I love SATURDAY!!

Saturday is when we do whatever we feel like, including sometimes just doing NOTHING. We sleep in, maybe do a little cleaning, watch movies, read books. Just whatever we want. It's OUR day. No schedules, no meetings, nuthin'.

I got my dose of baby Benedryl this morning 'cause I was feeling a little itchy again. This is when I put up a fight and shut my mouth like a steel trap and my mom has to first catch me, and then pry my jaws open. Then comes the squirter thing. I don't know what it's called but it's got my medicine in it and I sure get a mouthful of syrupy sticky stuff in one big squirt. BLEGH!!!

Seriously? I don't know which I hate more. The taste of Benedryl or trying to get the dried goop out of my chin hairs later in the day. I get brushed which can be nice if your hair isn't glued together. Otherwise it pulls and YEEEOWWWIE. I got my face washed this afternoon. Better to be soggy than sticky, I always say.



This is me before I got my face washed. Woooooooooooooo.....! "Ghost Dog". Kewl, huh? I don't know how that happened, but I think it's very artistic. Mom and her new Motorola 'Droid phone. That thing even has a flash in it. High tech!!

Love ya...

Mary-Margaret








PS: I am an official columnist for The Yorkie Times. <----- Click on the link and then scroll down to the buttons underneath all the doggie pictures, Grandpa. In the middle of the buttons is "The Yorkie Times". My column is on page 9.



PPS: Mom took this last Monday when I was busy flirting with the guy next to us at the stop light. I tell YOUUUUUU! Flirting is everly so much fun. Yessssssssssssss!!

Springtime Itchies!

Allergy time for me. A few sneezes, a lot of scratching. I get hives and hay fever when it's spring time.

Mom's got the baby Benedryl and she gives me a squirt ..make that HALF a squirt...and it helps some. But it tastes soooooo yucky. I manage to spit most of it back at her. She's taken to layering herself with towels before she plays nurse maid. Otherwise she ends up all pinky splotchy.

Mostly she's pretty patient, but sometimes I really get into this chewing and scratching, and she kind of loses it. "YEGADS!!", she yells. "WILL YOU STOP THAT?". "Oh sure", (I say) "I'm SOOO sorry my torment and torture annoys you". Then I start nibbling at my foot (or paw or whatever) when she's not looking. She's even thrown a pillow at me, as if that would help?

I REALLY PREFER WINTER! It's so much more enjoyable sitting in front of a fireplace or heater. Also it's fun to poop on the snow and watch the little pile slowly melt it's way down to the earth below, steaming all the while. Fascinating, I tell you. Everly so intriguing what you can do in snow.

Itchingly yours,

Mary-Margaret "Snow Bunny" O'Brien

We serve dead people......?

We had a serve come in from out of state. The process server went to the house and found out that the named defendant, per his wife, died last September. We verified the information both with the SS Death Index and the local newspaper obituary before notifying the attorney via email that his subject had passed away.

Today, he calls our office sputtering that we've put him between a rock and a hard place, and we should have just served the paper to the wife. Mom told him that standard industry practice was to provide a non-service affidavit if someone was confirmed to be deceased. He said "I don't know how YOUR state does it, but we would serve it anyway unless we verified the death". Then he asked how we verified it, and we told him through the Social Security Death Index AND the obituary. He then complained that he didn't authorize us to "conduct an investigation" into those resources.

Mom reminded him that we HAD verified the death and we don't serve "dead people" unless the client specifically instructs us to do so in writing, in which case the affidavit would contain such wording. "Do you want to send us instructions and have us go back and leave a copy with the widow?", she asked?

"No...no...it's too late", he said, "Now that I know he's dead!". He continued by saying that it was "...the defendant's responsibility to send me (the attorney) a certified copy of his death certificate, and until he does that he was presumed to still be alive". (Yes...that's what he said!)

All's well now. Mom told him not to worry...we'd check for probate, and send him an affidavit providing him with all the necessary information. He was still muttering as we were hanging up..."You're right...you're right. I know it...but .....". Mom called his paralegal out of concern for the man's mental well-being and she laughed, saying she'd have a talk with him.

This has got to be one of the most ridiculous conversations we've ever had with a member of the Bar (who wasn't IN a bar!). And several states are talking about implementing laws governing process servers? Geez......! And who is keeping an eye on the attorneys and the legislators??

Respawctfully submitted by your reporter on the ground...

Mary-Margaret O'Brien

Mom held me and cried.....

Edie's Story.



I was just walking by, minding my own business, when my mom picked me up and started loving on me. She began petting me, and kissing me, and then she started crying into my neck and shoulders.

Please watch this video about Edie, a little 10-pound Maltese that was only one hour away from being euthanized. Sometimes one hug will do when a thousand words fail.

God bless all the moms and dads out there who take the time to know our feelings. We depend on you to hear and understand.

Amen

Mary-Margaret

Freeway Fun!!

We took GrandPapa's phone to him yesterday. Mom's so thoughful. She figured she'd drive up there, have lunch and then come home. What's that, maybe 4 hours on the freeway and 2 hours for lunch? Maybe six hours total? Maybe? If you think so, you don't live in Los Angeles.

Getting there was pretty easy. We left the house at 10:24AM (we have a digital clock...who needs to know how to tell time?) and got there about 12:10PM. We picked up GrandPapa and went to my favorite restaurant, Carrow's. I said "Hello" to all my friends and then hunkered down for a nap while Mom and GP (short for GrandPapa) had lunch.

We dropped GP back at his apartment at 2:28PM and hopped back ...make that NAVIGATED back...to the 90. From the "90" to the "105" was a breeze. From the 105 to the 605 was ok and so it was from the 605 to the 91. But YEGADS...the 91? "arf vey" (in humanese, that would be "oy vey")...it was slow. By the time we hit the 55 interchange it became a parking lot. Two hours from the 55 to the 15 interchange and it usually only takes maybe 20 minutes or so. Howeverrrrr.......this is fine by me.

We're going so slow (if we're moving at all) that we roll down the windows and open the sun roof. I stand up and say "Hello!" to anyone who feels friendly, which is actually a lot of people. If Mom sees a "friend" (defined as another person of the canine pursuasion), she gets all excited and says "Doggie Doggie Doggie!". That's my cue to zero in on my compadre...sorry, make that "com PAW dre"...and play the game.

First we catch each other's eye and wag hello. Then we pass....they they pass...then we pass...then they pass. This goes on for about ten miles and every time we pass we "Arf" at each other. See photo? It's everly so much fun and makes a long time in the car go faster.

About the photo...it was taken on Mom's new Droid phone. She's getting the hang of it, and actually cracked open the teensy little manual that came with it this morning. She's got her gmail account and her voice mail accounts set up, and she's learning that when she's got a touch screen she's got to be very careful about where she touches. This can get out of hand. If you remember the trouble she had keeping her finger off the camera lens in her RazR phone, you'll know how difficult all this new technology is for her.

She is stubborn, though. Already Jami and Seka's dad laughed at her and gave her grief over getting a 'Droid. Which, if you know her, only makes her more determined to prevail. So this morning, she's actually reading the instructions. Meanwhile, it took about six shots to get one of my new Maltese friend on the freeway. She had taken pictures of her head, the steering wheel, the floor of our car (yuck) and me before she finally got it pointed in the right direction.

My heart stopped a few times as I pictured us plowing into the rear of the little Jeep in front of us, but we got lucky. And NO, Mom...it wasn't your skill as a driver. You scare me like that again and I will PERSONALLY see to it that you don't find your cell phone for a long long time.

Cheerfully yours,

Mary-Margaret

Mom's New 'Droid!

10:45AM - Arrive at Verizon store. They take our name.

11:10AM - Finally - we get called.

11:15AM - Decide on what phone and what plan

12:30PM - Finish up paperwork, find out about "all the little extras", and how much it's REALLY going to cost, but we're exhausted and want to get out of there, so we commit to double what we'd planned on. It's ok. We're getting "rebates" if we can remember to get the paperwork in on time.

12:45PM - pick up Double-Double for Mom and one hamburger patty "neat" for me at In-N-Out...drive to office.

1:00PM - Mom figures out how to turn phone back on.

3:00PM - AHA...There's the camera (And she had to wake ME up to figure it out?)

4:30PM - Still reading instructions......

Isn't technology grand?? Give me two orange juice cans and a string any day!

Love, Mary-Margaret

The Joy of Cats!

I love cats. They make good friends. They play and then they go home. They like "Hide 'n Seek", "Chase", "Peek-a-boo" and board games like "Monopoly" (not many people know that, though). My best friends are my cousin, Zooey (top), and "Silky" (bottom) who lives with one of Mom's friends.

We have cats on our slope outside the fence that are called "Feral" cats. These are cats that attended the Outward Bound camp and they've learned to fend for themselves. They don't need anybody at all. They catch their own food and make their bed wherever they want to and whenever they want. Nobody tells them stuff like "Time for supper!" and "Come in, now. It's bedtime!". Nope.

Sometimes when I'm playing with just one kitty, we both skulk along opposite sides of the back block wall and then both pop our heads up at the same time and say "Boo!". Other times when we're playing "Hide 'n Seek", I know they're right in my yard but I can't find them. Then I hear them laugh and I look up. Whoa...!! There's my friend sitting right on top of the fence.

Once, when I got home from work, I looked out and saw the white and black (maybe more smoke colored?) kitty just lounging away on top of the fence. I slipped out my personal door and raced over on my tippy-toes reeeee-ally quiet like and then said "Arf--arf--arf!", and scared the kitty so that it almost fell off the fence. One point for my side. Yayyy!!

The other day we pulled into the driveway and Mom says "Look, Mary-Margaret! Kitty!!" and sure 'nuff. There it was, on the fence, just waiting for me to come home. I kept telling Mom to hurry up and get out of the car. I wanted to play. It's times like these that she takes absolutely foreverrrrrrrrrrrrr. By the time I jump out my doggie door the cat was gone. But I could hear him laughing on the other side of the fence. Next time, I'll tag him for sure.

My very good friend, Pooka (who is my next-door neighbor and is part Chihuahua and part Jack Russell) makes a lot of noise so cats don't visit with him like they do me. This is good because I only have to concentrate on one side of my yard.

This is my good friend, Rocky Shaima, who lives in Fallbrook and HATES hats. Can you tell?

OK...I think that's enough for now. My GrandPapa likes to know about my life and CATS are a big part of it.

Love to all....

Mary-Margaret

Warm and Toasty!

It was a little nippy out today. It rained a little bit and was sort of windy. The weather had what you might call a "bite" in it.


















Me and Mom stayed in and balanced bank statements. One was pretty hard to do, too. Silly thing was first off $144.75, then $105.00 then this...then that. Finally, we got it down to only $0.10. Yup. Ten lousy cents.

Now if it was up to MEEEEE, I would make an "adjustment" somewhere and let it go but not Mom. She is one of those detail people that can't stand being even a penny off. The poor adding machine wore out where the gears make the paper roll move. But did she give up even then? NOOOOO!!! She just turned the "print" button off and kept going.

Eureka! (I heard her say) She added two refunds together in her head, which she should know better by now, considering this has happened before but....oh, I'm getting off track. She came up with $46.21 and it should have been (Like I told her) $46.11.


So what do I do while she's fooling around with her bookkeeping stuff?

I sit in front of our little space heater that blows hot air and pretend I'm relaxing on a sunny beach someplace.

PS - Notice how the warm breeze enhances my new hair-do?

I love my life!


Mary-Margaret

Soft and managable.....!

That would be me. Soft and managable! Notice the shine? The texture? The glow? The bow? I'm not sure what my stylist, Miss Marilyn, uses, but I could be a Breck girl...or in my case, a "Bark Girl".

Note that I am relaxed in my favorite leather lounge chair. This is my spot on the back of the chair. I can see out the glass door and watch for cats OR I can flip the other way and watch TV (Or I can stand on Mom's head if she's sitting in the seat part and I want to mess with her).

Ah, yessssss! It's good to be me!

Love and kisses...

Mary-Margaret O'Brien

Speaking of Albertsons.....

This is my VERY good friend, Janet. She works at the Customer Service counter. Sometimes she sneaks up on me to give me a hug and I am everly so excited to see her.

Other times, I spy on her and stare and stare and STARE until she feels my eyeballs absolutely boring a hole in her head. Then she sees me and we get all silly and excited, and we just can't get enough of each other.




I love all the people at Albertson's, though. It's just that Janet and I have been very close ever since I was only nine weeks old. She was my first friend there. She knows what a puppy likes. We have a very special relationship. We are so nutsy about each other that sometimes we even draw a crowd, and they laugh and play and everybody gets happy.

Yup! First rule for a Yorkette is to "Make friends with your neighborhood grocer!"

I just LOVE Janet!

Have a great day.....

Mary-Margaret

PS: She has a Chocolate Lab named "Crash" that I am really hoping to meet soon. He even has his very own house in their back yard. Like....is that KEWL or what??

PPS: Tsk..! You'd think my mom would learn to keep her finger off the camera lens by now, wouldn't you? Hmmmmmmmm??