Mary is in heat. I know, who cares. I'm just noting here to keep track.

We Got TP'd

Joyce looked out the window this morning and began moaning about not being able to take it anymore. When I got up to see what she was mumbling about, this is what I saw.

Earlier, I had heard a noise like a tin pan banging around. I thought it was Joyce doing something in the kitchen. Since I lost hearing in one ear, I can't really tell where sounds are coming from. I got up after hearing the noise and went to the bathroom where I found our metal wire TP stand laying in the middle of the floor. There was a roll of TP in it, albeit a bit tattered. I had not heard Joyce moan yet, so I just assumed one of the pups had messed with it. I just set it back up where it belonged and went back to my recliner. After Joyce complained and I saw the back yard, I had a clearer picture of what had transpired. Fun, fun, fun!

Vigilance

Just a quickie this morning. When we lived at Cedarcreek, I built a little shelf on the window next to my recliner. Tillie could jump up in my chair, step across an end table and onto the shelf. There she could snooze in the sun through the window or watch for monsters such as squirrels.

This was her perch that let her see the outside and maintain vigilance. This was her watchtower.

Eventually, Tillie relinquished the reins to Ditto and the duties of sentinal and Ditto assumed her duties like a true soldier. Always on the alert.

So, when we moved to Springfield where we are now, Ditto had to have her perch, her watchtower. But, Ditto was now slowing down and did more napping than watching. Although, she did spot many squirrels from this watchtower.

Later, as it became more and more difficult for her to jump up the step to access her perch, I made a ramp which made it much easier on her old bones.

Today, the responsibility of maintaining the watch has been transferred. The change-of-command has placed Mary and Frances on duty, maintaining the safety and security of our home, ever vigilant.

However, this morning sitting here in my "Mancave" (which previously was the living room), I hear Joyce shouting, "No! No!", which leads me to believe the girls are not currently maintaining proper vigilance.

Typical Morning

We are apparently at the pinnacle of the pups' playtime impulses. This video was shot this morning as the pups played with a plastic container that I put a small handful of gravel in. Their frantic antics are very typical of every morning. I am beginning to become very jealous of their burning up so much energy while I sit here trying to work up the gumption to get up and go pee.

Our backyard is full of their "toys" strewn about, left where they tired of playing with them. It's amazing to see what they select as their toy of the day. They are particularly attracted to large plastic or metal things that they can chase, chew, and battle over. Here's our living room this morning. They are particularly fond of the large blue bowl.

And battle over things, they do. Mostly, it is play, but like human siblings, they have an occasional spat over one now and then. The squirrel episode in my last post was another example of how much energy can explode at any moment.

Ah, they are quiet now. Maybe too quiet. Nope, they just came sauntering in from the kitchen. They are subdued right now. Joyce left to go to the grocery store. They hate it when one of their pack is missing. They will fire up again no doubt when Joyce returns and it will start all over again.

Agh! They just dragged my trash bin away from where it sits by my chair and scattered tissues all over the place. Will it never end?

Squirrel !!!

This evening turned into a surprise just shy of dusk. But first, let me set the stage...

The big old maple in our back yard was a busy meeting place of the local squirrels. That is until Ditto moved in a few years ago. It became Ditto's daily routine to look for squirrels messing around on the ground around the tree and when she would spot one, the chase would be on. She would fire out her doggie door and zing out to the tree, at which time, any squirrel in the vicinity would frantically seek higher ground. That, usually being the tree. Sometimes they would spoil things and head for the privacy fence, but if they chose the tree, Ditto had them. Or so she thought. She would circle the tree standing up on her hind legs, forepaws on the tree, barking away. But, with time, Ditto slowed down as she became older and sicker until finally, it was just too much exertion for her. It got to where she would just lay in the window and watch them take over the yard. Izzy, Stephen's dog, would occasionally visit and put fear back into the hearts of the squirrels, driving them to the neighbors' trees. But, Izzy would then go home and the squirrels would come back. After Ditto left us, the squirrels became downright brazen.

Entrance, stage right, Mary and Frances. Their training started slowly, but it wasn't long before they both realized squirrels were vermin to be dealt with. The pups soon learned about the tree and the role it played in this little show. It became their daily fun chore to run out as fast as they could and chase the evil squirrels up the tree. And, like with Ditto, the squirrels sometimes would make it to the fence to run along the top to the corner utility pole where they could gain more height. There they would sit and scold the pups while the pups, gleefully, scampered about watching the squirrel closely. But, when the squirrel chose the tree, the squirrels found themselves surrounded with two yapping white threats jumping up on the tree. The squirrel population began to dwindle as they started to find another yard and tree. With two yard guards, it just wasn't worth it. But, then there was a new batch of young squirrels who weren't familiar with the pups...yet.

Now, during this nice fall weather, we have been propping our breezeway door open a little as well as the door into our "big room". This allowed the pups quick access in and out of the big room which was pretty critical during house training. 

The breezeway door and our little patio with the big room windows on the right.

That was the setup this evening. Both doors propped open a little, Joyce and the pups hanging out in the big room. A couple of young squirrels came hopping up to our little patio just out the breezeway door, directly in the pups' view out the big room windows. They both went tearing out the big room door then on out the breezeway door, startling the squirrels. One made it for the back yard tree. The other ran up the side of the house and hopped onto the top of the slightly open breezeway door. Both pups had the tree surrounded, yapping wildly at the trespasser, neither noticing the one on top of the door. So, it sat up there getting more and more frantic as to whether or not to make a run for it. But, it couldn't figure out how to get back down without jumping all the way to the ground. And, if it did that, the path to the tree was blocked by those terrifying pups. By now, the pups had decided they had punished the squirrel that had run up the tree quite enough and had headed back toward the house. It was too much for the squirrel on the door. He made a dive for the ground landing near the birdbath and ran to the corner of the sunroom. That action triggered the pups back into action. The squirrel saw them coming and ran up the brick veneer at the corner. I lost sight of him then, but after some noise and barking around the corner, the squirrel came screaming back around the corner and ran along the base of the sunroom wall straight into the open breezeway door...with two streaks of white right behind him. The squirrel ran into the sunroom which made me think, "Oh, no!" For those unfamiliar with our sunroom, let me just say there is a lot of "stuff" in there. I had a quick mental picture of how I was going to have to capture that critter to get it out of there. Where were my leather gloves? But, the squirrel spun around the room and ran right back through the breezeway on past me standing there laughing and into the big room. Again, for those unfamiliar, the big room has a lot of "stuff" too. Mainly two sofas, three recliners, and lots of other furniture pieces. After all, we do call it the big room. Anyway, both pups were hot on the squirrel's tail. First, it ran past Joyce and behind one of our wicker chairs. Not finding safe haven there, it ran out and got under a recliner, or rather inside it. The pups were circling the chair, digging at the floor trying to get under it, but couldn't. So, I laid the chair on its side to let the pups chase the squirrel out. Finally, it fired out of there, made a few laps around the room, right into the grip of Mary. It didn't take Mary too long to put the critter out of its misery. Frances wanted in on it, but Mary ran outside with it where finally, I had to talk her out of it.

If you look closely at the next photo, you can see Mary with her prize in her mouth.

And here's what all the ruckus was about.

Vet Day

We took the girls to visit Vet Becky yesterday. It was time for a puppy stuff booster and rabies shot. Ow! They were both good girls up until Dr. Becky stabbed them in the rear end...twice! That must have stung because both of them reacted for some time afterward. I tried rubbing their butt. That seemed to help Mary (she was first), but Frances said all it did was make it worse. She said it by whirling back and lightly biting my hand. It wasn't a hard bit, just a "Please don't do that" bite. By the time we got home, both pups were pretty pitiful. But, by bedtime, they were much better and not so sensitive when touched on the rear. They both had gained about 2 lbs. from 3 weeks ago! Both are now over 8 lbs. ea. Frances is about 1/2 lb. heavier than Mary, but she hasn't shown much weight advantage when it comes to wrestle and tumble time.

Part of the vet appointment was to address Mary and her apparent colitis. She had been having problems for a couple of weeks with blood in her stool and the loose pooties. So, we came home with an oral syringe of probiotic and a bottle of anti-biotics. Nothing like a med to address the side effects of another med. But, hopefully, it will fix poor little Mary's problem.

The new A/C and furnace job was completed a couple of days ago, so the city inspector is scheduled to come look at the job this afternoon. We'll see how the girls act around another stranger. So far, they have been pretty good and haven't brought any blood or torn any socks. However, they have destroyed several of Joyce's potted plants. It's difficult to tell what they had in for the plants, but they certainly made their ire known.

What A Day

For the past several days we have been dickering for a new air conditioner and furnace. Our old system still worked but it was old and we decided to get a new system before we were left high and dry or hot and cold as it were. Anyway, today was the day. The installers came and began tearing up jack. Running back and forth through the living room, in and out of the front door and, also, outside on the north side where the A/C unit sat. Not a big deal except it did get a little warm in the house before they completed the job. But, why am I mentioning this on the pups' blog, you might ask? Well, from the time the techs first stepped foot in the house, the barking began. We had the gate up between the living room and kitchen and they nearly tore it down. The two techs even stopped and petted them and got acquainted, but it did not matter. Anytime one of the men would enter or leave the house, the pups would sound off like they were going to tear a leg off the trespasser...Every time. Then came dolly time, time to roll the old furnace out and the new one in and it got worse. Joyce finally had to drape a cover over the gate so the pups could not see where the action was. But, that was to little avail. It seemed like the pups had X-ray eyes. They certainly had good ears, though our ears suffered "bigly".

Then, the techs began driving sheet metal screws with portable screwdrivers. Brrrrit! Brrrrit! Holy cow! I didn't think the pups could get much wilder, but they did. And then, when one of the techs would walk past the gate they would scream even more frantically...until the guy would bend over the gate and scratch their ears. Then they were all wiggly and licky like the guy leaning over the gate was not the same guy that was making all the noise.

Finally, the techs got their job done and cleared out. All is well. The new A/C is much quieter than the old one, the house cooled down quickly, and the noise stopped. Ahh! Well, maybe they'll make good burglar alarms.