A Desert Trek

Hi Furiends!

Last weekend we went on a desert trek day trip.  Just cuz.  It was a long drive, but I didn't mind because mostly I just like to be with my Mommy and Daddy no matter what they are doing.

We found a tiny little desert park with lots of joshua trees.  The nature trail was a little narrow and Mommy was worried about rattlesnakes, so I got carried.  I like to dangle my feets when Daddy carries me like this.

In the places where the path was wide, I got to walk.  Daddy said I was "walking in the sands of my ancestors" on account of I am a chihuahua and I guess we come from the desert.  Hhmm...

Mommy said I am a good little road-tripper.  I guess that means I like to sit quietly in my chair and watch the world go by.  It was a pretty fun day, all in all.

Bye for now,
Poppy the LBC

A Poppy-ful Birthday Hike

Hi Everybuddy!

Yesterday was my 8th birthday!  Can you believe that I am 8 years old now?  People always think I'm still a puppy.  The other day at the pet food store, the treat lady asked how old I was.  Whey Mommy said, "almost eight," the nice treat lady said, "months?"  Mommy laughed and said, "no, years!"  The treat lady was very surprised to know that I am a...ahem...senior dog now.  Mommy and Daddy said they can hardly believe it themselves sometimes.

To celebrate my big day, we went for a little walk in a beautiful place with lots and lots of POPPIES!  They are Mommy's favorite flower, which is why I am named after them.  There were tons of them right at the entrance gate to the park:

Once we started walking, Mommy saw some more spots of orange on top of a hill and said we had to go up there.  So we did.  It was so warm and sunny and I was panting and panting, but I was a very good hiker and walked to the top.  (It really wasn't very far because Mommy's knee is a little bit injured right now.)

When we got to the top, sure enough, there were lots more poppies up there!  And a great view, too!

I am smiling my best smile in this picture because it was such a wonderful day and I am so happy that I have gotten to live eight of the bestest years anyone has ever lived!

Bye for now,

Poppy the Little Blonde 8-Year-Old Chihuahua

Coastal Beauty

Hi Furiends,

Yesterday we went on a walk on the coast along a bluff overlooking the ocean.  I had lots of fun because there was tons of grass to graze on.  I kept forgetting that we were supposed to be walking because the yummy nummy grass was so distracting!

It was such a beautiful day and such a lovely place to walk.  I'm a little short, so sometimes I had trouble seeing the view over all the scrubby bushes.

When we got to the top we had a great view!  Daddy picked me up so I could see really far.  It was so clear we could even see all the way out to some tiny little islands way off in the distance.

I was really tired at the end of our hike.  I slept all the way home in the car!

Bye for now,
Poppy the LBC

Snow-venture!!!

Hello Furiends!

I journeyed last week to a very cold place with lots of snow on the ground.  I spent three days being carried around.  My feet never touched the ground outside!  Mommy and I had to wait outside while Daddy shoveled a path to the cabin door.  I waited inside Mommy's puffy jacket.  It was so cold!!!

The place where we stayed had a nice fireplace.  As soon as we got inside, my preferred location was on my big puffy travel bed right in front of the roaring fire.  It was so warm in that spot that I didn't even need to wear my sweater!  Oh, how I wish we had one of these at our regular house!

Mommy and Daddy took me snowshoeing.  I rode in my backpack the whole time.  It was really cold, so I wore my fleece jacket AND a fleece blanket AND Daddy's puffy jacket.  The only thing that got a teeny bit chilly was my ears.  I wish I had a hat with ear-cones.

I hope you are all having a nice winter and staying warm!

Bye for now,
Poppy the LBC

A Christmas Tree Adventure

Hi Furiends!

I got to go on an adventure to the mountains yesterday.  We went to find a Christmas tree to put in our living room.  We do this every year.  It seems a little bit strange to bring a big giant tree into the house, but is sure is pretty.  We found our tree at a tree farm in the mountains.  The weather was very nice, so we had a little picnic, too.  There were so many things to smell there that I hardly noticed that my parents were eating hummus and bread.

The adventure started out very fun.  Hey, let's go over there!  I think I smell a good tree down the hill!  There was also a lot of yummy grass to eat.  Mmmm...mountain grass...

However, there was a problem.  I walked through the scrubby brushy grass and I got a tick.  A TICK!!!  It was stuck in my armpit and it was very hurty and I didn't know what to do.  I held my arm out to the side so Mommy and Daddy would notice that something was wrong.  Luckily they are very smart and attentive, so the looked and found two ticks on my sweater, one more crawling on my chest, and one stuck in my armpit! Eeeewww!  Ouch!  Yuck!  Owwie!!!

We went to the vet right away and they got it out for me.  Phew!  Sierra, the vet tech, looked all over me for more ticks, including in my ears and my "lady parts."  When we got home, Mommy and Daddy gave me some pain medicine, which made me feel a little loopy...especially in the ear region.  See how one of my ears is all twisted around backwards?  I don't know why it was doing that.  Silly medicine.

Whenever something happens to me around Christmas time, Mommy and Daddy feel very sad and anxious, because that is when I had my first back injury in 2007.  Last year when we went to get our tree they freaked out because I hurt my paw while we were tromping around.  And this year the tick!  The moral of the story is that I do not think we are going to go cut our own tree next year.  We will just go to one of those lots with the lightbulbs strung all over.  They have some very nice trees there.  And no ticks.

Bye for now,

Poppy the LBC

A Pumpkin-ey Camping Trip

Hi Everybuddy!

My parents took me on a super fun camping trip this weekend for my Mommy's birthday!  We went to a campground that is on a bluff right over the ocean with a dog-friendly beach!

We love to see signs like this because it means that our whole family is welcome here.

On our first day there we walked down to the beach and took a stroll around.  I like the beach and the sand very much.  In this picture I am contemplating the bigness of the ocean.

The next morning I was feeling very happy and well-rested after a good nights sleep in my Mommy's sleeping bag.  I like to sleep all cuddled up with her because her sleeping bag is big enough for both of us.  Sometimes I switch over to Daddy's bag, but his is smaller, so it's less roomy.  Mommy actually bought her sleeping bag extra huge specifically for me.  She felt a little silly when she bought it when the salesperson asked her why she was getting such a huge bag and she said "because I share it with an eight-pound dog."  That doesn't sound very big, but I assure you, I can take up a lot of space.

The weather was very nice and sunshiny.  I love the sunshine, especially when I can sit on my Daddy's lap and soak it up.

Later that day we went to our favorite dog-friendly pumpkin patch.  I love pumpkins!  I did some very good posings with them, don't you think?

I even went on a wagon ride!  The pumpkin that my parents picked is even bigger than me.

It was hard to look in the right place because there were so many people and dogs and children all around.

There were some pretty sunflowers at the farm, too.  We parked our pumpkin wagon in front of them to take some pictures.

I hope you had as nice a weekend as I did!

Bye for now,
Poppy the LBC

A Grassy Adventure

Halp! I'm being eated by a big grassy thing!

No, I'm only kidding! I am actually sniffing the depths of this plant because there was a very important pee-mail inside it.

Did you have a nice Labor Day weekend?  I got to eat some barbeque and go on this nice walk yesterday.  Fun!  I love holidays!

Bye for now,
Poppy the LBC

I'm a Trail Dog!!!

Hi Furiends!

I went on a big hiking adventure and I want to tell you all about it!  We went to the forest where there were lots of big trees.  There were so many good things to sniff and smell.  I was so excited and I said LET'S GOOOOO and I started walking down the trail.

We found a big mossy stump, and of course Mommy made me sit on it for a picture.  But I only had to be there for a second and then I got to walk some more.

We encountered an OBSTACLE!  I thought about whether to go over or under, and for me under was the better choice.  Mommy and Daddy went over.

Hiking is very tiring for my little legs and my sore back, so after a couple of miles I decided I was done walking.  Luckily, Mommy and Daddy always plan for this by bringing my orange backpack.  They knew I wanted to get in when they put the pack on the ground and I ran over to it and looked up at them.  Then I got to ride.  YAY!!!

At the end of our hike we were tired and hungry, so we stopped and had a snack at the picnic area.

What a fun day we had!  I hope you had a nice weekend too.

Bye for now,

Poppy the Little Blonde Trail Dog Chihuahua

My ROAD TRIP!!!

Hi Furiends!

Last week I went on a big road trip with my parents.  We went all the way down to Beverly Hills and then all the way up to Lake Tahoe.  It was a long drive, but we had fun and saw lots of pretty stuff.  I'm pretty good at sleeping in the car anyway, so I didn't mind that much.

While we were in LA, we got to go out to dinner at a famous hot dog restaurant called Pinks.  They have veggie dogs, so my parents were happy.  And I was too, because I got to taste some of their hot dogs!!!

After dinner we walked across the street to check out a place called the "Zoom Room," which we thought might be a doggy daycare.  It turns out it's a doggy party venue and they had just finished a party and they had extra party favor bags and they gave me one because I'm so cuuuuuuute!!!!!!!  Here's what was in my bag:

While Daddy was in his class all day (that's why we were there), Mommy and I hung out in our room and on our balcony.  I caught some southern California rays and they were sooooo warm and sunshiny!

The next day while we were driving around, we saw this funny sign about STDs.  I don't know what STDs are...maybe Soooper Terrific Doggies???  Yes, I think so.

After Beverly Hills, we drove all the way up to Lake Tahoe.  We saw lots of pretty stuff on the way, but mostly I slept.  So here's a picture of me and Mommy once we got to the campground in Lake Tahoe.  It was pretty cold and windy there in the evenings--very different from Beverly Hills!

I think I would like to go back down south, please.  It was super fun!!!

Bye for now,
Poppy the LBC

My Busy Summer Schedule

Hello Everybuddy!

Oh, gosh, I am so behind because I have been so busy!  Summer sure is great!  Let me tell you all about what I have been up to lately.

I had a playdate with my friend Maggie the week before last.  It was fun!  We met in her backyard and tried to play together, even though it was a veeeeery hot day.  We spent a lot of the time sitting in the shade on the patio.  I kept trying to get inside where I thought it would be cooler.  That's why I'm sitting by the door.

Once the shade hit the lawn, we decided it would be okay to go play on the grass.  We did a little bit of chase, but mostly we ambled.  Chihuahuas are very good at ambling.

Then on Monday, Mommy went to a special doggy store and got me a special treat!  It was a big butterfly cookie!

It was a little bit hard to eat at first because it was so big and hard.  But I worked at it and eventually I broke it into smaller pieces and I ate it all!

Then last week we did a big camping adventure.  It was so much fun!  I love camping!  We went to a beautiful place in the forest near the beach.  It's the best of everything!  It was a little bit chilly at night, but Mommy and Daddy do a good job of bundling me up when it gets cold.

The next day we went to the beach.  It is a special beach that has purple sand!  It was very windy, but we still had lots of fun.  I got to chew some sticks and run in the sand and have a picnic, too.

I hope you are having as nice a month as I am having!

Bye for now,
Poppy the Little Blonde Chihuahua

Rolling in the Grass!

Hello Everybuddy!

I have discovered something new and fun!  Did you know that if you find something delicious-smelling in the grass, it is really fun to roll all around in it?  Well, I did not know this until recently.  Yes, sometimes I like to smoosh my face in something, but I really don't do that very often.  But I had never EVER tried rolling in something before.  I was ambling around in my backyard when I smelled something irresistible.  What was it?  I DON'T EVEN KNOW!  But it was awesome.  And I suddenly felt like maybe it would be a good and fun idea to flop over and roll in it.  And I was right!  It was both good AND fun!

Mommy thought this was soooooo funny, since I had literally never done this before.  Of course she had to take pictures...34 pictures, to be exact.  She made the best ones into a scrapbook page about me.  Yay!

Do you ever have an irresistible urge to roll in something?

Bye for now,
Poppy the LBC

Pee Ess:  Digi-scrap supplies are from Digital Design Essentials, Lynn Grieveson, Katie Pertiet, Misty Cato, and Anna Aspnes.

Beach Day!

Hi Everybuddy!

We went to the beach! It was cold. It's almost always cold at the beach here. That's why I'm wearing my purple hoodie. It keeps me warm, but it's a little bit hard to wear the hood up because of my ears. Mostly I just wear it down.

I also got a new harness. It's a Cloak & Dawgie harness that velcroes around me. I like it because it's comfy. Mommy likes it because it's brown and she thinks it matches my furs nicely.

In this picture I'm looking for grass. I'm always looking for grass. I think it makes a tasty snack. I'm not supposed to eat grass from potentially dirty locations (ahem...like the dirt next to the beach parking lot), but sometimes I do anyway. Yum!

Bye for now,

Poppy the LBC

Merry Christmas Furiends!!!

Hello Furiends!

I have had a very nice Christmas season so far. I got to go on an outing to cut our Christmas tree and I was very helpful in choosing the right one. There were a lot of nice smells at that tree farm, and of course I had to add one of my own. Poo and kick!

After we decorated the tree I was forced to endure a photo shoot session with a bunch of Christmas balls in front of the tree. It actually wasn't that bad because I got to eat lots of treats! Mommy thinks the pictures turned out pretty cute.
Of course they are not quite as cute as the picture she found online and was using for inspiration. Check it out!

I have a new addition to my extensive wardrobe. Last week Mommy was at Target doing some Christmas shopping (not for me) when she--ahem--JUST HAPPENED to walk through the dog section. There she saw a really super cute Christmas jacket, but of course they didn't have it in my size (small). They had a small in teal, but she wanted a small in red. Who wants a teal Christmas jacket? She was a little bummed, and walked around the whole area for about fifteen minutes just to see if she could find one. She couldn't, so she finished her shopping and went home.

When she got home, she kept thinking about that jacket. So she decided to go out again to another Target in a different town. Her logic was that we must have a lot of chihuahuas in our town, so all the smalls were gone, but maybe this other town is populated mainly by mastiffs and great danes. Flawless logic, as you can see. So she drove all the way over there, and guess what! They had a small one in red! Yay!

It turns out that it's really more of a cape than a jacket. This is me as Little Red Poppy Hood:
The hood is actually quite nice because it keeps my ears warm when I go outside to poop.

I hope you are all having a nice holiday too!

Bye for now,
Little Red Poppy Hood

Fort Funston, Leaf Walk, and Cuddling!

Last month we went to Fort Funston. (Yes, I said "last month" and I'm just now getting around to posting about it.) It was a super great day. The weather was so warm that I didn't even have to wear my jacket the whole time! We went down to the beach and when my feet hit the sand I totally freaked out! I tried to run in circles as fast as a tornado! I love the beach!!!!! I even met a new friend down there. I don't know his name, but he was really nice and we hit it off really well. In this picture you can see an action shot of us playing.

Before we left, Mommy and Daddy wrote my name really big in the sand. I tried to do a nice pose, but the beach is a very distracting place!

The other day we went on a fall leaf walk. Daddy took lots of pictures of the colorful leaves, and a couple of me too. Mommy really likes this fuzzy purple stuff.

Lately I have been doing a lot of aggressive cuddling, which means I squirm and wiggle until I get into the perfect position to maximize body contact and heat transfer. It has been super cold here!!!
I hope all my furiends can forgive me for my long absences from my blog and my lack of commenting. The truth is, Mommy has become a teeny bit obsessed with digital scrapbooking. So every time she is on the computer, she scrapbooks pictures of me instead of helping me check my blogs!

Bye for now,
Poppy the LBC