BELLa's Bulletin

My Birthday is today...

2011-11-07T17:58:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. I know I haven't written on my blog lately. It's because my Mommy hasn't been feeling up to writing for me.

She had her right knee replaced on August 23rd. It has been really hard for her. She has been in pain for about two and a half months now. Luckily, the pain is not as severe as in the beginning, but still she has a ways to go before she is free of pain. She is stronger now, which is good.

Anyway, it's my birthday today. I turned 4 years old. Mommy loves me so much that she has been saying Happy Birthday to me almost all day long. She also gave me some salmon broth like stuff, that was in the can of salmon. I loved getting that. She has bought me a new jacket for the winter, that I will model for you one of these days.

In the meantime, know that I am being loved up by my Mom. She sits and ices her knee and snuggles with me. I kind of like it that she has slowed down some. She is home with me a little more often.

Pugs of August Soiree Day...

2011-08-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

Yippy! Finally it was August 20th today, the day of the Pugs of August Soiree. Whoopi! For any Pug, this is bigger than Christmas.

I knew this must be the day when Mom dressed me in my new dress. Here I am wearing it at home before we left.

Here's a close-up of the back of my dress.

Don't you think it's stunning? When I go outside it sparkles in the sunshine. I just love it!

The Pugs of August is put on by a very nice man, who is a Pug lover, named Craig. He lives in a house that has a huge backyard. A hundred or so Pugs show up for this shin dig.

Mom drove me and Auntie Arlene and Billy over to Craig's house. I got kind of scared as we headed for the gate to go in. There was a huge drain next to the road that spooked me out. So Mom carried me over to the gate and into the backyard.

I immediately was freed from my leash and began moving around, getting acquainted with all of the Pugs, some of whom I remembered from last year.

Pretty soon Mom saw Auntie Mary Ellen and Auntie Kim, so we all kind of hung out together. By the time we got there, most of the humans were already eating, so Mom took off to find herself some food. Here's a picture of some great Pug cupcakes, one of which Mom ate.

Here's a close-up.
Of course, I wanted to eat too. Luckily, Mom takes really good care of me. After she was done eating, she took me out to the car and gave me my dinner.

When we came back from the car, Mom snapped a few photos.

Here's Auntie Mary Ellen and Gucci.

Here I am getting some loving from Auntie Kim and another Pug owner.

Here's Auntie Arlene with Billy.

Here I am with Mom.

Pretty soon the contests began. Bubba, Gucci's brother, won for the heaviest Pug at 32 1/2 lbs. I think that most of that weight comes from his tongue. Here's his photo.

The same three Pugs from last year won for best costume. I have to admit, they deserved it. Here they are in their Atilla the Hun theme.

Gucci also entered for best costume. He looked mighty handsome, don't you think?

There was a contest for the best trick and a cute black Pug won that by playing dead, when her master shot her with her finger. That was the cutest thing I saw.

Then came the race. Auntie Arlene held me at one end of the race track and Mom was a the finish line. I was so excited to run toward Mom, that I was like a wild horse trying to get out of the gate at the Kentucky Derby or something like that. Soon I was off and running. You can maybe see me, kind of toward the back of the pack, in the sunlight, fourth from the right. You probably can recognize me by my tongue.

I didn't win, but boy was it fun to be in that race. I feel good that I finished the race, running over the finish line into Mom's arms. Last year, I wandered off the track somewhere and Mom had a hard time finding me.

Next we went down by the swimming pool. Only two Pugs swam in that race. One of them swam straight to the finish line, and Zoey, a very small Pug, swam around in circles, until finally she saw her Mom and swam over to her and was helped out of the pool. Craig, being the great guy that he is, called the race as a tie and both Pugs got a squeaky toy.

After all of that I was pooped and also spooked by the swimming pool. I plopped down on the ground and wouldn't walk to the gate so we could leave. Mom had to pick me up and carry me out to the car.

Right now, I'm sound asleep, while Mom is writing my blog. I'm dreaming about the wonderful day that I had today and looking forward to next August. I'd better get busy and decide what I'm going wear!

The Pugs of August Soiree coming soon...

2011-07-24T20:41:00.000-07:00

So I'm starting to think about "The Pugs of August" soiree. This year it is on August 20th. A very nice man in Hillsbourgh invites all the Pugs and Pug owners he can think of to visit with each other at his house, in his huge backyard. It's the most fun that any Pug can imagine. There are usually about 100 pugs at this bash.

The reason I have to think ahead about this is that there are contests and fashion shows at the Pugs of August. Last year was the first year that I attended this celebration.
I only wore a pink ribbon on my harness. This year I want to dress up. I really don't know any tricks, and I didn't do very well in the race last year. My Mom had trouble finding me after the race. I don't think that I ran in a straight line either. As far as swimming goes, there's no way I'm jumping into that swimming pool. So it's important that I look good. After all, looking good goes a long way when a Pug like me doesn't really have much talent.

I'm more of a party animal anyway and I'm interested in socializing with the other Pugs and Pug owners and having fun. Those contests are just too stressful for me. Yet, it might be fun to join in the fashion show, just for fun.

These three Pug kings won first place in the fashion show last year.

So Mommy said she is going to look into making me an outfit to wear to the soiree, maybe a princess outfit or something like that. I like the idea of looking pretty!

So stay tuned.

Gifts from Mommy...

2011-06-07T20:32:00.000-07:00

Mommy sent for this cute vest from pugnotes.com

My vest is from the vegetable collection and is a radish!

Here are some more great photos of me. I am so happy in my new vest!

Here I am in my new vest AND my new toy. My Mommy is so good to me. I'm a happy pug.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom...

2011-05-07T22:09:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of me at the Dog Park. The man in the photos is Christian. All the dogs just LOVE him. He makes me swoon. He talks to me very softly and wrestles around with me....

I really love to go to the Dog Park. I like to pace around with my fellow dogs and, of course, there's nothing like sniffing around.

On this day, I totally surprised my Mom. I got into a fight with a min pin named Jasmine, who was trying to get something out of my mouth, that I pick up off the ground. Boy, did I ever get angry, and we both got to biting at each other. My Mom, who protects me from getting hurt, immediately picked me up and stopped the fight.

She had never seen me fight like that. She was so shocked to find out that I would do that. She keeps forgetting that I'm really a dog. For some reason, she thinks I'm more than a dog. Guess I become more of a dog, when I'm with my canine friends.

Mom has also been changing the way she feeds me. She read something by a man called the Dog Whisperer, whoever he is. Anyway, now she tells me to sit, and then I have to look into her eyes before she will feed me. Imagine that! I am catching on pretty quickly, and I'm feeling really smart, but still, I have those times when I don't want to sit. She then doesn't feed me, so eventually, I have to sit. I guess she is the Alpha person.

I'm feeling really happy. We had some nice sunny days, that I loved, but today was very cool and there may be rain tomorrow on Mother's Day. I'm going to try to give my Mom a day when I mind her at her first command, so she doesn't have to say, "sit, Bella sit, sit Bella.... Not sure I'll be able to give that to her, but I'll give it a try.

POWER WALKS and FREEDOM...

2011-04-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. Here I am in my new Easy Walk harness. It seems to be making walking easier, and since it arrived on Wednesday, Mommy has been taking me out on POWER WALKS.

Now, I do like to walk, but these POWER WALKS are different. It used to be that Mom would kind of stroll along with me, and I'd have plenty of opportunity to pick up cigarette butts and other stuff off of the ground. I also could sniff at anything any time I wanted. But it's different now that I'm going on these POWER WALKS.

An example was this morning. Mommy first walked me slowly, where she usually walks me when I do my duty. It was first thing in the morning, so that's what I did. Then she kind of picked up speed and had me walk right next to her. She kept telling me what a "good girl" I was. I liked hearing that. Can you believe it? These POWER WALKS last for 30 minutes.

We've only gone on two POWER WALKS so far. Mom says that she wants us to walk about every other day. Well, you know, I've got to say, that I'm kind of liking them. I get a bit tuckered out, but it feels kind of good having my little legs moving along like the big dogs. I'm really pretty good at this. And, you know, some people say that Pugs can't learn to walk on a leash! Boy, they don't know what they are talking about.

Ever so often on these walks, I try to get Mom to stop, so I can sniff something, but she says that this is our practice time and there's no stopping during practice time. So I guess that's that.

Anyway, I'm happy with my new harness and so is Mom. Here's a standing photo of me with my harness on.

You can probably tell that I still don't like to get my picture taken.

On another subject. According to Mom, tomorrow is a special day called Easter. She said that it is a time to celebrate Spring and rebirth. I've noticed some flowers are blooming and the grass is nice and green. Guess, that's what she means by rebirth. Lots of living things are blossoming at this time of the year.

She also said that there is a story that lots of people will be telling tomorrow, about a man named Jesus. She said that he had the courage to let go of his earthly ego mind and resurrect his mind into Christ consciousness, which gave him the awareness of the reality of eternal LIFE. He then became known as Jesus the Christ. She said that by moving ones mind away from the ego world and into the Spiritual world, one becomes unconditional LOVE, the Christ, the Enlightened One. She said that having the awareness of the reality of eternal life sets us FREE. Now, I'd say that that's something to celebrate.

I'm thinking that maybe dogs already know this stuff and that they are already unconditional LOVE. Don't you agree?

Mom and I are going to celebrate Easter together. All of our family will be elsewhere. Mom will probably go to her church to celebrate, and when she gets home, maybe she will take me to the Dog Park so I can celebrate Easter. I sure would like that. Guess, I'll have to wait and see what happens.

Anyway, I'm a happy Pug. I have a brand new harness and can go on POWER WALKS, and now I know that I am FREE. There's lots to be grateful for this Spring.

My Houdini escape...

2011-04-17T19:30:00.001-07:00

Hello all of my dear friends. Tuni, I want to thank you for reminding my Mommy about the Easy Walk harness. She had looked at it in the past, but couldn't find the right size in the pet stores. So let me tell you all what has happened.

On about the third day that I wore the SCARY collar, I managed to wiggle my way out of it. This is one of my talents, escaping out of collars. My small head helps me to be good at escaping. I'm kind of like that Harry Houdini guy of long ago.

Look at how tied up he is in these photos. That's about how I felt when I was wearing that training collar. It was more like his Chinese water torture cell, that he would escape from. He also learned how to escape from strait jackets. I know that if I had known him, he could have taught me how to do all of that. After all, I'm a natural in escaping from collars.

So anyway, Mom did some soul searching. She admitted to me that she really didn't like to use that SCARY collar. So she returned it to the pet shop. Then off we went to Petsmart.

They had a really cute PINK Easy Walk harness, that I wanted, but it only came in Small, Medium or Large. Small was too small and Medium was too big. As it turns out, I'm a tween size, small/medium.

You know, my Mom is so smart. I just love the way she does research to find things. She got on that computer and searched and searched. She found a RED Easy Walk harness in small/medium, that she has ordered from Amazon. Here's a photo.

Turns out, Amazon didn't have a PINK one. I had kind of wanted a PINK harness, because then it would match my tongue. I look good in PINK. Of course, I look good in RED too, so I think I will be happy with my new harness.

I'm such a lucky Pug. By using my Houdini escape talents, I managed to let my Mommy know that that SCARY collar wasn't going go work for me. I'm also lucky to have my friends, whose comments caused my Mommy to pause and open her eyes to an alternative way of teaching me how to walk on a leash.

Again, I am a happy Pug.

From fighting each other to harmony...

2011-04-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, now look at this photo. Isn't that the scariest thing you have ever seen? I first saw it at the pet store, where they sell all kinds of fun things for dogs like me. They sell balls and squeaky toys, in all kinds of colors. They sell beautiful collars and harnesses and leashes. They even sell dog food and, most of all, they sell TREATS. But do you think that my Mom got me any of those wonderful things? No siree. She got me that thing that's in the picture.

Earlier in the day, she had had a talk with me. She seemed kind of upset, as she explained that she had to do something about the way I walked on a leash. She said that the harnesses, she had bought for me, just were not working. She said that I still kept pulling on my leash and yanking on her arm. She told me that she was just plain tired of me walking her, instead of her walking me.

Now grant you, I enjoy having power over my Mom. I love it, when I see another dog and start running, as I'm walking on my leash, and end up yanking on my Mom's arm. It also feels good, when I see another human and am so excited to get a pat on the head or a cuddle, that I take off toward that human, catching my Mom off guard and pulling her behind me. BUT, deep down, I know that I'm a DOG and that I would be happier if she were my ALPHA DOG.

So while we were in the pet store, Mom explained that she wanted to try this training collar, to see if it might help me get used to her pace, when we are walking, instead of her having to get used to mine. I know that Mom loves me and wants the best for me, but still, that training collar looked really menacing to me. It looked like I could really get hurt wearing that.

Mom reassured me that she would make sure that I didn't get hurt. She said she would just lightly tug on the collar, whenever I started walking too fast or lagging behind or starting to chase another dog or trying to run over to another human. She told me that she wants to be able to take me more places and to walk me at some parks, where there are lots of people and other dogs. She said she didn't want it to feel like we were fighting each other. Instead, she said she would like to see us walking in HARMONY.

I had to admit to myself, and I showed her in my eyes, that I really didn't know how to do that walking in HARMONY stuff. I felt bad that at three years old, I still didn't know how to walk on a leash, the way I had often seen other dogs walking. So I gazed into her eyes, and in so doing, I let her know that I was ready to LEARN.

After we got home, I reluctantly let her put the training collar around my neck. It felt really heavy, and I immediately felt less powerful. Yet I felt trusting of my dear Mom.

I have worn the collar for two days now. I really am noticing that, when Mom wants to take me in a certain direction, she just gives the collar a little tug, and boy do I move, lickety split in that direction. I'm also walking slower, at her pace. She quickly pulls me away from things on the ground, that I see as food, but that she sees as things that may make me sick.

So anyway, I'm starting to see myself as a real DOG, not more than a DOG, nor less than a DOG. I realize that I'm not the ALPHA DOG. It's kind of a relief. It's like surrendering to a Power greater than myself, a Power who loves and takes care of me. I'm so grateful for my Mom, who is now taking more responsibility for teaching me how to be a well mannered dog. I know that, in the long run, living in HARMONY with her will bring me more happiness, than when I was living in the illusion of being the ALPHA DOG.

**************************************************************************

I want to thank all of you Pugs and Humans and that Poodle, who have commented on my blog. Your kind comments have warmed my little Puggy heart. Thanks to DW, Susan, Wilma, Tiffy, Little Janie Pug, Josie Poodle, Minnie Moo, Molly, Tweedles, Camille, Chewy, Sequoia, Petunia, Sabrina and Puglet. I also want to thank those who are following my blog. I am happy that my voice is being heard!

I visited the BOYS...

2011-04-06T21:02:00.000-07:00

So, tonight I've been cuddling with Mommy. I think you can see in my eyes how much I love her, and I know she loves me. She tells me so. We are good for each other.

Well, after all of the rain finally stopped, Mom and I went up into the mountains to see the three BOYS! What a ball I had playing with them, wrestling with them and cuddling with them. They are just the BEST. That's for sure, yes siree.

Here's a photo of the two older BOYS playing with their X-Box. I'm not exactly sure what that is, but they sure do like to play with it. I kept hearing them laughing and hooting and howlering. They were really whooping it up and having a good ole time.

If you look closely, you can see the snow outside. There were patches of snow everywhere, but I didn't care. I actually liked it. I walked right in it. No problem! Guess, I've out grown my fear of snow.

Here's the youngest boy playing with his Legos. He can build all kinds of things with those little plastic squares. I kept nosing around on the floor and finding them in all the nooks and crannies of the room. I'm a natural hunter, you know. Pugs can hunt just like those Beagles and Pointers. Yes, we can.

Lately, Mom has been taking me to the Dog Park, and then after that, we've been going over to the school next to the park. There is a track there, where school kids do running or something, and a bunch of grass in the middle of it. Anyway, I love to go over there and run like the wind. It's so much fun. Mom walks around the track, and the best part is that she brings treats for me. When I head for the gate that has a huge gap at the bottom, that I keep wanting to go through, she calls me and yells "TREATS." Boy, do I come running back to her in no time. I LOVE those treats.

I run so fast that I get pretty winded and my tongue nearly drags on the ground. When that happens, Mom takes me over to the drinking fountain, that's for humans. She turns some kind of knob or something and lots of water comes out. She holds me up and I drink and drink. I get soooo thirsty when I run. Then after we get home, I just flop down and fall asleep. I'm a goner for the rest of the day.

I'm such a happy Pug. I have BOYS in my life and a Mommy, who takes REALLY good care of me. I'm living the good life!

Raining AGAIN?...

2011-03-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I was supposed to be out of town this weekend. Mom and I had plans. But, guess what? The weather didn't cooperate. It's been raining AGAIN most of today.

Mom had gotten everything ready. She had put my crate in the front seat of the car, next to her. She had put gas in the car. She had given me a bath, gotten my nails clipped and, believe it or not, she had bought me a new sweater to wear on our trip. Here I am posing in my sweater.

Here's kind of a glamor shot.
So you might be wondering where we were going to go. Well, it's in the mountains. No that's not right. It's in what is called the foothills, but they have snow there, like in the mountains. That's what confuses me. It's on the way to the mountains. Last time we were there, I refused to walk down some snowy stairs, and Mom had to carry me down to the car.

I just don't like walking on snow. It's bad enough that I'm having to deal with all of this rain. I find it really hard to find a spot to pee. I don't like getting my feet wet, either. Although, I must say that I'm getting used to it, now that we have had so many days of rain. Now, I sometimes walk in the puddles on purpose. It's kind of fun. I like the sound of the splash and the feel of the water spattering up under my belly. Maybe I have some Lab in me. Do you think?

So, I was so disappointed that we couldn't go. I love going up there and seeing THE BOYS. There are three of them, and they just love me to pieces. They seem to always want to hold me and wrestle with me and take me for walks. The BOYS are age 13, 11 and almost 9. They seem to be the best age for liking dogs, especially a Pug like me.

The good news is that I'm going to see them and their Mom next weekend. Mom says the rain is going away and the sun will be coming out on the day after tomorrow. That means rain again tomorrow. Whew! It's always been hard for me to wait for things, so this is not going to be easy. I can hardly wait to see THE BOYS and their Mom too. I follow her all over the house, when I'm there.

Guess Mom talked to her and she said she had three hours of shoveling to do in their driveway, from all of the snow they have had. She also said that the electricity had been out on and off for several days. Boy, she and THE BOYS must be really strong, living up there with all the weather they get. Yet, they all go down hills on these board like things, Mom calls them skis, and play in the snow. I wonder if I can get used to snow, like I'm getting used to rain. Hmmmm.

So anyway, Mom and I have been cooped up in the house today. She has been crocheting and creating art. I've been mainly sleeping by the heater vent. Here I am near the vent, with my sweater on. It's nice to be WARM.
So, that's about it from my neck of the woods. I'm a happy Pug. I have a trip that I'm going on soon, and Mommy loves me so much that she bought me a new sweater. I love being a Pug.

It was a tail wagging day...

2011-03-22T23:19:00.001-07:00

Hello Everybody - Boy, have I had a tail wagging day today. Let me tell you all about it.

It all started because it's been so cold and rainy outside. So, night before last, when I got scared by the shadow of the chair against the closet door, I couldn't stop barking. Mommy kept telling me to stop, but I couldn't. After all, it's my duty to guard this house that we are living in. Who else is here to do it? She finally opened the closet door and the shadow disappeared, like a ghost or something. So finally, I was able to calm down. I think I got over excited because I've been spending too much time cooped up in this house.

Last night, it was still cold, but light outside, and Mom and I took a ride in the car. That was fun until she got out of the car and left me. She went into some big building called Costco. Man, that just scares me to death, when she leaves me. I barked and whined and pawed at her, so much so, that she could hardly get out of the car. I don't see me ever getting over that habit. Still, I felt happy getting out of the house.

So today, Mom must have thought that I really needed to get out and run around. The weather was a bit warmer and there was no rain, so we went to the dog park. That is my absolute favorite place to go. There are tons of human dog lovers there, who pick me up and pet me, to the point that I get so excited and happy, I almost wiggle out of my skin!

I also had a ball with all of the dogs that were there. Normally, there are just small dogs on my side of the park, but today there were some big ones. I like big dogs. There's something very exciting about running behind a big dog. So I ran and ran. Then my other Pug friends showed up, Gucci and Fabio. I loooove Gucci's Mom. She always brings treats, and even though I am watching my figure, Mom lets her give me some small treats. It's not like I get treats every day or anything.

The ground was damp, and I loved getting dirt all over my feet and, of course, on my face and tongue. When I smell along the ground, my tongue just drags along behind my nose. The big dogs dug some holes, and I had a blast sniffing in those holes.

Mom hangs out with the humans at the park. They seem to talk and talk. She says they are a nice bunch of people, those dog lovers. She seems to become more and more relaxed, as we spend time there.

Pretty soon, I was all pooped out after running with those big dogs. They have such long legs. Anyway, I finally just sat down next to Mom, who was standing. She says, "are you ready to go home. I guess if you are sitting down, it's time for us to go home," and off we went, with Mom waving goodbye to all of those friendly dog lovers.

After we got home, I could hardly keep my eyes open. I ended up falling asleep near the heater vent. That's my favorite place on a cold night. Then all of a sudden, Mom gets up from her computer. She picks me up and heads for the bathroom. That can only mean one thing, she is going to give me a bath. She plopped me into the huge white thing, that she calls the tub. Then she jumps in with me. She lathered me up, with all kinds of sweet smelling bubbly stuff. Boy, did that feel good. She rubs and rubs me. It's like I'm getting a professional massage.

After I got out of the tub, I felt like playing. Mom can kind of tell when I want to play. I start running around. She threw a toy for me that makes a squeaky sound. That always gets to me. I began running like crazy back and forth and all around. She calls that my "Pug Run." She laughs and laughs and claps her hands, which just gets me going even more. Pretty soon, I'm standing there panting and panting. I can hardly believe I ran so fast. She throws the toy again, and I'm so pooped that I just look at the toy across the room, but I can't seem to get my legs to move. So I just plop down on the floor to rest. Boy that was fun, and now I'm ready to sleep.

So you see, it was a tail wagging day, alright. I got to go to the dog park and get a bath in the same day. I'm such happy Pug. Yes, siree, I am.

Basic instinct....

2011-03-18T18:58:00.000-07:00

You might remember that when Mommy and I visited the Family, there was a foster dog named Pumpkin, who was there. She is a golden Labrador. While we were there, she was adopted by another family, which made me feel very happy. Well, as it turned out, the other family decided not to keep Pumpkin, so she came back to the Family's house.

Then what happened was, that while the Family was out last Saturday night, Pumpkin broke down the barrier to the upstairs and made her way into the bedrooms. Each of the girls in the Family have pet rats. Pumpkin broke into their cages and killed them and then ate them. It's hard to believe, I know, but that's what happened. Mom says that there was lots of blood left behind. Yuk!

Hearing about this has made me feel so sad. I know how it is to be a dog. I get really hungry sometimes, even if I've just had some food. I don't know why that happens, but it does. Food means so much to me. I know that my Labrador friends love to hunt. They can sniff out almost any animal. It's their basic instinct. Lots of humans like this about Labradors. So I'm thinking Pumpkin was just being a Labrador, just like I'm being a Pug.

Needless to say, this was very upsetting for the Family. The youngest girl had the hardest time. She stayed home from school until last Tuesday and couldn't sleep alone for a few nights. Mom says that when children love their pets, it's very scary for them, when something happens to them. She says she knows because she has had first hand experience, from when she was a little girl.

The Family has decided not to foster any more dogs. Still, I know how much some of my fellow dogs need foster homes, and Mommy says she doesn't think that these kind of things happen very often. So, I hope you dog lovers out there don't let this story interfere with your fostering a dog that is waiting for a forever home.

Gadding about town...

2011-03-13T20:18:00.000-07:00

So yesterday, Mom and I went together to the Farmer's Market. The market wouldn't let me in, because I'm a dog. Can you imagine that? Talk about discrimination. So anyway, Mom left me in the car, while she went around to the booths and bought some vegetables and fruit. Then she came back to the car and got me.

Sometimes I don't know what to expect from her. She seems to always catch me off guard. This time she put me in this contraption, that looks kind of like a space ship or something like that. Who'd have thought anything like that would ever happen. Anyway, the good part was that she pushed me around in it and bought some chicken on a skewer. She sat down at a table, and we listened to some really nice music. The surprise was that she shared some chicken with me. She is such a sweetheart, sharing with me. She never gives me any human food at home, but I guess because we were outside in the sunshine and the music was playing. It must have softened her heart or something.

Here's a photo of me in this new contraption. I think Mom called it "CART." I'm not really sure if she was telling me it's name or what it is. I'm thinking she meant it's name.
It made me feel kind of nervous, sitting in CART. So at first, I tried to get out of it.
Mom had strapped her bag over CART'S handle, and here I am trying to look at her over the top of it.
Here I am receiving some lovin' from a really nice girl, who seemed to love Pugs.

After we were done eating that scrumptious chicken, Mom took me over to the library, which was just across the street, so I could play in the grass. I really like grass, and this grass was so nice and long. Rolling in it sent me into ecstasy.

There was a beautiful magnolia tree there too. Mom got a nice shot of me standing under the tree.
After that, Mom put me back into CART, and we walked around town for awhile. I have to admit, I like CART. I'm thinking that we could become buddies. As I moved along in it, I felt safer and safer and found myself looking around at all of the people and other dogs and flowers and everything.

Then since that all turned out so well, today Mom took me to a store, and I rode in CART, and got to look at all of the stuff in the store. Mom was looking for some yarn, that she didn't find, but we still had fun. She says that now that I'm getting used to CART, she will take me more places, maybe even into a Mall. Boy, would that be something. I get super scared of walking on shiny floors in strange places, so maybe CART is the answer. I also don't like to be left at home alone so much or in the car. I'm really the kind of Pug that likes to gad about town, if you know what I mean.

I have Pug Power...

2011-03-08T20:12:00.000-08:00

I spent some time alone today. Mommy went to her watercolor group meeting. She has such a good time with all of her friends there. Today, she showed them some of her qi gong practice. That's how safe she feels, around all of those ladies. She looked really happy, when she came home.

My Mom has been talking to me about my powers. She says that she notices, that whenever a human looks at me, they smile and sometimes even laugh.

The other day, while my Mom was walking me on my leash, we saw a man pulling out of his driveway, and he saw me. He had a huge grin on his face, as he opened his car door, to come out and pet me. He laughed and laughed, as he was giving me all kinds of pets. I felt so lucky to have him loving me up like that. Mom was smiling too.

It seems that I have some Pug Power, that brightens up a person's day. What a gift I have. I'm so happy to be a Pug.

We visited the Family...

2011-03-07T18:15:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness, it's been awhile since I wrote to you. Between the trip to visit the Family and my Mom coming home with a cold/allergy, I haven't been able to get her to type on my blog for me, to tell you about our adventures.

I think I told you last time that the Family had four dogs and that one of them was in foster care, whose name was Pumpkin. Well, on Saturday Pumpkin got adopted. I was so exited for her to have a forever home. She was really nice and calm and seemed to like me. She had recently had puppies, and she looked kind of skinny. I heard that the family she went to has two small children and a big backyard, with a swimming pool. Labs love to swim, so that will be great for her.

Another thing that happened on Saturday is that I spent some time out in the backyard of the Family's house. There were some strange looking animals out there. They reminded me of the turkeys that I sometimes see near my house. One time there were a good dozen of them just outside our door.

Here I am taking a look at them. Luckily they were fenced up and couldn't get to me.

Later Mom told me that they are called chickens. She said that their names are Olive and Jane. They made kind of a purring sound, which didn't seem to fit their appearance. They were friendly enough, though, so I didn't bark at them or anything like that.

Mom sat out in the back yard, while I was out there and here is a close up photo she took of me. If you look closely at my eye, you can see her holding the camera.

That's pretty strange isn't it? My eyes are very reflective, I guess. Although, I'm not really sure what that means. It's just a word that Mom used.

While I was on our trip, Mom gave me several dog cookies that she had baked. So now, I'm having to cut back some on my food. She is pretty strict about my diet, but that's because she loves me so much and wants me to live a long time. She's giving me some carrots instead of cookies for treats. Actually, I like them a lot!

Mom seemed to have a great time visiting the Family. They have some tall teenage kids and a tall pre-teen girl. There was a little birthday party on Saturday night to celebrate the March birthdays. Mom's birthday is in March and the teenage boy just turned 16 and his Mom has her birthday near the end of the month. So all of the humans ate some chocolate cake.

Mom says she will NEVER give me chocolate. She said that dogs can die from eating chocolate. I'm so glad that she takes such good care of me and won't give me something that would cause me to die. Still, it looked like the humans really liked that cake, and deep down, I wanted some.

I got really tired out by all of the commotion in the Family's house, with all of the dogs and humans. I slept all the way home in the car yesterday and have slept most of today. I'm used to it just being Mom and me together in a house, and I like that very much.

I sure am grateful for my Mom and all the fun we had over the weekend. Our life together is so wonderful. I'm a happy Pug.

Visiting the Family plus 4 dogs...

2011-03-03T18:24:00.000-08:00

So, I could tell, early on today, that something was up. Mom started picking up all the clutter that seems to show up in our house. Then she went down to the garage, and I could hear her doing something???

Later when we left for the dog park, I saw what she had done. When I looked inside the car, I saw this, which means that we are going on a trip. Mom says we are going to visit the Family and Lucy, a beagle, Pei, a beagle and Owen, a big dog. She doesn't know his breed. She also said that the family is fostering a Labrador. Yikes! Mom said she doesn't know if it's a boy or a girl. All I care about is whether or not he/she is friendly.

When we go on long trips, Mom puts me in this crate to keep me safe. She has it tied down with the seatbelt, so I won't get thrown out of the car, if we get into a crash. I sure hope that doesn't happen. Mom says it's better to be safe than sorry, and she's usually right about things like that.

I like visiting the Family and all of their dogs. It's like visiting a dog park. There's a big backyard and a doggy door to go in and out of, whenever I want.

When I got inside, I looked toward the back of the car and saw this. Mom brings this when we visit the Family, because sometimes when Mom leaves the family's house, I get really SCARED. I get this crazy idea in my head, that she is leaving me for good. So, Mom usually puts me in this large crate, so that I don't get into any mischief, while she is gone, and so that I'm safe from all of the other dogs.

Mom played around with paint today. Here's what she did. It's on masa paper. She says that there's still a lot to learn about using this paper.

Later we headed for the Dog Park, for the second time this week! The sun was shining and lots of my pals were there. Mom took this photo of me up on a BIG rock. I didn't like being up that high, so I jumped off, right after she took this shot.
We ended up on the grass, outside of the Dog Park. Mom keeps my leash on me, when we are on the grass, in case I start running away from the group. She says that she can then easily step on my leash and stop me. She seems to sometimes have to protect me from myself!

Gucci, one of my Pug friends, likes to grab dogs' leashes and walk them. Here he is trying to do that with my leash. I get very exited, running with all of the other dogs. It's the greatest!

Here's one last thing. Sherrie, who is Sadie's Mom, has this huge Canon camera, that she says cost her $700. She likes to go around and take closeups of the dogs at the Dog Park. Here is a fabulous one that she took of me. Don't you just love it?

Mom says I need to take a bath tonight before we go to bed. She says that I get dirty and stinky at the Dog Park. She says that she wants me to be clean for out visit with the Family. She seems to always want the best for me. That makes me really happy. Life is good.

Running in the sunshine...

2011-03-01T18:10:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a couple of days since I have written to you. I've been enjoying my cookie treats. Mom gives me two a day. She doesn't give me more, because she doesn't want me to get FAT. That's okay. She limits my food because she loves me so much and doesn't want me to die young.

Today, in the late afternoon, the sun was out, and it was even a little bit warm. So Mom said those magic words, "Do you want to go to the Dog Park?" I got all excited and so off we went.

It had been almost a month since we had been there, and boy, did I have fun. I ran around with the other dogs and got pets from lots of the other dog owners.

Here are some photos.
When I first got there, I felt itchy. Look how long my shadow is in this shot.

Here I am with a beagle friend!

As we were leaving, Mom let me run loose on the grass, just outside of the dog park. Both, Max and Annie were there, along with some other big dog. It's a HUGE field of grass. I took off like crazy, when she let go of my leash. I ran and ran, really fast. Some people don't think that Pugs can run, but I'm telling you, we can run, and fast. I was huffing and puffing after that and walked slowly and peacefully to the car, for the ride home. I just LOVE grass. It feels soooo good.

Life is good when Mom lets me run loose in the sunshine. I'm such a happy Pug.

An unexpected surprise...

2011-02-26T20:49:00.000-08:00

The strangest thing happened today. I could hardly believe it.

My Mom went out to the store this afternoon, and when she got back home, she started to fry BACON. Can you believe it? I was shocked. Since I have lived with her, I have never, I say NEVER, seen her fry bacon. I really couldn't figure out what was going on. Here's a photo of the bacon.

I tried like crazy to get up onto the counter and wrap my mouth around some pieces of that bacon, but I was just not tall enough. Now, my brother Jim, has a beagle named, Lucy. You wouldn't believe how clever she is. She has been known to jump up onto the counter and eat butter, if there is nothing better to eat. I need to take some lessons from Lucy.

Anyway, my Mom then took out her food processor and, along with the bacon, she put some other ingredients in that. Then I suddenly remembered. Mom had promised me that she would get the ingredients she needed to make some cookies from the Bubba Rose cookie book. That's what she was doing.

Boy am I lucky. I can always count on Mom to do what she says she is going to do. Not all humans are like that. There are some out there who lie and say they are going to do something, and then they don't. I'm so happy to have my Mommy.

So, pretty soon she had a pile of dough in her food processor.

Then she used a rolling pin and rolled out the dough.

She cut the dough up, and it looked like this. She had used her Mother's old biscuit cutter and then cut each piece into fours.

Here they are after they came out of the oven.

Then after a little while, my Mom asked me if I wanted a treat. A TREAT! Can you imagine? I sat very nicely, and she put the cookie treat into my mouth. WOW! YUM, YUM! Did that ever taste good. Then I couldn't seem to help it, but I wanted more. I begged a little. She didn't give me more right away, but pretty soon she asked me to "sit" and gave me another scrumptious cookie.

Here I am after finishing my second cookie. I was looking around in my blanket to see if I left any crumbs there, when Mom called my name, and, as I looked up, she snapped this photo.

Boy, is life good, when a surprise like this comes along. I never dreamed in a million years, that Mom would take the time to bake me some cookie treats. That shows me, that I can never know ahead of time, when someone is going to do a kindness toward me. Maybe that's a good thing. The surprise felt really good.

So for all of you out there, who might want to have your Moms bake you a cookie treat, this one is called "grilled cheese with bacon." It's on Page 70, in the "Organic Dog Biscuit Cookbook," by Bubba Rose. Here's a little summary of the recipe:

1c. oat flour, 1c. brown rice flour, 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese, 6 slices of bacon, 1 egg and 1/2 c. water. The pictures my Mom took kind of tell you how to mix everything together. Then bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Mom actually doubled the recipe, since she had twelve slices of bacon in the package she bought at the store. Because I'm a small Pug and won't be eating a lot of these cookies at once, they will probably last awhile. She has put them in the refrigerator and can freeze them, if she needs to.

So again, I'm a happy Pug. My Mom keeps her word and loves me enough to cook for me.
What more could a Pug ask for?

I've got my Love to keep me warm...

2011-02-25T19:29:00.000-08:00

So there's still talk about SNOW at sea level, here in the Bay Area. Last time that happened was in 1976. It's kind of hard for me to believe it will happen, because it was sunny all afternoon. There was some rain in the morning, but that was it. Tonight is supposed to be very cold, but I don't know if there will be SNOW. I plan on getting up early tomorrow morning, just so I can see if there is SNOW on the ground.

Today, Mom busily brought in all of her plants, that she has on our deck. She watered each of them and set them around on the kitchen counter. No way is she going to let Jack Frost hurt her plants. I can't help but wonder about all of the wild animals outside, if they will be able to find a warm place to stay through the night. I saw a squirrel today running across our driveway. I tried to catch it, but my leash stopped me in my tracks. Maybe that's why Mom makes sure I'm on a leash, when we are outside, so I can't chase those little squirrels. Actually, I don't know what I would do with a squirrel, if I caught one.

My ways of staying warm include laying on Mom, either when she is in a chair or when she is in bed. That's my absolutely favorite way to stay warm. The second way I stay warm is to sit by the heater vent, and then the third way is to sleep on one of my warm blankets.

Here I am starting to go to sleep on Mom. I love it when she wears her heavy sweater, and I can snuggle up to her and feel the warmth of her sweater and the warmth of her body. I could lay there forever.

Unfortunately, Mom keeps getting up and down from her chair. I can't understand why humans keep so busy doing things. Aren't they human "beings," instead of humans doing?

Here I am sitting by the heater vent. I've noticed that I get very sleepy, when I sit by the vent, and when I get sleepy, my tongue seems to hang farther out of my mouth, than usual. You probably can see that too. I'm not sure why that happens. Maybe it's because I'm so relaxed, that my tongue just relaxes its way out of my mouth. Do you think?

Anyway, I'm happy that on this cold winter's night, I will be in bed with my Mommy, snuggling and staying warm. She says that she is happy too, because I help to keep her warm. She calls me her little "hot water bottle." Don't you just love that?

I have been told that Pugs came from the Far East and that they were bred to keep the people of Royalty warm. Guess I'm true to my ancestry. I'm so glad that I'm a useful Pug, on top of being so darn cute and loving. Guess you can tell that being a Pug means that I have a good opinion of myself. I'm sure the rest of you Pugs out there know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, hope you are all warm and cozy on this cold night. I'm grateful that "I've got my love to keep me warm," and my "love" is my Mommy.

I'm a happy Pug...

2011-02-24T20:22:00.000-08:00

So, it's been a couple of days since I last talked to you. Mom and I have had some wonderful things happening, that I want to tell you about.

First off, here is a hat that my Mom just finished knitting. She started it a couple of days ago, but now with the weather forecast talking about SNOW in the Bay Area, I think she has finished it just in the nick of time. Here's a photo.
As a matter of fact, I can see that she is wearing her hat right now, while she is typing up my post. You know, I think she likes it!

Yesterday was quite a day. After Mom got home from her qi gong practice, she hurried me out the door and into the car. I assumed I was going to the Dog Park, but it didn't turn out that way.

As I jumped out of our car, I saw Mildred and realized that I was at her house for tea. Well, my Mom was there for tea, and I was there for a play date! What fun it was to run in the grass in Mildred's backyard, all green and soft. We romped around for quite some time, and then after Mom went into the house with Mildred's Mom, I soon followed. Here's a photo of Mildred.
As you can see, she is a fluffy white dog. She had some really neat toys that I played with. The two Moms talked and talked as Moms do.

Then, when we got home, there was a surprise in the mailbox. It wasn't for me, but it was for Mom. It was a book that she had sent for on Amazon. Isn't it strange that humans order books, where there is a big, long river? I don't get it.

Anyway, she read the book last night and really liked it. In the book, there are groups of stories, that included one about a horse, that she especially liked. Here's a photo of the book. If you think that your Mom would like to buy this book, just click on the photo.

Then today, after Mom got home from her qi gong class, she walked into the house with a HUGE box. At least it looked HUGE to me. She showed it to me, and I saw that it was addressed to me. I got so excited. It was from Puglet. You may remember that I won the Bubba Rose cookie cookbook for dogs on his blog. Here is a photo of the cover of the cookbook.

When I looked inside of the box, along with the cookbook, I saw a card from Puglet. His picture makes me swoon. He is such a handsome Pug, and he had such sweet words to say to me. He is my forever friend. Here is his note.

I had known that Puglet's human is a photographer, but I didn't know that she mainly photographs dogs. If you want to be professionally photographed, here is a link to her website. Just click on the dalmatian!

So Mom has told me that she is going to go to the store and get the ingredients that she needs to make some cookies for me. She now believes what Puglet says, "Food is Love." I'd been trying to tell her that all along, but it took this charming, handsome Pug from San Francisco to tell her, before she'd believe it. I can hardly wait to taste one of those cookies, or maybe more than one!

I'm a very happy Pug these days. How could I be so lucky, as to have such a wonderful Mom and such great friends, Mildred and Puglet. Wow! Life is good.

Give me the simple life...

2011-02-21T20:40:00.000-08:00

My Mommy took a few photos of me this morning, and I thought I'd share them with all of you.

She loves it when I smile and show my bottom teeth. She thinks they are so cute and white. That's why she took this picture.

Then, very soon, I put my tongue out. This is how I normally look. Not that this is normal, but it's normal for me.

Here's a glamor photo, with my tongue out. I like my eyes in this shot. I'm loving all of the new grass. Sometimes, I eat it and sometimes I lick it, to get the water off of it. Mom took this photo while we were walking this morning, before the battery in her camera went out.

Here I am pulling Mom along on our walk. I have never quite caught onto that "heel" stuff. Occasionally, Mom and I get into a tug of war over who is the pack leader. Most of the time, it's her, but sometimes I win the war.

Mom stayed home today and got all caught up in painting, what she calls, a stylized portrait. I like it. She says she used mainly acrylic paint and some pen and ink on watercolor paper. She did some stamping, as well as painting.

Mom is mainly a watercolorist, so painting with acrylics is new to her. She's enjoying it, though. She is calling the woman in her painting, Sophia. She said she really enjoyed painting her with a very long neck. Looks kind of strange to me. I haven't seen any humans that look like this. Maybe that's why she uses the word "stylized."

I got to see my brother, Joe, and his three boys on Skype tonight. I really like to play with them, when they come over. They live kind of far away, and Joe is quite busy, so I haven't seen them since Christmas. I could see them pretty well on the screen. What fun it was to see them. Mom enjoyed talking to them, as well.

So, I guess what mattered to me the most today was walking in the tall grass and watching my Mom, while she was painting. Sometimes, it's the simple things in life that make me happy.

With LOVE, there is no separation...

2011-02-20T16:41:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it! I looked out the window this morning and the rain had stopped. That put a little song in my heart. Then I went outside. Yikes! It was cold, and all of the grass and ivy were wet. I tip toed around for forty minutes, before I had finished my morning duty. Then Mom hurried out the door, hoping to get to church on time.

She has been going to a church called the Oakland Center for Spiritual Living. She likes it, but more so, she likes meeting her two friends Brian and Molly there. They sit together in church and then afterwards go to lunch together. My Mom says that they have these great conversations together, and she always feels good after she has connected with them. Today was no exception.

When she got home, I was hoping that we would head for the dog park. I yipped and carried on, but no, she started on a painting.

Yesterday, my Mommy went down into her crowded garage, looking for an old photo of her mother. I guess that would be my grandmother. It's one my Mom has liked for many years, of my grandma, when she was a young woman. Mom thought that she might photocopy it and use it in a collage. She nosed around for a little bit, but couldn't find the container, that she has all of her old pictures in. There's just too much stuff in the garage. I did my best to help, by sniffing around, but I couldn't find it either.

In the meantime, she saw a cardboard box that looked strange. She couldn't remember what was in it. When she opened it, she found the childhood drawings of dear Carmel, who died just before she was eleven years old. I guess she would have been my sister. Anyway, she brought the box upstairs and started going through it.

She was amazed at how many drawings she had of Carmel's and at how good they were. She found several that she would like to copy and use in collages or maybe to put on Flickr. She was so grateful that, as she looked at the drawings, she didn't feel sad anymore. It has taken many years for her to find her way to some kind of happiness, since Carmel died. Now, she is grateful that she had a daughter, even if it was only for eleven years. She also knows that Carmel is safe and happy living with God. In her mind's eye, she sees and talks to her on a regular basis. Anyway, she really enjoyed seeing her drawings.

Here are a few of them.

She is using the "Peace Sign" on this blog. She is also using it on her art blog, http://sheilasartshow.blogspot.com/ along with the one of flowers and a butterfly.

She also came across one drawing by her son, Jim. She says she had given both of her sons their childhood drawings, but this one was among Carmel's drawings.

She remembered how she had called him Jimmy for the longest time. I too enjoyed seeing these beautiful pieces of art. I especially like it, that Carmel has a dog on the list of things that she loves.

My Mommy told me how she thought it was really wonderful, that what we create on earth stays here after we have gone to live with God, bringing joy to those who are left behind. Because she is now an artist, she has a great appreciation of Carmel's drawings. She is thinking about framing some of them. I like that idea too.

So last night, Mommy didn't help me with my blog. Instead, she held me for the longest time. It felt so wonderful to receive her love and attention. I like it when she stays still and holds me. It makes my life worthwhile.

Ironically this morning, as she was walking toward the church, she met a young mother, whose daughter was in a stroller. She stopped to look at the baby girl, maybe 6 months old. The baby smiled and her eyes lit up, as she listened to my Mom tell her what a beautiful smile she had. Her Mother said that she is "in love" with her little daughter. My Mom knew that that was true. She could feel it, and also she knew, because she feels the same way about her dear daughter, Carmel. With love, there is no separation.

I'm always being taken care of...

2011-02-18T18:00:00.000-08:00

Well, it's raining like cats and dogs outside. How do you suppose that saying got started? Anyway, it's been a few days now, and I'm tired of it. I'm a California Pug. I'm not used to having to deal with RAIN. Now I know that some of you Pugs, out there, have to deal with SNOW. I don't know how you do it. I don't do FREEZING at all.

So, I got in such a tizzy tonight about the rain, that I went out on the deck and started barking at it. Can you imagine that? My Mom put an stop to that really quickly. She put me in "time out," for what seemed like a very long time. I'm just so tired of tip toeing around in the wet grass and wet ivy to find the "perfect spot." Gosh. Hope this ends soon. How do you supposed the animals survived 40 days and 40 nights of rain, like it says in the Bible? That seems impossible to me, even if there was an ark.

Here's a sweet photo of me that Mommy took. Notice how she is caressing the back of my head. Boy, do I love it when she does that.

She took off again today. She just isn't staying home much these days. She left early and went to her qi gong practice and then had coffee with two of her friends from the qi gong group. They talked and talked. My Mommy seems to like to talk a lot with her friends.

After that, even though it was pouring outside, she took off for the nearest Barnes and Nobles store, which is about twenty minutes from home. She had a $25 gift card from Christmas, that she wanted to buy something with. After browsing for an hour or so, she ended up getting a CD, that she can play while she is doing her qi gong. It's called, "Reiki Healing Touch." She then had a bowl of soup in the dining area, using her gift card, and then headed toward the magazines. She was looking for a magazine with ideas about doing mixed media art. She ended up getting this magazine.

She says she is going to start reading it as soon as she is done typing up by blog post.

After that, she headed for Target. She wanted to buy some drawers for her art supplies. So, when she got home, I saw her climbing up the stairs carrying these large white things. She almost didn't say "hi" to me. She got busy right away, putting things into the drawers, of these sort of modules she bought.

I can kind of understand. The way things were, there were art supplies all over the kitchen table and on the card table, where she needs room to work. So now things are tucked away, nice and neat. We'll have to see how long that lasts...hee, hee!

You know, I don't care if things are a mess, and I don't think Mommy cares all that much either. She says that it just becomes difficult to find what she needs, when things are strewn all over the place. She said she doesn't want to spend her time looking for things, when she wants to paint. I can understand that...and, of course, I'm a very understanding Pug, except when it comes to RAIN.

Mommy has been spending quite a bit of time reading a book that she likes, that is about mixed media. Since she has mainly been a watercolorist, mixed media is new to her. She is very excited about it, though. Here's the book that she's had her nose in for the past several days.

She showed me some of the artwork in this book. Boy, they really look good to me. I'm excited to see what my dear Mom comes up with, as she broadens her knowledge of art.

So, I'm sleeping next to the heater vent right now. I only have one more time left, for today, that I have to go out and face that rain before bedtime. Maybe it will stop raining, just long enough for me to finish what I have to do and get back into the house. Sometimes, things like that happen for me. It reminds me that I'm always being taken care of by the Universe. It's very comforting for me, knowing that.

My human has become my Mom...

2011-02-17T20:02:00.000-08:00

So, today it rained. Well, it more than rained, it stormed. This means that when I had to go outside to use the grass, I had to search and search for a place that wasn't soaked, that had some dryness. Not an easy task.

This morning, when my human took me out, she wore her rain boots and used an umbrella. She helped me to find a spot that was under a tree, that wasn't so wet. I was way too uncomfortable to do my duty in a wet spot, with the rain coming down on me.

In the process of helping me, she stepped in some dog poop. Yuk! She hates it when that happens. So off we went to the grass, so that she could clean off her boot. Then on the way back to the house, she kept jumping into puddles and splashing all over the place, as if I wasn't wet enough. She said it reminded her of, when she was a little girl, walking home from school in the gutter, that was full of water, rather than the sidewalk. She would swish and splash in the gutter, wearing her rain boots. She has really been enjoying owning a pair of rain boots, after so many years.

Storm or no storm, she took off in the car to go to her qi gong class. I was so happy to stay home and cuddle in my blanket, on my bed, near the heater vent. That's how I like to spend a stormy day.

She really likes her qi gong class. She feels like the form is becoming more automatic. She had been out shopping yesterday and made some kind of move and then noticed that she was moving her palms toward her lower abdomen, giving herself chi. It came so automatic. After she got home from shopping, she did the entire form TWICE!

Today, she got the "doodle a day" calendar in the mail. It's kind of late to start it, but here is her first doodle. I think it looks like some kind of bird.

She says she is going to try to draw a doodle each day. She finds it to be relaxing and fun.

She has also been busy reading up on painting a portrait in mixed media. She has gotten the book "Art at the Speed of Life." She is getting lots of ideas from there. She is realizing that the many paintings that she has been doing of girls and young women are very common for women to paint. Many of those doing Art Journals have women, as subjects for their pages.

So, she is going to use acrylic paint on watercolor paper and paint a woman/girl on it. There is an example in the book, that she is going to use as a guide.

She says she keeps feeling the pressure of the art show, that is coming up in April. She has some watercolors to enter in the show, but she would like to have something new to add to them. She will be putting in from six to eight paintings.

We haven't really discussed this, but I'm wanting to call her Mom, Mommy and/or Mother, instead of my human. She loves me like a mother, and she treats me like her child, so it make sense to me that I call her Mom. She is telling me now that she agrees, that that is a good idea.

So dear Mother, thank you for loving me so much and for taking such good care of me. I am so grateful to have you. She says that she is also extremely grateful to have me with her. Now we are a family...all is well.

You won, Bella. You won!!!

2011-02-15T19:14:00.000-08:00

So, tonight I was busy having my nightly chew on some rawhide, when I heard a scream of joy coming from my human, who was sitting at her computer. She jumped up and came over to me and began repeating over and over, "You won, Bella. You won." She looked so happy and excited, I couldn't help but look up.

You can see how puzzled I look. I couldn't imagine what in the world I had won. I don't even know what winning is or what it feels like.

Then she explained that on November 13, 2010, she and I had gone to a Pug meetup group at Point Isabel. My boyfriend Billy came with us, along with his human. While we were there, we met Puglet and his human, along with his roommate, Dutch, which is this big, beautiful dalmatian. His human was busy taking lots of pictures, with a really nice Nikon camera. My human approached her and said something, she can't remember what, and Puglet's human said that she was taking pictures for Puglet's blog called the Daily Puglet. My human, liking to read blogs, made a note of the name of the blog in her head.

Here is a photo of me with my human at the Pug Meetup.

At some point, my human had started following Puglet's blog, reading it now and then. Around the first of February, she was reading his blog and noticed that most of the comments were being made by other Pugs from other blogs. She started looking at some of the other Pug blog sites. Then she got the hare brained idea to have me start this blog. Well, as it turns out, it wasn't such a hare brained idea after all.

On Februay 11th, my human was reading Puglet's blog and saw that there was a contest going on to win the Bubba Rose cookie cookbook for dogs. All she had to do was to have me leave a message on the blog, and there would be a randomized drawing on Valentine's Day. This was how Puglet was going to bring a little love to one of his Pug followers. So I left a message.

Tonight after my human came home from having helped a friend with her computer, she began to read her e-mail and there was a message from Chewy congratulating me for winning the cookbook. Chewy is a cute Pug puppy, who likes to eat yogurt. Her blog is on my Pug Blog List. So anyway, that's when my human jumped up and came over to tell me that I had won. Here I am again, just before she told me.

I love chewing a bone or rawhide on my favorite blanket. The wind has been blowing like crazy tonight, and I feel so warm on my blanket.

So anyway, Puglet's human is going to mail us the cookbook. I can hardly wait to taste one of those cookies. My human has never cooked for me, let alone baked for me. This will be quite the big deal, for her to make me some cookies.

She told me that she has had such a happy day today, seeing her Coda friends this morning, for a meeting, then seeing her therapist and realizing that she is progressing at becoming more loving toward herself and others and then having fun helping her friend get onto the Watercolor Connection blog. She said that she has had a full day, and it was topped off by my winning the Bubba Rose cookie cookbook. Life is good.

Loving from the inside out...

2011-02-13T21:26:00.001-08:00

Lucky me. My human was home all day today. She spent some time throwing my ball for me and also holding me, but she spent most of the afternoon working on a painting. Here it is.

She painted it on some crinkled masa paper. She loves to paint young girls, not sure why that is. She likes to paint eyes, and I sure like the eyes in this one. She keeps looking at it. I think she is thinking about what needs to be fixed on it and also if something else may be added to it. So, eventually, she may change this one a bit.

She has prepared some more masa paper, using the method, where after you crinkle it and wet it, you paint on the back of it. She has a paper that looks like this. She's not sure what she will do with it.

She has looked at some of Chen-Khee Chee's crinkled masa paintings and read a couple of blogs about how to do it. What it comes down to is that at this point, she needs to look at that paper and decide what she sees in it and then paint in a way to bring that out.

It's kind of like when Michelangelo was carving David, he saw David in the marble, so all he had to do was chip away the extra marble. So, she needs to become like Michelangelo. That shouldn't be too hard. (:

She didn't go to any church today. She can't seem to find one that fits for her. So maybe, it's best she find God within herself and her friends and family. She meditated for a little while today. She says she would like to become more disciplined about doing that. From what she has heard, meditation benefits the body, mind and spirit in a very positive way. So, she's thinking about it, developing a regular meditation practice.

Tomorrow is the big day, Valentine's Day. My human has sent for some nice books on Amazon for her Valentines present. Maybe she will get them tomorrow. She ordered "Life is a Verb," "Art at the Speed of Life," "Whispers," and a doodle a day desk calendar. She had been wanting them for awhile, so now they are on their way.

Other than that, she is kind of glad that she is not dealing with whether or not a man will give her something for Valentine's day, and then after receiving the gift, wondering what does the gift really mean. She says that she would like to have a man, but not just any ole man. She is trusting that if it's meant to be, it will happen naturally. In the meantime, she is loving me up and loving herself more each day.

This is the gift that she has wanted for herself since she was very young. She spent so many years with people who didn't know how to show their love, that she began to believe that that was how everyone was and that no one could love her. Then she realized that the person who really needed to love her was herself, that others may or may not be able to give her love, but she can always give it to herself.

Of course, she has had to learn how to do this. She had spent so many years believing what others said about her, that she had a very low opinion of herself. She has spent the last twenty years practicing self love. Since the old saying, "practice makes perfect," really is true, she is getting pretty good a loving not only herself, but others, even a little Pug dog like me. Just as she takes really good care of me, making sure I have enough to eat, time to play, other dog friends and protection from anyone or anything that might hurt me, so she does the same thing for herself.

So on this Valentine's Day of love, she and I are finding lots of love in our lives, from many sources, but mostly from the inside out.

Cong Hei Fat Choi !!!!...

2011-02-12T19:40:00.000-08:00

So, my human didn't get a chance to write on my blog last night. She was busy holding me. She held me for the longest time. I'm the luckiest Pug in the world.

Today, she took off bright and early to meet some of her qi gong classmates at the BART station to go over to San Francisco and meet up and do the form with the San Francisco group. They ended up doing the form at the Justin Herman Plaza, near the Ferry Building. The weather was bright and sunny and a perfect temperature.

She said it really felt good to do the form outside in that location, with the beautiful blue sky above. She said it was a wonderful experience.

They did the form twice after doing some exercises first. Then they headed toward Chinatown, where the leader of the group, Lawrence, grew up. He had lots of stories to tell about his times, living in Chinatown. He led everyone to a really nice dim sum restaurant, the City View on Commercial St. My human said the food was different from what she normally eats, but she liked it and enjoyed the company.

Here are a couple of photos that my human took in Chinatown. The Chinese New Years parade is next weekend. Notice the dragon heads behind them. She said that they heard a lot of fire crackers today.

Then they all walked, as a group, back down to the Ferry Building, as there was a Farmer's Market down there. It was packed with people on this Saturday morning. After awhile, my human's knees began to hurt from all of the walking. Also, she wasn't really interested in buying anything at the Farmer's Market. She says that she really enjoyed getting to know these new people, Jan, Peggy, Bob, Debra and Jerry. She already kind of knew Lawrence from going to the practices he leads. Everyone was so very nice and enjoyable to be around. She came home feeling like she had made some new friends.

She took me for a short walk, after she got home, but, of course, her legs were tired, so we didn't go too far. Tonight we have just hung out here at home, my human relaxing from a long day and me relaxing, because that's what I do best. I did take a quick run around the room for a few minutes. After being cooped up all day, I felt like I needed to run a bit. I am now snoring away, as my human writes this blog post.

The moral of the story is that we not pass up the chance to allow ourselves pleasure. Life has so much to give, if only we are willing to receive. Cong Hei Fat Choi !!!!

All is well...

2011-02-10T22:11:00.000-08:00

So, today my human felt well, after fighting off her virus. She showered and carried on this morning and took off for her qi gong class that started at 12:30pm. This left me home to sleep the afternoon away.

I was all excited when she got home. She seemed so calm and at peace after attending her class. She happily took me for a little walk. As we walked, I got into my "habit."

I don't talk about it much, because it's a little embarrassing, but I'm a cigarette butt addict. I'm not sure if they have a twelve step program for this or not. Anyway, I just can't seem to resist picking up cigarette butts and chewing on them. I will swallow them too, if I'm not stopped by my human. She's pretty quick to notice when I have grabbed one off the ground. She tells me to "put that down." Sometimes I do, and she tells me what a good girl I am and sometimes I don't. If she's close enough to me, she sticks her finger into my mouth and pulls it out. She says, "No, Bella, don't eat that." When we're at the dog park, I sometimes find one, and I'm too far from her, for her to grab it out of my mouth. Also, I'm off leash, so I can run away from her. Sometimes, I look like I'm being very defiant, chomping away on the butt and looking right at her. I've got a lot to learn about being more obedient. It's just not my strong suit.

Here's a photo of me that my human took last night, just before bedtime. It looks like I have a hair near my mouth. If it had been a cigarette butt, I would be chewing it.

My human says she is very happy today to feel more energy. So tonight, she painted a painting. She had prepared some masa paper, by crinkling it and pasteing it onto a piece of watercolor paper. She used watercolor and ink. She tried some acrylic paint, but she didn't like it. It was too heavy and opaque for this paper. Anyway, she says she's happy with her first try at painting on this paper.

It was so funny. She had thought to herself that it had a bit of Van Gogh in it and wouldn't you know that after she posted it on Facebook, her son wrote..."It looks a little like a Van Gogh." She said that she thinks that it's all the lines that make it seem like a Van Gogh. Here's a photo of her painting. She calls it "A Masa Fall."

I like it quite a bit. She said that she will be using this paper again, because she liked painting on it. So maybe I will be seeing more paintings like this.

I'm so happy that my human is well. It's nice to see that smile on her face and to see her getting wrapped up in her qi gong and her painting. It seems to make her happy and after all, isn't that what life is about, being happy? That's a topic for another blog post. Good night, all!

Living life on life's terms...

2011-02-09T20:20:00.000-08:00

I wasn't going to write tonight, but then I realized that I feel better and can go to sleep quicker, when I have written something about my day.

Today has been a quiet, slow day. My human wasn't feeling well last night, so even though we went to bed early, we slept until 10:30am. Boy, was that wonderful. I love snuggling under the covers with my human. We were awakened by the telephone. Her son called to see how she was doing and to talk.

Those darn battery phones don't work too well for her, so she got up and used the one phone she has that attaches to the wall. It's an old Princess phone made in Singapore by AT&T. She remembers when phones were made by Western Electric for AT&T, way back whenever it was. They were really well made phones that didn't die on you. My human's brother-in-law worked for Western Electric for many years and retired from there. So she keeps this phone plugged into the wall, for when the batteries go out on her other "walk around" phones.

Anyway, the phone call got us going into our daily routine. My human felt tired most of the day, so we didn't go outside except for when I had to use the grass. She took care of some business, having to do with Income Taxes, whatever they are, and that's about all she accomplished today. She said she kind of enjoyed having a day without much activity.

Normally on Wednesdays, she meets with one of her friends in the morning at a local coffee shop, and they talk and talk and talk. The two of them can talk for the longest time, and when they are done talking, my human says that she always feels happier. She says that they are good for each other.

My human has gotten caught up in qi gong, Dayan qi gong, to be exact. On Wednesday afternoons, she usually goes to a one hour group practice of qi gong. She likes to do the form with others. She finds it relaxing and inspiring to move with others. She also can pick up ways to improve her form by being with those who've been doing the form for a longer time than she. Well, my point is, she didn't go there today either.

She says she is feeling better tonight. I'm happy for her, but not so much for myself. I like it when she is home all day. She holds me and talks to me in her sweet way, and I feel so safe and happy.

Today, she talked about how she has been learning to accept life on life's terms. She said that today is one of those days, when she has had to change her normal plans to accommodate the virus that she is getting over. She talked about how we never know what the next moment will bring and so life becomes easier, if we go with the flow. So she didn't get mad or anything because she couldn't do what she normally does and because she didn't feel strong, she just accepted it and took it easy. Actually, she didn't have much say in it, her body was telling her to slow down. But she did listen to her body and did not use her mind to override what her body needed. She used to do that in the past, continue on with work that needed to be done, even when she was sick. Those days are over, she said. She mostly accepts life on life's terms.

So, I mainly slept today, which I like to do, second to eating. I did a little barking when the doorbell rang and a young man was at the door saying, "I'm here to do the tootering." Whoops, wrong house. My human steered him in the right direction and off he went. That was my excitement for the day. I told you that we had a quiet and slow day. So we will see what happens tomorrow. As Scarlett said, "Tomorrow is another day."

Getting honest with the WCC...

2011-02-08T18:44:00.000-08:00

So today was the big day, all of the watercolor ladies came over to our house. After the first person arrived, and I jumped all over her, I lost my privileges and was relegated to the garage. I kind of understood why, because I realized that I got overly excited, but I'm a Pug, what can I say.

My human and the other artist ladies had quite a time. I could hear them from the garage. They talk and talk and talk, and I guess they ate lunch too. After all the food was out of the way, my human came and got me and gave me some chicken and a bone, that she had gotten from the butcher. She put me out on the deck with all of that. When I got tired of that, I began scratching on the sliding glass door, and my human brought me inside.

She was quite busy then, giving the demo about Facebook and the group's blog. One of the nice artist ladies took a liking to me because her son has a Pug named Panda. They live up north somewhere, I think Seattle. Anyway, she sat down on the floor and held me, which really felt good and also kept me from bothering other people.

Then they all got up from the living room chairs and went back to the table for their business meeting. These artist ladies love to meet together and talk about stuff having to do with art. They even showed some of their art to one another.

My human had previously told the group that she was no longer interested in going to workshops organized by the group or interested in showing her paintings. She had said, "I'm not interested in participating in any more workshops or shows...it is not my goal to learn how someone else paints/collages, it is my goal to find my own way of expressing my art. If I decide to learn a technique from someone else, it will be from a person of my own choosing. It also is not my goal to show my work...I am doing my art strictly for my own appreciation and pleasure."

So the chairperson asked everyone else in the group to talk about where they stood on these two topics. As it turned out, some of the other members felt the same way as my human. She didn't expect that. She is grateful to herself for having taken the risk to express her truth. It seemed to her that this conversation was a really wonderful time, where everyone got honest with the group.

Here I am under the table, which is where I like to be most, near feet, while they were having their meeting.

Here I am with the nice artist lady who played with me and held me. That's another artist from the group sitting by her.

I forgot to say that my human felt kind of sick during the night and even during the meeting today. She forgot about how she felt for awhile when she was giving the computer demo and then after that, still felt kind of sick to her stomach. She really enjoyed herself, though, laughing and talking with her friends. She really feels like these artist ladies are wonderful, quality people. She was so happy to have them at our house. She feels really blessed to have them in her life.

Here is a great picture of me with my human. Don't we look great together? You can tell that there is a lot of love there between us. Notice how content I look. I always feel safe when my human is holding me.

It was a busy day, and I didn't get any of my naps. So tonight I'm sleeping and snoring, as my human types up my blog post for tonight. All is well.

Who'd have thought, we are Tweeting on Twitter....

2011-02-07T20:06:00.000-08:00

So the biggest news of the day is that I'm on Twitter...never thought the day would come. In between cleaning and shopping for her big shin dig tomorrow with her watercolor friends, my human signed us up on Twitter.

I Tweeted Josie. She is a black poodle that's as cute as can be. She moved to San Francisco several months ago, but now it's so exciting, because now we can Tweet one another.

Here is a very adorable photo that my human uploaded onto Twitter, to be my profile photo. I just love it. She didn't have time today to write a short bio, but she will one of these days very soon. She has already played around with the design of my profile page. It looks great. I love it that my human is such a great techie!

On the side panel of my blog here, you can find a link to my Twitter home page, if you'd like to take a look and maybe tweet me. I don't know how many of my friends are on Twitter, so I have only Tweeted Josie, so far.

My human spent most of the day cleaning and setting up the table for her meeting tomorrow with her watercolor friends. Not only is she hosting the meeting, but she is also going to give a demo on using Facebook and on participating in the group's blog. Click here to see their blog. The name of the group is The Watercolor Connection, but in reality, they are all getting caught up in doing mixed media, using collage. It really doesn't matter, they are all a talented bunch of women, so whatever they create will be worth seeing.

My human is just about ready for them all to arrive. We are going to go to bed soon, as she wants to get up early and get a few more things done in the morning. I'm happy about that. There's nothing I enjoy more than sleeping with my human. Lately, when she has been staying up so late, I have been heading for the bedroom and yelping until she comes and puts me up onto the bed. That's right, I can't jump onto the bed. It's too high. So she sweetly lifts me up onto the bed and then goes back to whatever she is doing and joins me later. We've got it all worked out, so that we each get our way.

So that's about it for tonight. Look for me on Twitter!!!

A trip back in time...

2011-02-06T20:12:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, thought you might like to see how great I look when I wake up in the morning. It is so nice and comfy to snuggle under the covers. What more could a Pug ask for...well maybe for more FOOD!

After breakfast today, my human took off in her car to meet a friend of her's from the Dog Park at a Catholic church here in town. She was meeting up with Billy's human. Billy is a handsome black Pug that is crazy about me.

So anyway, they wanted to check out this church to see if they would like it. Here is a photo of Billy's human and my human. This was taken on Halloween.

Here's Billy with his human. Isn't he a handsome Pug, so very regal. He can't seem to stop sniffing me, whenever he sees me. It's really something!

So my human went to the church, which brought back some unhappy memories from her past. She remembered both her father's and her daughter's funerals. Even so, she realizes that that was in the past and that new happier memories could take place at this church, which also happens to be the church, where she had been married.

She was married for 26 years, but partly due to Carmel's death, she gradually grew apart from her husband and left the marriage about 20 years ago. After that, she didn't feel like she belonged in the Catholic church, being divorced and all. Also, she was on a spiritual journey and had to leave the marriage and the church in order to grow.

Today, it felt to her like she was going back to where she had started. She found herself having to interpret many of the words that were preached at the mass. That can be laborious, to make sense of what is being said. She also had a problem with the Parish Director referring to everyone as being Catholic and if you're a Catholic, you do such and such. That sounded so much like separation, like our high school acts this way, and in order to belong, you need to act this way.

She is feeling like she cannot go back to that kind of thinking. She feels more like a Taoist now, where "all are One," without a lot of divisions.

So even though she thought she might go back to the Catholic church, she has decided not to. She used to do things like this with her mother, go back to her to see if she had changed. There was always very little change, if any.

Later after running some errands, my human came home. I was so happy to see her. It was a beautiful day outside and pretty soon I heard the word I love to here, "Do you want to go to the Dog Park?" Wow, I got all excited again.

While I was at the Dog Park, I saw some of my friends. Here's a photo of Gucci. He's a young handsome boy Pug, who is very fun to be around. He's looking at his human because she always brings treats. All the dogs love her, and I do too.

At one point Max's human gave me some loving. He does this whenever he sees me. He scratches and rubs me and whispers sweet nothings into me ear. I just swoon, when he does that. Here's a picture of how I swoon.

Billy showed up kind of late and wouldn't look at the camera. Still we had fun together.

After we got home, my human got the wise idea to give me a bath. Grant you, I felt pretty dirty and stinky. So in the tub I went. She kept trying to take my picture while I was all sudsed up, but I kept looking away from the camera. I don't like my picture taken when I'm in the tub. Do you? So here's an adorable picture of me after I got out of the tub.

Then she gets going with the hair dryer. Now it scares me at first, but then I kind of like it. It reminds me of the heater vent. So she dried me a little with that.

Here I am with the dryer. That's my human in the mirror. She loves me so much that she likes me to be clean. I'm so lucky to have her as my human.

PS: Bubba, I'm hoping that I didn't hurt your feelings because of way I talked about your tongue. That wasn't very nice of me. I'm sorry.

I am a helper...

2011-02-05T18:36:00.000-08:00

So here I am sitting next to the heater vent. This was taken last night before bedtime. You can see how I'm not really wanting to look at the camera, but my human managed to catch me at a weak moment.

Today was like Spring here in the San Francisco Bay Area. My human said she had a lot to do today, so we were pretty busy all day. I didn't get my usual naps because I have a need to be in on whatever my human is doing. I like to 'help' by hanging around her feet, while she is moving things. I almost got stuck in a corner at one point, and I wasn't so sure I could find my way out, but I did.

My human is getting ready to have her watercolor friends over for their monthly meeting. They will be coming on Tuesday. She decided to work on the deck because it was so nice and warm out. I loved being out on the deck 'helping' her. She swept and scrubbed and watered the plants that were half dead from not being watered for most of the winter. When it's cold, my human doesn't go out on the deck. She kind of acts like it doesn't exist. I'll bet the plants were happy to get a drink of water for a change. She also set up the hummingbird feeder. I can hardly wait to see the hummingbirds show up for their sweet treat.

She kept moving and shuffling things around for quite some time. Then she decided to put out the chairs and table that are usually out there in the summertime. She moved her Healthrider clear to the other side of the deck. That thing just keeps hanging around out there. It's been there for years, maybe since she moved in, which was about 20 years ago. She keeps saying she is going to use it to stay fit. She even said it again today. I haven't seen her on it very much, but maybe she will surprise me this time. Here is a photo of me on the deck with all of the stuff. Looks like you can see that Healthrider sitting there in the background. That's my orange ball behind me. I love playing with that ball every chance I get.

It's a little hard to see the photo because it was starting to get dark, when she was taking the picture. I can see that my tongue is hanging out to my left, outside of my mouth. Hmmmm. I have a Pug friend from the dog park named Bubba. He's a big ole Pug, and he has the longest tongue you've ever seen in your life, that hangs out of the side of his mouth. As a matter of fact, he won a prize for the Pug with the longest tongue at the "Pugs of August" extravaganza that I went to with my human last summer. I sure hope my tongue doesn't start being like Bubba's. Prize or no prize, I don't want a tongue like that.

Here's another photo, of the hummingbird feeder, and you can see all the pretty trees that grow here. I love being able to see the trees outside our windows.

My human said that she saw two young deer today out behind our house. One was a buck with small antlers. There's a trail back there that keeps being used each year by the deer.

Tonight my human got the masa paper ready to paint on. She didn't do any painting today, but hopefully she will find some time tomorrow. She is wanting to use some of the new Indian ink that she bought yesterday at the art store. She bought several colors and is excited to try them out. She may also use some acrylic paint and/or watercolor paint.

I am so happy that we both got so much fresh air today. All is well in our world.

In the eye of the camera...

2011-02-04T19:50:00.000-08:00

So now that we have this blog, my human keeps walking around with a camera in her hand or pocket. She wants to take my picture every time I turn around. I'm sharing the one she took this morning, when I first got out of bed. Who wants their picture taken when they first get out of bed? Anyway, I got afraid and tried to attack the camera. You can probably tell that I'm afraid because I put my paw out to try to stop the flash from coming. It's the flash that scares me. Well, guess I'd better get used to it, now that I'm kind of a celebrity with this blog and all. The thing too, about seeing my picture, is that I'm noticing that I have some gray hairs on my chin. Yikes. I'm only three years old. I must be prematurely gray. Wouldn't you know.

I laid in bed and enjoyed being under the covers this cold morning, until my human was done in the bathroom, doing all those things she does to make herself look beautiful. You know, I think that she is always beautiful, even when she first wakes up in the morning. I even like her breath, which she says is bad. How can breath be bad? Don't we need to breathe to live?

Anyway, after she got all gussied up, off she went in the car, and I headed for the heat vent upstairs. I love sleeping near the heat vent during the winter. She said she would be right back. She always tells me that when she leaves. She must know that it makes me feel safer to know she will come back to take care of me.

She went to see her therapist. That's what she calls her. She goes there to experience what it's like to be closer to herself. I'm glad she goes there, because she is also learning how to be closer to me and others whom she loves in her life. She says that she is becoming clearer and clearer about who she is and what she wants. She calls this awakening, like when I'm asleep, sometimes it takes me awhile to wake up. Sometimes, I don't want to wake up and so I will do all that I can to keep from waking up. But my Mistress says, that it's important for her to wake up in order to be present in her life. Imagine, sleeping away one's life. She says that that happens. Wow, that doesn't sound like fun.

She also talks about living in the moment. She says that she sometimes gets caught up in thinking about the past or the future and misses out on this moment. She says that she is living more in the moment now than she used to. I'm glad to hear that. I sure wouldn't like it if she was mentally asleep and forgot to feed me or take me out to the grass. Boy, would that be something. I notice that she often looks directly into my eyes and gives me a command or tells me how wonderful I am, so she seems pretty awake to me. Thank goodness for that.

After seeing her therapist, she headed to the art store in Berkeley. For some reason she thought she had to go there by going on hwy 880, which was very crowded with trucks and cars, instead of going there on hwy 580. She got a bit confused, but found her way to the art store and then came home the better way on hwy 580.

She had such a great time at the art store. There are so many things to buy for creating art that are so much fun. She got some paper that she wanted to get and then bought a few other fun things and headed back toward home, stopping buy to see an art show downtown before coming home to me.

I ran down the stairs like crazy, when I heard her coming into the house. I was so happy to see her, I couldn't help but wiggle all over the place. She took me out to the grass and then fed me my food...mmmmmm so good. Tonight she took some time to hold me in her arms. It felt so heavenly. She called me her baby and told me that she would always take care of me and that there was nothing to fear, not even cameras. She stroked my head and said how much she loved me. Wow, I love those awakened moments. I feel so peaceful and happy.

I'm sleeping now, on my bed. My human is so nice to type up my blog post for today. After she does that, she to going to prepare the new paper she bought in order to start a painting tomorrow. Boy,I can hardly wait to see what she paints.

Hello, I'm Bella Mia...

2011-02-04T00:15:00.000-08:00

So, it's very late at night, and I'm trying to sleep, but my human is still up typing away on her computer. Does she have no sense of how late it is or that there would be some time tomorrow to work on this blog. No, she gets an idea in her head about me having a blog and, whammo, she's off and running with it.

Anyway, I'm kind of happy about it. I often haven't felt like I had a voice in our relationship. You see it's just she and I living in this house together. Sometimes when I need to go out and use the grass, although I prefer the ivy, I squeal and yelp and carry on for quite some time before she finally looks up and asks me, "is everything okay, Babe?" My name is Bella Mia, but she often calls me Babe. It's kind of a 'pet' name that she has for me, because she loves me so much.

So what happened tonight was that she read Puglet's blog and then she saw 29 comments were on her latest post. My human decided to read them and check out the other Pug blogs, and what do you know, there were tons of them. She got so excited that she quickly decided to start another blog for me. She already has four. My gosh that's a lot, but now she's going to help me out by typing up my blog for me. She is a sweetie, that human of mine.

She has a special place in her heart for me. You see, she had a lovely daughter a long time ago, who when she was almost eleven years old, died from bone cancer. This was very hard for my human, and she has spent many years grieving the loss of her sweet Carmel. Luckily, she had twin sons to raise, or, who knows, she might not have made it this far.

Anyway, she got me because I am a girl. She often asks me, "Are you my baby girl, my angel from heaven?" and she hugs me and kisses me in such a loving way, that I am in ecstasy. I'm the only girl who has lived with her since Carmel left to go live with God, well the only canine girl, those two cats don't count. She says that she sometimes sees Carmel and talks to her, and I believe her when she tells me that. As a Pug, I know a lot about different dimensions of reality and all that stuff. There are ways to communicate with those who have moved on to live with God. Still, my human likes having my warm body next to hers. I give her a lot of comfort and love. That's what Pugs are for, you know. And I'm a very loving Pug.

I have a lot more to tell you about her and our life together, but, for now, it looks like she is getting a little tired and so we will go to bed. Yes, I sleep in bed with her. I'm such a lucky Pug. Talk to you later.