She Has a Name...

When we purchased Red Head as the kids new home, we decided to keep her name. It's such a fitting name, after all.

Before we picked her up she spent some time in an industrial yard being blasted with something they called "black Betty" or "black beauty" or some such thing. All we knew was that it left this horrible fine black dust that we are still finding months later. But we digress...

To do this process the name had to be removed from the transom. Since then she has been "nameless."

Fortunately, we have our good friend Jeryl who does, among other things, boat lettering. A few emails back and forth and a FedEx box arrives. But how to get them on? A few more emails with Jeryl telling Jeff, "It's easy," and we decided to give it a try. Hey, worst case, Jeryl could always FedEx a new set.

So this weekend, in celebration of Jeff's birthday, we decided to give it a go. It wasn't too bad. This is definitely a task where Jeff's ana... I mean, exacting personality comes in handy. Sunday, we laid down the red background for the name.

Monday morning, the hailing port.

Key Largo, FL is harking back to her roots. When she was built she was christened Key Largo.

Finally, Monday evening, the white overlay on the name and it was complete.

We think she came out pretty nice.

Where were Dylan and Dee Dee for all of this, you ask? We deemed it unwise to allow them on the cockpit, so they had to supervise from the salon. But as you can see it turned out just right

Kangaroo Update

It's been about 3 weeks since we started Dee Dee on her new kangaroo based diet - you can buy it at Chewy.com. We used the Zignature Kangaroo Limited Ingredient Formula Dry Dog Food:

https://www.chewy.com/zignature-kangaroo-limited/dp/118059

It's not cheap but then our kids have been getting spoiled for quite some time now. Not only are they worth it, it's better than all those vet bills...

She gets kangaroo twice a day, breakfast and supper, and for treats we have been giving her small carrots. I had also purchased some fruit (no meat or grain) based treats but decided I wanted to keep things very clean in the beginning.

Even her daddy has been following the new diet rules despite Dee Dee's best efforts at wooing him. Could you resist that face?

Unfortunately, it means no plate scraps for Dylan either but Jeff has been putting some carrots on his plate so he can remain the world's most popular Dad - at least, in Dylan and Dee Dee's world.

So what has happen? We saw some results almost immediately. The paw licking reduced to where the sores have healed, her ears remain good, and her bottom scooting, well, that's almost stopped. We are continuing the diet and will switch Dylan over as soon as he empties that last bag of dog food. It just makes things easier. In another week or so, I will introduce one of the new treats and see what happens.

Overall, we are calling it a success. Thank you, Dr Skinner.

Morning Routine

One thing the kids on Red Head like is "the routine" - when they wake up (too early), when they have breakfast, when they have supper, and so on. They love a routine. It unsettles them when we are frequently moving. But as soon as we settle in for more than a day or two, they get right into a new routine.

We've been here at Zimmerman Marine for quite a spell now. Dylan and Dee Dee thought you might be interested in their Zimmerman routine.  As the temps here have risen above 100, their favorite part of the day is the morning and here is a sample of their morning routine.

After waking Mom and Dad soon after first light, 6:15-6:30, we all head out across the parking lot to a large field. Daddy is always sure to select a good throw toy.

Dylan and Dee Dee sit to have the leash removed and wait for the command.

Then it's a race into the tall grass looking for... well, we're not really sure because they typically just start eating grass. Although, one day Dylan spied a rabbit which caused much excitement all around.

Daddy tries to interest them in the throw toy which occasionally works but it's hard to compete with grass.

Unless it is an old, deflated beach ball.

Dee Dee captured that prize and quickly attracted Dylan's attention.

Then the fun began until tongues were hanging out and it was time to head back for breakfast.

On the dock they sit once again waiting for the command.

Then it's a mad dash for home where breakfast is consumed in a matter of seconds.

And there's more playing in the salon while Mom and Dad have their breakfast.

It's a hard life but they bear up well under the pressure.

Chewy.com is Here!

The box from Chewy.com arrived yesterday evening, unfortunately, too late for the kids' supper. We gotta keep to a schedule...

So this morning Dee Dee got her first helping of kangaroo. She liked it fine but then Labs really will eat pretty much anything. Since being at the vet's we've taken her off all treats, giving her carrots instead. She's already licking less, so we are hopeful this will work.

We'll keep you posted.

Kangaroo Anyone?

Since Dee Dee was a tiny pup we have had problems with ear infections. She visited half the vets along the Great Loop that first year. We've tried allergy medicine, ear washes, grain-free foods, fish only, even bison diets. Nothing worked over the long haul. Along with this she goes through periods of "nervous" paw chewing and bottom scooting.

It's a good thing she's so adorable...

Yesterday was August 1st. The first of every month is heartworm meds day. Dylan and Dee Dee each get a tasty chew that protects them from this deadly condition. They love their heartworm pills. But when I went to get two chews, I found only one. Aargh! That meant we had to find a vet.

Fortunately, the two terrific women in the Zimmerman Marine office, Dee and Trish, recommended Hartfield Animal Hospital and Dr. Skinner. He looked her over and said, "She has food allergies." We described what we had done. He asked, "Have you tried kangaroo?' Hmmmmm.... no.

It turned out Dr. Skinner is very much into treatment through nutrition. And he's a vegan. Needless to say, we hit it off. But where do we get kangaroo based dog food? "Are you familiar with chewy.com?" he asked. Were we familiar... We LOVE Chewy.com.

So as soon as we emptied our pockets of all our money at the vet, Mom went right online and found the goods. Of course, she also had to order some treats - she found some banana ones, Dee Dee's favorite.

Dylan and Dee Dee don't mind the vet. To a Lab all attention is good attention. But they are happy to be back home. Keeping fingers crossed that Dee Dee's problems will soon be in the past.

Oh, and Dylan's check up was perfect, of course. He's such a good boy.