First We Get Dubya Then We Receive Bella = 2 Dogs!

Passing Dog Class

February playing in the snow for
the first time. 

When we adopted Dubya from Last Chance Animal Rescue I was hardly ready to have a new puppy, a new dog after losing Cool Dog Myles, but we all jumped in with enthusiasm and love.   He was this little 7 pound puppy full of love and oh so smart.  We had him for a little over a year and through trial and error we were making progress with him.  We could let him sleep in his kennel without the door shut, but we were still hoping every day he'd make 'smart choices' when we weren't home.  We had tried letting him be out of the kennel while gone but, again, smart choices weren't always what our very smart dog made.

Tired after a victorious Super Bowl

Dubya is smart though and he shows it every single day and he loves us and feels a strong desire to protect his turf and his family.  He has a slew of friends at A Dogs Day Out and a few good dog friends like Mazie (his first friend) and Sheamus and Finnegan, two brother dogs that  have a swimming pool.   He is so social, whereas Myles was never that way with other dogs, he loved people more.  But again, I was beginning to wonder if he'd every make 'smart choices' like don't chew Brad's shoe laces when we walk out the door, or McB's flip flop.   Small but annoying things that get him in enough trouble to keep him in his kennel while we are gone.

Bella

Now, about this time Brad's older son and our daughter in law were in the last weeks of pregnancy.  They were having a baby boy, preparing to move to Florida and had three dogs.  The biggest of their dogs was Bella a black lab.  Three dogs is a lot and add a new baby, being without a permanent place to live for two months and something had to give.  I had been wanting a black lab, much as I love Dubya he wasn't a lab and rarely felt remorse for bad decisions.  He just shook them off and went on to the next fun thing.  Bella ended up coming to us the first of June and it's been love all around since then.  She does feel badly if she does something wrong and then tries to make it up to you for the rest of the day.  She also has a loud and throaty bark that always surprises us coming from such a sweet little girl dog.


Bella has turned out to be a huge and wonderful addition to our Buzz Shack.  She and Dubya figured out how to walk with the double leash and have developed a pretty good routine.   They love each other and play nonstop with each other at home, at Mazies and at Doggie Day Care too.  The best part is Bella keeps Dubya out of trouble and Dubya reminds Bella to be a dog, relax and just have fun.  From the first day she was with us we stopped putting Dubya in his kennel and they have stayed out of trouble.

Here are just a few of the pictures of them together.  They are inseparable these days.  Laying on the floor resting, just hanging out waiting to go for a walk or our favorite times watching them together, playing at the neighbors swimming pool.  Below is a great example of them interacting.  Bella will spend all her time swimming and playing catch, meanwhile Dubya has zero desire to swim and will run around the edge simultaneously trying to get the ball from her and warning her 'danger danger, you're in water it can't be safe!' Ha ha ha, the joke is on him, everyone swims in our family.  He's even had to get in, he didn't like it but he did it.  

I think the pictures speak for themselves over the love she has brought to our family and how she has made Dubya a better dog.  In turn Dubya has made her feel welcome from the first moment she walked in the door and he jumped on her and wanted to wrestle. 

Bella diving in to get her tennis ball

Just another front dive to get her ball

Bella loves her time in the pool.  She loves her walks, playing at doggie day care, going for rides in the car (always in the backseat, Dubya calls shotgun a lot!) and cuddling on the bed with us.  She also loves to bark and jump up to say hi to everyone that walks in our door, don't worry though, we are working on those two small issues.  

Bella was able to get Dubya to at least get his feet wet.  Here they are sending McB off on her first day of 6th grade.  Occasionally they take her to school and get to see all the cool teachers.










At St. Bernadette's Catholic Church being blessed in October at the Blessing of the animals.  They were so good and loved seeing all the other pets. Plus I'd like to think it made them a little holier and better behaved??

A few parting shots of Dubya, happily laying on the patio enjoying a nice September evening.  Happy, relaxed, content and taking a break from a day of play.  He is a lucky dog, rescued at 10 weeks and then given a partner in crime in Bella.

Bella in one of the last pictures of her from the neighbors pool this October. Good swimming, good dog friends and a good life with us and Dubya.

We love them and I would never have thought to be dog parents to two but it's a blessing and all we have to do is love them and they take care of us.

You can follow their adventures on Instagram @DubyaandBella

It's been a year...but I have a good excuse or two!

I thought it had been a while but didn't' realize it had been a year without a single blog post.  I have to admit last September life handed me a very cool opportunity and I ran with it.  I would be remiss without adding that had my husband not decided to consult and be home full time, none of this would have been possible.  Let me now tell you the opportunities that led to me not blogging as much and instead diving back into the world of swimming 100%.  So...the swimming seems like a good diving off point to catch up and share my past year.

Stroke and turn officiating
at U of M, Junior Olympics

 I have been officiating at USA swim meets for the past few years doing both Stoke and Turn and Starting work.  Last year I decided to become N2 qualified, which means I am eligible to work bigger national type swim meets.   It also allowed me to get to know many of the officials I have been working with the past few years a little better and it turned out to be a great experience.  In fact, I am now going to try to become N3 certified, which means I get (need) to work national level meets outside our LSC, the Potomac Valley Swimming.  All the officiating work also allowed me to watch and learn from our head coach, Jeff, at meets that I wouldn't normally be at and NCAP rewarded officials for working so many sessions with pretty cool personalized backpacks too.  NCAP does a great job of taking care of their people, especially the volunteers like officials.

Hadley and I at a Mini Meet

This is where it really gets fun, and busy, I was offered the opportunity, by assistant head coach and team co-owner, Matt to come on board with J&M Swim/NCAP as an 8&U's coach two days a week.  It was the right offer at the right time since I knew I would be also coaching summer league in the NVSL the following summer.  I had had my coaching certification done for a while and so it was a fairly easy transition for me from sitting in the peanut gallery upstairs at Lee District Rec to being on the deck with Hadley.  Yes, totally won the 'if I could coach with someone who would it be' lottery.  I got Hadley and she was a huge source of information, guidance and laughs.  Plus instant friend too.  I did miss hanging with my mom friends upstairs, but Brad covered that by coming to watch swimming and partaking in the chatting and speculating that goes on up there.  Becoming part of the J&M/NCAP coaching family has been a wonderful and rewarding experience.  Besides coaching 8&U I have been able to help another group one morning a week, fill in for other coaches with older kids once in a while and help with the summer prep workouts once a week in the spring. Not only did it allow me to work with a variety of swimmers and abilities but also with many different coaches that helped me learn new ideas, remember some old ones and overall expand my coaching knowledge.  I look forward to doing all of those again and hopefully more.  In this field you never stop learning and you are always teaching.

Awesome Coach Ken

In addition to coaching with Hadley, we also had Coach  Ken in the lanes next to us and if I had questions I had him right there as well.  Between Ken and seeing Head Coach Jeff in the mornings, my head was literally swimming with information all year long . You see one of the bonus deals of coaching with NCAP/J&M is that you get to swim with Jeff's senior group in the mornings. Now, I say 'swim with' but really you have to 1. be in the pool at 4:30 am, yes that is AM as in it's still dark when you get done at 6 AM and 2. swim with means you're in an outside lane, sometimes without lane ropes or overhead flags but you get to learn from Jeff.  I could spend a whole blog just on the morning workouts but maybe another time.

Here is a picture of Coach Ken with my girlie after a great swim at NCAP Invite last December.  He has made a huge difference in our lives, both my coaching and her swimming.   He still continues to do so and helps both me and my daughter, even though she has moved up to a different group and has the fabulous Coach Katie now and Coach Emily one morning a week too.

Now, as I've entered my second full year of being an 8&U coach with Hadley we have a fun and ambitious group of swimmers eager to begin their swim careers, starting with us.  I've watched more online videos of drills, races and webinars than I thought I would.  I read up on drills, workouts and have even pulled out my workout logs from college practices with Earl at the U of Washington.  That said, there is no way I can convert any of his sets to work for 8&U's!  But, do I see potential in some of our swimmers? Yes, I do.  I am now, constantly trying to come up with ways to teach them not only how to do the strokes correctly but also how to fall in love with swimming like I did at age 7 and make it a part of their lives.  

So, did I miss blogging for the past year? Yes, but I had a pretty good reason.  More to follow both on coaching, swimming, dogs, dogs swimming and even a grandson and trip to Italy.