Duo In Action

Time for some action photos.

 

First he goes for the tail of his big sister

Next she swats at him until she gets him nearly out of the sight of the camera

 

Finally she stands around as if nothing happened. Piper says: "did I just smack my little bro, hmm, no idea what you are talking about?"

All the times she messed with the pugs has come back to bite her in the tail...literally! I must say though she is just like Simon. In all ways! She has the patience of Job from the Bible. Simon had that same level of patience with her. The duo of Piper and Landon are becoming better and better accustom to one another as he continues to grow and she continues to realize he's staying. LOL! 

Quick Snap Sunday

 

 

What is that in our tree in our backyard? My little eyes spy what appears to be signs of SPRING!!!!! Oh thank goodness! I realize this is a weird pic. Early this morning I looked up at our biggest tree in our backyard while out with Landon and noticed some beautiful signs of Spring! The sprouting of some green leaves! I'm thinking Spring is just around the corner as the week ahead seems to be a little bit of a preview, according to my weather app. 

I've mentioned one of my favorite quotes of my father-in-law's on this blog before, well I'm mentioning it again...."If you don't like the weather in Texas, wait 10 minutes it will change"....LOL! So true a lot of the times here in Texas. Starting just after midnight on Saturday we had foggy coldness. If Landon went to the opposite side of our backyard he could completely disappear from my sight. By the time the "normal" early morning hours of Saturday rolled around the skies were booming with thunder as rain soaked everything. By late morning it was nice, rather mild and pretty out. By late afternoon it wasn't so nice, suddenly it was windy and chilly. I think we experienced quite a bit of weather changes yesterday. So far today it appears it will be quite nice, like I said before it seems this week ahead will be a preview of Spring.
  

Neighborhood Watch

The other night Brad started randomly laughing at me as I told a story of some dogs getting loose in our neighborhood. There's 2 huskies that have commonly been getting loose in the last few months and it has been a small mystery as to whom they belong to? It's a mystery no longer. The humorous part to Brad is not about the huskies getting loose. Definitely not! However, it's funny to him that within the last few months I've learned so much about our neighborhood.

It's because I walk Landon. Once again I have a little walking buddy. When you walk your dog you see things. It's that simple. You learn real quick which homes have dogs and which homes do not. Which dogs seem nice, well behaved, and appear to have good humans. As well as which dog owners love taking chances and never find it necessary to use a leash with their dog. Cue my pet peeve! USE LEASHES PEOPLE.....USE LEASHES! Not using leashes and retractable leashes are my two biggest pet peeves! Anyway, all I'm saying is you learn a lot just by walking your dog each day. However, the price your pay is your husband finding it humorous when you can point at any home and tell him what kind of dog lives there. LOL!

In other neighborhood news, our neighborhood gained a new little "watcher". Landon!!! He has recently discovered he can see quite a few neighborhood happenings by sitting on the arm of the chair and peering around the side of the chair which is conveniently right in front of one of the biggest windows in our house. What a beautiful thing he has discovered! It's only a matter of time until he gets the idea to jump up to the top part of the overstuffed chair and lay up there while looking out the window. Piper used to like laying on the top part of our big chair to look outside. However, she is more into peering out the windows that are in the back part of the house. Perhaps because more sunlight shines through the dining room windows. Plus its the added bonus of keeping tabs on her little brother as she watches him go in and out the door leading to the backyard.

Quick Snap Sunday

 

Just a man and his dog! Caught you both! So sweet!

 

I think someone has wiggled his little way into his daddy's heart forever, I mean...furever! This is the first time I have ever seen Brad so into sharing kisses with a dog. LOL! Both of them are crazy for each other. And let's not forget Brad chose Landon out of a large litter and Landon is his first puppy. 

 

However, don't get confused...Landon is a momma's boy! But a daddy's dude too. About 65% momma's boy and 35% daddy's dude. Wait, can I up those numbers slightly...70% momma's boy and 30% daddy's dude. :)

Little Good Mornings

I have this term "little good mornings". Every morning during the weekend or during a small at-home vacay I wonder to myself what "little good mornings" I will discover when I get up and make my way to our kitchen then living room area. Most of the "little good mornings" are left for me in the living room area.

What am I talking about? Little good mornings are my term for the items Brad leaves behind from being up so late at night. Rarely does Brad go to bed before 3:30 or 4:00 in the morning when he doesn't have to work the next day. When he stays up so late there's always little items left behind for me to then find when I get up in the morning. Those items are my "little good mornings". Most common items he leaves behind to be cleaned up when I awake for the day are: empty soda can, candy wrappers, empty bowl of ice cream, bag of snack mix, or an empty plate. No it doesn't bother me! On the contrary I think it's interesting to see what is left to clean up in the morning. I guess I'm somewhat nosey to see how much fun he had while I slept. LOL! It's never a big mess, only a few things here and there. 

The little good mornings that greeted me this morning were an empty dessert plate with an empty can of soda nearby. Clearly Brad treated himself to an extra piece of cake in the middle of the night. Oh wait, a bag of M&M's were left out too. No our cat doesn't eat M&M's....thank goodness. She's not much for people food. Her human food choices have been limited courtesy of me. :)

Top Breeds

Every once in a while I come across things I find online I want to share here. I especially enjoy reading little things about pets. Anyone care to know what the top 10 dog breeds are, according to Animal Planet?

Now first let me detail my own presumed list of what breeds I think are popular. Basing my thoughts on what I see around town: vet office, dog park, pet places.

In no particular order:
- Springer Spaniel...tough choice between the different Spaniel breeds
- Golden Retrievers
- Poodles
- Beagles...Snoopy dogs are never going out of style! NEVER!
- Boston Terriers...a type of terrier has to be chosen, I chose Boston because of American city name.
- Labradors
- German Shepherds
- French Bulldogs
- Chihuahuas
- Dachshunds

Now if I'm stretching this further to say a top 15, add in: Schnauzers, Dobermans, Boxers, Yorkies and duh P-U-G-S!

Apologies to my luvbug Landon, if I was picking this list with my heart and not my mind, without a doubt Havanese and Pugs would be tied for the top spot. Don't worry little dude you are a top breed in my TRUE opinion. But this list is about all other pet owners not just us in this household. Hey don't be down about it. Your breed is the top breed in Cuba. Hence the name Havanese...stemming from Havana!

Now it's time for the REAL Top 10 according to Animal Planet. Are you ready? There's some surprises, at least I was surprised.

1- Golden Retriever
2- Labrador Retriever
3- Beagle
4- German Shepherd
5- Welsh Corgi
6- Doberman
7- Border Collie
8- Belgian Malinois
9- French Bulldog
10-Shiba Inu

I see I had some breeds correctly named in my presumed top 10. However, come on, no poodle? They come in 3 sizes! How can they not make the top 10? No spaniel or terrier breed is represented. One more small point, pun intended, no toy breed. Speechless! Yet there's corgis in the top 10. I know they are getting more popular, however, I didn't think they were top 10 material here in America! I'm sure their popularity is thru the roof in Britain due to the breeding of corgis by the British Royal Family. Dobermans being at #6 seems high to me. I guess a lot of people want protection dogs. Belgian Malinois and a Shiba Inu...huh? I'll admit I barely know of these breeds. My aunt in Phx has a Belgian Malinois-German Shepherd mix. As for a Shiba Inu, I saw one once when we lived in the mid-rise apartment a few years ago. No joke, first time I saw one I was a little afraid because I thought the dog's owner was walking a fox.

There you have it...for what it is worth! ;)

Piper, Piper, Piper!

What am I going to do with her? She is going to be as big as the house in no time. I recently walked the aisles of Petsmart in search of the least calorie diet cat food. I'm nearly beyond caring what brand it is, it's all about the calorie count. She needs the lowest calorie count available because she is supplementing her diet plenty on the side. Below is a pic of what I woke up to early this morning. She chewed her way into her new bag of treats she received just last night as part of her Valentine's day gift. Everything food oriented belonging to either her or pup-pup has to be in a cabinet nowadays. Nothing can be left out on a shelf. As far as last night, someone, not mentioning any names got a little distracted. Someone was staying up super late and munching out on his M&M's candies his wifey got him for Valentine's day. It's more fun to munch out with somebody else than alone so he decided to have the cat munch out with him, giving her some of her new treats. Then this someone left the bag of treats out on the dining table after he went to bed. Landon and I were both fast asleep in our beds during this munch out session. Piper usually puts herself to bed like Simon used to do. However if Brad stays up late and she hears him eating something she's suddenly up too.

Here's another little story. A few weeks ago, Brad brought home an extra bag of food for Landon. He placed it in the laundry room on a low shelf. Next morning I woke up to a pile of dog food on the floor below the bag of food and a cat laying next to it with a bellyache. She had chewed a nice hole in the side of Landon's unopened extra bag of food and it was spilling out onto the floor. She treated herself to quite the puppy food buffet at some point during the night while all the rest of us were asleep. I'm not sure why neither of us assumed she'd try to eat her way through the bag of puppy food? She has done that before with her food. But neither of us that particular night thought the unopened bag of puppy food was in danger. Big lesson learned. She'll eat through her own bag or pup-pup's bag of food. She's not picky!  

Just a side note that has nothing to do with main subject of this post but explains why Brad was up so late. He is home for a nice 4 day break. They were given the green light by corporate to have only a skeleton crew work today since yesterday was Valentine's day and a 3 day weekend is about to begin. I was very shocked when he told me on Wednesday night that he wasn't going to have to go to work on Friday. I can't believe corporate is being so nice. Because yes, he's getting paid for today yet he's at home.

Want To Be My Valentine?

Landon: "I'm young, single, and ready to mingle. Oh wait, anything I do I have to check with my mommie first. Oh and I need a chaperone everywhere I go. I don't even go in the backyard alone. So maybe I'm not ready to mingle? I still need to grow up some I guess. Instead of valentines let's just be furiends!"

Piper: "Do I look like I have a lot of free time for a Valentine? I mean just glance at me. I'm way too busy for a Valentine. After I catch some zzz's, I have to steal the puppy's food. Then I have to nap again to sleep it all off. After that I'll wake up and boss around my puppy-brother. I got business to do!"

Happy Valentine's Day

I received this "luv pug" a couple years ago from my in-laws. I love it and it is a fixture in our home every February. Oddly enough I started calling Landon my "luv bug" long before I remembered this little pug is called the "luv pug". Coincidence! Just a note, no Landon did not harm the luv pug during this video, he was simply checking it over.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Roses

Hmm, I wonder if me hubby is feeling the pressure? Pressure is on buddy! LOL! It's Valentine's day week and there are two reasons why the pressure is on for Brad this Valentine's day.

First reason is this...back in December when we celebrated our wedding anniversary Brad wanted the Saturday our anniversary fell on to be only about celebrating. Meaning he didn't want to go get flowers or any other last minute item for the anniversary. He wanted to think ahead and be more prepared. I can applaud him for that. However, flowers need to be fresh. They are delicate and need proper care to stay looking right which is alive. In his effort to think ahead for our anniversary he bought a bouquet of flowers for me on Friday at his lunch break. He then hid them in his trunk. So the flowers stayed hidden in his trunk with obviously no water for the remainder of Friday all through the day on Saturday too as he did not present the bouquet to me until Saturday evening right before we left for dinner. Many flowers in the bouquet showed the lack of water and care by being wilted and half dead. So yeah, not the best bouquet I've ever received.

Reason number two there's a little more pressure on this Valentine's day...just this past Thursday was the birthday of Brad's boss. I reminded him as I do every year that it's a nice gesture on his part to give her flowers. He said he'd pick some up on his way to work on Thursday. Oh he picked some up all right! His boss sent me a pic of the stunning ALL rose bouquet he purchased in a beautiful vase. Although I was impressed my husband did so well at choosing such a stunning bouquet and vase, I must admit my almost immediate thought was I better get something even better come Valentine's day. The wife should definitely get something better than the boss, right?

Yes indeed, there's a little pressure on Brad concerning the flower situation come Thursday. Here's what I want...a beautiful bouquet of RED ROSES! No mix of flowers! In the mixed bouquets you get about 3 or 4 roses. Not going to cut it! I want all roses and they need to be red. The cue can be taken from the design of this blog right now. LOL!

I'm not one of those girls that has to have over the top romantic gestures presented on Valentine's day. My preference is always simplicity. But I must admit getting a bouquet of flowers is my favorite part of Valentine's day. And no, the bouquet doesn't have to be huge, just normal size. We typically choose take-out instead of going to a restaurant because everything is so busy. I'll admit too, I'm more insistent on simple take-out versus going to a restaurant, because I'm not too into crowded places. I'm also not too picky about the take-out. Brad could get by with a run to McDonald's. Seriously! In fact, back on Super Bowl Sunday, I joked about how all I wanted for Valentine's day was red roses and KFC. LOL! Well in reality it's not a joke...however, it's red roses, Chick-fil-a, and watch a chick flick. :)

Quick Snap Sunday

Go ahead make an instant and quick judgment...innocent looking cat or just got done being up to no good cat? I have this term "trouble is finding...plug in the appropriate name". So today "trouble is finding Piper". I love my cat-daughter but it's one of those days where I'm having to remind myself of my love for her. LOL! I mean it's not even noon yet and trouble has found her twice!

I came up with my original term "trouble is finding Simon", back when Simon was young. Oh that boy, he was so good but he tested the boundaries and every once in a while he would have a day where trouble was finding him. He never got in serious trouble but he tested things more. As for Cody, oh man, I never remember him getting into trouble. Honestly! Perhaps my memory is cloudy but I never really remember him doing anything that I would classify as getting into trouble. There was the occasional punking of his little brother. But Simon "disciplined" him for that. He never had issues requiring me to discipline him. The issue with Cody was simple...a more difficult personality type than Simon. He was a tiny control freak, everything was in Cody's timing not anyone else's. Simon was much more easygoing and passive!

Piper is a lot like Simon. She's easygoing, she's got a high level of patience with everyone, she's not toy motivated, she eats everything loose and trouble finds her at times because she pushes the boundaries. Yep, she's Simon! She's also independent. What I mean is she's not the type that needs to be around us all the time. Simon was like that too. He was perfectly fine doing his own thing in a different room than everyone else at times. He was very comfortable and confident in his own fur, so to speak. Although he had his moments too when he needed "mommie time", overall he was quite independent.

Beware

I'm putting this on my blog so maybe more people can be made aware. It is tax season which means it's scam season. There are a few scams going on right now so beware. The IRS can not contact taxpayers by telephone. Let me repeat that...The IRS can not contact taxpayers by telephone. It is not permitted. Therefore if you answer the phone to someone claiming to be from the IRS and demanding money for an "unpaid tax bill"...DO NOT PAY IT! It is bogus! It is a scam! Do not pay it and do not give out any personal info. Beware folks, beware! It's been estimated telephone tax scams have collected many millions from unsuspecting and unaware Americans just this tax season so far.

About Last Saturday Night...

Here are some pics from the combo birthday gathering. Everyone is cracking up in picture 3, I'll keep it a secret as to why? Piper stayed away for most of the time. As for little Landon, he was sure to get time with both of his human grandparents. Oh and just a quick note, in the future my mother-in-law's coffee cup will be confiscated from her. Trust me there were other pics not shown because her coffee cup had too much of a starring role in the pic. LOL!

 

 

Quick Snap Sunday

 

 

Is it gametime? I'm ready, it's my first Super Bowl. Oh wait, mommie said it's called the Super Disappointment Bowl this year. Either way it's my first one of these to watch. I'm ready...I think! Here's my checklist of Super Bowl goods...

 

✔drinks...got water

✔snacks...got puppy petite bites

✔noise maker...got a squeaky football

✔winning attitude...duh, I'm Landon

 

Random Saturday Thoughts

So that groundhog in Pennsylvania has predicted an early Spring. I'm not mad about that at all! Come on Springtime. I can hardly wait to plant some flowers in front of our house again. Looking ahead at this week I'm believing the groundhog is in fact serious as the temps look rather nice for the coming week. Although February has just begun I'm not going to be naïve, I still believe there will be at least 1 maybe even 2 short cold snaps left to navigate through.

Landon's ear infection is starting to look a little better. I've been one of those obsessive pet parents checking to see if the redness has decreased multiple times a day. I have a feeling I have traded in eye infections for ear infections with the new breed we have. Pugs are prone to eye infections. I dealt with a pug eye infection more times than I can count. With the characteristic floppy and hairy ears of a havanese though, ear infections will be more common for Landon...I think. We'll see.

On a whim while browsing through a Petco I noticed harnesses in a design called the "X design". I decided to get one. Hmm, it seemed fine the first few times I used it with Landon. Now he and his mommie have decided it's not a great choice. Maybe it would work better for a different body style than what he has, not sure? So far the only type of harness he has liked and not run from when I get it out is the vest style. My only small issue with the vest style is his hair getting into the Velcro. Which isn't a big problem until it's time for a haircut. If anyone out there has any other suggestions or brands to check out I'm open to hear. I'm a big time Instagram person and I think the top two brands of harnesses I notice on dogs on Instagram are Puppia and Frenchie. I'm thinking both are online brands, haven't seen either at Petco or Petsmart.

And yes, I'm so glad it's the weekend. Finally it arrived! It's going to be more eventful than most weekends for us but at least it's the weekend.