Teeth Cleaning

I've been planning on getting the boys teeth cleaned for a while now as their breath has become pretty horrible. I am getting my yearly bonus on December 13th so I called the Vet today to get quotes on getting this done as well as getting a wart removed from Ickis' face which will probably have to be biopsied. She just called back and it's going to be $275 a pup for teeth cleaning plus $60 each for x-rays if I want them for more detail on the teeth. Ickis will cost a total between $275 and $475 for the cleaning and the removal of the wart!

OUCH!

I think my pocketbook is going to be hurting more than the pugs! I just hope that they don't have to get any teeth pulled in addition or else it will be even more! *cries*

Ickis' new mission

I think Ickis has a new plan on how to make Mommy crazy. I believe his mission is to poop as many times as possible on one walk as to make Mommy crazy. He must have pooped 5 times yesterday on our walk; the last time being just a little pea size bit of poo that he could have easily pooed with the last round but No! Seperate poo!

I think I am going to rig one of those poo catchers the horses in NYC wear as they are pulling buggys up to Ickis' bum. It would be so much easier.

Wordless Wednesday

Mealtimes

The pugs love food, Pearl especially. She has a Brake-Fast Bowl to try and keep her form bolting her food. I have to stand and wait till everyone is done eating so if the boys don't finish off their food she doesn't swoop in and finish it off for them! She's on a diet. ;)

Heres a pic of the pugs how I see them pretty much every mealtime as I prepare their food:

That reddish orange thing at the bottom is my bathrobe. ;)

Be home by dark!

The pugs and I learned a few new things last night on their walk. I got home about an hour later than usual as I had to go to the fabric store to get sipplies for a weekend sewing project. After that I ran to the pet store to get some more doggie poo bags; I opted for the 120 pack in blue rather than my usual grey bags... I don't know why.

When I got home and got ready to take the furkids out it was about 5:45 rather than 4:30 like usual. It had already started getting dark but we live in a lovely neighborhood and wasn't worried about safety or that sort of thing so we set out.

The pugs soon started making with the pooping and I discovered that the blue bags I purchased really weren't compatible with my carrying case that I already had. The holder is made to work with the grey bags which feed bags from the cener of the roll. The blue bags feed from the outside. It worked ok for the first two poops but just as Ickis took his turn in pooping I discovered that it wasn't going to work anymore.

We were standing next to the bridge that leads into the park and I tried to pull another blue bag out. Instead of pulling out the bag the plastic cover to the case got stuck on the bag and came off allowing the tube of rolled up bags to pop out and go rolling across the grass. I scrambled to try and pick all the bags up while Ickis finished pooping and all three pugs were pulling me in every direction. I stuffed the bags into the larger plastic bag I carry for holding multiple mini-bags and went to scoop the poop with the remaining bag I left out.

Problem was I couldn't FIND the poop. I had laser eye surgery in August of this year and while my eyesight is near perfect in the daytime I am still having trouble with my nightvision. So there I am, three pugs pulling me in every which direction while I'm straining to find Ickis' poop. Eventually I guiltily gave up, I couldn't see it and we returned home.

When we got home and I was putting the leashes away I discovered I lost the cap that goes to the container for the poo bags! So now I have to go back to the pet store and either get a new poo bag holder that is compatible with the blue bags or get more grey bags and hope that when I get home today I can go out and find the lost cap before I take the dogs on their walk.

So the moral of this story is to never leave on a walk when its getting dark. Things will go badly!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Veterans Day!

I served 6 years in the US Army's Military Police Corps and I am a Veteran. I will never forget my time in the service and all the good as well as the bad memories it has left me with.

To my Brothers and Sisters in all of the Armed Forces; Thank you for serving alongside me.

To those that went before us and to those that will come after us; Thank you for your service.

To those at home; Thank You for your support and for reminding us what we would lay our lives down for.

2 Year Anniversary!

Today marks two years that Hubby and I have been married! Here is my favorite pic from that wonderful day:

And here are two pics of the boys from that day (we didn't bring Pearl home until a month after the wedding):

More pics here: http://www.rubicat.com/baker/

Licky-loo

It's my experience that pugs love to lick. Fabric especially but also people, other pets and even themselves. Ickis, being half chihuahua seems to have missed out on the licking gene but Pearl and Tank are addicts. Pearl especially so.

Pearl is still adjusting to the time change and therefore is waking up about an hour before the alarm goes off. I try and ignore her, hoping that she will lay back down and go back to sleep. It happens occasionally. This morning though she spent most of that extra hour licking the bedspread; the sound of it was rather soothing and I lapsed in and out of sleep until the alarm sounded. If that keeps her occupied and allows me to get a little bit more sleep then hey, I'm all for it.

I think Hubby might be of another opinion though after he rolled over and into 'the wet spot' and about shot out of bed thinking someone had peed. Oops!

Master Beggars

I can't help but laugh (even though I know I'm not supposed to) at the efforts the pugs go through to get a tiny bit of precious human food. I admit to it, I share probably more often than I should but I can't help it. I have the willpower of a gnat when it comes to those big, glistening puppy eyes which tell me everything in the world would be alright if I just gave them a bit of my dinner.

The pugs all have different begging styles and each looks at the other during these episodes as if to say "No, you are doing it wrong! Look here!" and proceeds to perform their act. Ickis is the most passive of the three; he sits closeby perfectly still as if to say "Look! Look how good I am sitting! I am the best dog ever and you should give me food!" His eyes bulge a little bit as he tries to move the food on my fork to his mouth with the power of his brain but does not break his sit.

Pearl on the other hand takes a more paws on approach. She will sit on the other side of me for a few seconds to see if the 'perfectly behaved' angle will get her anywhere. When it dosen't she will grunt and scoot her bum a little closer and closer, grunting with each scoot she makes. When she is pretty much leaning on my leg she will then try and stand on it, looking from me to the food and back again trying to tell me what she wants as I'm obviously not getting that she is STARVING. Should I pay her no attention she will them try and start straining to snif the food as if to say 'I just wanna smell it. Seriously, just smell it!' until I push her away and then the process will start over again.

Tank, who normally is the quiet one takes the vocal approach. As with the other two he will start with the 'sit' performance, his eyes wide and fixed on my face. Should I not pay him any attention he will start to whuff. The whuffing gets louder and louder to get into barking until I silence him with a look. He wags his tail when I meet his gaze and looks from the food back to me as if I again have no idea that he covets my dinner. I'll turn back to my food and the process starts again.

Not until I am finished and say 'All gone!' do they give up, even if I slip them a bite or two underneath Hubbys dissaproving gaze. They especially go nuts for popcorn which Hubby LOVES and air pops quite often, it amuses me to see how of little interest I am to them when there is abowl of popcorn in the room.

Wordless Wednesday

More SCA pics

My friend Grace took this photo of my Husband and I before his final fight in the competition this past weekend. In the SCA before people fight in Tournaments they are asked to make salutes to people such as the King and Queen, The Baron and Baroness and that sort of thing. They also ask the fighters to make salutes to the person they are fighting for or bears their Favor. The salute can be as simple as a nod in that persons general direction or as elaborate as a fighter likes. My Husband always comes to me on bended knee and takes one of my hands in his while I wrap the other arm around him and kiss his helm and whisper words of encouragement and love. I often end up crying after his salutes especially if it is an important competition. But I am a big sap and cry pretty easily. ;)

Anyways, here is the pic she took, in color and in sepia tones. I can't decide which I like better but one of them is going to be printed proffesionally, framed and hung next to the scroll he won.

State of the Union

Well, everyone knows today is the big election day in the US. Hubby and I voted last Monday so all we can do is sit back and wait for the results to come in. I am thankful that it will all be over by this time tomorrow; its been a long and stressful road!

The pugs got to go for an extra long walk last night since is was so nice out. I don't know if I've been feeding them too much or what but Pearl and Tank pooped twice while we were out and Ickis went THREE times! Good thing I had alot of baggies with me, ugh! The pugs enjoyed the long walk though as did I aside from the leash juggling that happens when you have three energetic pugs on the lines.

I have dance class tonight but I'd much rather be at home, snuggling with the pugs, sipping tea and watching election coverage. Sounds much more inviting to me!

Back from the Event!

We left around noon on Friday after getting the pugs all settled for the weekend. Its still nerve-wracking for me every time I have to leave them alone but they did great as per usual. The dog walker left her activity report for us to find when we got home on Sunday; she said it was hard for her to leave them each time too! Heh, glad I am not alone!

Hubby and I had a great weekend away! The event was really quiet on Friday night; not many people there at all which made for a dissapointing Halloween unfortunately. We made up for it the next day; there were over 400 people in attendance! Hubby competed in the heavy fighting tournament; aka 'The Chivalric List' and went undefeated to become the Champion! Alot of you may think of the SCA as sort of like going to the 'Medieval Times' restaraunt and in some ways it is. One big difference is the fights in competions are not staged at all; our fighters actually FIGHT and try and win. This time, Hubby won! He got a gorgeous framed scroll that we will be hanging up as soon as we find a good spot for it.

Here is a picture of Hubby and me from this weekend:

Here is a pic of the day I took the boys to their first SCA event; if you look really close you can see that they wrapped their coupler leash around my ankles !
We got home around 1pm yesterday and the pugs were VERY happy to see us. Gave them lots of love and after unpacking and organizing from our trip we basically relaxed and snuggled with them for the rest of the evening. I hope everyone had a great Halloween and a relaxing weekend!