How I'm doin'

Well, The Typist and The Alpha are still paying a whole lot of attention to me. They're glad I'm taking my pills with peanut butter again instead of protesting, but they won't just let me eat chicken. There's this icky stuff that we brought home in cans from the vet. If I don't eat it on my own (which I don't), they make a milkshake out of it and help me eat it. I don't particularly like that part, but I put up with because I really am starting to get hungry again.

Yesterday I decided I like treats again, so that was kinda fun. Also, somebody I've never even met called The Typist to see how I was doing! That was really sweet of her.

The Typist is still telling me I'm God's girl, but that's old news. I've always known that.

Messing with my thumb-havers' heads

Some would say I'm behaving more like a cat than a dog lately. You see, I've decided I don't like my special menu anymore. Well, except for the bran flakes and the chicken. I love bran flakes and chicken. But I'm finished with eggs and cottage cheese and wheat bread. I just am. Who knows? Maybe I'll decide to eat regular chow again. You never can tell with me.

She's back, and look!

We got special bandannas!


The Typist got us these new bandannas when she was away with some other RevGals. Our friend Zorra was there, but didn't get Amie one because Amie doesn't like to wear bandannas. (We don't understand that around here. We like accessorizing.)


See the logo? These bandannas help out other dogs and cats in Cozumel.

The Typist had a great time with the other RevGalBlogPals, but is very tired now and is saying something about laundry and a shower and bed. The Boy and I don't really care for laundry or showers, but we're right with her on the bed thing. Anyway, we think she'll probably do her own blog entry pretty soon. But for now, we're glad she's back and that she brought us cool stuff.

Because I'm a prissy princess, that's why.

It only took one day for the thumb-havers to figure out why I wouldn't eat my oatmeal and chicken for supper anymore. They're learning fast.

What they learned is that I liked the oatmeal out of the other round box better.

And when that other box was empty and they brought in a new round box with different pictures on it, I didn't like that oatmeal.

They didn't think I'd notice the difference, just because they don't. Well, the nosery nose knows, and that's final.

These boxes both have pictures of oatmeal, but the oatmeal smelled totally different from the icky box. Also, the good box has cookies on it, too.

So The Alpha went out and got me the good box of oatmeal and fixed it with my chicken for supper tonight. And I rewarded him by eating it.

I still don't think I'd eat the oatmeal from the box with the man in the hat on it. He's kinda creepy.

Gleaning

The Typist says most dogs and thumb-havers aren't into following Levitical law. So she thinks it is interesting that I let The Boy glean from my bowl.

Here he is gleaning some cottage cheese, oatmeal, wheat bread, and maybe even a little chicken that I left for him. Yes, he gets his own chow, too, but he knows mine is special. So I share a taste with him.


"When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and for the alien..."

Well, our Pop has been known to say The Boy is "poor as a snake," so I guess that means he's poor. And he didn't live here when he was a pup like I did, so I guess that means he's an alien, too.

It may just look like he's sniffing in the picture, but he was licking all over, really. His tongue is at least as fast as mine.

My sock is falling down!

At least, that's what The Alpha says my front leg looks like since I came back from the all-night vet.


What do you think?

Home from the all-night vet

Hey everybody! Thank you for praying for me. I got to come home! The Typist says I'm still "loopy from the Valium," whatever that means, but I feel pretty nice. I'm resting on the living room floor, and I had a nice breakfast and I was nice to The Boy and let him smell where I'd been all night. The thumb-havers at the all-night vet were nice. The bed in there was nice. The being able to quit having that big long string of seizures was nice. Alllll.... nice. I'm nice! They also wrote on my chart, "She is a very sweet dog." That's nice...

Thumb-havers are silly.

Tonight The Boy and I got to go for a ride, then a walk up and down the Greenbelt. Which really means up and down a wide sidewalk, because they wouldn't let us walk in the mud. No fair. (Might have something to do with those baths to which we were subjected over the weekend. But at least I'm all soft and fluffy.) The Boy managed to walk in some mud anyway. He's quick!

Another weird part was that The Alpha kept giving The Boy's leash to The Typist, and she would keep us sitting on the sidewalk while he rattled around in the bushes -- well, not so much bushes as little trees without their leaves on them, but you get the idea. He was "geocaching." I think it helps to have thumbs if you want to do that. And a Gee Pee Ess receiver, whatever that is.

Anothernother weird thing is that our blogfriend Mindy is getting her Peeps all ready for Easter, and that got The Alpha excited. He says there's going to be a Peeps experiment this weekend at the fire pit. Mainly the fire pit means "stay away, dogs, because your tail fur might get burned." But dogs are supposed to stay at the edge of the firelight anyway. It is our heritage.

So, that's what we've been doing tonight. How about you?

German Dog, Texas Snow

The Typist started playing with Movie Maker tonight, right after I played in the snow. And so, I present my first short-form documentary:



You know, The Boy decided later that he liked the snow after all. So we had The Alpha throw snowballs for us to catch. We never could find them when we dropped them, though. Strangest thing.

The Middle Name Game

Diane (Scout's mom) tagged me for a meme that uses your middle name.

I'm glad I have a middle name. Not all dogs have them. My middle name is Poppy. It's because of some silly video game The Alpha used to play, but it's also nice that a poppy is a flower. And around our house, it means a puppy, but all grown up.

Here are the rules:

1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.

2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name or your mother's maiden name).

3. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person (or blogger of another species) for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged.)

P is for Pretty. There's no doubt about it, I'm a good-lookin' dog.

O is for Overjoyed, because I have a really sweet deal here with my family! Sometimes they tell me to get a job and pull my own weight, but I know they don't mean it.

P (this time) is for Prissy. I don't like to admit it, but there it is all the same.

P (again!) is for Protective. I do a lot of good guarding work, even when nobody wants me to.

Y is for "YES! What is it?" Which is what I answer every time I hear a question that starts with, "Cub, do you want a..."

And, I tag Whistle, Tiria, Molly, Phoebe, and Grendel, who has had a surprise houseguest this week.

Oh, I got it. Yes, I did.

So, tonight we were going round and round and round the living room playing "Get him," which I usually do pretty well, but tonight I got The Boy very, very well! I got him so good that I took the bluebell right out of his mouth! No, I didn't knock it out and then pick it up. I took it. With my pointy teeth.


It's mine now.

See me with it?

I surprised The Boy and The Alpha (and myself a bit, too, honestly!). When The Typist got home, she called it a smackdown.

A Heavenly Friday Five

Over at RevGalBlogPals, Singing Owl writes:

I am in Seattle assisting with family stuff and preparing to attend a memorial service (Saturday) for my sister who died of complications of early-onset Alzheimer's disease.

I am not grieving much, since the shock and tears and goodbyes and losses have been many and have occurred for a long time now. I am mostly relieved that my wonderful sister and best friend is free from pain and confusion, and I am thinking of eternity. That sounds somber, but I don't mean it to be. I decided to have a little fun with the idea. So how about we share five "heavenly" things? These can me serious or funny or a combination of the two.

First, prayers for Singing Owl, who has been through a very long goodbye because of her sister's Alzheimer's disease. And thankfulness that Darlaine is now free from it.

Now, we haven't played Friday Five in a while, so we're doing a tandem play!

What is your idea of a heavenly (i.e. wonderful and perfect):

1. Family get-together
The Typist: Vacations with The Alpha. Time with Super-Niece, made more precious now that she's even further away for grad school. Little moments that pass by so quickly you barely recognize them.
Cub: Everybody on the couch! Sometimes The Boy will climb on The Alpha's or The Typist's lap (or both) and let me stretch out a bit, which is nice.

2. Song or musical piece The Typist: Oh, this is too difficult! I really loved the last concert I attended, though, so I'll say something by Terri Hendrix.
Cub: I'm not that big on specific music, but I think it's heavenly when the band The Typist is in gets together at my house.

3. Gift
The Typist: Our trip to Alaska was a gift The Alpha and I gave each other for our 10th anniversary. Amazing and wonderful.
Cub: SQUIRRELY! The Boy and I each got another one for Christmas.

4. You choose whatever you like-food, pair of shoes, vacation, house, or something else. Just tell us what it is and what a heavenly version of it would be. The Typist: Back to Alaska, please. But we can skip Fairbanks this time and go inside the Arctic Circle instead. And I really missed my dogs for those 10 days, so it'd be heavenly if they could come, too.
Cub: You know, things are pretty good around here. I'll just leave it at that.

5. And for a serious moment, or what would you like your entrance into the next life to be like?

What, from your vantage point now, would make Heaven "heavenly?" The Typist: It's a very small piece of it that I'm sharing... my mom there to greet me, no longer allergic to anything, especially not animals, many of which she loved but couldn't be around. She would've loved Cub, but probably wouldn't have been able to spend more than a few minutes in a house where a dog lived.
Cub: All my favorite thumb-havers, of course, which is a lot of them, and my friends who have gone on... especially Lady.

Scout gave me an award!

My friend Scout gave me this award! Isn't it nice of her? I've always thought I was special, but it's nice to know others think so, too.

And another cool thing about this award is that I get to share it! So I give the So Special Award to Zorra and Amie, and Princess Mindy (who got some wonderful PantiPalooza publicity this week), and Spooky, a cat who has started coming by to visit my blog lately. (I'm not very good with cats in real life, so I try to be extra-nice to them on my blog.)

I made The Typist help me give out my awards before she left this morning for a very long day. I don't like it when she's gone for very long days, especially when it's supposed to be her work-from-home day, where she sits at the computer and I come up and she pets me. And I hear tomorrow will be another very long day away from me, too. I don't know what it means to interview candidates for bishop, or what a bishop even is, but it seems like it probably won't be much fun if The Typist can't hang out with dogs while she's doing it. I'm just sayin'.

Adventures of last night

Last night, The Boy and I got a big walk, and then a ride!

First, The Alpha and The Typist left in our car, and we stayed in the back yard. Not unusual. But what was different was that when they came back, they came in through the front door, and without our car! Then they fed us supper. (I could tell they'd already eaten because I could smell beef.)

So, after a little while they took us for a walk, but not our usual route. At first we thought we were going to get to go to the Magic Treat Window, but we walked right past that place. Instead, we went past a pond and over a bridge and across quite a few streets (I lost count because it was more than four), and before we knew it, we were at a place with lots of cars, including ours! We could also smell beef, so we were pretty sure they'd had their thumb-haver supper in the same area. That, and they said something about walking it off being a good thing.

We hopped in our car for our ride, and we rode... right back home! It didn't take long, but it was still fun. After all, walks and rides are two of the best things a dog can get, and last night, we got them both!

Didja see the big game?

Watching the Puppy Bowl was great yesterday!

Our favorite player, Bruin the Alaskan Malamute, didn't get MVP, but that's only because some silly thumb-havers Just Didn't Get how Cool he was. Maybe they thought he was too big for a puppy. But that's how big he is, even though he's young!

We did some playing of our own, too, but it was nice to get some napping in while the young pups frolicked.

The Alpha and The Typist especially liked the Bowl Cam. (We are not getting a camera in the bottom of our water bowl here. That would be a little too much for The Boy to handle.)

My special menu

I have an update on my special menu: I don't like yogurt anymore.

I decided not to like it when I saw how many big tubs of yogurt The Alpha brought home. I mean, if you can get that much of it, how is it special?

So, I'm letting The Boy have the yogurt now. I still like cottage cheese, though.

A memory of Lady

In the comments on my last post, The Alpha wrote: Cub, you need to tell everyone about the time Lady came to visit and you were both left in the kitchen for a few hours, and how you both made an escape and noted your displeasure with the situation. It was ... memorable.

You know, there are some secrets that I prefer to keep. One of those secrets is exactly how Lady and I got out of the kitchen that night. Let's just say that I was already taller than Lady, but much younger with practically no street smarts. This was more than 7 thumb-haver years ago, so I was still a pup. The Alpha and The Typist and Lady's thumb-havers think Lady was the brains of the operation, and I was the muscle. But I'm not talkin'.

When the thumb-havers got back from their late-night gallivanting at some place that doesn't allow dogs, Lady and I had made our statement. We made it by going through the trash cans and decorating the floor with what we found -- something I've never done since (it was a very special occasion).

And, on the carpet... right in the middle of the carpet... we left a very special statement that explained what we thought about Getting Left.

The thumb-havers marveled at the size of our statement, and concluded we only could have created such a huge statement by working together. Then they cleaned it up.

Again, I will not reveal the secret. But I will say Lady was one smart mutt.

In Memoriam: Lady

Before I was born, Lady was The Best Dog Ever.


Lady was the dog who helped The Typist want to have a dog of her own. And so, when I showed up, she was ready to say yes.

Late last night, Lady went on. We don't really know how old she was, but The Alpha and The Typist knew her for about 11 thumb-haver years.

She was a Great, Great Dog.

Rest well, Lady.

Calm, for a change

That's how things have been around here the last few days! We like that!

The Boy has been back to his normal level of goofy all week (in fact, that picture in the last post was taken Saturday afternoon, well after the 1 a.m. incident -- see? he's fine).

I'm feeling pretty well, too. We like days that The Typist would describe as "typical," and we've had a few of them in a row.

Lots of you thumb-havers who pray for dogs have come by here lately, and I really do appreciate it. Would you do me another prayer favor? Please go to Zorra's blog and pray for Amie, who is the same kind of dog as The Boy. She has a big test tomorrow like I had a while back. I hope they don't shave her belly as much as they shaved mine -- I was chilly for a few days!

(Zorra and The Typist know each other through RevGalBlogPals. What a great bunch of thumb-havers they are. We've even met some of them. Mary Beth let us hang out in her flower beds when we went to see her.)

Tagged for my 250th post!

Yes, we all know I can't count past 4 because I run out of paws after that, but The Typist says 250 is a lot of blog posts (even if she did throw in a few without me). So, happy 250th post to me!

For this special occasion, I've been tagged by my friend Rowan. Here's how it works:

- Link to the person/dog that tagged you.
- Post the rules on your blog.
- Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. (I really like this idea, because we have had way too many important things going on around here lately, and it wears a girl out!)
- Tag six people and at the end of your post, link to their blogs.
- Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1) I'm not really ready to go to sleep for the night until I have a nice big sigh. Sometimes The Alpha and The Typist sigh after I do. They are mocking me, but I don't mind.

2) I like being a groupie. The band was over again tonight, so I got to hang out with them. The Boy doesn't like being a groupie so much. He usually hides under the coffee table or back in the bedroom.

3) My licking speed is so fast (Fastest Tongue in the West, they call me) that I can sometimes lick things thumb-havers would rather not have me lick, like their teeth and their eyeballs. I licked Miss Julie's teeth today. She was very surprised!

4) There's a couch in the den where I'm only allowed to sit on one end of it. But I like the other end better, and that's where I go when nobody's looking.

5) I like licking the holes in the compost bin. The Typist thinks this is disgusting and it gives me bad breath. She just doesn't get it.

6) I think any time is a good time for some yogurt. It's my favorite thing in my new menu. Except maybe the chicken. Or the cottage cheese.

I'm tagging... anyone who wants to play! Thumb-havers, dogs, other RevGalPetPals. Just let me know if you decide to play.