Rocky's first tropical storm

Rocky experienced his first "hurricane day" last Tuesday when Tropical Storm Edouard made its way across downtown Houston. With work canceled for the day, Rocky, David, and Rocky's grandparents (who'd come down for summer vacation) and I watched the Bayou fill with water (see photo).

Rocky's 4th of July

Rocky celebrated the Fourth of July at his friend Rover's s house eating hamburgers and hot dogs and relaxing by the pool. Later that night he watched fireworks from Buffalo Bayou Park in the Heights.

Friday night in H-town

This Friday night David, Rocky, and I decided to explore the new Discovery Green in downtown Houston. Dedicated in April '08, the 13-acre park is complete with a large lilly-pond, fountains for children to play in, several restaurants, and Rocky's favorite: a bark park!!! You can read more about the new park at http://www.discoverygreen.com/.

Here are a few photos of Rocky on his downtown adventure ... in front of the Toyota Center and at Discovery Green.

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY, ROCKY!!!

Rocky had a wonderful first birthday! Kady, Ellie, Rover, and Badger celebrated with him - the doggies enjoyed swimming in their puppy-pool and ate delicious peanut butter flavored doggie birthday cake (with easy-cheese icing!) and Purina "frosty paws" ice cream.

Memorial Day Weekend

Rocky, David, and I had a relaxing 5-day long Memorial Day weekend in and around Houston. We headed down to Surfside beach and grilled some delicious shrimp. Rocky still is not very fond of the water but he loves hanging out on the beach.



We also decided to take up a new hobby : refinishing furniture. After an exciting morning at Lowes where we obtained all the gels, goos, and gunks. that we needed, Rocky and I spent the next two days in the backyard stripping and re-staining a coffee table that David generously donated to the experiment. We're not sure Rocky completely understood, perhaps he thought we moved the furniture into the backyard just for him!

Rocky and Rover late night

Rocky and Rover enjoyed Stephanie and Dave's tailgate couple's shower - and especially enjoyed stealing the beer pong balls whenever they could!


1.Rocky and Rover playing. 2. Me, the bride to be, and our crazy puppies

Rocky on his Sunday morning jog.

At David's house Rocky prefers to sleep on the couch ... with a pillow!

Rocky and DLG

New Bed!!!

Rocky loves his brand new bed!!!

Swimming!

Today Rocky went swimming for the first time! Usually he waits on the banks of the bayou while the other dogs play but today he plunged right in after them - must have been the warm spring weather in Houston.

The dog ate my homework!

Rocky is showing an interest in finance at a young age - today he munched on David's homework!

Happy Valentine's Day !!!!

Happy Mardi Gras

Rocky really seemed to enjoy his first Fat Tuesday.

Super Sunday

On Super Bowl Sunday Rocky turned 8 months old and weighed in at 34 lbs (see updated growth chart). He celebrated with some BBQ pork rib bones as he cheered the Giants to victory!

Rocky's First Christmas

Rocky's first Christmas was filled with adventure! He traveled 3,361 miles visiting family in Atlanta, GA, Hartsville, SC, and Pittsburgh, PA. He met his cousins, Sonny, Ben, Cassie, Millie, Molly, Tess, and Shadow. Though he loves all of his relatives it's clear that Rocky holds a special place in his heart for Millie. David's sister, Kristen, who is in her second year of vet school met Rocky and said that he is definitely an Australian Shepherd and not Rottweilier as we had thought. Here are some photos of the highlights of Rocky's journey North.






Rocky at the New River Gorge, West Virginia.... Rocky gets "body slammed" by DLG at the river house near Clemson, SC ..... Rocky and Shadow play in Pittsburgh, PA .... Rico impersonates Jesus using Rocky as his lamb.

Christmas Lights

Tonight Rocky went on a ride around Houston to look at Christmas lights. He even traveled 40 minutes outside the city to the Prestonwood subdivision, famous for it's themed Christmas light displays (http://www.hcnonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17556112&BRD=1574&PAG=461&dept_id=532256&rfi=6) This is a picture of Rocky at one of his favorite displays "The 12 days of Christmas - Texas style".

Rocky's visit with Santa

This morning Rocky and his friends Rover and Kady had their pictures taken with Santa.

New Tricks

Rocky shows off his skills

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas . . .

Rocky celebrated the start of Advent by helping to wrap presents!

Texas Hill Country

Rocky spent his first Thanksgiving hiking and camping in the Hill country of Texas. Here are some of his favorite photos from the trip!

From the top:

1. Gorman Falls in Colorado Bend State Park -Rocky's first hike. The falls are comprised of Travertine (calcium deposits) so they will continue to grow with time.

2. Rocky on the Colorado River 3. Rocky riding in the back of the X-Terra,

4. Rocky and David in front of the waterfall

5 months old

Today Rocky turned 5 months old. Look how much he has grown!

Happy Halloween!!!

Rocky dressed as a Pittsburgh Steelers fan for his first Halloweeen!

13 days of Halloween

Rocky,dressed in his new bandanna, prepares for his first Halloween by watching spooky horror movies with DLG.

Baby Geologist

When David asked me if I had seen Rocky's latest project I wasn't sure what to expect - please please not my leather purse I silently pleaded. He directed me to the backyard where I came across an eight inch hole and a pile of oysters!. It seems little Rocky dog has spent the past few days practicing his paleontology and excavating molluscs from the sediment.

The hole . . . and a mollusc shell.

Problem Solved!

For the past few weeks Rocky has been exploring the area underneath the house. While I'm not sure what or who else is under there he sure is interested! This wasn't really a problem at first ... at least not until he learned that he could walk under the house all the way out to the street and freedom! Ever since he has become quite the socialite paying regular visits to all the neighbors.

Yesterday afternoon David solved the problem with a quick trip to Lowes! Now when he puts Rocky out before bed he won't have to worry that he's out on a midnight adventure!

David's handiwork!!!!

At lunch today Rocky lost another tooth! This time from his lower jaw, probably another pre-molar, (P4) on diagram below.