A Difficult Decision

Last night Woman posed a very difficult question to me ... She opened the treat cupboard, pulled out one of my yummy Lucky Dog treats and said to me, "Norman, do you want this treat or do you want to go to Gammy's house?" Ordinarily, I would have had the treat down my gullet before she even got her hand out of the cupboard, but this was a tough decision that required some thought. I haven't been to Gammy's in several weeks, and I would like to see her, but I am a Greedy Pete and enjoy a treat or seven. I looked at her for a while, then finally decided I would rather go to Gammy's. Woman was impressed with my decision and told me I could have the treat and go to Gammy's, but I didn't trust her, so I didn't take the treat. She eventually dropped the treat on the floor and I reluctantly ate it, hoping she wouldn't notice and take back the trip to the Gammy's. A couple minutes later we hopped in the car and went off to my Gammy's house. Woo-hoo!

Uncle Michael and Aunt Danita are visiting at the Gammy's house. They live in Gainesville. I have been there once. I guess I am supposed to say, "Go gators" for some weird reason, so "Go gators." Uncle Michael is sort of a celebrity at his work because he knows me. My blog seems to be popular among the pug-loving population there. He had his picture made with me and everything. I would sign it for him, but I don't like to let my signature get into the public. He might eBay it or something, and we can't have that now, can we?

Doh!

The People saw the Simpsons movie this weekend. They said it was really good, and they have the credentials to judge, because they own all the Simpsons DVDs and really like them a lot. I tried to watch some Simpsons with them once, but I always fall asleep when I look at the TV-thing. I don't know what it is ... it just mesmerizes me and BAM! I'm asleep. So anyway, the People give the movie two thumbs up ... in the air. (Sometimes the People give movies two thumbs up ... their butts. That isn't such a good rating.)

After the movie, the People brought some friends over to our house. I was way excited. We played and I got lots of pettings. I love being doted over! "Oh Norman, you're such a good boy." "Oh, Norman, you're so handsome." It was awesome.

Sunday was not so great, because I got left alone. There was some good snuggle later though, so I was forgiving of the leaving me alone thing.

See My Fern Garden!

Check it out! It's my fern garden!



OK, I guess I didn't really build it - Woman did ... but I helped! You know those rocks are heavy, and somepug had to help carry them from one side of the deck to the other. OK, you caught me again. Woman did that too. She said it hurt her back, so I was staying away from that activity.

The "trench" where the fern garden now lives used to be filled with gravel-like rocks. It was ugly and leaves and crap collected there. Most of the crap that collected there was stuff Woman was too lazy to put away like bags of potting soil, empty planters and garden tools. Woman transformed it into a lovely fern garden though. I think it's pretty cool.

Here is her favorite fern, a Red Japanese Painted fern. I guess it's cool with that burgundy stripe going down the center of each frond, but shouldn't it be a Burgundy Japanese Painted fern?



And here is another of her favorites, an Autumn Brilliance fern. Woman says it will turn red, orange and yellow in the Fall!



The little beds Woman made out of rocks are filled with Lady Ferns, but they have not popped up out of the ground yet. Woman is worried that they might not come up at all, because it has been like 5 weeks since she planted them.

If you look closely, you'll see that this isn't really just a fern garden. Woman got bored of ferns and added some other shade-loving plants too. There is some Solomon's Seal, Lily of the Valley, and Bleeding Heart too. She is also growing some Toad Lilies from seed that she plans to add when they are big enough.

I think I know too much about gardening for a dog, but Woman talks about it all-the-time, so I can't help but pick up on a few things.

My Cupboard

This is the cupboard where my treats are kept. You can see my nose smudges on the doors.



When I want a treat (which is all the time), I put my nose up against the doors and bang them against the cupboard to make lots of noise! The doors don't fit tight against the cupboard, so I am able to get a good rhythm going!



Woman gets real ticked when I do this, and usually she doesn't give me a treat, because she says I'm a greedy Pete.



I'm sad when I don't get a treat.

Lately, I have taken to standing inside the cupboard while I eat my treat so Woman cannot close the door on me. Sometimes this leads to a second, bonus treat! Woo-hoo! But usually it just leads to more scolding and greedy Pete accusations.

Bad Host

I'm still feeling really sad about Tiny and ChiChi, but I know my blog must go on, so here we go. Tiny and ChiChi, this post is for you...

Woman says I am a really bad host when other dogs come over to my house. Like last week Buddy came over to play with me, and Woman said I was really rude to him, because I kept taking his toy. I tried to explain to her that any toy that is brought into my house is my toy, regardless of who "owned" it before stepping through the door. She says I have no interest in a toy unless another dog has it, and then I steal it. She says this is wrong. I say this is competitiveness. Isn't that how soccer and basketball are played? The opponent has the toy, and you try to take the toy? Right?

So anyway, here is a video of me "stealing" the toy from Buddy. Note my awesome strategy of not overworking myself. I let Buddy do all the leg work, then I just take the toy from him and get all the praise from Woman for being the winner. Woo-hoo for me! Sorry that the video is sideways. Woman doesn't know how to flip it around.



That dude throwing the "Chuckit" is Buddy's owner, Nate. He's ok, but he's not a Pug lover. He says he doesn't usually like Pugs, but that I am a pretty cool one. Hmmm ... I know I am cool, but how could you not love all Pugs? He gets a C-.

Here I am showing off my reward, Buddy's "Chuckit." It's a pretty cool toy, but Woman is right - I would have no interest in it if Buddy wasn't trying to catch it. Hehehe!



Here's a picture of Buddy tattling on me to Nate. What a whiner.



So the moral of this story is to check your toys at the door. Otherwise, I'm keepin' em!

We Will Miss You Tiny Angel

Our hearts are very heavy today after hearing that sweet angel Tiny has joined her sister Chichi at Rainbow Bridge. We will miss you so much Tiny. Please give all our loved doggies who you are meeting there kisses for us and let Chewbear know how much I miss her.

We are so sorry Sandy. This seems like too much to bear all at once, and our hearts and thoughts are with you.

See My Kitchen / Dining Room

Good news everyone! Today we're going to view pictures of my kitchen / dining room! I know I have fallen down on the job of taking you on a tour of my house, but I am a Pug and easily distracted. I will try to do better in the future.

So, you've seen the foyer and the living room. Here is the view of the kitchen bar and dining room as seen from the foyer.



And as you walk around the living room, here is what you see when looking into the kitchen area.





At this point, you are now in the den, which I have already showed you. Here is what you see looking into the kitchen from the den. Look how messy that bookshelf is! Woman stashes things there to forget about them. LOL!



Here is another view, but it's less interesting, because I am not in this one... Do you like the Peoples' light fixture that they installed all by themselves? They are not all that handy, so this was quite the accomplishment.



As you walk into the kitchen, you get a better view of the dining room. That's the Peoples' photography up there on the wall. They sell it at Art Shows and on-line and stuff.



You might even catch me on the table trying to peek into that mysterious bowl. I wonder if I can see the future in that bowl ...



Now, if you turn around, you get a closer view of the kitchen amenities. That's the right word, right? Amenities??

Turn to the left ... Do you like our messy spices?



Turn to the right ... Do you like our UFO light fixture? (Woman does not.)



It's over!

I hope you like my kitchen. I like it a lot, because it is the place where the magic happens ... my food is prepared here twice a day! So magical.

I Ate a Real Rib! Two of Them!

Last night the People had ribs for dinner, and after she was done, Woman let me eat one of hers! It was so yummy. I totally scarfed it down real fast-like. Woman wouldn't give me a second one though. However, while Woman was at "The Gym" today, Ian had the left-over ribs for lunch, and he gave me one of his! Oh yummy, yummy! I was sure to eat it real fast in case it was a mistake and he changed his mind.

By the way, Woman has explained to me that she has been going to the Gym and not the Jim. I already knew the difference between those two words - duh! Woman needs to work on her pronunciation. Jim sounds nothing like gym! Geesh, Woman. You'd think you just learned the English language yesterday or something!

Good Night Sweet Chichi

I am so sad to have to say goodbye to Miss Chichi today. When I saw the title of Sandy's post this morning, my heart dropped to the floor, and my eyes swelled with tears. I never even got to meet Chichi in person, but I loved her just the same. I have enjoyed reading about her for the past year, and I will miss her dearly. Please visit Miss Sandy's blog today. She could use some words of comfort after losing her first baby.



We love you Chichi.

No Fresh Broccoli for the Pug

So I am pretty bummed that I am not going to get fresh broccoli from the garden this year. You see, Woman has been growing me some broccoli since May, and it finally came time to harvest it this week. But when Woman was cleaning it in the sink, she noticed gross gooey worms burrowing between the florets! She checked the rest of the crop, and it all has the gross worms! I told her I would eat it with the gross worms, but she still threw it out.

Yes, I eat broccoli. After I was diagnosed with my second mast cell tumor last July, Woman took me to a holistic Vet who put me on a holistic diet of beef and broccoli. Apparently broccoli is the cancer-fighting vegetable. Well, according to this lady it is, and if you don't agree, please keep it to yourself :) So anyway, I have been eating it every day, twice a day, for over a year now. At first Woman had to cook it and chop it up really finely to mix in with the beef in order to get me to eat it, but eventually we progressed to her not having to cook it or chop it up finely. I eat it raw, right from the stalk! I don't mind it either. I did get another mast cell tumor last August, but I haven't had one since then! I am keeping my toes crossed that I don't get any more ever!

Thanks Lucky Dog!

Thanks so much to the nice people over at Lucky Dog for the dog biscuits! I especially want to thank Mavis, because her name was on the package. The biscuits are sooooo yummy! Woman is limiting my biscuit intake, but I have managed to eat 4 already today! Woo-hoo! Here are is a photo diary of me opening and eating my biscuits.

Ooh! Ooh! A package for me! It has my name on it and everything! I hope there's something good to eat inside!



Let's see if I can get this thing unwrapped. They sure did tape it well!



Ha! Ha! I'm making progress now. No package can defeat me!



What the heck is this? A box of club soda? What is a Pug gonna do with club soda? Anyone have some liquor I can add to it?



Well, let's open it up. Maybe it isn't really club soda after all. Sometimes the People wrap each others' gifts in weird boxes to trick each other. Maybe Mavis is trying to trick me with this club soda box!



Oh no! I got my head stuck! Ian must have clipped off my whiskers again, and I didn't realize my head is too big to fit into this box. *sniff* *sniff* I smell something yummy in there!



Phew! I got my head out, but now there is something attached to me. What is this? A hat of some sort?



OK, no more messing around. It's time to get serious with this box. Box - it's just you and me. I've got teeth, you've got nothing.



Holy Cow! Biscuits! I knew it wasn't club soda!



There is two of them! They must be seesters!



Alright, more packaging to tear through. Open up in there! I want me a biscuit!



Ugh .. the things I'll do for a biscuit. Yes, Woman. I'll play your little game.



Good Boy Norman wants another biscuit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear "The Jim"

Hi. This is Norman, the Woman's Pug. I don't know you, but I'm sure you know who I am, because you seem to know my Woman pretty well, and since she talks about me all the time, I bet you have heard all about me. You see, I know she has been coming to your house almost every day for the past two weeks, and I'd like to know what the two of you are doing.

I'm sure you are a cool guy and all, after all you do have a "The" in front of your name like other cool characters like "The Cheat" and me, "The Pug," but I think Ian and I have a right to know what is going on over there. She leaves here all nice and clean and comes home sweaty and tired. Is she helping you with your garden? If so, please remind her that there are weeds growing in our garden that need pulled too. She must not be trying to impress you, because she never wears her make-up stuff or even does her hair, and I suspect that today she was wearing dirty pants from the hamper.

If you could please just let me know what is going on and why I am not welcome at your house, I would really appreciate it. I can understand why Ian is not welcome, but me? I'm the coolest person ever.

Thanks for reading this. I hope to meet you one day in the near future. Stay away from my Woman.

Sincerely,
Norman

New T-Shirt Designs!

Ian has two new t-shirt designs up for scoring over at Threadless. Go check them out! Seriously, go! Be careful though - scoring t-shirt designs can be quite addictive.

I Can Hear Again!

The People held me down this morning and cleaned out my ears. It was unpleasant, but it kind of felt good in a weird sort of way. Woman squirted the stinky solution into my ears, then rubbed around inside with a paper towel to get all that brownish-red goo out of there. We use Viva paper towels, and they are the best for getting goo out of puggy ears. I get gross ears pretty frequently, and I have been rubbing them a lot lately, so Woman decided it was time to do something about it. She would like to clean my ears daily, but I'm not having that. I don't like that cold wet ear solution sloshing around in my ear drums all day! It makes a Pug crazy! And when I get crazy, I start licking! And no one wants that, especially Ian!

Snuggle Pug Medicine

The People have been very sick for the past couple days. They apparently caught some sort of flu-like virus at a 4th of July party they attended without me (serves them right). So, I have had to play Dr. Pug to help them get better.

Friday was the worst day, because neither of the People could stand for more than 30 seconds without collapsing, and walking was completely out of the question. I say it was the worst day as in worst for me. You see, I was out of cooked hamburger for my breakfast, and the People could not stand long enough to cook me some, so all I got for breakfast was raw broccoli! Ugh! Just broccoli! I looked at Ian like he was a crazy man when he served me this dish, but he didn't care much what I thought. He was sick after all. Woman was in the bathroom "refunding" her curry from the previous night, so I wasn't getting any sympathy from her either.

After eating my broccoli, I snuggled on the couch with Woman while Ian slept in the bed. Usually my snuggles help Woman feel better, but she had a fever and said her skin hurt to be touched, so I mostly had to stay at her feet. The People slept until 3pm! Woman was finally able to eat some food again later in the day, so Ian ordered some Miso soup from a Japanese restaurant that delivers, because neither of them could make any food for themselves. Ian was able to stand for about 5 minutes and cook me up some hamburger for dinner though! I was quite pleased.

Woman was still sick Saturday and Sunday, but Ian was mostly well. Woman and I snuggled ALL WEEKEND on the couch. It was super duper. She still looks a little sick today. I think she should stop that "typing" thing she does all day and come back to the couch with me...

Time Apart

This weekend Woman and I were snuggling on the couch after doing some hard work out in the garden. She was trying to install garden cloth in the paths that outline the garden beds because the grass keeps growing back, but that didn't work, so she ended up just mowing the paths instead. I was, like usual, great help to her in accomplishing her goals. So, like I said, we were snuggling after a hard day's work, and maybe I was chewing my paw or licking the pillow or something mouth-related when the Woman said, "Norman, I think we need some time apart." I have been trying to figure out what that means ever since.

I checked on Ebay, but I could not find any "time apart" being listed. I also checked Amazon, but still nothing. I kind of understand what "time" is. Like, Woman and I have "snuggle time" quite frequently, and "bed time" comes around every night, but I do not understand this "apart" word. I think maybe it means "separate." She wants to separate time or maybe split time? Maybe she wants to make time with me - oh my! That could explain why I couldn't find it on Ebay. Don't tell Ian what Woman is planning or he might get jealous!

Gloomy

Today is a really gloomy day. It rained this morning, and now the sun has decided to stay behind the clouds all day, so I am just laying under the Woman's feet snoring away the day. Sure, my eyes are wide open, but a Pug can snore even when he's awake! Pugs have many hidden and not-so-hidden talents.