Three strikes and you're "squished"!

My mom is AFRAID of spiders. Big ones...little ones....hairy ones...you name it. She does NOT like spiders.

The other night she was in the bathroom changing my "piddle pads" and I heard her go "EEEEYEEEEEEWWWW!!".
"What? What?", I said, knowing that by now she should be familiar with what appears on a used piddle pad.
"SPIDER", she says. "YUCK!" And then I hear her say something like "Oh, crud. I'm too tired to chase you!". I guess "spidey" crawled into a cabinet or something. Not like I'm going to lose any sleep over it. The next morning, she gingerly picks up the corner of my still-clean pad. Nope. No spiders.

That night she sees the spider skootched up against the wall behind the toilet. She taps the floor next to it and it doesn't move. "Rats. I'll have to get it with the vacuum tomorrow", she says (thinking it's dead). She forgot about it the next day.

The next night she sees it's little body in the same place and reminds herself to get rid of him in the morning. This morning she grabs a wad of tissue to pick up the remains and...[gasp!]... it runs away from her. She goes after it with the plunger but it zigs and zags. It wins. It's fast and elusive. She says "Fine. Stay out of my sight and you live!".

Later this morning, it's right out there in the open between the Weight Watchers scale and the toilet. She grabs another wad of tissue and I hear her saying, "I'm really sorry, but this arrangement is NOT working out!", and then I hear the toilet flush.

My guess is that "spidey" is on his way to a burial at sea. And I won't have to peek under the edges of my piddle pad before I squat. And Mom, despite feeling a little guilty about squishing our uninvited roommate, is glad it won't be having any little "spids" to deal with later. She still hates spiders in general but she did develop some respect for this one. That's a first!!

Love,

Mary-Margaret

Kookie with the Yellow Armpits

WOW! Look who came to visit MEEEEE today! His name is "Kookie" and he says "Hello!". His human asked him what he had for breakfast and he said "Cereal!". He's very beautiful, don't you think?



Not that I asked him, or anything....but...he showed me his armpits. They're YELLOW! Perspiration stains, maybe?



When it was time to say "Good-bye", I was sad to see Kookie go. He's a very nice bird. His human says that he terrorizes their Maltese pup at home but I found him to be very polite.

I hope he comes to visit again.

Love,

Mary-Margaret

A "Shout Out" from Cousin Sophie

My cousin Sophie asked me to give Theresa Brendemuehl of "Doggy Day Spa" in beautiful Kerkhoven, MN a "shout out". She says they are pawsitively FABULOUS and she always comes home beautiful, rested and ready to rock to the music. Hello THERESA!! Woo hoo!

Love ya, girl friend!

Mary-Margaret

Weekly update!

It's hard to get anyone to sit down and seriously take dictation from me. I've been talking my head off and I'm either ignored or told to "Be quiet, Mary-Margaret!". It's not like I'm trying to be rude or anything, but a puppy does need some attention once in a while, even if their mom is trying to balance her business accounts.

Grandma and Grandpa moved to Pacific Palisades when my mom was almost five. They lived in a nice split level, 2 bedroom and den, 2 bath house about 1/2 block from the bluffs. Let's see....moved in about 1949 and....hmmmm. I think they lived there maybe 25 years, but my mom moved out about 1964. This is about how things have changed.



This is what the house looked like back in 1950 when my mom and other "fambly" lived there. See their brand new car?

In the old days, people used an "incinerator" to burn their trash instead of having someone pick it up. Mom says there was a little square in the back right hand corner of their yard with a cement fireplace like thingy that had a metal trap door on the front. They'd throw their garbage into it, light it and voila! Smog!

The incinerator area had a hedge around it and when Mom would get into trouble, usually for disagreeing with HER mother, she'd have haul her "trouble seat" out back and sit there all alone by herself until her mom called her back in. The "trouble seat" was actually a present from Grandpapa's mother, Mila, that she brought back from Mexico. It was painted red with bright yellow and blue flowers and green leaves painted on the back. The seat was made out of woven reeds. It didn't take too long for my mom to wear it out, but I digress.

I'm just telling you this stuff so you'll know how different things are today. No incinerators are allowed anymore, and the house is now a four-story, well designed home that's for sale at approximately 100 times what it was selling for back in the good old days. Where the old incinerator was there's now a spa and pool. And where the avocado tree was that my mom used to climb until she fell out and landed on her head there's a bar-b-que and patio.

Here's what 327 Swarthmore looks like today.

Grandpapa....when you click on the address, the listing will come up. Click on the "See all 25 photos" button and you can see pictures of what "327" looks like now. Pretty much unrecognizable, huh? About the only thing that's where it was back then is the 2nd story balcony, window and door that used to be Mom's room.

I thought you'd enjoy it.

Uh oh...I think I'd better get off the computer and............eeek!

Bye for now

Love, Mary-Margaret

This is #980...WOW!!

Can you believe it? This is the nine hundred and eightieth entry I've made into my diary. When we first started blogging, they said we only had up to 999 posts to make. I wonder what's going to happen in nineteen more posts? I should probably ask BaeBae , the hamster. BaeBae is the successor hamster to GirlGirl, who was the successory hamster to FuFu, who was my very first hamster friend. Hamsters don't live very long, maybe 2-3 years. Being so small, I guess, that everything is relative.

That reminds me about yesterday. I got something dribbled in my nose. Bordatella..some kind of kennel cough vaccine. Makes me sneeze a bit. Mom had to give me a hanky to wipe my nose. Me! Mary-Margaret O'Brien with a Hanky!

Oh oh OHHHHHHHHHHHHh! I forgot to mention. When I was at my doctors a lady brought in three baby Yorkie puppies to get their tails "docked". I always wondered why my tail was so short. It's a Yorkie thing. It's not supposed to hurt much, they say. Probably a lot like what gets docked on human males when they're babies. And since neither one of us can talk, how do people know it doesn't hurt? Hmmmmmmm?

So these Yorkies were squeaking and crying for their Mom because they were hungry and probably didn't feel so great after losing their tails. I wanted to just snuggle up next to them but I couldn't. They were in a shoe box with rags inside and just sobbing their little hearts out. I probably would have made a good mother, I think. I just love babies.

On Sunday my mom went all by herself to meet my Auntie C and the twins, Cailin and Clancy, for dinner in Corona. I got left home which was fine because I got my dinner just a little early. I'm told they all had a good time and that Cailin got my mom a "scratcher" and it was a winner. All of $9.00, of which Cailin got $1.00 back for buying it. Lucky us, huh?

Hmmmm. Let's see. I think that brings us all up to date. Mom, Colleen, Cailin and Clancy are going to visit GrandPapa next Wednesday. GrandPapa got all worried that maybe we were paying our last respects and maybe they all knew something that he didn't. Silly man. It's just the last week of summer before the kids go back to school and the only time they can go see him. He IS their great-grandfather, you know. The only one they got, too! He's fambly and fambly should stick together. I get to go, too.

If anybody knows what happens after #999, let us know, ok?

Love,

Mary-Margaret

BLEGHHHH! YUCK!

Fridays are my favorite day. I get to kick back, relax and I look forward to my weekend. I still hop up and greet people, sniff them, lick them...whatever floats their boat. My point is, I'm easy to get along with.

One of the servers came in this afternoon and sat down to wait for some papers to sign. Naturally, being MEEE, I hopped into his lap. First come the back rubs, then the tummy rubs and then...........OHMYGAWSH! He puts his fingers in my mouth. Then he starts hunting around my gums....then my teeth. "Say AHHHH!, Mary-Margaret!". Like what is this guy up to? This is soooo weird.

Mom gives him a funny look and says "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?". He tells her he's just checking out my teeth and gums to see how healthy I am. ER.....HELLO? I just had my dental? I am just fine, thenkyewveddymuch! Eeeeeyewwwwwwwww!

As soon as I could get free I hopped over onto the chair next to him. I spent the next half hour trying to get the taste of his fingers out of my mouth. Mom says I looked like I'd just eaten peanut butter. Oh, if ONLY that were so. But fingers? YUCKY!!! I think I'll steer clear of him for a while.

Good grief!

Happy weekend.

Mary-Margaret

We Wrote to Oprah!

I dictated and Mom translated, edited and pushed the "send" button.

You all know I've been stewing over this court ruling. One of my friends on another group suggests that we all write to Oprah, since she's an animal lover and she would definitely understand our outrage.

I wrote the Oprah Show. This is what I said (pretty much):

On July 31, 2009, the California 4th District Appellate Court, Div 3, ruled that a woman wasn't entitled to be compensated for the loss of her 5-year old pet that died as a result of "alleged" negligence by a veterinarian. The last paragraph of the ruling reads: "We recognize the love and loyalty a dog provides creates a strong emotional bond between an owner and his or her dog. But given California law does not allow parents to recover for the loss of companionship of their children, we are constrained not to allow a pet owner to recover for loss of the companionship of a pet. Accordingly, we conclude the trial court did not err in striking McMahon's loss of companionship allegations." This would appear to include human children as well as pets.

The full ruling and (lack of) reasoning can be found at McMahon vs Craig . Similar rulings from other states are found here .

I think this is outrageous and merely allows the heavily lobbied veterinary interests to continue to operate without assuming responsibility. Help!

If you want to get involved, please write Oprah at Contact Us - Oprah.com.

Thank you.

Mary-Margaret O'Brien
Local Union Representative for WAYOUT*

(*Worldwide Association of Yorkies Opposed to Unfair Treatment)

California Appellate Ruling Bad News for Pets

This disturbs me everly so greatly. I sincerely hope that the Plaintiff takes this to another level. The impact that a ruling like this will have on all pet owners, especially those with disabilities who rely on service animals in their daily life, is so far reaching it's boggling. What were those Judges thinking??

California Appellate Court ruling - August 4, 2009

Animal owners cannot recover damages for emotional distress or loss of companionship over a pet’s injury or death caused by negligence, the Fourth District Court of Appeal has ruled.

Div. Three held Friday that a San Francisco attorney whose dog died after surgery cannot recover such damages against an Orange County veterinarian who allegedly rendered negligent care and then lied to cover it up.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise Online (Drop down to August 4th Publication of Ruling for the whole decision.)

To me, this is like giving license to vets to rake in the money without providing the necessary care, compassion and personal accountability to the pets of the world. What can we do (besides avoid Tustin veterinarian Diane Craig)? Even the California Veterinary Medical Association supported the ruling. How harsh! How cruel! How mercinary!

Humans rely on us to sniff out survivors of earthquakes, terrorist bearers of bombs, and drug smuggling vessels. We are trusted to rescue snow bound people in the Alps and babies from swimming pools. How many of us have given our very lives to save our beloved human from certain death? We bond...we love....we CARE! And they treat us like chattel...something to be owned without emotional value.

I OBJECT!!

Mary-Margaret "The Activist" O'Brien

PS - GrandPapa's shoes arrived in ONE box. Whew! That had me worried.

WHY do some people have dogs?

Me and my mom went out working today. One of the ladies we were serving didn't want me to leave.

"My daughter wants a puppy JUST LIKE HER", she said. "We have a big dog but he's outside all the time!"
Mom asked how come, and the lady said, "He sheds too much!". Ouch, I thought. Poor baby. Probably was a cute puppy but now his parents pretty much ignore him. And it's been like over a hundred outside here. I get all thirsty just walking from the office building to the car.

Then the lady continued on by saying, "My daughter wants a little dog she can keep in her room!". Hello?, I said. How boring is that? Confined to a room all day? Yucky!

Why do some people have dogs? Sheesh!

Mary-Margaret "Animal Rights Activist" O'Brien

Grandpapa's "Dissle"

Whoopsie! No wireless connection anymore. My Uncle Greg finally confirmed that either the router he was connected to was moved OR somebody "passworded" it. How RUDE! My poor GrandPapa, a Nuclear Physicist, is baffled by the complexities of computers and even though he's totally solved the question of the origins of the universe (photons, non-photons, and all), bytes and pixels whoosh on by him.

My Uncle Greg convinced my GrandPapa that he needs to get "Dissle" for his very own self. While checking out the whole set up, my Uncle Greg also figured out that GP was paying way too much for telephone by itself, and he actually found a package where GP could get phone AND dissle for less than he was paying for just phone.

Uncle Greg rocks!!

Everly so gratefully yours,

Mary-Margaret