George & Carol Collins

Psycho Dogs Appear to be Tri-Lingual...

2008-08-10T16:56:00.000-07:00

So, we're watching TV the other day...The Young and the Restless...yes...I know. It has been one of my guilty pleasures since around 1986 when Suzy got the entire family hooked on it...I can't help it and frankly whatever George may say to anyone else on the subject, he watches too!

Anyway, there is a french character that George and I were making fun of. George laughingly exclaimed "Comment Çava?" (pronounced como sava meaning How are you?). Both Springers, who were quietly lying on their beds, jumped up, ran over and started jumping all over George immediately following this exclamation. We have since been randomly dropping the words "Comment Çava?" into different conversations. Every time we get the same reaction. Both Springers go nuts.

Oddly enough, they react the same way to the German exclamation "DAS BOOT!".

We're all a bunch of wierdos!

PLEASE VOTE!! A desperately needed Home Makeover!!!

2008-08-06T01:13:00.000-07:00

My friend Malia's house is literally falling down around her family. Her sister in law entered them in a contest for a home make over. They really need as much help as they can get!

Here's a little bit about why they need this help:

This past year they decided to upgrade the kitchen. This was not a want, but a need. Their budget was $5000. Their three sons also share a room that was freezing cold. So they decided to renovate that room as well--as it sat adjacent to the kitchen. When they uncovered the walls they found cracks everywhere!

Suddenly a $5000 dollar job ballooned into a 40-50K job. They have had four different contractors come out to give them advice. All four have told them the whole thing (kitchen & bedroom) needs to be completely knocked down. They're working on it slowly but surely, with lots of help from friends & family, but there is still A LOT to do.

Read the rest of their story & see videos of the house at http://bricksnstones.blogspot.com/ . And here's the link to http://www.americahometoday.com/homemakeover/101.

The best way to help right now is to sign up at the site and VOTE!! Then, please spread the word so more people can VOTE!!

On a side note, I have voted using all of my email addresses and all of my families. To date no one has received any SPAM.

Thank you!!

Perplexed...

2008-08-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

For the past few years I have been able to tease George about his grey hair...and I have...quite a bit.

Much to my horrer, as I was making myself presentable before heading to the store, I found THREE grey hairs on MY head!!

Grey hairs are no longer a laughing matter...

Chaka

2008-07-28T23:15:00.000-07:00

Learning to blog

2008-07-26T18:29:00.000-07:00

Well I have gotten the computer turned on and finally made it to Malia's blog. What cute children. Now I have to get this off of this page and onto the other thing. Here goes. Tee Hee

Opps Carol says I also have to learn to add a picture. The picture is lost. Anyone out there that finds it please send it back.

Maggie came home today...

2008-07-15T16:07:00.000-07:00

It was more serious than we expected,

but the doctor says her prognosis is good...

"I'm Sad..."

"...and Stoned"

25 Stitches...ouch...

Come Home My Little Maggles!!

2008-07-14T17:33:00.000-07:00

Found a lump on Maggie's leg the other day. We are actually thankful for the skunk event now or we may not have found it (we discovered it after we took her to the groomer and had her shaved).

She had surgery this morning. Doctor says he's pretty sure he got it all and she'll be OK. She's coming home tomorrow.

Hopefully she'll have a fast recovery!! Omar is very concerned wondering where she is at.

As much as we complain that they are too High Maintenance, it seems we miss the Springers when one is gone. Come Home My Little Maggles!!

Are our Black Thumbs turning Green? Hmmm...

2008-07-12T02:31:00.000-07:00

Now that harvest time is coming, we are a little disappointed we didn't plant more in our garden. We just didn't anticipate that we might not kill everything!! Our black thumbs just might be turning green...

We get to have Cucumber Salad tomorrow!!

We cannot believe our Pepper Plants!

They are doing Great!!

Cucumber Salad Tomorrow!!

Oddly enough, the Tomatoes are the only plant that seems to be struggling, but we will still get a few. We thought those would be easiest.

We are surprised at how many cucumbers and peppers we're going to get. There are atleast 5 peppers on each plant and between the two vines we have 5 small cucumbers ready to pick and atleast 5 more starting to grow. We're so excited!!

Since the trial garden went well, next year we will move out of the containers and really plant a garden.

Hooray! We didn't kill any of them...yet...we'll see...

These Springers are HIGH MAINTENANCE!!

2008-07-07T17:42:00.000-07:00

George and I often talk about how much we miss our dog Dakota (in particular how calm he was) when we look at our two Springer Spaniels, Maggie and Omar and think about what they put us through on a fairly regular basis. The other morning was one of those mornings.

Typical morning. Alarm went off. I got up first. George was still sleeping. I went down stairs, let the dogs out and jumped in the shower. As I got out of the shower I heard George rushing down the hall way. I could tell by the way he was moving there was something wrong so I quickly threw my clothes on and ran out to see what was the matter.

I got into the kitchen and as I entered the room I realized dogs were barking frantically, George was yelling at them and I was immediately struck by the smell of SKUNK!! UGH!!!

Our first conclusion (based on a fairly consistant past history) was that Omar was the problem. He was, after all, the one barking and he is ALWAYS the one causing trouble. We quickly jumped into action scrubbing Omar with Nature's Miracle (which doesn't work very well by the way). We soon realized that Omar really didn't smell very bad but someone did, so we turned to Maggie. Our little Mag Pie?! The sweet and precious Maggles who never does anything wrong and we suddenly realized that she REEKED!! Not just a little stinky, but full on REEKED!!

Maggie got sprayed direct hit in the face and chest. Poor baby (we feel sorry for her because she really doesn't ever get into trouble). We scrubbed and scrubbed and finally realized (after I am now 2 hours late for work AND I smell like a skunk too) that our only hope was to take her to the groomers and have her shaved.

OH THEY SMELL!!!

This photo doesn't give this hair cut justice.

She looks like a Walrus and still smells very bad!

We think that Maggie and Omar feel the need to constantly test our love. We are praying for the day when they just trust and know that we think they are precious and perhaps they realize that being calm and boring is OK once in a while.