Catch up...

Thought you all might want to know what I've been up to lately. A few weeks ago I had my Super Hero party and it was a huge success. Here's the girls; even Annie.



And here are a few from my friends South Seas BBQ last weekend.




Sarah, April and I



April, Becca, Sarah, and myself

The Real Meaning

Now we know this term really came from. Kinda sad isn't it?

Give The Animals What They Want

Wouldn't you agree with this?

My Favorite Saying Put In Print

Model Dog

Here Barkley is sporting an orange harness for his Search and Rescue training. Isn't he adorable. I just love the one of him on the rock with Justin. We were hiking at Upper Bidwell Park that day. It was a little cool and still muddy, but a few days later it was nice and warm and sunny.

Job Hunting

While I'm waiting for that perfect job opportunity to approach me (just kidding) I am working weekends at a training center for horses. It's great to be back out with the horses and boy do they have personality. One thinks she's a big puppy dog and practically stands on top of me when I'm cleaning. The picture of me is in the hay barn just getting off of work. Boy it's nice finishing work at 9:30 in the morning. Of course, I have to go back in 5 hours to do it all again.

Barkley's Death Toll

Who knew that cute little face could be so vicious? We have definite mass casualties. Here are the stats.

Death Toll: 7 toys and rising
Time: One month
Fastest Kill: 2 seconds
Circumstances: tore off the head of a stuffed mouse
Personal loss: 4 remote controls, his brand new collar (seen in the picture) and the clasp on a snow glove)
Favorite toy: Six sided squeaker - minus 5 squeakers (we took it from him before he shredded it that's why there's still a squeaker in it)
Favorite toy: Squeaky Man (he carried it out of the store with him)
Call for help: Heavy duty toys needed that last more than three days

The good news is, we got him this chewy tire toy that he seems to enjoy chewing and it seems pretty undestructable. We have also enrolled him in basic obedience school and he starts a week from Saturday.

Search and Rescue

Justin and I are "advocates" in Search and Rescue. That means that were newbies looking to be a member, which takes several months. It took one guy 7 months before he was accepted. It takes so long because it's through the Sheriffs office and you have to go through an oral interview, background test, the whole works that the sheriffs go through. So we went to the regular meeting for the month to see what it was all about (which is every second Tuesday of the month). We also went a couple nights ago to a Swift Water Rescue Awareness class. I will be attending the canine unit meetings (the last Tuesday of every month). There are a lot of different specialty units within the main unit (the people in search and rescue are called "The Unit") meet by themselves to focus on the specific area that they specialize in. I must go to 4 classes without Barkley and then he will come with me and start getting trained. So hopefully I have enough time to get him into an agility course before he starts his specialized training. Justin still hasn't decided what to focus on. The helo team (helicopter) already has all the spots filled so he's thinking about over-the-edge-rescue. More exciting things to come.

Barkley's Here

Well it happened. Here is the new addition to our family. His name is Barkley. He's a 2 year old Pit mix. We brought him home from the Humane Society last Tuesday. He's just the sweetest dog. He loves running and he's ball crazy. He stays by our side all the time and he can walk off leash. Of course we only let him off in the yard and at the park. He's already got his training harness for Search and Rescue. Now he can go anywhere. Once we get some pictures on the computer I'll put some up here with his harness on. He doesn't mind it at all. I'm looking for obedience training classes for him and in the spring or summer he'll go through an agility class. Stay tuned for more pictures!

New year

A new year and lots of new stuff happening. I quite my job at the bank and now I'm looking for a new job in my profession, emergency services. I applied for a dispatching job for the city of Paradise, where I live. It would be nice to get a job here and not have to travel half an hour to work. Justin and I are joining Search and Rescue. I want to get a dog so I can train it for searching. A little Beagle would be so cute but I'll probably get a dog that's more "compatible" with searching. Now I have a little vacatin before I start a new job. A little snowshoeing, lots of house cleaning and some fun time is hopefully what's in store. But I hope it's not too long until I find a great job that I love. Until next time.

Moved.....Again

I have moved out of my little orchard home in Durham and moved into a cute little house in Paradise with my boyfriend Justin. It's kind of like Downieville. It's a lot quieter than Chico and it more mountainous with the tress and yes... sometimes snow. The kitchen is a lot bigger and I love it. We have two rooms and we use one as an office. We have much more room to put furniture and an extra little room between the living room and the kitchen. The cats love it here (yes a new addition, Smokey). They chase each other all over the house and it keeps them a lot more active. And for some strange reason they really love the bathroom. They like to climb in the bathtub and just sit there. Very strange. Anyway, it's very cute up here and I like it a lot better than any of the places I've rented. Very charming.