Floor snacks

Dinner time is really fun around our house. Papi does most of the cooking, and Mami helps by chopping and grating stuff and getting things out of the pantry, and I help with the cleanup. Last night, for instance, Mami was grating some carrots for a big Thai chicken dinner, and she dropped a big carrot piece on the floor, and I disposed of it for her. Same goes for cucumbers, crackers, onions or anything else that ends up there.
Everything always smells really good, and I don't mind if its cooked or not, I'm ready for cleanup duty. Sometimes I get stepped on a little cause I'm always at Papi's feet, but I'm good at scrambling.

A sad day

I just learned Friday that doggie friend Nyala passed away. She was only 5 1/2. Some of you may remember she was feeling sick a while ago and we all sent good thoughts her way. Well she got better, but on Thursday, while she was running around, all of a sudden something happened and she just stopped going.
Her Mami is very very sad so it's time to send thoughts to Tia Pamela this time,

Lazy evening

Sorry I havent blogged in a few days, but Mami was too busy at work yesterday, and today, she and Papi went up to Portland to go shopping for nice new outfits for my Tio Andrew's wedding next week. He is getting married in the evening so they had to find fancy new things to wear. Papi found a handsome dark plum colored shirt and a black tie, and Mami found a nice black cocktail dress. They are going to be very pretty and shiny. I wish I could go to the wedding but I don't think dogs are allowed. It's too bad because I love to kiss my Tio's beard. He has a nice beard.
Tonight after Mami got done trying on her dress again, she and Papi sat with me on the couch and I got to lounge. I missed them so it was nice to be held.

Que fancy choodle!

Last night while Papi was home, a special package arrived. Inside was something Mami had ordered from an artist up in Portland, and it was especially for me. I was hoping it was a new bed or a chew toy or something cool like that, but when Mami got home from work, I found out it was something different. It was a dress.
I hate wearing clothes. I only like to wear my Blondie t-shirt when its cold, or my trench coat when I walk in the rain. Otherwise clothes make me very sad.
But Mami was excited because this dress had pink and black skulls on it and a polka dot bow. She said I was a rockabilly dog when I wore it. I didnt mind the top part because it didn't bind under my arms like most clothes, but the back skirt is so foofy it made me walk funny.
Mami has promised this is only for special occasions. I hope so because I'm not spending my days in a foofy dress. I likes to be naked.

As promised

Here are a few more pictures from the beach. It's another nice day, too bad I'm not still out there playing in the surf! But it's gonna take me a week to get all the sand out from between my toes.

Beach Solstice

Wow. What a day. I just had my very first trip to the beach, and it was so exciting! Today is the day after summer solstice, and so Mami and Papi thought it would be great fun to drive over to the coast for the afternoon. So we all loaded into the car and headed to the beach.
At first, I wasn't sure what was going on. The air smelled really funny and there was this weird roar in the air like the wind, only it wasn't very windy. I really liked running through the soft sand, and sniffing all the things I was finding there. But then, it got colder all of a sudden and the sand got really hard and glisteny. Then, when I wasn't looking, this big splash of water hit my toes. I was surprised!
I figured out right away that there was this sneaky thing called a wave that would come up every once in awhile and try to get me, and then Papi and I would run away. Mami liked it, so she stayed in the water, but she was smart and had shorts on. Papi had on jeans and so he tried not to get wet.
We walked all the way to some neat black rocks and climbed around and watched the waves, and then we watched the surfers ride the big waves. Afterward, we walked a really long way picking up shells and rocks and sniffing seaweed. Then we drove over to the Bay and walked on the waterfront. We stood on the dock and watched a really big fishing boat go by, and then in the water we saw a beautiful speckled seal. It was really neat.
I was super tired on the drive home and covered in sand, but I stayed awake and listened to Mami read to Papi to keep him awake during the drive. Then we stopped for ice cream, and Mami gave me some of her sundae! It was such a great day.
I have put some of my photos here, and will post some more tomorrow because there are so many fun ones!

Gonna be a hot day

Lulu here. Since I'm the one who gets up the earliest each morning, I pay close attention to the weather. I spend a long time sniffing the air through the office window and judging the temperature, and I say today's going to be toasty. By 9 a.m. it was already 62 degrees and rising fast. I advised Mami to put on some shorts for her bike ride, because coming home tonight she's not going to like wearing pants. And given how much trouble she had wearing a dress the other day, shorts seem like the easiest option.
Anyway, to all you non-housebound pets, make sure to put on your sunscreen and drink lots of water.

Dogs in need

Mami had to write a story yesterday about a bunch of elderly dogs who need new homes. I guess because the economy is really bad, a lot of people are having to give up their dogs because they can't afford to keep them, so all these old dogs need new homes, like Petey here. It's really super sad.
If you live in Oregon and you think you might like to find out about these dogs, you can go here and learn more about some of the nice beasties who could use a good home.

Happy park fun time

I don't know if I've mentioned this before or not, but I really really love going to the park and getting on the swings.
I know it sounds weird for a dog to like swinging, but it's really fun. There's a little tiny park not too far from the house, and sometimes Mami takes me there on a walk. When we go, she always sits down on one of the swings, and then I ask to be picked up. She holds me on her lap with my feet sticking straight out, and her hand around my middle so I don't fall, and then we swing.
It's super fun. I like to watch the scenery go back and forth, and feel the wind in my whiskers. It's very comfortable and we don't go to fast so I don't get sick. It's quite a nice little treat. Then when we're done, I get down and we continue our walk.
Do any of you other pups like to swing? Maybe you should try it out.

Outdoor sniffin'

Papi and I spent most of our day out in the yard on Monday because it was so sunny. He got some tan time and worked on his computer and I ate as much grass and as many unripe cherries as I could get my paws on. When Mami came riding in on her bike in the afternoon we were both very lazy and sleepy in the sunshine, but then I got excited and tore up cookies in the yard around Mami. I can go super fast when I want to.
Last night Papi worked on cleaning his office which has been all dusty and fuzzy for a long time because he hasn't had time to make it nice. It made me too sneezy when he was vacuuming so I left for the living room. But now it looks really nice and bright in there. I can't wait to fuzz it all up again.

Gardening

It was so beautiful this weekend that we spent a lot of time outside working in the yard. At least, Mami and I did. Papi was up to his nose in final papers to grade, and his nose was also very sneezy because of allergies, so he stayed inside with Lulu, and let Mami and I handle the outside fun.
Since it's finally nice the flowers are starting to come out a little more, and it's looking nice in the yard. Mami planted a bunch more iris and built a little fence where there wasn't one so that she could take down the chicken wire that was keeping me from escaping (not that I would, seriously). She and I also did some sunbathing. Mainly she sunbathed and I rolled in the grass. I don't really tan.
Here are some flowers that I thought were especially pretty.

Rolling

Yesterday afternoon when Mami got home from work, she and I sat out in the back yard and I found some great stinky stuff to roll in. It was the best! I'm not really sure what it was, but I got lots of it in my fur.
Then I found some cherries to snack on. They're not exactly ripe, but some of them fell off the tree and they were really tasty and chewy. You can see me here trying to get all the goodness off of one.
Finally I sat in Mami's flower bed and stomped some of her carnations. She tries to get me to stay off them, but I like the way they smell like cloves. It was really sunny outside so it's kinda hard to see my face but I was smiling.

Nostalgia

Last night Lulu and I helped Mami sort through a trunk that the Abuelos had brought up when they visited on Saturday. It was full of old photographs, and Mami went through and sorted them out and put them in nice stacks while I sat on her lap to supervise. She found some really neat old photos of her grandpa in the 1930s, and then some photos she took when she was a teenager.
There were some really neat pictures of Mami's childhood dog, Alice, who was an Australian shephard-doberman pinscher mix. She lived to be 16. She was a very pretty dog, and like me, she didn't like to be dressed up, but she'd wear a bandana for a cookie. You can't see her tail in this picture but it had a big white tip at the end like a flag.
Mami put the photos in a big fancy box and showed them to Papi when he came home. I like seeing pictures of other dogs, it's exciting to hear stories about the good old days.

Window time

Lulu here. I've been spending a lot of time in the office window lately, trying to soak up some sunshine, but here's the deal. It's the middle of June and we've had like one day of hot sunny weather, and that was Sunday. This morning, it was in the 40s and raining. Again! I am tired of having to fluff up my fur and curl up in the guest room with all the windows closed. Seriously people, where is the summer? The lilies are never going to bloom at this rate. If it doesn't warm up soon I'm going to have to cuddle with Emma, and I hate that.

A visit from Sophie

I was out in the backyard yesterday while Mami got the lawnmower out of the shed, when my Tio Jake and Tia Mary Ann stopped in on their walk, and they had my friend Sophie with them! It was so exciting!
I haven't seen Sophie since she was a puppy. She is a King Charles Cavalier spaniel and she has the fanciest ears.
I was kinda scared of Sophie cause she's bigger than me, and I got in trouble because I growled and snapped at her when she came up to meet me, but eventually I got comfortable and I let her sniff me without biting, and I even let Tio Jake rub my belly while she was standing there, even though I was scared. So Mami thinks when we have a longer visit I might learn to play with her. I hope so. She is much nicer and less bouncy and bitey than when she was a baby. I just need to learn how to play nice.

It's bike weather!

This weekend, Mami and Papi bought new bikes to ride around town on. Mami's is green and Papi's is black. Mami said she's gonna buy a special pet basket with a protective top so that I can ride around on her bike. But for now, I have to stay home. Anyway, today the sunshine came out and it is so gorgeous so Mami and Papi took a long bike ride into the country. They got to see sheep and llamas and cows and go over covered bridges and there were all these wild roses blooming. Mami said it was spectacular. Now they're back and Mami says her butt hurts cause she's not used to this kind of exercise but she said she's gonna try and ride her bike to work tomorrow even if it gives her helmet head.
Now we're gonna go in the back yard and plant some flowers that Abuela brought us yesterday from her house in the mountains.

My friend Ratters

So this morning while Mami was sitting on the couch eating her oatmeal, Papi gave this weird kind of gasp and pointed behind her. At first, she thought maybe there was a big spider, but then he said, "No, rat!" and there in the bush outside the window was this really big rat eating a peanut.
Mami tried to get Lulu and I to get on the couch and look, but we pretended we didn't understand. Actually, we know him really well. His name is kind of unpronouncable and has a lot of "eeks" in it, so we call him Ratters, cause we like Harry Potter. He's always hanging around in the garden, and sometimes on the roof of the house at night. Anyway, we have a mutual non-aggression pact with him. We don't bother him, he doesn't bother us. I just wish I knew where he was getting all those peanuts. We only eat pistachios at our house.

Get motivated

My Tia Candace found this really cool site where you can make your own motivational posters, so I've been playing around and came up with some funny ones. Check out the site and you can make your own! It's really easy and fun! Click here to try it!

A new cousin

This is my Tia Veronica's new child, Miss Lette. She was just adopted into the family. My Tia is getting married in September, and so she and her fiance have decided they need a new kitteh to complete their home. Isn't she pretty? I'm not quite sure how to say her name yet. I'll figure it out though. Maybe Lulu can help.

Stealth cat

Lulu here. It's kind of brisk and rainy today and I'm feeling feisty. I started my day by jumping up and down on Mama and Papa's pillows, to wake them up so that someone would feed me. Then, after I got my breakfast, I started stalking Emma through the utility room, as you can see from this picture, but I was eventually interrupted by Mama shutting the door so I couldn't bounce at her. I plan to spend the morning at the open guest room window, enjoying all the rain smells, and then having a nap. I like this time of year, there's lots blooming and lots hopping around in the garden to look at.
Last night, we watched an old movie called "Cat People" that was all about werecats. It was pretty cool, but I kind of fell asleep halfway through. You should check it out.

Bored now

After having Mami home for the last four days, now that she and Papi are back at work I don't have anything to do. It's nice outside and I've been looking out the windows but I can't go in the yard by myself, and there are no snacks other than kibble, and it's really boring here. Lulu doesn't do anything but sleep and I don't know how to turn the t.v. on, so I guess I'll just take another nap.