SUPERBOWL

Well first of all Frank would like to wish a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to his grandmother Herriott! He wishes that he could join her in enjoying a birthday cake and licking frosting off of her fingers!

Well, it had been a long week so we decided to invite a few friends over to not really watch the Superbowl with us. This pleased Frank because whenever there is a gathering there tends to be a rather lot of food and many laps from which to choose. At first Frank was focused on the table - frog plates and all - (thanks to Grandma Herriott!),

however, he soon found a new focus for his attention:

Above we see that Frank has cornered the 1 year old son of some friends. A few seconds later, as the unsuspecting toddler dropped his carrot, which a toddler frequently does, Frank, with shockingly fast reflexes, scooped it up and ran. This was repeated frequently throughout the afternoon, and I have my suspicions that when the adults were looking away Frank may actually have snuck up and gently coaxed the carrot (chip, cracker, cookie, popcorn) out of the little guy's hand.

Frank did not stop following the wee one for 2 full hours. OH Frank, you are such a focused hunter.....

Pug Week

Frank is a big fan of The Discovery Channel's shark week, mainly because there are a couple of laps on which to snuggle as his dad and I watch for hours with fascination. Just this week I was able to capture some evidence of Frank's very own predatory habits.

You may want to notice below the tell tale signs that a feeding frenzy is about to take place, most notably the very tense lips....

Ah, the prey has appeared. An unsuspecting french fry (not on a pug's recommended diet...)

First we see the brief investigation and move in...


followed by a dip down to pick up acceleration....

And! The Lunge!!!

OH Frank! What a frightening display! The final removing of all evidence that a feeding has occured comes very quickly after the lunge. You may ask yourself, "how EVER was that french fry chewed AND swallowed in such a short amount of time?" Indeed, it is a fascinating question.

As you can see, that final two steps are done with great speed and agility so that Frank can prepare with great hope for the next French Fry to swim by:

OH Frank. Such a fine specimen to study!

Imagine my dismay...

when I arrived home from a late night at work and there was no one to greet me at the door! No husband, no pug, no one. Feeling a bit glum I poked my head into the bedroom where I discovered the husband in deep slumber - pictured here, and yes, yes, those are pugs wearing Santa hats on his pajama bottoms. I got them on clearance last year and they mainly make an appearance when there is a bit of laundry build up in our house....

Just when a panic of whether Frank had been locked outside or otherwise misplaced started to set in, there was a disturbing noise emitted from somewhere under the covers...

It was with further dismay that I focused in on the region....

Wait a minute. Something fishy is going on here....

OH my! I am not sure that I approve at all!

However, since Frank seemed nothing less than blissfully snug I decided to let the sleeping dog lie...

Oh Frank, at least someone enjoys those pajama bottoms....

A New Friend and a Bean...

Oh Frank! What is that you have there?
You may recall Frank's pheasant hunting photo from Christmas, well, just as Frank's depression was starting to creep back in he received ANOTHER delightful gift from Bianka Cree! Above he is gleefully retrieving his new black footed ferret!

Once the ferret had been retrieved Frank proceeded with one of his favorite rituals. It seems to give Frank an immense amount of pleasure to repeatedly squeak a toy against ones leg. Over and over again. As you may assume, this has confused and/or distressed the occasional visitor.

At dinner we decided to let Frank have a little taste of his favorite veggie, the green bean. It has come to our attention that Frank, in his eagerness to ingest as much as possible, does not always chew a green bean, or anything for that matter, so we tend to hold on the the end and let him chop off little bits....

Oh Frank! Delicious!

And, gone..

Of course, at the end of yet another hard day in the life of Frank, the little dude conked out for a bit of Pug beauty sleep. However, in a surprise twist, it was his new ferret and NOT gentle pig that accompanied him to his slumbers.

Oh Frank, if only you weren't so shiny and handsome curled in a little ball we may be able to resist giving you green beans from the table sometimes...

Frank's Christmas

Well, it has been a rough week for Frank. After returning home from Christmas at his vacation home where there was constant feeding from his grandmother and playing with his grandfather he was RATHER depressed for 3 days. Here is a bit of a photographic Frank Christmas:

Here we see that Frank has arrived at his Colorado Grandparents well decorated home. It was nice to know that this year Frank had lost his taste for pine needles and poinsettas.

On our first night all together, Frank received his favorite treat, and in case you thought that a pug's eye could not get any bigger, I believe the next photo will prove you wrong:

That's right. A steak bone. Frank was quite sad when he had stripped all of the meat off of the bone, but was heartened the next day when we returned from a Christmas Eve viewing of Sweeney Todd to find that his grandmother had put out a welcoming sign...

Alas, it turned out that there were no meat pies at all...

The next day was Christmas and Frank wasted no time at all in sniffing out his very own stocking:

OH Frank! How eager you must be!
Frank then wasted no time at all in pulling the stocking to the ground,

rooting about, and getting stuck in a rather compromising position:

What was that, you may wonder, sticking out of the top of the stocking? Why a pheasant of course! (this photo was actually taken upon our return home when the appearance of his new pheasant did in fact bolster Frank's waning spirits...)

OH Frank! You are quite the bird dog!

After opening his stocking Frank still had a few more gifts to go. Here we see pictured his new Hide-A-Bee refills and his new Hide-A-Gingerbread Man especially for Christmas.


Oh Frank. It is very hard to be you. After a long day of excitement there was a bit of a collapse in front of the fire:


where Frank spent the rest of his vacation. When he was not in the kitchen of course...

OH Frank! What's that you say? You are eager to celebrate Christmas with your new friends Ginger Man and Snow Man?

Actually, these are not new friends, they are, in fact, friends from last year that I thought to pack up; low and behold Frank thought that they were brand new this year. In celebration of Frank's Christmas friends I believe it is time to introduce you to his two very best year round friends. Below you will find a picture of Gentle Pig and a picture of Snack, a tiny fawn pugette, and the love of Frank's life:

Gentle Pig was Frank's first toy and every night before bed, or if he is feeling upset, he carries Gentle Pig around in his mouth. When he finally does lay down he gives Gentle Pig a tongue bath before drifting off to sleep. Frank's dad gets extremely upset when there is a wet dirty pig near us. I can't really blame him. Gentle Pig gets many baths in the washing machine, however because of this his internal oinker was destroyed. Now Frank has a mute gentle pig, which is actually quite nice for us humans in the household.

Snackler lives at the top of the hill on which we live at the bottom, however, as you can see above she is maybe the cutest thing ever and she and Frank really do deserve a separate post on their adventures - it is soon to come.

Oh, a wee bask in the sunshine...

And finally, a parting picture of Frank with some tense lips. I don't know why I find it so fascinating when he intensely watches my food and his lips get tense, but here you have it:

How Delightful

Oh yes, Frank does enjoy the Christmas season. There are usually a lot of people around, which Frank loves, and those same people are frequently eating rather large portions of food which they can't quite finish. Frank likes this even better. Below is the festive scene that greets the evening pedestrians as they stroll by our home:Oh Frank, you are such and intimidating figure all aglow.

One thing that Frank does not enjoy about the Holidays is the cold weather that frequently accompanies them. Occasionally the little guy feels a wee bit of trepidation about heading out for a walk. When this happens I simply say, "Shall we go to the coffee shop," at which point Frank runs and waits by the door, rain or shine. As you may have guessed, the coffee shop features a fine collection of friendly baristas who are very generous with their large tub of doggie biscuits. Mmm. Delicious. Here we see Frank eagerly waiting at what he thinks is the take out window -
it is actually a rather small gap between the counter and the muffins l into which he frequently thrusts his head, which in turn frequently gets stuck. This is where the treats come from, and the way that the pug runs down the hill to get one you would think that not only he was he not fed his breakfast less than an hour ago, but perhaps that he had been starving for the better part of a year.

Frank is very good at being focused when there is food involved.
Also featured in the above photo is another handy tool which has increased Frank's enjoyment of a chilly morning walk. It is his new waterproof down jacket! We love it! A Christmas gift from the beautiful Bianca Cree, who is the cat of Frank's dad's business partner and his lovely wife! But wait, there is more:

That's right! The jacket also features a waterproof hoodie! Now, you may think that a pug would not enjoy a hood, but it is actually quite the opposite in the case of Frank. Where as he would not previously set foot outside in the rain, with the hoodie keeping his head dry he seems doesn't even notice that it is wet out! Thank you Crees!

SNOWDAY!

Is there anything more exciting than a snow day?

Frank and I were enjoying some quality time together this weekend when all of a sudden I noticed that he was quite transfixed looking out the window.
OH my! What could that be?

Even though we live in a place where it rarely, if ever, snows, Frank has actually seen snow before. His grandparents live in Colorado and Frank spent his first Christmas there. It seems he has forgotten. Or maybe he actually never saw the snow since the blind bulgy eye and his cataract had not yet been removed...


The first thing to do, of course, was to examine the snow to see if it was at all tasty.


Hmm. Not so much.


It was then time to suit Frank up and head out to explore.






Why Frank! You are looking rather startled. Frank spent quite a moment being disconcerted
then, once he regained his pugly composure,
immediately headed for the one patch of dry ground in our yard:

Where's Frank?


Fortunately it was at this time that our neighbor came outside with Frank's friend Jake who was SO enthused about the snow that he flopped down and made doggie snow angels all over our yard.







Frank did not join in.













OH Frank, you are such a tough outdoorsy canine!














Hmm, or maybe not.

Sad Thanksgiving News...

Oh, hey. Hey,what's that you have there. Hmm, let me have a closer look...














Yes, let's see, maybe if I could just get my tongue in there I could have a little taste,














mmm... eggnog....

Well, I am sad to report that many of Frank's Thanksgiving pictures are not to be found. This may have to do with the fact that the camera, missing if you will recall for the last week, was in a place with quite a lot of children, so there were many pictures of little feet, but less of Frank. However, some have survived so allow me to present just a few highlights!

This is why Frank was especially pleased over the holiday:

his rule of thumb, the more the merrier. Frank's dad and I are currently in a smallish one bedroom, though it does have a yard that Frank rather enjoys, so the imminent arrival of his aunt required the purchasing of an aerobed. If only the picture of Frank standing on it while it was being inflated was not lost - please use your imagination here -. Frank was delighted to find that there was another bed to which he had access and as a token of his appreciation you can see that he left his new turkey toy (red and yellow tail sticking up) for our guests to enjoy. The turkey was quite slobbery and spent a lot of time gobbling as it seems to have short circuited a bit. Perhaps from the slobber.

Also pleasing to Frank was the addition of a new lap on which to lie down:

Here we see Frank enjoying the lap of Ben as Ben enjoys a glass of our favorite Mcrea wine, provided by Frank's grandfather to ensure that fun was had by all. Nothing pleases Frank more than when everyone is home enjoying some wine with him.

Well, we will make sure that there are more pictures for Christmas.
Oh Frank, you do enjoy a holiday.