It’s been a while since I’ve had the camera out. Here are some of the latest snap shots.

I cooked up my first batch of spare ribs the other day. This is just before they went under the broiler.

This is immediately afterward. After this I put them in the crock pot with BBQ sauce for about 8 hours on low. Turned out excellent. Got several ‘yums’ from Mrs. Shoo.

I took a day off today because Mrs. Shoo is on Spring break. We took the dogs out to one of the parks by the lake. Tons of smells and exploring for them.  It is hard to believe that Spring is here.

I was letting the dogs walk on the rocks. They kept going to this one spot and I couldn’t figure out why till I looked for myself. GaH! Snakes not on a plane!

Awkward family dog photos.

Buddy was breed to be a model. He does this pose very well.

It practically snowed all day today. I can’t want it to be spring any faster than now. Damn groundhog.

So the blog hasn’t been updated in almost a month. Ehh, shoot me. With a camera of course.

Clancy.

The house. Still a ton of DIY projects to do. But never enough time.

Our new pet. Don’t tell Sarah. She’s deathly afraid of them.

Me being artsy. Wired vs Wireless.

It’s been a while since I got some good shots of the dogs.

Clancy.

Buddy.

We don’t walk the dogs. Clancy usually walks us. He’s gun-ho turn it up all the way to 11, but please let me mark everything kind of dog. Buddy on the other hand starts out strong, but by the end is ready to plop down.

The weather has been incredible lately so we’ve been able to get a few more walks in than usual.

I brushed Clancy twice this weekend and combed out an extra dog each time.

I was digging for a feature photo for the site. This is from back in December when Sarah was making a doggy coat for my parents’ dog. Clancy was the victim model. You can see his doggy soul crying from the inside from embarassment.

The dogs are at war with us. Everyone knows war is disgusting, it stinks, it affects the environment. It’s just darn right messy.Their ammo; anything they can poop, pee, or expel.

For some reason both of our dogs, Buddy and Clancy, have had a darn right horrible time doing their ‘business’ outside. Bud especially. We can’t tell if it’s because they’re mad at us or we’re bad puppy parents.

Just before we left for vacation Bud took a piss on one of my shirts lying on the floor. The night we got back from vacation, just after being outside, he pissed on a pile of clothes.

I do have to say after thinking about it, Clancy has been doing a good job of keeping his end of the bargain outside. But he had a episode last night where he was throwing up. It was about 1am and he started up chucking. Sarah got up and saw the mess and went straight back to bed. She can’t stand the sound or smell of puke. Lucky me.

The poor dog threw up about 7 times. He really had a sick look on his face so I curled up with him on the couch and surrounded him with a bunch of old towels. He was better this morning.

And tonight, again after the dogs had been outside, Buddy took a crap on the stairs going down to the basement. We can’t confirm it was Buddy, but he’s number one on our list.

It’s unbelievable. I just hope it’s the cold weather that’s making them do this to us.

I was actually not a lazy bum this weekend.

Dad came over this weekend to help rewire and replace the front porch light and the foyer light. The wires for the lights had been cut over a year back when we were rewiring the basement lights.

One of the beauties of owning an older house is that everything is wired to the same circuit.

The greater part of Saturday we spent exploring the antique wiring and devising a plan on how to rewire everything. One of the best investments this weekend was a 25′ steel guide wire.

We would hook the guide wire to the old wire then pull the old wire out. Once the guide wire was through, then we would hook up the new wire and pull it back. This method worked extremely well.

Mrs. Shoo is extremely happy because this year we get to have Trick-or-treaters. Everyone stop by with your kids, we’ve got plenty of candy. I don’t need any of it. (I am sneaking a piece as soon as I hit publish)

Clancy is a special dog. You can get the wrong opinion of him within the first five minutes. He’s hyper, wants attention, likes to put his extra long legs on you. Especially when they’re muddy.

He’s special.

But wait around for about fifteen minutes and he calms down and becomes a regular cuddle bug (as Mrs. Shoo would say). Lately after work he wants all the attention he can get. He’ll get in your face like to say, ‘hey, ummm, you’ve been gone all day pay attention to me.’ He’s notorious for rolling over Mrs. Shoo’s laptop keyboard.

Clancy also likes to be in the middle of everything, even in the morning while I am getting ready. He’ll plop his butt down just outside the bathroom and watch me brush my teeth. Never inside the bathroom. He’s had one too many baths.

Buddy on the other hand is independent. He likes to say his hello’s, get a little scratch, then he’s off to be the protector of the backyard. He’ll curl up with a warm body, but sometimes when he can’t get comfortable he’ll jet off to the loveseat by himself or will go hide behind the couch.

Food time with the dogs. from gotshoo on Vimeo.

Found this gem of a video while going through the archives. We had only had Clancy a few weeks at this point. Hard to remember he was once a puppy.

The duo., originally uploaded by gotshoo.

You really can’t separate these guys without one getting upset.

Mrs. Shoo giving me her best fishy face.

Clancy is a special dog. I don’t know if it is a short bus kind of specialness, or a sweet cuddly attention whore kind of special. He’s our dog. We love him no matter what. Sometimes.

Saturday, I was getting the bikes ready to hit the Lost Bridge Trail. Mrs. Shoo was getting the required water bottles and locking the house up. It was a beautiful day and we were both psyched to hit the trail as it was our first official ride of 2008.

“Hey honey, I don’t think we have enough excitement in our lives. Can you make the dogs do something crazy?”

Mrs. Shoo is walking towards me when I hear her yell, “Clancy” as the dog with a mutated greyhound gene runs past at full speed. Nothing unusual as Clancy has gotten out before and it’s a small chore to get him back home. Usually. Today was different, he had the big prize in mind. He wasn’t going back easy.

At first he runs a few houses down, stops to smell a bush and pee on it. I am walking at a quick but medium pace because the minute you start charging after him, he books it. The dog must think it’s a game of chase because his tail is wagging and he’s got that look, ‘You’ll never catch me, suckers!’

As soon as I get within 20 feet he looks back and starts heading towards one of the busiest streets in Springfield, Wabash. Mrs. Shoo is behind me yelling at Clancy to come home, but every word must have antagonized him to run faster and further.

By this time Clancy is on the sidewalk that runs parallel with Wabash. I hop a fence to cut him off. Mrs. Shoo runs the pattern for the interception. As soon as I get close enough, Clancy dashes directly towards Mrs. Shoo. Were both thinking, this is it, we’re going to get the dog home.

Not a chance.

Clancy makes a dash right into oncoming traffic.

I don’t know what Mrs. Shoo was thinking, but I was just in disbelief.

The good Samaritan drivers must have been out Saturday because all four lanes stopped. Mrs. Shoo hi-tails it across the street as Clancy has decided that he’s going to check out the Inter Urban bike trail. Meantime, I am still standing in disbelief. Not only did the dog get across unharmed but Mrs. Shoo is sprinting like there is no tomorrow. I finally snap out of it and make an executive decision to get the car and pick them up.

Mrs. Shoo tells me that Clancy almost got hit by another couple of cars and almost took out a biker. His stopping point. A dog in a backyard. I pick the two up and Mrs. Shoo is happy and pissed at the same time. Her words, “I am happy Clancy didn’t get hit because I would have killed him if he did.”

Yup, he’s special alright.

 Taken a few minutes before these feet were in hot pursuit.

Shot from upstairs. Clancy has abnormally long legs.

Mother Nature just does not want to let it up. It’s suppose to get down to 36 tonight with a chance of flurries after midnight with no accumulation. I want it to be 65 and sunny now, please.