Showing posts with label Flying Dutchman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flying Dutchman. Show all posts

June 16, 2015

Less-Wordy Wed.: Celebrating the Dog's Birthday!

Rita turned four on Tuesday. Well, we don't really know her exact birthday, but June 16th is the day we celebrate. Based on the age Baja Animal Sanctuary guessed at for her, we figured her birthday was around mid-June, and since 6/16 is her angel-cousin Lou's birthday, it seemed like a perfect day to pick for Rita.

Rita wanted a party with pony rides and a clown (to bark at) for her birthday but we decided on something a little more low-key.

We started the celebrations on Sunday night, when the whole unit went to In-N-Out burger and Rita got a Flying Dutchman! (Which is 2 burger patties with cheese. Yes, I know - so decadent, but she only gets one on her gotcha day in January and her bday in June.)

January 20, 2015

Lots to Celebrate! (Including Book News!)

There's a lotta stuff to celebrate today on PoochSmooches, so I hope you'll let me be a teensy bit wordy! (Don't you always??) :)

First of all, Jan. 21 is Rita's Gotcha Day! Three years ago we brought this crazy little pup home.

January 21, 2014

A Wordy T-shirt on Wordless Wednesday

Today I'm belatedly sharing one of my "surprise" Christmas presents. (And by "surprise" I mean: I ordered it, checked it out when it arrived, then pretended to forget about it until Xmas morning. But the hubs did wrap it. And by "wrap it" I mean: stick it in a gift bag. Lest you think that's laziness, no! It's just being green. Okay, and maybe a little lazy. We have these dog-themed gift bags that we've probably been using for a decade or more!)

Anyway, here it is!


June 16, 2013

The Dog's Not Spoiled . . . Much

Rita turned two on Sunday so we did lots of pigging out celebrating this weekend!

Of course, since we knew we'd be pigging out celebrating a lot, we started both days this week with looong walks. (After all, it's K9 Kamp and we gotta keep Rita in good shape!) Saturday we walked down by the coast for almost an hour and a half. Sunday we stayed in the 'hood and did some 'sploring.
A gorgeous day at the coast.

November 1, 2012

A Special Beach Day

Last Wednesday a handful of current/former Tripawd owners met up at Fiesta Island. In attendance, we had Linda & Bernie Bin Laden (siblings to Angel Max), Queen Nova's mom was there (unfortunately, being a Great Dane and all, it was not possible for Nova herself to fit in a carry-on and come along with Mom on her trip out from Michigan), Wookie (the lone Tripawd in attendance), and of course Rita (sister to Angel Abby).

It was a beautiful day - sunny and hot and the water was about as calm as I've ever seen it in the bay.
Linda, Rita & Bernie immediately head for the water.
Rita & Big Bear

September 1, 2012

Update on a Limping Puppy

I don't normally blog on the weekends, but we just got back from the vet, and I figured this was the easiest way to update everyone at once who loves little Senorita Rita. Don't worry - it's not scary news. But it does involve the words "bone disease."

As many of you know, Rita has been limping on off for about a month now. We'd been taking it easy on and off - skipping trips to the beach and foregoing our usual long walks - and then the limp would go away so we'd go back to normal.

This past Monday after a particularly crazed wrestling match at Fiesta Island, she started limping really badly. We took it easy all week (no walks on Tues or Wed, and only short trips around the block on Thur and Fri), and she seemed fine again. But then last night she was definitely limping again, seemingly for no reason. So, this morning we were off to the vet.

June 21, 2012

Best Birthday Evar!

I'm 1!
Hi everypawdy, it's me, Rita! I thought I would write today's blog and tell you about my pawesome best birthday ever. Oh wait, I'm only 1, so this was also my worst birthday ever.

My pawrents decided my bday is June 16, but they said we'd celebrate all weekend long. Well, the weekend didn't start out all that great cuz they were gone a REALLY long time on Friday night. And then when they came home late, they wanted to go to bed. I wanted to play! At least Daddy said I could sleep in the bed the whole night. :)

Let's get these things open, Momma!
On Saturday morning, I got to have a pancake! Then I got to open PRESENTS! I got an eel and a bag of yummy stuff.

You gotta go for the vulnerable parts first!









The eel is a little unwieldy (unweeldy?)...but I love him.
Then we went to Fiesta Island! I love it there. But it was embarrassing that day cuz my Momma brought her camera along and she was taking, like, tons of pictures. None of the other dogs' Mommas were taking pictures! She can be sooooo embarrassing.
I ran and played like crazy!


I was princess of the beach!

"HAPPY BDAY, RITA!" "Thanks. You don't have to shout."
I love to go in the water there!
This is why Momma calls me Bunny Rita...
...I hop when I run. I know, I'm cute!

After Fiesta Island, we went to visit my cousin, Nick, and Tee who took all the pretty pictures of me, and their dog, Lucy. We got treats. Whoohoo!
Ohhh, yeah. Keep 'em comin'!
Finally, the ... wait ... {Momma, what's that phrase again?? "Pièce de résistance." Um... okay.} So, finally, the peas - they resist ants was when we went to In-N-Out on Sunday night and I got to have a Flying Dutchman!
I am transfixed by the power of the burger!
It was a totally pawesome birthday - except for that home alone all Friday night stuff! There's room for improvement next year. Oh, one more thing...
Thanks angel sister Abby for fixin' it so I could come here!


Final News from K9 Kamp
Momma and I had a lot of fun doing K9 Kamp together. And... not only that... we won stuff!

First there were the awards. Whoo-hoo, we got Kamper Awards!


Yep, beach babe -- that's me. (Momma says that is just like my angel sister Abby.) And the gopher wrestling award was a brand new special award - just for us!

And then there was also the swag that we won!!!
  • Fugly Friends Stuffingless Dog Toy; I can't wait to get my lips on this!!
     
  • A whole set of paw-made, mixed fabric Squeaky Bone dog bone toys from Lars and Flint
 
  • AND a $20 Gift Certificates to Dogwise.com, courtesy of Pooch to 5k
     

Can you believe all that pawesome stuff?! I think I won cuz they knew it was my birthday. Momma says it was random - but I'm pretty sure she's wrong. I will do another post when I get all my swag. My tail is swagging with joy!! Thanks Kol's Notes and Peggy's Pet Place and all the swag sponsors!! You guys are totally pawesome!

February 15, 2012

A Very Busy Girl!

Bunny Rita's been a very busy girl the past few days. This might be a long one because I've been taking TONS of pictures of her.

I Love Lucy
First of all, Rita met Lucy, my nephew and his girlfriend's dog. I think that makes Lucy & Rita cousins once removed. Although these two are more like never-to-be-removed cousins. Rita is probably a month or 2 older than Lucy, and they played hard for three hours straight. Most of my pictures from them playing outside look like this:
A blur or puppies
Action shot!










They seemed to enjoy this...
Inside, they played a "Queen of the Bed" game that went on and on. 
Great-white-shark teeth!
A rare moment of rest

Rita definitely LOVED Lucy and looked very sad when they left. Then she crashed!

Bunny Meets Bernie
You might remember Bernie, aka Bernie bin Laden, from this video I posted of him back in January.Well, Bernie wanted to come down from his home in Orange County to meet Bunny Rita, so the roads were cleared, and the appropriate authorities were warned, and we signed Rita up for insurance (our first time having pup insurance, btw), and the two of them met at Fiesta Island on Monday, along with Linda, Bernie's older and wiser sister.

No, don't follow Bernie! That way lies nuthin' but trouble!
Linda es muy linda.
They were actually pretty tame, I think because Rita was still hung over from her play marathon with Lucy the night before.
A very dirty Rita
Afterwards we went to In-N-Out, which was obviously a huge hit.
"Nom, nom, nom"



"Are there any more Flying Dutchmen?"
Bernie decided to give Mike the kisses he's been missing since Rita is stingy with them.



Then Bernie decided his dad might be jealous, so gave him a bunch too. Below, John demonstrates the appropriate way to receive Bernie's kisses: lips and eyes all clamped tight shut. The only problem is that Bernie then kisses your nose, sealing off your access to oxygen, so that you are forced to open your mouth. But you really don't want to do that, so it's best to just hold your breath til you pass out.


Bernie also decided I needed my makeup washed off - but I have no pictures of that (which is probably a good thing).

Bunny Rita's Special Valentine
Rita also received not one, but TWO special Valentine's from her long distance boyfriend, Rocket. First of all, he sent her a Valentine's care package that included a Monkeydog helmet, a stuffed pink monkey, and some chocolates for Rita's mama. (Which Rita's mama did not share with Rita's daddy...)

If you missed it I explained about MonkeyButts (aka Monkeydogs) here, but basically they are quadpawds who stir up friendly trouble on Tripawds.com to keep the smiles coming on a site that can sometimes be filled with sad news. The Monkeybutts' leader, Rocket (a.k.a. the "MonkeyButt-Bunny Vampire Pirate") has a little crush on MBBunny Rita, so he sent her a helmet. She is ready for battle with those silly Tripawds!

The other special Valentine he sent her was this special video viewable here, which cracks me up every time I watch it. My Rita es muy bonita! Y Rocket es muy macho!


Hope you all had a good Valentine's Day, whether your Valentine is two-, three-, or four-legged (or web-footed or talon-ed or whatever. I don't judge.)!

January 29, 2012

Celebrating a Missed Ampuversary

Today would have been Abby's 15 Month Ampuversary. It makes us sad, as this is the first one since she passed, but luckily we have our funny little Bunny to help us turn the day into a celebration.

What would an ampuversary be without a trip to Fiesta Island? This is her second visit there. When we went last week, she barely got her toes wet, but today she was in there a lot. It looks like she might turn into a swimmer some day - which would have to be the shepherd in her, because I never knew a beagle that swam!

And what else would you eat on an ampuversary besides a Flying Dutchman??
Her first (that we know of...) Flying Dutchman!

It was a hit!

You got a little somethin' on yer nose there... (it's cheese!)

Pretty sure BunnyRita will be getting a Dutchman at least once a month in Abby's honor. She's a very lucky girl.


All this fun can be exhausting!
And, yes, for those of you who have been to my house, she is sleeping on the "good" pillows on the "good" couch - something even our oh-so-beloved Abby didn't get to do! Not sure what Angel Abby thinks, looking down on that!

Happy Ampuversary to our Angel Ab, and thanks to Bunny Rita for making us smile so much today!

January 11, 2012

A Fiesta Island "Tribute to Abby" Day

If you'd told me I'd go back to Fiesta Island the day after losing our girl, I'd have said you were crazy. But that's what I did today. And I'm so glad I went.

You might remember that one week ago, I posted that we planned to meet up with some Tripawds folks, including the famous Tripawd's Spokesdog Wyatt and the feared-across-three-states (or is it more?) Bernie bin Laden. Even though none of those folks live in San Diego, they still wanted to drive down today to have a Tribute to Abby day at Abby's favorite place, Fiesta Island. They said they would totally understand if I didn't go, but I knew that Abby would want me to. If I didn't go, she would say, "Are you kidding? Miss a day at THE BEACH?" She would have said, "You're nutty, Mama. Go!" So I went.

It was really hard at first - especially turning onto the island without Abby in the backseat. She would always get so excited as soon as we got off the freeway. While we drove around the island, she'd stand in the backseat and hang her head out the window. She could barely contain herself until we'd park and I'd let her out.

But it got better once I got there and met everyone - especially the crazy pups! I took over 100 photos and had a hard time winnowing them down for this post, but here goes:
This is Wyatt Ray - how handsome is he??
This wily ball of craziness is, of course, Bernie bin Laden
...he does sometimes stand still.
This is the aptly named Linda, Bernie's sister
Um, this is also Linda
She can hold her own with the boys.
The boys started a tug-o-war that went on...
...and on...
...and on...


And then Wyatt went for his first ever swim!!

Oh,...and then back on...
...and on...
...and on...

...until talk of burgers broke up the war.

Don't worry - the dogs all got theirs too. (Ab would have LOVED this part...)
And no limbs were lost...
...or even fingers.
Tribute to Abby day was a huge success!

When I came home this afternoon, I downloaded the pictures from today. Then I got side-tracked looking through some of the last photos I took of Abby. All of a sudden, I looked up and saw this:
That is Abby's color! Tripawd-Warrior-Princess-pink. I'm pretty sure she wanted to let us know that she got there okay, and that she is painting the town pink! I'm hoping she met the Original Tripawd, Spirit Jerry, there shortly after arrival. We made a felted wool version of him for his pawrents.

Jerry and Abby would make a cute couple.


I'm sure she is flirting with all the boys up there.

As first days go without a beloved furry family member, it was actually pretty darn good. I laughed more than I cried - and who would have thought that? Certainly not me.

Thank you to everyone! All our family & friends & all the folks at Tripawds for the love and support. It really does mean a lot to know so many other people loved her too and were touched by her.