Entries Tagged as “Henna”
Vacation With Henna
August was vacation time for Mark, Henna and me. Work has been crazy for both of us and we were headed for burnout. When we feel like we need mental therapy, the coast is a natural choice. We went camping for a few nights. Then after camping a few nights, I thought we should end the vacation by staying at a nice beachside hotel. (Pet friendly of course) The weather couldn't have been more perfect. It was sunny every single day we were there. The mornings would start out semi-foggy, and then burn off by about 10am. We couldn't have asked for more.
It was Henna's first ocean experience. Watching her play in the water was a riot. She had no fear of the waves at all. And the frigid water temperature didn't phase her one bit I think she liked it even more. She was a little freaked out about the seaweed at first. Then she decided that it smelled divine and proceeded to coat herself by rolling in its briny stench.
Mark didn't take too much video, but you can kind of get a taste of her first ocean adventure.
→ Respond NowTags: Henna · Trips
Dog Rescue
What an exciting evening. Mark and I are trying to improve our lifestyle and have taken up cycling. Not only is it good exercise for us, Henna gets a pretty good workout too.
Tonight we went out for our evening bike ride and decided to go on the bike trail, which follows the drainage canal leading to the Sacramento River. It was perfect weather, warm but not too warm. It was a hot day, so we like to wait until around 7pm when it starts to cool off.
We were biking along the path and meet up with some neighbors that had dogs too. Dan's dog "DOG" (deeogee), was so cute that Henna couldn't resist saying hello. She did so by pulling Mark off his bike while dragging him over to say "hi". We got to talking and it turns out that Mark and Dan have a lot in common . (Websites, graphic design, photography, videography – to name a few) Another neighbor came by with her dog, "Piggy". After Piggy got in the mix, it was game on and full doggy play began. After a while Piggy and her people had to go.
Dan, Mark and I continued talking as "DOG" and Henna romped around off-leash exploring the area. They weren't very far from us, but the water in the drainage canal intrigued them. As they neared the edge I called for Henna to come back, but when I didn't see her coming, I got a little nervous. I couldn't hear the jangling from her collar either. I went over and looked down the steep embankment; I couldn't see them, but I could hear them splashing around and whimpering. Mark and Dan came over to see how they could rescue the dogs. Mark knew that he had to go down to help them, so he emptied his pockets and proceeded to the edge. While peering over, he lost his footing and went sliding down the bank head first into the stagnant, murky water. Luckily Dan had some rope and a chain that we could pull them up the embankment. First out was Henna, then "DOG" and finally Mark. He was pretty scraped up from the thorny bushes and pretty stinky from the nasty water. The dog's barely skipped a beat and went right back to playing. Mark wanted to head home to shower but not before exchanging a soggy wet business card.
Luckily nobody was hurt and we get to tell you all a humorous story from our day.
→ Respond NowTags: General · Henna · Humor
Happy Henna Days!
Our dog at our christmas cards, so we thought we would send everyone a digital Christmas card this year. She can't eat that, although she did try to eat my laptop so we had best be careful. ;)
Below is an Adobe PFD that you can print from your home computer (how cool is that!) Think of it as a Do it Yourself Project the whole family can enjoy!
Here is the step by step how to tutorial on printing the Happy Henna Days card.
STEP 1. Download card below.
STEP 2. Open the downloaded file. Most likely in Adobe Acrobat (free if you don't have it already)
STEP 3. Print the cute picture of Henna chewing up your christmas card.
STEP 4. Trim freshly printed holiday card and enjoy with the whole family!
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Mark & Heather
→ Respond NowTags: General · Henna
Dog Park
Yesterday it rained. Because of our landscape drainage problem, this translates to a swampy backyard and a muddy puppy – not a great combination if you are trying to keep a clean house.
As you can imagine, even though we need the rain -today's sunshine was very welcome. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the wind was crisp. It was perfect weather to get out of the house and go for a long walk. Mark and I decided to hop in the car and drive to the wetlands. We've never been there, nor did we know how exactly to get there. We thought we'd just wing it. So we loaded up Henna and went for a drive. After getting a little lost on the back-roads, we needed to fill up the gas guzzler. We ended up over in the Land Park area. We knew that there was a dog park in the area because Shasta and Jona used to live right around there. Henna must have sensed that we were near the dog park because she started to go crazy.
The dog park is my new favorite place. Henna was having such a blast. She ran from one end of the park to the other. She made friends with every dog she met, except for a very grouchy Chihuahua who just barked the entire time. We will have to become regulars at the dog park. Right now Henna is the most calm I have ever seen her. She had a good workout today.
→ Respond NowTags: General · Henna
Welcome Henna!
Today is our second anniversary. It's hard to believe that it has been two years already. We have done quite a bit in the last couple of years: we traveled to Mexico, Switzerland, and Italy; we bought our first home; and on Saturday the 15th, we adopted the newest member of our family (a golden retriever named "Henna").
Mark and I have wanted a pup for so long. We've been talking about it since we lived at the apartment on E Street, and for a minute even entertained the thought of having a dog there. We had no space and no backyard for a pooch, so we decided to wait until we bought a house. It's funny to say, but we actually bought our house with a dog in mind. We were very specific about the size of the yard and were only interested in property that had that hard to find backyard.
We talked about what kind of dogs we liked and what kind of dog best fit our lifestyle. At first we were thinking of a Siberian Husky. (Mostly based on looks) We quickly realized that this dog, although very beautiful, would not be a good fit for us. We then did some online searches designed to match you up with the best breed of dog. It turns out that Golden Retriever, Labrador, and Standard Poodle were our top three matches. We aren't really poodle people, so we were thinking Golden/Lab mix would be perfect.
I did a lot of research on the web to find rescue organizations in our area. We are lucky to have such an awesome organization so close to us. Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue & Sanctuary, Inc. is located in Elverta, which is 30 minutes from our home. They do absolutely amazing things for these dogs.
We filled out an adoption application on Monday, September 3rd, and had an in home visit with Allison, our adoption placement representative on Thursday, September 13th. Mark and I then scheduled a 2pm appointment to meet and play with some doggies. I was so excited on Friday night that I couldn't sleep. I stayed up until 2am reading Mark articles in a Golden Retriever magazine we bought that day. J I was up bright and early on Saturday and practically climbing the walls until 1:30pm, when we finally left for our appointment.
We arrived a 2pm exactly. And our timing could not have been more perfect. Just as we were walking in, a family had come in to bring back (Henna formerly known as "Gracie") the golden that they adopted the prior Saturday. The family had returned her because she was too much puppy for them. Mark said that he couldn't even bear to look at the family. He was thinking, "What kind of people adopt a dog and return it?"
All I remember was thinking, this dog is an absolute beauty. MaryAnn, who was helping us that day took her leash and mouthed to Mark, "this is a good dog". We went out to play with her and realized that she is a ball of energy. At first, she was going bananas. She was focused on the smells, then on the noise, and then on other dogs – she was out of control. Mark looked at me and said, "I don't know about this one…" It took some time, but after she settled down a bit, she was fine. We met four other dogs that day. We were split between Bella and Henna. In the end, we chose Henna because she was much more confident and seemed better adjusted.
Henna is an absolute joy. She is an 8 month old bundle of energy. She knows basic commands like: sit and stay. I wouldn't say she's mastered them yet though. J Obedience training is definitely on the menu.
We will be sure to keep everyone posted on her training progress and updated on our lives in the years to come.
Of course, we have posted some photos for you to check out
Something new this time is a short video blog post. Heather and I set up the video camera to tell you in our own words what we had in our thoughts. Mark is working on getting a video player working so for now click to download the video.
→ Respond NowTags: General · Henna