Seasons Greetings

Dearest Blogville Friends,

As you may have noticed, we have been a bit neglectful in our visiting. You see,Lady has been insanely busy the past few weeks getting ready for an upcoming adventure. As she works for herself, doesn't get paid when she doesn't work and no one does her work when she doesn't work, she has been working way to much so she can guilt free take some adventure time. She was also a little behind before this month started because she went to visit the Big Guy (who is at home and getting a little better every day - we again thank you for all your POTP during this difficult time).

We are going completely offline for several weeks starting today. We will be back in the New Year and we are confident once we all settle back to the routine (so likely mid-January), you will be seeing more of us again. We miss you all.

Before we leave, we wanted to send you all our warmest holiday wishes! We know 2016 has been a challenging year for many (us included -  Lady said it was one of the worst years of her life and she is kind of old) and we hope in spite of the challenges, you can all find a little peace and love over the holidays. We send our warmest regards for a joy filled and health 2017!

Until 2017 - be safe, be happy and know you are in our hearts.

Hailey, Zaphod, The Lady and The Man

#MuttTopFive

Abby tagged us for the top 5 which she was tagged from from Riley.  Thanks for tagging us Abby!

Lady's Top 5 Dog Breeds (the breeds she has owned):
-Brittany Spaniel (childhood dog)
-Shit Tsu
-Lsa Apsa Mix
-Cattle Dog Mix
-German Shepherd Mix
(Mix seems to be her favourite breed!)

Lady's Top 5 Spare Time Activities (She hasn't had spare time in a month, but when she does):
-Reading - books and blogs
-Writing
-Walking the dogs
-Watching TV
-Exercise related things (yoga, strength training, snowshoeing/kayaking depending on the season - not always her favourite but her priority)


Lady's Favourite Places:
-Our house
-The beach
-Iceland
-Tokyo
-Outside in the mountains (so in our yard!)

Lady's Favourite Foods:
-Chocolate
-Cheese
-Brussel Sprouts
-Peas
-Steak

Hailey's Favourite Things:
-Walks
-Bed naps
-Eating and counter surfing to eat more
-Destroying Toys
-Belly rubs


Zaphod's Favourite Things:
-Fetching ball on land
-Fetching bumper in water
-Fetching disc in snow
-Being near his people
-Sleeping


We are being bad and not tagging as we are preparing for an adventure, but more about that tomorrow.

When Emma Arrived

I was right in the middle of taking pictures of my niece and nephew on Saturday, when my brother-in-law (aka Uncle Chris) and Emma arrived for our holiday lunch. 

Poor Troy was sitting on the floor as the dogs zoomed around him. Fortunately they didn't knock him over.  He looks a little unsure about the chaos! (As a good aunt I kept taking pictures instead of scooping him up!)

Throw Back Thursday - Twist

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Don't forget to go over to Dory's  for the  25 Days of Fun Holiday Blog Hop!

Wordless Wednesday - Deadin' The Squirrel

Photobomb Phod

Hey, usually when you have the camera out, you want pictures of me, so I thought I would join in. 

Mischief Monday - Must Have Been A Mouse

We have no idea how the laundry, with the table clothes covered in Hanukkah food goodness, ended up all over the bathroom floor. Must have been the mouse you saw in the garage.

Selfie Sunday - Zaphod

14 Years Of Dogs

Wednesday marked the 14th anniversary of when our first dog, angel Loki, entering our lives. He was a surprise Christmas gift. Those first 10 days were crazy difficult - he was up all night, I was studying for exams - I admit I wanted to send him back.  But since then,we haven't looked back. Our house has always had at least one dog and for about 12 years of this 2.

This week we will try and remember what it was like to live in a dog-less house and to celebrate all the loving and fun memories they have helped us create.

Angels Loki and Gemini

25 Days of Holiday Fun In Paradise

Thanks to Dory and the Boyz for hosting this blog hop. Today we are going to share with you how we celebrate the holidays.

Christmas:

Lady and Man have no religious beliefs but were both raised in Christian homes. They both grew up celebrating Christmas. In our house we still celebrate Christmas. 

Food: Usually a full turkey dinner for immediate family (often it is us and Uncle Chris)

Presents: Very few these days, more experiences, but Santa fills our stockings.

Decorations: A huge tree and a number of other decorations. They are mostly secular in nature. 

Music: Lots of Christmas CDs. Charlie Brown being a favourite

Activities: Eating, watching movies, playing games, just hanging out, usually in our pjs

Hanukkah:

When Lady was putting herself through school she nannied for families. Several of the families she worked for were Jewish. Long story short, she fell in love with the latke (potato pancake) and the celebration of deep fried food! Who wouldn't?  Over a decade ago (Lady isn't sure if it was 2002 or 2003) the Man and Lady were looking for a theme for a holiday party and they decided to do a Hanukkah themed one. That was the beginning of a new tradition, the Hanukkah dinner. They seriously have a waiting list of people who want to be invited. Some years they do a big Hanukkah with lots of people (25 last year) and sometimes like this year it is a family Hanukkah (there will be 11)

Our holiday table

Food: Brisket or brisket inspired beef, latkes, green beans with a yellow pepper and pine nut sauce, challa (bread), jelly filled donuts for dessert. 

Presents: Lady exchanges 8 crazy nights of presents with Troy and Maggie (her niece and nephew)

Decorations: We have made an upside down tree we decorate with blue and silver. We have a number of other decorations, include a Little People play set and a beautiful Menorah. We have more Hanukkah dishes then Christmas ones.

Music: The Leevees Hanukkah album.

Activities: Sometimes w play dreidel, but mostly chatting and eating. 

Our Hanukkah Tree

Wordless Wednesday

Mischief On A Tuesday

On our long walk on Saturday, Hailey found some poop on the side of the road to roll in. She didn't enjoy the clean up that followed when we got home.

Phod continues to blow his coat. After 10 minutes of brushing, it looked like it had snowed!

Lady has not allowed us to visit you all like we (and she) would like. With work and getting ready for the holidays she is feeling like there aren't enough hours in a day. Also, with the new blogger lay out, our computer won't let us always access our reading list! Sigh! We are trying to read more than we comment. Know we are thinking about you all! 

The Pawlice

We are thrilled to announce we have both successfully graduated from the Blogville Pawlice Department.

Lee and Easy during training

Hailey is now a proud member of SWAT. This is a bitter sweet moment for her because she and her boyfriend Angel Easy were going to do this together. She promises to be the best member of the SWAT team in his honour. We are sure she will make Sheriff Stanley proud. She wanted to be a member of the SWAT team as an appropriate outlet for her amazing hunting and tracking skills.

No squirrel is safe with Lee on the case! 

Phod is pleased to be continuing to be the best detective he can be for the Pawlice. He prides himself on being kind and fair and paying attention to details. Just the other day he spotted deer 1 km away. He also used the clues to show the Man he had left M and M's in his coat pocket. He looks forward to working with his pal Chief Murphy.


Phod is ready to jump into his car and race to any crime scene.


We know Blogville will be a safer place with all the members of the Pawlice.

The class of recruits

With Great Love Comes Great Loss

It has been a very sad week in Blogville. Hugs to all of those who loved those who have gone to the bridge.

Teaser Tell All - In Memory of Sammy

Yesterday in honour of Sammy, who joined Easy at the bridge, we had our teaser.

In case you missed it, here it is:

This picture was taken from our very own beach on Lac St. Pierre here in the Gatineau Hills. Soon it will be covered with ice and snow and ice fishing huts. We look forward to next summer when we can really enjoy it.

Congratulation to Dory and the Boyz for being the first to guess the right location (Phod calls it his lake). 

Run free dear Sammy, run free! 

Teaser Friday - In Honour of Sammy

Today we join Madi and Angel Easy in sending our well wishes to Sammy. Sammy is feeling the effects of aging and could use some POTP.

Sammy is famous for his Teaser Tuesday, where he shows a picture from somewhere on the planet and everyone tries to guess where it is. Lady is not good at this and has gotten like 2 right. Our good friend Easy was excellent at this and often got them right (we learned to copy his answers occasionally to feel smarter).

In honour of Sammy, we present our teaser picture. Where in the world is this? Guess below!

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Friendly reminder that our good friend Dory is hosting 25 Days of Holiday Fun. It isn't too late to join in. Click HERE for the details! 

Remembering Easy

Dearest Blogville pals,

As we are sure you have heard, Easy, Hailey's French boyfriend, was called to the bridge yesterday. Words can't describe the heartache we feel for the loss of such an amazing guy. Easy and his antics will be were memorable to say the least (who can forget the chaos party?). He was a wonderful friend to everyone.  He was thoughtful, always the first to lend support and help others, funny and creative. He was spirited and shared this spirit with Blogville. He was a great date and boyfriend.

Today we raise a glass to Easy's memory. We send a hug to Easy's staff. We know how devastated  they are and we hope our love and support makes their pain a little more bearable.  Through our tears, we remember Easy and we smile a little because no matter how sad and heavy our heart feels, when we think about a character like Easy and his adventures, we have to smile.

Fondly,

Hailey (aka Lee), Phod, the Lady and the Man


PS To help Easy's family with the final vet bills visit Murphy and Stanley.

Wordless Wednesday - Another Me?

Not Fair

Lady and Man got this dog (it is apparently from Mexico) at a charity event and it is allowed on the table and we aren't!

Not fair!


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Mischief Monday - She Left Us - by Lee and Phod

Dear Blogville,

Our Lady did a terrible thing. Last Tuesday she took lots and
lots of bags (Editor's note - it was 7) and got in the car and was away for 87 million days (Editor's note - it was 6). We were the saddest dogs ever. The Man only walked us and fed us and gave us treats and played with us and let us hog the bed. It was terrible. He only worked from home 2 days to be with us. We were so hard done by.

Lady says she wasn't in a place that would be fun for dogs. She was away visiting the Big Guy. She said the hospital and ICU (which the Big Guy got out of on Saturday before she left and is now in the ward) is not a fun place.  We don't believe her, we went through her phone and found this picture. She was at a party. She left us for 87 million days with the Man who took care of us to go to a party in ICU.

If we weren't so happy to see her, we would be mad!

Lady tried to capture our craziness as she came home.
Note: Hailey is heading to Lady, Phod toward his discs (Precious is away for the winter)

Happy Birthday Big Guy (and an update)

Today is my Dad, aka the Big Guy's 65th birthday. 26 days ago, there was a 1% chance that we would be celebrating today. It is not the party we had planned, at my house with friends and family and hamburgers and beer, but we will make do with party hats and banners, a feeding tube and FaceTime and the phone so friends and family can 'visit'.

Dad continues to make very small steps forward, but the journey to full recovery is expected to take about 2 years. There is some hope he may be home for Christmas, but time will tell. There are going to be some small setbacks and unexpected things on this path, but we are at least able to go through the woods now.

Happy Birthday Daddie! Next year let's have 2 cakes to make up for the one you missed this year.

I know I shared this picture earlier this year, but it totally captures my dad pre-anyersum. 

Fluffy Friday

We have jokingly called Phod our German Shedder. This fall he has blown his coat in a way he never has before. Even with brushing him every day, our floors are covered with Phod.  He is a good boy and will tolerate about 10-15 minutes of brushing at a time.

Here are some examples of how much hair we can get from him during a brushing block:

One day

The next day

Thanks Blogville

We would like to wish all our American pals a very Happy Thanksgiving. May you have a wonderful day of love and treats.



We would also like to join Dory and the Boyz in Thanks Blogville. They have asked us to share why we are thankful for Blogville.

We are thankful for Blogville because there is always a pal who has done something at least as naughty as us (and sometimes naughtier) and this helps Lady be less frustrated with us.

We are thankful for Blogville because we learn so much about training, products, how other people live,  and how other people think, by visiting your blogs.

We are thankful to Ann at Zoolatry who create our lovely new holiday header and background.




We are thankful for Blogville because it gives us a sense of community. It allows us to meet and interact with people all over the world we wouldn't have gotten to know any other way.

We are thankful for Blogville because of the love, support and strength we get from it. We think it is the most amazing place on the planet. The support we have gotten recently while our Big Guy has been fighting for his life is amazing.

We are thankful for Blogville because no matter what kind of day we are having, we know when we open your pages there will be a laugh or a smile that will make everything a bit better.

We are thankful for Blogville because of all of you. Keep being you! Keep being awesome!