Yin and Yang

First, a little Yin.  The weather has been fabulous, filled with sunny days.  One day of rain to green up the plants and grass, then more warm weather.  A light breeze carried the fragrant scent of blossoming lilacs.  Springtime is officially here!  We took a lot of walks and played plenty of Frisbee.

We believe we are ready for our book celebration in a few days.  Daddy made a power point for the new book and a video to play during the rest of the party.  Food and cake have been ordered!  We hope for a good turn-out, the RSVP's are steady.

Mommy and I wrote a press release and a couple of local papers ran it.  That made us happy.  In our spare time, web-site work is always in progress.  Currently, it is search engine optimization for those techies out there.  It is very important.

I have a new friend named Oggie.  He is a toy octopus.  I like throwing him around.  He's great!

Now, a little Yang.  Late last week, Mommy found out her pancreas isn't working as well as it could.  She has started taking a small dose of insulin, hoping to rest it a bit and help.  After all the illness earlier this year, it may have been overworked.  We remain hopeful that it will be temporary and recover - good as new.  The pancreas is a touchy organ.  Mommy was hospitalized for 5 weeks with the transplant, so we are doing our best to help it!

Take a moment - catch your breath, and enjoy the smell of our glorious lilacs!

Mud Puddles

If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?  I believe the clear answer this year is ....

MUD PUDDLES!

Mommy and Daddy had a wonderful time at the NKF Great Chefs of Minnesota Fundraiser.  They had a lot of food to sample, music and many items for the auction.  A terrific local anchorman named Jason DeRusha was the emcee.  He was witty and interacted well with the auctioneer.  We believe their back and forth banter helped garner some higher bids for items like concert tickets, vacations and a wine collection.

Mommy and Daddy bid on the painting the fantastic teens on our walk team did at the 2013 Kidney Walk.  The were very creative!

Mommy has scheduled a few events for the upcoming months.  We have planned a book celebration party in June for our sixth book, "What's it Like in Heaven, Rudy?"

A few people have seen the new book and so far the feedback has been great.  They say the illustrations and layout are beautiful.  One woman said it really helped her understand and accept the sudden loss of her older sibling three years ago.  I know it has helped Mommy by writing it.  Although we typically write for children, it's an extra bonus when the adults can get something out of it, too.

Now we are preparing for the party, promoting, trying to keep up with blogging and we hope to fill many orders!

For anyone listening, we could use a few more warm, sunny days.  PLEASE!

Love,
Boomer! the Mellow Yellow Lab

Great News!

The new book is here!  The new book is here!  It's available on our website.  Just $10.00.  We're so happy!  Rudy's dancing in heaven!

Beautiful and Proud

The last three days have been beautiful - near or above 70 and sunny!  It's hard to believe towns just 40 miles north of us had 20 inches of snow Thursday.  We had a little rain, but no big deal.

I had a sleep over at my friend, Jennifer's this weekend.  I was able to play with my little buddy Max and some other small dogs.  My human friends were home from school, so I got to play with them, too!  By the time I got home Sunday, I was very tired.  Mommy and Daddy went to a concert out of town.  Their favorite singer, Gavin Degraw performed.  He was fabulous.  He opened for a  famous guy named Billy Joel the night before he came to Minnesota.

Rudy's Little World has received a few more book orders.  It is nice to have the diversity of people interested in our books - whether it be hospitals or individuals.  We received a note from a mom in New York looking for a book about dialysis.  She wanted to explain it to her young daughter before her dad started dialysis.  We received the message Wednesday at midnight.  His first session was Friday.  We happened to see the note right before bed so we packed it up and mailed it out.  It made it Friday just in time!  She was very grateful.  I wonder if Amazon could've provided that kind of service!

Our new book is still on target to be in our hands this Thursday.  We will breathe easier once it is here.  Thursday has special significance to us because of Rudy's tenth birthday.  He would be proud.  He would also be proud of action we took after he went to heaven.  Through a series of letters, emails and phone calls, we have been able to change some policies at the medical center.  Unfortunately, it can't help Rudy, but hopefully it will help other chronically ill animals.

Mommy and Daddy are attending something called a gala on Sunday.  It is really a big fund raiser for the NKF.  I think I already mentioned we donated a set of books to go along with the painting three great teens did at the Kidney Walk.

Fingers and paws crossed for Thursday!

Love,
Boomer the Mellow Yellow Lab

Crunch Time

I must apologize for not communicating more over the last couple weeks.  It has been extremely crazy around here!  We had a big deadline for our new book, so Mommy and Daddy worked on it every spare moment they had.  We sent it to the printers and it should be available shortly!  They had an opening in their printing schedule, so we are on track to make our original release date of April 24th.  I guess things have a way of working out in the end.  We really wanted that date because it would have been Rudy's 10th birthday.  We will have an official release party, perhaps in May, but we couldn't plan a party until we knew the print schedule.

Except for the weather today, it has been very nice.  The snow melted enough so I can reach Hobey Baker now.  I even have a few patches of bare ground in my yard.  Gertie and her cousins have been outside more, so I have had great fun running with my friends.

Daddy gave Mommy dance lessons for her birthday.  They have enjoyed it a lot.  Mommy took lessons in college, so this is a refresher for her.  It's all new to Daddy.  Mommy likes this style (it's called ballroom dancing) because the people hold on to each other.  She never has to worry about losing her balance or getting lost, so she's free to have fun!  When they practice, I join in by running around in tiny circles chasing my tail.  We call them spinners!  I am very good at them.

Rudy's Little World has had steady sales the last few months.  We hope the trend continues and we can share our stories with others.  We aren't breaking any records, but it's nice to know we are helping.

The NKF has asked us to donate a set of our books for the big Gala at the end of this month.  We feel very honored.  Rudy would have loved it!

I will keep you posted on the progress of our new book.  Feel free to check in on Facebook/Rudy's Little World for a status, too.  We will keep it updated there, also.

A special thanks to our new illustrator, Benjamin Barkley, and to our printers for working with us to make this all happen.

Love,
Boomer! the Mellow Yellow Lab

What a Week

This has been a great week!  I got to see many of my friends outside.  I ran around with Gertie and her cousins, Remmie and Baretta.  Later in the week, I saw my friend, Hobie Baker.  The snow is still a little too high to run the fence line together, but it should melt soon.

We have finally had some nice weather!  It is slowly getting warmer and the snow is melting.  Next week, we should get rid of at least 8 to 10 inches of our snow pack!

I hoped we would have nice weather and the ice would melt because Mommy wanted to wear her new birthday shoes!  I think they are pretty.  If I wore shoes, I would like a pair like Mommy's.  This week was surely birthday week!  On Wednesday, Mommy and Daddy's friend had a birthday.  They said it was fun.

On Friday, it was Mommy's birthday.  I guess it was a big one.  She turned 50 years old.  I don't know exactly how much that is, but I think it's a lot.  I will be 5 in August and Mommy's age has a zero behind the five, so I'm sure that means she is old.  I don't have enough toes to count that high!

On Mommy's birthday, some of her awesome friends met and had a party.  Mommy and Daddy said it was great fun.  I wish I could have gone, but puppies weren't allowed there.  Mommy looked so happy when she came home that night and she said she was so lucky and grateful for wonderful friends.  Daddy looked very happy, too.

We received a very nice email from a woman and her 4 hear old son.  They wanted to tell us they enjoyed reading "Rudy O'Tooty."  They checked it out from the local library.  The woman said she really appreciated us sharing our stories and our lives.  She said her son wanted to write to make sure we were all right because Mommy's blind and we live in Minnesota.  We thought that was very cute and thoughtful.  It's always nice to hear from our fans.

We also heard from our illustrator.  He sent some of the drawings for the new book.  They look fabulous!  We are very excited.  If things continue to go well, we could make our deadline!

Warmer weather, thoughtful emails, fabulous illustrations, awesome friends, birthday fun, and pretty new shoes - all add up to a wonderful week in my mind!  What do you think?

Love,
Boomer! the Mellow Yellow Lab

Updates

We had our heat wave last week.  It lasted two days.  Eleven inches of snow fell the next day.  A nice neighbor helped us plow out our driveway.  We have a snow pack of 30 inches in our yard and around the driveway and sidewalk - it is too tall to measure.  YIKES!

I know we live in Minnesota, but this is ridiculous!  The average temperature on Saturday should be 34 degrees.  The weather guessers say we will be lucky to stay above zero.  That's right, another polar vortex!  The guessers hope the temperatures will be more normal by Thursday, March 6.  I sure hope so.  We have plans!

Last blog, I mentioned my concern about not having a valentine.  I am happy to report, that has changed.  The following day, my other neighbor friend, Hobey Baker came outside.  We ran to meet each other and exchanged kisses.  That's good enough for me!  I like Hobey very much, I don't get to see him often because his parents work strange hours.  He likes to run like me and he is very fast!

We sold some more books this week.  A nice woman from out east was looking for a book describing her kidney transplant.  She was a teacher and wanted to talk to the children about it.  That's where we come in!  Rudy's books to the rescue!  She loved them so much, she purchased more for other people.  We are keeping in touch.  That makes us all feel good about fulfilling our mission.

We hope the snow melts by June, so until then; we hope everyone can stay warm and snuggle a puppy.  In a pinch, a cat will do! :)

Love,
Boomer!  the Mellow Yellow Lab