House Update

Hi everyone. I thought I'd give you an update on the mess our house is in. Mom is kind of grumpy about it because it's really screwing up her morning routine. First I'll show you a cute picture of me just hanging out watching tv. It was kind of hard though since Mom was standing in front of it trying to take my picture.














Next is also a picture of me. The back bedroom is finished. Want to see the color of the trim?














Yes, it's white and so is my shoulder and the tip of my tail. The room was painted a week ago tomorrow and Mom and I still have paint on us. It was a different kind of paint that Dad had used on something else and it doesn't wash off very well like the normal paint does. Nice huh? Dad says I really am skunk tail since the paint is bright white. Personally, I don't see the humor in it. Mom tried to get a picture of all the paint on my tail, but I only stood still long enough for her to get a close up of my shoulder.
Now to tell you why Mom's morning routine is so screwed up. They started with the bathroom a couple weeks ago and got frustrated with it and so it's slowly getting done now. the mirror hasn't been in the bathroom all that time which means Mom puts her make-up on and does her hair in the bedroom which isn't as bright as the bathroom. Two nights ago Dad got really working on the bathroom. Here's a picture of what it looks like now. Can you see what's missing besides the cool shower curtain, paint, the good bathmat and Mom's stuff? It's something important missing.




















If you guessed the sink, you're right!! Mom is now brushing her teeth in the kitchen sink. She is really not happy about it at all. Dad says it will hopefully go back in tonight. This is what the sink looks like right now in the back bedroom.














That's the update so far. Mom and Dad are hoping to finish the inside this weekend and then next weekend the rock should be here to do the yard. Hopefully we'll get to start looking for our new house soon.

DWB Chat Pawty

Hey everyone! I just wanted to tell everybody I chatted with at the pawty, that I had a BLAST!! I've tried visiting all my new friends. It was hard to keep track of everybody since I came in and then had to leave and then come back again. I talked to some dogs I already knew like Ben, Wally and Joey and Tanner. I added all my new friends to my list of links so I can check in on you whn I can. Since it's summer time, that means it's busy season for real estate whcih means Mom is busy which means I don't post as much as I want to or post comments. There were a couple I didn't get the links to their blogs, so if andybody knows Buster, Faya and Maggie's links, or if either of you are visiting my blog, would you give me the link. Thanks!! The new friends I made were Asta, Ozzy, Sparky, Arabella, Snowball, Molly & Taffy, Rocky and Finn. If I missed anybody, let me know. I think I got most of you, but I'm not sure. My link list is getting really long. I'm getting popular!!!
I hear there is an imposter named Lady Chaos out there trying to be as cool as me. I checked and that's not her real name, it's a nickname!
I had a really cute picture of me to share with you today, but I'm at home, Mom is at work and the camera memory chip is on the entertainment center so she wouldn't forget to take it with her. Hopefully tomorrow I can share my cute picture. I'll forgive her since she is so crazy busy.
Dad should be home soon. I have to help him with the bathroom some more. Last night he took the sink out of the bathroom. Poor Mom is having a really hard time getting ready in the morning. She had to brish her teeth at the kitchen sink this morning and she said she didn't like that at all! She's worried abut the toilet. The tub doesn't have to be taken out, but the toilet will have to be taken out to do the wall behind it and put the tile in. Dad is hoping to have most of it done this week and then this weekend they'll finish touching up the rest of the rooms and then they'll be ready to put it on the market and then start looking for a new yard for me and a dishwasher for Mom. One of Mom's friends said she should look for other stuff in a new house besides a dishwasher. Mom said that's something someone that has owned a dishwasher for 5 years would say (the lady bought her house about 5 years ogo). The lady laughed at Mom and told her to please make sure there's a bathroom or she wasn't going to come visit. Silly humans!!!!

Kyle Is #1!!!

Mom and I wanted to post this yesterday, but our computer at home wasn't cooperating.

Kyle Busch won the Nascar race yesterday in the M&M's car!!! He hasn't done well for a few weeks and Mom and I figured out it was because Mom wasn't taking naps during the race. Yesterday, Mom took a nap because she was working out in the yard and got a little overheated and didn't feel good and Kyle won!! The end of the race was so exciting!!! Dad's driver, Michael Waptrip would have won if Tony Stewart (we like him, too as long as he's not being a butthead to Kyle) hadn't wrecked and caused a caution and then in the last couple laps Mom and I were sitting on the edge of the couch because it was so close!! Then there was that big wreck on the last lap and Mom almost fell of the couch. I don't think Mom breathed for the last 5 laps. Good thing is was a short race track!! Next week the race is on Saturday night and Mom and Dad have plans. It's supposed to be an exciting race, too so I might have to watch for them and then give them updates. Mom wont' be able to take a nap though so Kyle probably won't do very well. Mom and I were thinking maybe Kyle should give Mom some of the money since it was because of her that he won. Dad said that probably wouldn't happen. Anyway, WE LOVE YOU KYLE!!!!!!!!!

I'll post tomorrow about all the new friends I made at the chat pawty. It's a bummer I missed out on getting to talk to a bunch of dogs I already know. Next year we'll have to try to cordinate a little. I think we missed talking to Maggie and Mitch (our most favorite M&Ms and fellow Kyle Bush fans) by just a few minutes.

I have to go bark at the kids getting out of school now.

GO KYLE!!! woohoo!!

Artsy Fartsy Friday Postponed

This week's Artsy Fartsy Friday has been postponed because I'm busy chatting at the DWB party!! Hope I get to talk to a bunch of you!!

Guess Where I Went Last Night!!!

Last night Dad came home from work and I got really excited to see him like I do every time someone comes home and he said something and I don't know what he said and then he gave Sasha a treat and I didn't get anything and I was really upset and confused and then he said let's go and I followed him out to MY JEEP and we got in and drove to Mom's office and Mom was coming out of her building to go to another one and I said "HEY MOM!!! LOOK AT ME!!!" and then she went to the other building and Dad and I went in her building and we went upstairs to talk to a lady my mom works with and Dad got some keys from her and we went back downstairs and I stayed inside while Dad went and fixed the lady's van and I stayed downstairs and sniffed all the empty cubicle areas and the copier and put my nose prints on the front door to that building and then Mom came in and said "what are you doing?" and I said hi to her and then I went up stairs and then had to wait for Mom to get up the stairs (I take 4-5 steps at a time and she uses every single one) and then I went to say hi to the other lady again and sniffed every room in Mom's office area (I sniffed the kitchen 2 times just in case). This is a picture of me in Mom's office. She used her work camera to take my picture. I was having a lot of fun playing in my Mom's office. Want to know what I was looking at in this picture? Here it is. Mom had a bouncy ball in her office for me to play with!! It was really different playing with it because when it got wet from my slobbers it got really slippery and it would fall out of my mouth and then it would bounce and roll and Mom laughed and said she didn't even need to throw it for me because I was doing a good job on my own but Mom rolled it for me a few times because she thought something might get broke if she threw it and I kept going in the bathroom and I remember my boyfriend Flash liking to drink out of the toilet because the water is cold and I figured the toilet at Mom's office was cleaner than the one at our house but Mom kept saying no because she didn't want to fish the balll out of the toilet and the cleaners were coming that night so apparently that toilet isn't as clean as I thought so I layed on the nice cool floor and then Mom had to go to the bathroom so I took my ball to the other lady and she took it from me and said "eww, yuck" and then I brought it to her again and she kicked it which was a lot of fun, too and then Mom came out and said sorry for not warning her about slobber head but I didn't know who she was talking about so I took my ball back to the mat my mom's office chair rolls on and bounced my ball some more until Dad was done fixing the van and said it was time to go home and then we went out and I got in MY Jeep and a lady that works downstairs and next door to Mom in the rental department stopped to talk to my Dad about how cool MY jeep is and how cute I am. I hung my head out the windows so she could get a better look at how good I look in my jeep.

I came home and took a long nap while Sasha told Dad how mad she was at him.

A bunch of you asked if I shared my cake crumbs with Sasha and that would be a no. It was a lot of work to get those crumbs and there weren't very many!

I'm off to take another nap now. I haven't had that much excitement in a long time!

OH! Speaking of excitement! I hope I get to talk to a bunch of you at the chat pawty tomorrow. Mom has a couple meetings she has to go to which means I won't be able to chat at those times (she doesn't want me saying bad things about her on an internet chat) but pretty much the entire time Mom and Dad are at work I should be able to chat. Once they get home they have to go run errands and then they're going to get working on the house again (they're getting burnt out) and then the next day Mom and I have to go help Grandma with some stuff.

OHHHH!!! And more excitement!! See! This is why I need another nap! Dad is getting Mom a Jeep truck!. He's doing a favore for my camping buddy and my buddy said Dad could have the little Jeep truck and Dad said that would be a good thing for Mom to have duiring the winter since her Kia hates winter. I'm sure it will actually become my Jeep just like MY big orange Jeep and MY Jeep truck. Sasha has a Jeepster, but it needs fixed so it sits in the back yard and isn't much fun (that's why I let her have it). It will be Mom's very first Jeep so it will be exciting - well, it will be exciting once Dad gets it running, other wise Sasha can have that one, too.

Okay, I have to go rest now. I'm getting a little lite headed.

Couch Crumbs

Hi! Remember me? For some reason Mom being super busy at work means I don't get to post at home. It's weird, but that's how it works.
First, thanks a bunch for all the nice comments to Mom. She really appreciates them. We have another picture to share with youthat means a lot to both of us. She said I can share it with you even though there's some special meaning behind if for her, too. I want Mom to find the cd the photo is saved on though because the pictures we take of it hanging in the living room aren't turning out very well. All yuo can see is the top of Mom's head refelcted in the glass and the bush outside the big picture window. I'll have Mom find it and hopefully share it with you this Friday, if not, I have plenty of other stuff to share with you.
So the other night Mom and Dad were eating some cake on the couch and when they stood up I started whining. I was very persisitant. It was also obvious what I wanted. If you saw me do this:








wouldn't you know to lift up the couch cushion? Not my Mom and Dad!! So I had to do this:











When I pulled my head out, I had cake crumbs all over my nose. Don't worry, it wasnt chocolate cake. It's called Cowboy Bread and it's a cake you eat for breakfast - or I guess dessert, too cuz they've been eating it for dessert, too.

Artsy Fartsy Friday #3

Hi everybody! This is Kaos's Mom today. She wanted me to post today because of the specialness of today's artwork. First let me tell you the Ft. Carson fire was "mopped up" yesterday. Whenever they say they're "mopping up" a fire, I can't help but laugh. I know it means they're putting out hotspots and finalizing some other stuff, but I always picture a bunch of firemen in the forest or a field with mops. Anyway, it sounds like all 3 fires in Colorado are pretty much done and they're in clean up mode now. Fire season always makes me nervous and this year's starting so early REALLY makes me nervous.

Okay, now for the Artsy stuff.

This is my White Lion. Sorry for all the weird angels on these photos. We hung them at normal eye level which of course isn't my eye level. It's tough being short. My White Lion doesn't have a name we just call him White Lion. He is done with oil pastels which I love to work with, but don't very often because they make a huge mess
I started him right after my husband and I moved in together and finished him right after we got married. My mother-in-law had some frames at her house that she wasn't using and said I could have them so I chose the biggest frame and 2 different colors of mattboard and made a fancy matt for him and hung him up. For as long as I could remember I've wanted a large picture or painting of a white tiger. I never knew why, it was just a really really strong feeling I had. When I was really young, I loved tigers and couldn't wait to go to the zoo to see one. My parents took me to the zoo and as soon as we got to the feline house I went running down the ramp. My Dad was supposed to have ahold of my hand because I was only about 4 years old. Well, I went running down the ramp, turned the corner and there was an extremly large tiger looking at me and snarling. He was behind glass, but a 4 year old doesn't know that! I screamed and was then afraid of tigers for a few years. I started to think they were cool again, but not as cool as I thought they were before one tried to eat me. Then I saw pictures of white tigers. I was infatuated with white tigers. If we were at a zoo or a fair with a white tiger, I usually ended up being left at the tiger area and then had to run to catch up with my group.
Around the time I finished my pastel drawing is when my mom and I's relationship crumbled. All of a sudden one day I decided to start sticking up for myself and stop worrying about what Mom thought. When my husband and I got engaged, I picked out the ring and the cost was hardly anything. I don't think we paid $100 for it. My mom flipped out and gave me this huge long lecture on how that wasn't enough and it didn't look like an engagement ring. That's when I strarted to realize I had been letting my mom bully me into things my entire life. That was also the first time I stood up to my mom. I told her I chose it and I didn't like "normal" engagement rings. I wanted something small, I wanted something that had more design in the band and I wanted something that while we're out camping and rock crawling and fishing and whatever else we're doing, I'm not going to worry about it getting snagged on something or loosing it. Plus, I have short stubby fingers and a big ring looks weird on my finger. My ring is perfect. Through the entire wedding process my mom would get mad at me for not following her orders. She walked out of the decorating after she argued with me about table clothes and she also walked out of the rehearsal dinner and threatened not to show up for the wedding because she was being ignored. It was pouring rain and I was trying to figure out where to put 30 people in my mother-in-law's house!! I had no idea she even left until someone asked me where my mom was. We adopted Kaos a few weeks later and my mom hated her (Kaos didn't really like my mom either). My mom was always saying labs are the dumbest dogs and anybody that owned a lab was stupid. Kaos does make me feel stupid sometimes but that's because she's so fricken smart. That Novemeber, when my husband went hunting, I wrote a letter to my mother and told her I was done worrying about what she thought of me all the time and worrying about upsetting her. I told her it was time to start thinking about me and my husband and doing things for me and my husband. I told her I was tired of never doing anything right and always worrying about how to please her. I told her I was tired of her controling me. I probably should have waited for my husband to get home before I gave her the letter because he hurt his knee hunting and my mom shut my cellphone off (and then a year later expected me to give it to my stepdad-that didn't happen) and so he freaked out when he couldn't get ahold of me (he was more worried about me than he was his knee). A few months after that happened, I had a dream about the white tiger. I was in a corral area surrounded by fences with a white tiger guarding the outside of the fence. The boards on the fence were all broken and falling apart. I stood there looking at the fence and the tiger for awhile and then all of a sudden I realized the tiger wasn't so mean and the fences were very weak so I stepped over the fence and the tiger came over and stood beside me. In my dream, my husband was standing behind me, the tiger was beside me and I started yelling at my mom. Her husband was there, too but he was kind of wandering off looking at the fence trying to figure out how to fix it. In my dream, I told my mom she couldn't control me any more and I wasn't afraid of her anymore. I told her the fences were gone and the tiger was my friend now instead of my guard. I walked off with my tiger friend and my husband and my Mom and stepdad kept trying to hang the boards up on the posts again, but the nails wouldn't hold them. After that dream is when I decided to do the special frame and matting on my drawing. He now has to hang in a room where I will see him and admire him every day. He's a reminder of how strong I am and that nobody can try controling me ever again.
So that's my White Tiger. I hope you like him.
Have a great weekend!!!
Hilary

Fire Update

Last night before we went to bed they reopened the highway to residents only. If you lived along the highway you could finally go home. I think they let the Ft. Carson families go back home, too. The report was one of those things that run across the bottom of the screen and Mom is a slow reader and I was busy convincing Dad he should throw my toy for me. Then it snowed. It's a nice wet snow that makes our bushes in front of our house all droopy and sad looking. It kept the fire from spreading any further and helped it become almost completely contained. Last we heard it was almost 90% contained and it was around 9,000 acres. The snow also got all the smoke out of the air that was making everybody not feel so good. Then, this morning they opened the highway for everybody to go through. That made Mom happy because that means the fire is pretty much under control. Mom loves the smell of rain and how pretty it makes everything, but at the same time she hates it because our backyard is only dirt which means Sasha and I bring in lots of mud. This morning she was happy to see all the mud on our feet because that meant the firemen had some help. So far the only death in the Ft. Carson fire was the pilot and no buildings were lost which means no body lost their homes. They'll probably have to deal with smoke smell for awhile though. The Ordway fire is a different story though. Lots of buildings were lost and 2 volunteer firemen died when they drove across a bridge that had been damaged by the fire and it collapsed. It's always sad when someone dies, but especially when it was people trying to help. The other fire that we can't remember the name of the town it's near (it starts with a C) is pretty much contained, too. Last we heard no buildings were lost and there was only 1 injury and that was a fisherman. We haven't heard anything about causes yet on any of the fires. They said on the news the investigators would be heading out to Ft. Carson today. Right now anything could star a fire. Cigarette butt thrown out the window is usually what starts fires along the highway where Ft. Carson is, especially in the Turkey Creek area. A hot tail pipe could also start a piece of dry grass on fire and then spreads really fast. Fire season makes us very nervous, especially since we like to go camping out in the middle of nowhere. We're always very careful, but not everybody is. Fire season started early this year which is very scarey. The messed up part is they keep talking about how the Arkansas River that runs through our town is going to flood this year because of the snow melt above us. The river is high and it might happen, but right now everything is so dry I don't think the flood water would do much damage.
I'm going to go look out the big window now. We have a giant picture window in front of our house and a big part of it is usually blocked by the bush. The snow has made the bush look like a Weeping Willow so I can see out the entire window making security duty much easier. Check in tomorrow for Artsy Fartsy Friday #3. I think I'm going to let Mom take care of the post tomorrow. Big Blue means a lot to her, but there's extra special meaning behind her White Tiger. It's so special, that's the only one we're going to share tomorrow. It's very exciting! I can't wait!

BIG Flames

Mom and Dad went out of town yesterday which meant I was on high alert house security duty which meant I couldn't get on the computer. Grandma stopped by to let us out during her lunch time. Good thing cuz Mom and Dad left at 6 am and didn't get home until 9:30 PM!! Dad had a meeting in Denver and Mom went along with him and hung out and then they went shopping (and didn't buy us anything!!). The entire day was an adventure. They got stuck in the middle of traffic because of a wreck on the way there and then really bad stuff on the way home.

Some of you may have already heard about all the fires going on in Colorado right now. One REALLY big one is in Ordway. Dad says that's pretty far from us and then there's another one that I can't remember the name of the town. The one that is really close to us is on the Ft. Carson Army base. Dad's meeting was in Denver and to get to Denver from where I live, you have to drive through Colorado Springs and right by the base and the training grounds (Turkey Creek). It takes about an hour to get to Colroado Springs and about 2 1/2 hours to get to Denver. Mom and Dad were shopping and trying to avoid driving home in rush hour traffic when Grandma called them and told them the highway to get home was closed. That was a bummer because that meant they had to take the Interstate from Colorado Springs to Pueblo and then home which added and hour to the drive home. They took their time and stopped to have dinner and hoped by the time they got to Colorado Springs, the highway would be opened back up. Nope! When they first drove into Colorado Springs they could see lots of smoke and so Mom called the roads hotline thing and confirmed what they already knew. The highway that would bring them home was closed. They called Grandma and she told them what she was seeing on the news. At that time 1,000 acres had burned, they didn't have a cause and Gate 1 was being evacuated to Gate 5. Gate 1 is the first gate we drive by coming from our house. That's where all the new base housing is. There is a base in Texas (we think, Mom can't remember for sure where the base is that's closing) and most of the soldiers there are moving to Colorado Springs which means they've been really busy bulding new base housing. Gate 1 is also near the training grounds (called Turkey Creek) which is pretty much just open grass area with some mountains and trails. As Mom and Dad got closer to where they should have been turning off the interstate to get to the highway that would bring them home they saw lots more smoke. It was only almost 8:00 and it was so dark it looked like it should have been almost 10:00! Grandma told Mom there was a plane wreck, too. When Mom and Dad got home they found out it was one of the planes trying to help with the fire and they didn't have a cause for the wreck either. The pilot died which is very sad.

To get to Pueblo on the interstate you have to drive through a couple little towns. Right before the first one, Mom and Dad could see the glow from the fire. They didn't like that at all. Then all of a sudden they were right in the middle of black smoke. They aren't feeling very good now today because they inhaled some smoke. They needed to stop to get gas but the station Dad wanted to stop at was right in the middle of all the smoke coming over the hill so they decided to wait until they got to Pueblo. Then all of a sudden something caught their attention. They could see flames!!!!! Here is a picture of what the people from the news took from the highway Mom and Dad should have been on. When Mom and Dad watched the news when they got home they were showing other pictures of the flames that were going up the really tall pine trees which is why they could see the flames. Right now everything is so dry because we haven't had any rain or anything. During the winter we had a lot of snow so everything grew, but then it got dry because it didn't get any more water. It doesn't take much to start a fire right now. Mom and Dad could see the glow from the fire and could smell the smoke almost all the way home. Our town is a little hazey today because of it. The highway is still closed and they're still working on the fire. Last time Mom heard it was at 9,000-something acres and she's pretty sure that was an old number she heard. The families that are living on base are having to stay in a gym on the base. The army is taking very good care of them which is very nice of them. No buildings have been lost yet but last we heard, they still couldn't go home. Mom said she didn't like seeing the flames last night. It's not even summer yet and Colorado already has 3 big fires. A few years ago, before Mom and Sasha found Dad, there was a bad fire up on a mountain near a tourist attraction where Mom worked and a lot of her friends that lived in that area lost their homes and some lost outbuildings. The place Mom worked volunteered a lot of food and water to the firefighters and flame jumpers. That was a really bad summer for fires, too.

Anyway, Mom and Dad got home finally around 9:30 which was almost 4 hours after they had left Denver. Mom's butt was sore from sitting all day while Dad was in the meeting and then from sitting for that long in the car. Mom and Dad played with me for awhile and then we all went to bed. They didn't even get up at their normal times this morning. Mom and Dad left for work at the same time! That NEVER happens! Dad always leaves way earlier than Mom! They were very tired from getting up so early and then getting home so late. They had fun though and Mom has been telling everybody about her adventures last night so that's been kind of fun, too. Right now the highway is still closed from Ft. Carson to Turkey Creek which means you still have to take the long way around to get to Colorado Spinrgs. There's no other way except going through Pueblo or through Cripple Creek (that's a lot of mountain driving and takes a lot longer) so anybody that had to commute to Colorado Springs or to Cañon City this morning for work had to take the long way around.

To pay Mom and Dad back from leaving as home alone all day yesterday and not bringing us anything home, I decided to get in the litter box again. I haven't done that in a really long time. Mom had taken the baby gate down that blocked me from getting in because I had stopped getting into the litterbox. I showed them! I got a treat and made a mess and then I barfed. The cat poop did not agree with my stomache at all. Dad says he hopes I learned my lesson. I don't think I'll be eating cat poop again for a long time, but actually that made another giant mess my Dad had to clean up this morning so it also added to my punishment for them. HA! ugghhh I don't want to talk about cat poop anymore.

It's supposed to rain and snow starting sometime tonight so hopefully that will help with the fire at Ft. Carson. We hope it cleans the smoke out of the air, too because it's making Mom and Dad have sore throats and sore noses. We're about 50 miles (if you follow the highway, closer as the crow flies) so just think about all those poor people on the base that are much closer, or the fire fighters and flame jumpers working on the fire!! We hope the army familes get to go back to their homes soon and the firemen can go back to their homes and the flame jumpers can go back to their homes or wherever their stationed (a bunch are stationed in our town, but are from all over the country).

I'm going to go take a nap now. It's getting cold out so I better warm up Mom's blanket for her. Mom put a roast inthe crock pot for dinner and it's smelling very yummy. It's a new recipe so I hope it turns out.

Artsy Fartsy Friday #2

It's Friday!!! And it's snowing! Sasha has been hiding in blankets all day. Last night she snuggled up beside Mom on the couch in Mom's favorite blanket and shivered all night. I wouldn't care, except that was where I snuggle up in the evenings! Mom and Dad weighed Sasha before her haircut to see how much weight the fur was and now they can't find the scale to do the after haircut weight. Hopefully, I'll have that info for you on Monday.

Okay, now onto the fun stuff. Remember this:

There were some good guesses, but it doesn't rhyme with "witch" and it isn't Mitch. Here's what it looks like finished:

It's Kitchen! One of my favorite rooms in the house. Mom wants to find a frame for it and then put it up on the fridge for when our house is for sale so people know that is the kitchen. For some reason she thinks that's funny. Dad and I agree that Mom's sense of humor is a little off.

I told you I was going to show you pottery so here it is. This is Big Blue. Mom made him (yes, it's a "him" - don't ask why, she's just always called it a him) in college in one of her advanced ceramics classes. He was her first 50 pound pot. He doesn't actually weigh 50 pounds, she just used 50 pounds of clay to make him. Mom and Dad added the other stuff to him to make him look even prettier.

Here's a closer up picture. The bottom part is thrown on the wheel. Mom said that sucked and it was only about 10 pounds of clay. She says her short stubby fingers can only handle about 2 pounds. The rest of it is coils of clay. The middle part she smoothed the inside so you could see the coils, then she smoothed both the inside and the outside for the next section and then up at the top she smoothed only the outside so you could see the coils on the lip. Then Mom (with the help of like 5 other people) raku fired him. She said she wanted to fire him in a way that the coild would show up really well and she got the affect she was looking for. Good thing ebcause it was a lot of work to raku fire soemthing that big. Mom is very protective of Big Blue and freaks out if it looks like he's in danger. She says she would never sell him either. She's too attached to him and put too much work into him.

I hope you enjoyed this Artsy Fartsy Friday. Have a great weekend everybody!! I'll start deciding what I'm going to share with you next weekend. Probably the tiger because that's another of Mom's most favorite. That one kind of has a special meaning story behind it, too.

NOT A Toy!

If you see something that looks like this picture, DO NOT try to grab it. I was informed last night that is was NOT a toy and to stop obsessing over it. First of all, I don't obsess - over everything. Secondly, it fits perfectly in my mouth and it's a ball shape so why can't it be a toy? The answer to that is, because of the little things sticking in it. Those are called pins and they hurt your mouth when you bite down. Trust me!! Mom is working on a gift for one of her friends who is graduating to become a teacher and she keeps saying she can't wait to finish sewing the design on so she can put the tomato away (by the way, it doesn't taste like a tomato) so I'll leave it alone. She was going to leave it in her sewing bag all the time, but after last night she says it will be going back in the drawer as soon as the last pin goes back in. She is so no fun!

Okay, now for what happened to Sasha. A couple hours after Mom left for work this morning, Dad came home which he does once in awhile to pick up something that he or Mom forgot or just to say hi to us. Well, today he came and got Sasha and left. My heart was broken. I stood and stared at the door for a long time because I couldn't believe I was the one being left at home! I watched them drive off in Dad's work truck. When Mom came home for lunch she said Dad felt guilty for leaving me home. Obviously not guilty enough for him to come back and get me or for him to take me, too! She said to watch for Dad and Sasha, instead I bugged her. It was nice not having to compete for Mom's food that she dropped on the floor. I got everything that fell. Then we played the Cheeto game. Mom cheated though. It's supposed to go 1 Cheeto for Mom, 1 for Kaos, 1 for Mom, 1 for Kaos, etc. Sometimes it went 1 for Kaos, 3 for Mom, 1 for Kaos, 5 for Mom. I was okay with it though because I got more than I normally would. Then, Dad and some weird dog came home. I growled at the weird dog a couple times and Mom yelled at me. I couldn't figure out why she kept yelling at me to stop growling at the strange dog. Then, she explained it was Sasha!

This is what Sasha looked like when she left with Dad.

This is what Sasha looked like when they got home!! You can see why I was confused, right? She left smelling like a ball of dirt and looking like a buffalo and came home smelling like flowers and looking like a normal dachshund. After she started whining, I realized it really was Sasha. Mom was kind of annoyed with the weather man a couple days ago when he said today was going to be the coldest day of the week and now I know why. When Sasha goes in for her summer haircut, it always snows, rains or is just really cold. It can be 80-100 degrees all week and then Mom makes a grooming appointment for Sasha and that day it's in the low 50s-40s. Sasha gets cold easily so of course being the first day without her winter coat, she's a little chilled anyway, add on the cold weather and she whines more than normal.

Some of you might wonder why she has to get cut so short for the summer. Normal long haired dachshunds have nice smooth hair. Then there's the wire haired dachshunds that have, well, wiry hair. Wire hair dachshunds have a little different face than the other long haired dachshunds. Their face is more like a short haired dachshund. Well, Sasha has a regular long haired face and some funky, wild wire hair. It's more wiry than a normal wire haired!! It drives Mom crazy, but to top it off, during the summer Sasha's favorite thing to do is to roll in the dirt, play in the bushes and lay in the sun. Her hair collects leaves, grass and dirt very well so Mom is always picking stuff out of her coat and finding leaves and stuff in the couch and the big bed where Sasha likes to nap. It's really annoying, so Mom says shaving Sasha's fur really short and making her look funny for awhile is totally worth it. One year Mom had the people cut her ears and tail hair off, too and Mom said NEVER again. She missed the ear hair and tail hair (which are smooth like a normal long haired).

So, even though I'm still a little jealous that I didn't get to go somewhere with Dad, I'm okay with not going. Now, Mom will stop complaining about Sasha stinking and threatening to give us both a bath. Hopefully, Mom will forget about giving me a bath now. Keep your paws crossed!

I'm going to go sniff Sasha some more. There are lots of other dog smells under her perfume.

Be sure to stop in for Artsy Fartsy Friday tomorrow!

It Works Great!!!

Mom couldn't stay for a normal lunch today because she's so far behind at work. Dad had a meeting at lunch today, too so Mom came home and let us outside real quick. After Mom let us out she was looking through the mail and heard a buzzing noise in the back door and there was a tiny little bee. She ran to the living room to get the zapper. The bee wouldn't fly so she had to scoop him up and get him on the zapper. He kept balancing on the protective cage bars so Mom kept having to shake him to try to get him on the zapper part. While she was doing this, she opened the door for us. I kept trying to put my nose on it and Mom kept saying that was a really bad idea. Then I remembered Dad zapping his finger and I backed off. Mom finally got the bee on the zapper part bzzzzzzzt. Dead bee!!! Mom held the button down a little too long and a little smoke came off the bee's butt. Then, Mom couldn't shake him off. He was kind of cooked on. She finally got him off and then was bummed she couldn't call Dad and tell him what just happened because of his meeting. Sasha and I got a couple cookies to celebrate and then Mom left to go back to work. She can't wait to try it with a bug in mid air. She said she's going to be carrynig that with her when she starts working in the flower gardens because it was so cool! We could definatly see how it would work great for swatting, but it worked okay for a crawling bug, too. Mom got her's at Harbor Freight but Mom and Dad have seen them at hardware stores, too (Ace and Lowe's - they've been spending a lot of time at Harbor Freight, Ace and Lowe's because of the house). If anybody in your family doesn't like flying bugs (or crawling one's, too), you have to get a bug zapper swatter thing. Mom thought it was silly at first, now she thinks it's fun and way cool!
I'm off to do some more snooping to see why Sasha gets to go somewhere tomorrow and I don't. It's still upsetting me that I have to stay home and I'm the fun one!!

Wasp & Bee Season

Mom loves pretty flowers and Spring, but it also makes her extremely nervous. Pretty flowers mean there's bees and wasps and Mom hates bees and wasps. She's allergic to them which means they make her very sick. The first time she got stung she was little little. She was probably about 4 years old and she was going to kill the bug for her mom and that's pretty much all she remembers until later when someone handed her a balloon for being good. It's not hard to be good when you're in shock! Mom was a really good kid anyway and her grandma worked as the receptionist at the clinic where her Mom took her so in case you were wondering if she was pretending to be sick just to get the balloon, she wasn't. She always went to visit her grandma at the clinic and the nurses loved her and always gave her balloons so really getting the balloon was no big deal for her. Anyway, then about (hold on Mom has to try to do some math) 17 years later or so, Mom was working at a tourist attraction pulling pretzels out of the pizza oven and all of a sudden she felt something on her arm and it was a bee suck in her arm. The girl working with her had been trying to convince Mom to get hurt since they had opened earlier that morning so she could flirt with the first aid guys. The girl knew Mom was allergic to bees and so called the first aid guys to come to take care of Mom. She didn't get to flirt because all 4 guys were taking care of Mom. Working in a place like that you have to let the people you work with and the first aid people know about allergies like that just in case. Mom had always heard that your second sting was supposed to the worse and as you got older the worse it got even more. The first aid guys took her outside to the table area and started working on her. They made her take these HUGE pink antihistamine pills and told her to take 2 every 2 hours. Later, after the world stopped spinning, Mom read the instructions on the package and it said to take 1 every 4 hours. That's when she realized why she was so sleepy. The also put some drawing salve on her sting and they came and changed that every couple of hours for her. Since it was a special event that day, they had a face painter who painted a bumblebee on her arm. Mom has a picture of the bee on her face and her arm all taped up, but she says it's bad picture and she's not going to dig it out and scan it. She says she's pretty sure it's at Grandma's packed anyway. Mom made it through the day - kinda. She was supposed to be supervising the shops in her area, but she was too sleepy to do much of anything so she pretty much just stood back and watched people all day. She never went into shock because she got immediate attention (thanks to the flirty girl she was working with), but she said when all 4 guys came running down the hill to her shop and then started whipping out their first aid kits, she got really nervous. She said she knew it was procedure for every first aid call, but she kinda freaked when one guy got the neck brace out of his. She laughs about it now because that was a long time ago. Mom's arm swelled up really big that day and stayed that way for a few months and then for like 3 years that spot would itch really bad and swell up again. Luckily, it doesn't do that anymore. Mom should have gone to the hospital, but that was back when she avoided doctors totally.

So, Mom tries to avoid wasps and bees as much as she can. Before Mom adopted the rest of us, it was just Sasha that was around to take care of Mom. One summer (when Sasha was really young), Sasha's nose swelled up really big (there's pictures of that too and Mom thinks those are at Grandma's too). At first nobody could figure out what was going on and then Mom saw her trying to catch bees and Mom realized she had been stung. Mom and Sasha adopted Dad and then they adopted Gunnar and then me so there's more of us to take care of Mom now. If Dad is home, we let him take care of it. If he isn't, then we first warn Mom of the danger and then we all try to get it. If Dad is going to be home soon we watch it very carefully and then go crazy when Dad walks in the door. If it's going to be awhile the Mom usually has to try to kill it herself because fly swatters only work if you have those cool thumbs. Mom is a really bad shot though, especially with mid air swats. Dad fixed that though. Look what he got her:

Sasha! Get out of the way!!!

I didn't realize the picture was so dark. you can see the important parts though. There's a little button on the side that Mom pushes before she goes to swat and then she swings and bzzzzzzzzzzt, electrocutes the bug!! We can't wait to try it out. So far there aren't any bugs around. it has a wide area for swatting to make sure Mom's aiming doesn't become a factor. Dad tried out the electrical part and his exact words were (in a high pitched voice) "whew, that's got a bite to it!". There's a cage thing for protection so it's safe, you know how Dad's are, they have to mess with things that should be left alone.

I think Mom will be ready for wasp and bee season this year. She's gotten her epi-pens out of the closet and she's got her meat tenderizer and bandages out and is trying to fit them in her purse. That's another reason she hates wasp & bee season - all the extra weight in her purse. She didn't used to have epi-pens, but Dad said she couldn't go camping without them. Of course Mom wants to go camping so she got one. She made Dad read the instructions so he would know how to do it because the instructions made Mom dizzy and she's pretty sure she could never do the shot herself anyway. Her first pen came with a practice pen which made her nervous. Dad thought it was funny to practice on my butt! (Dad's also have a weird sense of humor.)

Speaking of Dad, he should be home any minute now so I better go watch for him. He keeps talking about taking Sasha somewhere on Thursday and I want to know where and why I'm not going. I'm the fun one!! Sasha whines all the time so I don't understand why she's going with Dad and I'm not!

Artsy Fartsy Friday #1

First, I want to say Happy Birthday to Marvin. I don't know if he is able to read our blogs right now, but I just want to let him know we're thinking about him and miss him.

I don't know which one to share with you first! I'll start with the ones hanging up in our house right now (I just noticed there are some missing on the memory chip. I told her to take pictures of all of them!! She's lucky there's a enough to last me a few weeks!). Ummmmmmmmm, okay lets start with a little guessing game first. Mom started working on a new cross stitch design a couple weeks ago and when she got to this point she had to stop and take a picture because she thought it was so funny. Can you guess what it's going to say? Mom has been saying lots of bad words at it and saying she's never using black canvas ever again. It looks really cool on the black, but Mom says it's too hard to see the holes in the canvas and it's driving her crazy. For those humans that crossstitch and have never tried black canvas, Mom says DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!

Okay, Now for one of her pieces of art work. Let's see, which one should we start with?

Let's start with this one. Mom has always thought he style of Pointillism was really cool. She has a ton of these that she's done. Her's are all abstract unlike the really cool realism ones she was fascinated with in her Art History classes in college. Her newer ones are much cooler than this one, but I'm going to start with the older ones. Her Pointillism drawings are named Pointillism #1 through I think she's in the 30's now. This one is either #1 or #2. She can't remember if she did the colored one first or the black one first. She's pretty sure she did the black one as #1 and this is #2 but the only way to find out since she hasn't put these 2 into books is to take it out of the frame and Mom says it's not that important. (What she means is, it's a pain in the butt to take it out of the frame and get it back in.) Anyway, Mom started experimenting with Pointillism her last year of college. Once we're settled into our new house she's going to experiment with using paints (like the original Pointillism artists did). So far she's just used markers and colored pencil. This one is hanging over our entertainment center. The black one is hanging up in her office. I'll have to get her to take a picture of that one, too.

I just realized Mom didn't take any pictures of her pottery! I'm going to have to make sure she gets busy this weekend taking more pictures! I can't believe she didn't think to take pictures of them after she what she went through to get a bunch of them back from her mother's house after she died and then she's always babying Big Blue, you'd think she'd have TONS of pictures of him! Big Blue is cool, but we have to be really careful around him because Mom hyperventilates if it looks like he might get hurt. I'll try to get Mom to get a picture of him for next week. If not, I have plenty of others to share with you until then.

I hope you enjoyed Artsy Fartsy Friday #1. This one is boring compared to some of the other stuff she's done!!! Have a great weekend!!

A Cherity & Some Changes

Hi! I'm still around! I haven't figured out why if Mom is busy at work, the computer at home doesn't work. Mom is swamped at work and then comes home exhausted. I don't know why though. She sits at a desk all day playing with pictures on her computer. She said it takes a lot of brain power at her job. I've gone to work with Mom, it doesn't look hard.
Anyway, enough complaining about Mom and how neglected I am. Mom gets a lot of newsletters in her email everyday for gardening, recipes, art stuff and craft stuff. Today was one of her cross stitch newsletters and Mom is totally excited. There was a little noet about a group needing squares for some quilts ASAP so Mom followed the link just to see what was going on and it's a WONDERFUL sight. I love kids and Mom loves kids and so we decided I definately needed to tell everybody about this site. Here's the link: Love Quilts. What they do is a bunch of people stitch squares for quilts and mail them in to certain places and then some other people take the squares and make them into quilts and then they give them to kids who have cancer and other really bad diseases. They have been doing this since 1999 and Mom was looking at some of the quilts and reading some of the stories and has gotten very excited. She loves to do cross stitch but can't decide what to do with them after she's done with them and now she knows. One of Mom's friends has 2 little kids that have Sickle Cell and the little girl (Mom says she's not little, she's almost 11 and is almost as tall as Mom) has had 2 strokes before she was 5 because of it. She got to go to Florida through Make a Wish and this summer, she gets to go to a sickle cell camp in North Carolina!! She's a very cute little girl and Mom loves her very much. She moved really far away when she was 3 and Mom missed her TONS and TONS! Then they moved right before Mom and Dad got married about an hour from here so Mom gets to see them more often, but she still wishes they were back here in town. I heard Mom tell Dad that they might be coming to visit this weekend or next which is great! - as long as they come here to play with me instead of meating for lunch somewhere not here! Anyway, all the stories about the kids made Mom think of her friend's little girl (oh, the girl's brother also has sickle cell, but hasn't had the problems like she has) and how unfair it is for a child to have to go through all of that instead of playing and just being a kid. The little girl (Mom says to stop calling her little again) can't run like a normal kid because of the strokes. It really doesn't slow her down very much though and Mom says if you look really really really close, you can see a little dip on the left side of her mouth but that hasn't slowed her mouth down at all. Mom says she still talks 10 miles an hour and has a GIANT smile. So, if you would like to check out the group, go to the link I gave you and read about them. Mom can't wait to start making squares. She said she isn't going to committ to any kid right now while we're going through the painting and stuff, but they also have an Any Child section where you make squares that aren't for a specific child and the group uses them to fill in other quilts and if they need to throw one together really fast for an emergency (Mom found a few that the quilt was finished right before the child died so she thinks those were emergency quilts). That way, Mom can still make squares, but she doesn't have to worry about deadlines (the deadlines give you a pretty good time to do it though) until after the house is done (and I mean the new house, not the current one). Mom's excited about being part of the group and making a piece of a quilt for a sick kid that will use it a bunch. Mom has no clue how to quilt so it also gives her pile of finished designs a purpose (she's most excited about that).
Okay, now for the changes on my blog. There ares some of you that do special days like Wheely Wednesday (Butchy & Snickers and Penny & Poppy), Funny Monday (Marvin did this one and Mom and I REALLY miss it), Peek-a-Boo Friday (Girl Girl), Tanner Tuesday (Joe Stains), Sleepy Sunday (Ruby) and of course my most favorite but it seems to be the most neglected of all, Flash Friday (Peanut). Well, I've decided to start "Artsy Fartsy Friday." There won't be any actual farting (Mom's rules, not my rules). I've been trying to get Mom to get her art stuff organized so I can share it with you, but she's "busy." We're going to start with the stuff that's hung up in our house before they all get packed away for the move (we're staying very optimistic that we'll sell our house fast so Mom can get her dishwasher fast and I can get my GIANT grassy yard fast). Tomorrow will be the first "Artsy Fartsy Friday" - as long as Mom remembers to get the chip out of the camera in the morning. If she does, check in for another day of me making fun of my Mom on the internet. I'll tell more hilarious stories about her. I'll call it Hilarious Hilary Friday (notice how the beginning of the word Hilarious starts off with the EXACT letters as most of my mom's name). I'll tell you all about how much trouble she has getting ready for work in the morning since they started ripping the bathroom apart. She tried to catch her forhead on fire with her curling iron yesterday so Dad had to find her an extension cord. I lay on the bed and laugh.
So, check in tomorrow for "Artsy Fartsy Friday" or "Hilarious Hilary Friday."
I'm going to go look for the chewies I hid at lunch so I can be ready to watch Dad work on ripping the flooring out of the bathroom until Mom gets home. The cool thing about the bathroom is, it's too small for Mom and Dad to both work in there at the same time. Mom goes in once in awhile to help with something, but not for very long. She spends most of the time on the couch with me waiting for Dad to call her to come help with something.