Here's the warnings and watches for my area for today...  No tennis racket playing today!


That's a flash flood watch, tornado watch, and areal flood warning...  Sheesh!  Click on the picture for a more zoomed in image.

Apparently Tropical Storm Nicole is making it's way through sometime soon.  It's been rainy for the last 4 or 5 days.  Here are some pictures from today...

Riley and I report to middle school (yikes!) on November 4th for their Paws to Read program.  That may or may not bring back awkward memories for me...!

I just now discovered an old tennis racket I had out in our garage.  My mom and sister are having a yard sale this Saturday, so they were finding all kinds of things of mine to sell.  They're not selling this tennis racket!  I took one of Riley's favorite orange balls outside and hit it across the yard with the tennis racket.  She LOVED that!  She got a bit muddy since it's been raining the last few days, but I just wiped her off and she's good to go now.

I feel so out of it when it comes to "Blog Land...!"  I went to St. Louis on Wednesday and got back laaaate Sunday night due to a twice delayed flight.  I went to train state trainers in NAMI's Peer-to-Peer Recovery Education Course.  I had a great time but it was very tiring and I'm definitely glad to be home with Riley once again!  I told her I'll never leave her again...until next time!  :)  Here are some pictures of what Riley did while I was away:

Hi everybody!  I just got back from St. Louis.  Riley had a good time with her grandparents!  I'll post a real post tomorrow (or I guess it is "tomorrow" already...  12:21 AM).  What a trip.

I somehow forgot to mention in my last post, "Stinkerbell," that it was my 100th blog post!  I can't believe I forgot.  Anyway...

Riley has had diarrhea for the last 2 days.  Well, just really runny poop I think.  I tried finding her some pumpkin at the grocery store to firm her up, but they didn't have any.  Apparently another grocery store in the area does have it though.  I gave her some brown rice last night for dinner and this morning for breakfast, so hopefully that'll help until I can get some pumpkin.  Poor girl.  I leave to go out of town tomorrow morning, so my mom's going to keep a good eye on the poopage situation and take her to the vet if needed.

That dog shampoo I had from Target smelled really good...for about 6 hours, then Riley stunk again.  We used to have some Top Paw dog shampoo years ago that smelled good for about a week, so I went to (overpriced) Petsmart (I usually go to Care-A-Lot, they're much cheaper...I was in the vicinity of Petsmart though) and bought some Raspberry Jojoba Conditioning Shampoo hoping this will last longer.  I'm not particularly fond of raspberry, but I can live with it.  I just liked the whole shampoo and conditioner thing.  The challenge was leaving it on Riley for about 5 minutes.  She did good though.  I did have to get in the tub with her this time though to reach her feet. 

I'll be gone out of town starting Wednesday morning and Riley is once again staying in the very capable hands of Grandma and Grandpa.  I probably won't post again until Sunday or Monday.  She'll have a good time and get spoiled rotten, I'm sure.  I don't give Riley a lot of treats...she usually gets a Shredded Wheat square every time I see her go to the bathroom and she gets one Milk Bone at night before bed.  Grandma and Grandpa on the other hand are liberal treat givers.  You look cute, you get a treat.  You sleep, you get a treat.  You fart, you get a treat...you get the idea...and a treat!

Here are some pictures from the bath:

Here are some pictures I forgot to put on yesterday's post about Riley's 1.5 year birthday.  She did get a Frosty Paws!

Riley is a year and a half old today!  It's hard to believe that the fat little butterball puppy I picked up from the farm is now a nice young lady (thin too!).  Here's some pictures of her looking pretty with her birthday bow on:

Here's a video of what Riley does when she comes inside from playing on a hot day.  You can also get a good look at her new collar.  And you can see the very edge of my LOVELY Microbiology book...!

I stopped by Care-A-Lot today to get Riley a new rope toy for outside.  Actually, I bought two...seeing the rate she goes through them.  She already has one of the new ones chewed in half.  I also picked up some Frontline while I was there and I MIGHT have given in and bought her a new collar and leash.  It's like my mom said, she's a girl and she needs new stuff to wear too!  I tried to get a good picture of her collar but she wouldn't stay in one place long enough...  It's a Martingale collar and I must say she looks awfully cute in it!

Here's where I found Riley when I got out of the shower this morning...:


Riley and I are going to start visiting a middle school starting in October or November for their reading program.  I'm pretty excited about it and I think she'll do great with middle school kids.  Our next nursing home visit is this Friday and of course Riley's going to love that like usual!

Here's Riley helping me unpack last night:


(As you can see, I don't typically make my bed...I'm just going to mess it up and get right back in it anyway...!).

Here's a peek at what Riley did while I was away this weekend:

Riley played outside for a little while this evening and she came in and got under the computer desk and laid on the air vent to get cool.  Smart dog.


I will be out of town this weekend, starting tomorrow, so I may not get to post on this blog while I'm gone.  My wonderful mother (Riley's Grandma) is going to sleep in my bed with Riley while I'm gone and take care of her.  I'm not worried for Riley, just worried that Riley is too much for Mom!  Nah, they've done this a few times before and have both survived.  I don't think my mom's too excited about poop scooping though...!

We had way too much fun (and food) last night at our sleepover:

There is a particular little (well, not so little) cattle dog who is having a sleepover tonight with her Aunt Baddy!  Riley's not sleeping anywhere different, but my sister is staying with us tonight.