Birthday Tickers.

Aww, I thought these were cute. :3

Dakota, My Girl.

Well, ten years ago, my dad's friend brought us this painfully adorable little puppy from some farm in Bufu, South Dakota. The friend told me before she arrived..."This dog is going to be your best friend. I don't care who you think is your best friend now...This dog will be the most loyal and loving friend you'll ever have." And I laughed and didn't believe him. I was seven years old. My best friends had no fur and liked to play dress-up. A dog be my best friend? Yeah, right. Boy, was I wrong. I stayed up till midnight waiting for her. When she finally came, it was right into my arms and I played with her on the kitchen floor, fitted her with her first collar - a pink one witha black stripe, took her out for her first walk, and was later FORCED to go to bed and let her sleep. XD She's now going to be turning ten in February and has been, without a doubt, the best and most loyal friend I could ever ask for.

Dakota is probably as near to perfect as a dog can get. Her one fault is that she hates other dogs. She is submissive-agressive and avoids them completely if she can. I'm pretty sure this is because she honestly believes she's a human and not a dog. If she was a human, she'd be a human who was terrified of canines...XD She loves potato peels. And popcorn. She lives for a good wrestle or a game of tug o' war and her passion for hunting is unmatched. Her father and mother were both excellent hunters, raised on that farm in South Dakota. A few years ago, they both wandered too far onto some distant property and were shot by the owner of that land. That's what happens when you live in the middle of nowhere. Dakota only barks on command, never goes in the street, and was trained years ago to never take a step onto carpeted floor because of my mom's allergies. Over the years, she's crept out of the kitchen and now spends her nights in my room, (secretly) sleeping on the foot of my bed. As a result of being unable to bark when she wants, she makes this sort of...grunting, moaning noise when she's excited and does the full body wiggle when I come home every day after school. She is an amazing girl. She is an unstoppable moocher and a complete priss. There are stepping stones leading back to the spot where she does her stuff in the backyard because, if it rains, she won't walk on the wet grass...XD My little girl...I love her to bits. :3

Here're some shots of my baby. She'sstartin' to grey 'round the face, but she's still kickin'. :3 I gotta remember to scan some baby pictures of her...XD

This is my favorite picture of her, ever. :3



Followed by a close second. >3











And last, but certainly not least...XD




Bonus Pic! XD My poor old fantail goldfish, Godzilla. He died after a few days...:/ I don't know much about fish care, obviously...x.x;




"You can say any fool thing to a dog, and the dog will give you this look that says, `My God, you're RIGHT! I NEVER would've thought of that!'"
--Dave Barry

Talulah, Happy Belated Birthday.

My pretty girl turned one year old this Christmas. I realize she was at least a month old when I got her from "Santa" last year, but I like to think of December 25th as her birthday. :3 Here's the lovely girl herself. She's grown a lot since last Christmas.


Here she is the first day I had her. >3 Little bitty thing.


Her first dinner...XD

And just some random pictures down here.










This one is so cute XD


Ewwies, here's her first shed skin. From mid-January.


This is a more recent one that I like a lot :3

And finally..I just want to acknowledge the little corn snake who started it all. Carla found him in her aunt's house and brought him home with her. Her dad is terrified of snakes so he ended up with me. We couldn't get him to eat. He eventually starved and I watched his last moments of life, squirming and writhing around...He never had a name while he was alive, but after he died, I named him Nanashi, which means "No Name" in Japanese.



These are the only pictures I have of him.

Anyway...Rest in peace, Nanashi...and Happy birthday, Louie!

"After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."
--Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Los Caballos de las Corridas de Toros.

This past summer when I went to Spain, we went to a bullfight during the Festival of Corpus Christi in Granada. These are the horses of the bullfight, in their traditional roles. They moved beautifully and were definitely the highlight of the bullfight for me. I edited some of the images because I originally posted them on a public forum and I felt they were a little graphic since there are some younger kids on that board. Still. It doesn't stop the beauty of these horses from shining through. That's for sure.

I love this last image. Ah, España, yo nunca te olvidaré.

Memory Lane.

I just wanted to post some old images of the horses that Georgette owns. She took them with her when she moved, so I haven't seen them in quite a while. Brings back some good memories though. I remember when I used to take lessons with Britni Check on Musher. And then Dana used to ride Musher too. I rode Gambler, for years. My good old boy...He taught me so much. I only recently realized how horrible I was and how much he tolerated...XD



Lookit that sweet faaaace :3




This is my favorite picture of him, although I wish it was ME riding. That's my cousin Rachel.


This is the lovely Musher. He's an Arab and he's blind in one eye. To this day, he still bolts through every gate or doorway he comes to. I'm pretty sure it's because he can't see where it is on the one side.


This is Wyatt in the foreground and his yearling son, Woodrow, in the back. I was there when Woodrow was born and saw him grow up :3


XD Woodrow faaace.

Here are just some images of Sunset Hill.

This is the front pasture where Gambler used to live.







That's all, folks. :3 Just a nice little trip down Memory Lane.

Kitty Mentoring.

So, on Tuesday at 3:30 I had my kitty mentoring. The woman who mentored me, Mimi, she was nice, I suppose. Very knowledgable. A little highstrung, I'd say. She had the crazy-eyes, where she seems calm, but her eyes are all...O.O...all the time. XD

Last week I met some doggies, so we'll cover them first.

First is Chris. Chris is a Lab mix and possibly the sweetest old guy I've ever met. He's actually prematurely gray, because I think he's only six years old...XD I'm not sure he sleeps at all because he's too busy running up to anyone he can find and begging them to play ball with him. He is suuuch a cutie.







I call this "the Ball Dance". He does this funny little jumpy shuffle back and forth waiting for you to throw the ball...XD



This guy's shelter name is Jeremy, but I call him Houlie, short for Houligan. Because he just looks like a little troublemaker. Look at that face. He's a two year old Chow/Shepherd mix.



This is Aries and he's nearly a year old. He's the doggie that I would take home with me if I had to pick one from the shelter. He's a Bull Terrier mix. They're not venturing a guess as to what the other breed is, but based on his markings and his build, I would say Basenji. Possibly Pit Bull.



There are lots of other wonderful doggies at the shelter but I have yet to get to know them. Hopefully I'll get my doggie mentoring done soon. :3

On to the cats!

First, of course, adorable kittens. These three siblings were the only kittens I saw while I was there, but there's a separate maternity ward which I'm not allowed into yet, so that could be why. Didn't manage many good pictures of them and I assume they'll be gone by the next time I get to go in to volunteer. Kittens move fast. There was already a mean lady and her snobby daughter looking at them while I was there. I hope they don't get approved...x.x







This is Cocoa Puff. He's a big fatty. He's all matted up and very mean. He's getting better though, I hear. :3



Awww, this is Star. Star was just meowing at me from her cage, looking up at me so I couldn't resist sitting down to pet her. She didn't feel comfortable coming out, so I just pet her inside her cage and she did the most hilarious acrobatics XD Flippin' and squirmin' all over. At one point, I scratched her butt...and she stuck it up in the air and buried her face in the corner...XD



Star's butt-scratching pose. XD



I named this girl Memphis. She was very skittish and didn't like to be held, but loved the attention from the floor. She seemed like she's just a bit shy. :3



The first day I was at the shelter I met this kid. I'm actually still not sure what his name is or if he's a boy or a girl since he doesn't have a collar and I haven't had the chance to scan him for a microchip yet. I mentioned him in my last post! I was so happy to find him again. He's a total dear. I found out how to use the scanner so I COULD find out his name and stuff, but...I've named him Vader, because the markings on top of his head remind me of Darth Vader or some other villain XD





And to close this lovely post, here's an old Irish poem about kitties. XD

"There once was two cats of Kilkenny,
And each thought there was one cat too many;
So they quarreled and fought,
And they scratched and they bit,
Until there was only their nails,
And the tips of their tails,
Instead of two cats, there weren’t any."