Missing some friends

Mom and I confess that we have not been paying much attention to our blog roll lately. She has been really, really busy and the blog roll is really, really long so those two things have meant we haven't posted much or read much. We stopped doing the Saturday blog hop but hope to be able to come back when things calm down.

This is me looking sad (even with a hoof to chew on)

Today we were poking around looking for some of our favorites (and we are also bad about reading and not commenting cause sometimes we just can't think of anything clever enough to say). But we clicked on some of our favorites tonight and found that for a few of them it had been months since they posted. The last post was not some sad thing about why they were leaving or they were sick or too busy or the muse went away. It was just a nice post and then nothing.

And that makes me sad. What happened to my friends? Should I be worried about them? It happens on Twitter sometimes too and since I have moved to my legal Facebook page there are some folks I don't catch up as much with there anymore because they have to follow my mom (and it does get a little confusing sometimes). It's the only thing I don't like about our community. Sometimes we just don't know folks well enough to be able to find them. But maybe that's because WE are not connecting on a deep enough level but maybe that's what we like a little too.

Mom and me will have to do some deep thinking on this subject.....

Spring you pulled a foolie on me

First I probably have to educate you on what a FOOLIE is. When dad throws sticks for me to swim and get in the pond, I don't like to bring them back to him. He gave them to me, so they are mine all mine. Well, even in a yard with as many trees as we have sometimes a good throwing stick is hard to find. It's also complicated because when dad is looking for good sticks, I like to run ahead and find them first.

I'm trying to give you enough background so you don't think dad is just plain mean. But I do have to take some of the blame for seriously reducing the stick population and stealing them before he can get them. So to prolong the throwing and swimming fun, dad tricks me. He pretends like he is throwing the stick and I start running and launch into the pond, only to find he just put it behind his back. This picture says it all. You can almost see me down the incline by the water trying to find the #@*! stick.

So in my family we call that a FOOLIE. To use it in a sentence, "Daddy pulled a foolie on Yoda." As I said, it would be mean if it wasn't my own darn fault. I just can't help my stick compulsion. I need a 12 step program. [Mom loves this picture so much she uses it on her phone for when daddy calls her - always gives her a chuckle.]

To finally get to what this post is about, it seems that Spring did a foolie on all of us in Furrginia and maybe some of you in the rest of the country. It has been nice and warm mostly these last couple weeks and the calendar said it was spring last Monday. But yesterday some folks had snow in Furrginia (not us) and the rest of us had it really cold. Apparently the foolie even got the building mom works in because they have no heat today.

So I am announcing officially: SPRING you better stop with the foolie and give us the warm weather back right now, or ELSE!

Spring Is Here

The weather has been nice lately and I have been swimming several times already but the calendar says that the first day of Spring is really today. I think they might be right because mom is sneezing and there are all kinds of beautiful flowers blooming and colorful trees. It's a real nice change after all the brown!

Mom made a neat video for Spring for her work bloggie and I thought all my friends would like to see what spring is like in good old Furginia.

Oh and mom got the family's tickets for BarkWorld Expo, so we are all set.

Sample Sunday Yoda Style

Mom got a Kindle for Christmas and she really loves it. She already had an iPad and she read books on that but the Kindle is so much lighter and she can even download Kindle books on the iPad if she wants.

One of her friends at work clued her in to a great website called Pixel of Ink. This website features free or deeply discounted (like $1.99 or $.99) books for the Kindle. Mom and I get their blog delivered everyday and peruse the available books and download some.

Today we found out about a cool thing called Sample Sunday. Apparently it happens every Sunday and authors share samples of their work and we lucky book lovers get to find out about new books and authors. You can follow the hashtag #samplesunday an now Pixel of Ink has started a special Facebook page and an event for Sample Sunday.

So Sunday we are going to plunge into Sample Sunday and find some new books to read. I think that's going to be fun!

You don't have a Kindle? That's okay because there are free Kindle reading apps for most devices.

Petfinder's Adopt the Internet Day

In honor of Petfinder's Adopt the Internet Day, I am highlighting one of the way too many anipals that need a home.

It didn't take mom and me long to find a dog that reminded us of me. Bella doesn't look as much like me as some of my dopplegangers, but she had long legs and loves to kiss everyone. Well, and then there are those ears of hers. If that doesn't sound like me... Mom says the "learning how to behave" part reminds her of me too. Gee thanks mom.

Today is Petfinder's 15th birthday - 15 years and 17 million adoptions. And what do they want for their birthday? Just for us to spread the word about pet adoption so they can find even more dogs, cats, birds, rabbits .... forever homes. More than 320,000 pets are waiting for homes on Petfinder.com. Help Petfinder Adopt the Internet today and find forever homes for as many as possible!

Anipal Photo Hunt: Mardi Gras

I am so happy that the Anipal Photo Hunt is back because it compels mom to actually help me with a post. I don't have a Mardi Gras outfit per se but mom did remember that she had one pair of beads.

That's okay though because these are VERY SPECIAL beads. Yep, in case you couldn't see them good in the picture they are orange.

Do you still need another hint?

They are Shibbering Cheetos Lub Beads that mom brought home from Barkworld Expo for me. They are one of my prize possessions so mom took the beads right off and put them back in our special drawer.

Be sure to head over to my pal Cokie's blog to add your Anipal Photo Hunt picture blog link.

Check Out the Barkworld Expo Speakers!

The Barkworld Expo speakers are listed on their site now. Yep, that's my mom on that list! She's going to talk about advertising on Facebook in her session called "Making Every Bark Count: The Ins and Outs of Facebook Advertising."

Mom advertises for her job, Virginia State Parks, on lots of places but she says Facebook is the most fun because you know you are reaching the people that are interested in your product or service.

I know a lot of my pals are mad at Facebook because they don't like us animals to have profile pages. Mom got me legal by setting me up a page. They actually call me a Public Figure! Makes mom and I smile every time we see it.

But lots of the recent changes Facebook has made is brilliant for advertisers and if you come to BarkWorld Expo mom will tell you why. [Mom was getting worried here, thinking I was going to give away her secret right here on my bloggie like that talking dog on the Bush's Baked Beans commercial].

You have to come to Barkworld because you will get to meet me! I'm packing my bag already - this is the bag mom got last year as part of the Bark and Ride promotion from Doggie Baggage.