National Pancake Day

Hi Everybuddy -

Flapjacks, griddle cakes, hotcakes, slapjacks - they have many names but they're all the same. They're yummy!! I am very pleased to announce that today is National Pancake Day! Apparently there's other days that people have dubbed National Pancake Day too but IHOP says today's the day and since they're in charge of all things pancake, we'll go with what they say. I decided in honor of this very important day, that I would make some pancakes myself. First I'll need a good spatula:

"This one smells a bit more cooperative"

Next I need to get the box open:

"I really don't think it should be this difficult!"

Clearly the woman has never tried to open one of her own boxes!! :

Success at last. Happy Pancake Day!!

Snow Mist & Meeka's Interesting 7

Hi Everybuddy -

As some of you may have heard yesterday we had a very unique event - it was snowing here in Pennsylvania. It was quite picturesque and made us dream of things that could possibly be. We watched the wonderful flakes drift down to the ground where they promptly melted on the pavement. Interestingly, Mom noted the weather forecast that she found in her email yesterday morning. Take a look at the details:


Pottstown, Pennsylvania (Airport) Updated: 19 min 36 sec ago
34 °F / 1 °C
Light Snow Mist
Humidity: 87%
Dew Point: 30 °F / -1 °C Wind: Calm


Excuse me but what the heck is SNOW MIST??? If anyone has any ideas please share. ::sigh::

Meeka has completed his task assigned by the AO4 and is ready to reveal his 7 Interesting Facts.

1. Out of all 4 of us, I have the most prominent snow nose. Don't tell anybuddy but sometimes Mom calls me "bunny nose". She says she always knows it's me when I stick my furry head in her lap when she's sitting at the table because she sees my pink snow nose.

2. I am the most tempermental and stubborn out of all of us. I don't see anything wrong with that since I am the Prince after all. Humans should be required to negotiate with any Princely Siberian.

3. I am VERY ticklish! If anyone merely brushes against me I jump aside and grumble. Sometimes the boy tickles me on purpose when I'm lying down and minding my own business. That's okay though because I always get him back somehow.

4. I enjoy watching the news. Does this surprise you? I'm an intellectual kinda guy. Mom has a picture somewhere of me sitting in a kitchen chair at the table watching CNN on the kitchen TV.

5. I took Dad on a walk one night and we chased an Oppossum right up a tree! It was great fun but Dad had trouble keeping up with me. I don't know what the problem was. All he had to do was hang on to the leash.

6. I stomp my feet when I want something. You'll frequently find me doing this if everybuddy is downstairs in the family room and I want to go outside for a change of scenery. I stand in the kitchen and stomp my feet while I bark. It's very effective.

7. I will chase you to the ends of the Earth if you happen to be eating yogurt. Strawberry is my favorite. Mom says I become very pushy and it's annoying but I know she loves the attention.

We know that many of you have alredy been tagged for this fun list so we're going to tag anyone who hasn't already done it. Don't be shy! We wanna know your secrets!

Friday Freeze! and Thanks!

Hi Everybuddy -

I'd like to start by thanking Crikit, Sparky, & Ginger for the cool "So Special" award. Thanks gang - we always love getting those. It makes us feel great that we brighten someone's day. We'll also be working on the MeMe Tag that they posted.

Not much new to report today actually. Meeka's working hard trying to decide what to post for his 7 Interesting Facts. We were tagged by our buddies at the A04. He said he should be ready to unveil his choices sometime this weekend. And of course I'm VERY busy working on my art project on Mom's kitchen floor! I'll be sure to share the end result with everybuddy. Until then I leave you with this short video of a prank which was played by a group in NY City recently. I'll bet you thought we were getting an ice storm when you read today's title. Harroorooroo! This shows a prank which requires people to freeze in place and it's pretty pawsome!





We think that's very clever. I think I'll practice my freezing technique now. I'm sure that could come in handy on a future mission with the Army Of Four. It's very hard for me to stay still so I'll need a lot of practice. Happy Friday Freezing!

"Freeze!"

Website Wednesday

Hi Everybuddy -

Today's Website Wednesday and I have someone I'd like you to meet........Julian Beever.

Mr. Beever is a very unique and talented artist who in addition to traditional paintings creates Trompe-l'œil which is defined as a French art technique of realisitic imagery to create an optical illusion of three dimension. Take a look at some of his masterpieces:

Isn't that amazing?? Mr. Beever also paints murals and replicas of famous works of art with his projects being seen and enjoyed all over the world. This has inspired me:

I think Mom's kitchen floor is much too boring. It needs something.............artistic. Looks like I'm going to be busy today!

"How about right here??"

7 Quirky Facts & Excellence

Hi Everybuddy -

Today's post has alot of variety! We'll start off first by thanking all of our buddies at Jan's Funny Farm and Marley too for presenting us with this award:

We're always so excited when someone acknowledges us and says they enjoy what we tell Mom to write. We now have to present the award to 10 other Blogs. The criteria is as follows:

This award is given to bloggers who have wonderful outstanding styles and a fantastic ability to keep us thinking, amused and entertained. We now need to send this to ten writers of outstanding style and ability.

It's never easy to limit our presentations and we're not sure if it's already made the rounds yet. We know that Sitka & Tia, the AO4, the Kapp Pack, Marley & Ziggy, Meeshka, Indy, Steve & Kat, Amici, and Holly have already received it so we're going to share it with the following:

Lorenza

Cosmos & Juneau

Ferndoggle

Khyra

MayaMarie

Ari

Lady Kaos

The Colorado Crew

Gus & Louie

Crikit, Sparky, & Ginger

Congratulations! You've kept us coming back to visit each day and deserve the award.

Now moving on to yet another little project - the very talented Ari has posted 7 quirky and previously unknown facts about herself. We thought this might be kind of fun so here we go:

1. I don't howl. Yes folks, it's true! Mom claims I don't know how to howl (now how stupid is it of her to assume THAT??!!) but the truth is I merely choose not to howl. Why be like everybuddy else in the house? I'm a leader NOT a follower after all.

2. I love frozen peas. I can hear the freezer door open and the bag rattle from the opposite end of the house.

3. I can skillfully remove a glass from the kitchen sink that still may contain a liquid and set it down on the floor without spilling a drop. I don't know why Mom finds that so surprising. Why would I want to spill anything? That would be that much less of a reward when it came time to enjoy it before Mom caught me.

4. I snuggle sometimes. Oh my Dog! I don't know why she has to include this one on the list. This could really ruin my reputation. I think I'll just deny that it's true and leave it at that.

5. Mom had absolutely no intention of adopting another dog when she was made aware of my sisters and I. Can you imagine??!! That quickly changed when she held me when I was a mere two days old. I melted her heart and the rest was history.

6. I was put on this earth to teach Mom patience. Need I say more?

7. I am a movie star! Well kind of. I was on Fox News when I was just a wee lad. Mom and Dad have the tape of me making my television debut and they're going to try to get it on the computer. It's trapped in the VCR for now.

I've spilled some major revelations there. Now it's your turn!

Me And My Shadow

Hi Everybuddy -

Today is Groundhog Day! It's the day we hand over the weather predicting to a pudgy guy with fur. Some very rude people drag the poor fella out of his burrow where he's sleeping and they let him waddle around on the ground. If he sees his shadow that means we'll see six more weeks of winter. It's a pretty big deal to some people......and somedoggy too. Today is Amber's birthday! What a coincidence to have a birthday on Groundhog Day. That makes her an expert. You can read all about her prediction for the day here.

I decided to do a little predicting of my own since it's such an interesting day. I went outside to see if I could see my shadow:

"Woo -I don't see my shadow."

Oh no. That's not good news for a Siberian Husky. We want snow! How can we have snow if we don't have six more weeks of winter?

"Is winter almost gone??"

Then it hit me! My Shadow is here after all! Look:

"There's my Shadow!"

Great news! 6 more weeks of winter......Woo Hoo!

And a very, very happy birthday to bewootiful Amber at the AO4. I wonder if she's having cake.

Pee S: We'd like to thank Jan's Funny Farm for giving us the "Excellent Blog" award yesterday. We'll be thinking about who we're going to share it with.

Spider Attack!

Hi Everybuddy -


It's a very cold and rainy day here today. A very good day to stay inside and be grateful for a roof.
We had some commotion last night. Mom took Meeka upstairs as usual. Since he's the Prince he gets to lie on the waterbed for awhile and watch the news. Whatever. Anywoo - all of a sudden Mom yelled for Dad to come and save her! Woo! This is what happened:

Mom saw a GIANT spider! She thinks it hitched a ride on Dad's shirt which had been hanging to dry in the laundry room. What's worse is that Mom carried it upstairs! She didn't like that thought at all. Mom's usually a trooper around bugs and stuff but this one was "HUGE!" and was ready to eat her alive she said! Where was Meeka, the protector you ask? This is what he looked like:

Hmmmm. He doesn't appear to be too concerned there does he? She said that's pretty much the expression he had on his fuzzy mug at the time and through the entire attack he never moved a muscle. Meeka didn't save her. This did :

Unfortunately she won't be ordering from that catalog anytime soon. Blech! I sure hope it wasn't the Drs. Foster and Smith catalog! Oh - and we probably should acknowledge Dad's bravery too. Although he did mention the spider wasn't quite as gigantic as Mom had described. Mom said he wasn't looking at it from the same angle. She was very relieved it was gone and was no longer headed towards her side of the bed.

Oh - I want to remind everybuddy that it's time to buy Grrrl Scout cookies! They really are very yummy and they support a very good cause. We have a fun poll on the right sidebar to see which ones are everybuddy's favorites.

Weather Guess

Hi Everybuddy -

It's no secret that I've been less than amused with the weather lately. Apparently I'm not alone. My blog pal Meeshka is thinking of starting a Claws Action Lawsuit against all of the weather people that promise us snow and nothing happens. It's definately true........recently the weather people in our area have been wrong, wrong, and wrong again! Imagine Mom's surprise when she got this email report the other day. Take a look:

Do you see the question marks? What's up with that??! That appears to be a weather guess not a weather report. I guess that's one way for them to admit - they have no clue!

"Cut me a break!!"

I just don't know what the answer is but pretty soon our flowers are going to start to bloom. We think somebuddy in weatherland is very confused!

A Horse's Legacy

Hi Everybuddy -

Today marks the one year anniversary of the death of an icon in the equine world. It was a year ago today that Barbaro lost his battle with a long list of medical issues resulting from a complex leg fracture while running in the Preakness Stakes in May 2006.





He was immediately rushed to a state of the art equine care facility - the New Bolton Center - a division of the University of Pennsylvania located in the Philadelphia suburbs. Typically a horse faced with this type of injury is immediately euthanized, primarily due to the cost of repairing a fracture and the long rehabilitation road that the animal and it's family would face. These milestones are not easily faced with an animal tipping the scales at over 1,000 lbs. Barbaro's owners have been in the racing business for many years and have been successful. They are different than many racehorse owners. They truly care about their horses and develop strong bonds with them. Barbaro was like a member of their family. It didn't matter that clearly, his racing days were over far too quickly and he would no longer produce the projected earnings most owners would hope for. Due to their love for his very large personality, they wanted him to be able to retire to their pastures and live the rest of his life in comfort. For this, they would spend whatever they needed to with no hesitation. Their only requirement was a simple one - Barbaro was not to suffer without any hope for recovery or quality of life. This was a tall order for his caregiver - Dr. Dean Richardson. He would ultimately be left with the final decision at any given moment. His expertise took Barbaro through numerous surgical procedures to repair his injured leg. It seemed to be working. In the end a series of conditions including laminitis in the left rear hoof, an abscess in the right rear hoof, as well as a new case of laminitis in both front feet led to the heart wrenching decision to let him go. Archived updates regarding Barbaro's treatment and progress can be found here. Over the past year many have criticized Barbaro's owners and caregivers. They have accused them of prolonging his suffering for financial gain. Despite many reports, though the option was there, they never harvested his sperm for the future. Any of his caregivers that have been interviewed have stated he was feisty, mischievous, and as active as he could be under the circumstances on most days. His pain was carefully monitored and controlled at every moment. So many fell in love with this magnificent horse and came to admire his zest for life. He did not die in vain. Treating a horse with such severe issues was previously undheard of. Many of the techniques used were new and no one knew whether they would be effective. Much was gained regarding the treatment of laminitis and it gives new hope to other horse owners who may otherwise have had no treatment options for their injured horses.

The Barbaro Fund at New Bolton has raised more than $1.3 million dollars and is still growing. The money is being put towards the equine facility's expansion and upgraded equipment so that they can be better prepared for other equines with similar issues. Barbaro's owners have also developed a $3 million endowment named for Dr. Richardson at the University of Pennsylvania's veterinary school to study advanced equine diseases. This will save many more equines in the future. In addition Barbaro devotees have raised more than $800,000 and have saved more than 1,950 horses from slaughter.

Our girl is very involved in the equestrian world. We have been around horses for several years now and have come from knowing absolutely nothing, to having such an appreciation for these magnificent animals. Their personalities and traits are complex, yet fascinating. They are unlike any other animal and their beauty is often breathtaking. We have yet to meet a horse that in it's own way is not hauntingly beautiful somehow, even those caked with dirt from a good roll in the mud. The sport is not without risk and there is much to learn. We are currently nursing a concussion our girl received on Saturday from a jump gone awry and a misunderstanding between her and her horse. Despite the injuries, both physical and to the ego - that we have encountered, the love she has for these animals is steadfast and unwavering . Their lessons can be humbling but must be respected. Perhaps only an equestrian can understand that concept. We can truly understand the devotion Barbaro's owners had for him.

For the commitment that Barbaro's owners have had and continue to have and for the endless hours of compassionate attention his caregivers gave him - we offer two paws up. May his legacy continue and his memory remain in every animal lover's heart.

"Grief is the price we pay for love."

Sibe Vibes for Tia

Hi Everybuddy -

Today we're thinking of Tia, and her devoted sister Sitka. It's Tia's 15th Birthday today but she's spending it in the feline hospital trying to get better so she can come home. You can read about her on Sitka and Tia's Blog. We know Sibe Vibes are very powerful things so we're sending some her way. We've also added some little angels to watch over her while she's away from Sitka and her Mom. We'll think good thoughts and hope for good news today.

Doglets

Hi Everybuddy -

It's been a pretty quiet week. I was able to get caught up on alot of napping.......and pondering. Pondering is always good for any Siberian to do. It keeps the brain from turning to mush. Here I am hard at work, pondering:





Something came to mind. I had once heard about something called Sniglets. Some of you may know what they are. I find them to be rather fascinating. Sniglets are best described as words that should be in the dictionary but aren't. Hmmm. That's sounds amusing doesn't it? Here are some examples -

Blooage (blew' ij) - n. The residue left on fingers after using an S.O.S pad

Cinemuck - n. The combination of popcorn, soda, and melted chocolate which covers the floors of movie theaters.

Doork (dawrk) - n. A person who always pushes on a door marked "pull" or vice versa.

Facon - n. The fake bacon bits served at cheap salad bars

Flopcorn (flop' korn) - n. The unpopped kernels at the bottom of the bag

Wattbobble (wat' bah bul) - v. To remove a hot light bulb by turning it several seconds, letting your fingers cool, then repeating the process.


Interesting huh? This got me to thinking. I'm going to make a list of Doglets - canine associated words that should be in the dictionary but aren't. For instance:

schmoo - the substance left behind on a window after we've looked out of it. This term is not to be confused with Meeshka's nickname of Schmoo since that's with a capital "S" and not a small "s".

Zoomies - the art of running through the house at full speed with no particular destination.

Does anyone else want to add to my list of Doglets? Let's have some fun with this! Happy Friday!

New Canine Security System

Hi Everybuddy -

We just read an amusing story about a dumb criminal who tried to run away from the police in North Carolina. He drove his car real fast then decided to hop out and run. He ran through somebuddy's yard who had 4 dogs - just like us. Guess what he stepped in?? YEP! Dog poo! That was quite a break for the police officers who were chasing him because they were able to find evidence of where he went and they were also able to have a print of his shoe in one of the piles. How about that! I told Mom she should be more grateful for our piles. Those piles represent an enhanced security system for this house! She shouldn't be so quick to scoop them all up. Probably the one with the pile most likely to catch a crook would be - believe it or not - Shadow's.

Oh yes! It's true. Don't let that innocent face fool you. Her piles often astound us. This is what you see on a cold day from across the county:

One time she had it piled in a way that our boy was certain she was trying to signal the Mother Ship. So now, instead of teasing her about her piles we should thank her for keeping us safe. Who knew??

Dollars For Collars

Hi Everybuddy -

We have some decisions to make. Mom ran across an interesting article regarding some collars that are being sold. Oh these aren't just ANY collars! Take a look at this one:

This particular collar belonged to a Pug who was owned by the Duchess and Duke of Windsor a long, long time ago. There is an auction for items like this in New York City which will be held to coincide with the Westminster Kennel Club's All Breed Dog Show in February, at Bonhams Auction House. The one pictured above is expected to sell for at least $3,000.00. HOLY HUSKIES! That's alot of money! This got us thinking. We have some of our old collars lying around. We asked Mom to dig them out of storage (she keeps everything "just in case"). We need to put ours up for auction. We need to decide how much they're worth. Here's Meeka inspecting his:

"I dunno. I kinda liked this one"

Here's Shadow. Does this photo not scream "Please buy me!" :

"Isn't it pretty? It's pink! "

And here I am calculating net worth:

"Since I wore it - I'd say $10,000.00"

And here's Shyla hoping Mom won't find her. She was napping in the sun:

"My collar's not for sale!"

Shyla doesn't have any extra collars since she's the new kid on the block. She was dumped at the shelter with an ugly black collar that was frayed and dirty. Certainly not fit for a girl as pretty as she! Mom assured her she can keep her bewootiful turquoise blue collar that she wears proudly. A handsome new collar with shiny tags is a big deal to a dog who was not previously loved or appreciated. To them it signifies that they are home where they belong and loved for who they are.

I'm going to have Mom give the auction coordinators a call to find out where we need to ship our collars. I'm sure they'll be thrilled to have them. What a wonderful way to raise money for those nice folks at Best Friends Animal Society! We can donate our proceeds to them!

It Can't Be!!!!

Anybuddy know what this is ?????

THAT would be snow on my Siberian snowless-for-too-long coat!
Oh my dogness! IT WORKED! The Snowman Strategy worked! Can you believe it? We were really getting angry earlier today because we heard Georgia got several inches. How does that happen? Here we are much further North and we had nuthin......not a flake. Now granted, this isn't supposed to amount to what we'd like to have but at this point we'll take it! Take a look at us basking in the flakes. Here's the Princely One in disbelief:

"Wow - Mom's snowmen really worked! "

Here's Shyla. She has seen snow before but really doesn't remember too much about it. She came to live with us in March of last year and was so underweight, and really couldn't enjoy much physical activity. Now that she's gained all the weight she needs she feels much better and is enjoying many things for the first time.

"Is this what we've been waiting for?"

After awhile Shyla started to get the hang of it:

"Woo! We're sposed to eat it??!"

And here I am doing one of my MOST favorite things! Sneaking up on Meeka! He never knows what hit him:

We're so happy we finally got some snow. Maybe it was just stuck and now that it has started, it'll keep coming. I'll let you know!