We get some pretty bold squirrels in the yard. They mooch off of the various bird feeders and chase the birds away who were there first. Skittles and Jasmine love to race out the back door to go on "Squirrel Patrol". They never catch the squirrels. They just stand under the trees and bark at them. Jasmine usually gives up pretty quickly, but Skittles will continue to search for the squirrel in the tree for a while. I doubt they would know what to do with a squirrel if they caught one...maybe bring it in the house like the turtle. 
When I looked behind me tonight, I saw the dogs lying next to each other like this. The first thing that came to mind was those cool dog photos "Sesame Street" used to have of the Weimaraners. They would put the dogs in all of these great positions to show the alphabet and numbers from 0-9. I loved those silly dogs. Jas and Skit often come and lie on the floor behind me while I am on the computer. I enjoy having them near me. They are my goofy girls.
Originally, we had carpet through most of the house. Over the last several years, we have put in hardwood as the carpet started to "ugly out" instead of wearing out. The bottom of the master bedroom door was cut to allow for the carpet allowance. Since the carpet is gone, the air conditioning from the bedroom flows under the door. Jasmine is ready any time of day or night to jump in and block that air from entering the den. What would we do without her? She chooses to lie upside down so as to block the opening in the most efficient manner. We are so fortunate to have such a considerate and giving canine daughter. Thank you Jasmine.
Today I received my Pay It Forward goodie bag from Lin of Duck and Wheel with String. Lin sent some wonderful treats for me and even a little something for the cats. The strawberry jam body yogurt smelled so wonderful. Jasmine and Skittles followed the jar as I moved it from the bag to the table. They were extremely interested in everything in the bag. They assessed each item as it was removed. It is a good thing our personal inspectors were here when the package was opened. Lin, you will be happy to know your items passed the rigorous scrutiny of our highly paid examiners.
Jasmine is our resident diva. With a house full of females, someone is bound to be. Jas is happy to fill the role. She loves to sleep on fluffy things. Flat does not work for her. We often call her Fluffy, because she is a collie and she loves fluffy. It is funny to watch her shifting around the blankets in her crate to create just the right loft. Sometimes she comes in the computer room with me and tries to fluff up the carpet. We have many discussions about how the carpet does not fluff like she wants. The piece de resistance of her creations is that her head is usually lying on the highest point, like it is her pillow. When she is lying "on the flat", she will find something to lay her head on for her pillow. Tonight my shoes were the pillow. It does not look comfortable to me, but it works for her.
I have a certain routine I follow in mornings while I get the girls off to school. After seeing Robyn get on the bus, I come inside and make Cara's lunch. She always has a PB & J sandwich. When I get the bread out, these 2 little birdies (in dog form) come to get a piece of bread. As you have already guessed, Skittles eats hers immediately. I throw hers up in the air and she catches it. She has acquired a great skill in being able to eat the entire piece without any dropping on the floor. The Princess Diva, Jasmine, daintily comes and takes hold of the bread by grasping the tiniest bit of the corner. She trots into the den, circles 3-4 times, lies down and looks at it. It takes her about 5 minutes to eat her bread. This morning we had the added excitement of an empty peanut butter jar. I cut the jar in half and set them on the floor of the kitchen. Skittles takes hers to her "room". Jasmine looks at hers on the floor and then up at me so as to say "It is beneath me to carry that into the other room." I carry her bit into the den and she begins working on the jar. She chases it around the room as it moves and rolls. There aren't too many things better at our house than an empty peanut butter jar.
This is the final installment in the Skittles "Three-in-a-Row" posts. Taking up where I left off yesterday...some dog comes and eats all of Skittles food (or so she thinks). Once she finishes looking at the empty bowl, she stands in front of Jasmine's crate, staring at that bowl of food. When Jasmine is done, I let her out of her crate and the Dish Washing Dog goes to work. She goes into Jasmine's crate, picks up her bowl and walks it over to the dish washing station in her crate. Dish Washing Dog goes to work cleaning every little bit of crumb and dried on goop in the bowl. That bowl nearly sparkles. What would we do without her?
Today was a "day of beauty" for some members of our family. My friend, Kat, took Cara for her day of beauty. She had her hair cut and had a make-up lesson. Cara had picked out a couple of hair styles from magazines. I was so curious to find out what cut she ended up with. She looks fantastic. Her hair is so cute. Robyn is now wanting to know when her day of beauty will be. 
The last 3 nights we have had nighttime thunderstorms. I am ready for these to be over. I love rain...but prefer the thunderstorms to be during the daylight hours. The previous 2 nights Jasmine was all worried; pacing and whining. Cara slept in the den last night because of the thunder and lightening was worrying her and both of the girls were in there for part of the time the night before that. Our backyard is pretty much a marsh, so Skittles come in muddy and oblivious to that fact and Jasmine will hardly take a step off of the back porch to avoid the mud. According to the map on WeatherUnderground, we have gotten between 5 to 8 inches of rain. Welcome to spring in Southeast Louisiana.
The weekend after Mardi Gras usually brings the Mystic Krewe of Mardi Paws. The Mardi Paws parade is a great family outing where people can dress up their canine friends and themselves, and parade down the route throwing goodies for all. Robyn and Phillip took Jasmine and Skittles. I received the report that Jasmine was not a good girl. She slipped out of her collar (they were not using the martingale) and ran off about 400 yards. A wonderful parade watcher caught her and she was returned to her place with the rest of the family. She spent the rest of the parade barking at all of the dogs she could (she was very excited). Skittles had a wonderful time. It was like being in Skittles heaven. She sat quietly behind the baracade and people would walk by and feed her milkbones. Finally, Phillip started putting them in his pockets because he thought she would get sick (yes, she ate that many). Robyn said they didn't catch too much since they were at the end of the parade route, but she did manage to catch a coveted "golden poop" thrown by this year's royalty. She gave it to the little girl who was watching the parade next to them. It was a great day and a lot of fun.
Jasmine is the funniest sleeper. She loves to sleep on her back, often with her legs straight in the air. She gets herself in the strangest poses, but it doesn't seem to interfere with her snooze time. I came across her sleeping like this in Skittles crate. I am guessing that she started out on her back and rolled over at some point. You can't really tell in the picture, but her legs are about 3 inches off of the floor, just sticking straight out. What a nut!
It is days like these that one feels lucky to live in Louisiana. It was beautiful outside...72 degrees and a light breeze...not a cloud in the sky. Phillip wanted to take the fur girls to the lakefront. What a great idea! They will love it. In weather like this, everyone is at the lakefront. There would be lots of other dogs and people to greet. The human girls didn't want to go, so it was just the 4 of us. Skittles and Jasmine were so excited. Jasmine didn't cry one time in the car and Skittles had her head stuck out of the window as far as it could go. I twisted my knee on Thursday and am still hobbling, so I sat on the sea wall and watched them walk off. Tails were wagging (or waving in Jasmine's case). I love to watch people and today was the perfect day. I had a great time watching families and happy dogs, joggers and kite fliers. We didn't stay out long. The girls were exhaused by the time they came back to me. They had a wonderful time checking out all of the smells and other "people" on their way. It was a perfect way to spend part of today.
Everyday when I feed the dogs, the cats want some too. This is a relatively new occurrence. We have had the dogs for over 4 years and the cats started with wanting "lunch" about 6 months ago. The cats have always had dry food available 24/7. I mix wet and dry food together for the dog girls. For a while, Whiskers would come in and eat the dog food (usually with Jasmine eating at the same time). 
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