Hi folks!  Ray and I apologize for our extended period away; it’s been a rough few days starting with last Friday.  As I mentioned here, I did end up needing to get my wedding rings cut off my finger.

I gained some weight and my rings wouldn’t come off but then I cracked my finger and the knuckle swelled up.  A lot.  Just when I thought maybe I could just get by, I messed up my finger again and was in so much pain that I had the rings cut off Friday after work.

We’ve also been dealing with my husband’s father and some health and well being issues associated with the elderly.  I won’t go into details but we’re going to need some strength in the upcoming weeks/months.

 Then we had a sick, feverish baby who didn’t sleep much Sunday night, daycare who didn’t mention that Asia needed to bring more milk…until she was dropping off the baby and since the fever was back, I just dropped off the milk and picked up the baby.

Ray and I ended up babysitting and I have to say, that Ray is becoming quite the responsible young man.  We’ve kept the intros extremely brief for a very long time since Ray was such an exuberant puppy.  Ray still doesn’t have free run of the house and actually when I took this picture on Monday, this was the first time he was allowed in the nursery.  The baby luuurves herself some Ray-Ray (who doesn’t?) and Ray loves the baby, but we do keep it brief and calm.

We’ve got a couple of adoption/outreach events coming up this week as well.  Tonks will be at greenDogGoods Friday afternoon hoping to make a love connection and I will be helping at a St. Patrick’s Day event on Sunday with an adoptable pooch.

Thanks for bearing with us.  We do try to update Ray’s Facebook page as well, though in addition to the other issues, my phone isn’t most cooperative of instruments. 
Peace.

Happy Friday, folks.  My Mama has been a little bit crazy this week, so I thought I should take over some writing duties today.  I’ve been hearing some talk around about getting a new little brother and  even though that sounded like it was going to be a happy thing, I also heard crazy talk that sounded like this:  “King is much better behaved than Ray.”  Pfffsh.  As. If.

Everyone knows that the Ray-Ray is a good boy.  I’m clean. 

 I’m fun.

And I’m stylish.

I’m also very brave sensitive.

But I’m sure you know all of that, I know Mama know it, she just lost sight of the fact that I’m the best dog in the world her heart dog.  What you might not know is how incredibly slow my people have been in letting me spend time with the little human.  She is seven months old now and I still only get short visits with her.  I’m learning that I can’t just kiss her whenever and however much I want, but if I sit nicely and ask for permissions I can usually get a good butt sniff in kiss her a little.  Now that I’m so much better than King proving that I can be such a good boy I get to spend more time with the girls.

That makes me very happy.  I hope you get to spend time this weekend with your favorite people too.  Are you planning anything fun?

The King …

…has left …

…the building.

Come back tomorrow to read more.

You know that smell?  That certain doggy smell?  Well, oddly enough, Ray doesn’t smell like a dog.  In fact, he really doesn’t smell like much of anything at all.  I read a post last year about how it is more important to keep a dog’s bedding clean and as a result, it will keep your dog clean and fresh smelling.

Despite the recent pictures and posts about Ray’s new obsession with the bathtub and despite the fact that he’s been jumping in the shower with me, I really haven’t bathed him since…I’m not sure when.  I’m thinking it might have been before the baby was born and she’s nearly seven months old now. 

I’m telling you, Ray has several blankets and other mats scattered around that get washed every 1-2 weeks and even my hubby who has a super sniffer says that Ray doesn’t smell like anything at all, especially not “dog.”

So  tell me, how often do you wash your pooch and their bedding?

The best thing about the interwebinets is the availablity of information and with all the different types of social media, the ability to make friends from all over.  Many of the people I interact with, I may never actually meet in person, however, that doesn’t make them any less “friends.”  They’re You’re all wonderful friends and I do hope to meet in real life someday.  In the meantime, we keep forging bonds from our keyboards and finding new sources of information and inspiration.

Recently we “made friends” with Francesca and Joker, who are in Italy and blog at The Online Canine  and they graciously awarded us with the Very Inspiring Blogger Award.  Everyday we try to do what we can to make a small corner of the world a better place and we are humbled to be recognized for our meager efforts. 

The Rules
1.  Link back to the blog who nominated you.
2.  Post the image to your page.
3.  Share 7 facts about yourself.
4.  Nominate another blogger and inform them.

So, let’s see about the seven things….hmmmm….seven new things….

1.  I’ve shared before that I wear heels.  A Lot.  I’m probably going to need foot surgery this year and am dreading it.
2. Ray snores.  Loudly.
3.  I can’t stand cold weather but can’t sleep in a warm room,
4.  I think I recently cracked the bone in my finger and now I fear I might have to get my wedding rings cut off.
5.  I’m eagerly awaiting summer because all of the maintenance that goes into an inground pool in the wintertime  is making us hate the pool.
6.  Ray prefers blankets on the floor as opposed to pillows.
7.  Ray loves squeaky toys and works on getting the squeaker out so he can proudly trot around with it in his mouth.

Now, who inspires me?  There are so many people who inspire me on a daily basis.  My friend, Liz, whose passion and love for animals has made me a better person for her inspiration, my new friend Jessica, the Director of SPCA for her tireless work in making the world better for all of the animals in her care, my family who put up with so much from me, my friend H whose no BS style keeps me grounded, but this is for the online community, so today I share that I am inspired by Mr. & Mrs. & Nola Kisses.  They volunteer, they foster and they have a pretty darned good pooch who just earned her CGC.  I am also inspired by Emily at Our Waldo Bungie.  She always knows where the good dog products are and she knows EVERYONE.  Her easy demeanor and welcoming spirit have been a super inspiration to me in my blogging efforts. 

 I’d say check them out, but I imagine you already have. 

Yep, we finally broke down and signed up for Bark Box for Ray because, you know, he doesn’t get much since he is so unspoiled and all.

The waiting is the hardest part.

By now, depending  on who you read, you can pretty well figure out what came in Ray’s Bark Box.

Yep, all the good stuff you see here, including a coupon for wag.com which we fully intend to use soon.

Ray loved all of the treats that came in his box, especially the Get Naked bars which he found to be worthy of a happy dance.

As for the toys?  Ray has a true passion for squeaky toys.  If it squeaks, he loves it so the penguin from Sprocket Pet Goods was very exciting to him.

He takes it as a personal challenge to find the squeaking mechanism and free it from the bonds of stuffing.  It took just mere minutes for him to find the squeaker, free it and prance proudly around with the little piece of plastic in his mouth.

And have I ever mentioned that Ray is a vigorous chewer?  I think I might have a time or two.

The Fetch n Floss lasted nearly 20 minutes.  Oddly enough, I am completely thrilled with our Bark Box.  For all of the contents of the box, I would have spent way more than the nominal monthly subscription fee and Ray loved everything in there.  Nothing that happened with the toys was unexpected and like I said, the treats and coupon were great.  I highly recommend Bark Box!!

Ray was getting pretty worried that his bully stick supply was getting low, but today a nice big box came for him.

However, he is learning to share and knows the value of having a tasty body part to chew on.