Team Brutus Takes Chicago (Part 1)

Hello, friends!  Brutus here to tell you about our latest adventure!

Mom has been such a lousy blogger lately, making all kinds of promises to post things, then never getting around to it.  Once again I am taking matters into my own paws to tell you about all the fun stuff we've been up to.

Early last week mom started moving lots of stuff around - that usually means we're going somewhere.  Sure enough, on Thursday morning she loaded me & Carmen up into the car.  

We drove & drove.  It seemed like forever!  After many hours, mom got all excited when she saw this sign:

And then shortly thereafter when this bunch of buildings popped up on the horizon:

Luckily we drove right past all those skyscrapers, and soon got off the highway.  Just a few more minutes and we finally stopped, almost 400 miles from home!  Mom seemed really happy to be "there" (where ever "there" is), and a nice lady came out to greet us.  Turn out she is mom's friend Hope, who we met last summer while at the big show in Wisconsin!  We must be here for a visit!  Woohoo!

Carmen & I were busy investigating the smells - we knew Hope had some doggies 'cuz we met them last year.  Sure enough, pretty soon Dax & Teddy came out to greet us!  It's a Frenchie party!!

Me & my bud Teddy.

The lovely Dax

Little did we know, there are other furkids here too!  Here's Ceilidh (pronounced Kayleigh) the Boston Terrier.  Tough to get a photo of this gal, she kind of made herself scarce...

Here's Tango, a Brussels Griffon (how can you not LOVE that face??)

And the alpha dog, Rock (also a Griff)

It took us a while to figure out the group dynamics, but eventually things settled down enough to go inside. Here's Hope trying to keep some semblance of order amongst the Frenchie mayhem!

Turns out that me, Carmen, & Teddy were great pals, and Rock like to sit & supervise the goings-on.  Ceilidh, Tango & Dax weren't so into our roughhousing (can you say "fun police"?) and were happier in the peace & quiet of their crates.

Just when Carmen & I thought this was going to be a kick-back-and-relax kind of vacation, mom reminded me that Dax & Teddy do agility like Carmen & I.  Ruh-roh, I got a funny feeling this is a working vacation!

Bet you can guess what happens next.  But in case you can't, mom says she'll let me get the second part of this post up sooner than later!  Apparently we didn't drive all the way to the windy city to just sit around!

Road Trip!

No, the Frenchies haven't packed their bags & left  - although they've threatened to do so if I don't get back into the blogging groove!

Actually we've been on the road, no time to post.  So much to share, so little time!  We're already home safe following our recent adventure, and will do our best to get up a post soon.  Stay tuned for Team Frenchie's latest escapades!

Hello Spring!!!

It's official - Winter is finally over!  At least according to the calendar...  Thankfully we had weather to match this weekend, and the Frenchies & I put in many miles on the trials nearby.  50-60 degress & partly sunny is just perfect weather for them to get some fresh air & exercise, and we took full advantage of it!

Sometimes they walk in stride,

Other times in single file (Carmen always in front in this formation).

But it's all business for Brute.  He takes his walks seriously!

A physique like this doesn't just happen, you know!

As for Carmen, that's a whole different story.  She covers twice as much ground as the rest of us, trying to check out everything there is to see out there!

Not to mention all the fabulous smells to check out!

Mmmmm, goose poo!

Brutus just stands there looking annoyed while Carmen flits around.

She's crazy, I tell ya...

We did stop a few times along the way to rest in the wonderful sunshine,

With Carmen really stretching out to soak up as many rays as she could.

Brutus meanwhile showed me what he thought of himself on a scale of 1 to 100.

Which then of course prompted Carmen to one-up him (sibling rivalry, you know).

Oh yeah, Brutus?  Maybe your scale ends at 100, but mine keeps going!

We did take time to stop & smell the flowers (these are the first buds we've seen this spring!)

And even did a little rock-climbing!

See anything good from up there, sis?

In the end, there were two very relaxed French fries, basking in the sun!

Hope you all had time to relax this weekend & enjoy the beginning of Spring.  Our posting will continue to be intermittent at best, due to my work schedule & Brute's agility conquests.  In fact, we are off on another adventure later this week, with Team Frenchie hitting the road.  

We'll continue to check everyone's blogs as time & internet access permits, even if we can't always comment! Thanks for sticking with us, we always so enjoy the comments left here!

Irish Bulldogs

Hey everybody!  Brutus & Carmen here, wishing you a Happy St. Patrick's Day!  

Today we are setting aside our French heritage, and have decided to be Irish Bulldogs!  Hope you enjoy what we let mom do to us this time :)

Hey there little shamrock!

Yikes!  It jumped right onto my face!

Ooohh, it's shiny!  Does that mean I'm gonna have good luck?

Not so sure green is my color.

Kiss me, I'm Irish!!

Seriously, mom?

Oy.  The things I put up with....

OK, at least this is a little more distinguished!

It ain't easy being green...

Happy St. Patrick's day everybody!!!

The Drama Queen turns One!!

I can't believe it - the time has flown by SO fast!  Today my little Diva Extraordinaire is one year old!!  To think that the little brindle bundle that was born exactly a year ago...

That's Carmen on the right, her sister Vera on the left.  They were literally minutes old in this photo!

... has already grown into a beautiful little lady!  Seems like just yesterday that Carmen was a floppy puppy, trying to find her legs.  From the little potato that could barely negotiate the fleece rim of her puppy nest:

Carmen, 4 weeks old.

To a mountain goat who leaps tall couches in a single bound!  They grow up too fast, I tell ya!

Carmen surveying her kingdom from her favorite perch, the back of the couch.

So a very happy birthday to my little Drama Queen.  You've come a long way baby, and there's a whole big world out there waiting to see how much further you'll go!!

I smell cake.  The only place I'm going right now is the kitchen!!

Weird Weather Wednesday

What a difference a few days can make.  In the midwest we loosely refer to this as "Springtime".  We really don't have a Spring - it just alternates between winter & summer for a while before settling on one (the same thing happens in the fall).  Recently we had temperatures over 60F, and the dogs we out sunbathing on my deck.

Aaaahhhhhh.....

Does this angle make our butts look big?

 

Here they are in the exact same spot, just a few days later.  6 inches of snow later, 40 degrees cooler.  So much for sunbathing.  Anyone up for snowbathing? Don't think I'll have any takers there...

Carmen, we can tell you were eating snow again.

Brutus can't even bear to look - his eyes were closed in every picture!

Guess you just have to be ready for anything around here this time of year.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring - get the bathing suits ready, but don't put the snow suits away!