Athena - Under the Tree

Dale posted the above photo and and following journal entry on his blog the other day:

"Joe made this collage of pictures of Athena he took last night while we watched It's a Wonderful Life. It is indeed."

I agree.

Athena 2013

Christmas 2013 - Season's Greetings from Athena

Christmas 2013 - Doggie Cheeze Whiz

Shopping for Athena on Christmas Eve. No, she didn't get a stuffed toy. She got some doggie Cheeze Whiz which can be seen in the lower right hand corner of the picture. She loves that stuff.

Christmas 2013 - Checkin' It Out

This picture was taken a few days ago. Athena is very curious.

Christmas 2013 - Walking Athena

Athena also got some nice walks on Christmas Day.

Christmas 2013 - Walking Athena

Athena had a great Christmas. She got a lot of doggie cheese whiz in her kong and also a few more people-food scraps than she usually does.

Holiday Season 2013 - Dale and Athena

Athena kept Dale company on the couch while I was putting Christmas lights on the tree.

Athena on Thanksgiving Day 2013

I was trying to get her to look at the camera but she had to get a kiss in.     11-28-13

A Gift for Athena

At school I talk to my class about Athena quite a bit. A little girl in my class gave me this cute monkey as a present for Athena. Quite cute.

Linus and Snoopy

Halloween 2013

Athena was fascinated by the pumpkin. She even got to try a few seeds. She liked 'em!

Sleepy Girl

Athena's tired. Dale and I have been on a four day weekend so she's gotten a bit of extra attention/exercise. A couple of days ago we walked her all the way around Lake Nokomis.

Athena's Hungry

Athena can get really aggressive with Dale when it's getting close to her dinner time. In the photo below, she's getting pretty assertive about wanting to eat. Dale got her to wait about 20 more minutes.

Athena at the Tennis Court

This photo was actually taken last month on a lovely walk we took with Athena.  We went over to the tennis courts on Bloomington Avenue where we used to take Sophie long ago. As a puppy, Sophie had so much energy that we would take he on long walks.  Having this tennis court as a destination allowed her to really peal out and expend even more energy.

Sophie's Ashes

Dale and I finally spread Sophie's ashes today. I put some in a small vessel but the rest we poured around our backyard pine tree, not far from where we first found her in our driveway way back on that cold January day in the year 2000.

Athena At the Powderhorn Art Fair

From Dale's blog dated August 3, 2013:

"Joe and I headed to the Powderhorn Art Fair at Powderhorn Park, which is close to our house. Minneapolis, being artsy as all get out, has three major art fairs going on this weekend - Uptown, Loring and Powderhorn. Uptown is ridiculous with 100,000 plus people and kind of commercial IMHO, Loring is more local but really packed and Powderhorn is the most local and has a good number of people but not just teeming. I really like this one. We took Athena to get her some culture. All she cared about was food and sniffing butts. Some people's dogs..."

I will add that Athena was something of the belle of the ball.  Not only were dogs all a-twitter about her but a good number of people made nice comments about her as well. The red bandana that Dale tied on her, I'm sure, didn't hurt.

Our girl is just now turning 6. 

Athena's Report Card

During a recent trip to Chicago we boarded Athena.  Here is the report card we received when we picked her up.

Athena On the Island

Athena seemed to relax easily on our most recent trip to visit Dale on Madeline Island.

Athena Is Good Company

Dale's up on the Island until July and I miss him very much.  It is so nice to have Athena to keep me company.  Sophie died in May of 2011 so I went two summers on my own.  I mentioned more than once during Sophie's time how much I appreciated her company when Dale was gone.  Now I'm really enjoying having Athena here with me.

More Shady Characters

Athena and the Snowpeople

Once we began to get snow this past winter it became apparent that Athena finds snowmen to be highly suspect. She'd see the form from a distance and would react the way some dogs do to the mailman. She'd have to get pretty close to realize that there was no real threat. God bless this funny dog. The photo shows an actual "person" of interest. 

Walking Athena

This photo was taken June 1, 2013. Dale usually takes care of walking Athena in the morning but now that he's on the Island it's up to me. I was sooooo spoiled!

Lodging with Athena

My brother Sam and his family live in Leavenworth so we stayed with them on our trip there this past Memorial Day weekend. She did really well in their house and my nephew's really adored her. They asked their mother more than once if they could have a dog. To their dismay her answer was no. The above photo shows Athena resting after our long day of travel on Saturday. She decided to sleep with one of my socks. 

Drive to Leavenworth

We recently got back from that trip to Leavenworth that Dale described in the last post. We actually decided to drive straight through starting Saturday morning and not stay in a hotel. Never-the-less, Athena did very well in the car and proved herself to be a worthy little travel companion. We rented a mini van and Athena pretty much had the whole back of the vehicle as her travel suite. 

Also from Dale's Blog

Dale posted the following on May 20:

"Joe and I are planning a couple of driving trips that will include Athena and will require a hotel stay here and there. Our first trip is this weekend to Leavenworth, Kansas. I've never looked for hotels that accept dogs. I am surprised and relieved that so many hotels accept pets. Whew! I thought we were going to have to put a baby bonnet on her and wheel her in in a baby carriage."

From Dale's Blog

Dale posted the following on May 7:

"Still Learning About Athena"

"I wanted to take Athena out on a recovery run today (recovery for me, not her), but it's 75 degrees and sunny and a black dog is like a heat sink so I decided against it. I decided instead to do four on my own then afterwards took her on a really long walk. We went to Minnehaha Creek which was frozen the last time I took her there. It's now flowing free and the water is frigid. Athena took one look at it and ... dove in. I didn't know she like the water! I think she'd still be in the creek now if I hadn't dragged her out to come home.  I needed the mile walk home to get her mostly dried off."

Athena by Ellis

Chris, Alyn, and their son Ellis came over for dinner tonight. Ellis drew the above picture of Athena for us.

Paw Print

So sweet.

April Snow

Got snow yesterday and today.  I could do without it but Athena doesn't seem to care.

Picking Up Athena from Auntie Ruth's

We picked up Athena at Auntie Ruth's yesterday. She had been staying there while we were in Puerto Rico. She was so excited to see us. We were excited to see her too. The bottom photo shows her getting some fresh out of the backseat window as we drove her home.

Easter 2013 - Athena Mauls the Easter Bunny

Our Nutty Dog

Dale posted the following on his blog the other day:

Our Nutty Dog

"I took Athena on a nice 4 or 5 mile walk/run today. She had tons of energy and the weather was again around 36 degrees, so I just settled in for a nice scenic trek with her."

"Just before we reached home, she saw one of these ridiculous things:"

"This is not the one we saw, but I detest these things.  The one we saw is outside of an H&R Block office, and will go away around April 15, thank God.  What I didn't know is how much seet, even tempered, goodnatured Athena detests them.  She started barking and snarling from across the street (scaring the bejesus out of the guy standing at the bus stop).  She pulled me across the street where I am pretty sure she would have attacked it if I hadn't pulled her away.  The fur on her back from neck to tail was standing up, she kept turning back to snarl at it as we walked away, and in one final coup de grace, she . . . . threw up."

"She also dreams vividly.  I'm pretty sure this thing has made a deep impression on her psyche and will visit her in her dreams.  I just hope she doesn't throw up again."

Athena - St. Patrick's Day 2013

Couldn't be cuter.

A Day in the Life of Athena - 2/22/13 Part 3

Athena returns from her morning walk and checks out the snow covered alley.  We got a lot of snow overnight.

A Day in the Life of Athena - 2/22/13 Part 2

Here is Athena waiting to be taken out on her morning walk.  I'm getting my boots on.

A Day in the Life of Athena - 2/22/13 Part1

I took today off and was able to spend some quality time with Athena.  Here she is waiting to be fed around 7:30 this morning.  She was pretty patient considering she usually has breakfast around 6:00 a.m.  She's sitting rather still in this photo although you can see that he tail is something of a blur.

Tracks in the Snow

We've had lots of snow lately. Here's a picture of Athena's paw print.

Athena - Valentine's Day 2013

Athena is one lucky dog and we are two lucky guys.  She is full of gentleness and love and truly is our sweat pea. Graphic created February 2013. From a photo taken September 2012.

Finally Some Snow!

So far this hasn't been the snowiest of winters. We got some today though and Athena seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. And by the way, just look at those beautiful brown eyes!

Twelfth Night 2013

Athena got some good walks in today.

Happy New Year!