Safe Harbor

October 31, 2011. Monday and we still have no power at home. But we are quite comfortable in PA at Scott’s parents house. The dogs are really enjoying it here. They seem to really love the couches with all the pillows.

They all fit comfortably on one couch.

Sharon says this is much better than the house with no heat or lights.

Sawyer enjoys the love seat all to himself.

Brooke has it really rough here.

Sharon thinks all these pillows are great!

We went out to dinner with Scott’s parents. It is our 13th wedding anniversary and we want to thank them for taking us in. Not the Melting Pot which we had planned for last Saturday night but we had some nice steaks and good company at the Outback. One the way home we pass this restaurant which always cracks me up. I don’t know why they are out of business but the name is probably available.

The Aftermath

October 30, 2011. We had no power all night and it’s not looking promising.

Another big branch is dangling in the yard and will probably fall any minute. Hopefully the dogs won’t be outside when that happens.

These are our tall bushes between our house and our neighbors. When you look at them from above it looks like they are parted right down the middle from the weight of the snow.

Brooke does not like all these tree limbs cluttering her yard.

It was a rough night and we are all tired. Daisy tries to catch some zzz’s in the chair.

We had the cars running so we could charge our electronic devices. Scott spent some time in the car warming up and listening to the football game. The dogs wonder why he gets to be out in the warm car while we’re all in the cold house.

Brooke does not appreciate these living conditions.

Daisy thinks its fun balancing on the rocking chair watching what happens outside.

The temperature in the house seems colder outside. With no promise of the power being restored we decide to pack up and go to Scott’s parents. They are gracious enough to take us in with the dogs and they have heat, electricity, cable, phones, all the luxuries we’ve grown accustomed to.

We make one turn and we’re already encountering trees and power lines in the road.

Trees were actually uprooted.

It took us about 30 minutes to get to Rt. 78 when it normally takes us about 5 minutes. There were lots of detours.

Not the typical Halloween decoration but appropriate given the weather.

October??

October 29, 2011. We were hit with a snowstorm, which is really not normal for this time of year. I don’t think anyone was expecting the impact of this storm. After the Healthy Dogs grand opening we came home and let the dogs run in the yard. They love the snow, especially Daisy.



But just standing outside a few minutes you could hear the trees cracking and I felt it was too dangerous to let the dogs stay outside. I took some video and more important than the picture is the sound. You can just hear the trees falling. It was scary.

A limb from our neighbor’s tree fell on our fence. Luckily it’s only a little damage.

You can see the tops of the trees where the branches have just severed off.

We thought this tree would finally fall given how bent it is but apparently it’s still standing.

This big branch fell on our back fence.

And not to be outdone, a branch had to fall on the other side of the yard from our other neighbor.

We lost power around 3:30pm on Saturday.

Healthy Bones Grand Opening

October 29, 2011. Today was the grand opening of Healthy Bones Sports Center for Dogs. Sawyer and I would help with the ribbon cutting ceremony and obedience demos.  An unexpected October snow didn’t stop the grand opening.

A little peanut butter helped the dogs to participate in the ribbon ceremony.

Yea, success! But Sawyer says there’s still PB on here that I must get.

A little warm up before the obedience demo.

The mirror makes for cool pics.

First up is Francine with Dazzle. Bobbie helps with teaching the dogs how to handle vet exams.

Next up is the obedience demo with Linda Sperco and Rye and Sawyer and I. Sawyer was a little distracted by the crowd. All of the sudden he was a ham and wanted to meet his people.

But we got through it. Yeah!

Then we did a retrieve demo. After Sawyer picked up is dumbbell he had to make sure all his fans saw his accomplishment.

But he finally returned it nicely.

So we celebrate!

We weren’t originally scheduled but Francine let us run through the agility demo.

 Bobbie and Emmy did a fabulous job with the Rally demo.

Mary showed everyone the latest sport of Noseworks with Casey.

Puppy demo was up next. Bobbie has Airy out to try different surfaces, including a hula hoop.

Healthy Bones had the cutest human goodies for the celebration.

Parade of all the volunteers.

Our friend’s Glen and Helen stopped by with their dog Roxy.

What a long day for Sawyer.

Chaos

October 23, 2011. I’m sure some people would think having 4 dogs in the house is crazy, but that is our norm. This weekend we had visitors so it was chaos. Wyatt was with us for the weekend since we were showing is South Jersey. Also visiting this weekend was my brother-in-law and nephews, who were enjoying game night with Scott. They brought their dog Frodo. Frodo and Daisy are good friends but I wasn’t sure how it would go with a 5 Weimaraner pack. We did let Daisy and Wyatt play with Frodo and the little guy held his own. It was funny to watch him go underneath the bigger dogs. Needless to say they had a lot of fun.

Wyatt is a handsome boy.

Daisy the lapdog.

Brooke is too sophisticated for this crowd.

After everyone left everyone was exhausted and catching up on well needed rest.

October 28, 2011. And not to let the chaos subside, Daisy decided to open up Brooke’s bed and spread it throughout the room. Of course her expression says she didn’t do it but we all know she’s guilty.