Snow Beans!

Greetings from the frozen South!!  We've been snowed in for 2 days.  Monday was snowy and fun and we went out and played in the snow!

We got some action shots this time!  Look at this boy go!!!

This is his "Errol Finn" pose -

This is a nice shot of some bunny butt action.

And here's some Finn bunny butt.

He loves the cold weather.  It is his friend.  He did NOT love the ice that came after the snow and fell numerous times while trying to navigate the sidewalk.  He was SO not happy.  But when we took this picture, he wasn't worried about tomorrow.  That's the great thing about being a dog.  You just enjoy the moment without any thought to the mess you may have to deal with later. 

Miss Bean wasn't into the running so much, she wanted to stand around and eat the snow.

I did manage to get a couple of her in action, though.  Look at her little face!!

By Monday night, the freezing rain had started and turned our street into a skating rink:

Tuesday was treacherous and not fun.  We're ready for the thaw now...

Our New Friend

A Little Extra Bean for the Weekend

They love each other so much.  

It breaks my heart sometimes.  

A Little Extra Bean for the Weekend

Finn and Lola went back to the Wags in the City playgroup this week. 

Here are some shots of the action from the Wags in the City website:

A Little Extra Bean to Start Off the Week

"What?  We thought we were off today."

Snow Beans!

Well, not so much snow as 3 inches of sleet that has now frozen to an ice pack. Despite the arduous conditions, the Beans still conducted the weekly Sunday backyard patrol. 

I was being very stealthy (and warm) by taking pictures of the shenanigans through the door.  Here is Finn howling loudly at some sort of Hottentot threat.  Notice that he's sitting on top of the snow...

However, I was soon found out.

Lola had little time for me.  She was in charge of making sure we didn't get outflanked.

But don't think I didn't hear about it from this one.  Look at that broad chest!  Isn't he scary?

We have clearly established rules that the Mama is not supposed to interfere with the patrol.  Not when Hottentots are all around us!  After all, I'm the one being protected.  (Notice how spread out his toes are so he can navigate without falling through the ice.)

Happy Birthday Finn!!!

Precious little angel, won't you spread your light on me?
I was locked up in the darkness, now you've come to set me free.
I was covered up in sadness -
I was drowned in my own tears.
I'd been cynical and twisted.
I'd been bitter all these years.
I was lost until you came ....

My precious little baby boy is 8 years old today!!


Happy Birthday, Finn. I was lost until you came.

Song lyrics from Precious by Annie Lennox

New Dinette Chairs

Here's Lola Bean - isn't she pretty? - showing off the new dinette chairs.

They're not finished yet because they have to have new seat cushions, but you get the gist.

They are midcentury modern and were made in Sweden. I picked them up at the Sleepy Poet Antique Mall where I find most of the cool stuff in the house. I committed blasphemy by spray painting them black but after a lot of thought I decided "They're my chairs. I can spray paint them if I want to." I'm on the hunt for something cool to upholster the seats with. Then they are off to Darren at The Upholstery Shop in beautiful, scenic Lincolnton, North Carolina.

We're sending a special smoochie out to Julie and The Chris for their invaluable help in hauling them home!

Happy Birthday to Lola Bean!!

Happy Birthday to my little girl!

She is 7 today.

I am so happy to have had 7 years with my sweet and happy and mouthy little Bean. She has brought so much joy to me.

Corgi Fundamentalism

Finn and Lola have joined the revolutionary forces. The corgis may be coming for us, y'all.

Corgi Party!

Our good friend Winston (and his mama, Cathy) came over for dinner and a visit last week!

We were so excited to see them.

Although Lola refused to pose for pictures, Finn and Winston were happy to oblige.

Here they are relaxing after a game of fetch. In case you're confused, Finn is on the right and Winston is on the left.

Finn v. The Thunder Boomers

We've had a lot of thunderstorms this spring and my little Finny has become more and more concerned about the noise.

Lately, I've been finding him hiding in the strangest places.

Today he made it into my closet.

The door was only cracked and he almost got locked in, in which case Lola would have had to step in and save his life. Due to his predilection for dark rooms in times of storm, he gets locked in closets and powder rooms from time to time.

He just wants to go somewhere dark and quiet and get some peace. And then the door gets pulled to and he's stuck.

Lola always alerts me to his peril long before I go looking for him.

And then I open the door and there he is, contentedly sleeping and mad to be bothered.

Hello From the Bean

Hi!

When I'm not barking at Hottentots, making trouble or beanstalking my Mama, I sit around looking pretty.

It's A Hard Pup Life

When we moved into our house, our builder put up half a fence.

Yeah, we were a little perplexed about that, too.

My parents came to visit and said "Well, maybe you don't need the rest of it".

Five minutes later, while Nana and Pop Paw were in charge of her in the "mostly" fenced yard, Lola Bean decided to take a tour of the neighborhood without them. They then announced that we needed to put up the rest of the fence because the Bean clearly is out of control. And you know, they said it like her bad behavior was somehow my fault. The fact is, the Bean didn't come here to be easy to get along with.

Here she is looking recalcitrant. That's what she is, a mouthy and recalcitrant Bean.

But I digress.

Since the Beans were suffering from lack of a yard, Nana and Pop Paw were kind enough to finance the grandpuppy fence. I, you see, am not the only one who spoils them rotten.

Since the fence went up, Finn and Lola have been enjoying their yard more and more. Finn especially.

Here's a picture of him earlier today surveying the back 40.

And here he is enjoying the grass.

He's been out there for four hours. Now he's just laying around in the grass in the dark. I can't get him in the house! And he's starting to smell like worms.

Her Name Is Lola and She Is a Showgirl

You may have noticed how much I adore my Beans.

It's hard for me to capture my Lola Bean's sweetness in the pictures that I take of her - partly because I'm a horrible photographer but mostly because she's incredibly uncooperative.

This picture comes close. Isn't she precious?

Paranormal Finn

Sometimes Finn has the ability to make himself disappear -he usually does this when he's in some sort of trouble.

In this picture, he is completely invisible.

Any impression that you may have that you can in any way see a corgi here is purely the result of a photographic anomoly.

The fun thing about this is that if you walk up to him and poke one of his toes with your finger, that toe and the half of his butt that it is attached to will slowly disappear under the bed, leaving the other toe and the other half of his butt sticking out. Then if you poke the other toe, that toe and the other half of his butt will slowly disappear under the bed.

He thinks he's so slick.

Snow Beans!

It snowed last night, for the first time in a long time and boy, did the Beans love it! They had a blast on their early walk this morning, running and frapping with each other off the leash - illegally so don't tell anybody.

They decided to butt in when I tried to take some shots out in front of the house.

Lola was content to observe the goings on from the relative safety of the front door. Look how little she is and her little short legs. She is so sweet that I could eat her with a spoon!


Finn came out to keep an eye on me. He's so intrepid....

Afterward, a nap was in order. Snow is exhausting!

The Day We Became Home Owners

We closed on our house on February 28th last year. Afterward, I went and picked up Finn and Lola so they could come with me for our first visit to the house that was now officially ours. One of the first things they noticed was that all our windows are Corgi height which comes in handy when you are on the lookout for Hottentots and marauders.


They also enjoyed running up and down the hall.

And of course, Finny had a good time because having a good time is what he does best. Even though he wasn't quite sure where he was, he sure enjoyed being there.

The Worst Fetchers in the World

We went over to play in the grass this morning. There is a little lawn over at Coca Cola headquarters where we go to run off the leash.

We played Stick in the Grass. Other dog owners refer to this game as "fetch" but Finn and Lola reject the premise.

Stick in the Grass goes like this: We find a stick - this step is cause for great excitement. Lots of jumping around and barking.

Next, I throw the stick and Finn and Lola run after it as fast as they can. Upon reaching the stick, Finn lays down beside it and waits and Lola runs back to me as fast as possible.

I then have to walk over to the stick (while being herded by Lola) and then I throw it back the other way and we repeat it until they are too tired to chase.

They are the worst fetchers in the whole world.

Bean Smoochies

You may have noticed that I have two Pembroke Welsh Corgis that I call Beans. There is a story behind this: When Finn was a baby, he was the exact shape, size and color of a butterbean, so that's what I call him about half of the time - Butterbean. Then Lola came. Naturally, she became Lola Bean and all of her personality traits began to be attributed to her Beaniness. Now she is Lola Bean, Miss Bean or, most often, the Bean or my Bean.

This is my Lola Bean being cradled and having her face kissed. She hates this. However, I require certain sacrifices from her and one of them is that she has to occasionally be cradled and have her face kissed. So there. When I see pictures of her like this I think that she is either a lot bigger than I perceive her to be or I am smaller than I think I am. Maybe some of both?



This is Finn in his Halloween costume. He went as a pig. If you knew him, you'd see the appropriateness of this. My father was horrified that I would dress up his grandpuppy in such an embarrassing outfit.

Lola went as a bumblebee. She was nothing but cute.