Say It Isn't So!

I just read some bad news this morning. You all know my obsession with the empty roll from the toilet paper. I would rather play with that then any other toy. Every time someone uses the bathroom at my house, I wait outside the door with excited anticipation. I'm always sad when the door opens and the paper tube does not appear. Now, the dumb companies are making the toilet paper rolls without the cardboard tube! What!! And there's more. If the new concept is accepted by consumers, paper towels won't have cardboard rolls either! This is just not acceptable. Plus, how in the world will the roll stay round and spin once you are near the end?

No More Monkey Business

Every year Linda has a Kick and Treat party for her TKD kids. This year she dressed up as Sock Monkey. Not one kid had ever heard of Sock Monkey, so she spent the whole party explaining what she was. Her friend was an awesome pirate and a great help running the Kick and Treat stations. Thanks Shay!

Bat Dog

This is truly a heart warming story with an amazing ending. Rowan, a German Spitz Dog, was born without eyeballs. The vet said he should be euthanized because his quality of life would pretty much suck. His owner would not entertain putting Rowen down. Instead, the puppy learned to bark and then listen to the echos to help him run, play and walk around the house. Rowen is now 1 1/2 years old and you would never know that he is totally blind. He can run and play with all the other dogs. Rowen uses something that bats use to get around called echolocation. I'm happy for him, but it would be pretty hard on the humans to listen to non-stop barking. If I went blind, Linda would just carry me everywhere.

Quit Clowing Around

It has been the most incredible day. The weather was amazing and I got two long walks! Linda could not sleep, so she got up early and took me for a long walk before work. After she got home and when she finished cleaning the house (thanks to Warren, she did not have to do the mowing too), we did a very long trail walk. The leaves along the forest trail were so beautiful. I had one small scare when a giant dog wearing a clown costume came running up the trail off leash. Turned out he was a nice clown dog, not an evil clown dog. We ran together for awhile, then I got too tired to keep up. (This isn't the actual dog. Linda did not have her camera with her to snap a photo.)

Is a Bird, Is it a Plane......?

No, Its Super Hamster! It was another slow news day, so I did one of my "string any three words together" google search. This time I googled "rodents wearing costumes." Would you believe the photo of the Chihuahua wearing the costume came up pages BEFORE the actual rodent wearing a costume? The last I knew, Chihuahuas are NOT rodents!

Who Killed Kenny?

I could count on one paw the number of times I've posted a photo of a cat (not including Chip) on this blog. Usually cats give me the creeps and I stay far, far away from anything cat. This photo of the Kenny Kitty is so cute it makes me want to get one for my very own. If it would only stay smaller than me forever. Chip outweighs me by 10 pounds!

What?

OK, this is starting to get weird. I troll the net for crazy stories or weird photos. I'll google something like " chicken wearing Uggs", "dog eats tax return" or "skittles are the new diet food" and write a story about it. The next thing I know, 10 of the other blogs I follow are writing the exact same story! How could it be true? Remember a few weeks ago when I wrote about the Wonder Sauna Pants? I googled "stupid weight loss schemes from the old days" to get that photo. Next thing I know, one of the major blogs has the SAME photo on their blog!! Could I be that famous? If someone picks up this photo, I know I'm being stalked. I just made up "fish eating popcorn" and googled it. Sure enough I found a story. There are HUGE Carp in Nevada who live in Lake Mead. The fish thrive on popcorn. These Carp are twice and three times the normal size of regular Carp. Authorities think it is the popcorn that tourists feed them. If this story hits the regular news feeds and major blogs, I'm going to start charging people to read my blog.

Just Say No to Nails

One of my many qualities is that I don't eat things I'm not supposed to. I've never chewed a shoe, sock, book or purse. I do love paper, but only if Linda gives it to me. If there is mail on the steps, I don't chew it. If she gives me the empty toilet paper roll, I go crazy. I'm like a crack-addict with cardboard rolls. I'm glad I'm not like this basset hound puppy, Sophie, in Colorado Springs. The dog started acting sick, so the family took it to the vet. After an examination and x-ray, the vet fount 31 rusty nails, her rabies tag and some siding from the house inside the little Sophie's tummy! Surgery took care of all the metal, but now the family has to be extra careful not to leave anything around for Sophie to eat. Once, Taylor's dog Dipsey (when he lived at his Dad's house) ate his cell phone. Linda also had a dog named Bootsie who would eat entire shoes.

Beep.. Beep..Beep

I'm not sleeping much these nights. The main road by our house is being resurfaced. Guess what time they do the work? From 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. ! What's up with that? One night they used this giant rake truck to break up all the old pavement. Then some big bulldozer scooped it up and plunked it in to a big dump truck. Did you know when big trucks back up they go BEEP...BEEP..BEEP? Both Linda and I are light sleepers and neither one of us is getting much rest during this annoying construction project. Our bedroom is nearest to the road. We might have to sleep in a different bedroom tonight to get as far away from the noise as possible.

Here Fishy-Fishy

Linda wanted to cook me some dinner last night and could not find my chicken. She knew that on Saturday at Target, Jerry bought me a big bag of frozen chicken. When Linda went to cook me some last night, the bag was no where to be found! She thought maybe it got left at the store, or maybe even Jerry took it home by accident. Since the chicken was AWOL, she decided to make ma salmon (but first she googled salmon for dogs to see if it was safe to eat.) The smell of it cooking made me crazy. Plus, Chip cat went bonkers too. Usually when the chicken is cooking, Chip never budges out of her bed. Last night she almost tripped Linda 2 times meowing and howling around her legs. WELL, the salmon was even more delicious than the chicken. Chip was purring so loud while she ate it that we could hear her in the next room. Today, Linda found the chicken right in front of the freezer. It was a different brand and she did not recognize the bag when she was looking for it last night. Since salmon is more expensive, I will only be getting that once in awhile. I'm not sure why you would want this tee shirt, but it was all I could find when I googled fish vrs chicken.

"Hokey Smoke"

Linda was a tiny bit sad today to hear that cartoon artist Alexander Anderson Jr. died. He was the man who created Rocky the flying squirrel and Bullwinkle, the slightly dumb moose. When Linda was 5 or 6 years old, her Mommy got very sick and almost died. She spent months in the hospital recovering. Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons became Linda's "woobie". She watched it everyday and would throw a fit if she had to miss it when her Dad went to visit Mae in the hospital and she had to go to a babysitters house. When her Mom finally came home, she got a Bullwinkle toy just like this one.

Missing his Buddy

This is a sad story so if you don't want to cry, stop reading now. It's about a 73-year old man and his dog Buddy. Buddy was nabbed by the dog catcher and put in the pound. The man did not have the $100 to pay to release Buddy, and he was told Buddy was going to be euthanized. The old man and Buddy were not about to be separated. He got on his lawn tractor and drove to the pound. Using a bolt cutters, he busted Buddy out of jail. Buddy was happily riding home on his humans lap when the cops pulled up and arrested the old man and put HIM in jail for freeing Buddy. (He did threaten the police with a shot gun if they took his dog again.) Buddy not only went back to the pound, but they killed the poor poodle while the old man sat in jail with no one to pay his bond. I'm so sad and Linda feels like not only paying the mans bail, but buying him a new dog. This is the second story this week about a human springing his dog from the pound with bolt cutters.

Good Nite Moon

What a beautiful full moon gracing the sky tonight! I wanted to go for a midnight stroll, but the boss said no. Linda came home very late tonight. After church, she stopped by to visit Carol. This is Linda and Carol at the Race for the Cure this past spring. We did get a long trail walk earlier and I got to nap with her on the big bed for an hour this afternoon. I just finished a latenight snack now it's off to bed. Hopefully, this week I'll get a walk everyday. Her schedule is not as full as it was this past week.

It's Your Fun Day

Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday Dear Linda, ..... So far it's been 2 days of lunches, dinners and lots of great BD wishes. There is one more BD lunch for her tomorrow with her friends from church. I tried a small bite of a carrot cupcake Sarah made. It was safe for me since it had only a little sugar and 3 whole cups of carrots! YUM. As a prize, Jerry bought Linda a floor mop, 6 cups of yogurt and a enough frozen chicken for my dinners for the next month. Oh, and he also bought Tier a box of her favorite Halloween cereal, Count Chocula! Thanks Jerry.

Barking vrs. Blogging

I'm making Linda crazy. Usually, I'm content to sit on the love seat with her while she watches TV or studies. I'm not sure why, but I am very restless this evening. Jerry took me for an hour long hike/run/walk in the woods this morning so I should be tuckered out. I ate breakfast, lunch and dinner so I should not be hungry. Linda and I played in the backyard 2 times this afternoon, so I should not be bored. I'm just walking around yipping and crying for no reason. Maybe it's a full moon.

Almost Birthday

Sarah cooked a wonderful birthday dinner for Linda tonight. She did 3 different made from scratch pizzas. Two were totally veggie and one was meaty for Taylor. Sarah took more photos of the party with her camera, but I don't have them yet. For dessert, carrot cupcakes with cream cheese icing. Tierney bought her a beautiful bouquet of flowers and they all gave her two gift cards. I hope Jerry takes me shopping tomorrow so I can buy her a gift too.

Choopie the Chuppie

A chupacabra sighting this week in Milwaukee has the Waukesha County folks all in a tither. The Chuppie has been spotted in quite a few backyards over the last few weeks. All I know is it better not visit my backyard. Linda said it looks like someone shaved a fox bald and that chupacabras are not real. To be honest, if you shaved all my fur off I would look like a miniature version of this Chuppie. She might have a point.

Trick or Treat

Experts have gotten together for a serious symposium to discuss a very important issue: Do dogs get embarrassed when their owners dress them up in Halloween costumes? One expert says that "Yes, of course dogs are humiliated when they are made to dress up like a clown or Snow White. Dogs know when humans are laughing at them." Another study said that dogs hate to stand out. In nature, wolves that stand out often fall victim to attack. Since I am a dog, I will tell you the real answer. You can dress me up in something comfortable, that is not scratchy or too tight. No hats please, and no masks. Scuba dog: NO; Taco dog: OK. Then if you take me Trick or Treating for candy, it's all good!

Yum, Snack Size!

Another small pooch was snatched from it's own backyard by a large bird of prey. The bird dropped the puppy after just flying a few feet and the poor dog broke his leg in the fall. We live very close to a wooded area. When we've walked the trails, we have seen large owls and hawks. One day one of those birds could follow us home from our walk and find out where I live. As it is, I already have blue jays, cardinals, large angry black birds and other small annoying birds who bombard me in the back yard. Can't a dog just relax in their own back yard?

Smallest Loser

I'm not nagging her (well, maybe just a little) but it's been another day without a walk. Usually, Tuesday is Linda's off day of teaching. She only has one class in the evening. That means that the day is devoted to ME! But today she subbed two hard classes along with her regular class. Just like yesterday, she came home tonight to sore and tired to walk me. Since she did not have lunch, she had to make some dinner since two nights without food would not be good. I'm curled up with her on the love seat giving her kisses and licks while she watches The Biggest Loser. I'm still a whopping 5.8 pounds, so I won't be winning any Biggest Loser prizes. (Hey Linda, a walk would really help me lose the ounces!)

P.S. Now we are crying while we watch the Biggest Loser contestants reading missing you letters from their kids and spouses. They haven't seen them in one month. If Linda was gone for one month, I would be a basket case.

She Can't Bear It

I thought I was tired after my 2 big walks this weekend. Linda just crawled into the house after a very hard day. Today she taught 2 Body Pump Class, 1 Boot Camp, 1 Cardio Sculpt and 1 Tae Kwon Do class. That's 5 hours of hard work, lots of sweat and one or two ouchies. If I could, I would make her a delicious dinner. She is just sitting on the couch because she is too tired to even stand at the stove and cook something. I'm not going to beg her for a walk either. I can sense that she is way too exhausted to even go a few houses. Chin up Linda, Choopie loves you. On the bright side, you made lots of money teaching! Since Jerry can fold things into fun shapes, I wonder if he could make you this money bear.

Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Wood

During our walk today, Linda took some photos of the beautiful trail. In another week, all the fall colors will be in full swing. We'll take some more photos then. But it was still incredibly beautiful and peaceful. Whew, two long trail walks back to back. I need to rest.

Git Along Lil' Doggies

Linda had a very successful Tae Kwon Do demo at the International Day of Fitness. Right after that, she joined 300 of her friends and family for a Big HoeDown Western Day Picnic. Everyone bought delicious food and desserts. Linda did something called a cakewalk. I have no idea what that is. I think instead of walking your dog, you walk your cake around and around. Then she did the most hysterical hayride ever led by Tierney. It was a live, interactive musical where crazy things happened around every corner. I could not go with her since Linda came right from work and she did not have time to get me. As you can see, Spike and Beast wore their cowboy outfits. (They are twins, I don't know who is who. In fact, they might be photos of the same dog.) I feel a little left out that I did not get to go.

Good Nite

I am the tiredest I've ever been in my whole 4 years of life. Jerry took me on the trail for an hour walk. I sprinted, ran, jogged, and/or walked almost the entire trail. There were lots of dogs, kids and joggers today since it was so pretty out. One big dog kind of stepped on me while we were greeting each other, but I recovered and went on my way. Then I got my nails cut at Pet Smart. I was so stressed that my heart almost beat right out of my chest. It feels so much better now though. After a delicous dinner and some backyard time, I'm hunkered down for the night and it's only 6:30 pm.

Yo Quiero Chalupa

Tier and Linda were looking at the halloween costumes for dogs in Target tonight. OMGosh, they were all so cute. Tierney picked out this submarine for me. She said I would be so adorable, people would give me double candy when I went Trick-or-Treating. Linda did not buy it, because she thought she could find something that fit my personality a little better. Wouldn't it be absolutely perfect if I dressed up like a Chalupa? Get it... Chalupa is a Chalupa. Maybe not.

It's a Mad, Mad World

Chip Cat gets mad at me at times, she often lashes out with those sharp pointy claws of hers. I could just be sunning myself by the sliding glass door and all of a sudden, she'll walk past me and swipe at me for no good reason. I think she needs anger management class. No doubt she would be exactly like this 19-year old women. The lady was mandated to attend an anger management program as part of her sentence for a previous assault. A training video on controlling your anger was being shown when the women came into the class late. She started being disruptive and another person a few rows back told her to "quite down and give it a chance, the video was good." That is when the 19-year-old went ballistic and started stabbing the well meaning student with a knife. I guess she failed the class.

Great News!

I'm so happy for Tierney. Today she was offered an incredible job, making so much money she'll be able to buy me lots of new toys and clothes. It's a grown up position at an investment company. She has to wear business clothes and fancy shoes. The coolest thing is that she was almost totally out of money in her savings account when the job offer came through. As a reward, I found this tub for her. Since she loves taking a bath, she now might be able to upgrade her bathtub to this amazing jet spa, complete with reading lamp. Yipee for Tier!

ET....Call Home

Holy UFO Batman! A silvery UFO made up of dozens of balloon like yellow and blue lights was spotted in downtown Manhattan over West 23rd street today. Dozens of people started calling 911 at about 1:30 this afternoon when the UFO was sighted. The UFO sighting stopped everyone in the busy street for a few minutes while they watched it hover in the sky. Witnesses say it looked like a giant lighted jellyfish. Wow. If a UFO came over my street I would run and hide, not stand gawking int he street. Don't they know that aliens abduct earthlings for crazy experiments?

What Do You Call a Goat's Beard?

A goatee!

A friend of Linda's posted this on her facebook page. How did she find out about this before me? I'm usually the first on the unusual and crazy news. In fact, I posted the Burger King pizza burger and the mechanically separated chicken story days before they hit the regular news. Anyway, I love this story. A company called California Grazing has developed a totally new (or totally ancient since it's been around since David tended his flock) lawn care system. Instead of wasting gas, creating pollution, or breaking your back pushing a mower, the company will bring a tribe of goats to your yard. CG has a herd of over 800 goats that take care of lawn. Large companies like Google and The Getty Museum are customers. I just wonder if the cost of the mowing includes pooper-scooping. For those of you wanting to learn more about goats: www.ultimategoatfansite.com. I wonder if www.ultimatechorkiefansite.com is taken?

Jack the Bulldog

Blah. It's been raining non-stop so there will be no outside for me today. Yesterday the weather was amazing. Taylor came over to work some more on staining the deck. Linda and I spent a long time outside with him. I explored areas of my backyard that I've never ventured in before. There are 3 big bushes in the corner of the yard that are usually full of birds. I don't usually go near it because the birds scare me with all the squawking and chattering they do. They also pick on me by swooping down to attack. Since humans were around, they birds flew the coop. It's spooky and fun at the same time in the bushes because I am totally hidden from the world. If I was mean as this dog, none of those crazy birds would bother me.

I Can't Bear It

We collect Starbucks bears. The newest bear for Halloween is a wearing a purple wolf costume. Jerry bought it for us and is going to bring it over on Saturday when he comes to walk me. This adorable Tiger Bear is only available in Asia. It is to celebrate Year of the Tiger. I bet it is impossible to even buy it on ebay. I also like this Mouse (?) bear wearing a pink jacket, but I have no idea what holiday it is supposed to be celebrating.

Only 11 more days

Linda's birthday is coming up in just a few days. Plus, Oct. 23 is Love Your Body Day. How cool is that? It's also National Mole Day and Make a Difference Day. Not to be forgotten, Oct. 23 is King Chulalongkorn's Day in Thailand. I think I'll just celebrate Linda's birthday. She is hoping there will be a carrot cake like last year. Doesn't it look yummy? Sarah and Tier did it all from scratch.

Auntie Em

This is Em. She is the girl that does amazing things with hair. I so want to ask her to cut mine too. Linda, Tier, and Sarah all got haircuts on Sunday. My hair is way worse and in need of a cut ASAP. We called around today and all the groomers want me to stay there 4 hours without Linda. If Emily would cut my hair at my house, it would be so much less stressful. How much different can it be than cutting human hair? Trim, trim...Snip, Snip. It's basically exactly the same. I've even seen her use the electric razor on Taylor and Jerry's hair, so she can use the trimmer Linda has. Please Emily, would you cut my hair too??

I'm Lovin' It!

First they gave us Hello Kitty. Now, Hong Kong is the first city in the world to offer a new wedding package starting January 1st. You can now book your wedding reception at McDonald's! True. The package includes a baked apple pie wedding cake, brides maids and a brides gown made out of balloons, kid's meal toys as party favors for the guests, the banquet food is of course, all McDonald's. The whole thing costs only a few thousand Hong Kong dollars. (Which is only $257. US bucks for your entire reception.) No word in the article if having the Big Clown perform the nuptials is extra.

Three Sets

I'm not sure if this makes me happy, scared or mad. A man decided to make an exercise video without a gym, equipment or even weights. You do the entire workout using your dog. Linda said that since I'm almost 6 pounds, she won't get a very good workout. If we still had Snickers, she would get an awesome workout since he was 70 pounds! Could you imagine running the stairs with one of these beasts on your back? (Not to mention picking up and carrying their poop after a long walk!) She is going to try the puppy chest presses, dog curls, pooch crunches and sit-n-squats with me before bed. Copy and paste the link and watch it for yourself.

(We still don't know how to post a video. Tier, help us next time you come over)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrkhpNO1SPQ&feature=player_embedded#!

Before

It was a day of beauty all around. Emily came over and cut and colored Linda's, Tierney's and Sarah's hair. So I would not feel left out, I also got my hair washed and fluffed out. It was a beautiful day to sit out on the deck and dry in the sun. I wish she took an After photo because I don't look so good in this shot.

HiYa!

Just a few of Linda's TKD students after their sparring class today. Next week they are performing at the International Day of Fitness.

It's Not Only About the Beer

While Linda was enjoying a beautiful evening at Oktoberfest, she took this photo of the Merry-Go-Round. Most of the time there are horses to ride round and round. This ride one had one dog. All the kids were riding the horses, no one wanted to ride the little pooch. It does look kind of disturbing. I wish she played the game and one me that giant Tweety bird. Oh, and those snacks look good too!

Weißwürste

Get out your lederhosen, dirndl skirts, and beer steins. It's Oktoberfest! I am SO glad that Linda did not take me to the Oktoberfest event this evening. There were so many people that you could not walk forward. It was just a giant mob of people. Some of the food and beer booths had 100's of people waiting in line. She did like the Ooompah dancers though and this dancer in the photo thought Linda was a St. Paulie girl. I know Linda is sweet, but really... she is no saint! What could he have been thinking?

Have It Your Way

Burger King has done it again. Linda likes BK because they have a Veggie Burger on their menu. It's the only fast food joint she knows who has veggie burgers. BK's new burger is creating a huge stir. It's not available in all areas, but the Monster Pizza Burger is a huge hit. Inside the giant bun you'll find four Whopper patties, pepperoni, mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce. It even comes in a pizza box. If your on a diet, you better pass on this one though. At 2,530 calories and 144 grams of fat, it's not exactly figure friendly. If you share it with 6 friends, it would only be 421 calories each.