Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  The beginning of each new year brings with it the inevitable New Years' Resoutions, and the boys would like to share theirs with you.  Before getting into that, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on the last year:

• Thumper matured a bit and is somewhat less impulsive and destructive than he was when we first got him.  I was sad to see most of the naughtiness that gave me writing material went away with his growing up.
• Lightning dropped a few pounds and found his inner puppy, much to Thumper's chagrin.  His favorite game is "Bite Thumper on the Heel while He is Running Fast".  I still think he's got some kind of heeler in his ancestry...he would make a cattle dog proud.  
• For one of our trips last summer, the dogs got to stay at a nice kennel.  They didn't think it was so nice.  You can read about that here.  
• Lightning still has poopy problems upstairs.  Even the lady who cleans the house knows it's him, and I didn't tell her.  Which leaves me to wonder how she figured it out.  Probably caught him in the act.
• Thumper is now heartworm free.  Yay! 

So, now for the New Year's Resolutions, from the boys themselves:

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Thumper:

1. I resolve to let Lightning go first.  Sometimes.  
2. I resolve to catch the monster that runs up and down the street behind us.  I hate that thing.  The dog that's always chasing it still hasn't caught it.  I don't know what the monster is, but it's got 4 wheels, makes a lot of noise, goes fast, and carries two screaming boys with it.   
3. I resolve to catch more moles and scare mom with them.
4. I resolve to be a good dog on walks and not knock mom down.  

Lightning:

1. I resolve to not bark at TV doorbells.  Sometimes I bark and run to the door, and then they tell me it was only on TV.  
2. I resolve to go for more walks.  Without Thumper.
3. I resolve to stop using the guest room for a potty place.  
4. I resolve to be brave against Thumper and not let him take my chew bones!

Have a Happy New Year everyone!  Maybe mom will have the new years resolution to unload pictures from her camera and post our Christmas pictures.  We think the blog needs more pictures of us.  After all, it is OUR blog.

Lots of licks,
Thumper and Lightning

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone.

Hope Santa was good to you.

We got something in our stockings and can't wait to see what it is. It smells like chew bones!

Thumper and Lightning

Cake!

Hi Friends - we discovered something awesome we want to tell you about.  It's called CAKE!  We don't know why they never let us eat this before.  It was better than milkbones. 

Dad wasn't happy when he learned we like cake.  He asked Mom, "And HOW did this they-love-cake stuff start?".  She was nice enough to give us a taste of a piece she was eating.  We liked it so much we wouldn't move from the kitchen floor right in front of the cake.  Even Lightning started sniffing around the box holding it.  He almost got in trouble!

We are planning our next move to get more cake.  She hid in the microwave so unless we grow thumbs, we won't get any until she's home.  We are practicing are best puppy-cute-eyes...she can't resist those.

Have a great day, friends!

Thumper and Lightning

Nuts

We had a hickory tree in our backyard that sadly had to be cut down a couple months ago. The squirrels loved it. They would run through it and drive the dogs crazy...lol. They also got their food from it.

When the tree was cut down, I picked up as many nuts as I could from the ground. I left them in a bucket on the patio and forgot about them. I noticed squirrels were leaving shells all over the stump where the tree was. I had missed alot of nuts....I felt them with every step I took back there!

Recently Thumper has been more vocal than usual when he's looking out the door. I didn't give much thought to it. Then I noticed that the bucket had been moved (hubby had moved it) and there were shell pieces all around it. Looks like the squirrels moved their eating place, and it is about 10 ft from where Thumper watches them. Watching him watching them makes for good entertainment!

Good news!

Thumper had a vet check up for his heart worm treatment. He's been on medication since February. The test shows that he is heart worm free now! Yay!

It's beginning to look like Christmas....

I'm considering a real tree this year instead of a fake one. However, I'm considered the boy dogs may think its an inside potty place. Has anyone had any luck with a real tree in the presence of dogs?

Here is some of hubby's new yard art...I has bought more than I knew about. My yard is quite jolly these days.

Monday Mischief - Where's Thumper?

This actually happened a few days ago, but it's quite fitting a Monday Mischief post:

Friday night I went to bed early and the hubby stayed up watching TV.  Lightning followed me to bed, and after a minor misunderstanding, he got in his bed and I got my side of the bed.  Fast foward to 2:15 AM - when the hubby decides to sleep.  He stumbled into the room and woke me up, and then he asked how I got both dogs off the bed.  I told him only Lightning was in here.  Thumper had been with him.  Then he said, "No, he wasn't.  Where's Thumper?"  That is not a sentence you want to hear at 2:15 AM. 

I figured he was hiding under the dining room table or in his crate, but after listening to the hubby call "Thumper!  Thumper!  Thumper?" and then seeing lights go on outside and hearing him outside, I realized the dog wasn't hiding.  So, at 2:18 AM, I got up and went on a dog hunt. 

I was trying to remember the last place I had seen him.  He had eaten his dinner, gone outside, come back in and played with his favorite ball, and curled up in his dog bed.  Then we had to bring in the bounty from the day's shopping trip (which had been stashed in my car until the young one was in bed).  I remembered seeing Thumper wandering into the garage and sniffing around in there while hubby brought the last of the bags in....and I had not seen him since. 

So I opened the door between the garage and the house and turned on the light.  Thumper jumped up and raced down the hall and jumped on the bed.  He looked so relieved.  By this time, hubby is back inside and says, "Where'd you find him?!"  So I told him and we laughed about it.  Thumper hadn't even whined to let us know he was stuck in the garage.  What a brave boy.  Then we went to bed, and Thumper totally ignored the hubby.  I think that's who he blames for his banishment...lol. 

I think Thumper may be working on a version of this story from his perspective.  Can't wait to see what he thinks.  :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are thankful for warm beds, chew bones, walks, and our favorite spots in the yard. What are you thankful for?

PS-Thumper was going to be thankful for the turkey neck he helped himself to, but he lost it to a trashcan thanks to a young man with quick reflexes. :)

Snoozing

I heard snoring. I turned around and this is what I saw. If only we could be this comfortable when we sleep. :)

He's done it again......

So, he's done it again. Thanks to (I'm sure you guessed it) Thumper, I'm now frequenting the chiropractors office.

It started a couple of weeks ago....this really irritating popping in my neck and headaches. Awful headaches. While reviewing my situation with the doc, he asked if I had been in any accidents or been jarred lately. Ha! That "jarred" my memory. I had definitely been jerked around by dear Thumper on a walk, when we happened upon 2 dachshunds hanging out (unleashed of course) with their human. Seriously, who lets little dogs with no leashes loiter in a street at 9:30 at night? Anyway, the dachshunds moved, Thumper caught sight of it, and then he lunged. Omg. Totally caught me off guard, because he had been acting like he was going to ignore them. Im really glad he didn't get the dachshunds. He looked really sorry for misbehaving when I finally got him back by me. I really hope the doc can make my neck normal again. Til then he's in time out! Lightning is enjoying Thumpers new status, I think.

I am such a good boy.  Aren't I, Mom?
Can we go for a walk?  I know how to heel like a good dog...we can leave Thumper here.

Monday Mischief: Halloween

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE CAN I BE THE VERMINATOR FOR HALLOWEEN???
I'VE EARNED IT!  I'LL JUST NEED YOU TO MAKE ME A CAPE WITH A BIG
V ON IT.   AND A PICTURE OF A DEAD MOLE, LIZARD, GECKO, FROG, TOAD, MOUSE, LOCUST, AND COCKROACH! 

Ah, another Monday.  More mischief. 

First, I almost made myself hoarse this weekend yelling for Lightning to stop scavenging in the yard.  You can imagine what he was scavenging....it wasn't dog treats, hickory nuts, sticks....nothing nearly so not stinky.  I'm not even going to honor that bit of mischief with a picture.  He knew he was wrong.  He would sneak a peak at the door (I was watching through a window instead) and then go for it.  Gross.

Then, I kept seeing Thumper going to the same spot in the yard and sniffing.  Then he would sit down by it and guard it.  I ignored him for awhile because the ground just looked flat.  Eventually curiosity got the better of me, and I investigated.  Right about that time he decided to grab his treasure and make a run for the open door.  I yelled, "THUMPER!  DROP IT!"  And he did.  It was a dead mouse.  At first I thought it was a frog, but frogs don't have long skinny tails.  EWWWW!!!!!  This dog is lethal, as long as he's hunting tiny yard creatures (or not so tiny yard creatures....as he showed us with last summer's mole murder).  Anyway, true to form for the weekend, I screamed and the hubby ran to my rescue.

This morning Hubby informs me that Thumper wants to be the Verminator for Halloween.  Apparently he and Thump have a special relationship and "talk".  Lol. 

Happy Monday, everyone.  I'm not yelling today.  Whew.  Back to my desk and away from the naughty pups. 

Wordless Wednesday-The Ear that Defies Gravity

Sort of Monday Mischief

I've been trying to exercise more. I walk the dogs more and have started to run with them too. They have to be leashed since Thumper has no self control, so my walk / run really keeping up with Thumper. He is much faster than Lighthing and I would otherwise go. He believes he must always be in the lead....so my walk / run proceeds with him doing something like this (see picture below). yes, the picture is a bit blurry, but that is pretty much how these treks go. Happy Monday everyone!

Wordless Wednesday

Monday Mischief

Can you see him? Not sure what he was hiding from, but he was doing a great job!

Finally Friday

I'm so glad it's finally Friday.  This week has felt at least twice as long as most others. 

The doggies have been up to more naughtiness than usual lately.  Might that be because we are NEVER home? Or maybe because life had settled down (after baseball and before football) and we were home more?  Now we are back to the crazy schedule, and they don't like it?

My last post showed Thumper's handiwork.  He chewed up a rug (the 8x10 one in my living room), tore up his dog bed and ate the stuffing, and then regurgitated it in his crate.  Being the crafty little devil that he is, he covered that pile up with his deflated dog bed cover.  I found it the next day.  Maybe TMI, but I found it by thinking it was loose fluff.  I stuck my hand in it to pick it up.  Then I had yet another freak out moment...poor Thumper just sits there, tail a thumping, and squints his eyes until his face looks flat.  Probably wondering why the Mom is saying all those things that usually the Dad says.  I firmly believe boys - whether 2 legged or 4 legged - can make you say words you rarely even thought about before they entered your life.

Moving on, Monday night I returned home to find that some dog (you probably guessed it - Thumper) had been climbing up on the kitchen sink in search of scraps.  Seriously, you would think we never fed them.  He knocked the dish drain full of pots, silverware, and a serrated knife onto the floor.  Fortunately, nothing broke and no one was hurt.  One of my friends saw the knife and said, "Well, at least he didn't stab his brother."  Yep - she has boys too.  The two legged and four legged kind.  She has lots of stories and freak out moments too, but she posts her's on Facebook. 

Not to be left out of the ruckus, Lightning has taken to leaving presents in the guest room again.  He won't poop anywhere else in the house, so I can just shut that door and he has to hold it.  Ha.  I win!  It takes so little to thrill me these days.  Air flow upstairs sucks with the door closed, but I'll sacrifice my son's comfort to keep the dog from crapping up there. 

I have had to start crating Thumper again during the day.  I hate that, but I don't want him to hurt himself or Lightning, and the incident with the dishes made me think that he very well could have.  I wish I had had a video camera in the kitchen to see them scatter when those dishes hit the floor.  I'm surprised there wasn't poop there then.  :)

Have a good weekend.  Rain is forecast here.  Maybe I'm weird, but I'm looking forward to it.  It makes us slow down.

Trouble

Some dog is in BIG trouble....

A Happy Bday Wish

From both the pups:

It's our Aunt V's Birthday!!!!  She is about 7 we think.  We are dogs and we can't count too well past two (since there's TWO of us, you know) so we might be wrong about that. 

We want to sing her Happy Birthday....here goes!

Happy Birthday to you,  Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Aunt V, happy Birthday to you!!!  

Now Thumper chimes in:

Can we have cake now?  What - what do you mean she's not here?  There's no cake?  Bummer.  Oh, she has cake at her house?  Can we go there? 

Then Lightning:

Thumper you would get car sick going there.  Mom can take me....BOL!  I'll eat your share for you!

-----------------

Aren't they silly??

Why do we love dogs?

I found this on Pinterest---that site is more addicting than Facebook...I spend way too much time pinning stuff!

I found this uplifting. With all the craziness going on around the world, maybe you will, too. No bad news here. :-)

Wordless Wednesday - Bitey Face

This is what happens when Bitey Face gets out of control.

He couldn't let Thumper get the best of him, so Thumper now has a swollen upper lip. Apparently Lightning has a mean bite with his little teeth.

They are just like two-legged boys.....not happy until somebody's bleeding.

9-11

Do you remember where you were on this morning 11 years ago?  I do.  I was at work.  I had just returned from a Caribbean cruise.  I was begrudging the fact that I was no longer ON a Caribbean cruise and instead was at work.  Goofing off is so much more fun than work. 

Then, about 40 minutes after my work day started, a co-worker raced down the hall saying an airplane had flown into the World Trade Center.  Huh?  And also the Pentagon.  What?  Wow...what a hard dose of reality that was.  I was GLAD I wasn't on that ship anymore.

I spent that morning with co-workers watching the events as they unfolded.  That afternoon, schoolbuses were escorted by police cars.  I spent days afterward coming to grips with what had happened.  Who knew one event could change your world so? 

So, today, I'm skipping writing a funny story about dogs, in memory of those who were lost. 

Never forget.

Happy Monday everyone....if there is such a thing. I'm sure the dogs are happy that we are out of their house and back at work...lol.

It's been a chaotic week. A hurricane passes through last week. It wasn't very bad mostly just rained alot. The wind and strange weather made the dogs anxious for a couple of days and I couldn't walk anywhere in the house without tripping over Thumper who followed me everywhere. Lightning was hiding under a bed...his safe haven. It was very hard to get them (especially Lightning!) to go outside for "breaks". I finally thought to give a Thumper a treat for taking care of business outside. After a couple of false starts, Lightning figured out he could get a treat too if he "went" outside. I was so relieved...after the awful drop cloth incident, I was concerned that he might decide Upstairs was better than outside. :)

With life back to normal and most limbs and leaves cleaned up, we enjoyed some time outside. It's even gotten cool - FINALLY!! I hope the cool weather stays. Lightning enjoyed it too. Thumper was off chasing lizards or locusts so he missed the photo op. :)

Wordless Wednesday (sort of)- Another Nap

Seriously, these dogs have it made. I'm at work and I'm sure this is what they are doing at home.

Monday Mischief - Thumper takes over

Hello Friends (this is Thumper - I kicked mom off the computer to go prepare for a hurricane so I can tell a story),

Things have changed around here agin.  Our boy went back to school and now we can nap all day.  We sure were tired after our summer trip. 
It started with me and Lightning just playing outside and being good dogs.  Maybe we were barking a lot and ticking off the neighbor lady...we're not sure. But we do that a lot tho.  It's kind of fun.  The lady yells loud.  And then we bark louder...BOL!  So in the middle of this Mom calls us and we see the opened car and we jumped in.    We were so excited to go for a CAR RIDE we were drooling on the windows.  Maybe we were going to DOG PARK!  IT's the best, you know.  When the car stopped, we got out.  It wasn't the dog park.  But there was lots of dogs there - lots of them and they were all barking and saying hello.  Great - FRIENDS!  I thought.  We can play "Who's Alpha?" and have peeing contests.  Lightning wasn't excited...he saw Mom taking the big container of our dog food to the lady at the office.  Office?!?  **GULP***  That's when we knew we were screwed.

This place was OUTSIDE.  You heard me.  O-U-T-S-I-D-E.  What are we - some kind of animals?  We don't live outside.  We play outside and go, um, you know, outside, but we live inside with people.  Anyway I'm not sure what you call the place.  It had rooms for dogs.  With some sort of roof over it.  But it was open.  Sort of.  Mostly. And it was HOT.  Maybe it was camp?  Or hell.  I here people say it's hot as hell around here...maybe that place is what they mean.  I don't know.  We heard the lady tell mom she gave us a nice spot at the end where it  was cool and Mom left us there!  While we in our spot on the end, it started raining and thundering and lightening (the sky kind - not like dog Lightning) and we were scared and wet hot and stinky and OUTSIDE.  Sort of.  It was bad.  We were there for like 432 days.  And nights too.  It was the worst.  

They finally remembered us and came to get us and the food (there was plenty - cause we didn't eat much on our vacation).  We couldn't get away from that office lady fast enough.  We ran to the car like we were chasing cats and squirrels.   At home we ran inside and crawled in our dog beds and slept like puppies.  Inside.  I-N-S-I-D-E.  with air conditioning and hugs and snuggles and pets.  It was heaven.  

Mom is still being punished for making us take that vacation.  Lightning leaves her presents upstairs and I take her spot in the big bed and try to push her out of the bed at night.  It's great being home.  Me and Lightning agree - we don't want more trips if they don't go to the dog park.  Or petsmart, you know, for toys and milk bones.

That's the end of the bad summer trip story.  Does any other dog have a story like that?

Slobbers,
Lightning and Thumper

Sweet Lightning

He's just staring at me. I wonder what he wants?

Where is the weekend, please?!?

I'm tired. Does anybody else ever get like this? I don't mean tired, like ready for a nap. But weary. Worn. Can't think (makes for a fun day at work...not) and don't really want to, anyway. But it goes beyond that, actually. Among other things, I'm tired of the heat and the long days and hearing lawn mowers and weedeaters every time I try to enjoy outside, and I'm tired of the news always talking about presidential candidates and how Michael Vick should be healed in time for regular season. Really? Would it be so bad if he's not?

The dogs have it made. If they felt like this, what would they do? Lightning would probably crawl under the bed in the guest room and avoid us all. Thumper would hide in his crate until he thought he heard food. I tried hiding in my room. The dogs followed. And entertained me by dogfighting on my bed. Now I have to clean the dog hair off of it. Again. So much for escape. :/

Thanks for listening to my rant. I'm going to watch tv and hug a dog or two and try to shake off this foul mood. I hope there is something good to watch. Maybe Project Runway - I don't even mind if it's a repeat.

Wordless Wednesday

Monday Mischief - Going to Confession

Since my oldest son moved out, we've been working on turning his bedroom into a home office.  It's in a horrible state of disrepair right now, but it is upstairs and out of view...I only go in there when I have time to work on it.  We had stretched out waterproof canvas drop cloths along the walls while we painted.  It's not an urgent project, so we just left the drop cloths there when we finished working on evening, along with a ladder and the closed paint cans.  Then the boys found it......

Hello, furiends,

This is Lightning and thumper.  We were bad dogs.  it was really really bad.  mom says we have to tell the whole internet what we did.    

we thought that drop cloth was a potty place.  we made big big messes on it and she didn't find it for days.

we are sorry but it didn't feel like carpet and it smelled like outside.  mom says it wasn't bad enough that we ruined the drop cloths but we peed on the paint can too. 

we are keeping our paws crossed that dad doesn't find out.    

we are in time out now.  for a really long time.  it may be christmas before we aren't.

**sad puppy dog eyes here** 

 

slobbers and drools,

thumper and lightning 

Wordless Wednesday

For the love of Iron Man

Well, we knew this day would come. Stuffie Ironman became irresistible to one particular lab and ended his life as many other squeaky stuffies at our house have. Here is the evidence of his demise....

I'm sorry, Ironman. 
What happened to your legs?  LIGHTNING!!
Have you seen Ironman's legs?!? 
They are GONE!



So far monster Wubba is still intact.  And pretty much untouched.  He tried playing with a couple of nights ago and bonked my son in the head with it.  To be more accurate, he hit in the FACE with it.  OUCH.  You should have heard THAT thump.  My son said it felt like a softball hit in the face.  Monster Wubba may have to be given away to a more fitting owner, like maybe an overgrown mastiff or an Irish wolfhound or a wild horse.  I now know why it was on sale so cheap at Petsmart!  :-)

Have a good day.  First day back in school here.  **sniff sniff**  Where did summer go? 

Wordless Wednesday

Monday Mischief

Thumper: "Lightning couldn't finish his bone so I'm going to finish it for him."

Me: "Thumper, that wasn't nice. Give Lightning his bone back."

Thumper: "Nope. Mine now. He can play with Ironman."

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Iron Man

I think Thumper may be growing up. He got this new Iron Man stuffie a few days ago and it is still intact! We also gave each dog a chew bone yesterday and Thumper did not take Lightning's. Normally he would have taken Lightning's bone and hid it in his crate for later. While I'm happy he has learned to share, I hope he still has his silly side or I will have nothing to blog about. :/

Here is Thumper and his Iron Man:

World Series

Happy Friday from Orange Beach, Alabama. We are here for a USSSA baseball world series tournament. So far we haven't played ball...it rained out yesterday and there is a 70% chance of rain all day today with 3 games scheduled.

We left the doggies at a kennel for the first time, and I'm wondering how they are doing. I'm glad they are there together and aren't alone. I expect retribution when they get home. Thumper will forgive and forget rapidly. Lightning is going to leave us presents - the brown type - for awhile. Ugh.

I leave you with a picture of teenage boys looking for new "friends" on the beach. Lol. It was fun to watch. :)

New Toy

Thumper loves wubbas, those octopus looking toys with multiple legs and a squeaky ball inside. LOVES them. They live for a couple of weeks before he tears the ball out and we play tug with what's left.

He got a new wubba yesterday. A really big wubba this time. Will post progress on the destruction on the wubba. This one has him perplexed. :)

Wordless Wednesday - Begging

No Monday Mischief Here ;)

Since our deck is now finished, I usually spend some time outside in the mornings with the dogs. I'm trying to wake up while they enjoy the cool (and I use that term loosely...it's all relative to 95°F + afternoon temps and high humidity) mornings.

Thumper usually finds something to stalk. A lizard, a leaf, a dewdrop, a wren, or our resident Crazy Squirrel. Today I heard a noise in the big hickory tree in the yard and noticed nuts falling from it. Crazy Squirel was my first thought but Thumper didn't budge. I watched closely and saw some really big black birds (maybe crows?) walking through the branches. These birds are not common to our tree, so I expected Thumper to pounce with excitement at something new to stalk. He let me down though. He just sat by my feet and watched the tree. No Monday Mischief for him. Darn.

This led me to wonder whether he has met this kind of bird before. Maybe so, and one pecked him on the nose to teach him a lesson?? I'll never know, but I have never seen him shy away from a bird. I'm positive there is a story behind is reticence to stalk the black bird, but he's not telling. :)

Have a good Monday, Blog Friends. Just four more work days til the weekend!

Need Blogger Help

I have started following a couple of new blogs but they don't show up on the blog list on the home page or whatever you call it on blogger. Has anyone else had this problem and how do you fix it?

The Pressure....

They are gone again today. I have to watch the house AND Thumper. Oh the pressure...

An Award!

Thanks to Raelyn and Rose at Beautifully Unique for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award.  We are flattered!

Be sure to visit and read about Rose.  She's a beautifully unique mixed breed, much like my Lightning.  So now I'm supposed to share 7 things about myself and the dogs.    

1.  I grew up mostly with cats as pets.  I only remember a couple of dogs, and we lived out in the country and the dogs were "free range".  They weren't the spoiled inside critters that Lightning and Thumper are.

2.  We also had 2 parakeets as pets.  My gosh those were nasty animals.   

3.  I got my first "inside" dog in 1996.  He was a Golden Retriever.  This was my first ever pedigree dog.  He was awesome.  We joke and say he was born trained, unlike Lightning, who took 6 months of obedience training to break of the bad habit of bolting out the front door every time it opened.  I got SO tired of chasing that dog, but I did get to meet a lot of my neighbors through him.  

4.  I love all dogs - mixed breed or pedigree - and prefer medium to large dogs.  I'm partial to boy dogs, too.

5.  Lightning was trained for a couple of years in obedience and agility.  Obedience competition is a bit too structured for my liking, but we enjoyed agility.  After he fell off a full height A-frame one day, I reconsidered the agility training.  With the way he's built, he's got a really heavy front end and the small hips and rear legs of a who-knows-what.  It's pretty much a mismatch for climbing a steep ramp.  Now the jumps are something we do in the yard for fun.  He's happy.  He's healthy.  I'm happy.     

6.  My dream dog is a Border Collie.  I want one one day that I can train and compete in Agility with.  I really like Red Border Collies.  Susan Garrett's Feature, Swagger, and Encore inspire me.

7.  We are Disney buffs.  Can you tell by the dogs' names?  

Now I get to pass this on to up to 15 bloggers that I admire...in addiiton to Raelyn's blog, I only got to 7 because, well, if I followed 15 blogs that closely, I'd never get any work done.  Lol.  Even if you choose not to participate in the sharing and passing on of this award, know that I really enjoy reading your blogs, and this is a really cool way to let you know that.  :)

Here goes....

Bassettmomma:  I love reading about Fred and Gloria.  I have a new adoration for Bassett Hounds now.  

Spotty Spotty Polkadotty:  This is a blog I recently discovered.  I couldn't pass by such a catchy name.  Then I saw Blueberry's picture, read her story, and was hooked.

How Sam Sees It:  Sam and Monty are Golden Retrievers with big imaginations.  I love Goldens.  I love big imaginations.  Enough said.  This was probably the first blog I followed.  Love them.

Life is Like a Box of Nuggets:  The story of Oscar and Nugget.  If you need a good laugh, read back through some of these entries.  I think their mom updates mostly their facebook now but some of the older entires will have you ROFL.  Especially the ones about Oscar the Doodle Dog.

HouseTalkN:  Here's a shocker - this isn't a dog blog.  It's a house / decorating / fashion blog.  Those are a few of my other favorite things....besides dogs.  

Life at Golden Pines:  Kim is inspirational as she takes in and cares for aging and often sick Goldens.  She also has a Wheaten Terrier.

Home is Where the Hounds Are:  Greyhounds are beautiful...especially these three - Beckett, Veil, and Maddy.  I always enjoy reading about them.  They are rescued former racing Greyhounds in Canada.  PS - One day I really want to go to Canada...it looks like these guys live in a really cool place.  No pun intended.

Enjoy your Saturday and happy reading.  I'm off to Walmart (ugh - isn't that place hell on earth?) and then to a baseball tournament.   Only one more left til the season is over and we can prepare for next season...haha...unless he plays football and the dogs will once again believe they are completely neglected.  They may be asking to be rescued if that happens.  

Later,

Us

Thursday

Is it Friday yet? Please? And can I have a chewy bone too? Please?

Meet our cousin!

Good morning friends! We have a new cousin-her name is Rayne. We haven't met her yet but we hear that she is feisty and driven. She is an Australian Cattle Dog. Her new people have been trying to housebreak her, but our aunt says that she comes in from outside and potties on the floor. She doesn't potty in her crate at night though, so she sort of knows what she should do. Does anyone have any advice on housebreaking a puppy who does this?

Here is a picture of her. Thumper would love to play with her. He promises not to mistake her for a squirrel.

Have a happy day,
Lightning

Thumper Thursday

Since nobody will play with me, I guess I'll just snuggle with my ball. It's not a baseball so Mom doesn't want to play with it....don't you feel sorry for me?

Boredom

I'm so bored. I'm at baseball practice again. I think I spend most of my away from work hours at baseball practice or games. The poor dogs are mostly left to their own devices. That explains the lack of stories and pics these days.

Thumper's nose is looking better. The ringworm treatment seems to be working. He has turned into an absolute baby while he felt bad. The big lump started sleeping on my side of the bed (instead of in his own) and now we have power struggles over the blanket. He really doesn't know he's a dog.

Lightning put on some weight due to their lack of exercise and got put on a diet. He acts like he's starving but he's got alot more energy and is actually playful. When he gets some weight off I hope we can start practicing agility again. He enjoyed it, but I think Thumper would be really competitive with it. I just have to hang on til the end of the baseball season....it's got to be nearing an end, right? By the way, I have decided the proper spelling of baseball should be ba$eball. Notice the $ sign.....

Til later...bye.

When moles bite back....

Want to see what happens when moles get revenge? Check out the pic below. At least, we think and hope it was the mole getting a last shot in at his attacker. The vet is a bit stumped by how strange the mole bite looks. It was first treated for being an infected bite. She cultured it and yesterday started him on med for ringworm. He's been on meds for infection for 10 days. If anybody recognizes it as a tumor or something, let me know. If the latest med doesn't work, he has to have it biopsied! I am a bit worried about him.

It's been 5 years...

It's been 5 years since we lost our Golden Retriever, Dusty, to cancer. He had a mast cell tumor on his foot. It was very aggressive and, thankfully, he did not suffer long.

I still miss him everyday. He was my heart dog. Seems like many of the bloggers I follow have had their pets pass recently. Maybe that's what got me thinking about Dusty, or maybe I just need higher dosage meds. :/

My condolences and prayers for peace for anyone coping with the loss of a pet. Grief sucks.

Bath Time

Over the weekend was bath time for the boys. After their little chase-the-mole excursion, they were overdue. Thumper went first, because I'm thinking he's mostly lab....this should be easy. It wasn't too bad at first. I got him wet, shampooed, and rinsed. I felt victorious. Then he stepped away and shook and took off racing around the yard. After he disappeared around one corner for a rather long time, I went to check on him. He had dug into the ground behind my gardenias and made himself a dirt pile, and he was joyously rolling over and over in it. While he was wet. That made it a mud puddle. Before he was done, he looked like a black dog. And then it was back to the hose for a second bath. Oh, and during all that ruckus, Lightning figured out what was up and ran and hid (he doesn't like bath time in case you didn't know). Lightning ended up getting cleaned with waterless shampoo after he was finally bribed from his hiding spot with puppy treats. Life with dogs....there is always a tale just waiting to be told.

Here is a pic of Thumper's dirt bed. It used to be a flower bed......

Tired boy

You would think he had a hard day....

Mystery Solved!

After last week's mystery mud, I had come to the conclusion that, as some of you suggested, the boys had an adventure. Then, Wednesday evening, I was outside sitting on the patio, and I saw Thumper throwing something brown, fuzzy, and floppy around. My first thought was, "That stuffed animal looks brand new, and it still has it's stuffing.". My second thought was, "We don't have a stuffed animal that looks like that.". Then Thumper jumped up and slung this my way. Further investigation revealed that the mystery mud came from them digging after this critter. Nice to know what they had been up to. That dog will hunt anything. Have a nice weekend. We are off to the ball park for a few games. :)

What a Mystery

There always seems to be a mystery around my house. Which dog pooped in the guest room? What happened to the ground meat I was going to cook for dinner? Where do all the lost sock go? Well, today I got home from work to a brand new mystery: Both dogs are muddy. On their chests and not really anywhere else, except for a patch of mud on Lightning's rear. I can't figure out how they did it. Did they take turns laying in their water bowl before flopping in dirt? Here are a couple of pics showing them. All guesses for how they did this are welcome!

Sleeping Dog

Ok...I just had to share this picture. He's woofing in his sleep with his tongue peeking out. Too cute. :)

Crappy Day (and not because a dog left me a present)

Today was one of those days. You know, the kind where you get to work to facilitate a meeting and discover the projector you really need is broken (just as everyone is arriving). Then it turns out all the meeting attendees have a major attack of ADD so getting them to focus is like herding cats. Then you find out that the job you wanted to apply for isn't even going to be posted because a transfer from the Fatherland is being appointed to the position (yes, I work for a company that is headquartered in another country). Then lunch makes you sick and you spend the afternoon herding cats (yes, they are really men) while frequently running to the ladies room....it just kept falling apart. And to top things off (I must say I work with a bunch of men for this matter), the afternoon meeting session rapidly degrades to guy humor. Yes it was funny, but it's like losing control of kindergarten once that happens. You might as well call it a day. So that's what I did, and then..... after almost 3 hours of baseball practice, I'm finally home. Pizza is on the way, one margarita has been made, and I am enjoying the playfulness of my four-legged boys. I'm so glad I have them to rescue me from days like this.

Happy hunting

Thumper's favorite hunting spot....he is killing my little red flowers. ***sigh***

How we start Sunday

Stalking dragonflies and sniffing the air....that's how we start Sunday. Have a good day everyone.

Thumper and Lightning