When I have to get up early, I do my best to let Cubbie sleep as long as possible. I put the covers over him, I don’t turn the lights on in the bedroom and I only wake him up at the last moment before I have to leave (if I even wake him up at all).

Do you think Cubbie extends the same courtesy to me? Not a chance.

I only get to sleep in two days a week (and depending on what I have going on, sometimes not even that). When I have to get up for work, Cubbie doesn’t want to get up. Yet, on my days off, he’s up at the crack of dawn.

Once Cubbie is up, he makes sure I get up too. He will lean over me and whine and nudge me with his nose. If I roll over or “pretend” to ignore him, he doesn’t stop. He actually gets even more persistent. He’ll stand on top of me whining until I get up.

This week on my days off Cubbie woke up (and thus woke me up) almost an hour before my alarm clock normally goes off for work! What the heck!

He finally dragged me out of bed, and I let him outside. Outside de took his sweet time and then he drank some water and then he squeaked one of his toys. After about 15 minutes, he crawled back into bed and went back to sleep! Not fair. Once I’m up, I’m up.

Here are some pictures from the mornings I have to get up early. Cubbie hides his head under the pillow as if to say, “Mom! I’m trying to sleep here. How dare you disturb me!” Yet, it’s perfectly fine for him to disturb me on my days off. Maybe I’ll try putting the pillow over my head the next time he wants me to get up.

Posted under Cubbie stories

We typically think of agility courses for dogs, but I saw this interesting/cute story about cats doing agility courses!

I have to admit, I think dogs are maybe more trainable than cats, but that doesn’t mean cats can’t be trained. My dad trained his two cats to climb up him and sit on his shoulders. I know some people train their cats to use the toilet instead of a litter box!

Here is the link to watch cats doing an agility course.

Posted under In the News

I recently got a letter in the mail from my vets office recommending a vaccine for H3N8 or the canine influenza.

In my letter, the vets office is requiring all dogs who stay there to get the vaccine.

A viewer emailed me saying she got a letter from her vet in Jesup as well. According to information I’ve received, symptoms of the canine flu can include a mild cough and fever. In some dogs, it can progress to pneumonia.

Not all dogs are at risk. Dogs that are boarded, showed, hunted, groomed or taken to dog parks are recommended to get the two shot series.

My advice is to talk to your vet. I’ve debated whether or not to get the vaccine for Cubbie. It’s difficult because this time of year he’s really not around other dogs. (We don’t go to the dog park very often this time of year. Partly because it’s colder and partly because it’s dark when I get home from work). He’s also never boarded because if I leave town he stays with my parents.

I’ve asked several people who work in vet offices, and depending who you ask, some say it’s very important to get it and some say if your dog spends most of his time at home, it’s probably not necessary. A lot depends on your dog and where your dog goes.

Posted under In the News

Very last minute I decided to carve a pumpkin for Halloween. I must confess, I’ve never actually carved a pumpkin before by myself. I’ve always had other people either help me (or completely do it for me). I am a HORRIBLE artist, and this includes pumpkin carving.

This time of year reminds me of my first Halloween with Cubbie. I remember we were driving past a roadside pumpkin patch and just decided to stop. Cubbie was only a few months old at the time (this was back in 2006). Most of the pumpkins were huge compared to him. He was cute wandering around sniffing all the pumpkins. I ended up getting one large enough to carve, and a little one for Cubbie because he picked it out himself by grabbing the stem!

This year I was at the store, I saw a pumpkin on sale, and I thought “Cubs and I are going to carve a pumpkin.” So that night I put garbage bags down on the floor, and began cleaning out the pumpkin. Cubbie sniffed it, and I had to shoo him away from the “guts” because I didn’t want him dragging it around the house. At the time, I didn’t think he was getting into anything, but for the rest of the night I kept finding individual pumpkin seeds scatttered around the house! Two were in the kitchen, one was in my bed, two were on the couch and another one was in the bathroom.

I carved the pumpkin (very poorly) and forced Cubbie to take a picture with it. I don’t think he was impressed with my creation! I used a treat to keep him there just long enough to take a picture. Unlike three years ago, he is now bigger than the pumpkin. I feel like he’s saying, “Mom, why are you making me sit here? Can I leave now?” Oh! My little boy is grown up.

Posted under Cubbie stories

I really dislike raking leaves. Only shoveling snow is worse in my book. My backyard is completely covered with leaves, so I thought Cubbie and I would be productive on my day off and clear out most of the leaves.

I got out the rake and the yard waste bin and I even put band-aids on my thumbs to hopefully prevent myself from getting blisters!

I told myself I was going to rake all the leaves inside my fence, and then I would save the rest of the backyard for another day. (This was my motivation. I will only rake if I don’t feel like I’ll have to be doing it for very long).

So I start raking and raking. I put the yard waste bin on the ground so I can just rake the leaves into it. I do a bunch around the bin, then I decide to make several piles around the yard so I don’t have to rake the leaves so far. Everything is going fine for about ten minutes, then I can tell Cubbie is bored watching me rake. He is in the mood to play. Cubbie starts running through all the piles I just raked! AHHH!

Next, Cubbie decides to climb inside the yard waste bin. Why, I have no idea. I’m sure it was just something new to do. When he climbed out, he dragged most of the leaves I put in there with him.

During this I keep raking the leaves he messed up back into piles. I think I have too many leaves to fit in my yard waste bin so I decide to go inside quick to grab some big yard bags. Cubs follows me inside and grabs one of his new toys. He walks back over to the door with it in his mouth and I say, “No. You’re not taking that outside. It’s new, and it will get dirty and covered in leaves outside.” Cubbie drops the toy. So, I go down the stairs to the door and open it to go back outside. As soon as he sees me opening the door, he picks up the toy again and darts past me into the yard. Great.

He’s already dropped the toy right into the leaves. I figure there’s no point in putting it back inside now.

Once again, I go back to raking and Cubbie tries to bury his toy in the pile of leaves. I give up.

The whole raking experience was completely unproductive. Yes, I filled up my yard waste bin, but now there are even more leaves than before and I don’t want to re-rake what I already did plus everything else. I wish I had a lawn mower or something that would just bag the leaves for me. Or I wish Cubbie would stop playing and pick up a rake to help.

Posted under Cubbie stories

On Saturday, November 7, the Cedar Bend Humane Society in Waterloo will host “Stray From the Heart,” the formal grand opening of the new adoption facility. The formal event is at the Sky Event Centre in downtown Waterloo.

The evening will consist of a silent and live auction, with music by harpist Susan Holland. Guests are invited to view auction items beginning at 5:30 p.m. A brief program showcasing the construction process will highlight the evening.

Construction of the shelter’s new adoption facility began at the end of April. Their current facility, constructed in 1962, was designed to be the temporary home of 3500 animals per year. Last year, the Cedar Bend Humane Society took in over 10,000 animals. The new building will give shelter staff, volunteers and the community more space to interact with the animals. Upgraded kennels and improved cleaning methods will be implemented and will cut down on animal illness and stress levels.

Tickets are available for $75 each. For more information, please contact Autumn Ewoldt at the Cedar Bend Humane Society at 319-232-6887 or cbhsevents@mchsi.com.

Posted under In the News

I don’t know any other way to say this, so I’m just going to say it. Cubbie is a baby.

He doesn’t like to go outside when it rains, he doesn’t like to be cold and he pretty much whines until he gets his way. I realize I’m a large part of the reason he’s a baby, but not the entire reason.

Now that the weather is getting cooler, Cubbie is constantly cuddling up to stay warm. In the summer he’ll sometimes sleep on top of the covers, but now he’s under the covers most of the time.

Cubbie and I each have our own sides of the bed, but he tends to invade my space quite often to get extra heat!

I’m not much of a “sprawler” when I sleep. I curl up in one spot for the night and tend to stay there. I don’t take up both sides of the bed or go back and forth between sides. I really enjoy MY side of the bed.

Since I stay in pretty much one spot all night, it gets nice and warm. It’s so hard to get out of bed this time of year when my alarm clock goes off because I’m so cozy! But, unfortunately, I do have to get up.

Lately, as soon as I get out of bed Cubbie squirms into my warm spot! A lot of times I get up and come back to bed to watch a little television while my hair dries. Now I’m having to move to the cold side of the bed. It’s so unfair!

I get up for one minute and Cubbie jumps at the chance to steal my warm spot. As soon as I walk back into the bedroom and I say, “Hey! You stole my warm spot!” He just looks at me like, “Thanks for getting up Mom. This is great!”

I never have the heart to move him, so I just go around the bed and start warming up a new spot. Really, he is such a baby.

Posted under Cubbie stories

Cubbie and I helped judge the Petco Howloween Costume Contest today in Waterloo. I’m told all one thousand Petco stores did a similar event today.

The costumes were fantastic! I love seeing all the animals dressed up. I’m very impressed with the homemade costumes. I’m not very crafty so Cubbie wore his Cubs jersey and was a baseball player.

As usual, it was a very tough decision. But we gave two honorable mentions to two ladybugs. One was Sky the cat and the other was Abby the dog.

The third place winner was Bowser dressed as a hot dog. This costume is homemade. I loved the touch of the relish on the hot dog.

Second place went to Martez the pirate. I don’t think you can see it in the picture, but he had a peg leg! His owner used a toilet paper roll.

The Grand Champion of the costume contest was Chuck dressed as a cameraman. I thought this costume was so creative! I love the camera around his neck, and the bow tie is the perfect touch. I believe his owner cut the jacket down from an actual men’s jacket

Posted under Pet Events

If you have a Halloween costume for your pet, be sure to visit Petco in Waterloo on Saturday.

The costume contest is at 2 p.m. Cubbie and I will be there to help judge!

Posted under Pet Events

I take Cubbie to the groomer when he needs “the works.” Sometimes, though, he just needs a little trim. Personally, I like his hair a little longer around his face, but I don’t like it when hair is in Cubbie’s eyes.

When I can’t see his eyes, it’s time to get out the scissors. Cubs isn’t thrilled when he sees me with the scissors, but thankfully he let’s me attempt to cut his hair. The hair above his eyes (I would consider it the same area as eyebrows) tends to grow longer, faster. So I cut that part of his hair, as well as a little under his mouth. I also very carefully cut near the corners of his eyes. (You have to get rid of those yucky caked on eye boogies).

I’m sure someone watching this process would laugh. I’m trying to hold Cubbie, I’m cutting hair, I’m trying to catch the hair in a napkin and I’m concentrating very hard. I don’t want him to look silly!

Not to brag, but I think I do a pretty good job trimming Cubbie’s hair. It might take awhile and it might be a little shorter than I initially intended, but in the end, I get it fairly even!

The good parts about cutting Cubbie’s hair are he doesn’t look in a mirror, and he can’t talk so he can never criticize my work. He’s just glad when I’m done. I do think he appreciates being able to see out of his eyes again.

If all Cubbie needs is a little trim, I figure why not do it myself? After all, it’s free when I do it.

But, not every experience trimming his hair is good. One time I came to pick Cubbie up at my parents’ house and a huge chunk of his hair was gone. Apparently, I got something in it and my dad tried to cut it. It looked horrible. I’m not kidding. A huge chunk of hair was gone. I ended up taking him to the groomer. I told my dad he’s never allowed to cut any part of Cubbie’s hair ever again!

The other day I was combing Cubbie’s hair and there was a very bad knot in his leg. I tried combing through it, but I could tell it hurt. I remember as a kid when my mom would comb my hair. I had really long hair and I played outside all day getting dirty. It was very painful having my mom brush through all the tangles.

Instead of combing out the knot in Cubbie’s leg hair, I just decided to cut it out. Now he does have a pretty large chunk of hair missing from one of his legs. I just combed the other hair over the spot, and I figure he runs around so much no one will really be able to notice. Oh well.

Posted under Cubbie stories