Ornaments: 0, Keller: 1

A few pictures of Keller as of late (left to right starting at the top)
1) Too much holiday partying

2) "What do you mean I have no more gifts to open?"

3) Annoyed that all we are doing is baking these days

4) Too much fun opening presents

5) Keller's gift from Uncle Chat & Aunt Vicki

Keller sends her holiday love!

Ruined ornament count: 1
Ruined stuffed animals around the Christmas tree count: 3
Ruined stocking count: 1 (and it was hers).

o Tannenbaum!

We got our tree on Sunday! We went to Enzenauer Evergreens in Kenyon. It was small farm with not the widest selection, but we did end up getting a white pine. Keller picked it out. Here she is with the sign by the entrance. LOL.

Keller is with Dave this week in the cities...or actually...with Ann, since Dave works. It's kind of lonely here without her...she's such a furball of love and a great snuggle buddy on these really cold nights.

Summer's over

Keller found out yesterday that summer is over when she went after her favorite goose pond and found herself breaking through ice.

And then she rolled in some poop to commemorate the occasion.

Hot dog!

Keller was pretty good for us, according to Randy's report, while we were away in Florida for 5 days (he also mentioned her keen 6th sense of spotting squirrels 100s of yards away...how she loves little boy underwear...and is apparently afraid of triplets).

Thanks to the Brocks and Duncan for wearing her out (yippee!), Keller was quiet yesterday and slept with me through the afternoon, evening, and night, no complaining from her. I had gone into work but came home, since I had been on the verge of barfing since early in the morning. I could not, for the life of me, find a comfortable position to curl up in, I was in that much pain. I blame either something I ate or my cute darling Jack, who puked...how many times in Florida...but who can turn down his octopus kisses?????

Anyway, since I still didn't feel well today (but food is appealing today), Keller didn't get out again. To thank her for being so good, we went to PetCo inbetween "The Middle" and "Modern Family" (my shows on Wednesday night). We got some treats, some bones, and her Halloween costume for the next 10 years. There's nothing funnier than a dog in a hot dog costume.

But I don't want to leave.

Keller's facial expressions don't need words to describe them. This morning her sad, half-perked ears said it all: "But I don't want to leave........"
Much like Keller, I wish camping would last forever. We had such a great time with the Brocks when they joined us at Great River Bluffs State Park Saturday night-Sunday morning. The weather was perfect, the trees were just about peaking, and the company was excellent. Camping is great even when illness strikes - Keller picked up her fair share of ticks (12? 15?), one that bit her being a deer tick. I got sick Saturday, Owen was ill, and the rest remained unharmed. It doesn't matter. What matters is that we had a terrific time and we look forward to another adventure with them again (Keller and Duncan would have to agree). Keller had so much fun she wanted to go home with Duncan, instead.

Time to play Mouse Trap

Apparently we have a mouse in the house. Or, we had one. Apparently Keller found one upstairs in the guest bedroom. When Dave found it, it was a goner.

Gross.

Gosh, I hope that's all.

Teaching Keller new tricks

Here's Keller doing one of the things she does best - chasing smells in the field behind our house. Her and Pete also had some snuggle time at Adam's a month back.

I'm sorry for the lackluster posts as of late. I've had to re-shift priorities with starting up school again, working full time, and Dave still being gone a lot (funny enough, my priority shifting never seems to maintain hold for long).

But I have adjusted to sitting in the late evening and doing homework. Keller, at first, was probably thinking "What are you doing?????", but she will adjust, and is. The shorter daylight in the evening is helping us both adjust to more inside quiet time in the evening. But I still need to wear her out as much as possible when I get home from work so she's not a squirrely mess for the next couple of hours (meaning I can read and concentrate). Normally, she ends up on the couch next to me or in Dave's chair, happily sighing (another thing she does well). :)

I am working on teaching Keller how to shake her tail feather. That means, shake her tail. You know that rap song? Yeah. I thought it would be really funny. She's good with sit, stay, come, shake; we're working on heel, she's quasi on Fetch, will do DOWN and OFF when forced, and looooooooooves the stretch command. The stretch one is by far the funniest. I'm trying to teach her "Tail feather!" now. She's not a fan of rolling over.

What other tricks would be good? I would like to teach her how to do my homework, or fold the laundry. Maybe feed herself. Maybe use utinsels. Maybe how to turn on the lights. But she definitely knows when it's bed time, and she always finds the right spot to curl up nearly on top of me.