The hubs took a day off in December, and we took Rita for a hike. Afterwards for a treat, we went to lunch at a local small chain called Bite of Boston for lobster rolls. (We had one of those Groupon type coupons, so they were not only delicious, they were a deal! I love a bargain!) We decided to share a bite with Rita...
I was going to save this for (mostly) Wordless Wednesday, but I figured many of you (including me!) won't be online (much) tomorrow, so here's our early Wordless Wed. Christmas greeting!
Last week, I decorated our tree. Usually it's just a hodgepodge of ornaments collected over the years, but this year I decided I wanted to have a "dogs at the beach" themed tree, so I ordered some sand dollar ornaments and starfish, and I made some ornaments using shells. Then I decorated the tree with blue/turquoise ornaments, dog ornaments and all the shells. I thought it came out very cute and couldn't stop looking at it. Rita, on the other paw, was interested in it for other reasons... cuz it smelled like the beach.
Okay folks... We've got some SERIOUS mischief on the blog here today... We've been taken over by CATS!! I've had to restrain Rita (and it's not unlike when the gardener's here...). But because Rita has a love of cat toys...
Rita almost succeeds in eating my sis's cat's toy.
... and tuna treats, she agreed to allow the cats to take over for the day. So, please welcome Jane & Bingley, who own my fabulous writer pal, Laura Chapman. Laura just launched her first novel (**throws confetti**) and Jane & Bingley are here to take a lot of credit for that tell how they helped!
This is our first time finally remembering to join the See Beautiful blog hop, hosted by Sugar the Golden Retriever. I love the idea of this hop, but I just kept forgetting to join. Well, I finally remembered! We always try to see beautiful, especially when we are out on our walks together. We see it in the grand vistas... (This is a view from one spot on our walks. The air was so clear the other day, you could see the islands in Mexico).
A few weeks ago, I posted some photos of Rita doing her acrobatic jumping when the gardeners show up. Remember these? (Apologies in advance for the quality of these pics and videos... we always hide out in the dark when the gardener comes. I don't know why, but I have it in my head that she'll be calmer in the dark. Which doesn't seem to be the case...and yet I persist.)
Rita and I were contacted by Clear Conscience Pet and offered a chance to try some of their yummy treats, so today we are joining the Tasty Tuesday blog hop!
I've said here before that we always read the labels on treats/food we buy for Rita and never buy things from China, so we were happy to hear that Clear Conscience Pet offers USA made and sourced treats. (Note that you have to be even more careful these days! Some treats will say they are "Made in the USA" - but they might be made with ingredients sourced from outside the US.) All their treats are made using free-range, grass-fed, or organically raised sources. They are also grain-free, gluten-free, and very low in carbs.
I was sitting out in the backyard this weekend with my book. (Sorry... a little mischief there... I know many of you could not sit out in your backyards at the moment for more than about 2 minutes without freezing...). Anyway, I hadn't started reading yet, and just had the book in my lap. Rita came over and kept shoving the cover open with her nose. She's never done that with a book before, so she must have thought it looked (or smelled) good!
Rita hates our gardener. Probably most dogs do. I mean, how often do strangers just wander into your yard, armed with sharp objects and loud machines?
I try to keep her calm, by closing her up in our bedroom and drawing the
blinds. Unfortunately, we have these vertical blinds where all she has
to do is shove them aside to see the intruders. Our usually fairly calm
girl turns into the Tasmanian Devil: (sorry about the picture quality, but it was dark and I was just using my phone. And she was a moving target!)
Today, while out on our long Sunday walk, a car with a vanity plate went by, so I asked the hubs to ponder what the 3 of us would distill our essences down to in 7 characters or less. With some collaboration, here's what we came up with for the 3 of us:
I've posted before about how Rita loves to flop down in cool grass on a walk.
Well, a neighbor
planted some crazy tall grass, and Rita was only too happy to disappear
into it this weekend on our walk when it was still kinda hot here.
Recently I posted about Rita being a Sheagle - she's half beagle, half shepherd (at least, as far as we know). But maybe she's got some springer spaniel in her too. Or sproinger spaniel.
She doesn't look like she'd have a lot of vertical (after all, she only measures about 20 inches tall)...
Today on Mirth Watch Thursday I'm blogging about unique breeds. Rita is a marvelous mystery mutt... or is she a unique breed? That's right... I give you, the sheagle!
I'm busy busy busy getting down to the wire on the upcoming Monday launch of Rescue Me, Maybe, so I'm going to try to keep this Follow Up Friday post short(ish).
Yes, it's Follow Up Friday - time to answer those burning questions and follow up on the news.