We're HOME!!!!!!!!

We're FINALLY home from our "family vacation" to Northern California to see my sister-in-law in Napa, CA!~ Our daughter and her BF went with us. We stayed in Paso Robles, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, and back in Paso Robles, and then finally HOME! RIPLEY managed to loose her collar and tags while we are gone, so tomorrow I'll go outside during the daylight hours and look for her rabies tag and her name tag! Can you believe it???????

Ripley plays!

It was hard to take these pics because the dogs were moving so quickly, but this is typical "play" for the three of them! Ripley in the middle, causing chaos, and her two "uncles" joining in the fun! A typical day with Ripley and me.

Ripley's been reading again!

Yup. She's been at it! Reading magazines again! This time she's reading about food (see photo). Maybe she's dreaming about sandwiches? Who knows? Here she is trying to get Atticus to play with her. Obviously, he'd rather go sack out and take a nap! He never hurts her...those teeth are just for show!

Ripley has been reading!!!!

I never know what kind of scene is going to greet me every morning with Ripley and the "boys". Sometimes, as I stumble out into the living room, I'm greeted with coffee grounds spread out all over my carpet. Or, maybe it's last night's broccoli. Or, empty bags which once contained loaves of bread. Of course, the bread is GONE! One time, it was my clean underwear! HA! Now I always immediately put those away! Many times it is shredded grocery bags. Guess Ripley is looking through them at night? Sometimes when I awaken at 2:30 a.m., I'll just sleep out on the couch and keep "one eye" on the dogs. Of course, they always behave then! Anyway, these are some pics of our side porch where Ripley and Atticus stay during the daytime. Do you see what I mean? Chaos. Believe it or not, before Ripley, this porch was always CLEAN! No longer!!!! See? She's reading about the best house on the block...OBVIOUSLY not ours! And, bless her little heart! SHE'S going to train my horses for me! What a sweetheart! (NOT!) See, she's been reading on her bed! WHAT NEXT? Ahhhh....life with Ripley!

Bone? Bone? Who's got the bone?

When I drive up to the mountains for the horses, I always stop by the local feed store. They carry dog bones (the rawhide ones) and I like to pick up a couple. Our German Shepherd isn't too interested in them (he's MUCH too regal for that!), but Ripley and Atticus, the Weimeraner, love them and it keeps them from pouncing on the cats for a few minutes! But Saturday I bought 3. One for each dog, right? WRONG! I gave one bone to each dog (they were eagerly wagging their tails) and off they went and off I went to konk out on the couch! When I woke up, Ripley had chewed HER bone in half AND had a whole bone! Yup. She managed to get Rommel's bone away from him AND keep her two halves! HUH? Apparently all this happened while I was asleep. Atticus was barely able to keep his, but our German Shepherd had the saddest look on his face! It's a game they play...."Who can keep the bone?" or something like that. I think it is a game of who is the most devious and we ALL know who that is....RIPLEY! So, when hubby got home and Ripley and Atticus went outside to do their business, our German Shepherd quietly walked over to the whole bone and took it down the hallway. Of course, when Ripley came in, she quietly surveyed the scene and realized that 1 bone was missing! She sat down and guarded her remaining two halves and konked out, totally tired! I guess guarding 3 bones was too much for her! Meanwhile, our German Shepherd happily munched on the whole bone for an hour. He really doesn't crunch it like Ripley and Atticus...he tends to just slobber on it. But he was SO HAPPY! We locked him in the bedroom with his bone so that he wouldn't be disturbed. NOT! About two hours later, Ripley snuck in and stole it! By then it was bedtime, and since Rommel sleeps in our bedroom with us, he was out his bone for the night. This morning Ripley had chewed it in half and was jealously guarding it. Right now she's curled up on the rug outside the bedroom door (we have a baby gate at the door to keep THE MONSTER out of our bedroom) and she's chewing it right in front of our German Shepherd! LITTLE MONSTER! She won this round. Round two next weekend. Ahhhh..... peace at last!

Windstorm last night and Ripley was GONE!!!

We had a storm moving into our area and yesterday it was windy. Clouds were scattered around the desert and it really was a beautiful day, although it was quite chilly. After dark, however, the winds howled through. Unbeknownst to us, a few boards popped out of our front fence and when we let the dogs out about 10:00 p.m., only the two "big boys" came back. Ripley did not. I immediately called and ran out in my pajamas. SILENCE. Twice now this has happened and each time she's always been right outside the front gate, so I ran out, threw open the gate, and yup! There she was! She might be a little chaos-causer, but she DOES always sit right by the gate if she gets out. This morning I looked and one whole board was out, so I went out with my handy dandy hammer and my bag of nails and hammered the board back in. I think I'll also reinforce the fence on the inside of the fence with some chicken wire. That way, if another board pops out, she'll have chicken wire to deal with. Not that it has ever stopped her. I have it around my vegetable garden and she just walks over it!

Why name her Ripley?

Okay. I admit it. It took a while to name her. She was a bundle of joy mixed in with sheer energy. Our daughter wanted "Mocha". In fact, she bought her a dog tag with "Mocha" engraved on it. Nah. That just didn't fit her. We tried a couple other names. Finally, our son suggested "Ripley" from the aliens movies. Ripley was strong, independent, and definitely an alpha female. That fit our little bundle of joy perfectly! So, she became Ripley. The name also stuck since she LOVES to rip up ANYTHING she can get those little teeth into! Every morning I stumble out into the living room (yes, we spoil our dogs and let them sleep inside at night!) and I'm greeted by scenes from the previous night's chaos. Hmmmm.....I never hear the ruckus that must go on! She usually raids the trash can from the kitchen. I've had strawberries strewn about the living room, old broccoli, boxes of crackers (minus the crackers), stale loaves of bread (minus the bread)....anyway, you get the idea. Really, you'd think WE would learn and put up the trash can? Nah. We're too stupid! She's the smart one!

This is an early morning pic from the desert.

Little IMP!

See what I mean? She is just a TEASE! You can see her shaved tummy. Yes, she is SPAYED! Good grief! Did you think I'd want another Ripley? Where's the wine? Don't worry! Our shepherd never hurts her, but he does enjoy playing with her! Isn't she ADORABLE? (not!)

Ripley settles in and has a bone

I like to give HER HIGHNESS, Ripley, a bone every now and then. Maybe she won't chew up the furniture while she's eating it? Just a thought. Anyway, doesn't she look angelic? HA! Don't you believe it. Underneath that cute face is a DEVIOUS mind!

Ripley adjusts to life with the BIG BOYS!

Ripley had to adjust to life with two other dogs, our son's Weimeraner, Atticus, and our German Shepherd, Rommel. Both are male neutered dogs. Rommel is very good natured and calm. Atticus, on the other hand, is very energetic. He is always below my computer desk as I update my blogs! Ripley was even smaller than our cat, Loki. Loki has "trained" every dog we currently have and no dog in their right mind would bother him. All it takes is the LOKI LOOK and they slink away! He's about the meanest cat I've ever had!

You can see how tired Ripley is after a day with the boys!

Our first day with Ripley

These were the first two pics we ever took of Ripley. My husband held her in his lap the entire trip down the mountain! Ripley was free at the local swap meet. There were 4 puppies: her two brothers, who looked like German Shepherds and another little female. I picked up Ripley and never put her down! A boy came over and grabbed the other black puppy and ran off, so I was glad I had Ripley! She was the most alert of all the puppies! We didn't want the shepherd-looking ones as we already have a purebred German Shepherd, Rommel. We initially got Ripley because our daughter always wanted a black lab, but by the time we got her home, there was no way I could part with her! What's really funny is that Cathy, the lady who boards our herd, said, "Oh! I wonder if she's one of the puppies from next door?" Huh? Turns out, her next door neighbors had puppies! And, yes, Ripley was one of them. I saw her father. He wandered over to the horse corrals one day. He was a really nice dog, very friendly, very BIG! And, I've seen "brother" a few times...or "uncle"....a full grown "Ripley" even with the white star on his chest!

Welcome!

I created this blog JUST for my dogs, especially Ripley, my black lab puppy. Yes, she lives up to her name! Why? Mainly she does because she RIPS everything apart. She's like Marley...loveable, but completely WITHOUT MANNERS! More to come in the next few days!