Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Dog Names

So you often wonder about the connection between our personalities and how we name our pets.....

Let's take Cisco Jr. for moment. We assume there was a Cisco Sr. and there was. (picture is Cisco Sr.)How could we name our dog the same name twice you ask?

Well, before we continue I must tell you every pet I had as a child was named Barnaby NO -- not after Barnaby Jones but after Barnaby the clerk in Hello Dolly....don't even ask....I was young and impressionable and loved Barbara Streisand.

I digress. So after hours of coming up with a name for Cisco Jr while we were driving back from the SPCA in Hamilton with her.....Emily said since it was her dog she would make the decision in the morning between I think it was snickers and sparky.

We were all still dealing with the grief of loosing Cisco Sr. Something I will leave to another blog in its entirety. But ultimately she had always been MY dog. This new dog would be our first family dog. It felt right when we saw her. She looked like a baby cisco. It felt almost Fateful.... Same colouring I almost get choked up thinking about her to this day.

It had barely been a month since she died. Steve and Emily had been in Florida when I suddenly had to make the decision for Cisco Sr. to cross over that Rainbow Bridge.

I digress again...SO....Emily woke up the next morning and said: "MOM -- I want to name her Cisco - it just feels RIGHT". She said this with such conviction for a 6yr old. Everyone thought we were crazy but they didn't know I had many Barnabys in my time and I knew just how Emily felt.















AND it did feel JUST RIGHT. Baby Cisco Jr. was born and she helps to keep Senior's memory alive for us in a small way but she has her own personality and we have our own history with her.

Oh BTW - Cisco is after "cisco the kid" not Cisco systems....although I did make a small fortune back in the day when NASDAQ was hot my first stock bought was Cisco because of cisco in 1995. So maybe not such a savvy investor but I got lucky and bought my first house.

SNOW

What is it about snow that the dogs find to be so exhilarating. My daughter Em has been begging for snow for weeks now. We have this amazing hill in the backyard that is surprisingly fun to Toboggan on. I even went out to buy brand new toboggans at Cdn tire just so she could have more fun with her friends. Okay...so what happened you ask?

The snow melted.

Last night was the first hint of snow in forever. Now having grown up in Winnipeg this concept of winter without snow is just too much to fathom.

Tessa the black lab with endless energy was chasing our Cisco junior on the hill and Cisco came rolling down the hill ......no damage just a bit shaken.

Em is praying there is enough coverage for even one run. Steve is now assuring me he will turn the hose on and create a LUGE in the yard. Of course that may increase her chances of hitting the house and breaking a bone or two. Thanks hon....but no thanks. I don't really want any liability issues with our daughter's friends.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Coffee

I want to thank the person that created coffee. My mornings are peaceful - well in my mind they are. But to the outside world they must be quite the opposite. I wake up to a horrific high pitched beep because steve has the music alarm that goes off at the ungodly hour of 545am So when I wake at 715 the dogs know I must do "my business" first. then its a mad rush down the stairs to the office barn door. Okay now its everyone IN and nobody OUT. Of course there are those that are not permitted to sleep in the bedroom so now all of us are in the office and its a mad rush to the sliding door as its time....time to go outside into the dogrun....do frolick and do business.

Sunday - she is so sweet a geriatric Golden retriever - Her hair is not growing back from where they did the radiation treatment in guelph for her bone cancer. But its not bright pink anymore. we had her groomed recently. Her parents are in Italy and then to their home in Pakistan for a family wedding.

Luella - yes she is a poodle...what else could she be with that name. Although I love calling it out long and drawled its just such a funny name. And she has this really cool rastalike haircut big bushy floppy chocolate coloured head and body and quite the lady. Yet finding her in my office chair on a regular basis is quite disconcerting as she truly looks like she is surf the net at times.

Alfie - Now he is my prize pug and NO his snoring did not keep me up last night I was so exhausted from superbowl weekend. His dad dropped him off last night after Em and I got home from Dance. Alfie was here when he was just a pup and we had just brought home cisco junior - OMG she was smaller than he was and now she just towers over him being a lab/sheppard +++ cross. He still bosses her around and she lets him. But if he tries to pee on her one more time I am going to absolutely kill him.

So back to my coffee. They are all sleeping now under my desk and content to have me here. I am happy drinking my coffee.

This is my first post. I should be doing invoicing or something productive. But it was a bit cathartic to talk to someone other than the dogs.

Gotta run - Indy just arrived gotta let him out. Hope Alfie doesnt try to pee on him too.