Sniffing in the snow

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! A-roo! It's fun sniffing in the snow--I can smell all kinds of stuff. We got over eight inches on Saturday and this hound was very excited. I played outside with the humans. Since my big ball is missing in action, the humans threw snowballs for me--which had the added feature of being edible.

I am usually a happy dog, but playing in the snow makes me even happier.

Everyone had fun in the snow, but Emma-cat preferred to watch from inside.

Winter hound blahs

Hello all. It's definitely winter blah season. I'm finding it difficult to get up in the morning and have been the official weekend-sleeper-in hound. When Dad leaves for work on Saturday mornings, I vault into bed and spend the morning snoozing with Mom. Once we're rested, we go for our late morning walk.

Emma the cat has made life a bit more exciting and more complicated. I'm gated downstairs during the day and she sits up in the window seat at the top of the steps and stares down at me. I've started making all kinds of funny sounds resembling something between a squeal and a bay, so Mom is holding out hope that the bloodhound genes will prove to be the dominant ones. We've had a few close encounters and last night the sneaky little thing came downstairs while I was asleep. The humans hope that my chase instinct will fade with time. Um, I don't think so--I am a hound.

Anyway, the week is almost over. Time for a power nap.

Upstairs cat, downstairs dog

Hope the year has started out well for everyone. I really miss my sister, but promise to keep blogging and entertaining everyone and perhaps bring out my inner bloodhound even more. Mom says I try to bay sometimes but it comes out funny. Oh well.

We had an interesting New Year's--the cat that Mom has been feeding decided to adopt us. Needless to say, there was some initial growling (on both parts) and hissing (on Emma the cat's part--I do NOT hiss). The solution you ask? For the moment it's "upstairs cat" and "downstairs dog"... We look at each other through the gate at the steps and I really just want to smell her and maybe chase her. Anyway, the grand-humans were here for over a month and left this week, so I'm feeling a bit lonely. Sigh... Perhaps this blog will need to be renamed the cat chronicles...

A sad kiss goodbye

Hello everyone. Marmie's human here. I just wanted to let you know that we lost our beloved girl this Sunday. She had a wonderful Saturday morning romping in the snow with Bernie and was fine until the evening, when she got very sick. We were completely snowbound and the vets we spoke to on the phone gave us some advice but we had no choice but to take care of her and hope for the best. I stayed on the sofa bed and tried to reassure her. She eventually settled down and I fell asleep. We found her the next morning. In hindsight, there was probably nothing the vets could have done. It's likely that her liver failed as a result of the medications she was on. We are consoling ourselves with the fact that she had a great last six months and was happy almost until the end. Her grandparents have been visiting and she got more love and affection than ever the last few weeks. Needless to say, we are devastated and shocked at this great and sudden loss. Marmalade was with us for almost three full years. Whatever her past, we know that these were three good years. She was loved and cherished every single day by us, our friends and neighbors, and her brother, Bernie. The sadness on people's faces when we walk down the street with only one hound is palpable--she was such a fixture in the neighborhood. We will all miss her beautiful bay (she was known as the neighborhood rooster) and I will miss our sofa-bed snuggles so much. People thought I was crazy for spending the last six months downstairs with her on the sofa bed; I'm so glad I had that time with her. She fell asleep every night with my arms around her and woke up to a kiss on her beautiful, noble head.
Rest in peace, my beautiful girl. You will never be forgotten.

--Marmie's human, Ilonka

By the way, the photo above was taken on Saturday morning while they romped in the snow. I could not think of a nicer picture to post.

'Tis the season...

'Tis the season to be houndly, fa la la la la--a-roo!

I was not amused and suffered the indignity of wearing antlers for only a few short minutes. The things we do for our humans... seriously!

Anyway, life in Houndonia has been quite eventful. The grand-human from Canada is visiting and another is set to arrive tomorrow. This means more pets and hugs and, of course, opportunities to swipe food when they're not looking (alas, they are not owned by hounds). Speaking of being owned by hounds, Dad gets us on weekends and last weekend we managed to successfully sandwich him on the sofa bed. With all the snoring going on, Dad said it was like sleeping on a massage-bed.


I also have to share this pic of Bernie doing his pig imitation:


This was taken on Thanksgiving. Of course, the humans gave thanks for having us hounds around. They also got on the topic of what life would be like without us. Unimaginable!

Food could be left on the counter;
There would be ample sofa and bed space;
The humans would gain weight and get way too much sleep;
The vacuum would get a well-deserved vacation;
The neighborhood would be quiet--no ear splitting bays;
The postman would actually walk up to the house slowly, instead of sprinting up to the mailbox and back due to the furious barking and baying;
The humans would have something called "disposable income" since they would not have to shell out for food, treats, medicine, and expensive vet visits;
The walls would stay clean;
Clothing would remain undecorated by rope drool;
And the list went on until they humans decided that houndlessness would be boring beyond belief!

I will sign off on that happy note.

Marmalade, a most festive hound

Cats

It seems that the cats the humans have been feeding are here to stay... We have not yet worked out a peaceful coexistence, however. Right now, the cycle is, cats eat and sit on porch, we stare, we chase. They are kind of cute though.

This is the mother cat.


And here is me staring at one of the kittens on the chair.



She was clearly not amused...



I spent the rest of the morning looking out the windows and tracking their every move.



Mom thinks I'm more curious than anything. Bernie, however, was sent downstairs. He's a lot more than curious.

Leaf pile adventures

The weather turned cool and the leaves have really started to turn and fall to the ground. Fall is a great season for us hounds--all these smells--mold, decomposing stuff galore--yum! Us hounds have it good. The humans spent the afternoon raking while we hung out and sniffed. Here's Bernie lying in his favorite leaf pile. I don't lie in the piles, especially since Bernie likes to "mark" them...



I don' t mark, but I sure sniff. I smelled squirrel and even the cat that's been eating on the porch.



The humans get mad when I eat yucky stuff in the yard, but I'm a hound--I can't resist!



This hound sure does get tired at the end of the day, though... So tired that I decided to take up two dog beds instead of one. My humans call it "bloodhound sprawl". The photo below shows my massive paws--which lately are in the habit of socking Mom in the face while she's sleeping. It's not my fault she takes up so much of the bed. Perhaps I should petition for my own futon, like Wimsey has...



Anyway, I'm off to the vet tomorrow for a weigh-in and some bloodwork, which means the vet techs will love on me and tell me I'm such a good girl, and so on. The best part is I get to ride shotgun (I have a doggie seat belt that keeps me safe). It's funny watching people pull up next to us and seeing their reaction when they see a large hound staring at them. It takes so little to keep humans entertained...