The Christmas Tree is up!

Twas the weeks before Christmas and all through the house,

2 greyhounds were snoozing, dreaming of treats for their mouths.

The Christmas season is upon us and we are so excited. We participate in a local greyhound secret hound Santa exchange and we've sent ours out for their hounds, and they are excitedly awaiting their secred Santa's boxes.

We've had to have the "talk" with them about which stuffies were for them and which stuffies were for decoration, they either weren't listening or they didn't care, so the decorative stuffies had to be placed well out of reach.

Fortunately Christmas plans this year are small and rather quiet, so we all should enjoy a peaceful reflective day...

Bo "reflecting"

Hey? Was that reindeer we hear??? Oh, no even better! Papa coming out of the "treat room"!!

How can you NOT love that sweet face

Both Bo and Bella sleep with gusto. There is no such thing as a quick snooze or cat nap. They take their sleeping seriously and I have a picture to prove it.

I was working on the computer, doing a couple of projects and downloading pictures when I look behind me and see a face of utter sleeping bliss. Mind you, I had only been on the computer for no more than 10 minutes by this time. I snagged the camera and made sure to shre the blissful sleeping face of my sleeping beatuy Bean. (I'm going to have to watch my shoes, I'm sure she's want to get back at me for posting this picture. :))

They got jammies!!!!

Bo Seeya hates being cold, we learned early last winter that Bo needs something on when he goes to bed, otherwise he is waking us up all night whining with shivers. They have tummy warmers, but this year I went with jammies too. Bella Bean doesn't like to be covered up too much, so I got her a light fabric with only the front legs. Bo went with a thermal fabric to keep the toasty in without the all of the static electricity that fleece can bring. They weren't too big on modeling, but they had little choice in the matter, I had to share the total cuteness of my babies in their jammies!!

Bella Bean looks so sweet in pink butterflies, even with her snarky stink eye in the second picture:

Here is the See curled up and comfortable in his manly blue & black pawed pjs.

Bo Seeya keeps pulling his back legs out of the jammies. I have been rolling them up to keep them on, but he still manages on snaking them out. Here he is, pj legs flapping at his side, doing his happy dance with his favorite hedgie in tow:

Bye!

Stolen moments

Bo and Bella have always gotten along really well. As can be expected in the beginning there was a minor scuffle, but since the 1st week together, they're pretty much inseparable. Although they aren't the biggest snugglers, I see them "appreciate" the other's presence by looking for the other one or snacking side by side without any snarkiness.

Then I caught them in a moment of... "appreciation". It was later in the evening and bed time was getting close. We were going through nighttime rituals when I saw them stealing a "kiss". Fortunately I usually have a camera near and I caught the moment.

Here we have them, in the cover of the dark room, stealing their kiss:

Oh, poop! We've been caught!

As soon as the lights came on the moment ended... and as if in denial, Bella turns her head demurely as if to say that the kiss was a stolen one...

She knows the softest place in the house

The other day as I was passing by the bedroom I noticed that the bed wasn't made. Weird, I knew I made it that morning. I had just seen the dogs in the other room not a few minutes ago and Jon was studying... What the heck?

So I walk over and I see my little girl had snuck away when I wasn't looking, climbed into our bed, re-arranged the covers to her liking and settled in for a warm nap.

As I stood above her she was sneaking little glances at me, pretending that she was still sleeping...

When I called out her name she looked up "totally surprised", whaaa? Whats going on mama?

And I had to include the bed head picture:

Poor little girl has her cold issues. She gets chilly, but hates having something on top of her, like a blanket or her tummy warmer, so she finds a warm spot and curls into the smallest ball of Bean that she can to warm up. As long as her little tush isn't on the pillow, we'll let her enjoy her naps.

Smart Girl!

Bella Bean is one smart cookie... but usually best demonstrated when it can be used to her advantage. When there is a yummy in hand, I don't have to ask "down" more than once. In the car though, she conveniently "forgets" what that "down" word means. On walks she "forgets" that she isn't allowed to sniff everywhere (designated sniff posts are along the walk only, don't want to anger neighbors), but she remembers clearly where the best squirrel paths are and will gently remind me that she must go down that path with a tug and a soulful glance.

Little furries seem to stick out in her head more often than not. Along our walks there are a couple of places where kitties had been spotted at one time or another. It may have only been once, but she never forgets to peek in that direction... just in case.

Thankfully we don't have to visit the vets office too often, maybe 3 times in the last year, but she knows where she saw that office kitty that one time. Mr. Kitty wasn't in the office last time we were there (he had long retired to another room) but Bella wasn't convinced and spent almost the entire wait for an empty office with her snoot behind the desk:

Mama, I swear it was here somewhere:

Maybe if I look hard enough, it'll appear:

I say a little too smart for her own good. :)

Hard day's work

A couple of weekends ago we had a few people around helping us to "clean out" some areas of the house that were badly in need of being cleaned out. Such as the flooded basement... carpet and drywall needed to go, and the pooper's room (they weren't taking care of the carpet the way we asked them to, bad poopers). So during the time we were ripping carpet out and doing general cleaning, the dogs were confiscated outside, we didn't want them to get hurt with nails or dust or whatnot.

They weren't too put out by being locked outside. It was a warmish day so they found their fluffy beds and napped for us.

Their room is very different now. No more wall to wall carpet, so they can make whatever mess they want and clean up will be much easier.

By the looks of them, you would have thought they were recovering for all of the strenuous work!

Tired poops!

What? Is it time to go in now?

Bella's New Bed

Ms. Bella Bean has a tush of higher tastes. The softest piece of furniture in the room is hers. The couch, the bed, Bo's bed... doesn't matter, her little behind needs the cushiest of cushions. We've been slowly replacing dog beds (all that scratching and plopping down flattens those suckers after a while) and Bo has been reaping most of the benefit because the beds are on the floor, and why would Bean lay on the floor when there is a perfectly good couch to push humans off of?But then Jon came home with this magnificent bed. Bella decided that this one is hers and hers alone. She even chose it over the people's fluffy couch! Without further ado... my princess and her new throne:

Is this bed for me??

Are you sure?

Ok, I'm getting comfy then. (notice Bo having to settle for the bare carpet)

Mmm, this is good, comfy softness.

OK mom! Enough pictures, let me sleep!

This has to be my favorite picture ever! Bella Bean really isn't much of a snuggler, but every once in a while she has little choice. She is just so dang cute we have to give her a big hug and cuddle. Saturday was a busy day around the house with lots of people and both Bo and Bella were on their best behavior. They said their hello's, they were happy to see everyone but pretty much stayed out of everyone's way and napped and accepted love when it was given. Jon saw Bean snuggled up on the couch and had to sneak attack a hug. I love the look on their faces. Jon, happily loving on his little Bean, Bella Bean looking at me and those eyes saying, "Mama, help me!"

Ghostly Halloween fun

This Halloween Jon and I dressed up as ghosts. We went to a costume party and everything. Now while I am sure we were quite frightening, I think Bella Bean took the scary ghost and improved on our idea.

Here is Jon and I at our friend's house looking ghostly:

And here is Bella Bean who not only donned the white sheet, but she added the scary alien eyes to it:

Happy late halloween!

Whacha doing mama?

This last weekend it was gorgeous! Not too chilly, not too windy... a great time to start winterizing the home. So I was out in the front of the house raking leaves and getting the front of the house together when I looked up and saw 2 faces looking at me from the other side of the window. The front yard does not have a fence so they couldn't accompany me while I worked, but they kept a close eye on me the whole time. Either to make sure I was getting the work done right or just to make sure I wasn't going for a walk without them (that would be unforgivable in their eyes).

As soon as I grabbed the camera (I always have it on me... just in case) they pretended that they weren't really interested in me or anything I was doing, but just... looking out for the squirrels. :D

Peanut butter and Screaming Monkeys

A week or so ago I was in the grocery store and saw an impassable deal on generic peanut butter. Now, I bought this knowing it was going to be for the dogs and the dogs alone. We have our brand and aren't likely to change. They love it! I like that it an easy treat and everyone gets enjoyment out of it. They love the yumminess of creamy peanut butter and we love watching them continue licking their chops for about 10 minutes after the peanut butter has been put away. Just look at the crazed look in their eyes! :D

At the gala this year we bought 2 screaming monkeys. Last year when we brought Bella Bean home she made sure that the monkey would never scream again within a matter of minutes. We even special ordered another one, and again, his screams were silenced in seconds. They love the monkey and their little screams, but it just drives them batty and in a mood to show that screamer who is boss.

Well, it seems that a year in a home has mellowed my Bella Bean out considerably. Even though she still goes a little crazy at the sound of a monkey scream, she no longer wishes to tear it's little voice box out. She'll crunch on it so the screams follow one after another, and then carry it around happily. In this picture she just went through her squirrley stage where she ran from the front room into the bedroom and was chewing happily on the monkey. As soon as she saw the camera, she turned all shy and demure. Look at the face of innocence. She could never be a monkey killer (nor would she dream of messing up our recently made up bed either).

Gratuitous cuteness

We were out on a little stroll and they were being so good I gave them treats. Bella being too interested in every scurry furry that was around ignored the treat, leaving it on the ground. Bo on the other hand was torn. He wanted to sniff and mark- mark and sniff, but he also really wanted his snack. So he ended up walking around with the bone hanging out of his mouth as he went about his business. I did eventually stop them both and let him enjoy his yummy. As soon as Bella saw Bo enjoying something she gave me the big sad what-about-me look. :)

And a quick side-note of good news! Abby, the foster greyhound that we were babysitting... She was ADOPTED! Her foster parents let me know that someone fell in love with her at the gala (Not a hard thing to do) and she has found her new forever home! Yea!

GALA, GALA, GALA!

Today was the GPA-WI Greyhound Gala. 1 Year ago at the gala we brought our sweet Bella Bean home with us. While this year we had a pretty good haul, it didn't include another greyhound. We dipped our resources in a little of everything... bag raffles, family photos, contests, new collars, new tummy warmers, and a "Clock your dog" run. Last year we didn't know Bella well enough to let her participate and Bo was still fairly new so his time was a little off. 29 mph. This year both of them had the chance to play:

Bella is out the gate and flying!!!

I'm gonna get it!

Bo couldn't wait to get in there. Barking his big head off, wagging his tail, bucking to get to the squeaky toy at the other end... He was loving it!

Just look at that grin. He is in pooper heaven!

And if you take a good look at the rudder on the Seeya, please note that he is the winner of the "Longest Tail" contest (2 years running, 23 inches!). Here we are accepting his #1 cookie: After a few hours of fun, we were pretty tired and our wallets were pretty thin, so we decided to pack up and go. Being that they were both pooped out they actually both laid down for a majority of the long trip, although not comfortably: (I'm trying for a hound-mobile, the Focus isn't the most large dog friendly)

And, I'd like to present, 2 Hound Design collars (I love these)

Bella is SO pretty in this soft pink:

Bo's collar is about as earthy as he is:

Stubborn dogs

We've recently been adding some new dog beds to our collection because a lot of the fluff has gone out of the older beds and I can hear thumps when their bony bums hit their beds. This means there isn't enough padding to cushion their weight. We've found some dog beds that are made of squares of "memory" foam and are pretty inexpensive for the size of them. Bo is in heaven, he absolutely loves the fluffiness of them and uses them exclusively. The old ones are still out just in case but they are soon to be trashed because my dogs won't use the old ones unless pretty much forced.

Take last night for example. The office usually doesn't have a dog bed in it, but they were pacing around and a surefire way to stop that is to set a designated spot to stay. Bella saw the bed being brought in and not a moment after the bed hit the floor, she was on it. Bo paces in and sees the bed, steps on it but realizes that there isn't enough room for him. Pacing continues. I run out and grab another bed (an older one) and set it where there should be plenty of space for him to lay out. Nope. He edges into the corner behind me and next to a wall and eases down... schooching Bella over enough so he'll fit.

Now my dogs are NOT snugglers. They like each other, prefer to be with each other, will even sit close to each other, but body contact has never been something either one of them is comfortable with. So seeing 2 large dogs struggling to lay on the same bed made me laugh so hard. Bo was so happy that he was on his comfy bed that he started rooing. Bella isn't a big roo-er and she seems a little put off that not only was he taking her bed away but he was also singing loudly in her ears.

After a while he settled down to snooze but kept edging Bella off the bed little by little. A few minutes of this and she was done with the whole fighting over the bed thing and went to the older bed. 5 whole minutes of scratching and fluffing the bed up, she finally made it somewhat as comfy as the new bed, but she kept her little bum on the new bed... on principle you know. :)

Bo: Rooo, roo, roo. This bed was bought for me wasn't it mama?

Bella: Can you knock it off? I'm trying to get a little rest here.

Bo: Fine, I'll just make myself comfortable:

(Now take note that the other bed has more than enough space on it for a whole dog, but the prince and princess don't think it is cushy enough for their royal rumps)

Finally Bo wins. He got his bed and begins to snore. Poor Bella Bean has to nearly ball up the old bed to get the desired softness to match the memory foam gives, but her royal rump is still adequately cushioned. :)