We Sure Owe a LOT of Apologies

We are so very sorry for disappearing the way we did. At first, I was so embarrassed I couldn't even look you in the eye.

But then I decided that I just had to face the music and own up to the fact that Blog Mom did a very bad thing. We never meant to just book like that. It just got harder to keep up for a variety of human-based reasons and then it got to be a long time and then it was just awkward. We missed milestones and celebrations and sadness and all the things that furiends are supposed to be around to share. We never did stop thinking about you all, though. Not ever.

Then today  we got a sign that it was time to come back. Blog Mom downloaded a Kindle book. About  a dog, of course. What else is really worth reading? Well, the author of this book has a blog, so of course we  had to check that out and what did we find? Well, we found a real dog blog, not one of those fancy pants  author blogs. A Daily Dose of Jack is fur real. And what else? The very first post mentioned Remington. Yes, THAT Remington! A little further down was one where Madi sent a pressie. And Wilf.  The pack was all there!

Wait a minute, Wilf? One thing that was a little scary coming back was wondering if any of our friends had....well....you know. We still haven't counted noses so we don't know, but we prepared for Wilf to have moved on. And he didn't. Hasn't. Is still here. Thank Dog!

We did learn that Hero has had another harrowing time with stomach bloat, but is on the road to recovery. We are, of course sending all the power of the paw that we can and we are sure that he'll be all better real soon. 

We don't know how often we'll be able to post and we know we can't keep up with commenting everywhere, but we are going to try to catch up with everyone for the next few days and as far as our own posts go we'll see how it goes, but we'll try to get one out of Blog Mom every so often.

Sedentary Sunday

Hi all. We have not been posting like we should, but you haven't missed much. We really haven't been doing much besides hanging around.  Franklin keeps the backyard safe, which is a full  time job for him. I'm trying to get ahead of the curve with my napping. Doing pretty well there. Sarge is still doing well and  Alpha Mom says he farted quite a bit today. She was worried because she felt he wasn't doing that enough. But everything seems to be in working order right now.

Blog Mom is still having trouble staying awake long enough to attend to our blogging duties. She says this is because the nest - never really empty - is more full of people who need feeding more of the time and by the time she works, shops and cooks she doesn't have much left in her. I think I'm going to have to change her name to Not Blogging Mom. But we do check on everyone as much as we can and we wanted to check in and say that we still love EVERYBODY in Blogville.  We miss you when we're not able to get out here. We are hoping that nothing at all comes up tonight so we can at least catch up with you all. Here's me, having a nap interrupted:

Power of the Paw Working Well! Thank you so much.

Thank you all so much for your good wishes. They must be working wonders because Sarge was able to go back home to his barn. He's not speaking to Alpha Mom right now. She says he feels he made it perfectly clear that he wanted to go home last night and she did not take him there, so she's getting the cold shoulder right now. She says that's OK and that he'll get over it. I can see his point, although I don't do cold shoulder myself. I prefer to inflict guilt by looking sad and soulful.

We are a little worried that this is the beginning of something. Sarge isn't a young horse. As far as Alpha Mom knows this is the first time he's colicked and we hope it was just an isolated incident rather than the beginning of  trend. Anyhoo, thank you again so much for all your caring and concern. It really helps and we appreciate it more than you know.

Power of the Paw and Hoof Needed for a Horse -Updated

~ Morning Update - Thank you so much for your good wishes. There is cautious optimism here this morning. Sarge made it though the night and was even feeling a little better. We are still crossing everything we've got. 

No time for a real post. Alpha Mom just got word that Sarge is in the hospital with colic. She's on her way there now. It'll probably be a very late night and we probably won't have more information until maybe tomorrow night. We'd just appreciate if you could send Sarge some good vibes because he sure could use them right now.

Please get well, Sarge, from the whole family.

Peeps on Parade and Pip, too.

I know we're late. In some timezones the weekend is all over already. But we figured we could just get a short Peeps post in before it was too late. Thank you to Sarge for this interesting idea.

 Now the Moms will not show up in photographs. They are either vampires or ghosts or maybe in the Witness Protection Program. Daddy doesn't mind, though. Perhaps it's because no on told him Blog Mom is posting him to the blog. Hee hee.

That's Daddy on the left. Franklin's the one on the right. I think the one who got cut off  might be my human brother. There are like a zillion pictures of him on the web. Here's one we...er.....borrowed.

That was when he was out on the road all the time, which he is not now. Which, believe it or not, is one of the reasons we haven't been online as much, lately. It's a long story, but the short version is he changed his life around some and now the house is more full of peeps more often, keeping my Blogging assistant much busier than she used to be. I like having more people around, but it's a bit annoying not to have my blogging assistant at my disposal. Still, things like that never stay the same for too long around here. We just have to go with the flow, is what I'm told.

Daddy's the one who's home with us the most. He's retired and not always well. But he loves us HUGELY and spends tons of time seeing to it that we have everything he thinks we want or need. He worries about us a lot, too. We're not sure why because we're fine, thank you, but he means well. Music has always been his great love. Classic rock is his favorite. He also likes sports quite well and he builds model cars as a hobby now that he's home all day.

Daddy and Blog Mom are married. Blog Mom works during the day as a bookkeeper at a not for profit organization. She loves her job. She isn't as crazy about domestic chores. Daddy does as many of those as he can if he's feeling well. Sadly, he doesn't cook. Franklin lives downstairs with them all the time and sleeps with them at night. I live downstairs with them during the day and early evening if Alpha Mom is not home.

Alpha Mom works in the same place as Blog Mom. Alpha Mom has worked there much longer. She's an attorney there. On weekends there's Sarge, of course. He's our equine brother who does not live here at home. He's a draft cross. Alpha Mom has loved all animal, but especially horses and doggies all her life. She is a vegetabletarian, too. I live with Alpha Mom when she's home, which is not as much as Blog Mom, and I sleep with Alpha Mom at night.

We still have our foster bass player.  In fact he's been here for four years, so Blog Mom is getting less optimistic about finding him a forever home. Here's a photo:

He's not only a fine bass player, he's quiet, housebroken and knows most basic commands. Franklin and I want to keep him. So far so good.

We want to say Happy Blogaversary to Mr. Pip. Looks like we didn't quite make he deadline to join in the Superhero fun. Blog Mom actually got her dates mixed up about that. But that doesn't mean we're not enjoying all the super creative superheroes who have shown up there because we are. And most of all, we just are so glad that we've had this chance to get to know Pip.

Book Review: A Famous Dog's Life

We were so very honored to be asked to review A Famous Dog's Life by Sue Chipperton and Rennie Dyball, with a forward by Reese Witherspoon. The famous dog in question is Gidget, a canine actress best known for playing the Taco Bell Chihuahua in the famously successful advertising campaign.

Gidget's biographer, Sue Chipperton, was her trainer and companion throughout Gidget's life. Ms. Chipperton's story is pretty interesting, too, as you can imagine. She's trained a LOT of four leggers and also some no leggers. The path that led her to discover Gidget began in her native England, then took her to Florida, where she trained dolphins (she started as a fish gutter) at Ocean World and finally California and Studio Animal Services. The rest, as they say, is history:

Along with Gidget's personal and professional story there are lots of behind the scenes looks at life in the world of animal actors.  You won't find much in the way of smut or scandal, though. No drug or alcohol abuse or debauchery of any sort really. (Maybe human performers would do better if the American Humane Association was looking out for them, too.) If you're looking for that sort of tell-all, Hollywood exposé sort of thing, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. However, if you are at all an animal lover - and we know you are - this very well written book belongs on your reading list.

More information, including ordering links available at AFamousDogsLife.com. Go. Fetch.. You won't be sorry.

Barking Up the Wrong Tree

I hope no one ever takes this pup to Madame Tussauds.



He'd be so very frustrated.

In Doggy Fails closer to home, it seems Franklin needs a girlfriend:

Shouldn't someone tell him he's been neutered? Come to think of it, I think I mentioned it to him when he tried this with me once. Once. Never again.

Big Kitty!

There are kitties who are substantial in size, like Happy:

And there are kitties who are quite big for a....well, for a kitty, in fact:

And then there are kitties who are just too big for woofs:



Maybe Franklin would like a kitty like that. He's still trying to get the normal sized ones we have to play and they absolutely will not. (In fact, Simone has moved upstairs, but that's a story for another day.) This Very Huge Kitty appears to take doggies in stride.

Happy Easter!

I hope that everydoggy is having a wonderful holiday. Ours is kind of quiet, I must woof. Blog Mom and Daddy are going out to dinner at Daddy's brother's house and we don't seem to be going along. However, we did have a kicking Passover pawty upstairs at Alpha Mom's this week, so I guess I can't complain. Too much.

We will try to visit more when THEY get home. I plan to catch up on my napping this afternoon. I have heard talk of a VET visit this week and I need to try to thwart that plan. It's going to take all my wits to do that. The thing about VET visits is that you can't get out of them by pretending to be sick. That makes it very ruff.

Celebrate Life! Big Birthday Bash!

Well, we just got back after a big Passover do and a lot of stuff and found this invitation in our e-mail.




Everydoggy and everykitty and everyone else are welcome, I believe. And also snacks, speeches and beer as I understand it. You know the place, right? It's at Ronnii's place where Mama Tea will be helping to hostess. I think. Mayzie has all the details. And I want to thank Mayzie for sending this along in the mail. I'm just so glad we didn't miss it. Also, JD and Max are holding a special commentathing to raise money for the Crossed Paws Organization. JD and Max are incredibly kind and giving, just like Mama Tea. They are always there, helping out when there's a doggy in need. Oh, and I think their Mom helps, too.

Well, it looks like a busy weekend. We have to get commenting and also find some snacks for the party.

Difficult Day in Blogville

Good-bye for now, Richie. We'll see you on the other side, though.

We had been absent for most of the week. Things have just been awfully busy, or so they claim. I, Lola, have been able to keep up with my own responsibilities just fine, but the humans keep falling behind. Anyhoo, we finally logged on this evening and learned that our friend Richie has crossed the Rainbow Bridge. There is a beautiful and inspiring post on his site, urging us not to feel sad, but it's hard to help it. Still, thanks to his very special Mom and Dad, Richie had someone to love and care for him when he needed that so much. It would be wonderful if everydoggy had that. We will try not to be sad and just be happy that the last part of his life  was such a happy time with everything a doggy could ask for.

We had barely absorbed that news when we learned the Twinkie is hospitalized with what could be a serious illness. We are crossing our paws extra hard for Twinkie to make a fast and complete recovery.

Dear Twinkie, please get well soon!

We haven't caught up with all the doings in Blogville for the last week, but we do hope that there is no more bad or sad news. We are especially hoping that those tornados didn't affect anyone in Blogville. We will be keeping our paws crossed on that, too.

Thank you all from my Big Sis

Hey all! Franklin here. Lola wants me to say thanks to all her friends for their Happy Gotcha Day wishes and special posts and everything like that. She'll be along as soon as she can to woof all this herself but as you can see she's still kind of exhausted from the festivities. Yeah, she's older more mature than she used to be. Gets tired. I don't get tired, speaking just for myself.  This Gotcha Day stuff is new to me. They tell me I get my first one in July. All I know is that for this one Lola got cake and Franklin got cake, so that's a win/win, am I right?

Also everyone here is in has their tails in a bunch because Alpha Mom's e-mail was hacked. I don't know if she has anyone in Blogville in her address book, because Lola usually handles her own e-mail and she....well, now it's more like we have our own account. But if you happen to get an e-mail from our Alpha Mom saying that she's stranded at Heathrow Airport and to please send her money - don't. She's right here in the living and will be scratching my chest as soon as I finish this post. Which, I guess I have, so have a great night and Lola will be back to posting pretty soon.

Thank You, Dog Foster Mom!

We are so honored. And by "we" I mostly mean, me, Lola. After all, it's mainly my blog, am I right? Oh, yes - what we're honored about is that Dog Foster Mom has designated us a Featured Blog for April! I am stunned, really. And also we're in very good company so you need to go there and visit all the Featured Blogs if you haven't already. We also got this totally cool badge which is going in my sidebar, too, of course.

Isn't that totally pawsome? And, as I may have mentioned, my Gotcha Day is coming up (tomorrow) so what a perfect time to receive such an honor.  Thank you again, Dog Foster Mom. You are the best!

Hey, We're Still Here!

Oh, hi! It's great to see you!

Forty-eight hours and counting and things are still working. We shouldn't count our packets before they're sent, though. Let's just say we're happy to be here now. It's the weekend, too. Good thing because we need to tighten up the ship around here.

Do you see that pile of toys behind me, Lola? Those toys used to be in a basket as recently as yesterday. Somehow, all of a sudden that basket somehow became chewed up. Now, I know I, Lola, didn't do it. Who do you supposed the culprit might be?

Find the Pei, indoor version

Things are not quite right in the kitchen, either. Look what I saw on the counter:

In case you see this, Mango, I had NOTHING to do with this. Even Franklin is innocent this time.

Cautious Optimism

The 87th 4th different cable guy just left. We were out most of the weekend and yesterday. Alpha Mom told them that they absolutely had to send someone higher up on the cable repair food chain or else we were going to be forced to switch to Verizon, which could still happen. We'll see. This one got right up on the roof, which none of the others had done, and claimed that he saw the whole problem which was different from 3 different things the others had seen. It seems like they need to work their way around. The first one just changed the inside splitter. The second one changed the modem. The third changed an outside splitter, but this is the first one who didn't stay at ground level. Everything's working now, but everything was always working each time the others left. So we'll just see.

We really, really need our internet to be working now because I'm expecting a couple of new doggy-related books to review. No one told us that we'd be getting that kind of perk from blogging, but we're loving it. AND my Gotcha Day is coming up. And we need to catch up with all our friends. Oh, and Alpha Mom also needs her phone, which doesn't work when the cable is out. So this is their absolute last chance.

Fabulous Feline Friday with Schooner

It's been a long time since we've posted any pictures of our friend, Schooner. He's been very busy growing.

He's quite handsome for someone who is not a dog, isn't he?

Sunday Pupdates

First of all, paws down to our internet connection which started giving trouble again before we could even catch up. Right now it mostly works from 7 am to 7 pm, approximately. That is not when there are humans available to help with  blogging and visiting, unfortunately. Someone's coming tomorrow.  If that doesn't work out we might have to switch to Verizon, which we don't really want to do, or so I'm told. But we might. So there's that.

Next, the good news. My meds came from Canada! Just as promised and at a pawfectly reasonable price. Not only am I being helped by this, as well as lots of other Shar Pei, but also our friend CoCo is now going to get her meds from Canada, too. She was sick a while back. And then she got better. But she needs very expensive medications to keep her well and healthy. Much more expensive than mine, even at the new prices. So, when we told her Mom about the Canada option she looked into it and can get CoCo's medications at a much more manageable price, leaving more green papers for the humans to have things like groceries and such. I mean, they've got to keep up their strength to take proper care of us, right? In case anydoggy's interested, we got ours from Pharmacy Rx World. There are lots of others, but now that we got our stuff, just as promised, we thought we should share that link.

What with all these connection problems we haven't posted much about our day to day doings lately. Well, there haven't been so many of those anyway once we thought about it. It was a pretty quiet winter from our point of view. Now it's almost Spring, so maybe things will get more exciting. One thing we did do over the winter was watch Franklin's nose get crusty. I thought you might enjoy some photos of old crusty so there they are:

Franklin with original nose

Together with the red eyes, he's turning out to be a real looker

It seems to be something called nasodigital hyperkeratosis and does not appear to have a cure. I must say it doesn't seem to bother him or interfere with his self esteem any, though. 


My second Gotcha Day is in  just a couple of weeks. I'm making gift lists for the humans and I hope they're planning something nice. I also hope that our connection is more reliable then than it is now.


Once again, we apologize for our spotty visiting lately. Sometimes we lose our connection right in the middle of our rounds, or sometime before we even get started, but I have been assured that we will get this fixed eventually, for sure.

Oh My Dogness. I forgot my own Blogaversary!

We were just lazing around the living room here, trying to catch up with some of our friends when the date came up. March 13th is the date and I just wondered why it rang a bell. We checked and yep, it's been one year today since our first post here. I had certainly thought to do something more special for a Blogaversary Post. You know - special photos, a bit of a retrospective. We should be reflecting on how many wonderful friends we've made from all over the world and how much we've been enriched by this whole Blogville community. We should be thanking everydoggy for their friendliness, unfailing kindness and understanding when we aren't as reliable as we'd like to be.

Franklin, wake up! Do you realize what day this is?

We should be doing something, anyway. But the fact is that Blog Mom's 'flu hung on all week and she's been a bit foggy and not exactly on the old ball if you know what I mean. So, I guess we're lucky just to get a post about it in under the wire. But at the very least, we do want to thank each and every one of you for making this year so very special to us.

Now if any of you boy doggies want to say Happy Blogaversary, there could be no better way than to drop by and see me at the Kissing Booth at the fund raiser for Richie and Ronnie. Just click on the Kissing Booth tab and look around for me. I won't take it amiss if you should want to plant one on some of the other lady doggies, too. It's all for a good cause. And don't worry, girls. There are plenty of boy doggies there, too.

Pucker up!

In other news, we are waiting on the meds from Canada. I guess it's too soon to say how well that went until they get here, but so far so good, I think.

Where We've Been - This Time

We kind of disappeared again. This time it's because Blog Mom has barely been out of bed since the weekend. She's got the 'flu. I don't know what she would have done without Franklin and me, Lola, this time. Even the kitties had to help out in order to make sure there was at least one fourlegger in bed with her the whole time.

She's finally getting better and as soon as we can, we're going to start reading a bit to see what's been going on, but she's still not good for much. If she's better tomorrow then she's going back to work and you know what that means. She'll be crawling home, tail down, just ready to curl up and go to sleep. In other woofs, this week is pretty much shot to heck.

One very important - and sad - thing happened since we've been away. Molly Bloom, Dog of Doom - who was rescued by and shared her life with my Auntie Donna and her partner, Lisa - passed over to the bridge. I never had the pleasure of meeting Molly B. being that we live on opposite sides of the country, but Alpha Mom did and thought the world of her. They knew it was coming but Aunt Donna and Lisa miss her very much as you can well imagine. Our hearts go out to all of them. This is a picture that we borrowed from Aunt Lisa's blog. That's mainly a classical music blog so we're not sure we should link to it without permission. We just wanted you to get to see Molly B's lovely face.

We'll be back around as soon as we can.

Oh, Canada! (We hope!)

We got some distressing news today.  We should have known about it sooner, but somehow we missed the news. The FDA has banned the generic (and inexpensive) colchicine pills in the U.S. and now just one company seems to have exclusive rights to produce it. I might have that a little wrong, but it's something like that.

Since, due to blatant discrimination, I'm not covered under either of my Moms' prescription drug plans, this makes the medication which prevents flare-ups of  Shar Pei Fever very, very hard to afford. This change caused the price to go from an average of 10 cents a pill to five dollars a pill. That's a difference of a lot of green papers when you take it every day. This is causing a lot of problems for the Shar Pei community in the United States, as you can well imagine. You see, colchicine is mostly a human drug and it's mostly used for gout, but it's also the only thing that seems to control Shar Pei Fever, which I've got. Luckily, so far, Franklin doesn't seem to have it, but he's young yet. And of course he's simply frantic with worry for me. There is quite a lot of assistance available for humans who need it but now can't afford the only approved type, but not for doggies. More blatant discrimination.

Lola and Franklin contemplate this unfortunate development.

But it looks like Canada might just come to our rescue! It seems as though we can get this from Canada at prices similar to what we were paying before, or at least not much more. We are going to give it a shot tomorrow and cross our paws that the inexpensive kind continues to be available in Canada.