Christmas 2010

This is what it looked like on December 22, 2010. The dry creek behind our office was almost overflowing. Chunks of the bank on the other side kept dropping into the raging torrent. A few more days of this and the parking lot on the other side will be floating downstream, cars and all.











Here's my Christmas at my cousins' house:

What a wonderful day! Family, friends, food.....and a new cousin, Bunny Lucille!



This is Clancy. He's 13 now. No, he doesn't have a pony tail. That's the back of Cailin's head. She's standing behind him, but it does sort of look like he has long hair that way, don't you think?









Electronics keep kids and other relatives occupied in the living room while I hang out in the kitchen hoping someone will let ME taste the food. That last picture is my Aunt Joelle (Uncle Jason's sister), Cailin and Clancy. Cailin got a Kindle for Christmas and she can play games on it AND read books.

I got a really neat T-shirt for Christmas. It's white and has sleeves (for cold weather) and says "I WOOF you!" on the back. I LOVE it. I also got a chocolate (the kind I can eat) pretzel. I would definitely win a pretzel eating contest. "Now you see it...now you don't!" is my mantra.

Merry Christmas to all....

Mary-Margaret

I LOVE Christmas Cards!!

This is from my very good friend, Lisa Bryant. I wanted to show her how much I appreciated her card. First thing I do with a card is "READ" it!!




Then, I taste it (the only signature I recognize is taste!) and I truly digest the meaning of the writing inside. A got a little piece of the card stuck to my tongue and you can see I was able to dislodge it successfully.





And here you see that I truly enjoyed the entire card. Yum!

Thank you, Lisa and family. Mom says "Thank you!", too. She was able to put all the little pieces in the envelope so I could "read" it again later.

Happy New Year, everyone!!

Love, Mary-Margaret

Rain, rain! Go away...! (or ET Phone Home)

Here's me, all hunkered down in my carseat. I know it's dangerous to drive in the rain and even though I have a carseat I brace myself with my hand, in case Mom has to come to a fast stop.






Even better, I skootch down in my car seat so I'm protected on all sides in case of an accident. Problem is, I can't see out all that well.








Oh, heck. Hoodie on, protective mesh all around. I'll poke my head up a little to see what's going on. Mom starts laughing at me, saying "ET...Phone Home!". Who's ET again??????

I think I'll ignore her. Not nice to sniggle at my expense, I say. I never say a word when she wakes up in the morning with her hair sticking out every which way. Nope! Not me.

I was just kidding about wanting the rain to go away. Actually, I think it's kinda kewl. All sorts of new smells to enjoy.

Love to all..


Mary-Margaret

Christmas Miracles

This started to put Mom in the Christmas spirit for the first time this year. This was sent to us by our good friend Bobbie who is a rescue lady. It's one of the nicest Christmas videos ever.

Thank you, Bobbie.

Wishing everyone peace and goodwill ...

Mary-Margaret

Seeing Santa or "Thumbthings" not right here!

Every year we go "see Santa". Some years are better than others. This year, I could tell right off that he was an imposter. See if you can spot the biggest giveaway. I am FIVE now...and I've seen a few "Santas" in my life. I'm very discriminating in my Santa tastes.




Rascal and Yogi were waiting their turn to give the imposter their Christmas lists.








Mater, the pit bull, was squirming to get away from "Santa", too. I should add that Mater was very polite and seemed to be attracted to me. I was flattered, but I told him I already had a boyfriend.









He tried to "make nice" with me while his elves were fussing with the camera and the printer, but I just turned by back to him. Everyone kept asking what I was upset about, and if I could have, I would have told them "Check out the left thumb?".



One elf asked Mom to approve my picture before they put it into the frame. Mom scrinched up her nose when she noticed that the pup wearing my dress had a green and red bow on, was black and white, and was very tiny. "That's NOT Mary-Margaret!", she said. "That's Bella!". I helps to know everyone's name. THIS is Bella. She's only eleven weeks old. We have the same designer.

I made friends with Annie and Pugsley while we waited in line.



Out in front of Petco there were so many pups and kittens in cages. I felt really guilty about my lot in life. I was one of the lucky ones. I got adopted when I was just a baby and me and my mom are totally committed to each other. Some kids aren't so lucky, and their humans can't or won't take proper care of them. They give them to a rescue place, like "LEAF" (Lake Elsinore Animal Friends) where maybe they'll be adopted. Maybe? I don't want to think about the alternative.

Me and Mom don't need anything for Christmas. Really! If you want to do something nice, go buy a bag of kibble or cat food and take it to your local shelter. Take some of those old blankets that you've been meaning to get rid of. Or towels. I put all my baby clothes in a bag and we're going to take them to LEAF. We'll call next week and see what else they can use.

Hoping you all have a happy Holiday season, and that you truly enjoy the gift of giving.

Love, Mary-Margaret

Meeting old friends...and Santa, too!

Remember my teacher, Miss Lois? Back from when I was a young puppy in school? Well, guess who I ran into at Miss Marilyn's Puppy Day Spa, hmmmmm? Yup! It's Miss Lois and her two pups, Oliver (the black one), and Kinsey (the brown one). They go to Miss Marilyn's, too.

I got to play with all my friends today AND with Oliver and Kinsey. We really got along well even though they're just a tad bigger than me. Madison was feeling a bit under the weather which makes me sad. She's taking steroids for her "condition" (I don't think I should discuss other people's or Pup's medical conditions here out of courtesy to them), but it's affecting her figure. She used to be really slim and proud of it, and now she's rounder than I am. I love her for who she is inside, though, not how she looks. We took a long time saying good-bye today. We didn't really want to leave each other, that's what good friends we are.



Here's me after being styled. I decided to look slightly down and to one side instead of directly at the camera. I learn this stuff from people in my family and I think they have something there. Yup! I like how this picture turned out. My hair ribbon is bright Christmas green to match the ribbons on my new Christmas dress (on sale at Vons for only $7.99). Mom says maybe we can go see Santa tomorrow. I hope we get one whose shins don't show and who has a beard that stays in one place. Maybe Petco? I liked their Santa from a couple of years ago when I went there with my Uncle Rudy. He was like the real thing.

About Mom...in case you were wondering...her face is still throbbing and she's popping those pain pills every four hours. She takes the antibiotics every 6 hours. The swelling is pretty localized now, but the pain won't go away. Monday is when she gets her root canal. Big whoopeee, she says.

Sorry to bore you. I know I should be writing about MY life and not my mom's but she's a pretty big part of my life AND she's the one who feeds me, drives me around, and changes channels on the TV for me. I figured I'd give her a paragraph tonight for anyone who cared.

That's it for now. Thank Dog it's Friday!!

Love,

Mary-Margaret

Mom is smiling here!

Believe it or not this is about half the size that her head was this morning. She's feeling everly so much better. This morning tears were just flowing down her cheeks and she couldn't even talk. Dr. Bishay drained the abscess and she was fine for a couple of hours and then it got even worse, so she went back and he unplugged it and it's staying unplugged until Monday when she gets her root canal.

Between pain pills, antibiotics and swishing salt water in her mouth she might just be all better pretty soon. Tonight she plans on making up for all the sleep she lost last night.

In case you forgot, this is what she looked like a few days ago. Note the symmetry? Color? Eyes going in same direction?



Love you Grandpa. Talk to you tomorrow, ok?

Your Grand-doggy and Field Agent in Temecula...

Mary-Margaret

PS - Every body has bad picture days. Here's mine (posted to make my mom feel a little better):

Dear Grandpa...

Hello! It's ME, Mary-Margaret!!

Mom asked me to write you and tell you that she can't talk. She has a really bad abscess in her #6 eye tooth and it is pretty much swollen all the way up to her eye socket and she can't smile or anything. She says not to worry because she has an appointment with her regular dentist tomorrow, and her emergency dentist took an xray and gave her a prescription for some antibiotics and now she's home and on pain pills, too. So she's quiet AND loopy. As long as she doesn't forget to feed me my supper I can live with it.

I probably shouldn't mention this now but....the dentist and both ladies in the dentist's office asked my mom "Where's Mary-Margaret?". Yeah...that's the truth. They knew me but not my mom. One lady even said if mom had just told her that she was Mary-Margaret's mom, they'd know right away who they were going to see.

So...there you have it. She says to say "sorry" about not being able to talk but that you'll understand and maybe even sympathize a little bit with her predicament. Maybe. I do. I'm being very good and loving and not bugging her.

Oh yes...and I should tell you that the garage door is being weird again, but it's got a really long guarantee so she's going to call the garage door company to come out and fix it. It "hiccups" and stops before it opens or closes, and she has to hit the button over and over before it finally does what she wants it to. Stoopid door.

She's going to go sit in her chair and try to stop hurting now. She just put a bunch of ice cubes into a wet wash cloth and she's holding it on her face. I don't think tonight is a good night to hop into her lap and ask her to share her supper, do you?

We love you, Grandpa.

Your Grand-doggy...

Mary-Margaret

Little Jordan and Rescue Ink

Every life is a miracle. God bless little Jordan! And God bless the people at Rescue Ink!

Amen

Mary-Margaret

The Holidays are HERE!

I got my first Holiday card yesterday. It was addressed to "Mary-Margaret O'Brien and Michele Dawn". I noticed whose name was first but I was polite enough not to mention it out loud. It was from my friends, Abbey Mia, Harper and Piper Leshnower in Brighton, New York. And from their Mom, Elaine.

When Mom helped open the envelope she didn't even have to read it to me. I recognized the "writing" right away and grabbed it. "Mine, Mine, MINE!" (I said) and I carried it all around our office.

It's so nice to have friends who take the time to sent unexpected greeting cards that just brighten up our days.

Thank you, Leshnowers!

Love,

Mary-Margaret

PS: Mom says "Thanks!" too.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!!

Acktchully, it was yesterday. He is NINETY years old now. We first went to Sears to get him some trousers but didn't guess his size right. And he didn't like the material so we had to take them back. We also got him a sweater vest, and personally....I thought he looked rather snazzy in an argyle knit but he says he prefers plain things. So that went back too.



Me and Mom took him to the Enterprise Fish Company for dinner. Now I can tell you first hand that they make a really great steak. I don't eat prawns but I'm told those were really good, too. We got a really nice picture of my Grandpa. He sure doesn't look ninety to me. FYI, that's 630 in dog years.

We went back to his apartment and his good friend Elizabeth (who gets called "Honey") brought him some yummy looking stuff on a skewer. I think it was strawberries and brownies. And she brought him a card. She's everly so nice to him. We're glad he has such a good friend living next door to him. And my Auntie "C" called to wish him a happy birthday while we were there. His family means a whole lot to him and he's really happy to know that he's cared about.

Then we went to my Uncle Mike and Aunt Janet's in Beverly Hills. We got to see pictures of their trip to Humboldt and it's just beautiful. I'd like to go there someday. Mom and Aunt Janet kept yawning but not from the pictures. They both had a long day. So everybody went to bed and it rained pretty hard on and off through the night.

This morning Uncle Mike and Aunt Janet took me and Mom to Starbuck's in Culver City. There's a lot of fine looking pups around there. One chihuahua kept scoping me out but I stayed pretty aloof. I'm not looking for love, just so you know.

We drove home and got there about 1:45PM, after checking our mail boxes in Murrieta and Temecula. Then we went to our house and got comfy and napped. I am pretty adept at napping by design; Mom just dozes off without planning to. She needs more practice.

Happy Day after your birthday, Grandpa! I love you!!

Mary-Margaret

Dear Grandpa...

Today Mom finally fixed her tool drawer. It was the bottom drawer in a stack of four on the left of her dishwasher. After maybe FOURTEEN YEARS, she took all the stuff out of it, and set it up on the counter, and completely took it apart into five pieces: The front, the back, two sides and a bottom. She got out her hammer and the glue, and started straightening nails, banging on it and gluing it and taping it and .....ta daaaa....it's like new.

You ask how it got broken in the first place? Hmmmmmmm? Well, it's like this. When a six year old kid wants to climb up to a high cupboard and he's not the kind of kid that asks for help, he gets creative and makes stairs out of drawers. I wasn't born yet, and she won't tell me which kid it was, but....if it was 14 years ago and the kid was 6 at the time, that would make him 20 now. Recognize anyone, Mr. Randy Roo?

Oops...I wasn't supposed to tell you.

Oh well...

Love,

Mary-Margaret

National Debt Clock

Visit the U.S. National Debt Clock


Mom was talking to Melissa's friend Theresa tonight and they were trying to figure out the National Debt and exactly WHO we owed it to. I just shrugged my shoulders and went back to sleep. I don't count dollars and cents. I count kibbles and chicken parts. For me there's nothing else.

If you keep refreshing the page the debt figures change. Scary, huh? We go deeper in debt by $4.15 billion a day. Man, what I could do with $$ like that. I'd put all the Puppy Mills out of business and make sure every fur baby had a good home. And a Frisbee in every dog house. That's what I'd do.

Kisses...

Mary-Margaret

Ups 'n Downs

A couple of days ago I was "arfing" at the door. I heard people go by and I wanted to be polite and say "Hello! Please come in and make yourselves at home!". By the time pokey Mom got to the door they were just leaving the hallway. I raced down the hall as fast as I could and darted out the door.

"YOU GET BACK HERE!", I hear my roommate/partner/mom yell. You'd think she'd know that does no good by now, but she tries. She's running down the hall and gets out the double doors just as the elevator door starts to close. Yup! That's me in the elevator, just sitting there alongside a lady I hadn't met yet. Well, you know what they say...a friend is just a stranger you haven't been introduced to yet!

The lady says "Hey!". I look up at her and smile. She says "You don't belong in here!". Oh yes I do (I thought) and stood my ground. Meanwhile, the "momster" is saying "Get out of there!" and I'm not budging. I know my rights.

Bottom line - between the two ladies I am no longer on the elevator and I'm being scooped up and carried back to my office. So NOT fair, I think. But it's not over yet.

We get almost back to the office and we hear the phone ring. By this time I'm back on the ground walking along, sniffing here and there. Mom throws open the door and dives for the phone thinking I'm right there. (hehehhehe!)

A while later, Hector and his pup, Maxie, walk into the office. I'm happily playing with Maya and mentoring her on how to get along with others. Mom's still yakking on the phone so Hector just waits. Mom hangs up and thanks him for dropping by. He looks at her sort of funny and says that he didn't mind at all. He just wanted to let me into our office since he didn't think I was supposed to be outside our door.



This is my friend Maxie!!

"OHMYGAWSH!", says my mom. Then she narrows her eyes at me and says "You little stinker!". I just give her my everly most winning smile. What can I say at this point? I love adventure. She is (in my opinion), overprotective and stifling. I am (in HER opinion) an unruly teenager.

Yeah yeah (I think). "What-everrrrrrrr!!"

Kisses and hugs...

Mary-Margaret

Monday Morning Meeting

My very good friend, Kitty, was waiting for me at his usual spot. Mom rolled down my window so we could visit.

I spent a long time "talking" to him, telling him the news of our neighborhood, and about my new neighbor. Kitty was very polite and just listened without interrupting.

We've known each other for a very long time...like maybe years. Nothing like having good friends around.

Have a great week, everybody.

Love,

Mary-Margaret

Friday Fun!

I have been VERY good ever since my adventure last Wednesday. Really, I have. So I got to go see the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile this afternoon. It looks like a very big hot dog on wheels. They wanted to let me go ON the thing but I was just as happy looking at it. Mom got a picture of me and two weenie elves or whatever they're called. They were very nice but honestly, can you imagine? There were NO treats at all. Not one teenie weenie weinie. And I apologize. That's not one of my most flattering poses. If you double click on the picture you'll see what I mean. How unladylike, I ask you? Arrggghh!



In the market I saw some of my old friends. One of them even got a pup after finding out that we can be helper dogs, too. She got herself a Papillon named "Elvis" and she's absolutely over the moon in love with him. Most impressive was that she remembered my name...sort of. She called me "Margaret", which is better than most people do. And there was another helper dog in the market who was a puffy white toy Poodle. We're everywhere.

We're glad it's Friday. Mom says she's sick of tests. Next time the doctor asks her how she feels, she'll just say "Fine!" and that'll be it. Yup!

Love and schlurps...

Mary-Margaret

Mary-Margaret's Excellent Adventure!

Mom went to the dentist this morning and I was NOT invited. The NERVE, I say. She was only gone for maybe an hour and I didn't have much time to express my feelings anywhere in the house(darn, darn....double DARN!).

She says we have to go to work but first she's going to take out the trash. She told me to "Stay, Mary-Margaret!", which I usually do but ...like, she didn't deserve any consideration from me. She opened the door, I ducked under the big, black trash bag (while she thought I was still sitting in the kitchen), and then I made a run for it.

Out the open garage door, down the driveway, and down the sidewalk. Mom dumped the garbage into the can and took off after me, huffing and puffing and yelling "YOU STOP!", "SIT!", "STAY". I'd let her get about 10 feet from me and then I'd give her a big grin and keep on going. Wheeeee! This is fun, I said. I do so love the game of "chase". Well? I get bored all by myself, you know!

We did that a few times and she finally (DOH!!) got the message. Yelling at me and calling me "Little Stinker", and "Shithead" is NOT going to bring me back. About 2 houses down, just past our mailbox on a post, she stops and sort of squats down. This is unexpected, so I hear her out.

"Good puppy!", she says. "Mommy LOVES you!" and "Do you want a treat? Or maybe some scratchies?". Hmmmmmm (I say). "Scratchies" does sound good. So I start walking very slowly back to her. She gets up and slowly starts walking back to me. I let her pick me up and we giver each other kisses.

There's some old saying about catching more flies with honey, and I think that applies here in my case. The idea of scratchies and treats was a lot more appealing than being yelled at, don't you think?

PS - I don't think I've EVER called her "Shithead" in either English OR Doglish. How rude, huh? Next time, I might go all the way to the corner and see how she likes it.

Love,

Mary-Margaret

Dear Grandpa..it was like you said!!

Mom found her stuff IN her wallet. I can't tell you how many times she went through it, every little pocket and place. But she did it again....and found her 2 $2.00 bills, her $1.00 silver certificate, her Kaiser card and her Medicare card. So all is well in her world. She doesn't need to get a new social security card now, so she's all happy.

Love, Mary-Margaret

PS - I do worry about her so. She's just getting sort of forgetful and can't remember stuff she should. But ask her about a case she worked on 10 years ago, and she'll remember everything there is to remember. Scary, huh?

More on Dexter!!

This is my very good friend, Dexter, and his mom Tina. They work on the second floor of our building. We have a very dog-friendly office in Old Town Temecula. When my Auntie Lynda (who calls me "PooPoo LaLa") was managing the building she'd even ask prospecive tenants if they had any problems with dogs working here. If they didn't like it, she'd tell them she had other buildings they'd probably be happier in. See why I love her?



It was pretty much of a challenge for Mom to get a picture of me and Dexter together because we are "pups on the go". We move around a lot. Well, there's so much to sniff...places to "go"....people to see. Like I said, we read our "pee mail" together. That way we can cover twice as many bushes in half the time.

Finally I think our moms got tired of chasing us, so his mom picked us up and now you have a picture of both of our faces...sort of, anyway. You can tell from the photo that I'm just a wee bit annoyed of being interrupted in the middle of such important business. And you can also see that Dexter is mapping out his next copse of bushes for his Advanced Sectional Sniffing. We work well together.

More on this partnership "sniff-a-thon" next week. I'll keep you posted.

Love and kisses,

Mary-Margaret

My new friend, Becky!

Dear Grandpa: I have a new friend. Her name is "Becky" and she's a baby miniature Chihuahua. She is about 3 months old and is smaller than my left rear hind quarter. She "yips" a lot, and makes little growly noises, but I know she's being friendly.

We went to visit one of our clients today and I ran straight back to their office. I visited politely and when it was time to go home, I walked into the hallway and that's when I met Becky. My gosh, I've never met anybody that's everly so much smaller than me. She weighs maybe 2 pounds...maybe not that much. Her humans are from Spain and they let me and Becky get to know each other.

Her main human man got her a tiny bowl of water and let her share with me. That's how you know you have made a really good friend because they share their water with you. In case you were wondering, that is. Our client came out into the hallway and they thought Becky was really cute, too. Lots of visiting and lots of "oooooohs and ahhhhhhs".

When it was time for us to leave, Mom took the papers and stuff and started walking to the elevator. I sat down near Becky's door. Mom got ALL the way to the elevator and looked back down the long LONG hallway. I was still sitting down. She called me, then she called some more. I ignored her. She said "Don't make me come get you!", and I said "Game's on!" and stayed sitting right there.

Mom gets about half-way to me and I get in "pounce" form. You know, butt in air and head down? Anyway...bottom line is I knew I was going to get scooped up so I walked back to Becky's office. The door opened and Becky and her human came out. I went into their office and so did Becky. We had some fun time, too.

Ultimately (love that word!)...ULTIMATELY we had to go, though. This time I got picked up and Becky's human picked her up. We said our good-byes and "see ya laters".

It's always nice to make a new friend and now I know who I can visit with while Mom's at her client's place. Next time maybe someone will have a camera ready so I can send you a picture of us.

This is one of me and my friend, Dexter. We're just "pee mail" buddies, though.



I'm still happily engaged to my sweet Hashimoto who is moving to California soon just to be with me.

Hope you all have a great weekend. I know I will.

Love and smoochies...

Mary-Margaret