Ranger

This may be old news for some of you, but about a month ago, we adopted a dog from the local shelter.  I was REALLY nervous about this.  Let's just say, we haven't had great luck with dogs in the past.  But, Mark found this dog that was part Border Collie, part something else (maybe Golden Retriever?) and he was sweet.  He kept going back to visit him, and after a few visits we took the kids up to see how he did with them.  A few days later, Mark brought him home.  I was still skeptical.  But, he has been the best and sweetest dog I have ever had.  He wasn't house broken when we got him.  But, that only took about 2 days of working with him.  He is very obedient and a gentle dog.  He loves belly rubs and treats.  All in all, it's been a great experience.  Look at him:

He was very underweight when we got him--you could feel his ribs and hip bones jutting out.  But, he has quickly fattened up.  :)  The vet thinks he's anywhere from 6-10 mos. old.  

So, things have been going great with Ranger...except for this morning.  Our neighbors left their water running in their yard all night...which ran into our yard...which made a giant mud puddle around the peach trees.  Ranger decided he was part pig and went rolling in the mud.  I started to suspect something when he was outside for a long time this morning and we didn't hear anything out of him.  So, I opened the door, called for Ranger and he came running.  It took me a while to realize he was covered head to toe...back to belly...tail and all in mud.  He ran about 5 circles around the living room before I could catch him and get him back outside.  My family room looked like a dirt track.  

The funniest part of the story is that I discovered Ranger hates baths.  In fact, he hates them so much that whenever I tried to get him to take a bath, he rolled over on his back, paws up, tongue out to the side, stared off into the distance and played dead.  If I hadn't been so frustrated with him, I would have taken his picture.  It was so cute...and he did it every time I tried to bathe him.  I swear he's the sweetest dog ever...which just might have saved his life after his mud fiasco this morning.  I could only imagine what was going through his mind..."Sorry, can't take a bath right now, because I died."  Cutest. Dog. Ever.

Ella's Fake Life

Ella has a great imagination.  I've mentioned before, that I love to sit and listen to her play with her toys.  The stuff she says, cracks me up.
For instance, tonight, she was pretending that she was making donuts.  She was talking to an imaginary person about the donuts and said, "this is so romantically weird."
Romantically weird?  That's a new one...now, I will have to try to think of some other things that I can describe as "romantically weird."

While she was playing this game, she turned to me and said, "Mommy, I've found a boy I want to marry!"

I said, "You have?  Who is it?"

Ella:  "Well, in real life, I want to marry Aidan.  But in fake life, I want to marry Sun Slice."

Me:  "Wow, what an interesting name."

Ella:  "Yes, it's because he's like scissors."  (Huh?)

Me:  "Well, what is it about Sun Slice that makes you want to marry him?"

Ella:  "He eats wildly.  Just like me.  Moon Slice is nice but he eats all calmly, so I don't want to marry him."

So, there you have it.  The girl's got standards!  It's a start anyway.

On another note---you maybe, just maybe, have a strong willed, controlling child if she spends half the day telling your dog that he is panting the wrong way.  (Apparently, Ranger likes to pant with his tongue hanging out to the side of his mouth.  Ella thinks he should only pant with his tongue hanging out the front of his mouth.)  She finds it completely exasperating that we cannot get this dog to pant the right way.  Maybe he's just too romantically weird for front of the mouth panting.