The Sickies

Hi!

Sorry I haven’t been around for a little bit, but I’ve had the sickies.

See how pathetic I look? Actually, I've just had my meds and am all sleepy, but Mom doesn't have any pictures of me looking pathetic and sickie.

Thursday night, about 11pm (because I have excellent timing) I started feeling itchy – my ears and my skin and everything. So, about every 5 minutes I’d hop of the bed, shake my head (rattling all my tags, to make sure Mom was awake) and then scratch. After a minute or two, I’d hop back into bed, pretend like I was going to go to sleep, and then hop back up about 5 minutes later. It was a great game, although Mom didn’t seem to be quite so interested in playing about about the second time. But she was no match for me – I made her play all night. Heehee. And at 7:30 the next morning, Mom called the vet and made an appointment for me later that morning.

*sigh* Mom is no fun sometimes…

Anyhoo, we went to the vet (and guess what?!? It was snowing! It had just started when we left the house, and even though we were only gone an hour, there were 6 inches of new snow when we got home!). The vet looked at my ears (and then looked in them and made some comment about how he could see Mom on the other side… Very. Funny. I was not amused.) and talked to Mom about my scratchies.

Apparently, I have allergies. There is some pollen (‘cottonwood’ Mom says) that I guess doesn’t agree with me, and makes me all itchy. So, now Mom and I are even more alike – she’s been suffering from allergies since Wednesday! The vet put me on some anti-hiss, uh, anti-hysta, uh, things to make me less itchy. It also makes me kind of sleepy, but apparently Mom thinks this is a good thing. However, the pills also have prednisone in them, so I have to pee a lot. So, while I slept most of the night last night (my ears and skin were already WAY less itchy by last night) I did have to get up and pee about 2am. And again at 7am, but hey, that’s totally better than keeping Mom up ALL night, right? Dad could sleep through the end of the world, although I even woke him up Thursday night!

I am feeling better, although I am supposed to stay on a high dose of these pills (hey, it’s more peanut butter for me) for a couple of days and then we’ll taper off, and hopefully I won’t get all itchy again. Apparently ‘doodles (the mixes, not poodles) are known to be susceptible to allergies. Mom finds this rather amusing; we are ‘hypoallergenic’ because we don’t shed, and so are good for people who might be allergic to other animals, and yet we are susceptible to allergies ourselves. Go figure!

Apparently only time will tell whether I am allergic to a lot of stuff, or just a little bit of stuff. And I guess I'm "at the age" where allergies show up (so Abby may or may not have allergies, too). Anyway, there are meds, so it's not too big a deal. Now maybe I can just convince Mom to go see an allergist for her allergies...

While I am sleepy a fair amount of the time, when I go outside, I've got plenty of energy to give Abby a smackdown.

And I've been doing some zoomies (mostly in pursuit of my sister...).

Occasionally I actually catch her!

We've also been working on our 'Dancing with the Dogs' routine.


Believe it or not, Abby has actually been less of a pain than I expected. Even though I go out and do my zoomies and my bitey-face, I get tired kind of quickly, and she doesn't harass me too much about it. She just sort of spazzes out on her own.


Or sits in the snow.

Heehee.

Anyway, I'll try to catch up on bloggies as Mom and I start to feel better.

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas (and/or Happy Holidays) Everyone!

All of my Christmas presents are up at the House Without Wheels because Mom didn't want to have too much stuff to pack in the car for the drive home, other than TaiChi, Bufus and myself.

So.... I have spent the holiday in most engaging pursuits. (Well, okay, one pursuit. I just pursued it a lot of times!)



I LOVE Christmas football!!!!

Merry Christmas to all!

Heehee. Rather than Mom making me wear the silly Santa hat, I made her wear it!!! And whew! I'm worn out from this football stuff. Nap time!

*kissey face*
-Fiona, Wide Receiver-in-Training

I'm ba-ack! Not that I actually went anywhere...

I know, I know, I know. I should have hung the ‘out of the office’ sign up, but, well, that was a little tough for those of us with non-opposable thumbs.


Lessee. So, the weekend. As I already mention, I had (with apologies to Arlo Guthrie) a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat, and slept most of the rest of the day. I went hiking a few times, but no place spectacular – pretty, but not spectacular. And Mom didn’t bring the camera; it was just the two of us, and well, I have no idea why that is an excuse for not bringing the camera, but whatever.

The RV park was really full over the weekend, and I met a mini-Mango; she was an English Mastiff, and weighed a mere 130 lbs. Given that I weigh 55, I can’t even imagine what it would be like to meet the Relentlessly Huge in person. I mean, it would be like a row boat next to an aircraft carrier! Anyhoo, there were lots of other doggies around (and even a cat on a leash – but it was too far away for Mom to get a picture, and she only saw him/her once), but Mom didn’t get any pictures because, well, I was having a slight case of puppy-itis, and was bouncing 17 directions at once every time I’d see a doggie. So not Mom’s fault, this time. She was doing all she could just to hold on to me. And was muttering something about how my new sister will be better socialized. Uh-huh. She’ll still be a puppy, Mom.

I did, however, spend a lot of time looking out the window at (and alerting Mom and Dad to the presence of) strangers in the neighborhood.



Which took quite a bit of time and effort.


And even required the assistance of Mr. Bufus.

The window was closed for Mr. Bufus' benefit; I don't think he'll stick his head too far out of the window, but I just want to be careful!

Mom took some time to get some more stitching stuff done. She has been working diligently on Christmas presents, and might actually get all, ah, most, erm, some done in time for Christmas. So if your Christmas present shows up in July, you’ll know who to blame.

Here's here latest project for one of my cousins...


Dad has been practicing his guitar, in preparation for his March 13th birthday gig. Mark your calendars now. I expect you all to attend. It will be on Main Street in Park City. Bring your friends! He’s been practicing so much that Mom told him that he needed to take a little break. And when he ignored her, she took the next logical step:


Heehee! Although it didn't work for too long, because Dad finally got wise and tore off the tape...

And TaiChi and I have been spending lots of quality time together.
Yeah, um, I'm not sure if there is any angle that is right for that picture!


Now I’m going to try to catch up on some bloggies before I start my next great adventure.


Oh, and I have some awards, but I’ll have to get to them tomorrow, as Mom has to get her act together before I can post them. But thank you all in advance!

*kissey face*
-Fiona

New Hike!

Warning: this post is Very Picture Intensive. Those of you with slow internet connections should just use your imaginations. For those of you with high-speed internet, these pictures are well-worth biggifying.

Okay. So, Mom and Dad took me on a new hike yesterday. Mom has this big map of all these different trails, and trail heads and things, and decided that we would 'try' a hike that was started "somewhere" off the Dalton Wash road.

For those of you who don't know Dad, "somewhere" always makes him a little nervous. He likes directions to be a little more specific than that. Especially when the road is a dirt road that seems to go up at about a 60% grade. Mom wasn't worried because she wasn't driving!

Anyhoo, after a couple of wrong turns and a glimpse of a somewhat creepy guy camping up on the mesa, Mom and Dad found a place to park that suited them, and off we went, not having any idea as to what to expect.

At the start, it was just another dirt road. Ho-hum. I won't bother to show you more dirt road pictures, as you get the idea. We went on for a while, until I decided that I needed a drink. FYI, Dad carries my water (and his), while Mom carries the backpack that has extra clothes, food, dog treats, etc., etc.

Now even if you biggify that picture, you might miss my water drinking technique.

Note the tongue curl-age. This is so I can most efficiently drink out of Dad's water bottle. (Yes, we share. I kiss him on the lips, so it's not like sharing a water bottle is that much different. I mean, I've already got Dad's cooties at this point!)

Once we got off the dirt road, we found ourselves on a very up-and-down trail with lots of slick rock. Mom says I'm a "mountain goat". Last time I checked, I was still a doggie.

Photo-op! (Neither of my grandmothers should panic at this photo - we were no where near the edge!)
Pretty cool scenery, huh?


And then back to the slickrock. I was the trail guide!

Another photo-op! This picture is well-worth biggifying; Mom and Dad seemed to be pretty impressed with the scenery. Me? I was looking for elusive jack rabbits.


See, I told you I was the trail guide! I kept my eyes peeled for this rock markers so we didn't get lost.


Wow, there's a lot of rock here, Mom! But don't worry I'll guide you safely.


This is a 'window'. It can be created by wind or water, but we're guessing wind on this one.

HI!!! Heehee!!!

More drinking. I was interested in the pool, but Dad insisted that I drink out of the bottle, instead. Spoilsport! ;-)


Me and Mom at the edge of the world! (Not really, it just looks like it!)


Me and Dad in front of more of this 'scenery' stuff.

I really don't know why Mom says I'm a mountain goat. She might be confused, though, because she's got really long legs all of a sudden. Maybe it's an 'Alice in Wonderland' sort of thing...



Oh wait, her legs are normal again! More scenery stuff. And trail markers.

There are trails that run all over this mesa, and after looking at the mesa on Google Earth, Mom and Dad want to come back and do some more exploring. Which sounds good to me, because I like walking up and down the rocks. And scoping out the occasional rabbit/lizard. So, this was actually a pretty cool hike; I'm glad Mom found it. I can't wait to go back. And I can't wait to see what other new hikes Mom finds.

Now I'm going to go take a nap with my little big sister, because looking at all of these pictures is wearing me out!

*kissey face*
-Fiona The Intrepid

As Seen Around the House With Wheels

Mom and Dad did NOT take me on a hike yesterday. Some lame excuse about having hike 20-something miles with me in the last 5 days, and how they were tired and needed a rest, and besides Dad had “business to take care of”. What-ever! But, if it makes them less whiny happier and more energetic, then I can live with it. I mean, these poor bipeds are only operating with 2 wheel drive – I guess it wears them out faster. Me? I’m like the Energizer Bunny. But much, much cuter!

So take make up for the lack of hiking photos, I’d like to give you a glimpse into some of the activities that occur in The House With Wheels.

First, as many of you may know, Mr. Bufus has his own special dining room in the bathroom under the sink.

His private dining room is to help protect him from, ah, incursions of the canine type. Don't be looking at me!!

TaiChi is the guilty party here. She has a certain taste for cat food, and can be frequently found working her way into the Cat Cupboard. In fact, pretty much anytime the Cat Cupboard doors are open, and she's not asleep, she's angling her way in....

Yes, that little white diaper-butted thing is TaiChi, hard at work on the cat food. Note from Fi's Mom: because TaiChi is older than dirt, she's got kidney issues, and to make sure that they work as best they can, she gets fluids almost every day, and being an older dog, well, sometimes she decides that she has to go Right Away. She's old; what can you do? But we've got a lot of carpet in the House With Wheels, and the diapers save us (me) from Bisselling the carpets every day, and changing out the sheets on the bed every day. And TaiChi doesn't mind wearing them - she doesn't try to get them off or anything, so diapers it is; it makes life easier for everyone.



Note the empty wet-food dish, and the complete lack of guilt on her face? Her only issue is that sometimes she gets stuck behind the plumbing and Mom has to rescue her!


While TaiChi is up to her nefarious deeds, I am generally engaged in a much more Important Task; I am The Sentinal.

I mean, someone's got to keep an eye on the neighbors, right? You Never Know what they cold be up to!

And sometimes I like to keep an eye out the back window, you know, so I am completely aware of what is going on, and can alert Mom and Dad at a moment's notice.

Very Funny, Mom.

*ahem

Note how I have my snooter and paws out the window so I can best keep track of things. Don't worry; Dad is supervising me, so I don't decide to jump out the window and go chasing an errant rabbit...

And thus is a glimpse into the day of a Hard Working Goldendoodle in her House With Wheels.

Oh, and here are a couple of extraneous pictures pulled off Mom's cell phone, Sights From Southern Utah.

First, Big Dogs with little dog:

Apparently the little dog was on a leash being walked by the back rider on the Big Dog, but Mom wasn't quick enough with the camera.

And for those of you who want to see pictures of the Little House on the Prairie Cult People polygamists, here is a grainy shot that Mom took at Wal-Mart while trying to be all sneaky-like. Hence the quality of the photo...

Spooky stuff there, kids!

Anyhoo, on that note, I'm going to take a nap until Mom and Dad decide that it is Time To Go Hiking.


*kissey face*
-Fiona