Family Day in the Mountains

Yesterday was a great family day. We packed a picnic lunch and headed to the mountains. I designated myself "Mommy's Little Helper" (obviously we'd be in a world of mess if I left it up to brother or Bratka), so it was my job to help set the picnic table up for our lunch, scout the perimeter of our area and sound the alarms if an intruder - human or animal - came within ear-shot of us. After having a very enjoyable afternoon (and Mommy giving us lots of treats as part of our training as another dog and humans did invade our area), we headed in to town to do some sight-seeing. Mom spotted a horse near the road; alone, yet majestic. She pulled over and took a picture of him for all of us to see. After a bit, we headed off the mountain and back to our abode.

A few minutes after getting home, we all smelled the smoke of a wild fire. Within minutes, it saturated our valley. We couldn't figure out where it was coming from, so we all loaded back into the car and headed out on an expedition to find the fire. Just as the sun was fading into the ocean, we saw dark billows of smoke rising from the mountains to our west. Today, all is clear, so Smokey the Bear must have thrown just enough buckets of water on it to save the forest for another day.

Forever Friday's by Atka

This past week was, for the most part, pretty uneventful. My "housetraining" has been a work in progress, but I DID go to the dooor today and barked to go out. Not long after that, I forgot my training and.....wooops.......!

One thing I did was help mommy plant an herb and veggie garden. We planted basil, garlic chives, oregano, two kinds of sage, dill, cilantro, two kinds of parsley, cucumbers, beans, tomatoes, peas, and strawberrys. It's only been a week, but everything is growing really well!

Mom got out the dreaded grooming shears today and called out a name. I was off in a distance and couldn't hear who she called for. I was hoping that mommy was around to stop her madness before she got the idea to cut my beautiful fur. As I poked my head around the corner, I saw she had hold of my sister. Poor Prinnie. Mommy had made her promise that she would NOT touch my hair with those cutters, but apparently she didn't make the same promise for poor Froo (our nick-name for Prinnie). After a long time, Prinnie came in and...well.....hair grows back, right??

I guess it was a pretty busy week after all. Time for a nap!!!!!

Prinnie after mom got ahold of her with the grooming clippers!

My herb and veggie garden

The End!!

Coronado Island Beach ~ Fun in the Sun

Yesterday, we went to beach at Coronado Island. Mommy thought Atka might be a water dog and love the ocean, but she was a chicken. When the waves came crashing in, she ran just as fast as brother and I did. Shortly after a big wave came, a fighter jet flew right overhead (and almost scalped us, it was so low). That was it for Atka - she cried and cried and tried crawling into mommy's arms. She wouldn't leave mommy's side for one second after that ~ the scared-y dog! We all had a lot of fun though. After the beach, we went to the parents favorite Italian Restaurant in Pacific Beach for take out. It was our first time there as a family - we were good guard dogs for the restaurant. Here are some pictures of our day....

Forever Friday by Atka

It's been a busy week for me - the youngest eskie in our family!  Earlier this week, sister and I supervised the new neighbors moving in next door.  I gave them the rules of the neighborhood and shared my barking skills with their entire extended family and friends (mom is rolling her eyes in embarrassment).

Today, mommy left some very delicious Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips way far back on the desk where she thought I couldn't reach, but she was mistaken.  I became a girl on a mission for chocolate, and scored!  I ate all but two little morsels.  After I was done, I got to go for a car ride with mommy to the dog hospital.  The doctor gave me a shot and it made me vomit.  The doctor showed mommy, and said that the amount I ate was more than a lethal dose, but that she thought they "recaptured" most of it and I should be ok.  I still don't know what the big deal was about - the chocolate tasted really good!!

Mommy has been doing some training with me on the "Wait, Stay, Leave-It and Stop" commands.  I really don't see the sense in waiting when I can charge and bully my way to get what I want, but I'm going along with it so she doesn't cry.  I haven't done too well on my house training this week either, and my parents are pulling their hair out.  At this point, they'll be bald by July 4th!  I figure I'll get to it when I want to but right now, I have other things to focus on - like training the new neighbors, guarding my brother and sister, setting up car rides with the parents, and so on.

I would like to thank my Aunt Sue, Uncle Steve, and Cousins Siku Marie and Quinn Marie for giving me my two very own special bowls with my name on them.  One is for me to nose-plow and the other is for me to eat from.  I love them both, and I love my heart family.

Here are some pics of the week......Until Next Friday.......Love, Atka


PS:  Remember me telling you about the very special lady who adopted me, and then let me come back to my forever family?  Well, she adopted a really cute little boy eskie she named Bear, and they created their own blog called "Bear's Fur-st blog",  give them a shout out and thank her for saving another eskie baby!!  Click here to visit them!

Thank You Siku Marie and Quinn

My BFF, Siku Marie, her brother Quinn, along with my Aunt Sue and Uncle Steve are the kindest people I know. They sent my family gifts to celebrate my brother's "Gotcha day", Atka's "Welcome to our family" and me for...well....being so cute(????) - yea, that's it! They also sent my parents a beautiful friendship plaque that is now prominently displayed in our living room (and well out of reach of sister, who has no grace at all and would, while doing indoor zoomies, likely crash into it if it were accessible). We are the lucky ones to have them in our lives, and we thank them all from the bottom of our hearts and paws!

Bzzzzzzzzzzz Cuts

Today was hair cut day at our house. First, mom took the buzzers to Digby, and later, she and mommy pushed the orange monster around the yard and gave the grass a cut too. I, of course, supervised both trimming sessions, and began teaching Atka the ropes on how to direct the parents to do exactly as I wished.

I must say, brother was a little frumpy before the cut, but he cleaned up nicely! Here are his "before" and "after" pictures: