Here are two pictures Grandma e-mailed me last night:

I had to say goodbye to Riley for a few days early this morning. Riley gave me lots of snuggles before I left!

She'll be hanging out with Grandma, Grandpa, and Chloe while I'm gone. Right now I'm stuck in the Chicago airport because my next flight got delayed because of weather.



Here's a picture I took of Riles before I left.

Aunt Baddy and I were out at the local shopping center today and we came across a van that had a happy 13th anniversary wish written on it.  I just had to get a picture (unfortunately, it's not too incredibly clear) because they spelled anniversary wrong...so it says "Happy 13th Anniversity!"

I just had to add that "n" to the end of Riley's name in the title...just to make it rhyme!  We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!  We sure did.  We enjoyed a nice dinner and Riley's Grandma made all the humans an Easter basket.  The rest of the family went to church, but I just couldn't seem to get up on time.  :(

A week or two ago, I sent my wonderful friend, Kim (who lives in MO), Riley's Therapy Dogs International bandana to embroider her name on.  I just got it back in the mail today and it looks fabulous!


It was about 90 degrees here today, and I went golfing with Riley's Grandpa (my Dad).  It was the looongest golf game ever...there was a ladies league playing two parties ahead of us on the front nine and one of the ladies must have been in her late 80's.  Anyway, I have nothing against the elderly--in fact, I'm quite fond of them--but these women were just so slow.  So our 4 hours or less golf game ended up being about 4 hours and 45 minutes...sheesh!

Riley stayed home with Chloe and Grandma and got to play for a little while outside.  Then when I got home, I poop-scooped and played fetch with Riley in the backyard.  It was still quite warm at the time...here's what Riles looked like when she came in:

Riley loves to cuddle with me, whether it be in bed or on the couch (or anywhere else!).  I love it too.  :)

I took Riley to the vet today for her annual wellness exam.  She's good to go for another year.  The vet said she looked great!  She got two shots and the bordetella vaccine up her nose.  I also had them trim her nails while we were there.  I didn't get any pictures while we were at the vet today because I flat out forgot to take any!

Riley weighs 52 pounds (lost a pound since last visit) and her hips seem to be doing pretty well.  I haven't seen her limping at all on her back legs in the last month or so and haven't needed to give her a pain pill for about a month either.  I think the warmer weather is causing her to be less stiff, so that's good.

Riley got to see her best buddy, Brooke, the receptionist, at the vet's office!  Of course, she had to pee on the floor a tiny bit out of excitement (she's done this since day 1 with Brooke...no one else there at the vet, just Brooke).  After we were done in the exam room, we had to wait a few minutes for the doctor to fill out Riley's Therapy Dogs International health form, so Brooke visited with Riley for about 5 minutes or so.  She sat on the floor and hugged and kissed her and even had to show off Riley's "Sit Pretty" trick to the rest of the staff behind the front desk.  So it made the vet trip all okay since Riley got to see her BFF, Brooke!  Brooke had to tell another lady that works there (new employee, I think) all about Riley and about that she's an Australian Cattle Dog and had prickly fur when she was a puppy, but now her fur's all soft.

Riley's worn out now from the excitement/terror of going to the vet...also, the shots make her a little bit drowsy too.  Of course, she's not too worn out to go outside and play!

I'm going to try to upload this video again today since it wasn't working for me yesterday...

This video shows what Chloe likes to do to Riley while I'm playing fetch outside with Riley...she likes to jump on her back to try to get her to chase her.  Let me just remind you that Chloe is almost 13 years old!

Like the new look?

I was trying to upload a video, but Blogger is being dumb right now and not letting me...even through YouTube, Blogger's not letting me post the YouTube video.  Arggh!  I'll try again tomorrow.

As I think I mentioned before, my dad and I built a new wooden gate for our fence from scratch before our visitors came a week or two ago.  Our old one was rotting out and pretty much falling apart.  It was hard to open because it had sagged down so far.  Here are some pictures of the new, improved Gate 2.0!

Here are some pictures (finally!) from Aunt Nancy and Frank's visit on April 7th through the 9th.  Once again, we enjoyed our time with them!

Well, today has been another nice day here weather-wise (I had a dentist appointment and doctor's appointment today...so it was not that nice in that aspect...)!  During my free time, Riley, Chloe, and I have been outside enjoying the sunshine.  It's about 70 degrees here today with clear, gorgeous skies!

Before our visitors came, we had the lawn aerated.  This makes poop scooping quite difficult, because the dirt plugs that were left over look just like dog poop!  We had it aerated on Wednesday and we laid down our grass seed on Saturday.  You'll see what I mean about poop scooping once you see these pictures!  (Note: None of these pictures have dog poop in them).

Riley and Chloe decided that the twin air mattress (the new one, not the one Chloe practically obliterated) would be a good fit for both of them--while I was still lying on it.  Sigh.  It got a little cramped, but it worked out.

Our visitors left to go back to Georgia this morning, so I will deflate the air mattress tonight.  We had a nice visit, and I'll be posting some pictures from their visit when I have more time.  For now, here are our cramped air mattress pictures:

Aunt Nancy and Frank arrived around 2:00 PM.  We have had a good time catching up with them!  Riley has seemed to contain most of her exuberance, surprisingly!  She's asleep on the floor right now.  I'll post a more detailed blog and pictures as soon as I get a chance.  :)

We've joined the ranks with most of you and now have a Facebook fan page...it needs a bit of work, but it's a start!

Click here to Like us on Facebook!  And I'm hoping that link works...if not, I have a badge thingy in the sidebar of our blog, so just scroll down to that.

Be sure to let me know what your page's name is on Facebook so I can Like you!  I mean, I already like you, but I have to make it FB official!  :)

First of all, Aunt Nancy, if you're reading this...I am taking the sheets off of the bed tomorrow and washing them and replacing them for you and Frank's visit on Thursday!  So no worries, Riley will not be on your clean sheets!

This is where I found Riley yesterday when I got out of the shower...warming my spot in bed...even my pillow!

Riley and I went to the nursing home on Friday for our visit.  We usually stay about 30 minutes (it's a small nursing home and we go at 1:30 and their next activity--usually BINGO--starts at 2:00), but this time we stayed for about 50 minutes.  Riley did very well.  She did crawl under one of the beds in Mrs. K's room, but she came right back out...don't know what that was all about!

We talked with a lot of the residents and I brought some of Riley's puppy pictures to show them how her coloring had changed.  We had a great time and Riley was on (mostly) her best behavior.  When we pulled into the parking lot, Riley started whining out of excitement.  :)

I don't have time for a long post, but I do have a few pictures of the two amigos (Riley and Chloe)...