Home for the Holidays....

I LOVE it when Christmas falls on Sunday. Mom gets out of work at noon on Saturday and doesn't have to work until TUESDAY!!! Well, she does have to go clean and feed everyone in the kennel and let everyone out during the day, but that doesn't take too long and she comes home and plays with us.
First of all, we got up much later, which is a good thing cuz it was VERY, VERY cold this morning and her bed was very, very warm!! Then, when she gets home from work we all got to go play in the lab pen. It snowed last night, just a little bit, but Mom got out all our Winter jackets so we could be warmer. We all had a great time running around in the field and were comfy!
After play time it was lunch time, mmmmmmm. Mom had a dish of veggies with shrimp and she couldn't eat all of it so she just put the dish on the floor. Would you believe all eight of us shared nicely and no one hogged the dish or growled either. Mom couldn't believe it, but we told her it was Christmas so we were being good!
After Mom finished all the new photos she put dinner in the oven. Mmmmm, that smells delish, too! Before dinner we are all gonna take a nice, long nap. Noo, not in our crates, either!!
We hope you are all enjoying a nice Holiday with your family, too!!
And, to think it will be the same next weekend for New Year's Day!!!

Another Christmas Party for the Beanster!!!

Wow, Mom just told me I was invited to the Christmas party over at work tomorrow. AND, she brought a brand new Santa Suit for me to wear. Laurie found it at the consignment shop she works at and brought it just for me. (Mom says IF it fits me, BOL!)
Well, we tried it on, but I DO NOT like it at all! It is one of those that has the fake legs hanging off the front.
I am wearing my other one BUT I will wear this one's hat. Mom took a photo and added it to my page so you can see WHY I do not like it!
Anyway, Mom also said Barney is going to the party, too, he is going with Julie. But, too bad, sooo sad, there is no one to take Toto, hehehe! Uh oh, I bet Tonya will take him cuz Laurie will bring Hilda and Hilda LOVES Toto. And, I bet Sarah will take Ali, too, cuz she has that pretty dress to wear. Poor Toto has NOTHING to wear, but I bet Mom will give him a bandana or something.
Oh well, just remember I was invited FIRST!!!
Anyway, we are going to have Pizza and probably some cake, too. And, maybe even some candy???? I LOVE Christmas parties!
I will make Mom bring the camera so you can see some photos of us there.
Maybe this time I WILL get a present????

Back from my Christmas Party!

Well, this morning me and Mom headed out for her family Christmas party. It was VERY cold, like 12 degrees, BRRRRRR. Mom let me wear the Santa jacket so I would be warm as well as festive. But, she forgot MY SANTA HAT!!!! At her party they have an ugly Holiday sweater contest.... I almost won, but came in second to Mom. She had an old sweater that said "BIG DOG MOM, she who must be obeyed!" It was no contest, trust me!
When we got there I was welcomed by Gator, Ali and Alfie, plus Einstein, who is a golden/ lab mix and HUGE! I got scared of them all and ran under the car so Mom called me out and her nephew quickly invited me into the house. Inside I found Susie and Tanner!!! Us little ones got to stay inside where it was warmer.
I got to meet Grace, the little baby that lives with Alfie. She was pretty cute and I liked her. But... Mom was totally shocked cuz I really liked Susie's friend, Chris and he liked me. He kept holding me and patting me and it was pretty nice. Mom and Susie were shocked!!! I don't usually like strangers, or men, or anyone, for that matter. Susie was telling Chris that even after she lived here with me all Summer long, if she stood up, I would bark at her, BOL!
Actually, I pretty much liked everyone there today. And, Mom even forgot my thunder shirt so that certainly wasn't helping me!
We had lots of good food and then they opened presents. Would you believe NO ONE gave me a present???? Bah humbug!!

A WHOLE night in the waterbed!!!

Wow, somehow Mom let me spend the entire night in the bedroom last night. I suspect she must have been very, very tired and slept thru all my attempts to get the cat food, hehehe! And, Joey must have been tired, too, cuz he didn't come out and bug me, well, at least I didn't see him come out.
But, come to think of it, I was VERY tired cuz Mom took me to work and gave me a haircut so that is extremely tiring!
Tomorrow is Mom's family Christmas party. I suspect I will be invited again...I was such a hit last year!! I know that Tanner is coming, so is Ali and Alfie since it is at Alfie's house! Remember her??? She used to be in OUR family. Well, Ali was too, but she never had a page of her own...she did have photos though, some with me, of course. And, Gator will be there, too. He used to be Mom's dog, too, but now he lives with her nephew. He is also Ali's dad, in fact, Ali's real name is Aligator, BOL!
Mom has 23 or 24 family members to buy gifts for. Well, as we all know, times are tough and $5 per person doesn't buy too much. Mom was complaining over in our "regular" forum and someone suggested making a donation to some non-profit. Wow, Mom thought that was a SUPER idea and she knew just where to make the donation!!! She made it to HER OWN rescue, BUT made the donation to their spay/neuter account with the local veterinarian so no family member would wonder about it.
That donation will speuter and vaccinate THREE cats in their rescue! All her family are now adults so none of them needed the token gift, either. Mom made up a nice card and she actually put MY photo on the front... I guess cuz I get to go to the party??? She did put some of the others inside, though.
This afternoon Mom was very tired and it was FREEZING COLD in our house so she decided that we could all take a nap. We did, even the kittens napped with us, BOL! Now she says we will probably be awake all night long.
Gee, I hope SHE isn't... I am getting pretty darn hungry for some cat kibble!!!

Last night's plan...

Ahhh, I will NEVER get out of the dog room!!! Last night Mom added a smaller board so the cats could climb it and I couldn't. She tied the end table to the futon so it couldn't fall over. She gave the kitties their supper and we went off to bed.
I stayed in my little cat bed FOREVER. I stayed there while the baby kitties jumped OVER me and off the bed to go get a bite to eat. Hmmm, they went around the expen on the OTHER end, I hadn't though of that, BOL!
Mom was very tired so she fell soundly to sleep and I went to investigate. RATS, that opening is plenty big enough for a kitten but there was no way, no how I would fit thru it!
Not to worry... I was hungry and needed a cat food fix so I just pushed the expen over to the cat food dish, reached in with my handy paw and scooped out a mouthful. Mmmmmm, sooo good!! I ate and ate and ate and then went back to bed.
Mom woke up, saw me sleeping in my little bed and gave me a pat and said I was a good boy. I swear, I only squirmed a tiny bit!!! She fell back to sleep.
Next thing I knew, Joey peeked his head, then his whole body out from under the futon. I held very, very still, then flew over and chased him back, hehehe!!! Whilst I was still gloating, Momsie reached out and scooped me up and next thing I knew, I was in my crate in the dog room. I tried not to burp while she was carrying me in there, BOL!!
This morning, of course she discovered cat kibble all over the floor and the expen all pushed against the dish. Ooopssssie!!
Soo, when she got home from work she took a BIG roasting pan and put the kibble dish right into it. We shall see how that works, I guess.
Meanwhile, Mom took me to work and Tonya gave me a bath and Mom gave me a haircut. Would you believe Mom apologized to me when she noticed I looked perfectly fine and NOT FAT after she gave me a nice haircut. Guess all that night time exercise is keeping me thin, hehehe!

Continuing trouble...

Well, Mom thought she "fixed" the cat food problem by moving the expen all the way to the wall and blocking it off. She thought the cats would climb over the expen and get to their food.
She was so confident in her little fix that she came in and got me so I could sleep in the nice warm waterbed. I hopped into my little cat bed on HER bed and settled down to wait.
Sure enough, soon Mom's breathing became slow and soft so I mosied over and hopped off the bed and went to check things out. Hey, I was HUNGRY!!!! I got under the futon and discovered her little scheme, so I pushed on the expen. It made a HUGE noise and I heard the dreaded words..."Beanie, get IN YOUR BED!!!"
I did, and settled down to wait again. This time I got out of my bed, tiptoed over to the edge of the bed and waited there. Pretty soon I gently slid off the bed and tiptoed over to the corner. I crept under the futon and checked that expen again...darn, it was pretty tight!!! I decided my next move would be to climb onto the end table and jump off that into the cat food area.
Darn it all, that table banged into the futon...must be I AM heavier than I thought cuz it never did that before!!! Of course, I hear the "BEANIE, GET OVER HERE!!!!", somewhat louder this time!!!
I did, somewhat reluctantly. Next time I got out of my bed and tiptoed to the edge of Mom's bed she was waiting... must be I AM heavier and woke her up when I stepped on her??? Back to my bed I went.
Finally, I decided to go for it!!!! I crept over, climbed on the futon, stepped lightly on the end table. OMD, it FELL OVER and I ended up on my head, INSIDE the expen. I was so shocked I couldn't even grab a mouthful of cat food before Mom was right there, "rescuing" me.
I enjoyed the rest of the night from the safety and comfort of my crate in the dog room, BOL!!

Trouble, trouble, trouble...

Mother has been complaining lately that I am gaining weight. She can't understand why since she is literally counting out my kibble, piece by piece and I get way, way less than anyone else.
I just smile innocently and even leave a couple pieces of my kibble in my dish.
Well, last night I slept in my crate...long story, but only Ali got to sleep in the warm waterbed. This morning Momsie noticed that the cats didn't eat all their food. Strange, they do every other night.
Because it's her afternoon off she came home early and took us for a run in the field. That can sure work up my appetite so when we got back in the house I was HUNGRY. Mom went into her bedroom to clean the kitties box. I followed.
When she brought the clean one back in there I was innocently standing BEHIND the little ex-pen she uses to keep us out of their food, munching on their kibble. Oooops!!!
Suddenly, it all became crystal clear to her... I was going under the futon, sneaking around the back and ending up in the cats little fenced off area!!!
Somehow I think I will be eating ALL my kibble from now on, and maybe even sleeping in the dog room instead of that warm waterbed, BOL!

A foster parent's work is never done...

I wonder if Mom has any idea how much work she is asking me to do lately? Sure, being a foster dad to Paisley wasn't much of a problem. One little kitten and she slept most of the time.
Well, this week she decides to bring Paisley's brother, Dijon, home AND she decides the kittens are old enough to be out with ALL the dogs here.
That little Dijon is very feisty!! He can make it from one end of the house to the other in under 5 seconds flat, even if the baby gate is closed and in his way. Paisley is much quieter, in fact, Mom is hoping she isn't sick or something. Even so, she wanders all thru the house.
Take tonight for example. Dijon was in the kitchen messing around. Riley and Georgie rushed in there and started barking at him and trying to corner him. Immediately, I sensed he was uncomfortable with both of them after him so I had to leave my comfy bed under Mom's desk and go supervise them.
It was bad enough that I had to bark them away from him. I even had to threaten Riley and make him go under the table. It took me about 5 minutes and lots of barks and threats to keep them away from him.
I no sooner get that settled and Barney decides to share a bed with Paisley. Nope, not gonna happen! The only one who shares a bed with Paisley is ME, or Toto when he is relieving me. Those other guys can be rough and tumble and Paisley is tiny. They could roll right onto her and squash her, or worse.
Next thing you know, my kitties are in the DOG ROOM, climbing in and out of our crates. This will NEVER do...what if Mom was putting the other dogs to bed and she didn't notice there was a kitten in their crate. I shudder to think what might happen!!
Finally, Mom put the other guys to bed, my two kitties settled down to sleep in THEIR bed by the Christmas tree and I now have to pass out in my bed under the desk.
This is really, really hard work!!!!

My last night as Dog of the Week

And, what a week it has been!!! I have met tons of new pupsters and a few catsters as well!! I have lots of new gifts and lots of great memories of the week that was!
I have had a very good week and wish I could be dog of the week EVERY WEEK, BOL!!
It got warm here again today so Mom let us all hang out outside while she messed around in the house. Finally, she was done, or at least needed a break, so she took us all down to the lab pen for a romp.
Riley was being silly today. Mom had noticed a BIG waterbucket down there and she didn't want to leave it out all Winter so she tossed it up by the gate. Well, apparently, Lola and Riley saw it land out of the corner of their eyes, and decided it must be a HUGE monster out to get them.
They barked and barked and barked. Both of them would race part way up the path, bark and bark and suddenly, something would spook them and they would race back down. Finally, Lola managed to follow Harvey all the way to the bucket and decided it was nothing so she stopped barking at it.
Riley kept it up... he convinced each one of us to race up there with him and at the last possible second, he would bolt down the path while we investigated.
Finally, Mom decided she'd better go up there herself. Riley followed her up, sniffed the bucket, and was most embarassed, BOL!
Me, I wasn't ascareded of it at all, hehehe! I KNEW it was just an old bucket.
Well, thanks everyone, for making my week sooo great!!! It was a great week!

Ups and downs...

Sooo, Mom took me for a ride upstreet yesterday. I was all excited to be invited along but turns out she had an ulterior motive. Right next to our house is the vet clinic. We stopped there, and Mom invited me in. Hmmmm, somewhat nervous, I went along and she had me hop on the scale. I'm not telling what my weight was, but suffice it to say I ate very, very little dinner last night, BOL!
Anyway, we chatted with the girls up there for a bit... they gave Mom some revolution for Paisley and her brother and Joey. I heard Mom say something was for me, and when we left she had a tiny bottle with some pills in it. Hmmm.
We went along to Staples and I watched people while Mom shopped. Pretty fun! When we got home we stopped at the kennel so Mom could give Laurie the Revolution and it turns out, some of OUR Christmas presents had arrived. Two of them were GREAT new dog beds... we got one already cuz I saw it, BOL! It is a camping bed and it folds up just like a camping chair. Cool. I like it alot, but so do the other guys so Mom actually ordered another one last night. They are really CHEAP on the Amazon warehouse page.
The other one is a HUGE new bolster bed and Mom said we have to wait for the Holiday to get that one, spoil sport!!!
Anyway, when we got home Mom gave me one of those pills. Turns out I have a tapeworm!!! Funny cuz I only had ONE flea on me all Summer...guess maybe there were two and Mom only saw the one and I swallowed the other, hehehe!
Anyway, I took my pill, ate my supper and then had to puke all over the new dog bed TWICE!!! That will teach Mom, huh????
I feel all better now though! Mom says next month she will give me the pill AFTER I eat my supper.