What Now?

Wrestling with \Dino

Argus has been standing watching me, sending me thought waves.  "So what fun things are we doing today?" he wonders.   He's had quite a week and assumes the adventures will continue.  He finally decides that if he does something cute, like wrestle with the Josie's dinosaur, that I might respond.  Or at least get their breakfasts ready.

We had such a good time with Laurie & Nikon, and Argus particularly enjoyed the walks around Lake Como and playing in the water with his cousin/ex-wife Nikon.  It was such a busy week and we actually did all the things we had planned, including taking the dogs swimming, going out to the Arboretum, taking the train to Mall of America where we did the aquarium (twice!) and paid a visit to Como Park to do the Conservatory and ride the wonderful carousel.

One of the gorgeous carousel horses

The carousel was fabulous and I took pictures of many of the horses which will go in a Facebook album - watch for the link.  Anyone who loves carousels, horses, or has wonderful memories of either would love the carousel.  Laurie and I rode it twice, and were definitely not the only adults sitting on the horses with big smiles on our faces.  We both had fond childhood memories of riding the carousel at the Minnesota State Fair.

After 75 years on the fairgrounds, the privately owned carousel was scheduled to be put up for auction, as antique hand-carved carousel horses are extremely valuable.  A group of volunteers was formed to purchase the carousel, and it was eventually restored to its former glory.  After a short time in downtown St. Paul it was moved to Como Park to a wonderful pavilion created especially for the carousel.  The City Of St. Paul owns the pavilion, but the carousel is owned, maintained and managed by a private non-profit group called Our Fair Carousel, Inc. and is run by volunteers - something I'd like to be involved in when I retire.



The Arboks

The pups are doing well, and Reebok is proving to be an excellent mother.  She's very attentive, but goes out willingly (we had to lift her out of the box at first) and really enjoys having company.  The babies are very plump and polished looking.   Yesterday they were packed up and went in to have their dewclaws removed.  They were pretty vocal about traveling, and Reebok was distressed about their absence and shredded the papers in her box, but everything went smoothly, the pups checked out perfectly, and once Reebok had cleaned them thoroughly and rid them of any "foreign" smells, she relaxed.

I had suspected that the two girls were actually livers rather than blacks, but it was hard to be sure in the glow of the pink heat lamp bulb.  When I could see the pups in normal daylight it was obvious that they were indeed liver.  So Reebok is liver-factored, much to everyone's surprise. Rosie is very pleased!  It's about time to start thinking of names for the pups, although I may wait until after I'm sure of their hearing status.  I find it harder to deal with deafs if the pups have names and identities, so for now they are known collectively as the Arboks, short for Argus-Reebok puppies.  So the Arboks live in their Reebox and are doing well!