Xena: Auntie Jen must have heard me say I missed her, ’cause she invited us to come to her house near Nashville. I get a bit nervous on car rides, and I panted for the whole three hour trip even though Daddy held me and pet me the whole way there while Mommy drove. At least this time I didn’t puke in the car.
Lucy: That’s only because Mom didn’t feed us before we left home.
Xena: I had a much better trip home. Auntie Jen put lavender oil on my ears, then Mommy put some on my paw pads after we got in the car. I only panted a tiny little bit once or twice. I hope we have lots of that oil around.
We returned the Santa toy that Achilles forgot at our house a couple of weeks ago. 
He was so over-the-moon happy that he played with it all weekend.
Lucy: He ignored me all weekend, too. 
Xena: That’s ’cause he remembered the talk I had with him when he was at our house! And he let me ride the horsie he got for Christmas. 
At first it was a little scary. I mean, I had never ridden a horsie before. 
I thought maybe I should watch for traffic behind us like Mommy does when she is driving.
Then I said, “giddy up,” and urged horsie to go faster while I hung on tight. I rode bareback my first time out!
OK, Mommy, horsie said he’s done. You can help me off now.
We all played outside, too. 
Here we were playing follow the leader. That’s cousin Ella in the lead.
As the day got later, something strange happened. 
We think that aliens were coming down and making shadow monsters out of Lucy and Ella. The girls ran into the house with me and the monsters disappeared.
That Saturday night the peeps put Achilles in his kennel and left. The rest of us got free run of the house and we were all Very. Good. My folks brought home pictures of what they did while they were gone. 
They went ballroom dancing to celebrate Daddy’s birthday and Auntie Jen’s birthday. In that picture they were doing something called a foxtrot, he, he.
That wraps up our big out-of-town weekend. I heard that this coming weekend, Mommy and Daddy are going to something called a Convention in Knoxville. That means that our most favorite doggie sitter – other than our Auntie Jen and Uncle Bill – is coming to stay with us. We lo-o-o-ve Miss Christy!
Xena Schnauzer Warrior Princess
Pee S: I can’t wait to tell you the stories about how I stood up to two dogs who got nasty with me and They. Backed. Down! I am getting very, very brave.
Pee Pee S: I don’t never start the trouble, neither!
Mom: Uh, why don’t you just watch and make sure I’m doing it right?
Mom: Thank you Ella. Now I think we are done, except for Uncle Jeff putting away the tree.
Achilles
So, it looks like she is stringing Big Boy along while she has this stupid thing going on with Achilles. Busted!
Oh, you’ve got hair on your face now like me. I think we’re twinsies!
Ok, you can be part of our clan. You may feed me now.
I remember you now!! You just surprised me, coming in without Mom and Dad. Where’s my bestie, Ella?
Today is Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. Xena and I have been thinking about what we are thankful for, so here goes.
This is from Sammy’s birthday on the fourth of July. Every year, Mom used to keep 10 dogs for that whole week, so they all helped Sammy celebrate his birthday. Freda was Mom’s first schnauzer.
The big lunk, Achilles. (We love you Achilles.)
I love you, too, Luce the Deu…I mean Lucy. XOX 
He found my vibrating dog – the one I hate – and tried to make me jealous (I’m not) by carrying it all over the house, like it was his girlfriend or something. Doesn’t it look just like him? Twinsies! Mommy said he could keep the doggie, ’cause Lucy and I don’t like it anyhow. 
Once they got home from Octoberfest Saturday afternoon, Achilles totally ignored Lucy. There she is in the chair behind him, mooning over the big lunk. 
At least I still had the tin schnauzer my Auntie and Uncle gave us. They said tin is the correct gift for wedding anniversary number ten. (He, he, that’s funny — tin for ten.) Now, if I can just get to the wine bottle inside of it… I know that always makes Mommy feel better.
Maria (L) owned a ballroom dance studio and Dad became her 
Then we had a great time together!
We watched Mom and Dad polka and we watched Auntie Jen and Dad polka and we watched Mom and Uncle Bill try to polka, BOL! Talk about a total failure!
Mom and Dad doing the polka.
We listened to the band and watched peeps learn to do the Chicken Dance. Of course the peeps had to have their fun with us, too.
I found out that this was his first time to go anywhere away from home (he’s 4, but was recently adopted by my Uncle and Auntie), so he was a bit freaked. I think that’s why he snapped at me every time I sneaked a kiss on his mouth.
She said we could all be BFF’s, though. I said I was good with that(he, he, yeah, sure, right).
Achilles was so into me that he laid with his back right up against me until his folks took him to the other end of the pavilion.
Ella, stop giving your Dad the stink eye. They’re just getting a funny picture drawn…they’ll be back, and Mom’s here with us.
Look, there’s the nice man who was petting us earlier. Doesn’t he look silly doing the Chicken Dance?
I stayed with Uncle Bill and Dad until Dad got off work. I guess it doesn’t take guys as long to get ready as it does the ladies, BOL!
She’s my new BFF. Sometimes I hear noises so I look out in the yard to see if she has come to visit, but it is always a bird or a squirrel or a rabbit. Occasionally, a cat has the nerve to cross through my property without permission! I always let Mom know when that happens.
Mom hasn’t been going to work at all, so Xena and I have been getting more walks around the neighbor-hood. Sometimes we see people on our walks and I start to wiggle all over. Mom explains that I love people and asks them if they would pet me. They always say yes, and I get to make new friends. When the X dog stops barking her fool head off, they sometimes pet her too. Back home, Mom takes off our leashes and let us run zoomies in the front yard. I guess we aren’t grounded anymore. (So does that mean h-e-double hockey sticks froze over?)
He didn’t look so big from up here in my Daddy’s arms. Really, all I could think about was why my dinner was so late.
Did Lucy bribe you to keep my cornered here? You’d better move along before me and my shadow go all schnauzer warrior princess on you.
Yes, it’s me, Xena the Schnauzer Warrior Princess, and I’ll warrior all over you if you don’t get your nose out of my bee hind.
Now what do you want, big dog? No, I won’t be your girlfriend.
You promise to stop bugging me if I what?! Well, OK, maybe just one quick kiss.
That was a mistake, ’cause then what I think I overheard Achilles say to my Daddy was, “Mr. Jeff, can I marry your daughter, the little one, the pretty one?” 
After Daddy said no, Achilles settled for a taste of Daddy’s coffee.
Mommy, do we really have to leave now? When can we come back and visit our new cousins?
Dad and Mom packed me and Xena in the backseat of the car like so much luggage and took off down the road. Uh oh, Mom’s giving me the stink-eye. Well, it’s true. We didn’t get any snacks or Netflix to watch or toys to play with. So. Luggage, right?
By Saturday the peeps were all more comfortable letting us play together with minimal supervision. Ella and I remembered each other and played together.
Here we are smiling and getting ready to play .
Ella is a good player and I don’t have to be gentle with her like with my little sister. In the meantime, Achilles was still busy trying to 
When they went out on Saturday Ella and I had the house to ourselves. 
I don’t know why…I could have given them some good whines for free, he,he! In the front is my Auntie Jen, then Uncle Bill, then Dad and Mom.
Here, Dad is waving the smells from the pan into his nose. How silly! I could smell it from across the room and knew it was just right! Needless to say, I didn’t get any.
He is a big boy, though – 70 pounds to my 50 – so sometimes his Dad had to hold him and let Xena play with me and Ella. (You can just ignore the peep’s talking – if you want.) 
I told her about playing with the toys. And guarding the house, and playing with Ella.
I think I’m winning my new family over!
Hi, I’m Achilles. And yeah, yeah, you can hold the heel jokes, I’ve heard them all. I was named after a powerful Greek hero, and that’s better than any defect I might have, and I really don’t think I have any. Never mind that, it isn’t what I’m here to tell you. First, I want to say hey, and more importantly, I want to tell you my story, starting with just before Angel Piper got sick unto death, as they say in the Good Book. I was happy living with my Dad, who is a war hero (at least to me he is a war hero). When he came home from fighting overseas, things kinda fell apart with him and Mom and he had to move to an apartment where they only allow one big dog. He had his military service dog, and he couldn’t try to find him somewhere else to live for lots of reasons.
I went outside and kept an eye on Ella. She’s been taking care of Piper for so long, I thought maybe she needed someone to take care of her for a while. 
And when Ella succumbed to depression, I was there for her.
So here I am where I’m supposed to be. And it’s good. Even though the grief is still heavy, there’s a lot of love. My New sister Ella is also my new best friend, and I hear rumors about New cousins coming to visit soon. I got word from up high that it’s OK for me to be on Angel Lexi’s blog, so I’ll come back from time to time to catch y’all up on what’s happening around here.
