Play Bow

with the possibility of attack!

The Fox and The Hound...

...or, The Best Christmas a Hound Ever Had!

Gwyn here at the keyboard. Just wanted to report that it was the best Christmas ever around here! Mom didn't realize that even though Santa barely slowed down when he went by on Saturday (see Mom's Christmas Eve post) that I had time to tell him what I wanted. And boy, did he deliver! First, here I am, admiring the tree, being good, and hoping Santa won't forget me!

 My lil' kitteh, Xander, got him a sparkly mouse:

 He likes to pounce it.

 And then drag it backwards towards his lair:

 Here's the moment! Mom's handing me my new bestest toy ever....a fox!

 Xander also got a catnip toy (since Wil' got some treats she likes)...but Wil' decided she might like the catnip toy for herself!

 Me & my fox :D

 I have to keep checkin' on him to be sure he's okay.

 Meanwhile, the Orange Menace looked particularly cute in his pile'o'papers. He thought that was the bestest part of the whole Christmas morning deal. He thinks Mom & Dad should keep the papers out the whole year round.

 I tired myself out, but didn't let Mr. Fox get far.

 But here's the great thing...not only did I get a fox, I got a treat maker!!!!

 I had to supervise Mom to make sure she knew what she was doing.

 Fifteen minutes is a long time to expect a greyhound to wait for a peanut butter cookie! Even worse was when Mom found that this particular recipe did better cooking 20 minutes!!!

 I about gave up..(Mom thinks this shot with my back leg sticking out is funny for some unknown reason!)

 Me & Mr. Fox...watching the world go by....wondering if we'll ever get to try peanut butter cookies.

 Mom wants everybody to know that Dogs Rule! She & Dad got me this t-shirt at Westminster Dog Show one year (well, maybe they got it for my great-uncle Phil, but it fits me better!)

 After an epoch or so, they were done:

 Ah, mana from heaven!

 Nom nom nom nom nom...

 I didn't get to see her, but Mom thought her bro'n'law's little Yorkie, Zoe, was over-the-top cute in what she & her other SIL decided was a kilt!

 Mom says even though we really enjoyed all our goodies, that this Christmas was nice because we got to spend time with the people, hounds, cats and horses that we love and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. (*And* eat peanut butter cookies with Mr. Fox!)
Love, Gwyneth

Ready for Santa

So, we're pretty much ready for Santa here. We've had a few mysteries lately...like who broke in the house the other day and moved the tree skirt.

Xander didn't know. He must have fallen asleep...

He's been busy...testing lights, etc. He may still be a little fuzzy on the whole naughty vs. nice thing...

 Meanwhile, my parents' sweet little girl helped open presents...

Trouble may pretend to be a grumpy old man, but he doesn't fool me!

 Back home, Gwyn got to see Santa come around on the fire truck:

Love the ear fold!!!

Gee, those trucks are loud!

Maybe Xander does get the nice-for-Santa idea.

 Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a truly blessed holiday season!

A Holiday Giggle

Well I was gonna' post new pix of the Orange Menace & company, but running out of time this a.m. so instead will share another youtube clip that tickled me:

My Inner Anglophile Rejoices

I've told you before that I'm a hopeless anglophile. My condition is helped some (fed some?) by the fact that I have relatives in the UK. I've always loved accents and it makes me happy to listen to British voices...saying anything...I have the  BBC World News channel programmed as a favorite on my car's XM. It's not unusual for me to switch over to it just to hear the announcers even though I'm not really interested in the news. You also need to know that my brother worked for a period of time at a university in Manchester and would tell me about the "Man U" vs. "Man City" rivalry. Imagine my delight when ESPN (my current favorite TV channel) aired a commercial about the rivalry. I considered it a challenge to listen enough times without the translation to get most of the words down...but the translation was useful for the slang :D Enjoy!

First, without the translation (don't worry--at the end it tells you to click for translation but then goes away too fast, I have it as a separate video):

And now, the "huh?":

The Art of Sleeping

Some of you poor souls may not realize that there's an art to sleeping. You can learn much from cats and hounds. Xander has his own unique style of preparing to take a nap..

You see, he's a leaner-cat. It makes sense when you realize that his greyhound mommy is a leaner-dog. Greys in general are leaner-dogs. They like to come up to you and just lean against you...the better for you to rub their ears, my dear! Xander puts a new twist on the leaning idea. Often (most of the time) when he's getting ready to lie down for a nap he starts by leaning up against the sofa back, armrest, wall, etc. like so:

Then, the slide-down begins...

The roll-over...

...and at some point, the end result is usually something like this:

Meanwhile, look over at the tree:

Okay, now take a closer look in the corner:

Someone has to stay awake to keep an eye on things...preferably from higher ground:

Upside Down Love

Good morning. Thought this morning I would share one of the typical interactions between mommydoggy (Gwyn) and her kitteh (Xander). Have I mentioned that Xander *loves* to dangle upside down and let the blood rush to his head? (I refer you back to the post "Long Drink of Water" from November 9th.) He loves to let LoML hold him upside down over Gwyn so that he can latch onto her head. She doesn't seem to mind too much....she schnuzzles his belly. They're a funny couple of critters!

Christmas kitteh

Sweet little Christmas kitteh:

Don't I look sweet & innocent?

I am sweet & innocent!

Ha Ha! They don't know I wuz just hangin from the ribbons tryin to pull the whole works down!

Ah, my work here is done...for now...