My, what a big nose you have!

I continue to participate in NaBloPoMo year after year, but I think it's been a few years since I actually completed the whole month without missing a day or two.  This year is no exception, but I am only slightly apologetic.

Cuddle buddies

Millie is not generally the cuddling type, but in the winter she begs to sit on the couch between us.  Sometimes Sam tries to convince her to get a little closer.  She tolerates it.

Millie, Crab Eyes, and NaBloPoMo

Millie would like to welcome you to November, which is NaBloPoMo.  That means I'll once again be attempting to post something here every day.

We start with Millie's second costume ever.  She wore this for about five minutes and cared not about it.  Her main interest was the ball and getting me to throw it.  The crab hat did not survive the ball-chasing for very long, and joined the "Super Mom" sweatshirt of three years ago in the discard bin of Millie dog costumes.

Frozen river

I've been stuck in the house for the past couple of days with a nasty cold and cough, and I needed to get out today. So armed with lots of tissues and cough drops, I headed over to Great River Bluff State Park in Minnesota for a short hike with Millie.

It was too overcast and hazy to see Wisconsin clearly across the almost four-mile expanse of river channels, but the ice pattern on the near one was quite pretty.

I overestimated my ability to breathe while hiking, so we didn't stay long, but I hope to make it back again for some skiing once we get some decent snow.

Goodnight

It's been a long trip, both the month of blogging and the travel to and from Indiana. Both were rewarding experiences that I look forward to repeating, but not immediately. Let's take a nap first.

Two many dogs

Maybe having two dogs wouldn't be so bad after all. It just means twice as much cuddling! And since Sam won't let me have a cat, another dog might have to suffice. I'll think about it.

Thanksgiving pals

 Millie and Fennel shared the rug and the toys today in honor of Thanksgiving.

It sure is fun to have two dogs running around the house, especially when you can't tell who is who at first glance.

Nap dog

I finally put a rug under my desk, and all of a sudden, Millie likes to sleep at my feet while I work. This is great until she steals the blanket on my lap to sleep on too.

Mildred the Lion

We put up the window plastic today, and Millie took the opportunity of our distraction to start licking her wound.

As punishment, she got the cone and a little window tape decoration.

Cone of Shame

If you remember, Millie had a run in with a stick at the dog park at the beginning of the month. When we took her to get checked out, our normal vet was not available, and this other guy told us that either by bandaging or stitching and bandaging we could convince the dangling pad to reattach. We went with just the bandaging.

One week later, it only looked worse and Millie was more and more bothered by it. So we took her back, this time to our normal vet. He immediately said what we had thought in the beginning - the best course of action is to remove the pad entirely. There had been little flow of blood to the dangling part and the flesh had actually started dying. It was not going to reattach. So Millie stayed at the vet's office and got her pad removed and the remaining hole patched up with whatever skin was available on the edges. 

And now she must wear the cone of shame so that she does not lick and bite the stitches out. She doesn't try to take it off, but she has problems going through doors and nuzzling. The latter is more of a problem for Sam and me, as we're suddenly accosted by not entirely flexible plastic at knee and thigh level.

My friend said his dog learned how to take off the cone in a week. I don't think Millie is that smart; she just keeps looking sad and attempts more cuddling in order to convince us to take it off for her.

Who knows whose nose?

I believe I stayed up all night to finish a project only two or three times in college. I never enjoyed it, and I never foresaw doing it again after I graduated.

But I was wrong. Last night a translation project kept me up all night. I went to bed when Sam went to work at 7am. And then I got up at noon and started working again.

I've just finally finished everything (I hope), and now I'm feeling the silliness of lack of sleep, too much time in front of the computer screen, and nothing left in my brain.

I appreciate that Millie indulged me in an appropriate photo.

Talent

I tutor a 7th grader in Japanese, and one of the ways I keep things interesting is to use Millie as a reward. Today, my student got to make Millie do a a trick for each vocabulary word she remembered. We got a bit carried away at the end, and made Millie wait through multiple answers. See how patient she is?

Happy Fall Day

This photo is not from today, although the weather was gorgeous and I wanted to be out doing something. Instead I was inside working all day, and I'm still at it now.

But Millie and I did get one or two fall hikes in earlier this month. I thought it would be fun to get a photo of us on a bridge under the fall foliage...Millie wasn't so interested. I don't know how all those people on the internet get their dogs to pose, because Millie will have none of it.

Broken, Again

It seems inevitable that when Millie hurts herself, she does it right before a tournament. This time she hit a stick while running at the dog park yesterday, and nearly sheared off the upper pad on her leg. It's not pretty.

And so today at Hallowinona, Millie moped on the sidelines. She got lots of sympathy hugs, but no playing with the ball. She wasn't too happy that everyone else got to run around but her, and I wasn't too happy that her penguin costume wouldn't work right with the injured leg.

But I guess there's always next year.

Almost November

It has been a crazy few months in the Meyer/Wood/Brewster household, and the blog has been neglected. But never fear, NaBloPoMo is almost here.

As a test run for this fancy posting-by-smartphone thing that I may attempt more than once this upcoming month, I give you a photo of the dog, the yellow bench, and the result of our mystery volunteer - a pumpkin!

On the water

It's our only weekend at home for months, and we're enjoying it!

Yesterday, we finally took the canoe out to Goose Island and paddled around for a few hours among the backwaters of the Mississippi.  The weather was gorgeous, with a nice breeze coming down the river.  Millie jumped out of the canoe only once (to chase a tree stump), but we didn't tip over.  We found a beach and a few sandbars to get out and explore, and Millie loved swimming around chasing whatever looked worth chasing.  It was pretty much perfect.

Thanks to our awesome friends Cassy and Connor for the indefinite loan of the canoe!

Winning smile

There are all sorts of internet sensations involving dogs, dogs on things, and things on dogs.  Millie might be able to make it in the "things on dogs" category, if only she would look a little more excited about it.

Together

Millie and got to be pretty good at cross-country skiing together this winter.  She learned where to run in relation to me and my skis and poles, and I learned to release her from the harness when going down hills (or not, depending on how fast I really wanted to go).

Now that the snow is (mostly) gone, we're back to working on off-leash hiking.  We're also adding bicycling to the mix.

I have read that people with dogs often don't get as much exercise as they thing they will because they now have to devote time to the dog in addition to their own workouts.  I can definitely see where this is true, but my goal for this year is to really see if I can combine the two so that both of us can get some quality exercise in while not annoying each other.

March madness

Last week was a very busy work week for me.  I was stressed out and felt very much tied to my office chair.  Two things really kept me going.

Firstly, Sam is a great cook and volunteered to make all the dinners last week.  He will comment that he makes a substantial amount of the dinners anyway (which is true), but it is especially nice to know that I don't even have to think about food when I am so busy.

Secondly, the weather was gorgeous on the weekend, and Millie and I were able to take a breather or two out on the marsh.  We found a new trail that provided lots of sniffing opportunities for Millie and a few nice photo-taking opportunities for me.  It was quiet and beautiful just before sunset, and even the half hour we got out there went a long way to keeping me sane.

Now if that weather would only come back...

Three's company

It's bad enough to have one dog resting her head on your lap asking, "Is it play time yet?" when you're working.  It's worse when there's another one resting his head on the corner of your desk, and a third standing in front of the door trying to figure out how best to make you get up to give him a walk.

I might be able to deal with three dogs in terms of providing exercise and entertainment most days, but having three pairs of sorrowful eyes staring at me on days that I couldn't would be too much of a guilt trip.  I'd never get anything done.  Thank goodness I'm just dog-sitting.