Life Transplanet

Poor Schnoodle. She is so old and shaggy. My mom got Schnood from the shelter in 1998 where she was called Nicky (since then she’s had many a name). She was a full grown dog, albeit a fairly young dog. So even if she were only a year old when she came into our family, she would now be 13-14! That’s pretty old in dog years. I’m not sure of the current conversion rate, but somewhere between 70 and 98 dog years old.

Britton with Schnoodle-Doo in the kitchen

Schnooter Mcgavin has lost most of her teeth, she’s partially blind and mostly deaf. She also has some sort of tumor growing under her arm. But she’s still a happy dog. She sleeps all day long. Looks forward to her food and loves her walks. So, quality of life, I’d say is pretty good for old Noodle.

But one thing she hates is hair cuts. We think maybe our foreign exchange student, Kosei, from a few years ago traumatized Doody when we left him alone with her to bathe and shave. Ever since then she hates scissors. Nickerdoodle hates even being in the same vicinity as scissors. She runs away and turns her head a lot anytime she sees the choppers coming by. Which makes it practically impossible to cut the hair on her head! (Don’t believe me? Try trimming someone’s hair as they wiggle around every time the scissors come remotely close. Seriously, running with scissors is probably safer!)

Schnicker’s not like most dogs who shed, which is a good thing, but also means that her hair just keeps growing, and growing…and growing. Until she looks like a big rastafarian with a mess of matted hair and crusty eyes. So, we finally gave old Doodle a shave. We sat in the greenhouse where it was all warm and the air was still. The chickens were a little mad that we were in their space, and Kitty was very interested in us. Strudlemeister wasn’t happy about it, but she let us cut her after a lot of work. But in the end after a huge pile of hair, she now looks and feels so much better. Schnooters was running around like a happy little puppy with all that hair off.

Still a little shaggy for Snoodles, but mucho mejor!

It is about 8am and it is negative 15 degrees Fahrenheit (negative 26 Celsius)! That is arctic Colorado weather! Kitty usually sleeps outside, but we took him in to sleep in the laundry room last night because it was so cold. The people on the news kept saying to take pets in, that it is so cold it will freeze human skin within a few minutes, so we were pretty worried about the chickens.

I boiled some water this morning and took it out to them and they were just fine. They were not moving much to conserve energy and the black one had frost on her feathers. I think the leghorn has frostbite on her comb, but they were happy when they heard the ice crack as I poured the hot water into their dish. The high today is only supposed to reach about 10 degrees, so the water will freeze again soon!

When I was bringing water to the chickens, Schnoodle ran out with me to go to bathroom (our yard that is). As I was walking back to the house, she just stood there on three legs. I thought maybe she was standing awkwardly as she peed, but she wouldn’t move. I had to coax her back in, but she was slow and looked  like she was in super pain. I think she might have arthritis in one of her back legs, and they say arthritis is more painful when it’s cold (low pressure). 

As I was coming to work, my car started slowly and the road conditions weren’t too bad until I tried to get up onto “O” Street from 25th Ave. My car slid around and let out a bunch of steam/smoke as I gunned it up there. As I walked from my car into the building, the contents of my nose froze as well as my hair that was still slightly damp from showering. All of this is to describe that it is frickin’ cold!!! Puerto Rico, you are looking especially lovely today!

Britton Feeding Kitty, Schnoodle, and the Chickens- they love lunchmeat

It’s fun to hang out in our back yard. When it is nice outside, it’s one of our favorite things to do. We had a four day weekend this last weekend due to Veteran’s Day and you start to feel human again with a long weekend. It’s amazing how fast your life goes by when you are not paying attention to it and you are doing the 8-5 grind. I wonder if we will feel superhuman with over 2 weeks off? And in Puerto Rican Paradise! Then moving there?…maybe even magical.

Britton Going to Mount Britton in El Yunque

Our friends Matt, Jamie, Erin and Chad are on a cruise in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean as we speak. I wonder what they will think of it. I also found a cool blog by a couple who run a Bed and Breakfast in the rainforest of El Yunque. We would like to eventually do something similar in Puerto Rico.

I love gardening, so it is sad to see our tomato plants and roses slowly wither away and die. The only plant that is great in the fall are mums, or chrysanthamums (sp). The white chicken is still the only one to lay, but the black one is getting big. She looks like she is about double the size of little miss leghorn. Here are some pictures of the cooling Colorado weather. Britton and I have decided to go to Puerto Rico in January with a closing -or not. We need to get down there, and this weather is ever the convincer.

Cold Dew on the Roses

Another Cold Rose

Leghorn and Kitty at the Back Patio

Schnoodle and the Mums

Close up of one of the mums

Here are a few fun pics of the animals.

Kitty Looking Like a King

Kitty and the Chickens

Chickens

Schnoodle Begging for Food