Happy May Day!

Do people still celebrate May Day? When I was in elementary school, May Day was a big deal. I recall making May Baskets and delivering them to my classmates' houses. I found an article on the internet about that tradition. It brought back some memories.

Anyway, Happy May Day! I hope May is a great month for us all!

Furniture Saga (continued)

First, I want to tell you how the saga of my furniture delivery ended. Late last Friday afternoon, I received a call from Kim, a very friendly customer service representative at IKEA Transport. She'd located my shipment in Iowa City and told me Hawkeye Moving would be bringing it me on Saturday. What a relief. She gave me the phone number at Hawkeye and the name of a contact person. Delivery was arranged. It seemed that Hawkeye had originally sent my furniture to Maquon, Illinois. (I later checked the address label, which clearly said "Macomb.")

So, Saturday arrived. The truck showed up when it was supposed to. The guys unloaded two boxes. Wait!! Only two boxes?? I said, "There has to be more than two boxes. There is no way a love seat and sofa can fit in these two boxes!" The guy replied, "Look, ma'am, we just deliver what they give us to deliver. Sign here."

Why do things like this always happen on weekends when there is no way to get in touch with anyone who can help?

One thing I could and did do was use a PM on the IKEA USA Facebook page to let them know that only the love seat had arrived. Monday morning I called Kim at IKEA Transport to tell her about the problem. She called me back in the afternoon to let me know the other boxes were still in Iowa City at Hawkeye. Obviously, someone goofed again! A Hawkeye employee was supposed to call to set up a delivery time and date. No call came.

So, I called them! The man who answered said they would set up a Thursday delivery time and call me back on Tuesday with the information. By 4:00 Tuesday I had no call. So, I called them!

At 9:00 Thursday morning, the boxes arrived. I'm so glad this is over. What a hassle over something that should have been so easy. (I'm not too impressed with Hawkeye Moving.)

Anyway, here's the furniture. We're glad to have a place to sit in our family room again. It's been almost a month with only one recliner in the room. Whoever claimed it first had a good TV watching spot!

Our daughter's dog, Henri, is especially glad to have furniture to relax on once again. The Lhasas prefer to hang out on the floor and to pull the throws off the furniture and make nests out of them.

Henri

Puppy News

For those of you waiting for puppies, here they are!

As you can see, they have yet to arrive. Maggie is uncomfortable and bulging with babies. They are due May 5 but I'm hoping they come this weekend.

Email, Facebook Messages, and Photos from Others

Mary wrote,  "I started Belle in a series of agility classes at a different facility (where Moka trains);   I was a bit nervous she would not be advanced enough for this class since we did not start there.  She did 2 short sequences, jumps , DOGWALK – 3 times with no hesitation, and tunnel.  The next sequence involved jump, A frame, and turning to a tunnel (working on turning skills). She did as she often does with the A frame--runs a little tease of “chase me,”she looks at me, the crowd, dances, I give her a stern command for the A frame, up she goes, blasts down, does the turn, the last jump. Then going out of the ring she took a jump  at 16 in ( she jumps 4). I thought she was going to run under it until I saw the gleam and determination in her face, rose high, cleared the jump, ran out of the ring. Everyone in class gave a gasp, and laugh. The weaves are under construction/instruction. The teeter…we will work at but not fret at. And, she is entered in her first CPE jumpers run in May--tunnels, jumps only.  There is usually a really good photographer at the CPE events, hoping he’s there and catches a Belle shot or two. She is fun."

Belle going over the A-frame

I sure wish I could see Belle in action!

Barbara asked, "Who says you can't mix daffodils with a 'Daisy' in a flower garden?" then wrote, "Daisy Mae loves sitting in the garden."   Here is her Daisy enjoying the garden and the sun.

Catherine posted on Facebook: "Joyce - Mallory went for her annual examination today. Our veterinarian added a new veterinarian who works part-time. She recently retired from teaching/training Vet. Tech. at our local technical college. She loves the Lhasa Apso breed and at one time was a Lhasa Apso breeder. She just went on and on about what a beautiful dog Mallory is. She said her coloring and coat are just beautiful. I told her wait to you meet Magoo. She was so excited she got to see "such a beautiful Lhasa" (her words). I just wanted to share because your Lhasa are so special!"

I posted a photo of Mallory and Magoo last week.

And a note with a cute video arrived from Vivian's LilLea: "Hi Mama Joyce. I wanted to let you know that I am fine, growing big and love my toys.
Love
-LilLea"


The video showed LilLea playing with her toys.

Marilyn sent a note about Maci: "Maci is loving this beautiful weather. She enjoys being on the deck, watching the birds, squirrels, and deer. She is such a barker. If something makes a noise, she barks back. Puppy school is tonight, and she sometimes has her own agenda. Last week she just wanted to watch every person who came and went. I told her yesterday that the rate things were going, she would have to pull an all-nighter just to keep up! She just answered with kisses!"

Survey Opportunity

Dog owners are needed to answer a Dog Owner Quality of Life Survey that concentrates on 10 different aspects of everyday life that are important between dogs and their owners, and how they might positively or negatively affect quality of life. Responses will enable researchers to fine-tune the survey before making it more widely available.  Dog owners interested in taking the Dog Owner Quality of Life Survey can access it at https://redcap.med.upenn.edu/surveys/?s=4KuXHdJjHp. Participants will be asked to provide some general information, including their birth year, zip code, and home environment. No specific identifying information, such as their name or address, will be collected. The survey takes less than 10 minutes to complete. There is no compensation for participation. For more information, visit www.vet.upenn.edu.

That's it for this week!

Life is Better When You Have a Lhasa to Love You!

Joyce