Well... he TRIED!!!

Last night, as I watched thoughts of tormenting the cat enter Maks' head, I admonished him to, "be NICE to the kitty cat.". He was shaking from the amount of control it took, but Maks managed to very carefully and thoroughly cover Jack's face in puppy kisses. Relief spread across his face as I told him what a good boy he was for being so gentle and nice to the cat. Being nice to the cat is exhausting. So it makes sense that Maks would want to flop down for a bit and relax after that ordeal. He stepped away from the cat, turned around, and proceeded to sit ON the cat. OOPS!!!

It seemed like a good idea at the time...

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful - a perfect fall day, all sunny and warm, such a great day that it screamed for an outing to the park with the furry ones.  One of Lilly's favorite parks is Barfield-Crescent in Murfreesboro, so that was our destination yesterday afternoon.  Maks had never been to the park before, so this was his very first trip.  It probably seems strange that he's nine months old and only now going to the park for the first time, especially when I take Lilly all the time.  But, Maks hasn't been up for a park trip until now.  He just hasn't had the stamina (he is still a puppy after all) to keep up with Lilly and I for more than a two mile walk through our neighborhood.  Which means that he definitely could not manage the four mile up & down hill off road hikes that Lilly and I head out on.  With the day being absolutely perfect, I decided that he could probably manage the shorter easier loop at the park that is just about 2 1/2 miles long.  So, into the car we all got and off to the park we went. 


Driving into the park, I noticed signs saying there was a Halloween event and saw some bounce houses over by the softball fields.  I really didn't think much of it since we were headed to the other side of the park.  I probably should have paid a bit more attention.  We parked the car and headed up the trail.  All was going great, Lilly was overjoyed to be out hiking again and Maks was having a great time sniffing everything in sight.  Until... we came around a corner and met a GIANT turtle sitting on the side of the road reading a book.  Miss Social Butterfly (Lilly) got all excited and went over to inspect the person and costume and had a grand time making a new friend.  Maks hid between my knees and refused to walk past the turtle.  Just when Lilly and I had managed to convince him that it was safe to continue on the trail... a GIANT frog came walking up the path toward us.  Lilly busied herself making yet another friend, while Maks did his best to become invisible by hiding behind me.  Maks finally decided he'd trust me enough to follow Lilly and I further down the trail and we didn't run into any more characters for over a mile.  Unfortunately, on the last half of our hike all characters were in place and poor Maks was repeatedly spooked.  First it was the fairies with flapping wings, then the lights across the trail that were off until he went to step over them and someone plugged them in just at that moment, then the trombone and tuba playing lobsters, the singing raccoon, the bubble machine, and the fog machine.  At each of these Miss Lilly Ann stopped to make new friends and socialize while Maks hid behind me yet again and refused to move past the scary monster.  Lilly was quite fascinated with the singing raccoon and even got a tummy rub at that spot - it was the only place where Maks even attempted to be social, he let the raccoon talk to him and got close enough for the raccoon to pat him once on the head.  I was quite glad to be done with that portion of the trail and decided to head back to the car a different way to avoid more characters.  If you haven't figured it out by now, we walked through a children's Halloween hay ride exhibit (thus the toddler - not Maks - friendly characters).

The trail I chose to take back to the car is a gravel service road that goes past the frisbee golf section of the park.  OOPS!!!  I had unwittingly chosen the Haunted Halloween trail for teenagers and grown-ups.  Again Lilly was fascinated by the characters - gory, bloody, moaning corpses and all.  Maks however was less than appreciative.  I was afraid I was going to have to carry him past all of them.  Evidently moaning corpses are a lot scarier than trombone playing lobsters!  We finally managed to get off the service road and onto the frisbee golf course where thankfully there were no more scary characters and Maks was able to relax and enjoy the rest of our walk to the car.  Lilly, on the other hand, had so much fun making friends with all of the characters that she wanted to head back to the haunted hay ride and visit some more.  I told her we had tormented Maks enough and judging by how fast he was trotting AWAY from the goblins I was pretty sure we weren't going to be able to convince him to turn around.

I wonder if Maks will ever want to go to the park again?

Sponsoring a Compassion Child

Yesterday I sponsored a child through Compassion International.  It's $32 per month.  I don't have an extra $32 a month.  But, Rose and her family don't have $32 period.  So, I've told God that I'll trust Him to help me find the money while still paying my bills.  Because Rose needs that money a whole lot more than I do.  She lives in Borel, Haiti with her mom and will turn 5 years old on July 27th.  She is in pre-school and her mom tries to make ends meet by farming.  Rose had been waiting for a sponsor for over 6 months.  It was so hard to choose.  There are so many little ones that need and deserve sponsors.  I wish I could sponsor them all.  But, for now, I will help this one and pray that she grows up to help others.

Maks

Puppy kisses are wonderful!!!  That is, if they're being given to a giggling 3 year old.  As for me, as much as I love that Maks adores me, I wish he'd cut back on the amount of puppy kisses I get.  If I hold still at all while he's around, my fingers/toes/elbow... SOMETHING is going to get licked.  His favorite is when he manages to catch me with a big ol' smooch right on the kisser... YUCK!!!!!!! He's getting so big! It's getting harder to shove him away.  He uses this to his full advantage, climbing on top of me and pinning me down to get in as many wet slobbery kisses as possible before he gets shoved away.  Although I end up with most of his kisses, I'm certainly not the one who appreciates them the least - that designation would go to Jack the Cat.  Poor Jack.  Being pinned down and licked by a squirmy bouncy puppy is most definitely not his idea of a good time.  Lately I've caught Jack giving Maks looks that say, "DIE!  DIE ALREADY!!!"  To which Maks responds by giving him a big wet slobbery kiss across his face.  To Jack's dismay, everyone who sees Maks thinks he's CUTE, and he does some of the most adorable things...

Like the other night when I was filling the dishwasher & had the bottom rack pushed in and only the top rack out - I looked down to see Maks (all 35 pounds of him) standing with all four feet on top of the dishwasher door and his head inside the dishwasher licking the dishes clean. 

Or when he follows me from room to room, waiting for me to stay put long enough so he can lie down by my feet and snooze.

When he sits in the kitchen staring at the refrigerator willing it to open so that he can get to the watermelon.

And last week I woke up certain that somehow the garbage disposal had gotten turned on... it was Maks snoring away on the bed beside me.

He loves everyone and everything.  Life is met with ENTHUSIASM!!!  He's HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY about everything.  It's impossible for him to just wag his tail - his entire butt wags right along with it.  We laugh and call him "Tigger" 'cause he bounces everywhere and half the time doesn't even notice the chaos and destruction he leaves behind (such as the squashed kitty cat that used to be sleeping until it was pounced upon - on accident, of course).  With Maks everything is just one big happy bouncy accident - just like the day we found him.

Another gift from God...

Three weeks ago my friend from down the street and I were out at an old abandoned house that burnt down 50 years ago.  Our purpose for this outing was to dig up some iris, daffodils, lilac, rose, and any other plants that looked interesting.  The woman who used to live here was an avid gardener.  No, we weren't stealing (if it's abandoned it's not stealing... right???).  We were relocating neglected and abused plants to a location where they would be loved and cared for.  Now, doesn't that sound much better than stealing?  Funny thing is, I had called Jamie and asked her if she'd rather go up to Nashville and watch the fashion show of scantily clad firemen at the Southern Women's Show.  Nope, she wasn't in the mood to watch half-nekked firemen.  What woman in her right mind isn't in the mood for that???

Anyhow, God must have been watching & laughing at what was about to happen next.  My consequence for absconding with those plants.  In the middle of our digging, two puppies clambered over the disintegrating rock wall and came running toward us.  They were only about 2 1/2 months old and so hungry/thirsty that they were trying to eat the cactus plants growing around us.  So, of course, being the softy that I am - I scooped them up with the intention of figuring out where they belonged.  The nearest place was an old lumber mill, so that's where we went first.  And that's where finding two adorable fluffy puppies became a pretty big problem.  The guy at the mill informed us that he'd watched someone dump the puppies off earlier that day.  He had tried to catch both the asshole who did this as well as the puppies and wasn't successful at either.  I could almost hear God laughing at me.  Jamie keeping the puppies was out of the question due to her two dogs - both of them are extremely intolerant of other dogs (they can't even be around each other).  And as you'll recall, I've got three dogs at my house.  So we sat there on Jamie's deck watching the puppies play in the front yard (after giving them water and food) wondering what in the world we were going to do.  I made sure to point out to her that we COULD HAVE BEEN WATCHING HALF NEKKED FIREMEN! 

The puppies were obviously part Chow Chow - so absolutely no way would we take them to the pound (the Chow would make them unadoptable).  Luck happened to walk by in the form of Jamie's new neighbors across the street.  They have three kids & no dog.  Now they have a dog and very happy children.  Which left Jamie and I with one dog too many (well, it's better than two).  It was getting late, so I took the little guy home and put him in the spare kennel for the night.  After a week of looking for a home for him, one of my neighbors agreed to take him for a few days on a trial basis.  A week went by & my neighbor brought him back - just not ready to deal with a puppy.  So, it's been a third week since then and Maks (he had to have a name) is still at my house.  He's decided he lives here & judging from the lack of other homes for him, I guess he's right.  At this point he's part of the family and has even earned himself a nickname: Monkey Maks - he sounds like a monkey when he's playing.  Gabriel is overjoyed at having a playmate and the boys are the bestest of buddies.  Lilly Ann likes playing with him too & really likes that he helps entertain Gabe when she wants a break.  Sarah just doesn't care as long as she gets left alone - kind of sucks to be an old lady with all of these young things running around.  Here are some pictures of Maks - he's the cutest baby!