Saturday, February 27, 2010

My Tall Order

Today we are gonna do something a little different. I, Sammy (the one who has all these fascinating adventures) am gonna write this time. See, my mama is a little too tired for all the good words and sentence building anymore. Her grandpa, my great-grandpa, Papa has been doing poorly the last couple weeks. As you recall, I was able to meet a couple of firemen last week when he fell. They were great guys, they thought corgis were the coolest and that I was cute, so they were on the top of my list (for that time being, until someone else told me I was or until I got a snack). Well, from what I understand when he went in for his regular check up, his doctor immediately hospitalized him. He Papa is now quickly failing. He is having signs of heart failure, his kidneys and liver are also failing. Now I don't understand what all that means, but I do know it isn't good. Most of the family has come in. He has been in the hospital, which is good, but they don't let us dogs in and I want to go! Papa is a wonderful man and I would like to see him. Mom and Dad told me that I have a "tall order" whatever that means; it better not be another joke about my height! They told me that everyone is quite sad and they need something to smile about. With sadness like this, it might come down just to me! I am not worried. I know how to make people smile. First and foremost, smiles are contagious, and us corgis have the most handsome/pretty smiles around! Anyway, Mom came home the other day and said that one doctor has given him just two weeks while another said he could fight and have another month or two. She also said that insurance companies suck. I don't know what the heck that is but whatever it is is forcing him to leave the good care of the hospital! And a really long story short, we have gotten lucky and been able to arrange for him to come home today!!!! Yeah! He will have 24 hour care from home. This is the best news we have heard in all this. Papa and Monie built the house they live in. They have been married 67 years! They have spent most of that time in this house. My mom grew up next door where my grandma still lives. Monie and Papa need to be together and in their house, if you ask me! Plus, this way I can do my job! I love seeing them. I went there for my 6 month birthday party! I have gone there so much I can recognize the drive from a mile away!
Mom told me how lucky I was to have known him, like I didn't know. He was in the Air Force! And I have learned that that means he flew planes for the country! He was in WWII and flew bombers! They are very big and intense. I don't think I would want to fly in one. Too loud. Mom wants to fly in jets. A couple weeks after I came home the air show was here and the Blue Angels flew over our apartment practicing and she made us run out and look at them. Weird! Papa had other jobs as well, including at the hospital he is in now. He is a very smart smart man. Mom says she is so smart because of him. Growing up, he was right next door and if she had any questions to how something worked or why he knew, and if he didn't he would find out! Papa used to take my mom on walks around the neighborhood with her dog growing up, and he used to walk her home from school! She talked about how they used to play hide and go seek in the house, and she could  never find him! Mom always finds me, so he must have been a pro. She remembers him sitting outside alot and watching birds listening to the radio. She said growing up she used to see him washing his car at least once a week out on the driveway. He took the greatest care with everything. I believe it. Papa always pets me very gently. I always try to give him a kiss back as gently as he pets me!
Mom said she is quite proud of me. I will admit I am a stinker sometimes. I miss my parents so much and I get used to one schedule and then they go and switch it for sch-oo-al, who needs it anyway, she is smart without it. Then I don't know what is going on. Man, I hate that stupid big black bag. I think it's gonna drag Mom down, it's almost bigger than her! And they know I hate being alone in the dark. I get too worried. Anyway, I had a couple accidents at the beginning of this semester. It was stressing Mom out and Dad was threatening that I would get crate trained. He said Mom wouldn't have a choice, she wouldn't be able to stick up for me much longer at the rate I was going at. I have ceased. I don't like the crate, I can't protect the apartment in it! Anyway, Mom and Dad have  been so proud of me that I have been "a good boy" while they have been gone at all sorts of awkward times and such. They even took me to petco yesterday. Mom took me to the bone aisle. She lets me pick out my own bone! See, they have these wooden shelves at the bottom with different kinds and sizes. I sniff each one as I walk along, and I make sure to try to get to one so she knows that's the one I want. She usually prices and gets a package deal of smaller versions, sometimes I get the big one. Anyway, I almost always pick the same one. I guess they are expensive. Mom says they are well worth it, Dad just sighs and says yeah. I got two of the super compressed bones and I also got a tennis ball in Easter colors! I didn't know what to think of the pastel blue, so I licked it off last night. Mom said we are going to visit the dogpark this weekend, too. She said 40 is our version of Jamacia so we better enjoy it. We might take my cousin.
Oh yeah, that's like the best part! Mom's cousin just got a new puppy. Yep, I have a new cousin. They live all the way in Illinois so we don't get to see them too often. Mom and Dad assure me that if the economy can get a little better and the weather can get better we can try to plan a trip. Mom loves visiting them! Anyway, Mom's cousin is very close to Papa like Mom. They are similar in a lot of ways. And her husband (we just call him a cousin because Mom says that if she had a brother she would expect it to be like him cause he is as good as family gets) and Dad are a lot alike as well. They have three kids, whom I ADORE, and Mom said we might sit on them while the adults see Papa. I don't know that we should sit on them because they are kinda small. They might be able to handle me, but I'm under 30 lbs. Mom is like 4 times that! Dad is even more! She laughs when she says we are gonna sit on the kids and says it's a Lorelai quote from season 7. That means it's another Gilmore Girls quote. I hope we don't sit on them, though I would like to see them! Mom invited them to go to the dog park with us so us dogs can do our thing and get some energy out. I vaguely remember what it is like to be 4 months old, and well, I think we should. I need to show my cousin the doggie ropes, and show how big and exciting the world is. I'm stoked. Dad is making Mom look at these video games online, and if you know MY mom, WOW this is not the job for her! She doesn't know anything about them. Anyway, last time our cousins came over we played video games and it was really fun. I got exhausted trying to keep up. Some were in the bedroom doing Guitar Hero while the others were in the living room doing Mario Kart. Mom and Dad have been obsessed with the Olympics (Dad filled out a thing online showing intrest in the skeleton, only after the luge said he was over the hill) so they are looking at Olympic Games so we can do mogul skiing (Mom says it's her future!) from the comfort of our warm apartment without needing to get in shape! Sounds good to me, they don't let dogs into the gym, so I am basically anti-exercise! Plus Dad needs to do this himself if you ask me. Mom has loads of school work. She has some giant test on Monday. She has made a package and a half notecards for it. She has two notebooks, a book and all these notecards for it. Don't worry, I don't let her study too hard, and my bone germs are all over those pages from telling her to take a break! I just know, I don't want to pull another all nighter Sunday night, but I see it coming. She also has a lab due Monday that she hasn't started and a statistics project to finish. I don't know how she will do it, but she always does.
Anyway, Dad says they are going to make lemondae out of lemons. I haven't seen the lemons arrive yet, but don't worry I am on guard. I am trying to do my best to keep Mom smiling. Mom says I am amazing and that we must have been meant for each other. She keeps telling me how sorry she is that I was in the pet shop for so long, but so happy she was able to bring me home and that they could afford to do it. I agree. I don't even remember those days to be quite honest, but I am happy to be here. And taking care of my mom. I sleep on her head and sit on her legs and feet to keep her warm and remind her I am here if she needs someone. I also made Monie smile. Mom said that was the best gift.
I just wanted to share our life with everyone since we haven't been on the internet much the last couple days. Mom is getting a little too exhausted to do it, and I have a job to do! Now I must go back to my bone and window. Except I haven't eaten my breakfast yet, maybe I should do that. Mom says I must be the strangest corgi because I don't always want my food and treats. I just can't help it. When we go to Petco (and other places), those chocolate chip cookies are delicious, I just want to say hello to everyone first. Plus, Mom always grabs the treat so I'm not missing anything. And when I wake up, some things are more important than breakfast. This morning our tug of war time was way too much fun to pass up. And this bone I got is such a challenge (it's humongous) and it just has the best flavor that I must tackle it first. I will get to my food, it's not like anyone else will eat it! Ugh, I am a smart dog. Afterall, Mom says I get that from her! I know what I am doing!
Alright, that is all for now. Mom should be back to her usual cataloging soon. She will be able to tell you how wonderful I am again soon, we hope. The next three days are already pretty packed, but we will be back soon! Doggie promise!

Friday, February 19, 2010

Spring Tease

Yesterday was BEAUTIFUL! The sun was out, snow melting (a little), birds moving north, and the temperature was nearly 40 degrees! It was the first time I can remember in the last month or two where I didn't see my breath! Sammy's cabin fever was loud and proud. So when I got home from class he played out in our yard for a while and once Erik made it home all three of us set out for a walk! A real walk, not one of those ones to just go around the building to get "it all" out. Nope, a real walk up and down the hills of the neighborhood, by other dogs in their yards, smelling all the smells and seeing neighbors returning home themselves.
It was picture perfect. That is until we remember what it's like when the snow starts to melt. And melt in the cement where all the gravel has been, let alone the parts where cars have been. Yesterday was that yucky phase between winter and spring, where it is nice temperature but we still have to wear our yucky pants and winter shoes out with our dogs because we don't want to ruin our good things.
Sammy had a great time. He still jumped and plowed through the snow. He stopped to roll in it alot. He had fun with all the sounds of birds and dogs. Sammy loved all the smells. He looked like a little hound dog out there with his nose to the trail. Only peaking up when a dog barked. It was fun. I had a great time enjoying my walk with my pup. I really miss our walks.
The nastiness of the ground only reared it's ugly head when we got back to the apartment and I could see just how dirty and wet he got. Well, I will let him show it off:









With a winter this long....what a tease mother nature! Ugh. Oh well, it was still fun. Thank goodness for that corgi outer fur where a towel just wiped off 95% of the yuck! Today we woke up to snow. Another 2-3" thus far as the snow system moves across the midwest.
As a weather notice I thought I would share another weather bit. A friend of mine is in school as a meteorolgy major. She told me her professor told her that we will probably still have snow on the ground in until late March. Furthermore that spring could likely be just a change in air flow and if that is the case, tornados on the snow are possible! Can you imagine snow tornados whipping through? Thank goodness we are on the basement floor! It's a crazy weather year!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Corgi Love

Everyone loves corgis.
That seems just so obvious to most, but until you actually have a corgi it's impossible to imagine just how much love these cute little pups get. It is remarkable. Either being lazy and going through a drive-thru turning into a discussion about corgis and how they are little herders etc. with the person holding your food, to the overwhelming excitement of petstore employees who see that LITTLE smiling dog dragging in it's owner, to the vast number of blogs and websites dedicated to experiences with corgis. (In the past couple of weeks I have begun to click from webpage to webpage and I am amazed!)
But don't just take my word for it. If my science and math classes have taught me anything, it's that a simple statement that "everyone loves corgis" is not enough by itself. Although it should be as simple as saying gravity pulls objects down. So in additon to the couple of sentences in the previous paragraph, I am going to give a couple of examples that inspired me to this blog.

Two nights ago while Sammy, Erik and I were all curled up watching the Olympics (We bought digital rabbit ears just for the Olympics. We have like 8 channels, it's amazing! But it only works with the TV in the bedroom. lol) we recieved a phone call from my mom. My grandpa (nearly 91) had fallen and he and my grandma (nearly 89) were unable to get him up. My mom lives next door and is usually able to help out, but she was busy at the time. We jumped out of bed, put on shoes and coats and put Sammy on his leash and we were out the door. Unfortunatley we live a good 15-20 minutes from my grandparents' house. By the time we were able to make it, my grandma felt that a rescue squad needed to be called. In all actuality it was better that they were called. A firetruck came hurling up the road maybe 2 minutes after we had arrived. In came 4 very large and powerful all business firemen. My grandparents built the house they still live in after moving back to Nebraska. They had the first house on the block. What that means is the bathroom my grandpa fell in was about the size of my grandpa and half a fireman. Erik and I tried to keep Sammy out of the way, but really what's the use. Everyone loves corgis. In Omaha we haven't seen many corgis. And unlike other cities, our humane society hasn't had a meet and greet for local corgis. But to our surprise, one fireman was delighted to see Sammy. And the first thing we hear, "Is that a corgi? That is a corgi." Come to find out, he has two corgis of his own. For the next 15 minutes while two fireman are able to pick up my grandpa and move him into his bed and check him out (no broken bones, heart rate, blood pressure....etc) two firemen, my grandma, Erik and I discuss corgis! Everything from size to smiles to their dwarfism! And they all gave him a pet on their way out! See, everyone loves corgis!
That is not to unlike our apartment. The maintence staff has routine checks to all the buildings. When we moved in, we had a few issues from mold around the window, to broken curtains to soap holders falling off in the bathroom. All simple things that our maintence staff fixed quickly and easily. We had one guy in particular take a liking to Sammy. He just loved him! Sat and petted him for a good five minutes. Told us all about his lab at home. Everytime we saw him around the complex, he always came and gave Sammy a pet. Every month (maybe every other month) they come in and check our furnaces. We always have the same guy to check our furnace! I think he tries to come back to our apartment! Furthermore, we haven't gotten in trouble for not crating him while we are gone. The apartment hangs up signs for the days they will come into buildings to check things like the furnace and to crate your dogs. It says there could be a fine for not doing it. Well, we have yet to do it, and yet to get into trouble! They must just get so excited when they see his little face they can't give us a fine! All because everyone loves corgis!
Corgi love goes well beyond my Sammy. (It's hard for me to realize sometimes.) It ventures into the TV world! Has anyone seen the Pedigree Dentistix commercial? Sammy and I nearly lost it when we saw the corgi!

Even more spectacular, they are using corgi love to sell cars! Nissan got on the corgi bandwagon with their Nissan Leaf Olympic commercial! Check out this commerical. At exactly 42 seconds look at the little smiler on the right!



Another commercial I have seen with these fancy rabbit ears is the Pup-Peroni commerical.


If that isn't enough....the Queen of England LOVES corgis! One of my favorite articles I have read about Queen Elizabeth and her corgis often reminds me of myself with Sammy. My middle name is Elizabeth, so I often say that the Queen and I must be on the same wavelength. Haha.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1187578/They-terrorise-footmen-drive-Philip-mad-knocked-Paul-Burrell-stairs-Queen-giving-beloved-Corgis.html

Now who can deny the fact that Everyone Loves Corgis?!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Drools McGee

To those that know me, it is no secret that I find a slobbering, drooling dog insanely endearing. Oh heck, downright cute! I can't explain it. I am not fond of the people slobber, often I will wash the sheets on a dime if any drool slipped onto the bed during the night. But when a dog has those drool strands, I just can't hold back the little giggle of "Oh My Gosh! Look at that drool!" Probably why I was drawn to basset hounds in the Pre-Samerson days.
I don't know if it is a corgi thing or not, but Sammy began his drooling about a month or two ago, and now excels at the drool. Sometimes when I look at him I wonder if his lips are too big for his snout. Or maybe because he usually smiles so much it has stretched out the lips at the corners that it bunches up when he is not smiling. Ok, so I don't think that, but it's a nice idea. I don't know, but his oversized corgi tounge salavates and produces a lot of drool for his little chipmunk cheeks to handle. In the end, when there is a tasty dish with wonderful smells, the end result is this:





And on a side note. We now wake up often with a wet spot below Sammy's head. Yep, he is drooling at night, now!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Sleepy Sammy!

Yesterday was a wonderful day for Sammy. He got to go to Bone Jour! Bone Jour is the doggie daycare here in Omaha that is part of the Humane Society. Unfortunately he doesn't get to go too often. Hopefully it makes it more special when he gets to go. It is quite exciting. The dogs are separated into two groups, big dogs in one group, and small dogs and most puppies in the second group. The last two times Sammy went he was able to play with Chloe, a part lab part golden retriever mix puppy just one month younger than him. I was so happy for him to be able to play with a puppy, that is another dog with as much energy and playfulness as him. The small dogs and puppy group is anywhere from 20 to 28 dogs dependant on the day. I imagine it is a bliss for Sammy.
Sammy's day at dogcare goes a little like this:
615am: Get up, get some breakfast and potty. Getting up takes him a little bit if he doesn't want to, so we allow extra time for this! Sammy is not a morning dog!
7:00 Sammy gets checked in. Sign him in, and take him to his crate (which is really a 3'X4' area all to his own that has a white picket fence around it with his name on the front. He gets a little bed and whatever we bring for him. He has a blanket from home and his little rabbit.)
7:30 All the dogs get let out into their play rooms. Sammy's playroom has astroturf ground and those little plastic jungle gym things for kids as well as other toys around the room. Each room has a door into it's separate yards so the dogs are able to go in and out as they please.
11:00am: Naptime. Sammy would go back to his little crate for naptime. At this time some dog parents pay for their dogs to be groomed, and this would happen during naptime. Sammy does not get groomed, but always comes home smelling like the shampoo used on the other dogs!
1:30 pm: The small dogs are let into the big dogs yard. The big dogs have more jungle gym type things to climb. I don't know how much Sammy enjoys it, I am curious.
2:00: The small dogs go back to their playroom for the remainder of the day.
5:30-6:30 is pick-up time. We come in and they send him out of the play room. We also get a report card for the day to tell us how he did and who he played with most! Yesterday, Sammy got a Valentine from Ledger. Ledger's crate was next to Sammy's. They must have had a fun day together!

It almost sounds silly to talk about doggie daycare, but it has done so much for him. It has helped with Sammy's socialization not to mention letting him get to run around to his hearts content. Since we don't have a yard, I really appreciate this. This time of year, this year especially, it is so cold out that I have been unable to let him out as much as he wants, but at doggie daycare he gets that option as well as a new enviornment. I imagine him to have cabin fever! Since going to doggie daycare, he has done alot better on walks. Sammy was able to play with other dogs and lessen his curiousity of dogs on walks. Plus it makes him exhausted for about a day and a half!

"Why do you have me up? It is 6:30 in the morning! I need my beauty sleep!"

"Hmm....this is beginning to look a little familiar."

"This is looking ALOT familiar! Lets go, let's go!!"


Sammy after his 11 hour day of doggie daycare:




Sammy today, after sleeping the whole evening, the whole night and all morning!

"Boy this bed sure is comfortable with these extra blankets. Shall we take a nap, Mom?"

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Is Sammy an Einstein?

In Pre-Samerson time (I can't imagine that time anymore), there was a struggle over the breed. As you all may recall, Erik was very corgi all because of the show.... Cowboy Bebop. Don't feel bad if you don't know this show, it is not among the popular sitcoms. Rather it is an anime. And if you don't know what an anime is (I didn't until Erik entered my world a couple years ago), essentially it is an adult cartoon originally deriving from Japan, that has begun a subculture here in America. To my surprise, alot of people actually know about anime and even this show, Cowboy Bebop. Even more surprising, sometimes when I just mess around on the internet typing in 'corgi,' 'pembroke corgi,' etc, I find many dogs named Ein!
Sammy and I have been priveldged enough to begin watching this show before bed.
Cowboy Bebop aired in 1998-1999 and has been classified as a "space opera, planetary romance, action adventure, crime fiction, tech-noir, tragedy" on wikipedia.com. That is probably a better jumbled word explanation than I could have given myself! It is futuristic where the main characters, who are bounty hunters, travel through space from planet to moon to planet...etc (often times through what looks like worm holes) attempted to make their bank, but always run into many mishaps along the way. If anyone has seen Firefly, a WB show from many years ago that was cancelled after one season, it is alot like that, but cartoon-y. Anyway, in episode two(ish) when everything seems to start going awry trying to get a briefcase and whatnot, they finally open the briefcase and out pops a PEMBROKE WELSH CORGI!!
Later, as the episodes continue, they keep this cute little corgi and name him, Ein (for Einstein). Ein continues through the series (I think, we are still on disc 1), even as a main character. Ein barks like a corgi, has the smile and nub like a corgi, and has the floppy tounge alot, like at least Sammy. However, as the story contines, we find out that Ein isn't just a regular dog. Rather he is a "data dog" to which I do not understand fully, just that he had been expiermented on. (Very upsetting!)

I am sharing all of this for a couple reasons. Number 1, that is a part of how Sammy came to be part of my life. Numero 2, Sammy's reaction is quite funny. Sammy will sit at the end of the bed and watch the screen. He seems so engulfed by what is happening (much more than me!). When Ein barks, Sammy cocks his head back and forth as to understand what Ein is saying to him. And finally, Number 3, many have said that Sammy and Ein look alike. Personally I can't imagine any cartoon dog to be even a quarter as cute as my little Samster! Well, I will leave it up to the pictures:











Yep, Sammy is much cuter! Haha. Plus I think Ein is a little chunkier than my lean mean Corgi machine, Sammy!! I will admit that Ein is very cute and that I am quite estatic that they chose a corgi for their dog. It's nice to have lots of corgi-love!

In other news, Sammy is very excited because he is getting to go to doggie daycare agian on Friday! It has just been so cold that I just am unable to play outside with him the way I should and he is just getting bored inside. I don't blame him for his cabin fever, I have it, too. Anyway, he loves doggie daycare, and he can't wait to play for 12 hours (with 2 nap breaks!) with lots of other dogs inside and outside! I am very excited for him, and also very excited for Friday night when he is oh so tired! Yay!



Ein Pictures I googled:


Sunday, February 7, 2010

6 Months=A Lifetime

Today was a very special day for Sammy. Actually all of us. Today was the 6 month anniversary of his homecoming! It was amazing to think of. I can't believe he came home half a year ago! In this time he has nearly tripled his weight and has filled out his short and stout corgi figure! He doesn't seem quite puppy anymore. We didn't do much to celebrate. Originally we had planned to play in the snow, but it was a really wet snow, it wasn't much fun. It was too sloppy! Instead we played some inside. Played fetch and such. To finish off the day Sammy had doggy ice cream while Erik and I had red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. Otherwise, we just had a lazy day. Sammy might prefer that, so it seemed fitting. He didn't have to sit bored wondering what he was missing or just stare out the window. It wasn't a big hoopla, but hopefully he had a wonderful day. I know I did. Can't remember life without my little baby!

Friday, February 5, 2010

Photo Day!

Today Sammy was just being so cute that I just started taking pictures of him. For some reason the camera was making photos very grainy, lots of digital noise. I'm not sure why, but it's disappointing. Anyway, I tried some editing to make it a little better, but unfortunately it didn't do much. I put a couple in black and white, to help with a couple that I really liked. The problem might have occured last night when the camera was dropped in the snow in our midnight adventure in the snow. It started acting funny then. Hmm...sad. Hope you enjoy these pictures of Sammy!

"Momma, Momma....it's snowing! Can we go play?!"

"Wow, normally I can't even see this high!"

Shake, Shake, Shake!



(I have no idea if that extra white stuff is an snow ghost or what?)

"I hereby declare myself King of this here snowpile!"

"It's still snowing...lets go back out!"

"Yes, yes I am very cute."









"Stop it! Let me sleep!"



"Actually this is quite comfortable, if you must know."

Mr. Big Ears! ...it's better to hear you with!

Sammy is getting quite long!

"Huh? I don't understand."



SMILE!



"I love my mom!"



"What is that you say?"

"Oh, I know. I am the cutest dog in the whole world. ...You tell me this every day, Mom."