OOOPS She Did It Again!

Well, Mommy did it again. She brought home another varmint. Her name is Olivia and she pretends to be a Cavalier like me, Ruger and Maggie, but she ain’t no purebred like us. She is what we refer to as a Dash-a-lier, (pronounced dock-a-lier) not a Cavalier. She seems to be part Dashhound. She is funny looking and looks kind of like an oppossum. She seems to be pretty cool. She has the hots for Ruger. Why on Earth I don’t know! He has feet that smell like Fritos! Ruger? Attractive??? Come on you silly Dash-a-lier! What are you thinking? Ruger won’t give her the time of day. I wait for them to get in a fight and then grab the bone they are fighting over. They get in trouble and I make out like a bandit. I come out smelling like a rose with the nice yummy bone. Luckily, the folks are not on to me….yet….

A Rubber Chicken???

Mom,

While I am extremely appreciative of your thought and trouble of bringing me home a chicken for Easter as I had asked, I am not sure this is quite what I had in mind. I like it. I like it a lot, but it is a rubber chicken. It does nothing but squeak. I had a real live chicken in mind. One that runs around and goes “peep, peep, peep”. Remember when Daddy went to Tractor Supply this weekend and he called home to let us hear the live chicks they had? That is what I want! Plus, Ruger has already chewed a toe off of the rubber chicken. Can we please have a real chicken? One that we could chase out in the yard?

Love,

Riley and Ruger

Mommy, Can We Have A Pet?

Dear Diary,

Today I am using this space to make a plea to my Mommy.

Dear Mommy,

Ruger and I have been extremely good lately with minimal damage to the home, lawn and garden (notice I said minimal, not no damage to my Dogster friends). I think Ruger and I have shown you that we are growing up and we are ready for some new responsibilities. So, with that in mind, I...scratch that...WE want to ask you if we continue to be really, really good, do all our chores and stay half way clean, for Easter, can we have a pet chicken?

Love,
Riley & Ruger

I'm Telling On You Ruger!

Seeing as I am next to the youngest of the Hicks Herd, I only have one pooch to pick on. That would be my little brother Ruger...plus I like to talk:)

Yesterday when Mommy got home to let us out to pee-pee, Harley peed, then Cosmo peed on Harley's pee, then Maggie peed on Cosmo's pee that was on top of Harley's pee. Then I peed on Maggie's pee which was on top of Cosmo's pee on top of Harley's pee. Then it was Rugeriffic's turn. Ruger walks up to the spot that we have all previously peed on, kicked his leg up, and fell over. The dummy kicked his leg up so high he lost his balance. Maybe he should stick to peeing like a girl!!!

What? We have birds??? IN THE HOUSE???

What??? We have birds??? IN THE HOUSE???
I am not sure how I have lived with the Hicks Herd for almost two years now and have not known there were birds in the house. Daddy says that I am supposed to be a bird dog and how on Earth could I have missed this?
It all started this past weekend when I was forging for any morsel of food possible. I walked by the den window and a seed flew at me. I looked up and there was a huge bird cage with two birds staring down at me. One of them spit out a seed on me! Mom asked me how in the heck I could miss them when they squawk all the time? I have no idea. Maybe I have been preoccupied, but I just realized they were there. Who on Earth keeps birds IN THE HOUSE anyway? Now that I have discovered them, I won’t leave them alone. I keep trying to climb up to see them. I walk around on my hind legs like a ballerina trying to get a glimpse.
How this has happened without my knowledge, I don’t know, but rest assured, I am going to keep trying to get me some birds! Keep trying to spit seeds on my you silly little birds. I will get you!
How the heck do we live with two cats and they don’t bother the birds? Something is seriously wrong here.
Birds? In the house???

I Got Diary Pick of the Day...And I Didn't Even Have to Get- In Trouble!

Hi all,

I am so proud to have been chosen Diary Pick of the Day!

Mommy got really tickled at me last night. Ruger and I were still outside while she was fixing our dinner. She looked up and there I was walking on my hind legs back and forth outside on the deck in front of the glass doors. She said it was so funny. I looked goofy walking back and forth like I was picketing on my hind legs. Hey, it got her attention!

The Squirrel Tragedy

The Squirrel Tragedy (Told By Riley's Mom)

Disclaimer: I Riley R. Hicks had nothing to do with this incident and was not involved in any way. I was a perfect angel during this unfortunate mishap:)

From Riley's Mommy:
Okay Riley...for once, you were not involved in THIS PARTICULAR INCIDENT...however I would like to speak to you this afternoon about the shredded magazine all over my bedroom floor and how you tried to hog my pillow all night long!

Now, for our story...
I was home by myself with the critters all afternoon yesterday. Once they wanted to go out, so I opened the door to let them out. There were two squirrels at the bird feeder that ran off when the dogs went out. They went running up a tree on the other side of the barbed wire fence. Immediately after that, I heard a huge thunk and saw one of the squirrels fall to the ground. I didn’t think too much about it, but immediately after, Sydnie ran through the invisible fence under the barbed wire fence and started staring up at the tree. I then saw on the other side of the fence where Sydnie was that there was a baby squirrel laying on the ground. Somehow in that debacle, it was either knocked out of the nest or knocked off the tree by one of the adult squirrels. What must have been the mother squirrel was poking her head out of a hole in the tree pitching a fit. Luckily, Sydnie was focused on that and leaving the baby squirrel on the ground alone. The barbed wire fence row is full of blackberry bushes which have some huge stickers or thorns on them. I went on down the fence row and was able to coax Sydnie out after a few minutes. She was covered in thorns and when I picked her up, I also got stuck. All I could think about was getting them all in the house and keeping the cats contained. I hoped that if we stayed away, the mother would come and get the baby. I got all the dogs in the house and before I could get the door shut, I saw Ellie our cat creeping across the lawn almost to the fence. She had heard the dogs and went downstairs to the cat door and got out. I panicked and ran out but by the time I got there, she already had the squirrel in her mouth. It was kicking and screaming. It had not opened its eyes yet. I yelled at her and she started running. Somehow by the grace of God, I was able to get her to drop it. I grabbed her, took her up to the patio door and put her inside the house. I was panicking at this point. Now, the squirrel was in bounds of the invisible fence and it was quite a ways away from the tree. I found a cloth and picked it up and reached through the barbed wire fence as far as I could and laid it there as near the tree as I could get it. I could still hear the adult squirrels, so I was hopeful they would come back for it. I could see Ellie through the glass door, so I knew she had not had time to go back downstairs and get out again. I was sure our other cat Smokey was still in the house, so I came in, ran downstairs, and covered the cat door so they couldn’t get out until the squirrel was gone. I ran back upstairs and looked out the glass doors and to my horror; there was Smokey at the fence with the squirrel in his mouth! Once again, I panicked, ran outside careful to not let anyone else out and tried to get Smokey to drop him. Smokey was not as willing to let it go and the squirrel was wild in his mouth with his feet in Smokey’s eyes. He was really fighting. Smokey slowed down and I was able to grab him and made him drop it. We were up by the patio at this point. I threw Smokey in the house and went to the squirrel. He was still alive, but very afraid and crying. I got a box and a towel and tried to get him to put in there to place at the base of the tree. He was running across the lawn some, but he got tired before we could get to the fence and he started going the wrong way. I picked him up, put him in the box and set at the base of the tree. It was almost dark by this time and I was crying. I felt so bad and didn’t know what to do. Jeff was on the lake, so I couldn’t get him. I went in the house and grabbed the laptop and at the same time called my sister. We found a website that says to do exactly what I did. It also stated that if it is almost dark, don’t leave the baby because adult squirrels won’t come out of the nest after dark. By this time, it was almost dark. Amanda found a website for wildlife rescues. It is illegal in the state of Tennessee to harbor wildlife, but it is legal in this situation to get the animal to someone who is licensed. We found a website and got a contact in our town. I called and got an answering machine, but the message had to call another number. I called it and got a hold of the woman. She said she had several baby squirrels and if we could get it to her, she would take care of it. It needed to be fed etc. and I didn’t have anything to feed it. But wait, how can I get the squirrel there when stupid idiot me already took my nightly medication which consists of Ambien! I told the woman I would figure it out and call her back. Just about that time, Jeff called and I told him about it. He was about 30 minutes away, but agreed to take the squirrel across town to this woman. I went out and got the box and sure enough, the mother had not come back. I took him inside and put more towels and a hot water bottle in his box (per the websites instructions). About that time, I heard screaming again. It was not this squirrel. The windows were opened and I figured out it was coming from the patio. I ran out and low and behold, Smokey had ANOTHER baby squirrel! I have no idea where it came from. I didn’t see it around the tree before and the nest is way up high. I got it away from him, picked it up and put it in the box with the first squirrel. He did not look as well off as the first one. His eyes were still closed as well. Jeff pulled in about that time and we called the lady back to get directions and tell her Jeff was on his way and oh, by the way, we are bringing TWO of them! He took them over and she picked them right up and held them to her chest and started getting formula ready. She certainly knew what she was doing. Jeff then came home. I hope they will both live. She will nurse them for about six weeks, and then slowly introduce them to the wild on her property. She said after time, the squirrels on her property do take the babies in when they are old enough.

Blue Feet

Last night Dad went downstairs to the "man cave" to work on some things. He took Ruger and me with him. He was painting some flower pots for Mommy and thought the paint was dry. I walked through it and though it didn’t leave any foot prints anywhere, I have blue feet. Only on the bottoms, but they are blue. At least it is Mommy’s favorite color??!!?? Sorry Mommy!

New Nick Names???

Why would it be that Mommy and Daddy now refer to Ruger and me as "Dumb and Dumber"? Apparently I am "Dumb" and Ruger is "Dumber". What on Earth would make them refer to us as these nicknames? They say they mean it with the utmost love. Hmmm...

The Fence Debacle—Riley’s Side of the Story

It all started yesterday Mom and Dad let us kids outside to play. It was just getting dark and Mom was having a hard time seeing where we were from inside where she was cooking dinner. She opened the door to the back deck and there I was on the deck. Before she could get the door open, I started “talking” to her as I do. I don’t bark, I actually answer questions etc. with my barking for those of you who don’t know me yet. Anyway, I started griping and walking on my hind legs like a Meer cat. I was telling on Ruger. I led Mom to the edge of the deck and showed her Ruger. He was down below stuck in a fence that surrounds one of her flower beds.

You see, Mommy has a flower bed below the dining room window which is off the deck. It is the nicest softest dirt you can imagine and Rugeriffic and I love to get in there and dig around for critters to roll on and eat. Mom has planted a bush there that she researched for months to find out what it was. Her Grandmother had one at her house outside her dining room window and no one knew what it was. When she finally found someone who could identify it, she found one and Daddy planted it for her outside our dining room window. Ruger and I did have moments where we lost self control and got in there digging around after it was planted. Dad went to town and bought a little wire fence to put around it to keep us…no… Ruger out of it. For several days, Ruger has left it alone. Yesterday when we were let out, I was being a good girl sniffing all around and not going anywhere near the flower bed. Ruger however ventured over and decided he would try to climb through the small wire hole in the side of the fence. When he did, he got stuck. Not only was he stuck, he got caught in the forbidden flower bed! I ran to tell on him…I mean I ran to get help and Mommy and Daddy came out and freed him. I was no where near it and I had nothing to do with this crime. No matter what he says, I was no where near the flower bed and I have a solid alibi. Ellie the cat will verify my whereabouts as I was chasing her and may have possibly been sniffing her butt at that time as well.

Ruger’s side of the story is on his Dogster page….