Snow Ball Catch!

A dear friend of mine has two lovely Great Danes...Annie, is the tan & white female and Mojo is the blue merle male. They had fun in the snow we got recently:

 

 

More Playing in the Snow

The snow didn't melt much today...temps never got above freezing I don't think. But there were enough people out that the roads were (barely) passable...LoML knew I desperately wanted to smooch Solana so he took me over there in his 4-wheel-drive. Took this first shot at my parents':

 Solana coming up to greet us:

 She doesn't get to see her "daddy" as much as she does me and enjoyed snuffling him:

Leon - the Snowpocalypse...

...and other random observations. So, I don't know when we started naming snow storms. Seriously. It's weird. And who decided this one should be "Leon"???

 It's pretty rare for us to get snow here in eastern NC...this system put down about 1-1.5 inches of snow down on top of about 1.5-2 inches of packed ice. Pretty treacherous. Needless to say, there's nothing important enough for me to risk life and limb by going out on the roads. It's nice to have a few snow days...

The only kind of cat that should be out in this weather

 Fortunately, Solana is well cared-for even when I can't get out there.

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Had a productive day today internet-wise...updated The Orange Menace and also set up The Orange Menace Facebook page. Go check 'em out.

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Also found this...a clip from this coming-up Superbowl's Budweiser commercial. Already I declare it to be THE. BEST. COMMERCIAL. EVER. REALLY. See for youself:

 



Just a Thought..

and God made a dog...

Tijuana Flats

So, LoML and I have this regular trip we do to Raleigh, NC to see friends. We usually go every January...sometimes other times of year too. That's when we stay at one of the Hilton's there and Gwyn gets to go do her greyhound ambassador duties :D A year or so ago we discovered Tijuana Flats. It's a fabulous tex-mex restaurant, and it's become a must-do on our list of places to eat while there. The link takes you to their "about" page...the story behind the restaurant is pretty interesting to me.

Just one of the many murals in there...it's a feast for the eyes as well as the tummy!

 They're famous (?) for their sauces...there's a whole hot sauce bar. They rate each sauce with various smiley (or not-so-smiley) faces to let you know how spicy a particular sauce is. I don't tend to use any sauces...I like my food just with LOTS of guac' and usually some pico de gallo sauce. But I had to take a picture of this sauce:

Yes, it's called what you think it's called! I edited the photo to protect the more delicate sensibilities in the audience. I had to take this for my friend, whose name is Sally :D Love ya'!!!! We'll take you there next time you're out this way...and if that's not incentive, I don't know what is!

Travel Dog

So, it's been wildly busy and I'll have to catch up with you soon...we took a long-weekend trip last weekend and Gwyn got to go and stay at her favorite Hilton...a place she's convinced exists solely to server her and allow people to gather to admire her (and why wouldn't she think this?).

She and I took a quick side-trip to Greyhound Friends of North Carolina to drop off some supplies. Thought this was a fun shot:

These extra muzzles hang on the fence in the entrance-way so everyone can be muzzled for fun get-togethers! This is a straight-out-of-the-camera shot...may have to play around with some editing tools and create fun effects.

Diva Dog

For Mom

I was over at Mom & Dad's the other night and broke out the new cube for kicks & giggles. Truthfully, I didn't expect Trouble to be interested. He's older and I thought he'd be much too "mature" to be interested. I expected Princess to want to claim it, as well as the older one...that's getting a little smushed.

 Then, next thing I know, this is what happened:

 He was pretty smug about it too!

Do you see what happened?! But...but...I wanted to play in it!

Then I managed to engage them in play with their feather...

 Which was fun. But Trouble still wasn't giving up the cube! He was still in it when I left :D

(Apologies to Polly for yet another cat post. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't even look at me if I visited her now! But I promise that Gwyn will be sharing some new adventures soon!)

Video Wednesday

Have always loved Enya's music, and the scenery in this video is spectatcular!

 Have you seen Simon's cat yet? These little videos are hysterical.

More Random Thoughts

Gwyn on homeland security detail...a hound's job is never done!...Was that a squirrel?!?

The greatest little slipper socks my SIL gave me :D



*P.S.*
Disclaimer: I neglected to put on yesterday's post that I did *not* take that picture...I actually copied it off of a facebook post. Just really liked the sentiment. I need to be reminded on a daily basis that it's not up to me to be in charge of everything!!!

Relax

More 'Splodin

It's true. I really do need to work more on my dog pix and start putting some of these cat pix up on The Orange Menace site (so much to do, so little time)...but having said that, I wanted to post something and then need to go spend time with the hound, so I'm posting something I already had almost ready to go....it's more of "the normal business" around here....this happens Every. Day. It's almost more than a hooman can bear!

Note Spike's tongue out!

These next ones are not as high-quality shots 'coz I took them in low light on my cell phone and had to really edit them to make them visible...but we got new recliners recently and one day recently (weekend or holiday) I'd been cleaning up in the back of the house and come out to find LoML asleep in "my chair" in front of the tv....as his chair was already taken:

Cool Stuff

While I posted pix of two of these on the side bar, I thought I'd explain a bit about each...and show you another cool thing. First my new magnet on the car:

It's a good way to remind me about my attitude (which can use frequent adjusting!). I may be barking less these days, but I've been guilty of a bit of growling. Hmmmm.

The next is a gift I managed to surprise LoML with at Christmas. I found it at Mum Fest, a local craft-type street fair held each October in New Bern, NC. The top of it is solar so that it does actually light up at night.

And then this:

This is an extreme close-up...it's a glass necklace sent to me for Christmas by my very dear friend...it's been around my neck every day since I got it and I treasure it!

Life's Tough

Sorry Polly...but thought the world needed to know how rough the cats have it around here:

Me & My Shadow 2014

Miscellaneous Natterings

Random pix and observations...
Not trick photography...Spike is almost as big as Willow.

Quick! Turn your head - she grabbed her camera!

It's a great box!

These are part of my childhood Christmases. Mom still gets them out and sets them up every year :D Rudolph turned 50 this year and Santa is a spry 49. Not sure if the Christmas tree would feel complete without them.

Mom & Dad's big boy, Trouble. For those not up-to-speed, he spent the first few weeks of life under and around our deck. His mom belonged to our next-door neighbor.

Mom & Dad's other cat. She has multiple names...depending on who you ask! Her main name is Princess. She looks sweet here, doesn't she? She was originally fostered by the same wonderful vet friend who rescued Xander and Spike! They share a lot of personality traits :D

This coffee mug was one of our Christmas presents. The Jean Dale is a fishing vessel that was owned and worked by LoML's grandfather. After he passed away the family donated the boat to the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum where it was restored and placed on display.

This picture is typical of recent events in our household. If you look closely, you'll see a black boot string on the floor in between Xander's tail and his back foot. He's obsessed with strings. That's all he wants to play with these days. We have multiple strings throughout the house. If somebody's not actively playing string with him, Xander will flop down on or beside a string and try to psych someone into playing. As I type this, he's fallen asleep on top of one.

Before Polly starts fussing too much, allow me to return to the star of the blog:

No matter what the kitties are doing, Gwyn's generally nearby, keeping an eye on them.