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.

Oh the places we will go

So it's bean awhile (get it??) since I've posted and a lot has happened since then. From Christmas vacation all over the midwest, to getting engaged, to having a dog that actually listens when I say 'come here' it's been a pretty hectic time.

Bean has been growing up quite a bit, and while he may just be getting a little fatter, he's also learned that the couch is not his person chew toy, when I rattle his leash he comes sits and waits for his collar to be put on him if he ever wants to go outside, and that the coolest place in the entire house is on the floor at the foot of my bed.

Friends of ours came over last night and met him for the first time and he was a total show boat. From rolling over, to pawing, to jumping ten feet in the air he was a hit. All they could comment on was how quiet he was, but they also don't to wake up to him sitting by the door and purring like a motor boat trying to get them out of bed at 9 in the morning on a Saturday. Not that I would really want to have it another way.

We took a walk today and met some new friends (well, just one, and well... he was kind of a turtle) but I thought I would share some photos of our adventure. I could not ask for a better companion on walk.

The Flying Bean

Usually I don't like to do these sorts of things two days in a row, but today I had to make an exception due to the latest development. I will let the photos do the talking.

I don't think I really need to add to much to this. The dog gate that we purchase to hold our dog out of the kitchen is actually a fun play toy for him. I couldn't get him to 'wall kick' for the camera, but he will jump up, stick all of his paws on the corner/wall and push off in the opposite direction as hard as he can catapulting himself further into the air to avoid landing on anything (his food bowls for example, which explains why when i came home today food was everywhere).

Also please realize that all of these photos where taken at a speed of 1/125 of a second or faster at 8 frames a second. So in real time the first is less then a second and half long and the second roughly a second long. I stopped on the photos where his face shows how much he really loves to show how much smarter and faster he is then me.

The Frying Pan and the Bean

So it's been three weeks since last has Bean's adventures been updated. A lot has happened since then to cause such a delay: I now have a full time job working at Jayme's law firm!, Bean has proven to be as agile as batman, and has the strength of a million St. Bernards.

I am not a kenneler. I am just simply not a fan of sticking a dog in a cage all day. I wouldn't want to be in a place where I could only stand up or lay down in all day long, so why should I subject a dog to that? Now because of that policy (or belief) I let Bean wander the house all day. When we first got him he actually was excellent, but I also was in a much smaller, much more 'controlled' environment. Now with a huge house to cause trouble in... he causes trouble. From my recliner, to pop bottles, to anything else.

One day was particularly bad. Jayme and I had to work late, but knowing that we asked her little brother to let him out mid day being the good owners that we are. He did so, but when he got there he called to ask if we had gotten him a green slipper for a chew toy. In fact we had not. Scratch one pair of flip-flops. Next we had a good friend of ours come over and spend some time with him and let him out again, being the great owners that we are. Instead he gets there and calls us as asks "Did Jon make breakfast this morning?". In fact, I had not. I never do, I would much rather go hungry and sleep then make food, ever, any time of the day. He then proceeded to tell us our dog had taken the 18 inch skillet from the kitchen into the living room. The amazing part is there wasn't a nik on it. Not bite marks. Nothing. Bean takes better care of my things that I do.

So I come home, and there is it.... the inside of my recliner. Everywhere. And Bean looks like he just got caught with his paw in the cookie jar. Needless to say it was a quiet night in the Bean residence.

Since then we've gotten a baby gate (that we had to bungy jump chairs to because he leaps over it like it was a toy) and he has been great (well today he was great, that's actually the first time). Bean never ceases to make me wonder what in the world dogs are thinking, and more then that how he can make me laugh when I am so angry.

That's Bean for you.

Bean and friends

So Jayme and I where out of town this weekend and lucky we have some great co-workers who willingly offered to watch after Bean. Now, they already have three dogs: Tadou, Bouba, and Kitty... they also where dog sitting Prada... and they have a cat... and three monkeys. No, no monkeys but a house full of crazy dogs yes. We took Bean over to 'meet-and-greet' the weekend before so it wouldn't be too much of a shock to his (or their) system. He did great. When playing with Tadou (a 130 half Lab half Newfoundland) he would stand on his hind legs and fight with his paws and teeth. It was quite a funny site, Bean trying to act big, and Tadou trying to figure out what in the WORLD Bean was doing. Did I mention that Bouba is a Newfoundland puppy? That likes to grab onto tails and 'go for a ride'? They would gang up on one another happily gnawing away on each others necks only to pause when the treat jar opened. As if to say "We would like to listen to you, but while we are playing the only things that concern us are not losing this fight and food".

After a weekend away we came back to find Bean (and his watchers) in one solid piece, only to be told that "Man does that dog having a lot of energy". We coulda told you that. He did well, and we (Bean and I) are settling in quite nice at our new apartment with a REAL backyard... with a fence!

My Dog the Cat

So after about a week of adjusting to his new lifestyle at 316 1/2 Court St, Bean and I are traveling onward (or eastward) to a new apartment. Two bedrooms, a basement, full kitchen, full living room and even more important... a fenced in backyard. It was a steal of a price, only $100 more that my one bedroom half living room/half kitchen. While the cost maybe not come at the best time, Bean's timing could not have been better. I took him over there today, and he was a little tentative. He's probably nervous that I am going to just dump him or leave him at another Humane Society. How little does he realize that he is just going to have three times as much space to terrorize us in.

Tonight Jayme and I where sitting around, and Jayme was typing on the computer when all of the sudden... Bean starts crawling on TOP of the futon. Now... you think to yourself "Well that doesn't sound too strange", but take a closer look at the photo. He had all four of his legs up and on a six inch cushion. He actually sat up there for awhile while Jayme was on the computer. So I'm now determined to teach this dog to do some crazy things. If anyone knows how to teach a dog acrobatics, or a good book please send it my way and I promise to post photos of Bean back-flipping.

The Misadventures of Bean

With the addition of Bean into our lives I thought it would be good to catalog our events and show some photographs of his misdoings. I think the best place to start is why we even got him. The weekend before we adopted him we almost got a Newfoundland puppy. A co-worker of ours had gracefully given us the option to have him bring one back from Nebraska. We sat after work and after about an hour of talking we decided we wanted the puppy. Only.. we weren't sure that my landlord would agree with me adding a 180 pound to his complex was a good idea. We couldn't get a hold of him... and we had to turn down the offer of a puppy. We were both really disappointed... and both got on the internet to find a new puppy to adopt! I've always wanted a Bernese dog so I typed it in in petfinder and up came our Bean. Jayme wanted a smaller dog... but I convinced her that we needed to meet this dog.

We met him at the shelter in Jerseyville, IL about an hour north of where we live. After going up and meeting him... and more talking... and me prodding Jayme into thinking that he was going to be cute, cuddly, and well-behaved (we'll see if I pay up on that promise). So here are few photos that commerate that day and it's tiny journey!