just because it's in the pantry doesn't mean it's cheese whiz

today i had to get up early to give bruno a bath before i took him to the vet (courtesy gesture for the vet). so i got both of the boys ready and we made our way to petsmart/banfield. we got there early to drop bruno off, but the store wasn't actually open yet, so i just kinda' meandered around the store because i didn't want to go and have to come back. so i bought a new car seat for chaco. he's getting too big to sit under bruno's seat. last time we drove somewhere, he was muttering something about feeling like a stepchild locked up under the castle. really? bruno's car seat a castle? (drama king)

we also got a new kind of treat. i wasn't sure if they'd like it, but i knew i would love it because it's in an aerosol-type cheese whiz can! yes!! i love that weird little nozzle to squirt it out!

new improved, easy on the tummy!

it really smells like bacon and cheese, but this is one treat that i decided not to try for myself...maybe if shea comes to town soon we can make a bet for who tries it

chaco went to work with me for a little bit while we waited for bruno. while i was sorting through papers, chaco was playing with his squeaky toy. well, he was making me throw it to him between sorting. not too long into it, i got the call that bruno was ready, but that they were a little concerned because when they drew blood, it took longer than normal for his blood to clot, and could they send the bloodwork out? so of course i wanted to make sure it's no big deal, so i said yes. hopefully it's nothing because i would hate for the other dogs to start taunting him with the hemophiliac jokes...(na-na-na-na NA na..you can't coagulate..etc)

when i got home to hang out with the dogs, i had to cut off the hamster's feet. chaco was on his way to making them nubs, and i figured i'd be the humanitarian and cut them off in 'one fell swoop' (or 4 fell swoops...4 feet), rather than allow them to be gnawed off (not that it will matter either way to an inanimate object, but it will probably be much better on chaco's digestive system!).

and he's not getting prosthetic replacements either. nubby. oh, and they already chewed off the string that pulls to make him shake and shimmy, so he's not as enticing to them anymore.

i wanted to take them for a walk earlier, but it was about 97 degrees out. the good news is that it's 8:50 and the temp's gone down-94...so we can go for a night walk when i finish this post! other good news: bruno has been getting better at using the bell to let me know he wants to go outside.

if you look closely you can see that it is a neiman marcus bell. one of my bible study gals got that for me a couple of years ago.

yes, i have this little guy hanging by the door. if i'm going to be here for awhile, i might have to think about getting one of those extensions for the sliding door with a doggy door in it. that way the boys could go in and out as they please...which i'm sure won't be often, but hopefully we can get them into the bathroom habit.

 i was about to go take the trash downstairs, but creepy neighbor is super nice and took it down already (unless the raccoons took it)...i'm banking on neighbor...and it's not even tuesday or thursday! happy memorial day weekend to me!

julie

oh sweet hamster toy. meet your demise. you didn't really want to go to a loving family, did you?

i mentioned that i'm taking a bunch of the stuffed animals given by students over the years for my mom to package up and send out to disaster victims, so one of my co-teachers (gigi) gave me hers as well, so now i have a big load to take with me. as i was transferring them to one bag, i saw a hamster with the pull string that makes the little guy shake-bruno played with the one we got for Christmas until the string wouldn't pull anymore. he LOVED it! so i pulled this one out and he was so happy!

it's pretty much nonstop pull and shake right now, although, he did let chaco have it for a few minutes and laid down beside me. while he was laying here, i told him it was really sweet of him to let chaco play. he just kinda smiled and then i saw the note: if you don't let me play with that mouse for awhile, i will tell mama about the jack you're hiding. i started looking around to see if perhaps he really had been hiding something. well, the search produced nothing (and i've had to do some intense searches before), so i just reached over to pet bruno and his tail was really warm..in fact there seemed to be a warm air pocket near his backside. my first thought 'his rear is feverish' my second and more realistic thought was 'oh, he's just sitting too close to the laptop.good.' 
well, then i asked chaco what he meant in the note, and he told me there weren't really any jacks, not to worry. "what?" "you know, onesies...that game with the ball and the stars."  oooooOOOooohhh.good.

then i look down and chaco is not pulling the string and waiting for it to shake. nope. he's chewing off the hamster's eyes. i should've known because he did it to the last one too. one more and it'll be three blind mice.

i somehow switched the channel to dual survival discovery channel about these guys who are survivalists of the extremes. so at one point they caught vermin (mice) in the montana winter, and roasted them over the open fire and the guy said the fire will burn its tail off then burn the legs down to nubs and it looks like a turd, that's when you eat it. gross. note to self: never get lost in winter in montana without clif bars...lots of them. (maybe that's why the boys eat their poop sometimes...they think it looks like a mouse kabob...)shea, i'm learning all sorts of tricks to keep us alive on our next adventure..ok maybe not tricks like pull a steak out of my boot, but tips like making rope out of vines and stuff like that.

it's been a yucky ending of a school year with all of the packing up and crazy schedules and stuff, but today i was thrilled to get a text saying that bmayes and reagan might be coming to hang out with the boys and me for a bit! that will be marvelous if she can swing it-the boys love company...they even promised to clean up their area.
 so tomorrow morning i'll get up a little early and drop bruno off at the doc for his 6 month comprehensive and heartworm shot, then i'll go back up to school to finish up some packing before i have to pick him up again. i'm just going to go ahead and guess that he's about 6 pounds. i'll let you know tomorrow nite!

don't play with your food...don't waste your food and don't eat food that looks like waste..that's what the boys do.
julie