9.23.2010

crawling machine

Tessa is now a full on crawling machine. The little lady does not know how to sit still anymore. While in MPLS last weekend we stayed at our friends Karla + Rick's place. The stairs...not so baby proof. So we took the opportunity to start to teach Tess how to use the stairs. She still needs some work, and didn't really grasp the whole going down bit, but she totally loved it.

9.08.2010

Bear Lake '10 - The Birthday Party










We celebrated Tristan's 30th, Natalie's 7th, and Kyla's 2nd Birthday in Bear Lake.

9.06.2010

Denali - 09-04-2010 -


The news no one has been looking forward too...
On Saturday 09-04-2010 we made the tough decision to give Denali the final rest she deserved. A few months ago Denali suffered a grand mal seizure. The vet concluded, after some tests, family history, and blood work, that Denali had a brain tumor. Denali slowly became less and less the Denali that everyone loved. It was hard for me to notice as she was always Denali to me, and her degradation was so gradual. It was, and is, hard for me to realize that it wasn't just her getting old, that it was more serious than that. However, looking back at pictures of her has helped Terri and me realize that she was not herself over the past few months and weeks. We said that when we could no longer see "Denali" we knew it was time to let her go, to let her see again and chase rocks and frisbees to her hearts content.
I don't think Denali ever failed to win over people with her awesomeness. Upon first reactions, her crazy scruffy fur, large pointy ears (unnatural for a Jack Russell), and after she went blind her uncomfortably large eyes at times, made most people question her awesomeness. But the tricks, oh the tricks, and the sheer joy and pleasure she got from performing them for people, quickly won them over. Any one of her incredible tricks could have been the deciding factor, a simple sit, or down, the slightly more skillful roll-over (in either direction), or the crawl, the ever popular "dead-dog" (when she could see you could just point a "finger gun" and she'd do it usually needing the sound effect), or the more complicated 360 (we never did get the jumping 360 down), maybe the polite shake, then there was her ability to shut the door on command, or the ever popular "kangaroo". But most likely, the trick that won everyone over, was her performance grand finale, the "Pounce". She'd rear-back with crazy energy and visible tension, waiting for the go ahead, the final command "POUNCE" and she'd leap into the air (reconstructed patella and all), all 4 paws hovering in the air to land 4' away on the ball, or treat, or frisbee, or rock, or whatever. For those that have seen this trick, you know what I'm talking about.
Oh, and she did these tricks just as well blind as she did when she could see. Really, the only thing she couldn't do blind was catch frisbees out of the air. But that didn't stop her from chasing them across the ground or waiting to hear them hit the ground. Denali could find snowballs thrown into a foot of snow, or a specific rock thrown into the water on the shore of a lake. When she could see, she would not hesitate to jump off a dock, go completely submerged, and bring back a frisbee.
But beyond her crowd pleasing tricks, Denali was just an incredible companion. When I got her she went everywhere with me, even to some classes (she was a big hit in my Japanese class). She came with me to the climbing gym, camping, biking, longboarding. When I couldn't bring her, she had incredible friends that I don't think minded watching her one bit. Although I remember one time Alison (I think) gave her like a pound of raw bacon to win Denali's love. I think it worked, but one dog treat would have sufficed.
We will miss her as she was truly one of kind. Knowing that she's no longer in pain, does not make it any easier for me, but it was the best thing for her. Denali was fighter, knee surgery when she was 1, going blind when she was 3, among other near death experiences, I know she would have fought well beyond her time.
We can all picture her chasing down frisbees, and pouncing on rocks, back to her usual antics and with full sight now...Denali will be forever loved.
What memories do you have, what were your favorite things about Denali?

9.04.2010

Goofs


Some not so exciting news is forthcoming, but I thought I'd start off with these two bright spots in our lives....