Saturday, August 04, 2007

Afternoon @ Buntzen Lake

Mum and I had a girls' afternoon out today. It was a nice day, so I suggest to mum that we go to MY lake aka. Buntzen Lake for some fun!!


I was a patient girl the whole way there, until we got in the gate, about 2 kilometers before reaching the parking lot. Mum always rolls down the back windows for me to stick my head out during the last couple kilometers.

I get so excited, I do laps in the back of MY SunshadeMOBILE..... like this,

(once you pass the gate, cars have to go slow, so I get to stick my head out!)





Can you tell? I couldn't wait to get out of the car!!

This is what my bed in the back of my SunshadeMOBILE usually looks like,


This is what my suite ended up looking like after I did my laps.....


Finally, I was let out of the car, and mum and I made our way across the parking lot.


Now you see this fork, there are two paths. One leads down to the hooman beach, one to the doggie beach. The two beaches are separated by a chain linked fence all the way down into the lake.


So to get to the "DOG Beach", you have to go to the right.


I, of course, wanted to go to the left because, well, I'M A PERSON since I own one!

While it is true that I, Miss Sunshade often think of myself as a hooman or someDALE deserving of a higher than "hooman status"; the real reason why I was desperately trying to go down the path on the left was because the trail leading down to the dog beach reeked.

I'm sooooooo SERIOUS, it's disgusting!!


I only went the "DOGGIE WAY" because mum cheated and said "DOGGIE".... that's my word for "dogs" and I fell for it. Watch how tentative I was walking, going left and right. I was making sure to sniff out the clean path to walk, avoiding any possible land mines or liquid mines!



The trail reeks all the time because of dog feces left behind by irresponsible dog owners! If there is anything a SuperDALE is deathly afraid of, dog urine/fece smell is it! I DREAD going down that path every time we're there, so mum and I end up negotiating which way to go EVERY TIME (mum: she's being very honest here).

Usually, when it's not so busy, mum gives in and we walk down the human path and then go through the gate at the hooman beach to the dog beach. Mum hates to admit the fact that she doesn't always follow rules (ok, she almost never...shhhh...), but the stink down that dog path is so bad sometimes we have no choice.

We did end up over on the hooman side after walking down the dog path (what a waste) because mum had to go pee pee. This is a picture of the hooman side taken from outside the pee pee place (mum: as in washroom). On the other side of the chain linked fence is the dog beach.


Me making my way towards the fence to get to the doggie beach!


This was me opening the gate. Sometimes it takes me only one try to hit the right spot and get the gate open, whereas other times, like this time, my timing was off, so it took me a while. (listen to the little frustration growl I gave out, mum growled back too..hehe!)



I was sooo happy to finally be down at the BEEEEEEEACH!!


See my happy smile??


This is my favouritest lake in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!! The water is so clean, so nice, and so COOOOL on this hot hot day!


Of course....

What's a beach without BOYZZZZZZZZZ???

This guy is 14 years old, can you believe it?? His dad said he sometimes doesn't know he's 14 and still tries to get girls...hehe. His dad also said the reason he's so healthy at 14 was because he still had his lovelies (mum: he said "un-neutered"), and ate my kinda diet - the BARF diet.


Mum says she believes about the diet part, but not so sure about his lovelies (I AM! I like them lovelies!!). (mum: "lovelies" = testicles ....*eye roll*)

Then came another black hunky hunk dude in a red collar. He had his lovelies too, but the other black dude (he's the 14 year old one with lovelies) didn't like him around me and was giving him a low growl the whole time trying to keep him away from ME - the SexyDALE!!


Now, I should mention why this was a girls' afternoon out without STINKY. We had kinda a bad experience couple weeks ago when mum brought both me and STINKY here. Our camera was still at the repair shop, so no pictures, hence no posts.

This is a great place for dogs to have fun, and most of the dogs that come here have good manners and are owned by responsible hoomans. Unfortunately, you do sometimes get the odd few not so friendly dogs due to irresponsible owners not taking necessary precautions.

Two weeks ago when we were here with STINKY, STINKY got attacked by a big male Cane Corso whose lovelies were, I must admit, amazingly attractive (mum: she meant to say a BIG, un-neutered Cane Corso attacked Jaffa. Sorry she gets distracted when it comes to un-neutered boys....). He was so handsome, I flirted with him big time, he loved me, just like all BOYZ do!! I usually never have problems with dogs in general, especially BOYZ because I am confident, and I greet dogs calmly with proper dog manners.

The attack happened after my flirt session with the handsome Cane Corso. STINKY wasn't doing anything wrong (according to mum that is, he was biting my face non-stop), he was just hanging around me (being a pest), when all of a sudden this handsome Cane Corso decided he didn't want STINKY around ME and just went for him. STINKY got pinned in the water, and I got kinda mad at the handsome Cane Corso, so I jumped in between, and tried to eat him because he was eating MY STINKY.

That got the handsome Cane Corso's attention and he let go of poor STINKY, and stopped and looked away from me. (mum: Jaffa was not hurt thankfully, just a bit shaken up) Mum said the looking away he did was because he didn't want no trouble from me, you know what I'm saying? So I just kept giving him that famous, b*tchy "Sunshade Look" ya know, and he backed away.

(mum: THANK doG, the dog backed down when Sunshade got in between trying to protect Jaffa. Sunshade would not have stand a chance if the Cane Corso were to fight back, and we know Sunshade doesn't back down from a challenge. The stupid owner didn't do anything about it, he said his dog just plays rough and asked me if Jaffa was intact. He obviously knew his dog had problems with other intact males, and yet he still brought the dog to a public dog off-leash area.

Jaffa is going to be neutered once he hits one year old.)


Anyway, so after that incident, mum is kinda afraid to take STINKY there because of how many BOYZ with their lovelies still attached go (I like I like!). Mum says she's afraid STINKY would get hurt and that I'll get myself killed from being too brave. I beg to differ however, because doesn't she know?

I'm an Airedale, I can take on anydog, anyone, even the world!!!

Soo... where was I??

Oh yea, BOYZZZ!


The only boy that was not interested in me, was him.


Something must be wrong with him, not only did he not pay any attention to Miss SexyDALE, he didn't even swim!!!



I mean, aren't retrievers suppose to love to swim AND retrieve??? He just kept looking at mum and what she was holding in her hand. So really, the competition was between me and this black dude in red collar.


I had a few words with him before the race to get MY ring started. I had to draw the line somewhere you know? (mum: perfectly natural for a terrier to threaten its opponent before the start of a race.)


Mum got into her trigger happy mode and almost forgot she had to throw MY ring, so I reminded her!


And well, I think it's pretty obvious who got to the ring FIRST!


YIPPEE YIPPEE!! MY ring MY ring!!!


I swam for a little more,




Met a cute little Westie named "Duffy",


And I was ready to leave the dog beach to walk the trail, so I went to wait by the gate.


Lots of great smells everywhere,


I smelled something way Way WAAAAAAY up the hill, so I took a steeeeeep detour.... (the hill is steeper than what the picture shows. Just look at how small I was. I'm that little white dot the arrow's pointing at.)


This next picture shows you where I was on that hill,


I took a dump up there, and mum didn't pick up. (mum: it was way too high, way too steep for me to climb up. She, of course was being a FULL Airedale, ignoring all my "NO's"!)

After I slid down from my steep detour/potty break, we continued walking,


And came to our secret spot where I chased rocks,


Did some swimming,


And enjoyed the booootiful scenery,


While recharging my powerful Aire-ZEN!!!


I had a great afternoon with mum at Buntzen Lake, I can't wait to go back!

NOW...

I leave you with the most memorable shot of the day.....

The MUSCLIEST of all BUTTS

Friday, August 03, 2007

How much do I LOVE my ICE CREAM???

How much do I really LOVE MY ICE CREAM???


Yes mum, I see where it says "calories" and "fat" OKAY??? You don't need to circle it out. (mum: just thought I would point it out to you..)

I love ICE CREAM THIS much!


Let me tell you where this all began...

After my Dairy Queen ICE CREAM post, I got a very nice comment from "Dog Lover" who kindly reminded me that too much ICE CREAM was not good for me. While deep down inside, I knew Dog Lover was right especially when I have been trying to lose weight (mum: was = 72 lbs, should be = 62 lbs, currently = 69 lbs (that is BEFORE all that ice cream)); I still hid the comment from mum. I knew she would agree with Dog Lover. I was afraid she would stop giving me ICE CREAMS, so yes, I didn't let her read the comment. However, I took the advise close to heart, and decided to do myself some good and control my ICE CREAM cravings by staying away from my secret stash.....


Everything was going well at first....

UNTIL.....

Mr. GooberStan challenged me in the HOW I LOVE ICE CREAM photo contest held by Airedale Rescue of North Texas to try and raise money for Airedales in need.

Stanley stepped up his game, and submitted 3 more AA++ photos of himself eating ICE CREAM with ICE CREAM smeared all over his snout.





Since I, being the SuperDALE, don't back down from challenges. I went and got out my secret stash of ICE CREAM.


Mum, wanted it of course...


Geez... that woman weighs almost double of what I weigh and she's still trying to EAT?? Why can't I eat 'til I'm 123 lbs then??

STINKY wanted it too of course, because anything I have, he wants.



So I told them....





STINKY stunk up MY ICE CREAM in the end.... so I didn't want it anymore...

(mum: the reason Sunshade wasn't eating the ice cream in the end was because Jaffa was in possession of the bucket. Sunshade will guard her food against other dogs when it's in "her" possession or if I have it, but once it's in the other dog's possession, she will not try to get it back. Sometimes she might go up to the dog and wag her tail politely as a distraction tactic LOL.)

He stunk up MY ICE CREAM.....

(mum: but you still ATE it!!)



And in case you were wondering, NO... I didn't get to finish the bucket. My EVIL mum took it away after the photo shoot. The bucket is now back in the freezer, mind you there are quite a few dead frozen buggies stuck to the ice cream now (extra protein!!).

Thursday, August 02, 2007

8th Painting of ME

This is the 8th painting of ME done by artist Barbara Keigher. (Good eye Snowball, good eye!!)

Soccer Dale


It is being listed on eBay, and 15% of the auction goes to Airedale Terrier Rescue and Adoption (ATRA).

eBay link to Soccer Dale

This painting was created from this picture - Miss Sunshade the Super-SoccerDALE aka. Canada's Mia Hamm!!!



To see all the previous paintings of me, please click the following links:

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Eat ICE CREAM & help some DALES!!

We all need a bit of cheering up these days, that's what our friends over at the Rainbow Bridge would want us to do.

SOOOOO....

How does some ICE CREAM sound?!?!?!?!

Sounds GREAT I'd say!!



Come on BOYZ and girls, have your mom or dad buy you an ICE CREAM!!!




Take LOTS of photos of you and your ICE CREAM!!!


(trust me, photo snapping is worth putting up this time)



Or you and your ICE CREAM tongue!!!




And enter your pictures in the Airedale Rescue of North Texas Photo Contest!!!

You don't need to be a blogger, you don't need to be an Airedale, you just need YOU and your ICE CREAM to enter!!

How great is that when you can eat ICE CREAM and help out Airedales in need???

Deadline for submission is August 4th, so hurrrrrry, put on your pathetic face and BEG for ICE CREAM!!!!