Another Day at the Park

On Saturdays our usual walking trail is invaded by tons of people on bicycles who don't know the rules and/or don't have the courtesy to warn people when they come up on them from behind so Mom and Dad like to take Saturdays 'off' from our walks. But since we still need our exercise, Mom and Dad take us to the park in our neighborhood, instead.

Which is cool, because there is much zooming involved.

Zoom-zoom!

Lard Butt, erm, Abby actually zooms around, too.


Nothing like having the whole park to ourselves to run full out!

Is it me, or does Abby look abnormally LONG there? Heehee!



C'mon, Dad, throw the ball!!!!

They don't call me The Amazing Flying Fi-sters for nothing, you know! Teehee!


Seriously, can you have enough zoomie pictures? Nah, I didn't think so.


It has been hot (for us), so even when we go out in the morning, we get pretty hot and tired from all the zooming, and even I slow down after a while!

I'm done now. Let's go home!

And it leaves Abby totally pooped. At least for a little while, so it's all good!

Heehee!

Moose update: Our moosies have ventured elsewhere in the neighborhood - apparently they weren't super excited about some of the trucks that were going up and down our street and disturbing their rest. However, Momma Moose seems to be a sharp one, and I'm sure Baby Moose is being well taken care of. If there are any more sightings, I'll be sure to let you know. And Mom wants you all to know that while she worries about dog-moose interactions (and is also not so excited about cleaning up their, uh, 'parting gifts'), she realizes how Super Cool it is to live someplace where we have moosies (literally) out our front door. And Mom will admit that she really couldn't get enough of Baby Moose - Mom was on the front porch For Ages taking pictures of them. I think Baby Moose knew it and was posing!

See! I think Baby Moose is smiling for the camera!

Heehee.

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

Moosies!

Thanks again for all the wonderful birthday wishes! We are all full of excitement here!

Yesterday morning Abby and I woke Mom up a little before 6am so she could take us outside, and Mom was still half-asleep and wasn't really paying attention when she opened the back door....

I started barking and Abby did a U-turn and came right back inside (I followed right behind her). Why? Um....


That's right! Momma Moose with a little baby moose. Mom and Dad saw this mom and baby in the neighborhood about a month ago, but we had never expected they'd come pay us a visit.

The baby is a real youngster - definitely born just this year.

Mom was very worried that Momma Moose would take issue with us being around her baby, so Mom kept us inside - where we barked at them, and they just sort of flicked their ears at us. I guess we're not super-scary sounding! Heehee.

Momma Moose, could have been a different story, though. Last year Dad was trying to get a single female moose off the property (moose and dogs really don't mix well) and REALLY pissed her off when he threw a snowball at her - she got so mad she came around the front and was charging the front porch. Like seriously charging the front porch - if she could have figured out a way up, she probably would have. Anyway, angry moose are SCARY!

So, instead of our usual frolicking in the yard, Mom and Dad hustled us off on our walk, hoping that when we got home, Momma Moose and Baby would have moved on to greener pastures.

Well, we got back from our walk to discover they had moved - to the front yard!

And they seemed to be quite comfy....


Heehee. We scratch just like that!

And Baby Moose was pretty cute!


Dad was a little worried that Momma and Baby had decided to make this their new summer home, and tried to gently urge them to leave by turning on the sprinkler (from the safety of the porch). Let's just say that Momma Moose was not impressed. Or even remotely disturbed.

Whaddya think, Mom? Should I be worried about this flying water?

Naw. Just take a seat; this place has nommy trees, fresh grass - it's perfect.

Okay. Sounds good to me!

Momma and Baby hung around until about 2pm, when the garbage truck came by - I guess it was a little noisy for them! But now when we go out, Mom's Very Careful about checking for Momma and Baby!

See, never a dull moment here!

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

Note from Mom: I like seeing moose - I think they are amazing animals, but they scare the hell out of me. They are surprisingly fast, and when you've got a mother with a very young one, I'm not certain how they are going to react, and certainly they can be deadly to humans and dogs if they feel their young are being threatened. Luckily, this one seemed to be pretty mellow; she has been around the neighborhood for most of the spring, and didn't perceive the dogs as a threat (not that I gave her a chance to get worried - I kept the girls far away from them). So it was very cool to see the moose, and the baby really was a cutie but I'd just as soon they move on to someone else's yard! If you're interested in how to co-exist with moose, check out this article (http://www.xyz.net/~khltkbr/projects/moose/coexist.html).

A Very Happy Birthday!

Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful birthday wishes! I had a Most Excellent birthday!

It started off with a e-card from Granny and Grandpa, and a very nifty gift certificate to Drs. Foster and Smith - home of the sweet potato treats! Thanks Granny and Grandpa!!!

After that, we headed to the park for some quality tennis ball time. The weather forecast was for thunderstorms later in the day, and we wanted to get in some zoomie time.


After the park time (and some quality time with Dad, watching golf), Mom had to run a couple of errands, and she thought that maybe I'd like to go to that magic window that dispenses cheeseburgers. Well, duh! Of course I want to go the the Cheeseburger Store!!! So Abby and I hopped in the car, and we went to The Magic Window, which did not disappoint!


Abby was very interested in the contents of the bag, and being the good sister that I am, I shared all my birthday goodies with Abby. Because, of course, when it's her birthday, she'll be sharing her goodies with me!


C'mon Mom! Cut it up already!

In no time we were rewarded with bite-sized pieces of a plain junior cheeseburger!


After the cheeseburger (which was Most Nommy!), we had some frisbee time!


After the frisbee time, Mom broke out The Hat.

Seriously. The Birthday Hat. Oy. Dad was armed with lots of treats, and I tolerated it, to humor Mom. I mean, she did take us to the Magic Cheeseburger Window....

Oh, please, maybe if I hunch down lower, the floor will swallow me up...

There, are you happy now? Actually, it wasn't too bad - Dad had lots of treats for me during this whole ordeal! And I don't have to wear this silly hat for another year; the next time it comes out, it'll be Abby's turn to wear it. Neener-neener!

So, we had dinner, and Mom and Dad watched some teevee (there's some bicycle race or something going on that has their attention). A while after dinner, Mom declared that it was Cake Time!

Cake!!!! I watched Mom make the 'cake' yesterday. A friend of Mom's had sent her some doggie-specific recipes, and Mom selected a peanut butter-carrot recipe. But we had no carrots. So she substituted apples - which was totally cool because Abby and I both like apples. So yesterday Mom made the batter and baked it in a muffin tray (the idea being that she didn't want particularly big servings, AND she doesn't have a small cake pan...). They looked pretty yummy!


(Don't mind the tray the silicon muffin pan is sitting on - it's Mom's 'junk tray'). When they came out of the oven last night and cooled off a bit, Dad and I tested one, and we gave it a combined two thumbs and four paws up!

Today, Mom 'iced' one - she mixed a little low-fat cream cheese with some peanut butter and frosted one. And put a candle on it!

I turned 3 today, in case I forgot to mention it!

Bring on the cake!!!


Mom's wearing a long-sleeve shirt, BTW, because the predicted thunderstorms did come in, and it went from 80+ degrees to 60 degrees in about an hour.

C'mon. Enough with the photo ops. Let's EAT!

Finally, we got some cake!

And, yes, I shared!

It was Most Excellent cake! (And yes, there are leftovers!!!)

Thanks for a wonderful birthday, Mom and Dad!!! And thanks again for all the wonderful birthday wishes!

*kissey face!*
-Fiona the Birthday Girl and Abby the Hippobottomus

Happy Almost Birthday to Me!!!

Yes, it's true, it's my birthday on Sunday!!! I'm going to be 3 years old, and I'm sure Mom's got all sorts of exciting things planned. Like trying to get me to wear the silly birthday hat that she's tried to get me to wear on my last two birthdays.

My first birthday...

Note my wild enthusiasm...

We move on to my second birthday....


I sulked enough that I convinced Dad to convince Mom to not try to put that hat on me...

If my dear sister Abby REALLY wanted to give me a good birthday present, she'd pull the hat off the shelf where it's stored and eat it. I'm just saying....

So, I've got my paws crossed that Mom doesn't attempt anything silly like trying to put that hat on me. Besides, I've got much more exciting plans, like testing out this 'lawn' Mom has been working so hard on.

I'd like to get in a little frisbee time...


And putting the smackdown on my sister


Yep. Good times! And with luck, there will be No Silly Hats involved. I'm giving Mom the evil eye as this is being typed. NO SILLY HATS! Well, unless there are copious amounts of treats involved, and then I might consider, possibly, maybe, allowing another attempt at the silly hat.... But they'd better be GOOD treats. Like cheese. And turkey hotdogs. And steak bits. I'll keep you posted.

Heehee!

*kissey face*
-Fiona (the birthday girl) and Abby the Hippobottomus