Flying

Let me start off by saying that pugs are not meant to fly; we are meant to remain firmly entrenched between our parents' laps in a snuggle position on the ground.

My parents and sister went to Taiwan to visit for 10 days while I stayed with Grandpa in NJ. They told me they had a great time, as did I. Before she left, Mommy warned Grandpa not to fall for my sad, woe-as-me-I-am-a-poor-starving-puggy look. Luckily, my grandfather is a softie and pretty soon I had him wrapped around my little paw. I was getting treats and table scraps left and right . . . Mommy was horrified when she returned and saw I had put on a few pounds. I just thought I looked extra cuddly. Mommy warned me that there is a weight limit for in-cabin pets on the airplane and that I just might not be able to fly home with them. Hold on a minute! I thought -- no one said anything about flying home!

As usual, my parents did not listen to me and before I knew it, I am sitting in a carrier underneath an airplane seat. Of course I was a huge hit with the other passengers . . . who can resist a puggy?

Here I am peeking out of the carrier. I was so upset when Mommy told me I had to remain there the entire flight!

I was trying to give Mommy my most pathetic look so she would take me out of the carrier.

I wasn't sure what this was -- kinda looked like those black bears I had seen in Alaska, but different coloring. Daddy called this a panda bear. He said they saw two of them at the Taiwan Zoo.

My parents said the highlight of their trip to Taiwan was the food. Here is just an example of their first day of glorious non-stop eating. Sounds like my kind of vacation!

Back Again!

Hello pug bloggers! I am back from an extended hiatus (a forced hiatus by my incompetent parents, I have to add) and ready to regale you all with my adventures. Sadly, nothing spectacular happened during my absence, with the exception of me taking my first plane ride (which I will recount later)!

One thing my Daddy likes about the winters here in Florida (aside from the awesome weather) is that the green markets are back up and running. There are two we attend regularly: one on Sat morning and one on Sun morning. Unfortunately, only the Sat one allows dogs so my options are limited.

This is me and Daddy at the West Palm Beach Green Market.

This unfortunate specimen is my Grandmother's rat -- er, chihuahua. She definitely did not enjoy the green market (don't ask me why, chihuahuas are a strange breed)

Here I am sniffing around one of the plants. Don't tell my parents but I was looking for a place to pee

I was going to pee by the pot but then my sister caught me and ratted me out (stupid sibling).

Grasshoppers

Daddy is on a mission: he has decided that no grasshoppers will survive the week. We have these scary big grasshoppers all around our house; they actually are pretty (if they weren't 5 inches long) since they come in colors of yellow to red. They don't bother me much. I do like to chase them but they really don't provide much of a challenge -- they can't hop very fast because of their size. Now lizards, that is another story. I break a sweat trying to catch one of those little suckers . . . Anyway, they have been eating alot of our young fruit trees and flowers, so Daddy has decided they must go! Unfortunately, they are resistant to most pesticides so you have to kill them the old-fashioned way -- STOMP!

Mommy found this one on our screen window. And this one actually is one of the medium-sized critters!

Like I said, not bad looking if it weren't so big

New Blog

This is just me chillin' out on a fabulous sunny day

Good morning everyone! I apologize for recent strange layouts on my blogs but things have been a little screwy on the home computer. I don't know what's up with Mommy but I told her she needs to get on the ball about stuff like that -- how can I possibly type my entries when I am encountering technical difficulties?

I was reminded by my cousin that I was negligent in announcing his new blog, www.beagscorner.com. Now, my cousin is an inferior breed -- a beagle -- but I don't hold that against him. The blog is quite awesome because 1) he is related to me, and 2) Beag's owner is quite a fantastic veterinarian. Mommy has asked her advice many times (I don't know why since I am always an angel!), and she has been quite the lifesaver. So, go check out the cool blog!

At the zoo

Hoping everyone had a great weekend. We just lounged around and enjoyed the yummy Florida sunshine. Only two bad things happened this weekend:

1. My Mommy decided to put me in the pool to see if I could swim. I can't.

2. My family decided to go to the zoo without me. Granted dogs aren't allowed at the zoo, but I don't take that into consideration.

Mommy started posting pictures of me nearly drowning in the swimming pool, but I quickly deleted those. I am not stupid enough to allow my embarrassing situation be made public record. So all of you will have just the pictures of the Palm Beach Zoo to enjoy.

My little sis was enamored with the Butterfly Garden where tons of butterflies were freely flittering about.

The Butterfly Garden was paved with stones that had inscriptions on them. Mommy liked this one the best.

This bird had an artificial leg

The bionic bird!

Littermates

Now you guys all know how much my life has changed since my little sister arrived (and certainly not for the better). I have tried all I can to get my parents to return her to the breeder they bought her from . . . I even tried giving her away at one of those little sister rescue organizations (note my last blog), but no one would take her. Still, I have to admit, sometimes she is okay, especially when she provides a warm body for me to cuddle up against.

One of the only times where we coexist peacefully

Daddy says this is the only time there is calm in the house

Happy Birthday to ME!

Hello everyone in bloggyland . . . long time no blogging, eh? I blame everything on my silly family (trust me we have had arguments about this). But even Mommy couldn't refuse my insistence on today's blog because . . . it is my birthday! Yup, that's right -- yours truly is now 5 years old! My parents kind of cheated and celebrated yesterday. I got a rib bone to chew on and a slice of ice cream cake (heavenly!).

This is me looking as gorgeous as ever

My family and I went to the Pet Expo last weekend. Thank goodness it was indoors as it is starting to get muggy hot again in South Florida. We met dogs of all kinds -- sniffing galore. We saw some pet rescue organizations: one shar-pei rescue, one golden retriever rescue, one greyhound rescue, and four dauschaund rescues. FOUR?!? Mommy couldn't believe it -- what, does nobody want those hot dogs out there that they have so many rescues? We met up with the lady that runs the pug rescue of South Florida and asked her why we didn't see any pug resuces; she said the convention people wanted $350/table and they could rescue 2 pugs with that amount, so she was just circulating amongst the crowd. Wow, I though that was a pretty good reason. I tried to find the Little Sister Rescue so I could give up my little sis for adoption, but wouldn't you know it, they didn't show up . . .

This is my little sis, Daddy, me and a handsome fella in the background at the front of the Expo

Pillow Pug

It's been a hard week for me: my little sis has been having nightmares almost daily, which means she gets to sleep with my parents and me. And let me tell you a secret: toddlers don't lie still when they are sleeping! I have been punched and kicked in the head incessantly at night. Since I haven't been able to get much sleep at night, I tend to make up for it during the daytime.

I managed to squeeze in between several pillows, hoping to hide myself from my possessed sibling

Look at me! Look at the bags around my eyes! Look at the dark circles under my eyes! How can I go out looking like this?!

Eating Poop

I apologize for the rather disgusting title of my blog, but Mommy made me write it in. She was rather angry at me this weekend because of my nasty habit. I don't like to tell too many people because you humans get all weirded up about it, but I LOVE to eat cat poop. Well there it is, out there in the open. Mommy didn't actually find out about my ilicit habit until we moved to a house with a huge backyard and with a neighbor that has 2 outdoor cats. I don't know who Mommy is mad at more: the cats for pooping in our yard, or me for eating it. Mommy will let me out in the backyard and my super-sensitive pug nose leads me right to various areas where the cats have left their, ahem, presents, and before Mommy can run over to smack me in the butt, I have consumed the entire poop in one gulp. Mommy wants to know if there is any way 1) I can be cured of this, or 2) to prevent the cats from pooping in our yard (short of a well-aimed BB gun).

I am being punished because of my latest "treasure hunting"

I don't think I have a problem . . . Mommy says I need to go into "Cat-poop eating rehab"

Sick

Hi guys! I really feel for all my puggy friends out there: my parents and I watch the news every evening and it seems like the rest of the country is getting slammed with supercold weather. It is currently 71 degrees outside now, and it is not even 8 o'clock AM! But no worries -- my grandmother decided to share her cold weather experience by giving the entire Wild Floridian Swamp Pug family a nasty bug. She came down last week and promptly got sick, and now my parents and little sis have fever, chills, and some kind of cough. I haven't been blogging because someone has to take care of them, cook, clean the house, take care of the bills, etc! It is a good thing puggies are immune to human viruses . . .

The beach in January

This is what winter in Florida is supposed to be -- warm and cozy enough for the beach! We had several cold days this winter but now the weather has been spectacular.

I am watching little sis try to put dirt into her bucket. I told her she would get better results by tossing the dirt in with her paws instead of using that silly shovel.

Keeping an eye out for crabs to dine on

Life is good

Helping out

We are having a run of guests which means it is time to clean up the house. We all have to play our part in getting the house in order . . .

This is my little sis trying to clean the toilet. That is, after she threw in Mommy's birthday card into the toilet (before Mommy had a chance to read it!)

I did my part by taking my little sis out on a walk with me so my parents can clean the house without interference. I am such a good sister!

Happy Belated New Year

Ok, ok, I know we are two weeks deep into the New Year but I want to wish everyone out there a safe and successful 2011! The Alaskan-Mountain-Pug-turned-Florida-Swamp-Pug family has been supremely busy these past several months; no excuse for not blogging, but there it is. To sum up the 2010 holidays: my parents had a horrendous experience traveling to Michigan for Thanksgiving (no thanks to Delta airlines). I was very smart and stayed in the warm climates of West Palm Beach courtesy of my friends Jennifer and her dogs Ruby and Frankie; I did drive up with my family to central New Jersey for Christmas and we got caught in that blizzard (my grandparents got 2.5 feet of snow in one day!); New Year's spent at home (finally) without my Mom who was working.

Well, that's the summary. I would have blogged sooner, but my parents laptop went crazy, something about not finding the RAM memory and "fatal error in the hard drive", etc. I personally think it was because my Daddy dropped the laptop few times, but he gives me the evil eye when I mention that, so I don't bring that up. So I am just posting a few pictures of moi during Christmas while the computer is having a good day . . .

This is me with the ladies (actually my sister-in-laws and my baby cousin). NOBODY could keep there hands off me at Christmas. I was the star of the show!

I don't even know why Mommy bothered to snap this picture when I was cropped out of it. Anyway this is me (cut off in the bottom), Daddy, and little sis in her Christmas PJs.

A puggy needs to rest after all that attention

My brilliant Mommy thought I wanted to go romp and play in 2.5 feet of snow. I obviously thought she was insane