received this prior to the new Pope being selected.....I was rooting for Duke! 

Toula training

So far Toula is doing great. Being at home with her is a good thing as I am able to spend time with her training her to go outside. There have been mistakes of course but she is learning I hope. She liked going outside more when it was warmer, but this chilly air makes her want to go back in.

She had her first vet appointment here today and behaved herself there. She gets some kind of a booster next week. She does have a microchip identifier already, so they scanned that to be sure it works and matches the number they gave us.

Hope all is well with my readers....

Toula napping...she was born on 2/12/2005 and came to us froma breeder in Illinois. 

Abby and Toula 

Gabe with Toula, our new Boston Terrier 

Sammie...a great dog that we will miss. 

Here's to Sammie

On Wednesday morning, April 13, Sammie passed away. It came on suddenly as the result of a tumor that we did not know about. She collapsed at home, and died at the vet a short time later. She was to turn 7 this year. Sammie was a great dog, and lived a great life with us. She brought joy and fun to our kids, something I will be forever grateful to her for. As I was telling Abby, part of loving dogs is dealing with the pain and hurt we feel when they die. I guess this is the way it is with love, it hurts when you are separated. We all have had a rough couple of days with lots of crying. We have had fun telling stories about her, like how she was so good at lying about whether she had had dinner yet. With our busy schedules, sometimes Krista and I would barely see each other here at home and one of us would feed her and forget to tell the other. Sammie would put on her little act and sometimes fool the other into feeding her again. Sammie only totally relaxed if all four of us were home, otherwise she was a bit on edge until all were safe in her care. I miss her. I do thank Ken and Harriet Ahlstrom, our next door neighbors. They are pet photographers and for a gift gave us this wonderful framed portrait of Sammie some time ago. We are so glad we have it. I am sure that we will have more dogs, Krista and the kids will make sure of that. But for now we thank God for the time we had with Sammie.