Live from Boise following the Idaho Erben's one post at a time…

Is that my DAD??

Anyone that knows the Erben dogs, they know that the dogs LOVE to ride in the pickup.

Yesterday morning, after Cody had left for work, I was taking the kids for their morning walk. There is a guy in the neighborhood that just purchased a new, white Duramax, crew cab pickup. As we were approaching, the neighbor came out to start his pickup to warm up due to the frosty morning.

Both Ralph and Eros stopped dead in their tracks. Immediately they started trying to cross the street to "go for a ride." With the sound of the diesel and the white pickup, they were absolutely convinced that Cody was across the street. They were not going to let him leave without them. It took massive cajoling to convince them to come home. Even then, it was a lot of dragging and promising treats!

Lesson to the Erben household, keep an eye out for suspicious white, running Duramaxes in presence of the poochies!

Some Updates to the Misc Gallery

I was digging around the 'new' images folder where I used to place images I editted, but did not have a place for yet on the website, and found some I never got around to posting. Check out the updated misc gallery for a mix-mash of various photos. These two are some of my favorite Nicademous & Ralph shots:

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"Kids" Yearly Checkup Summary

Well, it was about that time of the year for Ralph, Gonzo and Nicademous to make their annual trip to the vet. I decided to take advantage of Cody's inability to run from me to help me with the trek to the vet. So, we loaded the 3 up this snowy afternoon in the pickup and headed to the vet. Eros was plenty peeved, as she was the only one left behind for the adventure. However, as soon as we got home, she thoroughly checked all 3 to make sure they arrived home okay.

Below, for those interested, are the weights of the kids as compared to a year ago and a quick synopsis:

Ralph - last yr: 62 lbs - this yr: 58 lbs
Gonzo - last yr: 4.7 lbs - this yr: 4.3 lbs
Nicademous - last yr: 7.1 lbs - this yr: 14.2 lbs

As you can see, Ralph dropped a few. We are trying to get him down to his fighting weight of 50 - 55 lbs. He's been working hard, and is doing good. His latest problem has been a bit of "ralphing" in the morning for the last couple of weeks. So, he got an x-ray to check for rocks in his stomach (as he has a history of rock/stomach problems). On the bright side, his x-ray showed no signs of the pesky rocks. He is now on some medicine to see if it'll help digest his food a little better. We'll see if that works.

Gonzo, unfortunately, is continuing to lose weight. This has the vet a bit worried, especially as her thyroid glands are noticeably swollen and she's eating us out of house and home and still losing weight. The vet drew some blood to run some tests, and they are pretty sure that her thyroids are "caput". If so, this'll mean medicine, followed by a potential surgery. We'll keep you posted on the cantankerous old one.

Nicademous, buddy, you DOUBLED your weight!!! Needless to say, our orange wonder is on his way to becoming our sumo wrestler. He just needs a few lessons and that's about it. However, because he and Gonzo eat from each other's bowls, the vet said to not worry about his weight until we get Gonzo fattened up a bit. Nicademous' other problem is the arrival of "kitty acne" on his chin. So, he will start getting some special shampoo treatments a couple of times a week.

We'll keep all you interested ones posted. Sorry, no pics for this adventure, but I'm sure we'll get some out soon!

Part cat, part fat, lazy football fan on a Sunday afternoon

A few weeks ago, I wandered downstairs from my upstairs hobby room, and caught what could have been the funniest thing I have ever seen, at least from Nicademous. I glanced over and saw Floss reading a book, and Nicademous propped up much like I am on a Sunday afternoon, sans Tortilla chips. That's my cat

Also, I have thrown in a few shots Flossie snapped one evening after I had a long day at the office ( or maybe it was a long day of football ?).

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Gonzo Turns the Big One-7

Gonzo recently celebrated her 17th Birthday on the 24th. Here are some pictures.

Another day, another Gallery

Posted a few pics from this morning...enjoy...

A Few Pictures from Saturday

Back at the back-end again, the start of the Ralph and Eros galleries is under way...

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Eros is in the spot light tonight…and Nicademous too

Without the Yankees/Red Sox game to cheer, boo, and hiss at, I put together some of the shots from Eros at her doggie obedience class a few weeks ago.

http://flossie-and-cody.mtnaircomputer.net/stories/pets/eros/index.html

Also, we had a little fun with Nicademous this morning. He was a little too playful this morning while we were having time with the dogs, so we decided it was time for him to cowboy up:

( In case you do not notice it, the Nicademous image has been digitally altered to remove my mug from the shot, as some assistance was required to get him on his horse. However, he did ride for about two seconds until bailing off, but we were not fast enough with the shutter).

Ralph’s Relative in the news

Jeanne sent me a blog-worthy link:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030924/168/5dd48.html

Now why didn't I name Ralph something as suave as Knightsfollie Ladiesman. Maybe we will start calling Ralph Lord Barksatcars Chasescats de Lovestoplaywithkids.

P.S. I believe I once measured Ralph's ears to about 6.5", but they are not insured for $3, nor $30,000, so we'll have to suffer with the tragic loss if he gets them caught in the lawnmower or chewed off by Nicademous.

UPDATE - 09/28/2003:

I measured the ears this weekend, Eros is about 6", Ralph comes in at roughly 8.25".

Nicademous brings us a present

I'm so proud of my kitty. This evening, as hobbles the hobbit was hobbling around the dining room, she noticed something on the floor. Then, in a gleeful scream, I hear "WHERE DID THIS BIRD COME FROM ?". Immediately I did what any good cat owner would do, and grabbed the trusty family Nikon 3100 3.2MP to capture the moment digital device. Here are the fruits of Nicademous' hard night of work:

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