Something to think about! Merry Christmas

Ok, just something to think about with Christmas approaching....
Twas the month before Christmas When all through our land,
Not a Christian was praying Nor taking a stand.
Why the Politically Correct Police had taken away,
The reason for Christmas - no one could say.
The children were told by their schools not to si ng,
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.
It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say December 25th is just a "Holiday".
Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit
Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!
CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod
Something was changing, something quite odd!
Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.
As Targets were hanging their trees upside down
At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.
At K-Mart and Staples and Penney's and Sears You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.
Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty Are words that were used to intimidate me.
Now Durbin, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!
At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter
To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.
And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace.
The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The reason for the season, stopped before it started.
So as you celebrate "Winter Break" under your "Dream Tree" Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.
Choose your words carefully, choose what you say
Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS, not Happy Holiday!

Photos from Missi and Andy's South Dakota Adventure

Mt. Rushmore at night, just as majestic.
George Washington's profile at Mt. Rushmore.

This is where we ate dinner when we celebrated out 3rd anniversary!

The mass grave site of the Wounded Knee Masacre

Grand Rapids Native Gerald R. Ford.. bust in Presidents Park, Lead SD
Honest Abe at Presidents Park in Lead SD.

The BEautiful Badlands
Missi and Kirbe at Falls Park in Sioux Falls SD

Donkeys at Custer State Park.

Oh Give me a Home Where the Buffalo Roam..... In Custer State Park.
Pronghorn Antelope in Custer State Park

The Corn Palace, all the facade is made of different kinds of corn on the cob.
The face of Crazy Horse monument.

The Beautiful Mt. Rushmore, it is so much cooler in person!

Missi and Andy's South Dakota Adventure

Well, we just returned from our trip to South Dakota. We had a really good time and South Dakota is different than any kind of trip we have ever taken. We had never done any real travel out west, we had always flown over it going to visit Andy's family in California, but this time we really got to get a taste of the Ole West. We left Minnesota on a Monday and drove to Sioux Falls. Sioux Falls is a little smaller than Grand Rapids Mi. On Tuesday we got up and went to this beautiful park called Falls Park. It is a really nice park right in the heart of the city that has a beautiful water fall. Kirbe went on vacation with us and really liked walking on the rocks at Falls Park. It was a beautiful day, the temp had to of been in the 70's.
After leaving Sioux Falls we made our way to Rapid City and Keystone. Along the way we stopped in Mitchell SD, the home of The Corn Palace. I had always wanted to see the Corn Palace, why, I don't know, it just was on my list of things to see before I die, it's a really long list and I was very fortunate to cross two things off on this trip. The Corn Palace is a convention center that the town of Mitchell uses for Basketball games and rodeos and such. The entire outside of it is covered in corn, and each year they change the facade in a different theme. This years theme was the rodeo. It was worth the stop, that is for sure.
On that night we stayed in Keystone about 2 miles away from Mt. Rushmore.
On Wednesday morning we decided that we were going to go to Deadwood and on the way we past by Mt Rushmore and just had to stop. It has to be the move breath taking monument I have ever seen. You can't even imagine the enormity of the sculpture.
It was a really rainy yucky day on the day we went to Deadwood. Not like the day we had before when it was almost 80 degrees. When we got to Deadwood, it was really coming down, rain, sleet and even Snow, yes you read right SNOW! YUCK! Deadwood, was kind of a ghost town, not a lot of people there as it was a yucky Wednesday during the off season. Seemed like like Deadwood was the place to go to gamble as there were a lot of casino's . We saw where Wild Bill Hickock died, that was kind of cool.
On Thursday we went to Custer State park. We saw Wild Pronghorn Antelope, prairie dogs, donkeys and even some Buffalo. Buffalo are the most enormous beasts and I definently woudn't want to meet one head on. We didn't see a buffalo close us until we were pretty much out of the park, Andy and I both looked at each other in disappointment that we didn't see one when we were in the park and about 2 minutes after the words were muttered we came across a Buffalo eating grass right by the side of the road. It was really cool and just what we were waiting to see. After Custer State Park we went to see the Crazy Horse Monument. The Monument is still in the working stage and had been for the past 60 + years. It will never be done in our lifetime, my future childrens grandchildren will get to see it done. They aren't even working on it. What they have done was pretty neat, but it was disapponting to know that we will never see it finished. When it is finished though it will be even more amazing than Mt Rushmore.
On Friday we took a trip to the Badlands and through the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to The Wounded Knee memorial. It was a very sobering day as the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is probably the poorest place in the United States. It was like nothing Andy and I had ever experienced before.
On Saturday we went to the Wounded Knee museum, Wall Drug and downtown Rapid City. Wall Drug is probably one of the more popular attractions in SD with signs all over I90, I think we counted atleast 35 in a 40 mile stretch.
Sunday it was back to Minnesota, vacation was over and it was time to go home. I must say that Kirbe was great on this vacation. He was great in the car, just fell asleep in the back.
Till the next adventure.....

Welcome Kirbe

And Then There Were Two-

No you are not seeing things. Andy and I decided that Freddie needed a friend. Meet Kirbe. He too is a Catahoula Leopard dog that we found at the Humane Society. I was looking around on the Humane Society website the other day and Kirbe showed up. I immediately called Andy and he told me we should go and look at him. Andy is such a softy, I am sure that many of you remember when we got Belle, well Abbey came shortly after. Now that we had Freddie, I had an inkling that another would be coming soon as well. It is a miracle that another Catahoula showed up at the humane society, and without us even knowing Freddie's foster mommy, who works at the humane society in Coon Rapids called to tell us about Kirbe. When I found out that she had left a message at the house about Kirbe we were already in a room getting to know him at the humane society near where we work. He is a very sweet boy, but has Kennel Cough. I brought him home last night and he is such a sweety. He is 5 months old and weighs about 39 lbs. Freddie and Kirbe haven't met yet as we wanted to make sure Freddie wasn't here when we brought Kirbe home cause we didn't want him to get sick. Freddie went to his foster parents house to spend time with his brothers Bailey, Brady and Beau. Going to Jen and Matt's is like summer camp for Freddie, he enjoys it so much. Next week we are leaving for vacation in South Dakota, so Kirbe will be going with us. I don't think Kirbe has ever lived in much of a home as he was found as a stray about 6 wks ago, he has spent a good part of his life in a shelter, so now not only does he get a new home with friends to play with, but he gets to go on vacation. He is pretty good in the car, but likes to be where he can see things, he would sit on your lap if you would let him. We are working on crate training, the first night ole softy (Andy) ended up sleeping on the floor with him, but tonight he is going in the crate, I'm such a mean mommy.
We will send more photos from our trip. Hope everyone is doing well.

Love always

Missi, Andy, Freddie, Kirbe, Belle and Abbey.

The Wag and Wash!

Freddie got a bath at a Wag and Wash. In Two Harbors there is a self serve car wash and it just happened to have a dog wash too. Freddie is really good in the bath.

Stormy, Freddie's Three Legged Friend

Stormy was another dog that we met at Gooseberry. He is a Harley dog so was rescued from Hurrican Katrina. He is obviously living the high life now!

Lovin at Gooseberry

Freddie and Missi pose for Andy at Gooseberry!

Freddie and Andy at Gooseberry Falls, MN

Enjoying a nice day with dad at Gooseberry!

Missi and Freddie hug on the shore of Lake Superior

Escape to the North Shore

Well, Andy and I actually had two days off together, so we took every opportunity to get out of town. I surprised Andy with a mini weekend to the North Shore. A friend of mine told me about a motel that took dogs and it was cheap so I made a reservation and we were out of town. We stayed in a place called the Mariner Motel, it was a nice place with knotty pine paneling and towels as curtains, it reminded us a lot of a place that we used to go to in the UP of Michigan. It was the perfect Missi and Andy kind of place. Freddie went along for the ride and was awesome the whole weekend, he was great in the car and was great at the motel, I guess bribing him with lots of treats is key.
Andy and I started off at Split Rock. Freddie went to his first lighthouse.... he is officially a Sugden now. He played in Lake Superior and found it to be a great watering hole. It was a totally beautiful day, in the 80's and it had been raining in the cities so Duluth and the North Shore was definently the place to be. Freddie was very popular no matter where we went. Everyone wanted to meet the three-legged dog. Everyone wanted to know how he lost his leg and wanted to know what kind of dog he is. Catahoula What? a lot of people would ask, either that or what Andy and I call the Catahoula look. It's amazing how many people told us that Freddie was missing a leg. One of these days I am going to ask Freddie where he left his leg. Freddie took a little siesta in the motel while andy and I indulged at out favorite restaurant on the North Shore, Betty's Pies. 13 different pies and good home cooked food, can't beat it. The first night I had apple and andy had peach strawberry, two days on the North Shore meant two trips to Betty's Pies.
On Labor Day Andy and I went to Gooseberry Falls. As I was walking up the path to the visitor's center I had three people stop me to tell me how they couldn't believe it that there was another three legged dog up by the visitor's center. Freddie and I just had to meet this other dog. We walked right up to a harley mama sitting on a bench with her chichuahua Stormy. Stormy was a rescue dog from Hurricane Katrina and he had the exact same leg missing as freddie. He was really cute, had a little Harley vest on and everything. Freddie and Stormy were the talk of the visitor center and drew quite a crowd, most were paying attention to Stormy, but Freddie definently wasn't left out.
We took Freddie down to the falls and he walked all over the falls, drank the water and just really enjoyed himself. It was the perfect weekend, very relaxing, it was definently hard to come back to reality. Freddie is a great vacation dog, he will definently be going to the North Shore again.

Finding the right hat

The Scullery Maid, do you think red and Black feathers are a good look for me, as you can see we all had a really good time trying on all the hats at Renaissance Festival.

Self Portrait!

Definently the court Jester!

The Queen Bee, her highness trying to find a new Crown, or is this just a bad throw back to the 80's and Laurie is re-living Olivia Newton Johns' "Let's get physical" video, or has she gone to Xanadu. I think my bet is going to be on Queen Bee.

Where is prince Logan, seems his hat was a little to big for his head, or is he just being shy?

Princess Kristin tries on a lovely red hat with a hot pink plume!

Renaissance Festival

Andy and I took our friend Laurie and her kids Kristin and Logan to the Renaissance Festival over the weekend and totally fell in love with this Fairy. She had the most beautiful costume and played the sweetest music. She gave pebbles and fairy dust to all the kids. It was definently a fun day. The Renaissance Festival goes on for about 6 weeks and the weekend we were there is was Buccaneer Beer Fest, lots of Pirates and Wenches walking around. Going to the Renaissance Festival was like walking into another world, hopefully we will be going again real soon, what a great day!

Abbey!

Abbey is still a little affraid of Freddie, many times we see her peering out behind things to see where he is at.

Taking a breather from Playtime

Freddie and Dexter take a breather after some hard core playing.

Andy's newest photography subject. This is a favorite of Andy's that he took with him new camera with the fisheye lens. Isn't he cute!

Freddie's Foster Family

We just thought that you might like to see the wonderful people who made Freddie the wonderful dog that he is. This is Jen and Matt, Freddie's foster parents. Freddie lived with his foster family for a little over 3 months. They brought him home from the humane society in March and nursed him through 2 surgeries on his bad leg including his amputation surgery. They spent countless hours doing physical therapy, dealing with a great deal of phantom pains. It it weren't for these two people with such big hearts, Freddie probably wouldn't of had much of a chance. He is also very lucky to have 3 foster brothers, Bailey, the yellow lab, and Beau and Brady the ferocious chihuahuas (ha ha, just kidding) This picture was taken at the Humane Society Open house, Freddie was asked to come as he is one of the biggest success stories from the Humane Society. It was a fun day, everyone wanted to see Freddie the three legged dog. Matt and Jen hadn't seen Freddie since we took him home so it was a nice homecoming for them, even Freddie's foster grand parents came up to see him. All in all it was a good day and Andy and I have become fast friends with Jen and Matt, I will never be able to express in words how much they did for Freddie

Hey sorry for the delay

Hello all and sorry for the delay in writing. It has been a busy week and I promise pictures tomorrow. Freddie has been quite the handful lately. He is a little thief. Lets see what has he destroyed? He has gotten ahold of both of my watering cans and totally destroyed one of them and chewed the sprinkler head off the other one. Over the weekend I found him in the yard knawing on one of my solar lights, not cool, and then when my friend Teddi was over on Saturday he pickedup Andy's small igloo cooler that he uses as a lunch box and carried that around. He is a stinker, but we love him. Freddie sat on the couch with Andy on Sunday night for two hours sleeping while we were watching a movie, so needless to say, he is a good boy. His sisters still aren't to sure about him, and he thinks he can chase them, but they are way to fast for him. Oh well. This weekend he is going to go and have a play day with his foster Mommy and Daddy, while I go to the state fair with some friends. I know that they are really looking forward to seeing him, besides I promised to bring treats so that is always fun.
Not a lot else going on really. Trying to get the house together for company this weekend. Andy and I have been getting lots of vegetables out of the garden, but for some reason our broccoli turned into flowers so I ripped those out. Oh well, I am getting lots of tomatoes to make salsa though, Yummy.
My friend Teddi and I made strawberry jam on Saturday, so look for that in a christmas package this year.

Well I had better go, just wanted to say hi to everyone, I promise pictures are coming soon.

Hugs and Kisses

Freddie's New Friend Dexter

Well this is Freddie's new best bud Dexter. Dexter lives next door to us with him mom and dad Ed and Katie. Dexter is so cute and loves to play with Freddie. Evidentally Freddie tried to eat Dexter but he couldn't fit all of Dexter in his mouth. Actually they were just having fun playing and no cute boxer pupper was hurt in this picture. We have a gate that connects our two yards and we open the gate and the two just run wild chasing each other. Dexter tries to jump on Freddie and it really good at the sneak attack when Freddie isn't looking. It is so nice that they are playmates, it is good therapy for Freddie to have someone to play with. I just wish he would calm down a little more in the evening, when we bring him in he tends to want to keep on playing. We can tell he is ready to calm down when he plants himself on the couch and lets out a gigantic sigh. He is a good dog that is for sure. Very much a puppy in a lot of ways, the other night he decided he was going to water the lawn as he picked up the watering can with his mouth by the handle and decided to fling it around the yard. Nothing is sacred as last night he picked up Andy's water glass and too off with it. He is very much a puppy who I am guessing will be a straight A student at obedience training.
Hope you are all doing well. Signing off, stay tuned for another exciting installment of the Freddie Files.

Oh How my Garden Grows

Well many of you have asked to see the garden. It is kind of hard to tell in these pictures, but we have a garden that wraps around the patio and then a vegetable garden. The veggies are just begginning to ripen, we have tomato's, cucumbers, jalepenos, green pepper, watermelon, pumpkins and the more pathetic looking corn in the world, I think I figured out how to unintentionally grow baby corn, I included a picture. Pretty funny huh. I will take photos of the front of the yard soon and show you all Andy's retaining wall, still have to finish putting all the dirt in and plant some plants but it is coming along. Needless to say a certain 3 legged animal has been taking up a lot of our time lately.