Marmie's Gotcha-Day

Hi everyone. Marmie's Mom here. I just wanted to let everyone know that February 21st was the second anniversary of Marmalade's adoption. It's safe to say our lives have not been the same since we brought her home. We now have the cleanest counters anywhere (with everything out of hound reach); we have a weekly wall washing ritual; I'm adept at spotting dead and decomposing stuff on the trail before she can get it; and Marm's Dad and I can actually identify the many melodies in her houndly "songs". Her hound brother Bernie agrees that life would not be the same without her. We almost lost her to bloat last November and the good outcome makes us sure that she will howl, drool, and eat her way through our lives for many more years to come.

She was eight when we adopted her and it's been so wonderful seeing an older dog discover the good life. We don't think she'd ever lived in a house before--she had to learn to go up and down stairs and the day she discovered upholstery, she didn't leave the sofa for ten hours. She's happy and on her way to getting healthy. The highlight of our morning is going downstairs and seeing her lounging on her arm chair. Her enthusiastic songs greet us whenever we walk in the door and she is more than happy to remind us when we're a little late with her meals. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pics of our beautiful girl and her latest masterpiece--rope drool (flavored with duck and sweet potato dog food) on my piano sheet music.

Valentine's weekend walk

Hello everyone--hope you had a nice weekend. Gus, our bloodhound of the frozen North, is probably still frozen, but I'm happy to report that we have started to thaw out a bit on the East Coast. We had a great time today--Mom and Dad took us to our favorite trail in Rock Creek Park and I towed Mom all the way down the hill. Her feet barely touched the ground! It was a nice day to be out and about, and it seems, like Wimsey has chronicled in his blog, that love is indeed in the air. Mom said she hasn't seen so much sniffing of dog behinds in ages. A young yellow lab got a bit fresh at one point--I was not amused.



Indeed, love was indeed in the air and poor Bernie was on the receiving end of several amorous advances. I just sniffed and took the air like Wimsey's Phoebe. I was indeed the perfect lady, except when I tried to eat some decomposing stuff that Mom quickly managed to get out of my mouth. Anyway, I digress. We met an amazing dog today. Not a hound, but a Newfie. His name is Moose and he really lived up to his name. He towered over me and Bernie and I was afraid that one swipe of his paw would send Mom off the edge of the trail and down the hill.



He was a friendly and sweet fellow and has an artistic bent just like me--he does drool art on the walls of his home--something that, just like at Casa Hound, is not appreciated to its fullest extent. I could hear Mom complaining again about having to wash the walls. She's destroying my art... Perhaps Wimsey will include drool art in his studies of houndish art...

Anyway, we saw lots of dogs swimming today and I was so impressed to read about Bentley's adventures in the swimming pool. This hound woman definitely does NOT do H2O!!! Hope you all enjoy the pics.

Ice hounds!

Wow--has it EVER been cold and icy this past week. This hound woman is ready for spring. We got snow, then freezing rain, and it all froze on Tuesday night, turning our much-loved yard into an ice rink. Bernie and I both had a few wipeouts and quickly figured out that we had to slow down. Walks were only attempted during the middle of the day--Mom, like Wimsey's guardians, had visions of broken bones as a result of hound-towing and ice so she played it safe. Today was beautiful and we got some shots of the ice before things started to melt. Gus, I don't know how you survive the frozen north... this girl is definitely a southern hound!

By the way, I counter-surfed this weekend and took off with a bunch of garlic cloves. Mom caught me and made me spit them out. I didn't want to give them up, but at least I had a memento for my efforts--garlic breath!