Well, the bad news is that I didn't make a million dollars at work last week. The good news is that I did make a new friend! Hooray!
Here I am with my new friend, Meghan. I was helping her out with her American Chestnut duties. We gave one chestnut CPR, but he didn't make it. Poor little bugger. Keep on fighting for the chestnuts Meghan!
This is the look I had on my face when I found out that the American Chestnut Foundation is a non-profit and that I wouldn't hit my million dollar goal by the end of the week. You see that spreadsheet I was working on? That's right. I use the Excel. By the way, Sarah, you put my harness on me backwards. LOL!
After the news of my insubstantial pay, I slept through the rest of the work week. It was nice of Sarah to bring my floor cushion and squirrel to work. I wanted to bring Hootie, but she said Hootie was too skanky. Poor Hootie. It's not his fault he likes to flirt with all the ladies. I wouldn't call him "skanky" though! Geesh!
Hello all my friends at the American Chestnut Foundation! I hope you're having a great day, and I hope to see you again soon!
I mentioned back in December that the People were remodeling and had purchased a new couch. Since the couch had to be "ordered" it took a really long time to get here. Not as long as it has taken me to blog about it though! The couch arrived in March, but we've been breaking it in for you.
Here is the new couch! With new art too!
It's leather, which is supposed to be good because it's easier to clean, but I've already got something on it that Woman can't get off. If anyone knows how to clean leather without taking off the finish or fading the color, please do tell.
I'm not a great fan of the new couch, because it's smaller than our old couch, and Woman and I have difficulty getting our snuggle on. So, I mostly sit on this floor cushion. Mostly.
I obviously DO get on the new couch since I have apparently stained it already. I get blamed for EVERYTHING in this house!
Although Woman is not technically a mother, Ian was sweet and bought her some flowers. This sort of left me hanging, since I hadn't got her anything, so I decided to let her play some Hootie all weekend long! It was such fun for her.
Here are the boring old flowers that don't smell musky like a nicely seasoned Hootie, and which you can't throw down the hall.
The People worked hard on Saturday to get the house and yard ready for Mother's Day since the People were hosting a Mother's Day brunch on Sunday afternoon. Woman even mowed the lawn on Sunday morning. She has never mowed the lawn, and she says Ian can keep that job!
Sadly, there are no photos of the food, which is a shame. Ian made shrimp and grits with cajun remoulade sauce, and there were biscuits with jam and yogurt/granola/blueberry parfaits for dessert. I hear it was all good.
Here is a photo of the ladies in attendance. Allison (Ian's youngest sister), Grandma Billie (Ian's step-grandma), The Gammy (Ian's Mom) and of course Woman.
Also in attendance were Ian's brother Trevor, Allison's husband Brad and Ian's Stepdad Michael. Why didn't the dudes get a photo? Sexist ladies hogging all the glory, that's why! There are also no photos of the presents. Where was the camera, Woman? The People bought Gammy a lovely bracelet from New Morning Gallery and Grandma Billie a cute blue ceramic birdfeeder. Allison announced after brunch that she too would be a mother next mother's day. Her baby is due sometime in January. Gammy was excited, but also a little sad to know that she's old enough to be a grandma. She felt even a little sadder when Woman reminded Gammy that she's been old enough to be a grandma for the past 9 years since the Peoples' 9 year anniversary is coming up in June! LOL!
Woman got up early on Saturday to work in the garden before she had to teach her 9:30am class. As she was working away, she heard me barking ferociously at one of the boxwoods by the back deck. She told me to "shut it," as usual, and went on with her work. I continued to bark - louder and louder. I was trying to alert her of something, but she wouldn't listen to me.
Finally she "humored" me and looked under the shrub. With a disgusted look on her face, she scooped me up into her arms and made a mad dash for the back door. Then she woke up Ian. It was like 7:30am on a Saturday. That's way too early to wake up Ian, so I knew something had to be wrong. She told him there was a possibly dead pawsome under the boxwood and needed his help.
Here's a photo of the yucky dead pawsome.
Ian reluctantly came outside to check the pawsome's vital signs, because Woman was afraid it might not be dead yet. Here he is - throwing rocks at it! LOL! Is this how they check your vitals in the ER? I hope not!
Woman was holding the door open to the deck, so if the pawsome burst into life, Ian could make a quick get away. If that had happened, Woman would have run for her life, slamming the door in Ian's face though. Poor Ian.
After confirming the pawesome was in pawsome heaven Woman searched the Internets to find who is responsible for Animal Control in our county and found that it is the Sheriff's department. A quick call to the Sheriff's department revealed that the People are responsible for burying the nasty thing. Yuck!!
So they got to work digging a hole, which is no fun with our hard clay soil, and the hole had to be deep and wide since the pawsome was a monster. They got the hole dug and had to devise a way to get said pawsome into said hole. The pawsome was too big to fit on the end of a shovel, so he had to be scooped into a box and carried to the hole. Woman almost barfed.
In the end, Mr. Pawsome was given a decent burial and is now resting peacefully at the top of our yard. Woman hates pawsomes. She says they are mean and can give me rabies.
Oh, Woman just informed me that pawsome starts with an 'O'. Opawsome? That's weird.
While at Nate's family's beach house, we noticed a decor trend - the silver-plating of sea-related relics. Observe a few specimens.
The mantle is loaded with silver seashells - these were once actual dwellings for sea creatures that have been silver-plated for the enjoyment of beach house guests.
Even this piece of driftwood is now encrusted with silvery goodness.
This poor starfish seems to have escaped his spray-paint happy Captor in time to warn his fellow starfish about the "crazy lady with a can of silver spray paint," but sadly he was recaptured and the job finished. Poor little fellow. I'm tempted to glue some googly eyes to his little face.
The People are leaving for Disneyworld in nine days, so I get a week with Big Girl Sarah. She works for The American Chestnut Foundation, and apparently she has a co-worker who has a Pug named Sam. What a great name! We are planning a little Puggy work day. I get to go to work! I'm excited to get my first paycheck. I bet it's a million dollars! I'm going to buy a harem of Hooties!
I'm finally going to make my post about the beach! Well, sort of - it might be a little abbreviated, because Woman is really busy with work.
We left on Thursday night (April 23rd) for the North Carolina coast, Topsail Beach to be more precise. There were 7 of us in Nate's truck. Nate and Ian in the front, Sarah, Margarita, Woman and me in the back and Buddy in the waaay back (the bed). Ian was trying to make me ride in the bed, but Woman wasn't having it. The ride was 6 1/2 hours. Too long with that many people, but we made the best of it. I sneezed on Margarita 14 times. She was not impressed.
We got to the beach house late - like 2:00am late. The People and I immediately went to bed.
Nate's familys' beach house is really nice - like Donald Trump nice. Here is a photo of it all trailer-parked up with beach towels hanging from it.
It's 4 stories - 7 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms. We calculated that it can sleep 21 people and countless dogs. No cats though - they're forbidden from the beach.
Let's take a quick tour. Here's the living area.
This is where the People cook food that does not get shared with me.
Here is where they eat the food whilst ignoring me.
And here's where I slept.
I told you it was really nice.
We even had our own maid.
OK, not really. That's Jane. She came up on Friday afternoon, because she couldn't leave Thursday night.
The house also has a hot tub. I did not get into the hot tub though.
We spent a lot of time on the beach, and Woman was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. When we went to the lake last Summer, I was not a fan, so Woman figured I was going to be a pain all weekend, but I loved playing in the water, chasing seagulls and sunbathing. She said I was a very good boy and obeyed most of the time. I deny this, so don't get any ideas that I'm going soft or something.
Here I am running around the beach. Do you see that shallow little lagoon that has been formed by the tide? I liked to play in that water. It only came up to my chest, and it was nice and warm. I got really dirty and had to be hosed down. Not fun.
Here I am napping with Woman.
I also enjoyed just watching the water. It's mesmerizing. It was telling me to do bad things, but I resisted its force.
Woman said I was getting too much sun on my head, so I had to wear this hat. LOL!
Actually, the hat was Ian's.
It was kind of chilly the second day on the beach, so Woman and I snuggled for a while.
The beach makes my eyes water. I guess it's from the sand.
The People had crabs one night. This crab was having his last meal before becoming a meal himself!
There were also lots of adult beverages like this one.
We all had lots of fun and hope to get to go back again this summer. Thanks Nate's family for sharing your beach house with us!
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.
