Happy Easter from Rubi and the Bull.

    My little girl in her Sunday best spikes, along with her lamb and bunny, want to with you a Happy Easter! We are blessed to have her in our lives! Bully doesn't yet realize it, but he is, too. He's working on being the best big bro.

It's not easy getting these two to pose for a family portrait.

 They did their best.

 The pup has grown twice her size in a week! I believe she share's her mom's flair for accessories, hence the dachshund infinity scarf.

Rubi's first day

    Ruby has been part of our family for a full day now. We have gotten to know her more, mainly her pee habits (goes outside, can use a pee pad) and her poo habits (still working on those) and her likes and dislikes (likes human companionship, dislikes bright lights). I think we've got the hang of the new puppy thing.
   And, yes, we call her Rubi to the general public because I can't always make up my mind and because it's so much easier than explaining her overly dramatic name that was essentially an inside joke between my hubbs and me.
     How is Bully handling his new sister (or granddaughter, or new trophy wife, I've not yet decided)?
He avoids her and is waiting for her Florida vacation to end. I give him three weeks to come to terms with reality. 

 He won't even look at her.  He makes no effort to hide it in this body language. It's pretty rude.

He tried to hide in a house plant. 

 I had to force this paw bump.

 and take this photo at and angle that looked like he cared:

So far, they co-exist, and that is pretty good in our book.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

 Bully's ready to celebrate this day of Mexican Pride!

He knows his momma was Mexican in another life by the way she eats.

 The Fifth of May is not Mexico's independence day, but in fact, small Mexican army's victory over France, according to the History Channel (and they know what they're talking about). We in the States just like to drink beer and eat food on this day. So that's what we're gonna do!

I'll let you know later how the Pinto bean and Quinoa tacos turn out...
 
In the meantime, enjoy a 1994 flashback via Liz Phair, my favorite indifferent indie queen from my adolescent days:

Bully's new jacket

The time is here again. Tick season. It seems they let us be for Christmas, but are creepily crawling around outside again. We did not go full on shave for the Bull, like last time, but rather, intended a lion cut. It turned out to look like he's wearing a bolero.

He is more eager than ever to go for neighborhood walks. He shows off his new jacket to the local  pooches. I can tell they're jealous.

Our Tick prevention:
Andvantix, Tick collar
Adams Spray in the house
Granules in the ground
Yard spray
Yard Maintenance
and regular sweeping
and regular tick inspection

and we want another dog. HA!

Christmas Morning

Our new toys!

Excellent Christmas morning!

The morning started with hugs and the realization that we are very blessed to have what we want and need, but we have our wonderful lives with each other. Listening to the morning radio, we reflected on the tragic events of the recent news. We shed some tears for lost lives and what seems like a world in despair.

A feeling of hope and love replaced the solemn, and we put on the Christmas tunes and coffee. This has been the best Christmas for us, personally. Just spending time with my husband is all I really want. (But I love my new Tiffany necklace!)

 We opened our gifts and ate a huge brunch. Belgian waffles, veggie sausage, Boar's Head real bacon, biscuits and gravy and eggs--I hooked it up! The best part of the morning was giving Bully his present: a "dinner plate" of squeaky stuffed toys. When I saw this at Target I had to. HAD TO. Not only do I love things that look like food (see above turkey towel and all those rice krispy turkeys I make), I love giving Bully stuffed toys. It's messy, but it's his favorite!

See how he enjoyed his dinner plate:

"Ohh a present! Papa, will help me open it?"

"Mmmm... corn!"

"Mmmm... turkey!"

"Have you any chives for my baker?"

"Pass the rolls, please."

"Mmmm, dinner rolls? Are these Sister Shuberts?"

"Well, I'm stuffed!"

 Merry Christmas! Wishing you all a warm, kind, and compassionate New Year.

Love, 

Shawn, Leilani & Bully

Forgive us, Bully.

It is redundant to say that ticks suck, so ticks BLOW. I hate the little jerks. 

We've had a problem lately, kinda makes me miss our old manicured and treated condo. Ticks are all in our yard, and all over our neighborhood. Bully hasn't run around in his own yard for a few weeks. And when we take him for walks, practicaly in the street to avoid the grass, he seems to pick up dozens of hitchhiking ticks. It's taken a couple of weeks, but I think yardwork, Adams spray and Advantix are finally gonna bring him some peace.

But we just had to do this, so sorry, Bully. I know you think Mamma looks at you differently, but I still love you. Your're just not my bear anymore. Is this what a dingo looks like?

  We said "Lion cut," not full body shave...

 You deserve some Boar's Head. You are a real sport.

 Tiny, tiny, naked dog.

Remember, this is what he  really looks like:

I miss your butt skirts, but it's for your own good.

Problem Child

Hey guys, please help. My mom and dad are messing everything up again. They're always making messes and stacking things high so I have nowhere to lay. This week they cleaned up our house, which was nice for a change. I had a lot of room. But then mommy and I sat in the car again for a very long time. We saw some of my brown family, and my lola. That was nice. Then we got back in the car and stayed there all day. I just kept flipping back and forth in the back seat. I was cramped. 

I haven't eaten until yesterday. Mommy wasn't giving me soup any more, just dry kibbles.

We stayed in this room last night. I rode an elevator for the first time. Then today I got in the car again for a little while and came to this place. There are boxes everywhere again. I stayed on the patio all evening while they put them inside. I made sure no one came to bother our house. I bark at everyone coming towards our house and it works because they don't come and bother us. I love that I can see everything below.

Well, I hope tomorrow I get to go for another walk. The trees are different here and I saw lots of lizards today.

Please tell my mommy and daddy to give me more room. They are so messy lately.

Love, 

Bully

Bully Wears Glasses

The time has come for my geriatric dog to rely on some spectacles. He's come to terms with it, though he shook them off at first and the lenses popped out. Luckily, I fixed them. Otherwise, Mama would have to go back to the Dollar Tree for the third time this week.

"I'm not yet accustomed to my new spectacles."

"Deesteengueeshed, no?"

"Ta ta."

Mommy's in town!

outside Maria's

and my Manay Tina!

This weekend my mommy came to NC. We just hung around, visited some shops, met with the caterer and went out to eat a lot! Also,the Hubbs and I met with a DJ.

 ...and had a Smith Street Diner HUGE biscuit. They were real fresh 'cause it was early. YUM. Obvs, I took this home because I could only eat half of mine. This was Shawn's.

Bully wanted hugs.

We had a little photoshoot in our back yard with our little pony.

Seriously, this dog is gorgeous. Look at that sweet mouth.

Picture perfect.

 Dinner with my moms, Hubbs, & Cousin Tina

and my fortune was dead on: