Sunday, February 11, 2007

Happy Birthday CardiGrandma!

CardiGrandma doesn't like to have a fuss made about her birthday, so isn't this a sneaky way (not) to let her know how much all of us here at the CardiHouse love her!?!

All of you out there with dogs know what great judges of character they are (wish I had paid more attention to the dogs' opinion of some past boyfriends!). Well, let it be said that my mom attracts dogs like flies to honey! She has also taught me the most valuable training technique, love. She could care less what the dogs accomplish in the show ring, she has and does love each dog just for who they are (funny, she does the same with her people).

I've got to tell one short story about CardiGrandma. This is also a story of how CardiGrandma got the nick-name 'Lap Lady'. The trip to pick Mikey up from Arkansas was not the easiest trip; the time on the road was several hours more than I thought it would be, the weather on our way up was awful, and the trip back seemed to go on forever. Thank doG CardiGrandma came with us, for a number of reasons.

I will skip over the fact that Mikey was almost left with his breeder because he wasn't passing his puppy temperament tests; some divine intervention saw us on the road back home with Mikey securely in CardiGrandma's lap. We had been on the road about 20 minutes when Mikey started to get 'that look'. Uh oh! Mikey was going to be sick! CardiGrandma whipped out wads of paper towels (which she had smartly stashed close at hand) and baby Mikey proceeded to hurl his little guts out. CardiGrandma somehow, trapped in a moving car caught in Little Rock rush hour traffic, while sitting cramped in the passenger seat, managed to catch every drop in the paper towels, and not get any on Mikey, the car, or herself. Wow! Major wow! And she then managed to comfort the little guy into sleep in her lap - for the next eight hours! And no, she is not available for puppy wrangling outside the family!

So, ever since CardiGrandma has also been known as the 'Lap Lady', since Mikey thinks she has the most comforting and secure lap in the world (although her lap has strangely 'shrunk' over time, because he doesn't really fit so well anymore). In fact, Mikey was so happy laying in her lap all day that I asked for shirt off her back (literally) for Mikey to snuggle up with his first night here, because I was hoping her scent would make him feel comforted in a strange place (and it did!).

Here's a picture of CardiGrandma doing one of her favorite things - bird watching.

Holly and Mikey say 'Hi' and 'Happy Birthday CardiGrandma, we love you sooooo much!'

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

★Cardima Big Big news for you!

Unknown said...

The CardiGrandma says thanks for the kinds words, and she loves all three of you bunches!