Catch Up.

Hey everypup ~Misty here~

How have all you pups been doing this spring?  Long time no bark from the Pacific Northwest.  Sorry about that.  I blame Mom, and she blames something called "Work".  Pawsonally I believe she just goes to "Work" to get away from us 5 days a week, but that's ok because all we do here is sleep and bark.  BOL.

Let's see, we last time I barked out any news, Mom had gone on vacation to Victoria, BC Canada, our neighbors to the north of us.  We updated you on Pepper Power and how she is now sniffing, barking, smiling and doing "Privacy Please" all around the Rainbow Bridge.

Well this guy, he had some challenges last month too.

They shaved my leg.  Mom says I'm now 1/8th Poodle.  

Mr. Cutter had to go to the V-E-T and stay 2 whole days.  Once again bladder stone surgery was needed for one of the Papillon Pack.  So Mr. Cutter and I have that in common now.  That had better be the only thing we ever have in common - he's more annoying than my brother Scooter.  Mr. Cutter got his stitches out last week and the V-E-T gave him the all clear and said he was doing great.  We have to switch up the prescription food again, and it only comes in 10 lb bags.  Mom sighed and said that's just going to be $$$, but I have no idea what that means because I only speak Milkbones™.  Except Mom says when the SNACK™ cabinet runs dry we are S.O.L., which I am guessing doesn't mean SpoiledOverLoad does it?

Any pup out there want to know what has been happening in our backyard?

It all started with this kind of stuff.  I think our yard was hit with a virus or something, because these things started coming out again.

Tree RAT

Practicing Downward Dog Pose.

E-V-I-L
N-E-M-I-S
S-Q-U-I-R-R-E-L

Get off MY lawn!!!

Stellar Blue Jay

Stop hiding your peanuts in our yard!
SQUIRREL Alert to the left on the wall.
(Also lots of weeding needs to be done still.  Lazy Mom.)

Spring starts with this kind of stuff because that's what we are famous for in the Pacific Northwest.  Moss and Fungus among us.

You can't avoid this when the world is wet all the time.

Alien World

Fungus flowers growing.

In the Pacific Northwest looking at moss to find out where North is doesn't work.  This is Southwest facing moss. 

Then this guy stopped by thinking he was going to party and brought his own house as well.

If I Could Walk 500 Miles.

Mom doesn't have any of that stuff going on in her yard if she sees it so that dude was tossed over the fence to the neighbors that don't take care of their backyard at all.  Don't tell anyone BOL.  If they are naked aka slugs, she is much more brutal.  We'll keep what happens in the backyard to slugs a secret, but she should be considered a slug serial killer.

This started growing again, so Zombie Patrol will be added to the guard duty.  Could use Whitley and Finley's help with some pointers and suggestions.

Arggghhh.  It lives!

DO NOT WATER!!!

Just in case, we made sure we have some good karma looking over the house.  Make sure to rub the bellah when you wander by.

He's not even looking toward the garden!

Now that's a bellah!!

Rub it, you know you want to!

Meanwhile we had to remodel the fairy garden.  Can you believe how the last tenants left it in shambles?  No security deposit back for them for sure!

This is after an overhaul of the yard nobody maintained over the winter months.

The Love Shack is back in business!!

Remodeled, but not for sale.

So I hope all you pups and your people are staying busy and staying healthy!!  Know that we still think of all of you often and love you even more.

Sniff at ya later ~Queen Misty~

~Queen Misty~

OF ALL I SURVEY!!!

PS.  We'll try and update a little more often, so don't give up on us.

Papillon Pack Checking in.

Hey everypup, ~Misty Here~

I'll bet all you pups out there who still remember The Papillon Pack are wondering what we've been up to since the end of summer.  Sometimes you have to get right up in your Mom's face and make her feel guilty, drag her to the computer by her funny looking paws and barktate in staccato until the job gets done.

Napping up here in the balmy Pacific Northwest this winter has been almost like a continual spring season for us, only with that warm thing in the sky we usually don't see from October until the end of May.  The SUNHINE.  BOL.  We have flowers blooming that shouldn't be for a full month yet and Mom is worried that we'll see our typical spring weather and then all the flowers will suffer.  Those of you pups that are out there in the negative degrees, under mountains of snow and looking at the same with no end in sight, we really do worry about you all.  Stay warm, safe and well.

The Papillon Pack all had their woofdays last week, but Mom wasn't even here to celebrate with us.  She was "out of the country" on "vacation".  So we spent the week with our Uncle J.  Want to know where she went?  Take a look.

Everything but the Leash part makes sense to us.  

The famous Empress hotel.  All the old beauties need a beauty regime at times.

Parliament Building.

Mom took a week off and went to Victoria, BC.  That's our awesome neighbors to the north of us a ferry ride away.  Thanks for your beautiful landscape, open hospitality and the ability to change how the word "out" is spoken so differently just 150 miles to the north of us.  BOL.

So to keep you up to date on things, remember when I looked like this?  (Picture taken in summer a few many years ago).

Well look at me now!!

I WILL KILL YOU!!!

BOL.  Did you fall for that?  Mom thought that was sooooo funny.  That's just a kitteh she saw in Victoria on her trip back to replenish her Bodka Dwip™ and had to put her bag down to take this picture.  (For the record the Bodka Dwip™ was not hooked up during transport).

Does any pup out there know what to do with one of these?  Mom says they bark just like us pups and have horrible fish breath, belch and think they are the life of the party.

Scooter, what are you doing in here?  Go back to your own blog!!

Back to the actual original question.  Bark or BARKBARKBARK?

Hello

Smiles

Peaceful

We have more news to share, but it is on a sad note and adds an Angel crossing the Rainbow Bridge.  Perhaps tomorrow..

Sniff at ya later.  ~Misty, Queen of all I Survey~

Wordless Wednesday.

Hey everypup ~Misty here~

Here's my Wordless Wednesday posting.

Actually since you woke me up, I might actually have a few choice Words for Wednesday.

Sniff at ya later ~Misty~

Beauty Comes at a Price.

Hey everypup ~Misty here~

I've been told, although the Royal We disagree, that beauty comes at a price.

Is this the price to pay for my own natural beauty?

This is not necessary.

 When in my o'natural state I look so much better.  I know you pups would agree that the above ABUSE should be called into the SABA (Society Against Bathing Animals).

State of O'Natural.

 Speaking of Natural.  Get a load of that moss on the side of the deck.  In the Pacific Northwest it never goes away.  Check between your toes.  Are they webbed or sporting moss?  BOL, a little PNW humor there.

Fluffier Fur Sure.

As Queen Misty of All I Survey, I express my opinion of the B-A-T-H through my brother Scooter.

B-A-T-H-S are for HUMANS!!!

The Royal Dismissal.  

 And yet she still stands there thinking she will get me to look happy about the days events.  Do you see a single SNACK™ in my mouth?  Do you see any sort of new toy to play with?  Do you see anything but, well ME?

Don't make me call my Bawdy Guards™ out on you.
Step away Pupparazzi, just step away!

Beauty comes at a price.  Or so they say.  I'd like to know who "they" are, because I have a stern lecture to deliver on this topic.

Sniff at ya later ~Queen Misty of All I Survey~

Hello. We Are All Still Alive.

Hey everypup ~Misty here~

It's been a long time since we've had the energy to get to a posting on the interweb.   Certain girl dogs have had some issues with "urine incontinence", but more horrifying is that Mom has been in and out of the hospital twice in less than a month.  She says it's worse than going to the V-E-T if you can believe that.

She named him Ferdinand.

 This was her "paid escort" for a week.

She begged, she pleaded, she couldn't get them to set up the Bodka Dwip™ to the IV.

Something about that not being an approved "clear liquid" to apply via IV.

I'm pretty sure these pictures were taken after she'd been tippling the pain medication section of her "escort".



Bodka Dwip™ need not be applied any longer.










Want to see what they fed her at the human V-E-T?

Breakfast

Lunch.

Dinner.

Repeat for 4 days.

Mom ended up in the hospital twice in a month from Diverticulitis with an abscess that was sucked out first and then had to have a drain put in on the second hospital stay.  The drain stayed in for 2 weeks and another CT scan is in her near future (will make 10 since the beginning of June.  The next one may make her glow in the dark).

This was her other friend for 2 weeks.  Mom dubbed it her "hip hugger".

Yucky Stuff.

Pups, I know you've wondered what happened to us while Mom was in the hospital being IV'd and blood tested, blood pressure and vitals every couple hours around the clock, antibiotics and happy medication being applied via the IV vein highway.  Just so happens that Mom had her best friends from Arizona up here that week on vacation.  Too bad they had to stop by to see Mom at the hospital, but they took amazing care of us.  Nor was it planned that less than 48 hours after they arrived she'd be at the emergency room and then out of commission for a week.

Meanwhile I've had to go to the V-E-T as well a couple weeks ago, make that about 3 weeks ago since I was at the V-E-T before Mom spent a week at the hospital.  I'm getting old and un-lady like.  Mom says I need Depends or something.  So instead I HAVE to take these nasty pills twice a day.  Sure, they are supposed to be chew-able and MEATZ™ flavored.  Sure, every other Papillon in the house would DIE to snarf my portion up.  Sure, the first day I ate them right up.  Sure, the second day, I ate them with some cheese around the.  Sure, on the 5th day, I was fooled into eating one with ham wrapped around it.  Otherwise, I let Mom shove it in my mouth and then hold it until she's not looking and then spit it out for Pepper to eat up.  Even Scooter or Cutter will do if they are the closest.

We've been found out since I've been leaking on my pillow on the bed.  Mom says the essence o' urine isn't something pleasant to roll over and sniff in the middle of the night.  Good news is I get a new pillow - Bad news is Mom says she doesn't have a spare pillow so I'll have to rough it on the hard bed until the new one comes in the magic brown box that appears next to the front door.  BOL.

Now, I get my medication forced down my gullet and my yapper held shut until Mom knows I have swallowed "my just desserts".  She's not very funny is she, that mom of ours.

So that is the news from the Papillon Pack.  We've been following all of our pals, but haven't had the energy to always comment or post lately, but as long as we are all on the road to recovery....we'll do better to stay in touch.

Sniff at ya later ~Misty~

And just so we don't leave this on a downer, here are some summer shots of Seattle - the weather has been worth sitting out in the sunshine for a good snooze.

Mom works right there...to the left, of the photo that isn't on this shot.  

Sea Plane at Night.
PS - that big smoke stack building is the part of the
Fred Hutchins Cancer Research buildings.
Those mountains in the background - The Olympics.

At the top of the hill....Take a left and we live that way.

Excuse us for the Interruption. We NOW have Interweb back.

Hey everypup ~Misty here~

Did you miss me?  "We" managed to whack through the interweb / cable line whilst trimming invasive Wisteria vines.  "We" happened to do it twice convinced it was a stubborn evil vine.

Shall we get back to the fun stuff and adventures?

Finally an App for that keyboard

So Mom headed off to China to visit a factory.

Want to see what a pattern making room looks like?

This is the pattern making room.

Every single pattern is hand made first and then put through a fancy digital machine.  This makes the "master" copy that can be fed into another fancy computer and calculate how to lay the patterns out in the most efficient way when the fabric is laid out.  Mom says this is the "boring" room because it involves tricky computer programs and a bunch of math.  But you get an air conditioned room to work in, that might be a bonus.  BOL.

Not a simple process making a garment.

Off to the sewing room.  Some of the workers were still at lunch, but this place was still humming.  BOL.

Always 1 person hates having their picture taken.  

This one still has a few more steps until it's finished.  Unless you like the rugged look.

Here's one of the machines Mom says she wants to run.  This is the embroidery machine and it goes so fast you can't see the needles even moving.  Starting out the TB Marlin.

Here is where they remove it from the poplin backing after the embroidery is done.

This is the machine that shows you exactly where the needle is stitching.  The number in the upper right corner is the amount of stitches per minute it is on.

There was an entire room filled with these embroidery machines.
Rows and rows of shirts getting gussied up w/ the Marlin.

More embroidery going on.

Mom told us the fairy tale story about Rumpelstiltskin and spinning straw into gold.  We wonder if the workers have heard that tale or have their own version.  Because if that pile of garments was sitting next to Mom, she says she'd give away her first born son as well (I'm looking at you Scooter), and that's all right with me.  BOL.

No wonder they asked for an extension on delivery when Mom was there.

Now here's a place Mom says she would NOT want to work at.  This is the washing and drying room.  The weather was already in the mid 90's and very humid.  Mom's hair was growing in uncontrollable ways, her back was balmy, her face was flushed from heat and then this room goes up about 15 degrees.  Between the washing machines and the dryers you can almost feel a cloud form and tropical showers about to start.

Washing machine.

Another washing machine.

Sorry no pictures of dryers - Mom only stayed long enough to poke her head in and head straight back out before she wilted.

Speaking of other places Mom wouldn't want to work would be in the pressing room.  Want to know how garments look so nicely pressed when they first come out of the bag?  See this guy down below.  He presses each size into the exact shape that is drawn out on the table in a template.  Then the clothes are folded in half and allowed to "rest".

There is a lot of "resting" for garments when they are being made.  First they roll it out and let it "rest" on tables.  This allows the fabric to "relax" so when it rolls out it won't try and curl back into the shape of the roll it came off of.  Then they roll it all out on big tables.  Then it is cut into patterns, bundle it up and it's allowed to "rest" another 24 hours.

Steam ironing into shape.

This man has hands of steel.  Those irons are connected to the roof where a continuous flow of steam can be had at the squirt of a finger.  He had all his fingers so he hadn't parboiled them off just yet, but this is not a place Mom would want to work in either.  Another hot and humid room.

So next time you just toss your sweatshirt onto the floor, remember how much care and attention was put into making that thing.  At least get it to the laundry hamper.  It was in enough laundry bins before even hitting the Pacific Ocean to head over here.  BOL.

I don't think you have to wait very long to buy a ticket.

 Have you had enough of southern China yet?  Want to head back into Hong Kong for the evening?  This is the bridge that turns corners as it goes across the channel.  It's very beautiful, and did you read that it has corners!!  That's the drivers head in the mirror, China reflected in the mirror behind us, and Mom had to wake up her co-worker in the front seat and demand he move the dangling object blocking her shot of the bridge.  Don't worry - he went right back to sleep once the picture was taken.  Everyone does on the long road trips to and from the factories.

Notice the driver is on the right side of the car, but we are driving on the left side of the bridge?
That's because the driver was Chinese and so was his car.
But we are in Hong Kong now and they drive on the wrong side of the road (the left).  BOL.

Hope you enjoyed the tour.  We're just glad the internet is back up and running again.

Sniff at ya later ~Misty~