Last Week

Hi My Dear Furry and Non-Furry Friends,

There are some things that have been bothering me during this past week and I'd like to talk about them, so here goes:

1. My mom has been busy the last few days working on something that does not involve me or my blog and I am not happy about that. I have fallen behind on all my correspondence, and I haven't even posted for a while. By now, you are all probably tired of that video that was taken a week ago. If you think I was bored then, you should see me now.

2. The weather is terrible. We keep getting these yucky snow storms, as the TV meteorologists say here, "enough to shovel and plow". But not enough to have lots of fun in. Last year I loved to run up to the tops of the snow banks and look up and down the street. What a great view I had! I would run from snow bank to snow bank. I loved it. There was nothing better than standing on top of a five-foot snow bank looking all around. I could see the whole world! This year -- nothing! No big snow banks, just ice or slush or wet roads. (Come to think of it, mud is pretty good in its own way.) And cold. It's been cold, too. How I wish spring would come.

HEY SPRING!!!! WHERE ARE YOU??? PLEASE COME--SOON!!!

3. Look at my hair, will you? It's a mess. I can barely even see. My mom is going to give me a haircut (Hehe), or get me groomed as soon as I don't need all this thick wiry fur anymore. She thinks that I don't know this, but I heard her thinking about it the other day, and I will be ready. I will not make it easy for her. (Hehe) But, I would like to see better.

Now for the good things that have happened to me recently. This week I was honored to receive two very important and prestigious awards. I got the Funky Blog award from Noah and his sisters Willow, Tess, and Lucy. For that I am honored and deeply grateful. I will post it with pride. Thank You guys. It was so nice of you to do that.




Yesterday I also received the coveted Toadally Awesome Award from Asta. I am just overwhelmed by this extraordinary compliment. As some of you know, zhaba is my Mom's email address. Zhaba is a very loose translation of "frog". That's why the Toadally Awesome Award is so special to me. Thank You, kousin Asta! I sincerely appreciate this wonderful honor that you have bestowed on me.






So, come to think of it, it was a pretty good week after all.

I'm Bored

Hi Everybody,

I am finally rested up from last weekend and now I am looking for something to do. That could mean trouble for somebody.

Home Again

Hello Friends,

This is what happens to you after too much pawtying. I am not dead. I only look and feel that way. Ski weekends will do that to you.

I want to thank everyone for coming to my ski pawty and I am so glad you had a good time. It was fun planning it and I appreciate your kind comments. Thank You.

Ski Weekend, Day 4

Hi Everybody,

I'm sorry to say that the pawty's over. The slopes are closed.


And most of my friends have already left for home, hoping to get a head start on the storm that is coming.

Asta Marie is still here waiting to pay the bill for all of us for the entire weekend. She is waiting for them to calculate it. There is a lot of adding to do. She won big at the casino again on Friday and she has more than enough money to pay for everything. I have never seen anybody with that kind of luck. We are lucky too because we know her and she likes us.

Kousin Butchy decided to stay a while longer. He is looking for somebody to play cards with. Well Asta Marie is still here and I'm sure that Dewey and Toby are here somewhere too. I think I'll look for them after I say all my "Good-Byes".

"Bye" Everybody!! See you again soon, I hope. Cry, Cry.


Have a safe trip home!!


















OH, THERE THEY ARE!!! They found one blue sled! I thought that all the stuff was put away. Hey guys, WAIT FOR ME!!!! What? No room for me! I'll just have to sit ski.

Whoa........

Ski Weekend, Day 3

Hi Everyone,

Well, I think you know how yesterday ended. It was not pretty. But, we are only half-way through our vacation and we can't let the misfortunes of some of our less-wise friends ruin the weekend for everybody. So, we just had fun without them.

This morning I was finally able to talk Lorenza into coming outside and going down the mountain. She would only agree if I let her drive my yellow snowmobile. It was against my better judgement, but since I wanted her to experience flying down the mountain, I gave in. She did a pretty good job for never having been on a snowmobile or a snow-covered mountain before, don't you think?

I "sat-skied" down the mountain on Scruffy's new skis that he got for Christmas. I didn't think that he would mind since he won't be using them for a while. Sit skiing is something new. Instead of standing up, you sit down on the skis. Actually, it is much safer since if you fall, you don't have as far to go to hit the ground since you are already there.






After lunch I went to the hospital to visit Scruffy. He is enjoying poor health. All the nurses are making a big fuss over him. He may act like he's miserable and in a lot of pain, but he is loving every minute of it. Wait until he gets home and back to reality. He won't be having so much fun then. Lacie and BabyStan will see to that.











Later in the day we decided to go to the casino, since we haven't done that yet, except of course for Asta Marie, who is a big celebrity there. She gets first class treament. Must be all the comps that she has built up over her stay here. The rest of us are treated pretty much like dogs. Here are some of us waiting in the lobby before we go in. Kousin Asta is not allowed to gamble, and is under strict orders not to do so by her Mommi, so she is depressed and lonesome. Stanley is in Mount Hairy Hospital, too, since his new "no-look, no-ski" method of skiing didn't work out so well. Here she is watching as Maya and Kena, Harry, Lorenza, Bogart, Joey and Tanner, Amber-Mae, and Lacie all enter the casino.












We heard that a live musician was beginning to play, and being the music aficionados that we are, Maggie, me, and Herc left the casino as quickly as we could to catch his act. We don't want to miss a note. Wonder if Kousin Asta is going to join us or if she is going to continue to look at the slot machines from a distance. (What is it about the name Asta. They both like to gamble.)












The live musician was great! He played all our favorites songs. Classics like "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window", "Who Let the Dogs Out", "I've Got my Dog to Keep Me Warm", and the entire repertoire of Four Dog Fight. Lorenza, Gus, Peanut, and Ellie sang along. They have beautiful voices and really blended well together. They harmonized to all the songs and didn't get one lyric wrong. As word spread about how good the entertainment was, more and more of our friends started leaving the casino to come see the show. Even both Astas came. And Scruffy, Stanley, and Dewey were released from the hospital just in time to join us. It was a wonderful ending to a wonderful weekend.













Tomorrow we all have to return home. Cry, cry.

Ski Weekend, Day 2

Hi Everybody,

Whew, what a day today was!! Did you ever have a day when almost everything goes wrong, or you are just out of sorts? Well, that's the kind of day today was. And It's not even Friday the Thirteenth! Don't get me wrong. It was not a real bad day, but it was not a real... Well, see for yourself.

We all had a delicious and nutritious breakfast. Then things got weird. It all started at the ski rack.



First, Petra slid down the wrong hill. She thought that was a ski slope. Actually, it was just a small hill by the parking lot. Then Stanley decided to practice his new trick. He is working on a new skiing technique and he almost has it perfected. It involves going down the hill backwards, with your butt in the air and your head on the ground. He says that it is more fun going down the mountain this way than it is when you can see where you are going. And besides, you get a really great breeze. That doesn't sound like Stanley, but at this altitude sometimes we do strange things. Next, as you can see, we have Butchy and Snickers naked! Snickers is looking for her coat on the ski rack instead of the coat rack. Must be the thin air again. Butchy knows that she is confused and he is laughing at her. He should not do that because he doesn't have his coat either. Then there is poor Maggie. Maggie can't find her skis. They all look alike to her. Maybe if she pulled her hat up off of her eyes, she will find her skis. Poor Herc is just standing there watching in amazement.

Then we took our first run for the day. It was rather unusual.



Why is that? Well, Lacie and Archie came down the ski lift instead of going up it. Seems that Archie is not supposed to be on the mountain because of his bad leg. Lacie wanted to ski though and persuaded him to join her. That wasn't too difficult because he wanted to ski, too. But his sister Agatha found out, and just when Lacie and Archie hopped onto the ski lift, Agatha ran up behind them and jumped on between them. Then she stayed between them for the rest of the day. Poor Lacie and Archie. They were so frustrated. And on the day after Valentine's Day yet. It's just not fair.

Off to our left, we have Ruby flying down the mountain on her black sled. She drives that even faster than her airplane. You better stay out of her way. She's not afraid of anything.

Maggie decided to forget about finding her skis, so she put her blue New York Giants Super Bowl shirt on (sorry A+A) and found a matching sled to ride. She looks nice. So does Mitch. He also has a blue shirt on. Mitch is driving a red snowmobile, but not very well though. He just misses hitting that pole!

My sweetheart Scruffy is also driving a red snowmobile and he, too, just misses a pole. His mind must be on me. Sigh. I am right behind him on my yellow snowmobile, but I am not anywhere near the pole.

Kousin Butchy decided to stop looking for his coat. He came down the mountain on a blue sled like Maggie's. They must have had a special on blue sleds because I saw a lot of them out on the mountain today. Butchie, too, almost hits the pole.

So, it must be this thin air out here on the slopes, or else there must be something in the water.

Speaking of water, after all that strenuous skiing, snowmobiling, and sled riding, we needed a drink, and we found the perfect spot with nice, fresh, mountain water.



When we got to the pond, we saw that it was being guarded by Gus and Lenny. They did a fine job of protecting it. Agatha and Archie are there. Where is Lacie? Oh my, LOOK!! Lacie fell on the ice! (Do you think that maybe Agatha pushed her? Nah...) Kousin Asta was there, too. So was Dewey, standing on the ice where he clearly did not belong. Cassidy was getting a drink, while Scruffy and I waited our turn. The water was so cold and refreshing, a little hard and crunchy (you had to chew it), but cold and refreshing.




After our drink, we girls decided to take a run by ourselves. It was great! No problems, and no near misses. We just went down the side of the mountain, instead of going forward. Oh well. You'll have that.


There is Kousin Asta on one of those blue sleds, Me on my yellow snowmobile (I rode that all day), Putter, with her great scarf and hat riding an old-fashioned wooden sled, Snickers on another one of those blue sleds, Asta Marie, who finally left the casino to come outside and take at least one run down the mountain (I heard that she won millions more and is going to pay for the entire weekend again! Great!!!!!), and Girl Girl, on a red snowmobile. That was so much fun!!!



When we got back, the boys decided that they wanted to have a run all by themselves. You know how they are. So anyway, there they go....



YIKES!!!!!

Stanley is doing his new backward, no-look, no-ski ski method down the big mountain!! Lenny is riding his red snowmobile facing backwards!! Mitch is on a wooden sled and he isn't paying attention to where he is going. STOP DAYDREAMING, MITCH!! Butchy just got thrown off his red sled. Dewey, on another one of those blue sleds, is about to go over the embankment. Bogart is behaving like a real gentleman. (How did he get mixed up with this bunch?) Rudy is standing on the ski lift instead of sitting safely, and Scruffy is...

SCRUFFY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope his medical insurance is paid up.

(To be continued on Asta's and Scruffy and Lacie's blog...)

Ski Weekend, Day 1

Hi Everyone!!

Well, it finally got here!! Our Valentine's Day/Ski Pawty Weekend! I am so excited!! HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE!!

Off we go! Up to the ski resort. By the way, did I tell you that Mount Hairy Lodge was a remote, out of the way place? Are we there yet?


Oh boy, we are getting closer!! Are we there yet???



YIPPEE!!!! We finally made it. I must take my post by the Mount Hairy Lodge directory to welcome my guests and give them directions so that they can find their way around the resort.



AireRuby has landed, and the travelers have made their way up the mountain to the resort. Now that they are all here, they must wait in line to register, since they all arrived at once. Most will be staying in the upscale, five-paw hotel and casino. They look tired, but excited. Asta Marie, in the front center, can't wait to get to the casino. (Don't tell anybody, but I think she has a gambling problem.)

Casino/Hotel Photo
Back Row, left to right: Scruffy, Ruby Bleu, BabyStan, Joe Stains, Koobuss
Front Row, left to Right: Lacie, Lorenza, Asta Marie, Jackson, Butchy, Pacco, Luna

Once all of these guests are registered, the next group will be taken care of. Everyone has been very patient. Guests are enjoying visiting with each other while they wait. The lines move quickly at Mount Hairy Lodge and the waits are brief.

Some guests are enjoying the more cozy atmosphere offered by the bed and breakfast, which is across the street from the main hotel. Everything at Mount Hairy Lodge is conveniently located.

There is a line there, also. Waiting to register, from left to right are: Snickers and Gussie, Snowball, Asta, and Stanley.
There will be rooms available here, if anyone in the big hotel decides that they want more peace and quite, they will be able to request a room change to the smaller bed and breakfast. All facilities are top notch, so it really doesn't matter where you stay.


After everyone was registered, fed, and rested, guests made their way over to Mount Hairy Lodge's world class ski facilities at Wild Dog Mountain. I went ahead to greet everybody when they arrived. Several of my friends joined me and we formed a Welcoming Committee so that each guest received personal, individual attention. The committee is, left to right: Lacie, Luna, and Dewey, on the roof top; Amber-Mae, Stella (whispering something to me), me (Koobuss), Kousin Asta, Asta Marie, Toby, and Pacco.

Then we had to wait in line again. This time it was to get our lift tickets. Once we got them, we were set for the weekend. YEA!!!!!

In line waiting for lift tickets are, left to right: Scruffy, Me (I brought my bully stick to chew on while I wait. It is never too far away from me. I may be addicted to them.), Lorenza, Toby (on bench), Lenny, Amber Mae, Dewey Dewster and his mother Asta Marie, Sparky, (all on the bench), Noah, and Ellie (on the bench).






Because we are intelligent beings who appreciate the value of an education, we made the youngsters among us attend ski school until they were able to prove their competency on the slopes. Here they are waiting for their first lesson. From left to right are: Weeny and Daisy, on sled; Stella and Bob T. Bear, on sled; Pinot, Petra, Cassidy, BabyStan, and Toby.












Now we are all set for a busy afternoon and evening. Mount Hairy Lodge has night skiing, but there will not be any photos available. You'll just have to check out my kousin Asta's blog. And don't forget to come back tomorrow to see how we make out. HAPPY SKIING EVERYBODY!!!!! WEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day Everybody.

See you at the pawty. I'm leaving early to finish the preparations. Can't wait!!

Who Wins?

Hello All My Dear Furry and Non-Furry Friends,

My mother and I had a battle earlier today. She wanted me to wear my bandana, and I didn't want to. Watch the video to see what happens.



Who do you think won? (I'll give you a hint: I still have the bandana on.)

Mount Hairy Lodge

Hi Everybody!

Valentine's Day is coming quickly, so I went to check out the facilities at Mount Hairy Lodge, where we are having our next big pawty. It was a long ride, but we finally got there.

Mount Hairy Lodge has a lot to offer. There is the big main building for those of you who want all the amenities, and the much smaller bed and breakfast, if you prefer it quiet and cozy.















Our outdoor activities will be held at nearby Wild Dog Mountain.

I decided to check things out, so I jumped on the ski lift and went up the mountain.





Here I am going down the mountain on my butt. OUCH!! It didn't take me long to find out that there is a better way to do it.






This snowmobile, for instance, is a lot less painful. WWWEEEEEE!!!!!!

Post Game

Hi Everybody,

Well, here it is Monday again and all of the fun and excitement is over. It's like the whole area is suffering from a super-sized Super Bowl hangover.

I want to thank Gus and Teka and Joey and Tanner for being such marvelous hosts and showing us such a wonderful time. Everything was just fabulous! The game, the weekend, and the entire trip was just great!!

Now that it's over, I think I'll sit back and have a cigar. Won't you join me?

Koobie


pee ess Don't forget our Valentine's Day Ski pawty weekend at Mount Hairy Lodge. That is also President's Day weekend, so don't forget to make your reservations. You do not need to have a date. Just make sure that your medical insurance is paid up. (I'm kidding.) Hehe!!

Award

Hello, My Dear Furry and Non-Furry Friends,

The other day kousin Asta gave me this prestigious award. I was deeply honored and overwhelmed, since I do not consider myself to be much of a thinker. So Thank You, Asta. I appreciate it.



One of the things that I have learned as I grow older is that I will never be a majestic Airedale like Stanley, and Maggie, and Mitch, and Harry, and Putter, and Sunshine, and Bogart, and Noah, and Hercules, and others, but I can at least be a majestic Airehead!

And now the rules for the Thinking Award are ..

1. You must write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.

Five blogs that make me think, in alphabetical order, are:
1.
a creek runs through it
This is by my friend Ellie Creek, who teaches music to 350 reluctant students in Montana. Her blog is filled with
beautiful photos and artwork. I also enjoy reading what she has to say, even though she is a human and not a dog.
2.
Agatha and Archie
These two wire fox terriers know all of the best spots not only in Boston, but in all of New England. I love
seeing their fabulous photos of their adventures throughout the city. I also like Agatha's bomb shelter. She is way ahead
of her time. I think we all need one for our toys and favorite items. These things must be kept safe.
3.
Bob T Bear
Bob is a bear who lives in the United Kingdom. His writing is, shall we say, unusual. He makes me think every time I read
his blog just to understand what he is saying, and what he is saying is excellent! And, writing the way he does must be
very difficult. I still don't know what those numbers are at the top of his blog.
4.
Patience
Patience, another person, is an honorary dog, in my opinion. Her stories of her life with nine whippets are spellbinding.
She will make you laugh and she will make you cry. Whatever the case, she is always fun to read.
5.
Scruffy, Lacie, and BabyStan
These guys always make me think. They are a challenge for me to keep up with. I never know what Scruffy, Lacie, and
now BabyStan are going to do next, and as Scruffy's girfriend, I have to be on my toes at all times. They keep me sharp
and alert. I can just imagine what they do to poor Mumsie.

So, there you have it. These are the five that I am passing the Thinking Award on to.


Next, we have to

2. Acknowledge this post. (I already did this.)
3. Optional: Proudly display the Thinking Blogger Award with a link to the post that you wrote. (I did this, too.)
4. Go tell your humans to fork over the treats! (This one's a no brainer.)

My humans are really good at giving me treats. I have them well trained.