Saturday, April 16, 2011

waiting for second lunch

Lunch was a little late for Big Boyfriend yesterday, which for tiny boyfriend optimistically meant that another lunch could well be a very real possibility.  And so he stayed glued to the sliver of sun closest to the kitchen table where his dad sat, patiently hoping that his dream would turn into reality. 

no thank u i cannot play skunky right now, mom.  and don't tell dad u fed me already, ok? cuz i totally might be getting second lunch!!:)

Friday, April 15, 2011

i am blur




















playing with my toy,
running really fast, oh yeah,
just call me the blur.

- baxter, 4.3 years old, on yesterday's  race around the house with mister skunky p. eeew.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

law and odor















barking at the painters outside? why no, officer, i cannot think of anybody here who might be doing that.  as  librarian of the household i shush anyone who makes even a peep.  perhaps u are looking for the stinky bassets next door?

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

two lamps and a skunk



Tiny chumley was disappointed when he found out he couldn't help me rewire the lamps I scored at the thrift shop yesterday, and glumly stretched out on a stairstep, occasionally heaving a sigh of displeasure by pressing one ear back then the other.

me so booooooored! his little brown eyes declared as they watched me make a giant mess on the foyer floor. isn't there anything to do today?

I got up to give Baxter a skritch.  Poor baby dog, I thought,  you're being such a good boy and it's really not fair that you don't have anything new to play with when I've got my new toys, is it? How bout we pull out Mister Skunky P Eeeew?

oooo i hear crinkling!! gimme gimme gimme! perked the little kielbasa when I came back with his prize. 

And happy both were we, working separately yet keeping each other company, til finally we both finished what we set out to do.


Tuesday, April 12, 2011

strawberry snackies forever


dear diary,
dad says not to worry about aliens tracking the signals from our new router because the pollen that is everywhere now helps to diffuse the signal so it doesn't go into outer space. i am very relieved. cuz i really didn't want to have to go to school wearing my foil hat today on account of it being picture day n all.

anyhoo, this is me, enjoying another nice nibbleypoo of strawberry while also enjoying some wonderful snuggle blankie time with my dad.  in fact i enjoyed it so much that i sorta forgot about the diorama me n duk duk were supposed to make til late yesterday evening. whoopsie. luckily teacher said me n duk duk could have an extra day if we promised not to make them out of scooby doo toys like we did last time for the underwater mammal exhibit.  i guess the teacher is on to us.  luckily, she did not say anything about not using our transformer bots or our rockem sockem robots so i think we still have some options to make a very interesting display. wish us luck!!

toodley-doo!
b. :)

Monday, April 11, 2011

mumbolarkey

The windmills that I have been fighting lately have mostly been technical in nature, thanks to my notion that our lives could be greatly enhanced if we found a way to wean ourselves off of cable television and migrate to a less expensive platform of nightly entertainment.  And watch it in grand 55" high def blu ray style over the fireplace, all while enjoying it in a newly hardwood floored, freshly painted, smooth ceilinged, happily area rugged family room.

I willingly engaged in my folly because I thought most certainly that all these things would fit in the budget we had in our minds.  How difficult or expensive could any of this stuff be, really?  I mean, I knew that the traditional housework would be pricey and take some time, but the electronics?  Heck all we need is to get one big TV, pay somebody to mount it and fish the cables, sign up for netflix and we're done, right?

The fact that there are three different types of illumination for a flat panel TV should have been my first clue. The fact that they further splinter down into things like edge lit and full array should have been my second. The fact that there are a gajillion ways to stream Netflix to any television, an easy third. The more I dug, the more mumbo jumbo marketing malarkey I had to decipher, and the more I realized the fast paced technology based world we live in today is strung together by a hope and a prayer.  I hope the next firmware release will fix my problem.  I pray that my outrageously priced Smartboy television with qwerty keyboard doesn't crap out the day after my all too short warranty expires.

The fact is, I now realize, I feel there are just too many unproven options at the moment for me to justifiably invest a large amount of bucks to do what I thought I wanted to do.  Sorry second Best Buy dude who ended up helping me cuz Best Buy guy number one's eyes glazed over when I asked him about the feature differences and cost differential between the D series models of the television I thought I wanted, but thank you for spending an hour with me mapping out a budgety home theater system and helping me understand that the best investment I could make right now is an upgrade our wireless network.   Because, duh, G is so six years ago.

faster data transfer speeds across two different bandwidths and better penetration of concrete and brick walls? repeated the little kiebasa when told what made our freshly installed dual band gigabit N router so different.  but wouldn't that mean mind controlling aliens could pick up on our signals and if they find us shouldn't we really be like shielding our heads and hiding under blankies with our running shoes on just in case they find us so we can run like the wind??

Why yes baby dog, I do believe we should. :)


Sunday, April 10, 2011

wisbit of the day









Baxter's wis-bit (bit of wisdom) for the day:

Sometimes, a good little ear rub is just what the doctor ordered to make things right again. :)

Saturday, April 9, 2011

shotgun


dear diary,
hee hee, i finally got to call shotgun yesterday when mom took me for rideys yesterday to run an errand.  only there was no real gun like i was thinkin, which probably was a good thing cuz really, ridin shotgun without my snoozer is a lot like ridin on the open seas during a storm.  really kinda bumpy and u cannot see a thing. so it would not be good to have a gun of any sort really. not even an unshrink one.

anyhoo, today is saturday and i think me n duk duk are going to help dad with the lawn and then we will work on our history project for school.  it is supposed to be a diorama showing the path our ancestors took to get to america but seein's how neither of us know anythin about that, we are going to recreate a scene from our favorite  scooby doo cartoon and hope the teacher does not notice.  that is a good plan don't u think?

i hope u r having a wonderful saturday!
toodley-doo,
b. :)

Friday, April 8, 2011

exsqueeze me

Some things take a little longer when there's a doxie in the house, especially when he's has had enough of my attentions being focused elsewhere.

exsqueeze me. you've been taking pictures of things for etsy all day now, complained the little kielbasa yesterday when he erupted from between my legs. when is it gonna be my turn??

Well baby dog, I guess right now.  :)

Thursday, April 7, 2011

double posties etsy fresh: mother's day & father's day cards and more



Yippee! I just uploaded some new paper goodies to Etsy and couldn't wait to share a peekypoo.  And no, you're not imagining things, there's actually a kitty in the mix - a sweet little everyday card featuring Baxter's buddy Honeybear!

To celebrate all these new goodies and more, type in OHAPPYDAY at checkout to get 5% off your total order, good on anything in the shop, now thru this entire weekend!  I'll be watching and reloading listings so fret not if a card is missing.  And I know, it seems early to be thinking about these things, but Easter is only 17 days away, Mother's day is in May, and Father's day is in June. And goodness knows how many birthdays and anniversaries there are to celebrate as well.  Why be stuck at the card store so many times when you're only a click away from happy happy cute cute? :)

waiting for wii

dear diary,
well thank goodness a week has almost gone by since i played my april fool's joke and soon duk duk and i will be able to play on the wii again after school. in the meanwhile all i have been doin in my free time is snoozin in the sun, which is fun in its own way but not the same as playin super mario kart if u know what i mean.  mom suggested that me n duk duk work on project monkeys in space but i had to tell her that is so yesterday's news. especially since duk duk and i agreed to use the money we made from the project monkeys in space fundraiser to build his mom a new nest by that lake in florida.  u know the one that all the retired duks go to in the winter.

anyhoo, today besides school me n duk duk hope to work on our plans to build an unshrink ray gun, u know a gun that makes things bigger. so we can unshrink things like, oh, i dunno, snackies? needless to say i am very excited and i will not be snoozin in the sun like i did yesterday.

well diary, i hope u have a wonderful thursday!!

toodley-doo,
b. :)

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

curr tailed






Our first dachshund Digger was always a spry little fellow, robust even in his old age when I knew him and all we really worried about we minor health concerns in the grand scheme of things. Bad breath, an occasional ear infection, the mysterious bulge in his cheek which we thought might be a tooth problem but proved at the vet's office to be nothing more than his secret squirrel food pack. And this, the little nubby dry end of his tail that sometimes needed a little TLC when Digger's happy tailthwacking into walls and legs and furniture disturbed the tiny scabs on the relatively bald tipped end of his tail.





Digger's follicle challenged tail tip was a reminder of an earlier incident in his youth when his tail wasn't fast enough for the closing door. I am told that not soon after it happened, swelling caused the hairs on the tippy tip of his hurting tail to poofter out and then the hair on the last inch or so of his tail grew sparsely after that, but I suspect Digger's pain long subsided before that of his dad. Nobody likes to see a dog in pain, much less be the cause of it.






So making sure a little dog and his tail are completely out the door before we close it is always something we are mindful about doing, but maybe a little less so when the weather is weird and blustery and it's raining and it's o-dark thirty in the morning.  Which is how both our hearts sank the instant we knew early yesterday morning that tiny chumley's  tiny yelp meant that his tail also fell prey to the tail munching door.  Only thanks to Big Boyfriend's quick reflexes, tiny chumley's tail was barely munched at all, and other than being minus one morning poop and pee from being so rudely awakened, the little kielbasa and his happy tail are no worse for wear.  Crisis curr-tailed.  :)

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

suspicious minds

Like flies to honey, tiny chumley appeared out of nowhere when I brought in the floor samples from the garage that I borrowed yesterday to help decide what to do in our family room.

hey, what's all this?, the little kielbasa nosily asked, pushing his way to a front row seat on the show that was my afternoon plans.

Flooring samples, I replied on the same subaural wavelength that we always use. So we can replace the carpeting in here.  You know, the one that you peed on the week you first came home, and the one that your brothers before you peed on just the same, only way more frequently because they were markers and you are not. Which is why we can do this now.

oic. i do prefer crayons to magic markers.  so, if we get a new floor in the family room, does this mean me n duk duk won't be able to play with our matchbox cars in here anymore?

No baby dog, you and duk duk can still play with your cars in here.


but will this new floor be sturdy enough so that me n duk duk can play dance dance revolution whenever we want?
Yes baby dog, you and duk duk can play ddr whenever you are done with your chores and homework.

and can i still eat my rawhide in here?

Yes baby dog. You can eat your rawhide in here.

will i get to keep my bed in here?

Yes baby dog.  We will keep your bed in here and maybe even bring in a kitty perch so you can look out at the other neighbor's yard.  So you can keep an eye on little Misses Julia and Sarah when they are on the swingset.

yippee! i do not see why we did not do this sooner.  i think i like the one by my hindpaws best.  can i have a snackie now?

Not yet babydog.  You might be done choosing what flooring you want but  SOMEBODY has been in my way all this time and it would be nice to look at these samples without a sausagey shadow on them.  But come, sit in my lap and you can keep me company while I think about this more.  And hey, did I tell you this means we might get a big persian rug to go over it?

ooo, wooty.

hee hee, double wooty! :)

Monday, April 4, 2011

cubbymates



























Even though Baxter seems to require an inexplicable amount of prime real estate when he is in bed with us, it's nice to see that he could just as easily take a happy snooze in the cozy confines of a tiny cubbyshelf in his dad's office, and even have room enough for his toyfriend duk duk.  Proving nothing, I suppose, other than the fact that cuteness will always prevail, no matter how large or small a space it is provided.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

me likey dat: my still life

Yippee! A new happy doxie painting for tiny chumley's collection arrived from myfavoritethingsartstudio in the mail this past week.  A piece of art I found on Etsy that is an almost exact match to the look we often get when the little kielbasa yearns for a snackie or just wants to know when things will get more interesting, so he can decide whether or not he should hunker down for a nice snooze in the sun.


I suspect this won't be the last painting we receive from this Etsy artist.  A fellow dacshund owner, myfavoritethingsartstudio also does custom work, and so I have been racking my brains thinking about which picture I might well commission her to turn into acrylic and canvas gold.  Decisions decisions. 

Of course, from tiny chumley's perspective, the answer is very clear. why not have her paint me with a half finished giant rawhide, mom?  and of course since we do not have any giant rawhide bones i guess u will have to get me one and when i am half done i will let u know and u can take a picture of me, okay? but i think i need a practice bone first.  just to make sure i get it right, so let's go to the store today and get a couple three or four or more. i can even help u carry them. :)


Saturday, April 2, 2011

short stacked

Okay, I know. I had such resolve when we first decided to adopt Baxter.  No more than four beds, three of them inherited from his brothers before him, and one new bed.  Not a lot of toys and no way will this dog's stuff ever need to take up more space than the drawer underneath our washing machine.  My plan? Respect through austerity. 

Fast forward three or so years and yes, tiny chumley's beds and his toys are everywhere now, multiplied like little mischievous bunnies. Add to that the plentitude of blankies that Baxter can call his own, the overflowing bin of duds and clothes and head gear and, most recently, vintage eyewear and neckties that make up his wardrobe, and add his growing food and water bowl collection and what do you get?  Well, thankfully, one little doxie who is still as respectul and sweet as ever.

Which is why I guess I still want to make his home, his world, a more perfect and doxie accessible place. Now that Baxter can encounter a bed and blankie and toys practically every 15 feet in the house and can enjoy them as a nattily dressed dog about town, my attentions have apparently turned to things that help him monitor his world from a higher position that his stubby little legs will allow, and to the things that help him get up there. Upholstered benches and ottomans, which I like to call his kitty perches because he'll climb up on them and watch the world from his window, and the stools that act as steps to allow him to gracefully and safely get from floor to kitty perch and back again.  Because the little kielbasa is too kielbasa sized for those miniscule doggie stair step things, and because ramps take up way too much space for their single purposed endeavors.

And so, for now let's just say Baxter is well on his way to fine collection of kitty perches, thanks in part to an ottoman we already owned prior to Baxter's adoption and a bench and stool scored long ago from Marshalls, but lately, because these hands and paws were made for crafting.  Today, a peekypoo at the craftier side of his collection, made larger by two just these past couple of days when I finally finished regluing and reinforcing his $5 needlepoint flea market score, and after I salvaged the brass feet from a rickety thrift store find to make him a completely new happy kielbasa sized  perch using some fabu fabric and velvet that I discharge dyed and turned into piping.

Yeah, it's a tall world out there.  Somebody's gotta help the little kielbasa see it. :)




Friday, April 1, 2011

my trip to the zoo



Hey, it's me, Baxter! Mom was busy doin stuff so she asked me to write today's post. So I thought I would be your roving rover reporter reporting to you today from outside the reptile and amphibian pavillion of my local zoo.  Even though there are many cool frogs and lizards to look at, today we are going to take a look at a very special snake here at the zoo, one that is very rare and some say very scary. In fact, it is so rare that I have never seen anything else like it.  And I think it is so scary that I decided to let you choose yourself if you want to see it.  So I took a picture of it earlier, and if you are feeling brave, please click on the name of the snake below and you too can share this very special and unique experience.

boiga x. cremen talloria irregularis

I hope you enjoyed my report. This is Baxter your roving rover reporter wishing you a very happy Friday! :)

Thursday, March 31, 2011

lost in google




Yesterday was supposed to be a productive day craftywise, but the chilly weather, gray clouds, and tempting email offers lured me away from my todo list and steered me in other directions, setting things in motion that will hopefully yield sweet fruit of their own soon. Like,  new paper goodies for the etsy store just in time for Easter, Mother's Day, and Father's Day, and magnets and other bits of doxie art, some not so entirely small if I can ever find what I need to make it.

I suppose it's googley diversions like this that sometimes keep me from doing things I need to do, like posting to etsy some of the necklaces I've made that tiny chumley has modeled recently, and, well, cleaning the house and stuff like that,  but I figure it all works out in the end.

If I didn't seize the day's temptations at least every once in a while, how else would the world be able to order little kielbasa postage stamps , or be graced by the likes of their very own personal  crooning dachshund?  And how would tiny chumley ever get to brag about his poopie snake or talk with his wonderful facebook and blog friends?

Today, I do hope the weather is at least a little better.  Cuz the tiny boyfriend and I do have plans.  Or we may well just end up under the covers again, googling and laptopping the day away.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

a mosey for maggie

dear diary,
my spidey senses told me it would get cold n rainy again today, so i totally bugged mom about taking time to go play outside while it was nice n sunny out and it worked! only once i got outside i decided to mosey, cuz i kinda found out my friend maggie from the long and short of it all is sick and i am worried and it is one of those things where all u can do is wait. and that seems to take forever.

mom says it is funny how the world can keep spinning even when your little corner of the world seems frozen in time, waiting for news that hopefully means your pack will be together again.  i cannot wait til joey n maggie's world gets unstuck, so they can once again help keep the world spinning as only they know how. one happy doxie story at a time.

warmest of hugs to maggie n joey n their dad!

toodley-doo,
b.
  

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

blue monday

Mondays are always busy days for us humans, which doesn't bode well for the little kielbasa, who has to spend most of his Mondays just snoozing, or staring out at the world from his kitty perch.  Til it is time for our evening walkie, and we all can catch up with went on with our day.


yes, uh huh, i see. tell me more about what u did today, Baxter's eyes will tell me when we glance at each other as we walk along. and please, don't spare any details!

In our house, there is never really a blue monday, or blue any day. Not so long as this little happy doxie has anything to do about it.