June 29, 2014

10 New Vocabulary Words for Dog Lovers

For Monday Mischief today, I'm being mischievous myself and stealing an idea from Pamela at Something Wagging This Way Comes. Er... not stealing- just paying homage while adding on to the vocabulary words she posted that only dog people know.

Her post inspired me to share some vocabulary words the dog people in my family use.

Vulturing: (Pamela also listed this word, so we'll start here; only she had a slightly different definition.) Verb; the stooped shoulders and glaring stance the dog assumes when you are in the kitchen and NOT filling her dinner bowl.

June 26, 2014

#FuelTheCure Blog Hop, Contest and Fundraiser

When we heard our buddy Oz the Terrier was hosting a #FuelTheCure fundraiser to help raise money to fight pet cancer, we had to join in!
Oz is hosting along with Zuke’s (Rita loves Zuke's treats!) to help raise money for the Dog and Cat Cancer Fund. The fund: works with vets to help families in need get cancer treatment for their pets, offers research grants to scientists, and promotes prevention by raising awareness and encouraging early testing for canine and feline cancer.

June 24, 2014

Wordless Wednesday: Caption These Cute Rescue Pups

I've been editing editing editing book #3 and am brain dead (and still 90 pages to go... ugh), so I'm going to be mostly wordless today. Shocking, right?

I took these pics of these cute pups playing at Helen Woodward, the shelter where I volunteer. The little one is Ricky, the big one is Gus. They have a great time together!

Since I'm brain dead, I can't even come up with captions, so I'm leaving that to you! Take it away... Pick a pic and hit me with your cute, funny, endearing, or clever caption! (Or if you're brain dead too, just comment on how cute these pups are!)

Pic 1: Ricky appears to be telling Gus what's what:

June 22, 2014

I Don't Wanna Walk! (And a Winner!)

Rita can be so weird sometimes. 

Like, today, it started with making waffles for breakfast, and she wouldn't take the bite I offered her. (She's super picky. What a nut.) 

Then I attempted to take her for a walk, and she insisted on dragging me back home after only 5 minutes. This from a girl who normally LOVES her walks.
Rita in her usual walk-loving-mode

June 20, 2014

Follow Up Friday: Fair is Fair...

I haven't done a Follow-up Friday post in a while, but there's "Fair is fair" news to catch up on, starting with our entries for this year's "Fab Fair"-themed county fair

Unfortunately, our fair visit this year was a mix of good news/bad news, so overall it was just, eh, fair.

If we're friends on Facebook, you already know that instead of doing the Dance of Joy, we were doing the Trudge of Dejection around the exhibition hall... 

So, let's start with the bad news... We really had high hopes for another blue ribbon this year, but it wasn't to be. 

We got 3rd place in the Needle Felting division for our Meet the Beagles:
Third place?! But look at ALL that ADORABLENESS?!

June 17, 2014

Can You Find Happiness at the Drive-Thru?

Rita is not a super smiley dog. Mostly she just sits with her mouth shut and observes, so when she looks smiley I love it!

Monday was Rita's 3rd birthday so to celebrate we went to the In-N-Out drive-thru and got her a Flying Dutchman. This made Rita HAPPY.

June 15, 2014

No Monday Mischief Here - Just a Birthday Giveaway!

Monday is Rita's third birthday (Whoohoo! **blows noisemaker**), which is a Super Big Deal since our sweet angel Abby never even made it to 3. (Poor Ab.) So, to celebrate - we did lots of fun things on Sunday, and we are having a giveaway today!

We celebrated on Sunday since The Daddy has to work on Rita's actual birthday. (Actually... we have no idea when her birthday is. But the rescue guessed her birthday was somewhere in June. We were going to pick the mid-point, but that's my brother-in-law's bday, so we picked the 16th - which is her angel-cousin Lou's birthday, so a pretty special day!)


We went for a lovely walk. (I confess, this pick is from Saturday, but we did almost the exact same walk on Sunday...)
A lovely day for a walk!

June 12, 2014

See Beautiful: Orange You Glad It's Summer?

Okay... technically it's not summer until the 21st, but most schools are out and the weather's heating up, plus isn't Memorial Day weekend the unofficial start to summer? So, close enough!

Now that that's out of the way... I have to confess... I don't really like summer all that much. Since we live in the Land of Lovely Winters, I prefer every other season over summer, when it can get too hot for nice long walks/hikes with the pup. Neither Rita nor I like to get overheated, so... we just try to get through summer. Plus, since the hubs and I don't have kids, we always go on vacations in the spring or fall when it's quieter, so it's usually a long, hot wait for vacation!

But... I wanted to do an "orange you glad it's summer" post because of this, the scene on our front porch recently.

June 10, 2014

Animal Mummies - A Fascinating Exhibit

Recently a quorum of my sisters (a bunch were there but not all... I have many) and I went to see the Soulful Animals: Animal Mummies in Ancient Egypt exhibit at the Bowers Museum in Orange County, CA. It was fascinating! I wanted to share some of the history and some pics I took at the exhibit. (Pics were allowed as long as you didn't use a flash.)

The exhibit was based on some of the millions of animal mummies found at 31 cemeteries throughout Egypt. 
Shrew mummy

June 3, 2014

How To Needle Felt a Dog: There Will Be Blood

If you've been following the blog, you know my sister and I entered some needle felted dogs in the county fair last year (and won 2 blue ribbons!) and we've entered some this year as well. Some folks mentioned they'd like to know how to felt their own dogs... so here goes:

How To Needle Felt a Dog

Subtitled: There Will Be Blood. (Yes, you will stab yourself, at least the first 1 or 2 times you try felting.)

Wee Background
I come from a family of crafty folks. When my sis and I first saw Domenica More Gordon's dogs on TV, we knew we had to find out how she made those adorable dogs. (...since we couldn't afford the £500+ price tag!) That's how we discovered "needle felting." 

Since our dogs are not as fine-tuned as Domenica's, we like to call them "caricatures" and we've custom made many pups over the last couple of years. 
My sister's Husky-mix and my bro's angel Golden

June 1, 2014

Monday Mischief: My Momma Experimented on Me!

Rita here. Sit back, get your popcorn, and lock the doors, cuz I have a scary story to tell!

The other day, Momma insisted on brushing me 50-strokes. I don't like being brushed very much, so that was not super fun but I tolerated it. 

Then we went for a long walk, and I looked like this after: