Xena: Not too much happening around here. Mommy and Daddy have been super busy doing things NOT with us and it’s been a bit boring.
Lucy: We still get our after-lunch walks every day except on Tuesdays and Thursdays when they are both gone to work so that they can afford to feed us “better than they eat”. That’s what they say. And we still get our after supper walks except for the one day last week that it was so late that the sun was going down. Oh, and the one day last weekend that we ate supper early and then they left. OK, I guess it really has been a boring week or two.
We did find out something interesting, though. Mortie has a waddle, BOL. You can see it in this picture. 
Aunty Jen told us that this kind of pig is originally from New Zealand where there are lots of poisonous snakes. (Our friends from http://www.jaspersdoggyworld just let us know there are no poisonous – or other -snakes in New Zealand.)The snakes bite the waddle and the poison doesn’t spread. So now we don’t know where Mortie is from or what the waddle is for!
Xena: It’s been 87 days since I went to Freestyle class. My Big Girl time is finally over and I want to go dancing. Sometimes I sit on Mommy’s lap and watch what the other dogs are doing in their dance routines. If I like it, I try out the moves when we get home. That way, Mommy thinks I’m good at making up new dance steps. She laughs and tells me what a clever girl I am.
Our next set of classes begins this weekend, but I. Can’t. Go. My folks are going far, far away to Indiana to celebrate Daddy’s aunt’s 95th birthday and our sitter, Miss Christy, is staying with us. I think she should take me to Freestyle, and I could show her what to do.
We’re joining Rosy and the Gang for Nature Friday.
We got something called a Yard Flag. It looks a lot like me when I was a puppy.
It makes Mommy smile every time she sees it.
Lucy: What doesn’t make Mom smile is our not-a-year-old azalea bush. She took a picture of it to the garden center where she got it and asked if it should look like this. 
They said that’s what it’s supposed to do, and will bloom again in the summer and in the fall. And they gave her a one-half refund on the “organic” fertilizer she bought in March to use with the fescue grass seed in the dog lot. She found out the tiny little pebbles are made out of people poop. Ewwww! Xena and I ate a little tiny bit of it before we heard, “No!” We both had the squirts and puked on and off for three weeks. We weren’t allowed back out there for 87 days. So she figured half her money back was better than none, since she would have just thrown it away.
Xena: We’ve been watching this grow in front of the house. 
I heard that a boy named Jack might be coming to visit and we might get a golden egg or even a harp. Mommy wants to know if anyone has a guess what this plant is. I still think it is a magic beanstalk.
Do you remember Mommy’s hostages that she planted after the Hated Bush got gone? 
This time, it really wasn’t me who chewed something up. Mommy mixed up some essential oils and stuff and sprayed everything. It did seem to kill the tiny red and black bugs crawling all over the giant beanstalk.
That’s all on our news around home. Love and wiggles, Lucy and Xena Schnauzer Warrior Princess
The difference this time is there is someone else after the little one.
Hey Brownie Bear, get your own bully horn!
I was shocked when Xena said, “OK, OK, are you happy? Now leave me alone, Lucy! I’m doing something important out here. I brought you over to help, but all you want to do is get your picture taken.” She kept her mouth closed the whole time she said that so that the picture would be over with fast. I don’t know how she woofed at me with her mouth closed; maybe it was the beard. Anyhow, I have never known my sister to be a serious type of girl, so I didn’t quite know how to take it.
Next thing I knew, she was barking her fool head off at something. Her bark sounded different than usual, maybe a bit less sure, but still insistent.
Yep, a four-foot long snake on our side of the fence! Once we all backed away — at Mom’s urging — it wove its way back and forth through the chain link fence and into the woods from where it came. I guess I owe XeXe an apology…nah. But I am going to tell her how 
I know you liked squirrels, Angel Lexi, and that you even had a back yard living arrangement with them when you were young. It didn’t make you too popular with the other dogs, but you couldn’t have cared less.
Lucy, Ace Reporter on the Groom Beat, here. Today I have a bit of a different report. You have already met Maggie the schnauzer and Dora the shih tzu. They have been coming to Mom to be groomed for six years. Their mom’s sister-in-law is an artist. Can you see the pictures she is painting? 
On the left is the picture their mom took, and on the right is the painted portrait.
Where are you going, Lucy? 
She was kinda scared of me at first, but now we are happy to see each other. Anyhoo, our teacher asked if we all felt ready to do our demo (NO) and if we wanted to come in again this past Sunday (YES!).
Lucy, Ace Reporter here, with news on the Groom Beat. Not too long ago I reported about Mom’s record setting six hour groom. If you missed that one, you can read about it 
She climbed up on the top ledge of the sink! That was another first. We can’t wait to see what happens in six weeks when she comes back for her third professional groom. Oh, and it only took three hours, this time. Maybe next time will be even shorter, ya think?
I decided to do a side pose of just my face and a two thirds pose. I chose a pretty pink border to match my collar. I mean, who wants to look at some stupid flower, anyhow, right?
He tried it out and got so comfy he fell asleep for the rest of the day. The next day I offered Rudy my special Blue Bone. I thought he could chew on it if he got hungry, or use it as a pillow. When I took Rudy over to it, he licked it for a while, then laid his head down and fell asleep again.
I guess if I went all winter without eating -except for the occasional midnight raid on the fridge – I would be like a brain-eating zombie, too.
They were happy I got help for my allergies, and that I passed two agility classes, and that I love dancing Freestyle with Mommy. I introduced them to Jen-Jen Bear, who immediately became a part of their clan. I think she and Sweetheart are going to be BFF’s.
When Bro Andrew came in and said he was done, Mom said, “No, no, you missed one,” and sent him back out. So he went back out and even dug up most of the roots. End results:
People were buying children! I’m letting you know so that if you have any of those noisy kids that you don’t want, you can call this number and make a lot of money.
Why is this mess good, you may ask. This is Maggie. Previously, we asked for POTP for her Mom, who was battling breast cancer. During the final stages of the battle (wait, don’t cry yet, it’s good, I promise) Maggie didn’t have time to come for a groom, and ended up looking like this when she came a couple of weeks ago.
Her Mom had been going through reconstructive surgery and is better now. She didn’t even have to do something called chemo. We want to thank everyone for all the POTP’s that helped give this story a happy 
Do you recognize Maggie (L) and Dora? No, no, they’re not bad. They’ve been coming to us for years and we know and love them. Here’s the bad: their grandpa died and their grandma is not handling it well. It’s causing a lot of stress with their folks which, of course, trickles down to them. We know that some of you have recently lost close relatives and close friends, too, so you can empathize with Maggie and Dora. POTP for their family, please.
Roxxii is pretty adorable, right? It’s what happened in her family that is so ugly. Her Mom’s boyfriend died suddenly, and her Mom was right in the other room when it happened. They are young people, and no one should ever feel so bad that they should die like that. Her Mom is having a real, real hard time right now, so we ask for lots of POTP for her, too. Because she isn’t in a good condition to keep Roxxii brushed, she asked Mom to just shave her hair short. Mom thought she might get cold, so she gave her Xena’s first-ever hoodie,
It’s too small for you now, Xena. That means you can’t wear it cause it doesn’t fit you anymore. Our Mom was wondering what to do with it, and this seemed like a good way to pass on the love you always felt when you wore it.
