Happy Winter Solstice

Mom says today is the shortest day of the year. I think that means that there is less sun which means less time to play outside. We are also having an unusually cold December here in Furrginia. I am a hot blooded doggy even with my short coat but I know dad and particularly mom are complaining about the cold. My swimming pond is frozen over which makes me sad too. Dad was going to take pictures of the special eclipse last night but the 20 degree temperature (not counting the wind chill) changed his mind. He CLAIMED it was too cloudy but mom and I know better.

Mom and I decided it would be fun to participate in the Winter Solstice gift swap that The Portugese Water Dog Blog sponsored. Mom and I sent a gift all the way to England and we got a package from the Portugese Water Dogs themselves ten days or more ago now. Mom would not let me open the package because she said we had to wait for the Winter Solstice. Well, today is the day so we opened the package. Drum roll please!

Mom and I love the presents! There was a whole family of knit doggies. Of course, not as many doggies as there are over the Portugese Water Dog Blog house, but still a mom, dad and baby dog. Here is a better close up picture of just the dogs:

Mom says I can't play with them because she likes them. But I think they are fun to look at too!

I am really excited about the other present. It might be hard to see in the picture but these are dog biscuit cookie cutters. The best part is they come with a recipe and thankfully for me what mom said was an "easy" recipe because otherwise they would never get made (just saying mom).

So short days or not, I am thinking this Winter Solstice thing can't be but so bad. Mom also suggested I share with you an article that tells you everything you would ever want to know about the Winter Solstice. It's by Richard Cohen and was in Sunday's New York Times.

I know Sue and her whole family of dogs are celebrating a double early Christmas and Winter Solstice because Morgan's pathology report came back with great news after a lump was removed from her neck turned out to be benign! And, be sure and check out this blog post from them because it has lots of pictures from Colonial Williamsburg at Christmas. Williamsburg is right down the road from where we live!

Holiday Greetings to all my Friends

If you happened to be at the last #Pawpawty and listened to me DJ, you may have already seen my holiday greetings, but I know efurybuddy didn't get to, so here is the slide show video mom and me put together using Animoto. We have to say that Animoto is THE coolest thing we have ever played with. Mom even made some videos for work with it.

So for my pals that celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas. For those that celebrate Hanukkah, Happy Hanukkah, and if not you have my greetings in the season!

Anipal Photo Hunt #16: My 2nd Job

When I read the first two posts from this photo hunt theme on 2nd jobs I felt like I was a useless cog in society. My friends were doing something to help other anipals or people and here I am a happy go lucky dog having fun 24/7. Sure I have to take care of my humans - waking them up in the morning, fetching the TV remote, protecting the cats from the vacuum, getting the humans outside to exercise but the rest of the time I'm just playing and sleeping. So I have been moping around, refusing to blog.

Mom tried to make me feel better. She said I was only 2 and still a little too rambunctious to do good works in a public setting. After all most people don't appreciate a big dog that gets in their face and starts slurping hard enough to lick off some skin (although I met a nice lady at the V-E-T the other day who loved my smooches).

She also pointed out how valuable my stick patrol activities are in our yard. We have lots and lots of trees and those sticks are raining down every time the wind blows a least little bit. I also get the sticks out of the pond.

One other job I would really love (but mom and dad won't let me) is cleaning out the litter box. They keep a gate that blocks me out of the bathroom where the litter box is. The other day dad had it up just a little too high and he caught me slithered underneath it. I could get half my body in there and that was enough the reach the box and do some selective scooping. Unfortunately, extracting myself from that position knocked the gate down so I was caught. Sadly dad did not have his camera handy to capture this particular exploit. He was probably laughing too hard to focus anyway. Maybe I can hire myself out for the litter box job. I know humans hate that work!

Finally, mom says she thinks making people who read my blog laugh or even just smile is a good job to have. I hope I do that!

I am hoping my other pals will share their second jobs on this Anipal Photo Hunt. Just click the button below for information on how to join in!