New HULA Member: Indy

Dear Meeshka,

Here are my qualifications:

1. Demonstrating disruptive behavior – sometimes when I think my humans have taken my for granted, I will decide to skip a meal or two, lay around, and sigh a lot. Then I will insist that I have to go out several times. I’ll drink a lot of water so that I can pee every time I go out. Then they humans will start to worry and give me extra pets and attention. Then sometimes I will wait until my humans are resting on the couch and dance around and run to the door and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk…then my humans each try to get the other one to take me out, and then finally one of them has to take me…and I just prance around outside and sniff the air and dawdle until the human says "Come on, pee pee, poo!" and I sniff some more, and prance around, and then the human says, more impatiently, "Pee pee! Poo poo!" It’s fun to make them say it really loudly, especially if other people are walking by.

2. Cause your human to freak out for no real reason - see #1, where I skip meals and lay around and sigh a lot, and act like I have an upset tummy, and act like I REALLY have to go out and it’s URGENT. See photo of me acting sick.

3. Cause human guilt for no reason – when I have an upset tummy I will lay on the floor by the table and stare at my humans. My mom swears that when they have to fast me for a day (fasting sucks, I means you get no food!) I somehow make my face look thinner and my eyes bigger.

4. Destroy something - I’m six years old, so I have an impressive list. During puppyhood I destroyed countless pairs of my mom’s socks, underwear, shoes, shirts. I also went after leather gloves, and paper – I LOOOOOOOVE shredding paper! Last night I almost got away with a roll of wrapping paper and a bag from Bath and Body Works that smelled like caramel popcorn!

5. Human behavior modification - See #1 where I make the sleepy humans argue over who has to take me out every hour for no reason! I also love to leave the blood on my paws after I eat a beef rib. I think it makes me look cool, especially when I am going to day care. My mom makes me come into the kitchen and has to wipe the blood off with a wet paper towel, and then we are a few minute late and she gets my fur on her clothes! See picture of my bloody paws.

6. Being dressed up as something for the humor of the humans – I put an end to that. I like bandannas around my neck, they are okay, as they enhance my handsomeness. I do not tolerate hats of any type. Two years ago my mom put a cowboy hat on my head for Halloween. When she came home from work the next day I had shredded the cowboy hat and left it right by the front door.

7. Love of Kleenex - I do love kleenex! I destroy them, but I don’t eat them. I mean come on – I get raw chicken and beef – the flavor of Kleenex just can’t compare! But I do love to shred them and strew them all over the floor, as well as any type of paper or cardboard. See photo of me with shreds of paper.

Respectfully,

Indy

- Even though I'm suppose to be behaving and being cute and fluffy for the stressed humans during Sammy's recovery, I'm happy to see that others are able to carry the HULA torch while I behave. Congrats Indy. - Meeshka

Where's My Pillow?

The human woman disappeared last night, apparently sleeping down with Sam. It was a good thing, in that I got a LOT of the bed so I could stretch out and be comfortable, but something was missing. Oh yes, the human woman’s head that I use for a pillow! Its just very disturbing to me when my routine is messed up.

The gimpy suck up mutatoe spent all night sleeping with his face right by the Sammy monitor. With each noise he would dutifully get up and smack the human man with his mutatoe paw to wake him up. “HEY, there was a noise, you better see to it!”

The human woman appeared at our usual waking up time and let us out, then back in. She then disappeared again to help Sammy go outside with the help of the very sleepy human man. Apparently by the sound of the celebration, Sammy peed outside again. When she came back upstairs to feed us (and its about time) I ignore her. The gimpy mutatoe suck up celebrated as though she had been gone for years and was very wiggly and happy to see her. I ignored her and glared at her. Of course I ate my breakfast, and then gave her a nice claw to the leg.

We got to go outside again, and Loki caught a mouse. He was guarding it, so I couldn’t get it. Once again, the spoilsport human woman came out with the flashlight and bag, and even though I told Loki not to give it up, he did, and over the fence it went. Sigh. We refused to come back inside, even though we know the human woman wanted to nap, which is our little way of saying “ignore us will you”.

Later on the human woman made a very VERY tasty treat in a big vat, which I thought was suppose to be for me. She even let me taste one or two and they were delicious. I remember when she made them for old guy-guy Nova, its like raw meat and a whole bunch of other tasty things that the humans call “satin balls”. She made a whole lot of it and I fully expected it all to land in my bowl, but then she put it away in the fridge and freezer, and carried a bag down to Sam. I stomped my delicate feet about that! She did appease both gimpy suck up and I by giving us each a small taste when she came back up, but it still isn’t enough.

We spent a lot of time out on the deck today too. Its nice and cool, so we didn’t mind at all, actually came back inside and asked to go right out again. There is a kitty on the loose, two actually. A black one, and a gray one. We could never see the kitties, but we could smell them through the fence. Up on the deck we can actually see the kitties. Loki tried his “stare at it until it gets bored enough to just come into the yard” routine, but the kitties are apparently smart. They didn’t want to come play and weren’t mesmerized by Loki’s constant staring like some mice and moles are. Kitties are a force to be reckoned with.

Sam has been incredibly unhappy in his crate today. He’s been crying and wooing, and even scratching at the crate, sometimes chewing at the crate and that’s even after he’s had his sleepy pill. The humans are very upset about this and don’t know what they can do about it. They tried to do a routine like they would be doing if they had to go to work, but they haven’t been really successful at that. They’ve given in to his whims, and sat down there with him, and went down there when he woos, but now they’re trying to be brave and let him go. They know that when they go to the work place, they won’t be there to comfort him, so he needs to just be in there and not get attention. I’m glad I’m not down there not getting attention. Its very sad.

I chased the gimpy mutatoe around the yard and fell down. I thought the human woman was going to have a coronary. Normally its fun causing her stress, but I think any more stress and she’ll explode at this point. I’m doing my best to be fluffy and comforting. I guess I just need to be more helpful during this time and not be a bother, but I’ll make up for it when he’s all better, which hopefully will be very soon.

Meeshka

We WILL Get Access

The humans made a huge deal about Sammy peeing twice today. Big deal, I pee all the time, and suckup mutatoe pees in the house (unbeknownst to the humans) so I just don’t see what all the fuss is about.

I’ve woo’d do him a few times, and he’s whined back a few. He doesn’t feel good, poor guy, but when the humans shove pills down his throat he does feel better, but he’s already sick of the crate thing. They didn’t give him his sleepy medication this morning, so he was really sick of the crate thing and they spent a lot of time down there trying to get him to settle down. They did give him a sleepy pill at lunch, so he’s been sleepy pup ever since then.

One of the benefits of Sam’s recovery is the guilt feeding. Oh yeah, he’s milking it for all he’s worth and scored nothing but chopped up turkey lunch meat for lunch today. As an added bonus, the human woman gave us some in our food as well. Gotta love the sick food!

Apparently the new rule of the house is no barking, wooing, or riccocheting off the bed. This whole change of routine is really draining on us. We do something and we’re told not to do it. But we’ve done it for YEARS! We do like the deck though, its very comfy to nap on. We get to look over the fence and taunt the other dogs in the neighboring yards, and watch the neighbors and its actually much nicer than sleeping on dirt.

I made the human woman freak out by napping with my back right on the edge of the deck stairs. Hehe, she was worried that she would startle me in my sleep and I would roll down the stairs. I think I see some gray hair growing on her lately.

We also managed to knock down the baby gate and make a dash for the downstairs, but we got caught on the landing. What we didn’t know was that they deviously placed yet ANOTHER gate downstairs, so that will be a challenge to get through. The human man had to carry Loki back up the stairs, as he refused to go up on his own, a fine display of resistance for the suck up.

We had our 4pm play time with the human woman though. At least she’s keeping our normal schedule going. I even chased the suck up mutatoe around the yard for a bit and didn’t try very hard to catch him. He’s such a sensitive little twerp that I made him feel as though he’s much faster than me, which I’m sure he’ll brag about. He’s been playing very nice with me, and not grabbing my tail when I run, so that’s nice. I think the whole tail grabbing thing is another new rule, and frankly, its about time for that one!

So far, no pictures of the icky surgery site or Sammy’s stunningly bad haircut. I’m thinking that might happen tomorrow. I also heard that instead of the human man sleeping downstairs with Sam, that the human woman will take her turn, but I don’t know if I can allow that. I need her head to sleep on, and Loki is such a cry baby if she’s not around. We’ll see what happens tonight and whether we’ll let them get any sleep.

Meeshka

Sammy Update for 29 December 2006 (this is no fun)

The humans got up early and went to pick up Sammy. They got back just in time for our lunch, which is good timing.

They carried him in and got him comfy in his crate downstairs and then let us out... but they wouldn’t let us go downstairs to welcome him back! I mean, come on, just one sniff? But no, the human woman did let us go out on the deck, so we had fun going on the deck, which we never get to do, and then we went out in the yard, but ran straight for the back door because we figured that we’d get to go through the back door to go see Sammy. No.

All day we’ve been trying to go see Sammy, but they put the stupid gate up and we can only see him from the 2nd floor. I’ve woo’d to him a few times, but he doesn’t answer me. He seems a bit drugged up, and very comfy in his new cage. He’s sporting a new hair cut down his back and one on his side. The cut from the surgery looks pretty oogie, but not so bad. I mean he looks silly with his bare back and all, you barely notice that big ol cut down his back.

The human man spent a lot of time down there with Sammy, to make sure he’s ok and all. They watched some tv together, then Sam napped. The watched more tv together, and then Sam napped. I kept trying to woo at him and even yapped once, but the human woman made us go out again, via the deck. No chance of her messing up and letting us down the stairs I guess.

So, this is very boring. He appears to be doing ok, sleeps a lot. He’s gone outside twice (he’s allowed 4 “out” times no longer than 10 minutes and no racing around the yard), and sleeps. Sigh. Good to have him back, but I can’t sniff him and that makes me stomp my delicate little feet. Of course, he can’t stomp his delicate little feet because they still don’t work very well, so I guess I’ll just have to monitor him from afar and hope for a chance to get down and sniff him sometime soon.

Meeshka

Sammy Update for 28 December 2006

The humans are plotting, planning, and buying things for Sammy's grand homecoming. If this is what it takes to get all of their attention... nah, no way, I'll just get my attention by being cute and fluffy.

The human woman started making a keening noise this morning over her oatmeal (which she didn't share) as she was reading some of the recovery instructions that the vet had given them with their bill. Apparently Sammy has to stay in his crate (which needs to be moved to a quiet place with dim lighting) for 8 whole weeks. We won't be allowed to even sniff him when he comes home, because apparently with all of the drugs messing with his mind, and the fact that he's vulnerable, he may freak out and get scared of us. I don't know how anyone could be scared of my fluffiness unless I meant to be scary, but fine, we'll leave him alone.

She started keening even more when she read that they needed to buy diapers, and baby wipes and all sorts of stuff. Apparently King Sammy will be just going in his crate, since he's only allowed out as long as he's calm (he's a husky) and will lay quietly (um, he's a husky), and to change his diaper, take his temperature once a day, and clean his crate (he's a husky).

We're not suppose to get him all riled up, get near him, sniff him, touch him, or do anything with him for 8 weeks. All that time he has to lay in his crate and heal. Yeah, this will be fun. That means 8 weeks of me being the toy for the gimpy suck up mutatoe.

This morning the human woman was worried because the human that called said he was a bit weak after the surgery and had some sort of thing called a urinary tract infection, but apparently that's normal and he's taking pills for it. The poor guy, on top of being in a crate all this time he has to take pills and things. In the afternoon when the human woman took a call and was much happier to hear that Sammy was feeling much better than in the morning, and he was even wagging his tail. That's especially good because that means his tail works. If his tail works then his back legs should also work, and if all of those work, then the chances are good that he'll be normal once he heals all up.

They both went out and bought a bunch of things today and put them downstairs, I guess for his own private little hideway for his recovery. I'm guessing that he'll also get to watch tv and stuff while he's down there. Sammy gets to stay in the place where we can't go, and I guess that's ok, as long as we get to play with him again soon.

Meeshka

Sammy News Update

Me and the gimpy mutatoe listened into the phone when the humans were talking to the surgeon and apparently Sammy ruptured a disc and came through surgery wonderfully. His spinal cord is fantastic, everything went well, and he's by now had dinner and is recuperating in his little recovery crate at the hospital.

The humans did the happy dance with us to celebrate. They could have picked him up tomorrow, but the human man has to drive to another state for a stupid work meeting, so they'll bring him home friday morning.

I'm sure he's going to be all drugged up and we probably won't get to play with him at all, he'll probably smell funny, like he did when he came home from his bionic hip surgery. I'm guessing that he'll start bragging about his bionic spine next, and how expensive he is and worth more than us, but that's fine. I miss his stupid girly yapping and bragging. I miss him so much that I've been playing with the suck up gimpy mutatoe out in the yard, but I'm being "gentle" as the human woman reminds me. I guess no more slamming heads into the ground or humping any more. Sigh. These gimpies are too fragile for me.

Here's a picture of Sammy before the "incident":

Sammy Update 26 December 2006

We all slept badly last night (well I did because the human woman was tossing and turning), and then the humans got up early and made a phone call, then they left for a few hours. When they came back, we got sniff mail from Sammy on their clothes.

Most humans don't realize that we dogs leave letters on their clothes when we rub up against them and shed, that's how we get a lot of our long distance intelligence news.

Sammy didn't get better at the ER vet place, so the humans took him to a very swank Neurosurgery and Rehabilitation Center in Westminster, MD. He said that he was a perfect husky there, causing all sorts of chaos and mayhem by trying to slide all over the floor and be a pest. They gave him a nice pain patch at the other place, so he said he saw some very strange things, but we're chalking that up to the medicine and don't believe he actually saw a 400ft sausage shaped like a donut.

The nice doctor there did some tests on him, and looked at the X-rays and said that he thinks its a compressed spine thing mid-way up his back that's causing all of the problems. Sammy gets to stay at this place over night while they run bloodwork and give him more meds. Tomorrow (27 December 2006) they will put him in a machine to see his innards and things to figure out what exactly is going on, and if they can fix it, the doctor will operate on him right then.

If all that happens, then he'll get to come home in a few days, but that means he'll be in a crate all drugged up so he doesn't move for quite some time. The humans told us that we would have to be very VERY gentle with Sammy until he's healed, and even then, no more tail pulling by the gimpy suck up mutatoe, and I am no longer allowed to hump him to show dominance.

The humans are very stressed about this whole thing, and frankly so are I and the gimpy suck-up, so we probably won't be participating in the grand training exercise of 1 January 2007. I do hope that everyone else will carry out their devious plans and report back to me their victories, as I will need something to keep me from staring at Sammy in his crate and making sure that he's ok.

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts, fluffy prayers, and get well wishes for the bionic hip puppy.

Meeshka

Not a good holiday

Hey everyhusky and pup and fu-fu,

We're not having a good holiday at all here. Sammy (bionic hip puppy) twisted wrong out in the yard this afternoon and the humans rushed him to the dog emergency room and they think that he's hurt his back. The humans at first thought he had hurt his bionic hip, but he couldn't use his back legs. By the time the got him to the dog ER he could stand on his right leg, but he's still having issues.

They X-rayed him and have him on pain stuff and anti-swelling stuff and he has to stay there overnight to make sure he doesn't get worse. We're very depressed, the humans are depressed and we're also very sad that the gimpy hip pup isn't here to play with us.

Please say a prayer or have a good thought for our friend Sammy.

Meeshka
(not feeling very fluffy today without my friend)

New HULA Member: Ashi

For creative ways of explaining certain things, I bestow an honorary HULA membership to Ashi, for her: "I was sitting quietly on the couch one night when your new book on photograpy just kind of exploded violently all over the carpet - I was really lucky not to be hurt" submission





Way to go Ashi

- Meeshka

New HULA Logo Unveiled

I knew that when I asked for logo ideas that my wonderful half-sister Tashi would come to the rescue. Tashi is very talented, having been in wildly popular videos and single-pawedly responsible for Web sites and other artistic works (soon to be discovered). I must say that she gets the artistic side from our mother Beaner, and I get the plotting, planning, and leadership skills from my father Red Dawg.

Not only did Tashi design the new HULA logo, but she also posed for it, since we look somewhat alike (she is black/white like mom, but shares the fluffy gene with me). Her human, I'm sure, will try to take the credit for her work, as she does with everything Tashi does. If it wasn't for Tashi's talent, those humans she puts up with would starve.

So, I just want to say thank you to my wonderful half-sister Tashi, and now, I give you... The official HULA logo (available on Cafe Press and I must say it looks FANTASTIC on the dark shirts)

Meeshka

New HULA Member: Dusty Doodles

Queen Meeshka, Your Royal Highness of HULA,

I didn't think that as a Siberian Husky, I had to apply for HULA, I thought that we were just granted membership, and then I heard Da momma telling Da dad and I thoughts -- OH NO!!!!

So here is my official application. Sorry I don't have any pictures, the computer is acting up and I can't seem to locate where the human put them.


1. Demonstrating disruptive behavior Would that be when I wake them up in the very darkest part of the night and convince them I really have to pee (I do that by dancing and making my nails make clappity noises on the floor) and then when they finally get up to let me outside, decide that I really didn't have to pee, but I wanted to make sure none of my friends were out there?? Or, is that when they get all comfortable looking watching the talking box and I decide that I want fresh water in my bowl -- so I just pick up the bowl, even if it still has water in it -- and bring it too them. They aren't very happy about me spilling water all over the floor and their laps and stuff. But, they do get up and get me fresh water.

2. Cause your human to freak out for no real reason Oh I did this just the other day -- I ate bunches and bunches of olives that fell from the trees and it turned my poop bright RED. They totally freaked out, called the doctor at home, had her meet us at the hospital, only to be told that there was some kind of 'fruit' in my poop. The humans were really mad about that!!!

3. Cause human guilt for no reason, other to get attention or treats Sometimes when Whiskey and I are playing, I will cry really loud -- the humans always come running and then give me cookies. I've also resorted to holding my leg up like it's hurt and probably the best thing to make them feel guilty is to give them really sad eyes when they are eating ice cream and won't give me an Otter Pop. Whining at this time also helps and if all else fails, a really deep sigh will cause enough guilt for them to get up and get me my Otter Pop.

4. Destroy something Do 7 remotes for the talking box count?? What about the only picture the human had of her Momma?? I've also chewed through doors, porch railings and one airline crate. Blankets and stuffies I'm sure don't count.

5. Human behavior modification This is good Meeshka. See, what I do when I really want a cookie is to demand to go outside. They let me out and then I refuse to come in until they say the magic words "Dusty want a cookie". I then come running and sit in front of the cookie jar until they give in -- they promised after all!! This is really good to do when they are standing at the door calling you in their sleepy clothes or it's raining out or some other kind of weather that they hate.

6. Being dressed up as something for the humor of the humans My humans are too well trained to even try to dress me in any thing.

7. Love of Kleenex Did you say Kleenex?? Where??? I'll get it for you!!! I adore Kleenex, the more used the better.

Meeshka, I hope I qualify for HULA because you know I would always honor you, follow your orders and share my cookies with you!!

Lots of Woo's

DustyDoodles

(Dusty, I gotta try the red pooping olive trick sometime. Maybe I can get suck-up gimpy mutatoe to eat some, since he's such a butthead - Meeshka)