They call me...Mellow Yellow

I ordered a mess of thundershirts between the doodle with separation anxiety and Ruffles thinking he should have complete access to Ella, I thought I was going to loose my mind! 

Well the thundershirt turned Ruff Ruff into Mr. Mellow.  We actually started calling it is his sleepy shirt.  Shaker wanted to know if it make him look slimmer?  And as far as the doodle...well today is better than yesterday!

So for good measure I ordered another one for Rambo...hopefully it will work on her the way it did on her father!

Spa Day

Spa day, sma day!  Hey dudes, it's me Shaker Baby again.  Mom calls it  spa day...bath, blow out and nail trim, but we here at Riverbend call it "torture chamber day".  I mean seriously, what makes her think it is great to be stuffed in a tub, soaked down, lathered up, soaked again and then have that darn noisey blower turned on?  And then she grinds our toes off!  Yesh!

But hey one good thing happened, a little "Wookie" (aka 5lb Yorkie) got revenge for all of us.  Mom came up sputtering about that darn Yorkie being harder to trim than all the Corgis.  Then we saw the evidence!   The Wookie had exacted great revenge by scratching the begisis out of Mom's arms while she was holding him during his nail trim.  Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaa....say we the corgis!!!!!

Holy Rabbits!

We have a little ritual here at Riverbend...the humans eat dinner, clean up, feed the dogs, turn on the yard lights, make some noise to scare off coyotes and bobcats, then head out to the dog yard for romp and business session.  Works well, runs smoothly...that is until tonight!

I opened the door to the yard, and immediately saw what was going to make my life difficult...a rabbit inside the fence and loose cardigans!  Russ spots it first and takes off after the little bugger.  The rabbit runs and smokes itself on the fence.  Russ is close but the bunny regroups and heads across the yard.  (Meanwhile to know avail I am bellowing..."RUSS LEAVE IT!")  Once again the cotton tail smokes itself on the fence.  Apparently the green wire is invisible to rabbits too.  Ruffles and Music are now teaming to bring the game home.  CRAP!  All I can envision is blood, fur and wrangling the carcass out of someones mouth...probably Ruff Ruff.

Mr. Rabbie makes one more run at the fence and gets to his shoulders and is STUCK!  I elevated my crap comment to #$%^!  I made a run for the fence in an attempt to beat the dogs and protect...well let's face it, me from having to clean up a huge mess.  Of course, Ruff made it first but just then Rabbie made it through the fence link!

Stupid Rabbit...I bet he won't be visiting Riverbend again any time soon.  I guess it turns out we aren't that hospitable to rabbits!

Flashback

I have been a very bad blogger, but I am going to make an effort to do a much better job!

Any who, the first snow of the year visited Le Claire last night and the cardis were nuts for it this morning.  Unfortunately, none of the morning pictures turned out.  Quite possibly that was a blessing, as most of them involved me pleading with them to come in and they respectfully declined my pleas!

So as I was reviewing the series of bad snow pictures, I found these spring ones of Ruffles and his beloved but deflated soccer ball.  Cheers!

Shaker Baby

Hey dudes, it's me Shaker Baby.  I had some great fun hijacking Facebook last night, so I decided to take over Mom's blog today. 

Life is pretty good for me.  I finally convinced her to up my rations.  She had me on a diet FOREVER, but the other day we were playing and she said, "oh my Shaker you are too thin."  YEAH, she upped my rations, and I put a pound on overnight!

Mom also bought some new biscuits.  They are some organic, natural something...all the other cardis spit them out so I eat all of them.  Hey their edible!  Why waste food?

Also Mom froze a mess of shredded zucchini this summer.  I love zuke!

See life is pretty good around the ranch.

Shaker Baby Out!

P.S. Mom saw this post and said that I should talk about something other than food, but dudes....what is there to talk about but food?

Dishwashers...or Like Father Like Son

Now Shaker's love of his food is legendary, but Russ...well not so much.  But if he can beat Shaker to the the dishwasher he is a decent cold water rinse guy.  Well it seems as though he has passed this along to at least one of his sons.  (These pictures were respectively taken when each were about 6 months old.)

Channelling?

Could it be that Dora saw Ella do this through a doggie portal? 

Then and Now

Shaker Baby makes me laugh.  Indeed he makes me laugh heartily every day.  Some times, I am sure he is trying and others...well he just bumbles into it. 

Since he was a puppy, he has found my dish rinsing lacking in capacity and has taken this important role upon himself.  He believes he is saving me from a plumber bill!  So please enjoy today's "then (3months old) and today (3yrs)!

Where's Mom?

Ruffle and Abbster's Dirty Dozen litter turned a year, and it seems as though they have each left a little puddle of themselves in each.

Max (shown here) is a huge mama's boy, and unfortunately just like his father is a picky butt when it comes to eating. But back to the mama's boy thing.

For those of you who remember Russ (Ruffles) out there showing as a puppy, do you see any similarities in the table shot? Could it be the, " Mom, MOm, MOM, Where are you, Mom, MOm, MOM?

Well here's to a year with the Dirty Dozen! So much more to come!

Ella Bella

Ms. Ella Bella as seen at about midnight last night...

Dora Readies for Irene

This picture was taken last night as she readied to go out the last time as the early bands of Hurricane Irene were hitting her hometown! I can just see her wheels turning, "I don't need no stinking rain coat, I am a Corgi!"

But seriously folks, I am just go glad to know that Jill, Jim and Dora are fine.

'Da Girls' 2nd Barkday!

Oh I remember it well, it was blistering hot, my brother and I were racing a storm to get a shed built, and Connie called and said, "Music had her first puppy. It's a brindle. (That's you Dora the Explorer). My reply was, "Well if that doesn't beat all. I can't leave right now because a monster storm is on the way and we have to get a roof on this shed." Well Kathy came home about an hour later, and came out to check the shed progress. I told her Music was having her puppies, and she promptly turned heel and headed to Connie's. As she scampered across our lawn, I asked, "Could ya get us some water?" She replied, "Get your own water, Music is have her babies!"

Well two (2) years, have come and gone since that wonderful day. Dora has jumped in the Tidal Basin, Izzy has captured and released a duck, Rambo...oops Rainbow has created a great deal of havoc, Teegan has run her heart out, Dinah has herded, ran agility and played in a little Rally.

All the girls are healthy and happy. Who could ask for anything more?

Cats Will Play While...

Yesterday we were stripping and waxing the hardwoods and seriously needed a break! The faithful Cardis were being their ever helpful selves...sleeping! Any way while we were drinking water and the dogs were sacked out, my lovey cat Skitch wiggles through the banister, steps over the dogs and jumps on the table.

Now I am not one to reward a cat for table jumping but this was some serious risk taking! So he got loves and pets, and he hung out with us until Kathy pulled in the driveway. I was ready for great chaos, but these great watch dogs, we call Cardis, were so distracted by the car they never even realized their was a cat in the kitchen!

Music's Update

Hello, it is I Music.

While Ruffles barks at his food, I decided it was time to update all of you.

I have been very busy training the humans. As of today I have trained the humans to engage in something I like to call joint custody. You see, I so enjoy Lisa and Don and their dog doors that I am willing to ride in a car. Yes, yes, you heard me right I like dog doors and Don has them. I can go in and out to suit myself. This is a good thing!

Also, Lisa understands my food needs. I like a bit of wet food touching every morsel, and Lisa understands and accommodates this desire. Also I have Don trained to feed me my on my couch. This is a good thing too!

Now having said this, the lovely couple has one serious draw back. They get up a O'ridiculous thirty! So I must come home and sleep with my other Mom Kim, so as to catch up on much needed beauty sleep.

So until I can train one or the other of these pet humans to either give me a dog door and cover my food or sleep in, I will settle for "joint custody!"

See you fine folks around the pond...especially if any of you can fit the above mentioned bill.

Music.

Do Unto Others

We interrupt our regularly scheduled Cardi Corgi Capers with the following reminder...

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Seems simple enough, and enough said!

We now return to our regularly scheduled Cardi Corgi Capers!

It's Wednesday...

Not To Be Out Done...

Apparently Izzy read about her sister's antics with the sprinkler and decided to show she has water talents all of her own! (Please note that the duck was released unharmed...Good Dog Izzy!)

I will say that I am hoping that Rainbow doesn't catch wind of this competition, as I would be afraid of what she might do living so close to the Mississippi!

Dora the Explorer v. Georgetown Sprinkler

On any given morning Dora the Explorer can be found taking on the sprinklers on the Georgetown campus. (Dora is one of the Russ X Music babies, and trust me this love of water and sprinklers skipped a generation. This behavior comes from her great grandfather Fred, who is a known and oft wanted sprinkler thief and attacker!)

The Dog Who Started It All

Is 4 today! Yeppers, Ruffles is 4!

I can hardly believe that 4 wonderful years have come and gone in a blink of an eye. From that cold September day when I picked up my scared little puppy to today when the demanding monster is a Grand Champion. From the ridiculously early morning in the Ozarks when I took him out of his "house" and put him in my bed to today when his royal highness asks to be picked up and put in bed every night. From the squirrely active puppy to...nope that is the same!

Well there it is, the dog that started a revolution is 4! Thanks be to Cindy and the whole Foggy Bottom Crew for trusting me with such a wonderful pet, companion, and well....show dog!

P.S. Cindy just suggested that I give everyone a run down of his caper destructions! Let's see...3 laptops, 2 keyboards, untold numbers of glasses, 2 cell phones, 11 Christmas packages, lots of ornaments, village people, soccer balls, basketballs, baseballs... Oh my I think the point scale is Ruffles...1008 me...4

It's Wednesday...

Shaker Baby

Shaker Baby chilling after his day. It is a shame he is so stressed.

Garage Door

I indulged myself today with a massage today, and was quite happy upon my arrival home. I hit my garage door opener and pulled the dog mobile into my stall. I then hit the remote again and merrily got out of said dog mobile. Imagine my horror when I saw my beloved ELLA standing under the door as it is coming down. The auto eye FAILED! I bolt toward her and boot her out of the garage just as the door would have slammed onto her back.

OK now I said to myself, I sure hope she is true to form and has not taken a walk on the wild side. So I scoot into the house and open the laundry room door, and bellow "Ella Bella". She comes bounding from the front yard and gallops up the stairs into the house. I, of course, praised her for being wonderful.

And then staggered into the house realizing that I had tensed every muscle in my body, heart pounding, and gasping for air! Next item on my to do list---call my handy man!

CH Davenitch Someone To Watch Ovr Me FB*

We interrupt this regularly scheduled cardi corgi caper to show a few pictures! Ella Bella had a pretty good run in her last 3 shows and pending AKC confirmation, she shall be forever know as CH Davenitch Someone To Watch Ovr Me FB. Thank you Connie and to each of the judges who thought my girl was as pretty and wonderful as I do!

I promised her if she would just finish, she could go back to being her dirty dog self. So after her finishing win in Iowa City she began excavating the boxwood again. It is officially deep and wide enough for her to crawl into and only her head shows! She has also been swimming and mud digging. Thank goodness, she drys and shakes it off!

Reading Rainbow

Rainbow apparently caught wind of the PBS show Reading Rainbow and took the challenge to heart. Although please note she only made it through the cover and seemingly found the subject matter a little dry.

New Pool Manager

Hi guys, it is me Shakey Bakey.

Well I didn't want to do it but I fired Mom as my pool manager. She just wasn't performing as desired. So I put out a call for resumes, reviewed several but finally decided to hire in house. I engaged the services of my other Mom Kathy.

I had to supervise her work as she is still in her probationary period. She seems to understand her tasks, and she didn't fuss one bit about me trying to pick up the hose. Mom Kim didn't like for me to pick up the hose at all, because just once I chased her around the yard spraying her. It was crazy fun until she remembered I know the "drop it" command. Any way maybe she won't tell my new hire about my lapse in hose judgement.

Shakey Bakey out!

Dora Does the Tidal Basin

I know, I know I am seriously late in making this post but, hey, better late than never!

Dora took her family on a cherry blossom walk and became seriously distracted by Daffy the duck. She ditched the family and jumped in the Tidal Basin in a blind attempt to herd that Daffy. Now the human family (Jim and Jill) weren't quite sure if Dora could swim so Jim jumped in for the rescue.

Ok enough said, but I suppose I should have lead off this post with a *spew alert*.

Summer Has Arrived

My Shaker Baby hates the hot weather. I mean really hates the hot weather. He wants me to open pool season at 50F! I convinced him this year to wait until it was 60F. But now that summer has arrived he wants his pool filled, cleaned and ready to go.

With all the rain we have had it hasn't been easy to fill his requests, so I have heard a rumor among the gang that he is looking for a new pool manager. I guess I better get on the stick!