Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas with the ones they love.

Merry Christmas!

Traveling is exhausting

Next stop, Payton's!

Going, going, almost gone

Well, we are almost ready to go. 

Mom rented us a sweet little car, a Focus! It's like driving an iPad! We want one of these to keep.

Anyway, it's packed to the gills with presents and clothes and food and stuff.

Here's a little of what we have crammed in the car.

Yeah, there's more. And, yes, those are all for us. Mom's stuff if in the back. 

Kitties not included. They are staying home with a kitty sitter.

So early in the morning, we will be off. 

First stop, Lexington, Kentucky. 

Our hotel is close to a dog park, sweet! Hopefully, the weather will be good and we can run around before another day of driving. 

Next stop, Payton's place! She's graciously invited all of us to her house for a yummy dinner. Maybe we'll get a tour of her indoor on-purpose potty! 

We hope to be updating often!

Wish us safe travels, good weather and good moods.

We are back!

Holy cow! This semester has really kicked mom's butt. She's slacked off on laundry and dishes and everything. But it paid off  because she got an A-! Believe us, in a doctoral program, that's a big deal.
So YAY for mom!

Now, it's time to clean up and start packing. We leave on our tour in 6 days. SIX DAYS! There's so much to pack and clean and pack some more. We need our own suitcases for all the cold weather clothes we have to take with us. Not to mention the loads of bully sticks and chews and bones and toys and blankets.

Naturally, we have been angels since we know that Santa is watching. See how good we are being? Isabelle wasn't interested in listening to Santa read since she can't hear and all, but we promised to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas.

We look forward to meeting some of you in person soon!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We want to wish all our friends and family a happy Thanksgiving.

We are thankful for so many things-amazing family, awesome friends, a warm house, plenty of food. We know there are many pugs and people who don't have what we have. 

Our wish for this holiday season is that every pug has a full belly and a warm lap. That every human has someone to love and somewhere to live. That peace on earth prevails against all the hate and craziness.

We are taking a little hiatus from blogging and commenting for a bit. Mom has two papers due in December and she's really behind. So we are spending our time on the couch, fighting for lap space with the laptop and books. We'll be back soon.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Parade time!

We marched in the Grand Illumination Parade again this year in Norfolk. And again, this year, we made the TV broadcast! The theme this year was It's a Sweet Life. We were Pug Savers.

Barney and Buddy strolling in style!

Tallulah and Petunia

Isabelle in her stroller, caught in mid-bark.

Tallulah

Petunia

Our Boston friend who joined in. 

All of us ready for the parade. No one but mom looks at the camera. Cause we're naughty like that.

http://www.wvec.com/video/featured-videos/Grand-Illumination-Parade-134191853.html

We are at 12:11.

Blogger/Twitter Midwest Holiday Tour!

We are spending Christmas in Nebraska. Yup, brrrrrr. But that's where family is, so that's where we will go.

But we hope to meet up with some of you along the way!

Here's a rough itinerary.

Leave Norfolk on Dec 21, arrive Lexington, KY. 

Leave KY on Dec 22, arrive Mascoutah, IL. Hello Payton!

Leave Mascoutah on Dec 23, arrive Nebraska.

On the way back, we'll leave Nebraska and head for Indy! We'll arrive in the evening of the 29th. Probably too late to meet up. But how about in the morning of Dec 30? 

Leave Indy, Dec 30, arrive Beckley, WV.

From Beckley it's home to Norfolk on Dec 31. Home in time to ring in the New Year in our own beds. 

So if you are along the way, want to meet up? We tend to stop quite a bit on our trips (tiny pug bladders-Isabelle) so we can make arrangements along the route, too. 

Email us at southernfriedpugs at gmail dot com. 

Pug-O-Ween 2011

Happy Pug-o-ween!

We were baby Black Swan and baby White Swan.

We trekked up to Richmond for the day, and the weather was gorgeous! 

There was a bat pug,

 A stink pug! He won funniest costume.

 Puggerfly

Pumpkin and Spiderpug

 Pugnana

Pugnana posing

The stink pug again. We weren't afraid of any stink.

This cutie had a Halloween t shirt on. 

Pug jester

We think this one was a pumpkin. Or an orange dinosaur.  

More later!

Happy Halloween!

Aren't we darling in our gorgeous dresses by Punchy?

Photo by Feist

Wordless Wednesday (Isabelle in pugjamas)

Wordless Wednesday (pugs on drugs? edition)

Go TEAM MIKA!

Isabelle here at the keyboard.

A while back, mom signed us up to do the Buddy Walk for the Down Syndrome Association of Hampton Roads. It raises money for the association, but it also raises awareness and compassion for people with Down Syndrome and their families. 

We walked to support Mika.

Mika is Karen's daughter and the resident Fairy Dog Daughter of our dog park! 

I mostly strolled in my customized Team Mika ride.

They see me rolling, they hatin

Mom let me out occasionally to sniff, but mostly she bribed me with cheerios to keep me in the stroller. I really wanted to get out and walk with everyone else, but my coughing got in the way.

Karen and Mika

Mom and me

It was a great day, and we were happy to be there! We can't wait to go again next year. 

GO TEAM MIKA!

Farewell, Steve Jobs

The entire world lost a visionary today. 

I've been a Mac since touching my first computer in 1988, an Apple IIc. If you're a Mac, you just know why we are how are. It's like being a pug owner. People say why? Because once you use a Mac or have a pug, you are hooked. 

Thank you, Steve Jobs, for having the imagination to dream bigger than anyone else. 

Thank you for teaching the world that an adopted kid who dropped out of college and was fired from the company he founded and refused to accept no as answer could still change the world. 

Your lowercase i, unassuming but powerful, revolutionized not just the lives of computer nerds, but the lives of soldiers who can FaceTime their families from a war zone, grandparents on the other side of the world from their grandkids, moms and daughters and students. 

You had amazing dreams and you had the determination to make your dreams come to life. 

You leave a legacy that will never be forgotten.

Quick update on Isabelle

We went to the cardiologist today. The good news is that other than a teeny heart murmur, Isabelle's heart is fine. It's in pretty good shape for a pug her age and in her condition. No enlarged heart, no congestive heart failure. So that's great news. 

She still has a cough that we have to address though. We aren't sure whether her breathing problems are in her upper or lower airways. Her regular vet has to read the cardiologist's report, and then we'll figure out the next steps. She got a new cough medicine that will hopefully help better than the syrup.

In the meantime, Isabelle is enjoying her new heated bed in her pugjamas.

Dogs Gone Swimming!

Sunday was Dogs Gone Swimming, a fundraiser for the Friends of Norfolk Animal Care Center. Dogs of all shapes and sizes got to swim in a city pool before they closed it for the season.

We went to help mom out with the P.U.G.S. booth, to swim and to defend our swimsuit title from last year.

First, we model our swimsuits.

Tallulah 

Petunia couldn't be bothered to look at the camera.

Here we are at the contest area. 

We won second place this year! Not first, but we did get two baskets!

Look at all this loot! There's a towel, a cat that holds a blanket, TREATS!, food, balls, toys and a certificate for a bath (no thanks).









Seriously, what are they trying to say?

There are no pictures of us swimming because mom's camera died and she didn't want to accidentally drop her phone in the pool. 

After our big day, we were really tired on the way home. 

Tallulah 

Tallulah was miffed that she was disturbed from her nap. 



Petunia



Isabelle's good news and bad news

Hey there, Isabelle at the keyboard.

Saturday I got to spend some quality time with mom, away from the bratty girls. Good!

First, we went to the vet. Now that wasn't fabulous but I had my first chiropractic adjustment! Dr. Pozniak thinks I am an excellent candidate for adjustments and acupuncture AND hydrotherapy. See, I've got the arthritis, and it's been aching my old bones this summer. Usually, it's just achy in the winter but this summer, I've been gimping quite a bit. So mom decided to start my treatment before the cold sets in. 

Unfortunately, mom decided to trim my nails before we left which got me riled up. That, plus the excitement of the car ride and the vet made me breathe pretty hard. Well, Dr. Pozniak took a listen to my lungs and thought I had some fluid on them. I know I have a collapsing trachea, have had that for a bit. With all the wildfire smoke then the humidity this summer, I guess I've been having a hard time breathing, too. She put me on a medicine to make it easier to breathe. 

That did not go well at all. It made me really anxious and pant even harder. Mom called the vet and we decided that I would not take that anymore. Unfortunately, I kept panting and coughing like I was a cat with a giant hairball!

I'm pouting under the chair after being poked and prodded!

So off we went to the vet today again. This time, I had x-rays. Turns out, my heart is pretty enlarged and I've got scarring on my lungs. That's the bad news. But we are going to see a doggy cardiologist as soon as we can. She will check me out and see what can be done.  There's been a lot of advances in doggy cardiology so our hopes are high that there's a medicine that will help me out. 

I almost forgot the best part! After the vet Saturday, mom took me to Carealot. I got a brand new bed! It's heated and cushy. Can't wait for it to cool down so I can turn it on! This will be wonderful for my old aching bones.

I'm not going to let this slow me down. Mom will take care of me. I'm just going to live life like a pug. Eat, sleep, poop. Repeat. 

This Saturday, I'm going to the Buddy Walk for Down's Syndrome! Well, mom's walking. I'm strolling.