Toba is here for the holidays!

Richie went away again (seems like he is doing that more often, these days), and while he was gone, Toba showed up! It was as if she never left, and made herself at home right away - as you can see from the photo below.

A couple of sleeps after Richie got home, it snowed! We Berners just love the snow, so he took us up to QE Park for a long romp!

We had lots of fun rolling around in the fresh white stuff, snuffling it up, and trying to catch the snowballs that Richie would throw towards us.


These days, I've not been much of a runner, but when Toba decided it was time for some wind sprints, it was game on! I'm still way faster than she is, even if I am turning 7 this year.

Now that Richie is back, we've resumed our daily walks to Starbucks - but with the Christmas season upon us, we've been wearing our jingle bells, much to the delight of the other humans we meet.

Here's the annual family photo - with of course, our visitor Toba sharing the season with us. On Christmas day, we received some new toys in our stockings:

I got a squeaky, chewy thing, and

Toba got a chicken leg! Ok, not a real chicken leg mind you, but fun to chew on nonetheless!

Here's a funny one of Toba - she likes to roll around on her back (doesn't everyone?), but when she does, she digs her head into the ground too. As you can see, it sometimes makes her blaze all dirty!

Finally, we went back to the University Endowment Lands... we hadn't been there in a while, but there was lots of fresh water for us to drink. Toba ran so hard that day, that later she could barely walk and get up the stairs on her own!

Mischa

Under the knife - again

I went to the place called "the vet" again recently. I am always happy to go there, as I can jump up on my back legs, and get a cookie from the jar on the counter there. However, when we went to the back room, I didn't want to go any further, and hit the brakes. Unfortunately, my claws don't get any grip on the floor there, and I got dragged back there. Then I had a big sleep.

When I woke up, I was really groggy, and I cried a lot. Then later, Richie came to get me, and I cried even more. We walked home, and I was really unsteady - good thing I have four (who can count, really) legs. I couldn't really stand up without leaning against something, and so I went back to sleep. When I woke up this time, I had that damned lampshade on again! But it doesn't really bother me, other than I keep bumping it into things like the doorways and chairs. Something on my leg is itchy, but I can't really get a good look at it with this thing on. Anyhow, after a while, my leg stopped bugging me, and I've stopped wearing that silly thing.

Mischa

Editor's Note: Mischa had a 5 cm lipoma on her right rear leg. The vet decided he wanted to remove it, as it was right at the knee joint, and was concerned that it might create issues for her later.