Two Girlie Girls

Hey Pals,

We have a new relative! Her name is Marcy. She's part beagle and part hound. And look at that tail -- the envy of Jakey for sure.

Our Tampa brother and sister-in-law just adopted Marcy from the Tampa Bay Beagle Rescue Organization. She's about two and a half and will be sharing her new digs with two cats, Holly and Mistletoe -- featured in an earlier post.

On another front, here's Gizmo, who's been living with our Orlando sister. She found Gizmo on the side of the road a while back and has been nursing her back to health. Since Gizmo still needs full-time attention, and our sister is working two jobs while getting her masters, Mom and Dogdad brought Gizmo to Hollywood on their return from Orlando last weekend to spend time with some nice friends who can do that. We can all go visit her whenever we want.

Mom held Gizmo on her lap the whole way back from Orlando -- and got very attached in those three hours. When we got home from camp, Gizmo was still here -- but she's a tiny, kind of fragile girl, so we didn't get to play with her.

OK, more later -- Dogdad is doing some planting outside and we have to go help!!!

We were at camp for the weekend...

While the folks went to a wedding in Orlando. But now we're back home and want to say hi to our pals. Or at least I, Just Harry, do.
My brother Jake is feeling out of sorts. He gets that way after a weekend of non-stop barking.

And his favorite evening spot lately is nose and most of furry body under the table, while Mom and Dogdad are having dinner. Just his tail is visible. And he thinks I'm a goofball???

Woof!!! (A very hoarse woof 'cause I did a lot of weekend barking too.)

Just Harry

Red, White, and Blue

...Or as the French say, Bleu, Blanc, Rouge.

Here are a few things that make our Mom and Dogdad happy, so we thought we'd share them.

First, the Blue: A local art museum has been showing an exhibit of George Rodrigue's paintings of his iconic Blue Dog. Yesterday, he was at the museum for a reception and book signing, and Mom and Dogdad met him and bought one of his books for children: "Why is the Blue Dog Blue?" For those who don't know much about him, here's a link to his site: http://www.georgerodrigue.com/

He's been very active in the work to restore his native Louisiana and New Orleans, post Katrina.

Then the White: One of Mom's favorite plants, mussenda -- seen in the photo of us on a bench a while back -- hasn't recovered as yet from her winter bare-limbed season. While Mom hasn't given up on her yet, she bought a younger version, yesterday.

And finally, the Red: We're a month into baseball season and hadn't seen a St. Louis Cardinals game until LAST NIGHT when the Cardinals played the Cubs and WGN, the TV Superstation from Chicago, carried the game here . The Cardinals won with a walk-off home run in the 11th inning. So Dogdad went to sleep happy -- all the happier because two more games will be televised this weekend.

So there you have it: Blue, White, Red -- some of the things our folks love best -- besides us.

Jake and Just Harry

Barking is what we do best...

...so barking with our pals at the anniversary chat was right up our alley. Our poor wirey rumps are still sore from getting booted out of the chat room so frequently -- but we are terriers, right? so we persisted.

We barked with lots of our old friends, and made some new ones -- and it was a great treat (TREAT, DID SOMEONE SAY TREAT???)

In visiting with Crikit, Sparky, and Ginger today, we saw their Mom was a lot smarter than ours -- they actually got to sit around the laptop on the floor so they could all participate. At our house, we had to fight with Mom to chat 'cause -- if the truth be told -- she kept forgetting she was Mom and actually thought she was us -- and she thought that all of her fellow chatters were labs, huskies, airedales, wires, Boston terriers, mastiffs, danes, etc. --- fancy that!!!

Strange Mom!!!

Jake and Just Harry

Yay Dogdad!!!

It's true!! It's true!!! He built us a fence in our back courtyard!!! It's kind of a "stealth" fence, 'cause in our development, we're supposed to have only tall wooden shadowbox fences, and we didn't want that as it would block the view beyond our place; but it's a fence alright. To "hide" it, we planted a a dozen hibiscus bushes on the common area outside, so they'll soon cover the metal, and we'll put vines on the arbor. (The upside down piece of fencing in front of it is there just until the gap under the arbor -- easy wire fox escape route -- gets filled in.)

Sunday afternoon, we got to explore -- and guess what? We're terriers and we did what terriers do -- look for all the ways to get out!!!

I, Jake, -- remember our "Pinky and the Brain " personas? -- immediately began looking for ways to scale the side wall. And I, Just Harry, explored every inch of the fence to see if Dogdad had forgotten to close off any part of it. No such luck.

We know, we shouldn't be such ingrates (no pun)!! For the first time, except for our visits to the dog park, we were off leash outside and having a ball. But terriers will be terriers, right??

Yay Dogdad. We love you!!! (Mom too!!)

Jake and Just Harry

The Rest of the Story

This year, instead of a Seder with lots of our family and friends, it turned out that only the four of us celebrated the first night of Passover together.

Mom still made her yummy chicken soup with matzoh balls, and brisket, and she made sure we had all the special symbols for the ceremonial Seder plate. The one you see is a new modern one made of glass that our sister gave us last year.


Under the circumstances, I got to sit at the table. Just Harry could have also; but he chose to sit under the table. (Those are Dogdad's legs on the right, and mine over JH's head!)



We each had pieces of matzoh and when the time came, I got to preside over the welcoming of Elijah. Actually, since that part of the ritual involves opening the door to greet him, Mom got to do that while Dogdad held on to our collars. You never know how the evening might have turned out otherwise.

We filled the cup for Elijah -- a silver cup that belonged to Mom's grandparents. We recited the prayers. And we sang songs.

(If you're looking at the pictures on the left of the table -- they're at dog's-eye level, and are part of my Dog Bar.)

It was a lovely evening, and more than made up for the first Passover that I described in my previous post.

We like matzoh.

Jake

How I Got My Middle Name

I was just reading my pal, Axel's latest blog. Part of it described the Jewish holiday, Passover, which starts tomorrow night. Reading about the eight-day holiday reminded me of what happened when my folks brought me home just a few days before Passover in 2002, and I thought I'd tell you all about it. (I've written about some of this before, so if it's old news -- please forgive me.)

It seems that I was an unplanned addition to the family. Mom and Dogdad had been at the hairdresser in a shoppng center in her old neighborhood. After she was groomed, they walked over to the nearby pet shop, just to look!! (I know, shame! shame! shame! but what if they hadn't?) There I was in the first pen, all of twelve weeks old. Cute? How not? They walked around looking at all the other sad, sleepy guys in their pens, and kept coming back to me.

After a moment, they asked the attendant if they could see me out of the pen. I was brought out to the front and placed in a shallow oxagonal pen filled with shredded newspaper. I was so excited that I kept scratching at the paper and scratching at the paper -- never even looking at these two people. But they were looking at me, and looking at each other -- and before I knew it, I was family!!!

A name? What about a J to go with Jack and Joan? Mom pondered, and Dogdad pondered and when Mom finally said, "What about Jake?" Dogdad said, "That's what I was thinking." So Jake it was.

I got cleaned up, with a bow around my neck, and the Live Animal plastic crate in which I had come from a puppy mill in Joplin Missouri, and off we went to the PetSmart next door, to buy food and a few other necessities --- and home we went.

They forgot one thing, though. I wasn't potty trained!!! And Mom, bless her ignorant heart, didn't have a clue as to what to do. Little by little, though, she figured it out -- or rather, I should say, I figured it out. They put baby gates at both sides of the kitchen, and that was my paper-covered palace. Since Mom works from home, I got to go outside pretty frequently, and we managed.

But then, Mom had to shop for Passover food and left me alone for an hour or so. I don't know what got into me -- or what got out of me -- but when she came home, the kitchen was a mess -- and so was I. She screamed. I just put my little poopy paws on the baby gate and smiled. Her reaction? She called Dogdad at work, and asked him to come home right away. They needed their combined four paws to handle the situation. And that was what came to be known -- fondly in memory -- as Black Friday.

Once the kitchen and I were pristine again, Mom started cooking for the holiday. Her dad and brother and sister-in-law were coming for the Seder, and she had lots of special foods to make, including chicken soup with matzoh balls, brisket, "charoset' -- a combination of apples, nuts, cinammon, and wine, to make a paste that recalls the mortar used in building the pyramids -- boiled eggs, bitter herbs, and other items for the Seder plate to commemorate the Hebrews' flight from Egypt.

But then, what to do with me while the family had the Seder? Remember, this was before I had learned manners. It was Dogdad who decided the upstairs bathroom would be the answer. And up I went after greeting everybody. Well, I'm sure you all can anticipate what happened. First there was the non-stop barking that accompanied the meal -- but second, let's just say that when Dogdad went up to get me, he came back down pretty quickly and said to Mom, "You don't want to go up there. I'll take care of it."

And that was my first Passover.

But how did I get my middle name? Part of the Seder includes a special cup of wine for the Prophet Elijah, who, it is hoped, will come to spread peace throughout the world. And Mom and Dogdad, who love me lots and lots and think I brought them joy, decided that I was now an integral part of the holiday and deserved the middle name of Elijah.

So that's my Passover story!!

Hag sameach to all who celebrate!!

And just in case you're wondering: Things got a lot better very quickly, and now I and Just Harry get to sit at the table, or at least enjoy the food and songs with the family.

Jake Elijah