A New Year!

Well, it's 2012! Haven't posted in a very long time. However, things have finally settled down (ha ha)... When we say settled down, we mean, Jon and Jayme have gotten married and the house is finally coming together. It's about time as they've almost been married for a year! We can't believe where the time has gone!

We had a good Cristmas. Mom and Dad got some gifts of their own, but we got better gifts (treats, bones, etc.) - but of course they would've let us have any cinnamon rolls. :-( But then they left us to play with our dog friends while they went to Michigan to visit some people up there. They say it was some family members or something, but we had so much fun playing that we barely noticed they were gone. :-)

We've already had some snow and ice this year. I (Bean) really enjoy the snow while Harry tends to be a little more tentative about it. He gets colder and lot easier than I do. Mom and Dad stand at the back door and laugh/watch us a lot. Although, I hardly notice them most of the time (brother Harry tends to sit at the back door a lot waiting to go in) because I'm too busy running around the backyard defending my territory or looking for squirrels to chase...For some reason a lot of them have disappeared lately though...I'm good at chasing them off. :-) Mom and Dad make sure we bundle up when we go out (but I don't think they know that we get too hot when we play).














Well, that's about it for now. Time to go outside for our last time tonight. Although it looks like brother (Harry) is being lazy and just wants to sleep on the couch. How can he not want to go outside? I CAN'T WAIT!!! :-)

Harry-Bean's

I realize it has been a long time since we have updated at all but Jayme and I have bought a house, traveled around and been busy with life and good things. Between wedding season and taking care of this new house time for the BeanBlog has fallen on the wayside.

So Jayme and I got our very first foster dog. His name is Harry (well, it was Harmony too so no one knew what to call him so we'll stick with Harry to save what is left of his man-doghood). He is a Begal mix who is outrageously shy. He had heartworms and is currently treating for them. He shakes a lot and cowers whenever someone comes near him. We're pretty sure that he was abused in the past. Over the past two days that we have had him he has learned to chase Bean and I around the yard and has wagged his tail on more the one occasion. A more perfect lapdog for Jayme I don't think we could have found, he curls right up next to you and doesn't flinch a muscle (even with a plate of spaghetti on your lap). We hope we can find him a new home soon, but in the meantime it's wonderful to have such a great little guy that we can teach to wag and lick all over again.

Life is good.

There will never be another one quite like you...

Yesterday was a very rough day. Jayme and I had to put Whicket down. He stopped eating and wasn't responding to Jayme or I unless we forced him up... he lost what little energy he had.

He missed his dad, he knew that it was his time.

Whicket was a special little guy. He had the fire of a giant in his little heart. We shared something, Whicket and I. We both had little holes in our hearts and we both never let it stop us from living our lives to the fullest. For some reason that tiny little similarity of him and I made it a little extra special for me. There will never be a dog that can curl up next to me and put his tiny tiny little paws on my belly and head on my shoulder and fall asleep and make me forget how angry I was at him like he could.

The adventures that dog had been on could make some people cringe and others wonder how he ever made it to the ripe old age of 15 1/2 (maybe older) years of age. I'm sure there will never be another Whicket in the world. We all know how individual and wonderful our pets can become, but he really was a unique old guy. Even in the short month that we got to be Uncle Jon and Aunt Jayme to him he quickly became ours. For all the headaches and vet bills we tried getting him to be okay it was 100% worth it....We know now where he is at now he is happy.

Whicket, our house will never be the same without you little guy.

Mice, Bunnies and Whicket oh my!

I'm not even sure where to start this week, I have sat down with all the intention of updating on Bean's life and have done just about everything but for the past month. Upon acquiring Whicket a lot has gone wrong and right. I'll start with Bean's foot.

Bean decided that his back left foot was going to be his new chew toy. We aren't sure if this was all due to allergies, or if it was nervousness, or what. This was a little before Whicket fully moved into our humble abode, so it wasn't related to his acquisition other then maybe a premonition of what was to come. So upon taking him to the vet it was a pretty simple solution, anti-inflammatory, a slight narcotic and a little bit of extra love and he was good to go. Oh. And a GIANT goofy looking cone. Problem one of June, check.

Whicket is sort of old. When I say sort of, I mean if he was in 'human' years he would be 105 years old. So he's ancient. He's practically dead dog walking, yet he has a ton of life left him... in short spurts. In one of those short spurts I was taking him outside. He was hoppy-hopping along out the back door, turns around to make sure I am coming and continues hopping along. The problem was the last 'hop' he happened to plummet about 5 feet face first into another set of concert steps because rather then hopping down the stairs outside he decided he wanted to go into the cellar instead. I quickly run after him and see if he's dead. He's not, in fact he's just limping a little bit. I think to myself "well, he's a man (dog) and I'm a man (boy-man, but sort of manish right?) I wouldn't go the doctor for this, why should he?" Crisis averted.

Until the next day when it's just as bad...actually it seems worse. He wouldn't walk on his paw at all. Now I had two tri-pods running around. One back foot, and one front foot. Just great. Now Jayme to the rescue (thankfully) and takes him (Whicket not Bean or me though I probably could have used one of Beans narcotics about this time. Bean is still treating but doing just fine) to the vet who, by the way, is one of the best vets I think exists in the world (I'll get to that). The vet gives him a relative clean bill of health, not broken. Take two aspirin and some pain killers and call me a week. Sweet deal, I can do that. Crisis re-averted.

That's until we find out that Whicket. Hates. Everything. Especially medicine. While giving him this medicine Whicket refuses to eat, but I continue to give it to him because is still limping after a few days rest. I shove his medicine down his throat even though he bit me multiple times. Heartbroken we try to feed him anything, ham, chicken, wet food, dry food. Nothing. At this point I thought for sure Whicket had given up. That he hurt his foot, missed his dad and said "I'm done, I'll just crawl off, lay down and pass away". I felt awful. I told my friend I would care for his dog and I killed him on day three. Sheesh oh man! So we call the vet tell him that he's not eating and not getting any better. Come to find out that Whicket has lost a pound (keep in mind he only weighs 6 pounds that would be like a 120 pound person losing 20 pounds in a week). They want to due x-rays on the leg (that by now I'm am 100% sure is broken). I irritatedly say yes because I don't want to spend ANOTHER 100+ dollars on a dog that I am sure is just going to die but we needed to find out for sure. Crisis in full force.

Meanwhile on the Bean camp, Bean decided to eat an ENTIRE bag of dog vitamins that I had just bought since Whicket wasn't eating (makes sense right, something that will nourish him, tastes good and is easy to eat? Ya minus the fact that Whicket didn't eat one). We call doggie poison control... off to the vet hospital we go (because it's Sunday of course) to induce vomiting. After yet another 100+ dog bill, we get some stomach medicine and orders to not let Bean eat again ever (or just one day, to him it might as well be the same thing). Check. Crisis continues.

Well we get a call from the vet and come to find out... Whicket's fine. Not only that but the vet ONLY charged us for the x-rays and not the consult or the morphine or the extra stomach meds. While it was still an expensive venture to find that out... it could have been much worse. (He also doesn't even charge us for the follow up appointment a week later..!) Crisis level Orange.

Now we just have a grumpy Whicket with a sprained leg and probably starving because his medicine kills his stomach. Commence force feeding frenzy (like me eating pizza on a Friday night). I feed him anything now that I think he might life. Chicken, ham, and anything else that you can think of that dogs like to eat. After feeding him for a week ....with a fork.... he gains back about a pound and is now running all over the place. He's still grumpy and annoyed at the world... and eating off a work...., but running sometimes and waking up enough to pee on the carpet and tick me right off. Crisis finally mostly over.

So that is a very quick summary or just part of what has happened in June. That doesn't include the bunnies that moved into our back yard and had baby bunnies so Bean cannot play out back without trying to eat them (bunny screams are literally the worse sound in the world), or the mouse that moved into my kitchen that I have mouse traps all over for. Aside from those couple of things June has been a fairly easy month!

Old friends, new roommates

We've had an addition to the J&J&B family. A very good friend of mine has decided to serve his country and joined the Army, so Jayme and I volunteered to watch his dog while he is gone. His dogs' name is Whicket he is a 4 pound, 19 yr old lhasa apso mix. He is at best an extremely cranky little old man who sleeps where he wants, eats when he wants, cracks every time he walks across the floor (pop! pop! pop! pop! so adorable) and pees when he wants and if anyone every tries to tell him differently he makes the sound like a badger on a bad day (a very scary sound for those of you without badgers as pets). All of that aside, he sleeps in bed with you and take naps on your belly while you watch tv, eat, sleep, walk, drink, play games or jog... well you get the idea. We are very excited to have him as apart of our family for the next fives years (or so). So hopefully you guys enjoy their adventures together. He's a really cute guy, and I'm sure that he is going to help create quite a few stories for us to share with you all.

I'll start with how they've already know how to sit nice for food, how to sleep and how to sleep on each other. Welcome Whicket, we're excited to have you little guy.

Up... Up... UP in the air!!

Well today is my b-day, and I am blessed to have amazing people in my life.. and of course Bean.

I received a 20mm lens for my birthday, so I decided to show it off a little. And luckily I have a goofy tennis-ball-loving-hop-in-the-air-jump-all-over Bean ball, who was in a very playful mood despite it being 90 degrees outside and almost warmer inside.

So today I will let the photos speak for themselves and say thank you to all my friends and family. I am truly blessed to have you all in my life.

Over there, no over here! nononono over there I mean!

O here we go again. It's been raining and raining and raining and raining here in St. Louis. This makes it quite hard to play outside when you want to, and it makes it even harder to go on long walks. Even with an inch of water in my basement, I try not to get too down, but the rain just seems to keep coming and coming. So when the sun finally decides to come out (even if it's a cloudy sunlight, can sunlight even be cloudy?) we play.

There have been a few squirrels taunting the ol' Bean brain for a couple of weeks now, and I decided to run around out back with him for awhile to see how long he would chase them around the back yard. Apparently the answer to that question is.. FOREVER. I'm 100% sure that if I gave Bean a choice between eating steak and bacon for the rest of his life, or going on just one walk right then, he would choose the walk. I've never met a happier dog when he is outside. Now if only my fence didn't have holes in it so I could leave him out there....

So this is Bean running around outside. And smiling, I hope it makes you smile as much as it makes me smile. I love how infectious it is, if only the rest of the world could realize the simple pleasures in life like my Bean.