A Roundup of Cute Critter-ness

Here's a roundup of critter photos I've taken lately that I think are cute. Hope you enjoy them!:

I poured some leftover carbonated water into a bowl for the pugs to try:

Pao seems to be saying, "Iz you tryin' to trick me, Mama? Dis no iz water!"

Mu Shu loves to flop down in cool, green grass when out on a walk. He won't budge until I give him a minute to roll around on the lawn:

This boxer baby playing at the park just had his ears cropped. I'm kind of torn on the whole tail-bobbing, ear-cropping thing. But the excited look on his face is adorable:

I see this giant white fluffernutter quite a lot at a local mom-and-pop coffee shop. He never fails to nudge me for a treat, which he can smell in my pocket:

A neighbor friend wore this shirt recently. She's nuts about my pugs, which somehow makes this all the cuter:

Lovely Daughter #1 and her cat, "Olivia" (formerly known as "Adventure Kitty") in a Sunday-morning selfie:

Here's another one of Olivia:

On Easter Sunday, I spied this adorable girl at an outdoor mall:

Her owner said her name is "Cannoli":

Ha ha! I love food names for pets. Below, our man Roosevelt shows off his impressive set of whiskers:

Mu Shu's having trouble with the concept of napping inside the dog bed:

Some adorable china bowls I spied at the local independent pet store (love the polka-dotted rims):

Pao wants me to play ball with him. But I'm trying to get some laundry done. He doesn't appreciate my sense of humor:

I do have a habit of draping silly stuff over him, but he's so stoic about it, I can't resist!:

A hot spring day and the end of a long walk found Mu Shu trying to cool off on our new floors:

Won Ton (top) and Mu Shu (below), doing the Sleeping Man Position in tight formation:

This poor sheep, a resident of our neighborhood's school farm, was having trouble with an irritated patch on her head. Hence the Cone of Shame:

Also on Easter Sunday, I saw a young woman out walking her pet rabbit on a leash:

At Anthropologie, I met this adorable pup, who'd been rescued just one month prior:

That half-and-half face! That perfect polka dot on his flank! Adorable:

At the dog adoption last Sunday, this 7-pound imp slipped backward out of his too-loose halter and went tearing through four lanes of heavy city traffic, scaring the bejeezus out of us. Five of us middle-aged ladies ran after him, but we were no match for his insane speed. This young man saw us frantically trying to catch the dog and went blazing after the pupster:

He caught him! We heaped praises on his head and thanked him a million times. The little terrier had no name yet (they usually don't when they arrive at the pound), so we asked our hero to come up with a name.

"Of course!," he said. "His name has to be...'Chase!'"

Perfect!

Chase, photographed by the amazingly talented Karl Loveys.

Stay safe, my friends. And be sure to check those halters.

Heart + Pug

I was in my back yard at the edge of my driveway, watching the dogs sniff the bushes in the early-morning light, when I glanced down and saw this:

A little heart shape, somehow worn into the concrete! It held a bit of water--perhaps from the sprinklers that went off before dawn? The water helped the shape stand out against its background. As I studied the heart from different angles, Mu Shu wandered into the picture:

I love how Mu, his shadow, the garden's shadows, and the the heart came together to form sort of a whole sentence:

A statement about what I love, so to speak.

I think this one is my favorite:

What I Bought

A couple days ago I told you about going to a wonderful/crazy shop that is part salvage yard, part antique treasure chest, and 100% delightful. And I hinted that I bought something but made ya guess.

Well, this is what I bought:

A square occasional table with beautiful turned legs, unusual wavy spreaders, and a pronounced spindle where the spreaders meet.

It was love at first sight. I actually stopped walking and took a sharp breath inward when I spied this beauty. It's from the 1860s, American made, of unknown history, but what a looker!

And when he told me the price--which included rehabbing it and restaining it, all I could blurt out was YESthankyouverymuchpleasepleaseYESNOW!

It was dry, rickety, and needed some TLC, so I asked the magicians there to give it a darker color and then throw a faint wash of gray over it, and this is how it turned out:

Ta-daa!

Oh, how I love these wavy lines:

And the prominent spindle is eye-grabbing:

I love how the table looks against our floors:

 Aand, can you tell I'm kinda fond of floppy arrangements of roses? Yeah.

The underside of the table is full of mystery. What are all those shadows of rectangles? The old nail holes? What is this table's history?

I don't know, and the table's not telling. But I'm thrilled to have it in the family.

House Facelift

Right now about 2/3 of our house is getting a "facelift." The work involves finishes only--new carpet and flooring, reupholstered furniture, fresh paint on the walls. Work is coming along slowly. It always takes more time for these things than you think it should!

Here's a little taste of what's in store:

Roosevelt the cat already feels at home, even though the work is far from done!

Doxie Visit

A few weeks ago we had the pleasure over a long weekend of hosting the inimitable "Scamper," my friend's Dachshund. "Scampie" arrived with his own tote bag filled with leash, bowl, kibble, and a tee shirt from his human sister so he wouldn't miss his family too much:

We lent him a temporary red-and-rhinestone collar so if he got away from us, our phone number was on him:

"I has a shape; sausage iz a shape!:

He settled right into our pugs' routine, going on walks and sniffing rocks:

(I accidentally had some retro-style filter on my cell phone camera when I snapped some of these.)

He enjoyed checking out my rose garden:

Heh. Doxie butt. Gotta love it!

Scampie enthusiastically tried to tear the stuffing out of all the pugs' soft toys before I wised up and hid them all. Only hard chew toys for you, buster!:

Perhaps his most endearing move was how he settled right into the Dog Pile for group naps:

We love you, Scampie!

Thanks for visiting us!