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

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!

LeeLee update

Well, my Sibe-sister has been here for nearly two months now, and aside from one fight, we have all been doing pretty well with her and vice versa. She still growls a bit occasionally, and gives Smoky and Bandit the hairy eyeball, but she hasn't actually started any more fights. Of course, Mama and Dad keep a pretty close eye on her since the last one!

It looks like her diet is paying off too! Princess Holly's mama told our mama that Holly was on a diet of kibble and green beans, so Mama decided to try that with LeeLee. It seems to be working! When she went to the vet (after the fight), LeeLee weighed seventy two pounds. Mama says she's going to take her in to be weighed again, because she looks a bit thinner than she was.

LeeLee still isn't allowed to sleep in the bedroom with the rest of us, because she likes to woo at the small biped until she wakes up, chews everything she can get her teeth into, and doesn't let Mama and Dad go to sleep. She kisses them awake every time they doze off! They keep trying though, and Dad says she'll eventually figure out that she's home for good, just like I did, and she'll relax. I don't know...if she relaxes, that means she'll get to sleep in the bedroom too, and I don't think I like that idea. She likes to lie on top of Mama, and that's MY spot! Nobody gets to lie on Mama but me! Even if I choose to sleep on the floor, no one else gets to lie on Mama. LeeLee tried last night, and I pushed her all the way down to Mama's feet and took my spot back, and put my head under Mama's chin, which she thought was really sweet. I wasn't trying to be sweet, I was marking my territory!! Ha roo roo roo!

Woos,

Thor

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