Happy Mother's Day

Just a quick post today to wish all the Mom's out there (canine and human), a Happy Mother's Day. And a special thank you to my Mom, the greatest Mom in the world. I greeted her this morning with a special "woooooo". Then I jumped up on the bed and gave her a ton of husky kisses. At one point she asked me to stop so that she could get some air. As soon as she was done breathing, I was back to kissing her. Boy do I love her.

To all you dogs out there, please be sure to extra specially nice to your moms today. They deserve it for putting up with all our antics.

In closing, here is a picture of me giving my Mommy a smooch, followed by a picture of us hugging.

Later,
Althea

My Triumphant Return

Hey pups, remember me? It's your old pal Althea. Yes I'm back and better than ever. I decided I needed and little break from blogging, well the real story is that Mom & Dad have been too busy to help me. Not that they have been busy with anything important or fun (at least not fun by my standards).

First order of business, in my last blog a left you all with a little game to play, Who's Who. Well "the cutest boy husky in the world", Zim of the Ao4 had no problem determining which pictures was me and which pictures was Raisa. I hope you guys enjoyed my little game. Dad and I sure had fun picking out the pictures.

So to give you a quick update on the happenings around my corner of the dog park, here is a quick summary of what I've been up to.

• My Mom had a week off from school, so the Doofus and I got to hang out with her all week long except for when she was painting the doors upstairs. For some reason she didn't trust me to help her and I was stuck downstairs. The Doofus got to hang out with her though. Totally unfair.
• We had a bunch of people, including one little human and one little bitty human, at our house for Easter. I helped the little human find all the colorful Easter Eggs but he didn't share any of the treats with me. It was lots of fun. My Cuz Riley came to hang out too. We had lots of fun, except for the fact that he kept stealing my My Bad Cuz. He didn't even play with it the right way. He just walked around with it in his mouth. Labs, they'll never be as smart as Huskies.
• The Doofus and I got to go to Camp Bow Wow for a weekend while Mom & Dad went down to Virginny for the a wedding. It was raining on Sunday when they picked us up and when we got home, Mom & Dad started say bad words. Seems with all the rain, the basement had turned into a big swimming pool, complete with 2 feets of water. Doofus and I don't go in the basement so it wasn't a big deal for us but the poor Spencer and Delilah were sitting around with their legs crossed cause their litter box is in the basement and with all the water it was floating around down there and they couldn't get to it. Dad spent the next two days home getting all the water out and getting the thing that keeps the house warm and the thing that makes the water hot fixed up. Thank Dog they got the latter fixed cause Dad was starting to smell a bit funky.
• Dad has been slacking off on taking us to the dog park. Instead of our usually four trips per weekend we have been lucky to get two. Dad says that this is cause the weather is nicer and there is more daylight so he can now take us during the week after work. However there haven't been many trips to the DP after work either. I'm starting to get really annoyed about this. I think Dad and I need to have a little chat about taking care of my needs instead of sitting around reading children's books, what a dork.
• Speaking of dorks or Doofuses as the case may be. My floppy eared doofus brother Lares got in big trouble last week at the dog park. There was a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier named Wallace that was paying bit too much attention to Lares for his liking. Lares tried to warn him with a little growling but Wallace was persistent. Lares finally decided that enough was enough and showed him who the boss is. Fortunately there wasn't any blood but I think Wallace learned his lesson. Boy, Dad was mad, he grabbed Lares by the collar and dragged him right out to the car. People at the park were joking that normally I'm the one that gets put in the penalty box, I didn't think this was as funny as they did.

Well I think that about brings everyone up to speed on what's been going on since my last blog. I do have some good news, it looks like the Doofus and I are getting to go to Virginny next week with Mom & Dad. They are going down to visit Dad's sister and his parents will be there too. They were thinking about sending us to camp for the weekend but my Aunt said we could come for a visit. I'm hoping that I will run into Poseidon cause he lives in that section of the dog park. Hey Poseidon if your out there, let me know where your dog park is.

Later,
Althea

Puppy Pictures and Twins

Hey it's me, your favorite Red & White Sibe, well aside from Zim, Amber, Indy, Meeshka, Turbo, Raisa and Sooky. Wow there are alot of Red & White Sibe bloggers out there. It's been awhile since my last post. Dad has been rather busy lately. You may remember from one of my previous posts that Dad got a new job. Well it turns out that he decided to stay at the place he has been working at. They offered him a new type of job that is much more his style and the best part is, he will not have to travel at all once he starts this new position in a couple months. On top of that, they are going to give him more of that green papery stuff that humans are always so concerned about. Maybe now Mom & Dad will buy me a new bed, one without any holes in it. That way I can chew new holes in it.

Well on to more important stuff. Recently a lot of you husky bloggers have been posting pictures of yourselves as puppies. Unfortunately, like most of the Ao4, I'm adopted so my parents don't have any puppy pics of me. Too bad cause I was really cute. Well Dad and I were catching up on reading every ones blogs and came across this post from Raisa. We started scrolling down to see the English version (our Portuguese is not very good) and saw this cool picture of our friend.

Dad said to me, "Hey PoPo (that's one of my many nicknames, I'll explain some other time) it looks just like you. You two could be twins". I checked it out and had to agree. Dad keep reading the post and discovered that not only do me and Raisa look alike, we have both made the mistake of peeing on our parents beds.

So I thought we would play a little game called "Who's Who". The goal of the game is look at two pictures and decide which is me and which is Raisa. First an easy one:

You should be able to get this one:

This one is a little bit trickier:

Getting tougher now:

You've got no chance on this one:

Hope you enjoyed our little game. In picking out pictures for this game we were checking out Raisa's pictures on Flickr and came across some great pictures of her as a puppy. Mom thinks that since we look so much alike that they should print them out and pretend that they are really pictures of me as a puppy and show all their friends.

Later,
Althea

Althea 2, Dyson Creature 0

So of you may remember the story I told in one of my first few posts on my blog. It was about my battle with the dreaded dyson creature. You can refresh your memory by clicking here. This happened shortly after I came to live with my parents in my furever home. Dad was not too happy about me tangling with the dyson creature, he so thing about getting electrocuted or something like that. Well Dad must be some kind of vet cause he fixed the dyson creature right up as you can see from the photo of it's bandaged tail.

After my first battle with the dyson creature I decided to try to live in harmony with it. We've managed to get along fairly well until recently. I've grown tired of the dyson creature sucking up all my strategically placed fur and disturbing my naps with its noises. I was recently rereading some of the Army of Four's posts and came across an interesting one. It was one of their cool "Sunday Salute" editions. The one that caught my interest was about their friend Brynne. Brynne had sent the Ao4 and e-mail and pictures about how she killed the dyson creature at her house. Apparently you have to go for the heart. This sounded like a great way to finally put an end to the dyson creature.

Now I normally don't have a chance to attack the dyson creature as Dad keeps a close eye on my nowadays after the previous "incident". The dyson creature spends most of its time in its den (or closet as you maybe more familiar with). Yesterday however I noticed Dad walking around with the dyson creature's heart (apparently it is removable for cleaning). After cleaning it he left it in the spot on the counter where the dishes are left to dry as you can see in this picture.

Now I've been know to partake of some counter surfing occasionally but this was well beyond my reach. So I decided I had to enlist some help. I thought about asking the floppy eared doofus, but realized he is too much of a goody two shoes and his counter surfing ability is even less than mine. My next thought was my feline siblings. They are pretty agile and I've seen them up on the counter numerous times. Now I will not divulge which of my siblings assisted in this mission, just in case Dad reads this. I may enjoy destroying stuff once in a while but you will never hear it said that I'm a tattle tail. So lets just say my accomplice assisted me by moving the dyson creature's heart from the drying rack to the floor, where I immediately set to work. The following are pictures of my handy work.

Needless to say Dad has already brought the dyson creature back to life. I guess he gave it a heart transplant or something cause it was roaring around the house, sucking up my fur yesterday.

Later,
Althea

Spencer and Stickers

So I thought that today I would take the time to respond to some of the comments on my recent posts. First, in regards to yesterday's post, Sunday Treats, my Cuzin Riley asked it Spencer really did eat the Snausages in a Blanket. The answer to that question would be a big yes. Seems that Spencer has a real hankering for them. Mom said that he looked like he was possessed, he just had to have some. Mom had to break it into smaller pieces so that he wouldn't choke on it (thanks for the warning Holly). The little bugger just couldn't get enough of them.

Second, based on the last picture, Zim of the Ao4 asked if Spencer was actually getting a treat before me. The answer to that question, I'm sorry to say is also yes. Mom was so amused by the fact that Spencer, a cat, was so interested in dog treats, he got a treat before me. Of course the big suck-up Lares also got a treat before me too. He is such a doofus, he gets treats first just cause he sits first. Then if he really wants a treat he'll put his front paws on Mom or Dad. They fall for this nonsense everytime. I believe that I deserve treats just for being me, not for the stoopid "tricks" I can do. Spencer is one wierd cat and he seems to becoming stranger as he gets older. I tell you more about his recent antics some other time.

On Saturday, I posted about the cool Stormy Magnet that we have on our fridge. A couple huskies noticed the cool "If it's not a husky, it's just a dog" sticker that we also have on the fridge and wanted to know where we got it. I asked Dad where we got it from. He said that it came in a "goodie bag" from the Tails of the Tundra Siberian Husky Rescue fundraiser we went to back in September called Tails on the Trails. Lares is a TOTTSHR Alumni and he got to be in the Alumni Parade. You can see some pics of him here with Dad. At the end of the parade they got a goodie bag with cools stuff for huskies and cool stuff for husky parents, like the cool sticker on our fridge. So Dad doesn't know where the sticker came from exactly but he was determined that all husky parents should have this cool sticker. And guess what, he found this cool website that not only sells the cool stickers but also has cool shirts, mugs, and magnets with the cool husky logo.

Later,
Althea

Sunday Treats

Mom & Dad went out for their usual Sunday trip to the supermarket. Normally they only get stuff for themselves but this time they came back with treats for the Doofus and me and apparently Spencer too. Mom had a coupon for these cool new treats called Snausages in a Blanket. They are cheese and beef flavored and very tasty. Doofus and I were quickly at attention.

"Whatcha got Moms?"

"Yummy, Snausages in a Blanket, my favorite"

"Apparently they're not just for dogs, cats love em too"

"Hey Mom, how about give me one of those DOG TREATS?"

Later,
Althea

Odds and Ends

Not much to report today, just a few quick items.

You might remember awhile back that I was complaining about the fact that Work is Stoopid. You might also remember that I've mentioned a few times that my Dad was going for interviews for a new job. Well good news. They have finally offered him a job and it looks like he is going to take it. Supposedly there will be less travel so that will make everyone happy. Dad certainly seems to be in a better mood since he found out. Now if only he could have found a new job that would let me go to work with him.

Back in October I posted about meeting some Malamute puppies at the dog park. Well I hadn't seen Freya and Loki since that first meeting, until yesterday. We got to the park and I immediately noticed that in addition to my husky pal, Sabrina, there were some other northern breed dogs at the park. I quickly investigated and discovered that it was Freya and Loki. Boy have they grown. They are both bigger than me and they are only 10 months old. Poor Loki had shaved spots on his front legs and belly. My Dad told me later that Loki's mom told him that Loki eat part of a towel and had to have it surgically removed. Fortunately he is doing better now. Too bad Dad didn't have his camera with him to get some pics, maybe next time.

On a last note, Dad and I made a cool discovery in our kitchen the other day. Here is a picture of our fridge. Mom & Dad have all kinds of pics and stuff on it so they use magnets to hold the stuff on. So Dad said to me, "Althea we have a picture of Stormy on our fridge". I was very excited and quickly located the picture, which is actually a magnet that Dad bought a couple years ago at a fundraiser for Tails of the Tundra Siberian Husky Rescue.

"Can you find Stormy on my fridge?"

"How about if we get a little closer?"

"If you can't find her now, you are just blind"

Pretty cool huh. I really looks like her except the eyes are switched around. And check it out she is right next to the cool sticker that says "If it's not a husky, it's just a dog" (sorry to all you other breeds out there).

Well that's it for today. I'm about ready for another trip to the dog park, gotta go wake Dad up.

Later,
Althea

Good Day, Bad Day

Well Mom & Dad were home from work yesterday for President's Day (one day there will be a President's Day for our pal Tubey). So it started out as a Good Day. Dad took us to the park in the morning and we had fun. Then we all just sort of relax in the living room. Mom on the couch with the cats, Dad in his chair and Doofus and I on the floor. Funny how we always end up on the floor.

I've been a bit down lately cause I recently destroyed my most favoritest toy in the whole world, Bad Cuz. I chewed a hole in him and got the squeaker out, then I proceeded to bite off chunks of his body so Mom & Dad had to take it away from me. I really haven't know what do to with myself lately as this was my bestest toy.

After our afternoon family nap Mom had a surprise for me. Doofus and I got in the car and we went for a drive. Now I quickly realized we weren't going to the usually place (i.e. the dog park). Okay, I didn't realize it, I have no sense of direction, I'm a husky. The Doofus on the other hand always knows when we are going somewhere different in the car and he told me to be cool as this could either be something real fun or really bad (like the vet). The car finally stopped and guess where we were, if you guessed PetCo, you are right. Mom and I went right into the store. Doofus had to stay out side and sniff/pee on everything. Mom & I quickly located what we came for, a new Bad Cuz. Below is a picture of him for those of you who have not been lucky enough to have one. Notice his little horns, they are what makes him "Bad". Apparently you can also buy a Good Cuz, which doesn't have horns. Mom asked Dad, which we should get and Dad said that I was "more of a Bad Cuz kind of girl". I'm not sure whether I should take that as a compliment or not but whatever, I was just happy to get a new Bad Cuz.

"Bad Cuz"

So you would think that my day couldn't get any better but on the way home we stopped at the dog park. Yep that's right not only did Mom suggest that I get to go to PetCo to get a new Bad Cuz but she was also joining us at the dog park, which hasn't happen in awhile due to the cold.

And this is where my day went from Good to Bad (and I'm not referring to Bad Cuz). We got to the dog park and had gone through the first gate and were waiting at the second gate for Dad to take off our leashes, when I saw a dog that I just didn't like the look of. This very same dog had roughed me up a bit on our Saturday afternoon trip to the DP. I tried to tell Dad not to open the gate but it was too late. As soon as the gate opened, the mean dog was on me. Now I'm a husky, I like to play rough and Mom & Dad know what playing rough looks like. This was not playing rough. This was just plain vicious. The mean dog was growling and snarling and biting me and stuff. I tried to defend myself as best I could but he was definately winning the fight. Mom & Dad were trying to separate us. Finally Dad managed to land a good kick on the mean dog, which distracted him and allowed me a chance to escape. When Mom got to me she noticed some blood on the fur on my back so we immediately went home. Mom started to wash the blood off my back but couldn't find any actual bite marks. Seems that I did manage to protect myself and drew First Blood.

I was feeling kind of down at this point but Mom (like all good mommies) knew just the thing to cheer me up, Bad Cuz. Within a few mintues I had my new Bad Cuz looking just like my old Bad Cuz (minus the hole in his butt where I surgically removed his squeaker). Here is my handy work.

"Just the way I like him."

Later,
Althea

PS: Althea's Dad here. Please don't think that we condone hitting dogs as a means of training or punishment. However you have to do what you have to do to protect your children. The "mean dog's" owner was not nearby when the incident happened and I wasn't waiting around for her to get there. For those of you that take your dogs to dog parks, please spend your time watching your dog and be within close proximity to them at all times. Unfortunatley many people that go to dog parks think it is social hour for them and let their dogs do as they please while they are chit chatting with their friends. Needless to say the next time we see that dog at the park we will be turning around and heading home.

SNOW!!!

Well, lots to post about but I'll save some stuff for future posts. Between Valentine's Day and the cute pics of Kona the Malamute puppy, I completely forgot to tell everyone that we got snow. Now don't get too excited for me, it was more ice than fluffy snow but at least it was some of the good ole white stuff. Dad got up at the usual time on Wednesday and took us for a walk in the snowy/icy stuff. Then he went back to bed. Doofus and I were like, "what is going on? Dad never goes back to bed after walking us". Turns out that due to the snowy/icy stuff Dad got to go to work late and Mom didn't have to go to work at all (Mom is a teacher and they closed lots of schools in NJ cause of the snow). So we got to hang out with Mom all day and do you think that she took us to the dog park? If you guessed "NO" you would be right. We asked her to take us but she mumbled something about the roads be too icy. Fortunately the snow was still around on Thursday, and do you think that Mom and/or Dad took us to the dog park. Again if you guessed "NO", you would be correct. Dad got home early from work on Friday and apparently the third time is a charm cause Dad took us to the dog park to play in the snow. And he brought his camera along to immortalize the event. Here is the story of our adventure.

"Step on it Dad before the snow melts"

Well we finally made it to the park, Doofus and I were off to check out the snow.

"Check it out Digs, we finally got some snow"

Now I don't know if you know this about me but I love to run and there is only one thing better than running. It's running in the snow. Here I am at full speed cruising across the tundra (Fine, it isn't really the tundra but a girl can pretend).

"Look at me go, I'm ready for the Iditarod"

I love snow so much that I like to stick my tongue out and scoop some up while I run. Dad caught me a couple times with my tongue out.

"Yummy Snow, Yeah"

Lares asked me to post a couple of him. He thinks he looks pretty handsome in this first one and wants his "girlfriend" Amber, to see it. The second is a picture of him "playing" with a Dogo Argentino.

Hope you enjoyed our pictures.
Later,
Althea

Too Cute

Look at this little pup. Isn't he cute. My Mom's friend had a Malamute that sadly crossed over the Rainbow Bridge awhile back. I never got to meet him but I hear he was way cool. Although you can never replace a lost one, who can live without a dog or two or three. So she recently brought this little guy Kona into her house. She sent these pics to my Mom along with the message: "Some pics of our newest addition, Kona "The Terror". Now I'm not sure what kind of trouble the little guy could possibly be getting into but I'm sure that with that cute face, he can "talk" his way out of anything.

Later,
Althea

Happy Valentine's Day

There's Always Next Year

Last night Dad, Lares (aka Doofus) and I sat down to watch the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. Mom was working late at school so she missed it. Unfortunately Dad was not paying attention to the time so we missed the beginning of the Working Group and therefore didn't get to see the Alaskan Malamute: Ch Nanuke's Snoklassic No Boundaries or Costello as his humans call him (thanks to Cap'n Maverick for giving me the lowdown on the fancy dog name stuff) , strutting his stuff. We tuned in shortly after and got to see most of the action in this highly competitive field. Here are some pictures of me waiting for the best dog in the Working Group to come out, the Siberian Husky of course. Notice I look a little bored.

"Bring on the Sibe"

"Why is the butt shaved on that Portuguese Water Dog?"

Finally, the proud moment for us Siberian Huskies, our day in the spotlight, living vicariously through our cousin: Ch Paragon's Red Red Wine, better known as Merlot. She looked great. Here are some pictures of me watching closely.

Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be for us Sibes this year. Costello did come in second. So Lares is all excited since he is part Malamute. I'll have to bring him back down to earth and remind him that he is a total doofus dog with stoopid floppy ears and isn't a real Malamute.

Oh well, there's always next year.

Later,
Althea

Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show

I'm sure the good huskies over at D'Azul Sibes are well aware of this but for the rest of you, the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show starred today. From what I hear this is one of the major dog shows. Lares and I like to watch dog shows with Mom & Dad. Of course we always cheer for the Siberian Husky and Alaskan Malamute when the working group comes up. Unfortunately I've never seen either of win. So this time I'm putting out a call to all husky bloggers. We must ban together and use our collective powers of persuasion to ensure victory of one of our brethren.

They already completed the Best of Breed for both the Siberian Husky and Alaskan Malamute. Here are our contenders looking their best after their big win. For the Sibes we have: Ch Paragon's Red Red Wine and for the Mals we have: Ch Nanuke's Snoklassic No Boundaries. These seem like rather fancy names to me but I guess when your in a dog show you need a fancy sounding name.

So everyhusky, please keep your paws crossed and cheer for our cousins to win. This way I can have bragging rights at the dog park this weekend.

Later,
Althea

Snow?

I overheard my Mom telling my Dad that we might be getting some snow soon. Now I'm not talking about that pathetic little bit of snow we had awhile back, I'm talking about real snow. Like 6 inches of snow. I've been complaining about this lack of real snow for sometime. Dad told me not to worry. He's been telling me "just be patient and wait till February, that's when we usually get the real snow". Well it's February and I still haven't seen any real snow yet. Dad did remind me that on Feb. 12 last year we got real snow and had a great time at the dog park as you can see from the pics below (yeah, I've posted these before but they are the best I've got since I'm still waiting for real snow). Keep your paws crossed for me.

I had to do some pretty significant work today in order to smooth things over with my Dad after our morning trip to the dog park. You see there was this little fluffy white dog with a pink sweater at the park and I just couldn't stop myself from chasing it. Every time I caught up to it I would try to squash it. The little sissy white dog's owner didn't seem to take to kindly to this treatment of their little pansy dog. Needless to say Dad wasn't too happy with me either. Shortly after we got to the park he was yelling at me that we had to leave. I managed to evade him for awhile, which I think just made him more angry. Eventually he caught me and we had to go home. I could tell he was really mad, he said something about making him "look like a fool". I tried to apologize with a couple woos on the way home but he was not having any of it. I decided that the best course of action was to stay off his radar for awhile. I mean there was still the afternoon trip to the dog park to be concerned about. Fortunately when Dad woke up from his afternoon nap, he was in a much better mood and he took Lares and I to the park. I got to play with my husky pal, Sabrina and another of my bestest friends, Shelby.

Lastly, Dad asked me to make a quick mention of my feline brother Maxwell Silverhammer. Max went across the Rainbow Bridge on February 10, 2005. This was before I came to live with Mom & Dad. So I went about trying to find out more about him. Lares didn't know Max very well cause from what I hear Max was a bit scared of Lares and stayed away from him. I got the lowdown on Max from Spencer who was his litter mate. Spencer said that Max was the greatest brother in the world and that he misses him everyday. He told me some pretty cool stories about Max. Delilah said that Max was the bestest big brother, who taught her alot about being a cool kitty. So in honor of Max here are a couple pics of Maxwell Silverhammer.

Later,
Althea