Driving to see the family

I was so excited!

 My human and me, in front of the family Christmas tree

 I like to hang out under tables.

 I probably wasn't allowed on this chair, but I took a nap on it anyway.

 My cousin Beren and I are watching my human eat breakfast.  Sometimes Beren gives me dirty looks, but I know he likes me.

On the drive home after a fun few days.  I got a stuffed "moose" for Christmas.  It will make a good friend for my Chicken.

About a week and a half ago (in human time), Elise and Brandon brought a tree from outside, inside!  I don't know what this is all about.  I vaguely remember something like this last year, but the tree smelled like plastic.  Once they propped it up, they put sparkly things on it, and hung some little toys all over.  I learned quickly that I'm not supposed to touch the toys, so I am still trying to figure out what the purpose of this is.  Boxes in pretty paper (I do remember shredding paper like this last year) started appearing under the tree this week.  I wonder if there's a new Nylabone in one of them.  Mine is finally falling apart.  I like to sit in the living room, by the tree, because it smells like outside.  Well...that, and I want to keep an eye on it.  You never know when I might need to bark at it.

It was pretty rainy here this weekend (as it probably will be until July).  I don't really mind, but my human sure whines about it a lot when we're out getting our morning exercise.  We usually snuggle/nap for a while in the afternoon, after she gets a middle of the day meal.  I don't know if the chair was meant for two, but I squished my way in there for some quality snuggling.

My favorite part about our new house, is the yard.  It's big enough for me to run laps in.  It has a playground for me.  It has trees that I can chase squirrels up.  Sometimes in the morning I like to stand by the sliding glass door and just stare at it.  Usually I am counting how many birds and squirrels are running around, so I know what I'm up against when one of my humans let me out.

I apologize for the quality of this picture.  My human Elise has a crappy phone.  I think she should ask Santa for a new one for Christmas.  What's going on here is I am staring at this gaping hole in my human's ceiling!  Sometimes there is a pitter-patter that seems to hit the hole in the ceiling and I do not like that at all.  Does that mean the hole is going to attack?!!!  I make sure to stand guard, and growl at it until it the pitter-patter sound subsides and I have determined the hole is backing down.  My human Brandon was helping me this time too.

I will stare at my humans while they eat.  I will stand right behind them in the kitchen while they "cook," just waiting for something to drop.  Rarely do I actually enjoy what they drop though, so I don't really know what drives me to do this.  I think it's the hope that they might happen to be making dog treats for dinner.  Anyways, the other night my human dropped this slice of "zucchini."  WTF?  I carried it into the living room to examine it a little more closely.  I licked it.  I smelled it.  Nope.  I determined it was not edible.

Normally I get invited to get up on the couch only, and only if it has a blanket on it.  I think this has something to do with the amount of fur I leave everywhere, or so I've been told.  This nice comfy chair has been calling my name though, so when I had the opportunity, I went for it.  My human Elise was doing laundry and seemed like she was going to be in there for a while, so I curled up on the chair to take a nap for as long as I could get away with.

My humans have been unpacking and setting up the house.  Since I don't have opposable thumbs, my contribution includes following them from room to room and taking mini naps along the way.

Here's a video of me enjoying the playground this last weekend!  I took a nice long nap after all the running around.

This weekend I finally got to move into the new house, with my humans.  There is lots of space, and a huge yard to play in.  There's even a playground in the yard, that I can climb up and then go down the slide!  I should have my humans take a picture of that.  There were lots of people in the house this weekend, for a belated Thanksgiving celebration.  This is a picture of my human, me, and all my cousins.  They have lots of energy and actually wore me out (no easy feat)!  Now that everyone has gone home, it is quiet.  I like that there are lots of big windows for me to look out of, and stand guard.  There was a suspicious looking garbage man that drove by earlier.  I think barking at him will probably become a weekly ritual.  I'm going to like this new house.

My cousin Beren and me

My cousin Rufus and me

all tuckered out

A few weeks ago I got to go on a trip to my great-grandparents' house, where I met quite a few dog cousins.  My two favorites were Beren and Rufus.  Beren took some convincing, but eventually I got him to chase me around the yard.  Rufus was game right off the bat, and we wrestled nonstop.  I got lots of attention from all of my human relatives too.  I can't wait until the holidays, when I can see them all again!  The last picture is from the day we drove home, at the end of the weekend.  I was worn out.  Notice the booties I wear in my grandparents house, so that I don't scratch their floors.  I've gotten used to them.  They actually keep my paws nice and toasty.  

Okay, so I took a blogging hiatus.  I'm only a dog after all.  This summer has been busy.  I've been spending the last couple months at my grandparents' house, while my humans move into a new house with a nice yard.  I get to move back in with them in a few weeks.  I miss my humans very much, but my grandparents spoil me, so life is good. 

The other night when I was watching TV, I started to get a little too warm on the chair.  I found a solution to that!  Sitting half on the chair and half off, is actually pretty comfortable.  The humans might be on to something.

So, I have a new obsession.  It's bathtubs and showers.  I used to like just laying next to them, but then one day I decided it felt nice to sleep on the cool surface inside them.  I especially like to nap in them after a long run with my human.  It's a great way to cool off.  Turning on the water, makes it a whole different ball game though.  I like swimming, and I like tubs, but I do not like water in my bathtub.  I just want to make that clear.

After going on a run this morning, my human got in the "shower."  I like to curl up next to the tub while she's in there.  Today I brought my hedgehog with me.  The run really wore me out and the cool tile felt nice.

This morning my grandpa was "vacuuming."  I wasn't quite sure how to react to this weird machine.  Do I play with it?  Do I bark at it?  Do I run away from it?  I finally just grabbed my beloved hedgehog and climbed onto the chair while he finished dragging the vacuum around.

Once it gets really light in the bedroom, I just know it's time to get out of bed.  However, Elise doesn't always seem to notice.  I snuggle up as close as I can, and just stare at her, until she gets the message that it's time to get up!  It usually takes a few tries, but I'm persistent.

My human gets on this "laptop" a lot.  It seems like she does important stuff on here, but who knows?  Sometimes I just sit and stare at her, so that she'll pet me instead.  I give her my "I'm so cute" face and that usually gets her attention.  

I could get used to this.  I'm getting spoiled at my grandparents' house.  I'm allowed to curl right up on the couch.  I don't know why I can do that on this couch, and not other couches, but I'm not going to ask questions.

Elise and I drove down to Oregon last night.  She let me sit in the front seat with her, because my scary fence was in the back of the car.  I snuggled up with my octopus and hedgehog.  It was getting late, and the hum of the car put me right to sleep.

Elise got me a new toy.  She calls it a "hedgehog."  When I chew on it, it makes funny hog noises.  I'm being very careful not to shred it, because I love it so much!

After running around at the park, Mackie and I were pretty tired for the rest of the day.  We lounged on the couch and watched some TV, and then finally just took a good nap on the bed.  She is my favorite.

This was one of the BEST DAYS EVER!  My friend Mackie and I went with our humans to Willamette Park in Corvallis.  It was sunny and warm, and the lake had flooded half of the park, so we got to play in the water!  I think that was my favorite part.  I could play in water all day long, and I think the bigger the splash, the better!  Mackie was really into her ball, so I just ran circles around her.

After an hour at the dog park this morning, I just wanted to lay outside our door with a good stick.  If only I could get Elise to let me bring it inside........

This is my happy face!  I get soooo happy when my friend Kyra comes and takes me for a walk during the day.  If my humans have a long day at work, it keeps me from going stir crazy and deciding to eat the couch.  

Elise brought me home a new toy today!  It's a fuzzy octopus!  I've been running around with it, flinging it into the air, ever since.  Well, my first order of business was to chew the top off and tear up the tennis ball that was inside.  Now I'm happy just to carry it around and not destroy it anymore.  It might just be my new favorite.  The only thing that could make it better, would be if it squeaked.  Hmmm...Elise doesn't buy me a lot of toys that squeak though.

Well, I guess it was time for the dreaded "bath" again today.  My humans took me to the dog park to run around and play first at least.  I love swimming and playing in the river, but something about having to hold still while being washed, does not appeal to me.  I'm getting a little better, but the blow dryer at the end still sends me through the roof!  I don't like the way it blows my fur up!  I tried to be good and held still for a few minutes of that, but then Elise let me down and finished drying me off with a towel.  Now all I want to do, is go roll in another good pile of mud.

I am sleepy!  Today I went for a run with Elise in the morning, and then Brandon took me for a run after work.  I'm always happy when I'm nice and tired.