Percy and Bo Regards

Hey, Percy, here. While we're waiting for Jan to share a taste of whippie cream (as Puddles of 3 Doxies calls it), I thought I'd do a review on Bo Regards.

We're a little late with this, but we - I mean, Jan can't figure out how to hang the thing. The company hasn't helped with any ideas and the only person we can think of who might know the answer hasn't responded to our email.

Mark and Debbi Rath and Else Cunningham started Bo Regards to help pet owners prepare for an emergency, such as fire, weather or medical. Letting emergency personnel know there is a pet (or pets) in the house could save your pet's life. Many a pet has been lost when police and ambulance crew arrived and left a door open for the frightened animal to escape.  And pets often hide during a fire.

They sell Fire Safety Plaques to alert emergency personnel there are pets in the home. They come in burnished copper, burnished brass and burnished nickel.  You can also order a reflective sticker.

We thought these plaques a neat idea and chose burnished copper. However, when it arrived, we had - um, I mean, Jan had a problem figuring how to put it up. According to the site, "The plaque is designed to be easily mounted to the inside or outside of a wall or door; it can also be screwed onto the exterior of your home," so we - um, Jan figured it would be easy to install on a door or the gate of the dog pen.

But this is an O-L-D house and the only way it could be mounted on a door would be on the bottom half of either the front or back door. Well, who's going to notice it down there? If the holes were centered one top and one bottom instead of side to side, she might be able to hang it on the top half of a door, but she'd prefer not to try it.  Hanging it on the exterior wall is not an option since it would not endear us to the landlord.

So, dog pen gate it was. Except how does one hang a plaque on a chain link fence? She tried twists from bread bags but the plaque was too wide or not wide enough, depending on how one views the problem, to hang securely. It was impossible to secure it safely and any passerby could just help himself to the plaque by untying the twists - if a wind didn't blow it off first.

Sorry for the photo. The plaque is much nicer looking than this, but Jan had to stand under a shade tree looking into sunlight. Notice the twist ties? That's the tightest she could manage.

We think the plaque is a good idea; however, we would like to suggest to the company they offer more than one placement for the hanging holes. Surely there are other potential customers who would have a problem safely hanging the plaque on their own door or gate. Jan would have liked one hole in each of the four corners for the gate.

You can find fire safety tips and more information on these plaques by visiting Bo Regards, Inc.

At this time, the plaque couldn't help any of us since Jan couldn't hang it and it's sitting in its box.  So, if any of you are not handyhuman impaired and have a suggestion for how Jan could hang the plaque on the gate, let us know.  She knows there is something used to repair chain link fencing when any of the original "tiedowns" (?) break, but doesn't know what it's called or where it's sold.  She knows this much because Buddy found such a place in one of the old panels and tried to escape a while back.  Jan, a less than brilliant handyhuman, used shoelaces to hold the panel together until a nice man fixed it for her. 


We are not associated with Bo Regards and were not paid for this review, but a plaque was provided for testing.

Kitty Countdown of Cute

We thought a fun video would be perfect for today, so we searched for a kitty countdown of cute.

We hope you enjoy "10 Cutest Cat Moments."



If the video doesn't play for you, click here.

Have a fun day! We will be very busy. We dogs are working on Jan's toe therapy. This week we are walking her in shifts, one at a time to make certain she gets some exercise, whether we need any or not. Remember, we have the Romper Room where we can run now.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Move Over

We told you yesterday that Jan didn't even feed us woofies breakfast Friday until 2:30 in the afternoon. She just plain forgot. She even forgot to fill the cat bowls.

And then she forgot our dinner! By bedtime she was confused -- did she or didn't she? -- so she gave us woofies each 1/2 of our dinner ration, figuring we were either overfed or underfed by 1/2. Does that make any sense to you? We give her one day off in 6 1/2 years and she totally forgets we only need to go out to poop if we put something in the other end first.

At least she was with it Sunday. We got fed, we got to drag Jan on a short walk, and we spent time in our new Romper Room. What more could we ask? Well, the other half of Friday's dinner, for one thing!

Now, we would like to deviate for a moment to bring Americans a Public Service Announcement for your humans. We don't recommend you furries drive unless you have a valid driver's license. And if you do have one, MOVE OVER!

New Move Over Law is being Strictly Enforced --The law about approaching emergency vehicles on the side of the road is being strictly enforced! The drivers approaching any type of emergency vehicle with it's lights flashing is supposed to move over one lane to the left. If traffic won't permit this, slow your speed to approximately 20 mph under the speed limit -- not 20 mph slower than other drivers. This law is really being enforced by police departments all over the country. Almost all states have some type of move over law now in effect. The law is to keep emergency personnel from being endangered or killed when performing their duties. Watch for flashing lights, move over and slow down.

Move Over America!

(s) Buddy, Merci, Sam

Romper Room and Angel Crystal

Happy Valentine's Day to all our internet friends!

We were going to pack up all our snow from yesterday and ship it off to Khyra in Pawsylvania and to Phantom & Thunder at the Kansas Ocean, but it melted before we could even find the shovel and plastic trash bags.

We would like to thank Noll's Nip for naming our new, improved dog pen the Romper Room. At the moment, it could be more aptly called the Mud Puddle but it will dry out eventually.

When Jan put us out earlier today (Saturday), she watched us through the window and denies that anyone in the neighborhood was throwing snowballs at us. However, someone was! And it wasn't the wind blowing snow off the trees as Jan claims. Poor Sam was temporarily traumatized, standing head down and tail tucked between his legs to protect himself from the onslaught.

Sam: I was not traumatized! I was trying to see where the barrage was originating from but the snow was hitting me in the face when I looked up.

Jan totally forgot to feed us breakfast till 2:30 this afternoon. She claims it's because it's the first time in 6 1/2 years she hasn't had to run around getting our breakfast and rushing one or more of us out the door to walk. But since she spent all those hours lounging around in her pajamas, we think she is just plain spoiled already. We have got to get her out walking again so her brain keeps working -- at least somewhat. You know how it is, use it or lose it!

We hinted numerous times. For example, we would go out the back door, come right back in and go directly to the front door, where we would stand and stare at our leashes. We did finally get her to go outside with us before she scraped snow off the car and went shopping for some "necessities." She didn't return with anything for us, so we wonder how necessary the items really were. We think our quick trip down the front steps to the curb and back again was just a guilty conscience for starving us halfway to death's door today.

Our Valentine VSquillion has arrived from the Cat Blogosphere Shelter.It's from a special litter of Memorial Angel Virtual Squillions, named in memory of those now at the Bridge. Our VSquillion is adopted in honor of our late brother Crystal, a classic orange tabby.

(s) Buddy, Merci & Sam, Cotton, Cyndi, Percy, Cameron & Rusty

PS -- We would all like to thank those who generously donated to help us take care of Jan! (She'll tell you it's the other way around but this is our blog.)

Our Human Angels

Two months ago we posted this photo of our new 10'x10'x6' dog pen provided by Matthew, project manager of the mill restoration project. (You can read that post here.) At first we weren't sure what to do in it since we hadn't been off leash in over 3 years.

As some of you know, Jan hurt her toe last month -- it wasn't our fault, no matter what she says! -- and she has been wearing huge slippers on our walks, yelling at us not to come near her the whole time. Geeze, you'd think we were going to leap on her feet or something. The worst walks were when it was cold and rainy. Her feet got wet if she didn't wear regular shoes which made her harder for us to walk and she'd complain even more.

So Monday she decided she would open up the front panel of the pen and move it toward the house so she could just open the back door and we could fend for ourselves. Only she figured if she did, it would fall down and she'd have to hike the city looking for us. So she emailed Matthew to ask what to do to anchor it. Evidently Matthew has heard of Jan's prowess with tools. He immediately responded, "No! Wait, and we'll take care of it for you Friday." Jan didn't mention any of this to us, so we were unaware of what was coming.

This week a donated 10'x10'x6'pen became available through our friend Kay at the Humane Society. So all week Jan has waited expectantly for Friday (that's today, as we write this) when the two pens would be joined together. And then last night's weather report: our first SNOW of the winter! Possibly beginning overnight. Jan was nervous but hopeful. If the second pen couldn't be picked up today, the large pen couldn't be set up. We would have to walk her in the snow and she is rambunctious. Oh, wait, that's us. She's the dawdler who manages to fall without any help.

But this morning Matthew, Drew and Audoro went to work combining the fences, while Kay and Jan watched, then headed to Home Depot to buy metal poles. It was snowing when they returned with 2 more poles for added stability. Jan says she wasn't sure who was the most excited about this project. Well, duh, that's an easy one.

WE WERE!

Wow, were we surprised when Jan finally opened the door and let us outside on our own for the very first time here. We ran, we barked, we wrestled, we dug, we tugged on our toy.

Here are the guys moving the original dog pen.

Every dog needs a good tug of war friend.

Checking out the larger space.

Before long it looked like this in our pen. And guess what? We then refused to go outside without Jan. Does she think we're stupid? It's cold and wet out here. Jan refused to go outside at all.

This is from the front porch before sundown. It's still snowing A lot of you are already piled with snow and expecting more, but this is our first snowfall of the winter and we're not accustomed to it. And more snow is expected. Brrrrr.

Here are our hardworking human angels -- Kay is not pictured -- Drew, Matthew & Audoro.

Many thanks to all of them, including the donor of the second dog pen. It's really an answer to Jan's prayer for us to have a place to exercise and have fun. And Brick Butt (that's Sam, in case you've never been knocked down by him flying backwards into you) needs a lot of stretching room when he starts running in circles.

But, Jan, in case you think you're going to get to laze about now, our human training books say humans must be exercised daily. So heal that toe and lose those slippers because after the snow melts you will be back to hoofing it before you forget everything we've taught you.

And just for the record, we did finally go outside a couple of times tonight to run and sniff and .... well, you know.

(s) Buddy, Merci & Sam

Our Christmas Surprise

Merci: We're happy to report, the surprise Jan told us was going to arrive today is here. And it wasn't cleaning supplies, so sorry, cats, but we can't share with you.

Sam: But first, a little background. Do you remember our post on the two Chihuahuas that were dumped outside the mill gates last summer? (You can read it here.) That was when we first met Drew who supervises the crew working at the mill. Later we met Matthew, the project manager. Those guys aren't afraid of us. They think we're neat, even though Jan claims we're overenthusiastic and ill-behaved around other humans.

Buddy: Well, Matthew and Drew came by yesterday to let Jan know they were sending us a Christmas surprise. They talked outside so we didn't get to eavesdrop, but Jan says they were grinning from ear to ear, really happy about their news.

Merci: And today it was our turn to grin. Because look what arrived! An exercise pen for the three of us. Here is the nice man who delivered the pen putting it together.

Buddy: After he left, Jan took us outside and let us loose. We did a little sniffing.

Sam: And a little teasing.

Sam: And I kicked up my heels. Banged my rump on the fencing a few times, but what wondrous freedom.

Merci: Some more sniffing. Even a little pecan chewing.

Sam: I started to dig a hole but Jan stopped me. Just wait till she isn't around!

Sam: I got it, I got it, the tug rope is mine!

Buddy: Give me that, I'm in charge here.

Merci: Listen, guys, you had your turn. It's mine now!

Buddy: Okay, Jan, we're done for now. You can let us out now. Jan, Jaaaaaaaan! Put the camera away and let us out of here! I have to pee.

Merci: These nice guys were going to make us a pen from scrap at the mill but they're so busy with the reclamation project they sent us a new one instead. Thank you, Matthew & Drew! We really appreciate this pen.

Buddy: Yes, we do. And to return the favor, if you need any help dismantling the mill building, just call us and we'll bring Jan right over. She's an expert at knocking things down and breaking them.