Hey look Kids, Big Ben!

It's time to take back my blog from Cali.  It has actually been 5 1/2 weeks since Jason left, but she is fine.  I went to visit him 2 weeks ago and so now we start the blog journal of the trip.  It will definitely take a few posts.  3 cities and 2 countries..it's a lot of ground!
I flew in to London. Jason is working in Chester, England which is about 4 hours north and west of London (it is about 3 miles from Wales).  So Jason took the train to London to meet me.  We spent the first weekend there.  London is beautiful, big city and I enjoyed our time there, but it was a big city..so I was ready to leave.  I most enjoyed our second weekend!  I arrived late on Friday night so our adventures started on Saturday morning. But sadly, it turned out to be a rainy Saturday. Luckily, it was the ONLY day it rained while we were in the UK, but it poured this day. So I went back to a few spots on Monday to get photos in the sunshine.  But we did make it to the Tower Bridge on the rainy day. We stopped by Borough Market, which was a lot of fun.  Nothing but fresh produce, homemade items and seafood/meat.  I have a ton of photos that I just didn't process for the blog.  But the fresh scallops give you an idea.

 This is the best shot of St. Paul's cathedral. The day was nasty.

 But we walked around the Tower of London and explored the Tower bridge for as long as we could stand. The rain would stop periodically, but it basically rained all day.

 The Tower Bridge was awesome though.

We went to Savoy Grill for dinner in the rain..it was very yummy!
The next day, the sun came out and we hit the road again.  This city is HUGE!  Don't underestimate its size. We had a wonderfully situated hotel right next to the National Gallery. So we were able to walk to a lot of the sights, but we did use the Underground a lot.
We were heading toward Big Ben and Parliament and I noticed a crowd at the Horse's guard and it hit me! I had read they do the 'changing of the cavalry' at  10AM on Sundays..could it be?  I rush across the street (much to Jason's chagrin..I tend to loose all self preservation skills when confronted with something potentially super cool) and get us a spot on the sideline.
The first group of horses come in and line up..there is a lot of yelling of commands. Then they stand here..for 15 minutes.  Which is quite difficult for horses.

Then from the other side, another group comes in and file in to face them.

They both square off and wait another 15 minutes.

The horses were all decked out in their finest

And then they filed out and we all had a photo op.

Then we set off for Big Ben (I do love National Lampoon's European vacation..we quoted it a lot on this trip)

Then after a quick stop at Buckingham Palace (this was actually as close as we got..the crowds were insane)

We hit the Underground to head off to see George..but alas he was at his grandmother's home apparently and didn't come say hi..but we enjoyed his future home quite a bit! Kensington Palace

 The inside that was on the tour was quite boring...but the outside was beautiful.  We had lunch at the Orangery in the gardens which was definitely one of the best meals of the trip!

And Jason had his first "clotted cream" experience.  Clotted cream is just a really creamy base for ice cream/fudge/etc.  Makes it richer..I suppose.   He loved it.

That night we walked to the bridge near our hotel that crossed the River Thames.  The London Eye is to the right and Big Ben and Parliament are on the right side

 Then we walked to the coolest pub ever!

 One the way home, I wanted to go back to the bridge to get some night shots.  I think it turned out well enough.

 The next morning we had a train to catch to get to Chester, but we revisited the National Gallery for some sunshine photos. Every time I visit somewhere, there is always one place that surprises me. I didn't anticipate liking the National Gallery as much as I did.  It was gorgeous.

There is a huge statue in the middle that has large lions and from this photo you can see Big Ben peaking between the left lion on the statue

Jason decided we must conquer the lions...

 To give you an idea of the magnitude of this feat..this is Jason climbing up to it..All 6'5" of him..

 The little ledge below his foot at the bottom was probably 3-4 feet off the ground. So I got a significant boost!

So at this point, we hit the train station and head up to Chester.  That will be installment 2.  Jason worked for three days while I explored the town.  Cheers!

Cali's log

Cali's Log

Day 40

Mommy is HOME! She was gone 11 days!  And I was NOT happy about it.  She came home last night and I decided to pin her down to prevent her from leaving again.  So I laid on her whenever she sat down.  She smelled like Daddy..so I KNOW she saw him!  Nerice was great and gave me love and food.  Uncle Gyeong dropped Shane and Shiloh off too, so now we are back together except no Daddy.  Shane isn't feeling well..Mommy took him to the vet today.  He says his mouth  hurts really bad.  Dante knows what is happening and said it isn't any fun!
Where is Daddy??  it has been a long long time.  Maybe he is just gone forever.

I feel sure the blog will be taken back by Mommy for photos and her stories soon enough..but I still hope Daddy comes back soon....

Cali's Log

Cali's Log
Day 32/5

Mommy left.  It has been 5 days since she left and 32 since Daddy left.  I am sad.  Nerice is here and she is super nice and give me hugs and love and breakfast and dinner. So I am well taken care of....  But I don't know if they are ever coming back.
I asked Nerice to send them this picture..

Please come home!!!!

Cali's Log

Cali's Log
Day 27

It has now been 27 nights since Daddy left.  And things are getting weird.  Mommy took Shane and Shiloh away..I thought the bag she packed was for all of us. But she just took them.  I cried and screamed.."you forgot me!".  But she left.  Then she returned and smelled like Auntie Kristen.  So I know they are safe.  But what about me?  Now..and this is the worst part..she is packing a big 'go on a long trip' bag and hasn't touched MY bag once.  It is still hanging in the closet, right next to the open bag of dog food.  Every time she opens that closet, I think she will touch one of those things. But no. I'm beginning to worry she is leaving too.  Who will feed me my breakfast??
I'm trying to stall her by laying on her and asking to play..I even tried pouting.  I'm the best pouter and it usually works.

But she keeps packing. I wonder if one of those air monsters that flies over the house growling took Daddy..Mommy always runs out and waves and takes photos.  Scary.  Are there people in that basket hanging from the air monster?  I bark to warn them.  Maybe I didn't warn Daddy enough.

Cali's Log

Cali's Log

Day 20 

It has been 20 nights since Daddy left.  I've been keeping track.  20 nights with no laps..Mommy's lap just isn't the same..she doesn't do it right (don't tell her, I don't want to hurt her feelings).  I'm beginning to wonder if he will ever come home.  I'm keeping his spot warm for him at night.  Sometimes, I hear him!  And I run in to his room (you know..the one with hard floors where he stares at a flat box all day)..but he isn't in there.  One day I roo'd and roo'd hoping he'd come out of hiding.  Mommy just walked around with her little flat box talking to it and I could HEAR him talking back....where IS HE???  Here is a selfie of me with the green monkey dragon (he didn't want to cooperate so I beat him in to submission) in case he reads this and forgets what I look like..

On the plus side, I do have mommy.  She will do in a pinch.  And i'm getting my meals every day..so she is doing her job pretty well.  But I am glad she is here..not sure what I would do if they both left for this long.  Wait...what is she doing?  Is that the 'go on a long ride' bag?  WOOHOO..we are going to see Daddy!!!!  I gotta go pack my pink poodle.  He probably misses her too! Which martingale should I wear?  Do I need my coat?  Oh..I gotta go help her pack! 

Birthdays and Birds

Jason left almost 2 weeks ago and things have been going well.  He is enjoying Chester, UK and seems to have settled in with the time change.  He said the town is touristy, but that means I will have plenty to occupy my time while I'm there.  2 1/2 weeks until I go! Woot!  We will be in London the first weekend and then Chester for the week and then Scotland the last weekend.  So far, Cali is holding up.  She is quite enjoying her 2/3rds of a King bed every night at this point!
But this month we will celebrate 2 birthdays.  My Shiloh and heart dog turned 16 on August 1st.  16..wow.  She is deaf, partially blind, very wobbly and frail..but she still likes to run around like crazy and get love.  So I think she's pretty happy!

 Dante will turn 15 on August 13th.  He has recovered from his dental work even though he now has a permanent fistula between his nose and mouth..extra breathing hole?  He seems Ok with it.  He is a mess and as we say in the horse world  a "hard keeper" but he is Dante.

We will also pause to remember Henry on August 16th..he was a good boy.
I've been stalking my hummingbirds, but haven't really been able to get a good shot lately.  I will keep trying

While taking these photos, I happened to see a shadow and noticed this...

Does he eat hummingbirds?  Maybe Dachshunds?
And I made a purchase that only dog people will understand...I don't have a baby nor do I have any plans to have one..so why oh why did this arrive for me today?

Shane has always worn a belly band with a Poise pad at night.  But rarely did he use it..but often enough that he wore it nightly and if we were ever gone for very long.  I am not longer embarrassed by buying the largest package of maximum absorbency Poise pads in the grocery...but when this arrived..I hurried it off the porch and covered the box in the garage.  But you see..now Shane has taken to peeing EVERY night..which means 7 wet/nasty Poise pads in my trash every week.  it is just me..I recycle..trash goes out once a week if that.  That is smelly!!! SOOO I am hoping that this little contraption works.  I just got it..I will let you know.  If it means I can throw a paper towel away without gagging, it was worth every penny!  Not something you see too often in a house with no babies..but I will let you know how it works in case any of you have this issue in the future.

Frankenweenie

It has become apparent that Dante has 37 lives.  He is a walking syndrome and we have taken to calling him the "golden dog" not because he is special in a gifted way but because at this point..he might as well be made out of gold.  Again, he became very ill a few weeks ago.  He wasn't moving, he wasn't eating and on Sunday a large mass popped up on his face.  We took him to the vet on Monday and they suspected either a tooth abscess or cancer.  Now let me say..Dante has horrible teeth..BUT we have gotten him a dental every 12-16 months for the last 6 years.  The last one was in January.  Bad breeding and poop eating has made his mouth  very difficult indeed.  So we suspected cancer, but they couldn't do an oral exam b/c his MMM/arthritis of the jaw make him unable to open his mouth fully without pain.  So we took him back on Wednesday for sedation, Xrays, dental, etc.  The end result..8 teeth removed, 2 large abscesses drained and no cancer found.  Now we have a very unhappy doxie with a mouth full of sutures and very few teeth.  The trick will be now to keep him from getting the incisions infected (a  month of antibiotics should help).  This was right when we got home..

 I want to get a photo of his mouth..but he his having no part of that now.  It looks like meatloaf right now.  And he is a 'whiner' so ..we are hearing ALLLL about it right now.  Pain meds are his friend. But he is eating great, acting like 'normal' and his face is no longer swollen.  We took note from the Park's when they had a lot of pills to give and now Dante's are organized for easy administration

We've had a few boarders over the last few weeks.  There was obviously a brindle meeting on the couch..Leelu, Cali and Belle

Jack hung out with us for a few days as well.  He is young and loves to chase his ball.  It was so hot that we didn't have a lot of energy to it much.

And I call this photo.."why we love greyhounds"  Tybalt gives us THE eye

It was very hot yesterday but I noticed a bubble floating by my window..when I investigated I found my neighbor blowing bubbles for her Boston Terrier, Bruin. Bruin is a good dog and has a lot of energy. So I captured some of his love of bubbles.

He was nuts over those bubbles.  

And it seems I have been ending my blog with tributes a lot lately..but two very special hounds passed away recently.  

We have watched Amy for 6 years and have become friends with her owners. She always held a special place in our heart.  She stayed here a few weeks ago and osteo had a very firm grip on her.  Her family let her go this week.  I took this photo while she was with us..we will miss her a lot.

We also lost our god-dog Jaime..she was such a trooper after her amputation from osteo.  I remember helping Kristen pick her up from her prior home and knowing she was going no where.  We spent 4 Beach Bound Hound trips snuggled in the bed and countless sleepovers with the Parks.  We will miss you, dear Jaime.

 Jason leaves for England this Saturday. I will go see him in late August but he wont' see Cali (except over Skype of course!)for over 7 weeks.  I'm not sure who will take it harder...