Dream Angel's Paradise

Cookie's definitely the most energetic critter I've ever had around the house. We've had a lot of pets since I was a kid. Earlier this year, we had to put our 11-year-old Samoyed mix down due to a tumor on her spleen. A couple days later, despite our tears, we found Cookie here at the local animal shelter. Her initial name was Poppy because she's a good jumper. Here she is a few months after we adopted her with silly antennae on her head. She's the sweetest dog you'll ever meet, but there are times when her being a puppy still is something that tends to annoy. She can be overly playful and very energetic. It takes a lot to wear this dog out. Sometimes, that's a good thing and sometimes it's not.

I took this the day we adopted Cookie. She obviously bowled over my older brother. I caught the shot mid-fall.

Here's another funny shot. Like the bug nut I am, I went out and caught that Tiger Swallowtail. Here I had it out of the bug container and on my hand. Cookie got curious and when it tried to fly she barked at it.

Cookie is the ultimate babysitter. She is the one who misses Luke when he's at home and the one who is a master of peek-a-boo. She's very good at cleaning his often dirty face, too! These two are growing more and more inseparable every day.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... BALLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MY ball!!!!

In light of the recent discussions in my English 102 class having to do with poetry, I am now going to include an Ode I wrote in English 152 called "Ode to Soft Fur." Imagine, you have never seen any of the pictures of this page, read the Ode, then look at the pictures. You will see Cookie in a whole different light.

Ode to Soft Fur
Oh, the color of a loving creature, the soft black, light brown and gray of a sweet young dog. I speak and she looks up, eyes full of unconditional love, ears pricked. I scratch her between the ears and the lashing, feathery, tail stops wagging. I try to do my homework, she sits on my foot preventing me from going anywhere as if to say “do it right.” She is unhappy, I’m told, when I leave for school but overjoyed at my return. Her deep brown eyes say “I love you, play with me, please!” I do play with her and watch her bounce happily after whatever toy I throw for her to chase. It has been said dogs have a goofy, carefree attitude. Not this one. If I am sick, she barely leaves my side. If I am upset, she is there wanting me to pet her and feel better.
If you did not know her, her face would look like one of a bandit. Black fur surrounds her beautiful brown eyes interrupted by two small bands of brown giving her an almost angered expression. The black follows the bridge of her black nose, hemmed in by the soft brown. Oh, to stroke this soft fur is to stroke an angel’s wing. The fur on her back is several shades of black with the darkest in the shapes of symmetrical spots, thus how she earned her name of Cookie.
This is my loving one-year-old Australian Shepherd dog, Cookie.

Yes, Michelle, Yes, Stacie, you may continue discussing this Ode with all your classes!!!!

Sweet Cookie playing fetch with Luke. She's soooooooooo patient waiting for him to throw the ball.

Purdy, purdy flower!!

She's helping pack boxes for the move here. She blinked, so it looks like she's cringing saying, "We're MOVING?!"

She decided to pack her toys herself! This was a luck shot. I'd just thrown her toy and she was trying to figure out how to get to me to make me throw it again and the box was in the way.

Cookie wants driving lessons, Dad!

Cookie likes pumpkin....

YOU WILL BOW before the ROYAL Cookie!

PLAY with the Princess, NOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!

Princess witch?

Fairy Princess... watch out for that wand....

The story behind the story: I was playing with Cookie in the back yard and threw the ball against the back fence as usual, but instead of just bouncing back to the ground as usual, it got stuck in the tree. It was still in her reach, but she couldn't get it out of the tree. Seeing a funny situation and wishing I'd grabbed my camera before going outside with her, I rushed inside and grabbed the Hello Kitty camera Kurt had given me for Christmas (2008) and went back outside to try to get pictures of Cookie trying to get the ball out of the tree. I got several funny shots, but this one seemed to be the cutest. Then I remembered the little program that came with the camera having a little story maker. So, I wrote a little story to match the situation and picked an appropriate border. There's a moral to the story, too.

Fairy Cookie. Halloween 2009.

Cookie and I made an important discovery about the park within walking distance: it has a dog park. This is actually our second visit in this shot but it's also just inside the main double gate. If my shadow's any indication, I have her favorite ball in a Chuckit poised for throwing and she's poised for chasing. She looooooooooooooooooooooooves to play in the dog park and when we do play there, she comes back panting heavily and spends the remainder of the day sleeping off her exhaustion unless she needs to go out or eat.

Primarily for reference, this is our 2005 Ford Explorer and no, the date on the image is NOT wrong. This is so everyone can see how deep the snow is and when this was taken, it's clearly still snowing! Cookie's a nice, medium-sized dog and the snow's this deep on the car. For further reference, her back is right around the level of the top of the wheel well roughly. Now go on to the next images.

This is the day after the storm in the back yard. She was having fun jumping around in the snow Bambi-style until she found my pond the hard way and sank in to her back. She got out safely but it was funny to watch her find the deep spot. We played in the snow for a good half-hour.

No matter how or how much snow I throw, she has a ball chasing it as evidenced by this shot. It's all over her face and she's waiting for me to throw more snow!