Meet Big Blue – And We’re Not Talking Football!

Who – or what – is Big Blue? Here, let me introduce you:

Mommy....can I have Big Blue for my own?

Big Blue is Daisy’s new best buddy. When DD was younger, Big Blue was her reading pillow – she’d prop him up in her bed and read in soft luxury.

DD hasn’t used Big Blue in years, so when she was having a clear-out in her room, Big Blue was put on the floor along with a bunch of other things to be donated. A little while later, she saw Daisy snuggled up all comfy and content on Big Blue. So she left him on the floor in her room, and any time we’d go into that area of the house, Daisy would happily run into DD’s room and snuggle up on Big Blue.

Ahhhhhhhh.....cozy....

We didn’t have the heart to donate him – he’d found a new life with our little girl! So now Big Blue sits proudly in front of our sliding glass door (aka Daisy’s Window On The World), where Daisy can snuggle up in warm comfort as she watches the Bird and Squirrel Show outside.

Now I can watch the world in comfort!

Or, she just snoozes away….

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I love it when old things find a new life!

Monday Mischief: The Face – And Place – Of Trouble

Escape. It’s all about the escape.

I think one of the first things our pups do when we bring them home is — scope out each room for good “you-can’t-catch-me” places. Why? Because they know they’re going to be mischievous, and they need a good escape plan.

One of Daisy’s favorite spots has always been under the bed, but over the past few months, she’s picked a new one – underneath the dining room table.

Heeheehee! Catch me if you can!

It’s now her “go-to” hiding place if she senses an impending bath.

Haha! Just try to reach me through all these legs!

Maybe she forgot those chairs are movable??

We’re part of the Monday Mischief Blog Hop!

Daisy Picks Up A Hitchhiker

While we were in FL for Christmas, we discovered something brand new – and it wasn’t fun.

After taking Daisy out for walks, we’d find loads of nasty little green pods stuck in her fur. And I mean STUCK – they had little spikey things sticking off them that caused the pods to latch onto her fur so strongly that we had to cut the fur off. We couldn’t pull them out no matter how we tried.

We found them everywhere – on her legs, paws, tail, stomach….even under her neck and between her pads!

They looked something like this photo, but surprisingly (and happily!) those nasty looking spines were flexible and didn’t hurt Daisy at all.

My family in FL has St. Augustine grass, and these seed pods apparently are weeds that come up in the cooler months. They call them “hitchhikers” because they grab onto socks, pants, and anything else they can attach themselves to.

We still don’t know exactly what kinds of weeds they are, but they could be sandspur, which could hurt if it attached to the skin. Fortunately, Daisy’s fur is SO thick and curly that even these nasties couldn’t get near her skin – a great natural defense system! But she wasn’t too fond of sitting still while we searched her fur and cut them out after every outing.

So just a heads-up to all my traveling blog buddies out there – new areas could host new problems for our outdoor pups, so just check them over after going outside. You never know what might be lurking!

Good grief, what WERE those crazy things?!

Oops He Did It Again….

Last year I wrote about what happens when you leave a man alone with an electric clipper and a dog. Daisy went from this:

Before

to this:

Who knew her ears were so tiny under all that hair?!

That time DD and I were out shopping for hours when this happened. The silver lining was that an equal amount of hair was left on each ear.

But apparently that was just luck.

This time, I only left the room for 2 minutes while DH ran the humming clipper through Daisy’s thick ear hair….and – you guessed it – it happened again!

It looks like a toupee!!

Okay, the hair on Daisy’s ears had grown very thick and there were some mats in there – we can’t seem to stop them unless we keep her hair cut very short and continually thin it out. But DH went overboard this time – I can’t even the ears out because one of them actually has a crew cut on the end!

Uneven ears?! I demand to see a mirror!

Yup, there's actually a crew cut at the end of this ear. ::sigh::

I’m hiding that clipper from now on.

Monday Mischief – Daisy Has Radar!

I think Daisy might have a telepathic connection to anything that drops on the floor. Even if she wasn’t around when it fell and hasn’t been anywhere near that room at all, she just knows.

Who, me? Innocent little me??

This morning I knocked an emery board onto the bathroom floor. I couldn’t pick it up right away because my hands were wet and soapy, but as is usual with me lately, by the time I finished washing and drying, I’d forgotten all about the dropped emery board.

And in all fairness [aka excuse], it fell on a beige area rug with its beige side up, so it didn’t catch my eye. Honest. Really.

Keep in mind that Daisy was nowhere in the area; she wasn’t even at that end of the house. And it didn’t make a sound when it fell on the rug.

Later, after breakfast, Daisy suddenly and deftly trotted past me to the opposite end of the house. I knew that gait – she was up to something. So I waited. I gave her a minute to locate her target so I could catch her in the act.

There she stood in the bedroom, the nail file sticking out of her mouth, angled like a cigarette between the lips of a seasoned smoker.

She just stood there, frozen. Staring at me.

Suddenly she started to bolt for the safety of the bed – under the bed, that is.

“Drop it!” I yelled.

And she did! I was shocked! She stopped in her tracks, looked at me, and let the thing drop to the floor. I cracked up!

It was too late to get my camera for a picture, so instead I took a picture of the aftermath:

I got some good licks in!

We’re part of the Monday Mischief blog hop!

Major Blogspot/Blogger Problem! Anyone Else?

Has anyone else been having trouble posting comments on Blogspot/Blogger lately?  I haven’t been able to post a comment on anyone’s Blogspot blog in a week! It either refuses to give me the verification code or, on the rare occasion that I’m lucky enough to see it, it keeps telling me that the letters I’m typing are wrong….which they’re not. DD tried it unsuccessfully too. I’ve tried it on Chrome, IE, and Firefox – none work. Very frustrating!

So now I’m not able to post on any of my Blogspot buddies’ posts. I did notice yesterday that one person only had comments from other Blogspot people, so I’m wondering if anyone else who doesn’t have a Blogspot/Blogger account is having the same problem or knows if there’s a fix.

If any of my Blogspot/Blogger buddies read this, please know I’m not ignoring you! I’ve been reading your posts but just can’t comment!

All this frustration is exhausting....

 

The Little Birdie Who Thought He Could

We finally had our first winter snow this past weekend! We were so thrilled, even though it was only about 3 inches deep.

Of course, it was rained away two days later. But while it was here, we LOVED it!

After a snow, our Bird Diner is always busy, both at the feeder itself and underneath, where messy pickers fling seeds.

All plumped up for winter!

And there’s just something about the bland atmosphere that makes bird colors POP

One little chickadee thought he could pay us a visit. I guess he needs to see a Bird Optometrist for a pair of tiny glasses, because he flew into our sliding glass door HARD, leaving behind a tiny little feather and knocking himself into a stupor:

He sat like that for more than 15 minutes, beak open, not moving a muscle. I started wondering if he’d killed himself and frozen in place!

Wow! That was some landing!

He was near the house, where it’s a little bit more protected from predators like hawks, but there are a couple of huge cats that roam the neighborhood, and they’d just love to happen upon a stunned bird. So Daisy and I kept watch just in case.

Are you okay, little one?

Fortunately they didn’t come around, and this little guy finally started moving his head in tiny little increments, as if he was testing to see if he could manage it.

Half an hour later, he was turning his head normally and he moved really close to the house until he was ready to fly away. A happy ending!

       

Monday Mischief – Faker!

My oh my, did Daisy ever cry wolf this weekend! She’s taking mischief-making to a whole new level!

Sunday wasn’t only bath day for our Miss Daisy, it was a full grooming day.  That means that after her bath, I clip her nails, trim the hair on her face, legs, and paws (including around the pads), and give that cute little derriere of hers a buzz cut to keep unmentionable stinkies from clinging to her. It takes two of us to get the clipping and trimming done – DH to hold her in a comforting yet firm way, and me to do the dirty work.

Needless to say, Daisy hates full-on grooming days.

You're not coming toward me with that clipper....are you?

We give her treats to help get her through these non-invasive, non-painful, simple little procedures. The way Daisy acts, you’d think we were performing surgery without an anesthetic.

But this weekend she raised the stakes. My least favorite part of grooming her is clipping her nails. Only once did I draw blood from one of the black nails, and she didn’t even yipe. We stopped the bleeding quickly by dipping her nail in regular ol’ flour; the vet said we could also use baking soda or a styptic pencil. I probably only slightly nicked the edge of the quick since she didn’t feel it, but I was shaking for an hour!

That was months ago. Yesterday, after trimming the hair on both front paws/legs and clipping the nails, we moved on to her back legs, which are much easier to do. As soon as I clipped the second nail, she let out an ear-piercing yipe. Scared the living daylights out of me! I was so upset – how could I have done this again, and on a transparent white nail, yet?

I started running to get the flour again when DH called out, “There’s nothing wrong with her!”

In disbelief, I went back and checked her nail myself – I hadn’t cut anywhere near the quick! She wasn’t bleeding, and there was still white nail extending beyond the pink quick.

“FAKER!” I cried at her. “The dog who cried wolf!!”

Relieved but still shaking a bit, I took hold of the next nail with DH’s prompting. Guess what happened? She yiped before I  even brought the clipper anywhere near her foot!!

“Oh no you don’t!” I scolded her, staring straight into those big brown eyes, “You’re a faker! No more! You stop faking!”

I think she understood, because I cut the rest of her nails without even so much as a whimper.

So, to add to Snoopy’s Rules of Mischief  here’s our Rule No. 8 – if twisting, pulling, yanking, groaning, and puppy-mumbling won’t stop them from clipping your nails, resort to yiping. Works every time. (Or at least momentarily!)

This is NOT my best look!!

We’re part of the Monday Mischief blog hop!

One Lovely Blog Award

I can’t tell you how happy Scriptor Obscura made us this weekend when we (uncharacteristically) went online and discovered that Scriptor honored us with the One Lovely Blog Award!

Thanks so much, Scriptor! If you haven’t visited her site, take a moment and have a look – the fresh perspective of her creative writing and poetry is definitely worth your time.

I love this award because its purpose is simply to recognize the efforts of fellow bloggers and to let them know that their work is appreciated. Well, I can truly say I appreciate every single blogging buddy we’ve come to know over the past year and a half since we’ve been on WP. Your comments brighten each day.

There’s no limit to how many people this award can be passed on to. So, in no particular order (we love and value you all!), I’d like to pass this award on to those who take the time to read and comment regularly – we LOVE your visits and comments!!

Basset Momma

Tiffy’s World

Snoopy’s Dog Blog

Yorkie Tails

Chancy the Gardner

Bunk Blog

Roxy the Traveling Dog

Live, Bark, Love

2 Brown Dawgs

Vanilla Bean

Words With Purpose

Passionate About Pets & People

Happy Bark Days

Kame & Kroten Blog

We also sincerely appreciate all our followers who don’t have time to comment and those who comment regularly but don’t bother with awards (like Granny1947 and The Hook) – if any of you would like this award, feel free to take it! We’d have named you, but we don’t know who you are….

Happy day to everyone!

Monday Mischief – Daisy On High

Look where I found Crazy Daisy last week!

Uh ohhh.....they caught me.....

Yup, she’s perched on top of the sofa. Not on the seat cushions – on the sofa back. She’s balanced between the hard frame and the removable cushions – not an easy task.

Why, you may ask, would Daisy choose to leap up there and risk breaking her leg rather than enjoy the soft cushions, blankets, and multiple pillows below her? Answer: The Lure Of The Pillow.

The one pillow that was separated from the rest. The small pillow was inadvertently left on top of the back cushion. To Daisy, this is irresistible – there must be something special about that pillow if it gets the highest ground.

If I look away and act nonchalant, maybe they won't notice me....

If it was safe for Daisy up there, we wouldn’t mind. But there’s just enough space between the sofa and the wall that she could easily get stuck and break a leg or even a hip; plus the cushions aren’t attached to the sofa, so this balancing act she’s doing is pretty risky.

Pushing the sofa back against the wall isn’t really an option for a number of reasons, so we’ll just have to remember never to leave a pillow up there again.

You have to take special precautions when you have such a mischievous little pup!

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