Sluglife

The title says it all. The Win-dawg is getting large and he's still, by all classifications, still a puppy. We're in for a big dog, and that's just fine by us. Here's the latest from last Sunday at Anna's parents for Russian Easter:

And while everyone who met him adored him, there were at least two inhabitants who were more than eager to see him leave the same way he came:

"When is it leaving??"
Seriously, though, it was a great trip animal-wise -- we've got a ton of Easter pictures we're still sorting through, so we figured we'd start with the dog pics. Speaking of which, we went down the Friday before and while Lana, Anna, and myself went to church, Gary took the dog on a walk. And by walk I mean workout. And by workout I mean... oh just look at the picture when Winston got home:

A couple more from back a bit that I haven't posted -- here's Winston at his most pathetic, shortly after getting fixed (or broken, depending on your point of view):

That was about... wow, a month ago. Time flies, but the 10 days with the Cone of Annoyance were tough on us more than him -- we're the ones with the bruises on our shins still from the beast running by with poor spatial consideration.
More recently, here's evidence that we've got a great dog -- he puts himself to sleep. This is him after he put himself to bed in his crate. He's safe there and we still close him in at night so the cats can have full run of the house unabated.

And that's all for now! As I said, we've got a ton more pictures just none ready to post. Happy spring/early summer!! :)

As most know, I am incredibly lucky that my wonderful wife makes all my shirts. Because of this, they're hella funky, absolutely original, and really, really cuuuUUUuuute. What you may not know is that there's been a bit of a drought on shirts lately -- yeah, I know, you're weeping, I can hear it. But just the other day, what did I get? A NEW SLUG SHIRT! Anna labored and sweated (literally because it was so damn hot that day) to finish this shirt that had been plagued with delays. We originally bought the fabric, but they cut it short and didn't have any more and so we had to scramble to find more online... long story. But the shirt, yes:

There are a couple shirts she's already got cut out but I need to go get buttons and more interfacing. I'm happy!
Ah, but how's the dog you ask? Winston is well:

In fact he's been quite the busy puppy. He's had a number of friends over lately. A week or so ago, Anna's friend Allie came over and brought her two dogs -- Shiloh and Hannah. I was on dog sitting duty while they went to work the Human Race charity event, and I simplified the naming convention:

Clockwise from top you have Brown (Hannah), Yellow (Shiloh), and Black (Winston). A closer look at Hannah and Shiloh:


They ran together, played in the water together and generally tired each other out. While Hannah and Shiloh swam like otters, Winston just wouldn't go in. I mean, he would go out to his chest -- no water aversion, mind you -- but he just wouldn't go all the way in and swim.
After they left, Winston's usual posse came over. Our friends David and Jennifer have another pair of Labs, Denali and Molly. Surprisingly I don't have any pictures of them -- I will have to rectify this. However, on Thursday, the brutally hot day this week, all of us went in the water and swam -- except Winston. So David, Jennifer, Anna, Denali, Molly, and I swam across the river, leaving a despondent Winston on staring forlornly from the shallows. It was too much for him. After a few minutes he clearly decided he had to do the deed and he struck out into the river, swimming like a natural born dog-otter, all the way across the river. Our dog can now swim!
He swam last night with Denali, Molly, and Molly's sister, Olive. So today he's passed out on the couch.