What A Weekend

Jenny always complains that I never post on the blog, so here I am in an attempt to spite her.

Friday night, I was playing squash and some idiot I was playing took a huge back swing and hit me in the face with his racquet. After a good amount of blood and a sigh of relief that I was wearing goggles, I had 3 stitches put in to close the wound late last night. I personally didn't want to get stitches at all, but Jenny insisted I had it done so it would not leave an ugly scar and this otherwise perfect face.



Anyway, the big news of the weekend was not my assault on the squash court, but our lovely puppy dog. As you're well aware, Hank has had some issues regarding socialization and getting along with dogs in general. Our next door neighbor recently got a 7 month old Rhodesian Ridgeback. Since they were both outside, Jennifer thought it would be a good idea if they both met each other with the hope that they would be able to get along. It didn't start well, as Hank barked and pounced on the neighbor dog in an attempt to establish his dominance. After a few minutes of eyeing each other from a distance, both dogs were able to walk up and sniff each other with no problems! Needless to say, Jenny and I were very proud of Hank and the progress he has made interacting with dogs. The neighbor dog did end making a quick movement away from Hank, which caused Hank to bark and let her know who the boss was.

Other than that, nothing too exciting is going on. We're slowly but surely filling up our house with furniture. We recently bought a coffee table and two matching end tables for the living room. The next task at hand is buying lamps for the end tables, which we are doing right now. Work is good for both of us, the basketball team we are coaching is driving us crazy and we both cannot believe it's the end of January already!

Hank News

While talking to a friend of Ryan's family who is a vet, she mentioned to me that she thinks Hank has hound in him because of his ears. That got me to thinking because although we were told that he was a shepherd/malamute/shar pei mix other than the wrinkles around his shoulder, neck and face he has no other shar pei qualities. I started thinking about different hounds and came up with one that shares quite a few characteristics with our Hank. We all know hounds are good sniffers and Hank is top dog in the picking up random scents when outside. When he catches a scent all hope for having him listen to you is lost. He his mind focused soley on the scent he got in the air or on the ground. He astounded me the other day with his sniffer actually. He was in the backyard, when we had Arctic Blast 2008 happening, and started sniffing around the yard. He finally stopped and shoved his face into the snow and started digging. A few minutes later he came up with his tennis ball. This wouldn't be so amazing to me if it had been a few inches of snow, but it was 6 inches of snow, covered by 1/4 inch of ice, covered by another 6 inches of snow! He apparently did not like having his ball under all the snow the silly dog. Another key thing about Hank is his excess skin; it's only around his upper body, and not on the legs. He also has really deep set, droopy eyes and the loose skin under his chin resembles balls.

So, after thinking more deeply about hound breeds and doing some research I think I figured out what Hank really is. He is not a Shepherd/Malamute/Shar pei mix, in fact I believe he is only ONE of those breeds. His thick double coat, webbed snow shoe paws, love for snow and fear of water, and stubbornness can only mean his is definitly part Malamute. There is no doubt in mind about that. I feel that I can confidently identify that he other part of him, the hound part is......................................................................BLOODHOUND! They all have the chin balls, the deep set, droopy eyes, excessive skin around the upper body and can smell like no other. I read many descriptions of them and Hank fits the bill. If we really wanted to know we could do a DNA test, but I think it's more fun trying to discover it on our own and for now we have a Malamute/Bloodhound mix named Hank. I am going to put some pictures of Hanks droopy eyes and chin balls up, along with some bloodhound pictures so you can decide for yourself. It's a fun game guessing what breeds are in a mutt and that's part of the reason I love them so much. Let us know if you agree with our breed diagnosis!

Arctic Blast 2008 Part Deux

Another six inches of snow last night. That is on top of 1/4" ice and with another 6 1/2" underneath. For all you math whizzes out there you know that means over a foot of snow. We are expected to get 20" after it is all said and done. Needless to say, my car is almost completely covered on the street, my lighted penguins are covered, and we have to walk in the street when we take Hank out. We are hoping we can make it down to my family's for Christmas, but I-5 is closed as of now. Ryan's grandparents are snowed in at the beach as well. It may be in interesting Christmas, that's for sure. I obviously took more pictures because I have nothing else to do with my time so look and be jealous or relieved that it's not you stuck in it!

The Backyard

My Car...can you see it?

The Patio Table with 12 inches of snow on it

The Penguins After

The Penguins Before