Happy Birthday!

Today is a very special day.

And not just because it's Dora's 2nd birthday.

But it is a chance for her mom and dad to totally redeem themselves.

Last year, we totally forgot her FIRST birthday! Can you believe it? We thought it was a different day and when we pulled out her papers from the humane society, um....yeah, we felt terrible.

So today, we made-up for it and let our girl enjoy a big bone on her b-day.

A Very Good Dog

A lot of you know what happened to Ava last fall. We had a very sick dog on our hands and we weren't getting any answers from our vet as to what was going on. Worse yet, our favorite blond girl had to spend 36 hours in vet care and away from us and her home. It was tragic.

We try to block those bad days from our memory. I still feel bad that I let her stay overnight in a cage with a e-cone around her head. I know she barely slept that night (and Av, it's it's any consolation, I didn't much either.) and her anxiety over being away from home only added to her distress. Sometimes when Ava curls up in a little ball between us, I have an overwhelming sense of guilt that I denied her of that one night when that's probably just the medicine she needed.

As you can see, it still weighs heavily on my mind today. I've never seen a dog so sick.

So you can imagine how our hearts dropped yesterday when it looked like history repeating itself.

It all started in the morning. (Hmm..sounds familiar. It started like this last time.)

I was getting dressed upstairs and I could hear the hum of the SpotBot (more on that little invention later...it's worth it's weight in gold.) downstairs. The SpotBot only makes it's appearance when there is dog pee or puke involved. So, I yelled down to Tim, "What happened?"

"Oh, someone puked by the door." he responded casually.

No biggie. The SpotBot is like our little slave. We plop it on top of the stain, hit a few buttons and for the next five minutes it automatically cleans our carpet. Like I said, worth it's weight in gold.

We didn't think much of it until I came home that night to discover four red piles of more bile and puke in the dining room.

Still didn't panic. Our dogs puke occasionally for no reason and are just fine. I chalked up the red color to Puperoni and beef flavored milk bones not settling well. Whipped out the SpotBot and ignored it.

Then, Tim left for a meeting back at the college and I settled in for the night of working on some things in the office.

Then I heard that god-awful sound. The wretching. The sound before the vomit. The pre-puke hunching up. The warning that I have 15 seconds to grab Ava's collar and get her to a solid hard floor surface so as not to ruin any more carpet.

I got her to the foyer on the wood floor...and there it was. Yellow bile. But this time mixed with fresh blood and dried blood. That's not good. And I panicked.

No. No. No. No please. No. I can't leave her behind. I promised her I wouldn't do that again. No.

I called Tim. Looks like it's time to go to the vet.

Tim left his meeting and came and picked me up and we took Ava back to the vet that treated her last time; the same vet we swore we'd never let have another dime again. We had to go there. They were the only place that was open. On the way over, Tim and I formulated our game plan. No vet was going to take advantage of us again. We agreed: no unnecessary treatment; no hospitalization; no surgery.

As we pulled up to the vet's office, I got that sinking feeling in my stomach. I knew how this went last time. And so did Ava. She was wired and anxious and skidding all over the wooden floor in the waiting room. She looked at me like, "Um, Mom, I hate it here." Yeah, girl, I do too.

Forty-five minutes of waiting in a vet's office makes you question things. You hear dogs barking in the basement below. You hear people begging the receptionist to work with them on their bill. You see people crying. Anybody who's in a vet's office at 9 o'clock at night isn't there for a regular check-up. They are there because something's not right.

When we finally did see the vet, Ava appeared normal. She acted normal. Behaved like her normal self. The vet gave us two options: do x-rays and lab work or put her on an anti-nausea med and inject her with fluids and no food/water for 12 hours.

Yes, please, we'll take the second option!

So with that, we took our girl out of there and it felt like we had successfully escaped from jail. Or at least paid our way out of jail. Thank God for my ever-planning husband and his emergency fund...which we should rename the Ava Fund because that's what we use it for.

Twenty-four hours later, our girl looks like she'll be fine, but we'll keep watching her. She may forever be our fussy dog that needs to take a Pepcid everyday and has to have a special diet fully funded by our emergency fund.

God lover her. This is the reason I'll never get a new car. Ava's taking up all our savings!!

You might be a redneck if...

This weekend we headed to the flat lands of Northwest Ohio to spend some time in Perrysburg. It was strange packing up our suitcases on Thursday night for our Friday roadtrip. We used to live in and out of our suitcases, but since we've moved, the tables have turned and we've had a steady stream of visitors. It was nice, however, to pack up and get out of town for a few days.

Saturday, while partly cloudy, was dry and perfect for being outside. The girls got to spend some time in the pond swimming. Ava swam so much that her tail was "broken"; it hung straight down for a change instead of being curled up. She's still doesn't know how to use her tail properly as a rudder when swimming.




The highlight of the weekend came when Dad had the brilliant idea while sitting around dinner to pull out all three (yes, three) of his riding lawn mowers and challenged Jenna and Tim to a race in the backyard.


Here are the three "racers"....

We got "Hey Y'all Jenna" on the zero-turn-radius lawn mower....


Next up we got "Get'er Done Timbob" on the newest lawn-mower with pull-cart feature...


And finally we've got "Farmer Jerry" in his favorite rube wear on the oldest tractor/lawn mower combo....


Who will win the race? Will it be Jenna who can spin her mower with a simple push of her dual levers? Or will it be Tim on the newest model mower? Or will Jerry prevail and beat everyone on his old-school, trusty tractor?

Well, you've gotta watch to find out.....

Lawn Mower Races from Jessica Ulbrich on Vimeo.

*I'm testing out Vimeo for video uploading and sharing. I think I like it! Hope you enjoy it, too.*

In honor of our trip to the sticks of Northwest Ohio, stay tuned this week to all the fun you can have outdoors on 5 acres of land.

Welcome Home

Here is what it is like in the first 30 seconds I walk in the door.




Isn't that just the best greeting in the whole world? I love coming home to my two little ladies. They are always excited to see me (or maybe Ava is excited because she realizes dinner is coming in the next 30 seconds) and they are equally excited to tear through the backyard to see if today is the day they'll actually catch that dang rabbit!

The Girls

It's no secret that we love our two dogs, the girls, Ava and Adora.

They are spoiled completely rotten and we wouldn't have it any other way. They give us at least twice as much back as we give to them.

I thought I would share these pictures I captured of them recently. They say a picture says a thousand words, and I think that these photos do just that.

Here, you've got Adora, aka Dora, Little D, or just plain D. She may be a bit suspicious, shy, skiddish....but she's usually up for anything and everything and loves an open backyard, some sun, her pool and a ball. She's relatively easy-going and always super cute. Look how laid back she is. She says, "You wanna take my picture? Fine. You want me to wear this scarf? Cool." Our Little D just loves being a dog.


Now here you've got Ava, aka Anxious Ava, Big A, and my Pooka. She's Tim's #1 Fan and she's all around faithful and incredibly loyal. You couldn't ask for a more all-American dog. She's just the best. BUT...she is also our drama queen and our spoiled girl...no wet paws for this dog. And here is her picture:

She is so "over it". I think if she could talk she'd say, "Puh-lease. No pictures."

Happy Birthday, America!

This is a little late, but we enjoyed hosting our first "holiday". The Fourth of July was filled with Andersons, Ulbrichs, Willmarths and one Dunn. We had a great time having everyone over for food and fun.

The Fourth of July celebration was all Tim's idea. He wanted to have everyone over and while I had my reservations about whether we'd be able to do it, I think it was a success. Well, at least we had a good time! It might even become the next annual tradition.

We celebrated America the American way with lots of food....



.... and by playing some cornhole outside. We also had fun playing badminton and volleyball in the backyard.


These two tried to sneak some food by strategically positioning themselves below the food table.

Earlier that weekend, Dora had already developed a taste for romaine lettuce. What can I say, the girl is just watching her figure.


We had fun with Cory who came back last weekend to play with us again!

Mom and Dad U came early to see us and it looks like Ava got nice and cozy with them. She plays fair and decided to share some of her couch with them. (And no that's not pee on the couch....she has a bad habit of chewing her paws!)


Thanks for coming out everyone! Consider this a save-the-date for next year! (And Jenna...you better come next year. Tim's feeling might get hurt.)

My Two Corn-Dogs

My two girls are not too discriminating when it comes to food. Especially if it is people food, they are more than likely willing to try what you are having.

We grilled up some corn on the cob last night and thought we'd share some with our veggie-lovin' dog Dora and our all-around-food lovin' dog Ava. Well, it didn't take much convincing to get them to try it out. Take a look at these two corndogs, I mean, corn-eating-dogs, er.....dogs-eating-corn.

A Lab of Every Different Color

This past weekend our friends and former neighbors back at the condo, Jeff & Meagen, were getting married. We get along with them for so many reasons--they are nice, they have similar interests as we do--but one of the biggest reasons is that they love their two lab girls just as much as we love ours.

When Meagen told us over dinner at BW-3's one night that they were looking at boarding their girls during their wedding weekend, Tim and I quickly jumped in with a "Please let us take them!" We know there are several good boarding facilities around here--I got that full scoop from a lady at the dog park last summer--but we know how our girls love lots and lots of TLC and know that we could never leave them with anyone other than friends or family.

But then a turn of events almost took their dogs' lives. Two weeks ago, Jeff & Meagen's condo caught on fire due to a faulty box fan that was plugged in, but not turned on. They were not home when it happened and their two girls were left inside while the fire raged on. When Jeff & Meagen arrived back home, they quickly told firefighters to get inside to safe their two dogs.

Luckily, they both survived although it was way too close for comfort. One of the dogs had no heartbeat and the other was barely breathing when they were brought out of the house. CPR and oxygen saved their lives. A house fire while we are away has always been my worst fear since we got Ava and Adora. Especially since we crate them and they would have no way to escape the smoke or flames. However the firefighters told Meagen that because Jane was crated they knew exactly where to find her (Lucy is not crated, but during the fire had come downstairs to lay next to Jane's cage; it took firefighters 30 minutes to find her.)

So, not only were we looking forward to having their dogs before, but now we knew that it was all the more important that their girls get lots of love and attention.

Here's our weekend with Lucy and Jane.


Lucy is a chocolate lab mix that will absolutely melt your heart. Her eyes are so gentle and she has the best personality of any dog around. Much like Ava, she likes to roam around by herself and stop by for an occasional pet. She is like Ava without the anxiety. And she is so sweet.


Jane is a purebred lab. She has so much energy, even chasing tennis balls for three hours on a hot summer afternoon doesn't slow her down. She's the female Marley; she chomps and destroys tennis balls, pees in her sleep, pees in the pool, but is a big lover. At 6:30 a.m. on Sunday she was laying on top of me on the couch. She thinks she is smaller than what she really is. She and Adora became fast friends because they love tennis balls and cooling off in the pool.


Tim and I have often thought of adopting a third dog. We have so much love for dogs, but after a weekend wearing our four dogs and cleaning up pile after pile of poop and monitoring breakfast and dinner feedings, it is a LOT of work. And our yard and house would be destroyed. And probably our car. And maybe our sanity. So instead, we'll just borrow Lucy and Jane for a weekend or two.

Here's what fun we had with all the girls:

Lucy likes to lay and cool off in the pool.


Dora and Jane take turns racing to get the tennis ball. Mostly Dora wins the race.


A lab of every different color!


These two are just the sweetest.

Our Blonde Girl

Hope you can handle two posts in one day! But I had to because I would be remiss if I didn't share what our favorite blonde girl was up to these days.

On June 4th, Ava turned 3! We're hoping her little attitude was left behind as she turns another year older.

(Ava says, "I'm pouting because you always put me in the backseat of the car when I really just want to be on your lap." We seriously get this glare everytime we take a roadtrip.)


I had to share these pics of her with her birthday card from Gracie, Clover, Willie and Tucker (with help from Mike and Jackie). She always gets all stressed when I take her picture (maybe because I make her pose and lay down or sit up with no treat or milk bone for all her hard modeling work) so she never looks that great.




When you open the card, it starts playing "Who Let the Dogs Out?" which Dora thoroughly enjoyed.

Thanks Mike and Jackie for helping Tucker, Willie, Clover and Gracie pick out a card and get it all the way here to Ava. It was great!

Bathing Beauty

Yesterday the weather was just gorgeous, so we took advantage of the time outside. Dora just LOVES the sun and would stay outside all day laying in it if she could...and once we get our fence done, she probably will.

Since we know Dora loves all things outside, we bought her a kiddie pool that she can cool off in when she gets hot. We got this idea from our visits to the dog park where there is a kiddie pool that Dora would go lay in after chasing other dogs.

The weather was just right for testing it out, so we filled it up and gave Dora her first chance in the pool. She walked right in with little prompting.


After a refreshing her little paws and shoving her whole face in the water, she promptly rolled all over the grass. Guess that sounds like fun when you're a dog. In my mind I was thinking, "Ew, she's going to smell after this." Tim on the other hand was thinking, "Oh, great, way to ruin my lawn."

But either way, Dora was in her doggy glory. She loves soaking up the rays.



Later that night, we decided to put our new patio furniture to use and Tim grilled up some chicken for dinner.

Food always tastes better when: 1. It's grilled. 2. It is eaten outside. 3. You're really hungry. Luckily we were all three so it was delicious!


(Dora says, "What? You weren't going to let me sit at the table with you?")


After that, we were all set for the day...this picture of Dora pretty much sums up our Sunday. Content and relaxed.

Ava vs. Tim

So we discovered this weekend that we have our very own Air Bud.

Tim and I were shooting the basketball around when my mom let Ava our of the house because she was whining to come out and play with us, too. And lo and behold, she charged onto the driveway and tried to intercept the basketball.

We couldn't be more proud of our little girl and her natural athletic abilities. It's like realizing your kid is the next Tiger Woods or Lebron James. Check her out in action: she's a pretty good defender, except you'll notice she gets a little distracted and leaves Tim wide open for the shot. And...her rebounding skills need a little work. But I won't be too critical :)

Murder Mystery

It was 8:00 p.m. last night. Tim was occupied downstairs and I was upstairs in the office.

Neither of us were aware that a murder was taking place. Right in our own house.

It was Tim who discovered the carnage first.

Right on our stair steps, Bonjour Sheep was completely gutted.


Who could do this terrible thing? Who would kill an innocent sheep?

Then the killer stumbled by....

What a cold-hearted criminal. Didn't even care as she passed by the destruction she had created. The killer was most likely on her way to another victim. What a brazen criminal, too, to have the audacity to walk by the crime scene she had just created.

I suppose the sheep didn't even see it coming. Afterall, we discovered the killer had befriended him earlier that night, earning his trust. Below, moments before the vicious attack, the killer poses happily with the victim.

Only moments later to rip our all his insides and leave him to die on the stairs. (Below, notice the killer doesn't even try to hid her face.)



No trial was necessary to convict this criminal. The evidence was clear. There was only one killer to blame for this.

We are happy to report, the murder is solved and the killer is behind bars. The house is safe once again.