Dirt Cloud Rising

Cyndi:  Why do you guys have to be such dirt collectors?  You bring that dirt in the house, you know, and we all have to deal with it.  *licks paw*  We girls don't like to be dirty.

Rusty:  Grass won't grow in the dog pen any more, so bringing dirt in the house isn't our fault.

Marcus:  Just because Jan claims every time I shake, I add another 2 inches of dirt to the layer in the house doesn't make it so.  She probably should wash her reading glasses more often so she can tell the difference between steam from the humidity and dirt from the yard.

Cyndi:  I don't wear glasses and I can see the dirt cloud rising when you two shake off in the house.

Rusty:  Well, since I'm sharing the blame, I might as well share the fun.  Come on, Marcus, let's roll!

Marcus the Great Swampi

Marcus:  I am Marcus, the Great Swampi.

Cyndi:  I think you mean the Great Swami.

Marcus:  Okay, I am the Great Swami.  I see all.  I know everything.

Cyndi:  Good, then you can tell me what happened to the treat stash I was saving for a cold night.

Marcus:  It was eaten by ... I'm sorry, I can't tell who it was.

Cyndi:  You can't tell because you can't see, or you can't tell because you're the guilty party?

Marcus:  I have a question for you.  If you can answer, I will try again to see who ate your stash.

Cyndi:  Okay.

Marcus:  Why did Jan put roller skates on her rocking chair?

Cyndi:  Because the ice skates were too wobbly?

Marcus:  What ice skates?  I asked about roller skates?  So why?

Cyndi:  I don't believe Jan put roller skates on anything.  She likes her feet on the ground!

Marcus:  Sorry, bad example.  Why did the teenager next door put roller skates on her rocking chair?

Cyndi:  She can't.  They don't have a rocking chair.

Marcus: Okay, why did the teenager next door put roller skates on OUR rocking chair? 

Cyndi:  Oh, that's easy.  Because she wanted to rock and roll.  So who ate my stash?

Taylor:  Hi, Marcus, I see you're dressed like a giraffe again.  Hey, don't go.  I was joking.

Marcus:  You broke my concentration.  I need to go lie down.

Cyndi:  Now I'll never know who ate my treat stash.

Taylor:  Oh, that's easy.  Marcus ate it last night.

Buddy and Merci Trees

Percy: Did you know you're like a tree, Merci?

Merci:  I'm like a what?

Percy:  A tree.  In particular, the tree in the distance on the right.  That's one of Jan's favorite trees.

Merci:  I'm not anything like a tree.

Percy:  Of course you are.  We don't know what kind of abuse you survived before you were picked up as a stray and landed at the county shelter back in 2003.  Or what abuse you might have suffered at the shelter.  To this day, you are afraid of your shadow and terrified of moving feet.  And over the years since Jan adopted you, you heard the (now ex) shelter manager's voice twice and both times you did some serious growling and shaking.

Merci:  That doesn't make me a tree.

Percy:  Ah, but this is what the tree looks like in the summer. Notice the lush green leaves with dead and broken branches sprouting here and there.  It's seen a lot of heat, cold, wind and rain over its lifetime but it still stands strong and beautiful.

Percy:  And this is Buddy.  Tufts of green leaves in the middle of winter amid the many broken branches.  He was dumped when he was three or four weeks old and he's faced a lot of adversity in his own life - seizures, allergies, skin problems - but even in the worst of times, he still shows signs of life.  No big holes in his trunk, but lots of grit.  He still loves his walks and he still voices his opinion on everything, whether or not we want to hear it.  In other words, he's a survivor too.

Buddy:  Did I just hear you call me an opinionated tree?

Percy:  Uh, not quite.

Buddy:  Then what did you say about me?

Percy:  I was just saying Jan loves these trees.  They aren't perfect but when she looks at them she sees beauty.

Buddy:  So I have holes in my trunk and naked branches but I'm beautiful?  Have you been hitting the nip again?

Percy:  No!  It's just an analogy.  You don't actually look like a tree.

Buddy:  I notice you didn't include a picture of what I .. of what that tree looks like in summer.  Are you insinuating I run around naked all year long?

Percy:  Yes ... I mean, no!  I mean ...  I need to think ... I mean I think I need to find a litter pan right away.

Merci:  It wasn't nice to pick on him like that.  He was just trying to be kind.

Buddy:  I know, but it was such fun. I was just voicing my opinion whether or not he wanted to hear it.


We are joining the Thankful Thursday blog hop at Brian's Home.

A Girl Named Zeb

Buddy:  Hey, Marcus, want to hear a joke? 

Marcus:  Sure.

Buddy:  What did the blonde call her pet zebra?

Marcus:  That's easy.  She called him Zeb.

Buddy:  Why would you think she named him Zeb?

Marcus:  It's only logical.  Your nickname would be Bud.  Mine would be Marc.  Per for Percy. So a zebra would be Zeb.  

Buddy:  Cyndi would clobber you on the head if you started calling her "Cyn". 

Marcus: Okay, then what did the blonde call her pet zebra?

Buddy:  Spot.

Marcus:  Spot?  That's the punch line?

Buddy:  Come on, you know how these blonde jokes go. She can call her zebra Spot but when we get a zebra, we'll name him Zeb.

Marcus: Buddy, one question.

Buddy:  Yes?

Marcus:  What if the zebra we get is a girl?


Kittycaperz asked yesterday if we have a zebra joke.  Yes, we did.

We are joining the Pet Parade blog hop with hosts Rascal and Rocco,  Bionic Basil, Barking From the Bayou and Love is being owned by a husky.

Steam Engine with a Cold

MICAH:  Shhh, don't make any noise.  You'll wake the dogs. 

PERCY:  We kid around a lot in our post.  We hope we haven't given you the idea we don't like each other. 

MICAH:  Yes, we have our moments.

PERCY:  And here is one of them.  Marcus and Merci sleeping butt to butt in Sam's bed. 

MICAH:  Oops, Jan disturbed Merci when she got the camera, but they were both fast asleep before that.

MARCUS:   Zzzzz, snort, snick.

MERCI:  What?  Who snorts and snicks in their sleep?

PERCY:  Obviously Marcus does.

MERCI:  I was here first.  He should go snort and snick somewhere else.

MICAH:  He's sound asleep.  I don't think you're going to wake him easily.  Perhaps you could move?

MERCI:  No way!  I was here first and I'm very comfortable.  I'm not leaving.

MARCUS:  Zzzzz, snick, sneep. 

MERCI:  MARRRRRCUSSSSSS!

MARCUS:  Huh, wah, is there a fire?

PERCY:  Merci was just trying to wake you so she can get some rest without you making so much noise in your sleep.

MARCUS:  Noise, what noise?  I don't make any noise in my sleep.

MERCI:  You sound like a steam engine with a cold.

MARCUS:   I do no such thing.  On the other paw, you squirm and sniff in your sleep.

MICAH:  Guys, hey, guys, we're trying to tell everyone how well we get along.  Can you cool it?

MARCUS:  Yes.  I'll cool it right here.  Merci, you can cool it somewhere else.

MERCI:  If you're not moving, neither am I. 

PERCY:  We do, we really do get along some of the time. 

MICAH:  I guess we should be thankful for that this week.  Getting along some of the time beats none of the time. 

PERCY:  Do you mind moving over, Micah?  You're in my space. 

MICAH:  It's not your space.  I was here first.  


Join Pepi Smart Dog and friends for the Thankful Thursday blog hop.

And Ruckus the Eskie for Thoughtless Thursday with co-hosts Love is being owned by a husky and Barking from the Bayou.   

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2016

TAYLOR:  Hey, whose idea was it to bring me one of Sam's old hats to wear?  His head was bigger than I am!

BUDDY:  Don't worry.  It was just a joke.  We asked Jan to include you in our post today since we're using a graphic from 2014. 

TAYLOR:  Sam was sure a character.

BUDDY:  Yes, he was usually wearing the wrong hat for the occasion but we had a lot of fun teasing him about it.

TAYLOR:  Cameron the Tuxie left for the bridge a few months before I arrived, but I've heard he and Sam were well-loved by all of you. 

BUDDY:  You weren't here long enough to get to know Sam's sense of humor.  He was always making us laugh with his silly faces.  Marcus is trying to fill his shoes ... er, paws now but he's a different personality type.

TAYLOR:  Marcus is a different everything. I think his brain is filled with confetti so his personality changes as the different colored confetti shifts position.

BUDDY:  I never thought of it like that, but you might be right.  Let's hope his green confetti has shifted to the front of his brain for the day.

MARCUS:  Hey guys, are you ready for the wearing o' the green today?  I am.

TAYLOR:  Look at him strut out of the room.  I do believe one of these days his brain is going to explode confetti all over the place.

BUDDY:  I hope he doesn't do it in the kitchen while I'm eating.

FUNNY FARMERS:  Happy St. Patrick's Day to all.


Join Pepi Smart Dog and friends for the Thankful Thursday blog hop.

And Ruckus the Eskie for Thoughtless Thursday with co-hosts Love is being owned by a husky and Barking from the Bayou.  

Hard Hat at the Cleaners

PERCY:  The weather is warming and I'm getting antsy.  I think next time you dogs take Jan for a walk, I want to go along.

MERCI:  You know you'll have to wear a harness and leash to help keep Jan from wandering off, don't you?

PERCY:  Well, if I have to, but I think she should be old enough to find her own way home by now.  It must be so nice to see different scenery.  Pretty scenery.  Not the same drab view day after day.

MERCI: I don't know about pretty scenery.  This is a recent example of what we see daily on our walking route.

PERCI:  You're joking.  It looks like a ... a ...

MERCI:  A junk pile?  See the crane on the right?  There used to be a building there.  Actually, there used to be buildings all over the Martha Mill property but they are being demolished.

PERCY:  I think I'll pass on walking with you.  My hard hat is at the dry cleaners.

MERCI:  I've never seen you with a hard hat.

PERCY:   (*mumbles* And you won't see me in one now, if I can help it.)  How can you dogs walk Jan by that mess?  What if a building falls on you?  You'd be squashed.

MERCI:  That's why Buddy and I hang back and let Jan lead the way.  Jan is taller than we are. If anything falls on her, she might come through a little shorter but she'll survive.  You know how hard-headed she is.

PERCY:  It sounds like you have a good plan, but I have always heard you should never go near a constructions site  -

MERCI:  In this case, a demolition site.

PERCY:  Okay, you should never go near a demolition site without a hard hat. I think I'll wait for mine to come back from the dry cleaners.

Chase Your Own Chicken

MARCUS:  I'll shut my eyes and count to ten and Micah eating our food will become a mirage, Merci.  Stay behind  my private dining car and don't look until I tell you it's okay. 

MERCI:  Don't get upset, Marcus.  It will ruin your breakfast.

MICAH:  You aren't losing any breakfast, Marcus.  I'm just licking the empty can.  You don't eat empty ... Never mind, I forgot you tried to eat an empty cat food can one day.  This is good.  What is it?

BUDDY:  It's the Tiki Gourmet Carnivore chicken with turkey flavor.  It's supposed to match our natural prey diet.

MICAH:  Is it from one of those chase your own chicken menus?

MARCUS:  No, the chicken is already cooked and shredded.  This is what it looks like in the 12-oz can.  It's made from chicken broth, chicken, turkey and olive oil.

BUDDY:  We're told these are some Key Benefits -

•     Grain and gluten-free recipe

•     55% protein, 35% fat, 0% carb

•     Made with whole meats

•     With added vitamins, minerals and trace nutrients

•     Carbohydrate, starch and flour free

•     Zero glycemic index

•     Great for all life stages

MERCI:  How is the service in your private dining car, Marcus?

MARCUS:  The waitress could use a little training, but the food is delicious.

BUDDY: Yes, the service has been a little slow but Jan did finally manage to put our morning kibble topped with Tiki chicken on the floor so we can join you at breakfast.

MERCI:  Please don't make so much noise when you eat, Marcus, or we'll have to ask Jan to feed us as far away from your private dining car as possible next time.

MARCUS:  Hey, I've finished my breakfast.  Can you guys let me out of here?

MERCI:  Sorry, Marcus.  If we do that, you'll finish our breakfasts and we'll go without.

BUDDY:  I'd say, from the clean bowls, this food is a hit.  I think we should give this Tiki Gourmet Carnivore dog food 3 paws up!


The Tiki dog food was provided by Chewy.com. We were not paid for this review and Chewy is not responsible for the content.

This post and Delectable Delights are part of the monthly Chewy blog hop hosted by Golden Woofs and Ox the Terrier.  

Paragliding Budgie Jump

BUDDY:  Hey, Taylor, did you hear the joke about the two morons?

TAYLOR:  No.  Finish your biscuit and then you can tell me.

BUDDY:  Okay, I'm done.  There were these two morons standing on the edge of a cliff.with their arms outstretched.

TAYLOR:  Are they morons because they're standing on the edge of a cliff?

BUDDY:  Partly.  One had budgies lined up on his arms.  The other had a line of parrots. They both leaped off  the cliff and fell to the ground.

TAYLOR:  Ouch!  That must have hurt.

BUDDY:  Yes, and they both ended up in intensive care at the hospital.

TAYLOR:  What about the birds?

BUDDY:  What?

TAYLOR:  What happened to the birds?  Did they fly away?

BUDDY:  Maybe.  Or perhaps they were being treated at a birdhouse clinic.  Can I finish the joke, please?

TAYLOR:  Oh, sorry.  Go ahead.

BUDDY:  One moron said to the other, "I don't think much of this budgie jumping:  The other replied, "I don't think much of this paragliding either.

TAYLOR:  I don't think much of the joke. 

BUDDY:  I don't think much of it either.

TAYLOR:  Then why did you tell it?

BUDDY:  Because it's the only one I could remember. 

Your Check Is In The Mail

MERCI:  I thought we were going to post on what has been going on around here this week.

BUDDY:  Make up your mind, Marcus.  Are you going to play ball or help us post?

MARCUS:  Oh, sorry.  You know how I forget everything when I have a ball or two.

MERCI:  It's been a busy week around here.  Noisy, too.

MARCUS:  Yes, Tuesday morning Jan set down our dog food bowls and there was a knock at the front door.  I left my breakfast unattended to escort Jan in case she got lost on the way.  The nice man who came by last year to patch a leak said, "Hi, I'm your roofer.  We want to start in the back.  Could you unlock the gate for us?"   

BUDDY:  Our landlord forgot to let us know when to expect the roofer, but we were finally on the schedule.

MARCUS: You can afford to be happy about it.  When I, the working guard dog, returned to the kitchen, you were licking the crumbs from my breakfast dish.  Faint from hunger, I staggered through the rest of the day.

BUDDY:  You mean you whined about it until dinner.

MERCI:  The men were on the roof until sundown, then back the next two mornings at 7:15.  Wednesday they worked a 12 hour day.  

MARCUS: Jan said I was good because I soon stopped barking at the noise.

BUDDY:  No, Jan said we were good.  You don't get all the credit.

MARCUS:  Well, I'm going to get all the paycheck.

BUDDY:  What paycheck?

MARCUS:  The guy in charge said I did such a great job of snoopervising that I deserved a raise.

MERCI:  I doubt that, but if he did, he was pulling your leg.  A raise from zero is still zero.

BUDDY:  Let's get back on track.  Here are a few pictures of the roofing project from the past three days.

MERCI:  And, finally, our new roof.  We thought the guys would leave a mess of nails in the yard - and you know how accident -prone Jan is - but the guys did a good job of cleaning up after themselves.

MARCUS:  That's because I did an excellent job of snoopervising.

BUDDY:  *rolls eyes*  I'm sure your check is in the mail.


We are joining the Pet Parade blog hop with hosts Rascal and Rocco,  Bionic Basil, Barking From the Bayou and Owned by a Husky.

Delectable Delights

MICAH:  Hey, Cyndi, where are you going?

CYNDI:   A Chewy box just arrived.  I'm going to go see what was in it for us cats.

TAYLOR:  Why would Chewy be sending us anything in a box?

PERCY:  Because we're cute and funny.

RUSTY: Hey, we have a 12-pack of 2.5 ounce Natural Balance Delectable Delights.

CYNDI:  Pate with tuna & chicken in a tasty gravy.   It sounds good.

TAYLOR:  What's a Land'n Sea Cats-serole?   It's not made of cats, is it?

MICAH:  Of course not!  I't made from:  Tuna Broth, Tuna, Chicken, Whitefish, Pea Protein, Rice Flour, Natural Flavor, Sunflower Oil, vitamins and minerals.  

PERCY:  It is moist and thick in its little tub.  I wonder how it tastes?

MICAH:  It tastes pretty good. Cyndi, get your tail out of my breakfast!  (If it looks a bit watery, remember Jan mixes our food with water so we drink more.)

TAYLOR:  Chewy says:  Natural Balance Delectable Delights are gourmet cat stews that are hand crafted and cooked to savory perfection.

 Key Benefits -
    Perfect for finicky eaters.
    Wholesome ingredients in a savory gravy.
    Complete & balanced for adult cats.

RUSTY:  I think this rates high on the taste scale.

PERCY:  Jan suggested we do this review because Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance is a good brand of pet food. She is, however, a bit wary of the ingredient menadione sodium bisulfate complex - a synthetic Vitamin K) because it has been so controversial. 

RUSTY:  Chewy expects us to do an honest review of any product, so we felt we should mention that this ingredient bothers our human, although we understand this is the only form of Vitamin K approved for pet food. 

CYNDI:  Does that mean Jan won't let us eat the last of the cats-eroles?

MICAH  Don't worry, Cyndi.  The Natural Balance Delectable Delights are basically a good food.  Jan just isn't happy about that particular ingredient. 

TAYLOR:  I have an idea.  She can pick that ingredient out of each serving. 

PERCY  *winks at the others*  A good idea, Taylor.  Why don't you suggest it to her?

The Natural Balance cat food was provided by Chewy.com. We were not paid for this review and Chewy is not responsible for the content.

Pre-Promenade

PERCY:  Jan always gets excited when she sees the daffodils coming up each February.

MERCI:  Yes, she does a wild dance in the dog pen and all the neighbors come over to take photos.

PERCY:  I can't believe you just said that, Merci.  You never lie!

MERCI;  I wasn't lying.  I was sprinkling fairy dust on the story to make it more interesting.  (A Little Fairy Dust.)

PERCY:  You're right.  That does make a better story.  Let's leave it in.

MERCI:  Our daffodils are on the neighbor's property line and when their privacy fence was installed on top of them,, Jan thought they were lost forever.

PERCY:  Oh, she of little faith.  They don't grow straight, though.  They crowd close to the fence and lean forward.

MERCI:  These were the first buds of the season last month. 

PERCY:  They are the hardware of spring at our house. 

MERCI:  I believe you mean the harbinger of spring.

PERCY:  No, I actually meant hardware.  You don't have a working computer without hardware and spring can't arrive without a pre-promenade of daffodils.

MERCI:  You're making that up.  There's no such word as pre-promenade.

PERCY:  Perhaps there wasn't.  There is now.

Room With A View

CYNDI:  Hey, Shorty!

RUSTY::  Are you talking to me?  I'm not short.

CYNDI:  And I'm not tall, but from where I'm sitting up here, you look short.

RUSTY:  That's 'cause you're sitting inside the storage container Jan has on the stool to keep Marcus from climbing on the dryer to steal our cat food.

CYNDI:  Oh, is that what this is.  I moved into it the other day thinking it was a kitty cottage just my size. 

RUSTY:  You didn't notice the cottage has no door or windows?

CYNDI:  It doesn't have a sturdy roof either.  Every once in a while there's a loud thump.

RUSTY:  That's just one of us using your new home as a bridge to the food bowl.

CYNDI:  I'll have to ask Jan to move the food bowl so I can rest in peace.

RUSTY:  But moving the food bowl would mean Jan would have to move your new cottage. 

CYNDI:  I hope she'll move it closer to the window so I can have a room with a view.  It gets a bit boring staring at the side of the cabinet.

RUSTY:  Be sure to get that in writing before you sign the lease.

CYNDI:  Lease?  You mean I'll have to pay Jan to live here?  I'm not paying rent to live in a storage container.  I'm moving out! 

RUSTY:  Whew!  I thought she'd never leave.  The roof could be a little higher, but otherwise, this cottage is just perfect for a big mancat. 

A Discerning Snoot

PERCY:  You look like you're giving Jan the evil eye in this picture.  What did she do this time?

MARCUS:  She locked me in the pen so she could play in a big pile of leaves without me.  I wanted to play in the leaves too!

CYNDI:  You mean when Jan made this pile Monday? 

MARCUS:  Yes.  She dug big shovelfuls, hauled branches and leaves, and refused to let me help.

PERCY:  You do know Jan was not playing in the leaves, don't you?  She was moving the mess from beside the pen to beside the road for pickup.

CYNDI:  That was Monday's pile. This is the other half of the huge mound of wet, rotting leaves from December and January she had to finish Tuesday.

MARCUS:  She was playing with a shovel and two rakes and a big container.  She pretended it was hard work but I can recognize fun when I can't share it!

PERCY:  That was hard work, Marcus.  Those rotten leaves were compressed and she could have gotten a hernia hauling them across the yard.  She made the one pile as tall as she could manage and had to start another.

MARCUS:  I wanted to roll in those leaves and ...

CYNDI:  And you would have come inside smelling like rotten garbage.

MARCUS:  I would have smelled great!  Ask Merci and Buddy.  Well, perhaps you should just ask Buddy.  Merci doesn't have as discerning a snoot as we guys do.  She'd prefer to smell like a flower.

PERCY:  The new water line project started on our street in early December.  She couldn't put the leaves out to the curb because of the digging mess.  Then the new sidewalk was laid.  Then she had to wait for the grass seed to sprout and grow. 

CYNDI:  Jan should have hitched you to the container and made you drag everything out to the curb, one load at a time.  Then you could have been the one complaining about being in pain all week. 

MARCUS:  She deserves to have aches and pains.  She deprived me of my canine right to have fun and to smell rank.

PERCY:  I, for one, am glad Jan did not let you play in that mess. 

CYNDI:  Yes, the rest of us would still be walking around with a clothespin over our noses. 

MARCUS:  You cats don't know how to have fun.  I should open a school to teach you the finer things of life. Where to find the best scent for your body chemistry.  How to eat poop.  When to ... Hey, guys, come back here.  Is it something I said?


We are joining the Pet Parade blog hop with hosts Rascal and Rocco,   Bionic Basil, Barking From the Bayou and Owned by a Husky.

Flavored Water

BUDDY:  I do love my water.  I drink lots of it every day.  Even get up sometimes during the night for a long, cool drink. 

CYNDI:  And then you get up an extra time or two for Jan to let you out to pee. 

BUDDY:  That's okay.  Jan doesn't mind.  She's used to popping up and down all night.  It keeps her limber.

CYNDI:  You mean it keeps her awake!

BUDDY:  You might remember a week ago we posted Cloudy and Bubbly as part of the fun we've been having around here since the new city water line was connected to our pipes.

Kitchen water.

CYNDI:  This is what the water from our kitchen faucet (and our washing machine) have looked like since the connection blew.  It was repaired Sunday, February 21 and the cloud descended sometime the next afternoon.

BUDDY:  If it sets for a minute, you can watch it clear from the bottom of the container, as it is doing in this picture.

CYNDI:  Jan was told to let the water run and it would clear up.  Hello, anybody listening?  It's been a week and a half.  Jan has let the water run.  She has done laundry, dishes, cleaning.  Believe it or not, she actually used water - running water - for all of those things. 

Bathroom tap-water on left, kitchen water on right.

BUDDY:  Obviously, letting the water run has not fixed the problem in the kitchen.  On the other hand - or paw - she can run water from the bathroom sink, or tub, or even the outside faucet and the water is clear.

CYNDI:  The water is drinkable, bubbly but drinkable.  Very unappealing, though.  She emailed these photos to the interim city manager yesterday. It will be interesting to see whether someone will explain why after 18 years of clear water, a new water line is installed, and we suddenly have seltzer water. 

BUDDY:  The cats want tuna flavored water.  We dogs think chicken or beef should be the preferred flavor.  Jan wants her water to be clear and to remain tasteless.  Boring!

CYNDI:  While we're waiting for a solution, we might as well have some fun.  Which flavor (or flavorless) water would you furries prefer?  Tuna, chicken, beef, or other flavor?


Join Pepi Smart Dog and friends for the Thankful Thursday blog hop.

And Ruckus the Eskie for Thoughtless Thursday with co-hosts Love is being owned by a husky and Barking from the Bayou.