Nana and a boo boo! The Dog Is In Trouble Again!

Our dog does the strangest things!  I heard my man say, "Where in the world did this wood come from?  How did the puppies get a stick in the house?" 

 I thought, "Sticks?!  I love sticks!  The dog must have a stick.  Wish I had a stick."  Ahhh, a mystery. A challenge.  Let me snoop around and see what I can find!

In the dining room, I found it!

The scene of the crime.  The dog had actually removed a wooden spoon from the dishwasher when my lady wasn't looking!  He snuck it into the dining room.  For some reason, he thinks under the dining room table is a good hiding spot.  Hmmph!  Doesn't he realize everybody and anybody can see you when you go under the dining room table?  A good hiding spot would be under a bed!

Well, not only had he stolen a wooden spoon.  He had stolen my lady's favorite knife!

He ruined the spoon!!!  Well, never to be one to pass up a good opportunity . . .

I picked out a good looking piece of spoon . . .

And took off as fast as I could.  But alas, I always listen when my lady calls.

And for my good behavior, what do I get?  That dad-blasted camera flash in my eyes.  But, hey, I got my stick and she let me enjoy it for a while.

Good lady.

How to Stay Cool When It's 101 Degrees Outside

Hi ya'll!  Have you been outside lately?  If so, then I don't need to tell you how hot it's been around here, but just for the record:  101 degrees was the high yesterday!  The "low" this morning:  77 degrees.  Folks, it's H O T ! ! ! So I thought it would be a good idea to teach everyone how to stay cool and keep yourself safe when it's scorching hot outside.  Read carefully:

1.  First and foremost:  stay inside and reeeeelax.

2.  Drink lots and lots of water.

3.  Chill out (aka take lots of naps).  Even the dog knows to do this.

4.  Keep those potty breaks short and to the point.  No dilly-dallying in this heat.  Remember your lady or man is out there sweating while you do your business.

5.  If you have to go somewhere, keep that A.C. cranked up to full speed.

6.  Eat a frozen treat every now and then.

The best is ice from Couch's Barbeque.  Especially if you can find it soaked in Coke or sweet tea!

This one is good, too, but you have to wait for your lady or man to share with you.  Whereas, you can help yourself to the ice/tea/coke if you pay close attention to when and where the man puts his glass down.

7.  Finally, and this is only for the bold and daring, take a dip in the swimming pool.  Guaranteed to chill you down.

And there you have it:  my tips for keeping your cool until this summer heat is over.  Hope you learned something.  Stay cool!

Good Stuff

Today I want to tell you about some good stuff my lady has cooked for me and the dog. 

My nieces' lady (you remember my nieces - Paris, Carly and Ella and their lady, Sarah) told my lady about a great cookbook for me and Toby.  My lady got the book and we've tried a few of the recipes.  For July, my lady made us Red, White and ol' Blue cookies.  They were yummy!  They had blueberries and strawberries and cinnamon in them, and she cut them out in the shape of stars. 

We ate those yummy cookies until yesterday, when we gobbled down the last ones.  So, do you know what my lady did today?  She made more cookies!!!

Who knew that from this:

and this:

and this:

my lady could make something as yummy as these:

These are called Flower Power cookies, and they have sunflower seeds in them!  Yum, yum, yum!!!  Wonder what kind of power these cookies are gonna give me?  I hope I get the power to make the dog get out of my face every morning when I wake up!

Look at this flower:

Can you see the seeds?  The birds have already gobbled a bunch of the seeds.  I had noticed that the birds were always fluttering around these dead flowers, but I never dreamed there was such yummy stuff there!

How many days is it till we try a new treat?  Wonder what it will be?   Keep reading my blog and I'll be sure to let you know.

Wednesday Stills

Remember Sunday Stills?  If not, scroll back a couple of posts and read up on 'em.  Well, I liked Sunday Stills so much, yesterday I decided a Wednesday Still would be quite nice.

Obviously, it was a good idea.  You might want to try it.  A Thursday Still work work just fine.

The Dog Is Driving Me Crazy!

All over a little thunder.  As Charlie Brown said, "Oh, good grief!"  Every time we have a little thunder (or a lot of thunder), the dog goes absolutely insanely crazy!  How? you may be asking.  He barks!  and barks and barks and barks and barks!  Last Wednesday he barked for six hours straight!  No exageration.  I thought I was going to have to put him out of the house.  So today, here we went again.  Now my lady loves storms, so if she's home when a storm comes along, she usually wants to sit out on the porch, and you know I have to go sit with her.  Besides, if I'm honest with you, I have to admit I am a little afraid of thunder.  So if you're afraid of something, what's the logical action to take?  Seek protection and comfort with your lady or your man.

And for added protection and security, if you can wedge yourself in between your person and the side of the chair, do so.  Just so you'll know what to do.

Now, the dog?  I don't know if he's scared or just plain crazy, but if you want to see how he behaves during a storm, just watch this little video clip:

If you got a chuckle out of that one, and you're just a glutton for irritation, watch the next video.  I actually got into this one.

See what I mean?  He's crazy!!  Oh yeah, did I mention that it rained today?

My Sunday Stills

My lady does a post every Sunday on her blog,
A Garden of Thoughts, called Sunday Stills.  It's a group thing in which she participates.  You might want to check it out.  In the meantime, I do Sunday Stills, too.

Every Sunday.  On this pillow.  On this couch. 

The Pampered Chef (aka my lady) Cooks for Me (and the dog)

Wow!  and Yummy!  My lady made me and the dog a real treat today!  They are cookies, but they are cheeseburgers. 

It all started when I noticed the dog was carrying on about something in the kitchen.  Silly dog! 

He thinks every time she cooks it must be for him.  So he goes in there and lurks around, bumps the cabinets, jumps up and tries to see what's on the counter.  You get the idea.  Well, he kept on and kept on until I figured I better check it out.  After all, I didn't want to miss any thing.

Yep!  She was cookin' and man oh man it was smellin' wonderful - -
kind of like hamburgers.  Well, while the dog kept an eye on the lady, I returned to couch with my man.  Meanwhile, in the kitchen, she just kept on cookin'.  Little did I know!!  Here's how she did it:

Grillin' and Chillin'

1 cup oat flour                                  

1 cup potato flour

1 cup shredded low-fat cheddar cheese

1 cup lean ground beef

1 6-oz. can tomato paste

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1 egg

3/4 cup water

Using her microwave pot, she browned the ground beef and chopped it up with her special chopper (also from Pampered Chef - read the title of this post).

Next she stirred in the everything else except the sesame seeds.

She stirred it all up really, really good.

The she got out the ice cream scoop!  No kiddin'!  She used that little tiny Pampered Chef ice cream scoop to scoop out little globs of the mixed up stuff.  She put them on a big baking pan.

Next she dipped her fingers in water and flattened out the little blobs so that they looked just like little hamburgers.  Finally she sprinkled them with sesame seeds (because they're good for us, she said).  Man, I was absolutely drooling by the time these things came out of the oven.  I decided I better get back in the kitchen and see what was happening.

After the "burgers" had been in the oven (@ 350 degrees) for 15 minutes, she took them out and put them on a wire rack.  We couldn't eat any until they cooled.  I didn't think she'd EVER get finished with those burgers.

Finally, and at long last, the little burger cookies were ready and my lady and my man were ready to go out to lunch. 

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! TREAT TIME ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Ummm, ummm, gomph, smack, smack, 'scuse me, but , gulp, oh my gosh these little burger cookies are delish!  You just gotta try them.

You can tell by the blurriness of the pictures that the dog could not control himself!  I think every doggy owner (and owners of canine people) should cook up some of these burgers for their little friends.  Happy grillin'!





A Terrible Thing Has Happened to the Dog

Every Thursday or Friday, I go to see Bernie.  She's my groomer.  She bathes me, trims my hair, cleans me up really good.  I don't particularly like going to Bernie's and having all this rigamarole done to me, but it keeps my lady happy, so you do whatcha gotta do.

This Thursday was no different (or so I thought).  My man took me to the groomer, and I heard my lady saying that she and the dog would be leaving soon to take him to his groomer.  I should take a moment to explain why he doesn't go to Bernie.  It's because Bernie refuses to groom him.  He went to her once, he tried to bite her, and she said, "Never again."  He really shouldn't have tried that with her.  She's really a sweet lady.  Anyway . . .

Now, a trip to the groomer doesn't really change anything.  This is me before visiting Bernie:

and this is me just got home from the groomer.

See?  No big deal.  What you can't tell by looking at my pictures is that right before I go to see Bernie, I get a little, how shall we say, b.o. (body odor).  A bath is the only solution.  So off I go every Thursday.  Now, the dog is another story.  Amazingly enough, he doesn't have b.o.  Only dog I've ever known of that didn't smell like a dog.  So, he only has to go to his groomer once a month.  You see, he has a different kind of problem:  TONS and TONS of HAIR!!! If he doesn't get brushed out regularly he gets mats (ooo, I hate mats) and when that happens my lady starts snip-snip-snipping.  And the dog hates THAT.  So this Thursday was the day, and off he went. 

Later that day, I came home and boy, oh boy, was I in for a shock.  Something  B. A. D. happened at the dog's groomer this time.  I actually stopped and did a double-take when I saw it.

It was like, oh my goodness, I don't even know how to tell you.  I feel so sorry for the big guy.  This has to be the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to him.  Well, I guess the best thing to do is just let you see for yourself:

Somebody really messed up with the scissors, if you ask me.  He looks horrible, don't you agree?  My man said, "Toby, what'd they do to you, boy?  You look like you left your pants at the groomers."  My lady thinks he looks like a lion, except for the fact that no lion I ever saw has all that hair on his front legs.  She says they should have shaved his front legs, too, if they were gonna do that to him.  Poor guy.

And he just acts like nothing has happened!!!!!  I've told you before, the dog has no sense of dignity whatsoever.  He looked at me like, "What's your problem?"

And just to prove my point:

I mean really.  If your back half looked like this would you be sticking it up for the camera?

I didn't think so.  Thank God hair grows back.  This has got to be some kind of award-winning bad hair day.

My Man Rescues Me Again

Food in a bag?  Please tell me no.

Treats in a bag.  Please, please, pleeeeeeeaaaaasssseee tell me this is NOT happening again.

Oh nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!  My bed!!!!  Now I   know my people are going somewhere, and so am I.  This can't be good.  I had a bad feeling when my lady brought up her suitcase.  That's never a good sign. 

First we delivered the dog to Michael Jones's house, so I knew he didn't get to go with them this time.  Then they took me to Bernie's.  But, thank goodness, this time they only stayed gone 23 hours and 45 minutes. (Bernie says dogs can't tell time, but we all know I'm not a dog and I certainly can tell time.)   My man  always comes back for me.

After I greeted my man at the door, I had to dash back inside to be sure Bernie was bringing my bed out.  Whew!  There it was.  All was good.  Then . . .

I realized the dog was in the truck.  Oh boy, why couldn't they have picked me up first?  Now he's gonna want to say hello with a snoop and a lick.  Oh, alright, I admit it:  I'm even glad to see that they've remembered to pick him up.  After all, Michael Jones has four!!! other dogs.  I could hear them yap, yap, yapping when we dropped the dog off at their house.  Yuck!  Then, we're getting in the truck:

and sure enough, there he is sticking his pointy snout in my face (and other places that shall remain un-named - gross!).  Then,

I check to make sure all my stuff is still in the truck, and it is. You see, all my man's and my business cards and stuff are kept in the truck.  We take them with us everywhere we go.

And finally, it's time to hit the road and get us back home.  Here we go, and of course, I got to drive.  Because, really, have you ever known of a dog driving?  Of course not.

And at long last, home sweet home.

I hope we're not going any where else any time soon.