BRRRRRR.....

This morning when Mom's alarm went off she TURNED IT OFF and reset it to later. Oh, I forgot today is a holiday, hehehe. Anyway, it was toasty warm in our house cuz the furnace goes up from 56 degrees at 6:45 am, so we all went back to sleep.
When the second alarm went off at 7:30 I noticed something particular. It was no longer toasty warm when I climbed out from under the covers. Mom noticed it, too! Before she could go down into the dungeon she calls a cellar, she had to get dressed cuz it was FREEZING. I snuck a glance at the temperature...42 degrees and that was INSIDE the house, so I snuck back under the covers!
Mom managed to make the journey down to the cellar. At least there was plenty of fuel in the oil tank, BOL. But, in spite of her pushing the reset button, nothing happened with the furnace. Mom wants EVERYONE to know, she only pushed it ONCE because that is what ALL the service people have drummed into her head, just in case any furnace service people are reading this! When she came back upstairs it was only 39 in the house...double brrrrrrr!
Mom had bought a cute little space heater with fake flames. It's electric so she won't run it ($$$$$$), but this morning she had to. It went all the way back up to 42 degrees in the living room BESIDE the heater! We were all still in bed except for poor Jethro so Mom let him go over to work with Julie cuz he was freezing!
Next, she had a problem...It seems years ago, in fact, before my time here, the local furnace people told her the fire box was cracked and they couldn't work on that furnace anymore, it had to be replaced. Well, it IS about 60 years old (almost as old as Mom, don't tell!) But, there is no way Mom could afford a new furnace so she called a friend who happened to be a furnace fixer. He came and cleaned it and said it was not dangerous and HE would work on it for her. Fine for the last four years, but....
Last year he moved away so it wasn't cleaned at all. Because it was a warm Winter, there was more carbon built up on the igniter and the nozzle so Mom was assuming that was the problem this morning.
She bravely called the local company. Almost immediately they came and the guy replaced the igniter and the nozzle. (yay Mom!!!) Ahhh, warmth, again. Fortunately, he never even saw the crack, WHEW!!!!
Now Mom has us all wearing sweaters cuz she is afraid we are gonna be cold cuz it is even colder tonight.
Momsie, the furnace is FIXED... don't worry!!!! We will just sleep UNDER the covers in your warm waterbed, BOL!

15000 visitors, anticlimatic now.

Booo hooo. Finally, I am really close to getting fifteen THOUSAND visitors, like I am only FOUR short of that magic number. It was very exciting, especially back a few months ago when Toto and I were tied at 14,300 something.
But the second Toto posted that he was getting close, EVERYONE raced over and visited his page and he zoomed ahead of me, reaching 15,000 long, long ago, in fact, he got there LAST YEAR! Probably didn't help that everyone went to his page first, then mine, then back to his to see where it was, thus giving him TWO for every one of mine.
Finally, slow and steady like a turtle, I am almost there. Normally, Mom would say I would reach 15,000 tonight, or tomorrow morning at the very latest but with the way my numbers have been climbing lately, she is saying I MAY reach 15,000 by next week. That is sad!
Of course, since Toto got there first, he had a huge party with gifts, balloons, cupcakes and a circus clown even came. Me, I suspect I will be lucky to get some extra water in my kibble, maybe, IF Mom notices that I did get those four more visits. It's all old hat now that Toto has been there before me.
Ahhh, well. I KNOW I am the special dog here, even IF Toto thinks it's him. After all, who gets to sleep on top of Mom's desk while she is on the computer??? Not Toto, that's for sure.
BTW, Toto...when WAS the last time YOU went on vacation with Mom and Julie??? Huh, ah, gee, you can't remember that long ago, hehehe! I bet you haven't even ever been to Florida, or Texas, or Pennsylvania, or North Carolina, have you???
I rest my case!

I hate Winter....

Every year this happens... the snow comes, it gets COLD and dark and icy and, did I mention cold? Momsie becomes a hermit and thus, we all end up hermits as well.
Take this week, for example. Monday, Mom hit the sleep button FOUR times before she finally got up and let us outside. Finally, she dragged herself out of bed and tossed us out. It was MINUS 8 degrees out there!!! Needless to say, we were all hopping around, trying to keep as many feet as possible off the freezing, cold, wet snow.
When she let us in, I decided to hide under the desk instead of running into the dog room to go in my crate. Surprise, I got away with it, hehehe. There is a nice bed under that desk, and it is right beside the furnace vent, although Mom DOES keep the thermostat really, really low while she is at work.
Fast forward to 5 pm, Mom comes home from work, has to go to the bathroom cuz the cold does that to her, and she steps right on a tootsie roll I had left on the bathroom rug. NOT MY FAULT... she's the one that made us go out when it was soooo cold out there in the morning. Now really, how can a dog do his business outside when he can't even stand up on all four feet????
The rest of the week hasn't gone much better.
This morning, Mom didn't get up until almost 8 am. Wouldn't you know, the furnace thermostat shuts back down at 8 am so we were freezing once again! I decided it might even be warmer IN my crate. I am happy to say, it was!
AND, the weather man PROMISED us it would be warm today...definitely above freezing and even above normal. Well, guess what, he was way, way wrong. The high didn't even get above freezing and it was cloudy and damp cold. (I said DAMP cold, not that other word, although it would be descriptive as well, I think!)
The dampness made it even COLDER in our house! Mom came home early, but she was complaining about being frozen so she went grocery shopping because she said it was warmer in the car and in the store. Sure, what about US????
I suspect we will be going to bed early tonight because we sleep in a warm, heated waterbed. I can't wait!
How long 'til Spring?

Merry Christmas!!!

Wow, tomorrow is Christmas and for the first time in my WHOLE LIFE, Mom doesn't have to go to work in the morning. I think it is not just the first time in MY life, but in Moms life, too. Neat.
The only problem with that is we didn't get to open our presents tonight like we usually do...we have to wait until morning like normal people. But, Mom did give us our favorite marrow bones tonight. We start out with them in our crates then we get to bring them out into the living room. Mom says we are too protective of them at first but after we work on them for a while, we like to change with each other.
Even Jethro got a marrow bone and, trust me, he loved his and wasn't trading with any of us. He stayed in his little pen with his.
Would you believe Mom took me off to work today and gave me a groom. I cannot understand why she did such a thing...the only ones who will see me are her and the other dogs and none of them care what I look like. Oh we'll, it does make me look a bit slimmer so I can probably eat more of our Christmas chickie dinner without her yelling at me, hehehe.
Well, I gotta go now and get my beauty sleep. Besides, Santa can't come unless I am sleeping.
Merry Christmas, every pup, from all of us to all of you!!!

Mom's family Christmas party.

Well, it turned out REALLY cold today, only 17 degrees and SNOWING! The weatherman said it wasn't supposed to snow until tonight so off we went, but Mom made poor Quincy stay home cuz he is a baby and she was afraid he would get cold outside all day. Not me, I am the star of the party, hehehe!
For a bit, I was afraid Mom was going to take Toto and not me, but at the last minute she said I could go instead. Whew!
It was pretty fun cuz when the whole family has labs they all love to love on us poodles. Tanner was there with Susie, but he came late because of the snow and he is pretty glued to Susie. Sadly, my best friend Chris didn't come this year, but I did get to see Alfie's little baby again.
I got to pick the number for Mom's present cuz they did some kind of a Yankee swap or something this year. I picked the biggest present, which was a set of mixing bowls and Mom really wanted them. Fortunately, NO ONE traded with her so we have some new bowls!!!
We had to come home early cuz it was getting all icy and snowy and Mom is ascarded to drive in the snow now that she is old. As it was, we crept all the way home and slid right past our driveway when we tried to turn in. And, there was a car RIGHT BEHIND US... I was bracing for the bang but Mom managed to avoid a collision.
HEY, they had LOBSTER salad sandwiches this year cuz Mom's sister got some from her work place. Man oh man, it was SOOO GOOOD. I only got to steal a little out of Mom sandwich while she was driving home and not watching me, but I sure enjoyed it and she didn't even miss it when she finally ate her sandwich after we got home. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Now I hope we get tons and tons and tons of snow so I can go run in it tomorrow!!!

Christmas is coming...

Today Momsie went off with Julia and her friend Debby. They went CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!!! I don't know why, but for some reason, Toto got to go, too. BAA HUMBUG!
Anyway, I did hear Mumsie say there would be no toys this year because we have soooooo many. Doesn't she know one can NEVER have too many toys??? Soooooo many is way not too many!!!!
Well, when they got home, WELL AFTER OUR SUPPERTIME, I might add, Mom and Julia had a bunch of bags and they hustled them right off to the guest room. That is where she stores OUR presents, BOL! I swear, I heard some squeaking and jingling when she walked by me with the bags.
Toto said they stopped at Petco... he got to go inside, too, but he was with Julia and couldn't see anything that Mom put in the cart. Hmmmm, she certainly wouldn't be buying anything for her or Julia from Petco, I'm sure!
She did also buy us a bunch of new rugs for our crates. I hope she doesn't think those are our Christmas presents???? And, she got us a new bed. It's very big so we can share it.
BTW, all us dogs are being VERY. VERY good since we saw Mom and Julia put those bags in the guest room, hehehe! I guess it's better to be safe than sorry, BOL!

Shut out!!!

Mom gets up lots during the night lately to take care of Jethro. I get up lots during the night lately to follow Mom out to the kitchen and make Jethro's dinner. We are both constantly tired.
Well, last night at the three am feeding for some reason I got left on the wrong side of the baby gate. It is a nasty baby gate...several times I have been smacked by that gate when it pops closed so I do tend to hang back a bit. Perhaps Mom really didn't know I was still on the wrong side of that gate... Or, perhaps she did!!!
At any rate, she didn't miss me and, after feeding Jethro, she fell right back to sleep. Being a good dog, I calmly sat on the wrong side of the gate, waiting for her to let me back in the bedroom. I waited and waited, and waited. Suddenly, I heard that skunk out on the porch. I barked and barked and barked. Wooooofffffffff.
Mom yelled at me to stop barking. Did she notice I wasn't in the bedroom???? Nope, she went right back to sleep. Next, the paper man turned around in our driveway. I barked and barked and barked. Woooooooffffffff!!! No Mother, just some more yelling.
Next, it was the Christmas lights coming on...I barked and barked and barked and barked. Woooooooffffffffffffffff!!! Not a sound from the bedroom! Not even any yelling.
Later, I heard the alarm clock buzzing...followed by a "bang" as Mom hit the sleep button. This was getting serious...I was still out here in the living room. I barked and barked and barked and barked. Nothing at all, except some more yelling from the bedroom, followed by groaning.
The last straw was when the school bus came along and picked up the early kids. I barked and barked and...well, you know what I did, right? Mom yelled and yelled and, suddenly...she said, and I quote," Beanie, where ARE you?"
Duh, I have been trying to tell you all night long!!!
Tonight she's on her own fixing Jethro's dinner...I am staying on the bed, under the covers.

Holidays in the air...

Whew, Mom seems to have a contest to see how fast she can put the Christmas decorations up after Thanksgiving every year. Because of the "extra" weekend this year I was figuring it was going to be MUCH quieter and calmer around here this weekend. After all, she STILL has the first weekend in December, right?
Well, Thanksgiving day she got organized. She did put our photos on our pages, but she claimed that was cuz she had a good signal on the Wi-Fi that she boosts over from work...it's not always very good, BOL!
Friday she got a call from our friend Skye. Seems she wanted to come down and spend the night AND work for Mom on Saturday. Mom was thrilled cuz the boarding kennel was FULL, well, overfull actually.
So, while Skye cooked dinner for her and Mom on Friday night, Mom found all the Christmas decorations and got the room ready for the tree. This year it is in OUR bedroom cuz Quincy is a bit young to trust around a Christmas tree AND Mom has a little pen for Jethro to walk around in when he gets a bit older and it is right where the tree used to be. Besides, there is already an ex pen around the kitty box in that corner of the room so putting the tree behind that ex pen seemed like a good idea.
Soo, We helped and Mom and Skye got the tree up AND partially decorated. At least the lights work!!! After work Saturday Momsie put up the outside lights and tree. Then, she got the stuff for the wreaths.
Sunday Julia was here to help in the kennel so after work she and Mom and ALL US DOGS headed down to gather the boughs for the wreaths. Mom and Julia made EIGHT wreaths and put them up.
Next, WE went to the store and bought some lights for some of the wreaths AND Julia and Ali went to her house.
Mom cleaned the Chickie house and did laundry and got the stockings ready to hang. We EACH have a stocking with our name on it! Every year Mom replaces one or two of the generic ones with nicer ones that are more personal for us. I already have MY personal one, BOL!
Soo, we are MOSTLY decorated and should be done by next weekend! Merry Christmas!!

Christmas already???

Usually Mom and someone helping her devotes a whole afternoon to doing our Christmas photos. It is AWFUL!!! We get tired, they get tired and everyone ends up yelling at everyone else.
Well, this year Mom decided to do us a few at a time. Two or three of us at a time get to go to work and spend the day there. First of all, we DO get groomed, but hey, that happens anyway! Then, Mom and Tonya or whoever is helping decide what props they will use for each one of us.
After we are all dressed and prepped, we sit on that table and deal with the bad part...actually getting the photo! Some of us (ME) are smart and realize that it will be over ever so much faster IF we just sit there and look cute. Of course, since I AM cute I don't have too much problem with that part, BOL!
This year, for some reason, I was selected to be in the first group along with Toto and Zena. I must admit, there was MUCH less stress with the new plan, and both Mom and Tonya were much relaxed. The only problem was that Zena was out of focus. (Hey, she usually IS, so what's new?) Well, that meant that she had to go thru the whole thing again.
Mom will not put the new photos on our page until AFTER Thanksgiving, which is early this year! But, I will say, poor Barney had quite an electrifying experience today, hehehe, according to him, anyway. I can't wait to see his, BOL!

I'm being ignored again...

This is a BAD place to live. No one loves me, no one pays ANY attention to me and I am sad! Now Lola has even taken over MY bed under Mom's desk and I have to sleep way over in the corner by Ali. Just cuz Lola is sick she thinks she gets MY spot!!
Mom is all busy with the baby... she is always feeding him or holding him or checking him. Would you believe, he even sleeps in his bucket right up at Mom's head. Me, I am relegated to the foot of the bed!
Because Mom was worried about the cats thinking the baby was something to eat she took them to the kennel. Well, now I am hearing all kinds of noises in the night and, since I KNOW it isn't the cats, I need to alert Mom to the danger. What does she do??? Yup, she YELLS at me!!
Even Toto is being a snot. It seems he had some sort of testing on his urine and something is wrong with it, so he thinks he is sick, too, and needs Mom's attention. HE is sleeping in MY little snuggly dog bed on Mom's bed, good thing I was already banished to the foot of the bed or I would be MAD about that!
But, the worst was this afternoon. Mom went out to feed the chickies. Because she had already let us dogs out, she shooed everyone into the house side and shut the gate. Being a super smart, super alert dog, I hid BEHIND Mom so she couldn't see me, hehehe! When she went into the hen house, I followed along to check out the chickies.
Would you believe she didn't even yell at me???? I was so hoping she would cuz I needed the attention!!!