Desert Dogs Life

Trip to the fire station

Made a short visit to the local fire station today. This station has a four man pumper. They dont respond to any EMS. Very friendly crew took Erika and I around the pumper. They dont have hydrants here like in the USA. They plug in this yellow device in the valve in the ground and BYOH (bring your own hydrant).

Crazy Aussie Update

The day started early, it was a bit cool in the night so we threw a doona on the bed to keep warm. A quick call on the mobile and we loaded up the boot with the pram, the esky and some extra nappys for Tara and went to the beach. She was a bit cranky so we gave her a dummy to settle her. Once on the beach we ate some lolleys and bikkies, some rock melon and a few rissoles with coriander. I think Erika had to many lollys and went to the dunny to chunda. On the way home we took the rubish to the tip and stopped for some petrol. At the service station we took a look under the bonnett to make sure all was good for the trip home.

OK now all you need to do is translate this! Good luck!

Pictures from Noosa

We made a short side trip to the beach city of Noosa about two hours north of Brisbane. We spent some time shopping, playing on the beach and did a short hike along the coast.

More zoo pictures

Here are a few more pictures from the day at the zoo.

Name that animal

We spent the day at the zoo and saw a bunch of AUZ critters...and one that was not from here. Can you guess which one?

AUZ update

We arrived in Brisbane today after a 13.5 hour hop over the pond. The first thing was to drive the rent-a-car to Erikas brothers house. It was an exciting drive.....on the left side of the road! Check out the car.

TOUR DE CURE

3 Hours and 5 min...three flats later and Rick, Wally and I crossed the finish line. We laughed, we cried and lots of pedaling. Anyway it was fun to set a challenge and make it! Wheres my bottle of Motrin?!

Aaron

TOUR DE CURE

Well I am kicking off my vacation with a 50k bike race on 5/13. It is the Tour de Cure for diabetes. This will be my longest ride to date! I still could use donations and a giant bottle of Motrin. Here is the link to my tour page!

Adorable Kodi Pics

Kodi was an absolutely adorable little fuzz ball when she was a puppy.

Look at those darling eyes.

This is Kodi and her best friend Magic running in the snow. Look at the snow in the tips of their noses.

Kodi is an excellent Kayaker. She sits very still and just watches the scenery go by. How relaxing.

This kayak was built by my wonderful father. This is the first Kayak of about 6. Looks good dad!!!!!

Again Kodi kayaking. She loves the kayak Aaron built. She looks good in red!!!!

Sierra and Kodi racing. Who do you think will win?????

It is almost impossible to keep Kodi and Sierra out of the pool in the summer. Kodi just loves to dive in after a toy!

How cute am I?

How many dogs does it take to change a light bulb?

1. Golden Retriever: The sun is shining, the day is young, we've got our whole lives ahead of us, and you're inside worrying about a stupid burned out bulb?

2. Border Collie: Just one. And then I'll replace any wiring that's not up to code.

3. Dachshund: You know I can't reach that stupid lamp!

4. Rottweiler: Make me.

5. Boxer: Who cares? I can still play with my squeaky toys in the dark.

6. Lab: Oh, me, me!!!!! Pleeeeeeeeeze let me change the light bulb! Can I? Can I? Huh? Huh? Huh? Can I? Pleeeeeeeeeze, please, please, please!

7. German Shepherd: I'll change it as soon as I've led these people from the dark, check to make sure I haven't missed any, and make just one more perimeter patrol to see that no one has tried to take advantage of the situation.

8. Jack Russell Terrier: I'll just pop it in while I'm bouncing off the walls and furniture. (how true)!

9. Old English Sheep Dog: Light bulb? I'm sorry, but I don't see a light bulb!

10. Cocker Spaniel: Why change it? I can still pee on the carpet in the dark.

11. Chihuahua: Yo quiero Taco Bulb. Or "We don't need no stinking light bulb."

12. Greyhound: It isn't moving. Who cares?

13. Australian Shepherd: First, I'll put all the light bulbs in a little circle...

14. Poodle: I'll just blow in the Border Collie's ear and he'll do it. By the time he finishes rewiring the house, my nails will be dry.

Awesome pics of Sierra!

Sierra at her breeders in San Jose. She is about 10 weeks old and has no idea about the day ahead of her including a 2 hour plane ride.

This cute little 8 lb puppy could not be passed up. We had to take her, she picked us! Her name was freckles from the breeder. She was the only one with cute little spots on her nose like her mother.

Auntie Carol, Sierras dog trainer, is presenting her with her diploma from puppy school. She loves Auntie Carol.

"How long do I have to wear this stupid hat for?"

Tough day at the office.....

How did this adorable puppy turn into a big beautiful beast like this.... Lots of dog food.

Remembering Smokie

I thought I would take some time and remember my first dog Smokie. She was my almost 12 yr old Keeshond. She was a wonderful dog that was very loyal and loving and very protective. Around Jan 03 she was sick throwing up and diarrhea. Hoping it was nothing I took her to the vet and figured she had the puppy flu. Anyways after a lot of test she was found to have eaten a nail....... After a long surgery they finally found the nail which had moved through the colon since they did the original Xray. Afterwards it was a long 6 weeks. She had one problem after another. She was trying to go to heaven, although I never saw it. She battled infections after infections. She refused to eat. I made her special human food, chicken and other things, she refused to eat.

Anyway one Friday night Dr Fisher, our wonderful caring vet, let me take her home for the weekend. She did pretty good the first night. I took her to the vet on Saturday to get checked out and she was doing ok. That night we spent so much time trying to get her to eat, but after a couple bites she was not interested. She had lost the use of her back legs and was totally incapable of walking so we had to put a towel around her belly for support to get her to walk and go potty. Every 3 hours during the night I would walk her. In the morning Aaron woke up to go to work and found her on the kitchen floor on her bed, gone....... It was one of the worst days of my life. In all her illness I NEVER thought of putting her to sleep. I never thought that her illness was life threatening.

Even though it was a horrible experience, I learned a lot from it. As a pediatric ICU nurse it is hard to see things from the parents perspective unless you are a parent as well. Even though I am not a parent to a human child, I think a doggy parent is just as important. Smokie helped me see things from a different way. She made me realize life is so important and you never know when it will be taken from you. Now I think I try to live a little differently. Don't sweat the small stuff. Live like you are dying and let the ones you love know how important they are to you.

-Erika

Back to the Air

Well I finally found some time to get my airplane back in the air. Kodi loves to chase the plane around the park. She is great about not touching it when its on the ground but once it is in the air she runs under barking something in dog at it. I am also working on getting my helicopter back in the air and start doing some more aerial photograph. Look for some AP pictures soon. I would like to try going up to Red Rock or the Valley of Fire and try some AP there.

Aaron

Sierras pack update

Well, we have been walking Sierra with her pack. She has been packing 2 5lb wts, plus 4 bottles of water so we figured about 18lbs total. Seems pretty light, however by the end of the walk she has finished most of the water so it is even lighter. She should be in great condition for our backpacking trips to the Sierra Mountains this summer. She is going to have to carry a bit more than she is now. She will carry all dog supplies, like food, bowls, and some small light items of ours. We learned pretty quickly not to let her carry anything breakable or anything you can not get wet. She tends to run into things a lot until she gets used to the pac

k being on, which means running into trees and stuff. She also has a tendency to lay down in water and get big sips of water.

Kodi has been enjoying Aarons RC plane the last couple days. Our other pup Sammie has not been introduced yet. He is an 11yr old grumpy old pug. It seems he jumped off the couch and injured his neck a couple days ago. We talked to the vet and decided he needed to be on light duty and a couple doses of ramidil. Four days of that and his is back to his old self.

Sierra Visits the Vet

Sierra took a trip to the vet yesterday for shots and a peek at her teeth. She was a bit surprised by the sneak attack temperature check. She tipped the scales at a dainty 114.4 lbs. WOW that's a lot of dawg!

The vet hinted that she could loose a few pounds so she is hitting the gym. OK not really the gym but she is now wearing her backpack when she goes on her walks to help burn a few extra pounds. Her pack is weighted with some water bottles and feels like its at about 20 lbs. Swiss Mountain dogs can easily carry 33% of their body weight and can pull over 1000 lbs.