Festivus!

Deep thoughts, by Beckett

This bed is pretty comfy.


I wonder where that mom will sleep.


Oh well, it's not my problem. Zzzzzzzzz

What the...?

Nice tricks!

This guy knows almost as many tricks as I do!

Posing on Boulders

That mom and I are big fans of the Thundering Herd, and were very impressed with several recent photos of members of the Herd on boulders.

Although I do not live in the mountains like the Herd, I would like to point out that I am also very photogenic on top of boulders:



It's practically a scene out of a Jack London story, isn't it?

Wordless Wednesday: Puzzler Answer

Puppy Camp and a Puzzler

This weekend I went to Puppy Camp to get some flirting in. That MOM needed to do some deep cleaning of the house (something that was in no way related to a certain Apoopcalypse of last week), which she said would be easier without my help. Anyway, I had a great time flirting with all my pretty vet techs and they told that MOM that I was their best boarder. (As if that was ever a question!)

Now for the puzzler:

When I left, the front of my house looked sort of like this (but with dead roses in front - that MOM has a black thumb):


When I came home, the front my house looked like this:


That MOM is really excited about some project she did to the house, but I'm having a hard time seeing a difference. Do you see the change?

Excuses

That MOM claims she's been busy working, but I came across this video today and I think the truth is much more shocking. She's been WORKING OUT!

USA dedicates new recreation center

That UNIVERSITY got a new REC CENTER and that mom has been SWIMMING. Can you believe that they do not let ME, Joshua Patrick Beckett Wilson La Brador, swim in either of the two pools!??!?!?!?

SHOCKING!

Wordless (it's) Wednesday (somewhere)

Happy LABradOR Day!

We've got mail!

Today, when that MOM came home for lunch, she checked the mail and there was a package in it from our friends Lorenza and her mom.

There was a furry nice card and a furry pretty box.


omdog - It's a beautiful necklace for that mom! Thanks, Lorenza! Thanks, Lorenza's mom!


Then that MOM had to go and RUIN EVERYTHING.

New blogging machine!

This is a test of our new blogging machine. This is only a test. I repeat, this is only a test!

While this test is conducted, I suggest you do what I do, namely, take a nap.

Never mind the picture quality. That MOM’s iPhone camera has a broken lens. No, I have NO IDEA how that happened. Why do you ask?

BIG NAP ATTACK

That MOM got me a new ball that is MAGIC. If you shake it and roll it around, sometimes treats fall out. My favorite place to play with my ball is in that Mom's bedroom. But the ball sometimes gets stuck under the big bed and that C-A-T will not roll it back out to me. I try to get it back but usually it's just too far under for me to reach. So what's a dog to do in this situation?


Take a NAP, of course!

The first time I did this when that MOM came into the bedroom she thought that I was having one of my seize hers and boy did she freak out. LOLOLOLOLOL!

Help Indy!

Hi pups and peeps!

That MOM says it is very important to be GOOD, not just for pups but for peeps too.
I am, of course, an expert at this GOOD thing, so when my buddy Sherman passed along this story about Indy, who was hit by a car and is recovering from surgery to fix a broken femur and fractured skull, I knew I had to share it. That MOM says that surgery is not cheap. I had to share it and even paw some of that MOM's green papers along to help out, along with the Power of the Paw!

If you'd like to help, here's a handy dandy widget that will let you make a donation:


And even if you can't get your paws on any green papers, you can help by passing this along! Paw it forward!

In-dy! In-dy! In-dy!

This picture needs a caption.

GRANDPA DAY!

Hi pups! WASSSUUPPP? Down here in Babablama it is HOT and HUMID and that OIL is still gushing in the Gulf of Mexico. So that MOM has been getting up early in the morning (even before I wake her up) to wake me up so we can go for walkies when it is cool (for relative values of cool).

Now you know I have that MOM but I have not yet adopterated a DAD. But do not be SAD because I do have a GRANDPA and that MOM told me he will even be coming to visit us in the FALL. That will be super fun because he is a soft touch and will sneak me all sorts of treats from the table even though that is against the RULES.

And that totally makes up for what that MOM and GRANDPA did last time he visited, which was make MY tunnel:


look like this:


using only 440lbs of Quikrete!

Here is my favoritest picture of that MOM and GRANDPA, which was taken like a million years ago:


HAPPY DAD/GRANDPA DAY!

Wordless Wednesday

My BEACH: Then and now

Dauphin Island is my beach. I peed on it in several places so it belongs to ME.









This is MY beach today:

Happy trails

Better than ever!

Hi pups!

I am back and better than ever. Thank dog I don't have to be on house arrest any more. It was sooooo boring and when I am Labrabored things have a tendency to get chewed up. Now I can once again run around the yard doing zoomies. That MOM and I have been playing a lot of fetch. I am much better at it than she is - her mouth is too small to get around the ball. LOL.

Even better than that, we're back to taking walks. The first time we went out that MOM said I had totally lost my leash manners but they are coming back with my long walks. Yesterday I didn't even try to jump up on the human pup who wanted to pet me. I love human pups, even if the one who lives next door calls me Bucket instead of Beckett.

FREE! FREE AT LAST!

One week to go!

That MOM says she took out her camera yesterday to take a picture of that CAT and I snorgling but that when we saw her approaching we immediately started IGNORING each other. This is a scandalous tall tale! Nothing of the sort was taking place just moments before that picture and even if it was that cat started it.

I have only ONE WEEK of house arrest left, but that MOM keeps talking giddily about some conference she has to go to next week so I am going to puppy camp while she is out of town and she keeps doing this insane laugh and saying I will be driving someone else crazy with my boredom and then she laughs again. Oh and also she says she will be able to sleep through the night for the first time in SEVEN weeks while she is away. The woman is certifiable. But I sure am looking forward to being able to zoooooooooom again. Maybe that will make me tired enough to not have to get up to go outside to pee three times every night.

Maybe.

Wordless Wednesday

We interrupt house arrest to say:

GO RED SOX!

When the going gets tough, the sprinters get out.

Well, furrends, Mom and I have made it halfway through this whole heartworm house arrest thing. Yesterday I got to go to that V-E-T and flirt with all the vet techs and have some GUY TIME with Dr. G and I didn't even mind so much that they stuck me that big needle again.

When that mom picked me up today I was very excited to see her and my being excited made everyone freak out and tell me to calm down and when I got home I wanted to run and that made my mom leak for a few minutes.

But while Mom was at work in the afternoon I decided that maybe I should be a good boy and not be so rambunctious, and so I have been very good this evening even though that mom seems to once again be doing that thing with cutting up fabric and then sewing it back together, which is just plain silly.

So, four more weeks of house arrest. And halfway through that there will be baseball again!

House arrest, day elebenty-billion

HI evfurrybuddy,

I am STILL on house arrest and that MOM says we are 3/8 of the way through. I am so bored. Over the last week or 10 days or so I've started feeling great - no weird seizure zone-outs, no soreness from the shot... but that MOM says I still can't do zoomies or be crazy. WFT?!?!?!?!?!

Next week I get my next shots and then it's one more month of this house arrest stuff and then I will finally be able to zooooooooom!

Guys, it is SO BORING here. That mom is doing the best she can to keep me entertained but I am a bouncy fellow and I like to be exuberant and she says that is not good right now. So she's been keeping me from roaming around the house even when she's home by shutting the door to whatever room we're in. On the bright side this means that C-A-T doesn't get any of the big bed most nights, but jeez... it's stifling always being with Mom.

Mom is clearly going a little nuts with this too. She has been cutting up pieces of fabric and then immediately sewing them back together. WFT?!?!?!? I had to have a talk with her to convince her to stop this foolish behavior.


I think it worked. She hasn't cut up any more fabric. Maybe I should be a psychologist?!?

Wordless Wednesday: Revenge of that MOM Edition

House arrest, day 10

OMDOG I AM SO BORED!

That MOM says I am doing GREAT at staying calm but that is because she won't let me have any FUN. Anyway, that MOM says she is relieved to be through the first 10 days of this and that she thinks we will both make it through with her sanity remaining somewhat intact. OMDOG like her sanity was ever there! LOL!

House arrest, day 3

Hi pups,

I'm on house arrest and it STINKS. See, even though MOM has given me heartworm preventative every month since I adopterated her, I managed to test positive for adult worms. So Thursday I had to go to the V-E-T and get a SHOT and now I have to be calm for a month when they will give me another shot and then I will have to be calm again for another month.

Also, since that scary seize-her incident a few weeks back I have been taking anti-seize-her medicines. They make me really thirsty so I have to go outside to pee about every 5 minutes. So now instead of getting some PRIVACY while I do that, MOM puts me on a leash and takes me out into MY yard and hovers over me.

I also had another seize-her at the V-E-T so everything is still very stressful and mysterious for my mom but she is hanging in there. Don't worry, I'll take good care of her.

Beckett

Wordless Wednesday

Hey Mister, Throw Me Something!

Joe Cain parade draws big Mardi Gras crowd

Burpday/Wallentine's/Joe Cain Day

Today is that Mom's burpday! She says if she were a hobbit she would be coming of age today, but fortunately since she's just a regular hoomin she doesn't have too. (She does have more than a passing resemblance to that PIPPIN from Lord of the Rings, so maybe she's PART hobbit?!? Pass the ent water, please.)

Today is also Valentine's Day, but from now on it will be Wallentine's Day for us.

I have MANY sweethearts - that MOM, of course, and my main squeeze, MONICA, and all my vet techs, and my newest love, AUNTIE ALISON, who came to Babablama all the way from Bawlmer, Merryland (with all the snows!)

This is MOM and ALISON back when they were in grad school together:


Two tough librarians LOLOLOLOL!

Today is also Joe Cain Day here in Mobile, which is part of Mardi Paws. Woohoo! HEY MISTER THROW ME SOMETHING!

(Khyra asked if she would get beads for showing her pantyloons. Here in Mobile, Mardi Paws is more family-friendly than in New Orleans, so the best way to get lots of throws is to be a cute human pup - although I bet being a cute pup would work too.)

LAISSEZ LES BON TEMPS ROULEZ!

Semi-wordless Wednesday: Doppelganger Edition

see more dog and puppy pictures

Laissez les bon temps roulez! Geaux Saints!

I have been looking at the snOHMYDOG! pictures of my mid-Atlantic furrends. My dog cousins Phoebe and Carrie in the mythical land of New Jersey are enjoying their fluffy white stuff, and I admit I am a little jealous.

But down here in the land of Mobile, Babablama, Mardi Paws is in full swing. (Technically, it's Carnival season, but around here the whole season, not just Fat Tuesday, is referred to as Mardi Paws.) Many of you probably associate Mardi Paws with New Orleans, but in fact Mobile has been celebrating Mardi Paws since 1703. If you are interested in learning more about Mardi Paws in Mobile, there is an interesting documentary called The Order of Myths.

During this time of year there are lots of parades and balls. (Mom says that the balls are actually big parties, not balls that you can chase.) The day of Mardi Paws itself, lots of people (even my mom) have the day off work. Mom, who is not from here, has always called that day Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day, and has celebrated by going to eat pancakes at church, but since she moved here she has had to make her own pancakes at home before going downtown to the parades.

This year is extra special because those New Orleans SAINTS are in the SUPER BOWL during MARDI PAWS! The Saints are the closest NFL team to Mobile, and there are a lot of people from New Orleans who now live in Mobile (especially after Katrina), so all around town you can see the fleur de lis and signs that say GEAUX SAINTS or WHO DAT? Woohoo GEAUX SAINTS!

So we don't have any fluffy white stuff that falls from the skies, but you do have to watch out for falling "throws" - beads, cups, coins, stuffed animals, candy, and Moon Pies!

Reconsidering

Hi guys!

I thought that PLAN of mine was quite brilliant but a bunch of you disagree. I started to question it when not one but nine Sibes AND Dennis the Vizsla voiced their concerns. I don't want to upset my mom any more so I am going to try not to have any more weird seize-her episodes.

I met mom at the door when she came home to let her know. She was a bit surprised because when she left I was in my crate... and even more surprised when she looked at the crate and saw it was still latched! A magician never tells his secrets!

My PLAN!

You guys all know that I love to go to the V-E-T. There are so many pretty vet techs to flirt with, a lot of interesting smells, and lots of attention for ME. Well, I was looking in the phone book the other day and realized just how many V-E-Ts there are in this town - and I had been to hardly ANY of them.

Sure, I go see my buddies at my regular vet at least twice a year, plus a few more times for boarding. And I did have that big adventure to the animal ER back in July. Oh, and I got to visit my V-E-T's father, who is also a V-E-T, that Saturday a few months back when I ate a whole bottle of fish oil capsules. But still! Imagine how many vet techs I have not yet flirted with!

Clearly, I needed to come up with a plan. So last Thursday evening, while Mom was vacuuming, I decided to go into convulsions. It worked! Mom scooped me up and took me to the car and went zooming out of our subdivision and across the street to another V-E-T, who is open until midnight. And they gave me lots of attention and some neurological tests and x-rays and stole some of my blood. They said that it didn't seem like I'd gotten into something toxic (my bloods were pretty much normal) and I wasn't showing any signs of having inflammation around my brain, but to be safe they treated me for both, keeping me overnight to give me fluids before sending me home with some steroids.

OMDOG it was such an adventure and I had so much fun but my Mom was maybe not having so much fun?!? And she has been talking on the phone lots with both V-E-Ts and they have been saying stuff about maybe a seize-her disorder?!? I don't know what that is about but I do know that MOM has said I am not ALLOWED to have any more emergencies and that she is onto my PLAN and I am going to have to get a J-O-B to start paying these BILLS. Sheesh, she is just no FUN!

Diplomacy revisited

Remember how my cat sister Mehitabel and I reached an agreement regarding the big bed? It was a good agreement, but we weren't quite satisfied. Mehitabel wanted more space in the bed. And guess what! So did I! Since our initial efforts at diplomacy were so successful we went back to the negotiating table. So we pawed out a NEW plan for the big bed.



Mom has been spending a lot of time in that big bed lately because she had some kid knee infection (she seemed to be walking okay to me and she's not really a kid, so WFT?!?) and then the medicine her V-E-T gave her made her feel even worse. So it's a really good thing the C-A-T and I had this new bed treaty in place so that we wouldn't be bickering while she was resting. Because of our hard work resting with her, she's well along the road to recovery now.

Tomorrow!

Hey guys!

Do you know what tomorrow is? It's my gotcha day! Two years ago I adopterated my mom - she was a rescue.

Mom let me have one of my presents early - a knuckle bone!


Knuckle bones make me go crazy!

Games for rainy days

Hi evfurrybody!

It was a rainy day today. I don't like the rain. But I have a good game I like to play on rainy days.

First, I go stand by the back door and ask to be let out. When Mom opens the door, I look outside, and put my head down and back away. Bonus points for giving an accusatory look to Mom - she could stop all this rain if she wanted to! I do this several times, until Mom is saying stuff like she's fed up and "Get your furry butt out there, mister!" Then, a few minutes later, I go to the front door and do the same thing. OMDOG this game is totally fun!

Mom and I want to mention that there are many worthy charities helping out with Haiti earthquake relief. Doctors without Borders is one of Mom's favorites that she has supported on an ongoing basis, so that's why we singled it out in our last post.

World Affairs Wednesday

We don't have a lot of green papers, but we gave what we could to one of our favorite charities, Doctors without Borders. Think of it as being from one DWB to another.

Mehitabel speaks

Greetings. I am Mehitabel and I live with my servant and the noisy one.

You may remember that this was one of the first pictures of me on this blog:


Well, I have been much too busy to blog - I had to get this house in order, train my servant (good help is so hard to find), teach the noisy one a few things, and grow.

Grow? The servant was told that I was full-grown when I came to live with her. She was also told that I was a short haired cat. I settled in, got rid of my fleas, and set about my plan.


The servant began to notice something about me. Something suspiciously FLOOFY:


I was then a small cat with a floofy tail. But then I started to grow, and my furs started to grow, until something suspiciously like cataloons were noticed by the servant.


The servant, who for some reason knows more about dogs than cats, began to read about cat breeds. She was looking for a breed with a long, floofy tail, ear floof, cataloons, and a flat long coat. Someone mentioned Maine Coon. And the light began to dawn in her slow, human consciousness. I was not a small, full-grown, short-haired cat. I, Mehitabel, descended from Egyptian royalty, am a Maine Coon.


The servant says she's going to need to get a bigger cat carrier.

Diplomacy & Resolutions

Some of you asked how the C-A-T and I are getting along. Well, I'm not sure if this is good news or not, but Mehitabel is no longer the least bit intimidated by me. She still doesn't want to play as much as I do, but she certainly walks around MY house like she owns the place.

For some reason, Mom says I have to SHARE with her. Even the big bed! So I thought I would show you this diagram of the results of several rounds of diplomatic meetings between me and Mehitabel.

(Click to embiggen)


As you can see, dog and cat are living together in something almost like harmony. Mom keeps muttering something about this being a sign of the Apoopcalypse, whatever that is.

Did any of you make resolutions for the new year? I didn't, because honestly how could I possibly improve my life, but here are my mom's:


I'm pretty sure I can help her do more of all of those this year!