Are You Ready for Some Football?
Posted: August 31, 2013 Filed under: Things I Like | Tags: Dogs, GameDay, Golden Retriever, Harper Lee, Les Miles, Louisiana State University, LSU, LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, Pets, Thek9harperlee 24 Comments
You probably already know that I am a huge fan of Louisiana State University, not only Tiger athletics but also the academics and the school’s history and traditions. I have taken you on a tour of the lovely LSU campus and I have told you all about the treatment that I receive for my elbow and hip dysplasia at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine. And I dedicated my second blog post ever (almost one year ago now) to LSU Tiger football.
Well, friends, it’s been a very long time since last New Year’s Eve when I watched in horror as my Fighting Tigers fell in defeat to the wanna-be-Tigers of Clemson at the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Not the happiest way to end a season. But all that misery ends tonight and hope once again springs eternal when the LSU Tigers take on the TCU Horned Frogs in the House that Jerry Built. My humans have been preparing for the game for two days–and by “preparing” I mean indulging in adult beverages, eating special gameday food, raising the new LSU flag, and selecting the perfect (and hopefully luckiest) clothes to wear.
All of this game prep has been nothing short of exhausting, and the game doesn’t even start until 8 o’clock tonight. So I think I’ll just put my head down on this pillow and take a little nap. Because in a few hours when the clock strikes eight and the LSU Fighting Tigers rush the field behind Head Coach Les Miles and the Golden Band from Tigerland strikes the most famous four notes in all of college football, a new season begins. The slight disappointments of last year will fade away, and all things will be possible. I am more than ready for some football. Geaux Tigers!
Wordless Wednesday: Aloha
Posted: August 28, 2013 Filed under: Things I Like | Tags: Blog Hop, BlogPaws, Dogs, Golden Retriever, Harper Lee, My Yard, Pets, Photography, Thek9harperlee, Wordless Wednesday 53 Comments
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Remembering Bear
Posted: August 27, 2013 Filed under: Dogs I Like | Tags: Bear, Dogs, Golden Retriever, Harper Lee, Pets, Thek9harperlee 71 Comments
Copied from Love always, Bear
(http://lovealwaysbear.blogspot.com/)
Even though I live in South Louisiana and he lived in Southern California and more than 1,700 miles separated us and we never actually met, Bear was my friend . . . and he was special. Bear loved the beach. He called the ocean his, and it was. Last October, when Bear had tweeted several playful beach photos, I tweeted back that I loved the photos and I was with him in spirit, romping through the waves. I still love Bear’s response: “So glad! I’ll put you in my mind next time I go to the beach so you can come with me! BearHUG!!!”
Copied from Love always, Bear
(http://lovealwaysbear.blogspot.com/)
Bear loved tennis balls, too. He was almost always pictured with one, either in his mouth or at his side. If you look closely at this photo, you’ll see Bear’s tennis ball sitting right next to him in front of his tail.
Copied from Love always, Bear
(http://lovealwaysbear.blogspot.com/)
One of the few things that could make Bear drop his beloved tennis ball was a good slice of pizza. He liked Chicago-style-deep-dish pizza and he liked New York-style pizza from his favorite Del Mar Pizza.
Copied from Love always, Bear
(http://lovealwaysbear.blogspot.com/)
When it came to dressing up, Bear was a very good sport (and a much better sport than I am!). He had an outfit for every holiday and special occasion, and he always looked dashing.
Copied from Love always, Bear
(http://lovealwaysbear.blogspot.com/)
Bear had two sisters, Rosy and Annie, and he adored them. He was the perfect big brother.
Copied from Love always, Bear
(http://lovealwaysbear.blogspot.com/)
This past May, Bear found out that he had cancer. His incredibly loving human mom and dad did everything they could to make him better. But perhaps more importantly they did everything they could to make Bear happy. Bear ate pizza. He swam in his ocean and he chased his tennis ball. Bear enjoyed dinner from Smashburger. He dressed up for opening day at Del Mar Racetrack. He visited his favorite park and he rolled in the grass. Saturday evening, my mommy read this tweet from Bear:
Woof bye anipals. I am going to see Fuzz & Oliver real soon. Thx for being my friends. #bearHUGs
My mommy hugged me, and she cried, and she cried, and she cried. And I knew that I had lost a friend. One day, Bear, I will visit the beach and I will put you in my mind so that you can come with me.
A Note from Harper Lee’s Mommy: If you knew Bear, I have no doubt that your heart is breaking also. If you didn’t, I hope that you will visit his blog Love always, Bear. His mom posted the most loving and moving letter to him yesterday. It is the letter that we all dread having to post one day. Bear truly was a very special boy.
Black and White Sunday: Looking Like Fall
Posted: August 25, 2013 Filed under: Things I Like | Tags: Black and White, Black and White Sunday, Blog Hop, Dogs, Fall, Golden Retriever, Harper Lee, Pets, Photography, Thek9harperlee 58 Comments
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“Doggy Style”
Posted: August 23, 2013 Filed under: Things I Like | Tags: Animal Planet, Dogs, Golden Retriever, Harper Lee, LSU, Pets, PetSmart, Project Runway, Thek9harperlee 45 Comments
Dear Animal Planet Network Executive Person:
I am writing to you today to pitch an idea for a reality television show that I think would be the pawfect (get it?) addition to your network’s lineup. The title of my proposed show is “Doggy Style.” Now I will readily admit that my idea is absolutely in no way original. In fact, it is a direct rip-off of Lifetime’s “Project Runway.” If you’re not familiar with that show, you should be. I mean, you’re a big-time television executive. But maybe you’ve just been too busy producing “Hillbilly Handfishin'” or “It’s Me or the Dog” (is that really even a question?), so let me help you out. On “Project Runway,” talented (and some not-so-talented) humans design and sew outfits for other humans. The outfits have to fit into some sort of weekly challenge theme. Each week the designer of the worst outfit is eliminated, and eventually you have a winner. I’ve probably oversimplified, but you get the idea. For “Doggy Style,” we could get about a dozen dogs and their humans and make the humans design doggy outfits based on weekly challenge themes. I’ve even thought of a few challenge themes for you:
The Resort Challenge
For this challenge, the human would have to design an outfit that would be suitable for his or her dog to wear at a resort. The outfit could be something for a ski lodge or, as I am modeling here, the perfect ensemble for that island getaway.
The Collegiate Challenge
Are you ready for some football? In this challenge, the humans design something that would be appropriate for game day on a college campus. Here I am modeling the perfect look for LSU Tiger tailgating. My tiger-striped bandana is understated yet stylish.
The Holiday Challenge
Here I offer an example of what would easily and quite quickly get a not-so-talented human eliminated. Is this not the most dreadful holiday look you have ever seen? I was mortified.
This, on the other hand, is what we are going for in the holiday challenge. Fourth of July fireworks if I do say so myself.
The Red Carpet Challenge
Television audiences love glamour, so we’ll give them what we want with our Red Carpet Challenge. What dog doesn’t love sequins, lace, and feathers? Ok, to be honest, unless those feathers are on a bird I suppose most dogs couldn’t care less about feathers, but we’re doing this episode for the ratings. Trust me on this one.
The PetSmart Challenge
I feel the need to tell you that my final challenge idea is brilliant. (It’s not being conceited if it’s true.) There is a chance that “Doggy Style” could be a bit pricy to produce, so we are going to need a little corporate sponsorship, and that’s where our friends at PetSmart come in. The humans will use those cute little bandanas from the grooming salon–as many as they want–to design couture looks for their pooches. I cannot wait to see our four-legged models strut their stuff in these creations. This episode is sure to be an Animal Planet ratings bonanza!
So there you have it, Animal Planet Network Executive Person. I feel fairly certain that you are going to want to greenlight “Doggy Style” immediately–it’s just what your fall lineup needs–so I will be waiting by the phone for your call.
Sincerely,
Miss Harper Lee
Wordless Wednesday: Open Sesame
Posted: August 21, 2013 Filed under: Things I Like | Tags: Blog Hop, BlogPaws, Dogs, Golden Retriever, Harper Lee, My Yard, Pets, Thek9harperlee, Wordless Wednesday 64 Comments
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Excuses, Excuses
Posted: August 20, 2013 Filed under: Dogs I Like, People I Like, Places I Like, Things I Like | Tags: Blogging, Dogs, Golden Retriever, Harper Lee, LSU, New Orleans, NOLA, Pets, Thek9harperlee 33 Comments
I hope you will excuse me for not being a very good blogging friend over the past few days. I have actually allowed my humans’ lives to take precedence over my very important blogging life. INSERT GASP HERE!
My human mommy got to spend part of her Friday on the Louisiana State University campus helping her friend’s daughter–we’ll just call her J so we don’t embarrass her–move into her dorm for her freshman year. J’s family lives in Texas, so while she’s here my mommy gets to be her “LSU Mom.” Mommy is super excited! This is a picture of J’s dorm room. How fabulous is this room? Are you sure dogs aren’t allowed to be LSU students, because I sure could get into having a room like this. And here’s the really fun part: J’s freshman dorm is the same dorm that my mommy lived in when she was a senior. And do you want to hear something even more interesting? When my mommy was walking into the dorm Friday afternoon, her roommate from her senior year just happened to call her cell phone to talk to her. Just out of the blue. Insert Twilight Zone music here.
On Saturday, my humans drove to beautiful New Orleans to celebrate my daddy’s birthday. They must have had a really, really fun time, because this is the only picture they sent to me. It makes me wonder what else they did that they weren’t willing to share with me, their precious Golden Retriever. Whatever. It’s ok because I got to spend the weekend with The Big Dogs, and that is always fun. Happy Birthday, Daddy! Don’t worry, I won’t share your age with everyone, as long as you promise to take me to New Orleans this fall when it gets a little cooler.
Which brings me to all the really wonderful blog fun that I missed while my humans were preoccupied with their silly little human lives. Did you know that my friends Wally and Sammy, who live in South Africa, celebrated their very first blogaversary? They did, and I missed it. Thanks a lot, humans! I now consider myself to be an honorary South African, thanks to their terrific Teaching Tuesdays, so I was completely bummed to have missed their big celebration. Happy First Blogaversary, boys, and here’s to many, many more!
And I also missed the Bad Poetry Day Contest, which was hosted by my friends Oz the Terrier and Ku from Haiku by Ku. You can click here for a link to all the really rotten–yet entertaining and fun–stuff that was submitted. Here’s my late submission:
There once were some really rotten humans from Baton Rouge
Who cared more about their silly little human lives than about their dog’s life
They went off and had fun
So Miss Lee missed the contest
This doesn’t rhyme and it’s not even a limerick
Pretty bad, huh?
Which brings me to Geodog Day, the last super fun blogging event that I missed because my humans just insisted on running off and living their own lives. Now I have to tell you that I tried on this one; but I also must tell you that I am a miserable failure when it come to geocaching. I blame my failure completely on my humans, who are the most pathetically inept beings when it comes to almost anything technical. They couldn’t even successfully manage to download the silly little geocaching app, which was the first and most necessary step in Geodog Day participation. And then they didn’t want to go out and look for the cache the weekend before the deadline, because it was too hot. Boo hoo, humans. So then on Thursday morning, when Mommy had a zillion and one things to do, she decided that we would just cram for Geodog Day. She loaded me into my chariot and said, “OK, Miss Lee, we have one hour. We have just a general idea of where we are looking and what we are looking for. We have not been able to download the necessary app. But we’re going to go out there and find whatever it is wherever it is.” Right, Mommy. We actually cheated by asking for help from some maintenance men at one of the buildings where we thought one of the geocaches was hidden. Still no luck. Then we went to another site and gave up because Mommy was afraid that we were going to be arrested for trespassing. The good news is that there are a lot of lucky doggies with much smarter humans than mine, and you can click here to read all about the fun that they had geocaching. Thanks to Gizmo and Finn and Charley for hosting a super fun event. Maybe next time you can supply surrogate humans for those of us who need them!
Happy Birthday, Miss Maryanne!
Posted: August 19, 2013 Filed under: People I Like | Tags: Awards, Blogging, Bouquet of Three Award, Dogs, Golden Retriever, Harper Lee, Maryanne Mistretta, Pets, Thek9harperlee 15 Comments
Happy Birthday to my blogging friend Miss Maryanne!
I hope that you have had a wonderful day and that all of your wishes come true.
In celebration of your special day, I present to you the Bouquet of Three Award.
I received the award from Bacon at Pig Love, and I am passing it on to you.
There are rules, but because it’s your special day I give you permission to ignore the rules.
Think of it as a beautiful bouquet of flowers (bloggy style)!
I hope everyone will click here to visit Maryanne Mistretta and wish her the happiest of happy birthdays!
Wordless Wednesday: Lovely Lashes
Posted: August 14, 2013 Filed under: Things I Like | Tags: Blog Hop, BlogPaws, Dogs, Golden Retriever, Harper Lee, Pets, Photography, Thek9harperlee, Wordless Wednesday 65 Comments
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I Am Not a Guinea Pig
Posted: August 13, 2013 Filed under: Dogs I Like, Things I Like | Tags: Dogs, Golden Retriever, Harper Lee, Pets, Thek9harperlee 44 Comments
I am not going to whine any more about how hot it has been here–I think I did enough of that last week–but it goes without saying that it is just too darn hot to do much of anything outside. So my human mommy has been on a quest to find fun indoor activities for us. While I happen to think that napping all day is a very fun indoor activity, Mommy is extremely anti-napping. Just ask Daddy, who loves a good Saturday (or Sunday) nap. Anyway, this weekend my mommy read a very fun blog post by our guinea pig friends Nutty, Nacho, Buddy, and Basil from Hutch a Good Life. They have a super clever mummy who came up with all kinds of ideas to prevent their boredom, Well, my silly mommy read all about those ideas and thought that two in particular might work for me.
The first idea involves newspapers and treats. So far so good. Simply take a piece of newspaper and your favorite treats–Mommy used the 3mbakery Healthy Apple, Carrot, and Brown Rice Treats that we baked.
Wad the treats up inside of the newspaper . . .
. . . and then wait for the blur as your dog runs as fast as he or she can off to some special spot to work on getting the treats out of that wadded up newspaper.
My favorite spot happens to be my bed by the window in the den. It took me about 30 seconds to shred that newspaper and get to those treats (I had absolutely no idea that shredding newspaper could be so much fun).
That was fun, Mommy. What do you have to keep me entertained now?
Next we did the treats-in-a-bag trick.
Simply take a couple of teats–this time we used our homemade 3mbakery Banana Oat Cookies–and toss them into a large paper grocery bag.
Yep, the treats are in there. Now, according to the human plan, I was supposed to stick my head all the way into the bag and get the treats out . . .
. . . but I decided why stick my head all the way into that bag when I can just very, very quickly pick the bag up and dump the treats onto the floor. This seems like a much easier way to do things.
Well, as you might imagine, that wasn’t Mommy’s plan, so she put the treats back into the bag and I grabbed the bag and ran to–you guessed it–my bed by the window in the den.
And there I proceeded to rip that paper bag into tiny little pieces so that I could get to the treats. Total elapsed time? About another 30 seconds.
So what, you might ask, did my mommy learn from this little adventure? I’ll tell you. While my guinea pig friends Nutty, Nacho, Buddy, and Basil have a very clever mummy who comes up with all kinds of fun activities to prevent their boredom, those ideas did not work for me. I am not a guinea pig. But my mommy, bless her heart (we say “bless her heart” in the South when someone is just so pitiful that there are no other words), still thinks that these two ideas could keep other dogs entertained. So she would love for you to try one or both of these activities and let us know how they work out for you. Bless your heart if you do!
thek9harperlee 