{29apr2010: Happy Birthday!}

It's Jason's birthday today!  He's on a crazy deadline at work so we don't know if we'll get to celebrate it today (or this weekend... or this month), but we're trying to get a dinner in!
Here are some pictures of Darwin & her dad in honor of his birthday starting when Dar was about 1 week old.

The day we decided we were keeping her!

3 days later we were rushing her to the vet cause she was throwing up (turned out to be worms).

BFF Friday wasn't really into being BFFs at first.

Jason's birthday last year.

Happy birthday Jason!

{28apr2010: Wordless Wednesday}

Scrapbook birthday gift from Grandma & Grandpa VB:

 And if you haven't voted for Darwin yet please check this out and help us maybe win a trip to the Oregon Coast!

{27apr2010: Roid Rage}

Darwin's new nickname is Roids as in Roid Rage.  Ever since she's been "sick" and more so since she started taking all her drugs to treat meningitis Darwin barks at everything.  Any noise she hears, even if she's heard it a thousand times before, like the neighbors door opening or closing, or a bird, or any noise, she barks.  It usually starts as a low growl noise, then a soft grunt, then a bark and then another bark and then another.  She's even started barking at her reflection in the glass sliding door.  Sometimes she'll be laying on the bed or the couch and won't even lift her head to bark or grunt, she'll just lay there grunting at a noise. 
She also whines a lot more now.  She doesn't get what she wants... whine.  She can't get her food out of her bowl cause she's scared of the noise... whine.  She LOVES tomatoes and rice (besides apples) and so if we have some we'll put some in her bowl.  For some reason when she eats these things out of the bowl she bangs her bowl around and it scares her and she won't eat her food, but will stand there whining.  If she eats her regular food out of the bowl and it clangs around, she's fine.  But eating 
anything else out of her bowl becomes some big dramatic production.  See for yourself.

This was a short version of how she usually carries on and I know I probably shouldn't give in and hold her bowl for her, but if I don't she'll carry on FOREVER.  Any ideas how to help her get over that?
We're a few days away from finishing up all the main drugs and will start the process of weaning her off the prednisone.  Hopefully that'll help with her excessive thirst and eating (and peeing and pooping as a result) and the barking roid rage.


Thanks to everyone who's voted so far for Darwin!
If you haven't done so yet, please check out this post and vote for Darwin so we can win a trip to the Oregon coast! 

{26apr2010: weekend review}

I've got a case of the Monday's as usual.  It was another beautiful weekend in Seattle.  Friday night we went over to visit our friends and Darwin got to visit her bff Friday.  She spent the whole day at the office with us and was pretty pooped out when we were at home, but as soon as she saw Friday she was a nut!   
Saturday I was hanging out with Darwin, and noticed something new on her collar.

Turns out her favorite Aunty Kristie (brother Boo's mom) slipped on a new i.d. tag the other week for her birthday!  I never even noticed it til Saturday!
On Sunday Darwin and I headed out for a walk at Golden Gardens.  There's a dog park near the beach area, but I'm not sure if she's ready for dog park action yet, so we opted for a walk on the beach.  Of course I'm never without a camera, be it my point and shoot or dslr, but for some reason I left the house with only my iphone (I must've been feeling ill or something).  I rarely see Danes at Golden Garden but we did meet a 6.5 year old Merle Dane, Nikki.  She was a beautiful girl,just slightly taller and fuller than Darwin, but very sweet.  Darwin got a ton of attention as we walked along... eventually we stopped at a big grassy area and sat around enjoying the sun.

This one's for Ammy:
{I love the sun!}

Eventually I joined Darwin on the grass and she got nice and comfy.

Then someone walked by and she got excited and stood up and proceeded to lean on me... while I was still sitting.  Her 115lbs leaning into me sitting on the ground pushed me over and soon this is what I was seeing:

Yes, after pushing me over she thought the best place to stand was over me.... sometimes on top of me.

Thank goodness she didn't try to put all her weight on her back legs or I would have a Great Dane sized hole through my stomach.
After a little more sun time we decided to head home.

{26apr2010: VOTE!}

Ok, yes I know I just asked you all to vote last week on something totally non-dog related.  But this time Darwin is entered in a contest hosted by a local radio station and our pet store, All The Best Pet Care.  We could win a trip to the Oregon Coast!
You'll have to create an account to vote, but it's a quick process.
Darwin is number 170 out of 365 entries (A LOT!), and on page 15 if you look at the gallery version or you can search Darwin.
Click HERE to go to the voting page.

Darwin says "thank you" to you all!

**Update! seems like the link isn't working for some of you. If you go to the All The Best Pet Care website you can click on the banner on the right side of their page and get to the contest there.

{23apr2010: random}

This has absolutely nothing to do with Darwin, but please vote for the Bardessono Project in Napa which my office designed.  It opened last year and was recently awarded LEED Platinum.

See pictures of the hotel at HERE at the Bardessono website.

Click HERE to vote for Bardessono for the AIA Seattle What Makes It Green People's Choice Award! Thank you!

Here's a couple pictures of Darwin from one year ago to make it somewhat Dar related!

And here's one from yesterday... she was caught giving her brother kisses at their playdate.