Merry Newfie Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas to all of our wonderful friends!

We are sending lots of love your way!

Can you find the N - E - W - F on our tree?

I've been such a good girl all year!! I wonder what Santa brought me?

Louie the Newf Goes to School

A few weeks ago Louie and I participated in our Public School District's Annual Reading Day. We read our favorite book, entitled "Newf" of course, to two different classes of second graders.

Our first class was a bit smaller than usual because several of the students were going on a field trip to meet Bill Cosby. The teacher told me they were very sad to miss out on visiting with Louie and that in their classroom Louie is more of a celebrity than Mr. Cosby. Thankfully the children did get to pet Louie briefly before they left.

Watching Louie do his tricks

Louie demonstrates that he knows the difference between is left and his right foot

I promise these kids were having fun...they just got tired of posing.

At the second school we went to these older children were our guides. They were so helpful to me and super sweet to Louie. We were very impressed by them.

We asked if the special needs class would like a visit and they said yes. Louie got to visit his buddy "J" from the previous school year. Louie and I arrived to the class first. When J came in he ran right up to Louie and without hesitation threw his arms around him in a big hug.

This child is exploring his first Newfoundland dog.

Louie with Rabbit ears :)

Louie and his gang

One last kiss for J before we left.

By the end of the day we ended up seeing six different classes of students. We were only scheduled to see two, but as Louie walked down the halls we had several teachers begging for him to visit their class too. It was a long day for both of us, but super fun. It's always a great day when you can spread a little Newfie love around.

Happy Thanksgiving From the Happy Haus

Today we are giving thanks for all of our wonderful friends and family. We send much love to you all and hope you are able to enjoy our favorite thing about Thanksgiving: being together.

Katie and Louie in front of "William" one of our Japanese Red Maples

Rosie the Newfoundland's Memorial Service

If you haven't already done so please consider signing the petition in the link on the top right side of our blog.

Rosie as a Puppy

Our Hearts are Breaking for Rosie the Newf

Have you heard about Rosie the Newfoundland Dog who was shot four times by police in Washington? Police officers, who were obviously completely lacking in sound judgment, first tazered Rosie, then cornered her after she ran into a fenced in yard and killed her. They said she bared her teeth...well who wouldn't after being chased down by humans who tazered you. The owner of the yard had closed the fence so the officers could have simply waited for animal control to show up. Poor Rosie was terrified I'm sure...this just makes me sick.

Rosie's owner said that Rosie was her soulmate. I can completely relate to that since I feel the same way about Katie and Louie. My heart goes out to Rosie's family.

Please sign the petition in the link on the right side of our blog. Rosie's death could at least teach a valuable lesson to people that desperately need one if we can make our voices be heard.

I never take Katie and Louie for granted and feel extreme gratitude for them every day. After hearing about this tragedy I just want to hug them and never let go.

Katie wrote an article for "Arkansas Hospice" magazine

Our Newfoundlands Katie and Louie are featured in the November 2010 issue of "Arkansas Hospice" magazine. I scanned this page from the magazine. Newfoundlands are known for their intelligence, and Katie is no exception. I think her writing skills are getting better all the time ;-)
-Gary

Happy Halloween Birthday Katie!

Happy Birthday to our favorite Newfie girl. Sweet Katie turned 4 years old today. To celebrate we went for a walk on the Big Dam Bridge. Katie and Louie wore their Halloween garb and had glowing eyes to complete their costumes.


We love this precious girl so much and are looking forward to many more birthday celebrations and fun filled years with her and her brother Louie.

Making Friends at the Festival

Every year our neighborhood hosts an Autumn festival. This year we took Katie and Louie who were a huge hit with everyone they met.

Louie is lovin' some loving from these kids while Katie seems to be saying "what about me?"

Louie is just so huggable :-)

It Might Not Be a Guinness World Record, but...

this is the longest drool string I've ever seen.

It has even has a girly curl at the end. Pretty impressive Katie!

And Now, Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

Did you miss us? Mama wouldn't stop going on and on about that stupid vacation. I think vacations stink because they take Mama and Daddy far from me and Louie. In honor of getting back to Newfieness on this blog I want to share a video with you all that has become very popular on YouTube. So far it's had over 50,000 views. In this video I am just a pup at about a year and a half old. Little Louie is only about 5 months old. I think this video shows how much I love and care about my Daddy. xoxoxo, Katie

Every time Gary goes to the diving board Katie performs a ritual of walking in front of him across the diving board before he jumps. She seems to be trying to persuade him not to do it. After each dive she runs to make sure her Daddy is ok. I wonder if he started drowning if she would jump in? My guess is YES.

Vacation Day 8: Wine Country, The Sonoma Valley

On our way back to San Francisco we drove through the Sonoma Valley and were treated to beautiful scenery of rolling hills and vineyards.

Along the way we stopped at a couple of vineyards for wine tastings...a delicious end to a wonderful vacation.