Happy Birthday to ME!!!!

Today is my ninth birthday!!!

And guess what you do when you turn nine?

You PAWTY!!!

Maybe a little less icing next year?????????

Preparations - Part 1

Well, preparations for my Vision Quest have not gone as I had planned. I think it's because I asked The Mom to join me........

First. We had to pack. EVERYTHING. Hey, I'm just saying that all I need is a couple of bowls and a leash. But no. We had to pack the camera - which isn't working. And the iPod - which needs to be charged. Oh, and I guess we're going to take the laptop - how else will you follow along with us? And of course, her stuff. Those clothing thingys humans wear. I wear the same collar, day in and day out. And she puts I don't know how much stuff in the car to take. Sigh. Getting her to pack, and unpack, and pack, and unpack and well, you get the idea pups.

So while she was doing all of this, I figured I'd catch up with you all !!! First, we're way, way overdue to acknowledge some awards!

Our good friends The OP Pack bestowed upon us this special blogging friends award!

Thank you to Dakota, Thunder and Phantom! Thanks to your mom too!

Now, we're supposed to pass this award along to five other bloggers. Four of them should be dedicated followers of the blog, and one should be a brand new blogger. So, I'd like to give this to Ari, to the Key West Collies, the Kapp Pack, and the Brat Pack. You guys visit me a lot, and I want each of you to know how much I appreciate you, my blogging buddies! For my new friend, I'd like to give this to Dozer and Cooper. They have been blogging for about a year, and I just want them to know how much I enjoy their escapades!

And, a while back, Khyra and her mom gave this one to all the SMS gang:

You guys are the kind one's for thinking of us! And you can bet we'll be checking your blog out when it's time to load the iPod!!!

I also spent time reading Meeshka's 100 Posts! Maybe just a bit too much time, because I got so fed up with waiting for The Mom to get moving that I might have ranted a wee bit too much...... but, I did win a great DVD. I didn't get to post my huzzy picture - the camera isn't quite working now - but did you see my hunk o' husky Chili? Now, that's a STUDMUFFIN!! Woo! Woo!

Mom, did we pack the portable DVD player????

Vision Quest

There's just times where a girl has to do what a girl has to do.

I'm hearing all about the human kids, going back to work and moving and blah, blah, blah. Well, I'm still here. And there's something missing. Something I feel like I have to do or be. So I pawed around the 'net, checking things out, trying to find answers to that great mystery of Siberian life............ who I am and what I'm supposed to do now that the human kids are gone? There has to be more to it than chasing Bandit off the best part of the sofa.

I've been doing some research on Alaska. You know, checking out the snowfall, looking at pictures, trying to decide if one more Siberian would fit. As part of that research, I read some details on the Inuit people of Canada and Alaska. (I know. Wikipedia. Hey, this is not for little pups, it's for us adult dogs.) Did you know that it's common practice for the Inuit young adult to go on a personal quest to find out who they are and what they are meant to do? So I thought "Hey, I'm on that quest, and maybe I need to do this". So I've decided to go on a vision quest, to determine what I should do next.

Now, I know I should go alone. But, I don't want The Mom to worry about me, so I'm thinking she should go along. Not to mention, I believe that it's a long, long walk from here to Alaska and quite frankly, The Mom has the little card that says she's ok to drive and I do not. So, we're going to be preparing Big Red for the trip and making plans. Stay tuned for details!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Woo is me!

For many days now, our computer has been, well, all gunked up. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't!
So, today, The Mom came home with a bag.
I wish it was new computer, but it was just some 'memory' for the old one!!! I don't know why it needed memory, but she took it apart - I watched - and put it back together, and now I can at least get on Blogger! I've missed keeping up with everyone.

So, for the moment at least, we're up and wooing!

Christmas in July

The Mom and I decided it would be fun to join in the Christmas in July celebration with some fellow SMS members..... I could tell you about it, but I'd rather show you!

"Hurry Mom! We got a package! From the OP Pack!"

"Hmmmm. Smells like Thunder, Dakota and Phantom. And something else.........."

"I got this one Mom, you open something else!"

"It's a Cuz!! My first GOOD Cuz! I knew I was a good girl!"

"Come on Bandit, there's another one to open!"

"We got a Wubba, we got a wubba!!"

The Mom opened this package! A book about Alaska! Oh I can't wait to curl up and read it!!

We had a really fun time opening all the presents! Then, a couple of days later, another box arrived!!!! The OP Pack sent us some cookies from Maya Marie, Bella and Missy's Mom ! Let me tell you, those cookies were heavenly, just heavenly. I highly recommend the Salmon and Cheddar ones! I wish we had pictures, but we ATE them before The Mom thought to get the camera out!!

Thank you very much OP Pack, and thanks to your Mom too!

"He was heard to exclaim as he mushed out of sight, Merry Christmas to all Huskies and to all Huskies good night!"

Late night post

Well, it's not that late. But later than we usually post. We were just sitting here, reading a few blogs, catching up on things and went to visit our friends Phantom, Dakota and Thunder of the OP Pack.


Imagine our surprise when we saw that they had given us an award! The OP Pack thinks I'm a Cool Cat!

Thank you OP Pack! I think you and your Mom are pretty cool too! I'm not sure yet who I want to pass this along to, but I'll have something soon.

If you haven't done so, make sure you visit the Kapp Pack and Steve, Kat and Wilbur. The Kapp Pack will be blogging for MaPaw Siberian Husky Rescue, and Steve, Kat and Wilbur are blogging for Save our Siberians! Both support Huskies in need, and let me tell you both groups need your money! Please give what you can, and please remember that they would all love to hear from you at 3 o'clock in the morning!

Saturday afternoon snacks on the deck

If you were here with me today, you would have snacked on this delectable little sea creature:

Very tasty! Please note that I was NOT allowed to eat the outside of this sweet little Maryland Blue Crab, I was nibbling off a HUGE chunk of claw meat that The Mom picked especially for me!

Hurry over, there's a few crabs and cold ones left!

Wordless Wednesday

The long delayed Book Meme game!

We won't be honoring Wordless Wednesday this week, I'm still trying to catch up!

OK. About a hundred naps ago, possibly more, the Key West Collies tagged me to play the Book Meme. Essex and Deacon, I apologize for the really long, long, long delay in responding!

Here's the rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

So, we picked one of our all time favorites - A Pirate Looks at Fifty by Jimmy Buffett. Now, I know the rules say to pick the nearest book, but I had a whole shelf of books near, and this seemed to be the most fitting. Besides, it's falling apart it's been read so much!

"It has been nearly ten years since I spent the day alone in the cockpit of the beat-up Albatross on Grand Turk, but here I am about to climb aboard my own Albatross. I step back from the nose gear, look up at the giant amphibian, and pat her on the nose like one of my dogs. I am deep into some meaningful thought about yin and yang and things coming full circle when Cameron pops his head out of the window above me and shouts 'Dad, it's time to go.'."

Sigh. Makes you want to just get up and go somewhere, doesn't it? And this is one of the reasons we've read this one LOTS of times. Travel is really big here, The Mom and I really like to explore and have new adventures.

I think everyone has played now, and I'm not going to tag five specific bloggers, I'm going to invite all of you who read to play if you haven't and keep on reading!

I think our next post will be about the new item we purchased for Big Red!!!

Read of the Week!

So, it's been a while. Someday, I may post about why it's been a while, but for now............



It's time for my Read of the Week!



I've got a great one this week. Particularly if you are, like me, a mid-Atlantic dog. Now, that means that you live in this general area. Maryland - like me and Indy. Or Delaware - I don't know that I've ever read a blog from a dog in Delaware! Hey, a new thing to try, where are you Delaware dogs? Or Virginia. Seems to me that I've read about a Virginia dog......... hmmmm...... If I could just remember........ oh well, you get the idea.

This weeks read is for ALL of you pups out there, and your owners! If you are ever in this area, might I suggest that you bring along............



Doggin' Maryland by Doug Gelbert (Illustrations by Andrew Chesworth)



This book is choc full of great places to take your humans! 100, yes 100, places to take your dog in the state of Maryland. It lists TONS of places. Some of them, in fact, the #1 place to hike with your dog, are just a few minutes from me! Catoctin Mountain Park!!! Oh, and I've been there!!! There's short trails, for those times where you just want a bit of a walk. And long trails, for a day long hike. Oh, and so much to sniff and see! Really, you must visit!



Also in the top 10 is one of The Mom's very favorite places in the world, Swallow Falls State Park! I've never been there, although I should have tagged along the last time that The Mom and Momma B went. They did take this great picture though - check it out!



This book ranks the best parks in the state. It tells you all about beach regulations for humans. It tells you how to outfit your human for hikes, and even gives you some beginner hikes. You know, those for smaller pups or humans who haven't hiked in a while.

And, this guy wrote a few more books about the best places to hike with your dog too! You must check out Amazon. com and see if there's a place close to you!

You know what? I'm so excited about this book that we're packing it up and going to go hiking!
Come on!!!

Wordless Wednesday

I'm baaaacccckkkkk................

And ready to do a Read of the Week! School's done for now, and that work stuff got settled and The Mom and I did what we do best and have been curling up with some cool books.
For now though, I'll put my thoughts on those books aside.

It's an important weekend. It's the first weekend of summer! Memorial Day weekend. Cook out weekend! (We dined on grilled Haddock here!) But more importantly, tomorrow is Memorial Day. It's the day to honor our men and women who have served our United States military groups. You know, those people who keep us safe and who make sure that our right to have fish is protected. So I got to thinking, and I thought:

Who better to honor as the Read of the Week then our very own 'Army'? I'm a trooper, and I'll bet you are a trooper too! I wait for the Supreme Commander to bark out orders! I listen when the Drill Sgt woos! And I fall in line when the other two members of this pack share their worldly wisdom! Yup, you guessed it, this weeks Read of the Week is a blog by these four Siberian Huskies, the leaders in our Siberian support of the troops! This weeks Read of the Week is:

Army of Four Digest - Stormy, Amber, Zim and Dave!

The Mom and I were particularly touched when we read today's blog entry by the Army of Four. Their Sunday Salute honored all of the military persons in the United States. It's important for us all to remember how much these people give so we can have fish! Go on over, and give them a read! If you are one of their many regular readers, stop by and comment to let them know that you support our troops (both biped and Husky!).

Happy Mother's Day

To all The Moms everywhere, an open wish from Dakota:

May all of The Moms enjoy this special centennial celebration of Mother's Day. There is nothing more special in the world than a Mom, and nothing better than giving kisses to the person that you know as Mom!

To my Chili's Mom, I'm sending you some special Husky hugs and kisses! Can you share them with my red hot hunk o' Husky?

To all of the SMS Moms and the Moms from Dogs With Blogs - a very special Husky hug from me and Lab lick from Bandit!

WE LOVE OUR MOMS!!!!

The working dog

Boy, oh boy! Who knew nursing would be this hard? You gotta help with fixing meals, you gotta help with making the bed. You have to stay out of the way, that walker thing HURTS! (I should know, my fluffy tail is a bit less fluffy...), pick up your toys. But.......
Momma B is better! She's walking now, less with the walker and more with a cane. Um, the cane thing isn't much better than the walker in terms of getting out of it's way, but it is much nicer than the walker. It's purple and black!
To all the pups that suggested livergreat would be good for Momma B - you were right! She had to have something called iron pills, and it turns out that livergreat is a good source of that iron stuff. I shared as much of mine as I could.
Things will be busy for a few more weeks, while The Mom finishes her classes for this semester. And she is trying to get a new job so she can buy us more yummies! At least I would think that's the motivation for the new job.
So, we haven't been reading much........... which I don't like, because I feel like I am way behind on my Read of the Week. Stay tuned, I promise we will have one out to you soon!

A quick post

To let everyone know that the new knee has been attached to Momma Bev. She is at some special vets that doesn't allow DOGS!!!!!!!!! I'm not sure about this, but The Mom says everything is fine, and she is doing well.
Bandit is sad his momma isn't here, but he ate livergreat this morning, and was better after that.

Do you think livergreat would make Momma Bev feel better?

I will post more, pics as promised and answer some questions as soon as I can.

A very late Read of the Week

Hello everypuppy!
I'm sorry we haven't been around much the past few weeks. The Mom could explain it better, but it has to do with work and school and Momma Bev getting a new knee. They keep running around here moving stuff, and then leaving us and coming home smelling all clean and funky. Ugh. They told us this morning that Momma Bev would be gone for a few days, then she would come back and we had to be really, really careful around her. No ball, no stuffies, no nothing!!!! I don't know what this new knee stuff is, but I can tell you that I don't like it one bit.

So, with all this going on, The Mom has been S-T-R-E-S-S-E-D. I thought I'd pick out a funny book for us to read this week, and sure enough, we laughed and we licked our chops when we read some of the recipes. Magdalina Yoder is the proprietress of the Penn Dutch Inn, an Amish Bed and Breakfast in fictional Hernia, Pennsylvania (by woo Khyra!!!). Magdalina is quite different, she's Amish at heart, but a totally now lady everywhere else. Now, I didn't really break my rules here......... there is a dog in the story line, but, well, the dog has an unusual home....... he lives in his Mom's, well, lets see, overtheshoulderboulderholder. Must be one small dog! They don't ever give his name!!! The poor thing gets wrapped in yards and yards of fabric - probably NOT picked out by Dave, Guide Dog For The Color Blind, and barks every now and then to let them know he's there. Not much dog in this book, but some good sounding recipes - all appeared to be possibly dog safe, thank Dogness! - and lots of laughs.
If you like cozy mysteries, food, and a funny mystery to solve, try:

Custard's Last Stand - by Tamar Myers

Our read of the week!

Now they are filling out forms in the kitchen. Sigh. I sure wish they were cooking in the kitchen. I'm going to go curl up with a warm dinner and a good book!

PS - Bandit got CAKE on his birthday! And we got a package from the Ao4 ! Next post, pictures, I promise!

Proposal

I don't know what the humans do at 'work', but I don't like it. I've barely seen The Mom for two weeks. She had the laptop off and the door closed!!! How am I supposed to blog? How am I supposed to keep up with my friends?!
And more important, how am I supposed to know if he said YES??????

See, I've been single a long time. Oh, it's not a bad life, travel, playing with The Mom, foot loose and fancy free. And I do have a big brother, Bandit, so it's not like I lack canine company. But I wanted more. You know, someone special to share those tropical nights with, walking paw in paw on the sand under the stars. So I answered a personal ad. And I waited. Just when I thought that I'd be single forever, spending my days walking on the beach looking for delectable delights on my own..........

Chili offered his paw in puppy love!!!!!

I had barely dared to hope! So handsome! So cuddly! And did you see that picture? He's already in the sand waiting for me! My very own red hot hunk of Husky!

Chili, my honey, let me just say this.............

YES, YES, YES, YES, YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I accept your paw in puppy love! Don't you worry in the least about that diet thing. I think you are fabulous the way you are! We can take those long walks together, and I can live without Pina Coladas. We'll just switch to Cruzan and diet! You are OK with walking in the rain though, right?

Read of the Week

Well, I apologize for being late. Between being Bandit's nursemaid, and keeping The Mom from having a nervous breakdown about work, I couldn't get to the computer!
Which is a shame, because the Iditarod started!!!!!

Yup, you guessed it. This week's Read of the Week is THREE websites we go to to see and hear things about the Iditarod. I'm not going to go in to the history of 'The Last Great Race', I'm going to jump right in and show you how we're following.

Of course, the best coverage is the official website, Iditarod.com. This covers the Mushers. The dogs. Hey, I think I even saw that a HUSKY has his own official blog on this site!

We also like to visit the site for North Wapiti Kennels. Did you know that these folks run an ALL Siberian Husky team at the Iditarod? Yup! It's the home of 'Pretty Sled Dogs'. Nothing but Huskies! The Musher, Karen Ramstead, is a veteran of many Iditarod races and is a very nice lady. The Mom got to hear her speak a few months ago - she was funny and honest about the race and some of the challenges she faced in the past.

For the past few years, we've also followed a blog, Zoya's Kennel Journal. These folks rescue dogs, and have a kennel (and a sled dog team!) that features rescued dogs! 2008 is Zoya's rookie year, and we've been following her thoughts and challenges.

Race on over to these web sites for the Read(s) of the Week!

Iditarod.com, the Official website of The Last Great Race

North Wapiti Kennels - Home of the 'Pretty Sled Dogs'

Zoya's Kennel Journal

There's one other site this week, one we've been reading for just a little bit. It's not really a 'Read of the Week', but it's sort of cool.................. these guys aren't Sibes, and well, they just aren't what you expect, mon!

To those pups everywhere who are racing........ stay safe and I'm sending Sibe Vibes to you for good luck!

Now, I'm going to go turn on Jimmy Buffett and curl up with a good book!