Pupdate #1: My allergy sea rum came, but it is not sea rum at all. Or if it is, I don’t get to drink it. 
Instead, it gets shot into the skin in my neck. Maybe that’s what you’re supposed to do with sea rum. I don’t mind. Daddy feeds me treats while Mommy sticks me with the sea rum. I barely feel it.
Pupdate #2: Maybe you remember that Mommy was going to start feeding me special mushrooms to try to help with my allergies. She sent Daddy to the special mushroom store to get them. He came home with two things: one half pound of mushrooms and something called sticker shock. 
After those were gone, I didn’t get any more.
Pupdate #3: We forgot to show you one of our Christmas presents from Aunty Jen and Uncle Bill:
We’ve been practicing our song.
Adam
Pupdate #4: Grodd is gone. When Aunty Jen told us it was time to open presents on Christmas morning, Grodd was already sitting under the tree waiting for his pressie. My peeps brother Adam saw Grodd, and thought he was supposed to take him home. Aunty Jen texted Mommy, who said if Adam liked Grodd that much, let Adam have him. That ended the dispute about whether Grodd likes me or Lucy more. Grodd now lives with Adam.
That’s all for now.
I am Xena Schnauzer Warrior Princess
Her Mom (Anne) is an expert organ player and knows my Mom from when Mom worked at St. Luke. Anne usually grooms Maddie, but sometimes she needs an expert groomer’s touch. The holidays were so busy that Maddi got pretty madded, or matted, and Mom’s touch was needed. Xena and I got to come in the groom room and be with them, but Xena couldn’t stop her yapper so I took her upstairs. Before long, Mom was done and Maddie had her bath they all came upstairs too. Xena and I sort of played with Maddie while the peeps visited over lunch. On the way back downstairs, Xena was on one side of me and Maddie on the other when they decided to (almost) get in a fight and barked and lunged at each other right underneath my belly! That sure was a moment I don’t want to repeat. Lucy, signing off from the Groom Beat, with my guts still intact.
XOXOXO Your niece, Xena Schnauzer Warrior Princess
Her Mom had to leave her for three hours while she worked, so Roxxii came upstairs to stay with us.
This little guy was first up, and he was really terrified. I gave him some thoughts of confidence that no one was going to hurt him, and to just relax. He listened to me, and while we passed thoughts back and forth Mom was able to hold him in her lap to finish cutting his nails. He is to be a Christmas present from a fire fighter in Georgia for his little girl. The puppy promised me that he would be a good boy for her.
The one with hair like his daddy growled at me. If you look hard, you can see my tail wagging, ’cause this little guy fussing at a big girl like me made me laugh.
Mom said, “Sit,” and we all sat. The growler (he, he) is up front. He is the only one with a single coat (that means no undercoat), like his Dad. The one that I helped with is in the middle, all groomed and ready to go make a little girl happy. Mom’s favorite is the one in the back. Just looking in his face, we could tell he is smart. He’s really good-natured too, and has a thick coat. He’s in the middle in the next picture.
Mom said me and Xena are enough for this home, so I won’t get to raise a baby brother.
I had been wondering when I would get groomed again. I knew I was way overdue. My back hairs stood up like a crazy clown’s hair when they were rubbed the wrong way. My hair does need to be kept pretty as befits a princess, even a warrior princess, right?
Are we done? No bath today? Woo hoo!
One more, and look a little more interested?
Hey everyone, look at all my hair on the table! I am so interested in what you think! Can I have a cookie now, Mommy?
Hey Daddy can I get a glass of that special stuff in the schnauzer bottle? Maybe just a little? As compensation for being groomed? No? Another cookie, then?
Xena:
This is the Christmas gorilla. I think I will name him Grod, like on our favorite Netflix show, The Flash. Only our Grod will be a nice ape.
I promise I won’t hurt Grod, Mommy. Can I keep him? He’s my new friend, and I’m not afraid of him.
She said it was Angel Piper’s hoodie, and now it can be mine. I wonder if Piper ever pretended to be R2D2 from Star Wars. Beep, boop, beep, beep! He, he. 
I’ve been wearing my new hoodie to bed ’cause Mommy and Daddy
Thank you, Piper and Auntie Jen. We love you!
Again, Mommy.
can I please have that Blankie that’s on you? You can just put it on my throne. I’ll eat my second Breakfast after I wake up.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Xena Schnauzer Warrior Princess loving all the B‘s.
intestinal cancer, treated with radiation that was not well understood or controlled back in the 60’s, and at the cost of a forever colostomy bag. As a teen I remember helping with that bag, swallowing back what kept trying to erupt from my stomach, and never letting on it bothered me. As too many of you know, that’s what you do for love. I remember Nan celebrating her 10 year cancer-free date, only to be once again struck down – this time permanently – by this killer.
Nan was the fun adult in my life. She taught me how to waltz; she took me trick or treating; she sat at the dining room table and colored with me for hours on end; she taught me how to plant pansies (sorry, Nan, that one didn’t take so well) and pull weeds; she taught me card games; we laid in bed together while she made hand shadow puppets on the wall; she showed me how to walk with a book on my head to teach me posture; we sat in front of the fireplace and put together beautiful puzzles for hours on end; and she taught me the correct table setting for a formal dinner.
The first sign something was very wrong was when he stopped eating. I worked at the vet hospital at the time and, after hours, assisted in the surgery that removed a huge malignant tumor from his abdomen. The vet, Dr. Sally, went through three saline solution bags, letting them run into his open abdomen and swishing around to try to remove any remaining cancer cells. I suctioned as she swished. Sammy had always been a shy, sweet dog, playing second fiddle to my first schnauzer, Freda, and afraid of his own shadow. Dr. Sally gave Sam – nine years old at the time – just three months to live after the surgery; she even showed me the article in her medical book that said so. Many prayers went up and Sam miraculously recovered. He seemed to realize that he had been given another chance at life, and he was determined to take it with all the zest and gusto he could manage. No longer afraid of anything, he flirted with all the ladies (yes, dogs can flirt) and was my main boat dog.
Sam loved to jump off our little pontoon boat, swim to an island, explore for a while, then wait until he got eye contact with me before swimming back to the boat, which I later named “The Sammy Joe.” Sammy lived two more years before a different type of cancer hit again and took our boy from us.
This was Sammy’s last Christmas. He got a new Teddy Bear sweater that he was so proud to wear. He was 11 years old.
I went out of town for 3 days, then it took me 2 days to begin to brush Lexi’s teeth again. In just those 5 days this tumor appeared in her mouth and grew huge. (Look just to the left of her canine.) I immediately took her to the vet, who removed the tumor and a small part of her upper jaw, and sent it all for a biopsy. Upon arriving home from the vet, my stoic girl cried in pain until my husband, whose truck got a flat tire on the way, got back with the pain meds. Lexi never liked being held, but the only thing that comforted her was me holding her close and rocking her while I sang little songs to her.
chicken drumstick, gizzards, egg, spinach and coconut oil
I’m sure many of you were shocked and/or put off when you read about this on my blog. But I have always tried to be honest and transparent, and this was now a part of our lives. Feeding raw takes a lot of work and time.
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 
This is Lexi, seven years old in 2010. She was the reigning queen on her throne.
Here I am on the same ottoman throne. Someday, when I am a little older, I will be the reigning queen, too!
Think mushrooms are not safe for your dog? Think again! Just be sure to cook them first, and do not feed them raw.
