Tuesday...Foosday...Whats-the-Use-day!

Dirk came by and left me another love note about 3" from the floor, stuck to my office door. He signs it "Love, Dirk". I don't even remember exactly what he said, but he signed it "LOVE, Dirk!". Oh my!

Back to reality, now. I'm having a whole new appreciation for anyone who races around a wheel that goes no where (GirlGirl will understand). I tell YOUUUU! We seem to spend more time fixing things that shouldn't need fixing in the first place, so we don't get our regular work done, and then we have to squeeze that in so the new stuff can get done and so it goes...around and around. Arrrgggghhh!

And speaking of fixing, the part came in for the fridge and we paid another $100.00, happily waving our last goodbye to the repair man...we thought. So imagine Mom's surprise when I tracked little wet footprints into the garage tonight. Yup. It's piddling on the floor again, so we get to wait AGAIN tomorrow to get it fixed AGAIN. At least Mom took stuff home from the office that still needs fixing, so she can sort that out while the fridge is being repaired.

Does it ever end? Will my life ever be back to normal? Will Dirk leave me another love note? Tune in tomorrow, same time, same blog...I'll let you know.

Love, Mary-Margaret

Sunday...Potter Day!

...and Mom goes out to breakfast with a friend leaving MEEEEE alone. I guess she didn't learn anything the LAST time she did that. I made double sure that she knew how I felt when she got home. Hmmmmph!



She's in the middle of the last Harry Potter book so I'm not getting a whole lot of attention unless I'm curled up on her lap. Every so often she takes a break and does laundry or dishes or something, but mostly it's Harry Potter.

We did some work at the office, then went to the market and came back for more Harry Potter. Not much going on but I wanted to check in with you all.

Hope you had a loverly weekend.

Mary-Margaret

Oscar is at the Rainbow Bridge

My very good friend Oscar has gone to join his friend FuFu and the rest of the gang at the bridge. We shall miss him greatly but we look forward to joining him again someday. Oscar was only 13 months old. Doesn't seem fair that he should have to leave us so soon.

This song is dedicated to Oscar and all my friends, with love.

To Where You Are (by Josh Groban). It always makes me cry, but it makes me feel a little better, too.

You will forever be in my heart....

Love, Mary-Margaret

PS - This picture is one of Oscar in his everly most favorite cowboy outfit. Isn't he handsome?

I am NOT a hussy!

One of the attorneys on my floor has two chihuahuas - "Courage" and "Little Man". I think "Courage" was wishful thinking on the attorney's part, personally, but he's very nice, and a gentleman. He's just horribly shy. "Little Man" came to my office to meet me today. He'd just been...er...how shall we say it....um..."snipped"? Yes...that's good. "Snipped", and he had something done to his back feet so they were all bandaged up.

I could tell he wasn't all that comfortable with his situation but he really wanted to meet me. Rather than put him through all that preliminary "circle and sniff" routine, I decided to flip over on my back, all spread-eagle, and make things easy for him. What the heck...it always ends up with me in that position anyway. It's a dog thing. Trust me. Don't any of you humans try it or your friends might get the wrong idea. But for me and "Little Man", it worked out fine.

We got that out of the way and made plans to get together for a real sniff-a-thon maybe next week. He seems really nice, but it could have been the post-op drugs, I suppose. I'll keep you posted.


One more picture of Dirk for you here. Mom found it on her camera and let me post it. Oh, isn't he the best ever? Makes my pulse race....see why?

Love,

Mary-Margaret

Dirk!!!

Guess who was waiting for me at the office? Oh, I was so happy to finally see him again. Dirk! Dirk! DIRK!!! (and his mom, of course. We're friends too, and Dirk relies on her for transportation, you know!) We nuzzled a bit and then he strutted his stuff for me. Men can be such show-offs. To be polite, I sniffed EVERY bush that he squirted for me which almost made me late for work.
Dirk and his mom were nice enough to walk me upstairs to my office. We got in some more visiting and then we sort of both hung back in the hallway, not wanting to say good-bye to each other. But a puppy's job is never done and I have my clients to think about.

(sigh)

Au revoir, Dirk, mon amour.

Mary-Margaret

Mary-Margaret, Apprentice Appliance Repair Dog

Amazing! Our refrigerator has been piddling on our kitchen floor for THREE days. Mom even shut off the ice maker and the water valve in the wall and it STILL piddled. So she called "Bob The Repair Man". He's everly so nice and he was teaching me all about appliance repairs. He was right in the middle of showing me where the water was coming from and how to fix it when Mom snuck up with her camera.

It was ok, though. I'd pretty much gotten the idea. Plus he even let me play with his Mag light for a bit. Pretty soon, we realized that we had a pretty special connection.

He'll be back on Friday to put in the new valve. I hope he'll let me help again.

Mom says that her big bargain Kenmore refrigerator has dumped on her big time at least once a year from the time she got it three years ago. She's kinda mad at herself because if she'd paid just a couple of hundred more, she could have gotten a Maytag that would last forever. Personally, I'm happy she didn't. I have a lot of fun with Bob.

Love, Mary-Margaret

Britney Spears Buys a Yorkie

OHMYGAWSH! She bought a baby Yorkie and named it "London". Well, I think she should join our Yorkie Moms group. Me and my mom belong. It's a bunch of ladies (mostly ladies, anyway) and their fur-babies who talk about things like what we should eat, our allergies, medical problems, socialization, play and other things. Sort of like a "Mommy and Me" for fur-babies. I hope it's ok that I posted that picture of her and London.

We hope she joins so we can all help her with her new baby. If anybody knows how to contact her, tell her to go to YAHOOGROUPS and join YTList or YorkieAdventures groups....or BOTH. She'll be everly so glad she did. And so will her fur baby, little London.

Hopefully yours,

Mary-Margaret O'Brien

My personal shame!

Hello! My name is Mary-Margaret and I have...(gasp)...fleas. FOUR of them as of this morning. I was SOOOO ashamed. I felt as if my life was coming to a grinding halt from an unexpected and uninvited affliction that was NOT my fault. But I told my close friends, and they comforted me and they gave me courage to face my problem and to conquer it.

By literally coming out of the closet and confessing my shame, I found that I wasn't alone. Even better, I was given several ideas to rid myself of my deep, dark secret and become cured and whole again. Ultra Palmolive Anti-Bacterial Crisp Cucumber Melon Spring Sensations concentrated dish liquid not only killed all four fleas, but it left my hair everly so soft and manageable. Next, on our agenda, we are concocting a flea discouraging rinse comprised of fresh lemon and fresh rosemary steeped in hot water, to be applied immediately after my apple cider vinegar rinse.

Even the teller at the bank commented on my shiny hair. I'm glad I confessed my personal shame to my dearest friends. They also once shared the same affliction and overcame it ... as I shall, too. We are not alone as long as we have our friends.

Fragrantly (and appetizingly) yours...

Mary-Margaret

My Good Friend, Sugar Rose, and Faith

My good friend, Sugar Rose, had three puppies a few days ago. She had a boy and a little girl. Just when my Aunt Shelly thought that was all, out popped another little boy. He wasn't with us very long. He tried really hard to pull through but he was very tired. God wanted him back up in heaven, so Little Boy went back home. My mom got pretty sad and so did I. Sometimes God does things that we just don't understand, but we have to trust him. That's what faith is all about...believing in something without having to understand it.

Now, I have to admit that I'm not the type of pup that goes to church every Sunday (which isn't really all that weird, if you think about it). But I do have a special relationship with God. He formed us in his image and we are a reflection of him, which is why we're called "Dog". Makes sense, huh?

I would ask all of my friends to say a special prayer for "Little Boy". Maybe next time he comes he'll be able to stick around a while longer. I hope so, anyway. He was here just long enough to make sure that Auntie Shelly was his "forever home" and that was loved a whole lot before he left for the Rainbow Bridge.

God bless "Little Boy"....

Love...

Mary-Margaret

About CHOCOLATE....!!

We have the nicest clients. A couple of weeks ago we all worked hard and....well, I hate to brag, but Mom and her team pulled off something close to a miracle. The law firm up north was sooooo happy that he sent us ALL a really REALLY big box of See's candy to our office. It was addressed to our company, and since I work there, I figured that meant me, too.

Howeverrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....the way things worked out, everybody else interpreted it to mean everybody BUT me. I LOVE the smell of chocolate. Oh, I would know I was in heaven if I fell into a vat of chocolate. But the HUMANS say it's not good for me, that it'll make me sick, that it's POISON, that I'll get fat, that I'll break out....etc etc. Sounds like a bunch of hooey to me. I'm always digging candy bar wrappers out of the trash cans just so I can SNIFF them. It's worth getting yelled at, I tell you. It IS!



And, to make things worse, even Mary-Ann-from-down-the hall got in on the "Torture by Chocolate". I tell YOUUUUUU...this is almost enough to make me want to go on strike. Yup. I have to contact my union, but I may have a grievance here.

Love to you all (except the choco-hoglets)...

Mary-Margaret

Happy Birthday, Auntie Vicki!!

Here's hoping you have a WONDERFUL day. All my love and puppy licks to one of my FAVORITE Aunties!

MMOB

Should I call a lawyer?

Even pups have problems that require special counsel. I made an appointment with my mom today and asked for her advice. At least SHE won't charge MEEE! Besides, this was for my good friend, Sugar Rose, who just had TRIPLETS. And she's younger than I am!

(Psst...here's the thing! Between you and me, I have to be creative if I want my mom to pay attention to me. She ALWAYS listens to her clients. Even if it's only ME!)



PS - I got another "love note" posted on my office door about 6" from the floor, but I think Mom lost it. Silly woman. As if there were other things more important to her than MY love life? And it was probably from (sigh....swoon) DIRK!

MMOB

Last Year's Birthday Stash

Oh, I got SOOO many pressies last year. I was overwhelmed ... more than I could handle. But I was just a baby. It was my FIRST birthday. Mom packed most of the stuff away and I forgot about it. Yesterday I was getting kind of bored. You know how it goes...same-o same-o...all day long. She went into the store room and came out with a BRAND NEW BONE...TAG AND ALL! Was I in heaven or what?

I hated to go home last night but I figured I had my bone to look forward to the next day. Well, it was GONE when I came in (Sonia picks up after me sometimes), and I forgot all about it. Then Mary-Ann-From-Down-the-Hall came in and mentioned I seemed a bit bored. "Whoopsie...where's her bone", Mom asked? She rummaged around a bit and found it IN MY BED. I'd been napping on it all morning and didn't even KNOW it. Bpy, did I feel silly. It's the yummiest thing ever.

Can't remember who gave it to me for sure. I think it was my Auntie Vicki. She sent me a huge package last year. It's been nice to have new stuff every so often. So thanks, Auntie Vicki. MMMMMWWWAHHH!! Love ya!

MMOB

OWT??

First off, I ask my mom to take me out. She says "Shhhh...Mary-Margaret! In a minute!". Yeah....sure. I've heard THAT before.
So I get a little closer and start talking to her. Whoopee. Here comes the cell phone camera. I mean, I am serious about this and she just wants to get a picture of me talking. She'll be sorry. I tell YOUUUU....one day, she'll learn.

MMOB

Money makes me REALLY Happy!!

I got a letter in the mail today. Mom said I had to wait until I got home from work to open it. Yes, we work on Sundays. Sometimes it seems the only day we can get things done.
Woo hoo...!! Look at what I got from my Auntie Vicki! WOW...a WHOLE DOLLAR. I know what to do with my money. It goes in my PIGGY!!! Thank you everly so much, Aunt Vicki. Puppy hugs and licks to you from MEEEEEE!!

I tell YOUUUU....having money makes me REALLY REALLY HAPPY! Boy....I am now Happy AND Rich. I think maybe I have a whole dollar and maybe 62 cents now. Not bad for a pup, huh?

Love,

Mary-Margaret "Scrooge McPup" O'Brien

Mary-Margaret, Tracker and Hunter

It's my job to protect my mom and my home from intruders. Today, I spied something out of the corner of my eye and immediately began stalking it. Head lowered and senses alert, I tracked it over to the fireplace and then pointed.

"Whatcha doin', Mary-Margaret?", my mom asked me. "Shhhh....", I said. "You need to come look at this!" She came over and moved the log holder a bit to the right. Even without her glasses on she could see the problem. "Hang on a sec, Mary-Margaret", she said as she ran into the bathroom. She returned with her hand full of toilet paper and she slammed the wad on top of my prey , grinding him into the mortar between the bricks. She picked up the remains and flushed them away.

"Good job, Mary-Margaret!", she said. I would have shown you a picture except it would have been maybe only a leg or two, if even that. I found this one on the internet for you instead. This is what my spider looked like before it got smushed.

Have a great day!

Mary-Margaret "Bwana" O'Brien

My friend, Mailman Jim

Our usual mail lady, Christine, is on vacation....sort of. Her mom is sick so she is taking some time off to take care of her. Hey...that's what families do, right?

While Christine is gone we have Mailman Jim. He and I hit it off right away. Today he brought our mail all the way up to the third floor to our office. He said it was because he didn't see me yesterday and he missed me. Wow. First Dirk, and then Mailman Jim. Mom says I'm going to have to get a date book to keep my men straight. Personally, I think maybe she's just a bit jealous because I have a better social life than she does. Ya think? Hmmmmmm?

Just teasing here. Mom has lots of friends, but none of them leave love notes stuck to the door for her. (Awwww...Mom...? I'm just playing with you....honest!)

Love to all my wonderful, adoring fans....(Kidding, Mom! Really, I am!)

Mary-Margaret

My FIRST love letter!

Before we even got to the office Debbie-from-across-the-hall said that someone left a note for me on my door. Oh, gosh. Imagine my surprise when I saw it was from Dirk. Oh, my heart be still. He absolutely makes me giddy when he's around. He's everly so suave...so handsome....so ....so.....(sigh) (swoon)....! I am speechless...but I guess the best way to describe him would be the personality of George Clooney in the body of a Border Collie.

But I had to share. I mean you are my best friends and all. So here it is. My (sigh) "love letter" from Dirk. Isn't he swell?

(fanning myself)

Back to reality. Tomorrow I'm getting my hair and nails done at Miss Marilyn's Puppy Day Spa. Mom is going back to the dentist. Big whoopee, she says. Hey...I think it's pretty cool there, but then I don't have anyone sticking their fingers in my mouth, either. I just get played with while I'm there. Gee, Mom....sorry I have to miss the fun. :o)

Mary-Margaret

My PIGGY Bank! YAYYYY!

OHMYGAWSH! Finally...after all these YEARS! Mom and me went to Pacific Trust Bank and while the ladies were talking I kept looking all around. The manager came over and we visited for a bit, but ...well, I figured maybe if I handled things right...maybe I could finally get my bank.

Mom asked "Do you have any piggy banks?" and figured they'd say no, but they had TWO kinds: A blue clear plastic piggy (so you could see your money inside) and a green frog with a red tongue but you couldn't see your money. Naturally, after careful consideration, I selected the blue piggy. See? Oh, isn't it the everly most beautiful thing a puppy could have? Hmmmmmmmm?

And right away, Mom looked in her change purse, and I am NOW worth a whole 51 cents. Woo hoo. If I can collect on past due debts, like (ahem?) my "tooth fairy" money, I'll be RICH!

Love, Mary-Margaret "The Tycoon" O'Brien

I hated to leave but it's good to be home!

Oh gosh! I waited and waited for the Chip Munk family to come by but I guess they had other plans. Such a nice bunch, they were. I'll be back to see them soon. And the ground hog....well, I hope he likes Bernville, because that's were he's moving to, if we can catch him. Still, it's not a bad thing. He'll meet back up with the rest of his family and they can get on with life.

OHHHH...I've MISSED everyone so much. Vacation was fun and everly too short but getting back to work took all the sadness away. I really love my job and forgot how much I mean to people. Here's me with some of my clients, just talking business.

Later on we went to Albertson's and, when Mom was loading me back into my car seat, a lady came by and said "Oh? Is that Mary-Margaret"? Mom says I know more people than she does. So Glenda (that's her name) stopped and visited for a bit. She has two yorkies of her own, Chelsea and Sophie.

Glenda adopted Sophie when she was only 10 months old after her first family figured out (well, duhhhh!) that puppies have to pee and be fed and stuff. Surprise surprise? I tell YOUUUU...some folks that adopt furbabies have absolutely NO idea that we're not just stuffed animals, and we do have feelings, and needs and.....you know! It just makes me SOOO mad.

Ooops..time for me to get to work. Love ya!

Mary-Margaret

From Minnesota to California to Pennsylvania

Auntie Sissy in Minnesota sent Mom a really nifty set of kitcheny things for Mother's Day. Mom took one look at them and wrapped them back up again to go to our new house.

Aunt Sonia took a vacation to Mall of the Americas in Minneapolis. She brought Mom a really cute potholder. Mom sent it back to Pennsylvania, too.

See how nice everything goes together? Same colors and everything. Things generally work out for the best even when they're not planned. I think it makes a nice....uh....oh, Mom? What'd you call it? Ah....yes. A "focal point".

MMOB

It's hard to get comfy sometimes!

Something's just not quite right here. I tried flipping the cushion up thinking maybe the fleece would be better.
Uh....um.....nope! That's not it.
Maybe if I hang my head over the edge?
Nope. That just gets me a crick in the neck. Let me try something else.
Ahhhhhhhhh.....now that's an improvement! My error. Cushions are meant to lay under, not on.

Love, Mary-Margaret

Sharing My Pennsylvania

We got the recliner put together and it's not working well. Fortunately, QVC has an excellent return policy. When Mom explained that it only reclined and would NOT go back to a chair, they said that if she'd put it back in the box, they'd have UPS pick it up. Problem is that it won't fold back up. So QVC said to break it if she had to, they didn't care. Just get it back in the box however she could. We think we need some help here. But it'll go back and all our money is refunded.
Here's what I like to do now that I have a recliner. The high back is everly so soft and comfy, making window gazing a very nice past time. This makes it seem like home. Too bad it's going back, but Nathan's in Pottsville has really good prices and Kathy (the sales lady) is really helpful. They have beautiful furniture there are very nice prices. This might work out for the best.
Here's our bedroom. We got a Serta sheep as an extra bonus. I thought maybe it would be for me, but no. Mom says it's hers and she bought me a stuffed raccoon instead. I'm ok with that. The sheep doesn't even squeak.
Here's what I see outside my back door. See why I like it so much? I can just sit there and say "Hi" to all the little forest creatures as they whiz on by. The chipmunks must have gone on vacation. We haven't seen them today. Or the ground hog family. Maybe they've moved on? I hope so. We've got some pretty big holes going under our porch. We'll try mothballs and see if that works.
Here's looking up the slope to the left of our house. It's heavily wooded and really soothing to look at. If it were up to me I'd go on an expedition, but I'm not allowed to explore. Not yet, anyway, and I don't think I'll ever get out without taking Mom with me.
This picture shows the back yard heading to the right of our house. See how thick the woods are? We have deer and wild turkey, and other assorted critters besides the ones I've mentioned so far. Just listening to the different birds and animals is fun for me.

We've also had rain and thunder and lightening. Didn't bother me a bit. I just sat in Mom's lap and cuddled. Thunderstorms are good for cuddling, I think. We even went out onto our porch and it was so relaxing we both fell asleep. I think I like this vacation, and I can't wait for the next one.

Mom says she's glad she found heaven before she got there the hard way. She's everly so happy and that makes me happy too.

Love, Mary-Margaret

More about Lake Wynonah

Here's the waterfall at the entrance. See the Indian on horseback?
Same Indian from the other side.
This is what it looks like out my front window. See? It's like living in a Tree House.
And this is looking next door and down the street. Oh, I absolutely DO love it so much. You know that today I heard my first thunder? And it rained on and off all day. I don't think we have a water problem here like we do in California.

Here in Pennsylvania there are oodles of lakes and rivers, and everything is green green green. In California this time of year it's hard to find any rivers and everything is tan, brown or somewhere in between. Did I mention how much I like the sound of raindrops? And the wind when it makes the leaves sing? And the beautiful songs all the different birds make?

Mom told me once that the happiest she ever remembers being is at her cabin in Big Bear. This is everly so much better than that, she says. I agree.

Love,

Mary-Margaret

We have DSL!!

Woo hoo...Mom got the DSL connected, no thanks to Verizon and Toshiba, each blaming the other for our inability to connect to the internet. She had a hunch and went by dial-up to the modem maker's website and downloaded a driver. From that point on everything worked out really well. So here we are, writing in my diary and sending you pictures.
First off, here's me waiting to board our airplane. I had the best time ever meeting people from all over in the terminal. I tasted most everyone, too. Such a diverse smorgasbord of humanity, I tell YOUUU!


Once we got to our house we found a "welcoming committee" of one. We thought this was the last groundhog of the "Under the Porch" clan. "Hello...Hello", I said. "It's MEEEEE....Mary-Margaret!" Well, he must have spread the word because later on in the day, two MORE groundhogs made an appearance on the other side of our yard, side by side like a pair of newlyweds. Oh goodness. We hope they don't start planning a family soon. Double-click on the picture for a really good close up.
We went to Wal-Mart in Saint Clair this afternoon. That is the everly most biggest store I've ever seen in my whole life. You want it? They got it. And all the people are so friendly. More tasting to do. I have to say these folks tasted the best of any so far this vacation. We got lots of stuff. In fact we got so much that Mom couldn't even see over the top of the cart. I was squished into a teensy corner of the kiddie seat...puppy seat, if you will...and just about got beaned a couple of times by falling objects. And speaking of "beaned", the roof of our Honda CR-V at home is much higher up than the Kia Sonata or whatever that we're in, so I've been boinked a few times being lifted into my carseat. Not bad, mind you, but definitely something I don't care much for.
Here's one of my favorite places in our new house. This is where the Chipmunk family came by to say "welcome" yesterday morning. Chitter and chatter...I really don't understand chipmunk as well as "cat" or "dog". It's a lot like Chinese is to English. I'm learning, though.

Love you all...

Mary-Margaret