For the love of dog.......

I need to vent. But I will start out telling you about my love for MY dog, little Neiko. This may be the only way I will convince some of 'yall that I DO love dogs. Certain dogs. (kidding....I think). Anyway, I love my little neikie. He is such a good little boy. He has his moments, but he truly HATES to get in trouble, so if he ever get's punished for something, he makes a note of it, and doesn't do it again. He has been having a hard time in the snow and the cold. He hates going outside in the cold. I can't blame him, he is so small that just the chill alone probably takes his body temp down 40 points in like, two minutes. And his short little legs don't help him out AT ALL in the deep snow. We have been shoveling out a small area behind our house so he can go back there and do his "business", so that we can't see yucky old marks in the snow in front of our house. I HATE seeing yellow snow anywhere, but we make it a point not to let Neiko go in front of the house, so we don't have to see it, and no one else does either. So, on that note, here is my gripe.

My neighbor got a room-mate. He seems nice enough, but here is the problem. He has a bigger dog, something like a lab. Right when he moved in our neighbor told him that dogs are not allowed to run wild up here. Most people up here have electric fences. He obviously didn't hear it, or he just chose not to. So, as I pull up in my drive-way I get greeted by a dog. Not MY dog, because he is in the house keeping warm, but the "room-mates" dog. It follows me up my driveway and greets me while I get out of my car in my garage. I am not a fan of this. I actually despise this. Now, don't think I'm going over the top here, but I don't want another persons dog to come greet me in MY garage as I pull up. I don't even want MY dog to do this. This dog also likes to do his business in our front yard. Now that there is snow in our yard, it is a bit more obvious. I went out to get the paper today and I literally got nauseous as I looked at this HUGE yellow mark in the snow beside my driveway. I know for a fact it was NOT my dog, because the spot was actually 2 times bigger than he is. What a wonderful way to greet guests as they come to our house. NOT. This makes me sick. So, you are probably wondering if we have done anything about our "problem". Well, Joe mentioned to our neighbor that her roommates dog likes to frequent our property, and that we didn't like it. So, about an hour later, there was a knock on our door, and when Joe opened it, the roommate was there. Here is a condensed version of the conversation they had.

Roommate: I was told that my dog has been on your property. I just want to assure you that my dog is a nice dog.

Joe: OK.

Roommate: I am sure once you get to know my dog you will realize he is harmless, and he is a good dog.

Joe: OK. But that is not our complaint. I am sure your dog is a good dog, but we would appreciate it if you would not let it run on our property.

Roommate: How about we all get together for about an hour and a half, and we can all train my dog. He is not aware that you guys don't like dogs, so when you get home, he just likes to come over and say hi. If we all trained the dog, he would realize that you don't like him, and this problem will be solved.

Joe: We are NOT going to meet with you and train your dog. We don't have time, and we don't feel like it. All we want is for you to keep your dog off our property.

Roommate: Well, I am really busy and I can't keep my dog off your property. This is why I moved to the country. I don't have time to watch my dog, and since you are also a busy man, I am sure you will understand that.

Joe: No, I don't understand. I am also busy. But when my dog goes outside I go with it. He does what he needs to do, then he comes inside with me.

Roommate: Well, that is just crazy. You can't expect me to stay outside with my dog. But again, let's get together, it will only take an hour and a half, and all of this will be solved.

Joe: Maybe you didn't hear me. Just keep your dog off my property. We are NOT interested in training your dog. Just keep him off my property.

Roommate: Sir, you are just being unreasonable. There is no other way to solve this problem. Once you all realize my dog is nice, you won't mind if he is on your property....

This conversation went on for 30 minutes, it got a bit more heated, and I think it ended by Joe slamming the door in his face. Anyway, the dog still frequents our property. And I really don't think the roommate knows what 'unreasonable' means, but Joe is really close to showing him.

Any tips about how to solve this problem kindly??? We are up for suggestions. Oh, and don't even begin to say by training it, because it's not gonna happen!

Snow fall....

Here is how it looked off my deck yesterday.....


Here it is today. And it's still falling. I think we got about 18 inches last night......

2 favorite things about today....

The fresh falling snow.......

My decorated Christmas tree........

Fun in Seattle......

We drove to Seattle for a long weekend to attend our third and final Christmas party for Joe's work. Thank gosh we are done with those. Not that they weren't fun, but I am tuckered out!!!! My mom and Danielle tagged along for the ride, and for the hotel, and pool, and shopping, and sight seeing!!!!
We went to the Space needle, we explored the Pacific Science Center, we went to the mall, and we shopped at local downtown stores. A fun time was had by all........

This one is my mom and Danielle at the top of the Space Needle....


This one is also at the science center, in the "Butterfly Room". There were hundreds of butterflies, and they actually land on you. It's really cool.

This one is Danielle at the science center. She didn't shrink, she is in a big table set.... :-)

My 10 year old.

What? Did I say TEN??? Oh my gosh, how time flies. It is really scary to me when I think about how fast these last ten years have gone by. If the next eight go by half this fast I will be in bad shape. Let's just hope that when the day comes for miss D to go out on her own, I better have some really strong medication on the bed-stand. Or I know I am really going to be in-for-it.
So, in these awesome last ten years I have learned so much from my little one. I have learned that I could always use more patience, that I shouldn't sweat the small stuff, that Joe and I are succeeding in our roles as parents, that we have been blessed with a kind, well-rounded, sharp, caring, humble, funny, bright, sweet and respectful little girl. And we could have never asked for more. She is truly the light of our lives, and we look at her with such pride and admiration that it is truly amazing. Our hard work and dedication is paying off, and we are seeing the results right in front of our eyes. But we can't begin to take all of the credit for it, because SHE has chosen to be the outstanding young lady that she is. Thank you Danielle, for giving your daddy and I such a great gift. YOU.
We love you!!!