Taking a Pack Swim!

WE headed out today to take a Pack Walk in the Gardens and low and behold, it turned into a Pack Swim in the Lake! It was a beautiful day that turned out to be really warm and we had the entire beach to ourselves!

Along the way - collecting tree cotton

Hanging out on the cliffs and nope, I didn't lose anybody! I can't recommend small children, cliffs, and jostling dogs to be a very safe activity but it sure is fun!

We may be weird but we sure have fun together!

There's always got to be at least ONE clown...

Throwing rocks off of the cliff

Plunk. Glad Bridger thought twice before he launched himself after it- especially since I was holding the end of his leash!

Enjoy your fame now while you can, Cesar, cuz there's a young whisperer coming up in Uganda!

Two young Ugandan whisperers, in fact. Must get these children more dogs...

Then the walk turned into a SWIM! Bridger kindly gave the pups some swimming lessons.


Sometimes it just sucks to be three year old human who wears clothes :) After several trips up and down the beach screaming, he finally got his shirt off, ALL BY HIMSELF!!!

Ella kept saying how she liked the "green water" and wasn't this so much better than a swimming pool because it was so much cheaper? Gotta love our perpetual optimist! And cheapskate ;)

Without thinking, little Madea jumped in after some birds!

Whew!

Frank literally streaking down the beach after his sister :) Don't worry, there was no one else on the beach so no, we are NOT going European!

The kids were entertained by throwing sticks (or a feather) to themselves and then chasing it. Bridger has trained them well I think!

Chewing a bone on the beach...

I enjoyed watching these fisher men fishing with their net

Doing laps... I gave up after a few times of telling her not to get her hair wet!

Sanyu is my partner. She sat beside me like this on the beach the entire time. She isn't a water dog and attacks people (for fun) if she's off her leash, so beside me she had to remain.

Fun just isn't fun unless you have a good stick to play with!

Running and jumping into the water!

Tired, wet and happy :)

A Bronco update and playing with The Pack

Bronco has fully recovered from his mange, he's fattened up and he doesn't yowl anymore! He is a happy, fat little (he seemed to stop growing because of his mange and treatment so he is tiny) cat and we enjoy him a lot. I'm not much of a cat person but I really do like this cat now!


He still enjoys playing with the puppies and so is usually covered in slime and dirt but the night prior to this I plopped him in the tub with the kids and gave him a bath. He did great and everyone came out in one piece!


Madea, none the worse for wear only two days after her operation showing off her shaved tummy and stitches! I was amazed at how quickly she recovered from her operation - on Sunday she was eating and charging around as if nothing had even happened!

The Pack - I love this crew because they all look so different! Yet the same, if you know what I mean :) I am totally sold on "local" breed Ugandan dogs. They are a bit smaller than western breeds (and crosses) and so eat less, are a lot smarter and are better guard dogs!

The kids have taken to pretending they're Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer. It is hilarious! The other night there were two Cesar Millan's in the bathtub rehabilitating an "aggressive" rubber duck and a boat :)

Think Cesar ever plays with his pack in his underwear, with a zip lock bag full of beans? Maybe when he was three...

Ella and the Pack

The kids got some valentines gifts from their Granny and Aunt Becky. One of them was a DoodleTop which Ranger was fascinated by!

He spent forever watching it! We don't trust Ranger though because he is a notorious toy thief.

Madea thought it was pretty cool as well!

Evened out!

Well, Ella lost TWO more teeth this weekend! She finally lost her other front tooth and her other bottom one so she's a little more evened out now, bless her goofy little heart :)

We have to chop up her food now so that she can eat!

My "little princess" went to church today decked out in her new birthday dress (can you say SPARKLES?!!!) complete with her little purse, which contains her hankie and offering. I caught a glimpse of her out the window playing with the other children in the grass, running along behind someone full tilt swinging her purse above her head much like a lariat. Hmmmm.

On the way home she told me, "Blessed touched my butt. I told him not to and if he did it again that I would hit him with my purse." Um, okay. Not a bad thing to learn to beat the boys off early I guess... Then she continued, "And a little girl kept touching my dress and I told her that if she didn't quit I'd hit her with my purse too!" Ha!! Now I know why the kid likes to take along her purse! I'm beginning to wonder if maybe she's seen too many Tyler Perry's plays.... When she starts carrying a gun in her purse I guess I'll know!

The spaying of our puppy

One of the great things about living in Uganda is the laid back pace and affordable and friendly veterinary services available. We scheduled to get our five month old puppy, Madea, spayed today and I asked if we could watch. No problem said Dr David! Ella had been looking forward to this for a very long time. She loves movies with operations in them and generally just enjoys anything that has to do with blood. So I figured that this would be a great opportunity for her to an operation "live". And it was!

Preparing the pup for surgery - I love Ella's attentive face!

First step, shave the belly, apply antiseptic and make the first incision through the first layer of skin

Poke poke! In goes the finger to look for the right ovary

The right ovary is found, pulled out and clamped

Could someone please hold her leg? Two little hands were quick to be volunteered!

The serious little vet assistants :)

This is tying an artery up so that our puppy doesn't bleed to death

I loved Frankies face in this one - wonder what he's thinking?!

Finishing tying up something

Dr. David at work - he is a great guy and was so patient with the kids describing exactly what he was doing.

Pulling out the left ovary and the uterus - can you say ouch?!

Madea's left ovary and the uterus (left) and the right ovary (right)

The vet and his rapt audience :) They gave them a chair to stand on so that they could see well.

Nothing like playing with your puppies ovary! The kids were fascinated that it had actually come out of their puppy! My favorite was at the end when the vet said "Let's throw away the uterus - you're done playing with it now." How many kids are told that?!

The knocked out patient

Getting ready to be stitched up

I was surprised that Frankie wanted to play with it too - usually he doesn't like to touch anything slimy or get his hands dirty. But he certainly didn't seem to mind this at all!

Another great quote from the vet - "You want to see an intestine?" The kids - "Yes!" Then he asked them if they ate offals, which is cow intestine. Thank God they don't!

Getting stitched back up. I didn't realize that there are THREE layers that needed stitched. This is a picture of the first most inside layer getting sewn up.

Stitching the middle layer

Stitching the outside layer.

Dr. David is a chimpanzee vet with the Uganda Wildlife Authority and he says that this is how you have to stitch up chimps too so that they don't pick out their stitches.

Done!

Collin, the assistant, washing up Madea's tummy when she was done

Ella's attention never waned- she was intrigued to the bitter end :) I was happy that the kids had this opportunity to see an operation done and I thought it was pretty interesting as well! I had seen our dog spayed when I was about 11 years old and it was even more interesting to watch now that I'm an adult.

Good times in Uganda people, good times... :) And the price for all of this? $35. And the kids were even given cake!