MangoMinster Entry #3: ME!!!

I have been bugging Mom forever about getting MY MangoMinster entry in, but she was understandably distracted for a while, and on top of that, she's been dithering about my entry. Not about my class, because it is clear that I am nothing if not a Sporty Dog; she's been dithering because she was "not sure what picture to use". I can understand her dilemma. I mean there are only about a zillion pictures of me as a sporty dog. Fr'instance...

There is me playing football:


And here I am practing Doga:

And I am a consummate hiker:

And here I am being a Good Sport, by letting TaiChi walk all over me:

(Hey, she's my little big sister; of course she can walk all over me!)

And there's about a million variations of these pictures. (Which also makes me a good sport, in my mind, for putting up with the flashy box all the time! If nothing else, it should earn me a few extra cookies!) Any of which Mom could have picked (hence the dithering). But since we FINALLY have been getting snow (you know that statement about 'be careful what you wish for'? Yeah...), Mom has been getting a lot of pictures of me in the snow.

Here's one of a million snow pictures that was considered, but ultimately not chosen:


And she'll post a bunch of them, but she wanted to get my 2010 MangoMinster entry in. So... Here it is:

Your Name: Fiona (although my parents call me 'MuffinHead' rather frequently, for reasons that are not entirely clear to me...)

Gender:Female; I may look like a tomboy, but I'm really a girly-girl at heart!

Group: Sporty Dog (duh!)

Your breed: Goldendoodle (that would be half poodle, half golden retriever)

Your bloggy address: You're here

And the picture Mom finally decided on?

Mom and Dad picked this one because they felt that it showed not only my athleticism, and my love of all things running and jumping, but also my "inherent goofiness". Inherent goofiness? Whatever can they mean?!? Just because I like to bounce around, and do zoomies in all sort of weather, and will play fetch with Anything, Any Time. Oh. I guess that's what they mean. Nevermindthen. Please notice how my hind feet are in front of the rest of me, and my front feet are behind me, as I float through the snow, and notice how I am totally In The Moment. Yes, I am a Happy Snow Dog! And Dad says I look like a cheetah!

Anyhoo, I think there is no question that I am a Sporty Dog. I can't wait for the games to begin! (Heehee!) Good luck to everyone who enters!

*kissey face*
-Fiona, Sporty Dog Extraordinaire

Thank You, and Tribute

Thanks very much for all the kind notes about Mr. Bufus. I must honestly say that I was overwhelming by the outpouring of support, both here and on Facebook, both from friends and family as well as complete strangers (many of whom I hope will not be strangers for long; when I get a chance I’m going to come blog-visiting!). Thank you so very much. We received confirmation that Bufus did, indeed, have cancer of the stomach and intestine, and while it was not yet causing him pain, it was causing fluid build-up which made him bloated and was causing him discomfort. The reality is that the fluid build-up was a bit of a blessing in disguise, as Bufus didn’t have to suffer while the tumors grew to a size where they would be easily noticed. Ultimately, he led a long, full life replete with opportunities to harass a collective pack of dogs, while also having plenty of time to nap in the sunny places. Bufus’ entry in MangoMinster will stand, and I have faith that he will hold his own in the face of very tough competition!

As the Ruler of the Roost, everything was his, if he wanted it, including Fiona's chew toys. (BTW, Bufus didn't have any teeth.)

Or Dad's dessert....
He always found the best sunny spots

And traveled in the motorhome like a pro:

(When he wasn't throwing up in his Uncle Charlie's hat, which did happen on occasion... But that's what Charlie gets for not paying the proper respects!)

He was a fantastic Guard Cat

And, yes, he really did like taking showers.

Seriously.

Bufus was truly the King of the House.

Thanks again for all the words of support; Bufus really was A Great Cat (or, Man-Bear-Dog-Cat-Pig, if we are going to be technical about it) and he will never be forgotten.

TaiChi and Fiona are both great comforts to us right now, and we are also looking forward to the arrival of little Abby, effectively completing the circle of life in our house.

-Dr. Liz and Family

Mr. Bufus, Beloved Son

It is much sadness that I have to post the news that Bufus crossed the Rainbow Bridge today, after being hospitalized yesterday due to complications related to diabetes and possibly cancer. He was over 20 years old, and lived a very full life. He will be deeply missed by all who knew him.

May the food be plentiful, the mice slow, and the sunny spots large.

We love you and miss you, and will never forget you, big guy.

-Love, Mom, Dad, Fiona and TaiChi

World, Prepare Yourself For ABBY!!!!

So today was The Day. Mom and Dad have been talking about this day for AGES. Like since, oh, I don’t know. Ever, probably.

They went skiing (*yawn*) and then came home and loaded me into the car, for “The Start Of A Big Adventure”. Uh-huh. Wake me up when we get there. (Actually, I stayed awake the whole time, because you can never have too many eyes watching the road….)


And you’ll never guess where we ended up!

My Very First Home.

I wasn’t worried that Mom and Dad were going to try to give me back, though. They assured me that I was stuck with them forever and ever. Which sounds pretty good to me, actually.

They were here to pick out my sister.

SISTER?!?!?

*ahem*

I know Mom and Dad have been talking about this sister thing for A Long Time, but it was finally time to pick her out. Because my sister is still little and hasn’t had all her shots, I wasn’t actually able to give my input, but since Mom and Dad picked me out, I’m thinking that they must be pretty good Puppy Pickers.

First, they said hi to Annie, my Mom (and my little sister’s Mom – my little sister is my actual sister – we have the same mother and father!).

Hi, Mom!!! (Even though that is not a very good picture, you can see where I get my black-button nose from!)

And then they looked at a pile of puppies....

And they picked one!


She looks sort of small and flat-faced to me. But Mom assures me that when she grows up, she’ll look sort of like me. She also says that I looked like that once. But I don’t believe her.

But she’s got a fat puppy belly.

So world, meet Abby, my little little sister!

Snoozing with her some of her brothers and sisters.

She’s not done yet, but she’ll be ready for pickup and formal training by Mr. Bufus and TaiChi and my esteemed self on February 6th. I’m going to start preparing myself Right Now.

Zzzzz.....

*kissey face*
-Fiona

MangoMinster 2010 Entry #2

Dear RH Mango and Judge Ike, I humbly submit my little big sister's entry to MangoMinster 2010 :

Your Name: TaiChi (aliases include “Snaggle-puss”, “Pizel-Butt”, “Princess Feet”, “Little Old Lade-ee" (you have to sort of yodel that one) and “YOUR dog”)

Gender: Female

Group: Bad Sports

Your breed: Dust Bunny Miniature Poodle

Your bloggy address: That would be this bloggie.

I think if you biggify the picture, you might see some of Mr. Bufus' food on her snooter...


Now I know that you are thinking that there is No Way that this cute little fluffy 17-year old lady could be in the Bad Sport category. But let me tell you, underneath that innocent-looking face is the brain of a scheming and cunning Mastermind. If SPECTRE was still around, TaiChi would be running the world, and having 007 bringing her filet mignon on a silver platter. Being as old and venerable as she is, she has learned a lot of sneaky tricks, and has done very well in passing them along to all of her charges over the years (and I think that she should get extra points for not only being devious and sneaky, but for being a mentor to others). What, you ask, could she possibly do at her advanced age and at a mere 14lbs? I’ll give you the short list:

Sneaks into Mr. Bufus’ lair and eats all his food;

Sneaks her snooter closer and closer to Dad’s dinner plate while he is eating until he gives her tasty tidbits;

Steals food off Mom’s dinner plate when she’s not looking;

Convinces Dad that Mom hasn’t given her a treat for going outside, and thus gets ‘double-treated’;

Gets under Mom’s feet while she’s making dinner and waits for anything that might ‘accidently’ get knocked off the counter when Mom is trying not to trip over TaiChi;

Bites the hand that feeds her (Dad has the scars to prove it);

Refuses to eat her own food, and then will eat of Mr. Bufus’, Dad’s and Mom’s;

Suddenly, and without warning (but with complete malice of forethought) piddles on the floor;

Pretends she’s blind and walks over Mr. Bufus and into food/water dishes, and yet can find Dad’s dinner plate with No Problem;

Pretends she’s deaf until she hears the treat bag being opened (from two rooms away);

Has always decided when she wants to listen to you (which is pretty much only when Mom calls ‘Dinner Time’), and when she doesn’t (which is pretty much the rest of the time);

Stamps her feet, spins in circles, and whines under the dinner table until someone slips her a snack, thus inciting a riot among the rest of us;

Demands to be carried, despite the fact that (when she chooses) she will wander aimlessly around the house for hours on end;

And that’s just the short list. I could go on and on. And yes, I have A LOT to learn from this Criminal Mastermind. She is my hero; I want to be just like her when I am old and venerable!


*kissey face*

-Fiona

Please help with MangoMinster Entry #2

First, thanks for all the wonderful comments about Mr. Bufus. I know he is up against some stiff competition, so we’re going to have to see if we can discover which bribes are most successful with Khyra, the judge for the Cat Dog category. As an aside to Khyra, what with Mr. Bufus being old and venerable, I don’t think Mr. Bufus would taste very good – I think he would be a bit stringy. Maybe stew, or a broth, but I don’t think he’s the roast type. I’m just saying….

Anyhoo. We’ve got Mr. Bufus all squared away.

The problem is TaiChi. Like Mr. Bufus, TaiChi is about 5,000 years old and since there is no Methuselah class, we’re not sure where to enter her. So I’m hoping that my wonderful bloggie friends could help us decide.

The categories (and descriptions) for MangoMinster are:

Cat Dogs - Some doggies are, well, CATS. Right? So if you are a cat which is actually not a dog, never fear, you can enter here (hey, that's like a poem).

Despite sleeping 27 hours a day, I don’t think we can pass TaiChi off as a cat. Besides, we’ve already got Mr. Bufus entered in this category, and I don’t want to give him even more competition… So this one is right out.

Hound Dogs - Do you bay at the moon? Become deaf when your snooter is engaged? Run fast on long legs? This is your category.

Hmm. TaiChi doesn’t bay at the moon, and I wouldn’t exactly say that she runs on long legs. Or runs at all. But when her snooter is engaged? Watch out. No dinner is safe when TaiChi is around.

See how she’s honing in on my dinner?

But better evidence of how her snooter guides her? Keep in mind that she sleeps 27 hours a day. And yet when someone else’s dinner is involved? She starts bouncing around like an atom in a superheated atmosphere. Seriously. This is TaiChi at her most animated. And why? Because her snooter is in overdrive (and she think Dad has some steak scraps left over from his salad).


So maybe she’s a Hound Dog in disguise. But let’s look at the other categories.

Herding Dogs - All you guys and gals who love to round things up enter here (yes, even Border Collie dogs which are not actual doggies, but alien beings from the planet Agility).

Umm. She’s 18. I think the only thing she’s heard in the last few years is the opening of the treat bag or the dinner can. Oh. Not that heard. Hmm…

Let’s see.

I think my Wubba is the only thing she has rounded up in recent years. And it may be because she tripped over it. But for competition’s sake, we’ll say she rounded it up.


Here she’s herding the cat food. Uh. Hoarding it.

Oh poop. I’m not entirely sure that we can shoe-horn TaiChi into the herding category.

Unless you count this one, where she has a Very Little Me, and a Very Little Friend of Mine distracted and backed into a corner so she can get the treat in Mom’s hand….

I dunno. What do you think? Is she a herding dog, or not even close?

Sporty Dogs - If you do a sport or are basically a good sport about life, then you are a Sporty Dog.

Well, TaiChi is actually a great sport about life, especially since she has to take all sorts of meds, and gets stuck with needles and things and really doesn’t get too cranky about it. However, the only category for me is Sporty Dog, and since it is already a tough class, I don’t want even more competition, even from my own sister.

Especially since her main sport seems to be Marathon Napping.




Which brings us to the next category.

Non-Sporty Dogs - Bad dog! Bad dog! Grouchy? Sore loser? You know who you are.

As I mentioned before, TaiChi is generally a good sport. Except when she finds herself in snow. And then she is Totally Not Interested.

Oh, and she’s seriously grumpy when she has to go to the V-E-T, but we don’t have any pictures of that.

In short, I don’t really think she is a bad sport.

Wait!!!! I just read Ike’s description of a Bad Sport, which includes (and I quote): So if you like to tinkle on the floor a little or maybe go after a dog or two, consider yourself a bad sport! Maybe you steal a cookie from your dad's plate or eat a bit of poo (your own or cats') or you fart -burp in your mom's face after eating said delicious poo - call yourself a bad sport!

Well, being a bazillion years old, TaiChi does tinkle on the floor occasionally, but that’s mostly because she’s got an Old Lady Bladder. However, I think that the picture that I used above (the one where she has snuck into Mr. Bufus’ lair in the House With Wheels and has eaten most of his food) might constitute a Bad Sport. Or the one where she is super excited about the leftover food from Dad’s dinner? Either of those might make her a Bad Sport.

And the burping in Mom’s face after the eating of said contraband cat food? TaiChi is a pro at that. And you’ve seen how excited she gets when she is trying to steal food from Dad’s dinner…So maybe we should rethink this Bad Sport category. Especially since she is not at all sporty, either. What do you think? Bad sport? I’m thinking so. But I want to explore all the categories.

Hard Working Dogs - Have a job? This one is for you.

Bwahahaha!!! TaiChi? Princess of the Pillows? A job?!? Unless you count being The Queen a job, I Don’t Think So.

Or, if you consider making sure the couch doesn’t fly up and hit someone, you might consider her a working dog. I mean, she holds that couch down Really Well.


Cracker Dog Insane Terriers (CDIT) - Let's face it, first of all, we are Relentlessly Huge terrier fans here at the estate. Plus there just is nothing like a terrier. Show us what you got.

Thank heavens we don’t have to deal with Cracker Dog Insane Terriers around here. I only included it so that for those of you who aren’t following MangoMinster diligently can see all of the categories.

Anyhoo, any help/suggestions that you can provide in helping TaiChi find the proper class for her would be GREATLY appreciated.

I’ve suggested that they have an ‘Emeritus’ class, but so far I haven’t been able to really sell Mango on the idea. Which has got Mom thinking about running ‘MethuselahMinster’. She’s going to decide this weekend if she has the time/energy. If so, she’ll post the rules really soon. Essentially, you have to be considered senior/geriatric by the chart she’ll provide (it determines how really ancient you are by your weight and age in human years). But more on that later.

So please help me get TaiChi classed so I can enter her. Thanks!!!!

*kissey face*
-Fiona

MangoMinster 2010 Entry #1

The entire family is REALLY excited about MangoMinster 2010!!! We missed it last year, and so I am prodding Mom to get our entries in early. Mom has said that she wants to start with the easy one first, and she says Mr. Bufus is the easiest of the lot.

So... here is his entry:

Name: Mr. Bufus

Gender: Male

Breed: Man-bear-dog-cat-pig (with apologies to South Park); the vet papers say that he is a Maine Coon, although I say he is a Very Large, Venerable Cat

Group: Cat Dogs

Blog Link: http://lizski.blogspot.com (that would be this bloggie).

Here is his picture:

I felt it would be helpful to include a brief statement with Mr. Bufus' picture.

Mr. Bufus is a rescued kitty who has risen to the lofty position of the head of Civil Defense for the Dranow household (the submitted picture shows him in his uniform). In this role, and over his 20 years of life, he has raised generations (note from Fi’s Mom: literally!) of puppies to be respectful of cats, despite having been declawed at an early age (he has a very wicked right cross; for a big lazy cat, he can be very quick when he wants to be!). Mr. Bufus is very much a Cat Dog, as many people has likened him to a dog (even his groomer has said "he’s a great dog" on more than one occasion). He also takes showers (seriously!) and will stand at the shower door when it is running and will meow to be let in. He doesn’t seem to care that he gets soaked. (Which might make him more of an alien than a Cat Dog, but that’s neither here nor there…) Mom and Dad say that he is a man-bear-dog-cat-pig, but I think that is because they watch too much South Park. Mr. Bufus travels Very Well in the House With Wheels, and likes throwing up in visitors’ hats (just ask my Uncle Charlie, who generously provided a hat for Mr. Bufus’ use). He also has the largest litter box on the market, and still manages to miss, which, I think, is a skill in and of itself.

Please accept Mr. Bufus’ entry into MangoMinster 2010.

*kissey face*

-Fiona (and Dr. Liz)

We need more snow!!!

The weather forecasters should be called weather guessers. Because they keep predicting these HUGE storms, and we get 2 inches.... Don't get me wrong. Some snow is better than no snow, but I'd REALLY like 2 or 3 feet. (And Dad says that 2 inches is only slightly less work than 2 feet, because he still has to use the snowblower on the driveway - 2 feet of snow takes a little more time, but since he's got the Monster Snowblower of All Time, it is only a little more work. And, he says that if the ski resort got 2 feet of snow, the skiing would be much better. So c'mon, weather guessers, Get It Right, already!)

But, as my great-grannie would say, beggars can't be choosers, and so I've managed to 'make do' with the snow that we have received.

Dad cuts a track in the backyard so I can race around and not ALWAYS be totally covered in snowballs. (More on that in a bit.) And I love doing zoomies around the track.


But I like to do a little trail-breaking, too.

And, well, I really like forging my own trails. (Because while Dad does a good job cutting paths, there are so many other paths that are just calling to me!) Biggify for best effects...



So, weather guessers? Bring it on! I LOVE this snow stuff!!!! Give me MORE!!!!

Heehee.

Oh, and for those of you who were wondering, um, yeah, I do get snowballs all over my body. Mom and Dad have taken to putting me in 'defrost' - which is actually the exercise room. I guess Dad didn't actually like my coming straight in from my snow zoomies and jumping up on the bed and getting everything wet (and continuing to melt for the next half hour). So, I stay in the exercise room, and Mom usually gives me a Dingo or some other long-lasting treaty to keep me occupied while I melt. She will usually come in and towel me down. And has been known to even bring in the Evil Hair Dryer to help me in the defrosting process. I don't like having to be isolated while I defrost, but the snow zoomies totally make up for it!

One other thing that seems to be of import to Mom and Dad; apparently as of today, they have been married for 5 whole years. They celebrated it by (appropriately, since Dad was Mom's ski coach before he was her husband) going skiing. (And then taking me on a walk!) I'm so lucky to have such a loving Mom and Dad! Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad! (And if you have steak for dinner, make sure that TaiChi and I get in on the celebrations, eh?)
*kissey face*
-Fiona

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Mom is all "tired" from this "skiing" stuff (but, in all fairness, she has been taking me on walks, and playing with me outside in the snow, so it's not like I'm being neglected - she just hasn't been taking pictures....despite the fact that our camera is all portable and stuff... ah well...) so she's been slacking. But...

I have some exciting news.....

Here is the first glimpse of my new sister! We don't know which one is going to be my sister yet, but Mom and Dad have first pick, and since they picked me, I know they'll choose wisely!

D'oh!!! They are so little and cute!!! Note from Fi's Mom: the puppies will be 3 weeks old tomorrow, so we won't be bringing anyone home for another 5 weeks, but we can't wait to go visit and pick out little Abby. And yes, I'm a little nervous about Another Puppy, but excited, too. I think when we are training Abby we will give Fi a little 'refresher' course... But that's all to come.

And since I'm feeling all family-like, here is a picture of my Mom:

Isn't she pretty?!?

And my Dad:

Isn't he handsome?!?

And little bitty old me, before Mom and Dad brought me home:

So.... A sister. Wow. I'm so excited. And nervous!

I'll keep you posted. And I'll get on Mom about the camera thing!

*kissey face*
-Fiona, the soon-to-be-big sister