Happy 14th Birthday Katy!

Dog Mom has been terrible about posting but there was no way she was going to miss Katy's 14th birthday!!!

Happy Birthday my beautiful girl. While the stairs have gotten to be more of a challenge, you wear your age with great dignity. You have Annie well trained as your assistant to help you as your vision isn't quite what it used to be, but you have her trained to be at your side guiding you as you go.

Happy Thanksgiving

Dog Mom decided she needed to update our November Calendar picture since she couldn't cheat and use last year's picture because they've replaced the deck and it would be obvious they'd not updated the picture. So here we our outside having our pictures taken.

She decided our November spa day would be the ideal day to have our pictures done as we'd be looking our best.

This year we held out for massive cookie bribes as Dog Dad wanted a photo shoot with the new Thanksgiving decorations out front and Mom wanted to repeat the shot she'd done last year. So treats we got and Mom and Dad got their pictures for our annual Sheltie photo calendar.

Believe it or not Tyler the Turkey and his friend are still around. Mom takes them out of the box after Halloween and he and his friend mysteriously disappear as the Christmas decorations come out. This year since Katy has taken to napping with the Mummy, Mom has agreed that the Halloween and Thanksgiving toys will be allowed to stay out until the Christmas toys arrive, but mysteriously either she's gotten worse about finding toys or we've gotten better at hiding them because lately she's noticed she has toys from several holidays out and is not certain how they keep escaping being boxed since we don't actively play with them we just nap with them.

We hope all of you have a healthy and happy Thanksgiving with family and friends. We are looking forward to football and dog treats.

Halloween Fun

Mom thought to take some pictures before it got dark this year. We think she's planning on making some more holiday flags and perhaps a page for next year's calendar. The dark pictures she made last year were not nearly as useful.

No snow this year but we did get some drizzly rain over the course of the evening. Never enough to send us inside.

We are used to having lots of kids but this year we had light traffic.

Hope all of you had fun.

Happy Halloween

Last Halloween we were surprised by a storm the day before Halloween. Between Covid and the snow Mom and Dad had to make some changes to our traditional Halloween Trick or Treating preparations. All and all it went really well. We enjoyed hanging out in the front yard after dark in the snow. While Mom was cold we were quite comfortable with our nice thick Sheltie coats.

Mom is hoping for better weather for the little ones tonight. She's been adding more yard decorations and hopes to be able to post some post Halloween pictures showing how we spent the holiday.

We hope all of you have a fun, peaceful Halloween.

When Thread Attacks....

Now Mom often accuses Katy and I of attacking her craft supplies. There are some fiberfill incidents best left not discussed without our attornies present. However, I'd like to present evidence that sometimes the craft supplies attack us.

Case in point here I am on the floor sleeping peacefully while Mom works on her crochet Barbie doll outfits and wham crochet thread hits the floor. Do I attack it, harm it? Clearly no. I leave it alone.

Is that enough for this aggressive thread? No it clearly attacks me. When I attempt to peacefully calm it by sniffing and licking Mom tells me to leave it alone and removes it.

Remembering Bailey on his Birthday

As Katy approaches 13 this June Bailey has been on my mind more lately. He would have loved having us both home like we've been since COVID. He was a people dog and loved nothing more than spending time with us and Katy.

It will be 5 years this June since we lost him but he will always be a part of our hearts.

We hope all of our friends are well. I've been reading your blogs, I just haven't had much to post for the girls lately. Hopefully I will get to posting more soon. I wish all of you well.

Snow Today Gone Tomorrow

You might remember we posted snow pictures for Halloween. Well typical of New England weather we woke Monday morning and the snow was all but gone.

Of course Mom has to get pictures of us to demonstrate the lack of snow.

The pumpkins have emerged from their snow coverings.So much for snow cookies

Halloween Fun

Trick or treat was allowed in our city but not all over the state. It was strongly encouraged that we find non-contact ways to distribute the candy. Chutes seemed to catch on across the area. There were several in our neighborhood.

Normally we stay inside the house and bark at the little ones from the door but due to COVID the candy distribution was happening outside and Mom knew we needed to be part of the security so she bundled up and came out with us for a while and then decided we had to go back inside to warm up while she and Dog Dad finished up with the last of the little ones.

For once we actually got to observe what goes on during this candy collecting night. We've walked around with little ones collecting candy but we've never just sat outside and watched it from our own yard. Mom is thinking this might be worth continuing next year.

Our neighborhood has long been a popular spot for Halloween candy seekers so while our numbers were down with COVID we still had more than most of Mom's friends and family got, especially considering by the time Mom and Dad closed down the temps were in the low 30's.

What else should one do but snuggle with a holiday bone when one's responsibilites are done for the evening.

Annie's 4th Gotcha Day

Four years ago after an extensive search Dog Dad and Mom found me and brought me to live with my sister Katy. Mom gets very nostalgic about these days. I like them because we always get more treats.

We haven't been around much. Mom has been doing lots of craft blogging and we've been helping dog Dad work from home. It is lots of work being an office dog. He requires lots of supervision. Katy and I often trade of duties. We can't possibly imagine how he survived when he was away from the house.

We hope all of you are doing well with COVID restrictions.

Happy 12th Birthday Katy

Happy Birthday my sweet girl. It seems impossible to be writing that you are 12 today. I had to check twice to make sure I had the numbers right. How could my sweet baby have grown up so much???

Look Who Learned about the Front Yard

It has bothered Mom for years that bunnies don't seem to learn. There is plentiful clover in the front lawn that they seem to love and the front lawn is not fenced for dogs so we can't play with them. Certainly there are hazards for wild animals everywhere but the front yard offers more hiding places than the back where bunnies seem to see it as some kind of American Ninja Bunny course. You get clover if you win and potential death or bodily harm if you don't make the safe zone with your amazing leap. Some have paid the ultimate price for being too slow, not making the right obstacle choice, etc. This brings us back to why Mom gets so frustrated that they won't stay either in the front yard or in the yards that don't have pets.

So, she happily took this picture to show one with at least a moment of sense. It decided to go for the easy clover. No ninja practice today.

All is Well

Katy here. As you can see from her big smile Annie survived her teeth cleaning yesterday. She was a very good patient. The vet techs told dog Dad she never stopped smiling when she woke up from her cleaning. She was incredibly happy.

We thank you all for you powerful paw prayers.

The Spa has returned

This weekend we happily returned to the spa. Yes, I said happily. We needed it badly and it felt so good to return clean, trimmed, and oh so free of hair. Mom and Dad have been doing there best but there is nothing like a professional to do it up nice.

With social distancing we didn't get to have our normal hang out at the spa. It is good to gossip with the others but it was still good to be back.

As we mentioned Annie is getting her teeth cleaned tomorrow which means anesthesia. So if you'd all keep her in your doggy thoughts we'd be grateful.

Mom's Coach

It's exhausting coaching humans while they work out. You have no idea how hard we have to work to supervise, motivate, and make sure they don't break themselves.

Don't get me started on the noise this thing makes when it turns on that I have to be brave enough to endure. Then I have to make sure it doesn't attack me when Mom is on it making the pedals move. It is a dangerous assignment let me tell you. Katy and I trade off duties. The machine isn't noisy once it is on but it doesn't seem to bother Katy at all. She lays down by the door and leaves Mom to it. Me I know you need to watch this thing. It could turn on us at any moment. Don't any of you watch those machine movies where they suddenly take over.

Peek a Boo

I See You

Hi everyone. Katy and I have been very busy helping Dog Dad as he works from home. You can see us here trying to settle in as Dog Dad has moved where he's working to get better access to AC as the weather has gotten warmer since he came home to work.

We have become very good office dogs providing comfort and advice.

Annie has to have her teeth cleaned next week which requires anesthesia. So please keep her in your thoughts. It should be fine, but anesthesia is always a risk.

Mom is going to try to get back to posting here again.

Happy 6th Birthday Annie

Hi all it's me Annie here to share with you my 6th birthday. We've been away for a while and still not sure how regular we will be back but Mom didn't want to miss a chance to connect and what better occasion than of course my birthday.

Katy and I are both grateful that Dog Dad was able to score us some birthday cookies when he went to refresh our food supply. He wasn't sure they'd have them but we were pleasantly surprised to find they were still making them!!

Mom is still struggling with the idea that I've turned six. She knows the math is right but it doesn't seem possible that the time has flown so fast.

Helping Rake the Leaves

Mom taught Dog Dad the sheet method of raking leaves before they got married. She thought it was just something everyone did. Dog Dad's family had never heard of it. It was a big deal. For those of you who don't know about the sheet or tarp method of leave raking it is pretty simple. You spread a sheet or tarp flat in front of your leave pile and rake the leaves on to the sheet/tarp and then bundle the sheet/tarp up and dump the leaves where you are composting them. Prior to this his family used to scoop them up and dump them into wheel barrels, etc. Dog Mom says she had never known another way of raking leaves. She had a yard full of trees as a kid and some of her earliest fall memories included toddling around falling into the leave piles as her brothers were trying to get them onto the old sheets her Mom saved just for fall raking. Needless to say this was a huge time saving device that Dog Dad has continued to use with our supervision since he now has his own home.

Now mind you for those of you who bag your leaves this method is not nearly as helpful although it can help contain your leaves it will not magically get them into those paper bags needed to transport them to your place of disposal. This only works when you need to move them from one place in your yard to another. However, it will move a considerable more amount of leaves than your average pick up and put in the wheel barrel method. You can see us supervising the balled up sheet here. We wouldn't want it to get away from us now would we?

Now you will notice I am doing my proper job supervising. However, for some reason both Dog Dad and Mom can't understand Annie has this rather bizare fascination with items one uses to perform work both inside and out. She seems to think they are there for her to fight, play with, debate no one has quite figured out what the motivation is but she does it every time to great enjoyment. You see here she's challenging the rake and having a grand time doing it. She also challenges brooms, mops, etc. She will follow Dog Dad until she is exhausted while he mows the lawn. I can't say I understand the motivation, but it seems to give her great pleasure.