Hey you guys, what's going on? I promised I would check in more often and here I am! I've just been fooling around on the computer today because it is too cold to go outside. I know you think that because I'm a dog and automatically have a fur coat the cold should not be a problem, but hey! I DON'T WEAR SHOES OR A HAT, and I get cold!! Mom has offered to get me some shoes but I can't wear them, they bother my feet. And she says a hat would just fall off. So, even though it's only November and not even Thanksgiving yet, I'm hanging out by the woodstove and checking out the world on line.

Here is a picture of some of mom's soaps and stuff at a craft fair she did a couple weeks ago. Pretty. They smell pretty good too. We didn't see her for weeks before it, she was always in the workshop making soap. Now she is down there again, 'cause she sold all of her soap and needs to make more. so, like, what was the point? She could have just saved the soap she had and then she wouldn't have to make more. Humans are very strange.  We are not allowed in the workshop because of some dangerous stuff, I forget what it is. Plus, Bear tries to steal the bath poufs to play with and once he tried to eat a sugar cookie wax tart. (once!!) No dogs allowed. 

I was going to put a picture of me up but I can't find one that you haven't already seen. well, Mom did take some pictures last time we went to grandma's house but they make me look kind of fat. Maybe I will put one up next time.

I am still looking for Old/New Yellers. PLEASE, please if you see them will you let me know? I miss them and it's getting cold outside at night. I am kinda worried about them. ...I'm back now. I had to go see what was going on with my bro Winston. Mom is real mad at him. She says he's getting crazier every day. He peed in all his diapers just since this morning so she is doing laundry again. Seems like he's having a lot of days like that. Plus he growls and stuff and picks fights with us for no reason. So Mom just put his fleece jacket on and told him to go outside and play for a while.  Mom says he has some kind of disease and it's not his fault but it's still not a good thing. 

Yesterday Mom and her friend Sue, and Sue's mom Mary went to that Snow Farm Artists Sale like they did last year in November. Check out my old post from last November for a link to that place. Mom got a pair of copper earrings and a peace dove pin for her coat. There was some very cool stuff there, but she said she wouldn't take me because there was a lot of breakable stuff and sometimes I am clumsy. Like she saw a beautiful Josh Simpson megaplanet for $5000 and the first thing she said to Sue was, 'let's just back away now!' Do you know about Josh Simpson? He is married to Cady Coleman the astronaut. He makes amazing glass art objects. Dad's previous girl Jack Russell, Jasmine, gave him a beautiful little planet one year for his birthday. He keeps it on his bedside stand and sometimes he tells me about her and why she chose it for him. You can see some pictures and read Josh Simpson's funny timeline here  There are beautiful pictures and some cool videos of how he makes his planets. Wild. some of them are called inhabited planets...I wonder who lives there and if they know how cool their planet is? He lives in Western MA. We have lots of cool stuff in Western MA. All those Boston people think we are in the boonies--they have no idea, which Mom says is good, because if they did they would all be here and we would be miserable.

Uh oh. I gotta run. Mom just yelled at me for pushing the clean clothes off the bed and onto the floor. I was looking for socks, that's all, and it was an accident. But I guess I better go clean it up. I will chat with you later. Love, Me.

Happy Veterans Day

FREEDOM....is being able to run as fast as you can without a leash or a fence to stop you. FREEDOM.... is being able to take a nap whenever you please. FREEDOM.... is being able to hang out with dogs that are different colors and are from different places, just because you like them. FREEDOM.... is being able to bark at the moon just because you want to.  FREEDOM....is what I have and I just want to thank everyone who has protected my country and kept it free for more than 30 dog years. (which is more than 200 human years because you count differently.)

So I'm sorry I have neglected you terribly. I've been so very busy--you know how it is, supervising 4 other dogs can be very time-consuming. Here it is November 11 already, my goodness we are on our way to another cold New England winter. Ick.  But Mom has the woodstove going today so it is nice and cozy in here. See this picture? It is at my grandma's property (my human grandma). She has 90 acres of mostly woods and Mom and Dad took Bailey and me for a hike a couple days ago.  We ran and ran and ran. It was lots of fun, a lot muddier than Mom thought it would be.  We like mud but she wasn't wearing the right shoes for mud. Ha ha. At one point I thought they got lost because I couldn't find them. But they were just pretending to hide from me.  That wasn't funny I was really worried about them.  Plus, my grandma has bears and coyotes. What if they ran into them?  Hey, what if I ran into them?  And Bailey really took off. He is such a show-off. He is always bragging about how his father was a champion racer blah blah blah. Dad would have to whistle real loud every few minutes so Bailey would remember to come back. We had tons of fun and we were both really pooped out. I can't wait to go again.

So what's new with you all?  I'm kind of bummed because Old Yeller and New Yeller have gone temporarily missing. I can't find them anywhere so I have to play with that stupid green frisbee that is all cracked and hurts my mouth. Mom said she didn't want to get me a new one in case the others showed up, they would be jealous. Mom has been very busy making soap and stuff. She went to something called a 'craft fair' the other day and sold it all. So now she has to make more.  Why would you make it and then not keep it?  Humans don't make sense sometimes. 

And I can sleep better at night, knowing that the Romney guy will not be in charge of anything, at least for a while. Mr. Obama won being the top dog and will be taking over the kennel soon. That was a relief because even though the McCain old fart didn't pick the Mittster, he picked some lady named Sarah that gave Mom the willies. Dad didn't mind McCain and he said the Sarah lady was 'hot', but I think he was just trying to irritate Mom.  And I guess there's some big problem with money and jobs and stuff in the whole country. Lots of places are closing and people are losing their jobs and their houses. That's scary. I haven't had a chance to read much of it, I've just been listening to Mom and Dad. They say it's not good right now, but maybe in a couple years it will get better, and that everyone, dogs included, has to watch their pennies. If you know me at all, I haven't really paid much attention to pennies. I'm more of a quarter person myself, because when I pick quarters up and run around with them, Mom gives me cookies. She has always told me pennies aren't worth any cookies so I don't play with them. Maybe I should remind her that pennies can add up, there's usually some on the floor and I might get more cookies out of her. He he. Okay, now I PROMISE I will be back soon to check in with you. I PROMISE. Oh, and I've started making my Christmas wish list. Have You?  

Bye for now, love Casey.

 

I've been on summer hi-ate-us

...just like the TV shows! I'm back now though,  and I'll be better about letting you know what I think, I promise. Do you like this soap that I helped my mom make? It's a rosewood and patchouli hemp oil soap. I made the swirls. (not!) So, what have you been up to all summer? Me, just doing the usual--supervising my brothers, helping mom with the laundry and other chores, surfing the net for the news, and stuff like that.

We've had rain every weekend, tons of it, all summer. You should see our garden. I will try to take a picture of it soon.  The picket fence is working really well because none of us have been able to get in to get the tomatoes. We had a gazillion cucumbers and squash of course, and the beans grew almost too quickly to eat. Mom should have let Bandit in the garden though because something ate all of her lettuce and Bandit would have stopped that from happening. Now our tomatoes are ripening and our peppers are growing good. We've already had cabbage (I like mine steamed with hamburger mixed in--yum!) and celery too. So you can imagine that with all the rain Mom has spent a lot of time in the garden just weeding. Finally I suggested that she put newspaper down to keep the weeds under control and she did. There's still a lot of weeding but it's doing ok. 

Bailey is spending all his free time in the upper water-garden. He is trying to catch frogs. He's actually doing pretty good. Plus there are a bazillion tadpoles that are turning into frogs so he has plenty to do. But Mom gets upset with him--one day he spent almost 6 hours in the water and she had to put a leash on him to get him out. I help him by encouraging him and sometimes I push him a little with my frisbee. I think it's motivating for him to know I stand behind him! Plus, sometimes he falls into the main pond and that's funny because he can't swim!

 

Speaking of rain, Florida (that's the yard that my human brother Dan lives in) got a lot of it last week! He lives in Port Saint Lucie (like Lucy, my dead half sister who jumped in front of the snowplow to escape her crazy owners). He said their street had 2 feet of water on it but their house didn't get flooded 'cause it's on a bit of a hill.  That's good. And he works at the Walmart there and they are real busy now because people came through like a pack of locusts (those are bugs) and cleaned everything out to stock up 'just in case'.  And the TV news said there are alligators and snakes and such swimming in the streets. Bailey would think that is so cool!!

I had a bath yesterday. Ick. Mom made me, cause I'm allergic. It was a bath with oatmeal shampoo and now I smell awful, although Dad says he likes how I smell now. I had to go to the vet the other day because I was bleeding. I was real itchy and kept scratching. I tried to tell her it was blood from battling the giant weasel in the back yard but she didn't believe me. Now I'm on medicine to make the itch go away and more medicine to heal my boo-boos, which are infected cause there was dirt under my nails. Mom says I'm allergic to grass pollen and it'll go away when the frost comes. Okay, I guess. But no more baths. It ruins my bad-ass image. I don't even wear a collar anymore around the house, so I look like I live out in the wild. he, he. 

So that Mr. Obama is the one running for president. He has another person running with him, called a Mr. Biden.  I'm not sure yet how that is going to work. Mom said she was 'reserving judgement', whatever that means. (I think it's like when she is deciding whether or not to give us Greenies before dinner--there are good and bad cons-e-quences. (I just learned that word.).

But what she did tell me, and shhh, don't tell anyone else, is that people are saying Mr. McCain is going to have Mitt Romney run alongside him. OH NO. what a scary thought. You all know how I feel about him. He is an evil, dog-hating, blah blah.  Imagine having him a heartbeat away from being the 'leader of the free world dog pack'!! And that McCain guy is no spring chicken.He could keel over at any time. This is scary. It's like waiting for the dog-catcher when you are running loose without your tags. It's like going to the vet for all your shots, and the vet you like is out sick so you have to see the vet who uses your tail to stand you up straight (that's not what it's for, you're a doctor you should know that) and has a loud voice and cold hands. It shouldn't be allowed. We will just have to see what happens. but I promise you that if the Mittster is going to be running, I'll be campaigning against him. I'll make sure every dog in America knows the truth about him. 

Ah, Mom is going to make breakfast now. Did I mention I haven' t had breakfast yet? It's Sunday, so she usually makes us some scrambled eggs for our dog food. I'll check back in soon. What have you been up to?? Love, me.

hey everybody? Did you forget about me??? I had to take a little break but I'm back now. Mom went away to a 'confrince' I don't know what that is but I'm glad she's back. She took a train and was gone a real long time, like maybe almost a week or so. Bailey and I kept my dad company while she was gone. My other brothers went to sleep-over camp. I kinda wish I went to sleep-over camp, except the beds are too hard for me. They don't allow pillows. Anyway, she was too busy when she came back to let me log on and post anything. As a result, I missed wishing everyone a happy Independence Day. I am still looking for a picture of the dogs that were at the Declaration of Independence signing. They must have been under the table or out in the back drinking water when the paparazzi were there. I think they were not in the room for the whole discussion, otherwise we would not be wearing collars and licenses today. Is that the second amendment thing, or is that the one about the bears? 

Here's a couple of funny things to look at. Well, the waterlily is not funny, it's pretty, isn't it? Still haven't seen any fish in the pond. Oh, and the froggie that has been living in the pond...well, I am sorry to inform you that he is dead. We believe it was amphibicide and the case is currently being investigated. There are two suspects, GBH (Great Blue Heron) and Bailey Clapp. There is no conclusive evidence though.  Aunt Lisa found him floating in the pond and he was all mangled. We need to get to the bottom of this so any other frogs that move in can be safe.  Don't worry. I am helping in the investigation. It is also possible that a load of mosquitoes did him in and just made it look like someone else did it.

And this is my rain barrel. Well, it belongs to mom and me. We bought it to help save water. Dad set it up for us, he had to get a connecting piece and then unhook the gutter and rehook it up.  He didn't feel like doing it in the rain (it has been raining A LOT!!!). Mom says that now it won't rain for the rest of the summer, because it's set up and ready to go.  Did you know that 700 gallons of water can roll off the average roof during the usual rain storm here in the Northeast? Mom and I will use the water for our flowers and for the garden too. The weeds look fantastic in the garden. Actually the plants are all doing ok too. Mom and I have been spraying with neem oil and that keeps the bugs from biting the plants and making them sick or dead. BUT, something bigger than bugs is coming into the garden and nibbling also. The other night Mom took us all out to pee before we went to bed and Bailey went crazy over by the back fence, looking up at one of the trees. He does that every night lately but he was really going nutso, so she walked over to take a look. The biggest, fattest creature was walking along the top of the fence, moving kind of slow. Mom said it was a possum, and it was very acrobatic because it is kind of wide to be doing that. Mom was nervous that she was making it nervous and it might fall into the yard. Possums can have rabies you know. We are all vaccinated but Mom is not.  They are kind of ugly and they have pointy little teeth. But I guess they eat bugs and mice and stuff. Maybe Bailey sees the possum every night. OR, it could be the bear. Dad saw him the other morning in our neighbors yard. Our neighbor is the one who feeds the bears. The bear knocks over the bird feeder and the man sets it back up again. I think that is the second amendment thing that the supreme court decided..the right to feed bears. He is a very big bear, much bigger than the mom bear and cubs that are usually around. He likes hanging around near Mom's flower garden on the side of the house near the neighbors yard. So, Mom doesn't really like going out there too much unless she brings Bear with her. (Our Bear, the Jack Russell.) I know it's confusing. Bear (dog) likes to hang around with Mom and won't run off, plus he would warn her if Bear (bear) came into the yard. BUT, Bear (dog) would probably be too dumb to leave Bear (bear) alone and Mom thinks he would be lunch so she won't go out there. Good thing those flowers like to be ignored. Dad told me that bears can eat Jack Russells in one or two bites. One time there was a bear in our tree and we were this close to him and he was swinging his paw at us. But Dad made us come inside.He said after we went inside the bear climbed right over our fence like it was nothing. Our fence is 6 feet tall!!  That bear was much smaller though. Would have taken 4 or 5 bites to eat one of us. And Winston, who has fought with a pit bull and won, would probably scare a bear away. Hee Hee!!

you know it is very hot lately. I have been staying cool by playing with the hose sprayer. I hope you are staying cool also. It's 8 pm now, and Mom needs to make my dinner, so I'm going to sign off now...this is Casey Clapp, signing off...I will see you later. Love, Me

Hi guys! Meet Bailey's new buddy...NOT! He is a big froggie and Bailey is spending all his free time trying to catch him! Ha ha, I just stand by with Old Yeller and bark at him cause he is so stupid. Mom gets mad at him because he has wrecked her waterlilies--they are just starting to bloom and he keeps falling in and crushing them. I don't think the frog is too scared of him because he just sits there while Bailey goes crazy trying to reach him. He's not scared of mom either because she got real close to him to take this picture. Did you know Bailey doesn't swim very well?? Ha, he just flaps around when he falls in. Now he's laying in the sun. Mom yelled at him again for about the millionth time today and told him to get out of the water. I love it when Bailey gets in trouble. He is such a goody-four-paws.

 

So I overheard Mom and Dad talking. Mom is going away again. Bummer. She has to go for work. That means some of us go to the kennel. I think Bailey and I are staying home though, with Dad. Bear, Winston and Bandit are going to the kennel-camp. You wait, Bailey will pout and won't eat. And Dad will feel sorry for him and probly let him sleep on the bed or something like that.

Mom is trying to finish weeding the garden before she leaves so it won't be all weedy when she comes back. She's laying down newspaper and leaf stuff in the paths to keep the weeds down. We have excellent weeds here! And she still has some seeds to plant. But she might not get everything done. She has to make soap too. The other day it was Bunker Hill Day and it was a holiday. Why would anyone celebrate a hill?? Anyway, she made some lavender-teatree soap, it is pretty--just white with dark lavender 'frosting' on top. And she tried to make a coffee salt bar. She used coffee and that irish mocha fragrance and her other stuff. It's different. I guess. Anyway, she needs to make more Citrus Splash and Lavender soap this weekend. And something else too, I forget. She just got some fragrances for fall and winter soap. I smelled one, called Macintosh Apple and it smells just like fresh apples. And she got clove and cinnamon-vanilla and cranberry fig. I don't know what a fig is. I've eaten cranberries when Mom accidentally drops them on the floor. They are kind of tart, unless they have muffin wrapped around them. Anyway, that cranberry fig was not what she was expecting. But who knows.

If I can get the links to work I will send you to a fun game  Hot Dog Bush  helps you earn money for george bush for when he is done being president and needs a job. He is selling hotdogs. You know it's not as easy as it looks! Anyway, Mom made a whole bunch of money for him so she said he can leave sooner if he wants and open that hot dog stand anytime.

Hey I gotta go help my Mom finish the weeding. I will try to get back later and post another picture or two. Love, Me.

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day to everyone who is a father and especially to my Dad who's the best one in the world. Sorry to everyone else, but I got him!! Here is NOT the Father's Day gift I got him, it's a gift basket that my mom made for someone who is getting married and wanted a present for her maid of honor. It has Lavender, Tangerine Lavender and Passionfruit-Rose soaps, Lavender body powder, Tangerine Lavender body lotion, watermelon lip balm, a pouf and a soap dish.  Mom always forgets to take pictures of her gift baskets, but I reminded her this time. She cropped me out of the picture, as I was sniffing it--boy it smelled purty!

So today I am going to cuddle up to my Dad and sit on his lap or drape myself across his shoulders, and I will follow him everywhere and make tiger-faces at the other dogs who try to come near him. Hmm. Sounds like every other day. And we will cook burgers on the grill, cause that's what Dad likes on Father's Day. Well, really he likes brisket on the grill but we had that a couple weeks ago so we'll have burgers today instead! 

Well I didn't do much on Saturday. I hung out in the yard and then in the afternoon when it started to rain I hung out in Bandit's crate. He was kind enough to lay on the porch floor and let me have the crate. I was hoping Mom would start the hose sprayer for me but she said no, go out in the rain and play instead. Not the same!! And later she and Dad were watching The Negotiator with Samuel Jackson and I didn't want to watch it. I don't mean that Samuel Jackson was at our house, I mean he was in the movie. English is hard. Anyway in the beginning of the movie he is a hostage negotiator who goes into an apartment where a man is holding his daughter hostage and he has a shotgun. And Samuel Jackson tricks him and one of the things he says is how much he likes dogs. The man has a big dog, a pit bull/rottweiler dog. But later after he catches the man he says he doesn't like dogs. Well then, I don't like him either. So I don't watch that movie but Mom and Dad like it. 

And then later Mom made some soap; she made Spearmint-Lime salt bars. This time they are green, not pale orange. They smell nice! Last time she made them she was making two batches of different soaps and had her colors set out. She grabbed the wrong color so the Spearmint Lime came out pale orange instead of green. FOCUS!! And she also made lemongrass hemp oil soap. Someone asked her what lemongrass smells like. She said it's kind of like a slurpy lemon with a hint of vanilla. It is an essential oil and it is a deep yellow color so she doesn't color the soap unless she is putting some swirls or frosting on it. I can't be around when she is making lemongrass soap, it's very very strong smelling. It is sometimes used in combination with other essential oils to make insect repellent. (I copied that sentence from somewhere else. )Er, do you think it might be a dog repellent too if I don't like to be around it? Maybe later she will let me use her camera and I will take some pictures and post them for you to see.

Today she has to make Grapefruit Salt Bars and Sandalwood-patchouli Salt Bars. But first she has to melt the oils for it and she hates doing that. I sure hope she feeds us breakfast first!  

We have a new rain barrel. Mom and Dad picked it up yesterday at the recycling center. It is so we can save rainwater and use it to water the garden if it decides to stop raining this summer. but before we can use it Dad has to re-arrange the gutter thing that the water runs down. And that could take a while.

I know a secret....there is a bird's nest in our yard, over near our grapevine. I was with Mom when she found it.  She said don't tell anyone or the birds might not come back if they are scared and then the eggs won't hatch. So don't tell anyone. She was going to clip out this monster vine that tries to invade our yard every year. Some of it has grown up into the grapevine so she said she would clip it so it would die, then she could pull it out easier. But when she was over there, she noticed a small nest that had been woven right into the vine and the grapevine. It's only about 3 feet off the ground. It has 5 white eggs with brown speckles.  That's kind of close to the ground for when those babies hatch and start squacking for food. Maybe Bandit will guard the nest from the weasel that lives in the wood pile. Bandit loves baby animals. Yes, we have a weasel in our wood pile. He goes back and forth between the wood pile and the old dog kennel house. There is space underneath there for him to hide. Mom says he is an "urman", no wait, I think you spell it "ermine" but you say it "urman". English is dumb. Anyway, he is brown with white feet and in the winter he turns almost all white. She says there have been ermines in the yard since before I was born, and it's a good thing because they eat mice and stuff. I've smelled something over there so I guess she is right. Bailey says there is something there but he's never seen it. Anyway, I don't know what kind of bird it is yet. Maybe a wren or sparrow. I hope it comes back soon so the eggs don't get cold!

Well, maybe I'll catch up with you later, I am really kind of tired right now. It's only 8:30 or so i the morning but I was up early with Mom. So I think I'll go back to bed for awhile. Love, Me.

Which is the mother and which is the daughter? DUH.

Well here is a picture of me and my mom. I am the cute one of course, the one with no gray hair. I look a little stressed out in this picture because what you can't see is that Bear is trying to take a walnut from the desk and it is MINE. I wanted Mom to re-snap the picture but she thinks I am adorable in it. she said we should have a picture together, and later a picture of me and my Dad, so that you could see the family resemblance. NOT. Well, except I do have my dad's nose, but that is another story for sure!! I have been waiting for it to stop raining but it is still icky outside. Mom made us go outside though, for a while in the rain...something about a spillage she had to clean up. It was pond salt. That's dried up ocean water. It goes in the pond to help the imaginary fish keep their slime coat. I'm not making this up. I think my mom imagines that there are fish in there. i never see them. Bailey does, or says he does, but he sucks up to mom big-time, so he could just be saying that. Anyway, when she came home today there was a box at the door. She had ordered some pond plant fertilizer and some pond salt. And the lid was completely off of the pond salt so it was loose in the box and slipping through the cracks. Salt is bad for dogs. I always thought it was the popcorn but it is the salt, or that's what the vet website says. So no more going to the movies for me, I only go for the popcorn. I'm kidding. I've never been to the movies. I have to watch them on cable. So anyway she made us go outside while she vacuumed and emptied the box of salt into a container. So I was outside in the rain. Ick. My feet were getting wet. I hate that. Do you think Hilary clinton will be the vice president contestant person? did I change subjects on you too quickly? it is supposed to be in it's own paragraph. English has lots of rules.

Okay. So Mr. Obama is going to run for the Big Dog job. He runs against Mr. McCain. And they both need assistant big dogs. I hope Mr. McCain does not pick Mitt Romney. I heard he ( M.R., the Anti-Dog) bought a house in California. He SAYS it is because his wife has horses she rides there or something. I THINK he is establishing his mailing address so he can run for governor of California. Let's all send him a postcard that says, "glad you are there and not here".Well, I hope he does and I hope he wins. And I hope California slides off the earth into the ocean while he is at home. Oh, sorry. Mom says that is not kind. I should think it, not say it. Okay. whatEVER.
Anyway Mr Obama has to pick a Big DogHelper too. And Hillary could be it. Or, who else? I'm not sure. She would be a good choice because she has a dog and he does not. That covers just about everybody then. Well, not the cat people but they are usually independent or something. There's just no telling what cat people are thinking.

Well, it is now time for us to have snackage. And Mom has to figure out something for dinner. I like to help because then I can nibble and everyone else has to just watch and drool. I will update you over the weekend on "stuff" (possibly inappropriate use of quotation marks. I will have my Dad check it for me. He was an English major, you know.) (I posted the links I am using to learn English writing...they are helpful. Also I posted a link to the Bad Dog Chronicles where I read about adventures that other dogs have had. Bear put some stories in there and so did Bandit, a long time ago! ) Enjoy.

Love, Me

Grilled hot dog, anyone? Ha ha my bro Bailey has found a new favorite spot to lounge. (But only when the grill is not being used!) He gets mad if any of us go near it. Why should I care, it seems uncomfortable to me! When I'm outside I'd rather sit in a patio chair anyway.

Guess what we saw yesterday at 6 in the morning? A giant great blue heron came into our yard!! Yup! Dad saw him land...he said the GBH looked just like a helicopter, it came straight down and landed right in front of the fish pond. It hung around for about 10 minutes...it looked in the pond, then it hopped in and paddled around. It was looking for frogs and fish I guess. Hey, maybe that's why our fish hide at the bottom!! Then it hopped out, had a couple sips of water, walked around for a while and left. Mom looked them up on the internet and they can live 15 years. AND, they eat frogs, fish, water bugs, voles, mice, snakes, baby turtles, lizards,,,pretty much anything they can swallow. We're thinking that he's been here before, he seemed pretty comfortable. And Bandit knew he was there and didn't care. But Bandit won't tell me if the GBH drops by regularly. A couple years ago Mom came up from the cellar and saw a GBH standing on one leg in the shallow part of the pond, but he flew away when she made noise. Maybe it wa the same one! We aren't usually looking out the window at 6 am, Mom is either on her way to Boston already or doing other stuff in the house. Me, I only look out the living room window. She wanted to get a picture of him yesterday but she was afraid if she made noise he would leave. Maybe the GBH what happened to the baby snapping turtle that was living in the pond last year. Good thing I am a substantial size so he can't carry me away. I knew there was a reason I liked food!!!

Boy did it rain yesterday. It was a good day for sleeping. I guess it is good for the garden when it rains. I don't know because I haven't been able to squeeze in there to make sure the plants are all doing okay. Mom was mad because something ate the baby melon plants. Perhaps it is time for a new hole under the fence. I'll get Bear to work on that. You know, so we can guard it and all. AND, we can let mom know when the tomatoes are ripe.

It's going to be really hot this weekend, like 90 degrees. Man, I wish I didn't have to wear my fur coat. But I"m pretty sure Mom and Dad are going to let me play with the hose sprayer for a while, they usually do that when it gets hot. I can't wait!! I've been trying to play with it whenever Mom waters the flowers, but she is a poop and won't let me get wet. I have been playing with the pens on the kitchen table and teaching myself to write just like Mom and Dad. That way I can write notes to Aunt Lisa and she will think my Mom and Dad wrote them. I could write notes like, 'do not give anyone cookies except me, I mean Casey, because she has been very good.' Or, 'please spray me Casey until I she is very drenched and then let her go in the house and lay on my her Dad's pillow.' I am still working on sounding natural. So I might have some work to do still. Eventually I could write a check to myself and my only problem would be cashing it because I don't have any identification except my dog license and that is not a photo i.d. But if I could get some cash I could go on a little trip or go shopping for greenies or something like that. And the other dogs would sniff me when I came back and would be incredibly jealous.

I've been teaching myself to write properly by looking on line. I am learning about improper use of apostrophes and when not to use quotation marks
English sure is complicated but I am pretty good at it considering it is my second language.

I think Mom is prepping breakfast, "yummy" for the "tummy"! (ha ha just a joke, there, with the quotation marks!). Bye, Love, Me ("Casey")

Its JUNE--did you take your heartworm medicine yet?

Just kidding...I'm sure you did already. Mom gave us ours this morning. Once a long time ago a neighbor dog got heartworm disease and he had to live in the cellar all summer. What? Oh, sorry. Mom says he just stayed in the cellar during the day so he could rest because it makes you so sick. Some dogs actually have to visit the youth in asia. After she saw that poor dog she has always made sure to get us our heartworm pills. Heartworm comes from mosquitos. Well, that's what the vet says, but I'm not sure. How could a worm live inside a mosquito? And don't give me that biology/evolution stuff, everybody knows that the Big Dog made everything in 6 days.(boy, what was he thinking when he made porcupines????) You don't really want to have a philosophical discussion with me, I've got a lot of pillow time (thinking time) under my belt!

And you know what? Mom was reading a report on some dumb website that belongs the the government that was talking about a new kind of mosquito called an Asian Tiger. It is showing up here and there in New England. It carries some nasty disease. Just another thing for us to worry about. Thank you Asia.

Do you like these pictures? Finally some of our flowers are blooming. Of course you can't see all the weeds in this picture. Ha ha. I watched Mom pull a whole bunch of weeds today. The sad thing is, Mom knows the names of all the weeds!! Now THAT is useless information. I pointed out some weeds she had missed. Boy did that make her grumpy. I was just tryin' to help. And, I wish I had thumbs so I could have taken a picture of her fighting with the big rose bushes. She was mad because some of the branches were so big and heavy they were lying across her peonies that are trying to bloom. Sarah Bernhardt was pissed. Oh, sorry, Mom says no using words like that. Sarah was pee-ooo'd. That's the name of one, no two, no three of the peonies. It's a very old variety named after some famous old actress. They are a very pretty pale pink with ginormous double petals. Usually as soon as they start opening that's the signal for us to get massive thunderstorms that scare me and Winston and knock all the blossoms off. So I'm expecting a big storm later this week, which is about when they will open. Anyway, I think the rose bushes won the fight. They are called William Baffin and they are really Dad's roses. He got them for his birthday about 10 years ago. They are climbing roses and they are about 10 feet tall but are not on a trellis, they are just big bushes. Mom says they are like super duper roses because they always bloom in June even when she forgets to feed them. And pretty much nothing bothers them. They are not like those roses that have to have babysitters. They are tough! In fact, she had to bring a tree saw out there and saw off the extra branches. And she got all scratched up and the branches were so big that when she dragged them back into the yard to get rid of, she wrecked some of her other flowers. She could have just played some Frisbee with me and New Yeller, but oh no, she had to do stupid stuff.

I told her to take a picture of our fish but she doesn't see them anymore. She put 4 fish into the pond a month ago and found one that had died. Otherwise she figured the giant frog ate them, which is why Bailey killed him, 'cause Bailey loves watching the fishing channel. (that 's what we call it when he sits at the pond for hours!) So she got 4 more fish and put them in last night. And guess what, a shoe-punkin, wait, what? Oh. Mom says a "shubunkin" which is a kind of goldfish, came racing over to check out the newbies. He was big. And there might have been two of them. So even though she hasn't seen them and they don't eat the food she was throwing in there (I know they weren't eating it because when it floated to the edges Bear and Winston ate it!)--obviously they are eating something! Anyway she saw two of the new ones this morning and now we don't see any. This is a bad time for the pond every year...all the pollen and stuff falls on the top and it's kind of murky. It'll be better later in the summer. And by then the fish will have gotten used to Bailey sitting there watching them. That's when he starts fishing. He sticks his muzzle in and every once in a while he snags some sushi. I'm not a big sushi fan, but Mom and Dad like it. I like my fish cooked. And no guts, please.

Well my Dad is getting ready to go for a run. I am going to go help him stretch and stuff. See you later. Love, Me.

I'm Ba-a-a-a-ck! I have a new computer, finally! (er, well, technically Mom paid for it and she gets to use it first, but really it's mine, my Dad said so). Mom's crappy computer was not behaving. It would take forever to try to post anything on my blog.I feel bad that you all have been waiting to hear all the cool things I have been doing. I took some notes but I lost them when Mom was cleaning. She's always tossing stuff that belongs to me.) So I will try to remember everything...

Have I shown you this picture of oakmoss & honey soap already? Smells really nice. It is a mango butter soap. Mom hasn't made any soap in 3 weeks (until yesterday. she made some tangerine-lavender and some lavender/bergamot/cedarwood, they are still in the mold.) She's been busy. She went to Orlando (that's in a big place called flowerida or somethin'.) She had to go for work and was real crabby about it because she had to fly and she hates flying. She can't fly herself, she has to get on a plane. She might like it better if she could just fly like the birds do.) (Daddy made a broomstick crack but I don't get it so I won't repeat it.) Anyway, she went to Orlando and didn't bring me back anything! Winston and Bear got to go to camp while she was gone. It was just Bailey, Bandit and me. We had fun. She has to go to someplace called bethesda in June. I guess just Bailey and I are staying home with Dad, everyone else goes to camp while she is gone. That's ok, I like camp but my own pillow is best, ha ha.
Let's see, what else? Well, I am getting used to using a Mac computer. Yup, Mom bought a Mac, just like dad's. So she has TWO computers set up, mine (the Mac) and hers, the Dell. She is just using the Dell to print her soap labels or something like that. I don't know. I am finding it much easier to get online with the Mac and it's easier for me to use with my paws and all.
Did I tell you I have two frisbees now? Well, you saw my birthday gift. I have both of them out to play...Old Yeller and New Yeller. I switch back and forth. New Yeller flies a little better, but Old Yeller is my good buddy and I can catch him most of the time.
I haven't been watching the news much. Of course in China they had a huge earthquake (that's when the earth shakes around and knocks things over). A bazillion people got killed and who knows how many dogs, because it is China and no one cares about the dogs, except when they come up short on food, then they like us a LOT! All the schools fell down. Well, what did those people expect? Those buildings were made in China, for crying out loud. They are throw-away, just like everything else that is made in China. duh. Oh and if your child was killed or disabled in the earthquake, you can have another one, that's what the Chinese government says. Well maybe now the extra kids won't get left outside to die. Someone named 'sharon stone' said that the earthquake was Karma for all the bad juju that the chinese have been doing...like selling contaminated medicine. I am a dog, and we know a lot about Karma. And that's not Karma. The earthquake is because of the technicaltonic (or somethin like that) plates under the earth crashing into each other. There are a lot of technicalities underneath China I guess. Karma would be if you squished a bug and then came back as the same kind of bug. Or if you kicked your dog a lot, you would come back as a dog to learn what it's like from the other side. Karma is the principle that souls go through many lives to learn all the lessons that are needed to achieve something or other. Did I mention I am a dog and that is the reverse of god? I probably did already mention that. So just trust me on this one, ok?
And let's see, not much else on the snooze (er, I mean news). That Hilary lady keeps putting her foot in her mouth and her foot doesn't even look sore. That's the only time my foot goes in my mouth. I don't know about that Mccain guy. Is he the one who makes mayonnaise? I don't know, he looks crabby. And then there's Mr Obama. Not much to report there. BORING...at least so far. well, I can't vote anyway so why do I care? Later I will post some more and figure out some better pictures. But now, mom says that dinner is ready. YAY!! Back in a day or so!!

see more cute dogs and puppies

You guys, I have been so busy I haven't had a chance to get on line. (and Mom's computer has been acting funny, too.) I've been helping Mom with her pond and yard cleanup and I've been so tuckered out that I don't even check my email. Wel, don't worry I will be getting back to it real soon. I want to show you my new collar that my Dad got me. Do you like this picture? I don't know any of these guys, and I'm not real fond of collies, but I thought it was a nice picture. I would love to have a little putty-cat in front of me...he he he. Later, dudes and dudettes!

April at last!!

golly everybody, it's been awhile since I've seen you all! I've been 'grounded' for a while. That is Mom's term. Mine is 'political prisoner'. We are having a difference of opinion on when playtime is. I don't see a problem with going out in the middle of the night to play, but Mom does. I guess so does Dad, he said I had to stay in my crate (actually Winston's crate) for a few nights so I would not wake everyone up to go out and play. Nothing like moonlight for some good hunting and stuff, that's what I say! At least Mom put my own special pillow in there. And Mom wouldn't let me surf the net so I couldn't post anything on my blog. I've had lots of deep thoughts, but no where to write them down. Boo hoo. Well I think we are back on track. Last night Mom got up at 1:30 and let me out of my crate. She let us all outside. I found out later that she was dreaming it was time to get up, and thought the alarm had gone off. It wasn't til later that she realized it was only 1:30, not 4:45. Good thing she hadn't pushed the coffee button!!
It is now officially April and here is an action photo of me with my little green friend late this afternoon. Finally most of the snow is gone. There is still some snow in our yard though. It is windy today, and sunny, but it only feels like maybe the high 30's because of the wind. I don't want to bring my new yellow frisbee outside yet, it might get muddy, so I am hanging out with my Green Buddy. He wintered outside and it doesn't seem to have hurt him any. Green reminds me of 'going green', that's what all the humans call it. My family does some green stuff, like compost and grow a veggie garden (yum, I love ripe tomatoes right off the vine!), and they have the efficient washer and furnace and use cloth bags to shop.Dad is sick of Mom doing all her recycling but she still pulls stuff out of the garbage and says "now this is still perfectly good, why is it in the trash!). He's afraid that when she gets old she will be surrounded by stacks of newspapers and will have a million puppies. I don't think that will happen. She found a cool website for eco-water bottles and eco-bags, maybe later I will post it if I can find it again. I didn't see anything for dogs on it but I will look it over more carefully. Those plastic bottles that you buy water in at the store and 7-11 aren't very good for the environment and Mom recently learned that the chemicals in them can leach into your water if you refill the bottles, so now she is on a quest for the perfect water bottle that is safe, ecologically sound,is also good for iced coffee, and doesn't cost two paws and a tail. I'll keep you posted on how she does!!

We are getting along much better now, she and I. So maybe in a day or two I will post some soap pictures for her. She has been making soap, of course. And she made a nice hand balm for someone at work with itchy dry spots. She uses it herself on her own hands, and she put some on Bear's paw pads during the winter because they got all dried out. She is working on an insect repellent now. I hope she doesn't use it on us. Last summer she thought she would try the 'natural' flea and tick repellent on Bear instead of the Frontline that we all like. It comes in a package like the Frontline and it's a liquid that you put on the middle of the shoulders, so it spreads out on the skin, just like the frontline. Well, it's made of mint and other stuff. Poor Bear, even Mom couldn't stand to be near him for about a week. She said he gave her a headache because he smelled so bad, sort of like how it would smell if a big truck loaded with peppermint syrup flipped over in the hot sun...yech!. And Bear could hardly stand being near himself. I guess that's the theory of it. It smells so bad that even the fleas don't want to be on you. Anyway, she said this bug balm is probably for humans and will smell better. We shall see. It's not ethical to experiment on animals so I guess she'll have to experiment on people. I don't care, just so long as they don't smell so bad they keep me awake at night.

Hey, I think I just heard my Dad pull into the driveway. He's home in the daylight from his new job at Baystate Medical Center, where he is the EMS Coordinator. I don't know what that means. But it's all good if he's home in time to play with me! So bye for now and I promise to write more often. Love, Me.

Here's a look at my birthday gifts!!

Hey, here it is Wednesday already and I forgot to show you guys my birthday presents! See my new yellow frisbee? I took it out of the package but I am saving it for sometime later. I already told my brothers, no teeth marks in it that aren't mine! And we have eaten a lot of the treats in the bag (I was my usual generous self and Bandit and Winston seem to like them too!) And we've all nibbled on the bunny cookie a little bit. Course Bandit would rather nibble on a real bunny. He used to catch a bunny every year in the garden. Bandit's pretty fast for an old guy. He'd lay out there and pretend to be dead, and the bunnies would sneak in under the stockade fence and nibble on Mom's lettuce and stuff. And Bandit would just wait,and every day he'd lay a little closer to the garden, until one day, he'd wait til they were busy stuffing their little cheeks, and POW! he'd snag one and drag it around the yard. Then usually Bailey would steal it from him, and Mom would have to come out and break it up before someone got hurt. Sometimes Bandit catches skunks too, he doesn't even care if they spray him, he just bashes their heads in. NEVER cross that guy--he's my big bro. But now there's a picket fence around the garden, and Bandit can't get in there to snag any bunnies. I knew he was jonesing for a bunny, so I gave him a big piece of the ears off my bunny cookie. How sweet am I, huh?

Not much to report here. Mom and Dad were teaching a class on Saturday and Sunday, so they pretty much didn't have any time with us. I got Mom back by keeping her up almost all night last night, just bugging her and stuff. She was real tired today. She did get back at me by locking me out of the bedroom for the day. I had to nap in the living room with my brothers. That's no fun.

Mom made some soap on Monday night. Lemon Sugar (again, because some lady bought a whole bunch of it.) You already know what it looks like so I won't put a picture up. You'd rather see my presents anyway. And she made a lavender-bergamot-cedarwood combination out of the mango butter soap. It smells kinda good. Sorta Lavender-Woodsy. Bergamot is that stuff in Earl Gray Tea that makes it taste Earl Gray-ie. Mom really loves Earl Gray with a bit of lemon in it. Me, I pretty much drink water. Sometimes I have a few licks of Dad's coffee on Sunday mornings. It's yummy, but he says I shouldn't have caffeine. Mom likes drinking seltzer water and she offers it to me but I don't like the bubbles. Today Mom is drinking some green tea. It's called Green Caramel or something like that. The Tea Guys make it. Until recently they were right here in Florence, where we live, but they had to move to bigger space. They make all kinds of neat tea and ship it everywhere!

Right now Mom is making lamb chops in the oven. She took an egg and some worcestershire sauce and some red wine and used that to dip them in, then she put bread crumbs on them and stuck them in the oven. And she's making carrots and broccoli to go with them. They sure smell good. Maybe there will be a piece for me. I doubt she will do anything else tonight because she is real tired from me keeping her up all night. And she is working in Boston again tomorrow. That means she gets up at 430 in the morning. Which she tried to explain to me, feels like 330 because of that daylight savings thing. I don't care as long as I get breakfast before she goes! Then Friday she has to drive far away for a meeting. Friday is my Dad's birthday and she needs to have time to wrap his presents. I got him a nice shirt, I already told you that. And she got him a new coffee maker. And my brothers got him a new CD player for the bedroom because he likes to listen to music and his old one broke. No one got him a frisbee though. Guess he can use mine.

Well, now Winston appears to have peed in his diaper, and Bailey and Bear are arguing over a toilet tube roll. I better go check it out! Catch you guys in a couple days. Love, Me.

It's my birthday!!

Hey everybody! Today's my birthday! I'm seven years old. That's 49 human years!! Do you think I look old? The first picture is me today and the second picture is me from when I was about 3 years old. I think I look pretty good for my age...you can't see any gray hairs or anything. My brother Bailey, on the other hand, has got a lot of white hair on his face and he's only one year older than me (he says he's going blond but I think it's white). And my brother Bear is nine and his face is really white. Whenever people see us together they always think Bear is older than Winston, but Winston is 10! Anyway, back to ME. I got some cool presents for my birthday. Maybe tomorrow I will post a picture of them. I got a new yellow frisbee, so I can start out the season fresh (but I will still love my Old Yeller, too, whenever I can find it again under all this snow.) And I got some special chicken and banana treats. I know that probably sounds gross but it's a tasty combination and has special stuff in it to make my eyes and coat shine. I'm the only one who likes them in my family. Mom says that's good because they cost six dollars for a little package. So they are only for me on special occasions. She was laughing in the store because they had a bag of chicken treats 'for a peaceful and calming lifestyle' and they had chamomile and lavender in them. I doubt that would help our pack!! And I got an Easter Bunny decorated dog cookie from the dogfood store. I guess I will only get little pieces of it so it will last a few days. Yummy! And of course I got a scrambled egg for breakfast and Dad said that he will take Mom out to dinner for my birthday and they will bring back a doggie bag for me. I guess they can't really take me to dinner with them, so this is the next best thing. And it was sunny most of the day and Mom was home until the middle of the morning so I got to play around outside. I guess it's going to rain all night and all day tomorrow. I don't care too much, as long as I don't have to be in the pouring rain. Maybe it will melt the snow faster.

I don't have anything to report. I didn't really do much thinking yesterday or today, except to wonder what I was getting for my birthday! Mom is letting me play with socks today AND she gave me two coupons for get out of jail free cards, so when I wake her up at 230 am I don't have to go into Winston's crate. Ha Ha, I will figure out when she will be the most tired and I am going to use those coupons. Mom did say though that she is kind of disappointed I didn't want to donate to a shelter. Well, maybe I will but not right now. I will need to do some research first.Maybe I would rather donate my time and work at a shelter. At Mom's job, people can get paid to work one day a month doing community service work. So Mom is probably going to sign up to help at the Northampton Survival Center or the Western Mass Food Bank because she likes those places and says they do good work. She is happy now that in Massachusetts there is a governor (that's the pack leader) who cares about everyone and wants to make people's lives better by getting people to help each other. I'm just happy that Mitt Romney is not our pack leader anymore! Need I say more? We all know how I feel about him. I think HE should have to volunteer his time in a shelter for dogs and cats and clean up their poop and stuff. But that might not be fair to the dogs and cats. Uh, I better stop because it sounds like I am going to rant and Mom said not on my birthday, she wants a quiet day with no hassles. Okay.

Mom is kind of mad at Winston. He has been having a pee-fest around the house. His diapers are always wet and she is doing a lot of laundry. She should have gotten him a dozen more diapers for his birthday!! And me, I am no trouble at all because I am just about perfect. They are so lucky to have me in their lives, I am like a little shining star.

Did I tell you that my Dad's birthday is on March 14? He is going to be 49 too!! Don't tell him but I got him a nice shirt from Eddie Bauer. Well, I picked it out in the catalog and Mom went and got it for me. He will like it. I might get him some greenies or some other kind of treats too. Not sure yet, depends on how much money I can scrounge out of the sofa.

There is some kind of a barkfest going on...not sure what it means but I need to go check it out. Maybe they are singing happy birthday to me? Bye for now.

Love, 7-year-old-me.

Another Weekend Gone, Another Snow Storm!

So here it is another Monday already! And the weatherdudes said we will get up to 10 inches of snow between Friday and Saturday. They were right, for once. We got at least 8 inches, it is almost up to my shoulder and I am 11.75 inches at the shoulder! I think Mom is going to cry. She is really sick of snow. And Dad was going to go out to someplace in the east side of our state to do something but he didn't because he had to snow blow. I can't even step off of the back step, because there is so much snow out there already. The sun has been out, why doesn't this snow melt and go away!!!
Hey, I had a bad dream last night. I don't remember what it was about but I woke up scared and panting, and Mom had to pet me for awhile. Then I wasn't scared anymore but I had to go outside to pee (of course it was 2:30, my favorite time). She was mad at that and she locked me in Winston's crate again. You know, I believe I am a political prisoner. I am imprisoned because of my beliefs,and for no other reason. (I believe it's ok for me to go out at 2:30 in the morning.). I watched a news show about some guy named Putin in Russia. He doesn't like anyone who doesn't like him, and if they say bad things about him he has them locked up in a mental hospital. One man was on the TV....he was a journalist who said some bad things about Putin and he had been locked up for two and a half years, and every day he got injected with anti-psychotic medication. Now he is out but he shakes all the time and can't think straight, and his words sound all funny. Maybe I was dreaming about being locked up and injected!!! Someday I might call the MSPCA and see if they can really put me in a crate just because I like to go out in the middle of the night. Then again, Mom said that if I did call and the MSPCA wanted to take me, they might put me in a cage until they found me a new home. And there would be no guarantee that my new home would be nicer to me. They are pretty nice here. I mean, I get to sleep on the bed and I am Dad's favorite and all. Mom says I am just being rebellious. I think I will wait to see what happens on my birthday. If they forget, I walk!!! Ha ha, I talk big but I really wouldn't go anywhere. I have a great life here, just don't tell them I think that way, okay?

Did you see the soap picture I posted? I helped Mom to make that soap over the weekend. She wanted something really spring-y so I suggested that she try these colors called 'peacock colors' instead of her usual oxides and clays. She scented it with White Peach. It sure does look like spring! Sometimes you just have to try different things, right? She just started to cut and hasn't finished or cleaned up the soap bar yet, but she had to do some other stuff so she will finish later. She made some Patchouli also, it was really soft when she checked it and still is...she tried to cut it and said it's like butter! I wouldn't know, because ever since I've lived here we've eaten Smart Balance. So I guess I would say, it's soft like Smart Balance!

So now it is March. March means that Spring will be here soon. I guess the Daylight Savings thing happens next weekend. In the Spring they turn their time clocks back one hour. This means that there is more daylight when they are awake. It also means that we get to eat breakfast a little earlier, that's how I look at it! And March is very windy as the earth changes position. Mom was reading an article about wind-farming yesterday. Wind-farming is what they do to make electricity so they don't have to depend on oil. On Cape Cod, (that's a place in Massachusetts that sticks out into the ocean and a lot of people go there to see the ocean and stuff, I don't know if they see Cod), anyway on Cape Cod they have been trying to do wind-farming projects for 8 years now. All the rich people don't want it because they said it will spoil the view. I heard Mom say that if they don't do it soon, they won't have a view because of all the pollution. Cape Cod has some of the worst air pollution in the whole NorthEast! More kids have asthma on Cape Cod than should, and the only reason is the air pollution. Anyway, if we used more wind and solar (that's 'sun power') we wouldn't be dependent on all the oil that we have to buy from other countries that own it. Plus eventually we will run out of the oil. Oil is made from the dead bodies of dinosaurs and other animals that lived a long time ago. There were only just so many of them! (and diamonds are made from the dead bodies of plants and trees!!) And we get gas as a by-product of the oil, too. Not THAT kind of gas, the kind we use to heat and cook and stuff. (Bear perked up when I said 'gas', he gets real bad gas, ha ha!!--and he's a renewable resource!!!!) But the sun and wind are pretty much free, no one owns them, they would just be able to own the equipment to convert them into electricity. Dad says there are too many rich people in this country whose whole empires are built on oil and they have too much influence over our energy policies. They just want things to stay the way they are so they can keep making money. All I know is, my dogfood has gotten expensive because it costs so much to pay for the electricity to make it, the energy to transport the ingredients and the energy to transport it to the dogfood store. I imagine it's the same with people food. I would hunt for my own food but Mom doesn't want me to, she said I would get worms. So I don't. I let her feed me because it makes her feel better. Speaking of which, perhaps I will go see what is taking so long as she is supposed to be prepping our breakfast right now. Catch you later! Love, Me.

When will it stop snowing?

Hey Everybody! Did it snow yesterday where you live? At my house we had rain, then snow, then more rain. The whole back yard has water in it because there is no place for it to go. My feet do not like going in water! And Mom says it is supposed to snow again in a couple days. When will Spring be here? I prefer mud season to snow season!
I broke my own rule and posted two pictures for you to look at. One is an action shot of me helping to clean the house. I didn't even have to be asked, I just picked up the roll of papertowels and went right to work. Okay, well, actually I shredded the papertowels and Mom picked them up, but it's the thought that counts. (and that way if Winston had to pee on anything, the shreds were right there to help clean it up!!). Mom made some soap on Sunday and finally took a picture of it. It is called Sweet Orange and Patchouli. MMMM, it smells nice. She is running out of Patchouli. That is some kind of stuff that she puts in soap and all. It comes from a plant that grows the best in Indonesia, and she says the crop has been very poor after that big wave came and ruined everything and washed all those people away. So Patchouli is expensive (over $100 a pound) and hard to get. Well, hard to get the good smelling stuff. She said there's some stuff from China that is real stinky. It's probably made from lead or something. You know how I feel about China. Maybe I will get to go there someday. Mom knows lots of people that have been there and they say how beautiful it is. But I would go talk to the people so they would stop eating dogs and killing their baby girls and sending us poisoned toys and using up all our earth's resources and stuff. And now back to our regular programming.

So Mom is home sick today. She hopes she is getting a cold and not the flu. And so she's grumpy. I tried to help by waking her up last night to make sure she was ok. But she got mad and put me in Winston's crate for a while. I was just taking her temperature. With my tongue. On her forehead. A lot. So today she brought some cans out to the garage and she didn't even know that she locked me in there! Well, she says she didn't know. I barked and barked and she could hear me but she didn't know where I was. It was cold and kind of scary. If Winston or Bear was locked in the garage they would have rummaged through all the trash before they called for help. But I am not like that. I just wanted to be out of there! Finally she figured it out and rescued me. And she was sorry and gave me a cookie so I guess it's ok, except my throat is kind of sore. So I was wondering what we will do today since Mom is home. Probably not too much. Maybe make some soap? She was thinking that she is running out of the Lemongrass and the Chamomile, and a lady ordered some the other day so more is needed.And I am going to help her to make some labels for her soap also. But I don't think she really wants to do much. I might try to make her some chicken soup later. It doesn't look too hard. You take a chicken and put it in water and boil it for a while. And add some other stuff, whatever is in the fridge that might work. You know, it would be easier to just eat the chicken---after it's cooked but before it is soup. I will try this and if it works out I will give some to Mom and my brothers. I will update you on this, and maybe I will post a recipe for you. Right now I need a drink of water because my throat is still sore.

Happy Monday!

Hey everybody, it's Monday and the sun is shining! It was real cold this morning but it is supposed to warm up to 45 degrees to day. Yay, maybe some snow in the yard will melt and I can get around better. There's at least 18 inches of snow back there, at least that's what Dad says. I have to walk in the paths that Bandit makes so I don't fall in! I hate Winter.
Here's a link you might find interesting

http://www.flyingskunk.com/live.html

I'm sorry I can't make it a live link right now. I think I broke something on the blog. I should have waited for Mom to help me. Anyway, you can copy and paste it yourself. It's to a chicken farm in Massachusetts. And there are goats, too. And you can watch them in their yard!! Sometimes I watch it with Mom. I was watching today and I thought you all might like to see it too. You have to click on Gumby to activate the webcam. And there is a volume control so you can hear the chickens and goats. Sometimes the goats walk right up near the webcam thing or the chickens do. You can only see them in daylight though because they go to sleep at night. I think there should be a webcam to watch me and my brothers. Mom says she doubts anyone would watch because we are either sleeping or moving so fast that no one could see us anyway! That's it for now. I took some pictures (oops, I mean, Mom did) of her new soaps that she made, and then Mom took pictures of me helping to clean the house but they are not ready to be posted yet. Mom disagrees with me that I was helping to clean the house, she says I was just shredding papertowels. Yeah, they left a roll of papertowels where I could get it and I ran around it with it for a while and rammed it into my brothers and then I shredded it! But it helps because then Mom has to pick it up and vacuum and stuff. It might not get done if I didn't point the way. Uh oh, I don't think she liked that. I haven't had breakfast yet, I better shut up now so she will still feed me!!! I will chat with you later. Have a wonderful day. Love, Me.

Hi Everybody, here it is Sunday again. Boy time sure goes by quickly, doesn't it? We got a whole bunch of snow on Friday!, like 8 or 9 inches. The Governor sent Mom home from work! We are all so sick of the snow. When will spring be here????

Here we have a picture of Citrus Splash, a soap that smells very pretty. Mom made it the other day. She just got done with some hemp oil soaps today, but she didn't take any pictures of them, she wants them to stay nice and warm under their blankie until they are done. Nothin' much to report. I'm still doing my best to get Mom up at 2 or 3 a.m. She locked me in Winston's crate after I did that a couple times but I won't give up!! Heh, Heh. I will win this battle! So now she's really tired because she hasn't had enough sleep, and she has to go back to work again tomorrow. She was mad today because everything was going wrong. Well, she shouldn't be mean to me and I will help her. I'm still working on the vegetarian thing. I'm modifying my approach, I think it will be more that I don't eat red meat, I'll still eat chicken and stuff. Gotta work the details out and Mom has to agree, since she feeds me and all. It's because of my carbon responsibilities--it takes a lot of energy to grow food to feed a cow and then transport it to be murdered and cut up and made into meat, and then transport it to a store near us. Or, we could eat vegetables from nearby and save all that energy. Oh, Mom says stop saying 'murder', that's kind of harsh. She says politics has no place in my blog. She's probably right, so I'll shut up now about that stuff. And I won't tell you who I'm going to vote for either. She's kind of grumpy today, perhaps a glass or red wine will help. Or some whipped cream? I like coffee myself. Sometimes, on Sundays, my Dad lets me drink some coffee out of the bottom of his cup. I like the way it tastes. Fair-trade, organic coffee, of course!

So yesterday was Grandma's birthday. (Mom's mom). She turned 77 years old. That's like, over 500 dog years! They had a party for her but I wasn't invited because it was at that dog Maggie's house, and Maggie is old and I am rambunctious. (That's what Dad says). Oh well, I will wish her happy B-day some other time. MY birthday is coming up fast....on March 7 I will be 7 years old. No one ever believes I am that old, because I look and act so young! It's all in how you think, that's what I say!! Ahem, for birthday presents, if you are thinking of getting me any, I like the regular sized Greenies, and all sorts of dog cookies. Whipped cream is good too. No toys, because my brothers just take them and wreck them. Mom says maybe I should consider giving a shelter a gift instead of getting presents myself. She is too goodytwoshoes! She better get me something! I know Dad will, he always brings me presents because I am his numero uno!!!. He is making oven-roasted lamb stew for dinner. It smells really good and I will be getting some of it I'm sure. Yum, can't wait.
Hey, we watched The Brave One with Jodie Foster last night. Well, not with her, I mean, she was the star. It was a very good movie and very thought-provoking. It was directed by Neil Jordan. He's from Ireland. He directed 'In Dreams', a movie that Mom worked on when it was being filmed in our area. She said she did a lot of work with him and the people in the movie. I don't know, it was before I was born, but she has a nice picture of the whole cast and crew, and Neil Jordan signed the picture for her because he had so much trouble sleeping and she helped him with that. Oh well. So big deal. There was a Hollywood dog trainer at that movie too. He was training his dogs, because there was a dog in the movie who had to do stunts in traffic and stuff. The dog trainer told Mom that dogs from shelters make the best movie dog-stars. The dog that was acting in the In Dreams movie was from a shelter. And the trainer had the son of Miles, the Jack Russell dog that starred in that movie The Mask with Jim Carrey. Miles died, but his son looks just like him. He was training Miles to be in another movie. I should be in the movies. I am a prima donna, whatever that is, Mom says. She says I act like a movie star already, ha ha!! I will catch up with you guys tomorrow or the next day. Gotta go think some more.

Hey did you see the eclipse last night? Faboo, wasn't it? I was sure to wake mom up in the middle of the night so we could all go out and see. There was an eerie red glow in the sky, and when the moon came back it was bright like the daytime!! Mom was very impressed, but at 4:30 a.m. she was not too happy that I had woken her up to see it. 4:30 is when she had to get up this morning to go to work!!

Here is a nice picture of some soap that she made over the weekend. The yellow and white one is called Lemon Sugar, it looks kind of like a lemon meringue pie, doesn't it? I hear they are pretty tasty but have never had one. The top reminds me of whipped cream. I LOVE whipped cream...Mom sometimes squirts some out for me and I lick it up. Oh don't worry, I never touch the tip of the can, I wouldn't want to get sick from all the human germs or anything. The blue one is called Clean Blue Tonic. It smells nice and clean. She made some other soap, I think it's called Citrus something, but I only like to post one picture now at a time. I'm just funny like that.
So, Mom locked me out of the bedroom yesterday. I think I mentioned that. I ended up snoozing and thinking on the sofa in the living room. It's not very inspirational. We were all kind of grumpy yesterday...Bailey too, because he likes to lay in his round bed in the bedroom and snooze during the day. (actually he really prefers to lay behind the woodstove but it's not on fire because a piece broke on it. I think Mom said it might be done for the season.) So I was grumpy, he was grumpy and Bandit was grumpy. ONE OF US (and I'm not saying who), knocked over a plant in the kitchen and got dirt all over the floor. But Aunt Lisa helped us out by picking up all the dirt, so nobody got in trouble! Mom wouldn't have been too happy if she had seen that! (I'm thinking it was a payback thing, but I don't want to say!!).

So last night I floated my new idea to Mom and Dad. I'm thinking of going Vegan. A Vegan, remember, is someone who doesn't use animal products. I think it's a very important statement to make. But Dad was being difficult about it. He wanted to know if I planned to get rid of my fur coat, since Vegans don't do fur. Well, I hadn't thought of that. I don't see how I can do that, really, I was kind of born that way. Do you think Vegans will be hostile to me because of the fur thing? And then Mom was being difficult, when she said, OK Casey, boiled vegetables for you I guess. And then she reminded me that there are animal products in my dog food. HUH?? Oh yeah, the label does say Chicken. But, (gulp), I'm a dog and I think I'm supposed to eat meat. I was just thinking no EXTRA meat, and no leather coats or shoes or honey or eggs or silk...I guess I have to re-think my position. Although then Mom did tell me about a vegetarian dog she once knew. I guess that a long time ago, when Mom was just out of college, she worked in VISTA, some kind of program where people don't get paid very much to help people who don't get paid very much. She said they got $45 a week in pay. She also said that $45 a week was what her father used to get paid for being an electrician working for the federal government way back in the last century before she was born. Mom said that this was to represent "poverty level" so that they could work better with the people they were supposed to be helping. BUT, they got really good health insurance, which usually poor people don't have. ANYHOO, to save costs she shared an apartment with 3 other people, who all worked for VISTA. They rented an apartment in a building and next door to them was a hippy family. Hippies were people who lived in the last century who didn't always agree with what other people did,and they tried to change things to make them better, and they dressed differently and had long hair and liked to listen to music and stuff like that. They sound like nice people, don't you think? Anyway, these people were vegetarians and they had a big German Shepard named Xanthus (you say it ZZanthus) and he was vegetarian too. The family said that they had gotten him as a puppy and he had never had meat. He did get to eat milk and eggs though, but no beef or chicken or fish. They made his dogfood special. He was a nice dog and used to come visit my Mom and her friends all the time. One of her room-mates was kind of a jerk named Howie and he used to think it was really funny to give Xanthus hot dogs, because Xanthus would always throw up right afterwards. Maybe that would happen to me if I stopped eating meat, too, I wonder? Well, I am definitely going to give this some more thought. And I just also realized that the whipped cream in the cans comes from cows...I'm not sure I can give that up. Maybe I'll just try giving it up for Lent. I don't know what or who Lent is, or if Lent gets to keep the whipped cream, but it sounds like a short-term thing and maybe I could just try it and see. So I'll get back to you on the Vegan/vegetarian thing. I really need my pillow back in the daytime, I do better thinking on that than on the sofa. I will post more thoughts later.

Moon-Garden

Hi again, it's just me. Here's a nice picture of some soap that Mom made a few weeks ago or so. It's called Moon-Garden. She was pretty happy with how it came out. She said it's supposed to smell like a night-blooming garden. Hmm. Just smells like human soap to me, but I am a dog so what do I know, right?
I posted the picture to kind of apologize for waking her up last night. I was really thirsty and I needed a drink of water. But she couldn't go back to sleep after that so she was kind of grumpy this morning. And she locked me out of the bedroom today when she left for work, something about....maybe if I didn't sleep so well I would sleep better at night'. I will be sure to wake her up later tonight, like maybe 3 or 4 am.

There is going to be a lunar eclipse tonight. That's the other reason I posted the "moon-garden' soap (a little theme, there). I think it's supposed to start around 10:30 or so. The moon might be red or something like that tonight. I hope the sky is clear, I would like to see it! If I get to stay up and watch it I will be sure to describe it for you if you decided to go to bed early. Later, dudes. (and dudettes

Oops, I forgot to post anything yesterday!!

...even though I promised. I really needed dinner, I think I had low blood sugar or somethin'. But I missed the whole day instead. That plumber guy was here for a good part of the day. We couldn't use any water until about 4 pm, just in time for Mom to make dinner. Fortunately she had stockpiled some water for all of us (although we could have gone outside, it ws raining hard enough, ha ha!). Speaking of rain, there was so much over the weekend that there is a flood in the yard just outside the door. My feet still get wet up to my ankles unless I walk on top of the snow. Most unpleasant. And Bailey got in BIG trouble yesterday (I am laughing still!!). He hates water even more than I do (he hates baths and you should see him when he falls in the pond!!). He doesn't like rain at all and he had to go out to, well, you know...tinkle. Mom walked away from the door and when she looked out again Bailey had decided that he could just go right up against the back door. MAN, did she yell at him!! And Dad made him go into Winston's crate for a while. Ha, it serves the little suck-up right. He has been trying to steal my Dad from me but I think that put a halt to it! Although last night I heard Dad telling him he is a good boy and he is the second-favorite. Now I think I should watch out that Bailey doesn't try to set me up to get in trouble or something.
So Mom is kind of grumpy because the plumber guy was here for so long yesterday that she couldn't make any soap. And she had a dentist appointment to re-build a piece of her molar that broke last week. She came home going 'owwie' and her face was all puffy. She said it felt like she had been in a boxing ring. The only dental work I've ever had done was a teeth cleaning a couple years ago, and I don't remember it because they used anesthesia on me. My dad calls me buzzard-breath now so I might have to go again and have it done. Clean teeth keep you heart-healthy, did you know that?? Yup. And Mom always complains about this--she says that humans know that good dental care is important, but they must not really care because they don't really like to fund dental care health insurance for kids. And there are very few dentists that will accept the medicaid dental payments. She says why don't we put our money where our mouth is (ha ha mom).
That plumber goy was funny yesterday. Dad thought he was working with a partner in the basement, but no, he was alone! He just talks to himself the whole time (and jokes and laughs and whistles, too!). he told Mom that he went through 2 packs of hacksaw blades to cut through the old cast-iron pipe (it had a leak in one spot but the rest of it is solid as a rock!)Mom kept telling Dad, no I think there's only one person down there. Then a couple hours after he left Mom had to call him back because the new pipe was leaking!!! But now it's all good.

Interesting fact of the day:
Did you know that last year the state of Massachusetts (where I live) collected 438 million dollars in cigarette tax? It all goes into the general revenue fund. That is a lot of dog biscuits! Mom told me that it means that even though cigarette smoking is down in MA, there's plenty of people who still do it. Teenagers are smoking a lot, and that means they could be hooked (customers) for life. Our state is thinking about increasing the cigarette tax to help fund all the health insurance that it is requiring now. Because smoking makes a lot of people sick. Ah, I was just wondering...what will happen if all the no-smoking education works and everyone stops smoking? We won't have all that extra money to use. I don't know, I guess it's ok to tax people for some stuff, even though it's not their fault that they use it (they are addicted), but it seems like we should look for some other money sources, too, ya know? I don't smoke and I never have! Of course I am a dog and we can't really smoke because we don't have thumbs to hold the cigarette with.
By the way, the picture I posted is one I got from Mom. Someone at work sent it to her and said, this could be a real injury prevention issue! :) So Mom wrote a letter back, that said she was investigating the situation and that there would be a multi-pronged approach (get it?). And more, but I won't go there. I just thought it was a cool thing to see. I wonder what happens when they stand up?

Almost President's Day!!

GRRRRRR........are you scared yet? This is me doing my super Wolverine impression! Back off, Jack! No one better try to come in my house or take my dinner or my toys! Actually I'm pretty nice most of the time. But as a professional Jack Russell I do have to ensure from time to time that my minions will obey me. Not everyone can curl their upper lip like I can. Notice my chipped fang? I got that in a dogfight (which I won, of course), when that stupid Sammy lived here. He was nice for a while, but then he tried to take over, and him nothing more than a foster dog!

Sorry for the glare on the picture, Mommy snapped an action shot but she had the camera on the wrong setting. She's a goof when it comes to technology. Duh.

So, this is Presidents weekend and tomorrow is Presidents Day. I am not really clear on what it means. I DO know that Mitt Romney is not involved, so you can rest easy. I think it's a day when if you were President you can get a good deal on a car, but I am not sure. I'm just stringing together some thoughts from the TV. Mostly I watch Animal Planet when Mom and Dad aren't home. When they are home I watch the news and sometimes I watch SciFi channel or the History channel with my Dad. They've been having some weird commercials on about buying cars lately.

We haven't done too much this weekend. For some reason no one took me for a ride (although I will give them another chance tomorrow). Mom made some soap (Lemon Sugar shea butter and Peppermint-Lemongrass Salt Bars--she didn't take any pictures yet but they both came out nice and they smell real good!) Mom and Dad took a whole bunch of trash to the recycling center yesterday. Then later they wanted to go have dinner at The Big Mamou http://www.chefwaynes-bigmamou.com/ that opened up last week near us. They had lunch there and it was really good food, or so they said....I didn't notice any doggie bag coming home from that trip!

Anyway, tonight they went and met George and Sue at Opa Opa Restaurant http://www.opaopasteakhousebrewery.com/ to celebrate something or other. They spent a lot of money! And AGAIN, no doggie bag! What is with this, people??? No ride, no doggie bag? I am seriously considering calling the MSPCA and asking for amnesty. I am a political prisoner. I am waiting for dinner and nothing is happening. I'm just not happy about this. Bandit is hungry too, he's woofing at Mom. And Winston has gone through 2 diapers just since they came home. So Mom is doing laundry tonight because tomorrow the plumber is coming and there won't be any water for awhile. A plumber is one of those important people...I'm not sure what they do but I know that everyone needs them and I think they run the country or something like that. We are having a very old pipe replaced in the basement before it breaks. It is cast iron and is over 50 years old. It started leaking a while ago and they patched it but said the whole piece needs to be replaced. And that they will be here tomorrow. Sure hope so 'cause the flood insurance hasn't kicked in yet!

You should see me right now, I am petting Bear. Mom and Dad think it's so cute when I sit next to him and put my paw on his head. I am not really petting him, I am taking his temperature. He always has a really hot head, because when he was little he had the mengenitisis or somethin' like that. He's kinda slow because of it, but I like him alright. I'm sorry I'm distracted, I am really hungry right now. I am thinking that I will go and russell up (that's a joke!) some dinner and maybe I will talk about my thoughts tomorrow when I am feeling better. I hope you have a good night and if you are a president be sure to get to the car place early in the morning. Love, Casey.

(I hope you don't mind that I signed this "love", I feel like I know you pretty well by now. Let me know if it bothers you and I can sign it, "very truly yours, Casey M. Clapp" the M stands for Michael. I'm named after my Dad, because our noses are the same).