Merrylog

Just a little “aww” factor coming up to Valentine’s Day. :) I think this is one of my favorite portraits I’ve ever taken of the princess.

You’ll get another “luv” inspired photo tomorrow too – so stay tuned!

You make me feel alive
You are my highest high
All I can do is smile
When I look in my little girl’s eyes
– Lenny Kravitz

Yeah, she’s not human. But she’s still my little girl.

All that slushy snow turned to solid ice over the weekend as our temps (with windchill) dropped to -30C (-22F). Taking the princess out to play ball on solid ice was kind of like watching Bambi. Funny, even as you feel sorry for the poor little thing. :)

While the princess has been getting white chin fur for a while now, it’s only in the last several months that I’ve really started to notice that one of her big whiskers has gone completely white. (Nope she hasn’t gotten into the bleach – but she *is* almost 7 years old, if you can believe it.)

It’s cute, if a reminder that she, like her “mommy”, is getting older…

Toronto got pummeled with snow – 1 foot in 24 hours – and it made walking with the princess… interesting this morning. :) Here she is fording her way through (tamped down) snow that’s up to her rib cage – in many places it was over her head, and I had to bail her out! Poor little puglet.

Oh, how the princess hates the inclement weather, even when it’s pretty inclement weather like big soft snow falling from the sky. She whines and pouts and scrambles back towards our house at every turn.

Of course, that makes it tough to capture the princess on camera outside!

Way back when, Jamie asked us:

1. What are your 5 favorite songs?
I don’t know that the princess pug actually has favorite songs, per se. But whenever Mommy gets up and dances like a lunatic in her office, Merry loves to run around my feet and try to play fetch while I’m dancing. Also, the pug loves to be picked up and bounced around to good dance music.

2. What are your 5 favorite toys?
Oh that’s easy. Ball, ball, ball, ball, and when you want to get her really excited: rolling ball. I’ll post a video of that one day, it’s hilarious.

3. What are your 5 favorite things to eat?
The pug goes crazy in the house when there’s bacon (even though she’s rarely allowed to nibble any), and she can smell CHEESE from about a mile and a half away, particularly since I like well aged, very stinky kinds of cheese. She’s also a big fan of her homemade pesto biscuits I make for her every so often, pizza crusts make her swoon, and she will kill you for a piece of orange, especially mandarin oranges.

4. What are your 5 favorite activities?
Ball, ball, ball… oh wait. Also sitting “up” at the dining room table (she’s never happy unless she’s a part of the conversation), snuggling with us in the morning on our bed, licking her anemone toys for hours, and saying “hi” to new people. Especially if they’ll play ball. Wait. Did I include ball?

5. What are your 5 bad habits?
Can a princess have a bad habit, really? :) Well, she has a few that border on annoying at times: barking like mad at the door to the point of flinging herself off the couch or down the stairs to do so, taking for-freakazoid-ever to do her business outside particularly if it’s rainy, snowy, wet, icky, or otherwise distasteful, and licking every single thing in the house regularly and obsessively: you, me, everybody, couches, floors, beds, air. But we love her anyway!

Oh, there are so many comments and questions I’d like to respond to, but I’m choosing Nan’s comment from Friday’s post first because the answer is fun.

The truth is, I didn’t teach her to back up. :) Her grandma did. The princess pug was with her official babysitters ™ for a long weekend and my mom is a funny lady – she always feels guilty if she isn’t entertaining the princess every single moment she’s there, and with Merry, entertaining means playing ball.

Okay. So my mom’s in her tiny little bathroom getting ready to go out, and the princess pug keeps bringing her a ball. The princess at this point in her life is still all about “crowding the ball” – in other words, you have to be really sneaky to kick the ball past her, and you’re always worried about bonging her in the face (like maybe, that’s how pugs got snub nosed in the first place? maybe?). But my mom is more worried than me, so she starts pushing Merry away with the toe of her slipper, exclaiming “Back, back!” to the pug. Merry backs up, not because of the words, but because she doesn’t want to get bonged by a GrandmaSlipper.

By the end of the weekend, Merry had learned two things: the word “Back” meant get out of the way so I can throw the ball, and to come running with the ball in her mouth whenever she hears the hairdryer in the bathroom because that means PLAYTIME!!!

I was grateful for Mom for teaching her the first, but I cursed her for years for teaching her the last. :) I’ve never had a peaceful getting-ready session in the bathroom since. *laughs*

Oh, the princess has been doing just fine, if whining a little because apparently it’s not fair to eat yummy food around a pug who’s being forced to stick to the all-rice plan. :) Fortunately no more tummy urps.

Thanks to everyone for their well wishes and suggestions! I did try the chicken broth this time ’round and the princess ate up her rice with every evidence of enjoyment (slurp!) so thank you to all who suggested it. As for the yogurt: that’s usually a part of the wee one’s diet anyway – she usually gets 1/3 cup of kibble, some fresh veggies or fruit added, and then she gets a spoonful of balkan yogurt on top. So, when her tummy goes south, I usually cut everything out (since I’m not sure which part’s upsetting her, if any) and just give her easy-to-digest rice.

As a special thank you to everyone who stopped by to comment, send email or even the few FlickrMails we received, we decided to make a special “Merry video” showing all of you a) that the princess is, as you can see, just fine and still in top playing form and b) that she’s a silly, noisy little dog when she plays and she makes me laugh every day. Enjoy the video, and have a great weekend everyone!

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