For her Birthday, the Woman and Ian went to Sandy Bottom Trail Rides to ride horses. They had a great time on their 3-hour ride, and they were the only two people on the 10am ride, which made it even more wonderful. They spent 2 hours riding and one hour at the "old mine," prospecting for garnets! (No, they didn't find any ghosts at the old mine, otherwise the Scooby Doo gang may have made an appearance.) Their guide found them lots of garnets that they brought home and gave to me. I had hoped to "get rich quick" by selling them on Ebay, but Woman said they're pretty worthless and just meant to be kept as a memento. Here are some pics from the fun day.
Woman on her horse, whose name is Rowdy. Rowdy was a very good horse and didn't buck the Woman off at all.
A view of the surrounding mountains from the trails. The trails are in Marshall, NC, less than an hour from Asheville. Woman said it's very serene and quiet there. She wants to live there now.
Ian in the mines on the Sandy Bottom Trails property. People used to mine here for talc hundreds of years ago.
Woman in the mines on the Sandy Bottom Trails property. Yes, she was afraid of a snake jumping out at her.
Woman at the end of the day with her horse, Rowdy.
The People had lots of fun, and when they got back from the fun, they found that the Gammy had decorated the yard for the Woman's birthday! What a nice Gammy I have!
Here is a picture of Murphy and me yesterday. It was a nice day outside, so we went and hung out with Kari and Sarah for a little while. Murphy peed on my head again!
And here is the Cutie Pie Sarah playing in her kiddie pool. I drank the water!
Hey Sandy, the Woman saw this doormat in the Bed Bath and Beyond ad and wanted me to show it to you. Only $9.99! I'll post some pics from the weekend later today. I just wanted to show this to Sandy before I forgot.
It is a really windy day today. The Woman keeps fretting over her tomato plants that are in the garden. She is worried that the wind is going to kill them. Stupid wind! I like to bark when the wind blows really hard, because heavy gusts really make a lot of noise, and no one may make more noise than me, especially the wind! Hear my bark and cower, stupid wind! Woof-woof! You will suffer the wrath of the Pug! The couch recently suffered the wrath of the Pug when the Woman locked me out of the bathroom while she was doing her "business." First of all, the bathroom is MY room, since I do get "put" in there when the People leave the house, so I will go in there whenever I want. And secondly, I always go in there with the Woman while she is doing her business! She has no right to lock me out. Soooooo ... I took my anger out on the couch. The Woman wants to do her business in my room without me, so I will do my business in her room! I haven't peed on the couch in a really long time. I think it was missing me.
Tomorrow is the Woman's birthday. She doesn't want you all to know that she is turning 31, so I will tell you that she is turning 27, like she tells people. Yeah, she lies about her age. I guess she doesn't look 31 though, since no one ever catches on to her lies. I won't get to blog tomorrow, because the Woman is taking the day off from work, and that probably means I will be locked outside all day. Whoah is the Pug. The Pug is whoah. Happy Birthday the Woman. Don't worry about me. I'll have a great time locked outside all day all alone, with nothing more than the wind to keep me company. Maybe I'll try to pee on it. That'll teach that stupid wind to blow!
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Threadless bought another one of Ian's t-shirt designs recently. This one was released last Monday, but I forgot to blog it. Ooops! It's sold out in most guy's sizes, but there are plenty of hoodies and ladies' sizes available!
All this weekend, the People worked in "the garden." I tried to help them, but I kept getting in trouble for my efforts. Although they put a fence around the garden to keep me out, they did let me in there this weekend while they were working. Oh what fun. It was hot and dirty and I got yelled at a lot. Not my idea of a good time. The People planted a lot of things; beans, corn, tomatoes, squash, potatoes, lettuce, spinach and peas. The Woman says the garden is over 50% finished. Ugh. There is more to do? Really the Woman, I think that's enough veg for this year.
I mostly slept under the wheelbarrow thingy to keep cool, because it was providing the only shade in the area. My butt hung out one side though, so I had a burning bum most of the day. The Woman also got a sunburn on her backside! We have matching bum burns. No, she wasn't gardening in the nude - her shirt hiked up in the back as she bent over (exposing her muffin tops), and she forgot to put sunscreen there. She's complaining a lot about it today. When I wasn't sleeping under the wheelbarrow, I was laying in the dirt and trying to eat the rotten potatoes. I got in trouble for that too!
On the positive side, the People took me for a walk on Saturday and on Sunday, so I did get a bit of reward for all my work in the garden. The Woman and I napped on the hammock yesterday afternoon too. It was real nice. I don't mind the hammock as long as I am not touching the ropes. I don't think Pugs are meant to be on hammocks without having their People there to stand on, because our feet fall through the holes!
I guess there is more gardening to be done, and probably soon. The Woman seems to like to dig in the dirt. I guess I'll indulge her for a little while, but if she starts missing my meal times, there will be trouble!
That is the phrase I hear most often in our house. Rude, eh? Just because I wake the Woman every morning with barking, bark at her while she pees, bark at her while she is trying to get the door open to let me outside, bark at her while she is making my food, bark at her whenever she moves and bark at all noises I hear or may pretend to hear throughout the day, it is rude of her to tell me to shut up! I mean really! Have some manners the Woman! I gotta go bark now. I think I heard a fly land somewhere in the house.
I was thinking about getting myself a dog recently, like maybe a little Westie, a Frenchie or a Yorkie, you know, something that ends in -ie, but I am seriously reconsidering after seeing how expensive it is to keep a dog. You see, I had to go to the Vet yesterday to have a suspicious lump on my head investigated. It was bleeding (yeah gross I know) and the Vet was able to get some slides of it. Much to my dismay, she also poked at it with a needle, but that's beside the point. She didn't find any mast cells in it, so it is probably not a mast cell tumor, but the bill was still $72! I don't have $72 to shell out if my dog that ends in -ie gets a lump on its head. My monthly net income is $0. I don't see that increasing much in the next year, and I know Ian won't let the Woman give me the money to take care of my dog. (He's mean like that.) So, I guess I'll just have to keep collecting my rogue furballs and build my own dog. I bet dogs made from excess furballs don't need much healthcare!
By the way, the Vet thinks my lump is a histiocytoma. We're going to "watch" it for a month and see if it goes away, because it might go away on its own. If it doesn't go away, she will operate. Woman has already fallen down on the "watching it for a month" job though. She stopped watching it shortly after we got home. I guess the month of watching has to start over now!
We have been out of power off and on for the past two days. We have been getting really heavy winds and rain! The People had to work from Atlanta Bread Company for most of the day, because we lost power at 10:30am this morning, and it wasn't restored until after 3pm. I slept through it, so it didn't really bother me. The Woman had to wrap the Graham Blandy bushes and the new tree she planted this weekend so they didn't get damaged by the strong gusts. She watched as one of the neighbor's trees was blown over yesterday while she was wrapping up our bushes. She said it was pretty cool, but sad, because the tree is a really pretty cherry or almond of some type. Our new tree is a Black Gold Cherry tree. I am excited to have fresh cherries, but the Woman said it will be two years before it produces any fruit. I wonder how long two years is ...
You may remember the Great Kitchen Flood of February 2007 that occurred in our house when "someone" dumped hamburger grease down the kitchen sink. I guess one Great Kitchen Flood wasn't enough, because we had a second one this morning! The Woman had just started the dishwasher and came back to the office to "get some work done" when she heard a loud gushing noise. Ian had cooked up my hamburger about 30 minutes earlier, so she figured he backed up the sink with the grease again, but no, that was not it. She thought perhaps it was a malfunction in the dishwasher causing hot water to spew all over the floor, so she turned it off. The spewing continued - hot water straight from the water heater that is kept cranked up to the max temperature, gushing from under the sink. Now the Woman decided she needed to get some towels down on the floor to start soaking up the mess and to let Ian find the source of the problem. Ian ran around like a crazy man, turning off this valve, turning off that valve. Finally, he found the source ... a valve under the sink! The hot water heater unloaded its full bounty onto the kitchen floor, but the Woman acted fast and built up a dam of towels and blankets to keep the water isolated to the kitchen. The clean up process looked fun. We still don't own a mop, so the People soaked the water up with towels, ran the towels through the spin cycle of the washing machine, and then soaked up some more water. What a mess!
Needless to say, the Woman is glad to work from home; otherwise, this leak would have been a tragedy for our house.
My Good Boy Bones are stored under the sink and got quite wet from the gushing. They are currently sitting out on the patio to dry, and I am really unnerved by this. Birds could eat them! Squirrels could eat them! The neighbor dog could jump the fence and eat them. Please Woman! Bring them in! They're so vulnerable out there all alone!
The Woman has been afflicted with "taxes" for the past two weeks. I'm not sure what taxes are, but they cause the Woman to run around the house digging for paperwork, occasionally yelling at Ian about mileage records, waiting on hold on the telephone for hours on end, and typing fervently on the computer. Maybe taxes are some kind of parasite like fleas or ticks that make you temporarily insane. She also wrinkles her forehead a lot, apparently trying to understand something. I guess taxes affect the brain somehow. She has been rambling on and on about ESPP, ISO, IRAs and home office expenses. It's really all nonsense to me. Perhaps the forehead wrinkling and muttering are side effects of the taxes in the system. I don't mind the yelling at Ian part of the affliction, but the rest of it is really boring for a Pug. The Woman says she is finally done with the taxes, and I am glad, because I did not want to catch them too! In the end, the Woman had to pay the IRS to take the taxes away. She says they won't stay away for good though. Apparently they come back every year! People are so weird.
I would like to go on record saying that I have never received any presents on Easter. Now I see all my Pug friends and baby human friends getting all kinds of presents! What is going on here? Have I done something to offend this Easter Bunny thing, or are the People being cheapskates again? I bet it's Ian! We didn't even have a big yummy dinner on Easter! I'm glad all you other Pugs had a good time, don't get me wrong. I just want my piece of the Easter pie, if you know what I mean. I'm going to have to have a talk with the Woman. What other holidays am I missing? Today could be a present-bearing holiday for all I know!
While I was staying with AM in South Carolina, the People went to Disney World! The Woman has never been to Disney World. She was raised in a small town in Ohio, and only the "rich kids" got to go to Disney World. Ian was raised in Gainesville, FL, so he has been to Disney World a couple times, but not in a really long while. The People both had a great time and took lots of pictures to document their fun. I thought about superimposing myself into some of the pictures, but since they don't allow "dogs" into Disney World, I knew you'd all see through my tactics.
Here are the People on the tea cup ride. The Woman knows that the point of the tea cup ride is to make the tea cup go around and around and around AS FAST as you can, but Ian did not like this game all that much. (He gets motion sickness.) He made the Woman stop spinning them before he barfed. That would have made a cool picture! This picture actually makes me a little nauseous with all the blurriness in the background.
Here is the Woman modeling a Mickey Mouse Fantasia hat. (This is her Angelina Jolie look.) She didn't buy the hat, but she does have this fun picture to remember it.
Here is Ian posing as a racecar driver. We don't watch racing on TV, but all kids love racecars!
Here are the people on the Thunder Mountain roller coaster ride. They got to ride it twice in a row, because the ride conductor liked them for some reason. This was the Woman's favorite ride.
The Woman was most impressed by all the topiaries and beautiful flowers all around the park. Here she is in front of the Alice in Wonderland topiaries.
Here is Ian trying to pull the "sword" from the "stone." It wouldn't budge, so I guess he isn't the rightful heir to the throne.
Here is the Woman on the carousel ride. She loves carousel horses.
The Woman is glad she finally went to Disney World. She really didn't think she ever wanted to go, because she felt it was overpriced for what you got, but she has changed her position. She now loves Disney World and would definitely go back.
The People went to Medieval Times while they were in Orlando last month. They have both always wanted to go to a place like this, so when they found out there was one in Orlando, they just had to go. The building is shaped like a big castle. You can see it in the back of this picture. You cross a draw bridge to get into the building. The People said it was way cool.
Once you get into the castle, you get to stand in the "hall of cheaply crafted yet expensively priced souvenirs" for about 45 minutes before they seat you. They tell you to get there 45 minutes to an hour early, because they want to sell you their crap. You don't have to be there that early though - 15 minutes early will suffice. Their attempts to sell you souvenirs is really beyond shameless, so if you do go, make sure you blindfold the kiddies until you are seated. Otherwise, you will walk out of there with more plastic glow in the dark swords, t-shirts and shot glasses than you know what to do with. What do kids do with shot glasses any way?
The show starts almost immediately once you finally get to your seat. The People said there are really no bad seats in the house, so I would turn down the $10 per ticket upgrade to guarantee you a seat within the first three rows. The regular price is $55 per ticket for dinner and the show. This does not include the tip for your waiter, so bring some cash for the waiter. The People said their waiter was excellent and certainly deserved a tip.
The premise of this show is that the King has just returned to the city after a great victory that will ensure the safety of the entire kingdom. However, the King's brother, who was the "Top Knight" was killed in battle. Now, he has to find a new Top Knight. To select a Top Knight, all the knights in the kingdom must compete in a series of games. The Winner becomes the new Top Knight. I can see this as a series on Fox one day.
Here is the King. Yeah, he's blurry. The ELPH doesn't like distance shots in the dark, so this will be the only one I share.
When you first walk into the "hall of cheaply crafted yet expensively priced souvenirs," they take your picture. Then, they attempt to superimpose your picture onto the body of a Princess or Knight, depending on gender, and try to sell it to you for $7 during the show. Yes, the selling goes on during the show. Wenches bring around trays of souvenirs for you to browse. It's really annoying, and the only down point to the experience.
The People did not buy their pictures, but they did take some bad photos of them. Ian's head is squished.
Woman's is not so bad, but still she didn't want to spend $7 on it.
The food was a lot of fun. There were no utensils, but everything was pretty much edible without utensils. They had chicken, ribs, baked potato, soup, bread and apple pie. Woman said the chicken was particularly good and the portions were big. She couldn't even eat all of hers.
The show was also fantastic. The horses were amazing, and the acting was good. The People recommend Medieval Times, but be prepared to fend off the wenches who are trying to sell you souvenirs! The ticket price might seem high, but once you get there, it's well worth it.
I can usually tell what time of day it is by how hungry I am. I eat breakfast around 10am, and dinner around 6pm. If I am not eating breakfast or dinner, then I know it is neither 10am nor 6pm. That's all the time I really need to know.
The Woman saw this Pug clock in a shop window in Winter Park, FL while she was in Orlando last month. I think it's a pretty silly looking thing. It doesn't even have any numbers on it! Aren't clocks supposed to have numbers? I guess it was around 7:20 when she took this picture. According to my clock, it was "not all that hungry o'clock" since I would have just eaten an hour or so previously. I think only a crazy Pug-loving fanatic would buy this, not someone who actually needs to know what time it is. I guess a friend or relative of a Pug-loving fanatic might also buy it as a gift. No, the Woman did not buy it for herself or for any of you. Ian wouldn't let her! I'm pretty happy about that, because this thing creeps me out.
This is me with my "Little Tug." Little Tug was one of my first toys ever. Little Tug replaced "Big Tug" after I destroyed it. For some reason, I have never had the desire to destroy Little Tug. I'm not sure why. He is probably about 6 years old now, since I have had him since I was a puppy. I like to give him a gnaw every now and then and maybe play a little tug with him and the Woman, but for the most part, he just sits around the house doing nothing. I wonder if Little Tug gets bored?
How old is your oldest toy? Do you name your toys like I do?
Location: Asheville, North Carolina, United States
I live in the beautiful mountains of Asheville, North Carolina, and I am an ornery little pugger. Although I am only awake about 3 hours each day, I work a whole lot of mischief into each and every minute.
