A White and Windy (day after) Christmas

Monday accumulation on our deck

Mother Nature fulfilled wishes for a "White Christmas" a few days late this year - and significantly overcompensated for her tardiness by dumping enough snow to close all three major NYC airports and incite emergency declarations all over the place.

The Boxing Day Blizzard of 2010 fell steadily on the New York City suburbs from early afternoon Sunday, December 26, through the wee hours of December 27. (For those of you who don't know about Boxing Day, it is a holiday with no relevance to the U.S. except that it sounds cool in front of the word "Blizzard.")

The wind knocked this down once

As the first flakes began to float down, my mother and I (who were scoring some annual day-after-Christmas-discounts) made the mistake of stopping by the grocery store. We were in the market for nacho fixings, but the rest of the mob seemed to be frantically preparing for Hurricane Katrina II. Bare shelves, no shopping carts, lines stretching into the aisles... I felt like a customer during the run on the Bailey Building and Loan. (Hey, at least I made it Christmassy.)

Shadow explores snow on the deck

Shadow (who, incidentally, we almost named "Blizzard"), wanted to play from the moment he saw the first snowflake hit the ground. Even when it was dark out and the accumulation was too high for him to go to the bathroom without us digging a special path, he could barely peel his eyes from the window - or from us, who he evidently blamed for spoiling his fun and not letting him loose in the storm.

Shadow tries to unearth the broom

This morning, while his owners broke out the shovels, Shadow frolicked his heart out on the snow-covered porch. Hours (and hours) later, he discovered the joy of swimming through nearly two feet of the white fluff in the backyard, chasing odd-looking tennis balls that disappear on contact, and chomping on an unfamiliar substance that hardly seems to exist at all.

Ah, the blessing of electricity in the snow!

It was hilarious watching him bound around in the drifts like a kid at Disney World. Surprisingly (the candles are still out just in case), the gift of snow didn't come with the inconvenience of losing electricity. That meant a low-key day at home in front of the Christmas tree, with mugs of hot coffee and our favorite canine, who is now incomprehensibly exhausted from his time in the snow.

All tuckered out

Shadow's first Christmas

Shadow's received a lot of presents in his eight months with us, but Christmas morning was a whole new experience.

As usual, he was a curious puppy.

He has yet to understand how to unwrap gifts..

... but he got the general idea.

And like a true kid, Shadow ended his Christmas cuddled up in his new bed with his three new presents.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!

From Shadow's family to yours, may this Christmas be filled with love and blessings.

What's with all this Christmas stuff?

Shadow curls up beside the Christmas tree in his new bed.

It's Christmas-slash-birthday time, and both I and Shadow are playing with new toys: a big cozy couch bed for him and a brand new camera lens for me  ;)

I apologize for the looong delay in posts; I've just finished a year-long project that I'll keep you posted on in the coming months.

Stay tuned for more shots of Shadow discovering the joys of  * snow *  and Christmas (including the mandatory Santa hat, of course).

Better Than a 'Welcome' Mat

A few hours after deplaning and napping, we were in the Bavarian Alps outside Schliersee, Germany. Hours without Shadow: 23. Hours without sleep: 28.

An unforeseen benefit of having a dog, I recently discovered, is the tempering of that tragic feeling that usually accompanies the end of a vacation.

Don't get me wrong - getting back to work, to everyone else's problems and to the self-imposed pressures of everyday life is never easy. But it's a lot less difficult to board that plane knowing someone's been waiting... all week... to welcome you home with more enthusiasm than winners on "The Price is Right."

My husband and I just returned from a week in Germany and Austria. We had a wonderful time exploring King Ludwig II's "crazy castles," sampling Bavarian fare (beer, sausage and pretzels), cruising through the mountain valleys, and navigating the winding streets of Salzburg. But it would be a lie to say we didn't feel like part of our family was missing most of the time. I will admit turning my cell phone on far too often to see this pitifully cute mug (see photo above) staring back at me asking "Are you coming home yet? Geez. What's taking so long?"

Shadow woke to Day 5 of his vacation as we headed to the castles

Prior to this trip, Shadow and I had never been apart for more than one night, and I worried how he would fare with strangers for eight whole days. Would he cry the entire time? Would he think we abandoned him? Would he be scared? Would he have fun or would he be locked in a small cage wondering what he did wrong?

Neuschwanstein Castle in Hohenswangau is a real life fairy tale

I searched high and low for a good kennel that was nearby, trustworthy, reputable, and was run by people who seemed to really care about dogs. I had already tried daycare at the local animal hospital, but was so disenchanted with that experience that a week-long sleep-over there was completely out of the question. I finally settled on a kennel that came with solid recommendations (from friends of my mother – the big time), that let him have his own food, toys, bed, and indoor/outdoor pens. As a plus, it was only a few feet from the house in which the owners (a family with beloved dogs of their own) lived.

The Bavarian royals sure picked a nice spot for their retreat

About a month before our scheduled departure, I visited the place and met Hank, the man in charge. A few weeks later, Shadow got his test run – one night to familiarize himself and to understand that we would always come back for him. It was a complete success, and made dropping him off on the way to the airport a million times easier for everyone.

Innsbruck, Austria, is full of winding streets and painted houses

It also lessened the guilt for Chris and I – while gazing at the snow-covered peaks of the Alps, lifting a liter in the Hofbrauhaus, or waiting for the Glockenspiel start moving – to think that Shadow was having a wonderful vacation of his own back on the familiar side of the ocean.

When we returned, Shadow just about popped with excitement. Circling and jumping (a temporary lapse after a week without our rules), licking and wagging his tail like it was a propeller, he was thrilled to see "his people" again. And we were thrilled to be back with our puppy.

Eventually, the sun set on our week in Bavaria and we returned home not to a cold empty house, but to one bursting with joy and excitement. Full disclosure, this photo is actually from Day One, just a few minutes after the one at the top of this blog entry. How's that for full circle?

Preparing for the Worst Case Scenario

Having a pet is expensive. There's monthly flea/tick and heartworm medications, food, constant vaccinations during the first six months, and that big operation that need not be named. And then there are all the minor emergencies that in the mind of first-time puppy parents are life-threatening tragedies needing to be diverted immediately.

With Shadow, there was his first bout of allergies, the time I thought he ate a USB cable, the time he damaged one of his pads at the dog park, almost anytime his "eliminations" don't look uniform, the first time he woke up gagging because he ate too much grass earlier that evening... All of these incidents elicited panic and wads of green from his owners. Many, we learned, were expensive false alarms that needed only rest and over-the-counter human medication (such as Bacitracin marked up 10 times because it came from the vet and "puppy booties" at $40 each when Amazon sells them for $10 a pair.)

But this is the learning curve when you bring a new puppy into the home. Now we are less jumpy, and our medicine cabinet has four puppy booties purchased for $30 at PetSmart, anti-inflamatory cream marked "Shadow," and Betadine (povidone-iodine) anti-septic from Walgreens for cleaning wounds. Most importantly, however, we know not every minor scrape or bruise requires a $50 vet exam and 10 tons of overpriced drugs.

That's why, when Chris and I looked into pet insurance for Shadow, we decided not to overpay for something that would reimburse us for every vet visit and every ounce of heartworm/flea/tick medication. Now that Shadow is eight months old (and a whopping 73 pounds!), the biggest expenses have already been taken care of. All we need is the peace of mind that comes with knowing if something horrible happened we would not have to choose between forking over $10,000 for an operation on our dog or letting him go. That is a decision I would never want to make, and thankfully won't have to.

If you're at the point where you need to select insurance for your furry friend, I have to recommend two websites: Pet Insurance Review (petinsurancereview.com) and Pet Insurance University (pet-insurance-university.com). Both break down the policies of the most relevant pet insurance providers in an easy-to-understand fashion, and contain consumer reviews to help provide reassurance.

Between jumping, barking, chewing, scratching, whining and pulling on the leash, us pet owners have enough to worry about without the ultimate concern hanging over our heads.

Bundled up

With temperatures falling, we decided today was a good day to switch from summer blanket to winter comforter. Shadow evidently liked that idea as well.

I just hope we can eventually get the blankets back...