Great Teams

Rodgers had his Hammerstein. Laurel had his Hardy. Lennon had his McCartney. Lewis had his Martin. Diego-san has his Thompson.

That Feeling

Maybe this explains why Diego-san told me that sometimes he feels like he's backed into a corner...

Diego's Haiku

Today is Friday
the day before the weekend
another nap day

Smush

Theo has perfected the art of smushed head sleeping.

The Club

It only took me a year and a half, but I finally introduced myself to other members in the special club I belong to.

I was out shoveling my front sidewalk when the couple I see many mornings walking their dog passed on by. I said hello and I told them how much I enjoy seeing their three-legged dog hopping along enjoying his walk. I told them about Thompson and they introduced me to their dog, Rusty. I mentioned that living with Thompson can often be very inspiring- to see how he has adapted to his life's circumstances, how he interacts with his brothers, and how appreciative he is about the home he has found. They told me living with Rusty is equally as rewarding and what a great dog he is. I was so glad that we finally met.

Connected Consequences

Thompson doesn't quite understand why our house has to be so cold and why I don't just crank up the heat rather than have us all shiver underneath our covers or huddle around heating vents... I tried explaining that if our heating bill gets too high, sacrifices will have to be made in other areas like kitty treats...

Don't Look Back

Monday always seems to be lurking around no matter where you look.

Lessons in Suave

If the boyz were given treats for being suave, Diego-san would be twice his size. He's that good.

I Don't See You

Theo's not gonna fall for Thompson's "made you look" ploy.

Natural Football Player

The Minnesota Vikings are one game away from the Super Bowl. Like a great running back, Thompson has been practicing his three point stance to show his support for our football team.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

And I mean that in the best possible way...

Backup Alarm

So I was lying half awake in bed this morning when I felt Diego-san get up from lying to the right of my head and move to the leftside. He proceeded to take his big right paw and whap me in the mouth. I think this was mostly inadvertent on his part- usually what he does is whap his paw against the top of my covers and this indicates he wants me to lift the covers so he can crawl underneath.

I scolded him and tried to go back to bed. That's when it dawned on me that it was lighter than it should have been. I bolted up and looked at my alarm clock. Sure enough, it was an hour past the time I have to get up to get to work. Having Monday off as a holiday, I had forgot to set my alarm clock.

Obviously Diego-san assessed this situation and did what he had to do to get me up and out of bed. (And to feed him his overdue breakfast.)

News Boy

With so much going on in the world, Theo thinks it's important to stay on top of the news.

Clean, Cleaner, Cleanest

Just for Fun

Not that we have such competitions in our house, but if we were to have a contest of who was the most handsome, Thompson would certainly be hard to beat...

Practicing a New Look

This is Theo's attempt at a scowl. Give the boy a cigar.

Perspective

Diego-san told me that life would be a whole lot easier if we all tried harder to see things from his perspective.

Sychronized Sleeping Part 2

Time to ID what is in this picture:

a) Two big ol' black eyes

b) Two (black-eyed) peas in a pod

c) Two gigantic chocolate chips

d) One brother allowing the other brother to sleep closer to him than he's ever let him sleep before.

Comforter

Had a bit of a rough day yesterday. The steering on my car went out. It's not a very good feeling to be driving a car with no steering control. Even worse the repair sounds like it's going to be extra pricey. So I was a bit stressed when I got home but Thompson did his best to refocus me a bit by taking a long nap on my chest.

Gold Metal Worthy

With the Winter Olympics coming up soon, the boyz have been practicing their best event - synchronized sleeping.

The Tent

Grandpa came up with a winner in his Xmas gifts for the boyz... Theo loves this tent with tempting swattable balls on the inside...

It's Ours

I've heard complaints from a couple of the house residents that six out of the first nine postings on our blog so far this year have been about something other than one of the boyz. By unanimous consent, I've been told in no uncertain terms that this is totally unacceptable.

Whoa Nellie

Went to see the singer/songwriter Nellie McKay at the Dakota Jazz Club. It was a fun show- I became a big fan of McKay's in the days following Max the cat's illness and death. McKay's song "Ding Dong" is the best song about a cat dying that I've ever heard.

Her newest CD features covers of songs Doris Day made famous. McKay is quite the unique talent.

Cats and Dogs

By SUE MANNING , Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - Cats. Dogs. Those can be fighting words in some circles.

Cats are "nasty, stinking creatures," says Mark David of Warrensburg, Mo. And dogs? They're noisy, disruptive and "lick you and themselves," counters Sanford Reikes of Louisville, Ky.

Clearly, there are dog people and there are cat people. But it's not much of a contest: 74 percent of people like dogs a lot, and only 41 percent like cats a lot.

Cats win the dislike vote handily, according to an Associated Press-Petside.com poll. Fifteen percent of the adults questioned said they disliked cats a lot while the number who said they disliked dogs a lot was just 2 percent.

Joseph Moreus, 61, of Westminster, Calif., understands why dogs come out on top.

"They have more personality. They are loyal," he said. "Cats are all about cats but dogs are interested in pleasing their owners. Cats don't care if they please you or not."

And cats can be destructive, said Joy Rasch, 70, of Kennewick, Wash., who gets mad at the neighborhood cats who kill robins, quail and squirrels in her back yard. Male cats will spray their territory or get in the wood pile at 3 a.m. and "screech like bad brakes on a car," she added.

Of course, cat lovers, if smaller in numbers, are equal in passion.

"Cats are 1,000 times smarter than dogs," said Bonnie Hanson, 77, of Sioux Falls, S.D. She and her late husband had a black Siamese cat, Kitty, that she said "always wanted to comfort people, anybody who was ill or unhappy."

"My husband would have chest pains and wouldn't tell me. But Kitty would come and look at me and I'd know. We called him our psychic Siamese," she said. "Every cat I ever had was a help and a comfort."

About 59 percent of American households own pets, according to the poll. About 74 percent of pet owners polled said they had dogs, and 47 percent said they had cats.

Those most likely to dislike cats were blacks, Hispanics and married men. Men were a bit more likely than women to say they disliked cats.

Dog people are more adamant about their preference than cat people, the poll found. Of those who owned only a dog, 34 percent said they disliked cats; of those who owned only a cat, only 5 percent disliked dogs.

David, 28, who runs a landscaping company in Warrensburg, dislikes cats but he says he owes his life to a dog. Two years ago, his 5-year-old black lab Zena was with him when a tractor rolled onto his leg, leaving him pinned and bleeding. Zena went to get his wife.

"She wasn't a Lassie by any means, but she was smart enough to go for help," David said.

Still, all this sniping doesn't mean there is no harmony in the country. Sixty percent of all adults said they liked both dogs AND cats.

Cats are independent so give you a little more freedom but dogs are better companions, said Janet Hardy, 69, of Abingdon, Md., who grew up with both.

David Kyser, 73, has also had both — and can tick off their relative merits.

"Cats take care of themselves. They are very clean. Dogs are not so clean and they need some activity. They are good if you have a house full of children," said Kyser, of Austin, Texas. "Cats just kind of sit around being cats."

And some, of course, don't want either species for a friend.

"I have a fear of dogs and I don't like cats," said Willie Thigpen, 60, of Greenwood, S.C. He and his wife raised three children, but they never had a pet.

"And now I don't want to take care of nothing except me," he said.

The AP-Petside.com poll was conducted Oct. 1-5, 2009, by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media. It involved telephone interviews on landline and cell phones with 1,967 adults nationwide, including 1,166 pet owners and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points for all adults. The margin of sampling error is higher and varies for results based on sub-samples.

Great Present

True to many in his species, Thompson's favorite holiday gift is an empty box.

A Job

I'm back home...

There was a mouse spotting at work so all the employees have been told not to store food in their desks unless it is stored in a metal container. I offered up the services of the boyz but it was decided to call a pest control service instead...

Brothers

I often wish Theo and Diego-san would get along better. Everything Theo does just seems to irritate Diego. Yet at the same time Theo's playfulness definitely doesn't let Diego's life become boring...

And it could be worse. Torii and Kurbie have shared a house for eight or nine years and their relationship has never been close. At best they co-exist, but most times it's as this video shows...

Time

For the past few years, I've been housesitting Kurbie and Torii while their mom spends time at her timeshare in Mexico. Taking care of dogs is a whole different experience than taking care of my boyz but I've always enjoyed our time together.

This year was a little bit sad- Kurbie has reached an age and condition where he might not be around for a whole lot longer. He's mostly blind and deaf- he runs into a lot of things. He can't jump anymore and he needs to be let out a couple of times a night to do his business. We've known each other for over ten years now and to watch him lose a lot of his spunk is a little bit difficult. Still we've always had some fun together- most of our nights this time around have been spent with me and Torii watching TV and Kurbie circling the living room all evening long.

I thank you Kurbie for your ever inspiring spirit...

And Now a Word From Our Sponsor

The Hangover

I spent New Year's Eve with Kurbie and Torii so my boyz were on their own. They must've had some party because when I came home New Year's morning I found somebody had thrown up all over the kitchen floor...

Who's That?

I went over to check in on Torii and Kurbie over my lunch time. They didn't know who was going to walk through the door but both seemed pretty excited to see me. Either that or they both really had to pee (and they did).