Dear Santa - by Phod

 Dear Santa,

I really try to be the best boy I can be. I am not perfect and sometimes my listening ears don't work (I blame the infections), but I try. 

This year for Christmas I would like:

More Precious play time and not to be stiff after

No ear infections

Lots of snow for snow angels

Neighbour Callie to learn to play nicer

My Lady to continue to be home more than she is not

Lots of snuggles

Thank you Santa. I hope you are yours are safe and healthy and you have safe travels.

Love Zaphod 

Dear Santa - by Lee

 Dear Santa,

In previous years it may have been questionable if I really was a good girl, but this year there is no question, I nailed it. While I appreciate the challenges so many have faced during the pandemic, having my people home all the time has been good for me. This year for Christmas I would like:

Some new babies to destroy

An increase in my food and treats 

More treats (chicken ones would be good so I don't have to share with Phod)

Not a puppy - Neighbour Callie is enough puppy time outside in my yard. I don't need one in my house

I hope you have a very safe trip and remember to wear your PPE and wash your hands often during your trip. You are going to be exposed to a lot of different people and given your age and weight are likely high risk for Covid. Be careful! 

Love the best Hailey girl.

Mischief Monday - The Hat Tax

It is that time of year, time to pay the hat tax! For those of you new here, the hat tax is a tax we pay because we are 'freeloaders.' We don't contribute to the household, so several times per year, we have to tolerate wearing hats and other costumes to amuse our people. Yesterday, we payed our first instalment for the Christmas season. 

Our official Christmas portrait will be shared on Christmas Day and our ecards will be prepared over the next week, but until then, you will see samples of our cooperation with this tax! 

 

Tis The Season

The holiday season is upon us. We got our first real snow a week ago. We got 25cm/10 inches overnight. Much of it has melted because it has been above freezing. It was the perfect snowman weather on Friday so during my lunch I whipped up a snow person, who melted enough to fall over later in the afternoon. It was fun and I can't remember the last time I built one.

Friday, Hailey helped me with the Blogville snail mail cards. I wanted to get them in the mail on Saturday in hopes they may make it before Christmas.The postal outlet, in our corner store, was very busy and it took a long time to get the stamps. As it is the only holiday line I will likely be in, I can't complain and I was able to be 6 feet from others. My gift shopping is done. I only have 6 people to buy for, as most of my friends and family have decided to not do gifts. 

The decorating has begun. Saturday night we did the Hanukkah decorations, Sunday the Christmas one. This means one thing, soon our hat tax will be paid. Stay tuned! 

25 Days of Holiday Fun

Lee: Hey Phod

Phod: Yes Hailey

Lee: I wanted to tell you about this really cool event that is coming up in Blogville.

Phod: I like cool things, what is it?

Lee: Dory is hosting the 25 days of Holiday Fun and my love Easy, Mr. Bailey and I are helping her.

Phod: 25 days of fun sounds better than 8 days of Hanukkah. What do we have to do for this fun?

Lee: It is really easy - you go over to Dory's and sign up for a day. On your day, you write a holiday post. It can be about your traditions, recipes, stories, anything related to the holidays. Then you link your blog to the blog hop. It is that easy.

Phod: It will be so much fun to share the holidays with Blogville. I can't wait.

Lee: Me neither. Let's hope all our pals go over to Dory's and sign up. Pals, feel free to grab the badge and spread the word! 

Getting Ready For The Holidays

We spent Sunday decorating our house because next weekend we host our annual Hanukkah party. (The biggest yet, there will be 21 people!)

You can see how Hailey felt about having to get her picture taken for our upcoming Festival of Lights. Click HERE for the details. We will be supporting Wounded Warriors with this post. Don't worry cat lovers, we have a fun way to help the Cat Rescue Network coming up soon!

Resolutions

It is transitional to make resolutions at the end of the year, so we decided it would be fun to make them.

Zaphod, Nin, Baggy, and Hailey - melts my heart

We will make them in order of age:

The Lady:
I resolve to continue to work on my patience with Lee, to increase training time and exercise with the pups.

Bagheera:
I resolve to do whatever I want to do, which may include peeing on the floor. I am almost 19, I will do what I want.

Nin:
I resolve to . . . .what resolve is? Feed me. Pet me. Mmmmm-rrrrrrrrrrr

Lee:
I resolve to demand more belly rubs and treats. I resolve to listen only when I feel like it. I resolve to sleep on the Lady's legs and make her uncomfortable. I resolve to beat to my own drummer and do what I want, which may or may not include destroying things.

Zaphod:
I resolve to play more fetch and listen to my people and let them love and brush me.

Have you made your resolutions yet?

Holidays in Our House - by Lee

Our house is a little weird. We are not Jewish and we are not Christian but we celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah. Our people were raised in houses that celebrate Christmas, so while they don't consider themselves Christian, they do observe many of the traditions of this celebration that have been passed down by their families.

Hanukkah is a different story. It started in 2002 or 2003. The Lady had a Jewish client who invited her to have Hanukkah dinner, and she fell in love. She insisted that the Man make some of this food. So, the first year they did a Hanukkah themed holiday party. It just grew from there. We now have Hanukkah dishes, Hanukkah decorations, a Menorah, Hanukkah books, and our Hanukkah bush. [Ok, it is just an upside down Christmas tree with silver and blue balls and some other Hanukkah decorations, but our Lady loves it more than her Christmas tree].

Christmas at our house is quiet. We don't have a big dinner, we don't visit people. Usually Uncle Chris comes over. It is just our 3 people and us. There are calls etc to friends and family, but it is low key. The Lady is ok with this, actually she really likes it. It is so chill and relaxed. Hanukkah is the stressed out holiday (minus trying to find the perfect gift).  Man and Lady go all out for the annual Hanukkah dinner with brisket and latkes and donuts. Some of their long time friends have actually thought they were Jewish (or part Jewish). It is now Lady's favourite holiday of the year. She says she thinks it is because the food so so excellent and it is really just about food and friends, like all holidays should be.

[Man and Lady's Hanukkah party has become very "popular" and legendary with their circle and there is sort of a waiting list to get invited as they try and keep it "reasonable" about 12, each year, so they can visit and enjoy it].

That is how things work here. Sunday is our big dinner. We will be debuting our wonderful Hanukkah bandanas from Mollie and Alfie's shop. [Mollie, Lady has hidden them and saved them so we couldn't eat them]. If you haven't been there, stop by, they have some really cool stuff. We will share how wonderful we look next week.

Checking out the tree

Happy Thanksgiving to our American Friends and Happy Hanukkah

Lady is too challenged to embed this wonderful video made by My Three Moggies. Please click on it to view to view.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4-GNkVwHAE

To all our friends in the USA, Happy Thanksgiving.
To all our friends who celebrate Hanukkah, Happy Hanukkah.

[Note: We celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas in our house!]

Lest We Forget

Today is Remembrance Day in Canada. We take time to stop and thank the people past and present who did or were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to make the world a safer place to live.

A heart felt THANK YOU for your and your families sacrifices.

 We also remember all the animals that helped in the war effort.

We Remember . . . . . . . 

Mischief Monday - A blast from the past

Today's post isn't about the current dogs mischief, rather it is about a dog named after the Norse god of mischief, Loki, and our angel Gemini, and what I am sure they would have called mischief.

The following pictures were taken Loki's last Halloween - 2009. He died in May of 2010. At the time these pictures were taken, he was dying. (For those of you newer to the blog, Loki had immune mediated hepatitis that caused cirrhosis of the liver). Halloween would have been about 4 months after his diagnosis. To give us the extra time with him, he was on a crazy drug cocktail, that we adjusted every 2-4 weeks. Loki took all this like a champ (and for the record his suffering and discomfort were very, very low once he got diagnosed and we started treatment). He was a friendly, joyful, not obedient, pup. To reward this, I decided to dress him up for Halloween. His face (and Gemi's) show how they felt.

Loki the spider and Gemi the Lady bug

"Princesses don't do costumes"

"I swallow all my pills. I am good at the vet and this is what I get?"

Black and White and Orange Halloween - Hailey of the Night

Getting Ready for the Big Day

Last weekend, the Man put up some of his Halloween decorations. As we mentioned, it is his favourite holiday. Even though we live on a private road with like 6 houses and get no trick or treaters he still decorated. [He has been so busy he didn't get inside done this year].

Here we are inspecting:

"I think it should be a little more to the right."

"Phod, I think it meets our standards."
"I agree."

"The pumpkin should be moved back a little."

Is Halloween a big deal in your house?

Happy Fourth of July

As some of you may know, Hailey was born in the US, in Ohio. She extends her warm wishes to her native land! Lady has recently learned that in the 1700 and 1800s she also had family in the US. Wishing everyone a happy Fourth of July!

On a side note: Since all our fireworks over the weekend, Hailey will now NOT go outside after 9 pm. In fact she just goes and hides as soon as dusk is upon us. I hope after a few nights without fireworks this will go away. We will see!

Happy 18th Birthday Nin! by Lee

Nin is just not himself without his morning tea!

Today my cat Cinder (more famously known as Nin) turns 18. I say he is my cat because he is the one I want to play with and hump. I am too afraid of Baggy to try things like that. Lady says I need to be extra gentle with my Nin now as he is getting old. She says she doesn't think he will see another birthday so we need to be nice and enjoy him now. 

To my Nin, Happy Birthday!

Nin for your birthday I will play with you (Nin is on the right)

Answers to some questions about Canada Day. Our Lady thinks it is a lot like what people do for the Fourth of July. We all get the day off and dress in red and white. We have BBQs and picnics. Some people drink too much beer. There are events in most towns. The biggest is in Ottawa which is where we use to live and close to us now. It is the capital of Canada and the entire downtown becomes a party. Streets close. There are musical performances. Lady says when you go, you are celebrating with 100 000 or more of your closest Canadian friends. There are fireworks.

What we did: Hated the fireworks that went off all weekend and just hung out at home. Some friends came to visit Sunday. On Canada Man and Lady tackled the yard work and we got to play outside a lot. It was a nice quiet day, minus the horrible fireworks.

We got lucky - Lady couldn't find her Canada hat so we didn't have to actually dress up! It made it a good holiday!

Have a great day everyone!

Happy Canada Day!

More Long Weekend Activities

Waiting for more BBQ! 

Dear Blogville. Our Lady can't figure out why the pictures she took are suddenly going on their sides on the Blog. She also can't figure out how to turn them. [She is helpless sometimes]. We would like to help her but we have outside things to be doing, and Hailey needs to be itching her black fly bites (she and the Lady are covered). So please forgive us. We hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Having a fire - pass the marshmellows please

Long Weekend Activities - Relaxing

After a bbq of steak, great game of fetch, a swim and a visit to the neighbours, it is time to relax!

Feline Friday - Long Weekend Activities

Hi all,

It is Victoria Day weekend in Canada. This is a celebration of Queen Victoria's birthday. So for the weekend we will share some of our long weekend activities!

Today is synchronized eating:

For those who don't have a long weekend:

PS: The cats use to sleep with us too but Cinder was too annoying so they got tossed out. Zaphod would be welcome on the bed, but he prefers the floor and since Lee takes up enough room we don't encourage him.

Hoppy Easter

Hoping the Easter Bunny was good to everyone!

Here are some more embarrassing pictures to brighten your day!

Hailey Bunny - "I can't believe I have to do this?"

Happy Easter - Hailey

Emma - "I hope my dad gets home soon. He never makes me dress up like this!"

Bagheera

Baggy: "Remember I may look like a cute bunny but I could kill you in your sleep!"