Bad Hair Day

Have you ever had a bad hair day?  Everyone in our house has one from time to time (some more than others).  Mommy's curly hair is prone to frizzy days depending on the weather.  If it's pulled back and/or up a couple days in a row, then you know she's having a bad hair week.  I don't think you would suspect Daddy of having bad hair days, but you'd be wrong.  He keeps his hair so short people sometimes think he's in the military, and yet he still has plenty of bad hair days.  Mommy says Daddy's hair always looks the same.  He says the same about hers. 

I guess most days my hair usually does look the same, but once a month, Mommy causes the canines in the house to have a bad hair week.  She treats us with our flea and tick prevention in the form of drops on the back of our head and neck.  The result of those drops on our heads is a contest between the three of us to see who can look most like a rooster. It's not a very good look.  I would say most months it's a tie between the three of us.  There is a clear winner this month.

In third place, with only a greasy spot to show for Mommy's efforts: Dixie Doodle

In second place, with a slight greasy spot  . . .

. . . and a slight "bump" on the back of the head is me, Hunter the Wonder Dawg.

And the clear winner with a true rooster comb: Jenna

I know it looks like Jenna's collar is causing this look, but it's not.  This is all flea and tick gunk.  I guess we have Mommy to thank for these embarrassing looks.  But then again, we also have her to thank for long life and comfy living without those pesky parasites.  Mommy says we have NEVER had a flea or tick on us.  NOT ONE!

Thank you Mommy (for not making me the rooster this month),
Hunter

It's Official!

I have been a part of this household for a year and three months, but I am only now becoming a full-fledged member of the family.  I now have a NICKNAME!  That makes it official!

Hunter has gone by several names over the years:

• Hunter Bunter
• Bubbs
• Buddy
• Big Boy
• and most recently Old Man

Dixie has a plethora of nicknames:

• Dixie Doodle
• Dixie Girl
• Dixie Cup
• Doodlebug
• Wild Child (until my arrival on the scene)
• Sweet Girl
• Baby Girl

It's been hard to make up a nickname to go with Jenna.  My original name was Jency, but when I was returned to my breeder she thought Jenna rolled off the tongue better and so that became my name.  Occasionally Mommy calls me Jenna-Jen-Jen (like The Three Little Pigs' phrase "not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin) or Jenn Jenn.  But I don't think those are very good names.  This new and improved nickname is sooooo much better!  So, without further ado, I present my new nickname making me officially part of the family . . . drum roll please . . .

WIGGLES

(or the less ladylike, but more appropriate, WIGGLE BUTT!)

This name was given to me by Daddy (he says Mommy gave me the alternate version) after noticing that I find it almost impossible to merely wag my tail.  I like to wag my entire back half!  They said this must be how I keep my supermodel figure because it sure isn't my eating habits!  The frequent exercising of my back half keeps my waist slim and trim.  (Perhaps Dixie should observe closely to see how it's done!)  Now that I have a nickname, I think I'm here to stay!

Wags and Kisses,
Wiggles

Paint Life Grand?

As school has ended and Mommy has regained some of her energy (coincidence?), she has been busy working in the house.  Some people might think Mommy just lies around eating bonbons all summer long, but she doesn't.  She is usually awake by seven at the absolute latest and is generally busy working on her super long summer to-do list.  This is sleeping in for her since she is awake two hours earlier on a school day!

Mommy recently completed a long awaited task: painting the trim around the new front door.  She's been avoiding this task since Easter.  I'm amazed her OCD didn't kick in before now.  The trim that was placed around the interior of the new door was already primed white.  I think that little detail helped Mommy avoid the inevitable for as long as she did.  If Mommy had seen natural wood every time she walked past the door, I'm sure her OCD would have kicked in sooner. 

So on day two of her summer vacation, she brought out the paint.  Jenna and Dixie decided to help out.  After taking the lid off the paint can, Mommy thought she should place it in the powder room high up on the vanity to prevent the girls from making a mess.  When she returned to the paint, what did she find?  This won't come as a surprise to you, but for some reason it surprised Mommy: Jenna was testing out the taste of paint straight from the can!  Good grief!  Is there nothing sacred in the "food" category???

Dixie wasn't that helpful.  She just walked around with a tennis ball in her mouth.  No surprise there.  Once Jenna had had enough painting for one morning, she decided to relax . . . can you spot her?  Please don't tell Daddy.  I'm supposed to be looking out for his rug, especially since Mommy isn't!

If you look carefully, you can see Mommy's paint pants.  She loves these pants.  They chronicle over ten years of painting in three different houses.  For the first two houses my parents lived in, they would always find out they were moving just about the time Mommy finished painting the last room.  Thankfully that hasn't happened here!  Some years these pants fit better than others.  She could probably wear them to a revival of the Eighties with their paint splatters and rip in the knee!  She also likes to bring out the drop cloths.  These go way back into Mommy's past.  There are so many paint drops from previous houses, including Poppa and Grandma's house.  If you were here, you could see a time when Mommy thought her childhood room should be Carolina blue!  Not a decorating mistake she would repeat although she still loves the color and the team!  Wasn't that nice of her parents to allow her to do that?  Mommy's parents are the best!  (Besides mine, of course!)

I used to help Mommy with the painting.  Please bear with these next few photos.  They were taken B.D. (Before Digital) and are pictures of pictures from the scrapbook.  Here I am zonked out beneath the ladder.  I was less than a year old. 

 

I also helped with the messy clean up after the painting (what to do with all that tape?).  Someone needs to invent recyclable painter's tape.  Mommy is good, but she still requires the use of tape to help her out! (I look a little black here, don't you think?)

And the installation of a new deck.  This picture doubles as a magic trick known as The Disappearing Dawg!

Jenna and Dixie will grow used to Mommy's to-do list one day (I hope).  Home maintenance is old hat to me now.  Off to more projects!
Hunter

Thankful Praise for the Yard Guys

Mommy and Daddy are so thankful they have a few new people in their lives:  THE YARD GUYS!   

Last year was the first year Mommy and Daddy paid someone to put the mulch out.  They used to hate paying someone to do work they can do themselves.  Last year, Mommy's tendonitis was so bad she knew there was no way she could help Daddy spread the mulch.  Along came a flyer in the driveway for a lawn service just starting out.  Mommy called and the price to mulch was about the same as what they used to pay just for the mulch!  Hot dawg!!  Mommy clearly remembers the day they came last year.  She arrived home to find that the men had weeded, edged, and mulched. The yard looked FABULOUS!

 

Enjoying the fruits of the yard guys' labors!

This year when our teenage yard guy had to quit, Mommy knew who to call.  The mulch people are now cutting the grass for the same price as the teenager!  She also had them come back for this year's mulching.  And it was even better than last year!  Mommy has been really sick lately and hasn't been able to go out and weed.  She's been so embarrassed by her plant beds.  She and Daddy planted twenty azaleas last year and the weeds were taller than the plants.  It looked AWFUL! 

Never fear, the lawn guys were here!  This year they weeded, edged, mulched, and even trimmed the shrubs!!!!   The only down side to this situation is that we aren't allowed to go outside when they're here.  The men keep the gates open, and our parents know at least one of us would make a break for it (I can't imagine who they might be thinking about).

 

Enjoying the shade

Mommy felt so guilty about all of the work the men were doing for her that she was inspired to paint the deck furniture that same day.  She usually does that each summer, but since we had no visitors last year she let it go.  We will definitely be having company this summer, so now we are one step closer to being ready for them (two steps if you count the yard work).

 

Somebody's been spray painting!  Don't worry, it will be gone with the next grass cutting.



Grass is YUMMY!!!

 

 

So thankful for the hard-working hands of others,
Jenna

 

 

Silly Girl!

Remember a while back when I posted crazy pictures of Dixie and Hunter?  Mommy keeps trying to catch me doing something weird, but I guess I'm too good to allow that to happen.  Dixie was caught making another foolish face.  She looks like she's blowing out a candle or blowing bubbles.  Either way, it's a funny face for a dawg!

Here's to making more funny faces this summer!  Enjoy!
Jenna


PS: Perhaps Dixie's trying to help Aunt Holly blow out her FORTY birthday candles.  There's a LOT of them this year!  Mommy says the two of them are going to grow old gracefully together . . . but Aunt Holly's going first!

Happy Father's Day!

Today is one of the best days of the year.  It's a day to celebrate our Daddy!  He does so much for us:

• makes a great living working hard so we don't have to
• buys us food and treats
• provides us with comfy beds
• lets us lie on the sofa and his bed
• gives us hugs and pats
• helps us go inside and out numerous times a night
• helps Mommy with the group photos for special occasions (despite his best judgment)
• puts up with our blog (also despite his best judgment)
• loves us endlessly

We have a great life because of him.  Thank you for all you do, Daddy!  We woof you!  And we're sure you feel the same way about us as the author of that UGA book does!

Hunter, Dixie, & Jenna

PS: We hope Grandaddy and Poppa have a great day too!

Rain Interlude

Yippee!  The rain stopped for about a day!  Then it picked up again right where it left off.  That meant we could actually go outside and play instead of taking our chances with the plant stand in the upstairs hallway.  Mommy has enjoyed having all of this rain for one very important reason:  she doesn't have to lug the watering hose around when it rains!  As a result of the rain, her plants are looking good!

The geraniums on the deck look terrific.  The only thing wrong with this plant is that it sits fairly close to the door and we hit the blooms with our tails.  The red petals fall off, get wet, and then we track red marks into the house!

 

 

The blueberries aren't ripe yet, but I'm taking bets on who can eat them first: me or the birds?  Daddy planted a THIRD plant this year.  He thinks the other two aren't producing, but he just isn't fast enough!

 

 

The vegetables on the deck are growing pretty well.  Mommy did kill a couple jalapeno plants and a plum tomato before the rains came.  These green peppers are right on track for the summer.

 

 

I give my personal seal of approval to the grape tomatoes. 

They are a long way from producing anything edible, but I can't wait!

 

 

Mommy is excited about the color of her hydrangeas.  They are going to be gorgeous! 

If only she could perfect the art of drying the blooms . . . it's so easy, but she just can't quite get it!

 

 

So far, the biggest question of the summer is will the climbing hydrangea finally bloom this year?  Mommy has read it takes a while for it to bloom, but it was here long before me.  It keeps spreading and spreading . . .

I hope you haven't washed away in the rain.  Keep your head above water!
Jenna

Is is Still Raining?

It is apparently monsoon season here.  We've had just over six inches of rain in the past few days.  Do you like the rain?  I like it, but I hear that some dawgs don't.  Mommy said the lunch table conversation at work has been about the joys of taking your dawgs out in the rain.  It is more of a chore than a joy for most.  I must be different from most other dawgs.  I hardly even notice the rain.  The rain is just another excuse for me to roll around on the ground.  I don't even like for Mommy to dry me off when I come inside.  I can't say the same for my siblings . . . 

Dixie is a little shy when it comes to the rain.  It goes all the way back to her puppy days when she was learning to ring the bell to go o-u-t.  One really rainy evening, she rang, and rang, and rang the bell, but refused to go out in the water and finally pottied right there on the door mat! Mommy wasn't happy, but she also felt sorry for Dixie.  Thankfully, Dixie doesn't potty indoors any longer (that was a one time occurrence), but she still isn't crazy about heading outdoors either.  She also loves for Mommy to towel dry her when she comes back inside. 

Hunter has a love-hate relationship with water.  He LOVES to swim, but isn't that crazy about the rain.  When he was a puppy, Mommy used to have to put on her raincoat and trek outside with him.  His man card is saved only by the fact that she never had to hold the umbrella over his head (apparently this is pretty common among Mommy's co-workers).  He doesn't mind going out in the rain when he really has to, but as he's gotten older, he has become a wee bit afraid of thunderstorms (there goes that man card).  He woke Mommy up early one morning recently with his heavy, stressed out panting.  Mommy thought he had to go potty at first, but she soon realized he just needed his thunder coat.  I won't give you my opinion on his thunder coat except to say he looks like a sausage bursting out of its casing when Mommy wraps it tight around his body.  Not a pretty picture!

I hope I continue to be water proof!  Until the rain ends . . .
Jenna

Happy Worsteenth Anniversary!

My poor parents!  This past week they "celebrated" their fourteenth anniversary.  They both say it was the worst one ever.  They are the reason we haven't blogged in a week.  They've been as sick as a dawg (whatever that means).  We've been super busy being nursemaids to them.  First, Daddy was sick with a serious cold and sinus infection that caused him to miss THREE days of work!  That is almost unheard of!  Then, just when he was starting to feel slightly better (he wasn't hacking up an entire lung anymore, just a partial one), he decided to pass on his wonderful sickness to Mommy!  Now she has some sort of crud that is causing her nose to either be stopped up or run off her face.  

I don't know for sure, but Mommy is probably taking out her inability to breathe on her students.  Lucky for them, there's only a half day Monday and a quarter day Tuesday left!  Mommy is usually counting the days until the school year is over, but not this time!  She has LOVED this year's students.  One of the other teachers told the students they were the best class she had taught in thirty-eight years!  That is a long time. Not just to be the best in that time span, but to still have your sanity after teaching that long!  [gulp]  I personally am looking forward to Mommy's summer.  That means all kinds of fun for the four of us (technically Daddy doesn't count since he's still working). 

But first, we have to make Mommy better!  Both of our parents are currently using up lots of tissues.  This is killing Jenna.  Every time she even glances at the used tissue, Daddy tells her it's SNOT happening!  She loves to eat tissues.  This is not something we taught her or that we even encourage.  You might think this is one of the reasons why Jenna didn't make it as a companion dawg, but you'd be wrong.  Hunter has this same annoying habit.  I guess it's in our DNA, but I try my best not to succumb to it.  Ever stubborn and refusing to give up, Jenna's SNOT getting it through her thick head!  That girl sure does love paper!  (I'm sure if there were ever children in our house, they could definitely say, "The dawgs ate our homework!")

So anyway, Mommy and Daddy spent their anniversary Wednesday night laid up on their individual sofas, coughing and gagging in a Nyquil induced coma.  I sure hope they are feeling better by tonight so they can enjoy their dinner reservation!  If not, maybe we can go in their place???

Hugs and kisses for many more years to come,
Dixie

 

 

Mommy and Daddy in "weller" times.  Is that a word?  I'll have to ask the English teacher when she wakes up.  They would kill me if I posted a picture of their wedded bliss Wednesday night!  SNOT a pretty sight!