Glorfindle the Elf Dog (more commonly known as Fin)

I have heard it said that blogs become substantially less interesting once the blogger has had a baby. I don't have a baby, but I do have a dog. Hopefully that little difference won't change my blog from readability to unreadability. I'll try to keep it humorous for y'allz.

So, as you might remember, Sam and I got a puppy for Christmas. I have been remiss these last few months in not posting any pictures since the first blurry one, nor any videos. I'd like to say we have a couple hundred, but I'll own up to being an awful picture-taker, in that I never remember. Anyway. Here is how and what Fin has been doing these past two months or so:

December

Fin loves watching movies with us. For a while we very rudely had his kennel blocking his view of the TV, so he had to resort to desperate measures. It always reminded me of the puppy in 101 Dalmatians that is always in front of the TV. He usually only watches a few minutes at a time, but he was enthralled by the Planet Earth series--I think since each segment was only a few minutes long, then there were new sounds and new animals. He was a big fan.

Isn't he such a handsome puppy?

That is Fin's favorite toy, creatively named Bunny. It squeaks, which he thinks is the coolest. He actually played with it so much the first few days he had it that he wore the squeaker out. Never fear, however. Fin is a clever dog, and he's got Bunny squealing with pleasure again.

I can't believe how little he is here! It's hard to see the day-to-day differences in him, so I forget how much he's changed.

January

Sam is far and away Fin's best friend. You see them here, interrupted by the camera while enjoying Lord of the Rings. We began teaching Fin about his elfin heritage soon after adopting him. He's a big fan of Legolas but is disappointed that his namesake didn't happen to make it in the movies.

Fin loves playing with the rope toys his Aunt Michelle so kindly gave him. He's just sad he has yet to meet Michelle as well as his cousins, Choco and Sammy. One day, though. One day.

He smiled for the camera, because he's a cutie like that.

The non-fluffy Fin. This is a side of him we typically only see at bath time. It reminds us that he is, in fact, quite scrawny under all that fur. He likes bath time, but he has yet to be similarly thrilled by the subsequent brushing and blow dryer time. We're trying to teach him not to eat the blow dryer. Luckily it's too big for him to swallow.

And here he is as the fluffy, soft monster we love. His shampoo is sunflower scented, so usually when he is clean and fresh like this Sam rudely calls him Sunflower. I think Fin retaliates by laying in the dirt and reapplying his usual dog scent as quickly as possible.

Sometimes he has to be persuaded to do what we want him to do, so we pick him up. Like Jed in Night at the Museum, Fin takes offense to being "manhandled," but he usually bears it patiently. You'll notice here he's nearly as long as me. Wowzas.

Fin is a big fan of the snow. He wasn't too sure of it the first time it snowed, but he quickly determined it was a thing of great fun. His favorite thing to do in the snow is to snow plow. He gets his nose right to the ground and sniffs, pushing the snow along as he explores. This picture is typical of how he looks after a good snow plow.

We took Fin up to Bridal Veil Falls on a walk/hike on President's Day, which was great fun for all involved. He got to meet lots of people and dogs, which is always the highlight of any walk, and play in the water. You'll notice all the snow, meaning the water was more than likely ice cold, but he didn't care. Or, he didn't care until he accidentally went in a bit deep, but that might just be because he's not sure about swimming yet.

I called Fin to try to get him to look at the camera, and he decided he needed to come bounding over to me. That is why Sam is restraining him.

This is Fin, the headless dog. Sometimes his toys go under the couch, and Fin valiantly takes it upon himself to retrieve them. It's pretty funny. Sometimes we stick things under the couch just so we can see this. He used to be able to get more of himself under the couch, but he's too big now for more than his head and paws.

This is the under-the-couch view.

This is Fin running. We call it "barreling," since it's more of an all-out gallop. He looks like a little buff-colored blur.

The Many Sleeping Positions of Fin

Fin's a big fan of sleeping on his back. It's probably comfortable for him, but he looks so funny.

This is one of Fin's favorite lounging positions. It looks dang uncomfortable to me, but it's his first choice. Unfortunately, he had not been able to lay like this these last few days, due to being neutered, but he's sure to pick it up again once he's fully healed.

Again with the back. If he's sleeping in his kennel, it's almost always like this.

Here is the classic back, but with a twist. Sometimes I wonder if his spinal cord is shaped differently than mine.

And that's Fin! He's been a lot of fun--and a lot of work and time, of course. He's still very much a puppy, but he's learning the rules and shaping into a very good, well-mannered dog. I'm so glad Sam brought him into our family.

xoxo

We've been approved for adoption! Check out our incredibly awesome adoption profile at https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/24950903/ourMessage.jsf.

Did someone say birthday?

No? No one said birthday? Well, I just did.

That's right, it's that birthday time of the year. As in, mine and Sam's. Within 13 days of each other. Heck yes.

Mine came first, and Sam made it very special for me [as usual]. I've made a collage so you can appreciate the hard work he put forth for me.

This was all a surprise for me when I got home from work. Well, except for the party hat on the car headrest--that was a surprise for me when I got in the car to go to work. Both the driver's and passenger's sides got a hat. It was a party in the car. [Yes, I actually worked on my birthday. What's wrong with me? Don't I know what a vacation is?] He wasn't home when I got home, so he missed my reaction, but I'm sure his imagination is tuned enough that he pictured it fairly well.

As you can see, he taped balloons to our front door, got me a "happy birthday" sign, gave our stuffed animals party hats so they could join the fun, arranged my gifts on the table very prettily, bought me flowers [white daisies--my absolute favorite], and even gave one of the birthday balloons a hat. He also packed a birthday hat in my lunch, too, as a surprise. I taped it to my cabinet/shelf/thing above my desk of my cubicle so everyone passing by at work would know it was my birthday.

Don't I have the sweetest husband in the world? He made me feel so special.

Oh, and he made me goulash! It's a recipe from his mom and is basically pasta with a tomato kind of sauce [I've never actually made it, so my understanding of what goes into it is a little vague], and it's possibly one of my favorite meals ever. Not only did he make goulash, however. Check out the pasta:

It's a little hard to see [getting that picture was nigh on impossible what with the glare and lighting], but yes, I got to eat replicas of Mickey's head and hands for my birthday. Shazam. [My mom sent us this pasta from their Disneyland trip in June, in case you're wondering. We don't store it or buy it in bulk or anything, though that would be amazing.] Talk about a thrilling dinner.

So it was really fun. The following gift was "from" our landlady's cat [he's a Siamese]:

I realize it's sideways, but I couldn't figure out how to flip it in Picasa. Don't be a hater.

It says, "Holly, Happy Birthday. Love, Buzz." Isn't our landlady the cutest? We love her.

So that's Holly's Birthday 2010. Now for Sam's. He didn't feel the need to photo document everything, so this part will be relatively short.

Since Sam's always doing super sweet things for me because he loves to, I thought I'd try to return the favor this birthday. Please note that everything that follows is extremely out of character for me and that I'm not cool enough to do this kind of stuff all the time. K, glad we got that settled.

I got home from work [again, working on a birthday--for shame], and gave Sam the first clue for a scavenger hunt I made for him. The scavenger hunt/clue/puzzle was a poem set approximately to the meter of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." I'm not posting the poem here because I sort of can't write poetry, even pretend poetry, to save my life. Besides, it would embarrass me like nobody's business. You'll just have to content yourself with imagining it. Basically, each stanza led us somewhere new--to the theater to pick up play tickets I'd reserved for the next night, to pick up pizza to bring home for dinner, to get an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins, etc.--until we got home with the loot and settled down for pizza, root beer, and a movie. It was a lot of fun. :)

That was Sam's Birthday 2010 Day 1.

Day 2 involved going to the play Tuesdays With Morrie, which was ridiculously good. Day 3 involved going over to our cousins', where I snuck in the DVD Prince of Persia [which we saw at the dollar theater and which Sam loved and which oh-so-conveniently came out before Sam's birthday] and gave it to Sam. He was so, so surprised. What's really funny is just that morning we'd been in the grocery store and we'd seen a display of the DVD and he said, "Man, I'd love that movie!" I said, rather convincingly innocent, "Do you want to get it?" He looked at it wistfully then said, "No, we ought to just leave it on our Christmas wish lists." Mwahaha. Shazam, if you will. He totally didn't see it coming. 

And that's the basic rundown of birthdays, Sam and Holly style. We rocked it this year. Welcome, ages 27 and 24, respectively. It's going to be a good year.

We've been approved for adoption! Check out our incredibly awesome adoption profile at https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/24950903/ourMessage.jsf.