MY AUNT TRUDIE

AUNT TRUDIE

This is my Auntie Trudie.  I usually call her Truder.  Sam thinks thats cos she is an intruder in our lives but thats not the reason, its just moms and mine pet name for her.  Most of you know that the three pugs that live at moms and dads house came from a puppy mill, and that our upbringing was different from other pugs. Sam and I were the lucky ones, cos I only lived there for 4 months, Sam for 3 months, but Aunt Truder lived there for 5 1/2 years.  Mom hates puppy mills!!  Dad surprized Mom one day when he brought Truder home.  At first she didn't believe him, (cos he didn't get her permission first) . She came home from work and there hiding behind the bathtub was Aunt Trudie. Wet, cold and very very scared. Her job at the mill was to have lots and lots and lots of puppies, and when that stopped happening they didn't want her anymore. Dad rescued her from a bad thing happening to her. Mom was sorta mad but after five seconds she settled down and went and warmed a blanket up in the dryer for Aunt Trudie.  I think Zeus from heaven (mom and dads minpin that lived here for 15 years) must have sprinkled love dust in both of their eyes cos from that moment on Aunt Trudie has loved my Mom to the moon and back.  The next day Mom took her to the Vet, had her spayed, and polished up, but it took a whole week for her to finally eat for us. I was worried, Mom was sick, Sam ate her food, and Dad didn't know what to do. Finally she ate from Mom's hand and that is how she still eats after10 months. It is so funny to see her laying in bed by Mom cos her tail never stops wagging but we also see lots of emotional scars along with the good.

She is scared of EVERYTHING.  Mom reading a book, newspapers, the baby gate, dad's shoes, food bowls, sudden movements and sometimes people and kids.  Her feet have giant pads cos she always lived in a teeny tiny wire cage. BUT and Mom says there is always  a BUT she is sooooooo happy now, and loved, and wanted, this is where she was always meant to be.  It just took a little time for her to get here.  Stella Rose

Hugging My Mom

Sometimes Moms and Dads just need a big hug.  My life is so much simplier than theirs.  We are lucky.  When it comes to choices in life mine and my sibs are pretty simple.  What kind of food does mom get for us, what vegetable are we having today, is it a apple or strawberry kind of day, and who gets to lay on Moms lap first.  Do I throw my toys in the air or play tug of war, does Sam let Trudie lay on the bed without pushing her off, do I actually walk around the yard or does Mom have to put me in the stroller.

Mom has different kind of choices without easy answers and I see her struggle with them.  I think my Mom is the type of person who likes to take care of everyone, and sometimes she forgets to take care of herself.  Maybe, Sam, I and Trudie should do a "take care of Mom" night and surprize her.  I don't like to see my Mom sad.    Stella Rose

SENDING A PACKAGE!

My Mom needs some help in trying to figure out how to send a birthday package to two of my friends in England.  Rex and Stan.  They are  my "across the pond" pen pals and their birthdays are both in August.  She has been working on packing them each a box to send and took it down to the post office last week only to be told it would cost $47.00 each to send.  I thought she was gonna have a scary attack right there in the middle of the floor and stop breathing.  Mom was shocked cos she had always mailed military package all over the place and it never broke the bank.  So now she is trying to figure out the best way to send these boxes...she doesn't want to give up and just send a card with money cos presents are so much fun!!  We thought maybe some of my blogging friends had the answer or have mailed things without using up their savings account.  Mom said it would take all our treat money for months to pay for the boxes.  Mom said the boxes only weighed 5lbs. each ....Thanks for your help!  Stella Rose

Mean Ole Cat Dietzman

This is "mean ole cat Dietzman" also known as THE WARDAN when we are sent to AlCATRAZ.  You have heard me refer to him numerous times in ways that Mom would not call loving.  Dietzman would rather lay out on concrete then come inside where it is nice and cool.  Don't be fooled by his stretched out form cos he is really a giant persian cat.  He gets much bigger when he stands up and lounges at you.  This isn't a very good picture of his face either. He also has a smushed in face like us pugs do.  Thats probably why he thinks he is the Alpha Pug at our house.
Dietzman is 15 years old.  Mom said this summer the heat has been very hard on him and he has gotten thinner. I think meaner also.  He gets to eat his dinner on the chair in the kitchen so we aren't able to bother it.  Mom shouldn't worry about that at all cos he would claw our eyes out in a second.   He is very smart cos he has never had an accident in their house, or so mom tells us at least once a day.  He did poop in the crib though when one of the grandboys was a tiny baby. I think it was his way of telling him to go home.  I tried to lay down beside "mean ole cat Dietzman" the other day and he just got up and left the room. Mom should have named him Elvis..lol....    Stella Rose

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Lottery Winnings

Mom didn't want to go to work today...she said she is tired and had a headache.  She told Dad we need to hide all the sweets in the freezer cos all the cookies, etc. are making her sick.  Dad said, "just don't eat them..." Mom glared at him.  She said she is a sugar addict and she needs to stay away from them.  Anyway she has to go to work to make money to take care of us pugs and Dad. Dad said, "I can take care of myself..." Mom laughed.
I suggested she start playing the lottery and maybe she would be able to win enuf money she could stay home and play with us all day.  She said, " Oh Stellie, didn't you know I have already won the Lottery!"  I looked at her and decided it must have been way before my time and that Dad must have used it all up really fast on his motorcycle stuff.  Mom said," no Stellie, I won a trillon dollars on the day our first grandchild was born, and a trillon more with each one.  Then on the day I brought you, Sam and Trudie home I won another million or two!"  So she told me she had already won her allotment when it came to the lottery and she was just gonna have to bite the bullet and go to work. I love Mom.  Stellie Rose

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS

Mom was a watching tv the other day and saw a story that a man decided on his 56th birthday to do 56 random acts of kindness, as a gift to himself.  Mom thought that was such a great idea and was figuring out how she could do something like that when her birthday rolled around. (november) Saturday she was at the grocery store buying my fruits and she decided here was an opportunity right in front of her face to do something nice.  This is what happened.
She saw a man and two little boys by her car, waiting on someone in the store.  He immediately apolized to mom for standing so close to her car, but they didn't have air conditioning in their van and it was 500 degrees out so they had the doors open.  It was no big deal to mom that they were close to the car, and he seemed like a very nice man, maybe from Trinadad, cos of his beautiful voice.  Mom enjoyed talking to him.  Anyway after putting the cart up she decided to give the little boys some money to go get some ice cream.  She told their dad that she was trying to do some good things for her birthday (a lie..it was not her birthday) and she would like to give him some money to get the boys some ice cream. He didn't want to take it. (Now on tv everyone took the money he was handing out...Mom wasn't prepared for this!)  She said "oh no I would really like you to take it, it would make me really happy..." and the Man said he should be buying her something since it was HER birthday.  My mom just wanted to hide under the car cos she told a big lie, and she said, " no please take the money and get the boys some ice cream"  Only after arguing back and forth for awhile did he finally take the money.  He was laughing and having a good time, and probably never had to experience anything quite like that before. ( Mom said later he probably thought she was deranged and just took the money to get rid of her).  She said she was gonna have to come up with a much better plan next time.  I suggested she take things to the animal shelter....etc.  Poor Mom.

CHORES

Do you have chores at your house?  What are they?  Here are our chores that we do.

1. Warm Dad's p.js. while he is taking a shower.  I lay right by the shower until he is done, in case he falls, or needs more shampoo.

2. Sam chases the rabbits out of our yard.  He doesn't want them to nibble on the burnt up grass in the yard.  You never know it might grow back.

3. Trudie goes with mom to take the trash out. She is protecting Mom from, well...we haven't figured that out yet, cos she is walking behind Mom.

4. Sometimes for some off reason the pee pads get shredded while Mom is at work.  We work really hard at stashing them under the edge of Mom and Dad's bed so they won't trip over them when she gets home.

5. I also have to model most of the pug clothing Mom brings home, Trudie will attempt to at times but it mostly falls to me.

They pay us in hugs, kisses, bully sticks, snuggles, treats, fruit did I say kisses and hugs....Have a great weekend!

Stella Rose

THE VISITOR

MACEY

Mom calls this one MaceyMae although that is not her real name.  Mom has nicknames for all the GRANDchildren that come over to our home.  She also has nicknames for us pugkids.  I do not mean to get back up on my soapbox once again but I do feel GRAND needs to be either in front or behind our names so the human kids will know their place in our home.  We are first , they are second and "mean ole cat Dietzman" is last.  This is Macey's smile......my knees quiver when I look at this picture.

In all fairness she loves us so much she usually tries to take Trudie home.  Trudie is usually plastered up on the ceiling or pretending she is invisable in Mom's arm when this one visits.  I believe she has some wires crossed within her head also, but Mom gets really peeved at me when I bring up the subject of Sam, SAm, and Trudie.  For some reason M thinks we (sam and I) are the same even when we are standing beside each other!  This offends me the most because of Sam's crabby attitude, and I cannot believe ever that someone would mistake him for me.  I could handle it if she would say "come here Stella, Stella, and Trudie.." but those words are never said.  This weekend is the rodeo so M will be visiting us.  I might as well hide under the bed cos she will not even realize I am missing.  Mom said to get over myself.  Mom is a meanie!

LOCKED OUT!!

WordlessWednesday wasn't really wordless at our house, and the words weren't very pretty also.  Poor Mom ran home at lunch to feed us and found herself locked out of the house.  Dad forgot to unlock the kitchen door like he does EVERY day for some reason.  My theory is the heat must have fried his brain and he was just trying to work up the courage to go back into the "hell kitchen" (he calls it that) at work. Anywhoo...Mom can't get into the house, front and back door are locked.  So her only choice is to into the basement...dungeon...dark hole in the ground...keeper of spidars and snakes to get into the house. Did I mention she had to go wee wee really bad also!!  Well, a few weeks ago Mom gets spooked after reading a weird book and decided to block the kitchen door leading to the basement in case bad people try to come into the house to steal us. (Sam is laughing his fool head off at this notion)  Do you see where this is going ????  She blocks it with a small pantry and it has the microwave on top of it along with her scentys pot and a vase....soooo Mom ventures into the tomb of hell and up the rickity old steps in the dark, with cobwebs hanging off of her work clothes and shoves, shoves, shoves, shoves the door until the vase breaks on the floor, and the micowave is hanging off of the cupboard.  Finally, enuf of a crack is there that she can barely squeeze through and she gets into the kitchen.  Shattered glass all over the floor, her running to the bathroom, us barking cos we know someone is breaking into the house to steal us.  Poor MOm....We heard many words on wordless wednesday and none of them I can put on paper.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Tuni Tuesday!

TUNI TUESDAY

We didn't have the chance to meet little Tuni but I can tell from all the posts and pictures she was a much loved little pug.  Here are our pictures in her honor.  We didn't have very many in our pug beds mostly Mom and Dad's bed.  I think Tuni would have liked that just fine!

Sam's Happy Face In Mom and Dad's Bed.

Trudie happy for the first time in her very own bed, right after Mom brought her home.

 Me also in Mom and Dad's bed.  Its my usual place.

ALCATRAZ

This is a picture of our back yard that is burning up cos it is so hot outside.  What I really wanted you to notice though is the doorway into Alcatraz that Mom calls the safe place we can go play.  Most of the grass by the doorway is gone now cos of the heat and cos Trudie always stands there hoping to dig her way back to the porch.  Mom and Dad built Alcatraz so Sam would stop running up to the highway and bringing on a possible heart attack with them.

This is the side view of Alcatraz with the Warden watching Mom take a picture of him.  His name is Warden "Mean ole Cat Dietzman".  He never ever goes into Alcatraz but lays on the outside of freedom watching us do our Pugtona thing around in circles. He doesn't need to share his feelings with us cos his face says it all.

This is the pool outside of Alcatraz.  You will notice there are no pugs swimming in it.  Mom says it is even to hot for us to play outside.  I am glad someone is smiling!

BERRIES

Mom finally went shopping on Saturday and loaded her cart with all kinds of fruit that I and her love.  She decided she couldn't stand back and watch me starve myself anymore.  I took a picture of them to put on the refrig. just so when we start to get low she will remember.  Trudie thinks I am a good little pug for helping my Mom, Sam says I am warped.

KING OF THE STUFFIES

This is brown bear.  He has lived at our house for fifteen years and we are not allowed to play with him.  Brown bear belongs to mom.  He was a present from dad.  Sam breaks the rules when Mom isn't looking and grabs him off the bed and shakes him hoping his stuffing will come out.  Secretly Sam wishes Brown Bear was his instead of the "big duck head puppet."  Here are a few of our toys.  Big duck head puppet, Brown Hedgehopg (which we call football cos Sam doesn't understand the concept of hedgehog. )  The bright blue bear is Trudies you can tell she is not toy needy (cos its clean) like the rest of us.  And last is "baby" is who my little white bear.The story is she once belonged to baby macey and her mom put it up as a keepsake upstairs at our house.  Unbeknown to my mom who found it and gave it to me when they brought me to my forever home.  Kylei scowls everytime she see's me with it, but at least the music still plays.  Sam ate the eyes off.

HUNGER STRIKE

Mom is very worried about me because I have decided to go on a hunger strike.  Let me tell you what happened and get your opinion about it.  Okay so Mom ALWAYS puts green beans, and small bits of apples in my food, along with a dash of wet food to kick it off. Sometimes she spices it up with pieces of strawberries, or bananas.  Well yesterday she realized while she was fixing our lunch that she had ran out of every single thing I like except our dry food.  Her explanation was that it was to hot over the weekend and she didn't do her normal grocery shopping and our supplies had gotten low.  She promised she will head off to the store on Saturday and buy us plenty of appetizers to go with our meal.  Imagine my surprize when I start to eat my lunch and there is only my "Call of the Wild".  I root around all over the plate, and scatter my dry food all over the floor looking for a tasty morsel of green beans or fruit.  Nothing, natta, nowhere to be found.  So I just didn't eat. I didn't eat my supper, or breakfast or lunch today.  I just tipped my plate over, and scattered my food.  Sam on the other hand ate SOME of his food, and old Trudie at all her food. Course Trudie only eats out of mom's hand cos of her emotional issues but she could have refused like me.  I bet if we all refused mom would have ran down to the small store and bought at least some green beans.  Do you think this could be grounds for pug endangerment?  Dad says mom has ruined me by making me so spoiled that I throw good food around.  He also points out to me that Trudie is thankful for every piece of food she gets.  All I have to say to that is "But Dad i am the queen!!!"

WOW!

We just got a AWARD for INSPIRING BLOGGER but mom nor I know what that means or what we are supposed to do with it.  We do know that was very nice of someone to reccomend us.  Thanks so much.

MY MOM IS MAD MAD MAD!!

On the bright side this is a picture of me and my new stroller and my crooked 4th of July headband.  My mom finally found her old digital camera and has been working all morning trying to get it downloaded on my blog.  We went for a little walk on Sunday down to the river, around the town and back.  My mom told Dad that she was sure people are going to try to commit her on Monday so she might as well enjoy our walk today.  I really liked it after I got the hang of sitting in the seat right.

NOW onto the reason why mom is so mad.  Well she had to buy a new washer.  We live an hour away from the store so her son in law had to go pickup the washer, bring it clear to our house, etc. etc.  Finally on saturday she has a chance to use it and it won't fill up right.  It only works on small and medium.  Mom calls the store and speaks to "brain challenged" (her words) #1 and he tells her to just bring it back and she can get a new one, Mom explains the drive, and problems with returning it, and they tell her a repairman will be out in a few weeks.  Mom hangs up and says so many bad words that we run into the hallway and wait for all the words to stop,,,,so she calls back to the store and asked to speak to the BIG BOSS..." brain challenged #2" same story.  Mom, later said on the up side she could at least wash small loads...poor Mom....

So Mom just stuck her head in the sand and pretended everything was hunky dory and took pictures of me instead.  Here I am pretending I am in London at the Olympics and am really the Queen.

SHARING MOM AND DAD

Mom was talking to us pug kids about learning to share them with the grandkids.  My first question to her was why is there no grand in front of our names.  She should call us grandpugkids.  Mom said, "No."  So I thought I would put some pictures on here to show you just what we are up against when the tribe of grandkids come over to OUR house.  First there are these two along with their parents.  They really like us alot, and let Sam give wet willies to them when they visit, but the problem is two is soon becoming three and that is going to end up totally disrupting our routine when they visit.  Mom said she is going to have to work on us not jumping on people more cos we can't scratch the baby!

THEN

There is this one.

He is wild and wooly when he comes to visit.  He likes to chase us all around and for some reason he doesn't understand the concept of a "curled" pug tail needs to stay "curled!!"  Mom has told him over and over to leave our tails alone, but I believe he has playdoh in his ears!  He really likes Sammer though and I think its because their personalities are similar.  Trudie usually hides in her room or lays right by mom.  Someday she might be more comfortable with kids, Mom says.

AND FINALLY

These are the last of the seven. (Soon to be eight) They are also real good to us, Macey the little one, would really really really like to take Trudie home.  That will never happen because her voice causes our ears to almost bleed. (good thing Mom won't see this) Macey always tries to pet Trudie nicely but Trude slides as close to mom as she can get and makes herself invisable.  Macey is also confused about our names.  She thinks me and Sam have the same name.  We are both named Sam in her world.  Mom and her Mom has explained to her that we are not one of the same, and I have my own name, but to no avail.  When she leaves she says bye Sammer and Trudie. Me, Sam and Trudie were talking the other night tho and have decided that we are really lucky to have loving kids in our family,who are good to us, and care alot about us. We never dreamed after we were rescued this is the kind of forever home we would have. We are blessed.

Well the 4th had some fireworks at our house, and I don't mean up in the sky either!  It all started with Sam.  Dad had to work a few hours in the afternoon, so Mom was gonna meet him over at the kids house later for supper and fireworks.  Mom is packing the car to go over and Sam runs out the door as she is carrying food.  Mom calls him back in and he runs all around the yard like a crazy person, ignoring mom.  Mom decides to just go back in the house and leave the porch door open cos usually he will stay out for a few minutes and come to the door.  Well Sam must have known mom was leaving and he just kept running around crazy.  Mom was getting very worried cos of the heat, so she went back outside to get him, and he ran down to the neighbors yard.  The closer mom got to him the further he would run!  I thought poor mom was gonna cry cos she was so worried he would over heat!  So she came back in and waited on him to come to the porch...a few minutes later he did but when she opened the door he took off again.  By this time the food was starting to worry her in the running car, so she went back out to try to catch him...this could have been a long movie cos it went on for forty-five minutes.  Sam was hot, mom was hot, and the only thing keeping cold was the food in the air conditioned running car. Mom had to come in and call her kids to tell them she was running late, and just wait on Sam to come in.  Finally he did but not after, getting so hot that Mom started crying afraid he was going to get really sick from the heat.  Mom put him in our little room with our beds, after cooling him off, and had to leave.  I gave him a tongue-lashing when mom left cos he upset her so bad.  He didn't say a word all night not even when the fireworks went off and made loud booms!  I think now Mom definately should send him to England for his intervention and maybe a nice long stay in the pokey!!!

This is our family.  My mom's grandkids and my uncle Abe.  It is a few years old cos the baby is 3 years old.  I like their 4th of July picture.  I am very proud of uncle Abe for serving our country and proud of the kids for lending him to us.  Yesterday when it was so hot I thought about Uncle Abe and how hot it must have been in Iraq for him the times he served over there.  He is my hero cos he is brave and strong!  The kids are my hero's too cos the are brave and strong! 

This is me posing for mom in my little blue jean cap.  I am trying to smile at her but the dang thing won't stay on my head.  Mom wants me to wear it to the 4th of July party tomorrow night cos she doesn't want the sun to scorch my brain but now she is changing her mind and telling me I am gonna have to stay home cos of the heat!  I forgot to tell you mom bought us all a new stroller mildly used at a garbage sale on Saturday.  Mom was so excited cos it looks almost new and she is just sure I will ride in it.  She thought that would be a great way to take trude for walks to help with her breathing problem. Dad said it would bet her a million and one dollars that none of us will want to ride in it.  So the bet is on at our house! 

Mom also took a picture of Sam in his hat for the 4th but he through a big fit when she put it on his head and got all wildeyed so she had to take it off.  He is giving the camera his " i am going slap the pee out of somebody look.."  When trudie saw that look she hid under the bed so Mom didn't even get a picture of her in the hat at all.   You will notice in the background illegal fireworks that dad is going to shot off with the grandkids tomorrow night.  We will be watching from under the bed.  HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!!!

This is a picture of Sam and myself before Trudie came to live with us.  I am the one with the pleasent smile and Sam is the "groucho marx wanna be" on the other side.  His face never changes even when he is having a good time.  I will show you proof of this when I am done posting.  I have tried to talk Mom into sending him to England (to live with stan, my friend) for some type of intervention but she is in denial and is having problems facing his issues.  Mainly, he is a thief and a meanie.  Mom gives us our own treats and he steals trude's and mine, and hides them only for his use later.  Then he eats his in front of us.  Mom has tried to intervene but he always wins!  Once we had a knock down drag out fight (per Mom) fur and spit was a flying and he still hid the treat! 
AND
He knocks trudie off of mom's lap at least twenty times a day!  I think this is mom's issue cos she is not good at time out and has a poor followup with consistency with Sam!  Mom always picks trudie up and puts her on her lap but Sam gets to lay on Mom's legs in the recliner with his big duck head.
Oh, I haven't shared that he sucks on a big duck head puppet like a binky!  He even puts it in Mom and Dad's bed at night so he can suck on it.
Once I put a "FOR SALE" sign in front of him and posted it on Facebook, but no one even was interested!  I think the word is out around here what kind of weird pug he is.  For one thing he weighs around 22 lbs. and has long legs.  Trude and I only weigh around 14 lbs. and have short legs.  I think he is really a cross between a big bull dog and a giraffe.  Mom doesn't agree.

Here is Sam smiling in the camera.  SEE did I tell you about his face!!  Brothers!!!  Even ole mean cat Dietzman is nicer to us than him, and that ain't saying much.  Tonight I am gonna cover his sour ole face in kisses and see if that makes him happy!!

Friday was a sad day for our family and I wanted to share the story of "Mazey" with you.  Mazey belonged to Moms youngest daughters family for five years.  Kody brought him home when he was only three weeks old because his momma didn't want to take care of him.  Everyday Kody drove home on her lunch hour to make his bottle and again in the evening.  When mom first saw Mazey she said he looked like a little white pig sitting on the couch. He was so cute!  Well Mazey grew and grew and grew and it became apparent over time that he lacked the social skills so importantly taught by his mother. So he had a rather brash and loud disposition.  He loved his Daddy though, and looked forward to rides in the back of the truck and romps out on his grandpa's farm.  Mazey grew into a very large americian bulldog.  I never got to go up and play with Mazey cos Mom said I would have been a treat for him, (and not in a positive way) so I just admired him from afar.  Friday Mazey  passed away in his sleep. I will miss hearing about cuzin Mazey and I know he will be missed by his mom and dad and human brothers.  Mom told me about the "rainbow bridge" and she said she just bet that ole mazey is standing there on the bridge with little zeus by his side just waiting to see us all one day.  Mom says zeus will take good care of him until we all get there.  Rest In Peace Mazey you will be missed.  Stella Rose Long 

This is a picture of our grandboys at the rodeo Saturday night.  The one in the middle does not belong to us, but he must have known he was going to be famous on my blog so he snuck in the picture!  The tall boy is Micah and the short one with the wild green chaps is Marcus!  Marcus won the bull riding competiton that night!  He won a trophy and $30.00...Micah won 2nd place!  Can you imagine a 11 year old and 9 year old riding bulls....WHAT!!!!!  They have been riding now for a couple of years and are very dedicated to it.  I suggested they use Sam as practice instead of their metal bull but Mom stomped on that idea.....YAY BOYS!!!!!