October 30, 2012

Wordless Wednesday: Agility & Jerky

Last Wednesday, when I posted the "in the trenches" shot of Rita in our torn up backyard, commenter Pamela (check out her Something Wagging This Way Comes blog for great info and insights on life with pups) suggested we should think of it as our own agility course. Well, this week we decided to turn it into an even more challenging agility course:
Rita in action on the course!

October 29, 2012

Monday Mischief: Frosty Mayhem

If you saw my post on Friday, you know we are having a Frosty Paws giveaway (enter and win some Frosty Paws for your pup!). You also remember I put all the stuffed Frosty dogs in the guest bedroom for their safety and comfort. I shut the door behind me, and figured they'd be in there resting and getting ready for their voyages to their new homes.

Well, later that night I was soaking in the tub with a book, and the hubs hears Rita in the back of the house romping around a little too happily. He goes to investigate and finds this:
Look how they're all trying to shield their eyes. Oh, the humanity!

October 26, 2012

Frosty Paws Giveaway!

October (which is quickly getting away from us) is Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month. In order to help celebrate this very special month, the folks at Frosty Paws sent me TEN prize packs to give away! The prize packs include a Frosty plush toy (for humans, not for dogs) and two coupons for free boxes of Frosty Paws (for dogs, not humans - although they do look pretty tasty). They come 4 to a box, so that's 8 Frosty Paws for your pup to enjoy! (But not all in one sitting.) Or, if you have a sharing kind of pup, he or she could have an ice cream Frosty Paw social and invite all his/her pals over!

See all the giveaway details below.

"This box is practically as big as me!"

October 24, 2012

Wordless Wednesday: In The Trenches

...or, in this case, hopefully not in the trenches. The yard project continues and things are at the point where they continue to look worse each day.
Rita wondering where her yard went. (Nice clouds reflected in the window.)

We are hoping we'll soon be at a point where things will start looking better - but that might still be weeks away!

In Other News
  1. As I'm writing this, Rita and I just got back from a fun outing with some other current/former Tripawd owners. We had a lovely time at Fiesta Island. I'll do a full on post with pics soon. 
  2. I've been waiting to receive a fun package in the mail, which should also be fun for some of the blog readers. Someone is sending me something to share with y'all, so stay tuned for that. 
  3. I got another really great review for What the Dog Ate the other day that you can check out here, on a super fun & funny blog called Chronicles of Cardigan. Check out some of her other fun posts while you are there and the pics of her gorgeous Corgis and cats. 


October 19, 2012

Sometimes I Wish Rita Spoke English!

At least once a week, Rita takes part in this scenario at the beach: A big dog runs up to play, but maybe is a bit too dominant or rough, so Rita gets scared and squeals like the drama queen that she is, when all the big dog wanted to do was play. Invariably, she will later run up and do the exact same thing to a smaller dog. She just wants to play, but she gets so excited that she bops the little dog or chases it too fast, and the next thing you know, she's scared the life out of it and it's telling her off.

Rita flees the big dogs. "Hey! Come back! You said you'd skinny-dip with us!"

October 17, 2012

Somewhat Wordy Wednesday: Rubble

Today's word on Somewhat Wordless Wednesday is: rubble. Remember those (ugly) stone steps I just photographed Rita on the other day? Well, now they look like this:

October 15, 2012

Monday Mischief: No Ordinary Rabbit

We are getting ready to have some work done in our backyard, so the other day I was gathering up all the small little animal sculptures that inhabit our yard that I wanted to keep out of harm's way.

Well, moving them all into a pile brought a certain one of them to Rita's attention: the evil bunny.

"What is this thing??"

This little stone bunny has been in our yard the entire time she has lived with us. In fact, she walks past it on her way out the back door several times a day. But she only noticed it once I moved it.

October 12, 2012

Authors Playing Tag: The Next Big Thing

Last week, Peggy Frezon of Peggy's Pet Place (you remember, Peggy, right - from the Dieting With My Dog book giveaway?) tagged me for a blog feature entitled "The Next Big Thing." This weekly feature, where each author passes the torch on to five others for the following week, is about "The Next Big Thing" that writers are working on, with each author answering the same set of questions. As Peggy said, "What a great way to learn more about an author and discover some new reads." So at the end of my post, I'll tag five writers, so be sure to check them out next week. Thanks again to Peggy for tagging me! 

My next book is definitely a "big thing," to me, because it's been with me, "hounding" me as it were (yes, it's another doggy-related book), for so long now. So, here goes:

October 10, 2012

Wordless Wednesday: Fall!

I love the fall - this is one time of year that I miss our east coast days. The fall was so great there! But, we really do have fall in San Diego. It's just that we have it in very small amounts. Sometimes you have to look pretty hard for it, but we have a nice little bit of it here on our street:
The neighbor's liquid amber trees. So pretty!

October 8, 2012

Monday Mischief: The Coyote in the "Window"

Sometimes on Sunday mornings, we like to watch CBS Sunday Morning while we sip our coffees and read the paper. And sometimes the segments are boring (which is why we read the paper while we watch). But there's one segment we always enjoy (and even stop reading the paper to watch): the "Moment in Nature" at the end.

As soon as good ol' Charles Osgood said yesterday morning that they were going to "leave us" with some coyotes in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park, I knew Rita would come over to watch, so I grabbed my iPad to record it.


October 4, 2012

Strange Bedfellows

Sleeping with the Furry Kids
I got an email from my sister this morning, saying that her back was hurting, from her bed and "from having a dog invade my space. She is so twitchy in her sleep that I'm practically on the edge of the bed trying to keep away from her. What's wrong with this picture?"   

It got me thinking about this picture that I'd seen all over Facebook lately:
"Sleeping with Pets: Expectations vs. Reality"
[Photo from: http://9laughs.com/sleeping-with-pets-expectations-vs-reality/]


I think those of us who let our dogs sleep in the bed start out thinking, "Won't this be nice!? Won't it be cozy!" But the reality is usually anything but.

October 1, 2012

Monday Mischief: Not So Much

Poor Rita! Her Pop had meniscus surgery on both knees on Thursday, so she has not been getting her usual amount of attention. She's been a very good girl through it all, although not shy about letting us know how bored she is. (A lotta heavy sighing going on around here!)

We gave her a bone to try to keep her entertained this afternoon. You can see how put-out she is. (Those are the hubby's knees strapped up to his super-duper ice machine in the foreground.)
"Most boring weekend, evar!"