Monster of a Cat

Do you remember how the chickenDale's mom carried chickenDale down the stairs? (chickenDale = Sunshade) And that chickenDale was about 64 pounds? Pretty heavy to be carried, eh? (strong mom!)

Well, take a look at what my mom found in the local newspaper. When she showed the picture to me, I thought "Wowie Zowie!!!! Are you sure that's a cat??"

I think this picture speaks for itself...


I wonder how heavy that cat is!

Jibber Jabber

Here are my miscellaneous thoughts and pics...

Do you remember how when I went to Arizona for business I saw this sign that says there is a fine of $1000 for animal abandonment?















WELL, I came across a different sign near my house that says there is a fine of $1000 if you litter. Can you believe the fines are the SAME amount!???!! Outrageous! Are WE considered the same as regular litter?!?! This is atrocious!












My mom made a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving! Oh, it looked so scrumptous and smelled wonderful. Unfortunately, mom didn't give my any pumpkin pie to sample. But, she did give me a few bits of turkey! Yum!














Here is my newest friend. He is a dwarf hamster and is my half sister's pet. Isn't he just the cutest!!!














Here I am, Queen of the Blankies. My Hana House is so big, I could have a slumber party in there!

Good News!!!

I just heard that Casper is doing so well that his vet is going to take him off his medicine!! His blood tests have been stable and in the normal range. Everydog and every honorary dog, please cross your paws for Casper so that he does not relapse. We don't want him to have to go back to the medicine.

The pic above is of Casper when he came over to my house for our 2nd date in September. See how happy he is with the toy he found!! Look at that bright smile on his face!

Dogventures in Italy

Some of you know I went to Italy a couple weeks ago. (hee hee) I want to share with you my experience meeting Italian dogs and cats, and of course seeing the o-so-famous Pisa and Field of Miracles (well, the Field of Miracles was new to me).

This was a wowie zowie!! The cab driver let me off in an alleyway a block away from the Field of Miracles (which consisted of The Tower of Pisa, The Church, and the Baptistry), then I walked to the main street, and VOILA, there was the TOWER OF PISA standing before my very dog eyes!! It was an amazing site I tell ya! Here I am in front of the famous landmark:

This is also in the Field of Miracles (the Church is in front, and the Baptistry is in the back):

Here is the front of the Church. When I had my picture taken here, some guy made fun of me standing for a picture. Phooey on him I say!:

Here is my new Italian doggie friend I met at the Field of Miracles. The way this little guy ran and barked, he reminded me of Casper:

This next set of pics is in Vernazza, where I lay my head at night. Vernazza is heaven for dogs and honorary dogs (i.e Fu Fu). While humans would work during the day, doggies would run around during the daytime, making new friends all day and taking strolls. The doggies were very friendly. Not a bad dog in sight! Kitties were strays, but even I would say they were okay and friendly to me, the doggie tourist.

My dog house wuz right on this plaza, the best place for a view of the Mediterranean sea. Sorry the pics of me are so blurry. I wonder why that happened????!?!:

Okay. This is weird. Seems that SKWIRRELS are ALLOWED in Vernazza!!! Ivy, we must send all skwirrels to Vernazza!:

Here are friends I made. Yes, there were cats involved.

This pal of mine was waiting for his human to come back from his rowboat:

Here is a Cat in a Boat, not a Cat in a Hat:

This cat has an amazing view of Vernazza:

Cat waiting for its human to come home (this cat was the only cat that was not a stray):

The highlight of meeting new friends was meeting this Volpino Italiano dog. Turns out the Volpino Italian is a great ancestor of moi, so you could say American Eskimos and Volino Italianos are relatives and are basically the same. (Side note: Japanese Spitz dogs are also basically the same.) The human that was with the Volpino told me I was a Spanish dog. Now, why is it that so many strangers always try to tell me what my own ethnic background is???:

A whole adult litter of cats:

These pics were taken in Cornelia. The brave dog wuz sitting practically in the middle of the street. I kept yelling at him to come over to the side, but, no, he didn't listen to Hana!

Such a tiny car, just my size, but my dad still said he's not lettin' me drive:

OK, now tell your humans that this is a not so pretty picture. They might want to skip this pic. This is a pic of a glorified toilet hole. It's at a restaurant. Yuck! I just could not use this toilet and held "it" until I could find an appropriate toilet:

At the internet cafe in Vernazza, there are computer kitties keepin' warm:

In Monterosso, there was a statue of St. Francis and a wolf. Below the statue was a real live cat. Maybe that is some kind of significance:

In Vernazza, there was a cat apparently on a motorcycle tour of Italy:

Wonder if the Italian humans celebrate Howlaweenie? Well, here is the answer in the picture below. 99% of the human kiddies dressed up as witches. Apparently doggies have no fun on Howlaweenie. In this pic, do you see a purple frilly fur thing and a black hat on the ground? Looks like it wuz the bad witch from the Wizard of Oz when she melted. Must have been difficult to dress up as a melted witch:

This doggie must have belonged to Mr. Phantom of the Opera:

In Vernazza, when I was at a cafe, I noticed a poodle just strolling along. Well, there was a tour bus that came along, and the poodle got in line with the humans, and he actually boarded the bus!! I'm not even sure if he was bringing a human along on the bus ride. Oh, what a life doggies have there!

In Genoa, when humans are shopping, they leave their doggies at a play area where another human plays with them. Is that not the life??!!?!!:

And, lastly, here is a picture of some cruise ships in the Genoa harbor. I think these two cruise ships cater to dogs because the outside of the ship looks like so much fun and have animals on them:

Well, that's it for the slideshow. Hope you enjoyed it!!

Tribute to Laszlo

This is a tribute to Laszlo, a senior reskie (rescued eskie) I met on the Eskie Board back in February 2006. Laszlo was one of my favorite online eskies.

At about 12:30pm on Saturday October 28, 2006, our good eskie friend Laszlo crossed over to the Rainbow Bridge at the approximate age of 13 or 14. He had been rescued by his mommy Debbie about a year ago. They lived in Indiana with Laz's eskie sisters Lucy and Lola. I was out of town when Laz was PTS (put to sleep) and just learned of his passing now.

Laz's health had been declining. Most recently he had a lesion on his nose which was growing, and a fungal infection or an aggressive cancer started eating away at his nasal passageways. Given his age and continued declining health, his mommy did the humane thing and had him PTS rather than have him suffer any longer.

Laz was adored by everyone who knew him. His mommy took great care of him and gave him a good life in his senior years. His mommy gave him medicine to help him feel better, bought him baby socks to help him not go splat on the kitchen floor, purchased a doggie stroller so he could go outside on walks, and bought a doggie food and water stand so he wouldn't have to kneel lower on his weak legs. His mommy Debbie was his guardian angel. He was well loved and well taken care of by his mommy and his grandmommy. We will all cherish the memories of Laz.

Rest in peace little fella. We will miss you.

Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...

Pictures of Laz used with permission from Laz's Mommy Debbie.

A Case of the Sniffies and More

Someone posted this cute animated gif on the Eskie Board. Thought I'd share it with you all, and that you'd possibly share it with your human. It made me smile to see so many doggie pals sniffing away, doing what we do best!

And, here is a poem that was also posted on the Eskie Board. It brought a tear (many tears) to my mom's eyes.

The years go so very fast and before you know it that romping pup is old and gray muzzled and they have sat by our sides while we read, watch TV, and work on our computers. Every so often they come to lay their heads in our laps, toss our elbow with their muzzle or gaze into our eyes and wait for us to notice them.

Take a moment now to remember what they mean to you. I am your dog, and I have a little something I'd like to whisper in your ear. I know that you humans lead busy lives. Some have to work, some have children to raise. It always seems like you are running here and running there, often much too fast, often never noticing the truly grand things in life.

Look down at me now, while you sit there at your computer. See the way my dark brown eyes look at yours? They are slightly cloudy now. That comes with age. The gray hairs are beginning to ring my soft muzzle.

You smile at me; I see love in your eyes. What do you see in mine? Do you see a spirit? A soul inside, who loves you as no other could in the world?

A spirit that would forgive all trespasses of prior wrong doing for just a simple moment of your time? That is all I ask. To slow down, if even for a few minutes, to be with me.

So many times you have been saddened by the words you read on that screen, of others of my kind, passing. Sometimes we die young and oh so quickly, sometimes so suddenly it wrenches your heart out of your throat. Sometimes, we age so slowly before your eyes that you may not even seem to know until the very end, when we look at you with grizzled muzzles and cataract clouded eyes.

Still the love is always there, even when we must take that long sleep, to run free in a distant land. I may not be here tomorrow; I may not be here next week. Someday you will shed the water from your eyes, that humans have when deep grief fills their souls, and you will be angry at yourself that you did not have just "one more day" with me. Because I love you so, your sorrow touches my spirit and grieves me.

We have NOW, together. So come, sit down here next to me on the floor, and look deep into my eyes. What do you see? If you look hard and deep enough we will talk, you and I, heart to heart. Come to me not as "alpha" or as "trainer" or even "Mom and Dad," come to me as a living soul and stroke my fur and let us look deep into one another's eyes and talk. I may tell you something about the fun of chasing a tennis ball, or I may tell you something profound about myself, or even life in general.

You decided to have me in your life because you wanted a soul to share such things with. Someone very different from you, and here I am. I am a dog, but I am alive. I feel emotion, I feel physical senses, and I can revel in the differences of our spirits and souls.

I do not think of you as a "Dog on Two Feet"-- I know what you are and who you are. You are human, in all your quirkiness, and I love you still.

No, come sit with me, on the floor. Enter my world, and let time slow down if only for 15 minutes. Look deep into my eyes, and whisper into my ears.

Speak with your heart, with your joy, and I will know your true self. We may not have tomorrow, but we do have today, and life is oh so very short.

So please--come sit with me now and let us share these precious moments we have together.