And Thry Called It Puppy Love

A few play dates with Daisy and seven puppies later...

We did not have the opportunity to see them right after birth. The owners of Daisy said that by the time we arrived, they had already doubled in size. I could hardly imagine as the puppies seemed tiny to me. One puppy did not make it, which naturally made us sad.

From the litter there were 2 male and 4 female and a variety of colors.  I fell for the Da Vinci look alike and Noah immediately began begging for the black one.

We had hoped to return, but it's just too tempting...I thought maybe we would end up coming home with a new Great Dane or two.

At six weeks old, I saw one of the owners and he had just captured a video of the puppies out playing and talk about adorable. 

Later in the month, all had found new homes but one. The Da Vinci look alike showed up at school and I quickly snuggled my grandpuppy one last time.

Traveling Book

The Original ABC Book of Great Danes book was lamenated. Fed Ex Kinkos then said it would be too difficult to bind. After much trepidaton, I finally found a way to hold the pages together--ribbons and bows.

One book was copied and pasted into a blank book.

Two books were saved and printed on Blurb, which are available for sale. 

Two of the books were copied and Spiral Bound. One was given to Noah's friend and cousin Johnathan. 

With the other, we would like to try an experiment. I saw the movie, "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants." That prompted an idea. What if we gave this book to someone to read. When that person finished, they could comment on the blog. Then they could select someone to pass the book on to and so forth. It would be interesting to see all the places that the book would travel.

Will you help in this experiment?

Da Vinici Has a Girlfriend

ABC Book of Great Danes

Noah had a school project. They were to write an alphabet book on something that was of interest to them. Noah chose to do it on his dog, Da Vinci. I thought it was so cute, I had to add to the illustrations and make it into a book to share.

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Tug-O-War

After a night's rest and a day in the kennel, Vinci has pent up energy. He does not know how terribly frightening he is to be around as leaps and bounds through narrow halls. Da Vinci also has a competitive edge. If he thinks you are either going up or down the stairs, he will mow over you just to be first. The other morning was no different. Normally, I dress in my room but I had laundry items all over the house. I grabbed by brassiere and headed down the stairs to finish dressing. Da Vinci's feet of thunder began and the race was on. I tried to get out of the way. I felt a tug at my arm and then a snap and quick release. Da Vinci's schozznla found the armhole of my brassiere. The speed and force of one Great Dane dog made the elasticity obsolete. There I stood with only half of my undergarment. Oh my mischievieous dog...Dog's do not wear BRAS!

Dogs and Homework

Some kids say, "The dog ate my homework!"

Some teachers think, 

"That is a lame excuse for not coming to school prepared."

AND some student's HOMEWORK IS THEIR DOG!

Thanks for not eating my homework Da Vinci.

Assignment: 

Measure at Least 10 Items in a Different Units

 Compare and Contrast Size to Other Common Items

Guess what Noah chose to measure?

"DA VINCI DAYNE GROENDYKE"

An excerpt from my mom:

*Do Dogs Eat Homework?

Myth?

Fact?

Both?

All the cartoons and comics elude to the idea it is a common story of the imagination used to explain to teachers the reason for no assignment. Growing up...it was a joke teachers would use or hear on many occasion. I was a conscientous student and so I did not know what to believe. Usually, I would roll my eyes after seeing an expression of disbelief on the other observer's face.

In High School, I was an avid journal writer as were most of my friends. I selected lovely hard bound jounals in which to record my words.  A fantastic English Teacher, Mrs. Clark requested the first portion of  her class be devoted to journal writing in hopes of developing better, more free, writers...a chance to practice what we learned in class. Every week we would turn in those journals. She would glance through the pages, make a comment, initial and return on Monday. I had made special arrangements to turn in my hard bound journal instead of a class notebook so I would not have to do the same assignment twice. She agreed.

My brother's Bryan and Richard talked my parents into a puppy, a Beagle named Bruiser. He was adorable until I walked into my room to get my special journal. Today we would turn it into Mrs. Clark. When I spotted my journal, I cringed. Cute little Bruiser had used it for a chew toy. There were bite marks around the perimeter of my book and there was one corner where there was a whole bite taken from the cover and first several pages. Being a perfectionist, how could I continue to write in this marred journal? How could I possibly turn this into Mrs. Clark? How could I NOT turn my journal in on time? I would have to tell her the infamous words, "My dog ate my homework." As I weighed my pros and cons, I knew the best thing to do was to turn it in.

On Monday, my chewed uo journal was returned. I flipped to the end of the entries to see her initials and comment, "It looks like someone was hungry. :)" I was so grateful she had a sense of humor. I was able to convince my need for perfection that a "dog bite" gave my journal character. I also had physical proof and evidence to doubting teachers as to whether or not dogs eat homework. They do. Now the question will be which students have nibbling puppies and which students are unprepared?

As an adult living with a Great Dane...the better question is,

"What do dogs NOT EAT?"

Privacy Please

Mom says that if you want to come upstairs then you have to bathe with soap and water at LEAST every week. Good luck with that one.

Why Mom Says We Can't Get a Yorkie

DA VINCI ! ! !

Here is why mom says I can't get a YORKIE

You would think he was a stuffed toy

Poop Squad

Personalize a free digital collage Here is a real life application of math.

Big Trouble

Sometimes Da Vinci gets in big trouble with my mom. 

This is how she tells the story:

Speaking of Da Vinci, our "sugar coated" dog, he is big. No, he is huge and weighs about 110 pounds. Me oh my, is he ever strong. I have been bucked off, knocked over and smashed more times than I could count. If we had purchased him as a full grown dog, I would have been terrified, but he was a puppy and I learned to love this dog and grow with him. I am sure he was just as afraid of others as they are of him. The moment there was a knock at the door, he would race to his kennel. Then, Da Vinci would scoot to the back as far as he could and bark incessantly as if to say, "get away . . .you frighten me. . . don't you dare get near me." Others perceive his bark as, "I am going to eat you up, tear you to shreds, and throw your remains to the birds." Da Vinci is also very protective and if there is even the appearance of someone hurting Noah, Da Vinci is there with a vengence ready to nip and defend .

At our home, we take turns taking Da Vinci out. It is not my favorite of duties, but I would rather do that than clean up his duty inside the home. We are sure to put him on the leash so that he will not go after someone or something . . . or run away for that matter. For the most part, it has not been a problem. I have more trouble getting him back into the kennel. When Rick is away, I cross my fingers that I will be able to find something in which to bribe him. I have been late for work a few times while I waited for Rick to come home and do what I couldn't do . .  put Da Vinci in the kennel. The bribe used to work beautifully, but he was on to me. I would throw the treat into his kennel. Rather than obediently stepping into his kennel, he would put two paws in and leave two paws out. That way, he could still have the treat and I was unable to shut the kennel door. The moment the kennel door begins to shut, he would push his big rumbumpus up against me and pull a reverse.

One particular weekend Rick was out of town. My biggest worry was seeing that Da Vinci made it back into the kennel before Church started. Noah and I were already running late. I was dressed in a skirt, white dress sandals with a heel, and my hair completely finished. I had leashed Da Vinci. All seemed to be running smoothly. He stopped abrubtly. His ears perked up and then without warning took off full speed after a cat he had spotted. I screamed at Da Vinci while holding on to his leash with all my my might. I could not keep up with him in my Sunday shoes and yet I was unwilling to let go. The cat jumped the fence and so Da Vinci made a sharp u-turn. At that moment, I envisioned myself at the end of a long line of people at Classic Skate. The good old " CRACK the WHIP " game.  I flew and I mean my feet left the ground. It all happened so quickly. I landed on the blue wheelbarrow and down into a pile of Da Vinci's poop . . . his crap! I was hurt something awful and I did not even know how to explain what happened to my pride. The next thing I knew, Da Vinci was chasing that cat down the street. I could hear Da Vinci's nails on the concrete. I stood, brushed off my knees and went to retrieve that darn dog. I was still shaking. I looked over the wall and thought, "that cat is toast . What will I tell the cat's owner? Will Da Vinci even come back? "

Da Vinci did come back and fortunately without a cat. I grabbed his leash and immediately took him inside. Noah had been waiting to put Da Vinci in the kennel so we could worship on the Lord's holy day.  I had holy crap that needed to be wiped off. After I had cleaned up and my knees had stopped shaking, Noah and I headed for church. . . Da Vinci of course would be in the dog house with me for months to come.

Da Vinci's Fortune

Da Vinci loves people food. 

Tonight I asked to have Chinese food. 

Da Vinci is ready for any thing left on our plates. 

He  ate a fortune cookie with the paper in it. 

That is okay because he can't read anyway. 

Yikes! He is going for the lo mein.

Lullabye

We like to sleep on the couch sometimes. 

I like it when Da Vinci snuggles up to me. 

Sometimes he snores. 

It is funny to watch him sleep. 

Sometimes his legs and tail twitch. 

My dad thinks he is dreaming. 

It looks like we all sleep in spots. 

Ruff! Ruff! Ruff! and Good Night!

Sharp Teeth

Da Vinci has real big, scary teeth. 

Sometimes when he is playing with me, he nips at me. 

I am not afraid of his big teeth but all my friends are. 

Ruff you later.

A word from my mom.

Da Vinci truly is the gentle giant type of dog. I do not think he would intentionally try to bite me, but he can't help having those teeth get in the way if he needs to grasp something. Rick put a piece of bread on my lap. Da Vinci loves bread. I scooted the bread off on the floor and scolded Rick. Rick responded, "he is not going to bite you." I replied, "I know he is not going to bite me. I do know he is going after the bread and the bread is on my lap and in grabbing the bread, those gihugeous sharp teeth just might get a part of my leg...therefore and hence, I am bitten by default." Rick rolls his eyes and I can tell he has a point to prove. 

Rick will often put a food item in his mouth in which Da Vinci will take the food from Rick's mouth on command, so I was not surprised when he put a piece of bread in his mouth and told Da Vinci to come. Da Vinci jumped up and grabbed the piece of bread. Rick yelped, "oooowwwww" and Da Vinci ran into his kennel with the piece of bread. There was Rick, standing still as blood dripped down his nose. Da Vinci did not bite Rick. His tooth scratched Rick's nose as he took the bread from Rick's mouth...

I shouldn't laugh, but Rick proved MY POINT..."oh you mean like that ??? Rick ??? that is why you want me to let the dog eat off my lap so I can bleed??? hardly." Then Rick had the nerve to scold me for laughing at his stupidity.  Every time I saw the scab and Rick's nose, I was reminded that Rick proved MY POINT...VICTORY!

Dog Tricks

Da Vinci can do some tricks.

 He can sit. 

He can stand up for a few seconds. 

He will lie down and loves to play with toys. 

This is my dog watching me and my dad play pool.

This is Da Vinci shaking my dad's hand.

There isn't really a big enough dog dish to hold his water.

 Da Vinci drinks out of the sink.

Ruff some more.

Ruff some more water.