Happy Furday! (er, I mean Friday!)

is this a cool picture or what? It was taken by Mom's friend Lorna Rae when she was in Alaska a few months back. Lorna Rae used to work as the clinical coordinator for the paramedic students when Mom ran the paramedic program. Mom says LR is what is called a 'travel nurse' now and she works in different places so she can see the whole country. (A nurse is sort of like a vet tech, only for people.) She is having a wonderful experience. You know, a bird that size could easily carry me off (after all I barely weigh 20 pounds!) Sheesh! I should buckle down and eat more just in case....Mom says those bald eagles do live in Western MA too. I've never seen one, but last year a great blue heron used to stop by our pond to catch frogs. He was pretty impressive too!

wow is it cold and windy today! And they say it will snow/sleet/rain on Sunday. The best part about winter is that the woodstove is going. And now Mom and Dad leave the bedroom door open during the day so it won't be so cold in there....that means I can nap on my (our) bed all day and think. Not much to report on this last week and so I haven't been thinking all that much. Dad is real busy and he has been very tired lately. Some nights he doesn't even feel like playing with me. And Mom has been so busy that she left a batch of patchouli soap in the mold for 3 days! (usually she unmolds after 24 hours...it doesn't hurt the soap any, it's just that she likes to check it sooner and have the mold free to make more soap!) She is going to examine paramedic candidates at an exam tomorrow and then she is going to look at a soap display thingie in West Brookfield that she is thinking of buying. So she will only have Sunday to get food and cookies for us, clean the house and make soap. She'll be busy, so I am going to help her by finding things on the floor that I can pick up and put 'away'. I helped her last night by not waking her up at 3:00 a.m. Sometimes I have to go out in the middle of the night. I figure she would rather get up with me than to have to clean up a mess later. She agrees, but she still gets kind of grumpy about it.

Both Mom and Dad are really looking forward to their weekend away in Maine, which is coming up in a couple of weeks. They like to go to Kennebunkport. They used to stay at a really cool place on the beach called the Ocean View, but it was sold and doesn't take guests anymore. So they will be the Mainestay Inn, in Cottage 7 (where they stayed once, a long time ago). http://www.mainestayinn.com They love Kennebunkport in the winter!

And when they go away we stay at the kennel, where we have the coolest time! We all love it because there are so many other dogs and lots of people to play with. Mom says sometimes it costs more for us to go there than it does for Mom and Dad to go on their vacation! Ha! The only bad part is, I miss my bed and I miss sleeping with Mom and Dad. They've never taken me on a vacation with them. They said maybe someday! Well, I am off to do some activities before I settle in for my daily nap. I will catch up with you later.

Some of Mom's Soaps!

Photobucket Album

This is how I imagine myself! I am such a little angel! (not!) Well, no turkey for us Dogs yesterday...they brought leftovers home but we haven't seen them (yet). I'm still working on looking pathetic so maybe I'll see a little snackeroo later in the day. I plan to spend my day inside mostly, probably thinking on my pillow. It's really cold and windy today and I prefer not to be outside unless I absolutely have to be. I feel sad for all the dogs and humans that have to live outside when it gets cold. There should be enough homes and food for every dog and every person. Everything is so expensive that I'm afraid there will be more homeless dogs and people this winter. How can we keep up? Mom says that she's even thinking of getting us a different dog food because our food is so expensive now, but she's afraid to because it was one of the few brands that wasn't making dogs sick a few months ago. Mom is always emptying her pockets of change leftover from her coffee and giving it to the people on the street in Boston when she is at work. And she puts together food for the survival center here at home http://www.thensc.org

Today Mom is going to Snow Farm with her friend Sue to look at all the art and crafts for sale. She likes that stuff. Snow Farm is near where we live http://www.snowfarm.org and it has lots of cool stuff I guess. Not much for dogs, probably. Sue's dog Shannon went over the Rainbow Bridge recently. I don't think I ever met her, because she was very old and had bad joints and Dad says I'm too rambunctious. But I guess she was a Lassie-type dog and was very nice. Mom said Sue rescued her long ago from a terrible place where she was left all alone. People that rescue dogs are good people. You can usually trust them to do the right thing. Like Mom and giving change to the street people. Except for there are some rescue people who are a little sick and are called 'animal hoarders'. I guess they are the ones who end up with 100 cats or 50 dogs because they think they are helping but they really aren't. And some of them actually let their rescued pets breed and make more puppies and kittens. Wacko.

Maybe Sue and my Dad's friend Uncle George will get a puppy soon. Not to replace Shannon but because everyone should have a dog! It should be a law! Hey! Winston could go live with them...Uncle George likes Winston a lot, but I don't think that will happen because Uncle George wants a hunting dog, like Max, the lab-dog that my brothers talk about sometime. (He died before I was even born.) But you know, Winston has caught birds at the birdfeeder in the past, maybe he should go to live with Uncle George; and he's very good at catching snakes too!


I saw that Mitt Romney guy on TV this morning, because he is still running for president. He still looks like a moron to me. He is "ahead" whatever that means, in Iowa. I guess people have forgotten that the way people treat their dogs is a reflection of the way they will treat humans. OK ok, let's not go back there again. Mom and Dad kind of think there is no choice for the elections. They're not crazy about any of the people running. I think this whole election thing is out of control. Humans have moved to a point where their leaders aren't really their leaders....they are people created by a team of imagemakers. AND, you humans have to have an awful lot of money to be in an election. That doesn't seem right. Now, in the dog world, it's quite simple. The top dog is in charge. And the top dog gets to be the top dog because he or she has the benefit of age, wisdom, and the ability to make a point and back it up with a scuffle if necessary. The point is they do the work themselves. They act in the best interest of the pack. Scuffles are only when necessary, and usually only a little bit of a scuffle is required. And the top dog does the scuffling him/her-self; the top dog doesn't send out all of his puppies far away to scuffle and get killed. And if the pack doesn't like it, the pack is free to choose another leader (if their choice can topple the current leader), or leave and find a new pack. Everyone feels secure with a good leader who doesn't need to do stupid things to make it look like he is powerful. (insert Mitt Romney's name here. Or George Bush. Or, your choice.) A good leader gets along with all of the pack members and knows their quirks. Here at my house I am the pack leader. Well, Bailey would disagree with that but I am still the pack leader. I have Daddy to back me up! Daddy for President! Uh-oh, Mom is looking to do a little work before she heads out the door. That is my signal to find a sock or something else to tease her with so she won't be grumpy. Gotta go!

Thanksgiving Already!

Good grief where did the time go??? One second it was a hot summer day and now, bingo, it's Turkey Day! Sorry I haven't been on the blog in a while. It doesn't mean nothin's been happening....in fact, just the opposite. There have been MANY CHANGES for me to think about in the last 3 months. First off, Mom got a new job. Now she goes to Boston 3 days a week and works here in town the other two days. But she's home on most weekends and nights, which I really like because then dinner isn't late and there's always good stuff. (hey I love my Dad but all he ever gives us is dog food--Mom puts in the special stuff!).

The only bad part about Mom's new job is that now she and Dad both get up mega early and leave the house at something they call "five thirty Ay-Em". The nice lady Lisa comes in the middle of the day to let us out of the house. I'm training her to throw the frisbee for me. She seems to prefer Winston, that little suck-up, but I think I'm winning her over. (Why does everyone like him? He's nuts and he pees everywhere!)

Lets see, what else has been going on? Well, my brother Daniel is staying in Florida with his mom for a while. He decided college wasn't for him and he was working as a parts delivery person for awhile, but he partied a little too hard once too often, so "it was decided" that he should be banished to the land of old people and talking mice for a while to get him away from those bad influence people. He's got some growing up to do but he will be fine. Meanwhile mom is still trying to get the tobacco smell out of his room. Bleach. She figures that for the time being she can store some of her soap supplies in there.

The garden is all frozen. (We had SNOW yesterday, can you believe it!) I hate snow. My feet get so cold. But Bailey likes it. And the woodstove has been going, so mostly Bailey and I compete to see who gets to lay on the warm hearth behind the stove. When we go outside we look for the mice near the woodpile. Bailey's been catching them like crazy. Me, mostly I like to bark at Mom to make her let me back in as soon as I know she sat down. hee hee!

And Mom and her soap. She is driving me crazy. She made a ton of soap and took a lot of it to a craft fair a few weeks ago. She sold a lot of it. Humans say it really makes their skin feel nice. Personally, "soap" equals "bath" to me, and we all know how I feel about that! She is always talking about essential oils and fragrances and clay and stuff. Good thing she's on a soap forum so she can talk to other crazy soap people, otherwise Dad and I would be completely fed up!

BUT, to be fair, it is pretty (the soap I mean). I'll put a couple pictures up of it next time maybe. I'm going to head back to the pillow for a while. From what I hear, Mom and Dad won't be taking me to Grandma's house to visit for Thanksgiving. So I sure hope they'll bring some leftovers back!