Maeby got to visit another canine cousin over labor day weekend. We went up to the Finger Lakes where my brother and sister-in-law live. Her cousin Saba is 11 years old and has just one good leg - she has two torn ACL's and an injured front leg from jumping out a second story window to get away from the noise of fireworks over the Fourth of July -- as such, she didn't seem to enjoy having a young whipper-snapper running around her territory and chasing her tennis balls, but there wasn't much she could do. They did have words though when Maeby landed on Saba as she was trying to catch a ball, there was much growling and snapping, but no blood was drawn and we got them separated. Most of the time they were cordial to each other.
A little info about Saba.
Saba is a rescue dog, we're not sure exactly what her heritage is, but she looks kind of like a tall Corgy. She is named after the Dutch Caribbean Island and is a allergic to most dairy and meats, so she eats vegetarian dog food. She is a really smart dog who used to take care of a cockatiel (that's a bird, not a bluish green cocker spaniel), until she passed away -- her duties included waking the bird, Dulce, up in the morning by removing the blanket on the cage and watching her intently when she was out of the cage.
Maeby also has a feline cousin who lives with Saba, Chico, but he stayed away from Maeby, they met once, but only long enough to sniff each other, then Chico took off into the garage.
Some Pictures of Maeby and Saba being cordial with one another:
Maeby decided to give Saba's vegetarian lifestyle a try and had her first taste of corn on the cob.
Maeby taunted Saba for a little while by running circles around her. Saba just growled and tried to snap at her, but was always a bit too slow.
Maeby also got to go down to the lake for some kayaking and swimming
Here she is checking out the water
Then on another day we took a hike up a nearby gorge. It was a beautiful hike and the slate stream bed was amazing. Then we walked back along fields of corn, alfalfa and soy.
Maeby trying to get dry - it was a losing battle
Maeby looking out contemplatively (is that word) over the fields of green
In this one I think Maeby looks like a frog. Her legs are too short to be able to run through the alfalfa, so she had to take a series of leaps to get through the field. In real life she looked more like a bounding deer, but this one is all frog - or maybe toad.
Today is election day! Maeby registed to vote with ACORN and got to vote by absentee ballot in Ohio. ;-)
Maeby didn't mind the costume, but wasn't a huge fan of the hat that came with it. The ear holes were too constricting.
And here she is asking if she really has to go outside dressed like this. Since our house never gets trick or treaters, the only way Maeby was going to get any attention in her costume was to go out for a walk. Plus it gave us an excuse to check out all the kids costumes in the neighborhood.
Most of the time she just seemed a bit wary of our kayaking skills. She always thought the other kayak would be safer. 
Action Shot!!!
A few weeks ago Maeby had a chance to have a sleepover. Jack's family went out of town and was staying with Romeo, but Romeo's family was leaving for vacation two days before Jack's family got back in town, so we invited Jack and Romeo to stay with us for those two nights, and boy was it crazy. We picked them up at 10:30pm on a Friday night, so by bed time, the three of them were just getting started running around the house. We were woken up every few hours by them running up and down the hall. Suzanne periodically opened her eyes to see three puppy noses peeking over the edge of the bed, and a couple times Romeo even jumped up on the bed, but sorry Romeo, our bed is a no-pup-zone. 
And now for another installment of Maeby: Year 1. The following pictures are from Maeby's second week in the family. She was just so little and cute and full of life. She kept us laughing, when she was good and kept us on our toes when wasn't so good - or should I say she kept on our toes as she liked to attack them as we walked down the hall. She was also kind of a handful with 
the little puddles she would leave in the middle of the floor and the stealing of slippers and socks from the bedroom. Thankfully she had a very noticeable poop-sniff, she spun around at least 5 times before squating, so we could usually catch her before she did the deed. Sadly though, when she was doing cute things we often didn't think to grab the camera, and when we did get the camera, she was usually too interested in the camera to continue doing the cute thing we grabbed the camera to take a picture of. And when we were able to get some pictures, she was usually running and bouncing and playing so much and so quickly it was difficult to get a good picture of her. So, many of the pictures that weren't blurred or out of focus were those from when she was sleeping. Sleeping on the couch, sleeping on the floor and sleeping on the air-conditioning vent to keep cool. 
And the next two are still two of my favorite Maeby pictures. They just show how full of joy and happiness she was. 
Recently we went to pick Suzanne up at the airport after a business trip. Unfortunately, her flight was delayed for about 5 hours, so Maeby and I had plenty of time to kill while we waited. We walked around, I took a nap, Maeby showed off her tricks to the crowd and I took some pictures of Maeby's adventures at Dulles (too bad all I had was my camera-phone).
© 2008 Jonathan Feinberg subscribe
Just kidding, the carousel was turned off when I put her on it, so don't think I put her in any danger. 