Waggin' Wednesday...A Date, News and An Award

Hello Everyone...it's me Asta Marie.....

I am so excited to report that I have been invited out on a date with Jake of Florida of the Barkalot Boys.

Oops...I guess I should get up and decide what to wear as we are going to a baseball game this evening in Florida to watch the Marlins play the Cardinals and I have nothing to wear...... or do I?

Here is Jake's invitation......

Is it too late for you to join me tonight at the Cardinals-Marlins game? If so, there's tomorrow night. It's a good thing we didn't go last night though 'cause the game was stopped for rain -- although you might have enjoyed curling up inside a player's batting helmet!!One more thing, in the interest of full disclosure -- before you and I first barked at each other, I had written to Princess Willow, of the Zoo Crew, to see if Just Harry and I could be her fellows, because we had fallen in love with her puppy face. She never answered until now, and, as you can imagine, I'm a bit embarrassed, since you and I have just gotten to know each other and I'm not a Don Jake kind of guy. Just Harry is kind of happy about this, because he wasn't so keen on sharing anyway and is very eager to go out with Princess Willow all by himself. Hoping you'll understand...

Jake

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And again.....when I asked about what I should wear and if it was supposed to rain.

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Dear Asta Marie,

Thanks for being so understanding. Right now, I don't see any rain -- but this is South Florida and you never know. It will be really hot, though, that I can promise. How about if I bring the umbrella and you bring your hat? We'll have hot dogs and perhaps a soft pretzel, with a cold drink. They have ice cream too, I heard. And catching balls at the game is a sport in itself, so you be ready!!! Some folks bring their own gloves. I've asked our heron-cam to pick you up --he's a reliable fellow, remember he flew all the way to San Francisco with our folks -- and to be sure you get home safely. The game starts at 7:10.And, uh, could you post a perty photo on your blog -- with or without hat -- so everyone will believe it's really you with me.

Jake

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So I am being picked up by the heron-cam and I am pawsitively obsessing over what hat to wear...

Shall I be elegant like the idle rich ??

Or even hoity-toity like the super rich?????

Or should I dress down for the occassion and sport a baseball cap advertising my home team???

Actually, I think this one fits a bit better...what do you think?????

So I am waiting for heron-cam to pick me up and I am really getting excited. It is fun getting ready for a date and even more fun thinking about my first meeting with Jake. Wow, wish me luck.....

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Jackson Update

In case you haven't heard the latest news.......This was the latest report issued by the J's.

Jackson is doing well and is now out of intensive care. He will almost certainly be allowed home on Friday afternoon.

We're putting his proper birthday celebrations on hold until he's well enough to enjoy them fully but we do hope you'll drop by his blog on Friday to wish him a Happy Barkday!

Wow...all our wishing on the dogstar, barking and prayers have been answered....PAWSOME....

Don't forget to stop by Jax Blog and wish him a happy barkday on Friday.....as if we would ever forget....

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Do You Have Room in Your Hearts and Homes?

Or do you know someone else who might????? Here is a little girl who has had a hard life and has been rescued from a puppymill.

She is 8 years old and now up for adoption and her name is Darcy.......

Maybe someone has met a person who admired their WFT and might have some interest? She is not a "bouncing off the walls" wire but more of a lapdog. She needs to be in an only dog home but because she is so laid back, does not necessarily need a WFT-experienced home.

For more information contact Julie at jmjoffee@yahoo.com

Darcy....here's hopin' you find the best forever home and forever family...you deserve it.......

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A Bronze Medal

I am proud to have been awarded the bronze medal for swimming in the Pawlimpics. I accept it with much appreciation to Lenny and his parents who have spent so much time putting together the Pawlimpics and for all the joy it has brought doggies and their keepers around the world. But then that's what Pawlimpics are all about.....erasing borders.....

And here I am in the winning entry in my little swimming pool cooling off......

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Wow, that was exhausting....how does Dewey do this all the time?????

This is Asta Marie, WFT reporting on lots of stuff...........

A Wonderful Sunday

Happy weekend ta ya all....

Well, the weekend is just about over but we had a great day taday, Sunday, at earthdog practice..... The weatherman was callin' fer rain and cooler temperatures and so when we left this morning, we watched those big black clouds hang over Pittsburgh.......

Here's the Mon River again from the movin' car as we passed thru the city on our way ta the country....

Ya gotta love those bridges, don't ya???? and the hills too and the water....but we just kept on goin'........

We got put in the X-pen so Gram and Pap could attend the earthdog club meetin'....'n talk ta some new friends they made....

I don't know if ya remember Slider, the Welsh terrier from our first earthdog post....but here he is again with a new little sister, Callie.....also a Welsh terrier....Slider is on the right. Callie is a real cutie pie.....'n if I wasn't so intent on gettin' those rats taday...I woulda checked 'er out more....since Lacie was mean ta us maybe Callie would be willin' ta have a date with me. I guess I need ta ask 'er Mom, Linda, first before I approach 'er.....but isn't she a sweet little thing????

'We get ta see 'em both again next week when we go back fer the tests....can't wait.......

Now we had a good practice taday and Gram got some good video so ya can see what we do at earthdog practice.....Here it is....

After we were finished practicin' Gram went around and took some video of all the activity goin' on and there was a bunch of it....have a look see.....

Gee wasn't that a wild Sunday ?????? Can ya tell everyone had FUN FUN FUN ?????

Oh, one more thing...Gram was shoppin' in the Mall and found a sort of stuffed Wire Fox Terrier in a store there....Wait til ya see it....

And she also made a new batch of clay dogs for the Earthdog auction...they got dropped off taday but this slideshow has pictures of the clay dogs and the new stuffed dog....

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We had a swell time taday and we're all pretty tired. Hope your Sunday was great too.....Oh, and it waited til tonight ta rain....aren't we lucky ?????

This is Dewey Dewster reportin' on our great Sunday.......

Our Week in the Country

Hi ta everyone....

We just got home after more than a week at the cottage and we always have a lot ta do there. More than anything we just love all the room we have ta run and play.
We always have ta have covers over the furniture cause we come right in from outside wet, dirty or both and get right up on it.

I got Gram ta take a lot of video so ya can see what we do there. There is one of us playing ball with crab apples, my Mom curlin' up in a little pan, of us swimmin' and of us playin' with some new stuffed snakes that Gram bought us. Then there's a slideshow of stills Gram took of us too.

We hope ya have the time ta see 'em all and that ya enjoy 'em.....

We sure had a good time makin' 'em....

First, we wanted ta show ya a bit of the pretty things up here and us playin' in our pool. 'N if ya wanted ta find out how Mom gets inta those a little pans...here it is...

Here we are up at our Uncle Donny's place playin' ball with crab apples. And we got some special toys ta play with too....


And then Gram made a slideshow of us doin' lots of stuff while we were there..sit back 'n have a look.....


Don't know how ya all get video uploaded ta Blogger....we never could...sometimes we can get it uploaded ta Google video but then the code produces nothin' on the blog but a black screen. So this time after hours trying every which way, we put it on YouTube....hope the code works......

Now we're back home after our stay in the woods....we'll be back again fer another visit later in the month....boy, we sure love it there....hope ya all had the chance ta have some fun too......

We're all waitin' fer some news on Jackson's tests taday...boy, sure hope that dogstar was bright enough......

This is Dewey Dewster reportin' on fun at the cottage.....

A Fractured Fairytale and More.........

Hi ta all.....

This is gonna be a long post so grab a pawtini, curl up in yer favorite easy chair .....'n chew on a bully stick.....

We're at our cottage again 'n there's a ton of wildlife around here......now there's a big puddle of water across the road from us cause they're havin' a problem figurin' out how ta drain the road water there. We saw a lot of big tadpoles swimmin' around in the water earlier this summer....'n we hear frogs croakin' there at night now.....ribbit...ribbit....ribbit.......
I always like ta think about myself as bein' an action hero and I was tryin' ta remember the story about the beautiful princess who turned the frog inta a handsome prince.


Now I wondered what those frogs across the road looked like cause we really don't see 'em .....we only hear 'em croakin.....do they look silly like this guy ?????
Or a bit cartoonish like this little fellow ?????
Or much more like a real frog.....sorta like this guy????
And if I were ta kiss 'em would they turn inta a dashing prince who would grant me my every wish????

Would he be someone like the smilin' guy ridin' a white horse......

or a tall handsome blond hunk with a flowin' cape....?????

So I was scoutin' around here ta see if I could find the frog and give 'em a big kiss and I found this guy here.......... I just had ta get 'em in my mouth a bit 'n roll my tongue around 'em and kiss 'em real good cause I really wanted that prince and the wish of my life.......( fer Jackson ta get well again)

Instead I got this.......

Did ya know that bugger was a TOAD........'n not a frog ?

A TOAD.......TOAD..........TOAD.......

Though most toads are bitter tasting and usually result in profuse drooling in any pet that tries to take a taste, only a couple of species of toads are truly poisonous. The poisonous secretions from these toads can affect animals who come in contact with them, causing a host of clinical signs.

Now we're lucky that we don't live in the part of the country where there are poisonous toads. Right after we told Levi's Mom ta watch out fer that toad that was in her backyard, I have ta go and kiss one. I was salivatin' all over the place...then I got a bit sick 'n threw up.......

Pap washed my mouth out a bit so I could get that horrible taste out of it.........
My Mom was so embarrassed that I kissed a toad instead of a frog that she curled up in the toy box and went ta sleep.....

Let this be a lesson ta me ta check the color of the hoppin' vermin before I decide ta give it a kiss....ya think I would know by now since I did this once before........

Our story was about the Toad Prince instead of the Frog Prince, I guess....we got it fractured just a bit there.....

This is Dewey Dewster reportin' from Titusville Pa on The Frog Prince.....

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Randy Pausch

This is Dewey's Gram here.....

Some of you may have noticed the picture of Dr. Randy Pausch on the top right portion of the blog. Many may have recognized the name and the face that went along with it and others might be trying to figure out who he was. Was he a relative of ours? ……no, he wasn’t….well…… who was he then?

Randolph Frederick Pausch was a little known professor of computer science, human-computer interaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in August of 2006 and suffered through the aggressive treatments he sought to stave off the disease in relative obscurity. That is until he gave his “Last Lecture” to a packed auditorium at Carnegie Mellon University on September 18, 2007. His cancer had returned in August of 2007 and he was told that he would remain healthy for only another 3 to 6 months.

His last lecture, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," brought him a standing ovation and was viewed by millions of people around the world. Although becoming a celebrity was not one of his life goals, he became one as he testified before congress on cancer research, threw football passes with the Steelers at a practice session, was given a role in the new Star Trek movie, met with Sting and the Police, was honored by the president of the U.S., appeared on Good Morning America and The Oprah Winfrey Show and was interviewed by Diane Sawyer on several occasions.

Each time I saw him on TV, his eyes were sparkling and his upbeat attitude was infectious….here was a man with only months to live who was showing the world how to die with grace and dignity.

I remembered my sister-in-law's ( Mary Lou Thewes) brief struggle with that deadly disease. From diagnosis until death for her was less than 2 months. She died at the end of January 2007.

On May 18, 2008 Randy made a surprise appearance at the commencement ceremonies at Carnegie Mellon. He delivered a speech after which he carried his wife off the stage with a huge smile on his face.

I made it a point to check his personal web page for medical updates and for news on what he and his family had been doing….except for the last month or so.

As I listened to the radio in the car on July 25, 2008, I heard the news that he had passed away at his home in Chesapeake, Virginia,. He had moved there after his last lecture to be closer to his wife’s family. Randolph Frederick Pausch left this world surrounded by his family and close friends and in the same manner that he began his fight against that dreaded disease, in relative obscurity. The news of his death brought renewed interest in the celebrity that he had become his last year on earth. He packed a ton of living in those last few months that he had with his wife and children and the world was watching him.

I hope that his contagious enthusiasm for life and his deep love and devotion for his wife and family will live on in the minds of all who had the pleasure of knowing him for such a brief time. He left a legacy for his three young children so that they may know the man who was their father as they grow up. He touched many lives and taught people with life threatening illnesses how to manage their last days and how to create a positive attitude to carry them back to good health.

God speed Randy Pausch….may you rest in peace………

And Mary Lou.....if you're reading this from above.........we will always remember you and that smile that always filled your face....

Here's hoping that there is soon a cure for all cancers but we are praying for something that prolongs the lives of those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

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Jackson We Love Ya !!!!

Now our friend Jackson got a spot of bad news last week ( hell it wasn't a spot, it was a boulder ) and we are all hoping that there is a treatment that will help cure him of his problems and that good news arrives at his house soon .

If everyone paws it forward and sends those healing vibes across the waters to Jackson, we know he will be OK.

Get Well, Jackson....we love ya !!!!!!

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Another Award fer the Terriers

Our friends, Momo and Pinot the Cavs in Toronto have passed on the big puffy red heart award ta us. We are proud ta accept it and send many thanks yer way...........

Didn't I tell ya this was gonna be a long post ?

Hope ya had enough bully stick ta last thru the whole thing........

This is Dewey Dewster signin' out from Titusville, Pa.

Have a Great Day Everyone !!!!!!!!

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Banana Ice Pop Floats

It's me again......

Dewey Dewster here ta tell ya it's been hot around here this summer. The sun's been out just about every day and just when ya think the weather is perfect...the eat and humidity returns with a vengeance 'n makes ya hot and cranky....

We went fer a morning walk the other day......'n the humidity was pretty high so by the time we got home...we were pantin' up a storm....

Gram felt sorry fer us so she got out an ice pop and was gonna give each of us some when Pap said give 'em each their own ice pop ta cool 'em off.....so she did......'n there was a banana that she said we could share too so we all got ta have a banana float....

ooooooohhhhhh....doesn't that look like ya could just dive right in and chow it right down????

Mom got the blue one...'n me 'n Toby got the red ones but they were all nice 'n cool 'n refreshin'....

Gram took 'em out on the deck so we didn't drip the meltin' ice stuff on the kitchen floor...
I thought we hit the jackpot there gettin' our very own ice pops cause we usually only get a taste of Gram's.......

Toby wasn't too sure that the bananas shoulda been in his dish but he sure liked 'em anyway....

We sure hope that everyone has been able ta get cool at some point this summer......either in a swimming pool or by havin' something nice and cool ta eat.....

We know that we get a lot of goodies that some other doggies can't have, but we sure hope that ya all get something that's nice like ice or ice cream cause those special treats are super delicious...... 'n if ya want ta stop over and visit a spell with us, we'll be sure ta share our ice pops with ya too....

Dewey Dewster reportin' on Banana Ice Pop floats..........

Dewey Dewster's Believe It or Not !!!!!

Hi ta all....

Did ya think only Ripley could have a "Believe it or not?" Well, I'm here ta tell ya that Dewey Dewster thinks that Dewey Dewster can have a "believe it or not" too....

Now, ya might ask what I have that is so special that no one would "believe it" so I'm here ta tell ya what.

I'm sure that ya all know by now that I am such a well-behaved guy.....always respectful of Gram 'n Pap.....always mindin' my manners...why I'm an angel fer sure.....Mom and Toby too.

Now ya saw some of my Gram's gardens the other day....but what ya didn't see was some of the stuff they have ta do ta make sure that there is a garden around here at all.

Now, Pap is pretty resourceful when it comes ta bein' one step ahead of us....'n he's had ta adapt pretty quickly ta changin' times around here....we change....'n he steps up ta the task at hand....

Take the deck steps fer instance......

Here I am standin' at the top lookin' down.......do ya see the chicken wire on the left side there by the railing?

Do ya see those backs on the steps there?......did ya ever see any backs on deck steps before?

See that? That's more chicken wire on the right side of the steps too.

There's backs on all the steps 'n chicken wire on both sides of the railing. Can ya guess why???

Well, I 'll tell ya why......we like ta stand at the top 'o the steps 'n drop the ball down (ta see where it lands of course). Did ya know a ball won't always just go right down the steps ? Sometimes it runs off the side....sometimes it falls through the back 'o the steps......'n then it lands.......... 'n where do ya think it lands ?

Why it lands right in Gram's flower garden...that 's where..... "n guess what happens ???? Come on ya can guess.......give it a try......aren't ya all doggies like we are......well maybe some of ya aren't but most of ya are..........now what would ya do if yer ball fell in the garden, huh? We go off the side of the steps or out the back of the steps ta retrieve it fer sure....... I mean it's ours and we can't get it unless we do...........so off we go.........

Now there's a fence around the flower beds so if we get ourselves in there....we can't get out.....cause the fence was put there ta keep us out not ta keep us in.....
'n once we're stuck in there behind that fence all we do is dig........why ? ....cause we're tryin' ta get out fer sure.....

Do ya get the picture here? Cause it's not our fault at all, I tell ya.......no siree...it's all a big maze that we get stuck inta and there is just no simple way out...........

Now there's some of Gram's black-eyed Susans behind the fence....'n some of her dahlias behind the fence....

And along the other side of the yard are some more tomatoes and pepper plants behind a fence with the yard fence behind them......confusin' isn't it?

Then there's the chicken wire that's on the gate cause Toby was squeezin' right between the slats.....that fixed him but he's jumpin' pretty high now so he may just go over it soon........

"n then there's the barrier Pap had ta put up ta keep us from runnin' around in circles around the veggie garden cause all the grass got ripped out by it's roots with all the speed we can get up goin' 'round the corners....

"n now that I got that all off my chest.....I'm sure that ya will all take our side 'n say that this really was not necessary....especially fer such a group of terrific terriers as we are.


Now look inta this innocent face 'n tell me that ya think we did not deserve ta be foiled at every turn here with fences... 'n stair backs.... 'n barriers all over the place......

Well, believe it or not........the barriers 'n fences 'n stair backs are here 'n here ta stay.....but why ????

Can't ya just see my angel wings ready ta spout????

This is Dewey Dewster reportin' from our backyard fortress..... believe it or not.......

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Another Award

Yep, we almost fergot that we got another award from our dear boxer friend Chef...thank ya, thank ya Chef......fer the big puffy heart award....

We hope we can live up ta the honor....

A Garden Tour du Jour and Awards

Hi out there in blogland....

It's not wheelie Wednesday 'n we don't have any wheelies anyway but I thought ya might enjoy a tour of the gardens here in our little world. Our world is pretty small here cause we have a small yard, but we manage ta get in a lot of flowers and other plants without trrippin' all over 'em.

So let's step outside and have a look around. Gram is pretty proud of the clematis this year....it's full of the biggest white flowers right now just bustin' out all over ...'n it's workin' it's way down the other side of the lamp post. Pretty, aren't they?


Then there's Grams black eye Susans, purple coneflowers and daisies. They're just bustin' outta their boundries and takin' over the little plot where the Spring bulbs bloom. But that's OK cause Gram loves ta dig things up and replant 'em elsewhere. She also likes ta shares extra plants with the neighbors.
Had ta get in a shot of the blanket flowers complete with a honey bee dippin' in the pollen. It's sad when ya hear about all the problems with honey bees right now and the collapse of their hives but there doesn't seem to be a shortage of 'em around here....... we stay away from 'em cause they sting us good if we don't.....

Last year Gram started some dahlias from seed 'n she was surprised cause she didn't know ya could do that....'n the plants grew the tubers that ya can save over the winter so Gram dug 'em up and stored 'em til Spring. Here's some bloomin' complete with a butterfly......

Now in the backyard there are some hydrangeas. Gram doesn't have good luck with 'em cause I think the ones we have aren't really that hardy in our area....so not many blooms are on 'em... but they look pretty just the same.....
A few years back big brother Scott bought Gram this lily plant and it has some big flowers on it right now.

While we all love flowers....unless yer someone who knows which ones ta eat and how ta eat 'em...they're not the best part of summer.....

Here's the best part of summer.....tomato plants....see how big they are and bushy too. Gram has a fence around 'em cause while they need lots of water ta make 'em grow...they sure don't want the kinda water we would give 'em. There's lettuce off ta the left side which is startin' ta go ta seed in all this hot weather, but we had lots of it ta eat fer the past month or so....

There's also green pepper plants and Hungarian banana pepper plants and taday Gram picked her first ripe tomatoes along with some of the peppers....not bad fer the first batch of garden goodies......

While Gram 'n Pap love those garden veggies....we love the special stuff Gram makes us ta mix in with our dog food. Here's a new batch of liver and rice Gram made this evening so we can have some goodies in our dishes tomorrow.......... when we see this come outta the fridge, we know it dinnertime..........

Well, it's been a fun visit and a pretty long tour du jour.....'n we have some other news ta report too. So here goes.......

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AWARDS Fer the Terriers

We have been nominated fer 2 awards.

The first one is from our earthdog friend, Rudy and it's the Brillante Weblog Premio 2008 award.

That's pawsome Rudy...thank you so much fer the honor.

The rules for accepting the award are as follows:

1. Add the logo of the award to our blog

2. Add a link to the person who awarded you

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs

4. Add links to those blogs on your blog

5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs!

So we nominate our friends Petey, Eric, Fenway, Girl Girl, Jackson, Luna and Oorvi..... "n I wanna tell ya this was a really a hard job cause there aren't many blogs without the award....least not the ones we visit anyway.....

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We have also been awarded the very prestigious Arte-y-Pico award by our friends Oorvi, Eric Square dog and Asta.

Here are the rules:

1.) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogger community, regardless of language.

2.) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3.) Each award-winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4.) Award-winners and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of the “Arte-y-Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5.) To show these rules.

Unfortunately we were unable to find 5 blogs without the award so we would like to award it to any blogger who feels worthy of displaying it.

Wow!!!!..... we are honored and humbled to display these awards on our blog......our heads are gonna be too big ta fit in our beds tonight fer sure.

Thank you all.....

Dewey Dewster here reportin on the garden tour and awards....wow that was a long one.......Gram do yer fingers still hurt ya ??????? Sorry........