Here ve vill share viths you some of zee cute zings ve haf seen in zee last few days.

Zees ees me, viths my snuggle buddee, Fu. Zees has become a habeet for us!

I am very comforbuhls. I cannot speak for Fu.

Zees are some ov our neighbors. She ees een love viths zee babee.

Zees eez A.J. She and He met heem viths hees Mom at Bed, Bath and Beyond. A.J. vas zere shopping for hees own house. You can zee he made hees choice!

Zee lesson to take from all zeez peectures eez zat to qualeefy for Cuteology, zee subject must pozezz cer-tain qualitees. Two ov zee most eemportant appareently are “sveet” and “fluvvy”.

Clazz deesmeesed.

Casanova
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He and She have been really busy for the last couple of weekends building a dog house for us. They took special care to make sure it’s nice and warm, so on the long, cold days when they are at work and we can’t be in the house with the kitties, we will at least have a comfy place to nap. That is, between all the watch doggin’ we do!

What we now have is a double-walled, insulated, cedar, duplex apartment with wood floors and central heat. Well, technically, it’s not central heat, it’s a Hound Heater, specially designed for dog houses. The felines don’t mind that He and She put all this effort and expense into the house for us. After all, they get to lounge in the main house 24/7.

Here are some pictures from the construction. The first few were taken with her iPod, so the quality isn’t that great, but you can get an idea of what was done, at least.

First, they started with a sturdy 2×4 frame for the base:

Gily was on hand to take care of the Quality Assurance portion of the job:

Then, framing was begun. They used treated 2x4s that were ripped down to 2×2:

You can see here the beautiful cedar flooring and the care He took to insulate the walls well to keep that winter chill at bay:

Here you can see the interior and exterior walls were finished out in cedar:

This is the Hound Heater that was mounted inside to help keep us warm on the coldest of days:

Here’s the house with a coat of stain, and put in place. There are two entrances, with Gily’s apartment being taller to accomodate his size. Oh yeah, we forgot to mention, each of the roof sections is removable for easy access and cleaning:

You can see I am proud and pleased with my sweet new abode:

However, Gily is not as impressed and has pretty much boycotted getting in the dog house. We are thinking of having a march and calling it Occupy the Dog House:

Doesn’t he look a little like “you want me to go in what???”

I hope he will come around and join me when it gets really cold. In the meantime, I guess I’ll enjoy my deluxe two room apartment myself!

Trix
*****

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of couponing and trying to take advantage of special offers. (Who can afford not to, right?) Today this showed up in my in-box and I wanted to share it with you!

The nice people at Vick’s would like to send you a coupon for your purchase of their new product, Nature Fusion:

Vicks^® Nature Fusion^™ is a new cold and flu liquid that is
flavored with natural honey instead of artificial flavors.

• Free of alcohol, artificial dyes and gluten
• Powerful cold symptom relief medicine
• Delicious goodness of real honey
• From the trusted Vicks^® brand

If you would like to save $4 on this new product through Vocal Point, go HERE to get your coupon! Registration will be required, but by doing so, you’ll get other great offers on many products!

I’ve already requested my coupon, and if the occassion should arrive that we need to test it out, here in the House of 9 Lives, we’ll be sure to write a post to let you know about our experience with it!

Sharly

There are just so many directions this post could go with a title like that. I’m not actually talking about He and She being the “turkeys”, though that is one direction it could take. I’m not talking about a dish at a new trendy restaurant with cleverly named menu items, either. I’m talking about two actual turkeys. And a Harley Motorcycle.

Ever have one of those stories that is award-winning-hilarious when it’s going on, but you can never seem to re-tell it to do it justice? This is probably one of those times, so bear with us and just know when this happened, it had her laughing like She hasn’t laughed in a quite a while.

The beautiful Autumn weather and crunchy countryside was really calling out to He and She on Saturday, so they fired up the Harley, saddled up and went for a ride. Alabama is really a beautiful state with so much variety in landscape. The vividness of the colors of the leaves as they change to reds and golds and the blueness of the clear sky just epitomizes the Fall season. As we live in a rural area, there is a lot of ambience to soak up.

After rolling through the leaf-strewn back roads and admiring all the beautiful chrysanthemums and pumpkins that are on display, it was ironic that when they pulled into our driveway, they were greeted by two very large Turkeys that crossed the street from our neighbor’s driveway to get a closer look at the motorcycle. He and She thought it was pretty funny that they seemed so interested in the bike, and after waiting for our gate to open, they proceeded up our driveway. Much to her delight, the turkeys followed. Not only did they follow, but as he sped up, the turkeys did too. They kept up with the bike as it was going 25 mph or so up the long drive.

(Driveway picture shown for reference)

When they arrived at the second gate, where they had to wait for it to open, the turkeys kept a watchful eye on that motorcycle. She was giggling and laughing the whole time. Because Gily and Trix are in the yard, they were careful to get inside and get the gate closed before the turkeys could follow. She was concerned there might be some altercation, otherwise.

After getting inside, she was able to get these shots with her i-Pod. “Lucy” and “Ethel” continued to hang around for most of the afternoon, up on the hill outside the gate.

Hey – where’d you put that bike?

She couldn’t help wondering if they were attracted to the sound the bike made. It was just the funniest thing. We sure wish we had some video to share with you.

I guess being on a motorcycle, chased by a couple of turkeys is the most exciting thing that happened this weekend. Yeah, life is good, here!

Flirt
*****

Oh hai!

Yeah, we’re still here. We haven’t posted in a while because She seems to have lost interest in the this little corner of the blogosphere. But we are all still doing well. We don’t have any new additions (much to Barny’s delight). Though the integration of Trix into the household has gone very well. While his manners aren’t nearly as good as Gily’s, we’ve all come to accept and love him for the heart he has. Let’s just say if Gily and Trix were celebrities from the golden age of Hollywood, Gily would be Cary Grant, and Trix would be more like James Cagney.

Grant was and Gily is so debbonaire and cool. While Cagney and Trixter share a “Little Man” complex. Trix has plenty of heart and defends his home as well as any dog four times his size could do. Gily beleives there is strength in numbers.  Trix is also more likely to take what he wants whereas Gily will wait for something to be offered. So, Gily is a gentleman and Trix is a scrapper. Also, just like the two actors we compare them to, Trix & Gil are leading men in the cast of characters around here.

He and She haven’t completed any big projects, and we don’t have any thing of substance to share, but,  She did have one little project worth noting. After searching diligently, to no avail, for a girly motorcycle helmet that would please her, She finally decided to design her own. Using a standard black half helmet, and self-adhesive rhinestones, she produced this protective headgear embellished with a stylized “Tiara”.

She even found some Harley bling which coordinates nicely!

She’s had a few occassions to sport her new Tiara Helmet, but not nearly enough. They are hoping the weekend will provide more opportunities for that! Well, we managed to cover some Holywood Royalty and some Harley Royalty in this post. How’s that for a theme?

We hope everyone else has a good weekend and there is no significant damage or any injuries from the hurricane predicted for the East Coast. Go away Irene!!

Kosmo

*****

We do have this picture. She was goofing around with photo editing and this was the best She could come up with. (Hint: We don’t have any pretty, green grass like that).

Trix has turned out to be a very sweet boy. He is getting along perfectly with Gily, and we have all accepted him into the household without a hiccup, so far! The transition has been so easy, even He and She are amazed. They’ve started referring to each other as Dr. and Mrs. Doolittle!

Trix has been at home with us for one week now. He completed his heartworm treatment on June 29th and was discharged on July 1st. We were all a little disappointed to find that he needed a little bit of training as far as housebreaking was concerned, but we think he completely has the idea now. Though, He and She do keep a close eye on him and he isn’t allowed to run around inside unsupervised very much. He is doing very well outside with a big yard to exercise in. They have opted (against all recommendations otherwise) not to put him in the invisible fence collar. They have found that with Gily as a companion, he hasn’t shown any desire to dig out. Plus, with his compromised leg, digging might not be too easy for him. However, he can run like a rabbit! He is still in recovery, so they haven’t encouraged any strenuous exercise, but he has shown he has the capability.

Through all of this, Gily has become a champ. He has taken to the role of big brother quite naturally. He even “herds” Trix away from the car when they are pulling up into the carport.

Bringing another dog into the fold was something they were very hesitant about, but Trixter has proven to be yet one more blessing! Thank you all so much for your past and continued good wishes for this little guy who only needed someone to love Y

Alley

Because we wound up with a two-way tie and we couldn’t stand to wait long enough for a tie-breaker to determine the outcome, we decided to flip a coin. Because of our obvious lack of opposable thumbs, we found a site that will allow us to perform a virtual coin toss. While there are many sites out there, we preferred this one.

You can see we entered the two options:

And, here is the answer:

Now that we know what’s in a name, we can’t wait until Sir Wile E. Trixenhopper comes home to stay. She spoke with Dr. M’s office today and not only is Trix doing well, it looks like he will be done with his treatments on June 29th. If all goes as planned, He and She will take off work that day and the rest of the week. With the upcoming July 4th Holiday, that means we will all have plenty of time to bond with Tixter!

Blossom
*****

We will all adjust, though. It’s hard to feel bad about someone joining the household when they so badly need some love and attention, and we know they’ll get it here. This is Trixter:

(Ignore our very dead grass – we are in a drought).

You might recall He and She were adopted by Gily on a Sunday at their favorite breakfast shop about a year ago. I think they need to start eating cereal, this is getting expensive! Sunday, when they were leaving, Trix greeted them at the door, as if to say, “I didn’t think you would ever come out of there!” They shared some leftover eggs and grits, which he was very happy to get and gave him some water to drink. This time, they didn’t spend a lot of time debating, after making sure no one had any idea where he might belong, they had him in the car and headed home.

He and Gily did very well upon meeting - Gily just had one conversation with him to let him know there was no opening for Top Dog, but otherwise we would be glad to offer him a job in our organization. After buying him a collar and bringing him in the house on a leash, it became apparent that he would love to join our team. Jazz welcomed him by touching noses, and the deal was sealed. He had a pleasant night, with plenty to eat and a cool place to relax.

He even slept on a nice comfy (king-sized sleep number) bed. Of course, he had to share with Gily & He and She, but he sure didn’t complain about that!

Yesterday morning, they dropped him off at the vet. He has already been neutered, so at least that is taken care of, but, sadly, he has heartworms and intestinal parasites. He is basically in the same shape Gily was at the time of his rescue. However, Trix has a handicap Gily didn’t. It seems that at some point, quite some time ago, he had a broken right foreleg at the elbow joint. He was apparently never treated, and the joint has now fused, costing him the use of that leg. He walks on three legs and gets around very well, but certainly not like he should be able to. Bless his heart – he has been so neglected up to now. But, He and She are so happy to have found him and be given the chance to spoil him for the rest of his life. Dr. M. says he is around six years old, so they’ll still have some time to treat him in the manner he deserves. He will be staying with Dr. M. and her staff for the next few weeks while he undergoes his heartworm treatment. Then, he’ll come back to us to start his new life.

The name Trixter was a given, since he “tricked” them into instantly falling in love with him! He immediately thought of the name Trixie, but that just wasn’t appropriate for a boy, so they changed it to Trixter, sometimes shortening to Trix. In keeping with their tradition of also giving each of us a “long name” (i.e. Gilroy B. Magilicuddy, and Sir Casanova de Nono Muttonchops), they have come up with several possibilties for Trix. He will still be called Trixter, but we would like your help in choosing his formal name! Please see the poll below and cast your vote for your favorite.

View This Poll

Thanks for your help! The poll will be available for a week. We will be sure to let you know the results, and will share more pictures when they have had a chance to get some good shots. In the meantime, be thinking about this sweet little boy as he goes through his ordeal in being treated for heartworms.

In the meatime, I’ll adapt to the new change around here. It’s all for a greater cause!

Boomer
*****

He and She and Papa Joe and Ohio and Skeeter rode over to Columbus Georgia to Chattahoochee Harley Davidson, just for fun. While they were there, they got to meet “Baby”! Now, Baby is one cool dog! She rides a Harley!! Yeah, that’s right, a Harley!

She enjoyed posing for a couple of pictures with her goggles on!

She and Skeeter were instantly in love with Baby and found out that she loves to ride and is happy to hop on the bike at any opportunity!

Here’s a picture of the Chattahoochee River She snapped as they were zipping over it on the way home.

Then, on Sunday morning, they encountered this beauty:

He and She would just love to have something like that to ride around in! As it was, He and She visited Niffer’s Place at Lake Martin and enjoyed a really delish lunch, followed by a “Ride and Seek” – that’s what they call it when they don’t have a destination in mind, but ride aimlessly seeking one. They actually wound up on a road that leads to a beautiful penninsula at Lake Martin. They were able to pull the bike over and park and walk up to the water as it lapped the shore. It was a beautiful day and peacefully quiet! They felt really lucky to be able to just enjoy the moment before heading back home.

We hope you had some beautiful weather this weekend, and were able to find some enjoyment. Also, our hearts go out to our neighbors in Missouri who have experienced tragedy and heartache due to the recent tornado.

Barny

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We hope each of our friends in the blogosphere is safe this morning. Please keep all those affected in Alabama, and across the South, in your thoughts and prayers as we go forward from this catastrophic event.

Thank you.