Merry Christmas!

Hello all of our doggie, kittie and other friends!

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas! We got some presents on Christmas Eve and on Christmas morning! It was all looking pretty sweet and then Mom and Aunt Bec got in their cars and drove away! But then we remembered that they drive away almost every day so we decided we wouldn't worry about it. We took naps instead.

Well, it got late and dinner time came and went but dinner did not show up. You can imagine how stressful this was to us. Fortunately, Aunt Bec finally showed up and gave us some dinner before we starved to death. It was a good thing Aunt Bec came home because Mom never did show up. And she didn't show up the next day either. She finally came home today and ... she smelled like FIVE other dogs!

Can you believe she would leave us alone (okay, yes, Aunt Bec was here but ALONE has a bigger effect) for almost three whole days??? What kind of mother does something like that. We think the DWBers need to set her straight!

She smelled like our Aunt Sue's dog, Missy. And she smelled like our Uncle John's Labradors, Kaiser and Hannibal. She smelled like Grandma and Grandpaw's dachsie who is our Aunt Lexie. AND she smelled like MONA!!! We think it is totally unacceptable that she found time to visit Mona when she was neglecting us. The only reason we MIGHT forgive her is because she helped Mona's mommy with her new computer. Her other computer decided to be mean right before Christmas and not play anymore.

But she is home now and we are sitting on her and next to her. We really missed her and we are pretty sure she missed us.

Well that is about it for now. We still need to post pictures of our new cousin, Emma. She is getting big but we still boss her around. She knows to be afraid of us ... especially Maggie and Roxie ... heck, the rest of us are afraid of those two! It seems only Mom and Aunt Bec aren't afraid of them.

Anyway, we wanted to wish everydog a very Merry Christmas! We hope you got some rawhide or equally great present!

(We are keeping our paws crossed that we can make another entry before the end of they year. It might be at 11:45 on Dec 31st but that will still count!)

No Promises

Hey, we just stopped by to check something and realized we haven't posted in almost three months. Now that is unforgivable! There have been so many things going on and you don't know about them because Mom is too busy playing games on Facebook to spend just 20 minutes on our blog. See how terribly mistreated we are? We are beginning to feel fortunate that she takes a few minutes to feed us each day.

Well, anyway, now we are here. Let's see. What is new that we can tell you?

They have started building Aunt Bec's new doghouse. In fact, it looks like a house! It is painted inside and out. They still need to put in counter tops and light fixtures and lots of stuff but the big part is done. They might even have it finished in a month or so. Aunt Bec is very excited.

Mom got a temporary job. It should go to a permanent job but Mom says to wait for it to happen before being sure. She is working at a place that sells advertising for the cable company's channels. She is not selling advertising. She works in the accounting department.

We have a new cousin. This is a four legged one. Her name is Emma. She is part lab and part still to be determined. She was about 7 or 8 weeks old when she came to live with us. A lady who works with Mom found her dumped on her property. She brought Emma to the office but she was going to take her to the animal shelter. Emma is all black so Mom knew it would probably end badly for Emma. Aunt Bec has been wanting a bigger dog (we don't even want to discuss the implications of THAT), so Mom called her and they agreed to take Emma. Emma didn't have a name yet but Mom, Aunt Bec and our human cousin Jen all decided Emma was a good name for her. Mom and Aunt Bec are now always saying "She emma puppy." "She emma pest." "She emma cute." They think they are clever; please do not encourage them.

Emma does not have house manners yet. She chewed through Mom's laptop power cord ... twice. After the first time, Mom was very careful about where the cord was. The one time she walked away and it was exposed, Emma chewed on the new one. For the record, power cords cost more than kibble.

Emma also does not know to pee only outside. Aunt Bec is working on her housetraining. It is slow. Mom bought the odor and stain remover spray in the biggest bottle sold. Mom and Aunt Bec buy lots of paper towels too.

Emma is already taller than we are and she is only 12 weeks old. Andy can run under her! She is always picking on Andy so it is good that he has a way to escape. She even took Andy's collar off of him. Mom lets him run around naked now. This is a nice blog so we are not going to post a picture of him like that.

We had a long dry summer. Then it rained almost 10 inches in a week. We did not like the rain but we enjoyed bringing muddy paws into the house. Mom and Aunt Bec learned how to use a mop and broom again. It has rained a lot recently. We got 1.5 inches just two days ago! It probably would have been nicer to get a little bit each week during the summer but no one was listening to us.

Mona and her mommy, Aunt Sarah, came to visit us for Independence Day (July 4, for you non-American friends) and Labor Day (the beginning of September). Mona was good and posted all about it so we probably don't need to say much. We don't want to repeat everything that Mona has already told you. We did have our cousin Jen come to visit too. She loves us and likes to pull on Andy's ears. Not to hurt him! Just because they are so soft and long. Aunt Sadie wants to take Roxie and cousin Jen wants to take Andy. Sammy thinks that is a fine idea but Mom thinks he will miss them more than he realizes so she said no one was taking anyone.

We have been vigilant all summer and kept the cowdogs out of the yard. They are relentless! You would not believe how often they come up to the fence. One was even eating the crepe myrtle that was growing in the yard. She just reached over the fence and made herself at home. Mom had to explain to her that the owner of the establishment would appreciate it if she would not eat the flowers. She finally decided to stop.

We had another copperhead visitor. Around 8:30 one night we were still outside. Mom and Aunt Bec usually make us come inside when it starts to get dark but this night they let us stay out a little longer. Aunt Bec heard us all start barking and she headed out the door. She turned to Mom and suggested Mom get the shotgun. Sure enough they found us barking at a copperhead snake. Aunt Bec had the flashlight and Mom had the gun. Mom says it is a lot harder to shoot something at night then during the day. She usually hits a snake in one shot. It took three to finally hit him. He was over three feet long; Mom and Aunt Bec both thought he was close to four feet but they didn't actually measure him. Besides, once they were willing to get close to him, he didn't have a head anymore. Mom also told us we should realize how much she loves us. She had sprained her ankle that morning AND she was wearing sandals. Even with that, she ran out to protect us when she thought it was a snake. You will be happy to know the only injury was to the snake. None of us got bit and Mom's ankle only hurt after she got back into the house.

You guys all know Charlie Kelly-Church, right? Well, Mom met Charlie's dad! He came to Texas to visit his sister. He and Mom have traded a few emails and then talked on the phone after he was planning the trip. Mom says he is very nice and has lots of funny stories to tell. We hope he liked his visit. We hope he gives Charlie a tummy rub from us!

We are sure there is more to tell you but most of you quit reading a long time ago. Without pictures, it is pretty boring stuff. Sorry we have been gone so long. We miss you guys and have enjoyed the few Sundays that Mom has let us go to the chat room. Maybe we can get Mom to post once a week or so. We don't think that is too much to ask but she isn't making any promises.

Good-Bye Our Friend

It is always sad to lose a friend. We love them and want them to be with us forever. But it seems to be a particularly sad day today because we have lost Charlie, ChuxBux, Tormentor of Opy. Without Charlie, there would be no Dogs With Blogs, no Christmas Card Exchange, no vast network of dog loving people who share in the victories and come together with compassion in times of sadness.

Our hearts go out to Greg, Brooke and Opy. Charlie's trip to the Bridge has left a big void in our lives. We can't even imagine how this has affected them. We send our love and support to you across the miles separating us. We are confident you will receive it because of the great work you have done with Charlie at the helm.

Nothing can ease the pain of the loss, but we hope you will find comfort in knowing that Charlie had the best life ever. He had the best mom and dad ever. He even had the best sister ever (though he might have argued that point). He does not need any medications to feel his best. He is enjoying the sunshine and smelling the flowers at the Bridge until it is time for his family to be together again.

Godspeed, Charlie.

Let Them Eat Cake ... Well, They Did!

Woohoo! We survived Independence Day! Here we are after spending lunchtime trying to catch anything that escaped from Cousin Jen's, Aunt Sarah's or Mom's plates. It was hard work because they chose to be fairly neat.

Mona, Andy and Maggie:


Sammy, Mona and Jake:


Jake ... we wonder if he was dreaming of ribs:


Remember all of the food we said they were going to eat? Well, at some point they decided they didn't have enough so they made a dip. Mona mentioned it on her blog too. It is called Dallas Dip though Mom says it might be called something else if you are somewhere besides Texas. It is made from melted cheese, Rotel tomatoes (diced tomatoes, chili peppers and onions) and cooked ground sausage or hamburger. They were scooping it up with tortilla chips. We did not get any.



And, in honor of our country's birthday, they made a cake that looks a little like an American flag. It was white cake with whipped cream frosting. The decorations are blueberries and sliced strawberries. Now, we know fruit is good for us so why didn't we get any of this either?



We have been reading that a lot of doggies had some real problems with all of the noise from fireworks. After we found a (non-poisonous) kingsnake around 7pm, we had to come inside so the few fireworks that were sounding in our area were too soft for us to really hear. Mom is glad those people were far, far away since we are under a burn ban. We also hope they got caught breaking the law. Dachsies are the only ones who get to ignore rules. Okay, dachsies and all of their doggie friends can break the rules.

Happy Birthday, America, Home of the Brave, Land of the Free!

Happy Fourth of July to all of our fellow American friends, doggies and cats! On this day, we would like to reflect that, though there are many people living here who complain about the government, you are free to complain, the government's actions have kept your free to complain and you are still alive to complain. We just wish everyone, especially the political parties, would acknowledge the things we have in common instead of harping about the things on which we differ. We should all ultimately have the same goal and that is a free and strong country. The opinions on how we get there fill a broad spectrum but that doesn't mean anyone has to be nasty or underhanded to "win". We hope our country is around to celebrate 233 years from now ... and beyond.

Okay, enough of that political stuff. We want to talk about FOOD, the truly important topic. We see Mom getting all kinds of stuff ready. Our Aunt Sarah is here and, a little later, our cousin Jen is coming over to spend the day with us. Because it is a special day here, Mom is serving up some yummo stuff!

She has ribs, beans, corn on the cob and lemonade for lunch. Doesn't this look like a wonderful feast? We aren't getting any of it.



For dinner she has hamburgers with all of the fixins (that's a southern word for all the other stuff that makes it goooooooood). Doesn't this look yummy? We won't get any of this either.



For desert she cut up a watermelon. Do you think three women can eat this much watermelon? (We put a can in the picture so you have an idea of how much watermelon is really in the bowl!) Once again ... none for us. Sigh, sometimes it really isn't fair. Wait a minute, it is NEVER fair when we don't get the good smelling food Mom is eating!)



And, just on the outside chance they aren't anchored to the floor by all of the food they have consumed, there are cherry turnovers! We would take a picture of them after they have gorged themselves on food all day, but we don't have a wide-angle lens!



And now, for one last complaint. Do you see this? Do you have any idea what it is?



Here is a closer picture. It is watermelon rind on the OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE!!! Mom won't share any watermelon with us but she gives the rinds to the cowsdogs. You can be sure we will be barking at them the next time we see them!

SAMMY'S GOTCHA DAY!!

A big THANK YOU to Maggie and Mitch for reminding us that today is Sammy's Gotcha Day! Mom had forgotten. She remembered earlier in the week but forgot by the time today came around. Sammy has been with Mom for 4 years and she loves him as much if not more than she did when he moved in. And Sammy loves Mom. We wish everydog and cat could find such a good home.

Pups and Persimmons

Hello from the country!!

We were out hunting this morning and we found a persimmon tree in the yard! We circled around looking for ways to get to the fruit.

Roxie looks around.



Jake gives it a try.



Sammy comes over to help Jake look around.



Andy checks if there is something nearby to help get into the tree.



No luck, the fruit is safe for another day.



But Mom says we wouldn't want any of it right now anyway. It isn't ripe yet. See all of the baby persimmons on this branch?



And this branch?



Wow! Look at all of them on these branches?



Anybody have a good recipe for persimmons? It looks like we might need one around here as soon as these ripen up!

Ever Vigilant ... Until Naptime

Hello everydog, cat, hammie and human!

You know how we are serious guard dogs always on the lookout for potential trouble ...





Do you see what I see?



Get back! Away from our fence! Do Not Enter!!!



Dog! That was hard work!





Let us know when dinner is ready.