Pug vs. Shepherd

I want to thank everyone for their concern about my well-being. Yes, Ohren is a big German Shepherd dog, but I am not intimidated! I am a Pug, well-known for their lovability, loyalty, and ferocity.

Proof: this a picture of me and Ohren tussling over his rubber ball. You can see the advantage this canine species has with his long jaw and rows of teeth. Was I daunted? Not at all -- you can see how I am obviously winning this little tug-of-war . . . I hope this inspires all you pugs to not be intimidated by other breeds -- stay strong!!

We have guests!

Sorry for the lack of blogs, but I have been a busy hostess for my guests. My father has a friend over learning to be a divemaster, and he brought his son, Ohren. As you can see, Ohren is a subordinate dog breed (German Shepherd), but Mommy taught me that we have to treat every doggy the same.

It's been a little tough with Ohren here . . .my daily routine of eating-sleeping-eating-playing with Daddy-eating-sleeping has been severely disrupted. First of all, Ohren eats ALOT and drinks more water in one sitting than I do the entire day! Consequently, I have had to share my food and water with him at times (I usually don't mind since that is what hosts do, but I am afraid he will eat me out of house and home!). Secondly, he loves to play with my stuffed toys, which I don't mind sharing. But he has a big snout with big teeth -- my toys are torn apart in one play session! That is just rude to destroy someone else's property like that . . . And then there is this frisbee-thing. Mommy has tried to get me to play frisbee with Ohren, but I don't see how that is much fun at all; who wants to catch a plastic disc in midair? Mommy says I am just being a sourpuss, but I don't care . . .

These are our latest houseguests: Ohren is on the left and the Josh-human is in the center. Yours truly is on the right (yup, I am the good-looking one in the picture)

Pug in a Recycled Bag

We received an unexpected and cool gift in the mail yesterday from Aunt Judy. It is a shopping bag made from recycled materials, complete with a picture of a pug on the front.

Ta-da! Pug in a bag!

Mommy says I was a pricey purchase . . . but well worth it (she didn't say that, I did!)

Thank you Aunt Judy! We love the bag! I think Mommy needs to bring it to the store to buy me more treats . . .

Antarctica

Enough vacation pictures already! Mommy was trying to upload more pictures of Antarctica, but I was faster: my paw hit the "Esc" button on the computer before she could add more pics (see me in action below).

So, these are the last pictures of my parents' trip, when they were actually IN the continent of Antarctica. Mommy was a bit disappointed as she said it looked very much like Alaska, only with bigger mountains, more ice, and more snow.

This is an Argentinian scientific base on Antarctica. And no! those are penguins, not the scientists from Argentina!

Scenery shot

Look -- it's Fudgie the Whale! (from the old Carvel ice cream commercials . . . for those of you old enough to remember). It is actually a big iceberg floating in the ocean.

A lonely penguin looking over his kingdom

Leopard seal -- these guys are mean! They eat penguins, seals, and other animals they can get their teeth on

More South Georgia and penguins

My parents said they spent about two days around South Georgia. Just in case you think it was all glamorous, Mommy wanted to tell you that all those penguins POOP just as much (if not more) than pugs do (although I find that hard to believe). She said you can smell the guano (the scientific work for "poop") on the deck of the ship, from miles away. And then the naturalists have to scrub the soles of your boots for you before you re-board the ship; otherwise all that guano in the ship would be pretty awful.

My parents said it was pretty cool that the penguins and seals were all walking around without any fear of humans. The naturalists made sure the humans stayed at least 15 feet away from the animals; but the penguins could walk right up to you if they wanted to (some actually did!).

Sunrise on South Georgia island. Note the glacier in the background.

Ernest Shackleton's grave. I don't know who he is, but Daddy says he was a famous explorer.

Grytviken, an old whaling station

Lots of flies in this picture . . . JUST KIDDING! All those white and black spots are King penguins. Mommy said there were over 100,000 pairs of penguins at that landing site. Gee wiz! That's alot of birds . . .

There seems to be something interesting over there . . .

This little guy is a Chinstrap penguin

This is an elephant seal saying "cheese"

Daddy was trying to creep up on the penguins (the penguins actually waddled right up to him)

But wait, you ask yourselves, "where are the pictures of Frances Louise!" Don't despair, my adoring fans; these vacation pics are almost finished. There will be a photo of yours truly very soon . . .

Falkland Islands and South Georgia

It is so good to be back and blogging again as I had no outlet for my creative writing skills while I was at my pug sitter's house. I did have tons of fun there, though, running around with my boxer pal. I missed all you guys; my parents missed everyone out there too. They tell me that they were stuck on a ship for 3 weeks, sailing around the end of the world, without any pugs to keep them company. WHAT?!?!? Twenty-one days without sight of a pug? I am surprised they haven't gone crazy in that time.

I know you guys probably want to know more about their trip, so I let Mommy download some of her pictures onto my blog -- for this week only! I mean, I can't let adorable pictures of penguins and fur seals surpass my own cute photos . . .

So, my parents flew from Alaska to Santiago, Chile, where they spent the day touring the city. From Chile, they took a plane to Ushuaia, Argentina (the southern-most city in the world). They boarded their boat -- the Explorer II -- and began their expedition. They visited the Falkland Islands and then South Georgia the first 10 days:

These guys with the tricked-out hairstyles are called Rockhopper penguins. They are almost as cute as pugs

Two Gentoo penguins crossing the road in the Falklands.

Daddy in Port Stanley. Those are four whale bones behind him. Daddy is a history buff and wanted to visit the sites that were made famous during the Falkland War

For you ornithologists, and I quote Mommy, " . . . I dunno, this is some kind of duck . . ."

This is South Georgia. Spectacular, no?

This brown furball is a penguin chick. He is almost ready to molt and acquire his adult tuxedo suit

These are adult King penguins (second in size only to the Emperor penguins)

Baby fur seal. And to think that not too long ago they were being clubbed to death by humans . . .

Baby fur seal trying to see if Daddy looks better sideways . . .

More pics to come . . .

We're back!

Hi guys! Wanted to let you know that my parents returned home today with tons of pictures. I had fun at the pug-sitter's, but they told my Mommy that I was a "little brat". So what I wouldn't eat from my own bowl (I wanted to share with my boxer-friend)?! So what I didn't want to poop or pee outside but did the deed inside the house . . . a girl's got to have her perogatives!

My parents promised to upload some of her photos very soon . . .