Returning to Blog Land

I can't believe it's been almost three months since I've entered Blog Land.

Wow.

Where has the time gone? Well...I suppose I have some idea:

• adjusting to life with FOUR (count 'em) Labrador Retrievers


• acclimating to Puppy-dom again


• caring for Kenya when, as a 12-week-old, she broke her leg!!!


• empty-nesting for the first time ever (human kids all away at college)


• taking up Kayaking (our new empty-nest hobby)


• getting through the holidays


• juggling work (my day-job) with home and Lab responsibilities


• traveling (mostly to-and-from human-kids' respective colleges)


• managing a super busy eBay-selling season (I have a small eBay store)


• welcoming extended family for visits from November through early January


• learning new techno-gadgets (digital camera, MP3 player, printer, software)

I supppose that's enough to keep me away from blogging for a short season. But I've missed it.

And now I've learned that, during my absence, blogger reconfigured their blog-management system, so I have another learning curve to master.

So, we're back, all five of us (me, plus the four Labs). Here's a brief reminder of our gang:

• Baxter: the giant, 100-pound, neutered, almost-four-year-old, black male


• Ridge: the 80-pound, in-tact, six-year-old, fox-red male


• Elsie: the sweet, gentle, 85-pound, in-tact, tank-ish, two-year-old, yellow female


• Kenya: the rambunctious, can-hold-her-own-with-the-big-dogs, 50-pound, peanut-headed, in-tact, six-month-old, black female puppy

And in case you've forgotten, or you're new to LabTails, here are their nicknames:

• Baxter, aka: Baxter Boos, The Boos, Blizzard Boy, My Bud, and My Big Buddy


• Ridge, aka: The Ridgers, and Knucklehead


• Elsie, aka: The Tank, The Elsie Girl, Sweet Elsie Girl, and Sweet Gentle Soul


• Kenya, aka: The Bean, Peanut Head, The Kenya Bean, and The Little Imp*

[ *My astutely observant friend Kathy just remprimanded me because she knows that "The Little Imp" used to be Elsie's nickname when Elsie really was an imp. Kenya, however, has commandeered that nickname, filling it far more completely than Elsie ever did. It's her name now -- oh, as Kathy says, the beauty of hand-me-downs! ] :o)

To catch you all up to date, I'm posting a series of photos via picasa above (blogger photo inserts, despite their upgrade, still don't work well). Enjoy!

I'm glad to be back.

'Til next time (which will be very soon, I promise),

Joan