Long Time No See!

Hi everyone!  It has been so long since I posted, and so long since I kept up with you all.  I wonder if anyone still checks ChihuahuaPost or thinks about Dobby.  I have saved so many cards from DWB friends over the years, and still put some of your Christmas cards up each year.  What a great time we had! 

I know I posted about moving to West Virginia, and now we have another big move coming up.  I am becoming a home owner with Dobby's daddy!  We are moving near Pittsburgh, PA.  If any of you DWB folks live near there, we should definitely have playdates.  Owning a house will be so exciting.  There is a fenced in yard for Dobby... AND Dobby's sister, Emma!

We got Emma last July 4th.  She is also a rescue, probably a chihuahua terrier mix, about 2 years old.  She is very silly and derpy, and we call her the weasel because she is so squirmy and slippery.  She has adjusted well in the past year of living with us, though, and she is more loving and trusting now even though she's still a little shy and skittish. 

Here's Dobby's sister, Emma:

 You can see her favorite toy in these two pictures: we call it Squirrel Baby.  She carries it around and brings it to us when we get home.  It's adorable. 

And you can see how gray Dobby is getting!  He turns 9 in about three weeks.

That's all for now!  Please comment to say hi if you still read ChihuahuaPost!
-S

Dobby's Shades

Just checking in to share this silly picture!

We are both enjoying the warm weather and being outside gardening and relaxing.  Tomorrow I start a summer job, though, so we will need to create a new routine.  Dob might actually be glad he gets his daytime naps back :)

Hope you're all well!

Snow!

Well, it's finally pretending to be winter in the mountains of WV and we have been getting snow for about two days now. Luckily, it's very thin snow, sticking to the ground very slowly and not sticking to the roads much at all. I decided that it would be beautiful to go for a short hike at Cooper's Rock. Unfortunately, the road leading to the lookout point was closed because of the weather--and it was a good thing, too! The one parking lot that was open had not been plowed and was actually quite snowy.

Dobby and I walked down a short path just past the gated-off road just to have a nice look at the snowy forest and to make the 20 minute drive worthwhile.

Dobby was in a sling I made out of an old T-shirt under my coat. He seemed cozy enough, and I think for a while he really liked the views.

It was pretty windy, though, so eventually Dob gave up his post as look-out:

...missed the beauty of the snow:

...and just curled up in my coat:


No Dobbys were harmed in the making of this blog post; I was bundled up and didn't get cold, myself, and he was right there nuzzled in the whole time. He was tired when we got back to the car--too much excitement!--but I think he had a good time :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hi everyone! Sorry I am so bad about posting this year. But I wanted to drop a quick 'Hello!' and say Happy Holidays!

Dobby is doing well; he and Gracie watched my mom and me fill their Christmas stockings... it was pretty adorable. They were so excited! Dob just got some edible treats since he already has SO many toys. He did wear his Christmas sweater for part of the day though :)

Hope you're all well, and have a great New Year!

Family Camping Trip

Boy, I told you there were lots of fun things happening! Last weekend Dobby and I went camping with my family and Gracie. My sister was even back from her summer job in Maine, so we were all together and it was wonderful. Here is our little camp site, which actually did stay pretty dry despite the rain!

And here are some pictures of us hanging around:


But the highlight of Saturday was a canoe trip on the lake! Mom and dad took Gracie for a hike because we wouldn't all fit in our canoe, but Dobby got to ride along because he's nice and light weight :) He had a great time! We stopped at a little inlet and got out to swim for a while. I didn't get any pictures because I was busy making sure he was safe, but Dobby did swim for a while! It was so cute. His little tail spins around like a silly propeller. Here we are on the lake!




When he got tired of sitting on my lap, Dobby found the softest spot around (of course!) and curled up:


It was a fun ride!

Later, we went back to the camp site. Gracie was not a big fan of camping and was very happy when we just let her in the tent to have a nice nap (besides, it was raining then, and it kept her long hair relatively clean and dry).

Dobby napped for a while, too, but I think those pictures are on my sister's camera. The whole family was giggling and teasing him because where he was sleeping was deep in a pile of sleeping bags and you couldn't see him unless you called his name and his little head poked up, with his big ears. "Dobby!" we'd say, then his head would appear, then we'd giggle, then he'd realize we were just being silly and put his head back down. Then we'd do it again. After 5 or 6 times, he figured out the game and just went to sleep. Later, he (once again!) found the softest thing around and made a nice seat, although we teased him a little by taking pictures of it:

It was so much fun, and very beautiful :)


(We camped at Rocky Gap State Park in MD, which has several options for pet-friendly camping.)

The Big Move and Our New Neighborhood

The move was complicated. Thank goodness my parents came all the way down to NC to help me. Dobby did not like all of our things being in boxes and was really unhappy when we were loading the moving truck. Once we got things settled in WV though, he adjusted quickly. There was a lot of stuff!

It took about a week to unpack. Meanwhile, I made friends with my new neighbor and she showed me a good place to walk Dobby. Here is our new walk route!
Our friend the lion:

The beautiful view:

A really great garden along the way:

These guys always bark at us:

...And Dobby likes to bark at these:

It is a kind of run-down neighborhood but everyone seems friendly. Living in the mountains is really beautiful, but it makes going for long walks difficult because there are always a lot of very steep hills. Luckily, this walk is about a mile long and only has small hills. One of the most popular things to do here is to go hiking and I want to start doing that, too! I know that Dobby will love it (since we have gone hiking before) but this is a good little walk for everyday use :)

Saying Goodbye

We had to say goodbye to a lot of people. On the Saturday before I moved, my neighbors had a cookout, so we got to spend some good time with them and all the dogs played on the patio.
Dobby and Harper ate some grass together

And then the dogs all got home-made frosty paws while we ate dinner!

Goodbye, awesome neighbors. We will miss you!!


We also had to say goodbye to my best friend L, who was always my sushi date and who doesn't like to have her picture taken...



And we had to say goodbye to our favorite person of all, Dobby's "Aunt Boo," my best friend R.

Dobby Goes to a Baseball Game!

One of the great fun things we did just before moving away from Greensboro was a Grasshoppers game! Twice per season, they offer "Bark in the Park", a special game where you can sit on the hill with your dog. All the money from the dog tickets go to a local shelter, Red Dog Farm. The Hoppers have a special love for dogs. You might have heard of the owner's dogs, Miss Babe Ruth and Master Yogi, black labs that are trained to get bats and are allowed to run on the field after the games. They made the national news not too long ago. I love baseball, and I talked my friend L into coming to Greensboro from Raleigh with her new puppy. Not Grizzly (from the beach trip)--no, she got ANOTHER new puppy!! Here we all are at the game:

L's puppy, Starbuck, is probably a lab / Australian shepherd mix

There was a nice crowd!

Dobby didn't win the Smallest Dog competition, though, this little girl did! (And although she wasn't very friendly, we did get to say hello to the big guy behind her!)

It was a lovely evening :)

Updates Left and Right!

Hi all! Dobby and I have had a super busy two months since my last post. We moved 400 miles away from our home in North Carolina so that I can start my PhD program at WVU this fall. Since we moved about 3 weeks ago, I have been in intensive workshops preparing to teach English 101 to freshmen :) I'm excited and a little nervous.

Dobby has been having a great time! Although he did NOT like moving AT ALL he settled in quickly at our new house, which has a much larger, fenced in back yard. Yay! Our neighborhood is super dog friendly (almost every home has a pet!) and fairly walkable. Here are some of the fun things we've been doing.

I bought a new chair for our new house! I call it the "old man chair" because it looks like something a grandpa would love sitting in. It rocks and swivels. Here is Dob checking it out when I brought it home:


We went to a Chihuahua Rescue and Transport picnic and met a lot of chihuahua friends!
Sadly I don't remember anyone's name. There were a lot of cute new doggies to say hi to!


Some of them were even up for adoption. It was tempting, but with the move coming up I just couldn't take anyone new home.

Here is Dobby with Zinnie, Zinnie's mom, and her friend:

And here is everyone all together:

This is the beautiful community garden where it was held:


We said goodbye to all our favorite people in Greensboro, like my boyfriend (we broke up since I was leaving :( )


And we had to say goodbye to Dobby's best friend Zinnie, too. It is sad to think I won't be doggy-sitting her regularly anymore. And I will miss having her mom to call when I need someone to watch Dobby. We will definitely be getting together whenever I visit Greensboro!




A lot more happened, too! I will try to update again in the next few days :)