Category Archives: Family

Loving and taking care of Amber is a full-time job. She will be two-years-old in March and weighs 94 pounds.

I thought that she wore my husband and me out because we’re getting a bit ‘long-in-the-tooth,’ but our son feels the same way. We received a beautiful Christmas card with a photo of a yellow lab with a Christmas wreath around his neck from long-time friends. The photo was of THEIR lab, “Tank” who is 5 years old and still thinks he’s a puppy, so it looks like WE are the ones who will have to continue to learn and adjust on the raising of Amber.

She has been ecstatic about our son, trying to knock him over with exuberant bids for attention, barking incessantly when she’s outside, leaving hair all over him, slurping him to the point he has to get up and wash his hands, grabbing the lint roller to try to remove at least one layer of the hair on his clothes. She hasn’t run into him yet – in a trick we call, “The Matador,” where we attempt to turn to the side, yelling, “Ole!” when she hopefully runs BY us at full speed – rather than INTO us, knocking us flat on the ground outside.

We try to stay alert, on guard for anything new. This holiday, she and Molly, our 13-year-old cocker spaniel/schnauzer cross, found the bones of a deer somewhere on our land (we have about 8 acres on top of a ridge line). We have been gathering the bones from the front yard, most of the time under deep protest from the dogs, throwing away some parts we can identify and some we can’t, hoping each day that this is the end of it. They absolutely LOVE to lie in the yard, happily chewing on one bone or another…

Last night my husband and I played, “Dive-into-the-chest-freezer-in-the-garage-and-try-to-find-something” – usually on the bottom of the chest. We were looking for a package of hamburger meat so I can make us some spaghetti – one of the things we’ve been craving while on our diet. We also found some pumpkin bread – a gift from my sister-in-law. She makes that and pound cake, which definitely lives up to its name and goes straight to my hips. I put both of them at the bottom of the chest freezer in an effort to forget they were there. :0)  My husband, having an eagle eye for sweets, came up with the pumpkin bread and brought it inside. We put the wrapped chunk of hamburger meat and the unwrapped pumpkin bread on the counter in the kitchen to thaw.

We have a strict rule about Amber being in the living room behind a gate between there and the kitchen. Lately the line has been blurred because Amber has been chewing on the deer and then giving back a lot of dog food as her stomach protests her eating habits. So we’ve been keeping her in the kitchen/dining area to keep her on the tiles in case her stomach protests again. Usually our son is there, working on his computer, and can monitor things.

A perfect storm of events resulted in our hearing a mysterious sound while we were in the living room talking. Our son ran into the kitchen to find Amber, her feet up on the kitchen island, happily eating one end of the pumpkin bread. He yelled, put her outside, and we looked at the chewed bread. I cut off about 1/4 of the bread, making a clean break between Amber’s enjoyment and the rest of the loaf. My husband then happily ate a piece ‘to test it,’ and then another, pronouncing the pumpkin bread ‘delicious!’

Amber thinks this holiday – with deer and pumpkin bread – is a delicious tradition she would like to continue.