Tug of War: Sedgwick Style!

Nothing says fun like tug of war with Sedgwick. (Of course Sam is playing in this picture as well... he doesn't count for this story though).

Lydia and I were having a quiet cup of French Roasted coffee and discussing our plans for the afternoon when Anna and Owen decided to play a little game with Sedgwick. They tied themselves together and convinced Sedgwick that the tie was actually a badger and a fox. Sedgwick's job was to take down the badger and the fox... who happen to be Anna and Owen.

If all that I gave you was this picture, I am sure that many would cry "get rid of that dog!" or, "you still have that dog... with children!" or "how can you stand that animal?". I know- you are all sweet and swell, but Sedgwick is my dog and part of our loving home. At any rate, if this picture was all that was published you would see Anna thrown towards the love seat and Owen defending his honor. Thankfully (for your amusement) we have actual live footage of the event. Do enjoy! We loved watching them play it!

Two Dog Night?

Any visitor to our home knows that we are not wasting our hard-earned money on heating this house. We recommend that people wear socks and a few layers of clothes when they are here.

Side note, I remember my dad telling me about one of tenants who ran up a heating bill that was more than his rent for the month. When he went to the apartment to confront this person on his need to keep the apartment over 75 degrees, the tenant answered the door in an undershirt and shorts. Needless to say, my dad put a lock box on his thermostat without haste!

So how do we recommend that our company stay warm? Lydia and both lend out sweatshirts, socks, and wraps to our frigid guests. But what do we do? We have dogs to help heat our sleep. The old story goes like this- when it is cold it is a one-dog night. If it is unbearably cold, it is a two-dog night. We rarely are too cold in bed.. it is getting out that is chilly! But, it seems that Watson has no need for both Sam and Sedgwick. Old fat Sam is warm enough for him!

Opa Meet Watson; Watson, Opa.

Opa and Oma Malysa came to visit on Tuesday. Oma was here with Tante Heidi when Watson was born, but Opa had not met him yet. Of course Princess Molly wanted to come and to see him as well. We had a really nice visit, despite Oma not feeling well.
Here is a nice family picture. We took Molly for a walk and Owen and Anna walked her. They loved it, of course!
Molly's eyes are not good these days. She is about 17 years old! What an old brat. We love her.
Here is Larry with Watson. Watson was quite content and sweet the whole time.
Here is Oma with little Owen and Molly. We really think that Owen is quite cute, but his grins look so mischievous.
We have a few more pictures that Larry sent. If I have time, I will put them up as well... I think Heidi is coming on Friday too?? There will be some pictures there as well, I am sure!

Again?

In September of 2005 there was a most horrid blog post about our dog Sam. Must it happen again?

Schnauzer for sale: $0.01

Birthday Wishes

I purchased a really great woven pith for Owen for his 2nd birthday. What little boy does not need a pith for exploration?

I was really happy with this pith and was very excited to have him wear it places. I was even considering getting myself one for gardening. Nothing says gardener like an adventurous pith!

But, the story goes, it seems as though a certain dog that was brought into this marriage does not like pith helmets. This dog prefers to eat non-food items despite his age. Owen still may be getting a pith for his birthday, but I will have to go buy a replacement- and keep it high enough to avoid being shred all over our second story floors.

My Boys

Today the boys got a chance to bond a little. They wrestled and bit each other. It is quite a blast to watch. Of course, Samson, the step-dog, was not allowed to play with us.

Buddies

Lots of little boys like to have ponies or horses to ride. Owen has never asked for such a beast. He has a very ride-able beast in his buddy Samson. We all know that Samson is not the smartest of animals due to his mother's living situation before she was a Christian. (Yep, Sam's a burn-out!) Sam is nevertheless a very nice dog to Owen.
Owen is quite mischievous and finds that riding Sam is a lot of fun. He also thinks that investigating Sam's teeth, gums, and throat is a worthy cause. Occasionally he will pick up Sam's front paws and desire a dance. Sam does not dance.
We do not allow these behaviors to continue of course, since we are most compassionate towards our little burn-out. If anyone thinks that the humane society or PETA needs to be contacted, it is just not the case.
We love Samson as well as Owen. They are good boys and both receive a lot of love and affection.

Owen and Samson are quite good friends. What other friend would allow you to look into his mouth, pull his ears and back-hair, try to ride him, and put his food in his water bowl? What a buddy that Samson is!

The Joys of Union Avenue

Sorry Janna!

So Mr. B, what do you think of sweet, little Sedgwick now? Did Janna tell you that he attacked her viciously simply for her presence in our home on Union Ave.... I think it is because she mentioned Seamus. Sorry Janna, I would put him to sleep if I could.

Submitted by Lydia. Nathan would never speak poorly of Sedgwick.

Anna's House

I mentioned this week that we purchased a deep freeze from Sam's Club . My cousin Craig raises some really nice free range beef and we get a fourth of one of those girls to chew on all year long. (It is MUCH better than the stuff you buy from the grocer, even D&W. )

I was very happy to get rid of the trash that came wrapped around that thing --but we thought that Anna would like to play with the box for awhile.

This homeless-home is great. We have two windows, a door complete with latch, a nice bungalow style roof with a chimney (or 'chimley' to go along with 'deep freeze'), a light fixture, and even wall-to-wall carpeting! It is something!
Anna and Paige have spent some time playing in it, as well as Owen and Anna, Anna and her TV, Anna and her percolator and coffee cups... and on-and-on...

(Notice in the upper photo the light fixture hanging from the ceiling.)
Sedgwick has attempted to take it over as his residence.
Paige thinks that she would like to live in it as well; but not with Sedgwick!

Sedgwick and friends

Sometimes Sedgwick has friends over without asking us. Yesterday I came downstairs to find these two crashed on the couch! Sedgwick could at least ask to have Brian over! I would let him....I love that guy!

Opa, Oma, and Tante Heidi (and of course Molly)

We had a really nice day on Tuesday when Lydia's family came in from the lovely suburbs of Chicago. They brought lots of fine gifts for the kids (as they usually do!) and we had a great visit.
Anna was loving Molly most of the afternoon. She has never seen a dog that is so well behaved and sweet. Molly is usually quite spectacular with her pink bows and painted toenails. Anna is used to hyper and stupid (if you know our dogs you can figure out who is who!)

Here is the Malysa family. They sure are a handsome bunch.
Here is oma and opa with the children. We warned the kids that they had to behave around oma because she will not put up with it. Opa discussed the Bears with them and how he is going to the play-offs to watch them win.
Here is Tante Heidi and Owen. Owen was really glad to see her again. Heidi has been trying to get to Grand Rapids for some time now, but her school semester has been busy. She is studying to be an RN.
We went to Pietro's for dinner. It is one of our favorite Italian Eateries. Oma was quite good at ordering in Italian. (There is nothing prettier than Italian spoken with a German accent!) The waiter flirted with Heidi (as they all do) and he offended Oma with his smart mouth. She made sure to stick out her tongue at him when he was not looking.

Anna ate a lot of pasta from everyone's plate and Owen gummed a spoon the whole time.

Opa decided that he would wink at me....and he didn't even have any Merlot!

We had a great time and we hope to see them all real soon.

From the archives II

Here are some more pictures from the archives. These are of Anna when she was quiet, not running around, and not attempting to push her little will onto us. She will be two years old next month and it is so hard to believe how fast this time is moving. When Lydia and I got married, it seemed like such a long time before Anna came along...now I cannot imagine life without her and Owen. Here is when Sam was still mama's dog. When she loved dog and child.
This one is when she was about two months old. (Owen is like twice this age now!)
This is one if the cute ones. Remember her little elf ears that she had to grow into. All of the Lord of the Rings fans were attempting to steal her and to worship her as some sort of elfish incarnate. I am glad that she grew into those!

A skunk eat dog world

So, Life on Union Avenue is not perfect. As Toni Dunmire has said in a comment, It looks like a good Life on Union Avenue, and it is. We have a great life- I will be the first to admit it. I love my wife, my children, my job, the perpetual student life, and many other things about our life.

As stated, it is not perfect. We get our fair share of urban rodents and pests. Union Avenue has even been known to have a crime once in awhile. (Not at our house though)!
Nevertheless, there comes a time when you have to admit something that downright STINKS!

I get home from work late in the evening. Usually I will hear Anna yell, "papa home"!from the top of the stairs and the dogs come running to be taken out for their last constitution of the night. This night it was 11:45pm.

I let Samson out and proceeded to the basement to see the progress of the trim work. Sedgwick, Anna, and Lydia joined me. While we commented on the lovely trim, built in bookshelves and window seat we smelled an awful smell. Someone on Union Avenue had come face to tail with a God given defense mechanism of the mephitis mephitis: Latin for the common striped skunk!

As I went to take Sedgwick 0utside I noticed a well defeated canis familiarus...Samson had been skunked!

After a quick argument over whose responsibility it was to clean the dog which Lydia brought into this marriage, I marched off to CVS to purchase some hydrogen peroxide topical solution.

It was OUR responsibility to clean HER dog.

Of course Anna had to help as well. She poured the water out of a cup while I scrubbed and scrubbed.
Here is the solution that Lydia found on-line. One teaspoon dish detergent, one quart peroxide, one-fourth cup baking soda. We doubled it!
Or did we triple it?
Samson is quite impressed with his little bath. Jen Reilly, his groomer, would be happy to know that he even had a bath between groomings.
I am using the scrubbing as a coping skill as well. I was upset...Lydia was mad. Let's say we scrubbed VERY hard.
Keep scrubbing......scrubbing....scrubbing.....It is 2:00am. Time for bed. Sam can sleep in the crate. (Of course he won't...but not on the bed).

I hope that you have enjoyed this as much as we did. Hmmm. Sometimes it is a tough day on Union Avenue.

Canine Life on Union Avenue

With all of the basement remodel, time with Owen and Anna, marital duties, school, and time away from home due to a thing called work- I have not had a lot of time for my dogs. I thought that they would enjoy seeing a post concerning them... since we talk all day long about our children.

Here are a few pictures of Samson and Sedgwick doing that which they do best:
1. Being lazy
2. Smelling up the couch
3. Being worthless

We love our dogs.
Sedgwick always messes up the pillows. This is a huge pet peeve of mine. I want the pillows in the proper order as well as the stripes vertical with the tag labels facing down. He comes along, with pure disregard for me and my feelings, and noses them around until he is able to curl up into the cute Sedgwick ball that we all know and love.
Samson is the classic lazy dog. Zoom in on his face. HE IS AWAKE! He is not even sleeping...Just conserving energy so that he can make it to the next meal!
Notice the little bone that one of them has hidden under the couch for future gnawing. In our house the dog days of summer are the dog days of life (on Union Avenue).

Lazy Bones, Sleepin' in the Shade, How Ya Spect To Get Your Corn Meal Made?

Nathan had to go to a class from 8:30am until 4:00pm that dealt with some real exciting stuff:

1. co-concurring illnesses
2. lessening the use of restraint as a non-theraputic tool
3. principles of compassionate care
(There is more, but you will stop reading out of boredom!)

Let's just say that I got tired.

When I got home I had to mow the yard and water everything that grows. Anna was outside with me and helped me to see how the mundane can even be turned into play. It was nice.

Lydia is currently transcribing dictations.

When Anna and I completed our yard chores, we sat on the bed and looked through magazines together. Anna looked through Mothering and I looked through Old Schoolhouse.

We fell asleep. (Not from lack of intellectual stimuli, but due to built up exhaustion. )

Lydia then discovered that Anna and I were not the only characters in this house that had passed out on a warm, breezy August evening. The whole family was asleep, but she continued to type. And to type. And to type.

A family blog

We hope that everyone enjoys the pictures of what life on Union Avenue is like. (It is a lot more eventful than the lives of Samson and Sedgwick!)