Sanders visits a nursing home!

Sanders made his first visit to a nursing home in late March. He visited our friend Lois Harlan who is staying in Greenfield. It was the perfect setting to take him to. He was pretty excited with all the new smells and the people. He did all his tricks for Lois, and even let her give him a treat! Lois is in her 90s, and STILL remembers when everyone's birthdays are! It is absolutely amazing!

Here is a picture from our visit

Warm Weather = Outside fun!

I am so glad the warm weather is here! The first day that it got warm (back in March), Sanders and I decided to venture down to the canal and hear our friend Mandy's band play an acoustic set under the bridge on the canal. Her band's name is Sweet and Low Down. They are simply amazing! You should check them out if you get the chance!!

Giving the Dog a Bath

I don't know if we've posted any pictures of giving Sanders a bath. It is certainly becoming more of an event. Probably more because of the process of drying, rather than the actual bathing part of it. It will take us between 20-30 minutes to really wash Sanders down and get the dirt and grime out of his hair. The stinkiest part of him always seems to be around his mouth. His hair always gets in his food/water bowls, and then of course in the ponds and creeks that he decides to drink out of. After we wash and rinse him really well. We turn off the water and then start wringing out his dread locks. I'll often times take 20 minutes doing this part of it. The more water we can squeeze out of his dreads, the faster he will dry. Then I take him out of the tub and towel dry him with 3 big bath towels (simulating the wringing I was doing in the tub). After the towels are soaked and he is as dry as I can get him that way, I've decided to put 2 child size sweatshirts on him and pin them together. One head hole is for his head. The other head hole on the other shirt is for his tail. It makes one of the funniest looking dogs ever!!
Sanders will then get a second set of sweatshirts after 15-30 minutes of running around in the first set. Then we take them off and let him hang out. He's normally dry within 15 hours after doing this! Of course, then he always seems to run somewhere and stick his body in some dead animal type aroma.....and then I want to give him another bath. I restrain myself, and try to only give him a bath once a month or so. Fortunately, I'll be too pregnant to give him a bath soon...and Tony will have to do it :)...hehe...

Fun times with friends and general updates

In mid-March, Jen went with her friend Carissa and the neighbors' daughter, Brooke, to Louisville to a dog show!! Jen was hoping to meet some fellow puli owners and get tips on bathing, grooming, etc. Unfortunately, there was only one puli the day they were there (I guess most pulis were the next day), and the owners of the one that was there were kind of aloof about talking to others. Dog show people can be pretty weird as it turns out. (Shocking, right?) Even so, I understand everyone had a good time and got to see lots of cool dogs, as well as visit a Harley Davidson store AND the Louisville Slugger museum!!

Last weekend- the last in March- Jen and I went to Chicago to stay with our friends Eric and Paula for the weekend. Stacey and Thomas and their 10-month-old daugher Emma also stayed. It was really great to see everyone... this was the 1st time we had seen Stacey & Thomas since Oktoberfest in 2007, and it was the FIRST time we got to meet Emma. She was a very sweet little girl who smiled all the time. I really enjoyed having her around. I sure hope our boy is that nice!

We walked around the city quite a bit on Saturday, we introduced Thomas to deep-dish pizza, went to an art shop where Eric & Paula bought a painting, and then went to an oliveria & spice shop and headed home for dinner just in time for it to start raining & sleeting!! Eric and Paula spent several hours cooking us all a really good dinner, as the weather kept getting crappier outside. When we got up Sunday there was a few inches of snow on the ground!!!! Sunday we all went to the Chicago Institute of Art before Jen and and I headed home with Stacey & Emma in tow - they stayed with us until Tuesday!! Stacey helped us to register for baby-shower stuff at Babies R' Us on Monday... thank GOD she was there. That place is overwhelming. They make waaaaayyyy too much baby crap.

Today was nice so Jen took Sanders sheep-herding again while I stayed home to work on a couple projects I have going. Although, I will say that I am sure Jen got more accomplished just by standing there watching the dog chase sheep in circles for 2 hours than I got accomplished the entire day - let's just say things did not go smoothly. Oh well, having things be challenging makes it that much more rewarding when they're done...Right?