Muddy Pawz

WTF!

2008-09-22T15:53:00.000-07:00

Ok people here's my contest - WTF SHIT ON MY VAN! My van was parked at my cottage up in Holland, MA and this is what I found all over and yes people it is bird shit. I mean it's a Honda Odysee - a pretty big mini van and the whole damn side was covered in one large bird turd. Are there freaking Pterodactyl's flying around south eastern Massachusetts??

Dolphin Rings

2008-09-19T09:22:00.002-07:00

So cool how they make these! Click on the title of the post for more info...

Doggie Gas

2008-09-19T09:22:00.001-07:00

Here's what I don't understand about dogs. They eat call kinds of nasty stuff, dead animals, dirty underwear, their own vomit but none of that tends to give them a boo boo belly - but GOD FORBID if you change their dog food! All the sudden all hell breaks loose with their digestive system and all you smell is doggie air biscuits for the next few days! Go figure...

Love is a DingleBerry

2008-09-17T16:26:00.003-07:00

Last night Mimi and I were doing our nightly routine - which basically consists of watching the economy take a shitter on CNN and eating ice cream. As we cuddled on the bed I kept smelling what I thought was doggie gas. "Damn girl!" I kept saying "what the hell did you eat today". After about an hour there was a part of my brain saying something isn't quite right with this situation. I picked her up and low and behold she had the worlds largest dingleberry on her ass. Freaking out I rushed her into the bathroom and calling the hubby for help we proceeded to spend about 15 minutes scrubbing her ass clean then trimming the fur around said ass. If that isn't love I don't know what is!

B & E at the Cottage

2008-09-17T16:26:00.002-07:00

To make a long story short my key didn't work at the cottage so we had to figure out a more creative way to get inside. It involved hubby hoisting my fat ass through a side window. Not a pretty picture I'm sure. The end result was me sliding through the window with my feet sticking out the back and hubby trying to keep me from sliding. What resulted was this nice bruise on the inside of my leg from all the poundage of me pressing up against the window ledge. Nice huh?

$5.18 at Wal-Mart

2008-09-17T16:26:00.001-07:00

I went to Walmart yesterday. I picked up just a few small things I needed and the total came to $5.18. Shocking I know - it is possible to leave Walmart only spending a few bucks. Of course I was recovering from a Nyquil high and everything in the store looked kinda wavy and scary looking but I digress. The total comes to $5.18. I hand the cashier a $20. which he proceeds to enter into the machine. I then let him know I have the .18 cents. I shit you not he looks right at me and says "well now you just totally screwed me up. How much do I have to give you back?" I (along with the guy behind me) was so shocked I was barely able to get "$15.00" out of my mouth. The thing that was so scary was this guy wasn't some 16 yr old clueless wonder. It was a 60 something year old "I haven't saved enough for retirement so now I'm forced to work at Walmart" kinda guy. Unbelievable.

This is what we saw out on the lake today - ghetto!

2008-08-31T16:46:00.000-07:00

It's basically a dock with a 2 hp motor attached. Complete with lawn chairs, cooler full of bud and I'm sure there was a bug zapper somewhere.

Pimp My Mac!

2008-08-11T16:55:00.000-07:00

My bro made me this awesome vinyl cover for my Macbook Pro. It's a copy of my favorite painting called "Gargoyles" by Michael Parkes. Isn't it bitchin!?

I got a bad feeling about this....

2008-08-11T16:40:00.000-07:00

I was stupid. It doesn't happen all that often but when it does I go all out. Recently my hubby and I changed computers. I needed the portability of a laptop so we switched my desktop for his laptop. We installed everything back onto the laptop using a bootable copy off my external hard drive. When we were installing all my stuff onto the laptop we realized that we didn't have enough room to put everything back (the laptop has a much smaller drive then the desktop). So we decided to put everything back except my photos - we left those on the hard drive to be installed at a later date when I bought a bigger hard drive. Well - a few days later I realized - hey I haven't done a back up in awhile. I plugged the external hard drive into my laptop and it automatically did a backup that night. On the way home from work today I had a holy shit moment - one that comes from way down in the pit of your stomach. I realized that the backup would have wiped everything off of the hardrive including all my photos. 20 yrs of memories - poof - gone. I panicked, I cried, I freaked.

Hubby then remembered he still had one of my old laptop drives. We hooked it and and miracle of miracles it still had all my pictures. The latest batch was from 11/2007 - so I lost some pictures but it's been a slow camera year and not much was lost. I've posted many of this years big events online so I should be able to recover at least some of 2008. I was thinking I was probably the only person on the planet to actually LOSE everything doing a backup.

Lion Hug Part II

2008-08-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

A few posts back I linked a video story about Christian the Lion. A dear friend of mine sent me a video that has the full story of this incredible human/animal bond:

http://www.jibjab.com/view/248917

Mouse Invasion...

2008-08-06T09:39:00.001-07:00

Right after we got back from our vacation in Wildwood our kitty disappeared. He was old and sometime cats just wander off to pass on to the great catnip farm in the sky. While he was with us he took care of keeping the field mouse population under control. Without him we’ve had to resort to mouse traps. I bought a bunch of them yesterday - the kind that are supposed to keep the dead little guys out of view. What they don’t tell you is that their dead little butts and tails hang out the back end - something this animal lover isn’t prepared to deal with. I figured maybe we had one or two of the little buggers living with us - we caught three in one day. If they just would learn to poop in a litter box I’d be happy to live all together under one roof! So for now hubby is earning his keep by being on mouse trap patrol.

Another awesome animal video - Twin Moose playing with a sprinkler....

2008-08-03T17:00:00.000-07:00

Lion Hug...

2008-07-22T11:59:00.000-07:00

You can check out the story behind this video at:

Lion Hug

Divine Enlightenment - Who Knew?

2008-05-30T04:50:00.000-07:00

Divine Enlightenment - Who Knew?

This is a must read for all you tin foil lovers out there - regardless what you use it for!

Stuck Boy

2008-05-27T16:04:00.000-07:00

This is how our morning started:

Bark bark bark bark bark - run outside to see what the hell they're barking at. All dogs are under the shed - run out with bag of dog treats to get dogs out from under the shed. Two of the three decide treats are better then what's under the shed and follow mama into the house. Third dog - well - check out the photos and video titled "Stuck Boy" .

Enjoy!

Holy Shit!

2008-05-27T16:00:00.002-07:00

About a 1/2 hour after my last post a hummingbird came to my feeder! I couldn't believe it! I saw it and froze in my seat - it was a beautiful Ruby Throated Hummingbird. Of course since I was frozen in my seat I didn't get a picture. These guys are a challange to photograph to begin with - but as soon as I get something I'll post it up for y'all to see.

Hoping for Hummers

2008-05-27T16:00:00.001-07:00

Ok all you sick freaks - this post is about hummingbirds! I've been trying for years to get them to come to my feeder with no luck. So this year I've moved the feeder to the front yard and planted a nice Trumpet Creeper next to it (this plant is a hummingbird magnet). If this doesn't work I freakin give up!

The Trip

2008-05-27T15:59:00.001-07:00

Here's how the rest of the trip went down - and yes we did make in onto the ship! We got the birth certificate (and the crazy thing is they gave it to me without asking for ID!) Made it to JFK to catch the flight to San Juan. Just before we were about to board something made me check the itinerary for the ship - it didn't get into San Juan until the next day! Thank go for the iPhone - I was able to find us a hotel for the night and life was good. The next day I was crazy nervous (see previous posts about what our options would be once the ship came into port). They let us on without any issues - they didn't even freakin ask to see the the birth certificate! Pffft! Anyway - we had a wonderful trip - you can see the pictures posted in the album section of the blog.

Beam down the passport!

2008-05-27T15:58:00.002-07:00

Yesterday started out as an awesome day! We were heading off on a cruise with the family - hubby, Mom, Bro, Sis-in-Law and the boys. Great week - 8 beautiful days in the sun. Sigh.... Packed all our stuff - got in the car to leave for NYC to catch the ship. Honey did you pack the passports - yes stupid. Let me double double check to make sure. Here's yours babe - mine???? It's got to be in here somewhere.... must have left it in the house. And it starts - 5 hours of searching. No seriously - 5 hours. Destroyed the house looking for the little book. During that 5 hours I hit all the stages of grief including shock, denial, bargaining (made a lot of deals with God yesterday) then finally acceptance. Though acceptance took a number of strong drinks a Ruby Tuesday to reach. No passport. Couldn't find my fucking birth certificate either. Which means boat leaves without the Lanks. But alas we have a PLAN! The ship docks in San Juan on Monday night. We bought two one way tickets to San Juan - we'll get a replacement birth certificate Monday morning (hurdle number one) then race to JFK to hop the plane to San Juan (hurdle 2). Once we get to San Juan a few things can happen:

A: They let us on the ship with no issues.
B: Customs cites us for violating the Passenger Vessel Services Act (no seriously) and we are allowed to board the ship after paying $300. each person for the violation.
C: Customs says take your shit and go home

So - wish us luck - bon voyage! I hope to not be updating this story on Tuesday!

Weather...

2008-05-27T15:58:00.001-07:00

I've always been a person who loves bad weather. Not sure why - I think it's because it makes us remember how small we are. It's raining like hell tonight - the harder it rains the more I like it. Add some serious thunder and lightening into the mix and now we're talking a real party. Most people get crabby after getting a good soak - wet clothes, shoes, hair...I however think it's a blessing. I think to myself that there will come a day when I am much older, bed ridden in the nursing home, wishing I could go outside and get wet in the rain.

30 Yards of Shit...

2008-05-27T15:57:00.001-07:00

Yup - we are able to fill a 30 yard dumpster full of shit from our house. I'm not sure how we got this much stuff! We're two people for god's sake! I could see if we had children - children inherently come with lots of shit! So that's pretty much how I spent my vacation - pulling out bags and bags of just stuff. I'm trying to avoid becoming one of those people that have like 40 bars of soap or 18 cans of tuna fish "just in case".

Another Livestock Story...

2008-05-27T15:56:00.001-07:00

Munson decided to bring Ken a nice present the other morning - dropped it right in bed with him. I guess in doggy thinking dead mice make great gifts. I also learned that big guys can also scream like girls (giggle:) )

Parking

2008-05-27T15:54:00.000-07:00

Here's the highlight of my life right now - parking. Yup - parking. I've been with the same company for 20 years. I work in a city where parking is at a premium. For those of us "lifers" we wait in our cube farm with baited breath for the day we finally get THE CALL. It's the parking fairy! And she's finally come for me! After 20 years of blood, sweat and tears I finally get a parking space reserved for little old me. My own space - my own little slab of asphalt. MINE!

Sigh - ok time to get a life.

St Maarten

2007-05-13T18:10:00.000-07:00

We've been in St. Maarten for 7 days now and unfortunately we know the end is in site. I've posted a number of pictures on our Picasso account you can get there by clicking on the link under Blogroll - Lank Albums. The weather here has been perfect - sunny and warm with a gentle breeze everyday. Croissants and Orangina for breakfast and dinner at beach bars at night. Mimi has been enjoying the pool - and the beaches. She looks like a drowned rat when she get out! Earlier in the week she had a close encounter with a local donkey. Yesterday it was with a lizard and a large orange spider that sent me running for cover! Today we're going to a bar at the end of the runway to the airport. Supposed to be way cool watching the 747's come in right over your head - should have some great pictures uploaded later on. Not much to write about since as expected there insn't much chaos here as there is back home at the zoo. Muson and Shadow have been home with our sitters Wagging Tails for the past 7 days - I dread what we are going to find when we get home! They love to destroy stuff and take advantage of the unsuspecting dog sitters! Happy Wednesday to all!

Stupidity - The New Element

2007-01-31T08:39:00.000-08:00

Since I've had some time to observe the world over the past few days under the chemical cloud of cold remedies I wanted to say a few things about stupidity. I firmly believe it needs to be added to the Periodic Table of Elements - seriously. Just like water and oxygen it is a key component in the biological make up of humans. I bet someday they will find a special link in the DNA chain that contains the "stuff" of stupidity. My own case in point first:

Monday night I was trying to sleep (and as you can see from my previous posts said chemical mixture makes that difficult). So after about 4 hours of sleep I promptly woke up - not sure why. Went to the fridge and refilled my cup of cranberry juice and headed back to the bed with said cup. I sat back in the bed and SOMEHOW - without much warning fell back to sleep. I'm not sure how much time passed but I again suddenly woke up and things were a bit "different" from the way I left them. I woke up still holding the glass of cranberry juice, albeit a mostly tipped over glass - picture this - me, propped up on a stack of pillows, back against the stack, slumped over holding a glass of now spilled cranberry juice. My first thought when I opened my eyes was that my body was now part of a crime scene - red everywhere! As the fog cleared I was relieved to see it was only my own stupidity in action.

Since we're on the topic of sleep - talk about stupid. I was watching a commercial for a new sleep remedy called Lunesta. As part of the add it says to take the drug right before going to bed (duh) and do not drive or operate machinery after taking Lunesta. Who has that much stupid that they pop a sleeping pill before going for a drive or mowing the lawn?

Or better yet -

I saw this story in CNN the other day - the found a guy dead in the wheel well of an airplane that landed in London's Heathrow airport. Apparently he tried to stowaway on the plane. NOW I can see MAYBE somebody being a little stupid and trying this on a short flight - let's say Boston to Chicago - an hour or so, but again a major stupid thing to try. What level of stupidity was the guy in the article? His flight was going from somewhere in Africa to London - at least a NINE hour flight?? Doing that kind of flight in coach hurts your ass - a wheel well?

Snot Beast

2007-01-29T09:40:00.000-08:00

This is what I look like when I'm battling the snot beast

Bronchitis 2007 - Better Living Through Chemistry

So it happens every year whether I need it or not attack of the Bronchitis Monstor - but this year I had a game plan! At the first sign of the snotty invader I hooked myself up with a stash of Predisone and Mucinex. Since last Tuesday it's been a race to see how fast I could slay the beast - I have to say I think I set a new Rachel record of 7 days (knocking wood). Since Wednesday night I have been out of the house exactly TWO times - once for donuts (those are a must on Prednisone) and the other for Munson Pacifiers (see previous posts - these are also a must or he spends large quantities of time trying to hump my leg... but I digress). The humidifier and Vicks are my new best friends. I spend my days coughing into napkins and blowing my nose then checking the tissue to see if anything important shot out or if the lime green stuff is back to normal. The beautiful thing with Prednisone is that you DON'T SLEEP! And my house is cleaner then it's been in a year because the drugs just won't let you sit still. I've finished two crocheted lap blankets, started a third, organized 6000 photos in my iPhoto collection and learned that the only thing on at 2:30 in the morning is Girls Gone Wild and Law and Order. Speaking of Law and Order I've been able to catch up on the last 20 years worth. Happy sick season to all!

Riding in January!

2007-01-29T06:39:00.000-08:00

This weekend we experienced record warm temperatures here in New England. 72 degrees - unbelievable and a bit weird? You look around and wonder what the hell is going on. People going to the beach, golfing, motorcycles everywhere. Kids in shorts. The calm before the storm? If this is the calm I can’t imagine what the storm is going to be like! We took the bikes out for a beautiful ride. The geek motorcycle gang took a ride to the shore for seafood and had ice cream on the way home. The bikes should be frozen and we should be up to our asses in snow. If this weather continues and the Sox win the pennant again this year I’m stocking up on Ramen noodles and checking my ass into the nearest bomb shelter because Armageddon is coming!

See the albums section for more pictures.

Damage Control!

2007-01-29T06:34:00.000-08:00

You really can’t tell by the picture of poor little innocent Munson but that bone he’s holding in his mouth is actually a lethal weapon. The picture on the left shows the damage aforementioned bone does to my big piggy when he drops said bone straight up and down, let me emphasize sharp side down, on tender piggy. Right on the joint - pain pain pain! Plus the damn thing was frozen and full of marrow making it extra heavy as it landed on poor piggy. AND when we came home from work - Munsy boy was still walking around with said bone and dropped it AGAIN on poor piggy - luckily piggy had shoe protection on and we did not see lights and stars like we did during the first bone dropping that morning. Moral of the story - piggies need to beware of dogs carrying frozen animal parts.

The Holidays are Over!

2007-01-29T06:24:00.001-08:00

The Lank family zoo survived another holiday season without an “incidents”. Ok - we had one near miss. Mimi learned that if she walks on the kitchen table she can find table scraps. We thought the table was a safe zone for christmas cookies because the big dogs can’t get near it now do to our indoor invisible fence. We didn’t realize they could tag team it - Mimi knocks the loot off the table and the others do the snag and grab. Luckily not much was left so no chocolate emergencies. Ken also discovered the importance of emergency brakes -

One morning he was starting his Jeep (which is a standard shift - important info for this story) to thaw it out and went into the house while it warmed up. A few minutes later when he went out to leave he discovered the Jeep in the middle of the street. Luckily nobody was around to see the stupidity or get hit by the escaping Jeep. Never a dull moment.

Yummy! PepperJack Cheese for Me!

2007-01-29T06:21:00.002-08:00

Last night Ken and I needed to take a quick trip to Wal-Mart to get a new coffee pot. Nothing terribly exciting - just a quick trip. We’ve gotten into the habit of taking Mimi and Munson on these quick trips because they’re both very good in the car and they both love to go bye bye. Since Shadow is such a maniac in the car we leave him home and he’s normally too clueless to even realize we all left.

So off we go - two humans, two dogs - Wal Mart. After our trip we pull back in the driveway and the house is eerily quiet. Normally Shadow is either barking at the door or standing on the kitchen table waiting to greet our arrival. This time - nothing be silence.

We walk into the kitchen and the first thing that gets are attention is the refrigerator door wide open - and little specks of bloody footprints on the floor. Much to our surprise it didn’t look like anything was stolen during his heist and the only damage was a small cut on his foot from trying to open the vegetable drawer.

Jump to the next morning. Ken goes to the fridge to get the creamer and for the 1st time really takes a look inside. “Babe - did you finish off the pepper jack cheese? I didn’t think you’d like it because it’s hot as hell. Two slices and my ass was on fire!”

“ Nope” I reply - “not me.”

Our eyes slowly turn to the guilty party - the great refrigerator caper. We don’t know how this story will end. Spicy cheese, dog with sensitive stomach, doggie door needing to be shut all day because X-mas gifts are being delivered. I have a feeling we’re going to get a big old runny X-mas gift of our own from Shadow Buddy.

Christmas is Coming!

2007-01-29T06:21:00.001-08:00

Christmas again is coming up fast and furious. I think the arctic cold that came through today really brought that point home last night. I’m in New York city on business and it’s freakin cold here! There are a few things changing this year for our christmas. We lost my Dad last January and he was our christmas “lights” guy. My dad and I did the lights on the tree for years. That was our job - untangle the lights, fix the bulbs and when we finally got the damn things blinking we put them on the tree. Every year he would also tell me he’s not decorating the yard - he’s getting to old and it’s not happening. Every year I’d whine that he had to do the lights and every christmas he’d “surprise” and put them up. I’m going to miss that. He’d also spend tons of time running around the house to get the christmas carols playing - no easy feat considering how screwed up his sound system was in the house!

Anyhow - I froze my butt off last night but finally got to see the tree in Rockafeller plaza so I’ll be posting those later. I’m also off to see the boys this weekend in Queens so you bet I’ll be posting pictures of the most beautiful babies in the whole world!

Another Boy!

2007-01-29T06:19:00.000-08:00

Our new nephew arrived today. I’m sure he was quite surprised when strange hands reached into his peaceful world and pulled him out into this chaos! Bright lights, flashes, lot’s of loud voices - and what is this diaper thing? You expect me to poop in that? Where’s the warm water? What do you mean I have to eat off of that thing!

THAT's Not a BONE!

2006-10-16T05:38:00.000-07:00

It was a typical evening in the Lank family Zoo. The troops had been fed and we'd settled down for a night of Tivo. The typical arrangement during TV time in the Lank house is: Ken and one of the dogs in the living room and me and two of the dogs in my room. We normally watch a few hours of killer TV then settle in to sleep time. On this particular night I had Mimi with me at the top of the bed and Shadow chewing on his "bone" at the foot of the bed. Typically at lights off we take away any of the chew toys the dogs are working on so that we don't get hours of chomp chomp chomp while we're trying to fall asleep. The same is true on this night - I got up, turned off the light, said goodnight to Mimi and then reached down to pet Shadow and say goodnight. Ken stayed up watching TV in the living room. I reached down (keep in mind it was pitch black!), pat Shadow on the neck to say good night and snuck my hand under his chin to take away his "bone". As I grabbed onto it my brain registered something familiar yet foreign at the same time. It was soft, fluffy and not very bone like at all. Something in my brain screemed "Danger Will Robinson!" and I shot out of the bed like a rocket and reached for the light. Here's the order of events:

Light
Eyes register dead animal
Scream
Eyes register dead animal again
Scream again
Ken pounding down the hallway toward the crime scene
Scream some more
Race past Ken to the bathroom, shut door and proceed to bleach hands
Scream, cry, scream,cry
Shadow freaks out, Ken yells dead squirrel
Ken pries dead squirrel away from shocked dog
More screaming.
Squirrel makes trip to garbage pail
Ken soothes screaming wife and tramautized dog.
Ken strips all bedding, wife won't come out of bathroom until all gone
Lights back out for night night.
Lot's of nightmares about dead squirrels.

P.S the soft and fluffy item I grabbed that started this whole story in motion was the dead squirrels tail. Thus the bleaching scene.

Just another night in Paradise!

Panda Power

2006-09-27T07:40:00.000-07:00

I found these pictures on line - they are the freakin cutest thing! They were taken while NBC
s Mark Mullen was reporting on the apparent baby boom among China's captive Pandas. Most of the pictures you normally see of Pandas depict them just too perfect, they don't even seem like animals! This series shows the true character of the bear :)

Pandas

Sep 27, 2006 - 19 Photos

My New Headphones Story

2006-09-17T16:48:00.000-07:00

My new headphones story

So I order these new Bose headphones - I had tried them on at the store and they were incredible -they're noise cancelling and they really block out all ambient sound so that all you here is perfect quality music. Anywhooo - I bring them into work last week. I'm sitting at my desk minding my own business with the headphones on and I can't here shit! So I'm typing away, in my own world, totally forgetting where I was for a minute while I enjoyed my music. Well it so happened I had one of those moments - moments when a little gas needs to escape, just a little bit. One of those moments when in the privacy of your own home you kinda lift a cheek just a bit to let the little vibration loose.
However - this moment was not in the privacy of my own home, it was in the privacy of my headphones - my brain went on vacation and forgot with all the peace and tranquility I was feeling that I was NOT in the privacy of my own home when I let the small vibration loose. Immediatly my brain recognized that something was terribly wrong - I was not home enjoying peace and quiet I was at my DESK, at WORK! I instantly took off the headphones to try and determine how truly loud it was since I didn't actually hear it - I only felt it! I checked out the faces of the folks around me - either they were agast in what they just heard and were ignoring me or it wasn't as bad as I thought it was. Soooo lesson learned - just because you can't hear it doesn't mean it doesn't exist! Those suckers should come with a warning label!

Motorcycle Mimi

2006-09-17T16:25:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went on another bike ride. This time it was up to Doc's motorcycle shop for customer appreciation day. When we got there it was motorcycle heaven. Tons of bikes (and freaky people for that matter!) - even a tatoo contest! Something for everyone I guess. Of course we had Mimi with us - no matter how big or bad looking the dude (or dudette) she was able to melt there heart! With my capri pants and little heart baseball cap I didn't exactly blend (lot's of leather everywhere on these people!) but they were able to overlook my fashion faux pas and I was able to overlook the leather thongs!

September 17th Motorcycle Trip

Jan 26, 2006 - 22 Photos

Free Basing Q Tips

2006-07-28T17:49:00.000-07:00

This dog has a problem - ok he has many problems but here's one of them. He's addicted to QTips - the dirtier the better but he'll settle for a box of clean one's as well. Last week I caught him in the act. He grabbed the box off my makeup table and carried it up onto the bed to binge! It's going to be an interesting week for the guy who comes to scoop up the doggie poo - Shadow's put down about 20 Qtips so .... well use your imagination!

Love Shacks in Santo Domingo!

2006-07-27T19:09:00.000-07:00

If you look closely at this picture you'll see garage doors that run all the way down the row. These are "love shacks" in Santo Domingo - like the name? Happy City! The way it works is this - you drive into one of the bay doors with your wife, girlfriend, whatever floats your boat - and inside each door is a bed, fridge, etc. It's a mini hotel room charged by the minute rate. The garage doors are to keep the car hidden from curiosity seekers. These are all over this area of Santo Domingo - names like Nectar, Extasis, Andromeda, Obsession. Gotta love it! We'd make a fortune with these in the states!

Munson and his Pacifier

2006-06-13T17:20:00.000-07:00

We just love this picture of Munson! He looks so darn cute and innocent in this picture but that’s only because he has what we call a “Munsy Pacifier”. If he doesn’t have one he’s a maniac - humping and harassing everything in site. But if he has a compressed rawhide bone (by the way the only type of rawhide a dog should get) he transforms into this innocent looking pup. Like the song says “He’s an angel without a halo and with one wing in the fire”.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers!

2006-06-13T17:16:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we started to notice these little brown moths flying around the kitchen. We figured they somehow got into the house when the screen was open and would eventually go away. They didn’t go away - in fact they started to multiply. We watched as Munson would pluck one out of the air as it did a fly by. We started to realize that they seemed to have made their home in our pantry and were quite content to stay there.

So - online we went. How do we get rid of the little buggers? As much as we’ve enjoyed their company (and Munson enjoyed the flying appetizers) it was time for them to go. We found out our little friends are called pantry moths and the only way to get rid of them was to throw out all the flower and sugar products and put little moth traps.

So off to Lowe’s we went. Found the moth traps and bought a couple. We read on line that theses worked by attracting the male moths with female pheromones. Seemed simple enough - open the package, put the little pheromone dot on the sticky stuff and it’s good to go. SO I did just that - opened the package..... and a million male pantry moths came out of nowhere! They caught one whiff of that stuff and went nuts. Instinct told me to run - so I did - toward the bedroom - not realizing that in my horror I as still holding the trap as I ran! Tons of little brown, horny, male pantry moths followed me down the hall. These guys must have thought they found the mother load of all female moths! I did a u-turn in the hall, they did a u-turn in the hall, back to the kitchen and threw the trap in the pantry - in went all the little horny bastards in after it. So for the next few weeks my pantry will be cheap motel for moths looking for a good time only to find themselves stuck in that big moth trap in the sky.

Our View

2006-06-05T17:15:00.000-07:00

This was our sunset Sunday night from the Lank family homestead. This picture was shot from our deck which - if you’ve read the previous entries was almost put through forced destruction thanks to Munson.

Shadow's Steak Story

2006-06-04T17:15:00.000-07:00

This actually happened a few weeks ago - just haven’t had a chance to blog it.

Shadow is an opportunist. He’s plays stupid but he always has an eye open for food scores. He saw his chance when I forgot to close the frig completely. Now - just to set the stage: I had gone to the grocery story earlier during the day. I’d been craving a good steak and picked up two beautiful tenderloins. Figured we’d fire up the grill and make ourselves a great meal. Then along comes Shadow and his keen eye. The glare from the fridge - the smell of steak - and off he goes. Full throttle out the doggy door into the back yard. Now - Shadow never moves that quickly unless he’s into trouble. I’ve changed into my nasty old pj’s - here the commotion and slide down the hall into the kitchen. The glare from the fridge - the missing steaks - and off I go! Out the back door. Shadow’s gotten through the paper layer and is about to bite into the second steak (the first was down with one bite) when I lay out a full body tackle. He’s on the ground, shocked looked on his face. I’m on the ground - full arm extension up toward heaven holding the remaining hunk of meet. Brush off some of the grass - still good to go for dinner. That one was Ken’s steak anyway.

Munson's Encounter with being Chubby

2006-06-03T17:14:00.000-07:00

Munson didn’t think he was chubby - at least not until his deck adventure. In his mind he still thinks he’s a 20lb puppy rather than a 100 lb adolescent. How did he make this discovery you ask? Well - he decided it would be a good idea to follow the other two dogs under our deck (keep in mind that our deck is only about a foot off the ground). In went Mimi, Shadow and Munson. Out came Mimi and Shadow - no Munson. It didn’t take long for us to hear the whining from down below. We got a flashlight and much to our surprise our Big Boy was wedged under the deck. At first it was funny - then we started to panic when he wouldn’t come out no matter how much we called and tempted him with goodies. All I could picture was Ken taking a saws-all to our beautiful deck. Then my genius of a husband had an idea - maybe we need to get the goodies closer to him so he’d be more tempted to move! We got the light-bulb changer we use for the lights in our cathedral ceiling - packed that sucker up with pepperoni and got it inches from his face. That got him to move! He dug and snorted a trail behind the bouncing pepperoni - out to freedom. He got the lump-o-meat and Ken and I got to keep our deck and our sanity.

Therapy Team

2006-05-10T17:07:00.000-07:00

Mimi and I had our first official visit at as a Therapy Team today. We visited Bradley Hospital in Southington. Our goal is to visit the hospital at least once a week. We were both a bit nervous for our first visit. We visited a number of patients in their rooms - Mimi took a lot of interest in their IV’s. I think she thinks they were “boo boos” that need to be cleaned! We worked together to make sure she didn’t pay too much attention to the boo boos and all of her attention on the patient.
We had a few learnings - first being Mimi is not crazy about bandages - they make her nervous. Over time we should be able to work through that. Second - make sure we schedule our visits BEFORE they serve dinner. Just like the IV Mimi wanted to devote all of her attention to the meatloaf dinner!

New Wheels

2006-05-06T17:05:00.000-07:00

This is Ken’s new set of wheels. He’s wanted a bike for so long and finally the opportunity presented itself. For additional pic’s click on the link below to get to Ken’s site.

Rockcrawler

Strawberry Shortcake

2006-04-14T17:02:00.000-07:00

I forgot to share with you guys the card I got from my nephew (the coolest kid in the world I might add!) for Valentine’s Day! Is he not so freakin cute! Strawberry Shortcake was his grandpa’s favorite dessert so I’m sure he’d love this picture

Certifiable

2006-04-14T17:00:00.000-07:00

Mimi and I received our badges from the Delta Society so now we are an official Pet Partners Team. We have applied to volunteer at Bradley Hospital here in Southington. All the paperwork was submitted - they are going to do a criminal background check! I’m not worried about me but I’m not sure what kind of crazy stuff Mimi is into during the day while I’m working! We think her and Shadow have stolen are Dunkin Donuts card and are hitting the caffeine heaven every morning - but that’s a whole other story! Wish us luck!

Buffalo Wings

2006-04-13T16:59:00.000-07:00

So - another exciting night in the Lank family zoo. Here’s how it started: We came home from work and running errands. Ken was the first one in the house - all I heard from the kitchen was a loud “What the f@%k! “ That sent me running in the direction of the chaos. I came around the corner and it was a chicken wing (or lack thereof I should say) and garbage fest. Someone - ok me - had left the door to the pantry open by mistake and the sweet smell of buffalo chicken wing bones lured the furries to attack the garbage pail. Chicken wings and doggie stomachs soooo for the next 24 hours we get to watch our puppies poop, and poop and poop to make sure the chicken bones “process” and become one with the earth. Oh joy -