Who Gets A Steak? [10.31.09]

Did I hear that correctly? Someone is winning the steak? No, really? After all these years, someone has actually won a steak? And that someone is Tiny Elvis? Are you kidding me?

Big Daddy has been saying since 1996 when Big Daddy lost his keys in the courtyard, "If you find my keys, I will give you a whole steak." Sometimes it's not his keys that he lost but a different job he wants us to do.

Sometimes he asks us to kill the moles in the yard or the mice in the closet or the [gulp...] rat in the basement. I really want to help since I am a terrier of sorts, but it's so hard. There's just not enough hours in the day to get my beauty sleep, run around or take a walk, & then go stalk critters for the killing. Plus, if we leave them alone long enough, Big Daddy will get the job done eventually all by himself. He's good like that.

I'm sure my ancestors would be ashamed of my overwhelmingly domestic attitude, but so be it. I would love to have a steak on the otherhand. I should have found his keys in the courtyard that dark night so many moons ago. That would have been easier since they made us stay out there with them while they searched themselves. Oh, well, no use drooling over dropped doughnuts. That's what Big Mama always says.

Calm Down, Drizzle! [10.26.09]

Drizzle Izzle to the Fizzle is getting on my nerves. She will jump. She will hump. She will tear my house down!

That's an exaggeration on tearing down the house. She's calm enough & small enough not to do damage to the house, but my nerves are a different story. Big Mama says it's not her fault since she has all these hormones going crazy in her little body. Not only can she have babies, but she is CRAZY in heat! That sounds like it should be a David Lee Roth album, by the way. Or maybe that would be Crazy from the Heat. Was he still with Van Halen then? Bygones...

Drizzle is supposed to get spayed tomorrow. Thank goodness for Nashville Humane Association's low cost spay & neuter program. Big Mama laughs & says she's made of money, money, money all the time when the kibble bin is low, so I know they can afford to go elsewhere for the spay & neuter, but they keep going to NHA. Maybe she's just joking when she says she's made of money. That's something to think about, probably why she's laughing when she says it. Either that or she really has gone crazy & it's not over Krystal's.

Now that's something else to worry about...my Big Mama is crazy. When we get nuts, she calls a trainer to come & help her to help us. I wonder if there are trainers out there that can help her?

Time at Big Daddy's Feet [10.7.09]

Big Daddy is my special man. I love Big Mama, too, but she's not a man & she's not as special as my Big Daddy. You see, he came to rescue me from a high-kill shelter a few years ago. Something about the person who pulls you out of that kennel... If you've ever been there, you'll know what I mean. There's a bond that never goes away.

Last night instead of lying in my typical spot behind the recliner or on Auntie Sandi's chair, I decided to sit next to the sofa where Big Daddy was sitting. He's extra gentle, making sure he doesn't step on me when he moves his feet around or stands up. Big Mama is clumsy but she means well. She would lean over to give me some good rubbin' up & down my back & then my tickle spot on my belly. I liked that a lot.

Sometimes it's nice to break out of the box, hang out in a different spot, just to break up the day of getting to be me, Romi Marie.

Who You Kissing, Hoppy Puppy?

Last weekend Big Daddy surprised all of us by going out with Big Mama then coming home with Big Mama AND a puppy. I personally rely on him to keep Big Mama in line, and this time he's let me down.

I'd be an ogre if I didn't admit the new camper is cute. Oh, not cute in the same way that I'm cute. He has a bald spot on his face that looks like a third eye it's so big. But he's cute in a floppy, hoppy, perky, spunky way.

Cuteness doesn't equal me not growling at him when he gets too close, but he did catch me unaware and sneak in a kiss. I didn't bite him because he got away from me too quickly, but I did warn him no more funny stuff, little mister. I am not a cougar and I'm not your friend. At least not yet. Maybe after he's been here a few weeks and gets rid of the funk on his tail & foot, maybe then we'll be pals. A girl has to have her standards, I've always thought, but on second thought, maybe he needs me to be his friend. I'll sleep on that one & think about it.

Life Without Big Mama, the 4-Legged One

Whoa is me, Big Mama is gone. I cannot believe she went & got adopted on me. We were so close, so tight, we were BFFs, dagnabbit, and now she's gone, gone, gone.

I met her new mommy when she came to pick up Big Mama. She was real nice & promised to take care of her. More importantly, she said when they come to a Titans football game, they'll drop off Big Mama for a play date. I sighed a big sigh of relief, but still there was some angst mixed into my sigh. It was like a sigh cocktail, sweet & sour mix, a hug with a knife behind your back...wait, that's another sentiment not applicable to my relationship with Big Mama. She's my friend, and I miss her.

Her mommy painted her pawnails pink to match her new pink John Deer collar. I bet she's awful cute all dolled up. I can't wait to see her again. Maybe they'll come to the game this weekend. I'll look forward to it & hope they do! I love you, Big Mama.

Who Can Service Clippers & Sharpen Scissors?

You probably hate me because I'm so darn cute. It's okay. I am pretty cute. After I was rescued from animal control by Big Daddy, he was quite offended that no one gave Shylee Sweet a second look if I was walking beside her. I know it's because she's a black dog & for some reason people don't like them or adopt them as much as other colors, plus I look like something straight out of Fraggle Rock. Big Daddy calls me Fraggle Rock sometimes. Big Mama calls me her muppet. You get the picture.

This coat is hard to keep pretty, I have to admit. Currently, I need a good grooming, but Big Mama can't get her clippers to work. The past 3 times she's groomed me, she's cut my hair the old fashioned way: scissors over fingers. It takes forever & her knuckles end up bleeding, but it does the trick. Now her scissors are dull. Where the heck do you take scissors to be sharpened? And, while you're giving me good info, do you know who can give our clippers a cleaning & sharpening?

Thanks! My lovely locks aren't looking so lovely & Big Mama needs this information!

I Know It's Strange, but...

...can I please have another bath? Yes, I know, these words do not come out of my sweet little snout often, but I really would like a bath. If I leave a note for Big Daddy like Big Mama does, do you think he would give me one? I doubt it, but I might try it anyway if I can get Shylee Sweet to help me hold the pen. She's OCD enough that she would not falter if I can get her focused on the job at hand, no pun intended.

I'm a better speller than her since I write in this diary & pay attention when Big Mama is scrolling through the Channel Guide. I don't really watch the TV shows, but I am addicted with a capital A to seeing Big Mama scroll up, then scroll down, then go to channel 2, then scroll down to channel 58, then go to channel 242, then scroll all the way to 307...you catch my drift. It's mesmerizing seeing her puzzle over what to watch rather than just picking a documentary of some sort, any sort would do! But nope, she has to scroll...maybe I should call her Scroller instead of Big Mama.

Wait! I got it! I should get her a voice-activated scroller for Christmas! I hope it's easy to find a job that will pay me money even though I don't have thumbs...

Big Emma has an application?

Already? Big Emma Mama hasn't been here anytime at all and she already has an application in from a family. That's so odd, I have to say, that it has been so quick. Not that she's bad. I dig Big E. a whole bunch. I thought she'd get to stick around longer. I mean Big Mama, the original, loves her so much it just seems natural that she would be with us longer. Big Mama has a tendency to be lazy when it comes to searching for homes. She prefers to have a big pack surrounding her than to spend Saturday hanging out at PetSmart for an adoption day. It doesn't mean she hoards us, it just means that some of the fosters don't get to check into Camp because others stay for so long (Sheba, you know I'm talking about you, big girl). We can only have so many fosters at a time to make sure the neighbors don't hate us anymore than they do already. But I digress...

The home visit for Big Emma is this Friday. I hope it goes well for her. If it does, she'll have a Cocker Spaniel to be her new best friend. She gets a Cocker Spaniel and I get Mojo. That's nice. Real nice.

Georgie Girl Is A Goofy Girl

If I've told Georgie Girl once, I've told her a half dozen times: Big Mama is not crazy! Well, she is special. Touched is what Robert Redford called it when he was in some frontiersman movie. He was hot back in the day. Yummy.

Georgie Girl can't figure out that the new dog at Camp Chaos is called Big Mama, just like our mama is called Big Mama. Lots of people call our mama Captain Chaos, but to us she's just Big Mama. She's always been Big Mama. It's a little weird having another sister who has the same name as our mama, but Georgie Girl needs to understand that it's just the way it is. Big Mama is calling her Big M sometimes which turns into Big Emma. Other times she calls her Emma.

Big Daddy keeps calling her Piglet because she is shaped like a pot-bellied pig. It's a really cute figure, even I have to admit. She's low to the ground like me, so we're having some good times together.

I feel bad for our new sister with all the confusion. She moved from our good friend Jennifer's house last month after she was in a car wreck & was put in a wheelchair for a long time. Now she's come to our house where her name is being butchered. I can relate. My name isn't Romi Marie, you know. It's so much better than being called "unknown" like I was at animal control. No complaints from me. Emma's not complaining either. She hasn't got a mean or hateful bone in her body. She doesn't like being outside too much either, so we've hung out on the porch while everyone else enjoyed hanging in the yard.

You'll have to meet her. She is adoptable, but Big Mama said she's in no hurry for her to leave. She's in love with her. Yes, Big Mama's in love with Big Mama. Hehehe. That even cracks me up.

I Slept through the Fireworks

Independence Day this year was very independent for this girl. I joined Big Mama in the bedroom for a nap in the afternoon. After hanging outside and visiting with our good ol' buddy Mickey, it was time for catching a few z's. Big Mama wanted a nap before going out to see the 4th of July fireworks celebration. She set her alarm & cuddled up for a nap, & I crawled under the bed & curled into a little ball for my own nap. The problem arose a couple hours later when the alarm didn't go off like it was supposed to. Bless her heart, she missed her favorite evil: fireworks. She realizes they kill Mother Earth, but if they're going to shoot them off anyway, she might as well enjoy them.

But not this year. Big Daddy hung out in the yard & played the grille master. His assumption that she didn't want to go see fireworks made her mad...oooooh, boy, was she mad. How the heck could he imagine for even a moment that she went from "crazy about fireworks & gotta be there to see them" to "I think I'll just nap through them"? She was madder at him than the alarm clock, which I didn't think was possible & I should know since I was under the bed taking my own nap before her commotion awoke me. Come to find out boys are just stupid. At least that's the only part I can repeat...

In his defense, there were thunderstorms, tornado warnings, and buckets of rain all over the place. The city started the firework show an hour early so people could get to safety. All for fireworks...

They scare the heck out of me & everyone else here, but Big Mama & Big Daddy of course. I'd rather take my chances that the bed will fall on me as I nap than go see fireworks. And that's just what I did. Cheers!