Remembering

The Three Tabby Cats in Vienna are sponsoring a 'Weekend of Remembrance'. We are lighting candles for two of our pack mates who left us too soon.

Lucy left us in August of 2008. She was dealing with liver disease.

 Monty died of lung cancer in December of 2008. 

If you would like to join in remembering a loved one who has crossed the bridge, click here and join us.

Cross Those Paws

We need the Power of The Paw today for those dogs in the areas hit by storms in the last few days and while you're at it, please keep them crossed for Norma Jean's school friend Gussie.

Gussie hurt her leg last night and is on pain meds today. After a few days of rest, her doctor will decide if she needs xrays and what the extent of the damage is.

Gussie is just a baby, only eight months old, so send her good healing thoughts this weekend.

A Break In The Rain

Yesterday the rain stopped. The clouds hung around, but we got a chance to get outside and run around a little.

Look at all the water that collected in the wading pool. That's from the rain over the past two days.

Of course, it drew the dogs' attention. Even though they've been unhappy about being wet for five days, they had to test out the water in the pool.

I called Norma Jean out of the water and she looked very pleased with herself.

These dogs do make me laugh sometimes. You all know that Bailey is very attached to her monkey and carries him everywhere with her. But a monkey is no use in the rain, so today Bailey left him in the house and carried her duck outside with her.

A duck can take care of himself in the wet conditions we're having. No, I didn't set this up, she chose the duck all by herself.

Around dinner time the thunder started again and soon it was raining. More is on the way today.

Can I Buy An Ark On Ebay?

How do you know when you've had too much rain?

It's been raining since last week and not gentle spring rains. We've had non-stop thunder and lightening. Last nite the weather dude said we'd had around 15 inches and we aren't done yet.

 This morning it's stopped long enough for all the dogs to get out and take care of whatever they needed to do. Sky found his adored green glowball outside in the tall grass. Samba, after days of confinement felt the need for a spa treatment. She found an area of soft oozy mud and took a mud bath, rolling over and over in the slime.

There is a walking trail behind our house. It cuts thru the woods and is quite a pretty place to walk the dogs. Beside it is a normally dry creek bed. Last night it sounded like a river was flowing behind the fence. This morning during the lull, we went to take a look. The creek bed isn't dry anymore.

This morning there were ten local schools closed due to the weather. Make that eleven. Norma Jean's school is closed today because of flooding conditions. Today was to be final exam and graduation. She was looking forward to seeing her friend Gussie. The class will be held next week and I've told Norma Jean that we'll get together with Gussie and her Mom this summer so the girls can play.

Have you ever seen such sad looking dogs? They miss the sunshine and they want to play outside without getting wet and muddy.

 Last night I saw something that tore at my heart. Around 6:30  as I watched the news, a small gray squirrel, all wet and bedraggled, crawled onto the windowsill, curled himself into a ball with his tail wrapped around him and went to sleep. He was very wet and probably cold. His perch on the window sill kept him dry and he may have gotten some warmth thru the window. The dogs went over to look at him several times, but they knew he was miserable and they let him sleep. He remained there for two or three hours before heading back to his damp nest. Rob put food out for him this morning.

Stay dry.

It's Still Raining

Our Easter biscuit hunt is on hold till the weather clears up. It's been raining for several days and the dampness is causing my throat to hurt, so we're going to wait till it's dry.

The gang went out on the porch this morning and look who was there waiting for the rain to stop.

They all went to say hello to the Eater bunny and the big duck.

Everyone is restless because they haven't had an opportunity to run and play for a couple days. I've been trying to distract them from the storms, but they can't seem to settle.

The rain and storms are forecast to continue thru Tuesday, so by the time it clears up they'll be really ready to run and hunt for biscuits. Happy Easter to our friends who celebrate it, from the entire Legacy Pack.

Stormy Weather

As you've all probably heard by now, the St Louis airport was badly damaged last night by a tornado. There was much damage to the surrounding residential area, too.

We're happy that there were no fatalities and only minor injuries.

In our area, we're well south and west of St Louis, we had severe storms, much thunder, lightening and rain. They continued all night. If you ever see the sky turn this strange orangey color, you know you're in for a bad storm.

The sky went from  normal blue to this in seconds, then it continued to darken.

Then in the snap of my fingers, it was pitch black outside. Normally the dogs with the exception of Morgan, ignore thunder storms, but last night was an exception.

The four girls wanted to get in their crates, their safe places. Sky, Fudge and Samba paced and would not settle down. Noah ran barking from window to door. Tsar was the only calm member of the pack. He went to the basement to sleep.

Morgan was a basket case. She tried to get behind the entertainment center. When I pulled her away from that, she climbed into her toy box and sat there huffing and puffing for awhile. Then she tried to get into a popcorn can. Now Morgan isn't a big dog, but she certainly doesn't fit in a popcorn can.

I convinced her to sit next to me for a little while, but when a loud clap of thunder sounded, she tried to climb up n my shoulders. Finally I made her a hideaway in the corner of the room with a box and blankets over it. We could hear her sitting in her shelter huffing and puffing, but it seemed to help calm her.

Getting everyone out for last call was an interesting exercise. The rain was coming down hard and thunder was rumbling. Some ran out and right back in. Others didn't want to go out by themselves, so I donned a rain jacket and stood in the downpour while they relieved themselves. It was a noisy, restless night.

This morning we have no damage, but standing water in several spots in the yard. We received about three inches overnight and they're forecasting as much as ten more inches over the next few days. Our annual Easter biscuit hunt will have to be postponed or held indoors if I can handle the chaos.

Our thoughts are with our friends in the St Louis area as they face cleanup from this storm.

Earth Day

Today the USA is celebrating Earth Day. Fudge and the rest of the pack want to tell you about their participation in the celebration.

Hello Fellow Earth Creatures. When Mom explained to us that this was Earth Day, we all wanted to do something to help our planet celebrate her special day.

We took a walk around and tried to think what we could do. Mom showed us these pretty flowers  growing on the shady side of the fence.

Samba took a close look at them and agreed that they make our yard look pretty.

Mom said we could plant some more flowers to make our little bit of the planet even more beautiful. That sounded like a good idea to us.

Mom got out the gardening tools. Who knew you needed so many tools to make flowers? There were flowers pots and water cans and a digger tool.

What's in here?

Wait, Norma Jean, that's for the flowers.

Sky, where are you going with the flower pot?

Tess is busy tenderizing the flower pot. That's an important step in gardening that lots of people forget about.

Morgan is checking out the watering cans. I wonder what happened to the end of that one.

Tess thinks this is going to be a lot of fun. Let's get busy.

You don't need these watering cans, Mom. Noah and Sky and I can water the flowers for you.

You don't need that digger tool either, Mom. Morgan and Bailey are good diggers. They can handle that for you.

What do you mean our feet are getting too dirty. How do you plant flowers without getting a little dirty?

Norma Jean doesn't think Mom can see her dirty feet.

Well, that's how we're celebrating Earth Day. We're planting flowers and wearing lots of Earth on our feet. We think every day should be Earth Day, don't you?

The Start Of A New Week

Last week was rough. But the nice thing about life is - there's always another week waiting to be lived.

This week  Norma Jean and I will go to class on Tuesday and the new dishwasher is arriving on Thursday. Aside from those big events, the week is open for new adventures.

I'm sure we'll play ball a few times.

We'll surely have a group stick chew.

We'll probably roll in the grass.

Someone will get in trouble and someone else will do something special. Maybe we'll  burst into song.

Maybe we'll even get a special treat like ice cream.

Isn't it nice that life lets us have a do over when things don't go right the first time?