Merry Christmas to All!

Electric Blanket

Thoughtful, kind, patient, sweet, peaceful, blah, blah, blah... Yeah, that's Ziggy. Just look at him tolerating Natty! If Natty tried to share my food he'd be a RED, black and white cat!

Seriously Ziggy? Sleeping with the enemy? This goes too far.

Natty looks cute but, trust me, he is a vampire kitty. I don't know why all of the cats love Ziggy so much. Even the stray cats rub up against him. I mean, he's supposed to be MY electric blanket!

Two Shining Stars

Two new stars shine in the night sky.

They twinkle so brightly with memories of days gone by.

Jill (left) and Libby (right) were two beautiful doxies that lived with my mom's friend Judy. Libby was quite old at 15 and started to fail this past summer. She couldn't hear and her sight was gone. All summer long Jill stayed close by Libby acting as her eyes and ears. She watched out for the big sister she loved with her huge dachsund heart.
Last month Judy and her husband had to help Libby to the Rainbow Bridge. It was heartbreaking for them but they knew it was time. When they didn't come home with Libby, Jill stopped eating. Within 4 days Jill couldn't get up. The doctor tried to help Jill but 5 days after Libby left for the Bridge, Jill joined her. Needless to say, this has been very, very difficult for Judy and her husband. Though they were prepared to say farewell to Libby, Jills departure has left them heartbroken. Judy doesn't have a blog but I know all of you will join me in sending her our paws and tears of support. We know there are more doxies out there that need to be rescued and when Judy and her husband are ready some lucky doxie(s) will have a wonderful home waiting for them.

My Mom Messed Up!

During my mom's blog meltdown when she went on strike (against my wishes) she made us miss the Dogs With Blogs Holiday Card Exchange! I am sooooooooo upset! My mom is very upset too. We had so much fun last year sending and receiving cards that my mom almost cried when she found out it's too late to get on the list. So, please, if you would like to exchange cards with us, please drop us an email at PedroVotes@aol.com so that we can swap addresses! Thank you!!!

Lazy Sunday x 4

1.

2.

3.
4.

Can you say couch potatoes?

Sunday Snippets

It's been a rainy, wet week here on the coast of New York but the sun finally peeked through the clouds today. I took the opportunity to go outside with Ziggy and the cats - ALL the cats, including the strays that stop by our Stray Cat Soup Kitchen! First thing I saw when I went outside were two cats on the roof of the shop - Elvis and Tommy. Tommy booked pretty quickly but Elvis took a liesurely stroll down the roof before jumping off the edge! That is definitely not something a dawg could do! Tommy seems to be feeling much better. So much better in fact that shortly after these pictures were snapped he beat up poor Elvis! Don't worry, Mom ran into the neighbor's yard and rescued Elvis and brought him back for dinner. I was very busy smelling cat butts and, of course, marking everything, like the pool cover. So much to pee on, so little time! Here's a picture of Natty's mom - Pricilla (that's Natty's uncle Cowboy next to Pricilla). And Natty's dad Boots.Look how BIG Natty, the pest, is getting (see Gus & Louie - there is a pest in my dawg house too!) I hope you had as much fun on Sunday as I did!

This Is What Happens In College?

It's "Mountaineer Week" at Leah's college and yesterday she entered the pie-eating contest. Today she made the FRONT PAGE of The Daily Athenaeum (the school newspaper) with her face stuffed with pie! Chocolate cream pie to be exact. I think I want to go to college Mom!!!

We're Here

The floors are done, we've moved back in, Mom painted and then she and Dad promptly went away again! They said they needed one last get-away before the winter. Thankfully it was only for a long weekend and Jessie came and stayed with us. Unfortunately, my cat-brother Tommy has not been well at all. While Mom and Dad were gone he had to stay in the hospital. They did all kinds of tests on him to figure out what was wrong but it's a mystery. All his bloodwork came back as normal - no Leukemia or FIV, his red and white blood cells were normal, liver and kidneys fine. The VET thinks it's either Irritable Bowel Syndrome, cancer, or a virus. His usual portly physique has been replaced with a new bony thinness that doesn't feel healthy at all. He's on Flagyll, Amoxicillin and Prednesone. Mom thought he was doing better but he cat-yacked this morning. Keep your paws crossed for Tom-Tom! He's the cat that asks for nothing. He's sweet and lovable and drools when you pet him and we sure don't like seeing him under the weather.

My World is Upside Down!

I don't know what's going on. I'm confused, disoriented, scared and depressed. Everything in my dawg house has been moved around. At first it was kind of fun - lots of open space to run around in. The openness made my bark seem louder and more ferocious than usual. The kitten found dust bunnies to chase and was in his glory. Then it happened... Monday night the hallway got crammed with furniture and Mom had to squeeze us in to Leah's room. I heard Dad say he was going to sleep in the trailer. Trailer? We don't have a trailer. What is a trailer anyway??? Tuesday morning my Mom got up, hurried to get ready for work then put Libby and Natty in the trailer. Libby HATED it! She tried to escape but Mom kept putting her back. The trailer was creepy because Mom covered everything in it with comforters. I wondered why and she said her friend Kathy leant us the trailer to live in while our floors are being refinished and she didn't want us to damage anything so she covered it all. Now, why would she think WE would damage anything??? Hmpf! After locking up the cats (BTW - Tommy has decided to be an outside cat since Natty came live with us so his life has gone on without interruption), Mom loaded Ziggy and me in the car and off we went to her job.I don't like going to work. I don't know why my mom has to spend so much time at work but, as she's reminded me soooo many times, it's so she can buy us nice things, like food. Work is very stressful for me. So many people to bark at and bite. Ziggy doesn't mind because he actually likes people outside of our family. Mom's boss makes me a little nervous too because there is this weird, crazy energy coming off of him that put's me on edge. Wednesday when we came home the house STUNK so we all had to sleep in the trailer that night. Thursday the smell didn't seem as bad. Mom couldn't take it though so she tip-toed over the floor to Leah's room, bringing Tommy with her, and they slept with the windows wide open in 40 degree weather all night. Tonight Dad says he's going to his parents' to sleep with Ziggy. Me and the cats will be camping again with Mom. I'm tired, Ziggy is completely exhausted, Libby is beside herself and Mom has a permanent headache from the fumes. No pictures of the chaos but we'll post some pictures of the floor when it's done - this picture was taken after the stain was applied. Sorry we haven't visited anyone this week. Once our house is in order we'll be by to say hello!

S'More WVU

Last weekend was Parents' Weekend at West Virginia University. Mom wasn't planning on going but she and Leah decided they needed to spend some quality mother-daughter time together (note I did not say mother-daughter-Pedro time together). Rather than staying in Morgantown and doing the pre-planned Parents' Weekend things, they decided to do a little camping (via a camping cabin). The drive there was difficult with traffic and multiple accidents along the way but Mom made it to the campground around 9:00 PM, checked in and dropped off her stuff then headed to Morgantown (23 miles further away) to pick up Leah. The cabin was cozy and they slept in on Saturday (that means 8:00 for Mom and 10:30 for Leah!) They decided to do things they hadn't done before so after exploring the campground and surrounding area they went to Coopers Rock State Park. The views were beautiful and the Monongahela River sparkled in the valley below - great Christmas Card photo ops! They didn't exactly rough it with the food because Mom didn't want to pack all the things necessary to cook so they ate out. The only thing she made sure to bring was coffee! After a delicious dinner at Texas Roadhouse they headed back to the campground for dessert. S'Mores! This is a Leah favorite after so many years of summer camp (Camp Ma-He-Tu).They gathered some fire wood, stoked up a cozy fire and started roasting marshmallows. The pictures sure look yummy!Sunday came too quickly. After a $200+ grocery shopping trip Mom hit the road, taking a different route home. Even with a little traffic in Pennsylvania and by the George Washington Bridge (is there EVER not traffic there???) she made it home in 7 1/2 hours - not bad at all. Camping was fun but a little creepy since they were literally the only 2 people in the campground. Mom said she'd stay there again but maybe during a time when more people are around.

Trying Times!

Mom! He won't leave me alone!!!

Natty Do

So mom broke out the new camera this weekend and took tons of pictures of that bratty little kitten in my dawg house - Natty. There are no pictures of me with him, mainly because I don't really like the little bugger all that much. He is kind of fun to chase around and tackle but there will be NO snuggling with me! Ziggy and Libby tolerate the brat much better than I do. Tommy, on the other hand, absolutely hates him and won't even come in the house any more - he insists on dining alfresco! Natty has GROWN like a weed (but I'm still bigger, for now...)!

New Camera!

My mom finally got a new camera today. It wasn't the camera she planned on buying but that's ok because it was FREE!!! Yes FREE!!! Mom had to go to a trade show for work and they gave her some raffle tickets when she got there and she won! No new pictures yet because the battery is charging but I imagine I will be tortured with many photo sessions very soon...

Where are my Friends?

My mom has been busy and we haven't been able to post much or visit my friends. When we do visit we usually go through Blogger and see who has updated their blogs and head on over to say hello that way. Well, it's been so long that my mom decided it would be best to start at the top of our Doggone Good Blogs list and work our way down to the bottom, stopping to see everyone along the way. Much to our surprise we found a couple of our friends blogs had been cancelled, deleted, removed, erased, kaphut! Oh no! What happened? Where did they go? I'm so worried.

Does anybody know about Mandy & Tuffy

or Joey & Zeke? Please, please, please let me know!

It's All in a Name - Pedro

Names are very important. They define who we are. Our name becomes our label, our headline, our identity. How many times have you heard, "I could never name my child so-and-so because I knew someone with that name and I didn't like him/her"? In my dawg house, my mom is the official name giver. She prefers human names but doesn't necessarily always stick to that rule. When it came time to name me, my mom wanted an authentic name that would pay tribute to the Mexican origin of my breed, Chihuahua. She once met a chihuahua named Peelow, but she didn't think that was dignified enough for me. She tossed around Paco and Pablo but finally settled on Pedro. A strong plus for the name Pedro was, of course, the character from Napolean Dynamite. That movie cracks my mom up every time she watches it. The clincher for the name, however, were all the fond memories my mom had of going camping for Spring vacation each year with her parents in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Along the way, for what seemed like hundreds of miles, they would pass signs for South of the Border. Any of you who live on the East Coast of the U.S. and have driven on I-95 South through North Carolina or North through Georgia and South Carolina are very familiar with these signs. By the time they'd pass the 20th sign, my mom would be begging her parents to stop at the tourist attraction (or tourist trap as her father would call it). The funny thing is, the signs were always more fun than the actual place. It seemed that every time they'd stop there half the stores would be closed and never once was the amusement park open. To this day, whenever my mom drives South she stops there and to this day she has never seen that amusement park open! None-the-less, South of the Border and Pedro's signs hold special memories for my mom and so the name Pedro became mine. I do have a BUNCH of nicknames (which are not at all dignified) including PeeDee, PeePee and Little Boy. What was the point of giving me a dignified name attached to such fond memories if they were only going to call me by such demonstrative and highly unflattering nicknames? I don't get humans... but I do love mine :P

UPDATE: My cousin, Coco the Princess, has suggested that I start a Tag for my friends to tell how they got their names. I think this is a great idea and so I officially tag Coco to tell her "It's All in a Name" story!