We were ABANDONED! (Well, maybe not...)

You may have noticed that we had fallen off the face of the earth haven't been around much the last week or so.  It's because We Were ABANDONED!

Or Mom went to North Carolina to visit our Granny and Grandpa and our aunts and uncles and our cousins while we stayed home with Dad.  But that doesn't sound as good.

Okay, so Mom explained to us that she was going to visit our Granny and Grandpa, and since they send us Drs. Foster and Smith gift certificates for our birthdays, we couldn't really tell Mom she couldn't go.  And apparently this last weekend was also our Granny's birthday AND Father's Day, so Mom was able to be there for multiple holidays in one trip.  So, we gave her our okay.

But... Did Mom fly AirFiona?!?

NO!  In spite of our flexible flying schedule (NetJets has nothing on us!), direct routes, uncrowded flights and all possible amenities (heck, we would have even given Mom priority boarding for free), Mom elected to fly some FAA-approved airline.

And where did that get her?  Delayed leaving Salt Lake City, which resulted in Mom having to elbow herself off the plane in Atlanta so she could make her connection to Raleigh.  And on the return flight, her plane landed in Atlanta in the middle of a thunderstorm so bad they couldn't pull the plane into the gate because the lightning was too bad to risk allowing ground crew onto the tarmac.  The storm was so bad they apparently closed the airport for a bit.  So Mom sat on the tarmac, 20 yards from the gate for 25 minutes.  But that was okay, because her flight from Atlanta to Salt Lake was then delayed because their plane couldn't land while the airport was closed.  So she got to Salt Lake about 30 minutes late, and then because of a car accident at the airport entrance, Mom had to wait while Dad sat in backed up traffic.

None of that would have happened if she had flown AirFiona.  Assuming, of course, that AirFiona wasn't trampled by moose before takeoff.

Anyhoo... Mom made it to Chapel Hill, and we were all set to Skype with her when Chapel Hill and surrounding areas were hit with a huge thunderstorm that produced big winds which knocked down trees.  One of which took out the power line that brought power to our Granny and Grandpa's house.  Luckily, Granny and Grandpa have a generator which kept some of the lights on, provided some air conditioning, kept the fridge running, and allowed them to watch DVDs of 'Allo 'Allo.  Basically, life carried on almost like normal but for the lack of internet, so we couldn't Skype with Mom.

And Grandpa got to spend a lot of time cleaning up downed tree branches.  (Not the greatest picture, as Mom had the wrong setting on her phone camera.)

Grandpa, having fun!

Luckily they got power back about 24 hours later, and Mom could Skype us again.  (Although we were a little miffed at having been abandoned, so we elected not to come to the computer so she could see us.  We sure showed her!)

One of the funballs things Mom was looking forward to in North Carolina was going on a bye-sickle ride with her brothers.  We still aren't quite sure what this bye-sickle thing entails, although this particular ride seemed to involve a lot of pre-trip emails and over-thinking planning.  But, on Saturday morning, Mom, her brothers and various family members went to some place in Research Triangle Park for a ride to raise funds to help fight MS.  While only Mom and her brothers were the only family members riding, there was a lot of family support.

Mom with our Granny (in red), her brother Ralph (the guy with the bike), Ralph's daughter Hannah (and thus our cousin), and Ralph's wife (and our aunt) Carey.

Pre-ride, Mom next to her brother Martin, and everyone else from the above photo.

Mom with her rented bicycle (the source of many emails and planning)

Mom, Martin and Ralph went on a 33 mile ride while the rest of the family went off for breakfast.  Two hours later, Mom and her brothers finished the ride.

Mom and her brothers, 33 miles later.

Apparently a good time was had by all.

If you are really interested in the nerdy stuff that can be collected by bike computers, here is Mom's Garmin data. There are a few glitches, as we don't think Mom really burned that many calories on her ride, but it gives you an idea of their ride. Mom also wants to point out that their average moving speed was 15.1 mph, and her Garmin factored in the time they were stopped at the rest stop. Picky, picky!

Apparently if Mom and her brothers had ridden their bicycles another 300 miles west on 40, they could have gone to visit our friends the Thundering Herd.  We don't know why she didn't take the chance to go visit some bloggie friends.  I mean, it's ONLY 300 miles.  Each way....  Heehee!

After the ride there was ice cream and socializing.

Mom really enjoyed the ride, and kept talking about how much fun it was, and how much she enjoyed being able to do something she really enjoys (bye-sickle-ing) with her brothers.

One of the other highlights of the trip was a brunch on Sunday to celebrate both Father's Day and Granny's birthday.   Mom doesn't have a lot of photos of this, as she took most of the photos using Grandpa's camera, and he hadn't had a chance to get her copies before she left.

But during this grand family get-together, there were two events of particular note.  First was the "Christmas photo."  You might realize that it's not exactly Christmas-time.  But 500 years ago when Mom was a kid, her family would take a family photo every year at Christmas.  Now these photos are taken when they get a chance to get a majority of the family together, and is still called the Christmas photo, no matter what time of year it actually is.

When we saw this family photo, we felt this photo was dramatically incomplete, so we've enhanced it a bit.

Because how could you have a family photo without US in it?!?

That photo is most of Mom's immediate family - obviously Dad isn't there, and Uncle Martin's daughter wasn't there (she's in France), but it was a pretty good showing!

The other element of note was that Mom was seen cavorting With Another Dog.  We are going to give Mom the benefit of the doubt and assume that she was suffering 'doodle withdrawal.  But still...

At least the dog in question is our cousin Galen, a labradoodle.  If Mom needs a 'dog fix' at least she's getting it from another doodle, and one who is family.

Truthfully, we're rather impressed with Galen's tongue.  She's apparently not as big as either of us, but she's got a GINORMOUS tongue.  Seriously.  Look at that thing!

Kinda reminds me a little of Abby!

Heehee!

Anyway, Mom is now home.  We're glad she had a good time with Granny and Grandpa and her brothers and their families.  But we missed her, and we're glad she's home now.  Because while Dad took Very Good care of us while Mom was in North Carolina, we're ready to get back to summer funballs times!

Like this...

 And this...

I'm on Moose Patrol.

Watch and learn, young Hippobottomus!

Welcome home, Mom!

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

All Sorts of Excitement!

Oooh!  We had Such A Busy Weekend!  But first, as CFO (Chief Furry Officer) of Air Fiona, I am proud to announce that Air Fiona has doubled its fleet!  We have been waiting patiently for the delivery of our Boeing 787 Dreamliner for Quite Some Time, and finally we gave up.  Apparently Emirates Airlines takes precedent.  Something to do with them paying with real money, and me only offering bully sticks, stock options and slightly used squeaky toys.  However, being the creative CFO that I am, I looked for other ways to expand our fleet.  I am thrilled to present the newest member of our fleet!

Due to inclement weather, AirFi didn't get a bath before this photo.  The executive in charge of plane washing (aka Mom) has been reprimanded.  AirFi will handle the commuter routes, while the flagship will continue to rescue snowless doggies and bring them to more desirable snow conditions.

The flagship of Air Fiona.  We don't need no stinkin' Boeing 787!

Upgrades to our flagship include a more heavy-duty rubber band and reinforced cardboard for the wings.  Air Fiona is truly the only way to fly!

We tested out AirFi this weekend as we returned to doggie classes for yet more edjumacation.  Apparently this series of doggie classes is "Circus Tricks for Beginners."  Heehee.

Jessi (the Turkey Hotdog Lady) thought it would be 'fun' for us to try some new stuff.  Always being game for new adventures,  Abby and I were all over it.  The first adventure was riding a flatbed trolley.

So you feed us treats while your assistant keeps the cart steady and Mom takes pictures?  Piece o' cake!

Once we got comfortable on the cart, Mom took us on a little ride around the store.

We're practicing for next year's Mardi Gras festivities.  We have no doubt we'll be taught how to throw beads at the drunken masses at some point!

For those of you who wonder if this exercise has any value beyond providing photo opportunities, we can assure you that it does; we are working on becoming more comfortable in unusual situations.  Which will come in handy when Mom decides to sneak us in to work with her!
 
After having mastered the flatbed cart, we moved on to more exciting things!  Standing on chairs! 

Things on the kitchen counter that might have been out of reach at one time are now within reach!  This doggie class is AWESOME!!! 

Heehee!

After mastering the chairs, Jessi thought we were ready to move on to Advanced Circus Tricks.

When she led us to the ladder, I was a bit reticent, but Abby will do just about anything when cheese is involved.

Me...

"I can get plenty of cheese from here, thankyouverymuch!"

Abby...

"Cheese?"

"Ahh!  The power of cheese!"

"It's true!  With cheese, you can do ANYTHING!"

This photo was included so you'd know Abby got back down safely, too!

Okay, so the ladder wasn't my thing.  Like Mom, I'm a bit of a chicken.  But when we moved on to the NEXT circus trick, I ROCKED it!

Shopping cart?  You betcha!

 Abby was not as excited about getting underneath the shopping cart, so she was assisted into the basket.  (She was probably full from all the cheese tidbits she got for climbing the ladder!)

"Okay!  Let's get this show on the road!  Let's go shopping!"

"Hey, Mom.  You might need to get a second cart to carry our purchases.  This cart seems to be occupied!"

Heehee.  I know, you see little doggies in carts all the time, but how often do you see big doggies such as ourselves being pushed around the store?  And how often do you see doggies willingly climbing on to the bottom of the cart, as yours truly did?

This was really a Most Pawsome doggie class!  We can't wait to go back next week!

In other excitement, other weather has been unseasonably warm, and our snow is rapidly retreating toward the polar regions.  However, we got a dusting of snow this morning, so we'll have even more mud when this snow melts and we can have fun in any weather conditions! 

We hope you had a good weekend, too!

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

Rain and Travel and Stuff

*whew* Talking about harrowing travel. I’ve been going back and forth between Utah and MasterChewSits, and the weather has been terrible. And AirFiona doesn’t exactly have the latest and greatest high-tech navigation instruments.


Actually, AirFiona’s amenities are a bit, ah, sparse. I mean, the in-flight movies all star Will Ferrell. *sheesh*

Anyhoo, because of the weather, I’d had to fly directly to and from MasterChewSits without stopping at any of the Bad Sport contestants’ houses to sample the contents of their fridges um, I mean, to verify their stories of bad-sport-ed-ness. But if the weather cooperates, I’ll be raiding your fridges making site visits this week.

In the meantime, I have had my annual vet appointment, and I’m disgustingly healthy. I’ve also been practicing my bitey-face moves, so when Dexter and I next get a chance to play bitey-face, I’ll be ready.


And I got in some quality Frisbee time, too.


We had a minor anti-gravity incident, as well. :-)

Heehee.

Oh, and I mentioned it rained, right? Mom got the clever idea of putting us in coats so we could go play in the rain and not come back in looking like drowned rats.

That worked for me.


Not so much for Abby. She sulked and refused to move until Mom took her coat off. What a doofus! There were Frisbees to be chased. And yet she stood there. Weirdo.


I’m not 100% sure about this twin look, though.


I think it’s a genetic flaw. Apparently Granny used to dress my uncles (Mom’s brothers) in the exact same outfits, so whenever one got lost (like when my older uncle escaped the 'organized family fun' got lost at Paddington Station in London) Granny could just go to the nearest security person and point at my other uncle and say, “He looks just like him.” Apparently my uncles were not amused by this.

The coats were really nifty, but I’m not sure about being dressed like my sister. And we came in looking like drowned rats anyway.


Anyhoo, we’ve had terrible weather the last few days; rain, sleet, hail, wind. Our snow got really soft, and a few times Mom sunk in to the snow past her knees (snow that had been previously packed down firmly) and muttered a bunch of HBO words. It was better today, and it sounds like we might get a “real” storm (with snow) tomorrow. Which would be a good thing, because Mom and Dad didn’t ski the three days it was raining (they finally went today) which mean that they totally ruined all of our attempts to throw wild “open-the-refrigerator” parties.


*sigh*

On a final note, while I’m happy to see more and more Bad Sport entries for MangoMinster, there has not been a subsequent flood of bribes to the judge (i.e., Me). There are a few of you who have made some interesting offers (I’ll be stopping by this week, Brutus!), but I fully expect ALL Bad Sports to offer significant bribes. I’m just saying…

*kissey face*
-Fiona, and Abby the Hippobottomus

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