Patches' Gotcha Day and Barkday are both coming soon!

Hi every buddy! It's me, Patches! I am getting soooo excited because one week from today, May 24th, is my first gotcha day! It will be one year since I entered the witness protection program and moved here, to Airedale Heaven! And then, just a few days later, on May 27th, it will be my 6th Barkday! I just have to say...I sure have had loads of fun, this past year. I've gotten to go on lots of rides in the Aire-mobile with Mom!

I have also learned a whole bunch of stuffs! Like how to live peacefully with 2 other 'dales, how to go outside without a leash and the most impawtant thing I've learned is not to think that every meal might be my LAST! I know, now, that there is always more food and more treats!

I did hear some disturbing news, though! On Wednesday, I have to go see the dogtor. No, nothing is wrong...I just have to have all my yearly shots. Until I came here, I wasn't getting my vaccinations on a regular basis, but now, my mom wants to make sure we keep up with them. I sure hope they don't stick that nasty thermometer up my fuzzy butt!

We wanted to show you some of our mom's beautimous Peonies! Several years ago, she moved them from the back yard to the front, right along the side of the driveway. It took them a few years to start producing nice flowers, but this year, they have made up for it!

Here's a really pretty pink one with a white furry center.

This one is called Parfait something or other. We can't remember the exact name. Since Mom took these pictures, a few days ago, we have two more that have bloomed. They are a gorgeous dark pink color. One of them has like a gazillion blooms! We haven't got a picture of that one yet.

Remember our Bluebirds from last year? Well, we think they are about to build another nest in the Bluebird box on our deck. They were a little too late to use the box earlier in the season. It was taken over by Tufted Tit Mouse birdies. We never did see how many puppies they had, but we could hear the babies peeping when we went outside! Last night, Mason and Mena (the Bluebirds) kept looking into the nesting box, but they were having a hard time getting inside. Finally, our mom realized that the Tufted Tit Mice must have fledged, so she and our dad went out and cleaned the old nest out of the box. Just as soon as they were done, Mason and Mena came back again. They kept going in and out of the box. We hope Mena starts building a nest today!

Oh, and last week, our mom discovered a Carolina Wren that had nested behind our hose reel! She went to use the hose and saw a whole bunch of leaves and stuff on the ledge, behind the hose. When she looked in to see what it was, she saw 2 baby birdies! She ended up not using the hose because she didn't want to disturb the babies! One of them ended up leaving the nest that same day and a few days later, the other one flew away! Our dad removed the nest, so now, Mom can use the hose again!

Well, everybuddy, I'm off for my second trip outside and then I think I'll have a little nap. I need to be all rested up for the celebrating I will be doing next week!

Aire-hugs,

Patches (and Poppy & Penny too)!

Awards...and we went to Athens AGAIN!!!!!!!!

Hello to all of our furry and not-so-furry friends! It's me, Patches! A long time ago, right before our mom abandoned us to go to Oh-Hi-Oh, we got 2 very cool awards! The Kreativ Blogger Award was bestowed upon us by Falcon the Airedale as well as Persephone, Buster and Ms. Blue, the gorgeous Kerry Blues! Thank you all very much!This lovely blog award comes to us from our new friends, the Rocky Creek Scotties and Java! Thank you very much! We think your blog is lovely too!

Now, I have to tell you all about our second trip to Athens, Georgia. We went over there so our mom and Aunt Wendy could meet even more peoples from the Airedale Rescue Group. There were 4 more ladies, there, that we had never met before. It's very nice to know there are soooo many great peoples that helps doggies just like me!

You probably don't remember this big guy! His name is York, he is 13 years old and we had a picture of him in our last Athens post. Then, he was very furry and curly. Now, he has a new Aire-cut and he looks great! Even at 13, he's always up for beggin' for food! In fact, at one point, we all left the deck and when we came back, York had "shopped" Miss Barbara's sandwich and was chowing down on it. He ate every last bite!

This is a little white doggie who is an honorary Airedale. Her name is Maggie and today, for the first time in her life, she got to taste FREEDOM! Maggie is an escape artist so she always has to be on a leash, but today, since the entire property is fenced, she got to go off-leash. Woohoo, Maggie! She has an Airedale sister named Abby who is 10 years old. Abby visited with us, too, and we thought we had a picture of her, but we can't seem to find it. Abby's just as afraid of the camera as Penny is and Mom's flash really scared her. My mom is very sorry, Miss Abby!

In this picture, York was on the other deck, watching Maggie and Jagger. Sorry, but we never did get a picture of Maggie's sweet face. Everytime Mom thought she could get a good picture, the stupid delay thingy, on the camera, waited just long enough for Maggie to turn around!

Maybe you remember this boy from our other post. His name is Luke and our mom really would like to dognap him! He's an apartment-sized Airedale and he is soooooo cute! It's very hard to get a good picture of Luke, too, because he is moving constantly...kind of like Poppy!

Here's Jagger taking a rest. He was a very good boy, all day and some of the peoples gave him little bites of food when they ate lunch. Jagger and I went on lots of walks together!

This is me, Patches. Mom said I was a very good girl, all day! Yeah, I was foaming at the mouth because I was sooooo excited to be there! I was more relaxed, this time, since I had been there once before. See how nekkid I am? My dummy mom didn't bring my regular collar and she was afraid I might get hurt if I kept the prong collar on all day, so I got to go nekkid!

This is a Aunt Wendy taking a picture of my mom while my mom took HER picture. Silly humans! Rocky and Jagger are chillin' after many sessions of bitey-face.

Here's Rocky, on the left, and Jagger, on the right during one of their muzzle wrestling sessions!

In this picture, Luke got into the act so Rocky, Luke and Jagger all played bitey-face. I was sitting behind the camera, by my mom's feet. I played a little bitey-face too, but I didn't get caught in a picture.

Jagger is waaaaay bigger than the rest of us 'dales that were there, but nodoggie seemed to be afraid of him. He's such a sweetheart!

This is Rocky, Luke and Jagger again. I think they were hoping someone would drop some food from the sky.

Our last picture is Bucky. Poor Bucky cut one of his paws, very badly, so he had to be sequestered from the rest of us crazy 'dales! He has to have a few more days of rest before he can rejoin his brothers in enjoying the large wooded area of their temporary home!

We had a really great day! There were 7 of us 'dales there, including Bucky who couldn't play with us! There were 8 peoples there and all the ladies had a good time talking about us Aire-pups! We sure hope we get to do that again, someday!

Well, everybuddy, I'm off to take my 343,789th nap of the day! Yesterday was such a busy day for all us pups, that I slept all the way home in the Aire-mobile, slept most of the evening, last night, and I'm still napping today! Maybe I'll be caught up by tomorrow!

Aire-hugs,

Patches (and Poppy and Penny too)

Still trying to catch up!

Hello to all our furry and not-so-furry friends! It's me, Poppy! Does this guy remind you of anydoggie? Our mom has always said we bear a striking resemblance to Alf! Now, she has proof! She bought Alf for us at a yard sale, last weekend. First she had him pose for a few pictures and then she made us promise to not de-eye him right away. Yeah, right, Mom! Whatever you say!

We didn't actually make any promises, but she gave him to us anyway. Our time with Alf lasted approximately 30 seconds! First, Patches and I fought over him and then we tried to tear his shirt off. As soon as Mom saw us going for the eyes, he flew up on top of the TV armoire in the living room. Patches is pretty sure he flew by himself, but I saw our mom sling him up there! When can we have him back, Mom? We promise not to perform an eye-ectomy on him! Yeah, right, Poppy! Right now, Alf is one of only one or two stuffies, in this house that still has eyes.

Since our mom got home, last Tuesday night, she has been trying to catch us up on everyone's bloggies, but we are still waaaaaaaaaay behind! We have a couple of awards to pick up from Falcon and Persephone and Buster. We'll get there! Our personal secretary is just about a week behind on everything!

That's all we have time for today, everybuddy! Oh, yeah...I almost forgot...Patches is going to Athens, Georgia again this weekend for another Airedale meet-up! There will be even MORE Aire-pups there, this time! Hopefully, our mom will remember to take the camera so we can show the pictures to all of you!

Aire-hugs,

Poppy (and Penny & Patches too)

Woohoo! Our mom is finally HOME!!!!!!!!!!

Hi everybuddy! It's me, Patches. This is going to be a really short post because our personal secretary (aka Mom) is still trying to catch up from her vacation. She got home on Tuesday after spending 6 hours in the Cleveland Aire-port! You might say she was a little bit grumpy! Anyway, we'll tell you the whole story later. Right now, I wanted to show you the Mingo that Mom gave us before she went to Oh!-Hi!-Oh! In this picture, he was in pristine condition, but now he's missing his eyes and lots of feathers! Poppy and I like to play tug-of-war with him! He is sooooo fun !

This is a picture of our mom (on the right) with one of her sisters. The sun was shining right in their eyes! As you can see, our mom isn't bleaching her hair anymore. She says she feels old every time she looks into a mirror. WE don't really care what she looks like as long as she feeds and pets us!

Okay, everybuddy, this is the end...at least for now. We'll be back as soon as our mom gets caught up. We also need to get caught up on what everydoggie else has been up to!

Aire-hugs,

Patches (and Poppy & Penny too)

Our trip to Athens, Georgia!

Hi everybuddy! It's me, Patches! Remember when I told you that Mom and Aunt Wendy were taking me and Ezzy Rider to Athens, Georgia? Well, on Tuesday, we really went! Mom and Aunt Wendy went to meet Miss Barbara, who they say is the queen of the Airedale Rescue Group. As soon as we arrived, we found out there were FOUR other 'dales there! And we thought WE lived at Airedale Heaven!

It rained really hard when we were on our way there, so we all got really dirty and wet. It was sooooo fun! The picture, above, is me and one of Miss Barbara's 'dales. I think it was Bucky. He's the newest rescue boy to join the clan. We had a really hard time keeping Aunt Wendy from dognapping him!

This big, fuzzy guy is York. He belongs to a really great lady, named Del, who owns the house where Miss B and her 'dales are staying. York is 13 years old and he still likes to run and play like the rest of us! He also likes to sleep outside!

Here, we were having a group "sit" for treats! Only Luke, Bucky, Rocky and York participated. Ezzy and I were too busy surveying the great property they have, where we were able to run leash-free as much as we wanted! Woohoo!

Mom was trying to get all of us in the same picture, but you know how THAT is! All you can see of me, in this picture, is my banana tail!

See this cute little guy on the left? That's Luke! He is such a cutie...and very tiny for an Airedale! He makes me look like a giant! We think the guy in the middle is Bucky (or it might be Rocky) and Ezzy is on the right. When we were there, we didn't have any trouble knowing which doggie was which, but now that we are trying to post the pictures, it's a little harder to tell Bucky from Rocky! We sure hope we get all the names right!

In this picture, Aunt Wendy is about to remove my collar to take a link out of it. They found out that I could escape from my prong collar, so it had to be shortened a little. I know, I know...some peeps don't like to use prong collars, but a lot of Airedale peeps call it "power steering" for dogs. Ya know, we are VERY strong willed doggies and these collars keep us going in the right direction!

Here's Ezzy Rider showing off his wet and muddy beard. We all had a blast running through the wet bushes and reading everydoggie's pee-mail!

I was watching Luke and Rocky posing in the doorway!

Here's Bucky, Luke and Ezzy. I wonder what kind of a plan they were hatching!

This is Bucky (we think) and Ezzy. Oh yeah, and my banana tail again! Once I had inspected the entire property, I stuck pretty close to my mom. She said I was a very good girl all day. Okay, I did escape, once when we first got out of Aunt Wendy's car, but I came right back. And I did have to tell off Rocky a couple of times when he tried to hump me. I think he got the message pretty quickly! I was the only girl 'dale with 5 boyz!

This is Miss Barbara with one of the Aire-kids. She's talking to Aunt Wendy...probably about what else?...Airedales!

This is the gate that we had to go through to get to the house. Luke is watching as our mom, Aunt Wendy, Miss Barbara and Miss Del left us to go have lunch. Yes, we all stayed at Del's house and had the run of the property while all the peeps ate lunch. Nobody knows what we did while they were gone and we aren't telling! All they know is that Ezzy and I met them, at the gate, when they came back.

We all had such a pawsome day! My mom and Aunt Wendy were sooooo happy to get to meet Barbara and Del face to face. They talk to people, in the Airedale Rescue Group, on the phone and in pee-mails, but it sure was nice to see a couple of them in person!

Ezzy Rider and I were so worn out after our visit, that we slept almost all the way home!

Well, everybuddy, I have a secret to tell you! This will probably be our last post for a while because our personal secretary (aka Mom) is going to visit her family again. She will be back on April 28th and we will resume our regularly scheduled blog postings as soon as she gets settled! (Okay, we know there's no real schedule!) No, she's not leaving right this minute, but she will be VERY busy from now until she actually leaves. She's got a zillion things to do before she leaves and right in the middle of getting ready to go, she has our neighborhood yard sale on Saturday. She wasn't going to pawticipate, but since most of the stuff is already priced and still in boxes from the sale they had at the antique mall, she figures maybe she can get rid of some more stuffs!

We hope nodoggie forgets us! We'll see you all around the end of April!

Aire-hugs,

Patches (and Poppy & Penny too)

Penny's test results and Poppy's new Aire-cut!

Hi, everybuddy! It's me, Poppy! I get to tell you about all the stuffs going on around here today! I have the freshest Aire-cut in the whole neighborhood! Okay, at least in our own house! Don't I look beautimous? Well, I smell really good too! I just got in trouble, though, for eating grass, outside. Mom was out in the back yard and she caught me eating grass. She told me to quit it, but would I listen? Of course not! I'm an Airedale and we do what we want when we want! She told me that I would throw up and about 15 seconds after I ate the grass...guess what! I threw up! How the heck did my mom know that would happen? She said, "I told you so" and threw it over the fence so nodoggie else would eat the recycled doggie food. I have a sneaking suspicion that she's been through this before. Hey, at least I did it OUTSIDE!

It seems that rumor we heard about Patches going to Athens is really true! Next Tuesday, our mom and Aunt Wendy are going to take Patches and Ezzy Rider with them for an all-day trip to Athens, Georgia. They are going to meet somebody from the Airedale Rescue Group and three other 'dales. I told Penny that maybe we'll get lucky and they will forget to bring Patches back home. Uh oh...Mom heard me talking to Penny and she told me there's NO chance! Darn! I thought, maybe if Patches stayed in Athens, there would be more food and treats for me and Penny. Mom told me not to worry about it!

Penny's test results finally came back from the lumps on her back. It seems that the results were sort of inconclusive. They say there is about a 95% chance that they are NOT cancerous! They are probably just what our mom thought...sebaceous cysts. I'm not sure we spelled that right, but they are oily cysts at the base of hair follicles. The one on her neck is already gone and the v-e-t said Mom could use black salve on them. It draws the nasty stuff out and hopefully, they will go away! Right now, she smells a lot like tar! If they DON'T go away, they might have to be removed, but we'll wait and see what happens.

Our Wisteria is blooming, right now and so far, the cold weather we had hasn't effected the blossoms. For the last two years, every time the Wisteria started to bloom, we had a heavy frost and it toasted the buds before they could bloom! Ha ha, Mother Nature, we gotcha THIS year!

Well, everybuddy, that's it for today! We have to go help Mom nurse her sinuses, now. She was outside for a few hours and we are at the peak of pollen season. Everything here, looks like someone dusted it with yellow flour! Our blue Aire-mobile is yellow and our mom can't breathe without sneezing! Of course, the YELLOW pollen is too big to bother people's sinuses, but all the pollen that you can't see is doing a number on everyone! Well, everyone but US! It doesn't seem to bother us doggies.

Aire-hugs,

Poppy (and Penny & Patches too)

What a week!

Hello to all our furry and not-so-furry friends! It's me, Patches! Things were really crazy, around here, last week! Our mom spent most of the week getting ready for the big yard sale at the antique mall where her booth is. She drove us crazy going from the kitchen to the garage about 8 million times a day. Everytime she goes into the garage, we think we should go too, but she had the big garage door up and she didn't want to have to chase down 3 doggies all over the neighborhood. Mom and Aunt Wendy set up the yard sale on Friday morning and they had high hopes for the day. Unfortunately, just about as soon as they had everything set up, the wind started to blow and it turned very cold. They didn't even have very many "lookers" that day. At about 1:30, Mom came home and got some big plastic tarps and took them back there to cover everything up. They have a nice big gated area where they moved all the tables to for overnight. They gave up at about 2 p.m. and came home. Oh, yeah and they only sold $2 worth of stuff that day!

The next day (Saturday), Aunt Wendy and Uncle Bill went early and had the tables all set up when our mom got there. Mom was out yard sale-ing before she went to the antique mall. Fortunately, it was a lot less windy and a lot warmer on Saturday. They stayed until about 2:00 again, but decided they had had enough. They had a lot more "lookers" that day, but our mom still came home with less money than she started with. It seems that some of the other dealers had a lot of stuff she thinks will sell on Ebay. She bought a lot of stuff and even traded some stuffs. All in all...not a very profitable weekend!

I wanted to show you Penny's new Aire-cut, but as you can see, Mom still didn't get all of her in the picture. She was cursing the delay on the flashy box! We still don't have the results of Penny's tests, but we are hoping to get them today or tomorrow. The one bump that Penny had on her neck seems to be gone, but the big one on her back is getting a little bigger. None of them are red anymore, though. We think they must have been so red, the day they found them, just because that was the day she got groomed with the clippers.

I have been using my blind froggie for a pillow so I can get all rested up for a trip to Athens, Georgia. Next week, our mom and Aunt Wendy are going to Athens to meet the lady who is in charge of the Airedale Rescue Group and I get to go with them! I'm soooooo excited! I heard a rumor that Miss Barbara has her 3 Airedales with her! And all 3 of them are BOYZ! Remember when we told you about doing a home visit for some people who want to adopt a new 'dale? Well, we think they are getting TWO! One is a 5 year old mama 'dale and the other is her 10 week old puppy boy. If you would like to see them, go over to Janie's bloggy and you can see pictures. Janie's mom transported them from Mississippi to Birmingham, Alabama and then someone else brought them to Atlanta. We're very glad Janie's mom could do that!

This is Officer Cooper and his police doggie, Bruno! We met them at our K-9 for the Cure doggie walk. Bruno is a Belgian Malinois and even though I've heard that he can be a very nice doggie, he looks pretty scary with his leather muzzle!

Remember when I went with Mom to get my picture taken for the dog walk? Well, this is the picture they put in the paper. The doggie on the left is the one that always tries to bite my face off! That's why I am on the far right with Mom. Right in the middle, is Ezzy Rider and Jagger with Aunt Wendy! Oh yeah, our mom and Aunt Wendy want everydoggie to know that they aren't really that fat! Actually I'm not that fat either...the camera must add a lot of weight!...kind of like being on TV! Our mom has quit bleaching her hair and she thinks she looks about 356,564 years old, now! She's trying very hard not to color it, but every time she sees herself in the mirror, she wonders who that old lady is!

Well, everybuddy, that's about it for today! We're going outside, now, to chase some skwerrels (and maybe some birdies)!

Aire-hugs,

Patches (and Poppy & Penny too)