Within minutes of being strapped into the back seat with Lucy, I was free. I don’t like being in the back seat. When Mommy stopped for gas, she strapped me in again, so I tortured her by panting real loud the rest of the three and one half hour trip. You should have seen how far my tongue can hang out! Mommy was too busy driving to get a picture. When we got to Auntie Jen’s, Mommy left me in the car, with a dried out tongue and starved half to death while Lucy got introduced to the new boy, Achilles.
It was finally time for me, the starved schnauzer, to meet Achilles.
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.
I didn’t have much peace the rest of the weekend. Achilles seemed to be fascinated with me. 
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.
In case you are wondering, the green scarf isn’t a fashion statement. Mommy puts essential oils on it to keep the bugs away from me. It didn’t work on keeping Achilles away, though, BOL.
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.
All in all, it was a good trip. I got to know my Auntie Jen and Uncle Bill better, and had a good time playing with Ella and Lucy.
Mommy, do we really have to leave now? When can we come back and visit our new cousins?
Xena the Schnauzer Warrior Princess
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!
Mommy and me, we aren’t working at the St. Luke church anymore. We went from 3 days to 2 days to 0 days. You can see I was always busy there; never a boring minute. We took my ‘puter home with us (you can see a little of it just behind my bed) and I am still waiting on the IT people to set it up for me at home. 
Me busy at work
So here I am without a job. Sometimes I get so bored I count the flowers on the blanket. Yep, my Guardian Angel Lexi is teaching me how to count. So far I can count one plus one plus one. I think that comes to one.
Sometimes we watch Netflix shows together. Last week I saw this huge animal on the TV and I barked and barked at it. I found out it is called a horse. The rest of the afternoon, I barked at the TV every time I walked past it, just in case that horse was still there. I wanted it to know I am a brave Schnauzer Princess Warrior. I think I scared it away, too.
Sometime I play with my bones and bully horn. I chew them and I throw them and push them all over the house. It makes tons of wonderful noise. The only problem is I won’t be able to hear the horse coming because of all the noise. Mommy says that’s ok, she can’t hear anything, either, when I am doing that.
Will someone please find Xena a job? ~Lucy
I am Xena the *yawn* Bored Schnauzer Princess Warrior
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.
Andrew was right, right? Mom said that Roxxii is a very good girl. Mom’s thinking maybe a scissor cut next time would be more attractive, but it will be whatever Roxxii and her Mom want. Well, mostly what her Mom wants. When Roxxii was done, she looked like this:
Her Mom was so happy that she asked if she should bring her back in two weeks. My Mom tried not to laugh when she said she thought six weeks might be just about right. 
What chair? Oh, that chair. 
Well, you see, Mommy, I was just sitting here minding my own business and it just kinda’ exploded. There’s Ludwig. He was watching from the top of the Victrola. Ask him!
And some of it over there.
It’s so boring wearing the cone without ice cream. I was just thinking about how much fun I had at my pre-agility class. Remember the V-ramp that I loved – just like Angel Lexi said I would? Look at my legs-I was running so fast they were just a blur.
I hope my boo boo heals up fast so that I don’t have to wear the cone without ice cream when I go to my very first Agility Won class in a couple of weeks.
Xena: Hmm, let me think. I know! You are thankful that I am so beautiful!
And that I’m beautiful, right?
I never did understand what I am supposed to do with these squishy discs. I guess that might be ’cause Mommy didn’t know, either, BOL!
and turn around and run back up (and down) it. I was like that speedy guy from Marvel – I think his name is Speedy, or maybe Flash – yep, that’s it, Flash.
I am Xena the Future Agility Champion
After a lot of shaving and some arguing over getting her face shaved, here’s how she looked in her “after.” 
We found out that her Mama was about to have surgery for breast cancer, and needed Maggie to have an easy haircut to manage. Please send up your POTP, good thoughts and prayers for Miss Marcia, Maggie’s Mom.
I had the bestest birthday I ever had. Of course it was the only one I ever had. On the way home from work, we stopped at the Smart Pet place. After looking around, we went home with yummy treats for me.
When we got home, there were all my stuffie friends, including Ludwig, in the kitchen with bags of pressies for me. Winter bear got tired and fell asleep while he was waiting for me to get home, so he missed me opening my pressies. 
This pink bag had a lot of bouncy yellow foam balls that Mommy will throw for me. I love to play fetch with balls, and I’m even getting better at catching them with my mouth and my paws.
The flower bag had yummy flavored bones in it – I had to share one of them with Lucy. 
Mommy let us chew on them for a while before dinner, but when she saw how quickly we chewed them apart, she took them away from us and fed them to that bad old can that’s under the sink. I hate that can. It gets lots of stuff I could eat! 
She ate so fast that she made all these disgusting piggy noises (sorry, Bacon). 
We got our desserts after we finished our meal and had licked our plate and bowl clean. You can see we both dug into the yogurt first.
Mommy’s giving heart worm prevention to a no-kill shelter in the area. And I’ve asked for more of what I already have, since I can’t think of anything new.
Mommy, Mommy, I need you to tell me sumptin.
Today I turn one year old, right? Does that mean I’m all grown up and I’m not your baby anymore? *whispers* I still want to be your baby.
Good! When does the party start?
