Otis' birthday!

Here are some pics from Otis' birthday that I've been meaning to post...I think Otis and Cooper had a good time.

J.B.

My sensitive pup

With his bright blue eyes and his wiggly back end, Cooper Joe is our sensitive pup. His eyes are sensitive to the sun, so they squint in the sun. His is emotionally sensitive. He loves giving gentle kisses. He loves wiggling with excitement when Dave or I get home.


It turns out, his bladder is also sensitive. When he was just a pup, some "leakage" issues prompted a visit to the vet and he had an UTI and an intestional infection. Today Dave and I took him back to the vet, because we noticed some of the same symptoms that he had during the last infection.

And once again, our little guy is sick. The vet said the infection was still mild. I'm glad we caught it before it was causing him too much discomfort. He got a shot of antibiotics and some pills to take over the next two weeks.

Can I just say that Cooper is the cutest pup when he goes to the vet? He's without his brother, so he isn't sure what to do. He just sits so politely in the backseat. At the vet, he gets scared, so he stays right by our side. He doesn't even want any treats. He doesn't want to sniff the other dogs. He just wants to get the vet stuff done so he can go home to his brother.

J.B.

The MN Twins

This past weekend, Papa Bear and I got to meet our Godchild and his big sister (older by mere seconds)! Our good friends, Jim and Aimee had twins less than a month ago. It was Aimee's birthday on Saturday, so we surprised her by showing up at her house unexpected! (Don't worry...it was only a surprise for her.) We had a great weekend hanging out with friends and meeting these little people. Even Otis and Cooper joined us! They (especially Cooper) had a good time playing with Jim and Aimee's dogs. They slept the whole way 4 hour drive home! Honestly, Cooper didn't even move until we were about 5 minutes from our house.

Baby Love! I think they could be in a Double Mint commercial!

Jameson snoozing away in my arms.

Dave and his Godson. Jameson makes the funniest little expressions.

Ms. Vivian sticking out her tongue.

The proud Daddy!

Otis still thinks he has speedy super powers. Even without his costume.

Cooper having a good time!

J.B.

Thankful Thursday -- Cooper's wiggles

I love my pups.

That's an understatement. lol.

One of my favorite times with them is when I get home at the end of the day. They are so excited! When I first walk in the door, it's Otis' turn to be super excited. Cooper has to wait until he does his business outside. Why? He wiggles a lot and would leak if he didn't empty his bladder first.

So when he gets back inside, Cooper is full of wiggles. He has to wiggle his body because he doesn't have a tail. Wiggles equal love. Cooper has a lot of love. Although if you didn't know better, you might think he was a little terrorist with all his wiggling.

Today I'm thankful for my wiggling puppies that explode with love when I come home. I wanted to share this moment with you all. Take a look.




J.B.

Last weekend...

Dave and I took Otis and Cooper down to Minnesota City to see some of our family and visit John's farm. The farm is nestled in a valley surrounded my lush tree-covered hills. It's so peaceful and beautiful. Since it's fall harvest time (yes, FALL), we got to enjoy the fresh produce that John's been growing all summer. We had tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, grape tomatoes, ground cherries, and red and yellow raspberries. I had never even heard of ground cherries, but they were good! We got a preview of the pumpkins and cantaloupe that are growing. We walked around the hillside and toured John's prairie gardens.

While we had an awesome time eating and spending time with family, the dogs had one of their best days ever. They got to run around free for hours and hours. They got to explore the garden while Dave picked us some food. They played with Ann's dog, Minnie. You could see smiles on their faces -- not kidding. When they were tired of running, they'd take a break and lay by our feet. Then after a while, they'd get up and run around all over again. We all can't wait to make the trip again next year!

Here's some pics of our day. I already posted them on FB, but wanted to blog about our day too...since it's a fun one that I want to remember! And I got to play with our new camera!

Cooper squinting in the sun -- he's got those sensitive blue eyes.

Otis resting in the shade -- he gets hot so easily with his thick black fur.

The view from the prairie garden on the hillside.

Cooper, Otis and Minnie -- the three amigos.

Cooper resting with Dad.

Dave successfully picked an ear of corn!

Just because....

Just because it's TUESDAY...
And because my husband is the BEST....
And because my puppies are the CUTEST...
And because we got a new CAMERA....

Case of the Pooper(s)

I have a little mystery to solve. We went camping last weekend. The dogs could do their business whenever and wherever they please. Apparently the dogs are having trouble adjusting to the fact that our house is INDOORS and it's not ok for the to poop where ever they want anymore.

When I woke up this morning there were TWO piles of poop upstairs. ONE in the hallway and ONE in the loft.

Did TWO dogs poop ONCE? Did ONE dog poop TWICE? Did ONE dog poop ONCE and then MOVE half his pile?

I thought I'd be smart and determine which dog(s) was/were the pooper when I took them outside this morning. But they BOTH pooped outside.

Now I can't say for certain who is/are the pooper(s). But honestly, I'd rather not know and not have this incident happen again!

August 11, 2009 -- a special day for our little pup

Cooper Joe turned two today! In honor of his b-day, we took a family walk. On the walk, we saw Lily, Cooper's girlfriend. She denied him today -- too busy looking for a squirrel that ran away. You all may think I'm crazy for saying my dog has a girlfriend, but Cooper was literally whimpering when Lily wouldn't come over and sniff him! But it all turned out okay, because we saw Otis' girlfriend Lexie, who was excited to see both Otis and Cooper. And we met a new puppy -- a little American Bulldog 14-week pup named Chaos.

Cooper's grown up so much from the little pup we first met almost two years ago.


The two little dots on his nose has grown in, but he still has the white front-right paw that we like to call "Reebok."

Here's Cooper chewing his birthday rawhide. Less than a minute later, Otis stole it.

Dave and I had lunch together today at Tavern on France (yum!). We discussed Cooper's personality. Here's what we think about Cooper.

• Cooper's pretty laid back at home where he feels secure. He doesn't mind when Otis hoards the toys. He loves his home best and loves just lounging around and sleeping.
• While he likes to lounge around most of the time, he's always up for play time. Just glance his way and quickly dodge your shoulders and he'll wag his tail and play chase.
  
• He's protective of his house and family. This is partly because he's just a big scardy-dog and acts tough to try and scare people/things he doesn't know.
• He's so lovable. Cooper's loved by everyone in our family. Gracie the cat enjoys playing with Cooper so much more than she does with Otis. Cooper likes to give love too with lots and lots and lots of kisses.
  
• Cooper looks up to his big brother Otis and follows Otis' lead. Just like the "My Buddy" jingle from the 80's, -- "Wherever he goes, I'm gonna go."
  
• Treats are the key to Cooper's heart. And "intruder" just needs to give Cooper a treat, and they'll be great friends. He loves ice cream too and licks it so politely.
  
• He doesn't realize how cute he is. He doesn't realize that strangers stop their car to tell me he looks so happy. He doesn't realize that strangers are always saying he's so beautiful. He doesn't realize that he melts my heart everyday with his cuteness (and that's probably a good thing, because he doesn't realize how much he could get away with!!)

I love you, Cooper Joe! Happy Birthday, baby!

My Grandma's Dresser

One of the things I've been wanting to do for a LONG time is refinish my grandma's old dresser. It's number 66 on my 101 in 1,001 list. It was one of the only things that has been passed down to me from my mom's side of the family, so I treasure it. Even if it's a beat up old dresser. The varnish that was on it had gotten old and bubbly, I guess, the way that varnish gets when it's old. There are lots of dents and dings on its sides, water stains on the top. Anyway, in April, Dave and I finally got started on this project. It's finally done. Well, almost. It still needs some new knobs. But it's back in Gracie's bedroom...and I'm really excited about how it turned out...so I wanted to post some pics quickly.

Before! (FYI. Gracie liked to hide in the dresser, but we didn't force her to be there. I just thought it was funny, so I took the pic. Good thing I took it....because it is the only before pic of the whole dresser! It's a really old pic from our first apartment.)

Ok. I guess you can see Dave really did most of this himself. Who am I kidding? lol.

After! The finished dresser!

And Otis and Cooper trying to steal Gracie's room. Cooper's licking his chops. They're so cute!

Like a vacation...

This past weekend was so beautiful and blissful that I felt like I was on a vacation.

Saturday morning, after eating the scrambled eggs that Dave made us, we headed down to the Prior Lake Farmers' Market. We took Otis and Cooper with us, and they both did so well (we don't take them into public places with lots of people very often...so this was a good test). Cooper didn't growl or bark at anyone like he does at home or around the neighborhood. It was Dave's first experience at the market, and it definitely exceeded his expectations. It definitely helped that there was a vendor selling home-made root beer. This summer, I'm trying to buy more local produce...so I stalked up on tomatoes (grown in a local greenhouse), green onions and potatoes. As summer progresses, it'll be fun to get a larger variety of produce.

We followed the farmers' market with a trip to the dog park. The weather was so beautiful that we did two laps -- walking about 3 miles. That wore the dogs out for the rest of the day!

In the afternoon I went to our pool with my sister, Rachel. Becky and my nieces ended up joining us, so I ended up spending all afternoon by the pool. I got a little too much sun. But really, it was a picture perfect summer day and I loved every minute of it! No clouds. Low humidity. Lots of sun. Upper 70's. Just a light breeze. The weather doesn't get any better than that!!!

Sunday after church, Dave and I went on a bike ride down to Shakopee. We went about 7-8 miles. My bike isn't the best for long distances, so transitioning to sitting down has been really sore for me last night and today. Of course, our bike ride ended with a stop at Dairy Queen. I always say, "the best part about a bike ride is the reward at the end."

Then we headed over to Becky's house for her birthday dinner. Amanda helped make a lot of it! She was a busy girl -- she helped make the BBQ ribs and the rhubarb crisp.

Are you still with me??

This weekend is Grandma's Marathon. I retired last year. But Dave is running the full marathon again with Bryan. Just wanted to mention that, because you can sign up for text message or email alerts again. Thought some of the family who can't make it to Duluth might be interested in signing up, so they know right away when Dave sets his personal best.

Could he be...

...the most playful dog in the world?

I decided to make a video tonight so that Dave can see what he missed while he was fishing. But I guess the same thing happens pretty much every day, so this isn't really a surprise for him. And I guess he won't watch this until he's home, so he probably has the real Cooper Joe sitting next to him as he reads this post. So I guess the real reason I'm posting this video is because I love sharing Cooper with all my blog readers (all 5 followers...and others that should sign up to follow me)! He's the cutest dog in the world!

I now present a video of Cooper playing with his Mom (me) and his brother, the dog, Otis. And you won't be able to help but notice two things. 1) How cute Cooper is. 2) That Otis doesn't like it when he doesn't get my undivided attention.

Now on to the video!



Want more Cooper movies? Watch Cooper and his sister, the cat, Gracie play!

Privacy, Please!

Why is it that all the kids must follow me into the bathroom? They've been hanging out with me all morning. Apparently they want their photos taken!

Here are some updates from the Balow Bunch kids!!

Otis is still the captain of the bunch. He likes to steal rawhides from Cooper. He always has to cuddle with us. These days he's preferring attention from humans than playing with other dogs (except Cooper). He's almost three now and showing no signs of calming down (people are surprised to find out he's older than Cooper).

Don't tell the other pets, but Cooper is my favorite. How can you not fall in love with those big blue eyes? They've melted my heart. Cooper's pretty laid back around the house -- he's everyone's best friend -- even Gracie loves playing with Cooper. When we're not at home, Cooper is pretty shy, so he likes following Otis' lead.

Gracie decided she's not a cat anymore. She wants to be a dog! She's started licking Dave and I, just like the dogs do. Lately, when people come over they are surprised at how friendly Gracie's gotten at her old age of seven. She jumps in everyone's lap (she even let my nieces pet her the last time they were here.) She also loves playing with Cooper (but not Otis). I finally caught the two of them on camera, which you have to watch.

Hopefully, animal control doesn't come after me for this video. But you can tell they're just playing. For one, no one is growling or hissing (and both these pets will do that when they feel threatened!). Second, no one is getting up and running away.

We did it!

We survived our first family trip! It actually went much better than I anticipated. I was worried that the dogs (especially Otis) would keep trying to climb in my lap during the car ride. I was worried that they would bark when we left them in the motel room. I was worried that the barking would cause other guest to complain. I was worried that they were going to spend too much time alone in the motel.

But none of that happened!

Well, Otis did try to climb into my lap in the car, but we invested in a travel hammock to try to keep him in the back as well as keep the car a little cleaner. It didn't work perfect, but it slowed Otis down enough (although he could still jump over).

I was most pleased the the dogs seemed to behave when we left them in the motel room. It probably helped that there weren't lots of people staying there, so it was pretty quiet. I'm sure the enjoyed watching CSPAN while we were out (had to find a channel that didn't have dogs which Otis likes to bark at).

The motel also had a great path that went down to a beach that we could let the dogs run free on.

The whole purpose of this trip was to celebrate Jim's 30th birthday. It was our first time at Jim and Aimee's house in Frazee, Minn. It's a really small town outside of a little bit bigger (but still small town) town called Detroit Lakes. The town is so small that the restaurant in town is called, "The Restaurant," because it's the only restaurant in town. You may have heard of Frazee because it's home of the world's largest turkey....lol. Yeah, probably not. But it was a very nice small town, indeed.

After seeing the turkey (and Jim isn't the world's largest turkey), we went bowling with a bunch of friends that were all there to celebrate Jim's big 3-0.

That evening we went to the Easter Vigil to see Aimee get baptized, confirmed and have her first-communion, which was followed by a late-night venture to Perkin's (drove up to Detroit Lakes).

In the morning, we went to brunch with Jim and Aimee and their family at The Restaurant and then drove back home to go to my parents' for Easter dinner.

There wasn't any drunk stupidity, wild, crazy, party happenings to report. Guess that's what happens when one turns 30. Things slow down a little. Yet, it was great to see friends celebrating life, Easter and faith.

Hope everyone had a great Easter!

Getting back in shape. With a new running partner. A stranger in a car pulls over to talk to me.

Intrigued by my titles? You have to read this entire post to get it. :)

Yesterday it was time to face what I'd let myself become. Out of shape.

There's several reasons excuses as to why I've stopped running the last nine months or so.

1) It's been really cold, and I don't like cold
2) I don't want to slip on ice or maneuver around snow banks
3) Running on a treadmill is so much harder than running outside
4) I haven't had a good running partner

Let's face it, Dave's in much better shape these days and I don't want to deal with the hard time he'll give me when discovers I can't run more than two miles. And I've parted ways with other running partners. Several of whom switched jobs (including myself), so we don't have the great running paths steps from our office). One of whom I don't even talk to anymore.

And then there's Otis. I tried being running partners with him before we had Cooper, but it just didn't work out. He poops way too many times (gets too excited about running w/ me) which end up bouncing around in the bags that I have to carry the bags around, which is a gross enough reason for me to leave him at home. But there's also the fact that he doesn't have a good sense of endurance. It takes him a mile to calm down enough to actual run next to me, and then by the third mile he's too tired and falls way behind. I don't want to torture him, so we end up walking back home.

After we got Cooper, I knew that it'd be impossible to try and get a run completed with two dogs. But this week, I had an epiphany. Cooper just might be my perfect running partner. He always poops before we start walks and usually always its just the one time. He doesn't pull like Otis and is generally happy just healing on my side. He's a little husky, so he could use a little extra exercise.

So yesterday, when it was warm and sunny and I had no more excuses for not running, I grabbed Cooper and we headed outside.

And he ran on my side just like that's what he was born to do.

The one time I stopped to fix his leash (surprisingly I didn't have to stop for shortness of breath!), he looks at me with his bright blue eyes as if saying, "Come on , Mom. We're not done yet!"

As we were rounding back into our neighborhood, a stranger in the car at the stop sign pulls down her window (shouldn't that have scared me off to run home faster?!). She says to me, "Your dog is so beautiful. He looks so happy."

And that pretty much solidified the fact that Cooper is my new running partner. Anything that makes my little guy happy makes me happy!

And don't worry. I took Otis on a walk when we got home from the run.

Thankful Thursday...

Today I'm thankful for dry ground.

Last night we made our first venture to the dog park this spring season. We took a gamble, betting that the wet, muddy ground caused by the melting snow would be gone. It'd be a huge mess having to muddy and wet dogs, so we shy away from the dog park when the snow melts.

The bet paid off! The ground was dry! And the dogs had so much fun. We only walked around the park once, but the way the dogs ran (in circles around us the whole time), they probably did about 2 or 3 laps.

Now we can get the boys to the park more often, which makes them the happiest boys in the world!

The dog park trip wouldn't have been possible without the longer days we've been having. So I'm thankful for that too. It's so refreshing to be active outside in the evenings!

Not to get all philosophical, but when I wrote, "I'm thankful for dry ground," I couldn't help but think of dry ground metaphorically about my life. I'm thankful for the stability that Dave and I have in our lives -- especially as the world around us seems so unstable. We are on dry ground. Love is our dry ground. Our belief in God is our dry ground. The support from our family and friends is our dry ground. Our dry ground make the shaky days bearable. Our dry ground provides the path that we're walking and it's taking us where we want go. And that path that we're walking is so much better with the dry ground beneath our feet.

A humongous accomplishment (in my book anyway)

Last night, Dave and I took a big leap of faith. We gave both dogs the run of the whole house last night when we were out.

Cooper Joe didn't cause any problems.

When we're gone for short periods of time, we'll usually let him stay out. We keep the dogs in the downstairs only. But Cooper tends to still have accidents when we're not home. He tends to grab paper off the table. He tends to open closets (with the help of Gracie) and pull out shoes, and chew them.

So he spends almost 8 hours every weekday in his kennel. Since we've had him for the last 1 1/2 years, we haven't minded too much locking him up each day because Cooper Joe loves his kennel. We say "kennel time" and he runs up the stairs and into his kennel. Still, the guilt creeps in. It just doesn't seem fair when his older brother, Otis, gets free run of the house most of the day.

Then I got to thinking...maybe part of the reason why he gets into trouble when we're not home is partly because he has no access to his kennel at all, because it's upstairs. He doesn't have access to his space and that gives him anxiety.

So today, Dave calls me on his way to school. "Yeah, I decided to let Cooper stay out of his kennel again."

"What!?!?!" I'm thinking to myself. "This is unchartered territory! He's going to be free in the house for 6 hours!"

Dave explains that today is as good as day as any to see if he'll behave. And he assured me everything was picked up, so the dogs couldn't get into any mischief.

This afternoon when I got home, I carefully inspected every room. Not a single mess anywhere!! Hooray!!! Yeah!!! Yahoo!!! Woo Woo!!!

Now let's just hope that my theory about Cooper needing access to his kennel is right and today wasn't just a fluke.

Guess we'll find out tomorrow....

Snow!

We got sacked with snow today. In a matters of hours we received 4-6 inches of snow.

Sometimes snow can be a good thing. Example: You get told the office is closing and you get to leave 1 1/2 hours early. School is canceled and you don't have to worry about finding the extra half-hour in your day to finish the reading. You get to let the dogs off their leashes and let them run free.

Not sure what it is about snow. But it makes my dogs so excited. They literally run around in circles. The faces get covered in snowflakes. It's so fun to watch them have so much fun. But not for too long, because, hey, it gets cold quick!

Today, Cooper's girlfriend, Lily, came outside and the two get to play a little game of tag.



Here's some photos I took of the boys. They haven't changed much since I last posted pics. They're dogs. They're not supposed to change. But something did happen to Otis' lip. It almost looks like he got my cold sore. Can dogs get cold sores?

Mua! Catching Cooper kissing his girlfriend.

He's so pretty!

A close-up of Cooper.

Otis looks like he doesn't want his picture taken. I know he's saying, "Mom, don't take a photo of me with a cold sore. It's so embarrassing."

Vote for Cooper!

In case you didn't notice that big button ad on the right side of my blog, I need your help! Vote for Cooper as the MVP pet.

Vacuums are to be won!

And yes, vacuums (particularly, working ones) are a source of contentness in my lame life. Proof I'm an adult, I guess.

Case #1:
With my very limited personal spending money, I choose to buy new vacuum parts (the spinning thing on the bottom and belts) instead of spending it on....well. anything.

Voting is easy. Just click on the button and you'll be taken directly to the voting form. Just fill out and submit. Thanks for your help!

Everyone and their dog...plus a muskrat

Yesterday, everyone and their dog was at the dog park. Well, except Dave...he had to work. Otis, Cooper and I went with our friends Melissa, Mike and his dog, Hudson. The dogs had a lot of fun running around, since they hadn't been to the dog park in about two months. The park we visited had a big pond, but it was frozen...which was nice b/c it made the park a lot bigger as there was more space to run around.

Cooper was over on the side of the pond playing with another dog and what looked like a little puppy from a distance. I even said, "Hey, guys look at the little puppy Cooper's playing with."

But as I looked closer, it looked like it might be a gray football.

By now, Otis was checking this thing out. And some other dogs too.

Then, "Ew! That's not a dog or a football. That looks like a mole or a rat. Ew, it's a muskrat."

The dogs were chasing it...the muskrat was trying to run...then it froze in its tracks...the dogs were pawing at it...the muskrat was snapping back.

The muskrat was freaking out. I was freaking out too. The dogs were intrigued. "Otis, Cooper, COME!" Thank goodness they came when I called, while two crazy men picked it up and threw it onto the other side of the fence and saved all the dog park patrons from the muskrat.

Apparently, we weren't the only ones trying to enjoy the wonderfully warm weather!

And I'm thankful for dog vaccinations!

Brr...It's Cold Out Here

Let it be known that today, January 15, 2009, is the coldest day so far in the lives of Otis and Cooper Joe Balow. The low temperature at the airport this morning was -21 degrees with a windchill around -40 degrees.

Brrr!