"What part of 'give me a treat' don't you understand?"

Puppies can turn your life upside down! In the past couple years, I've gotten extremely bad at updating this site. My apologies. I cannot bring myself to just "end" blogging, but I also find it hard to put the discipline back into it as I once had. Heck, I joined Facebook and then realized that the status updates go away after awhile and got really mad at the service (well, not really mad, just disappointed) and stopped posting for over a month.

But back to Kurka. He's adorable. He's wonderful. He's a bundle of trouble and he brings a world of joy. He's a handful and the main reason my plants didn't fair so well this past summer. Kurka demands attention and gets it - rightfully so.

He is almost 7 months old now and about 14 pounds. The woman I got him from said he's be 10-12 pounds. I didn't believe her and guesstimated 20 pounds on my own. Which I'm more than okay with.

Kurka has been neutered and had his dew claws in the back removed. He has a chip in his neck in case he ever gets lost and he has plans for trick-or-treating this Saturday night.

He's smart too. Crazy smart. He picks up a new trick just about every week. Since we started working on tricks, he has added Sit, Lay Down, Sit Up, Shake, and Speak to his bag. He's doing okay with High 5. Crawl, Play Dead, Roll Over, Whisper, and Tell Me a Story are in our plans for the next month. As I type this, I might add Don't Chew on Mama's Scrapbook Supplies to the list. But he does know Give Kisses!

I mentioned crazy smart right? About a week and a half ago, I had a cold. Just an annoying sinus thing going around, but the stuffy head gave me a headache. The little bundle of joy decided that was the time to play with the loud toy that is two heads/balls attached with a plastic rope. Both heads have a squeaker in them. My head hurt and I said, "Kurka, let's pick a different toy. This one is too loud." He sat down with the toy and proceeded to rip the squeakers out of both heads! He hasn't done that to any other toy. It was an odd coincidence, but one that made Mama proud.

Kurka has started wearing bandannas now. It is really cute! Today is a new purple bandanna. He has inherited some of Taco and Chip's old items - the new dogs at "Grandma's" don't really do much playing or traditional dog activities. That's unfortunate, but the consequence of being rescue dogs who never got a chance to play as puppies. Kurka is helping each of them out of their shells. Tonight he tried to get Annie to play tug-of-war with a toy. She didn't really get the game, but he tried and tried!

I mentioned inheriting items from Taco and Chip. On Halloween, Kurka is going to be a cowboy. He's wearing Taco's old costume, the one that Grandma made years ago. We're going to put Annie in Chip's old costume too and take them around the block.

Kurka reminds me of both Taco and Chip. He'll do something every day that brings them back into my mind. I love him on his own and I love him more for helping remind me of memories I had almost forgotten.

It is life changing to have Kurka in my home. I love him more than I could ever describe and think he's the best decision I ever made. Hopefully I'll keep up with telling stories about him here.

I hope all is well in the blogosphere. Sorry I've been distant and I hope I'll find a way to reignite this passion. Until the mood strikes again.