Catching Up

I didn't realize how long it had been since Mama last let me use the computer! I'm going to have to nag her a bit more often about letting me keep up my blog! She updated hers TWICE yesterday, after all!

I guess the biggest piece of news I have is that Lita has left the family, for those who didn't know. She never wanted to fit in with the rest of us, and she wanted to be alpha so badly that she endangered the small biped. I don't do that! I may chew on Mama and Dad when we're playing, but I never use my teeth when the little biped is around, and neither do Smoky and Bandit! But LeeLee did, and so Mama didn't have a choice. LeeLee went to the shelter a bit over a month ago, and Mama cried a lot after she left. The house is a lot quieter now, but no one is ready to bring another dog home yet. Mama and the little biped are still missing LeeLee too much.

That's the only sad news though. Now we have the stupid news: Mama came up with new names for us dogs. Why can't she just call us dogs? No, now she calls us "furbles" instead of "furballs", which was bad enough! And "fuzzlebutt"! What the heck is a fuzzlebutt? Where does she come up with these things?! Can't she come up with something with a little dignity to it? Helloooooo!

Summer weather is already setting in here, or at least what Mama and I call summer weather! The people and pups native to Arizona call it spring weather, but 90 and 100 degree temperatures are summer temperatures where we come from!! So we are spending less time outside now because it's too hot. But Mama keeps the air conditioner on in the living room all day, so that's okay. I get to lie around on the human sofa instead. Yes, we have a human sofa and a dog sofa in the living room, and no dogs are supposed to be on the human sofa. That was the rule Dad set. But I'm so cute, even Dad lets me get away with pretty much anything except countersurfing. Smoky and Bandit have lived with Mama and Dad for nearly six years, and they don't get away with the amount of stuff I do! Harooooooooooooo! On the other hand, they sleep on the bed with Mama and Dad all the time, and I don't. Not that I'm not allowed to, I just don't choose to!

The little biped is getting more fun as she gets older, and we make Mama do a lot of screaming at us to calm down! BOL! Like that's gonna happen! It's too much fun to make her yell at us! But she did find something to make us calm down somewhat. It's this computer radio called Pandora, and when we get way out of hand (according to her, anyway), or when she's doing beadwork, Mama puts on this station of something she calls Celtic music. Even I can't help but slow down when it's on. I can't help it. It's soft and slow and boooooorrrrrrrriiiiiiinnnnnnnng! It makes me go to sleep, but Mama loves it and stays awake. I just don't get it. Humans are just weird.

Well, I'm gonna go outside and steal the tennis ball from Smoky for a little while now that it's cooling off. I promise to try and get the computer from Mama again soon! Later!

Woos,
Thor

My Dorky Family, and My Fantastic Idea

Hello, all. This is LeeLee, taking over the blog for today. I wanted to be certain that everyone knows exactly how dorky my family is. To that end, I clawed Mama into taking the pictures in this entry. I wanted video, but there isn't enough light in the living room, so I'm stuck with just still pictures to illustrate how far below me the rest of the family is, at least of the canine set.

As I'm sure you all know, I'm not very fond of Smoky and Bandit to begin with. Labs are just too sappy and want to please everyone. But Thor is supposed to be a Sibe, and I am very disappointed in him. He doesn't woo, and he hardly ever does anything Mama and Dad don't like, except countersurfing. He's even--dare I say it--obedient!!! One begins to wonder if he isn't another Lab in a Sibe suit, like the Ao4's Dave. And no, I don't countersurf, only because I'm not tall enough, and I'm too fluffy yet to easily get up on the counter.

Well, anyway, he decided to have a huge wrestling match with Dad last night, along with Smoky and Bandit. Dad's a dork too. Look at him pretending to be scared of Thor. How sad is this? At least Mama is smart enough to stay out of this. Of course, that could be because I was making her take all the photographic evidence.

Oh, yes, my fantastic idea! I almost forgot! Mama always refers to me as the more obnoxious Meeshka of the West, which is a horrible thing to say, as I have seen no evidence to date that would support the claim that Meeshka is obnoxious in any way. But, as she seems to think we are so alike, it occurs to me that the position of Queen of the West stands vacant, and I thought I would volunteer to take over that position, if the great Meeshka has no objection. Isn't that a wonderful idea? After all, there is a LOT of land to administer, and the West is still pretty wild sometimes. So, I'm nominating my fluffy self to be the Queen of the West and keep all the pups on this side of the country in line! Of course, I need a second in command to help me, and I think Thunder of Colorado would be a perfect assistant, if he would be willing. Or maybe even Tucker, since he certainly seems to do a good job of keeping Sinjin in his place!

Of course, I would still ultimately defer to our great Queen in the East who does, after all, have so much more experience at being royalty than I do. When we dogs manage to get near the computer, I read Meeshka's memoirs faithfully, and memorize her lessons for use in my own house! Ha roo!!

Off to eat now,

Lita

Shameful!

Mama hasn't let me on the computer since June 1! And here we are about to go into October! Sheesh! We missed posting about a bunch of stuff. The little biped had a birthday a couple of days after my last post, so I'll say happy birthday to her first of all--she's three now! And she started school in August. Mama leaked about that; I don't really know why. You would think she'd be happy to get a break! We sure were!

Mama didn't have a choice about letting me blog today. Ha roo! All the SMS bloggers got an award from my honorary Sibe-sister, Khyra, so she had to let me post it! Here it is!



Isn't it khool? Thank woo, sis!! Now maybe Mama will let me post more often!

Oh, and Mama is making Siberian Husky holiday ornaments with beads to sell. I got hold of a picture of it. Okay, it's not done yet. She still has to make a hanger for it, and put a backing on it so that it hangs right on a front door, and edging, and fringes that swing like a fluffy tail, but I love it! What's better looking than a Siberian Husky, after all? Ha roo roo roooooo! Now I want her to make one that looks like me! She's gonna sell these on Etsy.com.

But our most major news is this: we had an adventure! Well, my Lab sisters and I had a small adventure, but my Sibe-sister LeeLee had a big one! And Mama says that if I post this, I have to tell you humans that this is one of the reasons you have to research a breed before you get a dog and be aware of all the quirks and habits. There, I said it, Mama. See, we had an escape one night. To quote Snoopy, it was a dark and stormy night, and all of us took off when Mama and Dad got home. Well, Smoky, Bandit, and I got home by three a.m., but LeeLee didn't stay with us during our adventure; she went off on her own. Mama was frantic, driving all over the neighborhood calling until 4 a.m., but she never found LeeLee. At 6, the phone rang, and it was a family seven miles away, on the other side of the highway! LeeLee had wandered into their yard!

We were VERY lucky to get LeeLee back! We Sibes like to run and run and run, and we look around and realize we're lost and have no idea how to get home, so we find a human who looks friendly. That's why our yards have to be very, very secure, and our humans have to be very, very careful. And microchipping does help, but only if we go somewhere we will get scanned for one, and only if the chip is registered! Escapes are a big Siberian trait, so make sure you read up about us before you bring one of us home! LeeLee was lucky enough not to get hurt, but escapes don't always have happy endings!

Until next time,
Thor

Early Morning Hunt

Thor's mama here. He has--grudgingly--allowed me to post this blog, although he will probably add his own words to it later.

We live in a manufactured home, which means that the dogs have long ago torn down the skirting at the back of the house so they can stare at the chipmunks and squirrels that constantly get under there. Well, lately there has been a pigeon, also known as a flying rat, living under there and driving the dogs insane, because, of course, they can't get to it.

Well, early Memorial Day morning, when I let the dogs into the yard to take care of business, the idiot bird, who has seen the dogs in the yard every morning, is in the yard, strolling around like it belongs there. The dogs did not take this invasion lightly, and Thor, my beautiful, gimpy-legged baby boy, proceeded to prove that a bum leg does not impede him in any way. The flying rat launched itself into the air, frantic to get away, getting about five feet up...and so did Thor. He snatched the bird out of the air...from above, even though he had been standing on the ground a second before. He caught both wings in his mouth and landed lightly on his feet. I have never seen him look so proud, with his head and tail both held high as he pranced across the yard. I hated to tell him to drop it, but, well, they're called flying rats for a reason! So he dropped it, and Smoky and Bandit converged from the left and right simultaneously, while LeeLee barked and jumped excitedly. Big three-way melee ensued, and when the dust settled, there was a dead pigeon without a mark on it, feathers everywhere, and three proud, successful hunters whose praises were being sung by the fourth!

Thor here now. Don't let Mama fool you. The only reason I dropped the stupid bird in the first place was because Mama was standing in the doorway in her pajamas, jumping up and down and screaming at me like an idiot. And LeeLee wasn't singing our praises, she was criticizing our techniques! Not that she did anything at all! And Mama, as much as we love her, wasn't smart enough to have a camera right by the back door to video our hunt! Humans!

Woos,
Thor

Thor vs. Troy

Mama filmed us playing with Dad tonight! Well, me, mostly. Our camera isn't all that great, so the picture is a little fuzzy, but you can still see it!



Mama didn't even get upset when I stepped on her foot; she just laughed at me. We are much loved pups!

Mama's Newest Thing, and Pictures!!

Mama has decided to try and find a way to work at home, so she can add to the household income that provides us with Canidae and cookies, and yet be home where she can be readily available to serve us as needed. Oh, yeah, and so she can be home with the little furless biped too. So she is looking for a job in something called data entry, and also decided to try her hand at crafting stuff for a website called Etsy.com. Dad is trying to figure out how to set up a workspace for her in the living room, Mama's making lists of tools she will need but doesn't yet have, and trying to think of a name for her Etsy store. She wants one that is Siberian-related, of course! Good mama! So , all suggestions from everysibe will be appreciated and considered. She does all kinds of stuff, but mostly beading on the loom and freehand. Look at all the beads she's got! All of those little boxes and pill bottles are full of beads! She says they're all size 11/0, which means they're pretty small. She told me that the larger the number, the smaller the bead, and she also works with size 14/0 beads for really detailed stuff. Wow! Imagine how small those are! I know she has some of those sitting around the house somewhere, but she won't let me see them. She's afraid that if I stick my nose in there to smell them, I'll inhale them and then we'll have to go to the vet. I'm not pressing the issue, since I have NO desire to visit the vet!

Mama said that she plans to take some of her beading graph paper and make transparencies so she can do some really special stuff. There are two types of graph paper she has. One has tons and tons of ovals in straight rows, all touching each other. That paper is for making designs for the loom, which is that wood thing in the picture. Then there's another paper for something called peyote designs, where the beads won't be in straight lines. Too confusing for me. Anyway, if she makes these transparency things, she can put it over a picture and then photocopy it so that the graph shows up on the picture and she can bead the picture! Cool, huh? She's already promised to do one of ME first!! I can't wait! Some of this stuff is pretty! Here's a picture of one Mama never finished.

Now, what all this means is that everypuppy has to get hold of their biped's plastic card thingies when Mama gets things going, and buy stuff so that she can buy us stuff! Ha roo roo roo! Only kidding! We'll see how well it goes!

Mama's been taking pictures of us again too. I forgot to run when she was doing it, so she finally got some of me and LeeLee together. Oh, well, I suppose she can have those few. I'll be generous.

We had another fight here the other day. I don't know if LeeLee started it or Smoky did, but we all got involved, and Mama and Dad weren't real happy with any of us afterward. We all got timeouts in our crates. The little furless biped wasn't happy about that, since she wanted to play with us, but Mama and Dad said she would have to live with it because we were in trouble.

LeeLee got revenge though. The next night, after we got to play in the yard for awhile, she came in the house and went directly to my crate to go to the bathroom on the carpet right in front of it! Mama and Dad weren't happy about that either, because they had to clean it up. There's something to be said for not having opposable thumbs! But I wasn't happy about it either, because it was right in front of my crate! And LeeLee just laughed at me. I don't know why she did it. I think it was just mean. I never go potty in the house anymore. I'm a big boy. LeeLee is just being bratty. She tries to take over Mama and get all the attention, but I'm not about to let that happen! I don't mind letting Mama pet her sometimes, but her lap and her bed are all mine! I already have to share with Smoky and Bandit!

Speaking of my Lab sisters, don't they look cute sleeping together on the sofa? Bandit's on the left, and Smoky on the right. It took Mama a long time to get a good shot of them, so it's a good thing they were sound asleep! Mama says it's really hard to get decent pictures of them because they're so dark they usually just look like black blotches in the middle of a picture. Having seen some of Mama's pictures, I'd have to say she's right about that, but I think that's more Mama's fault than my sisters' color! Ha roo!

Anyway, here's one last picture for now, and then it's naptime for me! Avi was showing LeeLee her tiger that she calls "Cat", but LeeLee wasn't hungry just then! Ha roo!

Of Annifursaries and Veterinarians

Yesterday was my Gotcha Day! I've been with Mama for a whole year, and she hasn't dumped me or hurt me at all, even when I...um...misbehave. She still loves me! Dad does too, and so does Avi, but Mama's my favorite, and I'm hers! I got to play all day yesterday, and to sleep on the bed whenever I wanted, and I even got a special dinner! Well, everydog got the special dinner, but they got it because of me! Mama made something called albondigas, a Mexican meatball soup. It's got rice and meatballs and broth. It's supposed to be soup, but for some reason, Mama's always comes out like a stew, really thick and filling. No kibble last night, just meatball stew. YUM! But I didn't get to sleep in the bedroom last night. We all slept in our crates. Mama and Dad said we were too wild last night. Can you believe that? Just because we woke Avi up a couple of times!

LeeLee was the one who had the big adventure, though. We all had a fight on Friday, and when Mama came out to break it up, Smoky, Bandit, and I had LeeLee down and we were playing tug-of-war with her. Mama wasn't happy with any of us! She threw a bucket at us to break up the fight, and LeeLee ran away. Bandit had put some holes in her butt, and Mama didn't find them till the next day. She made Dad take her to the pharmacy to buy Betadyne to clean them with, but they got infected anyway, so this morning LeeLee and Mama went to the vet.

Boy, was Mama mad at that vet! She hurt LeeLee with needles and pulled the scab off of one of the wounds, and then was surprised when LeeLee yelped and snapped her head around real fast. She didn't try to bite her, but the vet says she did! She told Mama that we would all eventually kill LeeLee, and that LeeLee should be rehomed with someone who actually knew dogs, and Mama should watch Cesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer. Mama was really mad, and she came out of the vet and called Khyra's mama to vent. Khyra's mama calmed her down, and Mama took LeeLee to Petsmart, where she got to meet a whole bunch of developmentally disabled kids, and she had a really good time getting petted and giving kisses. Then Mama took her to the hardware store to pick up an air conditioner for the living room, and she got to go in there too, where she said hello to everyone coming in and out of the store. So she actually had more of an adventure today than I did for my annifursary! That wasn't fair, but I forgive Mama, because I know she loves me best!

Woos,
Thor