of the day, it was probably around 70 degrees with clear, bright skies. She started panting almost immediately, which I thought was a little odd, since we had barely taken 10 steps, but I thought - maybe she is just adjusting to the warmer weather. Or maybe her adenoids were acting up, as everyone knows bully breeds have issues with their adenoids.
Well, we were less than 1/2 done with our half mile walk, and Ruby decided she was done. Tired. Ca-put. She literally stopped and laid down right in the middle of the alley road we were crossing! When I wanted her to get up, she rolled on her back and got all dusty! Grr - I picked her up and put her on her feet and told her we were finishing our walk!
Here she is recovering from the grueling walk.
I am seriously concerned, for when we move to H-town, the height of the summer will be upon us soon! And it is HOT and extremely humid down there all summer. I guess I’ll be getting up at 4am to run (that is literally what people do) and then also to take Ruby for a walk - so that she won’t fall down and die of heat stroke.
Last night, Ruby and I went over to Court’s for our monthly wine club. It was a really fun time! Especially nice because all day yesterday I didn’t think I had any plans, so a very pleasant surprise. And it was a small group of varied ladies - a good mix, I thought. Some I knew very well (Gretty, Cubby), some not so well (HF, MM) and some getting to know better (Scooter, Court), which is great!
And Ruby got to hang out and play with Charlie, Court’s large lhasa apso, and Blue, MM’s hound dog. I know she had fun, ’cause this morn she was slow to come down the stairs. Got tired out last night! I really like it when I can bring little Rubles with me, and not leave her at home.
We had a random trail of conversations: the fact that Big Head Todd sings “Bittersweet” (not Toad the Wet Sprocket - thanks, dorks), babies, Dancing with the Stars, p0rn, stinky feet, San Diego… and I learned that my dog looks anorexic (or “thin” & “small”, compared to what she used to look like)! “Their lives are so short as it is…” was Gretty’s argument to feed her more. So, this morning, I gave her a full 1/2 cup of food (not heaping, but usually I just give her a scant 1/2 cup of food) along with the usual green peas and a special treat mixed in - a sausage patty left over from Boom this past weekend.
However, the pièce de résistance was
!
We totally rocked out, for a few songs. I liked playing the guitar, but that is b/c we have Guitar Hero and so I was not too shabby. I tried my hand at the drums, but I was not good. It is definitely more fun to play than spectate.
All in all, a very good night! Adds to the bittersweet-ness of our leaving. (However, talks of some peeps doing the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon are continuing, and the party is growing! More on this after confirmation on Saturday)
Yesterday afternoon, my friend Immy and I took the dogs, Ruby and JJ (a.k.a. Jingles or Jingle Jangles), to the dog park. Since it was a nice day, there were quite a few dogs out there. Ruby found some friends - Rudy, a 1-year-old Boston Terrier, and Dakota, a 4-month-old Golden retriever puppy (who was already as big a Ruby!). Anyway, Rudy was the main instigator, and all 3 dogs played happily - running, wrestling, all the usual stuff.
Ims and I are talking and just enjoying the day. I look over, and what do I see?! Ruby, my girl dog, has her front paws on Rudy (boy dog) - in the hump position! But she doesn’t make the humping motions… I think she learned the hump position from seeing the other dogs and also from the many boy dogs that want a little piece of Ruby. When she was up in the hump position on Rudy, she looked at me and was like, So what do I do now?
It was HI-larious! I told her that she was a lady and ladies do not hump boy dogs, or any dogs, for that matter. Evidently, though, it is a dominance thing. Later on, the tables were turned and Rudy was the one trying to hump Ruby… And JJ (a boy dog) is always being humped by other boy dogs, since he has such a laid back vibe. We, the peanut gallery (Immy and I), always encourage him to defend his manhood 
I dropped Ruby off this morning to get groomed and her nails done (i.e. cut & drummeled). When I picked her up, we wandered to the local doggie store, Beggar’s Bones. When I went up to pay for Ruby’s vegan treats, I saw a poster on the wall that caught my eye - NotMYPitbull, a photographic project demonstrating the true character, sensitivity and loving nature of this misunderstood breed. The artist, Karen Morgan, went to VCU and now lives in Chicago. The NotMYPitbull site gives a lot of good background and history on the pitbull.
Now, to clarify, Ruby is not a pitbull, but rather an English Staffordshire Bull Terrier mix. But pitbulls are her close first cousins, and people who don’t know much often think she is a pittie. For those in the know, she is really too petite to be an American Pit Bull Terrier.
Regardless, I am a huge bully breed lover because of Ruby, and firmly believe that dogs are good. It is bad owners that create bad / mean / aggressive dogs. I could go on, but I will step down from my soap box now…
Yarbidy sent me cds with photos of Thanksgiving and the Austin Marathon - I got them today. The best part is she included them in a super cute handmade card! and she rarely makes cards…
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I was at Macy’s the other day looking for drinking glasses (we have gotten rid of all our plastic glasses, as they possibly leach bad things when put in the dishwasher) from the Martha Stewart Collection. I didn’t end up buying glasses there (got them from Kmart - their Martha Stewart Everyday line - I heart that line! It is great - tho Kmart is totally ghetto. I guess I am lucky we have Kmarts in Va… don’t think they exist in TX) but I did end up getting a cute glass container (supposidly to be used for snacks, but would be a huge amount of snacks…) with a turquose top and matching towels with a turquoise accent on them for my downstairs bathroom. I think the towels are actually bar towels, but they look cute.
Part of why I love her stuff so is the clean and attractive packaging. Not a good reason, I know, but I am the type to buy something just to try based on it’s packaging…
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I cooked up the rest of Ruby’s pumpkin, as part of her veggie dog diet. This time it was a little odd - as the pumpkin was still the one that Ims and Gretty gave to us, but I had frozen the extra. So I thawed it out, and it was already mushy from defrosting, and then steamed it. Ruby knew exactly want was going on, and was very excited!
Here is the cooked pumpkin.
Mashing it.
Full container! This should last a week or so…
I give her a heaping amount of pumpkin with a scant 1/2 cup of dog food on top for each meal. Makes her deuces orange and big, but she does love it!
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As we are using up our conventional cleaners (and paper products), I am replacing with cleaners that don’t contain toxic chemicals (paper products that are unbleached and recycled) - which is better for us and the earth.
I was a little wary of using this Seventh Generation dish washer detergent, as our dishwasher is not the best. Has left food and stuff on the dishes in the past - so I had to go from using the water miser mode, to the full water mode.
Anyway, this stuff works great! and I can use the water miser mode again. Seventh Generation promised to get our dishes sparkling clean, and they did! I am quite pleased.
