recent publicity

pouncey was ranked the #6 cutest dog in the whole entire world in 2012 by the daily puppy.

 

#1 labrador retriever! Daily Puppy Top 100 Puppies of 2012.

also nacho was on the front page of the mountain xpress for doing his snowbunny ski jump.

Storify: Western North Carolina gets a snow day By Caitlin Byrd on 03/06/2013


eli the mutt is cute too.

happy birthday POUNCEY!

to the dog affectionately referred to as:

pounce-ters
pounce-to-pounce
pouncey de leon
pounce diggity
sir pounce-a-lot
pantsy
pansy
bouncy
jumpy
puppysnuggs

woooo hoooo! it's pouncey's birthday! he made it! one whole year! he has eaten a few magazines, 1 pair of shoes, a piece of the gutter off the house, corners from a few pillows, buttons from a handful of shorts. nothing major.

he has learned all of his tricks, and is working hard on a new one for when people come to the door. instead of barking and trampling, he gets on his bed and stays until i say 'okay.' then he pounces at me full steam for a piece of bacon.  



from his first day when he was just barely hatched and probably still blind, til today when he snuggles nacho's butt for a nap, he has been a real joy!

happy birthday pouncey puppy!

the tow truck driver made me cry

got in the car this morning at 730 AM, excited to get to 2 local thrift stores early when the first racks came out and the aisles would not be clogged with nit wits and their shopping carts.

the lights on the dashboard came on, but the engine didn't start, and i could not shift the car into drive, reverse, neutral - nothing. the digital clock was flickering. then i could not turn the car off. this is a potential problem with a battery car. it's a 2005 prius, basically a golf cart with windshield wipers. it was stuck "on" but unable to move in any direction. crazy.

i called the dealer and they thought it needed a new 12 volt battery, a google search confirmed that was probably the problem, and i called a tow truck to bring me and the car to the dealer.

when the tow truck arrived an hour later i asked the guy how he was doing and he said it was the best day of his life.

i thought he was being sarcastic. i said 'oh really, why's that?'

let me say that this was a good ol country boy, probably in his early 50's, bald, scruffy gray beard, a little on the heavy side, cheeks full of chewing tobacco that he was spitting into a mountain dew bottle. 

he said 'i lost my daughter. about 10 years ago. her mama took her from me and i couldn't see her anymore...(me: "oh, i'm sorry...") on the way here i got a call from a girl in oklahoma city. my little girl called me and i got to talk to her for the first time since she was 5 years old. i prayed every single day for this to happen.'

he was crying. i was crying.

turns out she found him through facebook, is about to graduate high school in may, and has a baby boy. she saved all the letters he had ever sent her. he is now saving money to go out there and see her graduate, saying 'that's a big'un...can't miss that."

he dropped me at the dealer, i got a new battery, and went on my merry way. 

pre chomp

chomp

snow froggy

about to leap

 
old school ski trick backscratcher

 

stuck the landing!

pouncey's black dog cafe mascot impression

snow covered mountains stick mouth couch pouncey

twisted tree

it's amazing the lengths life will go to reach the light

locker room at star lanes bowling alley

i bowled for kids sake at 9AM in a lane sponsored by the best asheville bankruptcy lawyer and our good friend and her sweet 'big brothers big sisters' little sister. i am terribly inconsistent at bowling. trying my hardest i can bowl 42, or i can get a string of 5 spares. they were blasting 80's music and we had fun!

dalmatian pouncey

what do you get when you cross a yellow labrador puppy with a black ink pen?

look who's feeling better

speaking of like a bird on a wing

a small bird (wren? sparrow?) just flew into the glass door next to me. 

it crumpled to the ground, twisted and trembling. 

i thought its beak fell off.

after 5 minutes it wasn't moving, i went to get a broom, and i pushed it with the broom just a little.

it ruffled its feathers and sat up straight. 

it stayed frozen there.

i was pretty sure it was dying and considered putting it out of its misery. smack it with the broom? fling it in the woods? let the dogs get to it?

5 minutes later it up and flew away.

moral: sometimes birds take a little while to gather themselves up after a crash, they are not necessarily dead or dying.

let your love flow

this song was #1 the week i was born.

i love everything about this video!

the clothes. the hair. the synchronized strumming. the lyrics. the "country folk song with a disco beat."



the lyrics:

There's a reason for the sunshine in the sky
There's a reason why I'm feelin' so high
Must be the season
When that lovelight shines all around us

So let that feeling grab you deep inside
And send you reeling
Where your love can't hide
And then go stealing through the moonless night
With your lover.

Just let your love flow
Like a mountain stream
And let your love grow
With the smallest of dreams
And let your love show
And you know what I mean
It's the season

Let your love fly
Like a bird on a wing
And let your love bind you
To all living things and
Let your love shine
And you'll know what I mean
That's the reason.

There's a reason for the warm sweet nights
And there's a reason for the candle lights
Must be the season
When those love rites shine all around us

So let that wonder take you into space
And lay you under its loving embrace
Just feel the thunder as it warms your face
You can't hold back.

Just let your love flow
Like a mountain stream
And let your love grow
With the smallest of dreams
And let your love show
And you know what I mean
It's the season

Let your love fly
Like a bird on a wing
And let your love bind you
To all living things and
Let your love shine
And you'll know what I mean
That's the reason.

Just let your love flow
Like a mountain stream
And let your love grow
With the smallest of dreams
And let your love show
And you know what I mean
It's the season

Let your love fly
Like a bird on a wing
And let your love bind you
To all living things and
Let your love shine
And you'll know what I mean

great valentine's day message!

pouncey's darkest hour

this is the last photo of pouncey's gonads.

i called the vet to check on him an 2 hours after he got out of surgery and the receptionist was like "oh yeah he's doin fine, he's back there jumpin all over the place..." so that's good?

they used some kind of medical super glue instead of stitches because he is so bouncy the stitches would not have lasted 1 day. 

he should make a full recovery.  sorry little buddy.

he is also missing 3/4 of his baby seal whiskers. we had a yard fire going this weekend to get rid of dead branches and pouncey chased a tennis ball face first into a fire. i googled it and his whiskers will grow back.

4 good things

my tribute to betsylife and leilaland's weekly 'great list', here are 4 good things from this week illustrated by photos:

we are watching a sweet 12 year old golden retreiver maizey this week. she is blind in one eye but still prances around the yard and don't take no mess from pouncey. or anybody. she is extremely fluffy.

the river is pretty beautiful right now. freezing and full of flotsam from recent storms, but at a pretty level. 

 

february 5 i spotted these crocuses in the yard. february 5! purple ones sprouted to the left of them the next day. to all those in the northeast preparing for a historic blizzard, good luck! 

 

nacho helped himself to maizey's bag of kibbles off the counter last night while we were out. he ate 3-4 days worth. this picture is during the ensuing food coma. extra chunky nachos.  but he's doing fine today! and happy! 

dun dun DUNNNN...dna test results are in!

the official results are in.

pouncey is a full labrador!

despite the fact that he has a black spot on his tongue, and the shape of his head and eyes sometimes resembles a pit bull, 

or a chow chow, 

 

he is 100% floppy droopy goofy lab. 

afternoon nap

i mean really

reactions to snow

we got the first dusting of snow here last night. the 3 dogs have very different reactions to it. 

eli is standing guard, checking things out, making sure nothing is missing or gained.



nacho is waddling along next to me with gullet flapping, looking like the sweet gentle father chrismas of dogs.

 

and pouncey? well pouncey and his icicle whiskers are PLAYING! WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!

more snuggling dogs

for the first time in almost 7 years, i changed the header on this blog.

i'm not big on change!

pouncey panorama

photo by kevin!

what breeds make up your dog?

last year kevin's sister did the DNA dog test to figure out what her "lab mix" birdie was really made of.

turns out she is not a labrador retriever whatsoever, but she is a fox terrier and american bull dog. that explains a lot of her behavior. poor little birdie.



after being asked by a man in the woods "is that dog mostly lab with a little pit?" about pouncey, we decided to test all 3 dogs and see if pouncey is in fact a pit bull.

they send you a swab kit, with 2 swabs, you rub each one in between the dog's gum and cheek, send them back, and in 2 weeks your results are ready.



nacho was the control. nacho has his papers. even though he was massively discounted due to his labrador overbite, and looks a little funny, he's a full blooded lab from decoy labs in oxnard california.

DNA test - confirmed!

next up, eli. kevin got eli from a litter down the street in charlotte. he doesn't have papers. he was supposed to be all lab, and he pretty much looks like a lab and acts like a lab. but he has a white 'star' on his chest, so something doesn't quite add up.



turns out eli is MOSTLY lab.

but hellloooo otterhound!

please meet elidoggy, our little doberman spaniel. he is happy to be related to his cousin henry the king charles spaniel.

last but not least was pouncey the potential pit bull. unfortunately they were unable to get clear results from pouncey's swabs. they are sending another kit for a re-test.

stay tuned!

dogs in cuba

there were many sweet dogs in the streets in havana. most of them looked like a 10-20 lb mutt combination of dachshund wiener dog, papillon, terrier, and/or cocker spaniel.



there were certain dogs who lived in certain city squares. some had paper tags around their neck saying that they lived in that square and had been neutered.

every day i saw cuban people giving food to street dogs. styrofoam platters of yellow rice sat on the sidewalks next to hotels. a woman brought steaming rice in wet newspaper to this pup in the park, and then walked away. it seemed like even the mangy ones were being taken care of.



our cuban tour guide lived in a small apartment by himself and had a dog. he said the dog was 19 years old (maybe another cuban myth) and he fed the dog the same food as he fed himself. not his scraps, he made extra of everything he cooked and fed his dog at the same time.

the main adjective i would use to describe the dogs i met is MELLOW. they weren't friendly, as in coming up to greet a stranger friendly, but if you went up to them, they didn't mind, and wagged their tails. there was no jumping or freaking out, like pouncey puppy perrito would have been doing. no chasing, not much barking. just kind of sitting around. this was the cutest dog gang in havana.



their fur felt like steel wool.

i saw one and only one labrador retriever who looked like nacho. he was being walked on a leash.

service dog puppy live cam

the cutest site on the internet:

Misty's Pups - Nursery Cam

Meet Misty's litter of future service puppies. These five Labrador Retriever pups were born on December 28th and have already begun very important work — helping to heal the invisible wounds of our Nation’s Combat Veterans. Recovering Service Members at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the National Intrepid Center of Excellence in Bethesda, MD are engaged in the critical task of socializing the pups through puppy petting. The litter will spend the next two years lifting the spirits of Wounded Warriors and giving them a therapeutic and purposeful mission. By volunteering to train the pups through the Warrior Canine Connection program, these Warriors will both address their symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress and prepare the pups for future lives as service dogs for their disabled comrades.

baseball in cuba

baseball is the national pastime in cuba. there were pick up games going on all day in every park.



in the middle of the havana streets, little boys played "taco" - stickball using a cut off broomstick for a bat and plastic water bottle cap for a ball.



i never saw a girl playing.

on friday night kevin, his parents, and i went to a baseball game. without internet it was hard to determine if there was a game, and what time. we heard it might be cancelled because the stadium lights were broken. the stadium (estadio latino americano) is located in a rougher, darker, part of town. we got in a taxi and said "beisbol? pelota? estadio?" and the cab driver started yelling "beisbol! beisbol!" and was pretty sure there was no game that night and the stadium would be dark.

we drove up and the floodlights were on and the game was on and starting at 8pm and excited fans were going inside. we were (nicely) directed by police to go buy tickets at a window charging $3 instead of $1 that locals paid, and ushered to seats on the visitors side through the farthest gate away.

the local havana team is called the industriales. their mascot is a blue lion, and they are like the yankees of the cuban league. they were playing the cigar makers from pinar del rio.

the stadium was big. and clean. and full of energy. and people. and people blowing vuvuzelas. air horns. there were drummers. non-stop. we walked around the entire stadium, and it was on the verge of out of control going through the home team side. they did not serve beer, which kept it from having a hooligan feel.  it was exciting.

kevin was impressed with the pitching. 

30 second video of the scene:

we had to meet people in old havana at 930, so after the 3rd inning the 4 of us left and went into the street and kind of wandered looking for non-existent taxis. a few older men were sitting on a corner stoop, saw us and said "taxi?"  we hesitantly followed him down a dark alley and got into his small old honda civic-like car after he shooed a cat out of the front seat. he was not a taxi driver, he was a man with a car looking for some tourist cash. the gas light was flashing and his brights were on as he drove us over potholes back to town. we gave him $10.