The Very Inspiring Blogger Award!!!

Jock, Lucy and Dusty from Life with My Dogs, and our a great favorite of ours, Posie,  gave us the coolest award ever!!! :) They all gave us the "Very Inspiring Blogger Award"!!  Isn't that the most wonderful thing ever?  We want to say a big ole' Thank you! Thank you so much for thinking of us!  We are very blessed with our great furiends!!

Here are the rules we have to follow upon receiving this award:
1. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to them in your post. – Check out Life with My Dogs' blog and Life froo Posie Dorg's Eyez.  They are so much fun!!

2. Say 7 things about yourself. - Ok, that's below.
3. Pass it on to 15 bloggers you admire. - That's also below.

Seven things about myself?? Just like Jock, Lucy and Dusty's AND Posie's moms, we'll just do seven things about Milo, Dixie and Newby, because really, this blog is all about them!

1. Milo:  Mom kisses my front paws every single day cause she sees them turning all white furred and she wants me to know she loves me no matter if I am a puppy or senior.
2. Dixie:  It took me over a year and a half to even sit with mom cause of what happened before I got rescued.  I'm not very fond of females, but have figured out that my mom is pretty cool.
3. Newby:  I can bark, sit and lie down... so it's true that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!!
4. Milo:  I don't like sweet things.  I will beg like crazy for a bit of cheese but won't even come near you if you have cake or cookies.
5. Dixie: I'm pretty sneaky.  If the boys are getting into my stuff or in a prime sitting location I will bark, sending them to the door to see what is up, so I can take whatever they want.
6. Newby:  I don't like people singing high tones.. If mom starts singing the real high stuff I start singing with her!  (at least that is what she thinks... I hate to tell her that I just don't like her singing!)
7. Milo, Dixie and Newby: We love all of our furiends and furiends' families.  :)  You all are the best!  We are very thankful to Frankie and Ernie for introducing us to you all!!

 Here are the 15 bloggers I admire:

Puddles, Whitney and Albert at We 3 Doxies

All our Boxer family at The Legacy Chronicles (go see the new puppy pictures!!)
Mayor Frankie and Young Master Ernie at Frankly and Ernestly Speaking 
Brian (one of our very newest furiends... we loves him bunches) at Brian's Home

Stella and Rory from Down Under... Yup, from THAT Down Under. :)  
Lorenza at El Diario de Lorenza
Pretty Mayzie who could use a bit of prayer as she and her family lives out in the west where all the wild fires are located :)
Some of the nicest dachshunds and peeps around, at Dachsies with Moxie

Shasha (who just recently did a post about the Pedigree DogsRule program... go check it out and post like us!!)
Corbin who is changing the world's opinion of Pitbulls! 

Higgins (he is a super funny dog, even though he is still on a bit of jail time out)

Nora B. Webster (We love Nora B.  Her and hers family is so cool)

Milly and Shelby over at Life as the MilShelb

Misaki at themisadventuresofmisaki
and cause everyone needs a little Schnauzer in their Day, Oskar at the Daily Oskar

Look What Happens When the Temperatures Drop

Went from 101 to 83 degrees F and a tree split during the high winds that came with the weather front. (No rain though... so keep high hoofing that rain dance for me!)

Write A Post, Help A Dog!!

Hey, did you know that in the past two years, through the "Write a Post, Help a Dog" Initiative" at BlogPaws, Pedigree and bloggers across the country (including yours truly) have united to generate nearly 650 blog posts to raise awareness of the importance of adoption and the need to feed shelter dogs? And those blog posts don't just sit there looking pretty-last year alone, they collectively triggered Pedigree's donation of 2,980 pounds of their new dry dog food to shelters affected by Hurricane Irene!

The good news is that the team of bloggers generously sponsored by Pedigree, is at it again this year at the BlogPaws Pet Blogging Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. From now until midnight on June 30, for every blog post written that mentions the "Write a Post, Help a Dog" campaign and Pedigree's commitment to adoption and finding shelter dogs loving homes, Pedigree will donate one 17 pound bag of their dry dog food to shelters in need, up to a grand total of 450 bags! So that's our goal this year, folks: we're asking your help get 450 blog posts up there so Pedigree can donate a whopping...7,650 pounds of food to shelter dogs! That's a lot of hungry tummies (with wagging tails) that will be full thanks to you and Pedigree!

If you're wondering about what to say in the post, check out the flip side of Pedigree's postcard for this campaign below, or feel free to copy and paste this post!  Or you can get some inspiration from the Pedigree Adoption website. It’s up to you! Just write a post and a shelter dog wins. Food will be donated to RescueBank, an organization that helps provide food for qualifying shelters and rescue groups.

And don't forget to spread the word about this great campaign to your friends and family. Here is a super cool badge to add to your blog which will help promote this worthy campaign.

Oy Vey!

It has been a week and a half... (insert heartfelt sigh here)  I would tell you all about it, but honestly I'm pretty worn out and really do not have the energy, physical or emotional, to go into all of it.

Let's just assume my week is like my (sorta) brand new mailbox which met with who knows what last night and now looks like this.... Just a little broken, not quite as lovely as it had been, but still useable. :)  (Although if someone was playing baseball with my mailbox, they are probably in the hospital now cause that is set in concrete not just dirt, jerks!!) 


But the week had it's high points.  I would get all instagrammy, photogrid on it, but I'm gonna use the same excuse in my first paragraph... I'm exhausted.

Here are a few highlights this week. 

Yup, they were awfully cute, always ready for a snuggle and even appreciative of the absent-minded belly rub instead of the full monty, scritchy-scratchy puppy massage they usually get when we arrive home from any excursion which doesn't include them. (They haven't even made me feel (too) guilty they didn't get to go on their weekend ride. I'm thinking this weekend they should have two to make up for last weekend, but with temperatures expected in the 100's here in Kentucky, I'm thinking they might appreciate some extra belly rubs in the a/c)  As always, my pups are definitely the highlight of every. single. week. :)

Them and J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood books... Seriously, when you are sitting with nothing to do and need some fluff to keep you from pulling all the threads out of the poorly constructed hospital waiting room chairs, these books ROCK.  Pure fluffy, paranormal romance books with (extra) lovely alpha males. ;) Can't beat that combination!

Resting Up.

Thank you for the well wishes and prayers.  My friend is stable, but there are lots of decisions which need to be made by her family regarding her future healthcare plan... and none of the answers will be easy.  Continue to think of them.

I am feeling I need an afternoon like Newby.  You know, deep horizontal meditation.  No, not a nap... never a nap for a grown woman!! But some time spent in a horizontal position, trying to find the perfect position to room ambient temperature to fluffy pillow for maximizing thought process to basic REM.

Yeah.  Horizontal meditation.  As my three dogs have it down pat, I think I should work on it! :)

I will be back to commenting tomorrow, if this afternoon and evening go well.

Thanks again... you all rock!
Shelle

Little Blogging Break...

We have some 'stuffs' going on at our house which means I'm gonna need to be gone for a few days.  Nothing physically has happened with my little family, but a family we love had a death.. Another family we love is going through a health scare which has a daughter fighting for her life at UK Hospital and to have an emergency TIP shunt installed in her liver, if they can get her stabilized... I'm a bit flustered trying to keep all my irons hot and keep my family (four and two legged alike) fed and happy.  Please say a prayer for these families....

Be back Monday....

Oh, btw... Newby loves squeaky toys... especially at midnight and 2 am. 

Happy 7th Birhday, Milo!!

Today is an extra special day in the life of my family!  It is Diva Dog Milo's birthday! :)  Here are a few shots from over the years to show you how much he means to us!

 

We Love you!

 

Marinades (Which Has Nothing to Do with Dachshunds)

From April until October we grill like no body's business.  I would much rather heat up the outside than the inside of my house!!  Throwing meat on a grill isn't how you do it.  Marinating meat for a day or so, then throwing them on the grill is how I do it.

I have found three marinades I adore... I know you came expecting a cute picture of Milo, Dixie or Newby, chewing or looking adorable while resting, but regrettably this is what you are getting today!  I would like to be able to find these three marinades, at any time, without resorting to half scrawled, illegible sheets of paper stuck to my fridge.  So bear with me... Dachshund posts will resume later.

Combine the marinade, throw in a gallon size Zip-lock baggy, add meat and marinate as long as you'd like.  The long the meat is in the marinade, the richer the flavor becomes. 

Beef Marinade:

    1/3 cup soy sauce

    1/2 cup olive oil

    1/3 cup lemon juice {freshly squeezed}

    1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

    1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder

    3 tablespoons dried basil

    1 1/2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes

    1 teaspoon ground white pepper

Chicken Marinade:

    1/2 cup Olive Oil

    1/3 cup Soy Sauce

    a few swirls of Honey (I used raw honey)

    1 1/2 tsp Cumin

    1 tsp Oregano

    1/2 Lemon {freshly squeezed}

    1/2 tsp Kosher Salt

    Pepper {to taste}

    2 cloves Garlic {pressed}

Pork Marinade:

    1 1/2 cups olive oil

    3/4 cup soy sauce

    1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

    1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

    3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

    1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

    1/2 cup red wine vinegar

    1 -2 tablespoon fresh minced garlic

    1/3 cup teriyaki sauce

    1/2 cup honey (I used raw honey)

Rip Van Newby presented by Benadryl

Dixie is doing her best to take care of a little dog with a big rash...

And Back to the Vet We Go...

Thank you for your kind wishes for Mom.  It's so dry here now that its turned into a dust factory.  She just had a good case of the "when I mow dust gets kicked up and makes my nose go running and eyes go swellin' and throat go hurtin" disease.  I'm sure you all know what she is talking about.  She will have this off and on all summer long (even with a respiratory thingy on her face while mowing.)

But she is better now... or, at least not carrying around a box of kleenex all day long and moaning about her head hurting.  That is a HUGE improvement.  Cause no matter how many treats we offered to eat yesterday, she just wasn't feeling better.  Hoomans >_<

BUT... Now Mr. Newby has had to visit the vet.  Well, not really visit, but at least email them and say "OH BTW we were wonderin'"...

You see, Mr. Newby is a nervous pup.  The melatonin isn't working on mellowin' him out... and he has taken up gnawin' on his back legs like a toddler with a pacifier.  At least that is what mom thinks.

The vet is hoping it is just an allergy.  So we are taking 1/2 of a 25mg Benedryl twice a day.  So with his 6mg of Melatonin twice a day he is officially "Rip Van Winkle" dachshund.

This picture from a week ago?  Well that is to remind us what he looks like not asleep on the bed.

In other news, Mr Newby has got us trained right.  When he makes us say "Newby Bark" and he barks once... or when he makes us say "Newby Sit" and he sits, he has us trained to give him a treat.  Pretty good for a couple weeks, eh??

So we are putting on our nurse outfits (again) and helping Newby.  A dachshunds work is never done.

Milo and Dixie

The Sick House

Mom has caught a bug.  We aren't surprised as we live in the country and there are bugs everywhere.  But whatever bug she has is making her nose and throat feel awful.  So, being the kind hearted dogs you know dachshunds can be, we are letting her lie down today and rest up.  In fact, we are gonna lie down with her and help her rest all day long.

Our other puppy, the two-legged one, is heading to King's Island, an amusement park about an hour away, so we are the only nursing staff available to her.  We think her needs treats. Lots of treats... all... day.... long....

We will try and post later... perhaps we can take that flashy beast from her and post some pictures of her not feeling well. <();====;~

Weekend in Review

Our mom made it sound like all we did was work over the weekend.. Ok, there was a whole lot of farm dog stuff to do... like watering, hoeing, harvesting, replanting, cutting grass (rolling in the grass... now that should be the next Adele song... We could have had it alllllllllll..... Rollin' in the grassssssssss.... You took my chewy bone and my heart... and you played it you played it you played it you played it with a leash....).

I digress.  We had some fun, too.  After all that watering, God decided to help us out with some rain! (Go God!!)  So while we watched it rain we had some snackies and played Uno.  :D

We also watched some TV... Or we watched the back of Newby's head while trying to watch TV.

Cracker Barrel Saturday morning... If you've never been to one, you need to come to my house, spend the night and go to Cracker Barrel with us... OMD... Seriously the best stuff ever.  If you put those pancakes on top your head, your tongue would beat you senseless trying to get to them... just sayin'.

And we might have relaxed a little and read a book... :D  So when mom complains about being busy... this is what she is meaning! :D

Happy Father's Day!!

To all the dads out there, Milo, Dixie and Newby wish you the best Father's Day ever!!  Mom says thank you to the dads of Milo, Dixie and Newby for giving her 3 of the best doxies ever... oh, and she likes our human brother a lot, too!! :)

We will be back to posting and commenting on Monday.  Mom has been busy doing 'farm stuff' all weekend long.  The heat is killing the plants so we've been doing some major watering.  And she had to go on the great 'shoe hunt' for our human brother... he wears between a size 14-15, so finding shoes (or socks for that matter) locally is a PITA.  But he is now shod and the garden is watered, so she is going to try setting her house to rights before the work week starts again!!

Blogville Olympics Are Coming!!!

I know me and my gang are practicing and eating lots of protein to get ready for the Blogville Summer Olympics. :)  For more information check out the community calendar and Frankie's and Ernie's Blog. 

In case you've not heard, here are the events. 

Fri. July 27th.    OPENING Entertainment Extravaganza,  Parade of Athletes, and  Short..Speech

Sat. July 28th.   Window Nose Art / Snot Smears

                            Swimming

Sun. July 29th   Crazy Sleeping SINGLES

                            Synchronized Sleepers

                            Bouncing......   Narrative Style

Mon. July 30th Cross Neighborhood Walkabout

                            Catch me IF you Can

                            BEACH Ball

Tues. July 31st  Gymnastics

                            Couch Potato  Peeling

Wed. Aug. 1st   Tongue Curling / aka  the Raspberry

                            Critter Stalking

                            DISCUS/frisbee

Thur. Aug. 2nd  Stick (s)

                            Pole Jumping

Fri. Aug. 3rd.     Marathon Chewing

                            Digging

Sat. Aug. 4th.    Tuneful Farting

                            Keep Away

Sun. Aug. 5th    Equestrian

                            Camera Avoidance Tai Kwon Do

Mon. Aug. 6th  Synchronized Peeing

                            DE-Stuffing

Tues. Aug. 7th. Free Style Zoomies

                            Roaching and Rolling

Wed. Aug. 8th. Squirrel Hurdles

                            DRAW your Peeple

                            Snack Sack Race

Thurs. Aug.9th. Boxing

                            EXTREME Weather Sports

Fri. Aug. 10th.   Turbo Track

                            Snoopendous SniffAthon

Sat. Aug. 11th.  The Great Tennis Ball Tournament

                            Bathtub Wrestling

Sun. Aug. 12th. Closing Ceremony

Sunshine Award

We gots an AWARD!!!  Misses Lily Belle and Muffin sent us the Sunshine Award!!  We are beyond honored.. I mean of all the people in blogville we gots picked!!!  Does that mean she thinks we are sunshiney? I mean… we don’t really glow, but we are hot!  But we are honored, nonetheless.   In fact, Newby went cracker dog crazy then passed out from the honor... or from the ginormous foofy Milo let out while watching Newby dancing around the office. 

The award comes with Rules that I must follow:

    - Answer the 7 questions

    - Pass the award on to 10 furends

    - Let them know they received the award (I know that we're all busy these days getting ready for the Blogville Olympics so if I give you this award and you don't have time right now to accept it, we'll all understand.)

Here are the Q&A all Blogville wants to know:

1. Favorite number?:  #32 or #5 (which the digits of 32 add up to be).  Long story short, I like(d) Kevin McHale from the Celtics… That was his jersey, so it became our favorite number.  But we you have to pick a number 1-10, 32 can’t be picked, so we go with 5.  J

2. Favorite non-alcoholic beverage?:  Why waste your time on non-alcoholic beverages???  Sigh… Well, I guess water bottles place in the freezer until they are slushy consistency. 

3. Facebook or Twitter?:  I like them both, but I use Hootsuite so it takes care of posting to both mediums. 

4. Your Passion?:  Uh… uhm… Bradley Cooper?  I mean, I dreams of him sitting in that chair, hooked up to iv’s, in A-Team.. you know… shirtless…  is that a passion?  I know it makes my mom have to shower a lot after watching the video!

5. Favorite Pattern?:  Houndstooth, is there any other pattern that comes close???

6. Favorite Day of the Week?:  Uh… Wednesdays are my ‘day off’ so that means the whole gang gets to snuggle… you know when mom isn’t doing laundry, cleaning, cooking, shopping, putting food away, doing errands… actually Wednesdays suck, so let’s go with any day that the whole pack is home and can snuggle.

7. Favorite Flower?: Mom’s weird.  Never buy her roses, flower arrangements or something like that… she’d rather have something from newegg.com or tigerdirect.com.  If she had to pick a flower that is her favorite to look at and enjoy she’d pick the following two, the poppy and the daisy. 

My 10 Furends... You all are tagged like a bad chain letter!!!:

Puddles, Whitney and Albert at We 3 Doxies

Mayor Frankie and Young Master Ernie at Frankly and Ernestly Speaking

Lorenda at El Diario de Lorenza (who with Puddles, Frankie and Ernie were my first 3 friends... and they have been the very best of friends EVER!!  When no one noticed our little blog, they were the ones who always came by with a nice sentence or two... making us laugh or just smile... they were the first beams of sunshine... and they helped us find the rest of you beams...)

Groucho the Wonder Westie (who is so very nice even if his name sounds like grouchy-o)

Shasha (we loves her furs... we want to snuggle with her)

Higgins (who needs a little loves right now as he is in crate jail for a while)

Molly the Wally (has the greatest sense of humor, you'll bark out loud!!) 

Nora B. Webster (-sigh- what a loverly lady, those eyes!!!! -sigh-.. and so smart!)

Milly and Shelby (who has the coolest full names ever, check their full names out on their blog) over at Life as the MilShelb

Misaki (a new friend we met through Pet Bloggers United) over at themisadventuresofmisaki

Newby Update...

1. He can cover himself up when he lies down.  He roots his nose under his covers and flips them up until he can tuck himself in. It's adorable, but oftentimes I have no clue where he is cause he  is so very well tucked.
2. He didn't bark for 3 days, and now that he has it is surprisingly all rough and crackly.  I don't think he was allowed to bark before us, or just 'didn't' bark... I think is false, because dogs bark... and dachshund dogs bark the paint off the walls.
3. He is terrified of porches.  Apparently he was left on the porch hour after hour, so when we are going in and out to potty he won't stay on the porch, choosing to dart as fast as he can into the house.  I've taken to leaving the back door (which goes into the kitchen from the porch) open so he can do just that... You're Welcome Kentucky Utilities... I will be adding $87 to that budget payment starting this month. >_<
4. You can teach an old dog new tricks, provided you have a big a$$ bag of treats. One week after his arrival, Newby can bark on command.  Next up on our "Training the Elderly Tour" we plan to work on lying down.
5. He loves me.  I mean LOVEEESSSSS me.  He follows me around, snuggles in, has totally bonded with me.  I'm his security blanket, his sunshine, his everything.  And he makes me sweat while he is showing his snuggly, buggly-boo, love to my limbs each time we sit down.
6. He hates singing. Ok, he doesn't hate all singing, but that stupid Maroon 5 "Payphone" song Puddles has made my brain not wanna give up, he hates.  I can sing Pink Floyd, Zac Brown Band, Madonna, Soundgarden, etc, and not a peep.. Start singing "Payphone" and he goes nuts with this whining, barking and snapping.  Thank you N00Bs, I'm pretty sure you are the most awesomezingnessful dog ever to hate that song, too.
7. Speaking of Puddly-Duddly-Doo, I'm pretty sure he has a crush on her.  
8. He has learn, like we all have learned, to defer to King Milo as the alpha... and he and Dixie are fighting it out through growls and hair up on the back, who is #2 to Milo's Jean-Luc Picard.  (Star Trek NG reference makes this post all kinds of awesomesauce, just sayin'!!) Lunch and Dinner are hilarious.  They let Milo eat, then go to their bowls, growling and showing eye whites through the whole thing.  No matter how far apart their bowls are, they fuss at each the whole time they are eating.  I'm not a behaviorist, but I'm pretty sure it will work it's way out without bloodshed.
9. He loves the water.  Milo and Dixie have both found 'stank' to roll in this week necessitating a bath and both times Newby begged to get into the water with them.  That, to me, is odd.  But, oh, well!! Clean dog = happy mommy.
10. His little (shhhhhhh) tinkly problem isn't as bad as they made it out to be.  Seriously, Dixie tinkles more than he does.... (she tinkles every time we come home... luckily one person has let her out of the house and she is outside meeting Reed or me at the door when it happens...)  He doesn't like to be startled or have rough/mean tone taken... as long as you aren't dropping dishes or telling him he is the evil dachshund son of a Cerebus, well all is well.  And, with a face as sweet as that?? Who could ever talk mean to him! 

My House, Right Now...

Wordless Wednesday (Bone Chewing Action Shots)

Familiar Sight....

Anytime there is any food being consumed by anyone this is what they have to deal with... the begging, pleading, bright eyes of dachshunds.  They do not beg, much, unless we are eating in another place besides the kitchen or patio table.  Chocolate eclair in bed while watching Top Gear proved to be too much for three little sausagey bodies to stand.... so cue the pleading eyes!!!

Just one bite, please!!

Rest

I believe they should amend the 'let sleeping dogs lies' statement to include me.... "Let Sleeping Dogs and Crabby Women Lie" would be a better statement on a Monday morning.

Milo (filling in for Mom cause she is grouchy, Dixie, too, cause Newby didn't let them sleep last night... he took most of her kingsize bed and all the covers!)

Week(end) in Review

Well, we rescued a new puppy, Newby... went to Cincinnati for the Red Hot Chili Pepper's Concert (fantastic!)... ate at one of our new favorite places, Izzy's (gastric orgasm)... harvested some veggies from the garden... worked very little and slept a whole lot!

Whew!  It was a FANTASTIC week.  Looking forward to seeing what is gonna happen this week!!!

Shelle

Fitting In.

Finally... and I do mean FINALLY... Dixie has accepted Newby. -sigh- And he accepted her accepting him all while watching Top Gear with me and Milo! ;)

Saturday Sleep-In

We all talked about it last night and decided we were gonna sleep in a little bit today...  Yes, we gotta a massive list of things to do this weekend, too, but it never hurts to be well rested.

BOL  Newby took us true to our word!!!  He thought "Sleep In" meant to find something to sleep IN... so he did... the laundry basket. =D

~Milo (stepping in for Shelle, Dixie and Newby who are sleeping IN on this lovely Saturday)

Newby's Vet Visit

 Today we traveled back to Village Animal Hospital for a follow-up visit.  Just to do an x-ray insuring no stones in his bladder or kidneys. 

We also got some great advise from the behaviorist/trainer regarding a couple little issues.

With regard to his (shhhhh) pee-pee problem, she says that he is reverting back to puppydom... very young puppy stage.  He is showing his submissive soft part of the belly and trying to explain he is no threat.  She suggests we clear up the mess when he is not around and say nothing.... no response at all... because he might start looking for a response.  *He has only had 2 incidents... one when an 18 wheeler went by and geared down... making that loud exhaust sound.... the other was this morning when we were trying to get him ready to go and the other two to stay here.  It was a bit confusing and scary.

With regard to his flight reaction (you all don't know about what happened... but it was scary and I'm now down 27 years and 87 days where he scared the life out of me.)  She suggests a long lead for 3 weeks coupled with 6mg Melatonin twice daily.  Then give it a couple weeks to see if his anxiety level decreases.

So, we have some training to work on... basic commands, sit, stay, come... and with his stress level its gonna be difficult until he calms down. And, we cannot have him getting scared and running away from us again. Gonna be a long road to train him and comfort him... so I appreciate all your encouragement. 

But, I have to admit,  he looked pretty calm in the car! :D