30/Nov/17 could you please play with me

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

I wake up, uber early, only cause the Big Guy tries to sneak down the stairs.  Then he puts water into this white thing and in a few minutes.  He is drinking this hot brownish water.  I think he calls it "Coffee".  I wonder if it's any good?

It smells good enough.

But he never gives me any.

When Tonya has some, she says to me, "Let me finish my coffee first".  

NO!  I am MORE important than coffee.  

Otherwise you would have coffee upstairs with you BEFORE you come down stairs.  I greet you at the bottom of the stairs every day.  So ME first, then coffee.

They had this thing yesterday called a "Power Outage".  All's I know, I was in the dark again.  Tonya was on her day off, but not really her day off.  She had to this thing at work called "Mandatory Overtime".  I can tell you this.  To me, it means, no time with Tonya.  But she was able to come home early, only to leave again.  She took some chili with her and went to her sister's house who did have power.

She came home again, noticed that there wasn't any power, so she left and went to see her brother.

When she came home again, she had the Big Guy with her.

But, because of the power outage, she didn't get to see her story.  She watches this TV program called "The Young And Restless".  The Big Guy will watch it with her.  He does a better job at controlling the remote to get past the commercials.

Talking of TV.  Now he is bugging to go watch Survivor.  It was a 2 hour special last night.  So I had better sign off and go watch it with him.  He needs someone to keep him company.  I don't play with him too much.  Although he does pat me and hold my leash when we go for walks.  But he doesn't play too much.

Bye bye fur now.

29/Nov/17 hard to use a mouse with this mussle

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

The Big Guy was telling me, way back in the day, they didn't have a mouse for their computers.  They would have this keyboard overlay and it would have all the keyboard short cuts on it.  You would laminate it.  If you didn't have an overlay, you had a tough time remembering all the keyboard short cuts.

Then, one day, at work, they got this new item and it was called a mouse.  The Big Guy told his crew, they all had to learn how to work the computer's mouse.  So, each person in the office was given an hour a day to play solitaire on the computer.  This forced them to learn how to use the mouse.

Now, people couldn't imagine operating a computer without a mouse.

But when ever you look at the Big Guy's favorite program, Star Trek, they don't use a mouse when operating their computers.  They either talk to the computer, or use touch screens.  Then they have the holodecks for their games.

I'm pretty sure that the Big Guy would be impressed if his XBox was a whole room in the house.

Do you remember reading yesterday's blog?  I was talking about this dog that was barking a lot at me?  I wasn't able to remember his name.  Well I remember it today.  His name is "Darcy".  There was a lady that came outside to get Darcy to stop barking at me and the Big Guy.  Well when she went outside, she was only in her sock feet.  The Big Guy and Tonya works with her Father-in-law.  His name is Rob.  She got her feet wet cause Darcy was pulling on his lead so much and she went into the grass, while he was pulling her around in the dew and frost covered ground.  Perhaps next time, she will wear shoes.

We had a visitor show up to the house last night.  She wanted to tell us, how much she LOVED our house.  That it was decorated so nicely.  The Big Guy has used LED lights in the past.  But he put them away last year and can't seem to find them this year.  So he used those older lights.  Well they are bigger and brighter.  She was saying how the other houses looks nice, but that ours looks the nicest as we are using the old fashioned XMas bulbs to decorate our house.

She was also fascinated by the little green and red lights that were ALL over the house.  She was asking Tonya, how did I get so many little lights all over the house.  Tonya tried to explain, twice, it was the two lazers that are in the ground.  She kept touching the house, trying to touch the lights.  She told Tonya that the lights are not warm to the touch, but certainly are beautiful.  Tonya gave up trying to explain to her about the lazers.

Bye bye fur now.

28/Nov/17 it's dark on the deck

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

You can see my "glow" eyes in the dark.  Also, my white chest fur is a dead give away.

So as you can see, there is no longer a screen door going to the deck.  It's now, just a steel door that leads out to the deck.  The Big Guy thought, with that panel busted in, there is sharp metal that I may catch myself on.

You can also see in this picture, the person(s) that painted the house, didn't wait for the walls to be completely dry before they were painting.  So all the paint has lifted and peeled.  He can't wait to get siding on the house.

Tonya's doing this thing at work, called "Floor Support".  Well that means she is on her feet for about 4 hours.  That is a lot for her.  So she isn't out walking me.  Only myself and the Big Guy went for our walk.  

We walked past this one guys house.  They also have a dog named "Max".  But they have another dog and he gets really upset when I walk past.  His owner had to come out and take him inside as he was barking a lot.  I don't think she seen me walking with the Big Guy.

I don't walk past Bailey's house that often.  She lives with this mean doggie that always wants to bite me.  Then, there is other OTHER dog that lives next door.  He is no better.  He always lunges at me.  His lead reaches part way across the side walk.  But their house is for sale, so they should be moving soon.  So perhaps I will get to see Bailey once again.  I will just have to avoid that other dog she lives with.

This morning, the Big Guy has to make this spiraled noodles from zucchini.  Then he has to fry up the zucchini to go with the meat balls that he has made.  They are still trying to loose weight.  I wonder how soon it will be before they add potatoes back in their menu.  I used to get potatoes every so often.  I loved them.  But I also love the fact that my owners are trying to loose weight too.  Guess I can't have it both ways.

Bye bye fur now.

27/Nov/17 Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

I had to listen to Christmas songs most of the day yesterday as Tonya and the Big Guy were decorating the house.  They have been searching for this other lights that they had outside of the house, but they are no where to be found.

I'be been told, over and over, not to touch the Christmas Tree.  It's definitely not for peeing on.

At one point, I was quite, just laying on the ground, when Tonya is beside me.

I'm NOT sleeping you know

Oh, she's going to scratch me

She stopped scratching

Now she wants to wrestle

Tonya said my fur is so soft

I better lick her back

Her mouth was open as I was licking her

Because of her replaced knees, she has a hard time getting up.  When I lay down and be good, Tonya says that is the dog she is looking for.  I've messed up a few things over the last few years.  I get bored and chew stuff.  I chew it before I even know it.

They went to Canadian Tire, without me and they bought this smelly stuff.  Now the house smells like a tree.  I guess that's what they want.

It snowed a bit last night.  Nothing outrageous just yet.  Just enough to make the car and the deck white.  It melted when it touched the grass.

The Big Guy had a weak moment last night.  He made this rib roast in his dutch oven.  It's called "braising".  All's I know, it was DELICIOUS and they gave me the ribs from the rib roast.  There was still meat left on the bone.  It took me no time to clean the bones off.

So for the next few weeks, Tonya is going to be working a lot more than usual.  I hope she doesn't get to cranky.

Bye bye fur now.

26/Nov/17 gotta (heart) dat ass

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

Yesterday the Big Guy put up the Christmas Decorations.  I've got a very big tail.  He put some eyelets into the wood in the front window.  So he has the Christmas Candles in the window.  He has also put fishing line through the eyelets to hold the Christmas Candles in place.

Till this morning. 

Yes, the Christmas Candles will not fall off the window sill, but they will move side to side as my tail swishes back and forth.

Then, there is the back door.

Yesterday, the Big Guy wanted to get me from under his feet.  I would lay down in the most obvious spots.  Typically in the door way.  But he would want to get something.  This means having to walk past me.  Well, I nearly tripped him about 4 times.  He had enough.  So he put me outside on the back deck.  

BUT I didn't want to be outside.  I wanted to be INSIDE with him.  I was jumping on the back door, when...

Yea, he isn't happy with me.  That gap you see, well the Big Guy has tried to push that panel back in place.  So it's sorta like a HUGE doggie door if he would remove that panel.  He isn't sure if this can be fixed, or if it means the whole door has to be replaced.  But he said he isn't replacing it till I go to some place called "Doggie Heaven".

From what I can understand, I almost went there yesterday.

Bye bye fur now.

25/Nov/17 I will just lay here, in the way to the kitchen

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

The Big Guy says that I just love being in the way.  Today's picture is an example of what he is talking about.  I lay in the door way to the next room.  They can either go around the house to get back to that room, or disturb me.  But they are Canadian, so normally they will walk around the house to get to the next room.

I watched the Big Guy put the Christmas decorations on the front deck yesterday.  He said that he has misplaced the LED lights and put up the older R17 lights instead.  They are so much brighter.

Normally he has this sensor item, but he found this other one.  Well, he is going to try to find his "normal" sensor.  That way, the lights comes on at sunset and goes off after a certain amount of time.

I could hear the Big Guy up in the attic.  That is some place that I've never gone.  I bet there is a lot of stuff that I could chew, up there.

Then, not to be outdone, the Big Guy was told that he was going to make spaghetti and meat balls.  Do you think I got ANY of the meat balls?  NO SIR!  I could smell them.  He put cheese in his meat ball recipe.  After they were done baking, he let the grease cool and then threw the grease in the GARBAGE!  OMG!  I could have licked that clean for him.

Or when he was rolling the meat balls.  He had meat grease all over his hands.  He could have let me lick his hands clean.  But, NO.  He washes his hands with soap and water.  Grrr...

When Tonya got home, she has the gal to eat this new recipe for his spaghetti and meatballs without allowing me to see if it was safe for her to eat it first.  Kinda like the official food taster from days past.  She gobbled it all up.  Then had seconds on the meat balls.  Again, not one little piece was shared with me.

These guys are impossible to live with.  Sure, I got my kibble and water.  But dogs don't exist on kibble and water alone.

So I lay in the doorways, just to see if I can't trip them.  Once they drop their food on the floor, IT'S MINE!

But later on, they were drinking some wine and the Big Guy brought out some cheese.  Tonya felt bad and gave me some.  Of course, I gobbled it up without chewing it.  Hoping that I would get more.  

Well that thought flew out the window.

Bye bye fur now.

24/Nov/17 well hello there

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

Wasn't it windy out yesterday?  To be sure, if there was any leaves that didn't fall off the trees, the high winds took care of that.  All the trees out there, are leaf free.

Yesterday, the Big Guy went around his back yard and cleaned up the branches that he cut last weekend.  So now the green bin is at the curb, ready to be picked up.

We went for a long walk yesterday.  I sure hope the Big Guy's toe heals up soon.  It's the one thing that is stopping us from going for our LONGER walks.

While we were out walking, I got a lot of pats.  People are constantly saying how beautiful I am.  Geesh, "beautiful" is for the girl doggies.  I am a boy doggie.  I am HANDSOME.  Just like my name.

The Big Guy is going to be home with me all day today.  So we will probably go for our walk later on.  That way, when Tonya gets home, she will be able to relax.

Normally I would have had my blog on Facebook by now.  BUT, the Big Guy slept in and I don't know how to turn on his computer.  He watches me as I type out my Blog.  I do a few typing mistakes, but his computer will offer corrections when I do that.  

I can remember when my non-furry brother, Floyd, he said that he was in high school and Tonya wanted him to take typing.  He said no.  He said that some day, it will just take his voice, translate it and type it for him.  There was some computers that will do that.  But they are not too common just yet.  

So...  soon enough, I will just be able to bark and growl, and the computer will know what to type.  That will be so convenient.  That will rest my weary paws from typing so much.

Bye bye fur now.

23/Nov/17 good boy lay down

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

I hear this a lot from Tonya.  Sit. Lay down. Be Good Boy. STOP THAT.  On the other hand, the Big Guy, he says a lot of stuff.  I will look at him, but I don't understand him.  I think he's trying too hard.  Every so often though, he gets angry.  Normally that's after Tonya's been yelling STOP THAT, to me.

We got to go for a nice walk yesterday.  They seen their friend, Tammy, who suggested that I get a pinch collar.  She said that I walk a lot differently now and don't try to pull as much on my collar.  Which is true.  When I go for a drive, the Big Guy will put on my other collar and I will jump and pull a lot.  But he's only walking me to the car.

Every day, when we go for our walks, we come across this guy, who controls the traffic at this one intersection.  I guess he is a "crossing guard".  He gives me 2 treats every time he sees me.  He only asks two things of me.  One is to sit.  The other is to be gentle.  Sometimes, when we are crossing the street, I am so anxious.  I will sit right in the middle of the street.  He finds this funny.

Today, I think my walk may be a bit delayed.  It's REALLY windy out right now.  Plus, it's also raining out.  The weather is supposed to be nicer this afternoon.  So I will have to wait and see when I go for my walk.

It's Thanksgiving in the United States today.  Since the Big Guy works for a company that is based out of Texas, he has the day off.  I bet he's going to be playing his XBox.

He also has to clean up the branches that he cut down last weekend.  So he can't just sit around all day long.  He has to cut them and put them into the green bin for the garbage tomorrow.  He says that he has a big "to do" list.  He should put, "Play with Max" on that list.

Bye bye fur now.

22/Nov/17 shhh sleeping

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home,

This is my life.  I sleep a lot.  But don't be fooled.  If I hear a cheese wrapper, I can be awake in an INSTANT!

If I hear a dog collar jingling outside, I will run to the window and see if I recognize them and will bark and bark at the window till they notice me.

So yesterday, Tonya made some ribs.  I had to smell that all night long, while I tried to sleep.  Yesterday, the Big Guy took the meat off the bones and put the meat inside a container.  Can you even guess what they did with the rib bones?

Go on, take a guess.

If you said they threw them out in the green bin, you would be right.

I could have had a big rib bone feast.  But NO!  Denied!

They said they are worried that I might swallow a bone without chewing it properly.  Or a bone shard may get into my intestines.  Or that the bone marrow may be so rich, I would get the poops from it.

Really?  That's what your worried about?

Why don't you let ME decide.

Oh, cause I can be a bit naive when it comes to what I should and should not be eating.  Well that's fair.  I will TRY to eat just about anything.  

Just like my love for toilet paper.  The Big Guy is pretty good about remembering, but Tonya, not so much.  She leaves the bathroom door open and I will sneak inside and feast on the toilet paper.  It's my addiction.  nom nom nom

Bye bye fur now

21/Nov/17 do you know what I had to smell all night long

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home,

Tonya decided that she would put some ribs in the slow cooker.

I had to smell this all night long.  That is just so unfair.  My nose can smell stuff a thousand times better than a human.  I had to smell those ribs cooking, while I was trying to sleep.

I know what's going to happen too.  They are going to have the ribs.  They are going to suck the meat right off the bone.  

THEN

They will throw the bones in the green bin.

GAWD

Humans are so wasteful.  I could have ALL those bones.  But NOOOOOO

The weather man was WRONG.  They were forecasting up to 2 cm of snow last night.  Well when I look outside, there is no snow at all.

The Big Guy is sooking.  His new Star Trek program isn't on again till January, where they will air the second half of the first series.  He can always watch re-runs to hold him over.

On yesterday's walk, I had 2 x poops.  Tonya, of course, brought some bags so that she would be able to carry the precious poop home again.  She didn't look all that well at the bags.  They had holes in them and when she went to pick up my poop.  She put her fingers right thought the hole and into my poop.  She didn't just do it once, but, twice yesterday.

The Big Guy did NOT laugh.  He knows it could have happened to him.

Well, I guess I should go find that big bone that they bought me and chew on that for at bit.  I guess that's going to be the only bone that I will be allowed to have.

Bye bye fur now.

20/Nov/17 these are my just waking up eyes

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

Yesterday, I got to go for a medium sized walk.  We went all the way downtown, over to King St and back home again.  On the way home, we were feeling the rain, as it was starting to fall.

BUT, Tonya wanted to clean the house.  So she got the Big Guy to drive me to the Dog Park.  I got to play there for about an hour.  Alls I know, he turned up the heat in the car for the drive home.  He even put the heated seat on.  He was complaining about being cold.  Not me.  I was panting and laid on the back seat.  I was tired from all the running about.

Did I tell you, they were going to have a turkey dinner yesterday, with all the fixings.

The Big Guy, took the turkey neck, and the gibblets and put them OUTSIDE for the sea gulls.  Those ungrateful birds.  They ate everything and flew off, without so much as a thank you.  Although the Big Guy says, them not pooping on his car is thanks enough.

Then, the Big Guy went into the freezer.  This guy can be weird.  He gets this bag of turkey bones and another container of frozen liquid.  The frozen liquid is the old drippings from the previous turkey.  Same with the bones.  It's from the previous turkey that they had.  Well he puts this all in a pot and boils it up.  He throws out the turkey bones in the green bin and makes a gravy from the liquid.  Oh it smelled so good.  Did they even think of pouring some of that over my kibbles?  NO!

When the Big Guy carved the turkey, did he throw me some of the skin, or turkey?  NO!

When the boiled up the turnips, carrots and potatoes.  Did they put any of that into my food dish?  NO!

Did I get ANY of their turkey dinner?  NO!

There I am, starving.  Wasting away to nothing.  Sniffing the air, smelling all that delicious food.  Even Terry didn't give me any.

I tried my old trick of approaching the table as they were eating.  That only got me yelled at.

I gotta figure out, how do I get to the green bin so that I can feast on the stuff that gets thrown out.  I got some thinking to do.

Bye bye fur now.

19/Nov/17 my nose is very wet

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

Yesterday, I went for a short walk with the Big Guy.  When he got me home, he put me out on the deck and then he attacked the trees that separate his property and his neighbors.

Because of the weight he has lost, he went a lot faster this year.  A couple of branches fell in Jim's yard.  But I'm pretty sure that Jim doesn't mind too much.  Neither Jim or the Big Guy wants these trees to grow too big.  They are big enough to offer privacy within each other's yard.  But also not so big, that if you wanted to talk with the neighbor, you can.

I think that today, the Big Guy will be going out in the yard and picking up the branches and stuffing them into the green bin.

The Big Guy didn't offer me a branch to chew on like he did last year.

I really LOVE chewing on stuff.

Last night, so that Tonya and the Big Guy could watch TV, without me bugging them, he put some peanut butter and cheese whiz in that bone again.  It kept me busy for about 2 hours.  I tried and tried to get all the stuff out of the center of the bone.  They were binge watching this TV series called "Stranger Things".  They are all done watching that program.  They have to wait for next season to come on the air.

The Big Guy said that they are going to make a turkey today.  I will just have to bug and bug and buy till Tonya gives me some.  I know your going to find this hard to believe, but they will put the bones out for the sea gulls.  Can you imagine that?  Throwing out all those bones like that.  They are weird!

Humans.  Can't live with them, can't live without them.

Bye bye fur now.

18/Nov/17 this is MY bone

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

Yesterday I didn't go for a walk.  The weather was MISERABLE.  It's been something like several months since I've not gone for a daily walk.  Tonya was saying, we will be going for a LONG walk today.  I guess we will see about that.

But because I didn't get to go for my walk, I was, what they call, is: RESTLESS.  Yes, I was "restless".  I was all wound up.  I had plenty of energy and no where to release it.

So to calm me down, the Big Guy went and found one of my bones.  He put a bit of peanut butter in one end and jammed a treat in the peanut butter.  Then put MORE peanut butter to hide the treat.  Then, not to be outdone, but he put cheese whiz in the other end of the bone and jammed and treat into that.  Then covered the treat with MORE cheese whiz.

After all this stuffing, he finally brought it out to the living room where he laid it on the floor.  

I was no longer "restless".  Now I am on a mission to get to all the cheese whiz and peanut butter.

But...

I didn't hold the bone down with my paw.

As I was licking the stuffing, the bone was moving.

Moving...

Moving...

Moving...

... and ...  finally...  it moved right under the couch.

SHIT

Now I can't get it.

I better bark at it.

BARK BARK BARK !!

(I threw in a couple of whines, just to show how upset I was)

Tonya got up and moved the couch.  I got my bone again.

Bye bye fur now.

17/Nov/17 can you see me in the dark

Good morning Cape Breton.

Maximus Handsomius here from my forever home.

I had to laugh yesterday.  The Big Guy put some boiled eggs on the stove for his lunch.  Tonya came downstairs, seen the boiled eggs and had them for her breakfast.  He wasn't upset or anything like that.  It wasn't like he told her, that the eggs was going to be for his lunch.

It's raining out this morning.  I went outside for a quick pee.  I got to watch the Big Guy put the garbage to the curb.  But normally when it's raining like this, it means that my morning walk, could become an evening walk.

I bet if it was snowing, we would be going for a walk.

Snow isn't miserable like rain is.  But rain doesn't accumulate like snow does.  So they both have advantages.  I'm sure it will be snowing soon enough.

I heard from Tonya that she was talking with Colleen, who was talking with Geoff, who will be bringing Odin for a visit in about a month from now.  For those of you that don't know, Odin is my brother.  Last time I seen Odin, he was about 80 pounds.  He is very well trained and he really listens to Geoff.

Me, well, training just isn't my thing.  I'm more of a free spirit.

Odin also lives with other dogs.  So he isn't as bored as I am.

I had an accident yesterday.  This was the first accident that I've had in a long time.  Not sure what they fed me that would make me have an accident.  But yesterday, during our walk, I found something in the leaves and I ate it before Tonya or the Big Guy was able to get it out of my mouth.

I gotta learn not to eat strange stuff that's just laying around outside.

Bye bye fur now.