Mark Eaton's Story

I have mentioned my dogs in previous posts, but I would like to tell you about Mark Eaton, my mutt.

Mark is my pound puppy. My now husband and I had just started to date and he had to put his Boston Terrier down, so it was a tough time. I was working at Starbucks and going to school and the one day a guy came through the drive thru with the cutest puppy ever. Of course I asked him where this cute puppy came from and he told me the local shelter. So since I knew where to find really cute puppies, I got home and immediately told my now husband that we must go see! He wasn’t too thrilled at the idea at first because he missed Odie but he eventually took me.

So we went to the shelter that the guy at the drive thru said he got his puppy from, but they didn’t have any more left. There was another couple there that was looking for an older dog and overheard us talking and told us that at another shelter down the road, where they just came from, had a bunch of puppies. So off we went!

We got to the other shelter, and to this day, I 100% guarantee I could never get there again. It was in a really odd place and I remember it being in the middle of nowhere. But anyways, there is where we found Mark! He was in a cage that had another cage on top of it. It was just him and his brother, but his brother kept barking. Mark just sat there looking so cute and not barking, crying, anything. I felt so bad for him though because he had some poop on his head because his cage was not the cleanest, so I just had to take him home and give him a bath. (Side note – we made sure his brother got adopted!)

So we adopted Mark, which can I just tell you seems like more paperwork than adopting a child, and my now husband named him Mark Eaton after his favorite hockey player. Mark became an immediate addition to our still fairly new relationship, but he also helped us grow closer. I honestly believe that every couple should have to take care of a puppy before they have a child. You really get to see how each other is going to be with taking care of something else, especially something that poops, pees, cries, gets dirty, needs attention and wants to play when all you want to do is sleep.

Mark has since grown out of his playing days. Sure, he’s a bit overweight, loves to eat (veggies oddly enough) and he acts like an old dog but he is just 4 years old. For Christmas one year, my mother-in-law had a DNA test done on him because we truly did not know what breed he was. Some people would say lab, others – including the vet – said he probably had some pit bull in him, and we knew that he had some sort of pointer in him just because he would point at things in the yard. Turns out he is a crazy mix of Dalmatian (he only has like 15 spots on his chest), German Shepherd (which is mostly what his mom was, we saw her), German Shorthaired Pointer (yup) and Pekinese (ummm…that is a tiny dog. Mark is NOT tiny).

But I don’t care what Mark is. He is my best friend, my baby…my husband knows it too. If I start to think about Mark not being with me, it just gets bad. Like right now, tears. Uhg. I know he won’t live forever, but I am saving up now to clone him.

We all have had special pets, but Mark has beat out any others that I have had (or have). Don’t get me wrong, I love Axel (our other dog) but Mark is mine and he stole my heart the first time I saw the poop on his head!

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Adventures in Doggie Sitting

My mom is on vacation and while she is away I have taken ownership of her dog, Liberty. We did a trial run in March just to make sure all parties involved adjusted to the arrangement. So I am now 5 days into her 11 day stay. And things are going pretty smoothly. But it is a change for me. I get up earlier so I can walk and feed her. I don't run errands after work so I can walk her again since she has been cooped up inside all day.


Since I live in an apartment and don't have my own yard, she can't go outside by herself. She is used to having a fenced-in backyard where she can run around and lay outside if she chooses. I walk her twice before going to work and 2 or 3 times between coming home and going to bed. Thankfully she does really well on a leash.


She can be a little demanding. If she wants something, she will hit you with her paw. She'll usually hit you on the leg because that is what she can reach. But this morning, I heard her hit my bed twice before 6 am. She was ready to go outside. I was not. We eventually went outside, but after 6 am. She may be demanding, but I am still the boss.


Overall, it has been a pleasant experience. I will miss her when she goes home with my mom. It is nice to see her so excited when I come home. I talk to her and pretend that she cares what I am saying. I had to run to the basement to change over my laundry after walking her and I asked her to wait for me. And when I came up she was sitting on the landing waiting just like I asked.


I do want a dog of my own, but I am still determining if I want the full-time responsibility. Time will tell, but for now I am good with my house guest.

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Was I Even on Vacation?

When most people say they are going on vacation that usually means rest, relaxation, fun and quality time with family and friends.  That’s at least what I expected when I decided to visit my grandparents, with my parents, in New Bern, NC.  But vacation wasn’t exactly what I got.

I consider myself to be pretty lucky as I am fortunate enough to be in my thirties and still have my gram and pap on my mom’s side still alive and kicking.  The only time I really get to spend time with them is when they come up here twice a year.  In fact, I think the last time I was down there was about six years ago.  So when my parent’s told me that they were going down for eight days over spring break, I figured I should really make the effort and go with them. 

Picture it…

My mom, dad, their 60lb dog and me all traveling 9 hours in a car together to visit my 85 year old grandparent’s in their retirement town!  Not to mention the fact that my parent’s waited until the last minute to tell me that “oh by the way, you (meaning me) and dad are going to be re-doing gram’s kitchen.”  WHAT?! 

My parent’s picked me up at 3 a.m. on Friday morning.  That actually worked out quite well for me.  I worked at the bar all day on Thursday and decided to stay a little late and have a few cocktails.  By the time they picked me up, I had a nice little buzz going for me and I crawled in the back seat and passed out for 7.5 hours.  When we arrived, grammy and pap were super excited to see us.  The rest of the day, we just sat around and chatted and got a good old-fashioned Domino’s game going.   Then it was time for bed….I’m a 6’ tall woman and they have me sleeping in a twin-sized bed with a mattress that is literally over 50 years old.  It was my mother’s bed when she was a girl.  The next day I woke up and dad immediately had me working on the kitchen.  Removing all the doors and hardware and taking everything out to the garage where he began to sand everything down.  The next day, we moved into the kitchen and sanded everything down in there.  The day after that, we primed everything and the following day, we painted everything.  Then I had the fun task of scrubbing all of the hardware and repainting those.  Finally, we got a day off where we went to the beach and did lots of antiquing (I love antiquing so this was a good day).  Oh and keep in mind too, that I had 7 trade shows happening coast-to-coast during this “weeks’ vacation” so I was constantly having to check email and take phone calls to help people out.  Then the highlight to my days came each night when I had the pleasure of taking my family’s money during Domino’s (this was awesome).  We then gathered in the family room to watch about an hour of TV - on mute -  (pap doesn’t like the noise) and then off to my bed that was way too small with its 50 year old mattress for little to no sleep.  Good times right?  I was literally counting the seconds until we left for home.

Don’t get me wrong, I adore my grandparent’s and parent’s and I like hanging out with them and playing Domino’s but spending eight days with them on no sleep while re-doing their kitchen and taking care of stuff for my “big girl” job…that was no vacation.  It was kind of like hell.  JK!  I am glad to be back though. I missed my hubby and my normal, busy routine.

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