Mind Control (or loosing it...)

Press Agent/momma: I was doing the late night shopping for the house supplies. As I stood in front of the wall of toilet paper selection I actually had this thought pop into my head "hmmmm, I wonder which paper HoneyBelle would prefer." Gasp! I am too young to be going crazy. I have no excuse.

HoneyBelle: Does the term "basset slave" ring home now? bbwwahhhaaahhhaaa!

Baby Jack

I picked up a 5 month old basset mix last night to foster until he is adopted. He is long, but without the basset girth. And no flabber jabbers (flews). And he barks the arf arf bark. My baby does a deep "roorfff" when she sounds off. HoneyBelle is easily twice his size, but they are missing the same baby teeth. It did not take long for him to get a long 5" drool wringer wrapped across the top of his head, kind of like marking her territory in a girl basset sort of way.

HoneyBelle: Girls rule!

Paper Products

HoneyBelle: I love them! I score big when I see the bathroom door is left cracked open. I do my black panther stealth moves and climb the toilet to heist rolls out of the basket. Sometimes I play outside with them, if it is too hot outside then I play in the living room.

Press Agent: Black panther stealth move, huh. I have a clear image of her crying in the bathroom stuck upright between the toilet and sink cabinet, standing on her two back feet. My little warrior princess.

Guard Dog

This photo was taken only last month and she looks so small! I need to walk her down to the vets office this weekend and get her weighed at 5 months. Can't wait to see, I am guessing 45+ pounds. She is getting to be a big girl! She got her big girl fangies this week too. I keep giving her ice cubes and frozen things to chew (instead of my walls...)

Velvet Whiskers

I had minor leg surgery yesterday and cannot shower for 24 hours. So this morning before work I took a bath, keeping my leg out of the water. I was laying flat in the tub, eyes shut, letting my hair soak when I felt a velvet tickle on my nose. I opened my eyes to HoneyBelle's face directly above mine, snuffling me. Instantly, a pink tongue jetted out and squeegied my forehead and eye. Anyone who has been owned by a basset is familiar with how their flesh slides around their head. To be underneath and looking up into this is quite commical, because their face turns into nothing but rolls of flesh. I read that the folds of skin and long ears trap and force the scent molecules towards the nose, making them extraordinary scent hounds. And babysitters. All the children I have raised have loved to spend hours playing with basset ears, noses, lips, big moon pie feet, and velvet rolls of skin. What a wonderful breed to be in love with.


Grandaughter and big girl KayDee Belle in 2001. She learned to walk by holding onto her basset and toddling beside her.

Ice Vapours

HoneyBelle loves her ice cubes. She will run anyone over when she hears the freezer door open, and do a sit pretty at your feet, waiting for her cube. My sister was unfamiliar with this routine and was squalled at by HoneyBelle when she shut the door and sat down. "Oh dear-what did I do to her?!" You did not give her the cube. Now.

Yesterday was a rough day for me, problem jobs at work, bad doctor results, traffic. I was beaten by the time I made it home. I made a fresh iced tea, and gave my baby her ice cube. Instead of running off with it, she sat there and looked at me with the ice cube in the front of her mouth, breathing. She literally had ice steam curling out of her lips and around her nose. Her nose steamed up. My miserable day disappeared and I laughed until I had tears running. It is impossible to be depressed when you share your life with a basset.

Motorolla Razor

Last night I sat in the rocker and read while the girls ran circles in the living room. I sat a glass of iced tea on a coaster on the coffee table and went to the restroom. I could hear the coffee table being compromised. Me screaming from the bathroom: "HoneyBelle, you get off that table right NOW!" I run back in there, cursing my lapse of foresight thinking that tea will now be spilled everywhere. The glass had not moved. In fact, I could not figure out what was missing, but I knew I had heard her on the table. Then the cell phone rang. Muffled. Coming from HoneyBelle. I looked directly at her face and the only indication that something was in her mouth (my cell phone) was her lips went out square instead of draping down. She had a perfectly square mouth. I lifted a ringing lip and pulled the phone from her mouth. I don't think I will ever forget these antics. She is perfectly beautiful. I wish you could have seen that square mouth ringing!

Kodak Moments

—have came to a halt! The camera died. I am sorry, due to the budget constraints of bills, a new camera is not at the top of the list. Oh, the past couple of days have been ripe material for our beloved HoneyBelle. Read below:

1. I caught her playing with something in her mouth, it was her molar! So I bagged her baby tooth for the basset tooth fairy. She is getting big girl teeth.

2. I made a large batch of chocolate/chocolate iced cupcakes. Placed on decorative tray in middle of kitchen table. Was gone 20 minutes, came back to vestiges of chocolate icing on floor in 3 rooms. It must have been a feeding frenzy. She has figured out to pull the tablecloth with her teeth and all the good stuff comes down to her. I watched her all night to make sure she did not get sick from copious amounts of chocolate. If anything, she acted like a hyperactive child that had just ate 2 pounds of JellyBellies.

3. No foster at the house yet. We tried, and sadly, she did not get along with the fat spoiled baby. Michelle, you are great! We will try again.

4. My sister's metro-sexual miniature poodle has the serious hots for the curves of HoneyBelle. He gets neutered this week. That'll teach him.

Many great photo ops we missed out on. I will try to replace the camera ASAP, until then I will continue to relay her adventures via story line. Thank you for reading!

Homeless

But not for long! This young lady will come over tomorrow morning for a meet-n-greet with Ruby and HoneyBelle. We passed the foster exam (I even had dried drool stuck to the side of my head at the time) and the sweetest rescue will be coming to stay with us while she gets better. From her picture, it looks like her spine is showing through her thin coat. I have already drafted a grocery list for making homemade dog food supplement used by foster families on the Daily Drool. I have been quite the foster failure in the past (by adopting them!) so I will have to try a little harder this time. We have so many bassets being turned in from families that can no longer care for them. Will let you know how this turns out!

Coveting Skeins

It happened. She pulled the big bag of yarn off the work table and had a blistering hayday with it. Silly me, I thought putting it up on the table was putting it out of reach. Well, just like a toddler, she is now climbing. She must have been watching me and thought "hmmm, that looks mighty interesting—it is bulging with something..." Honestly, when I came home and saw the studio and the yarn explosion, I went right to the kitchen and made myself a cocktail. Trails of yarn went out the doggie door and into the back yard. And for extra measure, an 18" patch of vinyl flooring was removed. Now, my floors do need to be replaced, but I am thinking "how did she do that?" I took pictures of the carnage but really, I can't bear to see it again. I did find an intact skein of wool in the backyard with minor dirt and a large trademark basset drool left on it. I did learn this, she is not fond of wool. Her favorite skeins are the mohair/silk. Found that still in her jowls.

Favorite Brush

Is the toilet brush. Gasp you say? Well me too. After many attempts I discovered she was not going to relinquish the potty brush willingly. So I bought her her own, non-toileted brush. She loves it (along with many other non-doggie items). It is like a tickly massage on her when we rub her with it. She even takes it on hikes (inside/outside doggie door) and I keep washing it clean. It is quite odd to see her piles of favorites, ie. pottie brush, my bras, and nylabones.

Infatuation

HoneyBelle's Press Agent: She met my son for the first time this weekend. And as you can see by the photo she became gelatinous, just a pool of basset around him. He kept trying to play with her and she would go flatbasset, with her tail spinning. He finally had to scoop her up to pet her. Silly girl, she acted like a pubescent teen around a cute boy.

HoneyBelle: You blind woman, he is cute.