Evans'

"Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac... It's in the hole! It's in the hole! It's in the hole!  " A buddy of mine sent this to me today.  It was taken last year during a department golf outing at Safari Golf Course - #10 Par 3.  What form!  What grace!  (What form?  What grace?).  At least he sent me a video of a shot I hit well.  Talk about being at the right place at the right time.  Go happy feet!

These incredible images of waves in the Hawaiian Islands were taken by Clark Little. Very cool.

Well, it seems we are starting to get the whole "crappin' in the house" thing under control.  The puppies haven't had an accident in the house since last week sometime.  Its amazing what happens when you stop buying the 50 pound bag of "premium" dog food for $20 and starting getting dog food with something other than corn filler in it (Thank you Purina Pro Plan.  Veterinarian recommended.  Mom tested).  We are under no illusion that potty training is over, but it is certainly not as stressful. With most puppies, the end of the "going to bathroom in the house" phase usually means the beginning of "we want to chew on everything" phase. Yeah! The puppies, like most grand kids, are constantly spoiled and have more toys than they know what to do with.  Trainers recommend giving only one or two toys to dogs so that they learn what is and isn't theirs - too many toys confuse them.  Tammy must have not been paying attention and thought ...

The night after Kramer's big blow out, he had another episode.  This time the dog bed was not in his cage, and he managed to avoid getting it all over him. This morning he managed to keep it all inside, but as soon as the cage door open, he darted to the back door and started to whine hard.   Poor thing couldn't get out fast enough, but at least he was able to wait. Less than five minutes after we got back in, he hit the bell hard and also darted to the patio door.  Apparently he wasn't done.  I got up and let him out again, and he wasn't just "crying wolf".  Whatever has been making him sick appears to be out of his system because he had a good day. To celebrate his success, here is a good video taken by Tammy yesterday when the pups where playing. Good Boy!

Normally, because I am up the earliest, the job of letting both puppies out to do their business falls to me.  I don't like it, because I'm half asleep and in a bit of a hurry to get to work, but I don't complain.  Even the other day when I awoke to 38 degree temps and a pouring rain.  I got the pups up, got my boots on, got out the umbrella, put on the heavy coat, and out I went. Kramer and Charlie get down to business pretty good for puppies, but they have a tendency to prefer playing over going, if you know what I mean, and I was in no mood to put up with that.  I took both out onto the deck, but left one behind while the other did their thing (the deck is closed off so they can't run into the yard, but they are getting big enough to jump over the rail).  With a leash and spinning dog in one hand, and an umbrella in the other, my patience was about at an end by the time I got them both out and taken care of.  It sucked!  It was cold, wet, muddy, a...

OK. Bit of a break from the typing.  Here is a nice video we took a few days ago after the weather warmed up a bit and melted off the snow.  The pups haven't been trained on the invisible fence yet and even if they had, it's still too muddy to let them play in the yard much. We'll post some more pics and videos as we get the opportunity.

Last November 2nd, I exercised my privilege  as a U.S. citizen and voted in the mid-term elections.  It felt good throwing the switch - a momentary illusion of power. That ebullience was short-lived. On Nov. 23rd I received a letter from the Delaware County Office of Jury Commissioners that my name had been "drawn" for Jury Duty.  In case simply being selected wasn't enough to provoke an enthusiastic response, part of the notice included a quote from Former Supreme Court Justice Stone, "Jury service is one of the highest duties of citizenship, for by it the citizen participates in the administration of justice between man and man and between government and the individual." Alright!  Count me in.  I am sooo psyched now. The letter informed me that I had been assigned to 4 report dates - one each month in January, February, March and April this year.  Trials are scheduled on those assigned dates, and if they have not all been plead out or cont...

This video was taken about a week after we got the boys.  Food is a great motivator. It did not take them long to figure out that when they came in from outside, if they sat right away, they got a treat.

 Kramer is on the bottom  Kramer and Charlie in jail  Winston always laid here.  Perri's boyfriend, Alex, with Charlie  Charlie and Kramer  Charlie after his first bath  Kramer after his first bath.  He's already dry.  Charlie  Perri and Charlie Tammy and Kramer.  Heart beginning to heal.

OK, this is a couple of weeks late, but on Sunday, February 5 Tammy got it in her head that she HAD to get a puppy. Now, she will probably be a little upset with that portrayal, but let me explain.  The truth is that we both had decided to get a new Golden Doodle puppy since ours passed away a few months back. We had a local breeder picked out with a beautiful Golden Retriever who was due to have a new litter the first of February. Had this been the case, the new puppy would have been ready to be picked up around the first of April, or just after we would be getting back from vacation in March.  Perfect timing.  Unfortunately, we got word from the breeder that the pregnancy didn't take. Back to Sunday the 5th at around 10 AM.  Tammy and I decided to investigate other options (breeders).  During that search, we happened to come across Kingdom Hearts Kennels -  a breeder in Salineville, Ohio.  Never heard of Salineville?  Nei...

Well, I have been thinking of setting up a site dedicated to posting pics, videos and information that family and friends might enjoy.  There are a lot of options available such as Facebook, Youtube and others, but I wanted to see if it would be more convenient to have everything in one place.  So, I'll give it a try and see how it goes.