Three Things...

Three things on dis Monday:

Number One - VIVA ESPANA!!! Mom was sooooo happy when they won the World Cup! It was Spain's first time ever being in the final. You could see how much it meant to them. Mom was all choked up seeing her beloved Iker crying for joy when it was over, and the emotion on his face as he held the gold trophy over his head. What a moment! What a game! What a team!

Some highlight shots. Flying Iker:

Iker makes a huge save:

The winning goal by Iniesta!

Mom has watched dis video of Iker kissing his reporter girlfriend about 100 times dis morning. She keeps saying "awwwww..."

Congrats to the Dutch for their spectacular tournament as well.

And congrats to South Africa, for sharing your beautiful country wiff the world and being such incredible hosts!

The other two things are, the baffroom remodel is going well, but with an older house you always run into problems you didn't expect. But it's coming along and is a little over half way done. Some of you have asked if my pawrents were using the outside fur their baffroom like I do, but no. There is a small baffroom in the basement.

The Third thing is, I don't think Tank's plan to mail all the squirrels to the Squirrel Cage Jail here in town will work. The people in my town are completely crazy. They love their squirrels and the town is somewhat famous for them because a lot of them are black. A black squirrel is the town mascot. It's even against the law to harm or harass a black squirrel here. They would never agree to lock them up, even if the jail clearly says SQUIRREL on it! I'll write a separate post about it soon. From a dogs point of view, it's truly messed up.

Well, that's it fur now. Mom needs the computer back.

Luv,

Cloud

A new enemy in my yard!!!

This is NOT the work of the Evil Squirrel Army! A new enemy has infiltrated my yard - Burrows have been popping up all over our flower beds! They're 2 - 3 inches across, with what looks to be escape holes nearby. Does anyone know what they are??? Mom's pretty sure they aren't moles, because we've had mole tunnels and hills before and know what they look like.

I stick my nose in and sniff, but the critters are always hiding from me...

Another look:

I know they're NOT Prairie Dogs. I know they're NOT Meerkats (BOL!)

Are they some sort of ground squirrel? Some sort of gopher..?

But what perplexes me the most is.......

Why in the world would these critters build a city in MY YARD???

Me??? A RAT TERRIER!!!!

I'm just going to hide here and pretend I'm a tree. Maybe they'll show themselves...

Does anyone know what these things are??? We live in the Midwest. (Iowa)

Luv,

Cloud

Hows about a nice big bowl of SQUIRREL???

I know I want some!!!

Look at him, all served up in a nice big bowl of dirt! YUMMY!!!

You know a suave dog like me has the finest gourmet tastes!

Here I am on the lookout fur more squirrels...

Ever vigilant, always alert fur the enemy...

Don't worry mom, I will keep you safe from those evil creatures...

Luv,

Cloud

It feels like Spring!!

We finally had a day of sunshine! After weeks of cold and rain and overcast days, it was 50 degrees today!

See dis? Dis is the LAST of our snow! Yep, it's all gone. Even dis pile has melted away since mom took the picture earlier today. And tomorrow is supposed to be 60 degrees!!! Smell ya later, winter!!!

Sunny days are good fur running outside.

And good fur posing fur mom and the camera.

(Mom says the camera loves me. Well of course it does! I mean, why wouldn't it..?)

Sunny days are good fur checkin' the treetops fur enemy squirrels...

And good fur lookin' cute by the woodpile.

**excuse mom while she "squees..."**

In other news, I've been tagged by my good furiend Olive. So I'm supposed to show the 10th photo in my file and tell you about it...

Well folks, I'm stunned and disappointed to report that the 10th photo is none other than a squirrel. Not just any squirrel, but Gigantor! If you missed it, you can read about him here.

Well, that's all fur now. Hope everyone is enjoying nice weather. I also hope no one was traumatized by the above photo. It's a reminder to all dogs that the War on Squirrels is serious business. Bark on, my brothers and sisters. Bark on.

Luv,

Cloud

I'm not getting out of bed til Spring...

Not much to report here. Snow, snow, snow. Cold, cold, COLD!!! Snow. Wind. Snow. Wind. Cold. I could go on, but that's about it. It's been about 20 below zero around these parts with the wind chills. I've decided not to get out of bed until Spring.

Conversation wiff mom dis morning -

Mom: Come on Cloud, it's time to get up!

Me: No way. Is cold outside. And besides, there is a giant avalanche waiting to happen by the garage.

Mom: Just don't go over by the garage. Come on, you can wear your red hoodie and sit by the heater afterwards. And have a treat...

Me: Treats, you say?

Me: It's FIVE BELOW ZERO out here. WHY ARE YOU TAKING PICTURES???

Mom: You are cute. Besides, you need something to blog about today...

Me: Hmmph!

That's about it. Gigantor is burning up his fat reserves in dis cold. He's not quite as monsterous as a few weeks ago. But he still lives up to his name:

Mom says we are having a heat wave next week. The temps will be in the 20's and 30's!!!! Do you realize that will feel 50 - 60 degrees warmer than it does now??? HOORAY!!!

Until then, I am keeping warm under mom's desk. I hope everyone is snug and warm out there...

Luv,

Cloud

Gigantor the Squirrel!!!

Furiends, I gotta serious problem over here. Some of you may have seen me mention gigantic squirrels invading my backyard lately. Well here are pictures of the King of Large Squirrels. His name is Gigantor, and mom thinks he is almost as big as me!

The evil!

Look at this massive creature! When he runs across our roof it sounds like a bowling ball!

Dis is the tree you've seen me stand next to many times. He's enormous!

He even tries to eat the birds suet!!!

BOL, he's all rolly-poly!

Every day dis mammoth creature tries to get into the bird feeder, and every day he fails. He's either not too bright, or he's testing it systematically for weaknesses. BOL!

As you can see, dis is squirrel proof - his weight closes the gate and he gets nothin'!

NOTHIN'! Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!

Soon the behemoth realizes he is foiled...

(the feeder is about 20 inches tall. So it looks like he is about 16 inches long NOT including his tail. OMD!!!)

and proceeds to lumber his bulky self up the feeder...

Supersize!

Almost there...

and up he goes...

Like I said, dis is a fairly big feeder. For a size comparison, here is a Red Bellied Woodpecker on it. Red Bellied Woodpeckers are no slouch of the bird world, I tell 'ya. If you've ever seen one, you know they are pretty big!!!

He haunts my dreams...

Luv,

Cloud

PS. As a side note, remember the painting of Nigel Buggers? You can now get prints of it and it help A Place to Bark dog rescue build their shelter!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270499021177

Securing the perimeter in the frozen tundra...

Ok, maybe it's not the frozen tundra, but baby it's cold outside!!!

I started my rounds wiff checking to make sure there were no enemy squirrels in the tree...

Nope. No enemy here. Dis area is secure!

Then I check on the bush wiff the twisty branches. No sign of the enemy, so I give the All Clear signal by lifting my front paw. Time to go check on the lattice by the fence...

Shhhh... I'm listening fur to see if there is a rabbit or mouse in here.

Maybe I'd better sniff around...

Mom says the back of my ears are SO cute. Well, of course they are, but I really don't see why she has to talk about it!

I'm her Cutie Patootie.

Checking one last time to make sure there's nothing in there...

Looking cute fur mom. She likes it.

My mom. She loves me so much.

So I will humor her and look cute some more...

Look at dis crazy picture of me running. It cracks mom up, BOL!

My handsome profile.

Mom went "SQUEEEE!!!" when she saw dis picture.

And dis one too. My cuteness is too much fur her to take sometimes.

And then of course she had to do more squees because of my ears and the perplexed look on my face in dis picture. She doesn't understand that I'm doing serious work here. It's my job to keep dis place safe!

The perimeter is secure. Now we can go inside where it's warm.

It's good to be king.

Luv,

Cloud