Birthday Walkies and Things

Okay, so my birthday was sort of low-key. Sort of. Mostly because I didn't want Mom to try to stick a party hat on my head... But.... My granny and grandpa sent me a gift certificate to Drs. Foster and Smith (which I was supposed to share with my mutant puppy sister... Umm. Yeah. I did. Sure. *nudge*nudge*wink*wink*) and Mom and I spent a fair amount of time doing some online birthday present shopping. So when my birthday presents show up, I will post pictures.

But, for my birthday, we did go on a walk...

C'mon Mom. Let's GO!

It's HOT. Let's keep moving.

When we got to the park, Mom and Dad thought that it might be day that I'd actually start swimming.

I have a 30-foot lead on because the park requires you to be on a leash, and because Mom and Dad weren't really certain how I'd take to the swimming thing...

I got brave for a while...

But that was as brave as I got. The lure of the tennis ball was not enough to convince me to take my feet off the bottom of the pond...

So, I kindly left the tennis ball for some other lucky (swimming) doggie.

Hey, I tried!

Who is that evil twin mutant puppy next to me?!?

In Fi's defense, we might have thrown the ball a little far out for her. We've got a ball on a string (so we can retrieve it, in case Ms. Half-Retriever opts not to), and we'll start her out with shorter throws and see if we can entice her into the water. Also in Fi's defense, Abby showed the same amount of interest in the water - she waded, but never quite swam.

Anyhoo, after our walk, there was much snoozling and my goofy sister took it upon herself to look goofy.


On Sunday, Mom and Dad had Another Car Race. It was about eleventy-billion degrees down in Salt Lake, so Abby and I stayed home with Jessi (The Woman Who is Teaching Mom to Feed Us Turkey Hotdogs) while Mom and Dad drove a Miata around a parking lot and failed to take any pictures.

Abby and I had WAY more fun. (Well, Mom and Dad seemed to have fun, but seriously. A parking lot? When it's a million degrees out? What-ever.)

Jessi brought along one of her doggies, a Bug (yes, a Bug - yes, that would be a Pug/Boston Terrier mix) named Lulu with her. We've met Lulu before, and despite being a very diminutive 10 lbs (seriously - she's all eyeballs) she has no problem getting into the fray with us. Mom didn't leave the camera, and so Jessi was only able to get one picture with her phone. Here Lulu has stolen one of our toys and is playing keep-away on the stairs before she sticks it under the kitchen table (where we can't get to it because both of us have surpassed the 50lb mark and are n0 longer squeeze-into-small-spots-to-get-things doggies...).

From Drop Box

It is always fun when Lulu is here, and so when Mom and Dad got home we were mostly worn out. Which was good, because Mom and Dad were really worn out from the sun, and from, uh, whatever it is that they do at these autocross events that wears them out so much...

Speaking of dogs squeezing under things, you might remember when my mutant puppy sister could squeeze under the bed:

She was doing this at 40+ lbs, and Mom and Dad were certain she was going to get stuck under there one day, so Mom bought some of those under-the-bed storage thingys so Abby couldn't get under the bed any more (and Mom miraculously found more closet space!). After a day or two of pouting, Abby got over it, and sleeps on top of the Big Dog Bed like a normal dog now (and hogs the pillows and blankets).

Anyhoo... In all of the excitement of swimming, and Lulu, and Mom and Dad car racing (with no pictures), Abby and I have still found much time for bitey-face.


Although, wow, the mutant puppy monster is getting BIG.

Can you believe that we came from the same parents? *sheesh*

But as the older, wiser, more beautiful sister, I will always have the psychological advantage!!!

I hope.

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Mutant Puppy

The Almost-Birthday Girl

So, guess what?!?

Tomorrow (Saturday) is my birthday!!! I'll be two whole years old! Two? When did that happen? Last time I checked, I was still a young pup.

Oh. Wait. You say I am a young pup, still? Okay. I can live with that.

At least Mom isn't going to try to stick a party hat on my head, like she did last year.

It didn't work out very well, I might add..

And thank heavens she's not going to get me a birthday cake. (This one looked pretty, but, uh, it sort of tasted like dirt. And while my mutant puppy sister might like eating rocks, I'm not so keen on the dirt-flavored thing...)

It was a nice idea, but, well, the execution part didn't work out so well. Here I am, passing judgment on the cake...


I actually preferred this cake much more....

It pretty much tasted like my 'real' birthday cake, but this one had a squeaker in it...

And I did get some pretty good loot last year.

Mom is saying something about me going 'swimming' tomorrow. I don't know about this swimming thing... I think Mom is feeling optimistic after my foray into the water a month ago

I did make an additional foray into the water today, so Mom thinks I'm ready to "make the leap" so to speak. Uh. Yeah. I'll let you know.

In the meantime, I'm going to get some pre-celebration beauty rest so I'm at my best for whatever Mom has (or doesn't have) planned!

*kissey face*
-Fiona, the Almost Birthday Girl (and Abby the Mutant Puppy)

Wordless Wednesday - Today's Hike

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Mutant Puppy

Happy Fourth of July & The Name Game!

Happy Fourth of July everybody! And for those of you non-Americans, well, it’s still the fourth of July, even if you aren’t setting off fireworks, grilling things and keeping bugs out of your potato salad, right? Anyhoo, because it is the Fourth of July, it is time to play Frankie Furter’s Name Game. Which basically (I think) means telling how you got your name.

So, me first. Because I’m the older sister and everything.

**The very first part of this story is kind of sad, so you can skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want to read sad things.** Mom and Dad had a standard poodle named Ben (actually, he was The Majestic Ben Gurion, from the Majestic line of poodles, and was this super-handsome show quality dog). Because he was Super Handsome (and had such great bloodlines), he was never tutored, ah, neutered, and as he gold older (9), Mom and Dad decided to breed him with a local Golden Retriever girl, so when Ben finally crossed the bridge they would have his direct descendant, and a goldendoodle, to boot. They also knew that TaiChi was not a Spring Chicken, and thought a puppy would be a good thing. Unfortunately, the girlfriend they had picked for Ben was sickie-poo when they were supposed to have their big date, and shortly thereafter (and here’s the sad part), Ben was diagnosed with bladder cancer, and he was not able to have kids. When Ben it became clear that Ben was not going to be a father in his own right, Mom started looking for Goldendoodles.

Mom insisted on a female because she was sick of the boys “marking their territory” in the living room. *ahem* She looked in the local papers and she found me! A family west of Salt Lake City had a female standard poodle and a male red Golden Retriever than they had bred. Mom talked with the lady, and they only had 2 girls left, but Mom and Dad could come visit. After checking out my biological parents’ medical histories and genetic tests and blah, blah, blah, blah, Mom and Dad saw a whole pile of squirming little things, and Picked Me!!! I wasn’t quite ‘done’ when they picked me out (I was only 7 weeks old), and so after saying they would be back, they got all prepared for a new puppy.

Here's my Mom:
And my Very Handsome Dad:

Keep in mind that Abby and I share the exact same biological parents - so my Mom and Dad are her Mom and Dad, too.

And here I am as a wee bitty youngster:

You can't quite see my redness here because the picture is a bit overexposed. Here I am in all my red glory:


And here I am with TaiChi, and my big brother Ben, both of whom Taught me Much About the World:

Heehee. I was so little. And the older dogs didn't know what to make of me!

Because I was Very Red as a youngster, Mom wanted me to have some sort of Irish name. Around the same time, Mom and Dad became very enamored with a teevee show called Burn Notice. In the show, one of the main characters is a woman named Fiona Glenanne, who, in the show, is a former IRA member and likes to blow up things.


Mom thought the name was perfect, and Dad totally agreed. So I was named after a teevee character. Even though I don’t generally blow things up. Heehee.

And in case you've forgotten what I look like when I'm not chomping on my sister, here I am!


Now, on to Abby. And proof that Mom and Dad probably watch too much teevee. Mom and Dad thought I was Such A Wonderful Doggie (no, really, they did) and they knew that TaiChi was becoming extremely ancient and venerable, and thought that I could use a “younger companion” (whatever that means) and on a whim, Mom and Dad emailed the family who own my biological parents, and it turns out that they had decided to have One More Litter of puppies. So Mom immediately said “Oooh, oooh, oooh! We Want One!!!” and because they were so enthusiastic, Mom and Dad got first choice.

And they picked this:


Seriously. They picked this thing:

In all fairness, Mom and Dad both said that it is pretty tough to identify personality traits at 5 week old. Not really being able to tell much about her, Mom and Dad felt that they should just give her a name (so her ‘first family’ could start using it, so Abby would get to know her name). Mom and Dad are also big fans of the teevee show NCIS and really like the character Abby Scuito, the Goth self-proclaimed “Energizer bunny of forensics”.


Even though they didn’t know how Abby was going to turn out, they liked the name, and she became Abby. And while my sister isn’t much of a Goth (other than her lighter hair and dark eyeliner), she is most definitely an Abby. For the record, Abby is often known as ‘Scrabby’ or ‘Abby Scrabbington’ as well as ‘The Mutant Puppy’ and ‘The Little Monster’.

Here she is, at almost 7 months. Quite a bit different from the little squirt Mom and Dad picked out, huh? And note that dark eyeliner she uses!

And no matter how big she gets (there is some debate as to whether she’ll be bigger than me) she will always be my little sister, and thus ‘Little’. So there. Neener, neener. And I’ll have the psychological advantage For Ever!!!

*ahem*

So, to sum it up, Mom and Dad named us both for strong female characters, and I think we are both living up to our names quite nicely!

And for the record, I really do love my little sister - I'm super lucky to have a fun sister - thanks, Mom and Dad!!!!


So, on that note, I’m off to make sure that Mom has all sorts of yummy foodables prepared for today. Dog bless America!

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby (the Mutant Puppy)