Outside Fence

Hi, it is me Shaker Baby. Yeah, they still call me that even though I am 2.

Well Mom broke her wrist so life is a little different right now. For one we go outside fence in shifts now. Mom says it is easier on her constitution. I don't understand, and even Russ, who has been with Mom the longest says he doesn't get it. But, you see, I am a very very clever Cardi and I have figured out how to open all the dividing doors. So I get to go out with everybody. Mom laughs at me and says, it is a good thing that I am easy to live with.

I found this picture that the neighbor took of me keeping the deck safe from marauders. See I can do it all open doors, make Mom laugh and guard the house (OK the deck, but I could guard the house).

Pool Time

Shaker's favorite season is pool season. There is nothing he enjoys more than a good lounge in the pool. Today he shared with Ella.

Ruffles is 3

Russ better know as Ruff Ruff, Ruffles or Ruffle Buns, is special, not because he finished his championship like a horse on steroids, but because he is the foundation for my obsession with Cardigans. From that fateful Sept, afternoon at Foggy Bottom to this very moment he is an on-going joy in my life. His quirky sense of humor and undieing devotion to me are the cornerstones of my Cardi obsession. My little buddy is singularly responsible for the demise of two lap tops and a Spotbot, but he is also responsible for more belly laughs than I can count. (Many many thanks to Cindy and Alec for sending this guy into my life. ) It has been a great 3 year ride, and my most sincere hope is that my ride with Ruffle Buns goes on for many many more!

Recess

My wonderful neighbor took this picture last fall. He called it Recess and I think that sums it up!

With Kim's broken wrist, we have been dividing the pack into 3 and 3 to go outside. Rainbow usually goes out with her Dad, Russ, and they laps around the yard. Rainbow is really fast and Russ ends up chasing her and sometimes Shaker is lagging behind. Rainbow is also showing some definite herding instincts, even if she is still small. Here is a new picture of Rainbow and her Dad Russ.

Way Too Long!

It has been far to long since I posted! So I guess I'll do a general update.

Rainbow and Ella are either the best of friends or the worst of friends. But aren't most female siblings like that?

Shaker continues to love his pool. He soaks his whole 45lb self in the water and then finds a nearby victim to shake the excess on.

Music and Duchess are resident old ladies are enjoying the summer and taking the attitude that when they are old they shall wear red and purple.

Ruffles, well he is still my playful boy who turned 3 just a few short days ago! His favorite game remains anything involving a ball and being chased by anyone or anything that has an ounce of energy.

At the end of the day, my life is so much richer for their presence.

p.s. The picture is of 'da boys--Shaker and Ruffles.

Shake ~n~ Bake

Happy Happy Barkday to my Shaker Baker (aka Shake~n~Bake). Okay I am a couple of days late but we were far far away in a land called North Dakota. Well, my baby Shaker is two! Two! I can't believe he is two already. Where has the time gone? Well here is a few of my favorite pics!

By the way, he still loves the dishwasher, sleeping upside down and hanging out in his now much larger pool!

Snorkeling and Other Fun Stuff

Summer has officially arrived even if the calendar doesn't say so. The heat indexes rose to points not well tolerated by the Cardi Clowns, so we broke out the pools and added ice to the water.

Now on the pool front, nothing should stand between Shaker Baby and his pool except this year he has grown so much that the dog pool really doesn't fit. He slides his happy self in but can't lie down as his back side hangs over the top. This silly sight prompted a trip to Wal -Mart for a real kid size wading pool. (I just know that emptying it every night is going to be a back breaker! So much for the "smaller herding dog!")

Now this snorkeling business was most unintended. I added ice to the water so it be be just a wee bit colder for them. Well I guess they have clear ideas about where ice should be found and it is not IN water. Rainbow was the first to figure out the ice situation and for the entire first bowl she dove in, got the ice and then distributed it to her friends. But by the time the second bowl arrived she was tired of sharing and every one had to fend for themselves.

Trash TV

Hey guys!

How goes it? It is me Rainbow. Mom went to the chiropractor early this afternoon. She put me in the room with Dreamy. Bahahahahaha, man is my Mom silly. Dreamy knows how to turn on the TV, so she turned on soap operas. If my mom knew that I was watching trash TV she would have a fit. She doesn't let us Cardis watch anything except PBS and Discovery until we are at least a year. Wow I hope she puts me in the room with Dreamy again.

Please don't tell on me,

Rainbow

On the Road

I probably should have posted this a couple of weeks ago, but well....

We will return home today. The clowns we have with us are READY to be home and running in their fence. The leashed walks were fun for a while but they are seriously ready for some free play. The romping in our RV has become more raucus every day. Of note is Rainbow's new favorite place--the dinette table. She hops her happy self up on the table and surveys her kingdon. The darn girl can actually ride up there! (pictures forthcoming)

We had loads of fun at Nationals, and crazy amount of fun with family in South Carolina.

I have heard that the dogs that stayed behind have done everything from get on my desk via the desk chair (interesting as it is on wheels...wish there had been a video running on that one) to eating some paint rollers. Guess they were a bit bored during the day.

Well as Corgi Capers go, we haven't had to many for the record books but stay tuned, as I am sure there will be many as soon as everyone is back in their element. These clowns are exceptionally good at pay backs!

Great News!

Hello Mother, Hello Father!

We are having the best time at camp. Today was the absolute best. You see a very kind coyote left behind some squirrel parts. The Riverbend Cardis were very stupid and dropped them when the head counselor yelled "drop it!" We Winjammin Corgis are much smarter.

The head counselor did spoil a bit of the fun though when she pried our mouths open and stole the legs. Then she threw them over the fence where we couldn't get them, but Dreamy has a plan to pull the safety fencing off. We sure hope the head counselor can't find the staple gun to firmly reattach the fence. It is great fun to watch her hammer staples into the fence posts. We especially think it is funny when she misses and hits her hand.

Well we will write more later but we really must get back outside and roll in the smelly stuff left behind. Boy we sure hope she doesn't find a shovel and finish burying it!

Love and hugs,

Dreamy and Duchess

Shaker and Dreamy

Hello Mother, Hello Father,

It is I Dreamy or as they call me here at Camp--Stubborn Dreamers. (I am not sure why they call me that I just have things my own things to do!)

I have a new friend. His name is Shaker, Shaker Baby or Shaker Baker....I am not sure which one is his real name because he answers to all of them. Any way, he is a lot of fun. We run around the yard and sleep on the Head Counselors bed.

She is pretty cool about the bed thing unless we get on it with muddy paws. Yesterday she had to was all the covers because I pushed open the swinging door for us before we had our feet cleaned. Then Shaker and I rolled and danced on the bed. Weee Haaaa it was great fun!

Love Always,

Dreamy

From Music

Greetings,

It is I Music, and I wish to enter a formal complaint. My Mom Kathy is away on business. So last night at bedtime, when Mom Kim put the Double D's to bed, they kicked up a fuss about being alone in the other bedroom. So my bleeding heart Mom Kim said, "oh poor things", and she let them in our bedroom.

Well if that wasn't bad enough, they then got into bed with us and that tailless thing took my pillow! Are you kidding me? There I was without a pillow, does she not know who I am? So Mom dug out another one from the closet. But it wasn't the same, I have worked hard to get my pillow just right. YESH!!!

They had better go back to their own room tonight or else!

Music

Pay Back

In the name of not taking myself too seriously, I will recount today's caper!

Shaker has been having some integration issues with the camp residents so we are taking it slow. So instead of all the Riverbend Cardigans having free reign of the house, we have been rotating who is out in the "front house" vs. out in the "back house & deck." (Don't worry, everyone has plenty of space, the deck alone is 100ft long and 10' wide!). Okay moving forward...

Shaker and his evil pals (Music and Rainbow) were in the back house when the Ag pick up guy arrived to get our tractor for spring service. The very nice fellow and I were taking the cab portion off the tractor when Shaker burst through the garage deck door. I turned and saw a very happy Cardigan holding a mouthful of ill gotten gain. Turns out it was 3 pair of panties and a bra!

He was very pleased with himself and I only wished that the garage floor would open up so I could fall through. The poor fellow from the Ag dealer ship is trying not to laugh, when I stepped outside of myself to see the absurdity of the situation. It was at this moment I just burst out laughing. Of course, Shaker then dropped his bounty and ran toward me!

I still swear that dog had a look of "stick me in the back...I'll show you!"

Dreamy's Job

Hello Mother, Hello Father...Today was the best day yet!

The Camp Counselor said, "We have been couped up in this house too long. We need to spend a day outside!" She built a big hot fire in the pit, so she would stay warm and let us play outside ALL DAY!

We ran our courses, played hide 'n seek, chased Rainbow (she likes it really), gathered sticks, fetched, tossed a football and Frisbee. It was just great.

We are all very tired and need to sleep, but we wanted to report that Dreamy found her job. She is the cold water rinse girl.

Love always,

Dreamy and Duchess

Duchess' Job

Hello Mother Hello Father...it is I Duchess.

The head counselor said no more free loading, we had to find jobs. Well I noticed that the 20something who resides in the basement doesn't always answer the head counselor when she calls for him. So I have made it my job to get his attention. So far I am having mixed results, but I am working on it. Now I told Dreamy to step on it and find a job other than the one she thinks is her job--making the counselors go "awwww, isn't she cute when she wants her belly rubbed?" Yesh that is not a real job!

Love always,

Duchess

Camp Day 3

Hello Mother, Hello Father....Today was great!

We started the morning with a good run on the obstacle course. We are both much faster and have figured out the turns.

After breakfast things got a little weird. The head counselor said we were going to be broken into teams--Giraffes and Zebras. We were on the Zebra team and we got to go back outside again for another 30 mins, and the Giraffes (aka 'da boys) had to wait until later. (But I think in the end 'da boys got more time outside, tomorrow we are going to watch the clock!)

When we came back in the head counselor said we had to entertain ourselves while she and a co-counselor named Lisa cleaned the house. She said there were only a few rules--no blood and no eating electronics. Dumb rules who wants to have blood and eat electronics, but okay we were game. First we tried to get Ella to throw the ball for fetch but she wouldn't do it. Then Rainbow hogged all the toys and Dreamy got mad at her. Turns out it isn't a good idea to get mad at Rainbow because Music gets super weird about it. The head counselor said that Rainbow was her only child, but seriously what does that matter.

We all went out to play again and it was really warm and fun. Ella got so dirty that the head counselor said that she was too dirty for a picture. Hahahahahaha Ella didn't get her picture taken today.

After our 3rd play period, we learned about sun bathing in the living room. It was great, until the Giraffes (plus Ella, Rainbow and Music) got into a big fight outside. The head counselor threw a pink bucket off the deck at them. Co-counselor Lisa was on the scene and used it to break up the fight. Boy were we glad to be in the sun room!

We slept until dinner, we were so exhausted. We figured out how to be allowed loose in the bedroom. Every time we are told to kennel up, Dreamy rolls over and asks for belly rubs. The stupid counselors think it is really cute and they say, okay Corgi kids you don't have to go in the crates, but we aren't allowed to pee on the floor. Simple enough!

Well goodnight. We hope tomorrow is a much fun!

Love always, Dreamy and Duchess

Camp Day 2

Hello Mother, Hello Father...It is day 2 of our camp experience.

It rained. It was muddy. We only got to play outside for 30 mins. It sucked.

Then the head counselor only took a picture of Ella. That really sucked.

There better be good eats tonight.

Love always, Dreamy and Duchess

Camp!

Hello mother.Hello Father. Here we are at Camp River Bend.

Our first day was Olympics Day.

Dreamy won the prize for mud diving. Boy is she dirty. (We aren't quite sure why they put a white fence around the mud hole because it would me much easier to get to without the fence. Duchess has to fold it down so it would be easier to get the the mud. )

Duchess worked out on the balance beam.

We ran track and obstacle courses. Weee haaaaa that was good fun. We especially enjoyed the water obstacle course. Did we mention that Dreamy is really dirty?

Music won the shot put retrieval game, but Duchess won the discus retrieval.

They feed the same slop you do. I thought you said Camp would have good eats. Oops I forgot they tried to poison us with green beans. We ate them but only so the Head Cook wouldn't feel bad.

Oh Dreamy made friends with Music and Ella. Duchess made friends with the Head Counselor.

We are tired so good night. We'll write more later.

Love always, Duchess and Dreamy

So What I Answered It

Hey folks, it is me Rambo.

Mom is making a big ole fuss about this cell phone thing. What's the big deal? It rang. I answered it. I guess I am like my Dad...I don't get it.

Peace out,

Rambo