The Magic Countertop

Some people say if you never feed a dawg people food that it will never beg.  That is soooooo not true!  I did not know the taste of people food until Grandaddy introduced me to bacon and cheese.  Mommy wasn't happy about that turn of events, but the cheese did help me learn to go up and down the steps.  The bacon was just an added bonus as we all know bacon is the best food in the world!  Dixie and I don't make it a habit to beg, but I think Jenna was born begging!  That girl LOVES food more than anyone else on the planet!

There are pretty much only two foods I beg for: sausage balls (which generally show up only during the holidays) and pigs in a blanket.  I think I get my love of pigs in a blanket from Daddy.  That is the only food he requested to have at the wedding reception when he and Mommy were married.  You had no idea he had such a refined palate did you?  I'm sure I inherited my tastes from him!

Begging is not allowed at our house.  Daddy can look at me and say, "Don't beg!" and I'll turn away from him.  Oh, I still watch from the corner of my eye, but I try not to make it obvious.  Thankfully, we have a feature in our house that makes begging totally unnecessary for me.  We have The Magic Countertop!  Our countertop revealed itself to be magical a few years ago, long before we added Dixie and Jenna to the house.  I believe the countertop has magical powers just for me!

The Magic Countertop only comes alive when my two favorite foods are present in the kitchen.  That's why I think it's just for me!  I just have to sit in front of it and watch the goodness pop over the top of the bar. Those sausage balls and pigs in a blanket are delicious when they land in my mouth.

The countertop is very discreet and only makes this happen for me when Dixie and Jenna are not around.  If you don't have a Magic Countertop, you need to go out and purchase one for yourself.  I'm sure they can be picked up at your local home improvement store.

Shhh!  Don't tell my sisters!
Hunter

The Good Life

Mommy LOVES linen guest towels.  I'm not sure why she likes them so much; it's not as if you can actually use these towels.  But she has TONS of them.  At least one for every holiday (and many for Christmas).  She recently found one on Etsy and had to have it made up in the colors of the master bathroom.  Although I think she has too many towels as it is, I really can't blame her for this one . . .

The real question isn't why Mommy bought this towel (I recognize greatness when I see it), but why didn't she order it with a chocolate lab?  That would have made it even more perfect for our house.  Don't you agree?

Hunter

What's Your Favorite Food?

Do you have a favorite food?  Mine has always been peanut butter.  When I was a puppy I had a toy that Mommy would fill with peanut butter for me to snack on.  I loved it so much that I would drop the toy at her feet when I was finished hoping she would be nice enough to give me seconds.  I ate so much of it as a puppy that I developed an allergy to it.  Well, it's probably not a cause-effect relationship, but when I turned one, I started losing the hair on my chin and at the base of my tail.  The vet finally decided I would have to swear off peanut butter.  I thought that decision might kill me.  Mommy had to hide that toy for many years so that it would not bring up any bad memories for me.

Each day when Mommy goes to work, she leaves the girls a peanut butter filled bone in their crates.  She has tried to leave me a similar treat, but I tend not to eat when she's away.  We think I have grown out of my allergy, but I'm still not allowed to consume that much peanut butter.  Instead of these daily treats, I live for the remnants of the peanut butter jar.  When Mommy thinks she has pried as much of the good stuff from the jar as she possibly can, she gives it to me to lick to my heart's content.  It's super yummy!

I allow Dixie and Jenna to have a few swipes at the jar as well, but I have the longest tongue so I have the most success.

I'm allowed to keep the jar until I start chewing off bits and pieces of the plastic in an effort to dig deeper into it.  Although I'm smart enough to spit those pieces out, Mommy says she doesn't fully trust me not to chow down on the whole thing!  [sigh]

Until the next jar is empty,

Hunter

Lazy Saturday

Do you like to sleep in?  We sure do!  During the week, our day normally begins around 5:45 when Mommy comes down the stairs ready for her day of work.  (At least we don't have to get up when she does at FIVE!!!)  We try to let her sleep in on the weekends, but she is such a morning person that this rarely happens.  She is usually wide awake by seven at the latest.  If she makes it past that hour, Hunter is guaranteed to be standing close-by sniffing her to let her know he needs to go out!  If Hunter wakes her really early, she will come down and let us all out and then put us all back to bed, including herself.  She NEVER sleeps in past eight on the weekends.  It's not that she doesn't want to; she just finds it physically impossible.  [sigh]

We recently did something practically unheard of around here:  we stayed in bed ALL DAY!  There are many Saturdays when Mommy stays in her jammies all day, but she is usually up working around the house doing chores, working on school stuff, watching movies with Daddy, etc.  She only stays in bed all day when she is really sick.  There were no sick people or dawgs in the house on this day.  Only LAZY people and LAZY dawgs!   Daddy snoozed and Mommy read a book.

We were allowed to come upstairs after breakfast and snuggle in bed with Mommy and Daddy.  We took turns seeing who could snuggle closest to Mommy.  Dixie seems to be the winner in most of these pictures taken with Daddy's cell phone.

We try to stay off Daddy's side of the bed.  He isn't always a fan of snuggle time!  He blames it on his allergies, but I think he just likes his space!

Perhaps you can stay in bed all day next Saturday and be just like us!

Lazy bones,
Jenna and Dixie

Did someone say bones???  Where???

Where Did it Go???

We had three days of warm weather last week and can expect more seasonal temps this week.  I know that sounds great to most people since we're in the middle of March, but it's causing two problems at my house.

First, the warm weather is taking one of Hunter's favorite snacks away!  The poor guy loves to go out and eat the snow.  He'll pretend he has to go potty and stand at the door waiting for someone to open it just to eat the snow!  He is currently limited to a tiny bit left on the deck that isn't receiving as much sunlight, and it's only a matter of minutes before that disappears too!

Second,  the warm weather is causing all of us to run around in the mud and muck!  Mommy puts her muck boots on (literally) every afternoon so she can go outside and play with us and not ruin other shoes.  We love to run and fetch.  That's great for us, but not so much for the carpet.  Mommy says she specifically remembers when she and Daddy were considering my adoption that she said it would be TWELVE paws to clean on muddy, rainy days.  Yep, those days are here!

Dixie went outside by herself one night this week and came in muddy from head to tail.  In addition to her paws and undercarriage (her belly), she actually had mud on her head and back.  I'm not sure what she was doing out there, but she must have been having fun!  If you look closely you can see all the mud on the towel from where Mommy wiped Dixie off.

I'm happy we have warm weather, but I'd love it if the yard would dry up.  That's not going to happen any time soon considering the amount of snow we had this winter, but I can hope!

Waterlogged,
Jenna

PS: Happy St. Paddy's Day!  Maybe the luck of the Irish will rub off on me . . . I've been in a little bit of trouble lately.

PS2:  An hour after Mommy took those pictures of Hunter and the snow, it poured rain and took it all away!  Poor, poor Hunter!

PS3:  We received another two inches of snow this morning resulting in another snow day for Mommy! It's a lucky day for Hunter too now that he has more snow to eat!  Yippee!!

Snow Faced

Despite all of our snow this year and all of the many pictures Mommy took, she still didn't have a great picture of me with snow on my face.  She tried and tried during the months of December, January, and February to nab the perfect shot.  It wasn't until our snow last week that success finally arrived.

I'm still not sure this is the perfect picture of me.  I'm embarrassed to say I'm sticking my tongue out.  This doesn't bother Mommy one bit.  She is notorious for sticking her tongue out at our family.  She even taught our cousin Miss C to do so, and when the two of them are together they make faces at each other all the time.  I try not to be so impolite, but what can I say . . . snow tastes great!

Mommy took another photo through the glass door.  It's not quite as cute (I have an embarrassing eye booger), but at least I'm not sticking my tongue out.  

To getting snow faced!
Hunter

A Hairy Situation

As you know, we have had snow on the ground for about the last six weeks and it won't go away.  That's actually okay by me since I love to go outside and EAT IT.  We occasionally have a warm day followed by a cold day.  That only succeeds in giving us a frozen driveway and yard.  We are hoping to have slightly warmer weather this week, but there is still a chance of snow in the forecast!

In the meantime it's become a hairy situation around here.  Jenna sheds more than any dawg we know!  I think Mommy could brush her year-round and the amount of hair in the brush would never change.  She doesn't seem to have a seasonal pattern.  She sheds just as much in the spring as she does in the fall.  Dixie and I do NOT lose nearly as much hair.  It's all Jenna.  Mommy says her house-keeping abilities are seriously challenged by Jenna's hairs.

You know it's bad when even our snow has dawg hair on it!

What can I say?  Shed happens!
Hunter

The Trouble with Jenna

Jenna recently had a really bad morning.  Personally I don't understand how on earth she manages to find so much trouble in the hour and a half we are up and about before Mommy heads off to work in the morning, but leave it to Jenna!

First, she apparently wasn't satisfied with her breakfast.  This really should come as no surprise to any of our fans since Jenna is quite the foodie.  This also should not have come as a surprise to Mommy.  Mommy had just finished cutting up a banana and spreading peanut butter on it when Dixie needed to be let back into the house.  Mommy forgot to push her plate away from the edge of the counter.  You know where this is going, right?  On the bright side, the plate did not hit the floor.  Instead, Jenna stood up and helped herself to half of Mommy's banana before Mommy saw what was going on!  I can't believe you didn't hear the screams of "BAD GIRL!" over and over at your house!

Next, we came upstairs so Mommy could finish getting herself ready for the day.  Jenna has been having trouble lately keeping her mouth away from the toilet paper.  She tries to sneak into the bathroom every few minutes for a "Grab and Go."  I have to confess I follow close behind her when she makes her move in case she's successful.  I'm always hoping I can grab a bite too.  On this same particular morning, Mommy had wandered out of the bathroom leaving it unguarded for a moment.  Upon Mommy's return, Jenna grabbed a mouthful and RAN!  There was a long line of toilet paper across the bathroom and bedroom.  Seriously, you didn't hear Mommy's screams?  How could you miss them?

I don't know how Jenna managed to survive the morning, but she did!  She is one tough gal.  I'm praying she learns her lessons soon before Mommy loses her sanity.
Hunter

Changing of the Flag

Since it's March, Mommy finally decided to take down the holiday garden flag flying near the driveway.  Shhh . . . don't tell her she might be turning into a Yankee!  In her defense, it has been really cold and it has been snowing and it has been frozen over for the majority of the past two months.  The flag had red in it, so I guess she was sort of safe in keeping it up until Valentine's Day . . . sort of!  But Mommy, both red holidays have passed and it is time to move on!

We are totally ignoring St. Patrick's Day (because we don't own a flag for that holiday) and it's too early to hop into Easter.  Well, technically it's Ash Wednesday and Mommy's wearing ashes on her forehead, but Lent comes first so the Easter basket will have to wait a while longer.  Mommy went with a flag sure to please her and annoy Daddy (and probably Grandaddy too!).  It's time to celebrate March Madness around here!

So kick up your HEELS as the grand finale of basketball season begins!
Jenna

Going, Going, Staying!

Remember we said the snow was leaving?  Well, not so much after all.  Our temps have been in the 20's and 30's this week, so the snow decided to stick around awhile longer.  We even received another inch on Wednesday.  The problem with the snow is that now all the places we have stepped in the past two weeks have melted some and then frozen over again creating a yard full of craters for us to step into.  It is NOT pleasant for anyone out there.

We aren't getting a whole lotta play time outside right now.  [sigh]  Mommy is afraid we'll cut our paws.  Hunter said he had booties once upon a time when he was a year or two old, but they weren't fun.  He walked around with the gait of a high-stepping horse all over the yard.  He never became used to them, so none have been purchased for us.  I personally think we could use them.  And I'm almost positive they wouldn't slow us down.  Jenna loves to retrieve a frisbee, and you know my obsession with tennis balls.  I think as long as the ball goes flying in the air, nothing's going to hold me back!

Our current yard condition resembles the surface of the moon.  That's Mommy's opinion anyway.  I'm not sure how she knows.  I don't recall her ever traveling to the moon, but I do tend to be easily distracted.  Maybe I missed the memo . . .

March is now officially here and that makes us think about spring.  Maybe our yard will start thinking about it too.  It's highly doubtful as our next winter storm is expected to arrive tomorrow night!  But we can always cross our paws!  Pawsitive thinking never hurts!

Dixie