Just Simply Holly

Being a dog owner in the country definitely has perks over being a dog owner in the city! And with as far back from the road that our house is, I rarely have to worry about the dogs heading out to the road when I’m outside with them! One worry we do have, however, is people coming onto the property that don’t know that we have dogs.

Many people post beware of dog signs, but because of the possible liabilities a sign like that could cause, we’ve never wanted to put one up. On top of that, the average beware of dog signs aren’t very nice looking! So when I was given the chance at receiving and reviewing a Dogs In Yard sign, I was THRILLED! I had a choice of a Chocolate Brown, Grass Green or Cobalt Blue sign, and since I basically live in the woods, I decided the Cobalt Blue sign would stand out the best of all the colors! When I received my sign this week, I was so happy! The cobalt blue is a nice bright color and the wording and trim are done in a white color, so it really stands out nicely!

All of the mounting hardware was provided with the sign as well as easy to follow directions. I opted for the wood mount because we didn’t have anything that would could use the cable ties on to secure the sign. I managed to convince my husband to break out his trusty tools after I told him the idea that I had for mounting the sign so we could display it near the front of the driveway. Being the typical guy though, he’s always happy to have a reason to break out the power tools…LOL!

I’m very happy with how my idea for mounting the sign turned out and I’m even happier with my choice of the Cobalt Blue sign! I took a couple of pictures of how it turned out so that I could show you! The first picture is one that I took from the end of the driveway so you could see just how visible the blue sign is!

This next picture is one moving a little closer in from the first one

For the last picture I zoomed in so I could get a clear picture of the sign and how nicely it contrasts with the pine trees behind it!

The sign is just fantastic, and it’s an awesome way to let people know as soon as they pull into that we have dogs. It’s also WAY better looking than those standard beware of dog signs, and it doesn’t open us up to possible liabilities that those signs can!

The DogInYard.com website is such an easy website to get around, and unlike the majority of online retailers, they do not require you to pay first. You simply choose which sign and mounting hardware that you want, fill out the order form and your sign arrives in just a few days. They just ask that you send in your check or money order as quickly as they sent your sign, they don’t accept credit cards, they have a “Good Karma” policy and they don’t charge shipping!

So if you’re looking for a nice looking way to let people know that you have one or more dogs as well as a company that truly believes in putting their customers first, stop by and check out the beautiful signs available from DogInYard.com!

Good morning and TGIF! I for one am very happy today is Friday, it’s been another long week and I’m ready for it to be OVER!

My hubby and I had a nice anniversary yesterday! We went to go out to dinner last night and both of us realized that we really weren’t that hungry so we decided that we were going to go out for pie and coffee instead and found the BEST pie place in town, a little place called Schmuckers! OMG, their pie is to die for! My hubby ended up not being able to make up his mind because they had so many different pie choices so he got a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie as well as a piece of dutch apple. For me, it was not as difficult of a choice, I ended up getting coconut cream and it was the absolute BEST coconut cream pie I’ve ever had in my life! We also ended up splitting an order of onion rings…LOL! I had no clue that onion rings and pie could be so romantic

I wanted to share a picture with you that I was able to take yesterday. As you know we are dog owners times 4 with the latest addition coming to our home about 2 months ago. Two of the older dogs have really warmed up to the puppy very well, so much so that I caught them doing this yesterday:

What you really need to know about the recliner that the 3 of them are in is the fact that it is not a normal sized recliner, it’s actually a very small one that I received from my mother and she got them from her mother. They are more suited for an older child or a petite adult, my hubby can’t even sit in them comfortably! In the picture are Willow (the black dog), Riley (the white dog) and Sage (the puppy). Willow and Riley are the largest of our dogs, so it was just very funny for me to see the three of them all piled into that chair like they were! Especially when a fully sized couch is just a few inches away from that chair…LOL! But it was just so cute and I was tickled that I was able to get a picture of it before they all decided to get up!

Not sure what all is going on today. I’m hoping to get in a nap at some point, I woke up at 4:00 AM this morning in the midst of a fairly major asthma attack. It was bad enough that it woke the hubby up and scared him. So I’m pretty tired right now, to say the least! The temps today are supposed to be wonderful, we could possibly hit 80 degrees, but we also run the chance of severe storms this afternoon. Ah, the joys of spring…LOL!

This is going to be another post on the joys of owning dogs as well as one about children who refuse to pick up after themselves. This is something that has been an almost constant battle in my home, as well as one that I’m sure will never be won, at least until the kids move out ;o)

My son is, for the most part, a pretty good kid. But I have had a constant struggle with him about putting his shoes up when he takes them off. You see, our dogs are your typical dogs, and if something is just lying around, they very well may chew on it. Normally this really isn’t that big of a deal, we usually catch the dogs as they first start chewing on something so there ends up being little to no damage done.

This morning, however, we weren’t so fortunate. When my son took his shoes off last night he did “kind of” put them up. But the puppy found their hiding place, drug one under his desk and proceeded to chew on it as if it were her most treasured chew toys. The worst part about it is that my son is very picky about what type of shoes he wears and right now he will only wear skate shoes, and only in a style that we have a VERY difficult time finding around here. Fortunately for us, he still had his old pair, and they’re not in “that bad” of shape, but unfortunately for him, they’re a bit tight. But he’s going to have to make due with them this week because I’m not going to be able to replace them until the end of the week. Maybe this time he’ll learn to pick them up when he takes them off and put them in a place where the dogs can’t get to them? One can hope, but I’m sure not going to hold my breath…LOL!

We had a moment earlier that started out scary, but turned out funny! We had just finished eating dinner and my husband and I sat down to grab a smoke before heading outside with the dogs. He decided to take a drink of his coffee before getting up from his desk and somehow the coffee managed to go down the wrong pipe. The next thing I knew he spit coffee EVERYWHERE and was choking.

I got up and ran over him to make sure he was going to be OK, but by that time he was laughing his butt off and assuring me that he was fine. Since I had just had the crap scared out of me, I was having a hard time accepting that he was laughing until he pointed down to the floor by his desk. I looked down and there was Riley, our white Labrador Retriever, COVERED in coffee, just laying on the floor, licking up the coffee around him. He wasn’t one bit alarmed by what just happened, he was just happy that he was getting one of his favorite treats…LOL!

After we got the mess cleaned up I told my husband that we’d better start checking out life insurance rates because if he did something like that again, I was going to end up dying of a heart attack. Yes, we can laugh about it now, but at the time it was happening, I was terrified!

I know that staying up as late as I do sometimes isn’t always the best or smartest thing I can do. But there just had been so much commotion and things going on over the weekend that I needed some peace and quiet for myself! I played some games and did some serious channel flipping until I came across one of my favorite shows! I LOVE the Animal Cops shows on Animal Planet! Yes, some of the stories can be heart breaking, but the happy endings always bring happy tears to my eyes!

On one of the episodes I caught last night they had rescued some kittens from an abandoned home. At first things didn’t look very good for the kittens, they were way under weight and not in the best of shape. But after several weeks at the shelter all of the cats pulled through. There was one kitten that was just the cutest thing in the world! It was pure white and so much more playful and curious that the other kittens were, even the staff at the shelter had taken a liking to her and named her Snowflake.

At the end of the show they showed Snowflake in her new home, and she was just so happy! The kids were playing with her and her new owners had gotten her a very awesome cat tree to play in. It was really cute to see her climb up onto one of the upper platforms, then jump on one of the kids as they walked by. Snowflake was thinking that she had surprised them when she jumped on them, but it was obvious that the kids were walking by the way they were on purpose!

Modern technology is great and has some awesome benefits! But imagine my surprise when a message popped up that I had an email from my daughters cell phone knowing that my daughter is home. And imagine even how much more surprised I was when I read this:

Sorry bout this but baby fell asleep on me and i dont want 2 wake her. Can u bring me a glass of white milk please?

She sent me a message from her room because she didn’t want to wake the puppy up LMAO! I think that tops the cake of the most lazy things I’ve heard of…LOL!

As you’ve read here many times, we’re dog owners. Up until a week ago, we had three dogs, but as of last Sunday, we now have four. Our oldest dog (Harley) is getting ready to turn four and the baby (Sage) is just 8 weeks. Other than Harley being a boxer mix and Sage being a boxer, the four dogs have nothing in common breed wise. Let me give you a little info on the dogs themselves.

Harley is a near 4 year old Boxer/German Shepard mix. We adopted Harley from the local animal shelter when he was approximately 7 weeks old. Our next dog, Riley, is a pure bred Labrador who just turned 2 in December. We “think” Willow is a Heeler/Great Dane mix who turned 1 in January, and Sage is an 8 week old Boxer pup.

This is Harley When we first got Harley, we went “all out” on his food and treats, buying only the best that money could buy. Although the food was good nutritionally, it just did not seem to agree with his system and he had horrible diarhea quite frequently. After taking him to the vet because we were sure he was very ill, we discovered that his top dollar food was known for causing the problems we were having with him. The vet reccomended a few different foods, but also asked that for the next week or so we put him on a simple diet of boiled chicken and rice, since they were easily digested and nutritious. Everything worked out fine with Harley after that, we didn’t have any more problems with him because of his food.

This is Riley Eight months after we got Harley, we were given Riley from a friend of a friend. Originally, we were only told that Riley was a pure bred Labrador and that the people who had him just couldn’t handle him any longer. Riley was sweet, but not the nicest dog. When we first fed him and Harley at the same time, Riley wolfed down his bowl of food in a matter of seconds then went over and started on Harley’s bowl. When Harley tried to get his food back, Riley growled and bit at him to the point that it scared us. We later found out that his original owners had a pair of breeding boxers and that they had simply put Riley in with the two Boxers and let him fend for himself for food and shelter. It took a couple of weeks and a TON of work, but we finally got Riley to realize there was no need to eat his food fast or eat Harley’s food, that there would be food in his bowl when he needed it.

This is Willow Willow came to us from my sister who just HAD to have a puppy, but after only three days decided that she no longer wanted her. She tried to give Willow back to the people she had gotten her from, but they refused to take her back. Willow is a MONSTER of a dog size wise, at one year old, she is bigger than both of her older brothers. She’s not heavier, she’s very long and lean. Willow is our “wild child”, she’s the most active one, she LOVES to be outside, no matter what the weather is she’d rather be outside than inside. She is also our “chew anything and everything” dog, meaning even if she has toys, bones and food to chew on, she’d much rather chew up something she really shouldn’t! (i.e. shoes, cameras, furniture)

Then we have Sage Sage is the baby of the family and has proven to be a completely amazing dog in the week that we have had her. She’s VERY good at not having accidents in the house and her big brothers and sister have finally started to acclimate themselves to her, and she to them. We’ve nicknamed her Vicious because she likes to hide under one of the chairs then attack whatever person or dog happens to walk by…LOL!

Over the years we’ve ran into some feeding problems with the older three dogs, especially Harley and Riley. Both have had numerous times where they have thrown up as soon as they’ve eaten as well as bile problems. For the longest time we treated their tummy problems by giving them a few tablespoons of plain yogurt per day. If the problems seemed severe we would make a trip to the vet and would often put one or more dogs on the boiled chicken and rice diet, which would always cure the problem.

Although none of the above solutions are invonvenient, my husband decided that the time had come to look into dog foods better. Our dogs are exclusively fed dry food as we cannot deal with the “smells” that escape when they eat canned foods. So one evening he went online and started researching dog food, looking at every last ingredient as well as the nutritional benefits. After a couple of evenings of doing this, he finally narrowed his “list” of foods down to three and the following weekend we started what we now refer to as the “Food Trials”….LOL!

It took a few weeks to try the three different foods, but of the three, one came through the trial with flying colors! That food ended up being Beneful. Since starting the older three dogs on Beneful we haven’t had a single incident with them throwing up and haven’t had to give them yogurt, nor have we had problems with any of the dogs having diarrhea. Since having such success with feeding the older dogs Beneful, we decided that Sage would be started right off on Beneful. I truly belive that doing so was a great idea because she is gaining weight, we haven’t had any problems with diarrhea with her and she really seems to love the food! And since the older dogs are also eating Beneful, if she happens to sneak to their food bowls it’s not going to shock her system as badly.

No, I’m not being paid to write this! It was something that I felt was important to put out there for other dog owners. I think it’s awesome that I have 4 different dogs and I’ve found one food that they can eat that will meet their nutritional needs and not cause problems with their systems! All four dogs are in DIRE need of a good grooming, yet all four of them have beautiful shiny coats! And the other thing I’ve noticed with the dogs is that they are much more active on the Beneful, which is a plus, especially since Harley is the dog that would much rather curl up in the recliner than spend time outside….LOL!

I’m having one of my “I can’t sleep” nights tonight. I’m tired, but just not tired enough to actually get to sleep. I don’t like nights like this, my brain runs 100 miles an hour and it just won’t shut down. I keep thinking about all the different things I HAVE to get done, and for some reason tonight I just can’t tune them out. It’s my fault though. When we went to bed, hubby fell asleep very quickly and I decided that I didn’t want to watch the news so I started flipping channels and seen that Gene Simmons Family Jewels was on. Tonight was the night that Gene took the lie detector test to determine whether or not he had really slept with as many women as he said he did and whether or not he had cheated on Shannon. I’m not going to give any details in case you’re reading this and haven’t watched it yet, but it was a very good show. I love Gene Simmons, he’s so self centered and just doesn’t give a hoot what anyone thinks about him! And I love the show simply because they’re all so “bizarre”, it makes things funny. But I don’t mean bizarre in a bad way, more a fun way! I can’t imagine what it would be like to be his kid, but he and Shannon seem to be really good parents! So because of getting into watching that show, I’m now awake rather than asleep.

Things are going really well with Sage, our new puppy. I tell you, out of the four dogs, it’s looking like she is going to be the easiest one to house break! As soon as you take her outside she goes! She only had one accident in the house today and it was tonight while I was making dinner, when the hubby and kids were supposed to be watching her. Supposed to be are the key words there…LOL! But I’m actually kind of glad that the kids weren’t paying attention because all they want to do is hold her and I’m trying hard to make it so that she doesn’t feel like she has to be held all the time.

Here is a picture I took of her on Sunday, I think she is just the cutest thing I’ve ever seen, but I think I might be just a little biased too….LOL!

See what I mean? She’s just a DOLL! I love all four of my dogs, but this one is special!

OK, I’m going to try to go to sleep again. Have a good night!

We’re on the verge of taking on a fourth dog. Now, before you say “OMG, ARE YOU FREAKING INSANE”, let me tell you that we’re not, honestly. Although I’m sure there are many people who know us who would argue otherwise! It’s not a done deal and it still may not happen, but there’s a pretty good chance it will! And before you ask, no, I don’t have a picture of our soon to be family member, well, I do, but it’s not just of her, it’s her other two sisters as well.

But as you and I both might question my sanity about taking on a fourth dog, I would suggest you read THIS story! It appears that an elderly couple in Arizona came to the conclusion that no one could care for the puppies that they had, so they just kept them, litter, after litter, after litter. Until they ended up with almost 800 dogs in their home. Yes fold, you read that right, EIGHT HUNDRED DOGS in one home. But, as they say in the infomercials, BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!!!! Not only did they have 800 dogs, they also had 82 parrots! All in a triple wide mobile home. Granted, that is a pretty decent sized home, but when you read in the story that the dogs were given free run of the house and there was urine and feces EVERYWHERE!

So, I don’t feel quite as insane anymore! LOL

If there is one thing you probably know about my life by now, it’s the fact that it’s full of never ending drama. Whether it’s family related, school related or pet related, there is always something going on. That’s why it shouldn’t surprise me that my dogs have once again destroyed something, but this time it isn’t going to be cheap to replace.

I was upstairs attempting to do some cleaning in my pig sty of an office when I went downstairs to get a cup of coffee. When I got to the bottom of the steps I could see all three dogs behind the recliner in the living room. As I got closer I was able to see that they had totally destroyed two of the speakers to the home theater surround sound. Remind me again why I have dogs please?