Brawling Around the State

While Ian was wrestling with his team down south in Richfield, Liza had a wrestling date of her own with Sora.


We reintroduced Sora to the doggie door which she is slowly getting the hang of and also introduced Kim to the best rice pudding in town which she promptly wrestled the raisins out of.

Ian arrived home excited to see the four legged freak dog and very happy about placing third in the tournament. He's a little bashed and bruised and from the smell I'm assuming Richfield hotels have no showers.

Gingerbread House

Gingerbread House, originally uploaded by eouio.

Yeah, I'm digging into the past and finally getting to my Holiday pictures. I love this picture because it has all of Aimee's mostest favorite thing in it: Cookies, Candy, Avyrlie, and Windex.

Puppy Maintenance

Avyrlie and I took Liza to the vet for her next round of puppy shots. She was very well behaved and loves all the attention she gets from the staff (Liza and Avyrlie both ;)
(click below for more)

Avyrlie helped distract Liza with treats during her shots and kept herself entertained by asking what kind of dog was in each picture on all the literature in the office and deciding how they are related to Liza.

We also did some grooming in hopes of keeping the floors a bit cleaner. Liza has quite a bit of fur between the pads of her feet that pick up everything while she is out and about. I found the best scissors for doing occasional trimming like paws, eyes, and ears. They have nice big handles and small, blunt blades so they can't do too much damage (but I can pretend ;)

Miss Funny Face

Notice where the dogs eyes are looking? Straight at the treat in my hand as we are working on 'STAY' with her. She gets pretty excited around Avyrlie and had a rough time focusing, but we managed to sneak a couple good shots.

(again, eyes fixed on treat...)
/end

Dog gets big head, invites doom

In the time since my last post the fuzzy freak furball has destroyed a poinsettia plant (and the dirt it was planted in) across the front room rug, pulled over the Christmas tree, eaten a hole in a blanket, and emptied the garbage can. Just to seal her fate, when I told her to go to her kennel she proceeded to hump my leg. Now where did I put the barbecue sauce?

-end-

The poop on the pooch

House Broken, originally uploaded by eouio.

Just a quick dog update here from chaos central. Let me start by getting the Poop topic out of the way. Although I could type up several volumes on the subject, I realize I am a bit oversensitive to dogs and their poop habits such as eating it, walking through it, rolling in it... While all of those apply to Eliza, my only current gripe are the dingleberries. Apparently we have a dog with bushy butt fur that requires slightly more than occasional attention. Just when I thought I was done wiping little butts :(

Yes, her name is Eliza. For those who do not know, I am picky about names. It comes from my dad so please address any complaints to him. I did manage to concede in naming the dog, but for some reason everyone wants two syllable dog names so Eliza has been shortened to Liza for everyday use. At some point I may grow accustomed to the shortened version (yeah, right) but I find myself needing some nook of normalcy which for now will be here. ELIZA. Anytime you need to escape the craziness of it all, just stop on by and bask in the normalcy that is Smithpix :) I feel better already.

On to the point: The dog is still alive, owned by me, and has been released from solitary confinement pending further good behavior. All items will hopefully put Aimee's mind at some degree of ease considering her last words before leaving were, "Remember, dogs are friends, not food." I suppose butchered movie lines suffice when she isn't reciting lyrics from the 80's.

I was looking forward to honing my mopping and carpet cleaning talents so I could surprise Aimee when she got back with some mad Bissell skilz. After the Christmas Day incident, now etched in Smith history as the 'Great Tree Skirt Defilement', I was sure many opportunities awaited me. Chelsi and Kendall did some dog sitting on Monday and Tuesday for me. Actually, they did it for the dog after Aimee explained to them it was going to be the last time they saw Eliza alive. Dingleberry dog had a couple accidents, but none involving poop (unless accidentally eating it counts...)

Wednesday she had a long day at home, and the result is pictured above. The crime scene indicated that an avocado and several limes were brutally molested and then destroyed. Eliza's breath also evidenced the eating of the lime along with some other pungent doggie delicacy (so wrong...) And of course, she scooted under the table right up to the carpet to mark her special potty patch. Lets just say she's lucky I don't fit through the doggie door so she managed to get a head start.

Thursday my prayers were answered. Not my actual prayers involving spontaneous combustion, but good enough. As of Wednesday afternoon, Eliza has been accident free (again, not counting accidental eating) and has even stopped fighting me during her frequent teeth brushing although we're still working on the gargling ;) Yes, I know I've probably jinxed myself which is why I've put her outside for a bit. Also I saw an eagle fly over.

That's it for adventures with the pooch. I know, it wasn't much of an adventure. Good. Hopefully it stays that way for a long time. She seems to be a pretty smart dog and fairly well behaved aside from the whole chewing-everything-in-sight-with-my-razor-sharp-puppy-teeth issue. She loves to follow me around everywhere and while she isn't much of a cuddler, she always wants to be close by. Her favorite thing has been chasing the snow shovel as I clear the driveway. I've started taking it with me on walks to clear neighbors drives while Eliza chases after it.

So, aside from the perpetual food issue I don't have many complaints. I'll snag some video of her sleeping sometime. I'm pretty sure she either dreams of being a ninja or of trying to escape from Avyrlie.

New monkey in the bed

Yes, the orange pillow mine. Or it was mine until Avyrlie made it clear that I am just too big to fit in her mommy's bed and Liza is just right. Yeah, coal for that one.

(click below to read the rest)



Chelsi and Kendall came stopped by for a bit yesterday on their way home from the conclusion of their car shopping. They picked up a great (family sized...) AWD that they'll love this time of year. The Smith's were more than a little beat after a day of new puppy, work, and Christmas preparations, so my apologies to them for being very boring hosts.

Kim and Matt also stopped by with a new addition. They have a male goldendoodle puppy they named Sora (technically a girls name although they named him after a boy who is voice acted by a boy who plays girls parts. very gender confused dog...)
Sora is a bundle of timid enthusiasm. He rarely sits still (thus, none of my pictures turned out at all) and got along well with Liza (they both like the same potty places on my carpet :(

Avyrlie is still pretty wary of her teeth filled friend, but loves taking care of her especially when she can tuck her into bed for a shared naptime.

Another Smith and A Sick Sense of Humor

After realizing my being the minority non-dog-lover in the family was never going to change I asked Aimee to find a dog for her and the kids. Secretly I knew the outcome of having her make a dog decision would be that we would never have a dog because, quite unlike myself, she can not stand to make decisions that may cause controversy and not be fully supported by all.

After several months she finally narrowed down a breed that she like. While I am still pretty sure her warped sense of humor led her to choose a breed named after the reason I don't like housedogs, but it was an impressive enough decision making feat on her part that I decided to help her out and actually find her a dog.

Liza arrived a bit early for a Christmas present, but that was not really the point to begin with. Liza is an F1 Goldendoodle (very funny wife) bred from a purebred Golden Retriever and a purebred Poodle.

Our big, tough, teenage Ian almost cried with overwhelmed excitement when I asked him to help me get stuff out of the car and he realized what was inside. Avyrlie wants it to be a cute baby that she can take care of and is still getting used to her cute baby having very sharp teeth.

I'm just glad we have a good Bissel.



We took her in for her first vet appointment today at Willowcreek. The vet kept talking to me like I was in preschool puppy class so I was a bit put off, but the rest of the staff is very helpful and a bunch of crazed dog lovers. They are all very nice and have tons of answers and advice. Everyone thought it was pretty cute that Avyrlie kept asking for a bandaid to put on her puppy's bum after the rectal temp...

Happy Holidays - A very special time of crazy

Even more than the mentally unhinged holiday drivers, I enjoy some of the bizarre conversations between shoppers and store staff.

This afternoon I stopped at Home Depot to pick up a drill bit. Another gentleman, who seemed mostly normal but perhaps a bit socially challenged, was talking to an employee about power saws. I hadn't been paying much attention until the shopper's voiced got louder and quite exasperated.

"I just don't need a quality circular saw! My kids are still little and are very hard on stuff so it's just going to get broken when they use it anyway! Please just tell me which one is the best value for the money!"

The employee picked up the cheapest saw and through barely suppressed laughter/frustration said, "This one is inexpensive and will work well for the entire time it continues to operate."

Neighborhood Christmas Party

We went to a neighborhood Christmas party last night.

Items of note:

• Aimee's food assignment stress is inversely proportional to the size of the item. Rack of Lamb = No problem. Little appetizer = Stroke.


• The length of Ian's attention span is determined by the amount of physical activity involved. Socializing = Major Eye-Rolling. He headed home shortly after realizing we were not playing football. He did tackle his sister on the way out.


• Avyrlie's attention span can be measured in several ways depending on the environment. If there are children willing to bend to her will, it is indefinite. If there are stubborn children, it lasts until someone insults princesses or uses the phrase 'bossy just like my mommy'. If there are dogs or uncles present (yes, same category) it lasts as long as they are willing to be mauled. In the absence of children and animals/uncles, as was the case last night, her attention is captive only so long as Diet Coke is available to her. She explained in no uncertain terms that wassel is not an acceptable substitute. Back in the days of bottles and sippy-cups it was no problem because you can hide anything in there. Now the habit is harder to conceal and we occasionally have to excuse ourselves to get Aimee or Avyrlie their fix.


• Few of our neighbors are permanent. There are quite a few renters and older folks. While neither is inherently bad, it just means they might not be around long. It also means we can find plenty of extra yard work for Ian.


• Avyrlie loves fudge. She was very polite to ask before she took each of the MANY pieces she ate, and I counted no less than 8 'pleases' from her.