THE TOY BIN

Our pets really do not long for much. Mason eats organic food that is delivered each month from California, all the pets have two beds each, Parsnip has two scratching pads and a birdfeeder just for his daily entertainment and all the pets have more toys than they could ever use. It is the massive amount of toys that leads to this story....

I bring this up because the pets were in RARE form today--was it a full moon? I don't know but I know something was up with our pets today. To spare you each and every detail, I will skip to my favorite crazy highlight of the day.

HINES AND HIS TOY BIN.

Hines often plays this cute little game with NT. It is called "empty out the toy bin so my neat freak dad has a panic attack." And Hines plays this game about twice daily....pulling out one toy at a time as NT comes along right behind him to put it back. But today Hines took full advantage of the fact that NT was napping on the couch. It was a Free for All in the toybin as I did some photoshop work on my "Baby Emma pics" (no worries Chelsea, I finished them up today.....I am sure you were wondering if Emma would turn 1 year old before I actually got you her newborn pictures)

Let the madness begin....one plush lambswool beauty at a time.

This picture gives you a good idea of the destruction a six pound pup can cause in as little as 10 minutes.....impressive, huh?

In the mist of the chaos, I am simply trying to edit a few pics of baby Emma (that is her above) that are all starting to look a bit similar. Editing photos takes patience and a discerning eye which I tend to have only in very short bursts (especially when i have a small puppy running laps around legs pulling out 1.2 million stuffed toys)

These toys vary in size but most of them are bigger than Hines. The pig is his new favorite toy and he loves it!

Do you see anything funny about this picture? Look carefully. One of these things is NOT like the others. (HINT: bottom left corner)

I love it when Hines lays like this--I call it the Frog Pose. I encourage this pose.

Here it is close up......Frog Pose zoomed in. I Love it.

Okay, back to me. NT made me a smoothie which was a nice break in my 3+ hours of editing. Then I was chuggin' water--MUST fit in the bridesmaid dress this Saturday. Yikes! And of course,I am never too far from a Sharpie pen and list. The pic on the computer is of the super cute Addison.

Doesn't this picture just scream "I'm Guilty."?

Even with all of his drama and messes ......(did I mention he pooped on our beautiful white shag rug in the den and then NT stepped in it this morning?)

I still love him. Why? Because of that crazy underbite and his huge heart. (Though the poop on my white rug did strain our relationship for a minute)

If you are a stray dog...come to the Triompos.

When NT and I first started dating, we found a stray cat who had been injured by a car. I will not go into details but the basic gist of it is we were on our way to dinner and we ended up stopping and rescuing this cat. At this point, I knew that NT's love of animals matched mine and to be honest it was the first time I knew that I would marry him. Crazy to think an injured animal could bring all that to the forefront but it takes a special kind of person to drop everything and save a pet.

Well since then, NT and I keep running into animals who need our help. We are like pet whisperers.Apparently, there is announcement out there "hey if you are lost, hungry or need a home for a night or two be sure to drop by the Triompos-they give great treats." And yesterday was no different.

We were out for a peaceful walk with the pets....little Hines and Mason. And out of the blue comes a beautiful yellow lab. At first I thought he must be a neighbors.....but no just our luck....he was a little lost dog. He had a collar but no nametag. (PEOPLE--put name tags on your pets) and he had a sensor for an electric fence--clearly he had broke free and was living the life of a free man.

I always comment on how our cat, Parsnip, trys to escape the house daily. I remind him that in the real world there is no one to go behind him and scoop his poop from his litter box...there are no automatic feeders....friskies treats don't just fall at your feet. And I think this is what this little pup was realizing--he missed his home.

We tried to keep walking but he followed us. We then went door to door...no one recognized him. We then (of course) brought him home. Go Figure.
This is the little guy....who I named Clementine. NT then told me that was a "girly" name so I then named him Oscar. (These pics were taking with my phone-so excuse the quality)

Next, we called the vet...by the way, we are their best customers with all of our crazy pets and rescuing antics. They recommended that we bring him in and have him scanned. And luckily, they found a chip which led us to a breeder in uptown Charlotte.
Here is NT and Clementine/Oscar at the vet waiting.....waiting....waiting to see if we were about to be the owners of a 3rd dog.

The breeder luckily had the number of the puppy's chip stored in his computer and was able to locate the owner. Turns out the dog's name is Raleigh (coincidence,huh?) and he is a 3 year old lab who apparently doubles as an escape artist. He was about a mile from his house and honestly very lucky that the Triompo Rescue Team was available. We kept him until later that night when the owner could pick him up and in that short time.....I fell in love.
I miss you little Raleigh. Come back anytime you need to be rescued...or just want some milk bones with peanut butter.

SIDEBAR: All of these pics were taken with my iphone and edited with the program Best Camera. It is a FREE app. You should download it if you are into that kind of thing. See below-Hines likes the iphone camera