Friday is going to be my 9th barkday!

Hi everydoggie, kittie, hammie, bear and hooman! It's me, Poppy! I just realized that this Friday will be my birthday. My 9th barkday! I think we may have celebrated my 9th barkday LAST year because my aire-headed mom thought I was one year older than I really am. She was so confused that she finally got my AKC papers out to look. I was born on 10-10-2000. That makes me NINE, Mom...NOT 10! I know she's got a lot on her mind, but c'mon. She says it's kind of like getting a whole year for FREE. Whatever THAT means!

Blondie (I mean Patches) is getting an Aire-cut, this week if Aunt Wendy is well enough to help our mom. Patches looks a little scruffy in the photo above, but that's nothing compared to how she looks NOW! If not for her coloring, you might think she's an Old English Sheepdog. We can't even see her eyes unless Mom pulls the hair back from her face.

Mom bought my barkday presents this morning, but she says I can't have them until Friday. What a buzz-kill! I had my snooter in the bag she brought home, but she snatched it away from me! On top of THAT, she told me that I have to share! Well, I guess I shouldn't complain too much...Penny and Patches have to share their barkday presents with ME! So, we actually get 3 barkdays a year!

Our dad will have a birthday in a couple of weeks too! Since he doesn't really need "stuff", our mom is going to make him a black bottom pie. It has crushed ginger snaps for the crust and then a layer of really dark chocolate pudding. On top of that, goes a combination of custard and meringue mixed with some rum. Our mom actually went to the liquor store the other day! She hadn't been in one in about 12 years or so. She said she felt kind of funny telling the guy that she needed 4 tablespoons of rum. She was hoping to get a couple of those tiny bottles like they serve on airplanes, but of course, the only thing they DIDN'T have in those tiny bottles was RUM! She ended up getting a little more than she needs so we are going to keep our eyes on her when she makes that pie! We don't want her getting tipsy! We sure hope she remembers how to make the pie...she hasn't made one in about 25 years!

Well, every buddy, we are off to bark at the painters that are going to fix our ceiling where we had the leak during those awful rain storms! They say they aren't afraid of dogs, but we'll SEE about that! They might change their minds when they hear the noise that the 3 of us can make!

Aire-hugs,

Poppy (and Penny & Patches too)

Two of us are beautiful and one not so much!

Hi, every buddy! It's me, Poppy! Yesterday, our mom and Aunt Wendy groomed me and Penny. By the time they got done with us, they didn't have enough energy left to groom the wild child, aka Patches! However, Aunt Wendy gave all three of us baths! Last time, our mom and Aunt Wendy both gave all 3 of us baths at the same time and poor Aunt Wendy had to drive home with a wet tushie. This time, Mom stayed in the house and handed towels out the door to Aunt Wendy. And this time, we got our baths one at a time instead of all 3 together.

Even though Patches didn't get an Aire-cut, she was really sleepy from getting her bath. We all took many naps for the rest of the day and evening. Don't tell her, but Patches will be getting her Aire-cut next week.

Thank you soooooo much, Aunt Wendy! Mom couldn't have done it without YOU! Now, we have to get our toe nails cut again. Once Patches gets her Aire-cut, we will ALL be beautiful! Heeheehee! Patches is still a fuzzbutt (and fuzz face, and fuzz leggies and fuzz tail!) She looks ginormous compared to Penny and me! Sorry we don't have any new pictures of Penny, but she is still camera shy. I guess she's never going to get over that!

We are having another rainy day, today, after 3 days of dry weather. It rained for almost two weeks straight! I'm sure you all have seen the mess that a lot of people in Georgia are dealing with. Well, we consider ourselves lucky. We didn't have any flooding in our house except for a leak in our roof that sort of rained into our little bathroom. We had a new roof put on just over a year ago and they must not have put enough gunk around the flashing by one of the vents. The REALLY heavy rains came last Sunday night and on Monday morning, our mom called the roof peoples. On Monday evening, a crew came out and fixed the problem. It will probably be sometime next week when the painter comes to repaint the ceiling. Mom says it was a pain in the "you know what", but it was NOTHING compared to what a lot of peoples have had to deal with.

Well, every buddy, that's about it for today. We're going back outside, now, to see how much red Georgia clay we can track into the house.

Aire-hugs,

Poppy, Penny & Patches

We're just tired!

Hi every buddy! It's me, Patches! We just wanted to catch you up on what's been going on around here. My hot spot is all but gone. Poppy had a couple of days where she wouldn't put all her weight on her back left leggie, but it seems okay now. I think she was just trying to get attention. Oh, yeah, and Penny is...well she's just Penny. She is a little ticked off though because Mom keeps putting the bark collar on her. Ever since our dad was signed up for hospice care, there have been loads of peoples coming in and out of our house and it makes us bark a lot.

A couple of the peoples that will come on a regular basis are afraid of doggies. Can you imagine? So, when those peoples are coming, Mom puts us in the living room and shuts the gate so we can't get to the peoples in the kitchen. Boo! We just want to be petted! One day, Mom turned us loose and we were very good girls, but the person we saw kept wiping his hands and arms with a napkin every time we touched him. Of course, we thought that was funny, so we touched him even MORE! Heeheehee! He's obviously not a "dog person"!

When the peoples come, Poppy and I will, eventually, stop barking, but not Penny! Nooooo! She keeps it up so the peoples can't hear each other. We're pretty sure she will get the collar on again this morning because a nurse is coming at 7 a.m. to steal some of Dad's bloods.

We aren't really sure about what's going on around here, but we do know that Mom feels like she's aged about 20 years in the last week and a half. Maybe it has something to do with us not wanting to go outside. It has been raining almost constantly since Monday and Mom has to practically SHOVE us down the steps to do our "good girl stuffs"! Poppy is the worst! Just when Mom thinks she's going down the steps, she makes a left turn past the grill and darts back into the house. She's a tricky one, but not as tricky as Mom and Dad! Now, our mom takes the "dog stick" with her when she wants us to go out. No, she's never used it on us, but we know that the threat is there!

We just want to let everyone know that we are reading your bloggies when we have a chance, but we don't usually have time to comment.

Thank you, soooooo much to all of you who have left messages and wished us well. It means a WHOLE LOT to all of us. We'll update our bloggy and visit you when we can!

Aire-hugs,

Poppy, Penny & Patches

A message from our mom.

Hi everybody! I'm hijacking the girls' bloggy today to let you all know why we haven't been around as much as usual. We have mentioned, before, that the girls' dad is not well, but the time has come to tell you all what is really going on. He is entering the final stages of emphysema and is requiring more and more care.

This afternoon, we are going to be meeting with hospice. For now, he will be receiving palliative care until he gets worse. For those of you who may not know what palliative care is: it is doing whatever is necessary to make the patient comfortable without trying to cure a disease. It's very similar to hospice care, but the visits aren't quite as frequent.

I don't want to sound like I'm whining, but this has been very hard for both of us. I just wanted to let you all know why we aren't reading or commenting on your blogs as much as usual.

We will not be going to Grace's birthday party at UGA on the 20th because I don't want to leave my husband alone for that long. We hope everyone and everydog who goes has a really good time. Maybe we can go next year.

The dogs don't understand what's going on around here and I wish I didn't either. Penny is afraid to step on the oxygen tubes that are running all over the house and Poppy is constantly getting tangled in them. Patches is the only one who seems to ignore them. By the way, her hot spot is getting better, but it isn't totally gone yet.

Well, the girls and I will try to read your blogs when we can, but in the mean time, just know that we haven't fallen off the face of the earth.

Aire-hugs to all of you!

Lana (mom to the 3 P's)

Awards, Patches' bare butt and Grace's birthday pawty

Hello everydoggie, everykitty, hammie, bear and hooman! It's me, Patches! My mom is making me wear this silly collar because I have a hot spot from hell! It's on my left hip or as mom says, the top of my butt!

I am definitely an unhappy camper. For about an hour after I got the collar on, I refused to lay down. Finally, I decided it wasn't so bad...except for the fact that I can't bite my hot spot any more! Mom is spraying stuffs on me every few hours and now that I have to leave it alone, maybe it will actually start healing! It isn't actually MY collar. It's my dad's from when he had surgery on his upper spine about 8 years ago. This is one of those rare times when Mom is glad Dad keeps EVERYTHING!

THIS is why I have to wear the collar. It started to heal, but I started biting it again so I will be wearing the collar for the foreseeable future. Mom says I need to heal up fast so I can get an Aire-cut before we go to Grace's birthday pawty on the campus of the University of Georgia...at least I THINK it's on the campus. It's on Sept. 20th this year. Grace was an Airedale that has gone to the Rainbow Bridge, but every year, they still have a birthday pawty for her and I think it benefits Airedale Rescue. At some time in the past year, Grace's dad went to meet her at the bridge so I'm sure they are playing together again. I can't wait to go to the pawty! Last year, there were about 300 doggies and 400 hoomans. Woohoo! Maybe we can beat that THIS year! Aunt Wendy is going with us and taking one of her Aire-kids and some other peoples and doggies will be there from the Airedale Rescue Group.

A few days ago, we got this really cool award from Nelly and Finni, two of our Aire-buddies. Thank you soooooo much!

We also got this really sweet award from our new friends Mack and Sally Ann. They live in Georgia just like we do! We hope to meet them in dogson someday, since they don't live a really long ways away from us...maybe around 30 miles.

Remember the emergency project our mom was working on? (If you don't know about it, scroll down to our last post). Well, it's ALL done now! She says it's a good thing she doesn't drink because she would probably have gotten drunk when she finished! Instead of having a drink, she had a Dove ice cream bar to celebrate. No, she didn't give us any. It was dark chocolate with vanilla ice cream. We tried to get her to eat the chocolate and save the ice cream for us, but NO. She ate every last drop and even licked the chocolate off the stick. What a meany!

Well, everybuddy, I'm off to my 423,297,539th trip outside for the day. Since we have had rain for about the last 5 days, our red clay is really squishy and it feels soooooo good under our feets! We get it all soaked up into our large furry feets and bring as much of it as possible into the house! Of course, Mom is not amused because the steps, deck and kitchen floor are ALL Georgia Clay Red! Heeheehee!

Aire-hugs,

Patches (and Poppy & Penny too!)

Why we've been MIA...

Hi everybuddy! It's me, Poppy! I thought I'd get a jump start on Halloween with my scary eyes!

Patches keeps getting in trouble for interrupting our mom while she's working on an emergency project. Yesterday, Patches grabbed one of Mom's felties and was running around the living room acting like she just won the lottery. Now, our mom knows better than to chase her when she has something that doesn't belong to her. Nope, that never works. The faster Mom chases her, the faster Patches munches on whatever she has! By the time she dropped the feltie, it had lots of extra Aire-hair and loads of doggie slobber on it. Mom cleaned it up and sent it to our feltie hospital. The mini Aire-head will be good as new soon.

In the mean time, I've been hanging out in the computer room a lot. I can lay on the aire-vent AND stay out of my mom's way! Last Thursday (one whole week ago today), the ice maker line on the back of our refrigerator sprung a leak and made an hooooooge mess. I guess the leak must have started a long time ago, but last Thursday was when our mom noticed that the wood floor was all humped up behind the 'fridge. Boy, the HBO words were flying THAT day! We might have even learned a few NEW ones!

Penny is making an escape from the kitchen because Mom put this oxygen bottle, box and tools over one of the wood squares that was loose. It has been loose for a long time, but Mom decided to fix it while she had out all the wood glue and stuffs. This spot is very close to our dog feeding room so it is covered up because Mom doesn't want any toenail prints in the grout. Now, would WE do that? You betcha!

This is where our refrigerator usually sits. The flood that came from the ice maker line, ruined an area about 48 inches wide by 36 inches deep. Our mom decided to replace most of that area with tile instead of putting the wood back. She said something like, "By God, this is NEVER going to happen again". Ok, those weren't her exact words, but since this is a family bloggy, we won't repeat the HBO words that she was saying. It is finally all done except where you see the grout lines between the wood. She had to replace all that wood and the grout isn't dry yet so it isn't the right color. Once it is dry, Mom has to trim it to match the rest of the floor. I'm pretty sure there will be more bad words flying!

Mom and Dad have both been in the basement for several hours each day. They were trying to find the right sizes of wood pieces to fit in where some were ruined. Not an easy thing to do since they can't just cut new ones. If they make new ones, they would have to buy 2 gallons of finish and they say that isn't going to happen. It's a 2 part epoxy and it takes a gallon of each part. They only need about a quart of finish and can't see paying a couple hundred dollars to fix such a small amount of wood. Anyway, after a whole week, the "project" is almost finished and soon, we will be getting back to Aire-cuts for all 3 of us.

So, there you have it! Now you know why we have been missing for so long!

Aire-hugs,

Poppy, Penny & Patches

We're still here!

Hi everybuddy! It's me, Patches! I just wanted to let everyone know that we are still around. Poppy was really sick, one night this week, and our mom was REALLY freaked out. She (Poppy...not Mom) kept acting like she was going to throw up, but she never did. She would NOT lie down! She just kept standing around with her head hung down. She looked sooooo pitiful! Finally, by the time we all went to bed, Poppy decided to lie down. By the next morning, she was fine so we don't know what the problem was, but we sure are glad it's gone!

She's fine now and back to playing our usual bitey face and bitey leggies!

Last week, our mom went to that new doggie place to see if she could get a job there. The owner took Mom on a tour of the place and gave her an application to fill out. There were about 20 doggies there when Mom went and not one bit of doggie smell. She said that if she hadn't seen the doggies, she would never have guessed there were any doggies there. The place was VERY clean and all the doggies were having a blast running around and getting in the doggie pools. As far as working there, Mom just isn't sure it will work for her. Right now, they only have two shifts...one starts at 6 a.m. and the other is from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Even though she gets up really early, she doesn't think she could get there by 6 a.m. You see, our dad is not well and he needs the most care in the early morning and the evening. Our mom is going to take her application back up there in case they ever decide to put on a mid-day shift. The owner says that is a possibility. In the mean time, we get to keep her at home with us!

Well, everydoggie, that's all for today!

Aire-hugs,

Poppy, Penny & Patches