Waaaay back at the beginning of June the ever-wonderful Miss. Sydney of Chewy.com sent me an email with a list of a bunch of potential amazing things to try out. Of all the things on this list there was one thing that stood out, as Mom had wanted to have me try it since she first heard of it. The product we chose to review was the Merrick Backcountry line of canned foods , but between all the yummy sounding varieties...Hearty Beef Stew, Alpine Rabbit Stew, Hearty Duck & Venison Stew, Chicken Thigh Stew, Salmon Stew, Real Beef Recipe and Real Chicken Recipie...we didn't know which to chose! Well, except for the heavily chicken based varieties, that is... In the end Mom just asked Miss. Sydney to surprise us with a yummy flavor....and what she chose for me was the Alpine Rabbit Stew ! Ta-da! Merrick's Alpine Rabbit stew! As a side note...looks like I'm five cans tall! BOL Now, I'm all for something as long as it tastes good...I'm not so very picky......

Today (as soon as   my Mom gets home from work)  we are linking up with Dachshund Nola and Sugar the Golden Retriever for their Black and White Sunday blog hop. To check out the hop, please visit either one of the hosts pages.

You know Mom...I just don't really want to go out right now. It's wet, raining and chilly...but you have fun out there, ok? I'll wait here where it's warm and dry.

Now, Mom doesn't currently have a traditional garden. In our house in PA (a lot of the pictures we post of the nice big, green grassy yard are of my dad's parents house in NJ and not my and Mom's house in PA) there are too many critters who like to snack on plants for any such thing to be a success. So, Mom sticks to having plants on the deck of the house! As soon as you come to the top of the steps (about...oh...13 of them) you see our front door! Hello there and welcome to our deck! It's nothing super special...but Mom tries to dress it up with pretty things. Like the welcome flag, the two mini rose bushes and the hanging basket of superbells. She loves this basket...the orange and yellow flowers are so pretty! The mini roses she and her mom got from WalMart a month ago, and boy oh boy are they growing well! There are no flowers on them right now (it already flowered once a few weeks ago)...but since Mom was on top of things and plucked off all the dead ...

I do not like.... ...and will not walk... ...in the grass... ...between the hedge and the rockwall!

Nothing like a really good stretch in the sun! Today I'm joining in on Blogpaws ' Wordless Wednesday blog hop.

No Mom, I really DON'T think I need a bath. No, thank you for asking but - ....but there's no getting out of this, is there? Why? We didn't hike...I didn't roll in anything in the yard...I have no fleas...Why?! Haha...very funny. Well..ok...so...maybe I DO look better after that bath afterall!

No really...I mean it.... DUCK! Whew...that was close...Oh wait.. Did you think I meant 'duck' as in the bird? Sorry, my bad! Maybe I should have been more clear and said 'Cover your head quick!' or something? Maybe RUN AWAY!?! You see, in our yard in PA we have some 'attack birds'. Well, more like very protective parent birds. A few years ago Mom put up a bird house, not really expecting anything to take to it. Ever since then, every year without fail a pair of these guys has made it their, and their babies, home for a few months of the year. Mom thinks they are purple martins, but isn't 100% sure. Whatever they are, they sure are pretty little birds...and VERY protective if you get to close to their..oh boy - DUCK! ...uh, sorry...what was I saying? Oh yeah....They are very protective and if you get to close to their house they will start dive-bombing to try and chase you away. It's a bit unnerving having a bird screaming ...

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there! BUT most especially to MY Dad! First day at home - June 2013 Picking dad up from work with Mom...2014? I think...Mom didn't date the photo! Seapointe! October 2014 Snow much fun! Jan. 2015 Lazy weekened morning with Dad. Jan. 2015 Thank you, Dad, for being the bestest Dad a mini poodle like me could ask for! A Father's Day Poem You feed me when I'm hungry, You keep water in my dish, You let me sleep on anything Or in any place I wish. You sometimes let me lick your hands, or even lick your face, Despite the fact I've licked myself In every private place. You taught me how to come when called, You taught me how to sit, You always let me go outside, So I can take a s--- stroll. You'll always have my loyalty, up to the bitter end, 'cause after all, it's plain to see... You are a dog's best friend! -author unknown ...

I'm joining up today with Ruckus the Eskie and Earl's World for their Sepia Saturday blog hop!

Today Mom decided that we should join in on Dory's Flower Friday!  She's a big fan of flowers and she loves seeing everyone's gardens and greenery on Friday, so she thought she'd share as well. Some of the flowers are in pots or growing wild in PA, and some are in my Dad's Mom's gardens in NJ. This first one is in PA. Mom isn't sure what it is. It's in a spot where at one time her sister threw a packet of wildflower seeds to grow...this has been the only one she's seen so far. BOL This is a flower that's growing wild in the yard. It's a small thing, the flowers on it each about the size of one of mom's pinky nails.  In a pot on the deck is Mom's red geranium. She just LOVES the pretty leaves of this plant.  Another one growing wild in the yard, even smaller then the yellow ones. If you look you can kind of get an idea of how tiny these flowers and the total plant is...those are blades of grass surroundin...

So I hear our friend Oz the Terrier is holding a very special blog hop as a thank you to one of his recent sponsers.  He asked that we post a special moment to share with eveyone...something I'm more then happy to do!  I have had a few of them in my two years of life. Seeing what Mom called the ocean for the first time. It was so big and kept trying to get at me! It made me nervous that first time...but now I love when we go down for a weekend. Running and playing on the beach is one of my favorite things. In the fall going out hiking with my Mom and dad for the first time. Dad isn't a big outdoors type. He's a IT computer guy and likes to joke that he's much more at home surrounded by humming machines then humming bugs....so the first time we all went out hiking was pretty special to  me. ...and of course Mom thought the snuggling that happened between me and dad after the hike was pretty special and sweet.  And then there's ...