Staycation Travelogue 10/29/10

On Friday, we scratched my sister's shopping itch. We shopped some local favorites before ending up at the Americana at Brand. Lunch at the Cheesecake Factory... too stuffed for cheesecake! Then we admired the dancing fountains.

I was a bit upset that my sister was seeing this beautiful outdoor mall for the first time and yet there were all these cranes and cherry pickers there. It occurred to me that they were putting up Christmas trees! OY! It is that time already!

And sure enough they were... but hey, that tree's kinda naked...

We soon realized... they were ADDING BRANCHES! To a LIVE tree!!

These guys were on the ground keeping everything organized:

All the branches were skinned where they would be attached to the tree. They were treated with a fire retardant and a green dye! (Oh, the joy of a real fake tree!) Each branch also had a row number on it.

The guys in the cherry pickers would come down and pick up dozens of braches and then hammer, saw and screw them into place.

 

After a little more shopping, we headed for home but had to stop for milkshakes from In-N-Out. We've forgotten about Halloween but there we found Robert, who had to make his costume for school. He went dressed as his favorite burger joint and won the costume contest. So naturally mom took him out for a burger to celebrate. You would have thought that the folks at In-N-Out would've been so impressed with his ingenuity, they might just comp him a burger or a shake at least... but noooo! (Bad move In-N-Out!).  But Robert was so cute... I just had to share him with you! 

Staycation Travelogue 10/28/10

We hit Laguna Beach for shopping and lunch and a little ocean-side skygazing.

On the way home, we found ourselves not so happily stuck in traffic on the 5. After an hour, we stopped and decided to explore Downtown Disney. Other than a lame design for handicapped parking... why do they always ASSuME that handicapped people are mobile by wheelchairs? In reality, most handicapped just require closer parking. Downtown Disney gets an F on that design... but the rest was SO inspirational. Everywhere you looked was something interesting and my head was flooded with bead ideas!

Every fountain resembled giant flowers. The wrought iron was glorious! But these candied apples really caught my eye!

I Was Made to Love Her

There was a strange glowing orb in the sky this morning... something we haven't seen here in EIGHT days! Miss Loubel May was scratching around on the porch wanting to work on her glorious tan as she is so apt to do in the morning but the fall sun would not  cooperate and shine on her softy rug.

I got busy and swept off the new sunny spot and shook out her rug and carefully placed it where the morning sun would accommodate her needs.

The princess was happy indeed!

Rainbow Over Luken's

With all the strange rain storms this month (very early in the year for So.  Cal), we've had some incredible rainbows over Mt. Luken's.

Sorry it's not bigger... shot with my cell phone.

Mabel and the Mister

Our hiking buddies, Hank and Sue, have a new brother - a tiny chihuahua! This is so remarkable because Hank and Sue are Rhodesian Ridgebacks and each weigh nearly 100 lbs! Their mom saw the pup at our favorite neighborhood thrift store. All kinds of people were holding him high in the air by the scruff of his neck. She said it was worth the asking price to know that no one would ever hold him that way again.

He's gone through many names in the past week. I can't even remember them all. But some highlights are: Henry (the "grown up" version of Hank!), Baxter, Dexter, Junior and his mom is calling him "The Egg" at the moment. I personally don't think it fits so I've resorted to calling him The Mister  or Mister Man.

We got to babysit one day last week and I thought you might like to see the highlights.

Mabel Lou meets the Mister

"Umm... that's MY bed Mister!"

Somebody actually pouted a bit while Mister Man was visiting!

Mister made my mom just glow!

After a while, he got tired. It seemed all he needed was two soft "pillows."

Mabel, Mister and I all curled up on the sofa for a little nap. All was well. Unless, I took my left hand off Mabel Lou. Then, I got "the look!"

We had a great visit and hope to babysit again!!!

Bad Vicious Rottenweiler

Just listen to that growl!!!  I'm sure Mabel Lou will chime in about the way I end our stick sessions - by pressing her on the nose until she cough / sneezes! LOL!

Mabel Lou's Tips for Blanket Stealing

Mabel Lou here. After my mom's nasty post about me stealing the blanket, I thought I would share some of my tips for you other canines that have blanket inequality in your house.

But first, I have to tell you my mom has me pretty steamed. She always talks sweet baby talk to me but when you listen to the words... they are not so nice! This is what she says in her sweetest, sing-songy voice:

I told those people at the doggie jail I wanted a sweet little poopy dog but they sent me home with a bed hog. Yep, You're a beg hog in poopy dog clothing!

A bed hog??? How dare her!???! I can assure you, I AM a poopy dog! Silly Mama!

And I wouldn't hog covet Mama's side of the bed if I could get a decent soft fluffy fuzzy blankie of my own!

Now, on to my tips. When your human scolds you for taking their blanket, feign ignorance. Pretend you don't hear them.

 "Shhh! I need my beauty rest!"

If that fails, pretend you are sleeping soundly and they are disturbing you. Act confused. This will scare your human!

"Huh? Wha?"

If they keep insisting that you move, act like you have an owie. This will cause your human to become concerned and possibly leave you alone on the soft blankie for the evening. But... WARNING... they may try to give you medicine!!! So use this technique with great caution!

"MOOooom? Mah elbow hurtzes"

Next, try making sweet eyes at the human. This trick works most of the time!

"I wuv you, Mama. You're pretty!"

If the sweet eyes trick fails, just try to look cute! Rare is the human who doesn't give in to cute! 

"You don't REALLY want me to move, do you? Look at ME! I'm SO cute!"

So let's say all that fails and you have to move. Go back and read my tips above! Seriously. O.K. even a trickster like me has an occasional off night.  Here's what to do if they make you move.  

The half n half. Just what it says. At least you still get some of the soft fuzzy blankie... better than none.

 "O.K. I moved. Can we go to sleep now?"

This is another version of the half n half...Place your body length down the blankies. When the human starts making those weird deep mouth noises, it's safe to roll on over onto the soft fuzzy! They won't be the wiser for hours! 

 "I'm ready for bed now..."

If forced to move, you MUST manage to get part of your bottom on the soft fuzzy, wait until your human falls asleep and do a move I call "the twist." Instead of getting up and turning around as we are all apt to do, raise up to a sitting position and with your bottom firmly in place, turn around! This brings a lot of the blankie with you!!! Get up and readjust... you're winning this battle! WARNING - your human may wake up cold and kick you out of bed altogether... so try not to steal too much... I went overboard on this demo:

Oops! That's the top edge of Mama's blankie over there on the left!

And if nothing above works for you, when you do move, try, for the dignity of all of us, TRY to claim the tiniest portion of the soft fuzzy... It makes the point that we canines deserve the best! Then, look at your human with poor, pitiful eyes... as if they've crushed your very soul.

 "Mean Mama! Mean Mama! WHY won't you buy me my own soft fuzzy? WHY, WHY, WHY???"

Separate; Not Equal

You might think this post, based on the title, is about some lofty subject. Like how disappointing our upcoming election choices  - Governor Hasbeen Moonbeam Brown vs. Ms. Massive Layoffs Whitman or Senator Same-old Same-old Boxer vs. Ms. Give Myself A Raise After Massive Layoffs Fiorina. Why can't BOTH parties give us someone GOOD??? Sigh... But I digress.

The subject of separate but equal in this house comes up every fall when the blankets come out. Since California weather can be wildly unpredictable- in the last week, our highs have ranged from 67 to 117 - it's far easier to toss a throw blanket on the bed rather than drag our big blankets and duvets.

Years ago, I noticed that Mabel could simply park her butt right in the middle of MY side of the bed when the throw blanket arrived. Really??? That cotton throw is that much softer than the duvet cover? To Mabel, the answer was clearly, YES!

Since then, whenever I've added a throw blanket to my side of the bed, her side got one too. Problem solved. But then last year, I found a nice, soft, fuzzy throw. And it's extra wide...but not wide enough for the whole bed. So I put the fuzzy throw on my side and Mabel's black throw on her side, thinking all would be well. But NOOoooo!

She shoots me a look of great displeasure and sizes up exactly how much space of MY blanket she can curl up on! In this house... Separate is not equal unless our blankets are made of the exact same materials. So, at a time when I'm dirt poor... I'm in the market for a good, soft, fuzzy throw blanket.... for the dog!

The Children Just Don't Understand...

...when the grownups aren't friends anymore....


[Edited 10/14 - Youtube deleted my video... thanks Youtube. But I'm kinda glad. It pained me to see Mabel so sad, longing for friends who no longer wanted to hike with us. ]