You Asked For Charlie, You Got It!!!

As many of you know, we worship Charlie. I think he could easily be compared to any child out there...and in a few ways even better. I know everyone talks about the family pet as if they really are a member of the family. They tend to take on very distinct personalities, no matter how annoying or make huge messes still seem to be so cute, and they are always missed when away. Animals have a soft spot in any normal human's heart. They are here to make us laugh and to help us cry. Leah is called Mom and I am called Dad, we don't have any kids, we have Charlie. Charlie has gone everywhere with us since the day we got him. At the time, Paris Hilton was setting an important precedent in the world with her "purse" dogs. Naturally, Leah picked up on that realizing Charlie was the right size(when he was young). Three days after we got him, we took him on a bike ride. He was stuffed down my jacket with his head poking out and his infamous ears hitting me in face. He went bowling, to the store, to the movies(he barked and growled at Darth Vader's first appearance in Star Wars), to plays, etc. Anywhere we felt we had a good chance of not getting caught, Charlie was there. Lucky for us, we can play all this off as training. Little did we know of what he was capable of. He was definatly loved as the average dog is, despite everything that he ruined when he was teething. Probably a bit spoiled. But now, he deserves every bit of it. One year and four months ago, Charlie went to doggy bootcamp to become a service animal for Leah. When Leah started having seizures we noticed that Charlie would behave oddly right before and during any episode. We researched service animals and found that some dogs are capable of sensing a seizure before they actually happen, sometimes 45 minutes before. We also found at disability group in Salt Lake that allows you to train your own dog. What a remarkable possibility to be warned that a seizure is imminent! When we walked into class the first day, we were snickered at. We didnt have the standard Golden Retriever or Labrador. We had Charlie, a miniature pinscher, weighing in at 12 pounds and a foot and half tall, four long skinny legs and huge goofy ears. Like most pets Charlie took on the personality of his owner, Leah. Fiesty and competitive. He wasnt intimidated by the bigger dogs and let them know it. He still has a problem with other dogs sniffing his butt, he hates it. He immediatly outperformed all the other dogs and turned a two year service dog training course into one year time. He has never missed one of Leah's seizures and very astute at his job. So congratulations to Charlie for officially receiving his Service Dog license!!

The Beginning of Fall

On the scale of holiday fun, Labor Day is in the top three. There is something to be said about the beginning of Fall; the leisure of the sun setting with tones of distant warmth, mornings have a firmer crisp, the desire of wanting to buy school supplies. I find myself pausing to "smell the roses" more than in any other season. Moods soften, smiles brighten, the thought of snuggling under a starry night seems more tempting than usual. Maybe its the relief Fall brings from a scorching summer. Maybe we are unconsciously preparing for the Christmas season. No matter how I look at it, Fall is the calmest season of all.

Labor Day weekend proved to be a fun one for us at the Stone house. We were able to put aside some time to play and not fuss about work. We finally mowed our lawn and weeded the garden and flower beds. I found I am not a very good gardener, but I can grow a mean sunflower. Some are over 10 feet tall!! We also went on a few bike rides, some walks and a short hike around Silver Lake at Brighton with Leah's family.

On the drive there we were fortunate enough to see Bullwinkle's wife and kid eating from a stream. Leah thought is was pretty neat, but scared for her life that if we got to close the mother would charge at her and stomp her into smitherings. Charlie thought we had ditched him up some canyon as we jumped out of the car so fast to take a better look at the moose. On our hike we ran into Bullwinkle himself. He was a big one and it didn't bother him that we were pretty close. He was happy to be eating. We walked a little ways away from him and decided to try a little fishing. Skunked! There were plenty of fish rising, but they weren't fooled by our shiny lures. I remember thinking that when I was dating, or trying at least, no matter how hard I was trying couldn't get one to bite.

Leah bought a road bike, okay more like she thought it sounded fun and I jumped at the opportunity to teach her the ropes, so we had to take it out for a spin. I forgot that it isn't the bike that gives one the ability to go on a long ride it is one's mental attitude and stupidly enough I took her on what I thought was a fantastic ride, but to her was just long. Needless to say, I heard about that later on. We finished up the weekend with a classic movie, Pride and Prejudice. Nobody like Ms. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy to speak romantic truths at the end of a perfect weekend, except maybe that Leah insisted that I call her Ms. Leah the rest of the evening.

Wannabe Blogger

In recent months I have been exposed to a high number of blogs informing me on the whereabouts of our peers, and found them quite fun and exciting. Since we go to great lengths for fun and excitement, we decided to dive headfirst into the world of blogging. The last week has experienced late nights, long hours and plenty of frustration as we have tried to understand the language format of html. Hopefully, its like riding a bike, once you learn how you don't forget. As time goes on and the general understanding of html increases we hope to have an invigorating experience for all that chose to visit our web address.