May product review

This month we reviewed the Outward Hound Doggy Blocks Spinner Puzzle for Chewy.com

This toy has two sets of trays you can put treats in.  You can use either set or both depending on your dog's interest or ability.  The inner layer of treats in accessed by spinning the top part of the toy and exposing the chambers.  This part is adjustable to require more or less effort to spin depending on your dog.

Rotate the blue top and then fill the other chambers

 Then top with the yellow cubes

We let Lyric give it a try.  She decided this was not for her.  Maybe if there were higher value treats in it she would give it a shot.  But she's a pretty food motivated dog so based on her refusal to even try this may not be for dogs without more advanced critical thinking skills.

To get to the first set of cookies dogs can nose or paw the yellow boxes off, or if they are big enough pick them up.  Legend likes to either pick them up, or alternatively pick up the whole toy and just dump them or of knock it around until they come off.

After she gets the yellow blocks off she tends to just chew and manhandle the disk until she manages to move it enough to get the rest of the treats out.  I don't really think this is the intended use but it is effective.  My concern is that this technique may lead to tooth injury if she gets one stuck in the gap between pieces.  This may be a toy for a dog who is not quite as aggressive as she is or a less intense chewer.  But she does think it's fun and maybe if you held it down and anchored it to the ground she would learn to push the disk around instead of just basically beat the treats out of it!  I think this is a good toy for middle of the road dogs in terms of intelligence and chewing desire.  But the fact that it is adjustable is nice, although does give the impression when loosened that it it a little flimsy and may break easily.

We may give Lyric another chance with better treats and see what she does!

Winner winner, bacon dinner

This weekend we ran the Great American Bacon Race.  There was bacon at the  water stop and a lot of bacon themed food at the finish line.  Great if you love bacon, not so great if you happen to be vegetarian!  I'm not a big fan of bacon on my baked goods but the cinnamon rolls were pretty good once I picked the bacon off.  I did eat some regular bacon plain.

I finished as the 3rd overall female but 2nd in my age group.  They gave out these painted pigs as trophies.  This will be one of my more unusual awards on my shelf.  Right up there with watermelon I think, but of course the watermelon is not on display-we ate it!

We liked the course-it was on a paved trail through the trees and with views of the lake.  But our main complaint was the distance.  If you have an out and back course, and you can make the turn around anywhere, then why not make it at the correct distance?  I understand if you are trying to make a loop on the roads and have streets and intersections and stuff to deal with you might not get it exactly right.  But when you are on an open trail and you just have to measure out half way and then tell people to turn back, how do you manage to make the race almost a 1/4 mile too long?  At least I had GPS so I can tell where I was when I hit the actual 5K mark and what my overall pace was.  Would be even more frustrating for people who were just wondering what was up with their time!

The beginning of the end

Nadin's last day here is June 14. And we get asked every day when she has to go home! I feel like I need to just wear a sticker or something on my shirt every day. But, bottom line, that is the day, and now she has the unenviable task of saying goodbye to all of her family and friends that she has met over the last 10 months. One at a time, she will see people for what may be the last time ever. Such is life for an exchange student I suppose. 

But no matter the distance between them, I'm pretty sure these two will be sisters forever. 

More American Traditions

In our final weeks we are trying to knock off a few more critical American activities.  So Sunday we hit a Springfield Cardinals baseball game.  We had nice weather and a win by the home team with at least one home run included.  So, pretty much the full experience!  We opted for pizza instead of more traditional ballpark food however.

Afterwards we made a quick stop at Bass Pro.  Because no visit to Springfield, MO would be complete without a stop here.  Even if you are not into hunting, fishing, or camping.  At least there are turtles.

Graduation

Because Ozark lists all exchange students as seniors they get to participate in the graduation ceremony.  They are not technically graduating, but I guess it can be considered a way to recognize their year of study in the US.  Anyway, the big day was Friday.  They did not graduate in alphabetical order, which was odd, and also inconvenient because you didn't know when your student was coming.  But we were really too far away to get any good photos or videos anyway.  But here are the pre-ceremony photos.

 Don't they grow up fast?

The last party

Saturday was the last official meeting for the exchange students this year.  It has gone by amazingly fast and we have met some great kids and families.  Saturday's activity consisted of a brief meeting, a "prom" for the kids and the signing of many thank you cards as well as some good-byes.  We enjoyed some snacks and had fun watching the kids dance.  This week is full of school activities for Nadin and then about a month of break before it's time to head home.

Equine Eye Candy

More horse pictures!  Anyone with a horse this pretty won't be able to put the camera down.  I just can't get over not only how pretty she is, but also how much better she looks than when she first came here!

 The boys wanted in on the action too, and they are also pretty cute!

Slick gets sleek

Slick has gained a nice amount of weight since coming here and is almost done shedding out her ugly winter fuzz.  She is super shiny and is already looking amazing, but will look even more fantastic when the rest of her fuzz is gone.  I hope she doesn't bleach too much in the sun this summer, but just in case she does I'll be sure to get some more pictures first.

Pig pals

Since Stray Pig has moved into the back yard she and Jimmy Dean have gotten along a little better each day.  Finally, earlier this week I found them snuggled together in the pig house.  Which really is a lot of closeness because they are both good sized pigs and in a not so huge house!  So I guess they are commited to being companions which means we are commited to keeping her.  Which means she needs a name.

Introducing Espy-from the root letters S.P. for stray pig but spelled like the sports awards (sort of a tribute to Touchdown).

Product Review: Halo Liv-a-littles

We did another product review for Chewy.com this month (well, actually April but I'm a little behind).  We chose the Halo Liv-a-littles treats for cats and dogs.  We whose the salmon flavor.  These are a dehydrated treat and contain only salmon (comes in other flavors as well). They are light on stink and mess because of the dehydrated status and easy to to use a snack but also the right size for training.  They can also be broken into smaller pieces if needed.

The dogs liked them but that was no surprise.  I was more interested to see how they fared with the cats.  Not that our cats are picky, but some things they like more than others.  And these are a HUGE hit!  Both Twix and Sundae loved them but Twix was extra nuts about them.  She kept trying to paw them out of my hand and even tried to get them out of the jar...quite frantically actually!  I even got photographic evidence.

GIVE

 ME

THE

 COOKIE

Sundae tried more of a "pretty please" approach

But still got a little crazy eyed

Mmmm-delish

Down side, these are a bit on the pricey side.  So not something I would likely purchase on a regular basis.

Another weekend in STL

Last weekend we took Nadin to STL one more time to knock a few things off our list.  Saturday we hit the City Museum which involved a lot of crawling, climbing and sliding.  We had fun, worked up a sweat, ate a pizza and headed over to the Arch and Ballpark Village.

This was my first time going to the top of the Arch despite growing up in STL.  Those little trams that go to the top are pretty creepy.  But you do get a good view once you get there.

Sunday, Jerry and I ran while Nadin relaxed and then she and I went to my cousin's baby shower.  Then it was back home and back to school and work!

The Unusual: Part 12

1.  A random stranger left a message on the clinic answering machine saying he was just outside sitting at the bus stop and was wondering if we were hiring.  He also gave us this useful advice-did you know if you move, and just let let your cat out of the carrier when you get there it will run away?

2. A client brought in a container of "something" and wanted to know it their cat had pooped out it's intestines because it looked like chittlins.  It wasn't intestines but did look like it may have passed some kind of foreign body.

3.  Client found a chewed up cat in their yard and later a chewed up possum.  They wanted to know if a fox had done this. My guess would be no, but I'm only guessing which is all anyone can do in this case.

4.  We recover our animals after surgery on a heated mat with pillowcases of warmed rice next to them.  When posting a picture on facebook to show off our new heated mats, two people asked if the feral cats were tied up in the pillowcases so they don't get away?

5.  A high school aged job shadow stated that she either wanted to be a Disney princess or a vet but didn't want to move to Florida so decided to go with vet.  I'm pretty sure neither one of those are going to happen.

7.  Client dumps their litter box in the back yard. Dog goes out and eats the cat poop.  They want to know how to get him to stop doing this.  Seriously, you need to call your vet for this?  Stop dumping in the back yard.

8.  More than one person has thought their average domestic cat was half bobcat.

9.  A large male pitbull came in with a good sized irregular scar on it's back.  When asked how he got it the owner said he got attacked by a groundhog.  Yeah, I'm sure that was it.  Because small mammals get the jump on large predators so often.