A visit from Molly!

Coco: yesterday was a very special day at the Tempesta household. We had a visit from our old friend Freckles......oops......MOLLY. Yes, She's Molly now, and she looks TERRIFIC!!! Olive and Frank brought her over for a "play date" and we sure had a great time. She even brought us T-Bones, which are our favorite treat.

Sandy: Yes, she does look fabulous and I would not have recognized her if not for the sniff test. Yup, she's Molly, but she has come a very long way from the skinny mom with all the new puppies. We've got some pictures to show you.

This picture was not taken from a very good angle, but it does show how good Molly looks.

This is a little better, but Molly is still a little up-tight, but this is early in the visit.

Now she's approaching Mom.

Hugs from Mom!!!

More hugs from Mom!

This may be going too far!!!!

Oh, OK! Olive and Frank are going to take care of us.

Here are most of us getting attention. Coco must be off looking for a treat.

Aaahhh, three handed petting. Just what I like, though four hands is even better.

Taking it easy and enjoying the cool tile floor.

More of the same.

I'm glad that Molly is enjoying herself on the floor. Coco, Sandy and I are being petted around the corner by the sofa.

A couple of times I thought she was Coco, but the shiny collar was a dead give-a-way.

Olive and Molly having a quiet moment.

She's one good looking Lab.

This is just before she left. You'll notice how much the chocolate shows in the sunlight.

The meeting started with all us dogs howling up a storm and Molly fit right in. Humans don't appreciate the communication and bonding that goes with a great pack howl. Molly is welcome in our pack anytime.

Sandy and Coco, over and woof.

Notes from Sandy

SANDY: I know it's been a long time since we canines have blogged, but I'm sure that you know that we don't do the typing. We get The Old Man to do the typing and it has been difficult to get him to do it. Hold on a sec......

JODIE: Uh, Sandy, we are not allowed to refer to Dad as The Old Man. Please don't get us in trouble. It's hard enough to get him to type for us.

SANDY: Oh, OK. It's The Dad who does our typing. At any rate, I wanted everyone to know that I was spade...spaded......sprayed........spayed, yup that's it, spayed a couple of weeks ago and I'm feeling as frisky as ever. They say this mean that I will be having no more puppies, but that's fine with me. A lot is said about motherhood, but it must be a lot different for humans than us dogs. As I recall, having a whole pack of whimpering rats pulling and pulling at me with no let up. Then the little beasts get teeth and still want to latch on to dear old mom. NO WAY!!! The folks get some pictures of past puppies from time to time, but to be honest, I'm MUCH closer to Jodie and Coco than I would be to the pups. This is especially true of Coco who is my BFF.

Here I am strutting around the pool.

I discovered the joy of the old..er Dad's bed.

Dad took this picture, but I was not about to move!!!

Plenty of room for the three of us, if the folks don't plan on joining us.

Caught in the act!!!

This was a good one. Whenever the folks go out, Coco gets in this position on the sofa. This was last weekend when Paul, Jr. was here. The folks went out and Coco got in position. She didn't realize that here was a spy in the house, not that it mattered. She just looked at Paul and stayed right where she was. What a goof!!!!

This is Mya, our cousin from up north.

I'm referring to the dog on the back of the sofa. The human in front is Linda and she is the one who does all of Mya's bidding. Mya was getting fresh chicken while we were getting dogfood. We need to unionize.

This is Talulah!

She is one of the puppies from the litter before mine. Of course I don't know her, but Jodie thought I should put he picture in for those who might remember her. She was know as "Mittens" because she had white paws and she was the largest of the litter. I think she turned into a real beauty, and she's not even mine.

I guess that's about it. Jodie had nothing she wants to say right now and Coco is asleep.

Signing off for now,

Sandy

We're having a great time.

SANDY: It seems like every day is a pool day now that the air has gotten warmer. I really like it out there, though I don't go in the water. My thing is to get a ball and hold onto it. As Jodie and Coco play, I run around and around, getting my exercise but not getting too wet. It's impossible to stay completely dry with Coco in and out of the pool, then shaking right next to me.

In the following three pictures I'm trying to get MY ball. Oh, I know that all the tennis balls look alike, but after I've had mine in my mouth for a while, I KNOW my ball. In the pictures, my ball is in the water because Dad missed the edge of the patio. I was making some real progress for a few moments, but Coco came along and took it away. She already had one in her mouth, but she had to have mine, too.

It worked out OK. I watched her come out of the pool and when she dropped the two balls, I darted in and quickly got mine.

Below you can see Jodie running around with a set of rings. She is the only one who bothers with them and she uses them to tease Dad. They will tug at the rings until Jodie gets them away and then she scamper around the pool, just out of Dad's reach. Every once in a while Dad will get close and grab at her tail. Jodie then runs like her tail's on fire.

Coco is Coco, and that's enough to say. I run with a ball in my mouth, Jodie runs with the rings, and Coco chases the ball in the pool. When Dad or anyone tosses a ball in the water, Coco is off like a jet. She brings the ball right back to the thrower and is ready to go again. She will keep this up until no one throws anymore. She may be wheezing and panting, but she won't quit. Sometimes when the grandkids are over, Dad or Mom has to step in and tell them to stop for awhile as Coco is almost exhausted.

JODIE: Sandy has everything just about right. I love playing tug and keep-a-way with Dad. I really don't worry about him grabbing my tail as I can sprint out of reach in a micro second. I also want to talk about the book Dad was reading to us. The dog's name kept changing. Every time we turned around he or she was being tutored or spade, and it seemed to lack continuity. I don't think Dad was giving us the whole story because sometimes he seemed to be reading silently, but his eyes were all watery.

I was going to turn this over to Coco, but she's out like a light.

Arf Arf for now.

Hello from sunny and warm Inverness

JODIE: Yup, Jodie here, and I'm enjoying the warm weather that we've been waiting for. We haven't been idle though. In fact we've had a couple of busy weeks. Mom's best friend, Roz, came down from Massachusetts for awhile and she said that she had a good time. Unfortunately, her stay here was during a cold spell so she didn't see the best weather. Also, our folk's son and grandchildren were here for the weekend and it's always a god time when they're here. They give us a lot of attention and they are sloppy eaters, so there's a lot of good things dropping on the floor.

Dad has been working at some AARP thing two days a week and Tuesday he came home with a book to read for us. It's no secret that Coco, Sandy, and I don't actually do the typing. We have a man (Dad) transcribe our thoughts into print. We also cannot read, though we do look at the pictures. OK, so Dad brought home a book written by a dog. The book is A Dog's Purpose, a novel for humans. Naturally, the dogs involved cannot type, so they have their own scribe, W. Bruce Cameron. After supper, we go in the bedroom and while we three canines stretch out on the bed, Dad sits in the easy chair and reads. It starts out with Tobey's first recollection as a newborn puppy and tells about him growing up. That's all we heard so far, but we expect to get the next chapter or two tonight. (A note from the scribe... there are some graphic sections dealing with unsavory topics and I censor these from the girls. They do not need to hear of the trauma. My reaction is bad enough)

Anything else we should say Coco?

COCO: You should mention that now that the weather has improved we've been spending the days in the pool. We've been playing fetch in the yard, and we have become a lot more active. Sandy?

SANDY: You could also mention that my heartworm treatment is over and I can now romp with you two with abandon.

COCO: Yes, Sandy has become much more active. In fact, she is the fastest of us three. It used to be that when we played fetch, I wouldn't chase the first ball. Jodie is so much faster than I that chasing the first ball was futile. Now, Jodie doesn't chase the first ball either. Sandy is so fast that Jodie has no chance of grabbing the first ball thrown. So we go in order. sandy fetches the first ball with no interference from Jodie or me. Jodie fetches the second ball with out interference from me, and I fetch the last ball. Fortunately for me, Sandy keeps the first ball in her mouth and runs around. Jodie keeps the second ball. I return the third ball and it gets thrown over and over. Jodie and Sandy run after me, but I am the only true retriever.

JODIE: Coco is right. Sandy is so much taller, lighter, and younger than Coco and I that we cannot keep up with her. Even when I was her age, I don't remember having that much energy.

SANDY: Well, thanks girls. That was a nice compliment. Now, about the adventures of Tobey.....as Dad reads the story to us, we'll keep you up dated on what we know. We'll have more to say later.

You should have seen the look on their faces!

Hi, Jodie here and I want to tell you what happened today. I'm a pretty good Labrador Retriever. No, I'm a GREAT Labrador Retriever. However, I have one vice that drives the folks crazy. I like to roll in what they feel is awful, stinky stuff. Well, I'm not too fond of his after shave or her perfume, either. Nothing smells quite as good as a well-rotted squirrel carcass. After supper I went outside to wander the yard and I found a delightful spot and rolled. Coming into the house I didn't get ten feet in before Mom noticed my new scent. Actually, I never get to wear a scent very long and I was SUMMONED to the laundry room for a bath. This is nothing new and I've been in here dozens of times. In fact, if I can find that spot tomorrow, I may be back to the laundry room tomorrow, too.

The folks have a double set tub that Dad took the middle from years before I came here. It was so they could wash a couple of Labs that were before my time. The sink sits to the right of the washer and dryer. Usually, Dad picks me up and puts me in the sink. Tonight, Mom said that I would have to be put in the sink and before they could react, I jumped up on the dryer and then stepped down into the sink. The folks were flabbergasted!!!!

Now, some dogs may think of a bath as punishment, but consider the facts. I'm a Lab, so water is my element. Mom runs warm water over me and scrubs me with a shampoo that really doesn't smell TOO bad. She works the suds into my coat and massages my fur. Then she rinses me off with more warm water, still running her fingers through my fur. When she is finished, Dad takes me out of the tub and dries me down with the air hose, and does THAT feel good. Finally, he uses a few big fluffy towels to dry me off. That means more rubbing. Gosh, a doggie spa couldn't be any better. I think I remember where that carcass is located. Going through this again tomorrow would be pretty nice, especially if it's cold out.

Sandy is about at the end of her heart worm treatment and is starting to go out with me and Coco. The folks don't let her run too much, so that limits what Coco and I can do. We like to play ball, but we really get into it and it's a rough work out and the folks won't do it while Sandy is out with us. That's OK, the pack still gets to run around the woods out back and check out what animals have been passing through.

That's about all for now.

Jodie

We're back!

Well, I'm back. I don't know about Coco and Sandy. It has been awhile, but our "scribe" has been very busy and it was impossible to get his attention. Things around here are almost the same with the major change being Sandy. She has been undergoing treatment for heart worm and it has affected me and Coco more than we would have thought. Sandy cannot be involved in any running, heavy exercise, or horseplay. I guess Mom thinks that it should apply to me and Coco too, as we haven't been in the pool in eons.

Another thing is that our "puppy machine" is ready to go again. Mom refers to it as being in "heat", but I'll tell you, it's driving me crazy. She keeps making these goo goo eyes at me and acting as if I was a male that would take advantage of the situation. I'm female. I'm spayed, and if she makes goo goo eyes at me one more time I'm going to bite her.

Jodie may be hassled by the new attention she's getting from Sandy, but the folks and I think it's a riot!! Sandy will prance over to Jodie and strut her stuff in Jodie's face. Then she'll offer herself to Jodie and Jodie just sits there and growls. Sandy will perk up her ears and move a very short distance away and start all over again.

I'm glad that you're enjoying it, Coco. Dad finally took down the gate and let me on his bed. Then he shut the gate to keep Sandy out. If she were doing the goo goo eyes at you, see what you'd do.

Face it Jodie, she's after you because you are more the "masculine " type.

You are playing with fire, Coco. You keep this up and I'll be putting the big bite on both of you.

Are you two talking about me? I can't help what's happening to me. The last time this happened I was living in that place with all the other dogs and I sure got a lot of attention. Now, I'm hot, I'm cold, I tingle, or I hurt. Mom says it's my hormones, whatever that is. She also says to hold on, it won't last too long, and then it should never happen again as I will be "tutored" early next month.

This hasn't been an easy time for me either. Before this session of "heat", I've been restricted to the leash since the start of heart worm treatment. Do you know how much I want to join you two when you run out in the yard. You two get to go out on your own and then I'm leashed and slowly walked out back to do my business. It's down right degrading!

Well, as I understand it you've got about three more weeks before you're spayed, then a couple of weeks to heal before your ready to rock and roll. So, five more weeks and it'll be the three musketeers again.

One for all and all for one! ....... At least until supper time.

I'm Home!! I'm Home!!

Sandy here, again. I kind of got a scare yesterday when Mom took me to the vets. Actually, I didn't get the scare going to the vet, as I've been there several times already and they treat me oh so well. What scared me was that Mom went away and left me there. I thought "Oh, NO!!! here we go again. I got a shot yesterday and another this morning. I was fed both days and I was walked. I really was treated very well, but when I wasn't the center of attention, I was placed in a crate. Again, I'm used to a crate, but at home where I can see Mom and Dad and go in and out when ever I want. At the vets, when I was in the crate, the door was shut! Locked in like a rabid raccoon!

Late this afternoon an aid came and got me and took me out front and there was Mom and Dad. I never wagged so hard in all my life. Of course they gave me a lot of attention. After all, I'm so cute that they could hardly help it. I wanted to see Jodie and Coco too, but they weren't there. However, they were waiting for me at home and we had a REAL friendly reunion.

The important thing is that I feel GREAT!! The heart worm problem, whatever that is, should be behind me. I don't know what that means as I feel really super and I'm full of energy. I can't wait until I can go outside off-leash and really tear around the yard. Since I got here, I was able to EASILY out run Jodie and Coco. When I'm allowed off the leash, I will DAZZLE them with my speed and energy.

OK, just wanted to keep y'all in the loop.

Sandy