Working like a .... well, you know. ;)

Oh man... retail on top of everything else, and thus the radio silence, but... I'm going to make this update as uh, covering as possible. :)

1) My hard drive finally got taken out by power outage number 16 and counting this year. Sigh. Seriously. Can't make it up. +I have a new computer, and was able to save most everything. Still sorting out some of my art programs, cripes, I hate losing software. :/ I really wish there was a magic computer button simply to move everything over instead of how long it actually takes.

2) My Cardi Claus box got here wonderfully, with delicious jam, horse treats, dog treats, and dog and cat toys that promptly run off with. I have photos on my camera, but they'll have to wait for a little later date as I catch up. I do want to say thank you, thank you so much to Amy and the wonderful Raglan Cardigans over at the
Crazy Cardiness blog. :) Thank you guys so much. It couldn't have come on a better, more needed day. Simon loves the Frisbee UFO, and Sophie promptly ran off with the mice before I could get them off the cardboard -- both of which keep ending up in my bed. Plus, thank you to the wonderful Janet Simple Things -- who on top of having a whole lot of puppies, put together the Holiday Exchange. :)

3) Man, I've waffled over making this part of the post. My female Pembroke Piper was diagnosed with lymphoma just a few weeks before Christmas. Unfortunately, she's not in the category of good response to chemo, and... it had already spread pretty badly. She's still with us, but I'm not going to say it hasn't been tough -- she totally has decided housebreaking is not high on her list. To the point where everyone else goes outside and she uh, runs for the other end of the house to pee on the rug. Awesome, Piper. That takes talent! ;) I'm up for a run of no animal issues for a little bit though...

Retail was good though -- had a good season! :D That's always a nice thing to have happen after the holidays! Good to breathe a sigh of relief and watch people shopping this year! :D

He who shares...

Is loved. :)

(Well, he's loved anyway. But he shares everything, including his food and his chewies. No wonder the kitty is growing like gangbusters!)

Snow days...

I have all these things to say, and it's just like -- so much going on, summing up! Busy as heck with work... my horse ended up hurting herself bad when we went to Canada for a dog show (Caleb got his first two Canadian points, awesome, and I showed him, and that was awesome... and of course it's possibly the worst photo of him ever. Not so awesome. ;) ) and after a whole lot of money to get that fixed...

Merlin passed away. His cancer spread from his foreleg to his hind leg... and he finally let me know it was time.

And of course, it snowed like heck here this week... and the wind came in and we lost power for 39 hours. ;) Which amazingly enough is exactly the degrees the house got down to. And my stove blew up, and the new stove came in damaged, but we've jury rigged our turkey and it's all better now. *grin*


But darn did I get some awesome snow pics. ;) And thus, freezing nearly into a lump was kind of worth it. ;)


Brain freeze...

Simon loves him some snow!

Pembrokes suffer snow quietly. With much disgust and resistance. ;)

Epic snow battle!

Oh, look, he's sitting still! Because he's frozen to the table, ahaha. ;)

Notice he has a sweater on? It was pitch dark, ice cold, and Caleb was like "sweater me plz" all the other Corgis were fine, not Caleb. He was so cold his teeth were chattering. Once he got a sweater, it was all good, poor little fellow.

We have gone past cute...

And into impossibly adorable. ;) Who seriously throws this face out to fend for itself? What is wrong with people? :(

Camodogged: Can you find the Corgi in this picture?

Awww -- haha, my sofa only has a Caleb on it right now! Matt has been moved over. ;)

I have no idea what the heck they are all doing in the bathtub. I heard something rattling around in there, walked in, saw this, walked out, snapped a cheap camera pic because I thought it was hilarious. I personally think they're discussing if my evil cat will fit down the drain. I wish them the best of luck. ;)

Sophie: The mighty sock killer. She has a thing for my socks. She growls at any cat who comes to see her kill, but plays tug o' war with Simon with the sock.

Simon's Cat...

Okay, I guess Sophie is Simon's kitty. Or he's her dog. ;) Every girl needs a good looking guy to boss around, right? ;)











(The last one cracks me up. Little flirt!)

Hello, Kitty!

Vet cleared, vaccinated, tested, microchipped, worming = expensive.

Happy, well fed kitten playing in the chair rungs = priceless. :)

41/52 42/52 (AKA: There's a sucker born every moment! )

41/52 "All the better to see you with, my dear!"



The challenge last week was a tribute shot. There was one done by a woman in my Flickr group that I loved -- it was of her adorable dog in a rain jacket.

Now, hahah, you'd think it would be easy to find a rain-coat in the Pacific Northwest, but darnit, I'm sold out at the shop! So, okay, we had to go for a parka. A red fur lined parka. Of course, I can't get Simon to look soft and pensive sometimes to save my life when he thinks something's hilarious. This he found quite funny, and of course he was laughing and then I was laughing. Not a good combo. ;) So, hey, you roll with it. *grin*

So, to her dog's sweet, adorable Red Riding hood we have Simon the Wolf in uh, Grandma's Winter Wear. Apparently he raided the back of the closet for his hood.

"But Granny, what big blue eyes you have!"
"All the better to beg for a cookie, my dear.."
"But Granny, what a big nose you have!"
"All the better to snuffle loudly in your ear and wake you up in the morning, my dear..."
"But Granny, my what short legs you have!"
"All the better to trip you in the kitchen carrying those muffins, my dear!"

Little Red Riding Hood probably is still laughing because the Wolf needs to hire better stand ins on his day off -- but that's okay, the Corgi probably ate the entire basket of goodies and was content.

Since we still had the coat, I had to go take a few more photos. This one cracks me up, he looks like a person who's off to sell fishsticks or go crabbing or something. ;)



Now for this week's shot... okay, it's not technically a grand shot, but oh man, it's so, so Simon.

42/52 "Stray Kitty..."




Huh... well, there is a little bag of bones calico kitten now ensconced in my spare room as of Friday night.

My neighbor found her in the back of a non-running truck on their property -- the poor little kitten was screaming and screaming. It saw them and ran towards them, yowling. The poor neighbor's daughter (who is not a pet person) was like "You pick it up mom! It might have rabies!"

So, of course, the baffled neighbor brought her to us and said, "I think her mommy lost her..."

Sadly no, dumped, starving, very, very desperate for love and food kitten. So, of course, we being the cat suckers we are took her in. She is not afraid of dogs, not one bit.

Simon took a bit to realize that she was actually a tiny cat. At first all he would do is poke his nose in the room and the most hilarious thing was how huge his eyes got. Kitten had NO fear and was like, "Hi!" and ran up to see him and Caleb staring into the room; quickly Caleb got all excited with the "Hey, look, Simon, it's a KITTY!" smile and pushed in to visit with her, wagging himself practically in half.

So, then the next thing that happens is that Simon goes into "Man, my brother's too friendly (note, stupid) for his own good better save him from himself!" mode and jumps in front of his brother! Our intrepid hero gives the "yipyipyip" noise as he turns around and shoves Caleb down the hall away from the kitten into the other bedroom, and won't let Caleb come out. Poor Caleb's just got the blink-blink expression on, and Simon's all stiff legged and ready to leap out to sacrifice himself for his dope of a brother.

I'm dying laughing, and Simon gives me the "It's NOT funny" glower, and then adds on a "fine, you stay in there, and wait until it becomes an alien chestburster, mom," for good measure.

It's okay though -- he finally realized it was a cat! He just didn't know cats came in concentrated form, like orange juice. Once he figured out the cat just wanted to love all over him, he was so excited, and poking her all over the floor, tail going a mile a moment with a big smile on his face. ;)

I just love this shot -- like I said above, it may not be a beautiful technical shot, and a little cluttered... but Simon is saying hey, little cat, no worries no more. It's pretty cushy here! :D