My pal, Smokey Cat...

Today Mom decided to harness Smokey cat up and take him outside with me. She had a great little Lupine harness for him so she fitted it for him and put it on him. Of course, he flipped and flopped and rolled all around. While she was letting him get used to it, she went to play on the computer for a bit.
I was following Smokey as he stumbled thru the house. Frankly, he looked quite drunk!!! He did manage to jump over the baby gate into the bedroom, so I sat at the door and watched him. After a few minutes he started looking VERY unhappy. He was really rolling around trying to get the harness off, so I barked an alert to Mom. Being a good Mom, (actually, she was feeling guilty for NOT watching him herself), she went into the bedroom and got him. He was trying to bite her, but couldn't for some reason.
Mom looked and the poor kitty had his lower jaw right thru the neck part of the harness. Mom immediately took it off and he was sooo happy he rubbed and purred all over her AND me!!
Now Mom says we will forget taking Smokey Cat out for a bit of fresh air!!! He can sit in the open window and breathe deeply!
Gee, I was looking forward to playing outside with him!

It's not the cold...

Today I made an interesting discovery... it isn't the cold that makes me and Barney want to stay in the house. It is actually that nasty wet snow!! Today we went down to the lab pen and both Barney and I ran and ran and ran. There is almost NO snow down there now, so it is MUCH nicer for us.
But... it was very, very cold. The temperature was only about 28 degrees and the wind was whipping around like crazy. Me and Barney didn't even care cuz we were DRY. Dry equals WARM, or at least comfortable. Mom was surprised at how much we ran.
In fact, I ran so much that tonight my poor hipless leg was all sore and ouchie so Mom had to give me some of my medicine. I haven't had any of that since way, way last Fall. Fortunately, it still works!!!

Summer??????

Wow, it is really HOT outside! The temperature is 60 BUT, there is a HUGE wind blowing. Right now we are out in the warm sun and the house is blocking that wind.
Mom took me and Barney over to work today. I knew she would cuz she took those photos of us yesterday and our faces were all hairy. Mine was sooo bad that she didn't even use it, Barney got his but it's UGLY! Soo, we got a shave and a nice bath. Mom tried to take some photos of me while I was still at work but I don't do that there! I was just pouting on the table with my ears down and my eyes closed. Finally, she gave up and took us home. She mumbled something about trying tonight after work...we'll see about that!
Would you believe that more than half of all the snow left already today? I know where it is though... it all melted and is sitting in a big POND right outside our front door. In order to go in or out of our house you have to swim thru it. Some years Mom puts some big boards out there but it is so deep today that the boards would just float away. I suspect it will all freeze up tonight and we will have a HUGE skating rink tomorrow morning.
Mom is bumming. Every year at this time they have a HUGE Rabies clinic here to benefit our rescue cats and dogs. Well, they usually open the big daycare door so all the people can come in and out that way since there are usually about 300 of them. Every year it has been nice and warm and dry but it is tomorrow and it's supposed to only be 33 degrees and snowing and raining. That won't be very nice... everyone will FREEZE, especially Mom and the others who are sitting in front of that HUGE door writing the paperwork out. Even the vets get to walk around a bit but the writers have to keep sitting and writing.
HEY, I just realized I need a Rabies shot this year and I will have to go over there and freeze my buns off, too. Maybe the vet will come over to our house and give me mine????

Mom loves me the best....

As you know, my Mom has lots of dogs and she loves all of us, but... she loves me the best!! Here in her own words is why:
Oh Harvey, what can I say except that you are the most wonderful Chinese Crested I ever met!! You are so funny the way you play with Smokey cat, and especially the way you announce to me by barking constantly when it is bed time. You are truly my favorite and you make me laugh and laugh!

Happy St Patty's day, burp, oops!

Mom had a poor choice of props for my St. Patrick's Day photo this year. Anyone looking at it would think I liked to indulge in the bubbly stuff. NOT! It makes my nose tingle and then I sneeze.
In reality, my eyes looked like that in the photo she chose because the sun was really bright and it was very hot that day. I had been running around all over the place and finally had settled down to rest. Along comes Mom to take my photo, of course.
This afternoon I had lots of fun running in the lab pen. Finally, it was pretty warm down there and there was even some grass and weeds showing along the edges and under the trees. I guess Spring has finally sprung??

My suntan is coming back!!!

We were only outside for a little while on Sunday and again yesterday...maybe an hour total? Last night Mom kept looking at me and wondering why I looked different. Finally, she took a closer look when I was lying on the bed getting my eye meds and she noticed my face and my neck were all black again!!! She was amazed that it could happen so fast!!! For those who don't know what I am talking about... those of us with no hair have ugly, pink skin during the winter. Once it is exposed to the sun for a bit it turns a nice, dark gray/black color, except for the spots that are naturally white. Mom loves our dark skin, in fact she has threatened to get us a sun lamp (if there is still such a thing???)
Mom says now she is going to rush home on the next warm day and put me and Barney outside without our jammies on for a bit of sun. Poor Barney has itchy, oily skin from being under his jammies all winter. Not me, I have HEALTHY skin!!! I can't wait to go sun myself... I hope it gets warm enough today!!! She says our porch is completely protected from the wind and breezes and we will be toasty warm out there as long as the sun shines. She said when they were in college they used to lie out in the sun at this time of year between the big buildings so they could get an early tan. She said they put a plastic shower curtain with blankets on top of it right over the snow. Ahh, but she was young then, hehehe!

Haircut day..........

Sure enough, Mom took one look at those photos of me and Barney and off to work we went! Actually, Barney went with her first along with Ali. His hair really was longer than mine and he was very, very smelly!!! The good part of that was as soon as he was done Mom brought him home and took me back. Since she didn't have too many grooming dogs today she was able to do us fairly early.
After my shave and bath I got to hang out over at work all day! I stayed with Ali in an expen for a while and we went on a few breaks with Mom. FINALLY, when Sarah was done work and she and Julie had gone home Mom let me out to sit in the store. That is my favorite job, you know!
Because it was very warm outside today the furnace at work didn't come on very much. Since I just had a bath, I was FREEZING just sitting there. Mom was very nice and got her heavy fleece shirt to put over me. It was cozy warm so I napped a while before we came home.
Frankly, I was surprised that Mom didn't make me stay in the expen with Ali. Usually she does that cuz she says it's not fair if one of us has to be stuck in there while the other one is out. Not that I am complaining, you understand! I didn't tell Ali that Pollywog's mother came along and brought me and Mom some Valentine cupcakes. There were only enough for me and Mom anyway!
Of course, by the next time Mom gets photos of me and Barney our hair will have all grown out again. She always does that... sees a shaggy dog photo of us, gives us a haircut, then waits until it's all grown back in to take another photo of us. Strange, huh?

LONG time, no diary....

Wow, I just realized that Mom hasn't helped me write a diary in forever! I am not sure what the problem was... I certainly give her plenty of stuff to write about all the time!
Today we ran down to the lab pen for a bit. It was kind of late in the day and kind of dark cuz it was very cloudy. It was also a bit cool after the warmth of yesterday. At any rate, I did run right down the path and I cruised around the pen for a bit. Mom doesn't realize that Barney and I can't really race all out on top of the crust like the little ones do... if we crash thru we will get all cut and scraped on that ice cuz we have no hair to protect us. Sure, our jammies help a bit, but they don't cover our sensitive bellies and necks.
I am having some MAJOR problems with that cat Smokey. For some reason, he thinks it's his job to hug me all the time. Trouble is, he hugs with all four feet and he uses his nails!!! Last night Mom felt sorry for me so she trimmed off his nails again. The second she was done he was hugging me again only this time he BIT me cuz he couldn't scratch me!!! He also gets me in trouble with Mom cuz he pulls the towels off the rack in the bathroom and scrunches up the rugs. Mom blames it on me cuz I used to do that when I was a puppy long ago! She should know I've outgrown that habit, I stopped doing that at least a few weeks ago, hehehe!
The other day Mom did take me to work with her. She even let me sit in the work chair for most of the day. I am sooo good that I NEVER jump out of it and bark at people like Beanie does!! In fact, I think I should go more often. I probably will be going tomorrow cuz Mom took some photos of my face today and it is pretty shaggy... I have five week shadow instead of five o'clock shadow!!! Think that's bad??? Barney has 5 MONTH shadow, hehehe!

Spring is coming???

I do believe Spring is really coming!!! Mom took us down to the lab pen again today and, although it was cloudy, it was MUCH warmer. I do believe it must have even been above freezing. In honor of that warmth, I did run around a bit out there and Mom took photos of everything I did!!! She was testing out all her lenses cuz she is going to sell some but the test didn't go so well. First of all, it's not a good test cuz she would put on a lens, take a group of us out, and only use that lens for the whole time that group was out. Well, it is getting toward Spring (I am an optimist, like my Mom!) and it was really cloudy, but then it was sunny for the next group, then only slightly cloudy, then really dark, so the test didn't work because none of the lenses got the same exposure. Soo, she's gonna try again but she doesn't want to change lenses down in the field in case one of us jump on them and get them all snowy.
Anyway, back to me... I did really have a good time but my feet do get cold. In some of my photos you can even see they are all red from the cold, wet snow. BUT... not to worry, it's almost Spring and it will all be melting soon!!!!!

Wrong dog

Hey, Mom put Louie's diary on MY page!!! She has deleted it, but it won't go away. The deleting place says it's gone, but it's still showing up on MY page!!
Silly Mom, I am not recovering from anything at all.

Ooops, now it's gone! She deleted it last night and it was still there this morning, even after she refreshed the page FOUR times!!! Oh well.