a99kitten's Musings

Finally put out my Gentle Giant bust that I pre-ordered from their Comic Con exclusives. Thankfully they allowed their club members to pre-order and not have to buy, pick-up and cart around at SDCC. And they shipped it as soon as the con ended.

It’s rather annoying but a LOT of the collectibles nowadays made are of stormtroopers, Clone troopers and other armored figures (Vader, Boba Fett, etc.) I get that it’s a) easier than real people and b) there are so many variations of them that they can make (pretty sure that was Lucas’ evil plan) but I don’t really collect most of them. I buy a few of them like the Clone Trooper that was on Kashyyyk with Yoda (and wookiees!), the Shadow trooper because he is cool looking and I bought the zombie trooper just because it was funny. And I have a few more different ones. But tend to stay away from them because I don’t care about them much AND they just make too many of them.

BUT – this one was different for 2 reasons:

a. It was the McQuarrie version which means it was the original art version so different from the finished film version.

And more importantly b) It’s Stormy’s full name!!

I liked the name Storm due to it being my 2nd favorite female superhero character and 2nd favorite X-Men character (Ororo/Storm.) But then when we got a 2nd male dog, I wanted to keep the name since I liked it.  And registered the full name “Hoth Stormtrooper” with the AKC.

So when I saw they made the snowtrooper, I had to get it :)

Come on - he's pretty cool looking!

He comes with 2 interchangeable heads. I like the one in the pic best. The other has a longer/slightly different helmet.

Seriously….I need more shelves…..

He came in and stared at me. This meant “give me dinner!” So I went and made the huskies their dinners and gave them to them. Angelus started eating his right away. Storm sniffed his. I told him that he had to eat it or no after dinner treat and I walked away.

I went back and checked on them and Angelus had finished his. Storm still had not touched his. So I gave Angelus his after dinner cookie as Storm watched.

About 5 minutes later, Storm ran up the family room where I was watching TV. He stared at me again. I asked him if he ate his dinner yet. He didn’t answer so I went and checked. He ran down and followed me. Nope – dinner still untouched. I looked at him and told you need to eat your dinner or no cookie. Then I went back upstairs.

About 2 minutes later Storm ran back upstairs and started at me again. This time standing closer to me so I could really see his stare up close and personal. I asked him if he ate his dinner yet. Still no answer from him so down I went to check…and he ran right behind me. Yay – this time about 2/3 of his dinner was done (most importantly the part with his medicine in it.) So I told Storm to follow me. And he ran right behind me to the kitchen. And then grabbed his cookie and ran outside.

That’s how cute he is. :)

I gave the huskies dingo bones tonight. Angelus took his to the front yard and Storm just sat in the kitchen with his. Then I went upstairs but could watch him walking around trying to figure out a place to stash it.

It’s funny because Angelus is usually the treat hider. He moves his treats around quite a bit. He can remember hidden treats from weeks and months back. So those that dogs have no real memory have obviously just never had a dog.

And now that Storm’s Cushings is under control and he is no longer feels like he is starving every second of the day, he has taken to hiding his larger treats sometimes. I watched him take it to the billiards room but then pick it up, take it out on the upstairs deck but then pick it up and bring it back in and now he put it on his bed in the living room and is trying to “bury it” with his nose/move the bed around.

The buds are so this guy:

I love this ad :)

I give Storm one of his medications every other day. I put the pill between 2 small pieces of cheese so he will just inhale it. It’s a medication women are not supposed to ever touch so I don’t want him fussing over a pill and spitting it out! they both LOVE to do that! Plus he loves cheese!

So now he knows his schedule. He knows when it’s the “every other day”. So he will stand there and look at me like “Umm…Mom…forgetting something?”.

And he now knows the sound of the ziploc bag opening. (I keep his cheese in a ziploc bag.) He can be anywhere in the house and, if hears that, he will come running! Even if I am opening something completely unrelated in another ziploc bag.

At work, a couple people have said that he has come running when they open their sandwiches or cut up vegetables…in ziploc bags.

And over the past few days with me being injured, I’ve been leaving the door open so the dogs have in-out access while we hang out. Angelus is ALWAYS outside if given the choice. But he was inside 1 time when I doled out some cheese to Storm with his medicine. And I think he was like “Hey! What’s going on in here when I’m outside!??”

So now, when he hears the ziploc bag, he runs inside too. From the front yard he hears it and runs in. These boys have some good hearing.

They both picked up on this pattern after 1 time. So whoever says dogs aren’t smart (or that only certain breeds are smart) hasn’t met the right ones.

From our first walk yesterday after we FINALLY arrived.

And then after our walk this AM.

Angelus playing in the driveway.

Took the huskies to the beach this morning and they had a GREAT time! It was super low-tide so there was a ton of open beach to run on. I let them off-leash when they saw their friend Marley (ginormous black lab.) Actually Marley saw them first and he took off running full speed down the beach to meet them – he’s pretty darn cute. I let them off so they could meet him half-way! They ran around and had fun. Then we met a border collie named Maverick. This dog was FAST! And the huskies were tearing around chasing him as he chased his frisbee. Then he would drop his frisbee and chase them back.

Storm even went into the water to cool off! He has not done that in a long time. I guess with so many missing fur spots, he doesn’t get as hot as Angelus anymore. But he was chasing Maverick and they both just ran into the water and then a small wave came up and they were both belly high in water and Storm had this HUGE smile on his face. So, so cute.

Angelus wanted to play with a little dog who wanted to say hi to Angelus but then got scared and ran away at the last second. Well…to Angelus this means “Chase me!” Oops. He chased the little dog into a small alcove by the bluff and was like RUFF! Tail-wagging and smiling. But the little dog Mom saw it more as a “he wants to eat her!” No…he doesn’t. Little dog people are so funny. I grabbed him so she could grab her dog (Francesca…of course) and even as she did Fracesca was leaning out of her arms to sniff Angelus. See – everyone is fine. Then Angelus got bored and came back to the chase game with Storm and Maverick.

We were down on the beach for 2 hours playing! Angelus started getting warm after about 1.5 hours. The sun was shining so even with ocean dips, he was getting hot. He was making it clear he was done and wanted to head back. But Storm kept wanting to play!! I finally had to say enough when I saw Stormy’s back legs shaking a little. I think with everything he has been through this past year, he muscle tone is still not at 100% and he gets tired. But after 2 hours of running and chasing – I’d be tired too!

While we were out there, everyone wanted to talk about the tsunami. Was quite the event here. Maverick’s dad told me that they had an evac area set up on top of 92 (at the highest point.) I did see a bunch of cars and the state police there when I drove to work but apparently the news showed it as basically a parking lot with tons and tons of cars parked there and along Highway 35 too?! Who knows if the news exaggerated (as they like to do for drama and effect) but when I drove by the area there were about 20 cars and the cops. So I’m sure between 7-9am, there were a lot more. I do know they evacuated the houses on the west side of Highway 1 as well as the beaches and harbor. I guess safe is better than sorry but seeing how the tsunami was when it hit Hawaii, I was pretty sure anyone not actually standing on the beach would be just fine. But on my way home from work around 8pm last night, there were STILL cars parked there with people just milling about. Really??

I tend to not worry about most things. I think I keep all of my stress and worry focused mostly on the huskies. So as I was walking around yesterday AM and the highway was closed, fire trucks and cop cars lining the highway with lights flashing, cars and trucks just parked on streets and people walking around, helicopters buzzing around…it was a bit eerie. I thought to myself “Am I not as concerned for our safety as I should be?” But I figured the huskies didn’t seem concerned. They wanted to go to the beach. And animals have much better senses about this type of stuff (notice how all of the animals in Indonesia ran AWAY from the coast as the tourists walked towards it..) so I was taking their lead.

Even this morning, while we were on the beach, there were tide surges. It was super low tide but then all of a sudden, like ALL OF A SUDDEN, the tide has come up right to the bluffs. I managed to jump on a rock both times to avoid wet feet! And the huskies like wet paws! But it was SO fast, that I can’t even imagine it at that same speed with much more powerful water/waves. And it goes out just as fast. Very cool effect to see in real life. But I am totally OK with that and yesterday’s wave and tide viewing being the extent of my tsunami experience.

It’s a gorgeous day here today. Sunshine and a light breeze. Angelus argues much too hot but even he is lying on his lawn right now with a smile on his face :) He loves, loves, loves the snow but Storm tends to get cheesed a bit when we are in Tahoe as he gets cold faster so gets shorter walks. I was all packed and ready to go to Tahoe last night but I was SO tired after 2 nights of very little sleep. So I bagged the idea right as I should have headed out and decided to stay here. Plus the weather said it might rain up there. Yuck! I think I made the right call. The huskies had a BLAST on the beach today and Stormy got lots of playing and running in which he probably wouldn’t have in Tahoe. I think Stormy likes the snow and loves the beach. Angelus loves the beach but loves the snow more. So I need to make sure both are happy :)

So last weekend we spent in the snow. This weekend we are chilin’ at the beach and next weekend we will head back up to the snow as a new storm is expected to drop another 2 feet!

Snowy mountains, tsunami warnings, sunny beach…just another week in California…

Please forgive my winterized, gopherized front yard. But Angelus loves it :) He’s been hoarding this bone since Super Bowl Sunday. What buddies.

It was howling wind and rain this morning. The huskies didn’t seem in too big of a rush to go out. I thought “Yay – no wet and cold walk for me!” But once they ate their breakfast, they charged for the door. Doh. Ok…out we go. I wore my bright pink J Crew rain boots this time since my sneakers took 2 days to dry after the last rain walk. I looked pretty sexy in my mismatched rain outfit…in that “there is no way you could look any unsexier” kinda way ;) BUT – I stayed warm (ish)!

Storm doesn’t typically like to go out in the rain so I figured it would be a short walk. Angelus? Well, he would make an excellent postman. Rain, sleet or snow – he doesn’t care! But the huskies (both of them!) wanted to go to the beach. Sigh…ok….we are already wet at this point so we might as well. It tapered off to a light rain and then rained off and on the whole way there. We got to the beach and the wind was blowing and even the harbor was pretty choppy. Low tide was just starting so there was some more beach to run on and a TON of seagulls hanging around.

I let the the huskies off leash and they took off – both of them! To chase the birds and each other! Stormy was running around and having a good time!! Yay! He got a bit cheesed up in Tahoe last weekend since he can’t stay out in the snow as long as his brother or go in deep snow due to his naked belly. He wants to go out a lot but then gets cold after like 20-30 minutes so I take him on a lot of short walks and not the deep snow running Angelus gets. So I was very happy to see him running around on the beach having a fun time!! I wished I could have videoed it but it was raining and my phone was safely stashed in a pocket :( Would have been a very cute video!!!

It started to rain harder so we decided to head back. No one (including Angelus) is a fan of the sideways rain. Although I will have to say, when you wear rain boots you can have a lot of fun jumping in big rain puddles :)

We aren’t going to Tahoe for this new snow storm today, which makes me pretty sad. Who knows if it’s the last big snow of the season? But husband is driving up from San Diego where he was picking up his newly-made surfboards for an upcoming surf trip to Portugal. He was going to swing by here and get us and we’d all drive up to Tahoe. But the storm is just hitting now and he doesn’t want to take the extra time and get stuck in the traffic and snow. But he doesn’t want me driving up in my car alone since I have high-performance tires and not snow tires (don’t get me started on that) which means I wouldn’t go till tomorrow AM sometime. And that just seems silly to then come back Sunday night or Monday AM. Especially since I want to be there during the snow! I don’t know why people don’t get how much I love being there as it is snowing – not only when it’s all over. *pout* But I think Storm might be OK with is since it’s also supposed to drop to about -2 and possibly even colder up at our house. He says brrr with missing fur!

Plus CalTrans says do not drive up there today – wait till Saturday. Bad weather. Heavy snow and wind. Alert. So you absolutely, positively know some ass clowns in their Prius’ and Hondas and other teeny tin cans will be heading up and causing traffic at chain control and likely spinning out into a snow bank. Good times.

So the huskies and I are desperately hoping we get to see a snow flurry here! It can happen. I think highly unlikely (I am truly AT sea level so it would be a rarity!) But I do believe the huskies are working with some powerful forces to get it here :) So we will stay awake late and up early to try and get the coldest parts of the night/morning to see if their magic worked….crossing fingers and paws!

This was upon arrival yesterday :)

And this AM

And more playing!

This morning the huskies and I had another excellent beach adventure! We wandered through the neighborhoods and then made our over to the beach. Storm’s friend Charlie was there and he seemed pretty happy to see her :)

I don’t let Storm play with just any dogs off-leash. I have to know them or watch them play for awhile. Storm needs the perfect mixture of just out-going enough to be fun and crazy but not aggressive or too alpha as that gets Storm going on his “need to prove I’m boss” (well…under boss really since everyone knows Angelus is the boss dog!) Plus we want to be nowhere near the bitey, agro dogs either. He definitely does better with girl dogs too. No need to be dominant at all.

Charlie is great! She loves to run and play but is super sweet and fairly submissive. So I let him play off-leash with her. This video is the first couple minutes of what was about 40 minutes of them playing today, along with Angelus and their other friend Pearl. Vry happy to see him wanting to play more and more with other dogs and being back to his happy self. :)