I can see you

I'm supposed to be working (but there seems to be quite a bit of blogging going on including commenting on other people's blogs) so I wasn't really paying attention to where the small dog was.....


Yes those are my new pillows that she is happily snoozing against. I managed to shoot this before she woke up and guiltily crawled off the sofa.


Then I saw the reason for her contentment, and guilt. That's a scrupulously clean pot of what was formerly my lunch. Puppies. Such a joy.

Sabotage

The den is getting a makeover. I have a spectacular new lamp and two new red pillows


two new fawn pillows


and two contrasting neutral pillows. I took some photos to document the upgrades and then I went to upload them. This is what greeted me when I got back


At least she nudged the cushion off the sofa so she didn't drool on it.
Sometimes I wonder why I bother trying to make the house look stylish.

Successful shopping

I went shopping yesterday and picked up two bunches of pussy willows for $2.99 each. Very springlike.
I also got the toy-loving dog a "bearman" to replace the last one that is somewhere in the yard buried under a mound of snow, or leaves, or mud.



This 'bear man' will be named 'bear bear' because he looks like a grizzly. Polly loves a good squeaky toy and I like to name things appropriately.

Snow Gray?

No, he didn't go white overnight. That's simply a couple of inches of snow he gained on his head while walking the puppies to the beach and back.


Even Polly has a salt and pepper look. We're at 6" of white stuff, and counting.

Baby Gates

Note to self:
NOT ALL WOOD NEEDS TO BE POLISHED. Specifically, NEVER POLISH WOOD STAIRS WITH PLEDGE.
Sadie fell down the stairs last week. Not the back stairs that I slid down but the front ones that end in the slippery parquet. She tumbled down the stairs, slid the length of the foyer and was stopped by the den carpet inches from the glass table.


I needed to keep Sadie on one level for a few days and as she is my shadow we had to dig out the baby gates we bought when we first laid the bamboo floors. They may be ugly and awkward for us to negotiate but they do the job of keeping the dogs on the ground floor.


Surprisingly enough it is Polly who has suffered more with the re-introduction of boundaries. It really hampers her herding instinct when she can't reach those who need herding (usually kittens) and she's taken to spending even more time in the yard, occasionally tapping on the door so someone can answer her call and reassure her that we haven't left her.


Luckily there were no permanent injuries from my over-zealous cleaning jag but just to remind me that it's all my fault, the dogs reproach me by looking at me like this.

Nothing funny going on here

dooce isn't the only one whose dog is a photogenic power puppy.
This is Polly, otherwise known as itchydog, and I have no idea when it was taken as I was sent it in an email by Verity.



I couldn't ever get Polly to sit still long enough to take a decent photo, never mind dress her up with a shuttlecock.

Noncompliant Dogs

sadie lounging
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

I was so fed up of the kitchen looking like an animal doss house that I ordered two Fatboy modern dog beds from Design Public. If you clicked the link you will have seen the extremely cute black lab lounging on his red Fatboy bed.
Maybe my dogs didn't like the colours I chose (lime green and brown), although dogs are colour-blind aren't they? Maybe I didn't adjust the stuffing enough for their comfort. But they have flat-out refused to have anything to do with them. I have resorted to putting blankets on top of the beds to entice them, which sort of defeats the purpose but nothing works.
Here is a nice photo showing the dent that Sadie made when she stepped over the dog bed on her way to find a better place to sprawl out and here is Polly ignoring her bed.


Steven suggests I give in and give them their old duvets back but I'm persevering for a while. I want a sleek, modern kitchen with sleek, modern dog beds and I'm not prepared to give up yet.