Christmas Story by Micah

Warm and cozy thoughts for your Christmas celebration.  We wish you a Merry Christmas filled with family, friends and fun.  And whatever your faith, we hope you will remember the reason for the celebration. 

We want to thank all of you for the beautiful cards of one type or another.(email, snail mail, Jib Jab, Jacquie Lawson, Smilebox, SloppyKiss, etc.).  We have enjoyed every one of them and are grateful for your friendship and kindness.  We have emailed several lists of bloggers the above card and hope you received yours. If not, grab the one above.  If you'd like a copy fit for print, we'd be happy to email you one.

Before we finish this post, Micah has a Christmas Eve story for you. 

Micah:

Thank you.  I'd like to tell you something that happened last night. With Red aka Little Puppy No Name here, Jan gets up several times a night to put him outside to pee.  She opens the screen door, puts Red down, gives him a slight push and closes the door very quickly.  Red runs down the steps, takes a quick pee and races back up to be let inside.  For this, she doesn't even bother to put on a robe.

About 2:30 this morning, Buddy got up and made it clear he wanted to go out.  Jan got up, threw on her robe, went back to the bed, picked up Red who was curled up in a ball sleeping soundly, and proceeded to take him out.  Buddy detoured to the kitchen for a drink of water.

It was c-o-l-d!  Jan opened the door, put Red down, gave his butt a push, and heard yelping from the bedroom.  She had not put Red outside.  It was ME!

And I didn't want to be outside. I am the house cat someone dumped last fall and I do not want to be outside.  I didn't have to pee either.  At least not until the moment the cold air hit me and I realized I was outside - alone  - in the dark..

I ran down the steps and across the dog pen.  I didn't know where to hide.  Jan flew out the door and came after me, but I kept stopping and starting, trying not to panic. Finally, I was swooped up in Jan's arms and carried up the steps and deposited inside the door.  Jan couldn't come in with me.  You see, while chasing me in the dark, she'd stepped in dog poop.  So first she had to remove her slipper.  She hobbled inside on her heel so she wouldn't get the whole sock dirty, put the shoe down on newspaper, went into the bedroom to pluck Red from off the bed where he was screaming because he was alone, put him and Buddy outside, and went into the kitchen to clean the slipper over the trash.

Just as she reached the area of the trash can and cleaning supplies, her heel got soaked.  Yep, she'd stepped in cat puke.  Hooray for whichever kitty scored; I will be eternally in your debt.  '

I hope you learned your lesson, Jan.  Don't get up until you wake up!

Now back to our Christmas post.



We wanted a Christmas song to end our post.  We chose Cloverton's video of "Hallelujah, The Christmas Version."  We are sure at least some of you will enjoy it.

Merry Christmas!


If the video doesn't play, click here.

Funny Farmers Read Chaser

Buddy:  Hey, it's the Funny Farmers mind-your-manners educational team here. Don't you dare call us "baby sitters!"  Who are we baby sitting ... um, we mean educating?  Why, Red aka Little Puppy No Name, of course!

Sam: Have you ever wondered how much your puppy could learn if you had hours every day to teach him? Well, first we'd like Red to learn not to steal our beds.

Buddy:  I can spend two whole minutes stomping my bed into just the right shape and before I can lay down on it, I'm bed-less and Red is snoring.

Sam: And he needs to learn not to try to steal our food just because he's wolfed down his own.

Merci:  And not to bite our ears.  Or leap on us when we're sleeping.  Or sing soprano when Jan puts him in the borrowed crate because she has to leave for a bit.  That hurts our ears too, which is why we sing along - to drown him out.

Why are we going on about educating Red?  Because we just finished reading a book titled Chaser: Unlocking the Genius of the Dog Who Knows a Thousand Words by John W. Pilley with Hilary Hinzmann.   It has taken us a while to get through it since we have to squeeze reading time into our schedule.  Usually, we take turns reading to each other in the pee/poop room.  (That's the dog pen, in case you don't have a canine to human dictionary.)

A couple of years after he retired this guy, Pilley, was given a Border Collie by his wife.  He spent hours each day training the dog, which he named Chaser, to learn words.  First the basic commands.  And some herding commands.  Yes, Chaser can herd sheep, as well as "herd" his mountain of toys, each with a distinct name.

Unlike the treat method of training many humans employ, Pilley used play-based methods to teach Chaser words, names and more.  Pilley is an intelligent professor/scientist and Chaser a willing student, but first and foremost throughout the training, Chaser has been a beloved pet and member of the family.

We really enjoyed this book. Pilley comes across as a man who loves animals and believes they - well, we're dogs, so we mean he believes WE are more intelligent than most men consider us to be.  What a relief to know someone finally understands us. 

Here's a short video preview of Chaser's story. 


If the video doesn't play, click here.

Buddy:  Believe it or not, the Funny Farmer Felines want to stage a protest because they believe they're every bit as intelligent as we canines and they want their own book and professional website.

  Oh, Chaser, what have you started?  We'll never hear the end of this.

Poop, Pup and Precious

Miss Merci here today with a PSA.  Jan has been helping us with our Christmas card emailing and as you know, whenever she's involved it's really sloooooooow going.  So we're even more behinder than behind, which is where we usually are.  (Yes, I know behinder is not a word, but it fits.)  While Jan is picking up poop in the back pen, I thought I'd try to do a fast post.

Jan is furious at the person who has been going through our trash can.  She doesn't want a garbage/trash can any closer to the house than it has already been moved.  Someone used to drag our can from the street side of the pen, around between the neighbor's sheds, pull out the trash, and toss it back in.  On some occasions, the person has left poop bags on the neighbor's lawn.  She goes to great trouble to ensure the can is protected from any possible poop bag breakage because she doesn't want a reeking trash can and since the cans are swapped out, she doesn't want anyone else to have one either.  Why would anyone be interested in rifling through our poop bags?  Jan would gladly wrap them up and GIVE them to anyone who wants them! 

Little Red aka Little Puppy No Name gave Jan another scare yesterday.  It was such a nice day temperature-wise that we were all outside for a while.  Jan came to check on us and Red was OUTSIDE the fence.  He had moved the flowerpot and couldn't squeeze back through the gate opening.  So Jan ran for the front door and around the house.  Red was inside the pen.  He saw her and immediately squeezed back out of it.  He is hard to keep track of.  And Jan can't find anything large and heavy enough to block the gate openings.


We have a precious video for your Sunday Smile today.  These little kitties really understand what a mat is for - fun!  So join the fun and watch the ninja kitties conquer the mat.And then have a good day!


If the video doesn't play, click here.

Sammy Kimmell and Red

Hey, Little Puppy No Name here.  The other furries said it's okay for me to post again since I have some good news.

It's a really dreary day and we got off to a late start on our morning walk - the one we've been mostly skipping for a while because it's been too cold or rainy for Jan.  (It wasn't noon yet so it counted as morning, didn't it?) 

We started off but Jan saw a neighbor across the street and we doubled back so she could ask if he knew of anyone looking for a little brown dog.  We were all jumping up and down and barking, trying to greet him.  The guy pointed to me and asked, "That one? Yes, he's mine.  He didn't even know how to eat or drink when I got him. I had to teach him.  He didn't play either."  (He added the last because I was busy tugging on Merci's leash.)

So now I have a name.  I'm "Red."  I'll be staying on for a while, though.  My owner takes care of his mother. He knows I'm safe and Jan will  continue working on my housebreaking while he builds me a crate  I don't know why she needs to work on it.  I'm already very good at breaking things. But, hey, if she thinks I need improvement, I'm game.

The Funny Farmers have been telling me stories of Jan. Today I got to see her in action.  In all the excitement, Jan suddenly noticed Sam's brand new harness (thank you, Miss Pat) was at the wrong end.  Instead of at his shoulders, it was unbuckled and sliding down his hips.  Jan was totally calm, cool and collected.  She immediately dropped all four leashes and grabbed Sam. 

When she realized we were loose, the neighbor stepped on two leashes and Jan managed to grab one.  They got the harness back on Sam.  A couple minutes later, it was around his hips again.  This time the neighbor tightened the straps quite a bit.  Jan is so grateful this didn't happen on our walk last night.  Or when Sam was being unruly because he saw a squirrel or motorcycle and wanted to chase it and there wasn't anyone around to help her.

And good thing Sam was secure because here came a medium brown dog and a good-sized Bassett mix the others called Luke the Pee Machine (you might remember him) with their owner trying to catch them  We did some more leaping and barking.  Then we went on our walk.

It's almost 1:30 now and Jan is finally eating breakfast while I post. She's not sharing, but we did eat earlier. 

I think that's all the news for today.  Oh, sorry, the Funny Farmer Felines have to do their regular Friday interview post.  I think I'll go nap now.

signed,
Little Puppy No Name - now known as Red

Thank you, Red.  We have been fortunate to interview some old friends, as well as make new ones.  This week we got to know a new friend better, Sammy Kimmell of One Spoiled Cat.  He's quite the character.

Stop by to read Sammy Loves Teasers and Worldwide Wildcats.  It is published at Mousebreath, the ezine for cats by cats.

We are joining Rascal & Rocco's Pet Parade blog hop #20..