When Kaitlin and Torben remodeled their house they wisely included a mud/dog room. The dog in the picture is their new puppy, Montana, with the fruits of her efforts. The white fluffy stuff is the inside of her bed, which she has cheerfully been tearing up. On the left-hand side of the picture you can see the hand shower they had installed. They sometimes manage to give her a shower after she has been playing outside in the mud. But there’s no doubt about it, the rest of the downstairs is a bit muddier than it was a month or so ago.
She is definitely worth a bit of mess. She’s good natured, loves her family, is easy to teach and has no trouble amusing herself when appropriate.
It’s interesting to see the difference between her and Sammy when they’re in the backyard.
Sammy loves the new brickwork and stepping stones because he hates to get his feet wet. Montana doesn’t care as long as she can run and play. (Click image below for video.)
I’m afraid Andy and I are about as physically lively as Sammy is now, but it was great fun to see Montana’s exuberance. Just thinking of it makes my spirit soar. What about you? Do you have any exuberance in your life?
I think that I am just about your and Andy’s stage in life. Sedate, rather than exuberant. Add to the age, replaced and revised hip joints and the need to be careful, you can imagine how physically exuberant I am! Mentally however, it is a different story, and I can be annoyingly so.
i am reading your entire blog from start to finish…just settled into it with my morning cup of coffee and got to “surfing thru life” in 2007 … which had a lead to your other site, stress to power …
and it happened to be one that had sammy sniffing bones in a box. well i fell in love with your oldest grandog immediately! and now to meet montana, what a joy! i lost my little zeke 8 months ago from cancer. he was 13 yrs old. if you want to know what he looked like…go to http//wilfanddigby.blogspot.com zekey was a PON also. it’s a polish name for polish lowland sheepdog. They’re simply wonderful. but then all dogs are… i have NEVER met one i didn’t like. angus and his wife & wilf live in the south of france. wilf is old, and now blind and also has cancer. (wonder if it’s a trait of that breed)… but wilf gives quotes on life that are simply grand. he’s a wise old gentleman who has learned that life is to be lived happily, one day at a time. he’s worth a visit everyday! and of course, when i see him, i get to see my zekey. my zeke never lost his sight, which was a blessing.
lordy… i’ve written a book here. ‘get your own blog lady!’
Do I have exuberance in my life? Jean, I have so much exuberance I am out of breath most the time. Which can be embarrassing when answering the phone after just having run up our considerable stairs. I don’t even want to think about the Sammy “stage” of my life. Will be awful at it. Or maybe one grows into it. I dearly hope so.
Love your post and the clip. Your fondness of those (and other) dogs so shining through. I myself am in serious danger. I do miss our cats. As much as they got on my nerves at times. Not really – only in a jokey grumpy way. Yesterday I met a cat on my way into the centre. Oh dear, went all mushy; before coming across someone’s real live dog in the park five minutes later. ALARM BELLS! Need to save myself from myself.
Montana tearing up her bed so reminds me of Bouncer. Bouncer was the biggest softie of a huge tomcat (neutered) you can imagine. Black; five white chest hairs. He was one hell of an affectionate cat. Turn down the purring I used to tell him. I like quiet. First time I had to put him into cattery when the Angel and I went on vacation what happened? On our return, picking him (and his mother) up, the cattery’s owner hands me a bag. Apparently, on the first night, Bouncer was not only howling, he tore up the cushion I’d put into his basket for comfort. Shreds if ever there were any. The rest of the ten days he just howled. Despite his mother being there with him. Probably stressed her out. Not that she showed it. After that a neighbour (friend of mine) looked after the cats – at our house – whenever we travelled.
Kaitlin could let Montana do a spot of modelling toilet paper. Like that puppy in the Andrex advert.
Funny, when you reflect on it: How we get attached to the fourlegged, the feathered and the scaly (fish that is, not snakes).
Appears you had a good time.
U
Rummuser,
As you know, I don’t have any trouble being mentally exuberant myself. And judging from all the commentators on your posts, people love yours. 😀
tammy,
Thank you for sharing! That’s what my blogs are about. You clearly have no trouble with exuberance, and I love it. Feel free to “write a book” here any time. But if you do decide to get your own blog too, I’ll be happy to visit and comment there.
Thank you for the link, the blog is heartwarming.
Kaitlin and Torben had to put Hass, one of their cats, to sleep this past week. He too had cancer and was too sick to go on. It’s sad.
Ursula,
Yes, we had a great time. About toilet paper…that’s Sammy’s thing. We have to be careful to always close the bathroom door, otherwise he will have a great time unrolling it. He’s not too old to get into mischief. Of course, the same could be said of me. 😀
Ursula,
More on Sammy. I came across a paper bag from Whole Foods market (a health-food grocery) last night as I was cleaning out a closet. I started grinning form ear to ear because when we were there Kaitlin put some things for us into the same type of bag. The idea was the rolled paper handles would make it easier for us to carry. Yeah, sure. Then Kaitlin saw Sammy cheerfully eating the handles off. When she called him he paused to smile at us and we didn’t have the heart to spoil his pleasure. One reason I love the sniffing video so much is his smile at the end.
The interesting thing is his nose is much more sensitive than Montana’s is. Kaitlin said every time they opened the pantry door he smelled the bones and was curious. When we got there and I opened it he was right there sniffing. Montana came running up but clearly couldn’t smell enough for the box to get her attention. When I did unwrap the bones it was a different story. He chewed on them some, but not with her tenacity. She has a long attention span and had them pretty much stripped by the time we left. They’re both priceless.
Jean, Well Conrad is right another question ????
Exuberance is something that all adults should do as much as possible – keeps you young and fit…
When I had cats…we had something happening in our living room that we couldn’t fathom. One of our silk plants with plastic stems similar to long grasses was shrinking…we couldn’t work out how that was happening UNTIL one evening in waltzed said little beige cat…strolled past the ‘plant’ and then stopped and nipped off and ate another green plastic stem!
Another one: one day I heard all this growling by the back door…we had this huge bush and when I got out there, I saw our little ginger cat growling big time at something in there. I was a nasty dog that lived across the road – it was shivering something bad and trying to get away from this little cat. I picked up the angry cat…the dog dashed out and up the drive AND I never had that dog back in the yard!
Then a few weeks later the gas meter man, knocked on the door and said “I am having trouble, there is a little ginger cat that growls at me everytime I come to check the meter” – the meter was tucked in behind said bush which he had to sort of glide into…but the ginger cat was having none of it!
It was as if we had a guard ‘dog’ that had was reincarnated as a cat 🙂 It was hard to see how this little ginger cat could even get angry at trepassers…she was so loving to us!
After my marriage broke up – I inherited the ginger cat and he continued to do some extraordinary things wherever I lived including trying to get very killed when hit by a car but he survived just with a lot of TLC by me and flatmates…
when he was in this house back in ’94 he thought the best way to come indoors was through a window that happened to be a 12′ walk along the outside sloping brick sill…if that window wasn’t open, heaven help us. He would tap but we couldn’t really open it for him, because he would certainly fall off the sill…which is on the 2nd floor! One time a friend was here in evening and venetian blinds were closed and our ginger friend scared the living lights out as he stepped through the blind…
However, he never seemed happy here because we are on a busy street and there wasn’t as much outside space as the place before…and one morning he left, after getting confused on doors and spending an hour in the toilet-room and when let out shot out the back door and down the steps…and he never came back. He certainly had character; much more than most of the animals I had entertained over the years…
Maybe that is why I like adventures 🙂
Cathy,
That sounds like quite a cat. Too bad he didn’t like the move. 🙂
Have to admit I don’t have enough patience to own a dog. However charming they appear, they always have one or two outrageous habits that would drive me to despair. Like ripping up everything in sight.
I have plenty of exuberance in my life. I’m a naturally sparky person and so are most of the people I know. Sometimes I think a little less exuberance would be welcome.
nick,
Yes, dogs are major commitments That’s why I’m content to be the grandma rather than having some of my own. I’m basically lazy. 😀
Sparky? That doesn’t exactly sound like Ferdinand the Bull to me. Except for being non-ambitious in the worldly sense. I used to be more like an exuberant puppy dog. Now I’m a bit more mellow. Not quite like Wilf, but getting closer. tammy (above) told me about that blog a few days ago, and it warms my heart.
Thanks, tammy!
what a gorgeous garden 🙂
wendy,
Thanks, I told my daughter what you wrote.
They’re finally having a chance to plant some more. First they had to get through the remodeling and some landscaping, then the rains turned a lot of the yard into a big mud puddle. Montana was the only one thrilled with that. 😀