more gracie antics...

Sorry it has been so long since my last post! Time gets away from me and now the holidays are upon us. Gracie's first fall, winter and holiday season. I can't tell you how many leaves she's eaten. I'm just thankful she hasn't discovered acorns, because they are all over our front yard.
I took her with me to a WRNT event a couple of weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised at how big and spacious the park was where the event was located. There was a large open area amongst the trees that was perfect for Gracie to run around in. She was definitely in need of burning off some energy due to all the rain. Our yard has been a swamp and every time we let her out, she comes back in just caked with mud. Not a fun thing to bathe her either...she does NOT like baths! She had mud splattered all over the bathroom and me. Anyway, Gracie and Frick had lots of fun playing at the event. If you haven't heard of Frick you're missing out! He is an 18-month old Weim in rescue right now. He is smaller than Gracie and so cute! We dubbed him a 'sample' Weim. He came in with his brother...can you guess his name? Frack! I just love that! Well, Gracie was LOVING playing with him. She just pranced around him and would get in her play stance with her butt in the air and then attack him, or where she thought he was. Then she would just run in big circles in the grass. All was well until Jennifer (another rescue fanatic) and I turned our heads for 10 seconds. Next thing I heard was a loud yelp and turned to see that she had run, head on, into a tree! I'm pretty sure I lost the nomination for 'Rescue Mom of the Year' in that 10 seconds. Poor thing walked away from it with a limp and squinting one eye for a couple of minutes. But she does not want to be coddled! I was trying to inspect her for permanent or vet-required damage and she would not sit still and eventually wiggled out of my hold. I figured if she was good with it, so was I.
On to her next performance. She has had an on-going battle with the large kitchen appliances, specifically the dishwasher. The refrigerator is a lesser focus. She does not like it when we have anything hung on it. I usually put some of the girls' artwork or projects on the fridge with magnets. Well, this is another time when I would swear Gracie can see more than we think. If there is stuff hanging, she will pull it off with her teeth if she can reach it, or jump up so that she can reach it and pull it off. The girl likes a clean fridge...what can I say? So on to the dishwasher... She attempted to chew on it at first and when she realized it was a flat surface on the front, she found the edge at the bottom. She managed to get off the piece that holds the front panel on and from there it was game on! We hadn't put that piece back on so she was finally able to get the front panel off. There is an insulating piece on underneath that and she got that off the other day. After chasing her down to retrieve this before she ruined it, I put both pieces up so that David could put it all back together that night. Never short on determination, Gracie comes right back looking for something else to take off of the dishwasher. She tries to bite at it and realizes there is only the hard plastic part left and that seemed to really make her mad! She jumped back at first and then just started to bark at the dishwasher like crazy!!! It was hysterical. I have posted a picture of this in the latest album.
Act 3... This morning I was sitting at the kitchen table and she was attempting to bite/chew on the back of one of the kitchen chairs. I kept telling her 'No' and finally it got quiet. Okay, I need to describe the chairs. They are the kind with an 'X' shape in the backrest portion. At the bottom of the 'X' is a piece of wood. The end of the table that she was at is close to the wall and there is a dog bed there. Well, I look over to see why she is all of a sudden quiet and there she is with her head stuck in the chair!!! She had pulled on it enough that it tipped over backwards but stopped by leaning against the wall. She was sitting on the dog bed and her head was between the bottome part of the 'X' and the piece of wood underneath it. She wasn't at all upset, either. She was just looking at me. It took a bit of manuvering to get her out, though. She did not want to stretch her neck out so that I could remove her head. With some coaxing, we both came out of that unscathed. (Note to self...in the future, buy only 'solid' furniture without Gracie traps.:o)