Welcome to my blog, Pugnacious P...tales of Payton the Pug! My parents say I was a miracle and the toughest creature they’ve ever met. Despite being diagnosed with Pug Dog Encephalitis (PDE), I lived a wonderful life. Read more in the "My PDE Story" page in the green banner just below. I hope you enjoy reading about my adventurous life! Love, Angel Payton
Well, I'm not sure about all of you, but I feel like I was tricked this Halloween. My mom kept saying no costume, and then a package arrives in the mail. I got all excited because it was from my friend Tiffy and her momma, but then we opened it... And here I am. A witch. A candy corn witch, that doesn't even have real candy corn pieces!
I must admit that when I tried it on and got a treat, I started to change my mind a bit about the costume thing. Well, except for the hat. I'm not fond of it. Of course, it did get me even more treatage...actually you won't believe how many nibbles it took for my mom to get these pictures of me! Anyway, it is a pretty cute getup, huh? My mom says she changed her mind about dressing me up because of the colder weather and as it turned out, Tiffy's momma bought a costume that was too big for her. I guess my mom figured since I've been sporting my t-shirts lately that a costume would be the festive way to keep me just as warm. I am hoping that it gets me lots of extra treats tonight! Thanks Tiffy, for the costume and the pep talk...I'll wear it proudly and soak up the attention from the trick-or-treaters tonight!
Anyway, as promised on Friday, let me waste no more time in getting to this year's carved pumpkin....TA-DA!
It's a pug! Didn't my dad do such a great job (especially since we don't have those special carving kits/knives)?!? So let me show you how I helped him do it...
Yummy! Look at the size of this orange delight!
It smells so good!
Oh, and tastes even better! Sid, you totally have to try it!
Dad, shouldn't we just give this thing to mom for cooking?
I am so much cuter!
Before I go, I have to tell you all about a special card I got in the mail. My first Halloween card! It is from Mack, of Minnie and Mack's Daily Digest! *blush* Isn't he sweet to think of me?!? I just love getting mail, and I always try to open it myself.
I'm never all that successful, but mom helps. I made sure she put this right on the fireplace hearth where I can see it anytime I want!
Thanks Mack, xoxo!
Wishing you all a fun and safe Halloween filled with lots of treats, NOT tricks! Happy Halloween!!
I'm up for any sort of occasion where there might be treats involved so I must admit that the smell of pumpkin around Halloween makes me happy. Just as long as I don't have to wear a costume. You hear that mom?!? Anyway, last year, dad got into fancy pumpkin carvings.
Oct 30, 2010 at Gammy and Gampy's house
He found a template on-line and then sketched it out by hand on the pumpkin to carve out. I enjoyed supervising. Oh, the intoxicating smell! Mom roasts the seeds and keeps them all to herself. I know, the nerve! But my dad snuck me a small scrap of pumpkin flesh to try and it was yummy! It's hard to say if fresh or canned is better. Looks like I should do some more taste testing. Here's the finished product.
2010 Halloween pumpkin
I can not wait for everyone to check out this year's masterpiece. Dad took it up a notch. It's so Spook-pug-ular! Stay tuned on Monday...
Enjoy the weekend and make sure that your peeps stock up on the dog-friendly treats or tell them to be prepared for some tricks!
One of my absolute favorite things about fall is all of the leaves. When I was a puppy I loved to chase them as the wind blew them across my path. Now, I like to eat them. But I'm very picky. Only certain kinds will do, and they have to be very crispy! I have a particular fondness for River Birch. Yeah, I guess they are like potato chips (or so I'm told)...you can't eat just one! And like potato chips, mom says the leaves are off limits. Sheesh! Although I must say that it's pretty funny when she or Gammy chase me down in the back yard when I have one in my mouth. Most of the time I'm too quick for them! But that usually means that outside time is over, and I'm carried back inside. I think she should be happy that it's only leaves I like to snack on and not...well, you know! Do you guys enjoy any tasty outdoor treats?
Just when I thought it was safe to catch some sleep in peace and quite!
My mom, aka the pug-arazzi, needs to give the camera a rest. And Mom, if you're going to disturb my slumber, at least do so with a treat! Sheesh!
I am hoping that you have a wonderful and undisturbed (except for food and fun) weekend!
Love,
Payton
PS. For those of you who enjoyed reading about my Indiana adventures (Part 1 and Part 2) but weren't able to view the slideshow at the end of Part 1, it's fixed now. My mom got the Salinger slideshow to work (she had to upload it to You Tube), so click here to view the many adorable expressions of my friend, S-Dog! You just gotta take a look at his cuteness!!
Hi everyone, here's the second half of the story (or sequel, if you will) about the crazy fun Saturday in Indianapolis! So I finished part 1 just as we (Salinger, Tiffy, and I) left Three Dog Bakery and headed to a party...a birthday party to be exact. It was Ellie's 1st birthday! You probably know her from The Pugs Strike Back.
Ellie, the birthday girl!
Oh, my pug! Is she not the cutest thing ever? Anyway, as soon as we arrived at The Pug Posse's house, I could not believe my eyes. There were about 20 pugs (+/- 3) in the house! I'm not exactly a social butterfly so my parents were glad they brought treats to distract me while all of the pugs introduced themselves and said hello. And of course, I was totally into the freeze dried blueberries, but after a while I actually wanted to explore and see what other kind of food I could find for myself, so I was off!
Get out of my way there are food stuffs to be had, I smell it!
So many new people to try my begging skills on! And so many great pugs to meet! I really can't say enough about how nice everyone was! There was Ellie's brothers, Brutus and Yoda, and Apollo...
left to right: Tiffy (in the pretty dress), Brutus, Yoda, Apollo, and Ellie
And there was Princess Mia, so cute standing in between two of the men (I think that's Gampy on the left and Ellie's dad on the right)!
Mia
Poor Salinger, he is like me and not very social, but unlike me, food isn't a high motivator (weird I know), so he wasn't thrilled at all the chaos. He stuck close to those that would protect him.
"Thanks Gampy, please let me know if any pugs come close."
I, on the other hand, was all over the place taking every opportunity to check on the food situation. My mom and dad were so surprised and impressed on how I seemed not to be the least bit nervous with all of these pugs.
Please, please give me some of what you are having, Ellie's mom!
But soon, another friend showed up...one I had met before...a boy pug. So I quickly asked Tiffy to help me out and distract my protective Gampy. Which wasn't all that hard, he quickly got a reputation for giving the best scratches and every pug seemed to stop by for some lovin' at one point or another.
"Hey, I'm with Gampy now...wait your turn."
So who was this boy that came to party and spend some one-on-one time with me? Yep, it's Hank! You may recall that I met Hank over at Vito and Vinny's place for a small St. Louis Party just this summer.
me and Hank
We spent some time on the couch getting to know each other better (with my dad supervising) and then we went outside trying to get some alone time, but mom was there with the camera again!
Where is that good smell at, Hank?
We decided to head back inside, and Hank sang to me and told my parents that they were getting in the way of a proper date! (I think he might have also mentioned something about wanting a few nibbles from their plate too!)
Aww, mom..isn't he so sweet!
Not only were my 'rents following us around, but my mom turned down a wonderful Flossie gift from Hank! I know, the nerve! So my teeth would break, big deal! It's Hank's favorite and he was so nice to think of me. Parents just don't understand!
Well, soon it was getting late and we still had more adventuring to do, so before we said goodbye to every pug and their peeps, I took a potty break outside. Salinger took the opportunity to "get away" and followed us outside. At this point everyone was inside so it was just me, Salinger, and my parents. It was totally dark out, and to my parents' amazement (and probably even Sal's too), my friend shot out ahead of me to guide my path and came back to check on me two or three times. Can you all believe it? And I don't even remember telling him about how my eyesight is so bad! What a great friend! Thanks, dude! When my mom was saying thank you, Sal's mom snagged this great shot of the two of them!
Salinger and mom
So after saying goodbye, we hit the road and headed to Springville (just south of Bloomington) to visit my Gampy's relatives (cousins, sister, and brother and their families). Mom was just too tired to remember to take any pictures, so we don't have any to share from Sunday. Guess I'm going to have to learn how to do that now...
Well, it was a great weekend! We can't thank Salinger's peeps enough for entertaining us in the afternoon, Ellie for the invitation, and last, but definitely not least, The Pug Posse and peeps for hosting a great party with lots of good food!
Love,
Payton
PS. I hope you all got to see the slideshow of Salinger from my last post...I'm not sure why it's not available...must be a Google problem. I'm looking into it...
As promised, I have to tell you all about my crazy weekend adventure! I'm going to warn you right now, this post has a ton of pictures. I hope that's a good thing. Anyway, it all started early Saturday morning. We drove forever, so I figured we must be going to Chicago. And then finally we showed up at a house. Well, the only house I've been to in Chicago was Tiffy's place, and this didn't smell like that. But then who shows up at the door was none other than Tiffy herself and her mom! I was so confused, and then I saw him...SALINGER! He came running and gave us a waggly tailed greeting! Oh, so we were in Indianapolis! How cool is that?!? We just had to take a group picture to remember our day together, but since it's almost impossible to corral 2 pugs, let alone 3, we took one with our moms.
Tiffy, Salinger, and me
Oh, and my Gammy and Gampy came along too! They were so excited to meet Tiffy and Salinger.
Gampy, let me down! I think Sal might be about to get some food!
And guess who else was there? Maggie. She's Salinger's good friend and frequent visitor.
dad and Maggie Dumplin'
We had tons of fun getting to know each other and taking over the house. This was the closest we came to a group shot.
left to right: Maggie, me, Tiffy, and Sal
See how we are kinda in a head to head, butt to butt cross formation? Hehee! Here's a cute picture of Tiffy having some words with Maggie, who was trying to steal her present from Salinger.
Tiffy and Maggie with Sal in the background
Yep, that's right...Salinger got Tiffy and I a bag of awesome goodies. When we got home, mom let me go at it!
Do you see all of that loot? A stuff-less raccoon (as you can see I went for that immediately!), 3 mini tennis balls, some dried sweet potato treats, a picture frame to put a pic of me and Sal in, and a blanket...you can never have enough binkies! Thanks so much Salinger!! I love it all!!
Ok, back to Saturday... All of the humans got to partake in a lunch that Salinger's mom made. It smelled so tasty, and mom said it was delicious! We didn't really get any...well, except for the peas from Gammy and Gampy. Yep, I made sure all of my friends knew to put on their best pug face and go beg for some treats at their end of the table. Works every time for me! But the best part of the meal was when Sal's mom brought out a cake...for Tiffy!
"That cake has my name all over it! It looks so nom-a-licious!"
We celebrated Tiffy's birthday in style. She made a wish, blew out the candle, and we ate cake! Not only did Sal's mom make this yummy cake, but she picked me up so I could get a bird's eye view!
Oh my pug! Look at that cake!
After lunch, us girls helped out in the kitchen as best we could but it seems as though the dishes got washed off before they went into the dishwasher...bummer!
Tiffy, me, and Maggie
Come on girls, let's get outta here and find some crumbs!
Tiffy and I were partners in crime, and we almost got away with it... A couple of times the walk-in pantry door was open, and I told Tiffy about all the food that was in there. So, I'd go over and scratch at the door while Tiffy would be the look out. She'd come running over when anyone caught on to our plan, but we didn't give up. Finally someone opened the door and I signaled to Tiffy that we were in! My mom wishes there were pictures, but Tiffy and I were too sneaky for that! Our moms will say that there aren't any pictures because they were too busy foiling our plans, but don't believe them!
Tiffy, do you think they are laughing at us?
Not funny moms! Tiffy and I are going to get together again soon and when we do, we are using plan B...
"bad to the bone" Tiffy
We're going to toughen up and take charge! The pantry won't know what hit it!
So anyway, after a great afternoon, we all piled in our cars and headed out. But before we got to our final destination, we made a pit stop...at a Three Dog Bakery!! We used to have one in St. Louis, but the owner retired. Salinger knew I was missing it, so he had his peeps take us there!
Salinger, me, and Tiffy with our moms
Isn't it neat that they had a poster with 3 pugs on the window? We only wished that we had whippy on our heads too! While inside Tiffy and I played a bit of dress-up.
You know, Tiffy, I think we were duped because this is not the kinda tough we had in mind for plan B! After we explored every inch of the store, it was time to go...we were late for a party! Stay tuned for part 2 of my Indy adventure.
But before I say goodbye for now, I just want to say how great it was to hang out at Salinger's house! His mom and dad and brother were so nice to me and really welcomed my family! And Sal was quite the trooper with a house full of girls! I'll leave you with "the many faces of Salinger" slideshow.
My good friend Suki had a great aquatic adventure last weekend that reminded me of my paddle boat cruise around a lake [large pond] at the Boathouse restaurant in Forest Park.
It was quite a warm day, so mom and dad had to make sure I was shaded. It wasn't quite as majestic as Suki's journey down the river, but it was fun.
These pictures are from June of 2008. We've eaten at the Boathouse many times since then, but I'll have to get my parents to take me on the lake again when the weather is cooler (like now!).
Have a wonderful weekend filled with adventures and naps and treats! I will have something fun to tell you about on Monday (or maybe Tuesday if mom slacks off again)...
