Meet Jarvis!

When we moved to England we knew we wouldn't be able to take our sweet Boxer, Clay, with us.  Logan had gotten out and we could never locate him, even with tags and a microchip.  Clay was older, had severe arthritis, and really hated the cold.  We searched for a family to take him, one that would love on him and after awhile we found a nice (we thought) lady, the mother of a friend of ours.  She fawned all over him and we were happy that he would be with someone that would love him.  Little did we know that she was going to turn around and take him straight to the pound.  We got a call about a week later saying that he was there and was being held as aggressive.  Long story short, Boxer Luv Rescue ended up saving our Clay and he was placed with a family that loved on him till he passed away while we were in England.  We always said that we wanted to adopt from Boxer Luv when we got back to the states, a senior dog, just like our Clay.

Fast forward to two weeks ago.  We had talked to Mom about adopting a senior boxer and she was cautiously on board, but she wanted to do it around Christmas as a gift for the family.  Then, on Facebook I heard that BLR was worried as they only had so many foster spaces and too many boxers to rescue.  I contacted them, and they jumped at the chance to place a senior boy with us.  It was earlier than we wanted, but I truly feel like this scenario was meant to be.  We got Jarvis the next day.

He looks so much like Clay it's uncanny.  And, I've accidentally called him Clay a few times.  But, he is the sweetest, most mellow, consciencious dog I've ever seen.  He follows Mom and the kids around a lot.  He's learned to stay out of the kitchen while we're cooking, he doesn't really bark, and just generally loves to be loved on.  He hasn't had much training that we can see, but is smart as a whip.  He loves being outside and lounging in the grass on warm days and he really loves being with the kids.

Speaking of the kids, they have really taken to him more than we thought, especially Joci.  They play with him and have started working on training with him as well.  Joe took a nap with him the other day on the floor, and Joci loves to play with him in the yard.  But, the most touching relationship he has is with Mom.  He really follows her around, checking on her and seeing what she's up to, and I think she's really loving the attention.

To say he came at a time when we needed him, is an understatement.  He is so lovely and sweet, and we need him, I think, as much as he needs us.

Joci with Jarvis on the day that we got him.  He was still very woozy from the anesthesia.

December, 2013

Moto Moto is Living the Life!

While visiting with my parents in December we also visited our African Sulcata tortoise Moto Moto, name so nice you gotta say it twice, who just happens to live in my parent's vegetable garden.  He is the perfect pet, as long as you keep him away from the plants that you don't want him to devour.  Otherwise he keeps weeds away and pests under control. 

Truly he is Joe's pet.  Joseph has long had an obsession about turtles and tortoises, and so we ended up getting him one.  He is, sadly, the last pet that we have left after losing Logan and Clay passing away.  So it is VERY exciting for us that he is thriving with my parents.  The kids had a great time 'playing' with him during our visit.

December 2012

Joe's New Pet

Before you get all upset, Mom, please know that this new pet is absolutely the sweetest and easiest pet to take care of...ever! It doesn't eat, drink, or jump up on guests. It doesn't smell, shed, or poop in your hand.

Joe's new pet is an invisible cricket.

I'm not exactly sure where this new pet came from. It may have sprouted from a book that we read months ago about a boy who caught a cricket only to let him go again so he could hear it's sweet song. Who knows.

What I do know is that we now take along our new pet wherever we go, and I even let Joe take this little guy to school with him, as long as he keeps him in his backpack. Joe's new pet often lets out a little song for me coming from the backseat in the car, and often has to have a place to sleep when it's time for bed.

Sometimes Joe's little cricket disappears for a few days, only to surface a few mornings later, ready to go to school with Joe.

This is one of the very few invisible friends that either Joe or Joci has produced, and those that have come around in the past have quickly disappeared, typically in the same day. But, our little cricket has persisted, and I love it when he sings to me sweet songs that sound peculiarly like my baby boy.

Marley and Me

SPOILER ALERT!

Our little family just loves this movie. All of us have laughed and cried while watching it. Joe and Jon, especially, seem very affected by the movie. We all love the antics that Marley gets into and can completely relate to the damage that Marley is able to inflict.

Personally, my favorite is when I can see the little things that Marley does that completely remind me of our dogs. Like knowing when one of us are sad and just being there for us. Or when they know that something is up when someone is ill or hurting.

Logan especially is very protective of the kids, even though he doesn’t really like to play with them much. If one of the kids is crying he gets very agitated. Or when the kids had a campout in the backyard, he had to sleep just outside the tent with them, he wouldn’t come inside.

Each morning Joe is in charge of letting the dogs out of the house. Logan (our white lab that looks a lot like Marley) likes to sleep in the bathroom on the tile because it is so cool. So a couple of days ago Joe comes into our bedroom almost crying because Logan won’t move just like Marley didn’t when he died. Poor little guy was so upset thinking Logan was very ill. No, Logan just wanted to sleep longer and knows that he can get away with not listening to Joe. He was fine, he just wasn’t ready to get up yet.

Our dogs can be so frustrating and can make me crazy getting in our way or being spazzy, but, they are so much more rewarding. They love us no matter what. They are always excited to see us and love to play with us all. All in all they are pretty well behaved, at least, that’s what many people have told us…ha ha ha. Just like the movie when Marley goes from being the world’s worst dog to the world’s best dog, that’s pretty much how I feel about our little pack. They drive me crazy, but I cannot imagine our lives without any of them.

Memorial Day Fun in the Sun

We had a pretty low-key Memorial Day. Mostly we played outside and even turned the sprinklers on for the kids and the dogs to run through. Moto Moto stayed safely in his box this time.

We found a cute little green caterpillar among our radishes. Joe was absolutely fascinated by him. Eventually he let him go to crawl up the block fence into our neighbor's lemon tree.

Happy Mother's Day

It was a VERY Happy Mother's Day for me today, I hope yours was as amazing as mine was.


I'll admit, I didn't think it was going to be all that great at first. Both kids came into our room early, as usual, and I just knew I was going to have to get up with them as I normally do. Jon really came through for me, though. He took the kids and let me sleep in until 9:45am, absolute HEAVEN!


Wait, it gets better...


Then, suddenly, the kids and Jon are there and they have brought me breakfast in bed. I have never had breakfast in bed, unless eating while in the hospital counts, ha ha. Jon made bacon, sausage, and eggs benedict over pancakes for me with a great big glass of milk.


Jon and the kids sprinkled my tray with rose petals and brought me my cards and gift. I'm not one for large gifts. I am very sentimental and would much rather have something homemade, and so that is what they did for me. Jon asked the kids lots of questions about what they like about Me/Mommy and wrote all their answers down for me. So cute. I'll have to post some of their answers here later.


My only bummer is that I didn't get to see my own Mom. She is really sick, and I just couldn't risk my house getting sick again, no matter how much I wanted to see her. I hope she had a good day, though. I can't wait to get her little gift that I made for her.


I got to take lots of pictures, too, I even did a little photo shoot. I hope you enjoy them...

My dog, Clay, is getting older and really showing it. He is getting very grey-faced.

Poor Moto Moto, you can see here how bad Logan had really gotten to him.

Trust me, though, it is looking better and he is getting around well now.

Osiris got his first bath today. He did really well, although he didn't seem to enjoy the water.

Bad Mommy!

THE VICTIM!

I have learned a very valuable lesson, and hopefully, it will not cost anyone their life.

Let me explain…

We have a new puppy, our two older dogs, a baby tortoise, and some fish. We have a regular menagerie going.

We have been trying to acclimate the older dogs to the tortoise being the in the back yard together. Always being very careful to keep an eye out for Moto-Moto, our tortoise.

Well, I messed up. We had our little neighbor girl over and they wanted to play with Moto-Moto. That’s fine, I said, as long as we lookout for him. Well, it turns out none of us looked out for him at all, and since I was the adult on duty, it’s simply my fault, what happened.

Jon left with his brother to place an OTB for the Kentucky Derby. While they were gone our neighbor (little girl’s Dad) stayed and chatted with me. All was great until…

Joe suddenly realized Moto-Moto was missing. The search was on, we were all involved looking everywhere until our neighbor noticed that Logan (our adult white lab) was actively CHEWING on little Moto-Moto. Then Joe saw it. Our neighbor got him out of Logan’s mouth. I rinsed him off with the hose and immediately put him back in his turtle box.

Jon and Chris came home and Jon was angry with Logan. I have to say, as unhappy as I am that it all happened, I can’t really blame Logan. After all, Moto-Moto looks like a moving ball, and it was MY job to keep him safe.

We slathered antibacterial cream all over the punctures on Moto-Moto. One of his little tiles was loose, and he had a big gash with some blood on it. So far, he seems ok. I hope he makes it.

Joe was upset. He never cried, which surprised me, but he was very depressed over it all. He asked a lot of questions, most of which we couldn’t answer. That and he was MAD at Logan.

I feel so awful. It was MY responsibility to watch out for that poor little creature, and I let him and my kids down.

New rule: No Moto-Moto and Dog mixing right now!

THE CULPRIT!

Our New Puppy

His name is Osiris. It's a bit of a long story in how he came to join our little Hooge family. I'll post more about him as we go...

Very Cute

I had this emailed to me and had to share...

CATS ARE SO DRAMATIC!

We Have a New Member of the Hooge Family!

His name is MotoMoto and he or she is a Sulcata Tortoise. The kids just love him, especially Joe. We are currently keeping him in a clean Rubbermaid box and take him out daily to play and walk around in the yard. He’s a great weed eater!