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Honk If You’re Nosy!

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Honk If You’re Nosy!

I swear, Tweed has the biggest schnoz.  All the better to smell food with, he says.  Is this normal for senior dogs, to become ever-increasingly obsessed with eating?  Tweed’s always been a chow hound, but lately he’s downright irritating about it.

Of course, TWooie is no slouch in the eating and/or nose department either … although his nose looks like someone affixed a piece of an old tire to the end of his face:

I’m seeing similarities … maybe his dad hid his real nose.

And Woo, of course, pleads with you to admire his great big honker as well.

We here at Food Lady’s Farm are hoping you all had a very merry Christmas, and that you all got whatever your little hearts desire.  We had a very boring Christmas, as I had to work from Christmas eve right on through.  Just to rub salt in my wounds, my family sent me photos of the warm, sunny, beach-y exotic places they were all spending Christmas at.  Awesome.  And ya’ll wonder why I live alone with 6 dogs? ;-)

But I did get some pretty cool stuff for Christmas nonetheless.  The bestest gift – Miss Widdles found herself on the front page of the North Shore News last week:

It didn’t feel like a gift at first.  The sh*t-storm of phone calls that resulted made for a very Grouchy Food Lady.  Firstly, every person who called, without fail, wanted to know if “HE” was still available and then to advise they were coming right away to “save” HIM so we “wouldn’t kill him.”  By the end of the day, my coworker was lunging for the telephone before I could answer it, lest the flames shooting out of my eyes burn the communication device in a puff of plastic and smoke.

But in the end, the newspaper article was a blessing, as on Christmas eve Riddle went home with her two new dads, and her two new Airedale terrier brothers, and got herself a new name (Jenny).  While we miss her lots, I am so happy she finally found a home of her very own.  That was a great Christmas gift for everyone.

Then my chickens decided to give me the gift of playing a practical joke on me.  I went outside to feed the hens and collect some eggs, and half of them were missing.  What the eff?  I was super bummed, because I assumed something had snuck into the pen and made off with half the sum total of my laying hens … and to add insult to injury, they took at the ones that actually lay, and left me with a rooster, the Ameraucanas and the Welsummer, none of whom give me anything at all.

As I was pouting in the pen, Miss Animal Control chicken and her gang of red hens came running across the lawn with their skirts all hiked up.  Apparently they had, literally, flown the coop, and taken themselves on a little foraging adventure.

The ringleader:

So once everyone was safely back in the pen (and as an aside, my useless border collies just will not work chickens, and in the end, I had to use Springaling to chase them all back into their enclosure) I went to collect the eggs and found my *real* Christmas gift from the chickens.

My first blue egg!

I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for this!  My Ameraucanas, which I bought back in April, have been extremely lazy about laying.  They are now like 9 or 10 months old, and most chickens start laying around 6 months.  I guess they had better things to do.  But how cool are blue eggs?  That was a pretty rad Christmas present.

Just before Christmas Tweed gave me the gift of being AWESOME.  We had our annual Agility Christmas party last Thursday, and at these parties we play a version of that game where you pick a wrapped gift and the next person can either steal your gift or pick a different wrapped one.  Except in our version, you have to run a Steeplechase course, and you can only steal a gift from someone you are faster than.  You get the idea.

Tweed gave me the gift of being THE FASTEST DOG IN THE CLASS.  That’s right!  Going on 12 years old and he still smoked every single other dog and won the whole night.  I *heart* my old man dog so very much!

But still, despite all my Christmas blessings, I still didn’t get an actual present, you know?  So in the end, I decided to give myself something for Christmas.

Oh yes.  I did.  Spring is officially a member of the pack now :)

Yippee!!

And speaking of gifts, I have not forgotten that I promised to give away a gift certificate to Mr. Chewy to my favourite caption for this photo:

You guys are all so funny, and there were lots of good captions, so it was hard to pick.  But KRISTI made me laugh the most with her caption of “Hello, Clarice!” because it’s something I say all the time when Dex makes that face (which he does all the time), so congratulations Kristi!  Send me an email and I will send you your gift code for Mr. Chewy!

So as another year comes to a close, may I just say to you all that I am happy that I get to share my doggie-life with all of you.  You make me laugh, you make me happy, and hopefully we do the same for you through the magic of Wootube.

A couple of random shots:

Why won’t it go?

Hockey balls taste good.

Yay!  It’s going!  It’s going!

Until next year friends … bye bye!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. So happy to hear you gave yourself such a great Christmas present! Spring seems to fit right in with your pack! Best wishes for a Happy New Year to you and your family! Great work on finding Riddle his forever home! What a great end to the year and a great start for 2012!

  6. Congrats to you, Spring, and the crew. Thank you for sharing the exploits of your family! Happy new year to you all and I look forward to many more photos and stories!

  13. So was the decision to keep Springaling before or after she proved to be the only one willing to work your chickens?

    Happy New Year!

  15. Happy Christmas to you too and have a very Happy New Year!!!

    And yes I agree Tweed is awesome, and I’m not surprised you have a new family member. She is cute and now Dexter can be on the other side of Mad Teeth action.

    Best wishes for everyone in gang and you too. :o)

  16. Happy New Year to you and the pack! Loved the end-of-the-year post (actually, I love them all and look forward to next year’s antics and goings on). Thanks for sharing with us! I’m glad both Riddle and Spring found their forever homes, particuarly since Spring didn’t have to go anywhere!

  17. So glad Riddle’s found a great home, and congrats to you and Spring!

    Great choice of caption, too–I giggled for a good long while, saying “Hello, Clarice!” to myself and looking at Piper. Sometimes the simplest jokes are the best ones.

  18. Aww that’s wonderful, the little smooth coated BC has a forever home. Congrats Spring, I think you lucked out big time!

  19. Wahoo! I think you got the BEST present ever! Love the Spring Girlie! Congrat’s on finding Riddle a home as well!

    I agree the Hello Clarice cracked me up too! Good pick!

    Best Wishes to you and yours!

  20. Food Lady – Awesome news about Spring – and Riddle. They both sound like they are right where they belong. Keep the posts coming and thank you for sharing. Here’s to a great and happy 2012!!!

  21. I’m so glad Riddle (aka Jenny) has found a new home! And congratulations on making official what we all knew would happen. Spring is a fortunate girl. I am so grateful for your site and your posts and and for you and all the good you do.
    All the best in 2012 Food Lady!

  22. and then there were six……a great start for 2012! now, hopefully Twooie and Dex can learn to get along a bit more in the New Year, and that everyone at Casa de Food Lady will be happy, healthy, and fully employed in his or her own particular job(s)! thanks for all the joy you and the gang have given me this year.

  25. No present, seriously?? Gimme your addy! :-D

    Spring-a-ling stays!! So happy for you and her. That is an awesome shot of her catching air. And I love her face.

    “Why won’t it go?” stuck me as one of the funniest shots/captions ever.

  26. Yay for you and Spring! Looking forward to another year of great stories from you and your gang. The visual of the hens running back with their skirts hitched up was great, thank you :-)

  28. I’m SO happy you’ve kept Spring – even though your bank balance probably isn’t. I’ve said before that if I was on your side of the Atlantic I’d be pleading with my man to let me have her. So considering I have two Airedales and Riddle has gone to live with two Airedales (yay!!!) there seems to be some cosmic order here.
    Best wishes to you and your fabulous pack, and thanks for your wonderful, hilarious and non-saccharine blog.

  29. Congrats on the new addition!

    As for Tweed – maybe it’s just that time of year? Something in the air? An instinct to fatten up?

    Apollo, who is going on ten, is always hungry lately. He stares at me all the time. If I even glance at the kitchen where his food is kept, he jumps up and makes a beeline for the food bowl. It’s really annoying! Especially the staring.

    I’ll be working at the computer and whenever I turn around, he’s laying behind the chair staring. Watching the tv. Stares. Bathroom. Stares (at the door). Good Lord, Apollo, quit it. I’m half afraid I’m going to wake up one night with him standing over me, staring.

    Tonight he was staring while in the “sphinx” position, but kept nodding off. His head would slowly sink down, then he’d jerk back awake and stare some more. That was kinda cute for a few minutes.

    I keep telling him he’s not a BC and to quit staring.

  32. Yay for Spring in the air, Spring in residence, now it’s always Spring time at Casa de Food Lady! That’s great, I wanted her to stay with you and so I get what I want. :)

    Happy New Year to all of you from the multitudinous Hooligans in Chicago. Rowley had his portrait done — I couldn’t engage Big Air Photography, so I had to use a local fella — and I will be sending you a photo of the handsome lad. Since the day you told me to go look at the funny-looking BC with the huge ears and startled expression and legs like stilts, I have not looked back. He’s grown into a fine looking BC, proving once again that you sure can pick ’em!

    And along those lines, may I say that Spring is *darling*. What a face!

  33. Speaking of chickens, I meant to ask: did the eatin’ chickens get dispatched and were they any good??

  34. What a Christmas! Both Riddle and Spring found their furever homes. Just doesn’t get any better.

  35. Happy New Years to you too, and thank you SO MUCH for sharing your doggy stories with us! (My favourite bloggy read of the day.)

  36. Happy New Year, Food Lady! Spring is one lucky pup.

    Pupper (who is 13/14/16?) has been obsessed with food for about 2 years now. But I believe that started as her mobility started to decline, and since she can’t chase things, she compensates by eating other things. Since Tweed is still smokin’, I’m not sure what his excuse is.

    Thank you for your wry and clever eye and fine writing. Looking forward to more entries in 2012.

  37. Congratulations to Riddle, to Tweed, to Spring, to Kristi . . . and congratulations to you, Food Lady, on finally getting a blue egg and writing such a wonderful blog. Happy New Year!

  38. Happy New Year – I have been away from the lap top for a week and what good news. A new home for Riddle and a permanent spot for Spring at the Casa DeFoodLady.

    Great post!

  39. Happy Gotchya Days to Riddle and Spring. So was Spring’s willingness to herd chickens the final factor leading to her permanent addition to the family? The girl’s got a job!

    What a perfect idea: to put some Spring-a-ling into your Christmas Ring-a-ding-ding!

    Re Tweed’s appetite increase: When was the last time his thyroid panels were done? Also a check to rule out diabetes is a good idea.

    Thank you, S, for sharing your family with us. I love your stories and beautiful pictures. Your way with words and hilarious sense of humor never fail to thrill me and make me think. Just love you all!

    Wishing you all a happy, healthy and prosperous 2012!

  40. I’m so behind in my WooTubery that I just read, laughed, and cried a little. I’m so happy Spring-a-ling is staying on permanently at Casa de Food Lady. A very Merry Christmas to you and the pack, and all the best for 2012!

  42. Hi! I’m a newbie here and love your website. I had a senior dog who suddenly developed a voracious appetite and well as an incredible thirst. She also developed a thin coat and a pot belly– all signs of Cushing’s Disease. Tests I had done at the time were inconclusive, so I refused the normal (and sometimes dangerous) course of treatment.

    She then went blind — which specialists suggested was Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome (SARDS) and remained that way until the end of her life. (She died of abdominal cancer about 2-1/2 years after going blind.)

    According to an article I recently read in the Whole Dog Journal (Nov. 2011; Vol 14, #11), SARDS may be related to elevated steroid levels in dogs — and a problem in steroid production pathways in canines is a possible cause of Atypical Cushing’s Disease. The article talks about how Atypical Cushing’s Disease is when dogs have normal cortisol levels but elevated steroid precursors. This would explain how my dog could have had all the symptoms of Cushing’s disease without testing positive.

    Please have your precious dog checked out for elevated cortisol and steroid levels. I wish I had known all that I know now before my dog had fallen ill.

  45. I knew you were going to keep Spring once you decided she “couldn’t” be a Borderjack.

    Both my senior Aussies are much more pushy about food than before. I think the inhibition starts to weaken.

  46. yay for spring!! i was just thinking about her the other day, and if i was up to date on my blog reading, i would have already known!

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