Where in the World is Dixie?

Do you remember Where's Waldo?  You had to search and search for his tiny little figure hiding in all kinds of situations?  Well, I'm in the process of searching and searching for my name on a Coke bottle.  I already know it doesn't exist, but that's not stopping me from searching.  I know it's not one of the two hundred and fifty names on the bottles found in stores right now, because I've searched here to find it.  Coke says to look on the bright side that I must have a unique name.  Apparently Daddy does too!

Life is so unfair sometimes!  Mommy has shared a Diet Coke with Jenna and now with Hunter.  It's only a matter of time before she shares one with herself.  So where's DIXIE??? 

Have you seen some of the names on those bottles?  Really?  There can't be a  DIXIE?!?!?!  If I could design my own label, it would say Doodle Bug (one of Mommy's favorite names for me).  I guess I'm going to just have settle for being Mommy's BFF or Buddy.

Disgruntled drinker,  [sigh]
Dixie


PS: Happy birthday to Grandma and Cousin C! I wonder if their names are on a can or bottle somewhere???  I would think Grandma would be . . . there are A LOT of Grandmas in the world, right?

Have You Taken the Challenge?

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has taken the world by storm.  It was only a matter of time before it hit the dawg world too.  We accepted the challenge and thought we'd share it with you.  This is our version of the challenge. After all, we dawgs already enjoy water so much that having it dumped on us wouldn't be much of a challenge, would it?   We have ice, a "bucket," and a challenge . . .

We had to sniff it out and make sure we really wanted to do this before we began.  Where's Dixie, you ask?  She chickened out!  Party pooper!

Hunter went first.  Mommy tried to capture the exact moment the cold hit him.  

Then it was my turn.  I still wasn't too sure about it, but decided if Hunter could do it, so could I.  I took the plunge!

Our challenge was to eat ALL of the ice!  When we finished the challenge, we went online and made our donation to ALS.  One of Mommy's best high school buddies had a stepfather to die from this dreadful disease.   We now issue this challenge to all of our dawggie relatives: Maggie, Harley, Lucy, Cocoa, and still to go  . . . Southern Fried Chicken Dixie!  You have 24 hours!

Go ahead, you can do it!
Jenna

Ready or Not, Here It Comes!

Today is the first day of school around these parts.  Mommy saw this while at the vet's office recently and thought it was hilarious.  Look closely at all of the little details!  I believe Dixie is in the left corner.  Cousin Maggie is in the bottom center panel.  Jenna is probably somewhere in the middle of the bus already eating her morning snack!  I'm driving; that's why you can't see me!

Happy First Day of School, Mommy!
Hunter

Anything You Can Do . . .

I'm assuming you've heard the phrase, "Anything you can do, I can do better."  Jenna is always trying to show me up.  Well, this time I showed her!  You know Mommy has been trying to capture a great shot of Jenna jumping through the air.  Well, Mommy finally was successful in her quest . . . except the subject in the picture is ME!!!!

Take that, Jenna!  Ha!  Wags and kisses from your sweet, loving, and much better looking sister, 

Dixie

Summer Road Trip

While home visiting my grandparents, I had lots of adventures!  No Grandma, I am NOT counting my tummy aches that we still aren't sure how I contracted.  No, we are not counting that bag of Munchos I shared with Mommy in the car as the cause.  I'm talking about all the fun I had while visiting!

Up until now, Hunter was the only privileged dawg in the family to sleep on Grandma's white sofa.  And he was until Mommy went to spend the night with Cousin C and left me home alone (with Grandma and Poppa of course).  I thought about sleeping with them, but then decided my crate would be best since it's really what I'm used to.  It turns out Cocoa had already made that her resting spot for the night, so I had to make other arrangements.  Grandma handled the situation well and placed a sheet on the sofa for the remainder of my visit and for my resting pleasure!

After spending the night with Cousin C, Mommy spent the whole day with her.  They started at the yummy local doughnut shop, went clothes shopping, had lunch at their favorite drug store, and then had yogurt for dessert.  I'm not sure why I wasn't included since I too could go for a girl's day of shopping.  Instead they stopped in to play with me a couple times during the day, so it was still fun for me too!  Check out Cousin C's new smile; she lost a tooth while we were visiting.  Inflation has really kicked in since Mommy and Daddy lost their baby teeth.  They remember receiving a quarter for each tooth, but Cousin C received $5!!

Cousin A was loads of fun too.  He's at that stage where he repeats everything he hears.  For some reason, he loves to say CHEESE when he's having his picture taken.  I kept looking and looking, but never could find the cheese he was talking about!  Maybe if I start saying "cheese" when Mommy takes my picture, I will have better luck finding it.

On the way home, Mommy and I stopped at Aunt Holly's house.  Aunt Gwen hosted Mommy and Holly for a delicious lunch, and then they surprised Aunt Gwen with a visit from me!  Aunt Gwen was super surprised and thrilled to meet me!  (For the other family in Mommy's home state please don't be mad we didn't see you too; we are already working on including you in next year's travel itinerary!  Just remember we are a package deal.)

Aunt Holly has a dawg named Barkley.  We've exchanged a few emails over the past few years, but this was our first muzzle-to-muzzle visit.  Barkley was smaller than I imagined he would be.  We had fun chasing each other around the house.

It was a great trip, but I'm glad to be home.  I'm not sure if Jenna feels the same way.  She was not very welcoming when I returned.  Apparently when I'm out of sight, I'm out of mind too . . . forever!  She forgets I was here first!

Until my next road adventure,

Dixie

On the Road Again

Once again, I was the Chosen One who got to travel with Mommy to see her family.  Technically, Daddy wanted to send Hunter, but he's just simply too old to make the trek.  (This happens to be the same reason Daddy wanted Hunter to go; Hunter slows down Daddy's morning routine!)  I got to go by default; Daddy doesn't want to give up a week with "his girl" Jenna.  That's fine by me.  As Mommy's girl, I was thrilled to go along.  I am such a good travel buddy for her.  I sleep and sleep, and hardly ever need to potty.

My only downfall is that once we arrive, I am immediately ready to go again!  I hop out of the car for a second, but hop right back in.  Poppa and Mommy both tried to coax me out of the car, but I really like riding.  Mommy finally had to put me on the leash and give me a tiny tug to coerce me to come out.

By the time the week was over, I was ready to go home.  I love being with Grandma and Poppa, but there's no place like home.  As soon as the car doors opened, I was in and ready.  I sat in the car for about thirty minutes while Mommy went back and forth loading up all of her stuff (I believe she even forgot about me for a while).   She loaded up the car the night before, so I had to be forced out again.  I really think it would have been nice to spend the night in the car, but Mommy thought differently.  As soon as I had a chance the next morning, I was in my seat and ready!

It's a LONG ride.  Mommy should really buy a plane ticket next time.  On second thought, maybe not . . . unless she buys one for me too!

Travel Companion for Hire (payment accepted in the form of treats or tennis balls),
Dixie

You Don't Have to Settle!

A good lesson for parents to teach their children is to never settle for less than the best!  This life lesson can be applied in so many ways: doing your best in school, making sure others respect you and treat you well, just generally being the best you can be!  Recently Jenna took this lesson to new lengths . . . literally!

Why settle for a tiny twig, when you can snatch a log off the firewood pile?

Jenna had a blast tearing into this "stick" and showing us she didn't need to settle!

Just don't tell our uncle the dentist about this one!  There's no telling what kind of damage Jenna is doing in that mouth of hers!

Bubble Mania

Our Mommy LOVES bubbles!!  Because she loves them, she believes we should love them too.  I'll admit, there are days when we do like to chase bubbles, but there are days when we could easily ignore them!  Mommy recently purchased a new bubble toy for us (her) to play with.  I guess we can't complain too much because she forced Daddy to play too and he's a grown man!  Mommy and Daddy had a blast playing with the bubbles; we gave it mixed reviews.  That part about Daddy is true.  He had more fun than Mommy.  I think that's because he was better at using the new contraption than she was!

As you can see, our parents had a bit more fun than we did!  Mommy did best with the small bubble wand, and Daddy wouldn't stop until he had perfected the giant bubble wand.  You have to admit, the giant bubbles are pretty cool!  We chased a few bubbles, ate a few bubbles, and watched a bunch go flying by!

Here's to more bubble fun for Mommy and Daddy!
Hunter

Three Dawg Walk

I think the thought of the impending school year caused Mommy to lose it this morning!  She was trying to take just me for a warm-up walk (that's what she calls it when she takes me around the block once; honestly, I can't handle much more than that in my old age).  My sisters had other thoughts.  When one of us is about to go for a walk, Mommy tries to corral the chosen one in the laundry room alone and leave the other two in the kitchen.  Dixie and Jenna just wouldn't cooperate this morning, at least not at the same time!  I tried to tell Mommy she should just send them to their crates, but she didn't listen.  (Those lucky dawgs have hardly been in their crates this summer except for bedtime.)    The excitement over the possibility of  a walk was growing, so Mommy threw caution to the wind and took ALL OF US!!!!   [gulp]

I must admit it went better than expected.  The only other time Mommy tried to take all of us was right after Jenna came to live with us.  It was one big tangled mess of leashes and legs (Mommy's included).  Apparently the key to a semi-successful walk with the three of us is different lengths on the leashes (and a pinch collar or two to keep the girls in line).  I started out strong and in the lead with Dixie a few feet behind and Jenna walking with Mommy.  Eventually our order changed as I started to slow down.  Mommy allowed Dixie to take the lead, followed by Jenna, and then me pulling up the rear.  Literally, by the time we got back I was walking behind Mommy!  I'm sure the neighbors thought Mommy was NUTS!  I did too, but I was polite and refrained from telling her.

In just the mile around the neighborhood and back, we had some interesting adventures.  Mommy dropped Jenna's leash twice and had to hop and skip to step on it and stop her.  Thankfully Jenna didn't realize her moments of freedom or she would have been all over.  At one point Dixie was feeling the power of being the lead dawg and kept turning around to nip and growl at Jenna.  Dixie and I had synchronized calls of nature which allowed Mommy to make one pick up.  I'm not sure if this was good or bad; it still ended up in a muddle of leashes.  We also somehow managed to wrap ourselves around a mailbox going in three different directions (is that even possible??).  Mommy says she takes the blame for that one; she should have seen it coming and taken us in the opposite direction.  

Once we returned, we were all worn out.  Actually, that's not true.  I think Jenna wanted to get even with Dixie for nipping at her, so Jenna decided to run hog wild around the yard chasing Dixie!  Then we were all worn out.  Sort of.  Mommy fed the three of us breakfast.  She was planning to help herself to a fairly old brown banana, but left it on the counter to keep Dixie from jumping in and eating my breakfast (yes, I even eat slow in my old age).  You know where this is going, right . . . which dawg is not accounted for in this part of the story . . . next thing you know, Mommy saw Jenna's head pop up over the counter and that banana was GONE, peel and ALL!!!!!  [GULP]  We literally heard Jenna make that noise!

Will she never learn??  (You can interpret that "she" however you wish!)  I know how Daddy will take it!

Until our next adventure,
Hunter

The Death Nail?

The title of this post has two meanings.  First, can you hear it?  The door to Summer 2014 is starting to creak as it swings shut and pretty soon the death nail will be in it.  Yes, technically, there is still another month and a half of summer on the calendar, but for Mommy that time is VERY quickly drawing to a close.  Can you hear Mommy?  She's whining in the background as I type this!  She might start crying soon . . . I think she's already hoping for a few snow days!

The other meaning of this post is the potential fate of my dewclaw.  Last Sunday I somehow caught that same paw in the door to the laundry room and was in serious pain for a long while (maybe a few seconds).  My dewclaw was bleeding a bit and Mommy panicked.  She wrapped it up and brought out the cone so I wouldn't touch it.  I am NOT a fan of the cone!  In addition to having to wear the cone, Mommy placed me in my crate!  She then left town for three days!  I thought she was a kind and caring Mommy.  I was wrong.  

Dixie thought she should grab hold of the cone and try to play with it . . . not a good idea!

To try to make me feel better, she and I shared a Diet Coke long distance while she was gone.  FYI Mommy: your efforts did NOT make me feel better!  Thank goodness Daddy was here to love on me.  

I had to go to the vet Thursday to have my dewclaw looked at again.  It hasn't totally healed, but it's doing okay. I can officially run around like a maniac without returning with a limp, but I still don't want anyone messing with it!  That includes Mommy, Daddy, and the many people at the vet's office who feel the need to get up close and personal with my nail!  I had it glued again and so far the outcome looks positive. 

The new vet said Mommy should bring me by for a happy visit sometime.  I was pretty depressed on the way over there knowing that a bit of pain was in my future.  Not only did they check my nail situation, but they took my temperature you know where, emptied my anal glands, and stuck me about four times for vaccinations!  AAGH!!!!!!!  It was a miserable time, but I was a good girl.  They gave me a few treats for my trouble. They also gave me a "plum bum" (their words, not mine).  When they finished with my hiney, they sprayed a deodorizer down there that smells like plums.  Lucky me.

I guess until my dewclaw fully mends, I'll just take it easy and rest up.  Mommy says it's good to keep injuries elevated.  Does that count for nail trouble too?

Gotta go nail down our final weeks of summer!  (Get it??)

Jenna