Canine Christmas Celebration... (and Kitty, too)

Bryan, Susie, Kitty, and I celebrated Christmas on December 30th, after everyone had returned home from visiting family and The Park Pet Retreat. Bryan had journal club that evening, so by the time he got home and it was time for opening gifts, someone had already gone to bed! We took her gift from Meme and Papaw (Jenny's Mom and step-dad, Bill) in to her.

She needed some help opening, but the little bites of cheesy goodness inside were delightful! It's so nice to have a Dad to help with things like this...

He gives the best belly-rubs, too.

Susie's new bed is one of our gifts to her. She rarely leaves it some days!

Susie says "Thank you" to her grandparents for remembering her this year with a great ornament, and bag of treats!

Christmas at Bryan's Mom and Dad's wouldn't be complete without some Canine Celebration!

Oh, wait, look fast! The only picture I have of Bailey is a portion of his head, below. Bailey is afraid of flies and wrapping paper. While flies are scarce around Christmastime, wrapping paper is plentiful.

Simba opened his gifts the morning after "Christmas".

He's still an expert gift opener.

Tired "Puppy" sacked out beneath Bryan's gifts. Riley, who used to refer to Simba as "Umba," has now decided that his name is "Puppy."

Kitty got in on the celebrating, too, and enjoyed her new cat brush from Bryan and I!

Kitty and Susie got an ornament from Grammy and Grampy (Bryan's Mom and Dad), and a bag of treats from Meme and Papaw (Jenny's Mom and Step-Dad).

They were tempting, just as the bag implied...

Thanks to our families for remembering our pets at Christmas. And thanks to our pets, for being good (well, most of the time) company throughout the year!

And please enjoy a video titled "Mommy's Home!" (Disregard the deplorable condition of our entryway... we've since cleaned the apartment.) :-)

Susie is at the resort...

Susie's Dad dropped her off at the "resort" yesterday evening. If you need a Susie fix in the meantime, you can watch her on the "ParkCam" by going to www.theparkpetretreat.com and on the left hand side, scroll down and click on "parkcam". Login with name "guest" and the password is "thepark". When the video link opens, click on small dogs, and she is the best lookin' Bassett in the room!

"She's a HEALTHY one..."

Poor Susie...

New upstairs neighbors were moving in Saturday morning. A man, upon seeing Susie, exclaimed, "She's a HEALTHY one!" Something makes me think he was implying something about her voluptious body shape...

Oh dear... and I got a little too excited about the pretty bushes by the trash dumpster and incorrectly called them Holly bushes. They aren't. But here's some actual Holly for you...

This Holly is by the Starbuck's just down the road from our apartment.

A lot of bushes and trees around here have red berries. Very pretty. This is a bush in front of our apartment. And this is a tree by the "poop station" on what we lovingly refer to as "poop hill."

And, one more thing...

GO COLTS!!! 13-0!

Susie's Rough Day and Misc. pics

Bryan mentioned seeing a little bird with a yellow belly Saturday while I was working. I got to see him and take a few pictures today.

I'm not sure what kind of bird it is... it resembles a goldfinch, but doesn't have the beak of a finch, and is a bit heavier.

The berries on the holly bushes are red now...

These pictures were taken in the rain by the trash dumpster, but you can get the idea...

Here we are waiting.

and waiting...

and waiting.

Susie had to pay a visit to her least favorite place for some vaccine boosters before visiting The Park later this month.

It wasn't too bad... she still weighs a trim 40.5 pounds (the same as in September), and did not poop in the lobby this time. (The receptionist thanked her for this.)

She was back home working in the office by noon.

And for those of you who couldn't believe your eyes... please enjoy "Susie Plays 2". Sorry for the poor lighting in the beginning of the video.

Birds, birds, birds...

It was a busy day at the birdfeeder today!

Black-capped Chickadee

Tufted Titmouse (below)

Female Eastern Bluebird

Female Eastern Bluebirds

Male Eastern Bluebird

Some type of woodpecker (below)

I'm not sure what the bird below is, but it's a common visitor.

The Tufted Titmouse (below) is shy and fast, and very hard to photograph!

I was so happy to see Bluebirds today! They only come for a short time each day.

Any ideas what the bird below is?

Tufted Titmouse again...

And two different species of woodpecker...

How 'bout those COLTS? Random pics...

Dear Colts,

Congrats on your 11-0 season! And for winning 5 games in a row after trailing in the 4th quarter. And while it has made for intense, edge of your seat, game enjoyment, please feel free to WHOOP the Titans on Sunday.

Sincerely,

Jenny

Do you think Susie has lost weight?

I may have mentioned in an earlier post that after 5 months of patient waiting, I finally have birds at the feeder on the balcony.

I actually saw a bluebird yesterday, but it was one of the more shy visitors, so I only got pics of the fatty above (who ate for 2 straight hours)...

And the little guy peaking around the back.

Kitty has been having a blast chattering at the birds from her new favorite spot beneath the Christmas tree.

Hope you're having a great week!