toodle-loo 2005!

...is the end of the year already here? holy smokes! i can hardly believe it! now, just because i'm a wee bit spoiled doesn't mean i'm not VERY grateful for the life i lead, and as i think about 2005, i realize it's been darn good to me. my mom and my daddy were around quite a little bit, i've had plenty of love, attention, and treats bestowed upon me...

what more could a sweet/ happy/ spoiled little puppy girl want? maybe just one thing: a frosty cold morning complete with a random snowflake or two. well... imagine my surprise/joy when these exact conditions were delivered right outside my backdoor this very morning! golly, it's as if mother nature herself rewarded me with a year-end weather bonus. 'tis the stuff good romps are made of.

and trust me, bobo and max enjoy hanging out in this kind of weather, as well, so really, this last day of 2005 has been a little slice of puppy heaven for the 3 of us.

as for fuzzy-butt: well, he's old and spoiled--pretty much all he likes to do is eat and poop and sleep...as you can see he's completed the eating/pooping part of his day--now he's into the "comfy cozy kitty" part... (don't ask me how he got himself into this position because i honestly couldn't say... he's old, but clearly he's still pretty dang limber!) he's set for the rest of this day/year.

it's difficult to imagine life gettin' any better... yet i won't be surprised if that's exactly what happens in 2006!

"How did it get so late so soon? / It's night before its afternoon. / December is here before it's June. / My goodness how the time has flewn. / How did it get so late so soon?" ~ Theodore Giesel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss)

count down to 2006

2 days before the end of this year... shouldn't that mean something interesting is going on? apparently not, because what's going on around here is a whole lotta nuthin'. seriously... here are a few highlights (a term i use loosely):

max ran away from the camera (because he is nothing, if not a wimpdog...)

bobo was sad because he wanted to go out for a walk with mom...

bobo was happy after he went for a nice, long walk (3.4 miles) with mom.

mom tried to wake "the boy" up around noon... to no avail.

mom tried to wake "the boy" up around 3pm ... to no avail.

mom tried to wake "the boy" up around 4:30pm ... to no avail.

mom tried to take another picture of max...

...to no avail...

"A good laugh is sunshine in the house." ~ William M. Thackeray

another crummy rainy day...

not much to do on a day like this but stare out the window... oh, and maybe watch mom chase poor max around the house in a near futile attempt to take his picture. i know max doesn't mean to be such a wuss, but that doesn't change the fact that he is. why does he fear having his picture taken so much? who the heck knows... maybe he thinks he'll somehow be sucked into the camera like that one weird episode of twilight zone -- but most likely it's just that something different equals something scary... seriously, he's afraid of everything and everyone (which is why even little ol' me is so capable of scaring the beejesus out of him...) poor boy. here's how it looked when mom tried to fake him out in order to get a picture (and remind me to someday explore exactly why mom is so determined to take his picture when he clearly would prefer a sharp stick in his eye.):

mom first tried to sneak up on max in the family room, where he had been napping sweetly on the couch. but before she could snap his picture, he jumped up, hopped off, and ran upstairs... which was a stupid thing to do since there was no place to hide. mom was sure she had him cornered in the boy's room, but he was too fast -- before she had a chance, he managed to sprint past her and race back down the stairs...

desperate to escape the dreaded flashy-thingy, max scratched at the back door and whined like a little girl until mom let him out into the backyard. wet. gray. cold. but free of cameras... or so he thought. once up the hill, max glanced back at the house, only to discover, to his dismay that, oh no!, mom was pointing that thing at him again. woe was max, who made one last feeble attempt to foil the camera, then held still for the nano-second mom needed to record his image on digital camera memory card for posterity. and mr. max lived to tell about his ordeal... confident in the knowledge he'll be able to run away another day. the end.

(yes... it's been a freakin' boring day and this -- i'm sad to say -- is the best i've got. deal with it.)

"Minstrel: Brave Sir Robin ran away, bravely ran away away.
Sir Robin: No I didn't!
Minstrel: When danger reared its ugly head, he bravely turned his tail and fled.
Sir Robin: I never!
Minstrel: Yes, brave Sir Robin turned about, and valiantly, he chickened out.
Sir Robin: No!
Minstrel: Bravely taking to his feet, he beat a very brave retreat. A brave retreat by brave Sir Robin.
Sir Robin: Shut up!"

~ Monty Python and the Holy Grail (courtesy Wikipedia)

new camera!!!

oh boy! oh joy!


oh...




how do you use this thing???

never fear...my mom's on the case...and i'm sure she'll figure it out soon enough (soon enough to get a shot of that shy-boy max before he has a chance to slink off and hide in the bathroom again...)

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." ~Groucho Marx

'tis the day after christmas...



...filled with old movies and hot chocolate and lots of naps.


doesn't our family know how to have fun??



whatever... it works for us



"Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired." ~ Jules Renard

joy!

"There is nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child." ~Erma Bombeck

"'twas the nite before christmas...









and all through the house...






not a creature was stirring...














not even a mouse."

~ Clement Clarke Moore

'tis the season...

...to be jolly? HAHAHA!! that's really funny, and i'll tell you why: my mom, my daddy, and both those big boys have been out of the house off and on all day doing something i heard them refer to as... "shopping". apparently, this "shopping" thing is another part of the holiday tradition, one that -- based on the panic stricken looks in their eyes -- must not be very much fun. descending into the pits of hell is the way my daddy described it. anyway, after this "shopping" comes something called "wrapping" which, according to the words i overheard mommy muttering under her breath (she does this quite a lot) is ...the biggest pain in the ass of all...sorting and cutting and tying all those stupid freaking ribbons that no one but me cares about...my back is killing me and i'm still confused about some of the crappy things i bought that seemed like good gifts at the time but now i realize actually suck only it's too late to do anything about them because everyone in fairfield county is out buying the things i should have bought...aieeeee! now my head hurts and i still have to cook dinner and do 4 more loads of laundry maybe if i eat another fluffer-nutter i'll feel better... (she did, and she didn't). now, i could go on (and on and on and on...), but what would be the point? i'm just glad i'm a puppy and that i'll never have to go "shopping".

"There are 3 stages of Man: he believes in Santa Claus; he doesn't believe in Santa Claus; he is Santa Claus." ~ Bob Philips

god rest ye merry gentle-bobo...

"Laughter is an instant vacation." ~ Milton Berle

blog day afternoon...

i don't even know what that means... yet, it seems like as good a way as any to describe the way this day has been. actually, maybe i should call it a "blah blah blah day afternoon" because we really didn't do anything very exciting... those worker guys are still here trying to fix the leaky ceiling (or is it a leak from the upstairs bathroom? i don't know for sure, but i'm sure i don't care.)

the only thing different about today is that my daddy stayed home because there was a strike in the city where he works and, according to him, driving in would be a bitch... personally, i thought it was a pretty good deal having him home, because then i got a double shot at treats--it's no secret my daddy finds my girlish charms irresistible ...yep, now that i think about it, it's been a good day for puppy snacks. maybe i should call this a "hog day afternoon"... HAHAHA (except i'm waaaaay to cute to be thought of as anything but... cute).

"Hot puppies, grub!" ~National Lampoon (Bored of the Rings)

6 more days of this madness?

okay, so maybe madness is a bit too strong a word, but seriously, it's more than a little crazy around here, and i, for one, cannot wait for all this insanity to STOP!! all day long i watched my mom drag boxes from one messy room to another messy room... back and forth, back and forth. one mess got smaller while another mess kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. then she started opening up these big boxes and pulling out all kinds of stuff that i didn't recognize. hmmmm she'd say ...this is for terri and this is for billy and this is for susan and this and this and these are for terri and this and this and that is for billy and this is for maxxy (i don't even know who this "maxxy" is--i think he lives with terri and billy...whoever they are -- but he must be special, since he, too, rates a "gift") ...and THIS goes back to the store and what the hell did i buy this for and who did i think i was gonna give it to? i think you catch the gist of this one-woman conversation. now that i think about it, i believe madness is exactly the word for what this day's been like!

anyway...after mom finally decided who was gonna get what she proceeded to take out all kinds of papers and ribbons and then she started wrapping these various confusing items up in an attempt (i'm only guessing here) to make everything look festive. next thing i know she looks at the clock, mutters something under her breath like oh shitshitshit holy crap help mr. wizard i'm never gonna get this stuff ready in time... and that, my friends, is when mom went completely and utterly insane... she started racing up and down the stairs trying to find even bigger boxes to put the smaller boxes in, then i heard her say something to one of the boys about getting everything to the post office before it closed... and would they please please please help her out by taking the now wrapped/taped/labeled items and dropping them off for her at the post office? naturally, as you can imagine, they were absolutely thrilled to comply and hopped into action almost before she asked. (can you sense the sarcasm dripping off my tongue? one of these boys (pictured above with the bobo) is the same one who told mom last week don't worry mom, i'm gonna clean up this mess i made in the kitchen, it's just that i'm really full now so i have to wait until my stomach settles down. now, who do you think cleaned up the kitchen? the boy claiming to have an horrible/awful/terrible and, apparently debilitating upset tummy??? HAHAHAHAHAHA ...altho' i have to admit i'd have been happy to help that boy clean off his plate if only he'd asked--it looks delicious)

in their defense... those 2 boys actually did get to the post office on time, which made mom happy for a nano-second. happy, but not sane.

eventually i got sick and tired of watching my mom do all this stuff for everyone else and had to force her to take me outside so i could do my "business" and hunt around for bobo's buried treats. that was good for about 7 minutes. now mom's back to her boxes (the ones the boys didn't take to the post office) she just keeps shaking her head and muttering under her breath something about ...it's christmas dammit and i love christmas and this is oh-so-much fun and everyone loves presents and pretty decorations and i'm having such a good time so what do i care if i didn't get to work out or that my head hurts.... i think i'm gonna stay out of her way until dinner time. yeah, that's what i'm gonna do... (then let's see her try to stay out of MY way... tee hee)

"I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it." ~Jack Handy (Deep Thoughts-SNL)

let sleeping puppies lie...

that's my motto today... especially after the flurry of activity around this place. no...not more decorating (tho' i know mom's gearing up for it...sigh). just a bunch of workers in and out and out and in and it's enough to annoy a little girl...especially because that crazy max seems to think he needs to bark at every tom, dick and franko who walks through the door! for hours i had to put up with this nonsense. what do i care that the bathroom needs repair? or that the generator needs a propane tank located 10 feet from the actual generator which means it's gonna be sticking out where anyone can see it?? how is it any concern of mine that the downstairs heater needs to have the filters removed and then some other sort of filter-thingy cleaned at a cost of $386.90???

on top of all that, one of the boys spent a bunch of time outside, then came in and started eating something i thought looked delicious...but would he give any of it to me? no. (this is why i'm gonna bite his freakin' toes someday...) since he wouldn't give me any food, i decided not to give him any attention...so then he grabbed bobo and spent the next two hours watching star trek...(i noticed bobo didn't get any food, either). they make a cozy pair, don't ya think? yeah...just precious.

finally all the strangers left our house and mom sat down for a few minutes...giving the rest of us a much needed break from yipping and yapping and fretting over someone's cheese sandwich (who shall remain nameless but who's pictured above snuggling with the bobo on the newly slipcovered couch...).
needless-to-say, max is exhausted. can't say i blame him. honestly, it's really not very easy being max these days... his hearing is all but gone, which means he has to bark even when he doesn't quite know what he's barking at...a problem for me, as you might imagine, since i'm not very patient when he goes into his long and oh-so-very-loud barking fits.

fortunately (for i don't know who), bobo finally escaped the clutches of the evil-sandwich-hogging boy and planted himself under the desk so he could nap in the office with the rest of us...and now--yawn--i think we can all take it easy. for a minute or two, at least...

"Oh look, yet another Christmas TV special! How touching to have the meaning of Christmas brought to us by cola, fast food, and beer...Who'd have ever guessed that product consumption, popular entertainment, and spirituality would mix so harmoniously?"~ Bill Waterson

decking the halls, part deux...

will this painful ordeal never end??? what's the deal, lucille? apparently my mom intends to leave no banister un-garlanded...no living plant un-lighted... no festive christmas ribbon un-fastened. what's up with this? sure it all looks nice, but since my mom and dad are two of the most un-sociable people on the planet, no one--aside from the two boys--will ever see this stuff. why then, and i really want to know the answer to this, does my mom spend so much of her time hanging, wrapping, and stringing?? my thoughts... she's out of her freaking mind. oh sure, she's looks normal enough (except for a couple of weeks ago after that "procedure" thing that made her look pretty creepy) but, for the most part and to most people, she looks mostly normal, for a human.

so what is it about this time of year that makes her eyes kind of glaze over and act so funny? shouldn't she be happy loving on me and letting me give her lots of little slobber puppy kisses??? i think so too...

and, trust me, bobo's not enjoying this anymore than i am. just yesterday he and i were taking our late afternoon naps in the family room--just as sweet as you please when, suddenly, bam! mom came in with another of her boxes and before you could say greenies make a tasty treat mom was scooting us off the sofas in order to change the slipcovers (whatever those are). i kept trying to jump back up, but mom would have none of that. i finally gave up, but not bobo. no...not bobo. as soon as mom had part of one slipcover on the couch bobo jumped back up and spread himself out... practically daring mom to make him get down. of course she didn't...right away. after all, he is the bobo. so then i want to know, what the hell am i? chopped liver??

of course, normally i'm not prone to pouting, but i'm afraid i was compelled to do a fair amount yesterday...in fact, i managed to look really really pitiful until mom couldn't stand it anymore and had to stop what she was doing, get on the floor with me in the office, roll me over and rub my tummy...and let me slobber her with a few more puppy kisses.

i'm thinking she'd better hurry up and finish this so-called decorating stuff, or i'm gonna remind her of the way i "redecorated" the house when i first came to live here...my touches can still be seen on the corners of every chair, table and throw pillow...i can be pretty impressive when i put my mind--and teeth--to something! 'tis the season...

"Happy Happy Joy Joy" ~ Stimpy (The Ren & Stimpy Show)