Aunt Allison turns 6+

Here's something really cool: Aunt Allison turns 6ish this weekend. We think. The staff tells us that dog years and human years are really different and it takes about 7 dog years to equal 1 human year. So if we did our math right, she's not really very old. Or, if we didn't, she'd be really, really old like a dinosaur or something.
We think we must be right on this because she doesn't look really, really old.
Now we're confused.

Snore and snore alike

We found an interesting question on Aunt Allison's blog today: Do pets snore?
Yep, we do. And our staff will verify that.
Her big-ass cat, Bisquick, has inspired a poll to ask people about their pets and snoring. You can vote here.

We know we snore, and we know we dream. No big deal, and we don't disrupt things. The big problem is the staff. Our staffers snore and it's a problem. We are tired of being kept awake and not being able to hear our favorite shows at night.

We totally didn't hear part of the Serena-Venus match the other night, and we also missed the final "auf" the other night on "Project Runway." They may not stay awake for these things, but it's really annoying for us since we can't reach the remote to turn up the sound sometimes. Now we have to wait until Staffer Mom decides to watch a rerun to figure out who won.

(We really hated that whiny guy who created that chicken thing last week, and then there's Stella. Her makeup gets a bit better each week, but that thing she created for last week was awful.)
Who survived? We have no idea, but the whole point here is the staff and their snores.

For once, we think Ernie has the right idea: When a staffer snores, just sit on his or her head so they'll get a mouthful of fur. Now, we have to figure out how to get up on the bed.

More fierceness

Today's headlines bring us lots of great wiener news, and we're obliged to share.

First off: Take this one, for instance. It's about a brave wiener with a seriously fierce staffer. The owner and her friends dug for nearly 8 hours to find her dog. You'll just have to read it to find out why you shouldn't be wandering around a gopher-tortoise hole.

And the other news of the day comes from our old neighborhood. It's all about a fierce dachshund named Seabiscuit who warned her owner about mean coyotes in the yard. We were alerted early today about this story from Uncle Mike and Aunt Allison -- Bisquick the cat's regular staffers.

See. We told you wieners and their staffers are tough!

Nap time

From Bandit: We are firm believers that naps are often very good things, especially after a big mole-trail excavation or a run in sand. Naps keep you happy, healthy and help you renew for the rest of the day. Aunt Allison recommends taking time out in her blog, and she's usually right about things like that.

As careful readers know, we went to the beach last weekend and played very hard. It was warm, and we took lots of walks every day. The pavement was hot, but we liked the soft sand. We got tired, but a great nap on green pillow was all we needed.
Here's a picture of Maggie's great nap after a long walk.

Let's all take a few minutes to chill out and just go mellow. It's good for you.

Another good cat?

While we sometimes joke about getting Ernie locked in George the Neighbor's garage, we do like him. And today we got a picture of another cat we think we'd like: Bisquick. He's the orange tabby in the photo.
He stays at Aunt Allison's house and apparently gets to eat a lot. Reminds us of our old friend Ozzie. He died some time back, and he was Huge. He weighed as much as Bandit. We liked him because we could put our noses under his belly and make it jiggle. He's the black and white cat in the other picture. And No, that's not how he died. (Be nice.) He liked to sleep like that.
Anyway, Bisquick is nowhere close to being as big as the late, great Ozzie. But then again, neither is the Goodyear blimp.

Wags and kudos

Careful readers of our blog will recognize comments by our friend Bebe. She wrote an essay for Newsweek and it's really good. Aunt Allison sent us the the link.

She's worked hard over the years, and we love just about anything that's fierce. So she's made our annual Fierce List! (That's a good thing.)
Congrats Bebe!

Happy Birthday Aunt Allison!

Today we remind everyone to celebrate Aunt Allison's 39th birthday. She's really wiser than her years might tell and that's a good thing. (It's sort of like she grew up in dog years like we did.)
Staffer Mom says the road to 40 really isn't so bad as long as you're not really paying attention to detail and keep good wine in the house.
We're depending on her weird cat Bisquick and Uncle Mike to take good care of her and throw a good party in her honor.
You go, girl!

At least he didn't call it a Wiener Roller

We've just seen something very scary and we felt we should share it.
Our favorite blogger who's not Uncle Brad or Aunt Allison is named Jeff Houck. He's a food freak in Tampa who scares us (in a good way).
His blog, Side Salad, is full of fun stuff that only a sick, crazy person like Jeff can find. But he went too far recently when he started a series about his new toy, a hot dog roller. Bandit has a hard time looking at this entry.
His site is searchable if you must read all about his experiments with the hot dog roller -- Twinkies, Oreos. The horror!