Prowling Sheep - folie à plusieurs since 2007

Where Have All the Sheep Gone?

2011-07-30T09:57:00.003-05:00

I didn't want to post twice in a row, being the new guy and all, but it's been seven months so I thought it might be forgiven. My new human has learned quite the "adorable" sheep talk and runs around with me yelling "Ba! Ba! Ba!". I'm also in competition with a couple of others for top sheep around here.:

Sheep Christmas

2010-12-26T11:32:00.001-06:00

I am settling in nicely in my new home. We went to the North Pole to see how the elves live and I was forced to help in the mailroom:

As soon as they gave me a coffee break, I was out of there! I scurried back to my nice cozy new home and the next thing I knew, Erin, DJ and Chris were back. At first I was worried that they were going to take me back to Seattle, but then they explained that Erin is related to the family I live with and they get together a couple of times a year. Whew! I'm liking all the snow here and all the toys make downtime fun.

Racetrack!

I don't know if that compartment is 5-star safety rated

How does this steering wheel work?

Uh-oh

Not a baby toy, but still fun

I think they were a little jealous of all the fun I have here!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T00:00:00.001-06:00

(Click to enlarge)

It's Finn!!

2010-12-17T22:39:00.005-06:00

Hi everybody, my name is Finn Puxley and I am the newest member of the herd. Recently I saw the movie Toy Story 3 and I'm not too proud to admit it, the scenes of the day care really scared me. So I got myself on eBay and after a harrowing 7 days I was finally "won" - packed carefully in a box and mailed to Seattle. Ooh, Seattle, I thought, visions of raincoats and umbrellas and muddy boots floating through my head.

But when the box was unpacked, I realized that there must be some mistake. No kids in sight! Only three other sheep, and one of them had a horrible burn on his chin. Just when I thought that I must have ended up somewhere worse than a daycare, Erin came home from work and scolded the sheep for opening her mail and then explained that my journey wasn't over yet. She shoved me, DJ and Sheepy in a bag and we flew back to the Midwest as carry-on luggage. Then we drove in a car for a long time. I was beginning to get worried. This was more than I bargained for. When she finally took me out of the bag she told me to say goodbye to Sheepy and DJ then she stuck me in an even tinier and far less comfortable bag. Oh, what torture was waiting for me next?

It turned out, I was finally going to meet my new owner. Perhaps I was a bit hasty in choosing one because it turns out he is quite young:

Maybe too young:

But then I found out he is what they call a "fluff butt" and my faith has been restored. He's already taken me to meet Santa and promises that we will go other fun places very soon.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T14:00:00.000-05:00

The costume parade was not the only thing we did this year to celebrate Halloween. This year Erin said we could have friends over and carve pumpkins. We were very excited. Especially DJ who always want to play with knives. So we gathered up some pumpkins and friends and got to work.

Ooo so many to choose from.

We each picked a pumpkin and started gutting. D.J. dug right in. Erin said she should have made us wear our rain coats. We got a little messy. Jesse saw the mess and decided that holding the pumpkin was just as good as carving it.

Num...guts!

Erin made us sort the seeds from the pumpkin slim. She said she would bake the seeds for us later. I estimate that we got 9 cups of pumpkin seeds! We will be eating them for the rest of our lives!

I decided to carve a traditional Jack-O-Lantern for Halloween. They are my favorite. Erin helped me.

A little more off the side...and perfect!

D.J. wanted to do something a little more modern. So out came a stencil, a knife, and Paul, who helped D.J. with a Felix the Cat. It come out really well. But don't tell D.J. that, or we'll never hear the end of it.

D.J. I think that knife is a little big for detail work.

And Jesse, well...Jesse just held the pumpkin, saying something like, "pumpkins need love, too."

It's okay pumpkin, I won't hurt you.

I think Jesse needs a vacations. Too much work. Eventually we figured out that Jesse just didn't want to get dirty nor play with knives. Which is okay. We had plenty of friends around to help carve. And the results were awesome!

Happy Halloween!

In the end we had 7 pumpkins carved. For some reason Erin said we couldn't play with knives by ourselves. So from left to right is the names of the humans that helped us on each pumpkin: Erin (owl), Angela (spider), Savita (small pumpkin), Erin (traditional), Vijay (Trick-or-Treat), Paul (cat), and Amol (undetermined). Thanks everyone!

On a sadder note, this year while carving pumpkins I got injured. I was playing with the candles and got burnt. But it is a good lesson learned to be careful around the holiday times. Because being injured is no fun. Hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween!

2010 Halloween Costume Parade Roster

2010-10-31T06:00:00.001-05:00

Another great parade has come to an end. With 19 entries, it really was a great one. We would like to thank all the entries once again for taking the time and sending us your wonderful pictures in costume. We has been fun, and we hope all our participants and readers did too. Here is the final rosters for the 2010 Halloween Costume Parade:

1 - Shaun the Sheep as Little Bo Peep

2 - Quinn as a Traffic Engineer Intern

3 - Riley as an Important Doctor

4 - Franklin as Lady Gaga

5 - Aerin as Tarzan

6 - G. Raffe is a Winter Princess

7 - Sammy as Bathtime Ducky

8 - Broar as Santa Claus (Kerstman)

9 - Baxter as a Pirate

10 - D.J. as a Sock Monkey

11 - Andi as a Beach Bum

12 - Taylor as The Great Gazoo

13 - Jolly Mäh as Magician

14 - Chris as Lady Liberty

15 - Pink Bear as a Fairy

16 - Hawkeye as Makkuro Kurosuke

17 - Heart as a Bride

18 - Jesse as Robin Hood

19 - Val as a Bus Driver

What a wonderful and unique set of costumes. Did you have any favorites? We know we had about 19! But then we might be a little biased. ;) Let us know what you think.

If you missed this year's parade, don't worry. We will have another one next year. And you can even send you picture in now! That's right. You can send a picture of you plush therapy buddy in costume to Sheep. 4225SC @ gmail .com from now until October 1, 2011. We'll be happy to hold on to it and make a special place for it in next year's parade. Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Beep Beep!

2010-10-30T18:00:00.002-05:00

Val as a Bus Driver

Val is bringing up the end of the Halloween Costume Parade as a Bus Driver. We're not entirely sure what school Val will drop you off at if you get in...but then again, we're not sure if Val knows either. We appreciate you taking the time to be in the parade this weekend and picking up any parade stragglers as you finish off the route. Thanks Val!

Val's favorite movie is Ernest Scared Stupid. One of those movies that makes you feel better about yourself.

Hiding Out in Sherwood Forest

2010-10-30T02:00:00.001-05:00

Jesse as Robin Hood

Our next entry into the Halloween Costume Parade is Jesse. Jesse is going as Robin Hood. But don't be mistaken, Jesse wants to be sure that everyone knows we are talking about the "newer" Robin Hood from the BBC TV Show. Jesse really likes that one and was sad when they canceled the show. As Jesse pointed out, no need for a funny hat. Apparently, the BBC Robin Hood is way cooler. Sheep...who knows?

Anyway, Jesse found out that the sheep are on detail for handing out candy this year to the kids that come to the house. So Jesse of course was very excited to be able to hand out chocolate gold coins to stay in character. Jesse, you are a character. Thanks for joining the parade and sharing your wealth...even if you stole it from Erin.

Jesse's favorite horror movie is Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Yes we tried to explain to Jesse that that wasn't a scary movie. But the sheep insisted that guys in tights are scary. I guess you can't argue with that. At least we can't. Don't believe us? Well take a look for yourself.

I Do

2010-10-29T18:00:00.000-05:00

Heart as a Bride.

Heart is a pink pony. She is loved by our little friend Anja. (Anja also watches over Pink Bear...we get the impression that Anja likes pink therapy buddies.) Heart is wearing the costume that Heart says she has "been (forced) to wear on several occasions so that I could be married to William's monkey. To a monkey!!" We feel your pain, Heart. Thanks for sharing and coming to the parade!

Heart's favorite movie Halloween/scary movie is Beetlejuice. Why? Because of the exorcism scenes at the end where they use the wedding dress. (The part where they take over the family and make them dance and sing!)

Come out! Or we'll poke your eyeballs out!

2010-10-29T00:00:00.000-05:00

Hawkeye as Makkuro Kurosuke

Hawkeye is dressed as a Makkuro Kurosuke this year for the Halloween Costume Parade. Makkuro Kurosuke (also known as Susuwatari) are the pitch black dust bunnies from the movie Tonari no Totoro - better known as My Neighbor Totoro in the US. Hawkeye, you make a great dust bunny! Thanks for joining the parade!

Hawkeye's favorite scary movie is Scream, because Hawkeye loves to Scream while cheering on the Hawks. We're with you Hawkeye, GO IOWA!

(If your wondering about the title of this entry it is what Satsuki and Mei shout at Makkuro Kurosuke to make him come out. I like it.)

Fairy Dust

2010-10-28T18:00:00.000-05:00

Pink Bear as a Fairy

Pink Bear is back, and looking o so fine in her little pink fairy costume. Her favorite part about the costume, you ask? It's pink, of course! We're glad to have Pink Bear back in the parade and hopes she has as much fun being in it as we all have watching it. Thanks Pink Bear!

Pink Bear's favorite Halloween movie is Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie. Scary and adorable, what more could you ask for?

Coming to America

2010-10-28T00:00:00.006-05:00

Chris as Lady Liberty

Chris was feeling a little patriotic this year. Thus decided to go as one of the great icons of America, The Statue of Liberty. Chris stands at 11 inches, only 151 feet shorter than the real Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World but with as much heart. Chris enters the parade today on the 124th anniversary of the real statues' dedication. Thanks for joining our parade today Chris and for giving us a walk through the history books.

When Chris isn't holding a torch for America or a torch under D.J. and Jesse, the little sheep is watch a favorite scary movie; The Tale of Sweeney Todd starring Sir Ben Kingsley. Good, classic choice, Chris.

Magic Jolly Mäh

2010-10-27T00:00:00.001-05:00

Jolly Mäh as Magician

Our next entry comes all the way from Spain to partake in the festivities. Jolly Mäh, from Raquel's blog Mis peluches Nici, decided to be a Magician, like Harry Potter, for Halloween. He is trying really hard to make a few tricks happen with his crystal ball. What do you think will happen?

Abracadabra

We think he is trying to fill up his pumpkins with candy. Or maybe, Jolly Mäh will get his favorite movie to start playing. Jolly Mäh likes THE EXORCIST! We're scared! If Jolly Mäh conjure up that movie, we're going to go hide in our room until it is over!

The parade will start again, just as soon as we are no longer scared and we crawl out from under our sheets.

You Called, Dum-Dums?

2010-10-26T00:00:00.001-05:00

Taylor as The Great Gazoo

The Great Gazoo came all the way the planet Zetox to be in our parade! Well I guess news of the parade has traveled to the farther reaches of the universe...hey, wait a second...that's not Gazoo, that's Taylor. Well, Taylor, you fooled us. Taylor is flying by in a brand new flying saucer. Very aerodynamic. Thanks Taylor for bring a little space age and a little prehistoric times into the parade.

When Taylor isn't flying around in space crafts, the little green fella is enjoying a favorite scary movie; Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Collier's Magazine called it "The Nightmare That Threatens The World!" So it must be scary.

Surfin' U.S.A.

2010-10-25T00:00:00.001-05:00

Andi as a Beach Bum

Andi is just turning the corner and come into the spot light with a nice tan. Why? Because Andi is going as a Beach Bum this year for Halloween. Andi loves playing in the sun, and tries to make each sunny day count. We're with you, Andi, we should all try to be beach bums more often. Thanks for reminding us of sunny days!

Andi's favorite Halloween movie is Scooby Doo: Camp Scare. Andi's never seen it, but Andi LOVES Scooby Doo! :)

Bananas For You

2010-10-24T00:00:00.002-05:00

D.J. as a Sock Monkey.

D.J. thought that Baxter was so cool that the little lamb wanted to follow the pirate. So after rooting through Erin's laundry basket, D.J. came out with the perfect costume, a Sock Monkey. We only wish D.J. rooted through Erin's sock draw instead of the laundry basket. We would like to apologize now to the next few entries that have to follow D.J. We are hoping they will be going as men in haze-mate suits or army dudes with gas masks. Thanks, D.J. for joining the parade and stinking up the place.

D.J. favorite movie is Black Sheep...or it would be if Erin would agree to rent the movie for the herd. For some reason she keeps saying no.

Monkey See Monkey Do

2010-10-23T00:00:00.000-05:00

Baxter as a Pirate

Our next entry, Baxter the sock monkey, is going as a Pirate this year as Halloween. Traditional and great! D.J. specifically stated that this was a great outfit and I think we all know why (because D.J.'s first Halloween costume this year was a pirate...gezz people, keep up). Anyway, Baxter will be sure to get lots of booty this year. Thanks, Baxter, for joining the parade.

Baxter's favorite "fantasy terror"movie is Nightmare on Elm Street (trailer for new remake)....oooo, scary.

Kerstman ("Christmas Man")

2010-10-22T00:00:00.005-05:00

Broar as Santa Claus (Kerstman)

Our next entry was born in the Netherlands but has recently made the trip over the pond to the U. S. of A. Entering the parade as Santa Claus (or Kerstman in the Netherlands), Broar is making a wonderfully festive entrance. Traditionally, Thanksgiving Day parades end with Santa Claus bringing up the rear; but since we are a Halloween parade, we though we would bring Santa a little earlier in the parade route. It is good to mix is up. Thanks Broar for being especially festive and bringing two great holidays together!

O, what is Broar's favorite movie? Well, The Nightmare Before Christmas, of course!

You Make Bathtime Lots of Fun!

2010-10-21T00:00:00.002-05:00

Sammy as Bathtime Ducky

Here comes Sammy, all nice and clean and ready for a parade! Boy Sammy that costume looks really comfy. Perfect for kicking up your feet and watching a marathon of scary, Halloween movies. Speaking of movies, Sammy's favorite Halloween movies are The Nightmare Before Christmas and Scream. Some great choices.

Quack Quack!

Great costume, Sammy! I think Ernie said it best when he said:

"Every day when I
Make my way to the tubby
I find a little fella who's
Cute and yellow and chubby"

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

2010-10-20T00:00:00.004-05:00

G. Raffe is a Winter Princess

Coming next the parade route is G. Raffe. G. Raffe is originally from the Netherlands but decided to grace us all with her presence in the USA. G. Raffe is dressed up as a winter princess. This winter princess would like to point out that she doesn't need a tiara to be stunning; and we would have to agree. (Shhh....G. Raffe already has height issues, and didn't want to be made taller by wearing a tiara.)

G. Raffe's favorite Halloween movie is Dora's Halloween. In this episode, Dora went as a cat and Boots goes as a fire chicken. Creative costumes all around!

Watch Out for That Tree!

2010-10-19T00:00:00.003-05:00

Aerin as Tarzan

Swinging into the parade is our next entire, Aerin. Aerin is dressed up as Tarzan this year for Halloween. Amongst the ivy, you can find Aerin wearing a leopard skin costume in style. Thanks, Aerin, for stopping by to show us the ropes.

Aerin's favorite horror movie is The Emerald Jungle (aka Eaten Alive, Doomed to Die) (Warning: the trailer of this movie is horrific both in the fact that it shows people being eaten alive and in the fact that it was filmed in the 1980's. Watch at your own risk.)

P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face

2010-10-18T00:00:00.005-05:00

Franklin as Lady Gaga

Next in the parade is Lady Gaga! O wait, no that's Franklin dressed as Lady Gaga. Great costume Franklin, so believable. I can hear the kids screaming from down the street. Speaking of screaming, Franklin's favorite scary movie is Scream. Perfect example of a scary Halloween movie. Thanks, Franklin, for joining our parade and bring us a little pop culture.

Is there a doctor in the house?

2010-10-16T00:00:00.000-05:00

Riley as an important doctor

Riley, one of your youngest sheep on the blog, has issues with being the baby of the family, so Riley decided to be something respectable for Halloween... Something that takes brains and an education - a doctor! And Riley is in the house and in the parade with this amazing costume. So believable. Thanks Riley for being on call in the parade!

Riley's favorite movie is Clifford's Halloween - Boo! Riley wants to be big and strong, so what could be better to idolize than a big red dog?

Traffic School

2010-10-15T00:00:00.003-05:00

Quinn as a Traffic Engineer Intern.

Next in our costume parade is Quinn as a "Traffic Engineer Intern." Quinn thought this internship would be really great, but the office was chilly and the hours awful. But we all know that the world wouldn't go round without those dedicated civil servants. Thanks Quinn for keeping our streets safe for our parade!

Quinn's favorite scary movie is The Crazies (warning: trailer is rated R), because it takes place right in Iowa! Quinn likes this movie because it is a reminder of a few people/sheep Quinn knows...

Slumbering Shepherdess

2010-10-14T00:00:00.004-05:00

Welcome to the 2nd Annual Costume Parade! This year we are starting off a little earlier due to the great number of entries. To kick off this year's festivities we are announcing our first ever Costume Parade Grand Marshal. This is a very important role as this position is responsible for leading the way and setting the stage for the rest of the parade entries. A parade that we hope you enjoy and brings in the Halloween season as a safe and fun holiday for all!

With out further ado we are proud to announce that this year's Grand Marshal is Shaun the Sheep as Little Bo Peep! As we all know, Shaun the Sheep is a huge sheep celebrity and we are always honored to have such a iconic sheep in our parade.

Shaun the Sheep as Little Bo Peep

Shaun chose to dress up as Little Bo Peep for Halloween this year in Iowa. Shaun is wearing the latest fashion in sheperdess and is accessorizing with a lovely white gold crook. Shaun is all ready to lead the sheep in the parade...just as soon as they can be located. No worries, Shaun. We are sure the sheep will follow shortly, wagging their tails behind them.

Shaun's favorite Halloween movie is Things That Go Bump... yes, it's a Shaun the Sheep episode! As Shaun likes to point out, all good videos include talented sheep. Thanks Shaun for being this year's parade Grand Marshal!

(If you would like to participate in the parade, please send entries to Sheep.4225SC (at) gmail.com. Please, only one sheep (or whatever plush animal that provides you with therapy) per picture. And remember to provide explanation of costume if needed, general location, and favorite Halloween /Scary movie title.)

Reminder for Call of Halloween Costumes

2010-10-09T00:00:00.002-05:00

Next week we will start our 2nd Annual Costume Parade! We have gotten a lot of great entries, but we know there are more out there. The entries are starting to line up for the parade. So if you want to be in the parade (and believe us, we want you to) please send us a picture of your plush therapy buddy in costume at Sheep. 4225SC @ gmail .com (no spaces) right away. If you need a little more time but want to send something in, let us know. We can hold a spot for you towards the end of the parade. But please, don't wait too long. Also, send us the name of their favorite scary/Halloween movie. For more information, please refer to this post. We want this year to be better than last and we need your help to do that! So put your thinking caps on and get creative.

Thanks!
Management....whoever that is...

Oh là là, Boobies!

2010-10-03T21:01:00.005-05:00

Boobie-thon is back in full swing and I just couldn't help but join in again this year. I thought I would mix it up a little with this naughty french maid outfit. I mean with Halloween just around the corner it only seems appropriate to put on a costume that shows off my lovely rack. Right?

(Click to enlarge...not that you need to.)

Ok, let's get a little serious. Every 69 seconds somewhere in the world a person loses their life to breast cancer. Find a way to fight back. www.boobiethon.com

South Dakota - Part 2

2010-09-30T21:50:00.004-05:00

While our first few days in South Dakota were a lot of fun, Monday was pretty boring. It was raining, so Sonja wouldn't let us ride on the parade float with her and Silvia. We were kind of sad, so she let us watch from the car. After the parade, it was still dreary, so we just hung out with Sonja and Silvia.

On the last morning, we got to stop at Silvia's office and see a Rapid City landmark. He's a giant cowboy that is outlined in neon at night!

Too bad it's light outside.

We found out that Rapid City is known as the City of Presidents and wondered why until we found our first President. We found James Garfield, the 20th President!

Then we found another one! This one is James Polk, the 11th President.

We wanted to keep looking for Presidents, but Sonja said it was time to leave because we had a long drive back home.

Sonja promised that I could come back with her the next time she comes here to visit her sister and look for more Presidents. Since Val got to come this time and Riley had to water the plants at Sonja's house, I think next time I might ask Jenni if Riley can come along.

Conquering the Airbus

2010-09-25T15:55:00.003-05:00

Recently, Andi and I went to The Airliner in downtown Iowa City with Jenni and a few of her friends. Jenni usually eats the pizza when she goes there because it's soooooooo yummy, but we decided to be adventurous.

We looked through the kids menu because we're kids. No, we're not baby goats, we're baby sheep! Shesh!

That's the kids menu? LAME!

Have you noticed how BORING the kids menu is? Andi and I decided that we may be kids, but we needed something exciting! Something BIG! Something YUMMY! Something CHALLENGING! We decided to conquer the Airbus!

Ohhhhhhh, yummmmmmy!

2 pounds of ground beef, lots of bacon, four slices of cheese, onion rings, lettuce, and tomato in a ginormus bun, served with a large order of french fries. Yeah, we can do it!

We convinced Jenni to order the airbus for us. We're growing sheep, we need it! Jenni said that we could share it. No way! We each needed our own. We ordered two while she was drooling over the pizza menu.

Wow, that's a lot of burger!

Wow! The airbus is big! It was bigger than us! We worked hard, we tried to finish it. Alas, we petered out.

See how much we ate? Quite a lot!

We're going to practice at home so that we will conquer the airbus next time we're at The Airliner!

Apple Orchard

2010-09-17T20:50:00.004-05:00

Jenni took us to Wilson's Orchard not too long ago. We had a blast! We got to ride a tractor out to the orchard and pick apples! It was pretty hard for us little sheep to pick the apples from the tree, but Jenni helped us. She's not too bad, for a human. We even got to eat a few apples while we were apple hunting. I wasn't sure if we should do that, but Andi and Hawkeye seemed to think that it was okay. Sheep-pressure (much like peer-pressure, but for sheep) hit me hard, and I decided to enjoy the apple eating too.

Mmmm! Honeycrisps!

Andi, you're the apple of my eye...

Hawkeye's apple

Wow, I am cute!

Halo Reach

2010-09-13T21:30:00.000-05:00

Erin came home from work today and said she had a surprise for us. Said something about how Summer was almost over and that she knew we would be crawling the walls soon. But she said we would have to wait for after dinner to get it. Of course, D.J. couldn't wait. And of course, D.J. drug Sheepy into it. They went snooping in Erin's purse; and what did they find?

HALO REACH!!!

Erin brought home Halo Reach! And on release day, no less. And out it came from her purse. Have we sheep told you lately that we love Erin?

OOO...bonus spartan recon helmet...what ever sheep needs.

D.J. started to put the disk in the Xbox when Erin walked in front and threw up her hands. She said, "Well if you're going to play video games without even eating dinner than you might as well set up the new Xbox 360 I bought."

OOOO...shiny.

New Halo AND new Xbox!? Have we sheep told you lately that we love Erin!?

We'll we pulled the Xbox 360 out and took a look. It is SOOO COOL! As we were looking at the new improved Xbox I swear I heard the song from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Very monolithic...if it starts singing Daisy, I'm out of here.

D.J. of course still couldn't wait to play.

READY!!!

But Chris pulled out the instructions and explained that we needed to set the box up before any of us could play.

We need to plug it in first.

Plugging the box in meant that some sheep had to brave the dangerous mess of cables behind Erin's computer. So Sheepy and I nominated D.J. since D.J. was too busy gnawing on the headset cord to be listening to us.

I'm scared!

After D.J. plugged in the cord we were off and running. Time to set it up. Our first language wasn't on the Xbox but Erin told us to pick English. She said that Xbox doesn't support Baaa-ing.

OOO...pick that one it's got pretty letters.

And then we got to a page that asked us if we wanted to have any game restrictions.

Quick, select skip before Erin comes back!

Unfortunately, Erin had never left the room. She always seems to be around when we don't want her to be and never around when we really need her. How does that work?

We were all ready to game when...NO INTERNET CONNECTION! What was that about!? I had to crawl under the desk and check it out this time.

Fix it, Jesse! Fix it NOW!

And of course, I found that D.J. had unplugged the router while he was back there plugging in the new Xbox. You know what they say; Never send a lamb to do a sheep's job. But I fixed it.

Ya, green dots!

And then D.J. said, "Out of my way, I want to play!" But Erin stopped us again and said, "No you have to transfer all the content from my old Xbox to my new one." And she said something like, if we had just waited and ate dinner she would have had it all finished in no time at all. But with all us sheep it was going to take longer. She obviously doesn't understand that we are helpful. Silly human. So I took the controls and Chris and D.J. took over the hardware.

Ready!

And finally, D.J. tossed the disk in the tray when Erin wasn't looking. We were off. Erin said something about cleaning up the mess we just made.

"Clean all this up before we play?" Ya right.

But I didn't hear her because I had my headset on. The opening scene looks good.

Oooo....shiny.

Well if your wondering where us sheep will be for the next few weeks, you can be sure to know we are on Erin's Xbox. Someone else will have to hold down the blog while we are gone.

And to all those Halo fans out there; we hope you enjoy Halo Reach. Not that you have time to read our blog. We all know your standing in line at your closes game store waiting to buy it at midnight when it goes on sale. We'll see you in the game lobby!

South Dakota Part 1

2010-09-06T00:04:00.006-05:00

Hi from South Dakota! Val and I have been here for a couple of days now and have seen a lot of cool things. For starters we meet Sonja's sister Silvia. She was really nice to us and wanted to make sure we saw everything!

This is Silvia who took us on a lot of great tours through the Black Hills.

One of the first places we stopped was the Purple Pie and Ice Cream Palace in Custer, SD. Were we ever surprised to find a big purple pig in front of the store! Neither of us had ever seen anything like it.

We didn't know pigs came in purple...

On our way into Custer State Park we stopped to get our picture taken with Smokey the Bear.

Shortly after meeting Smokey, we saw a group of bighorn sheep. They would have been a lot easier to spot if they had been white like us...

A couple of miles down the road, we meet their girlfriends. They were hanging out in the camp ground dodging the sprinklers. Silvia told us afterwards that it was hard to find sheep in the park because they usually live higher in the hills.

There were buffalo everywhere! We wanted to get out and see them closer, but Sonja and Silvia said it wasn't safe because they could run faster than us and were very big.

Sonja and Silvia found a great place for us to sit in the front of Silvia's car. Right between them...

After we drove around some more and saw antelope, prairie dogs, mules, and a lot more buffalo, we drove through the Black Hills to see Mount Rushmore. It was a little late, but we got to stay for the lighting ceremony. The presidents looked really pretty lit up at night.

The next day we drove a lot. We went all over the Black Hills and through some beautiful gulches. It got a little bit bumpy on some of the gravel roads, but the scenery was totally worth it. In the afternoon we stopped at a waterfall for a picnic lunch.

What did they pack for us?

A few miles down the road we found a really nice spot to sit by the river. We really wanted to go wading with Silvia, but Sonja said we should stay on the shore because the water was cold and we might get wet.

Our first 2 days were really busy. Tomorrow, we get to go to a parade. It might rain so Sonja said we might have to stay in the car, but we'll see!

2nd Annual Costume Parade

2010-09-05T18:15:00.002-05:00

Welcome to the 2nd Annual Halloween Costume Parade! Halloween is just around the corner...ok maybe it is 2 months away. But we had such a great turn out last year that we wanted to make sure that all the entries this year got some good top-billing time. And we already have some entries coming in!

This year we are asking for entries to be submitted by October 1st. We know it's early. And yes, we will still post entries submitted after October 1st, we just want to start filling up the parade route. And if your sheep are anything like ours, they're already tugging at your apron strings wanted to pick out a costume. If your creative juices need a little squeeze to get started, check out last year's awesome parade here.

If you would like to participate in the parade, please send entries to Sheep.4225SC (at) gmail.com. Please, only one sheep (or whatever plush animal that provides you with therapy) per picture. And remember to provide explanation of costume if needed, general location, and favorite Halloween/Scary movie. Yup mixing it up a little this year.

We have had request to know what costumes are already taken to avoid repeats. But we don't want to ruin the surprise. So if you want to be original, email us and we can tell you if your costume is already being worn by another.

Need some more creative inspiration? Well, DJ was so excited that the little lamb wanted to have a practice run. So enjoy the creation of DJ's practice Halloween costume and start thinking about your own!

DJ wanted to play pirates so we collected all the pirate-ie materials we could fine. And then started putting it all together.

Look at all this fun stuff!

But then DJ insisted on setting the scene. So off to create a pirate stage. (Backgrounds not needed for costume entries...but always fun!)

I can't believe Erin lost my crayons.

And despite the fact we lost the crayons, DJ had a great time coloring with Erin's normally off limits color pencils.

With a few materials, some time, and a lot of love, we would like to present to you the DJ, the Pirate!

Arg...don't forget to send in your entries ye mates!

Meet Sammy Sheep (That's me!)

2010-09-03T08:30:00.004-05:00

Hi Everyone!

I'm Sammy Sheep. I'm just a baby, but I'm much more grown up than Riley and Andi. (Shhhh, don't tell them I said that!) I belong to Sonja, who is a pretty cool person. Almost as cool as Jenni. Yes, almost as cool. Don't tell Sonja that I said that, she might be sad, and might leave me in South Dakota. I'm currently on vacation in South Dakota, and have lots of fun things to do there. I'll be posting South Dakota pictures soon!

Hey! Get me out of this mean sheep jail!

I'm so cute! Just remember, I'm the biggest of the babies. :)

Sheep Doing Yoga Baaaaadly

2010-08-31T07:55:00.003-05:00

Jenni keeps telling us how amazing the benefits of yoga are, so we decided to try it out. Keep in mind that we decided to try it out on her new mat. Yes, we took her new mat outside to try yoga. Do you think she'll freak? Probably, so don't tell her.

Hawkeye (9) is attempting Eagle, Andi (3/8) is striking a beautiful Downward Facing Sheep, Riley (1/16) does the best ever Happy Baby, and Sammy (7/10) is posing in Lotus.

This is the way to break in a mat!

We Rested, see!!!

2010-08-26T20:14:00.004-05:00

Well someone let Taylor loose again. I don't know what's wrong with that sheep but it's about time for a tranquilizer if you ask me. Anyhow, I wanted to ensure all of our faithful readers that there was in fact resting* at the Sleepy Sheepy Resort and that you should most certainly visit.

I don't quite think this is checkers Chris

As you can see Chris and I played (well attempted) this fun game. I'd tell you what it was, but it was sooooo hard it made my brain hurt and it's been permanently blocked from my memory. I'm sure Chris or Erin might be able to fill you in on the exciting details.

*While we sheep had plenty of rest, you may not want to to tell the humans about this thing called Wisteria. I honestly don't know what it is, but it looked dirty and painful to me.

Hey!! I Thought the Sleepy Sheepy Resort was a Sheep Vacation

2010-08-22T19:00:00.004-05:00

Well as you all know, Justin sufficiently tortured us on our way to the Sleepy Sheep Resort. I'd complain, but I know better, plus he's a little crazy so maybe it was some sort of plan. So after being released from the luggage (Thanks Jesse!!) we curled up in bed with relaxing thoughts of mud baths, deep tissue massages and alfalfa. The next morning we found we were sadly mistaken.

Ugg, What do you mean I have to sit next to DJ

It seems we were off to see the Japanese Gardens in Seattle. Hmm, that seems relaxing and serene. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad. Little did I know that Erin and Justin were on a mission to identify plants, which meant I got the duties of watching DJ. Let me tell you, this is no vacation.

Get down here, NOW!!!

No matter what we did, the little rascal was off to the races. The gardens were indeed quite nice, although a few more edible flowers would have been much appreciated. We tried to get some group photos, but no such luck.

Don't make me count, 1...2...

It was just endless. Running from one end to the other. DJ even nearly took out a sweet old woman. That was when I just about had it.

No those coins are not for you, but that candle may be

So just as it seemed as if my wool would turn grey and fall out, we decided to sit down on the bridge for a little rest. No way DJ would go into the water right, he knows better. Silly silly me.

Don't fall DJ...wait there's an idea

Yeah he pushed that button and it was on. Hey DJ, if you like playing in that pine tree I bet you'd have even more fun on this lily pad.

It'll hold you DJ, I promise

So he didn't buy my lily pad gambit, worth a try anyways. Well where you fail once, just have to try again. Hey DJ, why don't you pet the ducks

Just don't mind the duck food I put under you

Man even the ducks didn't want anything to do with DJ. I wasn't going to be thwarted though. Has to be something in that pond that likes mutton.

Ohh, that one looks hungry

Well it was a successful trip to the Japanese Garden by all accounts. It was also a restful weekend at the resort for those of us that made it back.

Iowa State Fair

2010-08-17T19:56:00.004-05:00

We found out that Jenni was going to the Iowa State Fair, so we hitched a ride. It was fun, but it was soooo hot!

We found a sheep right away!

Jenni was pretty impressed at our sheep seeking capabilities. As you can see, we found real sheep and fake sheep!

Awe! Can we take the lamb home?

We were so awesome, we found a baby sheep! Val looks a little afraid of the lamb, but I assure you that Val was very brave.

What a strange looking sheep!

Yes, we know, that's not a sheep. Duh, it's a donkey. We liked this little donkey, baby donkey was so cute and friendly. We wanted to take donkey home, but Jenni said no. What a party pooper!

Can we take this cow home?

Since Jenni wouldn't let us take the donkey home, we decided to keep looking around. It didn't take long to spot this little cow. Yeap, it's a full grown cow. The littlest cow in the world! Maybe we can take this little one home? This cutie is so small, Jenni would never notice!

Val decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to bring the little cow home, too much poop. Val thinks that being the biggest sheep in the house means that Val knows everything. Hmmm, Andi and I aren't so sure about that.

We decided that Val might (I mean miiiiiight) just be right, and that having a living cow might not be the best thing for a house.... but what about a butter cow? They don't poop!

Mmmmm, butter!

Yeah, butter cows smell much better, but do you see Andi? Andi looks a little freaked out. Okay, maybe we won't bring this cow home.

It was too hot to even consider trying the fried Snickers on a stick, so we thought maybe we'd try some green eggs and ham:

Try them, try them, you will like them!

Well, we wanted to try the green eggs and ham, but we couldn't figure out how to break through the glass... maybe next year!

Wisconsin Dells

2010-08-11T21:46:00.005-05:00

Jenni took her family and in-laws to Wisconsin Dells last week, and didn't even mention taking us sheep, so we decided to hitch a ride in Jenni's suitcase. Jenni didn't discover us until we got to the Kalahari Resort, we got to stay and do fun stuff!

What big ears you have!

Our first trip out of the room we ran into these guys... I sure hope that Mr. Lion is a vegetarian! After we managed to escape from the Kalahari mascots, Jenni said that we were going for a ride on the Ducks. Ducks you say? Ride on the ducks? What the heck? Ducks are smaller than sheep! Has Jenni gone crazy?

Can this thing quack?

Ohhhh, that kind of Duck! Ha ha Jenni, very funny. Anyway, it was a fun ride, though it was pretty windy, so we spend most of the time chilling in Jenni's comfy bag, which had plenty of breathing space. It also had a few diapers in in, but luckily the diapers were clean.

Since we didn't want to hang out in the diaper bag much after our duck excursion, we thought we'd spend the rest of the time hanging out at the water park at the Kalahari, and also work on our tans.

Look! We've found Dumbo! Are we in Disneyworld?

This little elephant was so friendly! We had quite a nice conversation. We loved the safe feeling we had hanging out with the fake Dumbo. Then, Val had the great suggestion that we get in the pool. Sure, get in the pool - there aren't any alligators.....

Ummm, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...

What the heck? Sure, we all believe Val, and jump in with 100% trust that the pool is free of scary things - well scary things other than poopy diapers - and what do we land on? An alligator head! AAAAGH!!!!

Luckily, Jenni was nearby, and helped us all to safety. Needless to say, we hopped right back in Jenni's suitcase, and didn't come out until we arrived back home in Iowa.

Short Deep Breaths

2010-08-07T00:35:00.000-05:00

We made it to the airport and flung open Justin's suitcase. The poor sheep were alive, but barely. They were suffering from heat stroke and dehydration but after a little First Aid and water they were all better. Good thing sheep have better recovery rates than humans.

Drink more fluids...but stay off the carpet.

I think everyone learned a valuable lesson today. Don't get caught in a suitcase for more than 48 hours. Remember when you get stuck in a suitcase your human has no common sense to guide them. Only you can prevent human stupidity.

We're Coming!

2010-08-06T22:18:00.003-05:00

We had just finished playing some Xbox when we decided to see what was going on online. And we found Aerin's distress post.

Sheep 911, what is your emergency?

Erin told us everything would be fine but she knows nothing. We have to move. So we are off to go save Aerin and Taylor.

Everyone in and buckled?

If you read this, Aerin, know that help is on the way. Stay strong!

Eww!! It Smells in Here

2010-08-06T14:39:00.004-05:00

Live Blogging Experiment 1 :)

So Taylor and I are off to visit the Sheep Resort. Boy will we need the rest by the time we get there. We were supposed to make it out there yesterday, but Iowan's don't know how to drive. The interstate was shut down to one lane and there were two car accidents. We tried to drive around it all, even got to bounce around on some dirt roads. (FYI: Be careful, sharp curves aren't always well marked on gravel roads). Through all that death defying maneuvering we didn't make it to the airport on time ;(.

So now we are camping out in the airport hoping to make it to the resort tonight. I'd offer pictures, but we are still locked up in the luggage (Since Wednesday) and it's starting to smell. I was able to get to dig out the computer and thought I'd run it so the fan would at least kick around some fresh air. It turns out they offer free Wi-Fi in the airport and the luggage doesn't block it. I keep digging for the camera but I'm afraid to go too deep, it might be padded in socks or something.

Anyhow, stay tuned. I hear Chris has many exciting things planned for our short trip to Seattle. I will do my best to live blog the events.

Prowling Sheep - folie à plusieurs since 2007 (part 2 of 2)

2010-07-27T01:55:00.002-05:00

Like we said in the last post, we shattered our goal of 2,000 site hits for last year. Want to know by how much? In fact, we met our goal in February, 5 months early! Last year's total hits was 4,683 (Grand total over the years is 7,700). If you want to know what that looks like you only need to look below.

ClustrMaps' Big Dot Map for 2010 Prowling Sheep blog.
(a.k.a. a little more clustering leading to fewer, bigger dots.)

ClustrMaps' Big Dot Map for 2010 Prowling Sheep blog.
(a.k.a. a little less clustering leading to more, smaller dots.)

If dots' aren't your thing, than maybe numbers are. In 2009, our blog was viewed in 52 countries. Last year, our blog was viewed in 108 countries. The following are the countries coupled with the number of site hits for the year.

United States (US)	2,254
India (IN)	464
Canada (CA)	175
Brazil (BR)	174
United Kingdom (GB)	166
Spain (ES)	144
Indonesia (ID)	82
Germany (DE)	80
Malaysia (MY)	75
Italy (IT)	62
France (FR)	61
Mexico (MX)	53
Greece (GR)	42
Australia (AU)	41
Singapore (SG)	40
Argentina (AR)	36
Colombia (CO)	34
Austria (AT)	30
Netherlands (NL)	29
Turkey (TR)	27
Chile (CL)	26
Russian Federation (RU)	24
Thailand (TH)	23
Taiwan (TW)	22
Portugal (PT)	22
Poland (PL)	22
Romania (RO)	22
Philippines (PH)	21
Japan (JP)	21
Sweden (SE)	21
Finland (FI)	17
Saudi Arabia (SA)	15
Peru (PE)	14
Vietnam (VN)	13
Switzerland (CH)	12
Venezuela (VE)	12
Hungary (HU)	12
Slovakia (SK)	12
Hong Kong (HK)	12
Belgium (BE)	11
Ireland (IE)	10
Nigeria (NG)	10
New Zealand (NZ)	9
Israel (IL)	9
Korea, Republic of (KR)	9
Ukraine (UA)	9
Czech Republic (CZ)	8
Serbia (RS)	8
Egypt (EG)	8
Pakistan (PK)	7
Lithuania (LT)	7
Norway (NO)	7
South Africa (ZA)	7
Iran, Islamic Republic of (IR)	7
Kuwait (KW)	6
Estonia (EE)	6
Morocco (MA)	5
Guatemala (GT)	5
Bulgaria (BG)	5
Bangladesh (BD)	5
United Arab Emirates (AE)	5
Ghana (GH)	4
Latvia (LV)	4
Croatia (HR)	4
Costa Rica (CR)	4
Trinidad and Tobago (TT)	3
Malta (MT)	3
Dominican Republic (DO)	3
Tunisia (TN)	3
Denmark (DK)	3
Oman (OM)	3
Uruguay (UY)	2
Jamaica (JM)	2
Slovenia (SI)	2
Kenya (KE)	2
Iraq (IQ)	2
Guadeloupe (GP)	2
Algeria (DZ)	2
Nepal (NP)	2
El Salvador (SV)	2
Panama (PA)	2
Netherlands Antilles (AN)	2
Cambodia (KH)	2
Sri Lanka (LK)	2
Jordan (JO)	2
Luxembourg (LU)	1
Faroe Islands (FO)	1
Belarus (BY)	1
Bahrain (BH)	1
Brunei Darussalam (BN)	1
Suriname (SR)	1
Togo (TG)	1
Ecuador (EC)	1
Tanzania, United Republic of (TZ)	1
Zimbabwe (ZW)	1
Bolivia (BO)	1
Angola (AO)	1
Senegal (SN)	1
Sudan (SD)	1
Syrian Arab Republic (SY)	1
Azerbaijan (AZ)	1
Georgia (GE)	1
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (LY)	1
Qatar (QA)	1
Myanmar (MM)	1
Belize (BZ)	1
Puerto Rico (PR)	1
Moldova, Republic of (MD)	1

Okay, so that is where we are at. Now, where do we want to go? Well, as you may have noticed, the map located on the right side column has started over in dots and in counting. So we are basically back to square one. This year we figured we would go crazy and up the stakes again. Everything that was counted, that can be counted, will be counted. We set our goals high with the hopes of getting 125% more site hits, more counties viewed in, more followers, and of course 125% more posts.

What? Too easy? Well if it is too easy for you, than we're on board to go for 150% more! Let's see where that goal takes us.

Are you wondering why we set goals? I know a few people have told us they are. Well, we set goals to keep the sheep motivated to share and to hopefully entertain you. Are you entertained? We hope so, because we sure are.

Let us know what you think. Please, feel free to comment. We don't bite...hard (except D.J.) Or email us at sheep.4225sc@gmail.com. We're always looking for more friends, new ideas/suggestions, and good stories. Here's to a new year with hopes of many great adventures to share with many wonderful friends. Now go make that map look sick with chicken pox!

Prowling Sheep - folie à plusieurs since 2007 (part 1 of 2)

2010-07-25T13:00:00.001-05:00

Happy, Happy birthday to Prowling Sheep! Yes, another year older and wiseerrr...well another year older at least. For those new to the blog who may not know, July 23, 2007 was the official start of the blog. And although this is not a traditional sheep post, we still like to break away around this time and reflect on the previous year. To remember all our good fortune. And with that in mind, we look towards the future with high hopes.

This last year was a wonderful year for the blog. We started out with the goal of collecting 2,000 site hits. Which would have been 150% more hits than the year before. Seemed ambitious, but than again we never have been known for our realistic thinking.

We started our year off with some of our good friends Marty and Jeremy. Whom hold a special place on our blogs (upper right corner to be exact). They have been with us from the beginning or at least very early on. And we appreciate their support.

This year turned into the year of friends. We made so many new ones. It started with Baby from Singapore. And then continued on with some other very NICI friends. Raquel, one of our most prized commenters, brought us a new language (not that we were doing so hot with English). It is still good to know that some sheep can manage a healthy multilingual therapy career.

Raquel was one of the first of many friends from around the world that would that would support us despite a language difference. With the help of Google Translator (and other sheep being smarter than us) we have been able to enjoy the tales of other sheep's lives like Herdenleben, Mähmet's Blök - Alles, was Schaf macht, and Schmusibus-Welt.

At the beginning of this year we had no followers :-(, but now we have 21! Ya! Many of whom have their own blog that we encourage you to check out (see Followers in right side column) and many other blogs that link to our site. Thank you all. We're sure that your support has allowed us to shatter our goal of 2,000 site hits for last year.

Dirty Laundry

2010-07-21T01:00:00.004-05:00

With all the new house guests, we have to up the chores around the house. Ewww, I know. But there are so many in the house now and they all have been in the attic for so long. You can't believe how dirty these toys got just laying around. So Erin's mom showed up to help us out.

We had piles and piles of laundry, and the washer and dryer were just not going to get to it all. Erin's mom showed us how we could speed up the process. And I think Erin figured out how to use the record button on her camera just so she could have proof that we sheep do know how to clean.

Remember this moment people, because it is not going to happen again for a very, very, VERY long time.

Henry Ford would be proud.

Well, we got all the clothes cleaned and dried. And more important, we found a use for Erin's salad spinner. Poor thing never gets used; like Erin would ever make a salad.

Toy Story

2010-07-18T15:15:00.000-05:00

The other day Erin insisted on going to a horror movie. I mean a really really horrific movie. You know the one I'm talking about. The scariest movie ever made...Toy Story 3. O the horror of it all, leaving toys in attics and at day care while their human goes off to college and...and...and...make it stop! Ok, it did have a happy ending, big woop.

It did get me to thinking about all the toys Erin had before she moved to college and got us. I mean I always envisioned Erin as an "adult." You know what I mean? I mean I never thought of the fact that Erin probably had toys and even stuffed therapy animals before us sheep. I guess I just never thought of it. What kind of childhood and toys would create such a human as Erin? *shutter* Little did I know that I was about to find out.

Well, was I in for a surprise when Erin opened the door one day to see boxes and boxes of her old childhood toys sitting on our step. Apparently, they found out somehow that Erin had bought a house and is starting to settle down. And when children grow up and get a house of their own, their toys leave the attic of their human parents and move back in with their human.

Anyway, Erin had a lot of stuff. At first, it didn't look so bad. I mean just a few boxes, right? how bad could that be? We do have a big house.

What do you think is in all these boxes? Presents for me?!?!?!

D.J. always thinks there are presents. But I told the others that the boxes were full of Erin's childhood. To which they both cringed but I told them it probably wasn't all that bad. I mean only a few boxes. But then things started to crawl out of them.

Run for your lives!

There was chaos everywhere! Barbies started crawling out of boxes, music boxes started playing warped princess melodies, baseball cards smashed up against the side of the clear boxes just staring at us, and then a flood of stuffed animals came. There were so many... I knew Erin was damaged but I had no idea she had a whole team of plush therapy buddies trying to fix her for years. And apparently there were even more that hadn't made it.

Remember when Erin's 1st sheep showed up a few months ago? And Chris was so upset that there was a sheep in Erin's life before us? Well...that little 1st was on a scouting missing. Checking up on Erin and seeing if her new home was suitable for the rest. And now that everyone else is here, the 1st was in charge of negotiations.

We'll give you the upstairs closet and poke holes in the boxes so you can breath. And you can come out every other Tuesday of the months that have a blue moon.

We're still working on the living arrangements, but Erin told us that everyone was staying so we better learn to get along. She also said, that each of us sheep could have one of her childhood toys to play with. So we forgot about the old therapist and ran off to find our toy!

D.J. jumped right in without ever looking around. A cool blue Rainbow Brite car was exactly what that little sheep doesn't need. But then I didn't get to pick out D.J.'s toy. That sheep didn't even care that the car came with a passenger.

Buckle up hot stuff. Let's see what this baby can do!

Chris wasn't as open minded as D.J. but was still very popular with the ladies.

Hehe...ok ladies...your both pretty but I think there might have been a little misunderstanding.

Poor Chris spent most of the day hiding from the girls that have been locked in a attic for 10 years. I tried to tell Chris that the ladies just needed a little attention and then all would be good. Sheepy should have taken my lead.

More tea, ladies?

See? I made some new friends and then found my toy. Erin's trumpet. Oooo...I just know I was going to be great. Watch out Louie, here comes Jesse. I did my own rendition of "Hello, Dolly!" and waited for the tip jar to fill up.

Hello, Dolly! This is Jesse, Dolly.

My tip jar did fill up...unfortunately it was filled with a trumpet mute. Ok maybe I need a little bit of work before I can compete with Louis Armstrong but I didn't think I was THAT bad.

So I went upstairs to practice some more and I found Chris, who had found the prefect toy. Chris had picked Erin's bats. Said something about being able to defend against all the hostile women that were out there. O Sheepy...

Sorry ladies...I'm off limits.

In the end I think we were all pretty happy. We all got "new" toys to play with, the toys got to be played with, and some of us even made new friends.

O but wait...I almost forgot about the 1st. You see the 1st was missing someone very special to him for the last few months. That's right, the 1st was reunited with Little Bo Peep. Bo Peep had been looking all over for her sheep. She was the one that lead all the other toys to Erin's house. She crossed the boring planes, climbed mountains, and after 1,820 miles of tracking, found herself on our doorstep. Along with all the other toys who followed her.

I told you I would always find you and love you.

It's nice to see that Erin had good role models in her life. Hopefully she was paying attention and will always find and love us like Little Bo Peep.

Sterilizing Your Inners Since 2008

2010-06-12T14:06:00.000-05:00

We were playing Trivia Pursuit the other night with Erin's house guest and it remind me of when Scout came to visit a few years ago. (O and Jamie, too.) We got so busy with the holidays that we never got the pictures uploaded. Scout is from Hawaii and is kind of a germaphobe. You might recognize Scout from last year's Costumes on Parade. Scout went as Monk.

So I'm a bubble sheep. What about it?

It took a lot of talking...and a crowbar but we finally got Scout out of the bag.

Look at all those blue eyes.

Of course it didn't take long before Scout wanted to crawl back into a sterile clear bag. But we had a better idea. Which was this: if we get Scout wasted than Scout wouldn't care about the germs. So we told Scout that it was important to sterilize the your insides as well as your outsides and the best way to do that was to drink larges amounts of alcohol. So when we were all in agreement we went off to Leavenworth, a "German" town, for Oktoberfest.

WHAT! No sheep?

We were met by Woody Goomsba, the Leavenworth Ambassador. We were kind of thinking that he would be a sheep but instead he was a nutcracker. A little disappointing, but hey, not everyone can be as cool as us sheep. I mean, look at Erin.

By time we got to Leavenworth, we were starving. And no nutcracker was going to crack enough nuts to fill us up. So Erin and Jamie took us to eat at a quaint place that served waffles. Scout took a really long time to eat. Apparently, eating at a place that serves lots of sticky syrup is not a great idea when dining with the OCD. The world really only has so many wet-naps. But never the less Scout finished eating way before Erin and Jamie. Those too girls sure did a lot of talking when they are supposed to be eating. This normally would bother us but us sheep got to sit at the window and people watch. There were a lot of weird people but no sheep.

There's a sheep! O no that's just a guy with a silly wool hat.

After Erin and Jamie FINALLY finished and pay, we were off to do lots of inner sterilization. But before we did that we wanted to take a fast sweep of the area to make sure we weren't missing any cool sheep taverns. Alas, it seemed we were the only sheep in the festival. We all decided that meant that we needed to drink for all the sheep that were not there. A sheep must represent for the herd you know.

Is this picture fuzzy or is it just me?...hiccup.

I don't really remember much after this picture was taken...um...there was some beer...I think Scout was on a table dancing...D.J. was doing a handstand on a big metal drum...and I...we'll I remember a funnel and...well...no I don't...um...really can't say what happened after this picture was taken. O...I DO remember some flashing red and blue lights and Erin pulling the car over about half way home. And some guy in a weird hat and outfit sticking his head in the window asking a lot of strange questions. Erin didn't look very happy. The guy gave her a piece of paper and Erin smiled and thanked him. Although when the guy took off she didn't seem so happy. There were a few choice words, a sign, some muttering about at least she hadn't drinking, and we were back on our way...but a little bit slower.

When we finally got home, (man I had to pee) we cracked open a game of Trivia Pursuit. And that was why last night's game of Trivia Pursuit remind me of out Sterilization Campaign. Unfortunately, after Scout sobbered up, the OCD sheep crawled back in the bag and well pretty sure hasn't come out since.

No, D.J., for the 142nd time, the answer is NOT Charlie Mopps!

Meeting Franklin

2010-05-29T08:00:00.000-05:00

A few months ago, Erin went to Dave's place and let us come along. We found out that Dave didn't live alone, he had a roommate. His roommate was a cat named Franklin. You know, like the Franklin the dog that is supposed to be watching us sheep but we scared off so us sheep can really do whatever we want. And in fact we do.

Anyway, Franklin the cat is rather interesting. At first I don't think he liked us. But then ew

Hey, that tickles.

He licked my back. And then he licked my eye ball!

Hey, those are not contacts!

And then it just got worse...

Ew..

EWWW!

EEEWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!

Ok, that was too much. I don't like baths. Not in a tub, not in a washer, and defiantly not from the tongue of a cat. So we had to rethink this meeting Franklin approach.

Bring it.

And a good time was had by all.

Roll Over

2010-05-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

Every since we moved into the new house Erin has been getting a lot more junk mail. And a different kind of junk mail. When we rented, Erin would get tons of applications for credit cards. She used to take everything out of the envelope, write in black sharpie "Please take me off your mailing list. Thanks, Erin" on the order form, then she shoved everything (including the original envelop) into the prepaid return envelop and dropped it in the mail. Thus, Erin was able to support the Post Office and get her name off the mailing list. Pretty simple, effective, and costly to the junk mailers.

Now Erin is getting a higher class of junk mail. But I would say the most disturbing junk mail that is coming in is all the applications for life insurance. Who knew owning a home was so dangerous? Well, ok I can see why. Higher class junk mail isn't the only new phenomenon of home ownership. I mean, Erin is actually using the fireplace. And if you seen Erin use a fireplace you would know why she is getting so many life insurance applications. (Shhh...don't tell her we are requesting more information to be mailed.)

Anyway, let's get to the point...if there is any. Erin is not sending the junk mail back. Instead she is hoarding all her newspapers and junk mail to use for kindling for her fireplace for next winter. Which means we are starting to get closets full of junk mail.

So to help out with the clutter, I decided to make Erin some newspaper (and junk mail) logs. First I went to the internet to investigate how you should go about making a newspaper log. And I found all these "log rollers" which were super expensive. Not to mention super worthless (or so the reviews said). And then I came across a nice simple instruction video on how to make CHEAP paper logs. And as a extra added bonus, to relieve some stress. So I gathered the supplies and the troops and we were off.

I put Chris in charge of organizing and wetting the papers. I figured with Chris being the oldest should have some good organizational skills that could be put to work. Unfortunately, Chris wanted to read all the junk mail before passing it into the tub.

Ooo..half off toilet paper and pizza!

Once the papers were all wet I got to beat them with a hammer and then roll them on a pipe. I got this job because I have all the muscles of the group. And because I don't trust D.J. with a hammer nor a metal pipe.

Squishy

Once I removed the the log from the pipe I moved it to the drying rack with D.J. (Don't tell Erin I used her cookie drying racks for this.) D.J.'s job was to make sure the logs stayed on the rack to dry. Basically, D.J. kept trying to crawl into the water tub and splash around. So I was hoping I could keep the little sheep on the rack to dry off so that I didn't get yelled at by Erin for bring a wet sheep into the house.

Stay...Stay!

Overall, I think we had a pretty good assemble line going on. Henry Ford would be proud.

Look, no bottle neck!

And when it was all said and done we had 10 logs.

Burn, baby Burn!

Ok, Erin did comment that it took us all day and that it might not have been as efficient as originally hoped. We did only produce one log every hour. But when you consider all the union breaks we had to work in, I thought we did a good job. And we still were able to sleep, watch movies, play on the net, and all the other fun stuff we do on a Saturday at home. I even think Erin washed the dishes.

Now all we have to do is wait for the logs to dry and Winter to come to try it out. Stay tune!

Stuffed

2010-05-16T17:56:00.001-05:00

Erin has been busy lately hanging out with her "friends." Why does she need human friends? Exactly, she doesn't. She should be happy that she is so blessed with sheep friends like us. Chris and I protested and demanded...um I mean...asked if we could come with the next time she went out. So today we got up, brushed our wool and were off to meet at the Bamboo Garden for lunch.

We didn't much care for the company at first. One of Erin's friends kept calling us donkeys. Erin didn't tell us she was friends with a bunch of people blinder than herself. But no matter because while they were too busy poking fun at each other and trying to find their chopsticks, Chris and I ate all the food. And it was delicious. Although in our haste, we might have over eaten a little too much. But only by 1 or 2 bites.

Ug...call a vet.

We had to lay down for a very long time. We went into a deep stupor but were quickly awoken to hear Erin's friends talking about all the stuffed friends they had left at their houses. Angela has dragons. We knew that; one of them entered last year's Halloween Costume on Parade. The other girl said she had dogs. But we don't believe her. She called us donkeys. She probably has cockatoos. The other boy said he had zombies. Again, where does Erin find these people? But none the less they all said we could have a play date together and get to hang out with other plush animals. And by the looks of this lot, I think all their plush therapist buddies need a break of normality.

O yes, I almost forgot V.J. V.J. said he had frogs. And then he said he brought them with. And then he said he would show us his frogs and he rolled up his sleeves and showed us this.

Ribbit

Poor V.J. He doesn't even know the names of his own body parts. Those are arms, V.J., not frogs. V.J. if your reading this, please refer back to this link whenever you get confused. It will help you get caught up on some of the basics which you apparently were sleeping through during preschool.

Now we are back at home and are going to lay down a little more. If we had pants we would have to unbutton them because we stuffed ourselves. Hopefully when we awake, Erin will have scheduled the conference of Seattle's Plush Therapist so that we can all get together and compare notes on these crazy humans.

All Tied Up

2010-03-17T21:56:00.022-05:00

As you all may have noticed, I don't go on as many adventures as Chris and D.J. do. Some have speculated that it is because Erin doesn't want to take me out. Some have said it is because she doesn't love me as much as the others or because I'm overly plushy. But the truth is I am a home-body and I don't want to go on all those silly adventures. Nope, this sheep is simple.

I like to...well I like to...quilt. Yes I said it. I like quilting. And I'm not going to hide it anymore. The other sheep make fun of my crafty ways but I don't care. I like to post on the blog too and my adventures just happen closer to home. So from now on, get ready for Jesse's Notions (if you didn't get how clever that is look here. Yes you're going to have to learn up on your quilting terms.)

So my first project took a little more time then expected. But hey, it was my first one. So it all started back in February of 2009 when Erin's blue jean blanket that she made way back in middle school started to get really tattered and torn. I decided to make her a new one. And as luck would have it, Erin got invited to go on a quilting retreat (shut it).

So us 3 sheep convinced Erin that we should get to go with (a.k.a. we hid in the back seat until we were on the ferry). When we got to the secret quilter hide out we all got to work. I cut up a ton of jeans into squares and I told Chris and D.J. where to place them. Well...I tried to tell them...but its kind of like herding cats.

Rook to Queen...Check.

Once I got all those squares laid out I started drinking...um I mean sewing up all the squares. It took me a little while but I got the hang of it. You know sewing in a straight line with the sewing machine is harder than it looks. I said it just took a while to figure out the borrowed sewing machine (Erin forgot her foot pedal). Erin said it just meant that I was sobering up. Anyway...I got cracking and that is all that matters.

Vrooom...

It was going splendidly until I had to return the borrowed sewing machine. And then I found out the fossil that Erin owns was broken. Had to send it in and it took THREE MONTHS for them to find a replacement camshaft. So finally we got the sewing machine back and I was back to work. And in no time I got the top all sewn together.

Then next step was to do the quilting. Ok, I decided to tie the quilt. But I ran into another snag. Apparently no one in Washington knows what a quilting tie rack is. So Erin took me to Home Depot where we bought some 2x4s, staple gun, and some industrious C-clamps. O did I forget to tell you that sewing with jeans is like gorilla quilting warfare? Oops... In any case, we had to build a quilting rack from the bottom up. Chris and D.J. "helped" with this. I don't know why I keep asking for their help.

My head hurts all of a sudden.

Hold still...I got it right where I want it.

After a few Advil, bandages and tears we got the quilt rack constructed. And then we got the quilt stretched on the rack. And then those stupid sheep decided to use my lovely quilt as a trampoline. I tell you. They have no respect for what I make.

Look what I can do!

After Chris and D.J. stopped jumping on my blanket I wiped away my tears and put them to work. I must say sometimes it is nice when Erin comes home and starts yelling. At least when she is not yelling at me but those 2 trouble makers.

But in any case, I crawled under the quilt and D.J. and Chris stayed on top and we passed the needle through to X tie the quilt. It was a lot of hard work. but we got it done. I didn't know that quilting was so hard and expensive. I mean the chiropractic bills alone are enough to make you want to just buy a factory made quilt.

Ouch! watch where your stabbing that needle!

So it is summer of 2009 now and by this point I had the quilt top made and the backing tied on. Done right? Wrong. Now comes the worse part. Hand sewing the binding on. I HATE that part. But just as I was getting ready to do it, Erin goes and moves us. So my blanket sat in a box for a few months. And then when Erin FINALLY did unpack it she put it on her bed! I mean how rude! I told her it wasn't done but she just said she was cold and she didn't care.

So comes a full year and I still haven't gotten this blanket made. And then you know what happen? I got sick. Really sick. And Erin tucked me on the couch and let me watch tv all day long. And I got to use the blanket. I took this advantage to sew up the binding and all is done. See?

I made that.

Isn't it perfect?

The blanket didn't last long on the couch with me. No, it is back on Erin's bed. She says it is her favorite. I guess it was worth the work. Nothing beats a nice cozy sheep quilt.

Franklin is Sleepless in Seattle Part III

2010-02-17T07:00:00.000-06:00

The next day we decided to go on an adventure. We took a ferry across the Puget Sound.

And visited Olympic National Park. You know how I feel about the outdoors, and the sheep seemed to like the fresh air too.

Here we are at Crescent Lake. This moss just grows everywhere.

We decided to pay a visit to the Ranger Station.

But Ranger Gordon wasn't home. He must be goofing off with the whole gang down at Possum Lodge.

We saw the biggest tree in the gosh darned forest.

And then we hiked out to Pacific coast at La Push. The sheep wanted to go for a dip, but there was no way I was ridin' in a car full of smelly wet wool the rest of the way home.

The hike back to the car sure was purdy.

And then we came to this city called Forks. Sounds like a utensil to me, but DJ said it had something to do with some movie with Vampires and Werewolves.

After grabbing some chow it was time to head back to the ranch. And then hop on a plane back to Iowa with John.

It sure was a fun trip out to Seattle with the whole gang.

Franklin is Sleepless in Seattle Part II

2010-02-14T00:00:00.000-06:00

Any good ole sheepdog knows it's the proper thing to do to bring sumthin' nice along when you're visitin.'

John and Erin went to some fancy-dancy seafood joint for dinner. The sign said no dogs allowed, so they promised me and the sheep some leftovers.

What in tarnation is this stuff. They just keep starring at us!

We talked John and Erin into taking us out for ice cream instead.

Then it was Superbowl Sunday. Jesse fixed us up with some nice submarine sandwiches.

Then we watched the game. What was that ref looking at?

The fixins sure were good though.

And we made s'mores in Erin's fireplace. Made me homesick for the campfires on the trail.

Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

2010-02-11T07:00:00.001-06:00

Erin came home from work last week and started running around the house. She was tossing clothes everywhere. A suitcase whizzed by my head. D.J. and I started to suspect that Erin was a little stressed and was planning to leave soon. I know we normally don't talk about work on this blog, but it seemed that Erin's work trip meant that we needed to step up and work, too. So D.J. and I crawled into Erin's suitcase when she wasn't looking. Man, she packed a lot of sweaters.

So D.J. and I had no idea where we were going but we knew that Erin needed to have her little plush therapy buddies. And all day we got tossed and thrown. We were seriously glad that Erin packed all those sweaters. But finally, Erin plopped her suitcase down on a hotel bed and went for her P.J.s. And out we came. She was shocked.

She scolded us for being stowaways. And lectured us on what could have happened if she had to check her bag and the airport lost us. But we could see that she wasn't really mad at us, just frustrated by work and deep down I know she was happy to see us. After about an hour of listening to her tell us about the last minute trip, the last minute ordeal with booking the flight, the lost hotel and car rental reservations, how she sat in water waiting for the bus and about 25 other ways of saying "life happens" we all cuddled up for a good night sleep.

In the morning, Erin went off to work and D.J. and I planned out how we were going to rescue Erin. First we check to see where the heck we were even at. We were in San Jose, California! How exciting, we have never been to California for a visit.

What is this thing called a "Sun" and how does it work?

Then checked the weather to see why Erin had packed so many darn sweaters. But the weather was gorgeous! It was 50 - 60s and sunny. It was a no brainier. As soon as Erin got out of her meeting we were going outside for a little fun. No excuse. Of course Erin had an excuse. She said she had to get some work done and write this paper. But we insisted that she take a break, enjoy the day, and take us...I mean see the Golden Gate Bridge.

Cheese!

Of course, we won. We knew that the engineer in Erin couldn't pass up the chance to see one of the most world renowned suspension bridges. And then we convinced her to take a stroll on the bridge.

This bridge is monolithic.

We wanted to reenact a movie which had a scene with the bridge. So we thought we might do... "Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus" or maybe a dramatic scene like in "You Kill Me." Or something heroic like in "X-Men 3: The Last Stand." Or something fun like in "Monsters vs Aliens." Oooo maybe, something like "Star Trek IV: Voyage Home." O wait. No defiantly not "Star Trek IV: Voyage Home." That's enough to make someone want to jump off the bridge and add to the bridge suicide rate. You know like in "The Bridge." O...we didn't think of that. Maybe we shouldn't have brought a sad Erin to the bridge that she could jump from...um...ok, moving on...

Look how pretty the view is...behind the guardrail.

After a few snap shots we decided to go back to solid ground. Erin was shaking her head and patting us on the heads. And then she pointed to a little island out in the bay and said, "if I had the time I would take you 2 there to be booked." We didn't know what she was talking about. Obviously the stress of work had gotten to her.

Have us "booked"? Is it a library? Funny place for a library.

But we though we better humor Erin and take a closer look.

"I don't see any books. Do you think they have Curious George?"

Erin told us that it was Alcatraz. I didn't care what they called it, that place looked like they were serious about their late fees.

Not a very accessible library.

Erin just laughed at our lack of interest in going to a library in the middle of the bay. And she said "guess you guys will have to stay on the lamb." Then she laughed. At that point we decided we better take her back to the hotel. She must have gotten sunstroke.

We got Erin in the car and she started driving. But then she took a wrong turn.

Back on the bridge again.

And we ended up having to go over the bridge. Erin said she didn't want to drive over the bridge but we reminded her that there was no U-Turns on the bridge. Please note the sign.

I think they spelled that wrong. It should be "No Ewe Turns."
I hate it when those ewes get to turning.

Soon enough we were on the other side of the bridge. Erin pulled off to the side to see where she could turn around. And D.J. spotted that this side of the bridge had free parking! So we made Erin stop and take more pictures.

O yes this is clearly my better side.

No sooner had the flash gone off did Erin have us back in the car. She said she HAD to get back to the hotel to do some work. I think she was a little embarrassed. There was a few people pointing and looking at us weird. I TOLD Erin that she should have spent more time looking for her camera case. But NOOO she had to just grab a fuzz sock and use that for her camera case. I was so embarrassed. I mean some times I just don't want to be seen with Erin. She just draws too much attention. But what can you do? You just have to love those humans no matter how weird they are.

But it didn't matter really, because soon enough we were back on the bridge. And Erin said she was going to drive really slow to enjoy the bridge ride because it was going to cost so much money.

Come on Erin! The speed limit is 45 miles per hour not 45 inches per decade!

And then we got to the tollbooths. Do you know how much it cost to go over the bridge!? SIX dollars! Those bridge suspensions better be made out of diamonds for that rate!

$6.00! Quick, check for coins in the seat!

But all ended well. I think Erin had a good time. She seemed a little less stressed and a lot tanner. And we got back to the hotel and Erin sat down to write her paper. And I sat down to get caught up on some of my reading.

"The Art of Deduction."

And all was great...until D.J. decided to get caught up on being annoying.

OUCH! D.J.!

The rest of the trip went great. (After I got some duct tape and put an end to D.J.'s pouncing.) Erin got a good part of her paper written and did a great job on her business trip. And we all hurried home to Seattle to meet up with Franklin and John.

Franklin is Sleepless in Seattle Part I

2010-02-08T23:39:00.017-06:00

I reckoned it was high time I took a trip out to the state of Warshington to see the sights and check up on the sheep. We will get to the sheep soon enough, but I needed to see the sights of the big city first.

Somethun smells a lil' fishy at this next place.

Erin wanted to take me to see this here Arboretum. Soon enough I found a pond with some ducks. I barked and they just came closer and closer!

So I told John I was gettin' mighty cold, and hopped into his sweatshirt pocket.

We were all a bit tuckered out, so it was time to go the ranch and check on the sheep.

What do you mean I'm not your first!?

2010-01-25T01:24:00.005-06:00

Erin went home Thanksgiving last year and didn't take us. I know it was a last minute trip so I wasn't too upset. I mean plane tickets are expensive and all. So D.J., Jesse, and I just enjoyed Thanksgiving with each other. It was kind of fun having a sheep holiday without Erin standing there telling us to stop having fun.

But then Erin came back and she wasn't alone! We were so hurt. She left us for a weekend and found another sheep to love. And then she told us that this wasn't a new sheep but that this was her FIRST sheep!

Baa Baa

I must admit I always thought I was Erin's first. And to find out that her first was this little rose cheek, flowing yellow locked, hand stuffed sheep was more than I could handle. AND now she wants him to move in with us just because there is "more room" in the new house. NO SHEEP, I'm sorry there is no room at the house for you! There is a 3 sheep limit at the Sleepy Sheepy Resort and you're not one of them! And this will be your ONLY appearance on the blog. So don't get any ideas about that! How dare you think you can walk back into Erin's life after being out of it for over two decades. No, don't even try to give me "I'm just glad I'm not in a plastic bag in the attic anymore" crap. I'm not hearing it. You sit in the corner and watch yourself buddy! Ya, I'm talking to you!

Humph. Sorry blog readers you had to see that. I'm normally much more composed. O, and just to remind you all that the Sleepy Sheepy Resort loves all visitors and is the kindest most loving place in the world. Have a good day.

O Tannenbaum

2010-01-13T21:29:00.001-06:00

It is so sad that Christmas has come and gone. We had a lot of fun having our first Christmas in our "new" house. My favorite was getting to decorate, especially the tree!

Erin left one day all bundled up and told us to behave. I don't know why she always tell us to behave when she knows us better than that. But we said we would because she promised a big surprise when she got back. A few hours later she pulled up to the house with something bundled to the car. It was a Christmas Tree!

Oooo...look a tree!

We were so excited. I must admit I wanted to go with Erin to pick the tree out and cut it down but no matter. Erin let us put the tree up all by ourselves. I got to cut the extra stump off, Jesse screwed the tree to the stand, and D.J. got in the way.

Timber!

We drug it into the house and before you could say "holy shepherd" we had the tree all decorated. Erin didn't even get a snap off before we were finished. Of course she says it was because she was too busy cleaning up the carnage we left in the yard from getting the tree off the car and onto the stand. But I stand by she was just too scared to come back into the house.

Pretty

After all that hard work, Erin told us to get cleaned up for pictures for our Christmas Cards. Of course we haven't sent those out yet. So if you are on our mailing list you might be getting a sneak peek of what our Happy Flag Day Cards will look like. (At least at this point it will take us to Flag Day to get the cards out.)

Our first real Christmas Tree.

But we couldn't stop with a tree. We wanted to have more fun. So we set the table with Erin's Christmas dishes.

We like snowmen.

And we hung the stockings that Erin "borrowed without permission" from her parents' house.

Hanging the rented stockings

While we were doing that, Erin took out her nativity set that her aunt Lori painted when Erin was just a kid. Erin told us not to touch. She acts like we break things.

Ooo..isn't he cute...

And then we took a closer look and ran away. The only thing I asked for Christmas was for Erin to never call this shepherd to sheep sit. That poor sheep. No wonder why there were no other sheep in the scene.

Can't breath...send help

After we called the sheep abuse hot line for that little lamb, we all had a great Christmas. But then just as it started, Erin said it was time to clean up and take the tree down. Which I didn't understand. I thought the tree was going to stay. It seemed nice enough just sitting in the corner, and best of all, it pooped presents! I mean, come on, what is better than a pooping present tree? But Erin said it would dry up and it might burn our house down. Which I think was just an excuse because she is a grinch. I mean she is starting fires all the time just on the other side of the room in the fireplace. I don't see the difference. Atlas, we lost our battle and had to take the tree down.

Heads up!

And of course, that means that Jesse and I had to do all the work because 2 seconds into it D.J. found a shiny bell.

BELL!

But that's ok. We had a system. I climbed in the tree and dropped all the ornaments down to Jesse below.

Angelic Bombardier

And it worked well because Jesse is good at color, thus a great ornament sorter. Although, Jesse also gets distracted by shiny things, too. So Erin had to step in and help me with the rest.

Ooo shiny

And we all said good bye one last time. And Erin wrestled the tree out of the house. You know I thought that tree was all nice but it didn't go quietly. Erin was right, it was dangerous. It took out our light on the way out. D.J. tried to fix the light but it was no use.

Duct Tape! Stat!

After a vacuum, it was all over.

Voom Voom

Good bye, Christmas. We can't wait for next year. Next year will be better. Next year I'm going to pick out a bigger tree. Because you know, bigger trees poop bigger presents!

Lamb Cam

2010-01-11T18:53:00.005-06:00

So this morning Taylor was watching CNN (talk about a boring morning ritual). Although this morning it paid off, Jeanne Moos did this interesting report about an artist that puts cameras on animals and makes videos of it.

He even did one of lambs. Now I wonder what we'd see if he put one on D.J.

Anyhow, here is a short clip of it, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQwC-ZzpiLE, the exciting part of it is about 1:00 into the video.

New Years Resolutions

2010-01-04T23:00:00.001-06:00

So it took us 4 days but Jesse, Chris and I finally came up with a list of resolutions that we think Erin should work on this year. I know it seems long but Erin has a lot of flaws. So let's get started. Here are top 25 resolutions Erin should do.

Exercise more...um...start exercising
Play with us more
Practice the stupid piano she bought last year
Read more
Lose weight
Learn to spell
Work on the house
Give us everything we ask for
Write more post
Work harder at work
Make some friends
Spend less money on stupid things (a.k.a. anything that is not for us)
Eat healthier
Give us chocolate
Finish all her sewing and craft projects
Keep the house clean
Get organized
Reduce stress
Wait on us hand and foot
Learn to count
Take us on extravagant trips
Help the needy...like us
Spend more time with friends
Love us more

After we showed Erin the list we negotiated. Erin said she would try to refrain from smothering us in our sleep. We agreed that that would work, too. Happy New Year!

Nice pillow...down pillow...

(P.S. Happy Birthday Erin's Mommy!)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T04:06:00.004-06:00

Merry Christmas! And no we are not dead. Sorry for the absent posting. We couldn't let Marty and Jeremy have all the fun so we decided to move, too! How fun is that!? You might remember if you read back a few post, Erin was looking to buy a house. And she did and packed all our great stuff in boxes. Now don't worry, the move didn't stop us from having great adventures...we just don't exactly remember which box the camera was packed in. But as soon as we unpack all 29,042 boxes of Erin's crap we will have a slew of back post for you all. We can't wait, hope you can a little longer. Just drink some of that spiked eggnog and enjoy the holidays. That's what we are doing.

We'll help unpack this one!

Just ME!

2009-12-05T12:00:00.000-06:00

Earlier this year, I went to Portland, Maine! In celebration of this trip, I first took some time to stop and smell the rosehips, a key ingredient in several kinds of tea.

Then I visited Portland Head Light, or PHL as some of the locals call it.

I don't see what the big deal is, looks WAY too small for me; lets see if they've got anything more my size around here...

Success! Just my size!

Seriously though, the scenery was gorgeous. Here is a camera-phone, postcard quality picture that scarcely does it justice.

I'll be heading back to Maine for some camping and more seafood ASAP! Wanna come?

Lobster

2009-12-03T22:43:00.006-06:00

Veni

Vidi

VICI!!!!

Halloween Aftermath

2009-11-05T00:00:00.001-06:00

So after the parade the sheep wanted to get going and get candy. It all seemed like a good idea...

Sheep ready to go Trick - Or - Treating

Until they decided to eat all the candy they got in one sitting. Now they are in a diabetic coma. We hope they snap out of it so they can keep blogging. But we will have to see.

Sheep in diabetic coma

Hope your sheep (dog, dragon, pink teddy bear) got lots of candy because of their great costumes AND that they know better than my sheep and space out the eating of it.

This state fair is a great state fair...

2009-11-03T11:03:00.000-06:00

I got to go to the New Mexico State Fair! It was really fun, but first they didn't want me to go (see item 2 on the list).

Then they tried to get me to change my insurance to Gieco - 15 minutes and they didn't even save me money!

Once I FINALLY got inside, I saw some crafts, including a carved Mr. Potato Head!

Since I was from the furthest away, they even gave me a coupon for Malt-o-meal. I like the food people! Then, right by the Malt-o-meal people, there was a tractor from home; yay John Deere!

After some tractor riding, I got to play in a puppet show. I sang "I've got no strings," it seemed appropriate.

Next, I went to play in the New Mexico Department of Natural resources building; do you see me?

How 'bout now?

Last, I went to see Old McDonalds Farm.

I got nervous when I saw some future HAMburgers...

Then they tried to keep me!

Help!

I decided they were right in the first place, I should have stayed out to begin with and insurance sure would have been a good idea!

All good parades must come to an end!

2009-11-02T21:28:00.006-06:00

Hi everyone!

Thanks so much for participating in this year's costume parade! We ended up with SEVENTEEN entries (wow!):

1 – D.J. as Shaun the Sheep

2 – Quinn as a member of the Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band

3 – Andi as an Iowa Cheerleader

4 – Scout as Monk from the TV show Monk

5 – Aerin as a Banshee

6 – Chris as a Mummy

7 – Farfner as a Witch

8 – Taylor as a Ghost Buster

9 – Franklin as a Famous French Pastry Chef

10 – Marty as Harry Potter

11 – Jesse as a Soccer Hooligan…I mean Sounder Player

12 – Elliot as Vince “Offer” Shlomi the Sham-Wow guy

13 – Val as H1N1

14 – Riley as a Pirate

15 – Pink Bear as a Witch

16 – Jeremy as a Witchcraft

17 – Shaun the Sheep as D.J.

Now, you have 11 whole months to be thinking what you're going to be for next year. Erin's accepting pictures anytime you have a picture to send in before next year of Halloween. I can't wait!

DJ...or is it?

2009-10-31T17:00:00.000-05:00

Shaun the Sheep as D.J.

Shaun the Sheep is bringing us full circle with his costume of our very own D.J., who is going as Shaun the Sheep this year for Halloween. Shaun loves cotton candy ever since the famous episode “Sheep on the Loose" where a younger member of the flock Timmy gets caught in a cotton candy machine and comes out as a big wad of candy. Who wouldn't love that? Thanks Shaun for joining our parade and bringing us back to where it all began.

Lil' Blue Eyes

2009-10-31T12:00:00.005-05:00

Jeremy as Witchcraft

Jeremy from Scotland is a big fan of Frank Sinatra, so he dressed up this year as Witchcraft. With this costume, Jeremy is sure no one can resist his blue eyes and they will give him his favorite candy, chocolate covered Brazil nuts. Thanks, Lil' Blue Eyes for jumping the pond and sharing your wonderful costume on the parade and bringing a little culture to the group.

Bewitching Beauty

2009-10-31T00:00:00.003-05:00

Pink Bear as a witch

Pink Bear comes from our youngest person to send an entry into this year's costume parade. She is loved by a 5 year old girl and also loves to play dress up. Although Pink Bear loves to dress up in many costumes, this year for Halloween she is going in a classic witch's costume with high hopes to earn lots of snickers, her favorite. You can't beat a classic and we are all sure that Pink Bear and her best friend will get the most candy trick-or-treating. Thanks Pink Bear for stopping by our parade on your route to get lots and lots of treats in Iowa. And we all wish you many more years of love.

Ahoy ye matey

2009-10-30T17:00:00.003-05:00

Riley the Pirate

Hide your booty, Riley the Pirate is here! That's right, Riley is going to get the biggest stash of treasure of them all: Snickers, Twixs, Milky Ways, Skittles, and Gobstoppers. But the most valuable candy is Smarties. Riley knows that if you eat Smarties, you grow up to be really smart. And Riley wants to be the smartest of them all. Riley, its a pleasure to welcome you to the parade, just remember to mark the spot where you bury all your goodies from trick-or-treating in Iowa this year.

And this little piggy went...

2009-10-30T12:00:00.001-05:00

Val as H1N1

Val from Iowa tends to stay in the lab where it is nice and safe. This year Val was convinced to come and join the parade; but only on the condition of being allowed to dress up as the most scariest thing, Swine Flu. So all dressed up, Val is downing the candy of choice to fight off infections diseases, Flintstone vitamins, and is joining the parade! Thanks Val for conquering your fears and joining the parade!

Sham-Wow-Say-What?

2009-10-30T00:00:00.001-05:00

Elliot as Sham-Wow's own Vince "Offer" Shlomi

Our next entry comes all the way from Iowa. Welcome Elliot in this original Vince "Offer" Shlomi costume. Elliot spends most days watching television and wanted to be the "greatest superhero of all time." What is Vince's superpower? Well Elliot explains that it is being on every channel at every minute of every day. That's right, Vince is everywhere and is keeping it clean. WOW! Elliot's favorite candy is Reese's Pieces. Thanks Elliot for interrupting this parade with a special sponsor bulletin.

Ole Ole Ole

2009-10-29T17:00:00.003-05:00

Jesse as a Seattle Sounders FC Player.

Jesse from Seattle, Washington loves the Seattle Sounders and wanted to go as a Hooligan but was "convinced" to put the pint and scarf down and pick put the shin guards and cleats. Jesse says the best candy in the world is Guiness but was quickly "reminded" that it was in fact root beer barrels. Thanks for not beating up the other entries in the parade, Jesse!

Impedimennta!

2009-10-29T12:00:00.001-05:00

Marty as Harry Potter

Now that I have your attention, let me introduce Marty who is dressed in the finest Harry Potter costume this year. Marty is trick-o-treating in Scotland for the first time, but no worries he has his Cheering Charm all ready to go to make everyone happy to give him lots of candy. And if that doesn't work he can always use "Accio" to snatch his favorite candy, lemon sherbets (just like Professor Dumbledore). Thanks Marty for coming all the way to America to show us your costume!

Bon Appetit!

2009-10-29T00:00:00.007-05:00

Franklin as a Chef

Franklin from Iowa is trick-or-treating this year as a famous French pastry chef. His main course is sheep shaped sugar cookie but his most favorite candy is peanut butter twix. Unfortunately, chocolate is not good for growing puppies so he can't eat the twix. Instead, he trains his human, John, by giving him twix whenever he does tricks. Franklin, thanks for joining our parade and passing out the best candy.

Who you going to call?

2009-10-28T17:00:00.002-05:00

Taylor as a Ghost Buster

Taylor from Iowa lives with Aerin and is always trying new ways to get rid of the extra sheep. So this year Taylor is going as a Ghost Buster. Nutroll is Taylor's favorite candy and yet Aerin isn't Taylor's the favorite sheep. Go figure... Thanks Taylor for coming and being in our parade.

Mystical Magic

2009-10-28T00:00:00.005-05:00

Fafner as a witch

Fafner from Washington saw all the cleaver, tasty sheep on parade and wanted to join in. This fierce little dragon likes to hang out and play video games all day long. Which led him to want to join a more mystical rank of witch this Halloween. When not playing games, Fafner likes to snack on his favorite candy, red hots. Thanks, Fafner for adding a little sizzle to our parade and double thanks for not eating the other entries.

I want my Mummy

2009-10-27T17:00:00.000-05:00

Chris as the Mummy

Chris from Washington got all wrapped up in this Halloween costume and is loving every minute of it. Sheepy's favorite Halloween candy is Candy Corn. Thanks, Chris, for untangling yourself long enough to find your way into the parade!

Not just any ghost

2009-10-27T00:00:00.001-05:00

Aerin as a banshee

Aerin from Iowa is sporting the latest line of banshee sheik. Gone are the days of sheets with holes cut in them. This starlet won't be seen in anything but the best as she flies down the runway. Milky Ways are the candy of choice for this fashion forward sheep because Aerin is all about being amongst the stars. Thanks for bringing cutting edge fashion to our parade, Aerin!