Minky's Marvels - I Believe I Can "Fly!"

Minky is a jumping bean. That's all there is to it. Her two favorite activities in life are running and jumping. She jumps when she doesn't need to. She is simply happiest when she is airborn. Thursday night, after all the cousin festivities and a quick trip downtown to see a young artist friend's gallery exhibition (more about that in another post with pictures of him and his amazing work), we took a few minutes for Minky frivolity. She loves to catch anything and this orange rubber thingy is a fav. My desk is on the left and the rocking chair is pushed out into the entry way so she doesn't crash on it. She looks like a reindeer here.

The higher the better as far as she's concerned. (Note my wild wallpaper of garden seed packets. I can't change it. No one will let me. We all love it. The End.)

But this one took our breath away. We were prayin' she stuck the landing. Our little bat - hanging from the ceiling upside down. She hit the ground on all fours rarin' to go again.

Who has more fun than Minky?

(P.S. Cruddy carpet disclaimer: The carpet is 20 years old and is clean but stained. It will be replaced by wood flooring which is here and in the garage but has not managed to put itself in yet. We have one room done - Bo's. We move at the speed of light - before you turn on the switch.)

Copyright 2009

Whatcha Been Chewin'?

Minky and JoJo would like to bring you today's update. It's a good thing, too. I'm still just a little spittin' mad at Blogger. It's better this morning but not fully fixed yet. (The dogs had to create this photo post backwards because nothing can be rearranged.) So I'm leaving now to assume my position on the fainting couch and sending this post to the dogs.



Hello!! MInky here, with news from my beautiful self. Look how the sun highlights my eyes in this remarkable photo. And do you see how I have my two front socks pulled up just perfectly so they match? I amaze myself. I am 8-months-old now and looking for ways to "go greeen" by composting the trash, recycling, and down-sizing. If I find it, I chew it.

Here's a small sampling of some recent work:

That red thing in the middle is actually supposed to be for dogs to chew on. Every time I chewed it, it got smaller and smaller. It’s kinda freakin’ me out. Pieces of it are showing up when I go outside to do my business. That’s not right. It seems to be following me.

(Oh my good grief. Could I BE any more bored? JoJo here. If you’ve been puttin’ off a root canal, now’s your moment. It might be more entertaining. Minky's probably gonna drag on and on about this piddlin’ life of hers and makin’ a big deal outta nuthin’. She’s never faced a bear or caught a cat by the tail. You know, the stuff REAL dogs do. I’ll just keep sittin’ here prayin' an anvil falls on my head.)

Anyway, look at these! These gloves are made out of Kevlar. My dad got some for work and they worked out great so, he got some for me, too. He thought we could wrestle and they would save him from my shark-like teeth. He was wrong. I found where he left the gloves and finished ‘em off.

Underneath that red thing below is my chipmunk. You might wanna look away if you’re squeamish. I pulled all of his guts out and I think those plastic things on either side might be his bowels. Yeah, I think I disemboweled him. When I bit down on him they made squeaky noises. I have that problem once in awhile with my digestive system. So does JoJo. Hers are loud which I think is AWESOME. It happens when she flops down on the floor.

Here’s me in mid-flight catchin’ the chimpmunk carcass. If you look right in the middle of that gray SUV behind me, you’ll see if heading right for my open jaws.

(You did NOT TELL THEM about my personal issues…..what a rat fink. You must work for the Enquirer. I have no dignity left.)

Well, I could be a professional journalist, I'm sure. And every good reporter needs a few pencils, some gum to work off the energy of waiting for that breaking story, and a comb to maintain a good appearance. That's why I hunted these up:

So then, in the spirit of journalism, let me ask you Madam JoJo, what have you been up to?

Well, finally a subject of interest to your readers. I haven’t been chewin’ stuff up all over the house like someone whose initials are Minky. I bark when I need to, like when people we know come over. And I generally maintain my happy-go-lucky attitude when you’re not buggin’ me, which leaves me precious little time for happy attitudes, I can tell you. But here's a shot of me in one of those rare moments:

Okay, well that’s enough about you. Now let’s get back to me.

Here’s another GREAT action shot of me on the fly. Check out that hang time and the air I got!

I look kind of chubby, but I'm not. I'm really just fluffy. My mom says she looks kind of fluffy, but she's not. She's just chubby.

So that's the latest from the home front right now. Happy tails to you from me and Happy Jo!!

Copyright 2009

Minky Minutes - News From the Renewable Energy Front

Minky Tinkerson here. That's what my mama calls me all the time. I'm also known as Bingo, Monkey, Minky Tink, Tinkle, Little Dog, Baby Dog, Wooky (cause I talk like one), Little Doglette, and Nutcase. They morph my name all the time. It's a wonder I know who I am.

But I figured you might want to see me in a more positive light than JoJo depicted me. Man, she even took pictures of me in the middle of a criminal act. So now you probably think I'm a thief and strung out on coffee all the time. I thought I better check in and pontificate on my finer points. (By the way, JoJo promotes herself as the "Honest One" but an honest picture of ME would have included all my lovely, finer points. So, just take HER with a grain of salt (or a 50 lb. bag of salt).

Let me tell you about one of my favorite places and what I do there.

This, of course, is me. Aren't I getting big and gorgeous?

I had Hannah-Bo take all these pictures. And I wanted you to see these flowers that bloom in the field I like to run in. She says they look like sea horses. I don't know. I've never seen a sea horse. You be the judge.

Another shot of me. I am SOOO happy. The field is my favorite thing in the whole world.

Well you know who THIS is. JoJo gets pretty happy out here, too. Look at that smile.

I'm getting ready for something really fun here. But can you see the sun glistening off my ears?

In a second they're gonna throw my frisbee. I am officially a frisbee dog. It's my favorite thing in the whole world.

Wow! Look at that catch!

Wow! Look at me running away with it. I don't bring it back as well as they want me to. I think they need exercise so I make them come and get it. It's my favorite thing in the whole world.
I put this one in because, well, it was too good to leave out.

She caught me in mid-bound! I like it when my ears fly up.

JoJo and Me and that's the underside of my tongue. I knew you were wanting to know what it looked like.

And this is the topside of my tongue. And in case you never noticed, look how different our coats are. JoJo's is shorter and straight and mine is curly and luxurious. She wishes she looked like me. She won't say so but I know it's true because who WOULDN'T want to look like me? I'm so cute!

This is an action shot! We're running down this hill so FAST it's blurry. Running is my favorite thing in the whole world.

Here's a family picture with me, JoJo, Hannah-Bo, and The Wild Man. We're sitting on a saggy piece of fence. The G-men put this fence up years ago to keep us out of the other side. Must be REALLY good stuff over there. I guess we could just walk over the fence and find out.

And right after this shot, the sky turned orange, which was bad, because that meant we had to go soon.

And then we had to leave. But that's okay because now I can share the whole thing with you and that's my favorite thing in the whole world.

I'll see you next time. I think my mom's gonna show you all the results of my detective work. I've been scouting everywhere finding things that need to be chewed up. She took some pictures of my handiwork. Thanks for visiting!

I'm In Love With Herding Dogs

Introducing baby "Minky"

Not ready to leave my mama yet

4 months old and livin' large at my new home

I look innocent when you want me to pose...

But I'm actually packin'.....think "Aliens" meets "Jaws"

Do you see the knowing, tired look on my older sister's face? Her name is "Jo Jo" and she's 11.

Witness Jo Jo's happy, carefree days a few months ago with her boy. Now I stay constantly attached to any available part of her body - preferably her jowls - just like a tick.

Jo Jo has the title "Best Dog in the Whole Wide World"......at least to her family. (I have a way to go to earn my stripes and get a title like that.) She has raised two kids, chased off bad cats, protected good cats, and even been bear bait. (My HM - human mama - will have to tell you that story....it's a good one, except to Jo.) Her daddy was a working McNab and her mama was a McNab/Border Collie. I am from a working class family. My mama is the most beautiful, gentle Australian Shepherd family pet, and my daddy is a rough and tumble, get-r-done, cattle-drivin' Border Collie. You know opposites attract. My Aussie mama didn't like my teeth either and was glad to see me go, for Pete's sake. Her last, snappy words to me were, "Get off a me!" Geez.

These are the beautiful kids Jo Jo is raising.

She just took them on a backpacking trip to Cliff Lake in the Sierra MountainsIt was a big trip for an old dog but Jo says, "If something was gonna kill me, I'd want it to be this."

My HM will be dropping in tomorrow to tell you why not even my teeth can deter her from falling madly in love with me. Apparently, what I lack in dental discretion I make up for in love and enthusiasm.