Dachsies Rule

Hey Everydog!

2011-10-25T12:27:00.002-05:00

Mom is getting a new computer. We are holding out the hope that starts blogging for us again. We need to show you pictures of the new pup, Sherman ... aka ... Shermie, Shermeister, Sherman T. (for trouble) and the most recent ... The Sherminator. We can't tell you the story now but it will be one of the first ones once we get back into blogging.

We are so excited we could just pee!

Chilly Dog Season is Here

2010-11-28T10:49:00.013-06:00

Hello everydog (and people too)!

Yesterday morning we got up and it was cold! Mom said it was freezing and that the thermometer said it was 32 degrees. We don't know degrees but we do know cold. Anyway, Mom just had to take a picture of the thermometer ... like it won't be as colder or colder again? Sometimes you just have to humor them.

Mom also took a picture of the backyard. We aren't sure if you can tell but all of the grass is covered with ice crystals. A little later in the morning, there were spots still in the shade that had ice crystals while the rest of them had melted. Mom didn't take a picture of that.

Once it warmed up, we went outside to enjoy the sunshine. Here are a collection of pictures taken yesterday. Mom decided our dog blog was short on dog pictures! Well, yeah! What other kind of pictures should be on a dog blog? A thermometer?

We hope you enjoyed the pictures! It was really nice outside!

More About the New Doghouse

2010-11-22T17:23:00.003-06:00

Hello friends!

We are still here and still watching the building of our new doghouse. Mom says she will take pictures of us so you can see us but today she is only going to post on the other blog.

Escape is Cut Off

2010-11-07T10:33:00.003-06:00

Hello Free World,

We are still in captivity. We did a check of the perimeter and found some weaknesses so this morning we exploited them. Sammy was the first to make an escape. He was almost immediately spotted on the other side of the fence. Mom used the lure of her sweet "come to Mommy" voice to entice him to come back. In the process, he inadvertently showed her the primary escape route. This is what she did to it...

Next Roxie and Andy escaped while Mom's attention was on blocking the primary escape route. It took special timing because she looked for us as she was walking between the fence line and the dirt pile. Finally, we saw our chance and slipped under the gate. She turned around and we were gone like the wind. But some sort of psychic Mommy Sense told her to walk toward the gate. We were hiding in the tall growth but somehow she spotted us. Roxie sacrificed her freedom for Andy's, so she distracted Mom by coming back slowly as Andy moved deeper into the underbrush.

Mom put Roxie back in the jail yard and went looking for Andy. Fortunately for Roxie, Mom did not realize which part was the escape route and she didn't block it off correctly. Roxie was able to make her escape again! She joined up with Andy and they started sniffing out the area. But, alas, Mom spotted them. To make matters worse, our other jailer, Aunt Bec, came outside and realized somedog had escaped. She helped Mom re-capture us and then Aunt Bec did this to the secondary escape route!

As you can see, our jailers are getting very serious about keeping us in the jail yard. If you send packages, please include wire cutters. We aren't sure we know how to use them but we understand they are necessary for getting through the fence. In the meantime we will continue to look for ways to dig out.

We live in a Stalag!

2010-11-06T09:16:00.004-05:00

Help! We are under house arrest!

They are building our new doghouse next door and we have been going to inspect the work and snoopervise (thank you, Lorenza, we love that word!). Well, Mom and Aunt Bec said they are tired of having heart attacks every time they can't find us and then see us out by the cows. Can we help it if we are resourceful and can find every low spot under the fence?

Now that we feel like we live in a jail, it is really important for us to escape! The only thing going for this place is the meals ... and the treats ... and the sofa ... and our beds ... and petting ... and the heat (it was freezing outside this morning!).

(Stalag - German prison camp, at least it is German for our fine and distinguished heritage.)

The New Doghouse is Funded!!

2010-10-28T15:45:00.003-05:00

Mom has signed the construction loan papers for the new doghouse! If the weather cooperates, we could be all moved in sometime in March. WOOHOO! Follow the progress on our other blog.

And Our Secret Is ...

2010-08-10T18:07:00.002-05:00

... uuhhhmmm ... oh, you probably won't be interested anyway.

You know Mom went to the doctor? Well, he took away the old wrist cast just as it was getting nice and smelly. Now she has a removable brace but the doctor told her to wear it all of the time. It seems that titanium strip he put in her hand is going to end up attached to her bone so she can't move things around too much right now. We think she has enough movement to pet us more but we aren't seeing much improvement. And when she does take that brace off (yeah that part about ALL of the time??), she sits in a chair so we can't sniff or lick - even though both activities promote healing!

It is unbelievably hot around here! We even saw where we are under a heat advisory. We decided to follow the health advice and stay indoors, drink plenty of fluids and not to over-exert ourselves. (Mom thinks she is funny. She said first you have to exert yourself before you are in danger of over-exerting yourself. Maybe she doesn't realize we can arrange to break her other ankle ...)

Mom said she wants to take some pictures but the heat, her crutches and only one good hand limit her capabilities. We are just glad she is typing for us again ... even if she is slower than ... heck, in this heat even the bugs are slow!

Oh yeah, that secret. Mom decided on a builder for the New Doghouse. She needs to get a construction loan next and then it is time to break ground!! Then we will have pictures of empty concrete pads and bare sticks to post on the other blog. Woohoo! We can tell it's going to be exciting - NOT. Okay so it wasn't a great secret but once our new doghouse is built, we get all of our stuff back out of storage. Mom has a BIG box of dog toys so the sooner the better!!

Broken Secretary

2010-08-09T07:55:00.002-05:00

Hello All!

We thought we had the secretary all primed to start posting again and then ... calamity! She stepped in a hole (gee, how did that get there?) and broke her right ankle on a Tuesday. The following Friday, the orthopedic surgeon said she didn't need surgery but she had to be in a hard cast for 4 weeks and a walking cast for two weeks after that! If that wasn't enough, she asked him about this mass on her left thumb. He said it wouldn't be a problem and scheduled her for surgery the next Wednesday. Well --- he got in there and the ligament or tendon or some important connecting piece was damaged so he put a titanium strip on it. Now her left hand is in a hard cast to immobilize her thumb! What was she thinking???? Thank God our Aunt Bec is still functional! She has helped us and Mom. Today they are going back to the doctor about the hand cast and Mom is really hoping it comes off and he sends her to occupational therapy to get the flexibility back. We hope so too! Her petting capability is down to one hand and that is totally unacceptable!

Anyway, enough about her! We are ready to get back in the blogging and commenting mode as soon as we have reliable help. We have some great news ... but you have to wait for next time!

No Bull

2010-02-25T19:15:00.004-06:00

We have had a tragedy in our neck of the woods. Mom and Aunt Bec were just talking about how they haven't seen the bull in a couple of days. Well they happened to see the man who owns the cattle and while they were talking to him, they noticed what looked like a cow laying down. They asked him about it and he said it was the bull. He just laid down and died. No one knows why. He was only 5 years old and cattle usually live 20 - 25 years. Considering the numbers of calves that the cows have been having, he was in pretty good shape and had a pretty easy job. Now all of the ladies will have to get used to some new fellow.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Bull. We will miss barking at you.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow ... Make it Go!

2010-02-24T21:14:00.014-06:00

As you can see by the previous picture, we had snow. It was everywhere.

Mom took a couple of artsy pictures and we let her post one of them here. This is the snow on one of the trees in the yard. Mom is so agriculturally challenged, she doesn't have a clue what kind of tree it is.

Here is the back yard. If you look closely, you can see the snow falling. It did that for hours.

When Mom packed up our house in Houston, she brought our doghouse to us. We aren't sure why she did that since you can see the much bigger and nicer doghouse behind it. We like the bigger one. It has a nice sofa for us to lay on. The sofa will not fit in the little doghouse.

This is the front yard. This white stuff was everywhere!!!

Okay, here is Mom's other artsy picture. As you can tell, Mom doesn't have a strong grasp of the concept of art. Where are the dogs? Where is the food? Who cares about the stupid snow??

Remember when we told you Aunt Bec got a new puppy? The puppy's name is Emma. She used to be smaller than we are. She grew. And she likes snow. She is weird.

Jake is always willing to try things so he went out to the snow.

Sammy ventured out into the cold stuff too. He was glad it wasn't much deeper!!

The rest of us just stayed on the porch and waited for the opportunity to get back on the sofa ... it was much warmer in the house. Jake and Sammy joined us. Emma is really weird.

Quick Note

2010-02-24T07:26:00.001-06:00

Just a quick note that Mom has promised to make an entry tonight. We will chew on her ankles if she is lying to us!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-27T16:38:00.002-06:00

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

2009-10-24T14:27:00.004-05:00

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

2009-08-01T06:55:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-07-05T08:27:00.006-05:00

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!

2009-07-04T09:15:00.007-05:00

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!!

2009-07-03T14:09:00.003-05:00

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

2009-07-03T10:07:00.009-05:00

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

2009-07-02T08:42:00.012-05:00

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.

Rain - Mom is Happy, Us - Not So Much

2009-07-01T08:53:00.005-05:00

Well, it has finally rained here. It started like this.

Then it looked like this ...

Pretty soon the part of the deck that didn't have trees over it looked like this ...

And our yard was becoming a muddy mess. This would be the positive part about rain for us. We don't like to get hit by rain. You will notice the distinct lack of puppy dogs in these pictures.

It went on and on and on but Mom wanted to see how much we had so she checked the rain gauge and it showed almost .75 of an inch. It was raining when she took this picture and continued to rain so we did get a little more.

We are sorry that this entry is soooooooo boring but the secretary was excited about the rain so sometimes we have to let her think she gets her way.

Tomorrow we will return to our regular dose of adorable dachsies.

They Aren't Just Roadkill

2009-06-30T08:43:00.008-05:00

Hello everydog!

We saw something new and exciting. Mom says, until living out here, she has never seen one of these alive! Now she has seen three ... or maybe the same one three times.

In case you don't recognize it, it is an armadillo.

Mom wouldn't let us get outside of the fence to visit with him. She is such a kill-joy.

It's Too Hot to Blog ...

2009-06-29T12:29:00.008-05:00

Yes, that says 111F ... in the shade.

Oh, The Horror, The Indignity!

2009-06-28T07:18:00.010-05:00

Hello all! A trifecta of entries, Mom is really making an effort to to work on our blog! Unfortunately, the topic of this entry is not so fun or impressive.

Yesterday, we walked out to see this ...

Now we are not stupid so we knew what that meant. It's not like Mom can get in that little thing! We knew our fun filled smelly hours were numbered.

Poor Roxie is always the first one to go in because, as soon as she is sure about what is going to happen, she disappears. Mom has learned this so Roxie doesn't get to see anyone get a bath before hers. If you look closely, you can see she has her tail tucked because she is not happy. The only good thing you can say about going first is you get finished first.

Andy is pretty easy going and maybe hasn't had to deal with as many baths as the rest of us. He pretty much just stands there and lets it happen.

Jake and Maggie went next but their mom showed a little more restraint and didn't snap pictures while they were in such an undignified condition. Do you hear that, Mom?

Finally it was Sammy's turn. Sammy is never too crazy about getting a bath but usually it leads to treats so he stands stoically waiting for it to all be over.

And finally, the whole reason we put up with this process! Check out our new treats! Mom and Aunt Bec have switched (or are in the process of switching) us to Blue Wilderness kibble and canned food. Mom bought some of their treats too. We can say that they are very, very yummy. We don't leave any crumbs behind!

Five Dogs, Two Rabbits and One Opossum

2009-06-27T11:18:00.003-05:00

Editorial Warning: The following entry is not for the weak of heart or stomach. You have been warned.

Hello again! Wow, two days in a row. Maybe Mom has turned over a new leaf ... Nah, she just is feeling a little guilty.

Like we said yesterday, so much has happened in the last month. Today we are going to share our mighty hunting experiences. Since we live out in the country, we see a lot of animals we didn't get to see when we lived in the city. Over three years ago when we were still in the city, we had a successful hunt when a squirrel got into the yard. Andy was not in the family at the time while Maggie and Jake were our foster sister and brother instead of our cousins.

Since then we had not had a successful hunt. We would see rabbits and birds and squirrels and cows but, other than the cow who was always on the other side of the fence where we couldn't get to her, the rest of them moved too fast when we spied them in our yard. WELL ... we are crafty hunters and we figured out where the rabbits were coming from so ... we laid in wait. And sure enough a rabbit came through the fence. We pounced, we cut off the escape route, we were ruthless, we were victorious!! (Queue up "We Are The Champions!") Of course, now there was the problem of dividing up the spoils. We were working it out when Jake grabbed the head and ran into the house. Mom was sitting on the sofa and asked him what he had. Jake was trying to block it from her view but she moved him to the side. We didn't realize that "What the heck? OMG! GROSS! Get away from that!" was code for "Good job, you mighty and fearless hunters". We also didn't realize that Mom would take Jake's prize and toss it over the fence. (By "take" we mean use a whisk broom to put "it" on a dustpan.) The rest of us were thinking it was his own fault for going into the house. We had our parts outside and they were safe. But, what's this? Mom surmised that if there was a rabbit's head then a rabbit's body couldn't be too far away. She found Roxie protecting her part and Andy protecting his part. The details are a little too graphic but you should know that we think internal organs are yummy. That was Monday.

On Tuesday, Mom hears us barking outside again in the same place that she stole our prizes the day before. She comes outside and sees, yes, another dead rabbit. This one is still in one piece. Very dead but in one piece. She tells everydog to get away and stay away. She goes to get the trusty whisk broom and dustpan and ... over the fence our second kill goes. For the record we do not think this is at all fair since we did all of the hard work.

The next day we are barking by the fence where she tossed our hard work so Mom comes out to investigate. Through the trees, she sees one or two coyotes or wild dogs. We are besides ourselves with frustration because they got to have our rabbits!

So the rest of the week goes along and Saturday morning dawns. We are outside checking around. Mom isn't sure what happened and we aren't telling but Mom hears more barking. So here she comes to break up the party. Andy and Roxie are playing tug-o-war with an opossum while the rest of us are cheering them on. Mom yells for Aunt Bec who comes over to see the fun. Then they yell at us to get away! Geez, can't dogs have any fun around here? What's the point of living in the country if we can't try country food? Sammy, Maggie and Jake run for the front door and Aunt Bec follows to lock them in the house. Mom stands guard near the opossum so Andy and Roxie can't come back. Aunt Bec comes back and they chase down the last two of us who have freedom and lock them away. We didn't get to see what happened after that but the opossum was on the other side of the fence when we got back outside. Mom took pictures of the opossum after the tug-o-war match but decided to spare you the images.

So we had a very exciting week though it was also filled with disappointment and frustration. We heard Mom tell Aunt Bec "You get the next three." What do you suppose that means?

Texas Flora and Fauna

2009-06-26T09:28:00.013-05:00

Like the last two dozen posts, we are going to apologize for the long lags between entries. Mom says she will try to do better but we have serious doubts.

Anyway, lots and lots of things have been happening in the last month. We won't tell them all to you today because this entry would be too, too long and then we might not have anything to say tomorrow (assuming SHE will do something tomorrow).

Well, first we will tell you about today's excitement. Mom had the back door open so we could go outside. She heard a fluttering noise and looked up. In flew a bird (robin, she thinks). It hit the wall, hit the window, hit another window before it landed on the hutch (a "collectibles" and dust holder). Then it flew to the fireplace mantle, then it flew to the ceiling fan blade (fan was not running), then it flew to the crossbeam in the ceiling, then it flew to the wall where Mom was able to get a picture.

Mom is pretty sure it left but a little over an hour later, she heard more fluttering and she took this picture. The bird is inside in case you aren't sure.

It was much easier to get it to go back outside since Mom jumped up and opened the door next to the window. Or maybe it was the same bird -- stupid enough to come back in but smart enough to remember how to get out.

And we are stuck inside because none of the doors are opened. Stupid bird ruined it for us. The next time we see it, we are barking at it.

Between these two instances, we were outside barking. Mom went to investigate and was looking along the fence line because we were facing toward the fence but not standing next to it. Mom's heart just about stopped when she saw a coyote (or a wild dog) on the other side. She yelled at it and it ran away. She ran to get the camera in case he came back but we haven't seen him again. We think it would have been a cool picture but Mom was more worried about our safety than the artistic fulfillment of our blog. Hummmphff, doesn't she know we can take care of ourselves? We can ... and we can prove it but that is for another entry.

We bet most of you remember all of the excitement we have had with snakes. Well, we have only had one so far this year and Mom shot it before it could bite any of us. That was near the middle of May. Anyway, Mom and Aunt Bec have decided the snakes have too many inviting places in the yard. Mom kind of cleared out under the deck but it is at least 10 feet by 30 feet and Mom's arms aren't that long. Instead they have been working on places in the yard that have had leaves for years, decades, forever.

Here are a couple of pictures of the area before they worked on it.

And this is after hours of work and one really bad poison ivy rash.

There is still lots of work to do but the snakes have fewer places to hide during the day so maybe they will decide to live and hunt someplace else.

Remember we said there was poison ivy? This is what poison ivy looks like ... normally.

This taken with a zoom but the leaves are about 1.5 inches long and 1 inch across. The runner/vine is a little thicker than a pencil lead. While Mom and Aunt Bec were clearing the area, they found some vines that must have been there for decades because the vine running up the tree was a *little* thicker than a pencil lead.

The three trunks in the back are trees. The three in the front are HUGE poison ivy vines. The biggest one in the middle is dead but the other two were alive and well until Grandpa chopped through one of them. When he and Mom were going around finding them for him to chop, they missed the one on the left. How??? Anyway, here is a picture of the leaves from the monster vine that is still intact.

Yes, ALL of those big green leaves are poison ivy. As long as you don't climb the trees, you should be pretty safe. Oh, and watch where you step. And don't lean against any trees that have live poison ivy vines on them. And don't brush up against any of the leaves. But, other than that, it is perfectly safe.

We know Mona mentioned our great rabbit hunts but we will tell about them in our own words (barks?) next time! And we had another great hunt! Mom actually took pictures of the victim so you might let her know if she should include them or not.

Memorial Day

2009-05-25T07:46:00.005-05:00

Hello everydog. We know we haven't posted in a while but today is an important day in the USA. It is Memorial Day; a day that has been set aside for everyone who is enjoying the freedoms in America to remember who has preserved these freedoms for us. It doesn't matter if they were man or woman; Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine or Coast Guard; or even if they were in harm's way or not. They were willing to put their futures on the line so we could have a better one. We should celebrate these men and women every day. It's not too much to ask that we at least acknowledge them today.

To all of the families who did not or will not see their son or daughter or father or mother or aunt or uncle here on Earth again, we thank you for your sacrifice. To all of the men and women in uniform, we thank you for your service. Yours is a noble profession and we are humbled in your presence.

Roxie's Great Escape

2009-04-27T13:27:00.010-05:00

Hello everydog! We hope you have had a nice April. It has been raining around here. Mom seems to think it is a good thing except when we come inside with muddy paws. Then again, maybe she likes those, she usually tells us "thank you for getting mud on my clean jeans"!

Anyway, we have had some excitement around here. Grandpa and Grandma drove up so they could look at the bluebonnets.

Grandma was busy while Mom and Grandpa were working on the lawnmower and left the gate open when (no, not Roxie, you have to wait for that story) somedog escaped.

Yes, it was Jake. Mom turned around and looked at the yard and asked "Where's Jake?" No one saw him sneak out so they thought he might still be in the yard. Mom was looking along the fence and there was Jake outside of it. Mom went over to him and was talking to him. He ran up to the fence to get closer to her and she turned and started walking toward the opened gate. Jake was a good boy and followed her even though he was outside. He really wanted to get to her because she was talking so nice. Finally, he ran around the fence, through the gate and right up to Mom. Mom told him he was such a good boy for coming when she called. Mom was glad he was back but she was even happier that she didn't have to tell Aunt Bec that she lost one of the furkids!

Well, a few days later, Roxie and Andy are going crazy on the deck by the back door. Mom called them and they ignored her. (See what a good boy Jake is?) It was dusk so Mom went to get the flashlight and there, under the deck looking up at her, was a possum. Uh oh. If the dogs figure out how to get under there Mom will never get them out. Dachsies can be very obedient dogs when they want to be but they NEVER want to be when their prey drive is activated. Mom grabbed Andy and took him into the house. She went back and after some maneuvering, she was able to get Roxie too.

Well, a couple of nights later, Roxie is in the backyard. Mom figures it is the same stupid (did not move when it had the chance) possum. Sure enough it was the possum but, oh no, Roxie is under the deck this time. Mom went to get a pitcher full of water and poured it all over Roxie through the gaps in the deck. It didn't work. Mom called, waved one of Roxie's favorite treats and finally decided nothing she could do was going to work so she told Roxie good-bye and Mom came back into the house wondering how much this emergency veterinary bill was going to run. Shortly an unharmed Roxie came to the door to come inside.

Well, a few days later, Mom lets everydog outside while she is doing something in the house. When she is finished she opens the door to let the dogs in and there is Roxie on the other side of the fence and missing her collar. Mom goes over to let her in and Roxie is covered in blood. We don't want our friends to worry too much here so we just want to say that ear wounds bleed A LOT.

It just looks like a little cut on the outside of her ear now but it really, really scared Mom.

Mom wants us to say that dogs can get out of spots that seem too small for anything to get through.

You really need to click on this picture and look at the "hole" at the bottom of the fence.

Mom only figured out this was the spot because she found Roxie's collar a couple of feet away from it.

WELL, a few days later, Roxie was barking in the backyard again. And yes, it was still that stupid possum. Roxie was under the deck, then she ran under the spa. (The spa has a wooden apron that has some holes in it. Roxie ran into one of those while Mom was blocking off the others.) Mom eventually was able to catch Roxie when she came out but now she has a scratched spot inside one of her rear legs. Mom thinks she (Mom) did it to her (Roxie) when she (Mom) pulled her (Roxie) out of the hole.

Once again, other than that, not much has happened around here. Mom is recovering from the previous dog fight. She went to get her tetanus shot and some antibiotics.

Oh, and on a lighter note, Mom and Aunt Bec bought a gardenia bush to put in a planter that Mom has had for years. One of the buds bloomed.

Just Stuff

2009-04-07T11:10:00.002-05:00

Yes, we know we haven't posted in a longtime. And we know we haven't visited our friends. We are lucky to even still have friends!

We just wanted to let everydog know we are okay.

We did have an incident on Sunday. Mom and Aunt Bec were outside all day weeding the flower beds. That meant we had to guard and bark at things and check the perimeter for hours. We didn't get our usual 8 hour nap. At the end of the day they were collecting everything into the wheelbarrow. Well Maggie had gone into the house but wanted back outside to check on the activity. Sammy was barking and barking at the wheelbarrow. Mom tried to catch him but he kept running to the other side. That ended up getting Maggie over-stimulated and she attacked Jake. Roxie then attacked Maggie. Roxie had Maggie on her back and was holding on to her ear. Mom and Aunt Bec turned the hose onto them but Roxie wouldn't let go. Mom was worried about Maggie so she went into the fight. When she grabbed Roxie's collar and pulled, Maggie was pulled along. Mom decided that was not a good thing so she stopped pulling. She put her hand on either side of Roxie's mouth to break her bite and Maggie saw something she could reach. OUCH!!!! (That was sort of what Mom said.) Mom reached in with the other hand to loosen Maggie's bite and Maggie got the other hand. OUCH!! (That was Mom again.) Mom, the sissy, yanked her hands back and ran to the house leaving poor Aunt Bec with the two dogs. Aunt Bec decided Mom's approach didn't work so she would try something else. She ended up grabbing the collars and twisting Roxie's enough to make her let go of Maggie. Now she had an angry dog by the collar in each hand. Fortunately, they finally settled down. Aunt Bec followed the blood trail to find Mom in the kitchen with her hand stuck in a glass of ice water. After some Hydrogen Peroxide, antibiotic cream, bandages and aspirin Mom started to feel better.

Other than that it has been pretty boring around here.

We always have the best of intentions to post more but they never seem to happen. We aren't even going to promise to do better this time. You will just have to be surprised.

Where Did The Time Go?

2009-02-17T09:50:00.003-06:00

OMD! We can't believe how long it has been since our last post. Thankfully we told you lots of things that have been happening around here. Things are still pretty much the same. The cowdogs try to invade. Mom still hasn't found a job so we get to sit on her during the day. We sniff and bark and look adorable.

We did have some excitement the other day. Mom kept it to herself because she didn't want us to interfere ... like we would do that. Mom was looking out the window and saw this ...

Mom says we have to apologize for the quality of the picture because she had to take it through the window and the window screen. She knew Mr. (or Ms.) Owl would fly away if she went outside to take a picture ... especially if we got passed her. Mom had never seen an owl except in pictures so this was a special treat for her. We know you are still only getting to see a picture (and a bad one at that) but you know someone who saw him (or her) in the tree and then saw him (or her) fly off. Mom didn't get a picture of him (or her) flying off but she said the wing span was incredible! She is also glad none of us are tiny little mini dachsies. Between the owls, hawks and other birds of prey around here, we are too big to be of much interest to them.

Take care and we will try to post a little more frequently.

Where to Start

2009-01-27T15:14:00.016-06:00

First off, we need to thank our good friends Erin, Bubbles and Texas for our new award!

The Friend Blog Award
These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

We have seen this award given to so many good bloggers and now some of our good friends like us enough to give it to us! We are going to have to think hard about who we can pass it to.

We had a little accident at the house. Mom noticed something on Andy's nose and tried to clean it off. It didn't come off. Mom kept an eye on it and decided that Andy had burned his nose. It didn't look like it was bothering him but Mom kept looking at it to make sure no problems developed. The scab fell off today and this is how Andy's nose looks now.

See that pink spot? It should be black. Feel free to tell Mom she is a bad mom for letting her baby in the kitchen when the oven was hot. Andy is very inquisitive and that is the only thing Mom can think that he could get close enough to that would burn his nose. Andy is still very inquisitive and will probably burn his nose again unless Mom is more careful. (We were going say you could feel free to tell Mom to vacuum the rug but, since we don't like the beast, we aren't going to mention it.)

Remember in our last entry we talked about the visit from the possum. Here is the empty spot after he left. He was right next to the Texas Mountain Laurel (that bush thing).

Trust us, it was a lot more exciting with the possum there.

Mom and Aunt Bec were out feeding the catfish the other day and they decided to go exploring. Mom went south of the catfish pond and was looking around. She found this.

It is the jawbone of a cow. The top part was back there too but Mom opted to only bring out one part. She showed it to Grandpa and he said he remembered when the cow died. According to Grandpa, a dead cow stinks for a long time and no one is ever willing to go get it to take it someplace else to stink. Grandpa said it has happened twice in the last 12 years. We are hoping we will get to smell it. Mom doesn't seem to be so excited about the prospect.

We had some BIG birds come visit the other day. Two of them were sitting on top of the tree and Mom tried to take a picture, but they flew off. Mom ended up getting some of them standing on the ground. If you have seen our pictures, you know how far away the gate is from us. With that in mind, imagine how big these birds are! If you aren't sure where the birds are, click on the pictures to make them bigger. But, a word of warning, not all of the black spots you see on the ground are birds. Remember, there are cows out there.

See what a wild kingdom we live in?

And for a final comment on the wild kingdom ... even though we didn't see it and Mom does not have any pictorial proof, she says she was driving out on Monday morning and a coyote ran across the road in front of her. She is lucky we are fearless beasts defending our homeland. We would have chased that coyote off if he had been here by the house!

Ok, now to decide who we will give the bloggers award to

We looked back through Moma and the Mommy's blog and didn't see where they have gotten the award (or at least had a chance to mention it) so we want to give it to them.
We don't think our friend Copper has gotten the award yet either so we want to give it to him too!
And we just love our friends at Beagledom! They have some big paws to fill and they really make their dads happy. They make us happy too!
We also want to give the award to a new friend of ours. Her name is Zoie Belle and she is a pretty little girl.
And next we want to give this award to Valentin, Heidi and Pogo. All three of these dachsies have some special needs and their mom is a very special person.

We know that is only five instead of eight but we want to get this posted and we are having trouble finding blogs we know who haven't already gotten the award. We know there are others who are deserving of this award. We will continue our search for them. For those who are listed, please remember to post the award AND the comments directly below it.

Excitement on Friday!

2009-01-25T11:12:00.003-06:00

Boy did we have some excitement on Friday night. Mom and Aunt Bec were watching television and we were running in and out. (We have to come inside to make sure they are where we left them and that they don't have anything to eat that NEEDS to be shared with us.) Anyway, Andy was outside and started barking. Mom and Aunt Bec wondered what he was barking at since it is too cold for snakes and Andy was near the front door. Wild animals don't really like the scent of dogs or people so they usually stay away. "Usually" is the important word in that sentence. Well, Andy kept barking and, at the next commercial break, Aunt Bec went outside to investigate.

Well, imagine her surprise when Andy was almost nose to nose with a possum. Mom was so anxious to get us away from him that she didn't take a picture but here is one she got from Wikipedia

and here is more information on Wikipedia.

Well, Mom and Aunt Bec told us later that our possum really knew how to play possum. When he lays still and acts dead, that is called "playing possum". Mom put on some long heavy jeans, socks and her hiking boots so she could get the shovel to get the possum out of the yard. Aunt Bec was watching the possum. Aunt Bec couldn't see any injuries to the possum and thought he blinked and breathed a couple of times. With that in mind, they decided to come into the house with us and give him a chance to leave if he was just pretending to be dead to protect himself.

Twenty minutes later when Aunt Bec went back outside, the possum was gone. Mom and Aunt Bec are glad they didn't disturb him! Have you seen the teeth and claws on one of those things? Which, of course, was why they were worried about Andy. He didn't have any scratches on him which was another reason they didn't think there had actually been any kind of fight.

When they let us outside, we sniffed all around the area where the possum had been but we couldn't find him. Then it was time to go to bed.

We sure wish we had a picture of our possum so you could have seen him all curled up. Mom says she must not be a good photographer because she thinks about us first instead of getting the good picture.

Some New Additions to Our Blog

2009-01-22T08:45:00.006-06:00

Hello everydog (cat, hammie and person),

Thank you to everydog who told us how much they enjoyed our list of S things about us. Copper is working on F so make sure to go visit him when he finishes his list.

We have made a few additions to our blog. A couple of days ago we added a Chat Box which you can see on the right. The only comments we have so far are from Snowy (who helped us transfer our blog to this new address) and us (thanking Snowy for her help). We sure would like to fill up the Chat Box with comments. The nice thing is you don't have to be signed in the leave comments. We would still like comments on our entries so we know which comments go to which entries but feel free to leave a comment in the Chat Box if you aren't signed in or have something general to mention!

The other addition we have made is at the top of the right side column. We are listing some of the great rescue groups we know about. Of course, we are particularly partial to Dachshund Rescue of Houston because Mom has been active with them and Sammy and Andy were saved by them. The other groups listed are either friends of ours or rescue groups that our friends have mentioned. We may not be able to add every group but, if you have a suggestion for our list, please let us know so we can visit their site.

Mom said she has one last word for our S list. She looked back through both installments and couldn't believe she didn't sneak it in. The word is SPOILED. We don't think we are spoiled but deserving just like all of our friends. Please do not give her any positive reinforcement for this addition to the list. We have an S word to describe her -- SENILE. Oops, she is coming now; we have to go so she won't know who added that word about her.

Blog List and More S (or S Revisited)

2009-01-20T08:46:00.004-06:00

Hello everydog (cat, hammie, human),

Well, Mom spent the day rebuilding our blog list and this morning she has already discovered one blog that she missed and had to add it. Please, please, please let us know if your blog is missing or if you know of one you think we should add because we would enjoy reading it. Mom thought we had a about 50 or 60 on the list and now we have over 100. Some of them are not being used anymore but Mom wanted them on the list just in case they do make an entry after all of this time.

Mom really likes this new blog list that will tell you when there is a new entry. And it is a lot easier to add a blog to the list than with the old code update. The only thing Mom hasn't really researched to get the way she wants is the DWB news feed. She likes the box that some of the other blogs have but she just has the listing of the last two (she picked two) entries. Maybe one of these days she will figure it out.

And now ... for more of the S meme

Our friend Bobkat did a post on the letter D. She gave us the letter S. We did an entry a few days ago but we have a few more to add. We also got some great suggestions from our friends!

SENSITIVE Mona suggested this one because we all know that dogs are sensitive to humans needs. When a human is sad, we are very good at staying close and giving comfort.

SWEET MJ made this suggestion because she knows all doggies are sweet and she can tell by knowing us all of these years that we are really, really sweet.

SIBES The Army of Four reminded us that we have some great Siberian Husky friends. We may not always agree on SNOW but we do agree that rescued pups are loving and kind and SPECIAL. We also agree that humans who rescue understand that there is nothing wrong with us; we were just unfortunate enough to start life with bad families.

STUBBORN Mom thinks we might be a little stubborn. We disagree; we think this should be listed as SINGLE-MINDED. We decide we want something and we persevere until we get it whether it is a kiss from Mom or wanting to go outside. We are sure our doggie friends recognize the difference.

SNEAKY This is another Mom word and once again we must disagree. We are not sneaky; we are SMART. Can we help it if we look for an opportunity to get what we want? Is that sneaky or smart? We ask you (because we know we will like the answer).

SMOOTH COATS Okay, this one is fairly obvious for us. We have short hair and smooth coats. In fact, dachsies coats are defined as smooth, wire or long. Mona is a wire haired dachsie. Copper is a long haired dachsie.

SUPERIOR Now we aren't saying that dachsies are superior to all dogs but we do know that all dogs are superior to all humans. We humor them since they do have the opposable thumbs necessary for opening things but who sleeps in the middle of the bed? Who never has to open a door? Who never has to pay the bills? Who has someone else make all of their meals for them? Who sleeps all day while some human goes to earn the dog biscuits? Who has STAFF or SERVANTS? Really now, with all of these examples, how can you think any differently?

Oh yes! One more thing that we almost forgot. Sammy got some SPAGHETTI SAUCE. Mom and Aunt Bec made spaghetti and some of the sauce hit the floor. Sammy is always vigilant and is ready to clean up any food mess as soon as it occurs.

And Aunt Bec reminded Mom that we get SALMON treats which are very smelly and very yummy. We really like them and deserve to get more of them.

Now we just need to tackle STEAK, SAUSAGE and SHRIMP.

Okay, that is the end of our second (and hopefully final) list of S things that apply to us. We hope you enjoyed them. And thanks to our friends who made suggestions.

ARRG Blogger and More S to Come

2009-01-19T08:08:00.002-06:00

If you are reading this, you know we changed our blog address yesterday. All looked great until Mom went to look at our blog list and ... it was gone. POOF! No where to be found. So last night Mom started rebuilding the list. Silly woman did not save her work so IE crashed (not necessary to tell us everything that is wrong with IE). So this morning we still don't have a blog list. Mom is going to post this and then start rebuilding the list. If you don't see your blog listed, just leave us a message and we will use it to get to your blog and add you. Mom knows she won't be able to remember all of them but it does give her the opportunity to add some deserving blogs that she skipped when she was (was? past tense?) lazy. Anyway, if you are not listed, it is not because we don't love you anymore. It is because we haven't finished our list and it is a work in progress.

We did a blog on the letter S yesterday. Mom and Aunt Bec thought of some additional S words. We will revisit S later after the blog list is rebuilt or at least on a good start. We and Mom seem to have different ideas about S words to add. We like SUPERIOR but she will insist upon adding STUBBORN. There are more words but we will wait until the post to tell them to you.

Well we need to get to work on that list. Don't forget to help us out. If yours or any other really good blogs are missing, please send us the links!

The Letter S

2009-01-18T06:10:00.002-06:00

Our good friend Bobkat had an interesting challenge on her blog. One of her friends gave her the letter D. She needed to use as many words that started with her letter and describe why she included them. Well, she gave us the letter S so here we go.

What self-respecting dachsie could start this with anything other than

SNACK We live for snacks! They get us through the day and they get us to do what Mom wants us to do. We do just about anything for a snack up to and including theft. Not that we have EVER taken anything from Mom's plate.

SLEEP Okay, maybe we aren't always on the prowl for snacks. If you know doggies, you know how much we love to sleep. Naps are a major part of our day. If pee and poop (don't go there) started with S you would have our lives in one letter.

SILLY We don't really think we are silly but Mom suggested this word because she says we make her laugh with our antics and playfulness. We would like to go on the record as disagreeing with this interpretation of our actions. We are serious guard dogs. We pay close attention to our responsibilities.

SNORING Mom strikes again. We think this describes her more than us but she seems to disagree.

SQUIRRELS We are mighty hunters. We caught and killed one of these when we lived in Houston. The ones in the country are too fast (or maybe it has something to do with all of the trees they have for escape routes). Anyway, we love to chase and bark at them. You haven't lived if you haven't chased a squirrel!

SUBMISSIVE Did you really think we were going to take this word as our own. No way. We are dachsies and we rule! It is a lot of work but we occasionally bend Mom to our will. She is the submissive one around here if you ask us!

STRONG Enough said.

SUNSHINE We love the sunshine. We love to lay in the sunshine. We love to sleep in the sunshine. We love to be lazy in the sunshine. We love to eat snacks in the sunshine. Do we need to explain this further?

SPAY and neuter We wish all pet owners would spay and neuter their pets. We don't need to have babies and make the pet population worse. Too many of us don't have homes and are euthanized each day.

SHRED The perfect thing to do to stuffies after taking out the squeaker and stuffing.

SNUGGLE The best thing to do on a cold winter morning with Mom in the big bed. It is usually done with sleeping so it is a win-win situation for us.

We would like to add STEAK, SALMON, SPAGHETTI, SAUSAGE or SHRIMP but we have never had the pleasure of trying them so we don't have first hand knowledge. To Mom, we SUGGEST that we have the opportunity to try these so we can report to our friends. For the record, SUGGESTIONS do not normally have the desired result.

Okay, we think we will stop now. If you would like a letter of your own to work with, let us know. We have a few to hand out. We promise not to give out J, K, Q or Z unless you want one of them.

Bobkat, thank you for the letter S. We enjoyed picking words and telling everyone how they are meaningful to us.

Our Work is Never Done!

2009-01-12T15:53:00.013-06:00

This is from a few months ago when everything was still green. And we are in these pictures if you look closely. You might need to enlarge them a little ...

And because this is a dachsie blog and not a cow blog ...

On Patrol

2009-01-11T09:38:00.006-06:00

A couple of days ago we showed you this picture from the front porch of the house looking east.

This is a picture from almost the same spot from 9:30 this morning. Not much changes around here.

That said, we need to keep our guard up. This is a picture of our dog trail around the bushes. If you look at the top left of the picture, you will see (we think) Sammy & Andy. They are a little blurry because they were on the move. They have to work constantly to make sure the perimeter is safe.

Here is our cousin Jake heading out for the south fence line to check it out. You have no idea how many evil squirrels have come on the property as soon as we turned our backs. The other day one of them was hanging off of the window at the back of the house. Mom tried to take a picture of him but our barking scared him away and we saved the day!

And, of course, here is Sammy taking a look around to make sure nothing sneaks up behind him. He is very conscientious about protecting Mom especially after his reaction to the Lepto vaccine.

Not much else is happening around here today. We are catching up on our sleep on the sofa but everything is such a mess, Mom won't take a picture. You'll just have to imagine it.

Scary Day and Defending our Homeland

2009-01-10T10:02:00.014-06:00

Sammy here.

First I want to post a picture of me from this morning looking very happy (sort of) and healthy. Soon you'll know why I wanted to start with this picture.

If you read my last post, you know that I went to the vet on Thursday. I got my shots and one of them was a Lepto shot. Lepto is a very bad disease that destroys the kidneys, and animals in the country are more likely to be exposed to it. The vet talked to Mom about the shot because small animals sometimes have a reaction to it. Mom decided the danger of the disease was worse than the danger of a reaction ... especially since the reaction can be treated. Anyway ... yesterday early morning I was sick. And then I had my tail down between my legs. And I wouldn't jump up for Mom to pick me up. I did eat my breakfast because very little takes me off of my food. And I wasn't barking at every single noise or thing that moved. Mom was worried because she knows how I usually act and this was not it.

Mom called the vet and they told her to bring me in and they would look at me. Of course, as soon as we got to the vet, I couldn't show any weakness or vulnerability so they couldn't find anything wrong with me. I didn't have a fever or any swelling so they decided I was having a low grade reaction like humans have when they get a flu shot. Mom brought me home and kept me close all day. This morning I am back to barking at every single noise or thing that moves. My tail is up and I am jumping up on Mom.

Mom was going to blog about it yesterday so you could send your prayers but she was too worried about me to take the time to put an entry together. We hope you understand and don't feel left out.

Now for earlier in the week. The cowdogs tried to invade!

And we went into our defensive mode.

As you can see, it was touch and go for a while before they moo-ved away.

Our Vet is Stupid!

2009-01-08T17:38:00.005-06:00

Sammy here.

To quote Turbo -- our vet is "stupid"!

Take a look at me in this picture.

Mom and I went to the vet today. Well, Mom drove and paid the bill but I was the one who had to suffer the indignity of an exam. Anyway the vet told Mom I had lost more weight. And then she said ... she said ... I almost can't repeat it ... she said Mom was doing a good job!! Can you believe that? Where was "This poor doggie is underfed"? Where was "You need to feed him more and give him more treats"? Can you believe that anyone who went to years and years of vet school couldn't tell by looking that I am starving?? If nothing else, where was her compassion? If I wasn't so well behaved, I think I would have bitten her!

And then, of course, she gave me some shots. And then did ... are you ready for this??? ... a Senior Exam on me. I'm not old! I'm young and vibrant and ready to take on any challengers! It was a very harrowing experience. The only good part was the treat she gave me at the end.

I wish I could tell you more but I'm still very upset about the way that appointment went. One of us will try to tell you more of what is happening around here. Of course, Mom needs to download the pictures she took. I think she might be doing that next. For some reason she decided to let me post this entry first. Maybe she thinks it will calm me down. She would be wrong ... again.

Rising From the Mist

2009-01-06T16:43:00.030-06:00

Okay, we aren't really rising from the mist but we do figure you are wondering what has happened to us. We think we've said this before about the laptop computer being a great idea for reading but not so great for typing up new entries. The regular computer and keyboard is a lot easier to use. That said, our mom is just lazy. She is home now so she doesn't have any excuse about being tired or busy or whatever other excuse she tries to use.

If you have been reading Mona's blog, you know that she and her Mommy have been out to visit us a couple of times. We are glad that they have been keeping you posted about what is going on with us.

Mona mentioned that our mailbox was attacked on Christmas night. Here is what it looks like now.

You probably understand why Mom and Mona's mommy had to go buy a new mailbox!

Now for the rest of the story.

When Mom realized she couldn't mount the new mailbox on the old post, she went to the post office and put in a "hold order" so they wouldn't try to deliver the mail. She put the hold on until the 10th so she would have some time to get the work done. Well, the new mailbox went up on Jan 1. Mom tried to get to the post office on Friday, Jan 2, to get the collected mail and stop the "hold order" but she had to work too late and didn't make it in time. The post office is closed on weekends so Mom was going to go on Monday. Imagine her surprise when she, just because, checked the mailbox on Saturday and found all of her mail and her "hold order" in the box. You have got to love small town mail service. The mailman knew what was wrong with the box and, when he saw the new one installed, he knew Mom would want her mail so he brought it to her and cancelled the "hold order" for her. After living in Houston (which is the 4th largest city in the USA) for 15 years where the mailman wouldn't know Mom and wouldn't do anything like that, it was something really nice to experience.

Today has been a beautiful day. Mom took some pictures of the area.

North end of the back yard facing south

South end of the back yard facing north

South end of the front yard facing north

From the front door facing east

The north front yard facing west (toward the back yard)

All of those pictures are much nicer than a smashed mailbox! You can see why we love it out here and why Mona and her Mommy love to come visit!

We will look through the pictures that we have been collecting and figure out what we can show you tomorrow.

We Have Visitors!!

2008-11-29T13:14:00.002-06:00

We have visitors! Mona and her mommy came to visit us for the Thanksgiving weekend. Mona has made an entry to her blog about the first day of their visit. We hope you go over there and see her pictures. We have been having a good time. Aunt Bec is in Houston with some friends but Maggie and Jake are here too. It is pretty funny watching the two mommies and six dachsies together!

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T09:31:00.004-06:00

To all of our friends in the USA, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. We hope you take time out to be thankful for all of the things you have. We have Mom and Aunt Bec and Grandpaw and Grandma and lots of love and a home and a pack and food and beds and toys and treats and good health and wonderful weather and a big yard and cowdogs to bark at and lots of other things too that we can't think of right now. *** We knew there was something we forgot to add! We are thankful for DWB and all of our blogging friends. We have friends from all over the world who care about us and think about us just like we care about and think about them. You have made blogging so much fun and we have learned many new things!***

We hope you have a great day and get some of the BIG chicken!

To all of our friends outside of the USA, happy November 27th. It's just like any other day. But we do hope you find time to reflect upon the good things in your lives. Every life has shortcomings (who slipped the "short" joke on to our blog???) but the right attitude goes far when you focus on the blessings. A loving home is something all of us should be thankful for every day.

2008-11-23T16:33:00.000-06:00

Mom has made an update to the New Doghouse if anydog is interested.

Dust is Good! And Ice is Bad.

2008-11-23T11:45:00.002-06:00

Hello all you doggies and kitties (and humans too)!

This weekend has been a doggie challenge. Aunt Bec went to Houston so all five of us dachsies have depended upon one human for all of our needs. You don't even want to try to imagine the frustration. She has stayed home to take care of us but she has taken it upon herself to find other things to do. So far she has washed her sheets (because thinks they need washing after we sleep in the big bed with her for an hour or so a day. We say who sleeps in them all night??), swept the floor, vacuumed the rug, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher, washed the bathroom rugs and the dog bedding, cleaned out the rest of the old food from the refrigerator (Aunt Bec did the first and more efficient cleaning)and then stood in front of the hutch (a piece of furniture with shelves) and took each item off and rubbed it with a piece of cloth before she put it back. When she was finished, it looked exactly like it did when she started but now she had a cloth with dirt on it. She called it something like Dusty Doodles. We think Dusty is more fun than what she did. And, for the record, she did the same thing to the ceiling fans in her bedroom, the living room and the kitchen. Dusty is definitely more fun.

We meant to blog about this last weekend. It was cold, cold, cold here. Mom decided to take some pictures. We could either wait at the gate and bark at her or we could go back into the warm house and get our breakfast that Aunt Bec was putting together. You'll notice that there are no dachsies in the following pictures.

This is what it looked like on the other side of our fence. Even the cowdogs were missing. At least they had enough sense to hide from the cold, icy weather. In case you are wondering, all of the grass is frozen so what you see is a layer of ice as far as you can see. We know lots of people are getting snow already but we live in Texas and it is still Autumn! We shouldn't have weather like this until January or February!

This is a picture looking the other direction. It all looked cold to us so we went to get breakfast. If she is foolish enough to go out in that weather, she shouldn't expect us to try to protect her. Besides, she doesn't let us out there. She says the fences keep big cowdogs in but they are not secure enough to keep in little dogs. So? How does that include us? We are BIG dogs. Just ask those cowdogs who are afraid of us. Why would they be afraid of little dogs?

And finally, here is a picture of a natural phenomenon. Mom looked over at the pond and couldn't figure out what she was seeing. It turns out that the pond is still warm from the sunshine and the air has cooled down so the moisture is rising like steam from the top of the pond. We wanted to show you something that many of you may never have seen. It was new to Mom, the former city girl. We hope you find it interesting!

Click on the picture so you can get a big view!

Special Days

2008-11-12T06:58:00.004-06:00

We realized a couple of important days went by without our acknowledging them!

First, Monday Nov 10 was the US Marine Corps 233rd birthday! Mom spent many years of her life as a part of the Marine Corps. She wasn't actually a Marine but large portions of her life were dictated by the Corps. She may have moved on from that life but she still has a special place for all who serve, especially the Marines. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARINES!

Which leads us to the second important day. Yesterday, Tuesday Nov 11 was Veterans' Day in the US. It is a day to honor all of those who have served or currently serve in one of the military branches. So many people hold the military in disdain but the people who serve are just like everyone else ... except that they are willing to go into harm's way to protect us from those who would hurt us or take away our way of life and freedoms -- and we aren't just talking about the US servicemen and women because all servicepeople make the same sacrifices. THANK YOU! The words aren't enough but they are all we have.

Of course both of these days and all of the rest of the days are Love Your Doggie Day. We have to remind Mom because sometimes she only loves on us for a couple of hours a day when we know there are more hours for her to shower us with the adoration which we deserve.

Maybe next time the lazy secretary will add some pictures. We have lots of pictures because she will use the camera but she won't add entries to our blog unless we give her the Dachsie Look!

Take care and have a great day. And thank you to all of our friends who have hung around waiting for us to encourage her to make entries!

We are Alive!

2008-11-10T06:51:00.002-06:00

Hello all of our friends!

We convinced the secretary to make a quick entry to let everydog know we are still alive. Mom has been pretty busy (LAZY) and not helped us make an entry for a long time. Football season really messes with our time on the computer when it takes all day Saturday to go to a game, watch it and get home again. And then she thinks she needs to do laundry and clean house and rest on Sunday! Not that there is an explanation for Monday through Friday in there either. Anyway, Mom has good intentions but has lousy follow-through. With that in mind, we decided we needed to make a quick entry so you don't wonder what happened to us.

It has started to get cold here in the mornings. We have even had some cold days that make us shiver and want to go back inside. The snakes have all gone away. We don't know if they are asleep or if they have moved on to someplace warmer. We just hope they don't come back!

The cows are multiplying! We have been kept very busy keeping them on the other side of the fence. It is hard work and we are glad that Maggie and Jake are here to help. Sometimes it takes all five of us to drive off those creatures!

Mom and Aunt Bec have been doing things for the new doghouses. Mom says she wants to make an entry on our New Doghouse blog but she has to decide what she wants to say and how to say it. When (IF) she makes the entry, we will give you a link to get to it. At least you will have something to read even if it isn't all about US!

Okay, that's pretty much it for now because Mom needs to get ready to go earn the dog biscuits. We know most of our readers are gone now because we haven't made any entries nor have we visited too many blogs. But that is okay because one of these days we will be back into the swing of things and we will have lots and lots of our friends again.

More Hurricane Ike and More Awards!

2008-09-18T19:41:00.008-05:00

Hello everydog, cat, GirlGirl and person!

It's been almost a week since Ike blew into town. Our Aunt Bec stayed here through Monday night. By Tuesday morning, the power was back on at her office but not her house. We decided that Maggie and Jake should stay here so Aunt Bec could stay at our Houston house because it had power. Since Mom and Aunt Bec spent hours cleaning it up, they really didn't want a couple of dogs in there making a mess. Can you believe the nerve of some people? Like we puppy dogs are messy ... we bathe ourselves all of the time! Anyway, Aunt Bec is coming back this weekend. She had planned to be here this coming weekend anyway. Last weekend was the surprise visit so we can thank Ike for something.

Mona and the Mommy still don't have any lights, television, computer or anything that requires electricity. The Mommy has been going to work since she has a job at a hospital in Houston and they need as many people there as possible. The Mommy talked to a doctor last night who had been living in his office since Friday night. The Mommy said he looked really tired.

Even though we are inland, we still have some hurricane effects. There were people without power but we think they have it back now. There are lots of evacuees who have nothing to go home to since Ike smashed up everything along the coast line. The hotels are full of evacuees and there is a football game this weekend and most of the fans have reservations to stay in the hotels. Mom is glad she doesn't have to decide what to do. Yesterday there was a scare that the gasoline was almost gone but there have been some tankers around and Mom pulled right up to a pump and got gasoline last night. Mom went to the grocery store tonight and the only thing she saw odd was the bread section was mostly empty. Mom saw the kind of bread she likes so she got an extra loaf. Our Grandma and Grandpaw still don't have power but someone loaned them a generator. They can cook and keep the food in the refrigerator cold but they can't run the air conditioner. Thankfully, the weather has gotten cooler so people are not baking in the heat and humidity!

Well, that's enough about the problems around here. Now we want to tell you some good news! Look at the award we got!

We got this award from Dannan, the little brown dog. He and his girl are some new friends. If you haven't met them yet, please follow the link and leave a comment. We can all understand the pleasure of getting comments! Dannan is really lucky. Not only did he find the girl who really, really loves him, but a group raised money to get him a surgery. He lost a leg but he gets around just fine and he is a sweet puppy. We won't tell you anything else. If you want to get to know Dannan and his girl, you need to go to his blog and read all about him!

Well, Mom says she has some other things to do so we are going to close. We need for her to add our award to our sidebar so we don't want to keep her too long. You know how old people can get. Mom will turn into Grumpy and then Aunt Bec with turn into Aunt Cranky and we would rather play with copperhead snakes. (Just kidding.)

Talk to you later!

The Aftermath of Ike and an Award!

2008-09-14T08:08:00.006-05:00

Hello all you doggies and kitties and GirlGirl and people!

When it comes right down to it, we think we were really lucky about our Ike experience! It rained a lot and the wind blew but we didn't have any damage except for some small limbs came down and there are some leaves in the yard which came off of the trees. It is nothing like Houston! Most everyone (about 5 million people) is without power and some will be without power for weeks!

We had an even fuller house yesterday. Aunt Bec and Maggie and Jake came up late yesterday. With no power there is no air conditioning. No air conditioning turns Aunt Becky into Aunt Cranky. We decided for the good of Maggie and Jake to let Aunt Cranky, we mean Aunt Becky, come up here and keep cool. Besides, without power, it's not like her office is going to be open tomorrow for her to use the computer or anything.

For those of you worried about Mona and the Mommy, they are fine. As of last night, they still didn't have any power either. There were some trees and limbs down and her street was flooded during the storm but the water has drained off. Mom talked to her mom three different times yesterday so she knows they are all right. They went to bed early last night since there was no power for lights (or the computer or the television).

Things should be almost back to normal tonight. The other nephew (the one who goes to college in Corpus Christi, TX) just left to go back to school. He got on line and found out that classes are in session as usual on Monday morning. The nephew who lives here is planning to go to Houston today to see his family and get his things so he can move into his house. If he is really, really out of here tonight, Aunt Bec and Maggie and Jake will have their own room. (We all bunked together last night.) Aunt Bec isn't sure how long she will be here but she doesn't really want to go back to a house without air conditioning. (Here is a little secret: Our house in Houston is near a fire station. Fire stations were the first priority to get power back so there is power at our house while most of Houston is still dark. Go figure.)

Hey, guess what? In all of this excitement, we got an award from Sunny, Scooter and Jamie! This is the award!

We feel really honored to get this award. We have been really bad about posting regularly or making comments but they love our blog anyway. And they are more Texas doggies! We hope we get to meet them someday like we got to meet Mona and the Mommy!

Well, we are gonna go now. If we hear anything exciting, we will let everydog know.

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-13T09:01:00.005-05:00

Well, we started getting more obvious effects of Ike about 3 hours ago. The wind picked up and the rain started to fall. Now we have full blown torrential rain and the winds are about 30 miles an hour with higher gusts. We lost power a couple of times but only long enough for it to get re-routed to us. Mom thinks she will be sitting in dark soon enough since 4 million people in Houston are without power ... some of them our relatives and friends.

The "nephew who lives here but has found a house to move to" is not here right now. He has gone to his church to help the evacuees. Since his recent comment yesterday was "It's only a category 3", Mom thinks he doesn't realize what he has gotten himself into and hopes he makes it home okay especially since she let him take her digital camera. Okay, especially since we live off of dirt roads and things flood and he's probably not used to that either AND he drives a little pick up truck that could be blown all over the place in this wind. But she is proud of him for his willingness to help others in need. As you will see, that isn't Mom's attitude unless you are a dachsie in need of being rescued.

We have another guest. Mom's nephew from Corpus Christi, TX is here. He has been evacated twice for Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. He went home to Houston and then discovered that Ike had changed course and was heading straight for his new location! Mom's sister called yesterday morning and asked if he could stay there. Mom said it was okay but he would be sleeping (Mom assumed at night) on the sofa and he needed to bring food that could be eaten in case the power went out. He arrived yesterday ... and now, for the rest of the story...

The other nephew just about caused Mom to keel over when she had to swallow her laughter. Last night he walked up to her about 7:00 and asked "When will dinner be ready?" Now he had been here since 11:00 and prompted fell asleep on the sofa and stayed asleep until he work up hungry. Mom had been at work. That should have been enough indication that she wasn't going to make dinner for him (who is 24 and lives by himself at college). The nephew who lives here already knows that Mom only makes dinner in dog bowls and for those who plan to pee outside. If the new nephew is agreeable to those terms, she might make up a bowl of kibble and cottage cheese for him. Anyway, Mom asked him if he brought any food and told him that it was a "every person for themselves" household. We think he was less than impressed. We don't think Mom cared.

Anyway, we just wanted to make a quick post for everyone before the power goes out and Mom won't let us use the laptop. The battery is good for about 2 hours and without power, this could be our only link to the rest of the world ... well, Mom still has her cell phone. (You know, you gotta feel sorry for folks who live in the country and are roughing it.)

If any of our Houston friends or family read this, Mom says to keep your heads down but above water! We love you but we are glad we are not there.

2008-09-06T20:03:00.000-05:00

Hello all! Happy weekend!

First of all, as much as we love our mom, someone needs to tell her she needs to get out of bed on Saturday and feed us. We had to wait until almost 9:00 this morning because she was sleeping in and sitting on the back deck drinking her tea. We think Mona's mommy may have been a bad influence on her!

Mom was laughing at Andy tonight. We apologize for the quality of this picture but, when Andy came in, it was obvious he had been roaching. We hope you can see what Mom saw but she said that this was the best of all of the pictures she took because Andy wasn't very good about standing still to let her take a picture.

We have had our dinner and we are safely in the house now. Mom let us run around most of the afternoon but it is almost 8:00 in the evening now and she won't let us go back outside until tomorrow morning.

Mom wanted to share this picture that she took one morning. She says it reminds her why she likes living out here. (She was on the front porch and she put her camera on a tripod. She never holds the camera that steady!)

We hope we get to visit with some of you in the secret chat room in about 12 hours! If not, we hope your weekend is full of fun and adventure!

The Wild Kingdom

2008-09-05T20:14:00.004-05:00

Hello everydog, cat and Girl Girl! We decided to check in and tell you about some of the cool animals we have seen around here. You know all about the cowdogs, the birds, the squirrels, the mice and the snakes but today we saw rabbits and a deer! We hope they are okay ... well, the cowdogs, the birds, the squirrels, the rabbits and the deer. Hunting season starts soon and we know that lots of folks around here hunt. Mom only hunts snakes to kill them so they won't bite us. She says she hopes the deer stay around here and no one trespasses on the land and shoots them.

Mom had to work late tonight so we got our dinner late. She was worried when we had to go outside because it was into the snake time. The snakes must have seen that she had her shotgun because they left us alone. We wish we could have played outside more but Mom insisted that we come inside. When is snake season over so we can play outside all of the time? We are kind of tired being cooped up in the house with Mom. She is nice and all but there are some interesting smells for us to check out.

We smelled a raccoon but we haven't seen him yet. Mom seems pretty happy to keep it that way. She says we may have been bred to hunt badgers (dachs is the German word for badger) but she says we haven't had a lot of practice with wild animals. Who is she trying to kid? We have hunted down at least three snakes and we can't even count all of the squirrels and birds we have chased. And then there are the cowdogs ... admittedly, we've only been in the cowdog field twice and both times Mom or Aunt Bec chased us back to the house but we still bark at them and we are not afraid!!! We even protect Mom from anyone who is in the house. We take our positions as guard dogs seriously.

We are sorry we don't have any pictures of the wildlife. We found out they move pretty fast ... especially if you bark at them. We need to get Jake up here because his legs are a little longer and maybe he can turn them toward us and we can all enjoy the chase!

Anyway, we are doing fine. No snake bites this week. Take care and we'll catch up with you soon!

One more time ...

2008-09-03T19:26:00.003-05:00

Hello everydog, cat and GirlGirl! Roxie here.

Sunday of last week Mom was all ready to start blogging on a regular basis and then, well if you read Mona and the Mommy's blog, you know we had another snake incident. Mom just couldn't bring herself to tell you she let another snake bite us. She was afraid you would think she is a bad mommy to let it happen so much. Well, the truth is she never even saw that nasty old snake. And she is a very good mommy and we love her and are glad we live with her. And we also found out that copperhead snakes are a real problem in Texas this year so it's not her fault.

Anyway, I think I was just in the wrong place and the wrong time or the right place at the wrong time or maybe the wrong place at the right time. Really, I was just looking for a place to do my business when all of the sudden something bit me in my arm. Here is a picture of my arm when I got home from the vet on Monday night.

If you look real close you can see the two puncture marks on my arm. And look how swollen I am!

I am all better now. Mom gave me pain pills on a regular basis so I was feeling pretty good most days. Mom also gave me lots of antibiotic pills until they were finished. The swelling went away and I was ready for Mona and her mommy to come for a long visit!

We had a wonderful time with Mona. As you may know, the mommies sat in the wooden rockers on the front porch and watched us play. We got to bark at cowdogs and we made the fort. Mona told you about all of those things.

We didn't even see any snakes which is good for them because Mom was packing heat (the shotgun) and she said no snake she saw was going to get the chance to bite us. We felt pretty safe.

Well, Mom is getting ready to make some dinner for herself so I need to go *help*.

Talk to you later! Have a great day!

MONDAY MORNING

2008-09-01T09:15:00.003-05:00

Hi our dear friends,

Mona, Roxie, Sammy and Andy here.

Me and the Mommy's visit is almost over. We don't want to go.....the Mommy wants to take Roxie home with us but she don't know how to sneak her into the car without her Mommy noticing. Any ideas?

You aren't gonna believe this, but the Mommies didn't set on them rockers this morning. Why you ask? Because we saw COW DOGS!!!! little cow dogs, big cow dogs, happy cow dogs, some not so happy cow dogs and one the Mommy almost could touch with her hand. So today we are just gonna bark....boy o boy....have we been barking....sniff around the yard, play and bark some more. When we get home the Mommy will do a post with pictures and then on Tuesday, after America's Got Talent, we gonna do a post just about Cow dogs, so look tomorrow for a HOME ON THE RANGE post.

The Mommies said to make this short so they get a little rocker time in before we have to go home........We have been having so much fun!!

Talk to you later tonight......Mona, Roxie, Sammy & Andy too

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

2008-08-31T21:00:00.002-05:00

Hi our dear friends,

Mona, Roxie, Sammy and Andy here. Today we barked, played, sniffed around, barked and played some more. We got up early to go do our business (at 6 am), but the Mommies wouldn't let us stay out long because it was still dark and the copperheads would still be around, so we all went back to bed. We got up finally around 7:45, and what did them Mommies do again? They went back to them same old rockers and rocked, drank coffee and tea and off course talked some more while us doggies barked, played, sniffed around, barked and played some more.

The Mommies let us stay outside until it got really hot and then the Mommies decided to do a little shopping in Bryan College Station. So we stayed home & slept most of the afternoon. The Mommy has been taking all kind of pictures of us, flowers & guess what----COW DOGS!! just like the Mommy said she would. The only problem is....we can't load the pictures on Aunt Mary's laptop....Shucks!! Don't worry, the Mommy will load them when we get home and will do a post Tuesday after America's Got Talent. I ask you what is more important....details of my trip or America's Got Talent.

Something kinda funny happened while we was playing outside. Me, Roxie and Sammy broke into the wooden base of the Jacuzzi----it was already broken----and disappeared inside and the Mommies were frantic cause they couldn't find us. Out I came trotting from the back of the base where there was hole----We didn't do it!! Then since I came out of the back, the Mommies looked in the front and Roxie's head was sticking out of the hole but she couldn't get out. The Mommy widened the hole and out trotted Roxie & then out popped Sammy. After that every time we went outside Sammy would run right back to that same hole. Aunt Mary is gonna have to board them holes up and nail them shut.

We gotto go now. We gonna go home tomorrow around 3pm but the Mommies are going to go feed the catfish. in the morning and us doggies are gonna bark, play, sniff around, bark & play some more. I told the Mommy she gotta take a picture of them old rockers before we leave so maybe your Mommies can tell us what the big deal is about them.

Love, kisses and (((huggies))) to all......Mona, Roxie, Sammy, Andy and the Mommies too!!

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

2008-08-30T15:03:00.002-05:00

Hi friends,

Mona here. Mary is getting ready to meet her Dad and they are going to the Texas A & M football game so the Mommy is gonna doggie sit Roxie, Sammy & Andy.....and I'm gonna help. It is so hot here so we are in the house, napping while the Mommy tells ya about what we saw yesterday and did this morning.

Yesterday as we was driving down Peyton road to get to the house we saw COWDOGS!!! Lots and lots of really big cowdogs and not a baby cowdog in sight. There was a humongous bull in the middle of the road in front of us but pretty far away but not so far that we didn't see him stamping the ground with his foot. Thank goodness we didn't have to go down that road anymore and turned right onto the cemetery road that leads to the house.

WOW!! That's when I saw them!! They was everywhere!!! There was a big solid white cowdog almost as tall as the fence around the cemetery. He was trying to poke is nose through the wiring on the fence....even I could see he wasn't having any luck. I didn't bark at him cause he was pretty far from the car & was ignoring us. Then a big black cowdog was standing on the left side of the road and was close enough for me to start growling at him. Then I looked across the field and there was a bunch more just eating grass and not paying any attention to my barking. My head was whipping back & forth from one side of the car to the other barking and growling at them.....of course I was safely laying on the Mommy's leg digging my toenails into her leg. There were no fences between us & the cowdogs until we got the the house. Then before you get to the yard in front of the house there is an outer yard with a fence gate that stays closed so them cowdogs don't come in & do their business.....them cowdog's business is lots bigger than ours.....them things are called COW PADDIES...heehee!! The humans don't like stepping in cow poopie. But before we got to the yard there was a big Mama cowdog standing in the middle of the road and I guess she thought she had the right of way cause she wouldn't get off the road. A perfect opportunity to take some cowdog pictures up front and personal........BUT NOOOO!! The camera was in the suitcase. What a Doofuss the Mommy is, why wouldn't you have the camera with ya? The Mommy promised me she'd take some cowdog pictures before we leave......hope springs eternal!! Well she finally did move and when we got into the yard, it took all of 2 seconds to jump out of the car and starting barking & playing with my friends. It was kinda cool, it was after 6:30 pm, so the Mommies stayed outside sitting and talking on the porch until it started getting dark and then they forced us to come inside cause after dark is when the copperheads come out hunting for food.

This morning the Mommies got up early and let us out. The sat on the front porch talking some more.....what is it about those old wooden rockers & that front porch, that makes them sit out there all the time. So us doggies sniffed around the yard, barked, played and barked some more until it was time for breakfast. No bacon & eggs for us though.

Nothing much happening around here this afternoon except them Doofusses sitting around chit chatting again but this time on the back patio. Of course us doggies was sniffing all around the yard, barking, playing and barking some more. The only excitement was listening to Sammy trying to catch something under the porch. He was so stubborn and stayed under there forever.
Probably just another mouse, which he did not catch.

So that's it for today. The Mommy is just gonna catchup on her blog reading, play with us, read some and maybe watch a little TV until Mary gets back home. I have one more thing to say......
just as Mary was leaving, we was all standing at the inner gate and what did the Mommy see? A big white cow walking across the pasture toward the pond.....and where was the camera? Still in the suitcase........What a Doofuss!!

Love, kisses & (((huggies)))...........Mona, Roxie, Sammy and Andy too!!

Mighty Hunters -- Almost

2008-08-24T14:42:00.004-05:00

Hello all! Yes, we are still around. Mom will post our post-snake pictures soon but she said it would not be today. Instead we will tell you about our latest (snake-free) adventure!

This morning Andy was outside and barking at something. Mom grabbed the shotgun but we could tell it wasn't a snake. Andy's bark did not say "snake" if Mom would just listen. Instead it said "hunt" and Roxie and Sammy needed to come help. When Mom got outside, we were all gathered around the corner of the house. That concerned Mom because the water hose is right there and snakes like water. Mom approached carefully but it became obvious to her that we were focused on the downspout of the rain gutter. Roxie was trying to bite the spout and Andy was trying to get his snout inside. Eventually, Andy was successful and he pulled a field mouse or maybe a small rat out of the downspout by its tail. Mom was less than impressed by our ability to capture this dangerous creature. Unfortunately, when Andy tried to get a better grip on the creature, it scampered into the tall grass and we lost it. Andy has been hanging around the back deck because he was able to track its scent to that location. Mom, for some reason, really hopes he doesn't find it and bring her any "gifts". Anyway, since Mom had the shotgun, she didn't have the camera so we have no proof of our successful hunt.

So that is what is happening to us today. The rest of the day has been pretty lazy. We have been sharing the sofa with Mom. We occasionally go get a drink of water. We ask Mom for treats. She pets us and tells us we don't get all that many treats and today is no different.

We hope all of you are doing well. We visited some of our friends but we are so far behind, we probably can't catch up on everydog or all of your entries.

Best Laid Plans Often Go Awry ....

2008-07-20T22:30:00.004-05:00

Hello all! This is Mom. We all went back to Houston this weekend to let me train the new person for my old job. We also wanted to wish my parents, the dachsies' Grandma and Grandpaw, happy 57th anniversary! It was today and we were glad we could be there with them.

We headed home about 6:00 and got here about 7:30. As I was driving, I was thinking I should feed the dachsies when we get home. I'd unload the car first. Then feed them. Then get online, post some pictures and make an entry so you all know that Roxie is home and doing well and, except for three (yes, she got bit twice) fang marks on her pretty muzzle, she is back to her old self. Then I would read Mona's blog and call her mom.

It was a wonderful plan.

It didn't happen that way.

As I said, we got home about 7:30. I know the dachsies were tired of being cooped up in their crates after 90 minutes of driving, so I put them in the yard to run around while I unloaded the car. I had made one (just ONE) trip when I heard the dreaded "we have found something" bark. I threw the next batch of things to carry into the car and, since the dogs were on the other side of the house, I stopped long enough to get the shotgun and shells before I went around back and found them all facing the same direction in the same area where Roxie got her copperhead bites last Wednesday. I yelled for them to get away and they did. As they passed me, I saw that Andy had a bloody spot on his nose. I would like to tell you that I thought "Oh no, not again?" but my reaction was a little stronger and probably not something my mother would be proud to hear me say ... Anyway, yes, the copperhead was back, Andy was bit and I was armed this time. I blew that sucker away. He won't be biting any person or dog ever again. One shot; one dead or dieing snake. Just call me "Dead-eye". I have not a shred of remorse. I called my dad and asked about the best way to transport an almost dead copperhead (carefully and locked up) to the vet. I called Texas A&M Small Animal Hospital (more on this later) and took Andy in. You know all that money I've made helping my old company? Guess who has it now!

You know you have been to the ER too many times when you identify yourself and can say the dog that wasn't bitten before got bitten tonight and the person who answers the phone says "Oh, no, Andy got bit?" They had the paperwork ready for me to sign when I got there. Poor Andy, he wasn't feeling good at all but he is in good hands. Sammy did this in May and Roxie did this on Wednesday. They both got through it and Sammy's scars have even healed up. The whole crew recognizes me now. Soon I should qualify for volume discounts.

Oh, and yes, it was a copperhead and it was dead. I had transported it in a locked cooler and, when they brought the cooler back to me, they said the folks in the back were admiring my efficiency. I guess they won't come to visit unexpectedly.

I will try to post some pictures that I took of Roxie when she got home and was still swollen. I'll take some pictures of Andy too. I don't feel like posting pictures tonight. I hope you'll forgive me.

Oops, we did it again ....

2008-07-16T22:36:00.004-05:00

Hello all! Andy here. I just put Mom to bed. She has had an eventful day.

But first, I want to thank everydog, cat and person for remembering my adoption day. You know how to make a day really special. And thank you for remembering Sammy's adoption day. Mom feels bad about not making a special entry for him. It's been four years since he was adopted and he thought Mom should have made a little more effort to tell everydog. Oh well, at least our friends remembered! Mom says she does have an excuse ... she was working for her old company. They contracted her to come in and take care of things that haven't been looked at since she left four months ago. Now she can buy us some really nice dog biscuits. She said she bought us tires for the dachsie-mobile.

Hey that reminds us, we saw the Oscar Mayer wiener mobile. It would have been a little more exciting if it hadn't been on the flat bed of a tow truck. But, hey, how many of you can say you have actually seen the wiener mobile? Thought so!

Oh yeah, we were discussing how to spend the extra money that Mom made ... well,tonight Roxie probably arranged for Mom to spend the rest of it. We found another copperhead snake. Yes, we got too close. And yes, it bit Roxie in the muzzle. And yes, Roxie didn't feel good so Mom packed all of us up and took us to the same Texas A&M Small Animal Emergency Room that Sammy and Roxie went to last time. Roxie has to spend the night. Sammy, who got bit in the lip, didn't even act like it bothered him but they gave Mom some antibiotics for him. I, of course, was smart enough to stay back and bark. That's twice they have been bitten and there ain't no bites on me! (I wanted to add a picture of a copperhead snake here but I decided Mom had seen enough snakes for this week.)

Anyway, like I said, Mom is tired after an eventful day. She got home and was here about an hour before she bundled all of us off to the ER. Last time, Mom and Grandpaw took Sammy and then Grandma called and said Roxie was swelling up. Mom didn't have anyone at home to watch us so we all had to go with her. We want to say that ALL vets offices smell the same and it is not a good smell!

Don't worry about Roxie. They said she is doing fine and one of the vet students already thinks she is pretty and sweet. Mom will probably bring her back home tomorrow.

Boy! We really like living in the country! There are so many things to bark at and to do. Getting bitten by a snake is kind of low on the "things to do" list but sometimes a dog has to do what a dog has to do.

I'm dog tired too. I think I'll call it a night and make sure Mom is sleeping soundly. Hopefully, Mom will let you know what is going on. She has been really lax about keeping up with our blog or reading anyone else's blog. To all of our friends, we still love you. We will get back into regular blogging soon ... we hope.

Happy Adoption Day to Andy!

2008-06-22T22:26:00.007-05:00

Hello everydog! This is Andy and it is the anniversary of my adoption day! Mom adopted me three years ago. I was a foster for a month or two before she adopted me but that is okay. Even before she decided to adopt me, I was part of the family. I didn't even realize I was a foster dog until she told me I was officially adopted.

I have had a great day. Aunt Bec, Maggie and Jake were here this weekend. Jake and I love to run around and bark at things. We even saw an armadillo. Mom was to slow to take a picture but we saw it and smelled and barked at it.

I got this cool picture from Rocky, Bear and Angel Lacylulu! I had Mom save it to our computer so I could enjoy it all of the time. Thank you, my friends, for making me this wonderful picture!

As much as I hate for my day to come to an end, it is time for us to go to bed. Thank you to everydog, cat, hamsterrier and person who wished me a happy adoption day. I'd have to say that it was the best day of my life!!!

Fathers Day and ... Guess What We Did AGAIN!

2008-06-17T07:13:00.006-05:00

Hello everydog! Gosh, it has been almost two weeks since we blogged last. We have been pretty busy chasing cowdogs and keeping the yard safe.

Last weekend was Fathers Day in the USA so we went to visit Grandpaw. We gave him lots of cuddles and tried to give him lots of kisses but he isn't a big fan of doggie kisses ... and we thought he was perfect. Oh well, he's not a dachsie so we shouldn't expect him to be perfect.

Grandpaw just put up a new fence in his backyard. We inspected it and we discovered doggies on the other side. Well, you can imagine how we reacted to that! We stayed busy most of the weekend telling those other doggies to stay out of our Grandpaw's yard. Our Aunt Lexie even joined a few times. Aunt Lexie is 13 so she doesn't run around anymore. She likes to sleep, get treats, and bark. Hmmm ... come to think of it, WE like to sleep, get treats and bark too! It's good to know we will still be able to do our favorite things when we are 13!

We had to leave Grandma and Grandpaw's house on Sunday. Mom said something about needing to get back so she could earn more dog biscuits. We don't want to run out of dog biscuits so we agreed that it was a good idea to come back to the country.

We figure most of you remember our excitement from May when we played with a mean old copperhead snake. Well, those of you with weak hearts may not want to read the rest of this entry or look at any of the pictures.

Now that we have the cowards out of here ... we found another snake! Mom had gotten home and let us out. She was putting our dinner together when she realized she was hearing the same kind of barking she heard when we found the copperhead. She came running outside and, sure enough, we had another snake surrounded. She yelled at us! We were mighty hunters yet again and she yells at us to get away and get into the house. For some reason Sammy ran to the door and went right inside. Andy was the next one to listen to her. Roxie was stubborn and stayed a barked a little more.

Here is a picture of the snake.

Mom looked up the snake pictures and decided it is a speckled kingsnake ... which not poisonous. But it is pretty big!

Mom took a couple of more pictures as it was leaving.

And there it went around the corner of the house. It was so afraid of us it ran away!

When we came back outside he was gone.

Hunting and Healing

2008-06-05T22:02:00.009-05:00

It has been absolutely beautiful the last few days. It has been a little windy but other than that the sun has been shining and we have been sniffing around. We were in the back yard and checked out some of the logs laying around.

Mom was brave and didn't chase us away from the logs. She thought about it but figured if a snake was there, he would have a chance to get away from us.

We moved on to another part of the yard.

But Andy got a little side-tracked. We weren't sure what he found to sniff but ...

before you knew it, he was roaching! Doesn't that look like a fun thing to do on a sun-shiny day?

Sammy thought it looked so good he joined in!

And he roached some more!

Roxie didn't roach because she is so delicate. Maybe one of these days Mom can catch Roxie enjoying a good roll in the grass!

Hey, do you remember how Sammy looked right after the snake bit him? You can really see the bite next to his right eye.

Well, this is how he looks now! He still needs to heal a little bit more but he sure looks a lot better!

It's a lot easier to heal when you have friends sending prayers and good thoughts and "Sibe Vibes"! As you can tell, we are back to enjoying the good life!

The Computer and Cowdogs

2008-06-02T21:29:00.007-05:00

Sammy here. Thanks to me, you almost didn't get this post. I decided to jump off of the sofa and take the laptop computer with me. Mom doesn't get really mad at me very often but I think this was one of those times. Fortunately, after a reboot, the computer works just fine. I think facing that snake was less scary then facing Mom when I've done something really bad.

We went to the vet last Friday for a check up and to let them take blood to test. Well the exam was okay but the vet called Mom today and the blood clotted so they couldn't test it for a platelet count. That means they need more blood so Roxie and I have to go back tomorrow. I would rather be here to protect the house and nap on my bed.

Now, on to the original reason we were posting. Those pesky cowdogs have been getting bolder. We think they feel brave because there is a fence between them and us.

First Roxie told them they were too close to the yard.

They didn't seem to be listening to her so I added my comments.

Andy is just a kid so when he came over to talk to them, we didn't expect him to have much luck chasing them away.

A little later, there were some other cowdogs who dared to get too close to the yard.

It took all three of us to chase them off.

After all of that work, we decided to settle down for a nap on the sofa. You already know what happened after that.

Visitors, Visitors and More Visitors

2008-05-26T19:36:00.002-05:00

Wow! What a great weekend we have had!

First Aunt Bec, Maggie and Jake came to visit for the whole weekend. Aunt Bec even got here before Mom got home from work so we got to play with everybody first!! We ran all around the yard and barked and barked. When Mom got home, we barked and barked and ran some more.

On Saturday, we did some more barking and running. After that we did some running and barking. After all of that excitement, we took a nap. We were ready to go running and barking some more but Mom and Aunt Bec loaded us up into the car and took us to town. It turned they thought our nails were too long and we went to get them trimmed. The lady who cut our nails said we were all very nice for dachshunds. She said most dachsies fight with her and we just sat there waiting for her to finish. Because we were so good, Aunt Bec bought some of the home-made doggie treats that were for sale. And guess what we did when we got back to the house! Can you guess? We ran and barked!

On Sunday, we got a great big surprise! Mona and the Mommy came to visit us! We haven't seen Mona since her birthday party. It was nice to see her again and her mommy pets all us and says nice things about us. They came to see us because they were worried about us after the incident with the snake. Now they know we really are okay. Mona's mommy took lots and lots of pictures and is posting them on their blog.

We had such a good time, we want to invite them to come visit again. Mom says they can come for a longer visit once we get our house built!

On Monday, even though it was a holiday in the US, Mom went to work for a couple of hours. Aunt Bec stayed here with us so we got to go outside and ... run and bark!! Mom wasn't gone very long and we were really happy when she came home. We were so happy, we ran over to the front gate and barked!

Unfortunately, the fun came to an end when Aunt Bec, Maggie and Jake had to go home. Aunt Bec has to go the work tomorrow and she says it is too far to drive from here. After they left, we settled in for a nap. It was a lot of work to keep running and barking all of the time!

Japanese Name Tag

2008-05-24T10:01:00.002-05:00

About a zillion days ago, Mona and the Mommy tagged us to play a game. Mom was so busy she didn't help us but she was all set to do it when we had the "other excitement" happen. Since that is all behind us now, we are finally going to play the game!

Instructions as follows:

Spell out your name using the given Japanese letter-translation below. Tag six of your friends to do the same & inform them of the tag.

A = KA G = JI M = RIN S = ARI Y = FU

B = TU H = RI N = TO T = CHI Z = ZI

C = MI I = KI O = MO U = DO

D = TE J = ZU P = NO V = RU

E = KU K = ME Q = KE W = MEI

F = LU L = TA R = SHI X = NA

We all did our names and we are:

Roxie: Shimonakiku
Sammy: Arikarinrinfu
Andy: Katotefu
Mom (Mary): Rinmorin (Rinkashifu)

And our cousins and Aunt Bec are:

Maggie: Rinkajijikiku
Jake: Zukameku
(Aunt) Bec: (Kadotochi) Tukumi

And the name of our blog is:

Tekamiriarikuari Shidotaku

Roxie's and Maggie's sound pretty. The rest of the them are just funny!

If you haven't played yet, you should play just for the fun of it. Let us know if you decide do it!

Battle Scars

2008-05-22T20:45:00.002-05:00

Hello friends! Roxie here.

We understand that Mom was kind of stressed out on Monday night when she wrote about our little escapade. We don't know what the big deal was about. We were gonna kill that snake. He had used up his venom and we were still circling. You would have been proud of the organized attack that we were launching. There were three of us and that stupid snake could only face one of us at a time ... and we are fast! Okay, maybe not quite fast enough or we wouldn't have gotten bitten. But, hey, now we have honorable battle scars!

Here's a picture of my battle scar ...

Hmmm ... not much evidence left on my face. If you look real close, you can sort of see a bump on the right side of my muzzle.

Here's Sammy's picture. You can still see where he got bit close to his left eye.

The doggie doctor was worried the snake might have damaged Sammy's eye but the test showed that the cornea was intact. Mom is worried that he may end up losing some of the skin around his eye since the venom didn't have a lot of skin to go into so it probably saturated that area. The doggie doctor said it could happen but he used some fancy word ... necrosis. We guess we just need to wait and see.

Mom gives us our medicine twice a day. She is really tricky because she wraps each of the pills in its own clump of canned dog food. That food is so yummy, we just HAVE to eat it - which is a good thing because we probably need the medicine to get all better and we sure wouldn't take it plain!

Anyway, just wanted to let you know we are almost back to normal. We can't thank you enough for all of your support. Mom was really scared and you helped her feel better. That and us coming home!

Roxie and Sammy's P-update

2008-05-20T22:22:00.004-05:00

Hello everydog! Andy here. As you know we had some excitement here last night! We cornered a snake and we were going to kill it but Mom made us stop and let Grandpaw kill it. It was a mean snake 'cause it bit Sammy and Roxie. Mom and Grandpaw took Sammy and Roxie somewhere and didn't bring them back. I was really worried because I knew they were hurting from the bite that the nasty snake did. I slept with Mom last night so she wouldn't worry so much about them.

Mom said the doctor's office called this morning and said Sammy and Roxie did just fine through the night and both of them ate, drank, peed and pooped this morning. Since they were doing so well, the doctor said Mom could pick them up in the evening.

Mom finally got home around 7:00 tonight and she had Roxie and Sammy with her! I was so happy to see my brother and sister! Roxie's face wasn't so swollen anymore but Sammy still has some swelling above his left eye where the snake bit him. Roxie got bit in her right cheek so her face was really swollen yesterday. They both still have a lot of swelling in their throats ... probably because their lymph glands are pulling all of the bad stuff out of their systems. They sure are sleeping a lot too. Mom says they are pumped full of pain killers and the doctor gave her pills to give them to keep the pain at bay. They also have some pills to keep the swelling down and some other pills to make sure they don't get an infection where the snake bit them.

I want to thank all of you for your good vibes and best wishes. I know that Sammy and Roxie are feeling so much better because of your efforts. And I know Mom feels better too.

I will let you know how things progress!

Roxie and Sammy Need Your Prayers

2008-05-20T00:56:00.003-05:00

Hello all. This is Mary ... or Mom as the dachsies call me. I know we haven't blogged in quite a while. Between the new job, sharing a house with a 20-something boy who loves my Internet connection (so he uses it) and getting used to a laptop, it just seems easier to do something else. But tonight I need you guys. Around 8:45 this evening, the dachsies were circling something so I went to investigate and found a very angry snake! Fortunately (since the 20-something boy has gone home for the summer) my parents were here and Dad killed the snake. We watched the dogs and Sammy's face started to swell. We rushed him to the Texas A&M University Small Animal Clinic Emergency Room. (For those who don't know, A&M has a highly respected veterinary school.) While my dad and I were there with Sammy, my mom called to say Roxie's face was swelling. So we rushed back to the house and made another trip to the ER. Roxie and Sammy are staying overnight for observation. We took the (dead) snake with us and it was a copperhead. While not the most poisonous snake, it is a viper and it's venom can kill. Anyway, please take a moment to say a short prayer for Roxie and Sammy to get through this crisis. It's 1:04 AM right now and I still don't know if I'll be able to sleep. I feel better knowing they are in good hands and our friends are wishing them well.

I'll keep you posted. Thank you to all of you.

Two Years of Blogging and a New Creature

2008-04-23T07:10:00.004-05:00

We just realized we have been blogging for two years. Actually our blogiversary was April 9th. We sure made entries more often back then. Obviously we need to have some new experiences to tell you about. But, speaking of new experiences ...

We had a new potential invader to the back yard! It was right by the fence and it had nerves of steel! We were right there barking at it and trying dig under the fence and it just sat there. It didn't even move one muscle! But we were brave and kept trying to get to it. We had never seen a creature like this!

Mom says it was a turtle. She also says we have to tell you it was about 4 inches across and 5 inches long and tucked into its shell the whole time we were barking at it. We didn't know it was hiding. We thought it was taunting us by just sitting there. We sure wish we had a picture of the invader but it was kind of dark and Mom seemed more interested in blocking our digging then taking pictures.

Anyway, that is the latest excitement out in the country. Mom says she needs to get ready for work now. We'll be back later!

For Grandma!

2008-04-13T15:07:00.015-05:00

This post is for Grandma so she can see all of her flowers. If you don't like flowers, you might as well go read a different blog now.

First we will start with the wild flowers. This is one of the few bluebonnets that bloomed in the yard this year.

This is what they looked like last year. It is still early so maybe they will bloom like this again this year ... but we don't think it will happen.

This is a patch of Indian Paintbrushes or Indian Blanket.

This is a primrose.

And this is a patch of primroses.

And these are winecups!

Now for the domesticated plants. This is Amaryllis. We think we showed you these last year.

This is a blue iris.

Here is a blue iris with an amaryllis behind it.

Here is one of the many rose bushes with daffodils in front of it.

Here are the blooms from the Texas Mountain Laurel.

And here are a couple of pictures of the Wisteria.

This is just something we need to avoid! It is poison ivy!

Well, sorry we don't have any doggie pictures today. We wanted Grandma to see all the pretty flowers that are blooming. With Mom out here, it's harder for Grandma and Grandpaw to come out.

Roxie's Healthy!!

2008-04-06T20:15:00.003-05:00

Hello everydog! We wanted to let you know that Roxie's x-rays came out all clear with no sign of crystals! Yippee! We know Mom was worried that Roxie might need surgery if they weren't gone but now Roxie just needs a special diet to keep them from coming back. Mom grumbled something about having three dogs and they each have a different diet. She must love us a lot to keep so many different things around for us to eat.

We did go to our city house yesterday. We stopped and visited Grandma and Grandpaw and Aunt Lexie (the dachsie). Grandpaw is rebuilding the fence so we had to be on our leashes when we were in the back yard. That was okay but, when we were in the house, a pesky chihuahua came over and laughed at us through the door. He was right on the porch. Mom finally couldn't stand the barking anymore so she put our leashes on us and we all went into the back yard to have a chat with the chihuahua but he ran away. We looked around the corner and he was standing over there so we wanted to go see him and ... Roxie slipped out of her harness! Mom had to yell for Grandma to come hold our leashes so she could get Roxie. Fortunately, Roxie didn't want to run away and ran back into the yard and into the house. What a waste of an opportunity.

This morning we were in our back yard and Mom got a telephone call from some lady on the next street. It seems Sammy found the hole in the fence and moved all of the boards blocking it and he went for another adventure. Mom felt pretty bad that she hadn't noticed he was missing. While Mom went to pick up Sammy, Grandpaw came over and put nails in the boards so we can't move them anymore. Mom doesn't even feel guilty about taking away our fun!

Mom did let us have some of our homemade Frosty Paws! Yummy! These are peanut butter and banana flavored. She says the next batch will probably be chicken flavored. We should really, really like those!

We are back in the country now and it's a good thing. While we were gone, the cowdogs got really close to the house. We stood outside barking at them to let them know we were back and we aren't putting up with any nonsense from some cowdogs! They tried to argue with us but they speak some silly Moo language. They need to learn to bark if they want to talk to us!

Well, we need to go see what else is happening. Mom fed us and now we want to see if she tries to eat. We like to watch her very closely when she eats just in case she gets messy and drops something.

This, That and Nothing Much

2008-04-01T20:50:00.005-05:00

We convinced Mom to sign on and help us with a quick entry. Mom has been sick. We can't remember if we told you that her nephew is using the house too until he graduates from college. Well, he caught the crud and then used Mom's laptop and left his germs all over her keyboard. The next time she used the computer, she picked up the germs and got sick. When Mom is sick, she doesn't spend too much time surfing the 'net or reading blogs ... which you have probably noticed. She does spend lots of time sleeping and we usually get to sleep with her unless her fever is too high -- then she says we make her too hot. She is getting better now.

Roxie runs out of her special dog food on Wednesday. She goes in for another x-ray on Thursday to find out if the crystals are gone. We sure hope so. We don't want our sister to need surgery. She certainly acts like her bossy old self instead of the cranky girl she was when she didn't feel good. We'll let you know what Mom finds out.

We are probably going to our old city house on Saturday. Mom needs something to finish her taxes and file them. She also needs to see about packing up SOMETHING in that house! We like being out here but it will be nice to see the old house again.

We will try to visit some more blogs because we miss finding out what all of our friends are up to. We hope they are doing lots of fun things. We are just waiting for Mom to feel better again.

Happy Easter and Maggie's Secret Place

2008-03-23T18:57:00.000-05:00

Happy Easter, everyone! We hope everyone and everydog had a great day!

Well, Aunt Bec, Maggie and Jake just left to go home. We hate when they leave. It is going to be so nice when we share a yard and can be together every day!

Maggie was busy this weekend! First she found our travel crates that Mom had dis-assembled so they wouldn't take up so much space. Mom put all three of our sheepskin beds in the top one so there is a nice soft and comfy spot to sit! If you look you can just see Maggie ...

Surprise!

A girl just can't find a quiet place to sleep these days .

Enough! I'm outta here!

But that wasn't Maggie's secret place! Today she went out to the yard and started exploring around the whirlpool spa. There is a place where you can get under the spa and hide. Aunt Bec found Maggie in there and blocked it off! But Maggie was clever enough to get in again. Aunt Bec blocked it off better the second time but not before Maggie left her collar and tags in there where Mom and Aunt Bec couldn't find them. We guess leaving your tags behind is like planting a flag and claiming ownership! It's Maggie's place until they take the spa apart and retrieve Maggie's tags!

Bluebonnet ...and US!!

2008-03-22T12:12:00.009-05:00

It's Springtime! That means it is getting warmer and Mom is taking pictures of flowers. She keeps seeing bluebonnets when she is driving home so she decided to check out Grandma and Grandpaw's bluebonnet patch. It is in the corner in the shade so only one flower has bloomed so far. Here is the first bluebonnet of the season in our yard!

Sammy was helping Mom look for bluebonnets and then something caught his attention ...

After Sammy finished helping Mom, he went over to see what Andy was doing. Those sneaky cowdogs come over to this side of the fence, so we need to check regularly that they are not there. It was clear this time.

Mom just liked this picture of Andy so she decided to post it when we weren't looking,

Check this out! Did you know that Roxie was part pointer dog? She has the stance down perfectly!

Well, that's all for today. Aunt Bec, Maggie and Jake came to visit us. We need to go find out what they are doing.

Feeding the Cats

2008-03-13T21:12:00.024-05:00

Today Mom really got her priorities messed up. She came home and let us out and then she filled up a bucket with some food ... but it wasn't for us! It was for something she called a CAT!

But then she went down to the pond and threw the food into the water. This is what happened next!

When Mom finally came back, we were waiting quietly by the gate. We didn't run or bark ... we were weak from starvation.

Next time she needs to feed us before she feeds those weird cats.

Cowdogs Disrespect Us!

2008-03-12T18:38:00.008-05:00

First off, we want to apologize for not blogging more frequently. It seems the secretary (Mom) prefers to sit on the front porch and watch the birds and listen to the country sounds instead of blogging. We finally convinced her she could do those things AND blog ... so she is sitting on the front porch with the laptop in her lap.

Okay, now to telling you about what's going on with us.

The cowdogs are disrespecting us! We came out of the house yesterday and this is what we saw! They were just on the other side of the fence!

Can you believe that they would chance getting so close to us fearless beasts? Well we showed them what we are made of ...

They eventually got up and left because we scared them off! But ... they were back today. Total disrespect!

Life as a Country Dog

2008-03-08T08:15:00.007-06:00

We've survived our first week as country dogs! We must say, it has been an interesting week. Once we got settled in, we figured it would be like every other time we have come to the country but, on Monday, Mom got up and left all day! We weren't sure what to think of that so we slept. There were some strange noises during the day, so we barked at them. We didn't want anything bad to happen while we were guarding the house. Mom got home safely that night and we got fed so we were okay with how things turned out.

The next day, Mom got up and left all day again! We thought she might stay home because it was raining. She must have looked like a drowned rat when she got to work because she forgot to bring her raincoat. She had to hold an umbrella while she unlocked and locked the two gates she goes through to get to the public road. We were glad to be snug in a dry house!

When Mom got home that night ... it was FREEZING outside! She made us go outside for awhile and we decided it was only the 40(F)s and that was pretty nice for running and barking and barking and running. For some reason, Mom wasn't too excited about standing outside with us. Then she got smart and put on one of the coats that Grandma and Grandpaw have around here.

The next day Mom left AGAIN! We have come to accept that she is selfish and runs off to do fun things without us. She has been coming home with new smells on her. We have been sniffing a lot to get clues but we don't have enough information yet. We did see that she stopped by a store and got a rain-jacket. That was a smart idea because the next morning was nice but it was raining by mid-day. She got good use out of her rain-jacket when she came home and had to come through the gates again.

On Friday we woke up to this ...

Now we know some of you are laughing that we even took pictures of so little snow on the ground but ... it was up to our knees! We have never seen snow so we had to ask Mom about it. We told her it was too cold for us but she didn't do anything about it. There aren't any pictures of us in the snow because we weren't interesting in spending too much time in it.

We have decided huskies are a little bit crazy since they like this stuff ...

Oh yeah, one more thing ... there is something in the distance which we can hear but not see or smell. Mom calls it a train. It comes by all of the time and whistles at us. Mom says we don't need to worry because the train can only go where the tracks are and we are 3 or 4 miles from the track. She said she would measure it for us if we were really worried about it. Do you think we need to get a measurement?

In The Country

2008-03-02T19:35:00.006-06:00

Well we made it! We've had our dinner and now we are harassing Mom. She was mean to us! She made us stay in the yard while she unpacked the car. She wouldn't let us go into the house either! She mumbled something about needing to have the door open to the bedroom and Sammy would try to go in there and mark like he tries every time we are here. Sammy just wants any other dog to know he was here too! Is that really bad?

Mom says this aircard is interesting but she will have to get used to not having a cable connection. This one is a lot slower. Oh well, she will just need to proof-read better before she posts the entries.

Copper is worried about our house back in Houston. Don't worry Copper. Aunt Bec said she will go by and watch TV and spend time there. Mom forgot to ask someone to get her mail but maybe Aunt Bec or Grandma will think to do it so no one sees it stacking up. Mom also has an alarm on the house so, if anyone messes with it, the alarm will sound and the police will come to investigate.

Moving Day!

2008-03-02T09:07:00.002-06:00

Today we move to the country! Mom starts her new job tomorrow. We aren't sure we are going to like it when she leaves us for the day but we will sleep on it and let you know how we do.

Mom has been running lots of errands like we listed before. She finally got the laptop and the aircard so we are good for blogging even from the country. Today she just needs to pack up all of our stuff and drive to our new home. Can you believe this day is finally here? Of course, we thought we would be moving into our own country house instead of Grandma and Grandpaw's house but that will happen later in the year.

Mom says she has lots to do today so she wants to get finished. If she has time and energy tonight, we will blog from the front porch!

More Limericks for the Contest

2008-02-28T07:10:00.007-06:00

We have come up with two more limericks for the contest (see yesterday's post). We hope you enjoy them. Pippa, your interest in Roxie inspired the first one!

Big brown eyes, auburn hair, oh so foxy
Long lean body, glamour nails, she's called Roxie
Gentle sway to her hips
A tender kiss to your lips
You're under the spell of a dachsie!

There once was a wiener named Beaner
There was no wiener keener or meaner
He'd win every fight
Then he'd bathe through the night
There was no wiener cleaner than Beaner ... either

Mom is officially unemployed today and through Monday morning when she starts her new job. Not that she plans to stay home with us. She is going up to the new house today with Grandpaw to deliver some big things. Tomorrow she goes to the dentist. Saturday she takes her car in for its scheduled check-up and gets our new laptop computer from the computer guy. Sunday she will take us up to the country to live. It's going to be a busy few days but we hope to keep you posted.

And we will probably think of another limerick or two that we will have to share with you ... In the meantime, here is one inspired by Aunt Bec ... with multiple last lines.

There once was a woman verbose
She tortured her sister in prose
She'd fracture the rhyme
In limerick each time
In frustration she got punched in the nose

Each year to her grave bring a rose

Drown her out with headphones by Bose

Slam the door and forsake, keep it closed!

Peace would abound when she finally would doze

With feigned interest the sister would pose

Shut up or I'll step on your toes!

Do not bore me with your petty woes

Make her stop, make her stop, on it goes!

Limerick Contest

2008-02-26T22:31:00.003-06:00

Over at the Wonderful World of Wieners, Hallie is running a contest for limericks about dachsies. Contestants are leaving their entries in the comments section. We have entered two limericks so far. Some of the entries are a little colorful but all of them will give you a chuckle.

These are the ones we have left:

There once was a woman with money
She has three dashshunds - quite funny.
They run and they play.
They entertain her all day
And now the vet is the one with the money!

I'm one of six kids ... it's no crime
"We want a dog!" we did chime
A long dog Dad chose
And it was right on the nose
'Cause we could all pet at one time!

Both of them are based on a true story ...

Andy's Visit to the Vet

2008-02-23T13:47:00.003-06:00

Today was Andy's day to go to the veterinarian. He just needed a vaccination and a routine test. Mom was so happy because she got out of there for under $100! Andy is all healthy except for a couple of little bumps on the top of his head by his left ear. The vet said they were little warts and for Mom to keep an eye on them. Mom will probably get them removed if Andy ever needs to take a nap while he gets his teeth cleaned.

Mom found out Roxie shouldn't eat anything but her canned dog food. If Mom wants to give Roxie a treat, it has to be a little bit of the canned food. So far Roxie has been eating all of her food but sometimes she is a picky eater. If she gets picky about eating that food ... well, Mom says we won't worry about that unless it happens. The special food is Hill's S/D. It looks kind of nasty to Mom but, if it will make Roxie's stones go away, she will buy it and scoop it into Roxie's bowl twice a day. Somedog asked if Roxie drinks a lot of water to help keep her bladder flushed. She drinks a normal amount of water but this food has a little bit of salt in it to encourage her to drink more water. Mom is also making sure Roxie has plenty of opportunity to go outside and do her business.

We are sorry we have been so boring talking about Roxie and her stones so much. We are a little bit worried about our sister. We love her and want her to be happy and healthy. We need that extra barking power when we are in the country!

We got another award! Shania and Macon, whose Mom writes the blog DachshundStrong, gave it to us because we make their mom smile! We think that is a very nice thing to tell someone. You know that you have touched someones life if you have made them smile.

So many of you make us smile and we would like to let all of you know that but we can only pass this award to a few of you.

Copper makes us smile when he posts funny pictures of Hershey! He also made Mom smile because he helped figure out what was wrong with Roxie.

Lorenza! How can you not smile at Lorenza and her antics? She has to be one of the most loved dachsies in Bloggerland!

And last, but certainly not least, is Pippa! He has so many problems keeping Mistress Misery in line. She is posting pictures of flowers on his blog now! We think he really misses her when she is out of town but his stories are so clever, we can't help but smile!

Thank you for all of the smiles you have sent our way. Keep up the good work!

And the X-Ray says ...

2008-02-22T14:09:00.004-06:00

Roxie has bladder stones.

Mom says "Copper and Copper's mom, thank you, thank you, thank you for pushing me to get the x-ray!"

Roxie has to be on a special canned dog food diet for two months and be re-checked to see if the stones have dissolved. If they have gone away, then Roxie needs to be on a different special diet so she won't get them again. Roxie also has to take a Baytril pill twice a day for about a week. Mom looked up the pill today on the Internet to find out what it does and why Roxie is taking it and now she wants to ask the vet why Roxie is taking a pill that can CAUSE crystals! She would have done this last night except ... she didn't get to the vet in time to bring Roxie home! Roxie had to spend the night in the cold, lonely, scary, empty vet's office. (Can you think of any other adjectives we can use to help Mom along on the guilt trip?)

We are really hoping the stones dissolve. If they don't, then Roxie needs to have surgery to get them out of her bladder. Mom will do whatever needs to be done to keep Roxie healthy and happy but she would like to avoid a surgery. Even the vet said he doesn't like to do too many surgeries because they are hard on a doggie.

The vet's office ought to really like Mom this month. So far she took Sammy in for his annual check-up with shots and heartworm test. She bought two boxes of Heartgard and Advantix. She took Sammy in for a dental. She took Roxie in for an exam, antibiotic shot and pills, blood test, urine analysis and then again for the x-ray, more pills, a case of special dog food and an unexpected overnight stay in the cold, lonely, scary, empty vet's office. Tomorrow Andy goes in for his annual check-up. The credit card company loves Mom too.

At least we will be all checked out and healthy before we move to the country. Mom will have some time to ask around and check out vets for us.

Mom wants us to thank everyone for their concern about Roxie. Keep Roxie in your prayers and hope that those stones dissolve and she won't need surgery. Maybe running around in the country will help!

More Awards! More About Roxie

2008-02-20T07:10:00.001-06:00

A long, long time ago, we got some awards. We have already put them on our blog but we never acknowledged who gave them to us. We do apologize for the delay.

From Crikit, Sparky and Ginger of Barking Loud, we got this lovely bouquet!

They were also handing out this award and we liked it so much we took it too.

We are so late to the game, we think everyone has these awards. But just in case, we want to give them to Mona and the Mommy because they are our good friends in real life!

And now Mom will take over to tell you about Roxie.

Roxie seems to be doing much better but, after consulting with the vet, she is getting an x-ray of her bladder Thursday. Since most dogs will not lay still for this kind of thing, sedation is involved. Copper has been very worried that Roxie might have grit/crystals/stones in her bladder and has urged that we get an x-ray. I think his insistence made it easier for me to make this decision so ... Thank you, Copper (and your mom)! Her blood test came out normal so we don't have to worry about diabetes. Her urine test showed some blood but the vet said that was to be expected with an infection. I don't rule out that she was angry with me when she first peed on me but I am glad that I've taken her to her doctor because something was not right. Hopefully the x-ray will be clear and it will only have been an infection. I don't know what they do if they find grit/crystals/stones in the bladder.

REALLY BIG NEWS

2008-02-19T06:54:00.001-06:00

Are you ready? We bet some of you have guessed. We may have mentioned it in a comment or two.

Mom got a new job!

She has been at her current job for almost 12 years. Her last day will be Feb 27. The company was bought out in August and the transition has been a lot of work for everyone. Mom doesn't mind hard work but now they are talking about moving the office (packing/unpacking/farther from home) and reorganizing the whole accounting department. Since we are building the new house, Mom knew she was going to leave sometime this year anyway, so she decided it was time to look for a new job closer to where we are going to live. The land is about 100 miles from here so she wasn't going to drive in every day after we moved! Mom wasn't sure how long it would take to find a job or even if she was going to be successful this year but, she dusted off the old resume and sent it off. She sent it Jan 27, had an interview with the Controller on Feb 2, met with the CFO on Feb 12 and got her offer letter on Feb 13. If anyone is counting, it was the first resume sent out and the first interview for her in 12 years. Mom still knows her stuff and there are people out there who see her value.

This new job will be a real change for Mom. First of all, it is in the business office of a restaurant chain. Mom has never done accounting for food service but she never did accounting for a company with lots of inventory until 12 years ago. She says now she may really BE counting beans! (We call accountants "bean counters" around here.) Mom has also been working in a very formal office for the last 12 years. She has worn a suit, stockings and heels to work almost every day. At this new job, they are very casual and wear jeans. The Controller told her they wear jeans and t-shirts but Mom wonders it that means the company t-shirts. Since she drove up and interviewed on a Saturday, she hasn't seen anyone in the office on a normal work day. Once Mom finds out all of the details, she can go shopping. In any case, she won't be spending as much on office clothes!

Oh yes, some of you are probably wondering, if our house isn't built yet, where will we live? We are going to stay in Grandma and Grandpaw's country house so it will be like we are on vacation every day!! And Mom says now she will be able to watch the houses (ours and Aunt Bec's too) as they are being built. Mom can also clean out our Houston house and put it up for sale. Maybe she can get it sold before our other house is finished. We think Mom would like it if she didn't have two house payments to make each month. Besides, if we get the Houston house sold, maybe she can pay for the new house and she won't have any house payment ... then she can buy us ALL of the toys and treats in Petsmart!! In any case, we are moving to the country because she starts her new job on March 3!

And one more thing. We don't want you to worry that you won't hear from us. Mom bought a laptop computer and got an air card so we can blog from our front porch while we are looking at the cows. She should have done this a long time ago but she says it is better that she waited until she needed it for some reason besides a weekend here and there. That logic sounds a little selfish to us but that is all in the past now. We have our laptop.

So, that's it. That's our big news. Was anyone surprised?

Thinking Blogger

2008-02-18T06:53:00.002-06:00

On February 10th Copper awarded us the Thinking Blogger Award because he said we make him think! Thank you, Copper! We will try to make you proud!

The rules for the Thinking Blogger Award are...
1. You must write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.
2. Acknowledge this post.
3. Optional: Proudly display the Thinking Blogger Award with a link to the post that you wrote.
4. Go tell your humans to fork over the treats!
You should especially note item #4. Forking over treats is not optional.

We need to limit our list to 5 blogs which make us think? There are so many of of you who make us think. Maybe we can mention some blogs which you have never seen and might enjoy as much as we do.

1. Dolitter: This blog is written by a group of veterinarians. It gives amazingly good insight into what they see from their side of the examination table - including their feelings and responses to pet owners. This blog really will make you think.

2. The Blog Pound: This blog is written by a vet tech student who is also running a cat rescue in her home. She and her partner pay out of their own pockets for most of the treatments to cure and heal the poor creatures who come into their care. She is someone who not only talks about rescue, she really steps up to the plate and is actively involved. (Mom has made a couple of donations. If you have a buck or two to spare, drop it to Wee Paws Animal Sanctuary through Paypal.)

3. Bobkat's House: This blog is written by ... Bob's human. You really don't see much of Bob but his human travels and takes beautiful pictures ... which you should realize as soon as you look at the blog. The banner is one of her pictures. She has a lot going on in her life but she always has something interesting to say. Her narratives of her pictures make you feel like you are there.

4. Army of Four: We know, we know. Army of Four has probably gotten this award given to them more times that the rest of us can dream about but they make us think so we are putting them on our list. They see the world completely differently from dachsies. It probably has something to do with their almost neurotic love of snow but we could be wrong.

5. Squirrels Are Evil by Ivy: According to the rules, we can only list one more blog so we are listing Ivy's blog. She enlightened us about the dangers of squirrels. Since then we have killed off two of them. We will have to tell you about that sometime. Ivy has a new human brother so she doesn't have as much time to blog, but when she does, it is always interesting.

Okay, there are five blogs which make us think. Mostly Sammy thinks about food and Roxie thinks about how pretty she is and Andy is too busy playing to think about much of anything but, if we want to think, we read these blogs. We read lots of other blogs too and they make us smile and laugh and sometimes even cry.

We still haven't told you about our REALLY BIG NEWS!! You have to come back AGAIN to find out. (We feel like the local news. They tell you just enough to make you curious but they don't tell you enough to know what is going on. We hate that ... oh ... )

Roxie Update

2008-02-17T13:23:00.007-06:00

Hello all! Roxie here. I am doing much better now. Mom hasn't talked to the vet about the results of the blood test or the urine test but we haven't had any accidents except where she petted me too much early this morning on the way to the back yard ... and I can hardly be responsible for that! I have been taking my antibiotics twice a day so, if I had an infection, it should be about gone. If I could find my antibiotics, I wouldn't be taking them but I can't figure out where Mom is hiding them. I'm eating my breakfast or dinner and all of the sudden I bite into something that doesn't taste very good but it is too late. I've checked my kibble very carefully but I can't smell anything out of the ordinary in there. One of these days I'm going to figure it out and it won't be so easy for Mom to fool me!

Yesterday we had so much fun! We went to Mona's barkday party! Her mommy had a special barkday cake for us doggies. She also had lots of interesting people food and we got to eat a little bit of it. Mom doesn't usually let us have people food but she said it was a special day so we could have some small bites.

Mom forgot to take her camera so we don't have any pictures of the party. Mona should have some on her blog sometime this week though.

It was all rainy and wet so the grass was great for walking through and then jumping into Mom's lap. Mona's mommy said she would give Mom a towel to dry us off but Mom must like it when we are all wet because she never did dry us off. We took our Aunt Bec and cousin Jake with us because they were invited too. Maggie was invited but she likes to stay home and not mix with a lot of doggies she doesn't know. She probably could have gone because Mona and Harley (a mini dachsie girl) were the only other doggies at the party. Since the weather was bad, lots of people didn't make it to the party ... so there was more for US!! It turns out that Mona is getting to have a second party today. Hmmm ... we wonder if we could talk Mom into taking us to that party too ...

Anyway, Mona and her mommy throw a great party. We had barkday cake made out of ground beef with mashed potato icing. We each got a toy and a doggie bag of treats to take home. We took Mona a loofa dog toy that is green and longer than she is. It has a squeaky in it because she likes squeakies! She got some other presents too but we want to let her tell you about them. Drop by her blog and find out what Harley gave her and any new presents from her second party!

We've got some other REALLY BIG NEWS to share but Mom says that is enough for this entry. So this is the "cliffhanger" (like on TV shows) so you will come back to find out more!!!

(We apologize if there are any typos; Blogger is not checking spelling right now.)

Roxie's Visit to the Vet

2008-02-11T21:43:00.000-06:00

Hello, all. The Dachsies' mom here.

This morning I took Roxie to see the family vet. That office must love to see us coming. I think my family (my sister with her two dachsies, my parents with their one dachsie) keep that place financially solvent.

Anyway, Roxie went to the vet. I told them about her behavior the last two weekends. The professionals also thought it is highly likely that her incidents are behavioral but agreed (what a surprise) that it was a good idea to rule out an infection or other cause.

Roxie does not like to go to the vet or even somewhere to get a bath. As soon as she realizes where she is, she sticks to me like flypaper and shakes so much you can almost hear her bones rattling.

Well, they took her to the back and weighed her, took her tempurature (punishment enough), gave her a shot of antibiotics and took a blood sample. They tried to get a urine sample but she wouldn't let go of a drop (does anyone else see the irony?). She came back to me and the vet and I discussed bladder infection, kidney stones and diabetes. I figured I would be seeing pee in my near future so they gave me a syringe and a sample tube with a stopper. We walked out of there poorer with some antibiotic pills but no answers. We got home and Roxie was very compliant ... she rolled over and peed on my utility room floor. Since it is tiled, I just pulled out the syringe and gathered up the urine sample they wanted. I put her with the boys and headed back to the vet to deliver the sample. I should get some answers later this week.

On a good note, no one peed on me tonight. My sheets are dry. And Roxie is safely in her crate for the night.

I'll keep you posted about the test results. I also promise that I won't really beat Roxie if she pees on me again. I will yell at her because I really, really think she is a big strong healthy dachsie girl with a big strong healthy stubborn streak that dachshunds are well known for. (In truth, that stubborn streak is one of the reasons I like dachsies so much.)

The Dachsies have been given an award and tagged for a Meme. They will get to those as soon as possible but I wanted to let you know that Roxie did go to the vet. I don't want any of their blogging friends to think I'm not taking good care of them!

Roxie's in the Doghouse

2008-02-10T08:42:00.000-06:00

Hello all. Sorry we haven't posted in a while. It's that work thing. Mom is so busy the first week of every month she just doesn't have any creative juices to help us post.

Of course, Roxie hasn't helped any this last week.

On Saturday a week ago, Mom put us in our pen. Aunt Bec came over and she and Mom disappeared into the back of the house for a half an hour and then left the house without playing with us. Roxie was mad. So, when Mom came home and let us out, Roxie jumped into Mom's lap ... and peed on her. Mom jumped up and put all of us outside.

The next morning Mom let us out of our crates and we, the GOOD boys, ran to the back door and into the yard when Mom let us out. Roxie, the BAD girl, jumped on Mom's bed and peed. When we got back into the house we all had to go into the pen and Mom ignored us.

Later Mom started cleaning the house because people were coming over to watch the Super Bowl. When she was all finished, she let us out of the pen and Roxie just walked across the clean floor and peed and peed. When she got to the door, she stopped and squatted and finished peeing. Mom was yelling at her but Roxie just did what she wanted.

Mom locked us in the back yard when the guests started to arrive since the doors would be opening and we might try to escape. Once everyone had arrived and they had eaten most of the snacks, Mom let us back into the house. Roxie jumped up into Mom's lap and guess what she did ... AGAIN ... in front of other people????

Mom decided it was time to show Roxie who is Alpha around here and put her in the pen and told everyone to ignore her. We, the GOOD boys, got to visit with everyone and get petted and talked to. Roxie, the BAD girl, wanted out of the pen but Mom told her "No!"

Finally around the middle of the third quarter, Mom got into the pen with Roxie and sat down. Mom figured if Roxie peed on her again, Roxie was staying in the pen the rest of the night. Roxie decided to be good.

The week that has followed had no incidents ... until this morning. Mom decided to let Roxie sleep with her last night. Mom, being old, got up in the middle of the night to ... well, pee. While she was gone, Roxie walked to the middle of the bed and PEED on Mom's sheets! Oh my dog! Mom was furious. She slapped Roxie on the hip and Roxie jumped off of the bed and ran into her crate. Mom shut and locked the crate door then she took her pillow and slept in a different room.

Something tells us Roxie will never get to sleep in Mom's bed again. Whenever she gets mad about anything (Maggie was here yesterday and Mom petted her) Roxie does something really stupid. Mom says she will probably take Roxie to our doggie doctor just to make sure nothing is wrong with her, but Mom thinks Roxie's "accidents" don't just happen because Mom always seems to be the "target".

What do you think?

Sammy & Andy, the GOOD boys

New Dachsie Friends!

2008-01-31T16:08:00.000-06:00

Hey dogs! We have some new friends and we hope you will go visit them! Scrappy and Bailey Jean are dachsies just like us! Scrappy has a hurt back so he needs some cheering up. So does his mom.

We'll be back later!

Hanging Around Inside the Country House

2008-01-30T07:42:00.000-06:00

We didn't spend the whole time outside when we were in the country. We would usually start the day outside ...

...but we would come inside if it we got cold or if we wanted a treat. Mom wishes this picture was more in focus because she thinks Roxie looks like a sweet little girl here. We know her better. What do you think?

Maggie likes to pick her spot to sleep and just jumps right up. Don't you think this is the perfect Maggie-sized spot to sleep? Unfortunately, Aunt Bec wanted to sit there so Maggie got evicted ... or better, once or twice she got to sit in her Mom's lap and sleep!!

We Had a Visitor in the Country

2008-01-29T07:36:00.000-06:00

We are sorry for the quality of this picture but it was taken through a window and window screen.

This is Blackie. He lives in Grandma and Grandpaw's country yard. He can be very bossy! When Grandpaw is working in the yard, sometimes Blackie stands on the deck railing and tells Grandpaw to go away. Our Aunt Lexie used to chase him but he knows where all of the trees are and just teases her. Now she ignores him.

One of these days, we might learn to ignore him too but not yet. (We sure wish Mom would get a good video camera so you can see and hear us in action!)

Not For Our Grandparents Eyes!

2008-01-28T08:21:00.000-06:00

When we were at the country, some one got behind the curtain and was acting like a cat. We don't want to get anyone in trouble, so we aren't mentioning any names. If you look at the name of the picture, we tried very hard to hide the identity of the offender but, if you look closely at the picture, you can probably guess it wasn't Roxie or Maggie. Don't tell Grandma and Grandpaw! We don't think they would like this picture!

Our Trip to The Country

2008-01-27T12:58:00.000-06:00

Finally, we have some pictures to show you. We went to the country and, even though Mom wasn't feeling well, she wanted to get some pictures of us so you could see how handsome we are!

Mom says this is her "artsy" picture of Andy. What do you think?

Mostly we just ignored her. When we go to the country, there are so many wonderful smells to smell. Here we are all walking along together. Sometimes it's a good idea to say with your pack when you are going over new territory!

Sammy is very brave. He decided to track a smell all by himself! If you have been reading about the other times we have gone to the country, you already know that Sammy is the brave one!

Here is one of us checking out the backyard. See how big the backyard is? Can you see why we love to go visit? We can't wait until our country house is built!

And, just to make Mom happy, we are going to show you a picture she took one night of the moon. We think a picture of Mom bundled up like she was at the North Pole would look funnier but we will humor her this time.

Update

2008-01-22T08:02:00.000-06:00

Hey everydog! We went to the country this passed weekend and came back all tired from running and barking. We also came back with some pictures to share! Unfortunately, Mom came back with bronchitis so she has no energy to help us blog. First she is tired from working too many hours and being under so much stress and now she is sick. It sounds to us like she needs to re-examine her life. She should be more like us! We hardly ever get sick!

Anyway, we want you to know we are alive. We always worry about our friends when we don't hear from them for a while. We don't want you to be worried about us. Mom's doctor told her to stay home so maybe she will have a little time to upload some pictures and get you caught up on our lives.

In the meantime, we are still visiting everyone and trying to leave comments.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-07T13:39:00.001-06:00

Hello, everydog and GirlGirl! Yes, we know happy new year was a week ago but Mom hasn't helped us blog. We had to sneak on while she was at work so you would know we are all okay.

Gosh, we just barely survived those fireworks on New Years Eve! There was someone very nearby who was shooting off fireworks so we barked and barked. Mom finally made us stay in the house and she turned on the television kind of loud to cover up the noise.

Aunt Bec and Maggie and Jake came over too! Mom and Aunt Bec were drinking cranberry juice and some other stuff in it that made them laugh and get sillier than usual. They also had some yummy smelling stuff that they were eating on crackers. Once AGAIN we say yummy SMELLING because once AGAIN they didn't share one little bite with us. They did sit on the sofas a lot so we got to sit on top of them. We kept them nice and warm and stayed as close to the food as possible.

We haven't done a lot so far this year. Mom says we have to get ready for people to come over to our house again. We had visitors the weekend after Christmas to watch Mom's college football team lose their game. We know enough to say as little as possible about that! We will have more visitors for some other football games. That happens when you have a big television. People are willing to put up with us if they can watch the big TV!

Mom was cleaning up and guess what? She found the 2007 dachsie Christmas ornament she was supposed to give to Grandma and Grandpaw from us. Can you believe she forgot? What if our Grandma and Grandpaw think we forgot about them or that we don't love them? We told her she needs to get that ornament to them as soon as possible!

We have to apologize that there aren't any pictures. We need for Mom to help us with them. Maybe she will have time this week even though she is really busy at work. We liked it much better when she was off of work from Dec 14 through Dec 25. We got to sleep in every morning and sit with her a least part of the day ... but she did run around a lot.

Well, we need to get back to our naps. All of this typing has made us tired.

Christmas!

2007-12-26T22:36:00.000-06:00

We survived Christmas! Aunt Bec, Maggie and Jake came over Christmas Eve and spent the night with us. We were very good and didn't bark at them all night even though we knew they were down the hall from us. The next morning we got up and found this in in our den!

(Click on the picture and you can really see all of the toys!)

As you can see, it is covered with dog toys!!! At the very top, you can see the special tree topper Mom bought last year! For some reason, she won't let us play with it.

After Mom took some pictures, it was time to hand out toys. There are so many and we just couldn't decide who was going to play with which toy. Mom and Aunt Bec were so busy making sure we were having fun, Mom forgot to take enough pictures. We said it was okay because she can take pictures another time of us playing with our new toys.

Here is a picture of Jake playing with the big felt ball. Mom liked this toy because you can't rip the stuffing out and leave it all over her rug. We can tell you it is good for tug-o-war; we just don't know if Mom will move fast enough to ever get a picture!

We will see if we can get more pictures of our other Christmas presents. We got some really great stuff from Grandma and Grandpaw!

We have to get around to all of the blogs to see what everydog got from Santa Paws!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T10:19:00.000-06:00

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas! We hope you are blessed to spend lots of time with the ones you love. That is best the gift you can receive!

Our Friendship Award

2007-12-23T11:28:00.000-06:00

Two weeks ago, our really, really good friends at Barking Loud, Crikit, Sparky & Ginger, gave us this award. Mom was so busy mailing out our 145 cards and her 25 cards (tee hee!) that she just now has time to let us tell Crikit, Sparky & Ginger "Thank you for the award and thank you for being our friends!"

They also tagged us to tell 8 random facts about ourselves. But first we have to post the rules.

Link to your tagger and post these rules:
List eight (8) random facts about yourself
Tag eight people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them )
Let them know they've been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blogs okay?

1. The only people food we have ever had is lowfat cottage cheese (because it is good for our skin and coats). Well, Sammy or Andy might have had some people food before living with Mom but no one is telling.
2. Andy likes to be scratched on his breastbone. He kicks his back leg when you do this.
3. Sammy lived in (at least) 6 other places (breeder, buyer, shelter, foster, 1st adoption, 2nd adoption) before he came to live with Mom (and that is assuming he went back to the same foster family after two failed adoptions). This is his 7th (and FINAL) home (though the house will change when we finish building).
4. Sammy & Andy still pee in the house.
5. Roxie was born on Christmas Day.
6. Andy LOVES tennis balls.
7. Even though we are not well trained (serious understatement here), we go into the day pen and our crates without any trouble. Of course, we get our treats when we do it.
8. Mom does not use physical punishment on us. She has a spray bottle with water in it. She just has to pick it up now and we stop what we are doing.

We think most of our friends have done this meme, so we don't have anydog to tag. If you are interested, just let us know and we will read your 8 random facts!

2007-12-21T08:33:00.000-06:00

Hurray! We are finished with the cards! They are mailed! Here is a picture of the domestic cards that we mailed out. The larger cards on the left are the ones Mom mailed to family and her friends. The smaller cards on the right are the ones we mailed to our friends. We had already mailed the international cards so you can't see how many we really mailed. but we think this picture says enough ...

Now, since this is a DOG blog and you haven't seen any dog pictures of us in a while, here are Sammy and Roxie making sure no one sneaks up the driveway and gets to our back yard.

This is Andy.

And, because we can, here is another picture of Andy.

Here is a picture of Sammy.

Roxie was not interested in modeling yesterday so she doesn't have a good picture. She probably did have a chance to have a good picture but the photographer was slow and missed it.

That's all for now!

Whew! Almost Finished ...

2007-12-20T09:40:00.000-06:00

Hmmm ... it seems we missed a couple of days. Well, we guess we have to forgive Mom. She has been sitting in front of the printer feeding card stock sheet by sheet for what seems like hours ... days! First she printed the outside, then she waited until she was sure it was dry, then she printed the inside. She wasn't so silly as to do this one card at a time. She did 40 in a stretch so it took a while!

She also printed mailing labels and return address labels.

We've already mailed the international cards. You should see those sometime in January ...

She has all but the last 40 domestic cards signed and in envelopes. Our hats are off to those of you who did this so promptly. Next year we want Mom to be better prepared ... like designing the card in August! You know we are going to do this. You can design the card and print the first 100! Then you don't have to disappear for hours at a time and leave us to wonder what you are doing instead of spending time with us!

Well, as you can tell, exactly nothing fun has happened around here. Mom apologizes for being so dull. Perhaps printing non-stop does that to you humans.

Sammy's spot doesn't seem to bother him but it is still bare of hair.

It was thundering loud this morning but, when we went outside, we couldn't tell what or who made all of that noise. It did rain some because the grass was wet.

The lawn people came today and made lots of noise outside too. We had to bark at them until they went away even though we were inside the house. Mom was in the other room (printing) so we don't know if she realized how dangerous the situation was!

Roxie ate some grass and threw up. That was interesting. Wouldn't you know ... Mom was there for that and wouldn't let us check it out.

We've discovered how much fun it is to throw Roxie's blanket into the water bowl. It soaks up all of the water and makes a mess when Mom carries it to the washing machine. This way we get fresh water every day instead of alternating days. Of course, it's kind of hard to drink after the blanket soaks it up. We are still working on that part which is why we have done it three times in the last week.

Finally, we want to remind humans to keep your pets safe this holiday season and every day ... please do NOT feed your dogs:

Chocolate
Onions
Grapes or Raisins
Drinks with caffeine (like Coke, Mountain Dew)

These are all very bad for doggies and probably kitties too!