And a Happy New Year!!!

We survived the Christmas Blizzard of '09. Had about 12 inches of snow dumped here in our neck of the woods, starting on Christmas Eve and didn't end until the next afternoon. It was wicked to watch, but very pretty when it was all done. It was great fun to watch our new llamas prance in the snow. They didn't feel cold at all because they were wearing their wool coats, and their breaths came out their noses like steam. It made ol' Banana Ears look mad! Hee hee! I call Stomper that because 1) his ears are big; and 2) it has become apparent that we are never to be best buds. You see, llamas DO NOT LIKE DOGS. Period. No ifs, ands or buts about it. He's a "dog-stompin' fool" according to his last owner. At least they told us that BEFORE I became a gooey spot in the dirt. So, no more going to the pasture with My Boy to feed the critters. It belongs to Stomper now and forever.

Now on to happier thoughts, My Boy and I had a rip-snortin' good time in the snow. We wrassled, rolled, hollered, flung snow and played Catch-Me-If-You-Can until our tongues hung out. We'd stop long enough to thaw out, then hit the snowbanks again. Cap stayed indoors and slept. He's been doing that more and more lately, old man. Glynn watched from afar like a lady. She's too reserved to wrassle much, though she's not above nipping me in the bum as I fly by. Wheeee!

Wishing everyone out there a safe New Year's Eve and looking forward to a Great New Year!

~Tell

Merry Christmas to All!

Merry Christmas to all my friends out there. Seems like the holidays came faster this year, and I barely got all my Christmas shopping done in time. Got Cap a new squeaky and Glynn a new spiffy collar (she likes accessories). Can't tell you what My Boy and My Girl got yet. Don't want to spoil their surprise.

Mom and Dad got their Christmas presents early this year, and let me tell you, there's no way they could be wrapped and put under the tree. Dad got a new bull, a gorgeous black Angus that should make the heifers happy. Yeah, I know, not your usual Christmas stocking stuffer but you have to remember, we're country folks. Mom's present was a pair of llamas. You heard me, llamas. We got them for coyote and sasquatch control on the farm. Stomper, the big one in the photo, is standing next to a seven-foot corral fence. You can see he is much bigger than the average camelid. When we unloaded them, the herd looked up in surprise and stampeded over the hill. Stomper and Rockette were neutral about the whole thing, they're used to cows. So far, no spitting, so we believe they're happy with the new digs.

Have a wonderful holiday!
~Tell

Team Tell

Well sir, I am one frustrated pup, I tell you. I have been fussing with this for about five weeks now, and I cannot upload any photos to my blog! I've tried everything I know. It's worked in the past. Now it just says No Can Do and spits them right back at me. So you know what that means? You won't be able to see my handsome mug until I get this snazzu figured out. Any suggestions out there???

Meanwhile, you'll just have to picture everything in your minds. I know you can do it. We terriers have a pretty good imagination anyway.

I've been hearing a lot of talk about the movie Twilight, but since dogs are not allowed in our movie theatre I hadn't seen it. So when My Girl and Mom decided to watch it at home on the DVD player, I whipped up a bowl of popcorn and sat down with them. Right away I could see this wasn't a movie I was really going to get into. Too much drama, not enough fisticuffs (until the end, that was something), and rain. Lots of rain. We've had enough of that here lately. I was a little bored, though the ladies seemed to like it. I even caught Glynn penciling in a Team Edward tee-shirt on her Christmas list. Ho hum.

But now I hear there's a new sequel out to the Twilight movie, and it's going to be a good one. Even has a dog in it, I think. They must be taking a page from Norman Rockwell's book. He always said if a painting wasn't working out, he'd add a dog to it. Always made it better. Works for me.
~Tell

Happy Tails

We're happy to say that out Boxer pup, Miley, was adopted by a very nice family we knew that fell in love with her the moment they met. It's nice to see a pup come out of a neglected state and gain confidence, and go on to a loving furever home. I do wish that she would have stopped and looked back as they were leaving. But no, she was so happy to prance to that waiting car with her new girl, that she forgot to say goodbye. That okay, though. I wish her all the best and can't wait to see her again. I know she'll remember me!

Now, for any of you that like animal stories with happy endings, we want to introduce you to our new friend, Floyd (right). If you like, once a month Floyd the Dog will send a nice story to you to brighten your day. You can even submit stories if you like, and if yours is chosen, a donation will be made to a charity to benefit animals. So if you have a happy tail to share, hop on over to Floyd's place and tell him about it.

Happy Tails,
William Tell

Miley's Progress Report

Wet. Wet. Wet. That's the long and short of it around here. The ground is spongey, the air is damp, and it's been drizzling rain for three days on top of the downpours we had last week. Even my hair is more frizzy than usual and won't stay put. Can't even dig a proper hole before it fills up with water. Maybe we'll have some sun this weekend...

On the brighter side, our Boxer is growing more beautiful every day. We finally settled on the name Miley (My Boy is a huge Hannah Montana fan, can you tell?). She is up to forty pounds now. Still skinny, I like my girls to have a little reserve on them, if you know what I mean. Don't worry, though. We'll fatten her up. Just takes a little more time to build up those muscles that had wasted away. So far she is great on a leash and has learned to sit on command. She's a quiet girl, too. Sweet and loving, with no rough-housing, which will make her a good pet for a family with kids. It's so funny to see her play bow, and wag her tail. She doesn't just wag her tail, she shakes her booty. Just cracks me up every time she does it!
~Tell

Wire Fox Duck

It's been raining so much here in Oklahoma that I'm begining to feel a bit waterlogged. I can swim laps in the backyard if I want, and we don't even have a pool. Good thing I know how to dog paddle like a puddleduck. Yesterday Mom and Dad went to Tulsa to see a friend in the hospital, and they got caught in a storm that drenched poor T-town in five inches of rain. Yeah, I'm glad I wasn't riding in the pickup on that trip. Thunderstorms, darkness, floods and white-knuckle driving is not my idea of fun. Still, I am hoping that all the rain will make the fall leaves prettier this year. It seems to make a difference.

We've been busy here on the farm, what with pigs having babies and the fall show season starting. My Boy took his cow Ruby Tuesday to the fair and won a blue ribbon. She seems to love My Boy almost as much as I do. Well, you just keep head-bumping him Ruby, but you'll never fit on his lap.

Dad picked up another rescue pup. She's an adult Boxer but only weighs thirty-three pounds. She's very thin and had some parasites, but nothing a little TLC won't cure, the vet said. She is eating well, and should gain a lot of weight over the next few weeks.

Just look at those beautiful eyes! And her tail wags almost as much as mine. She's such a sweetheart. We've yet to come up with a good name for her. A name's got to be perfect, you know. Gotta put some thought into it. A bit of class for this lady, because I know behind the neglect and thinness is a gorgeous gal!

~Tell

What Happened to My Hole?

Well, would you look at what someone did to my hole?

Not only did my hole get filled in with a tractor-bucket full of fireplace rocks, but somebody actually build a rock wall along the fence. And planted flowers!

Look at this, Cap. A water garden. And floating sweetpea petals. Whose idea was this?

I'm here to tell you, I'm mighty miffed. This is going to put me behind schedule, cleaning this mess up. This is not at all what I had planned for landscaping. Not one bit. Wasn't on the blueprint. Not in the budget. I wasn't consulted.

At least Glynn seems to like the sweetpea blossoms.

All my hard work, for naught. What's a dog to do? I believe I will have to sit and ponder...

~Tell

Beggars

Okay, first I have to apologize for Mom's Far Side sense of humor in reference to Ruby Tuesday's future. No, Ruby will not end up a medium rare special on the menu. The Vet has confirmed that she will have a calf in the spring after the last show, and she will be living the good life on Uncle P's farm. All she has to look forward to is eating well, filling out and being a mama cow. Good Moos for her.

As for me, my day started out pretty well. I finished the hole I was excavating ahead of schedule, so I started on a new hole in the corner of the yard. Things were going well, and I was just thinking how much faster I could dig with a little Kubota backhoe. I believe I could do some serious damage with one of those. I will talk to My Boy about our budget and see if we can get one. Anyway, my hole was coming along quite well when suddenly I found myself on the other side of the backyard fence! Well, it was time for lunch break anyhow, so I decided to put in a little time exploring. Never turn down an opportunity to sniff out new things.

I hadn't been out long when The Family came home and discovered me loafing about my job. They weren't too happy about the shape I was in, either. I went into some pretty rough brush, and brought a few burrs home with me. These are very tiny burrs called hitchhikers, beggar-lice, beggar-ticks, sticktights, tick clover, or as I sometimes call them, ohshucks stickum tightus. They were thickly embedded, thousands of them, all over me.

There was no getting out of it. I got put straight on the grooming table. This was going to take a lot of brushing to set things right.

You might say I led with the nose.

It took over an hour of brushing to get them all out. Yeah, I lost some hair over this adventure. Then I had to endure a bath, more brushing and fluffing and buffing before I was pronouced clean. Mom says I'm an exasperating pup to live with. What can I say? It's a gift.

Man, I can't wait to get back to work!

~Tell

Ruby Tuesday

My Boy had a surprise for us this week. He put our leashes on and told us that we needed to go outside to the big barn see it. I could hardly wait!

First, though, he made us sit and listen to him. He said we had to be on our best behavior and not do anything silly. As if.

Here we are trucking along across the green grass. This is a very good view of us, though from this angle Mom sometimes has touble telling Who's Who in the Zoo without her glasses.

We stopped for our mail...

When we finally reached the barn, we saw a red Shorthorn cow! This is My Boy's new FFA project and her name is Ruby. Mom calls her Ruby Tuesday because that's probably where she'll end up someday (for those of you across the pond, Ruby Tuesday is the name of a fine restaurant chain here in the States).

My Boy is going to brush her and give her baths, and show her at the county and state fairs. I'm not sure how's she's going to fit in the bathtub, though. Ruby's real name is Queen's Ruby Red. Even though she's got a long pedigree and fancy name, I know My Boy still loves me best!

~Tell

Julie's Pics

My movie star handsomeness has paid off. Julie Chin of our local television news station KJRH has picked moi to be her Dog Days of Summer photo subject for tomorrow (Wednesday). She liked the photo of me roaching in the green grass. That, and my windblown appearance. I will be featured on the morning news show during the weather update.

Ah, my fifteen minutes of fame! The Family is not sure they will be able to live with me after this.

~Tell

Rain, and Lots of It

What do you suppose I heard when I woke up this morning? Rain, and lots of it. It was coming a toad-washer outside. Cool rain, too, and it was only 70 degrees. A welcome break when I'm used to sitting around with my tongue hanging out from the summer heat. Spent the day helping in the kitchen. Notice how shiny the floor is? Cap, Glynn and I did clean-up duty.

We noticed that Glynn kept shaking her head, and you know what that means. A trip in the pupmobile to the vet's office. Seems she had a truckload of dirt in one ear (she blames me for flinging it around when I'm doing my landscaping). Then the vet noticed something unusual.

The vet found a small tumor growing in one of Glynn's ears. It's just a tiny thing now, so there's no immediate concern, but the next time we're in for our dentals we can have it taken care of. And that good ear-washing she got did the trick. No more shaking her head, and she's got that happy smile back on her face. It doesn't take much to keep little sis happy.

~Tell

I Got What I Wished For!

So there I was, endlessly grousing about the lack of wiry pups to help in this area, when what do you suppose we got?


That's right! An Airedale! Rowdy is a nine-month-old pup with impeccable manners. My Family totally fell in love with him while he stayed with us for a couple of days. He got a flea bath, vaccinations, heartworm test and (whisper) neutered while he visited, but did he hold any of that against us? No, sirree Bob. He was tail-waggin' happy the whole time. Rowdy left this morning with a nice lady from Oklahoma Airedale Rescue, and methinks he took a little piece of Mom's heart with him when he walked out the door. What a classy gentleman he was. Good luck finding your furever home, Rowdy. Somebody out there is going to love you!

~Tell

A Rose By Any Other Name

I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I am a connoisseur of fine smells. I love to use my nose to discover the world around me. Here's a good shot of my beak...

And another close-up of my smell-sniffer...

One good whiff through the air vent in the pickup can tell me all about the countryside we're driving through. I can tell you if there are there other dogs nearby, or cows and horses, what's cooking outside on the grill for supper, and where there's a super odiferous pile of goop to roll in. The nose knows, you know.

So imagine my surprise when Mom started coming home with a new smell on her. I couldn't quite figure it out, never having come across the likes of it in my whole seven years. It always seems to be situated on her shoulder, sometimes on her arm and once in her hair. I puzzled over this for awhile until I hit on a way of finding out. I asked Cap. You know Cap, he's older than dirt and seen it all. And he told me the answer.

"It's baby burp, pup. Haven't you ever smelled burp before, young whippersnapper?" Well, nooooo, if I had I wouldn't have asked. I haven't officially been introduced to Little Guy yet. Mom says grandbabies are not squeaky toys and she won't let us play together until Little Guy is old enough not to get knocked over. So I'll just have to settle for whiffs of milky baby's breath until we actually meet. That and pictures, which Mom seems to have an abundance of cute ones to share. He does actually look a little like my yellow rubber ducky, doesn't he?

~Tell

Love Those Fosters

With the temperatures soaring over 100 degrees here in Oklahoma, we're staying cool as much as we can. No riding in the pickup for us this week because of the heat. The grass is turning a little brown and getting crunchy under our feet. One of my favorite things to do is stand under the spray when Mom is watering the grass and flowers. I can really soak that cool water up and then shake it off! Glynn gave it a try but decided after a few minutes that she didn't much care for it. Cap said it wasn't his cup of tea, either.

We're so thankful for caring dogs and their families, like our friend Mackie. He takes in fellow wire fox terriers that need a place to stay until they find their furever homes. It warms the heart to know that these unfortunate pups are getting the help they need and finally know they are loved. Great job, Mackie! As much as we'd like to take in some foster wires, we just don't seem to be able to find any in our neck of the woods. Boxers and Dobies, yes. Jack Russels, oh yeah. Even a few kitties have come and gone. But no wires like me. Not even close. This is as good as we get...

Our latest foster is a barred owl with a broken wing. Fortunately, it's already beginning to heal and it won't be long before he's on the fly again. We get a lot of birds of prey from the game wardens, but Mom draws the line at possums and raccoons in the house. Anything that climbs up her pants leg makes her squeal (hee hee).

~Tell

Turtle Crossing

It's the time of year that we find turtles everywhere. We have them all around the house, and you can't hardly walk across the yard without tripping over one. Even Jake and Just Harry have found one, and Butchy and Snickers have written about finding two in their koi ponds. Now, look what My Girl and My Boy found while walking down the road. Yes, that's right Butchy and Snickers! Your alligator snapping turtle must have Delta-Dashed herself to Oklahoma to visit us in the hollow. We've decided to call her Earnhardt after the NASCAR driver. Here are a few snapper facts:
1. The average weight of an adult alligator snapping turtle is 175 pounds, and their lifespan is about 30 years in the wild (longer in captivity).

2. They are the largest freshwater turtle in North America, with a record weight of 236 pounder living in the Chicago Zoo.

3. They can stay submerged for up to three hours at a time.

4. Typically, only nesting females venture out on land.

5. They have spikes and raised plates on their shell, and often are covered in algae.

What a beauty she is! My Boy and My Girl left her alone after the photo session, and she mosied on down the road. We hope we'll see her again.

~Tell

Little Guy is Here!

Great news, everybody! Married Kid and Her Husband had their baby this week. Little Guy weighed in at eight and a half pounds and was twenty-one and a half inches long, so I guess that would make him a member of the Substantial Baby Club, if there is one. He's nice and healthy, though, and the family is very proud of him. There are no hospital nursery photos of him because Grandma Doofus forgot to bring her camera (Owww! She just smacked me on the back of the head!). Sorry about that remark, Mom. Anyway, we can forgive her this time because it's the first grandbaby and she got all excited and everything when she heard the news.

Here is a photo of the Little Guy when he came home from the hospital. My Boy leaned over and said, "Hey, there, I'm your favorite uncle!" I have a feeling that Little Guy and me are going to be great buddies some day. My Boy and I will teach him how to fish, catch grasshoppers, stomp in mud puddles, run in the fields and go wading in the creek. Maybe chase some squirrels, too. There's no end to the things a couple of boys and a dog can do together, especially when Grandma isn't looking (waiting...waiting...okay, no smack that time). Life is good!

~Tell

Foxholes and Trenches

Hope everyone out there had a nice Memorial Day weekend. The Kids were all busy doing different things, and Mom and Dad spent two days cruising on the cycle. So what does a terrier do when the peeps leave him unsupervised? You think they'd have learned by now that I'll find ways to entertain myself. So I did. Yep, I went digging. Excavating. You'd have thought I had some heavy earth-moving equipment from the damage I did. I had about eight holes going at once. I not only dug down, but flung dirt for yards in every direction. Looked like a small war had been fought in our backyard. Foxholes and trenches everywhere you stepped.

An added bonus was that I found one of these in a foxhole. It's called a mole. I was beginning to feel like a real earthdog after a rat. I tell you, I think I'd found my calling. But wouldn't you know it, Mom came home and took it away from me. Put it right over the fence out of my reach. It was frustrating, knowing it was over there rummaging around again and I couldn't get to it. So I'm warnin' ya, Mr Mole, stay put in your own bunker. I'll be watching for you...
~Tell

Three Sisters and a Little Fellow

There are some big changes coming to our home soon. Big ones, I tell you. And I'm not too sure we wires like change. At least Glynn and I are a little nervous. Cap sleeps through most things these days, so he may miss it all, but I'm happy in my comfortable rut. The Girls are rocking my boat and shaking things up around here, and I'm not sure what to do about it.


First, College Kid (on the right in her Eskimo Joe shirt) graduated and got her DVM degree. The big ceremony was held at the Gallagher-Iba area (think Eddie Sutton Court) at Oklahoma State. Now she's packing boxes and moving to Maryland. She's going to live about 15 minutes from D.C. I just hope when this year is over she doesn't come home and bring a politician with her. Next, My Girl (on the left) graduated from high school, and now SHE'S packing up her laptop and heading for college. Talk about cleaning house! Who's gonna be left around here for me and My Boy to pester? And now I find out that Married Kid (in the middle, who I haven't spoken much about since she had pretty much moved out before I moved in) is expecting a little bundle in a couple of weeks. Married Kid and Her Husband live nearby, and I'll bet we get to see a lot of the baby.

Well, that last part might not be too bad. Having a Little Fellow for My Boy and I to hang with could be fun. That is, if he can learn to throw a ball. Maybe wrassle in the grass a bit. Dig some holes. Drop some Fig Newtons. We'll see...

~Tell

A Whump Monster Lives Here

Here I am sitting in Dad's chair. We're not allowed on Dad's chair, and I know it. Still, I prefer to sit here than in my regular spots around the house. Why, you ask?

Because a Whump Monster has moved into our house, and it's living under the new wood floors. I can tell right where it lives, too, because the floor is buckling up. Yes, buckling up! The wood is bowing and bending, and it make a funny whump sound when we walk over it. Really, it's enough to curl a wire's hair.

We had a nice visit with the flooring company and we're assured that this monster will go away in a week or so when the air dries out and the rain stops. Lots of folks are having Whump Monsters under their floors right now, even with the most expensive wood. This happens when it rains almost daily for weeks at a time and the wood swells. It leaves a little air pocket just right for something to move in and live there. These monsters do not like dry weather, so as soon as the weather improves outside, this one should move on down the road and leave us alone.

I'm glad all I have to do is wait a week or so for the weather to fix this. Good gracious, I was afraid those workers would come back and tear up the floor again. Having the floor ripped up was a big stress in our lives, especially Glynn who likes her routine the best. So I guess for a little while, we'll just walk around and give the Whump Monster some space, and wait for it to go away. They don't eat terriers, do they?

~Tell

Wordless Wednesday -- Irises After the Rain

~Tell