Dear Santa...

Dear Santa,

I've been good. Really I have. OK, so maybe not "good," but you know I've really tried.

Now, no matter what my Mom tells you, I have NOT been messing with the Christmas presents under our Christmas tree.

She claims I've been barking at the presents, rolling on the presents, walking on 'em, and even wiping my eye boogies on them.  How dare she blame me for all of that, especially when she knows you're watching!

Um. Nevermind, Santa. I've really tried to be good, though, and I haven't unwrapped any of those presents (yet). Does that still count as "good"?  I'd really like some Greenies for Christmas. And bully sticks. And toys...

Thanks!
Buttons
     

Not My Fault

This year Mom put her M&M men beside the Christmas tree. (Ignore the bicycle in this picture...)
 

Somehow, the Red guy fell over into the Christmas tree and knocked some ornaments off.

I have NO idea who might have done this.

Seriously. No idea.

OK, so maybe I might have a little bit of an idea of how that happened...

Don't tell Santa.
 

Seeing Santa

I got to see the Big Man the other day.

I told him I wanted toys, of course, and Greenies and toys and bully sticks and toys and cookies.  Oh, and toys.
 
Santa asked me if I'd been good. I changed the subject...
 

My Underground Lair

Mom disturbed the privacy of my underground lair with her stupid camera.

And by "underground lair," I mean my hidey spot under Mom's bed where I like to hide my toys and shred Mom's old mail.

That's exactly what I was doing when she stuck the camera down there and took this shot of my hiney.

I have to put up with so much...
   

Monkey Business

It was rainy and icky on Halloween, so Mom didn't take me trick-or-treating. She did make me wear my costume for a trial run, though.

This year I was a monkey.

The hood on the costume sorta gave me an instant eye lift. But, on the plus side, the costume came with a squeaky banana! That was FUN. Well, except for when Mom forced me to stop playing so she could take a picture...

Luckily for me, Mom's camera died at that point. So, she plugged it in to charge. When she did that, I started rolling on my squeaky banana and managed to roll myself completely out of my monkey costume!  Then, I attacked it and plucked that monkey fur like crazy.

Mom pulled the camera off of the charger and got this pic...then the camera died again.  He he he.

So on Friday I had another appointment at the vet. The vet wanted to see me again to see if my skin infection and allergies were better yet. Mom decided that I should be a monkey at the vet's office, so I went in costume.

It took five weeks of antibiotics and a month of steroids, but I beat that stupid infection! The vet said I was finally all better. In fact, she said that she'd never seen my skin looking so good! And of course the vet and all of the techs oohed and aahed over my costume. They even took pictures!

Then after a nasty shot in my hiney (I was overdue for something-or-other), we were back in the car to head home. When we got home, Mom made me a monkey yet again...

And then we were off to trick-or-treat at our favorite neighbor's house!

The hood didn't stay up long. I hated that thing.

Trick or treat!!!

When I went inside I checked out the goods. The blanket, "Princess" bowl of water, blue bowl of milkbones, and the bully sticks -- those are normally out for me. (My neighbor ROCKS.)

On this visit, though, my neighbor had a sack of toys out special for this trick-or-treating monkey!  I rolled on it. Just rolled and rolled on the entire sack.

I played for a little bit, then I announced to both Mom and my neighbor that I was DONE with the monkey costume.

I was sure a hit with the people at the vet's office and with the neighbor. Glad Halloween is over, though...enough of that monkey business!
 

The Shredder

The weather is getting colder, so my allergies aren't as bad as they usually are. And my skin infection is all better now, too. You know what that means? MISCHIEF!

When I'm feeling good, there's no telling what I'll get myself into.  Here's my latest accomplishment:

I took a sack or two of old mail...pulled it under Mom's bed...and shredded it!  Then, piece by piece, I pulled it out from under the bed and spread it around.  All while Mom was asleep in her bed, of course.

I pulled some toys into the mix, too, and played with them. Then had to take a nap, of course.

Trying my best to look innocent when confronted by the mess...

Apparently Mom was on to my shenanigans and tried to get video of me in action. Lucky for me, it was too dark under the bed for her camera to work on video! I stopped my shredding when I saw the camera appear, too. She caught some good snorts on video, though...



Failed attempt to photograph me shredding stuff under the bed...

Aerial view of me emerging from my shredding location...

I'm quite detail-oriented in my shredding, too.  See how tiny I can get those scraps?

Plastic sacks are no match for my abilities, either.

Magazines... I'm an equal opportunity shredder.

All sorts of mail!  Nothing can withstand Shredder Buttons!

Mom's trying to figure out how to clean up the rest of the scraps of paper from way, way under the bed.

Things are sure fun when I'm feeling ornery!
 

Blessed Again

This weekend, Mom and our neighbor and I all went to another church for another pet blessing. Mom says that I can't be too blessed, considering my cancer scare this summer.

Mom sat in a chair at this service, so I took my usual spot under Mom's seat.

Here's the pastor getting ready to start the service.

The church had strategically-placed water bowls and garbage cans. Very cool.

Here's the official program and song sheet.

During the start of the program I ventured out from under Mom's chair to get some loving from our neighbor. She's my buddy.

This church even brought a keyboard outside to play music during the service. Very cool!

I looked at the music, but decided not to sing along.

Then it was time for the blessings! The pastor went to each animal (all dogs this time except for three bunny rabbits) and talked to the owner about the pet, then he said a special prayer. Here he is in the suit jacket, blessing the bunnies.

These two big lab dogs were having FUN. They kept playing and playing. The lab on the left was just diagnosed with hearing loss. The lab on the right chewed through her leash right before the pastor came to bless her. So funny!

Then it was my turn!

After my blessing, I hung out beside my neighbor again and watched the rest of the festivities.

And when the service was over, I started rolling in the grass. That was a blast. I needed to get some good stinks on me again since Mom made me take a bath the day before.

Then we were off to the car to head home!

It's good to be blessed. Mom says that's the last service that she knows about, so we're probably done hitting the blessing services now.

 

Vet Visits and Blessings

I had to go back to the vet on Friday. It was a "recheck," but Mom knew my skin infection wasn't better yet.

The vet said Mom was right. Since the antibiotic upset my tummy so much, the vet gave me a new one instead. And she said to give me pepcid for my tummy. AND I need steroids now, too, to get better. Mom was counting down until we were done with those antibiotic pills...but now we have MORE pills for me to take instead of less! Yuck.

The vet also said I needed ointment for my ears since they're working on being on infected. And I got a yeast issue in my paw, so I need cream for that.

Mom says I'm just a hot little mess.

So when Mom and our neighbor were driving around yesterday, they saw this sign:

And they decided that I needed to get blessed. Now, Mom goes to a Methodist church and our neighbor goes to an Orthodox church. Pretty funny that they decided to take me to a Lutheran church for a blessing, huh?

A LOT of dogs were there to be blessed, though.

And some kitties. And a rabbit. And a gecko. And even a beta fish!

I pretty-much ignored everybody. That's how I roll.

Here's the pastor, starting the blessings.

My turn!

Mom asked for extra prayers and blessings for my health issues.

Here's us after my blessing! (Exposed belly = so embarrassing!)

After the blessing, I was pretty excited to go home. We got in our neighbor's car and I decided to drive.

She was knocking on the door, but I didn't unlock it for her.

I finally relented, of course. And when we got home, I played with my frog for a bit.

And then I actually ate a lot of my supper -- more than I have been eating.

Now, I should probably point out that I haven't eaten much lately, nor have I played much. So Mom says it's surprising that I did both of those things tonight. Was it the blessing or maybe the new meds?  Who knows. Mom says it doesn't matter what, just as long as I'm heading in the right direction now.

But I'm still embarrassed about that nekkid belly picture...