Saturday, July 28, 2012

The babies have hatched!

Sorry the picture is blurry, but mom wanted to hurry so the momma bird could get back on the nest quickly.

All four eggs have hatched, probably today. They are ugly looking little things and teeny!
The fence is up and we'll be on the look out in 10-14 days for the babies to start fledging.

Friday, July 27, 2012

New Neighbor?

See that blue vase on the shelf? Second shelf, cobalt blue on the right? 
Also, notice the light blue door frame and storm door at the far right. 

Well, mom went to get something off that shelf and got buzzed by a winged creature! She just about flipped out because the bird nearly hit her in the head. What the pug! She thought. 

Turns out, Mrs. Birdy made a nest in that blue vase. Yep, the one that is mere feet from the door. The only door that leads to the backyard. Where we come in and out several times a day. 


There are four eggs in there. Mom didn't get a good look at the bird because it flew out so fast, but she thinks it is one of these. 

A Carolina Wren. They are famous for building nests in wacky places like boots, flower pots and apparently now, vases. 

Mom will be checking the nest frequently to see when the eggs hatch. Then she'll set up a fence on the deck to keep us away from the babies. These wrens are on the ground a lot, so we expect the babies to make an appearance or two on the deck. It should be any day now!


Tuesday, July 24, 2012

New bed!

Just like Tuni, we love some beds. And they are everywhere. When mom was in Costco last month, she saw this one and had to add it to the collection. It's hilarious, because it looks like a couch. 

But true to our stubborn pug nature, no one wanted to get in it at first. 
So it sat there for a few weeks, poor lonely couch bed. 

Then we decided we like it. 
Tallulah

Oliver

Petunia

Isabelle

Think the new bed will work out just fine.


Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Tuni Tuesday Tribute

In our house, there are many beds.
Oval beds
Isabelle
Beds with chin rests
Quincy and Isabelle
Round beds
Isabelle and Quincy
Couch beds
Petunia
Paw print beds
Quincy and Lilo
 Orthopedic beds
Isabelle
Pink beds
Tallulah 
Beds that aren't meant for double occupancy
Oliver and Tallulah
 Beds perfect for stretching out
Petunia
 Beds for showing off that pugkini body
Petunia
 Beds meant for two
Quincy and Isabelle
 Baby beds
Petunia and Tallulah
With love for Tuni and her family. 
Special thanks to Winston and his mum for this great idea.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Mom's summer project

During the summer, mom usually tackles one big project in the yard. This year, she's taking summer classes so the project had to be smaller. It turned out to be bigger than she thought. 

See all that ivy on the fence? It was all over the yard. See that bare dirt? Covered in ivy.
From the fence on the right past the brown thing (porch swing) on the left was all ivy. 
Here it is with all the ivy gone. 54 bags of yard waste. Three trips to the landfill (the ivy had swallowed a lot of stuff). Four hours with the tiller to try to get rid of the roots. 

Here it is after!

 The grass is starting to come back in the bare spots. 
 See those wooden scallops? 
A previous owner had established a bed here once and planted ivy. 
Yeah, thanks. 

The bed is almost all shade so mom had to really think about what plants she wanted. 
 So here are the plants to get the bed started.
This is a Macho fern. It should get about 3 feet tall and wide. It's huge!

These are pieris japonica. When they bloom, the flowers will be pink!

 This is dead nettle. It already has teeny pink blooms already. Apparently, you can eat this too. 

This is astilbe. There are three of these, two are pink and one white. It won't bloom until next year probably.

So that's what mom has been up to. She brought in all these new plants for us to pee on!

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Meh

It is hot. Pug melting hot. Not just here, but over most of the country it seems. We are dealing with it the best way we know how. 
Tallulah

Isabelle

Petunia

Oliver

Stay cool, friends. Relief is on the way. And thank heavens for air conditioning. 

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Happy Independence Day, America!

We appreciate our freedom and all those who have served to protect it.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Birthday party blowout part 2-presents!

Mom ordered a ton of stuff from Pugs In The Kitchen for our guests! Some of our friends have special dietary needs and PITK came to the rescue. When you are allergic to chicken, peanut butter and gluten or do better with a vegetarian diet, it's super hard to find treats! But PITK was able to work some magic so that all of our guests could have yummy treats. 
 Just look at all these goodies! 
 So many delicious varieties! 
Plus, everypuggy got a stuffie, too!
As one of our gifts, we got collar bling! Mom ordered ones for us birthday girls and Isabelle, but completely forgot about Oliver. PITK wanted to make sure Oliver felt included, so they sent one for him, too. How sweet is that?

We also got these sassy bowls. Isabelle's s the one with a bow at the top. She has a hard time with deep bowls and usually has to eat out of cat bowls. 

This is an adorable handmade book from Auntie Diane. She is Daisy's mom. We can put pictures and scrapbooky stuff and all kinds of things in it. It is just too cute for words!

 Mrs. Jeanette and Mr. Chad and their pack (Giles, Beckett, Wallis, Sophie, Piper and Hooch) gave us these. Super cute t shirts, toys and treats! And how cute is that card with the French bulldog? 
 This came from Mrs. Glenda and Sassy. A super cute picture frame, plus gift cards from Petsmart!

We also had a donation made in our honor at the Norfolk SPCA from Ms. Mary. 
Here we are investigating our presents from Auntie Erin, Uncle Pete, Stitch and Lilo. 

Auntie Erin specially wrapped the presents so we could open them ourselves. Tallulah decided to make that happen. 


And this is what came out of the paper! Look at all those yummy treats! 

We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and truly don't deserve all these wonderful gifts! We will share all the delicious treats and toys with Isabelle and Oliver. Whether we want to or not.