Xena: How could she do this? How could Mommy go away and leave me all alone all day and all night and all day again when I am in this condition?
Lucy: You aren’t alone, Xexe. I’m here and Dad’s here with you. And you’re not in a “condition.” You’re just having your big girl time. Stop being such a baby.
Xena: I’m NOT a baby. I’m a big girl. And it’s just not the same with Mommy gone. She knows I feel miserable and she deserted us. I need baby-held.
Lucy: I saw Dad baby-hold you like Mom showed him to do. And like I said…oh forget it. Mom went to Nashville to spend time with her BFF from PA. Come look at the pictures she sent. First they went to a Greek restaurant called Taziki’s, then to an art museum in Centennial Park called the Parthenon, just like in Greece. 
It was only $4 to go inside to see the pretty pictures because they got the “senior” discount, BOL! On the second floor they even got to visit the Goddess Athena.
Xena: Is that a snake next to her?!
Lucy: Good eye, Xena. In folklore snakes are usually depicted to be cunning creatures and, among other things, Athena was the goddess of intelligent activity and battle strategy. You might take some lessons from her.
Xena: Phthh
Lucy: Saturday night Mom and her friend went downtown to Music Row on Broadway Street. Mom wrote that the crowds on the sidewalks were so thick that you could hardly walk. There were street musicians and performers everywhere. They went into a restaurant called Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville for supper and entertainment…and, of course, margarita’s. Her friend even treated her to dinner for her birthday.
Xena: Was Ruby the Airedale there? I hear it’s Margaritaville wherever she goes. If Ruby was there, why didn’t Mommy take me?
Lucy: Umm, I don’t think so, Xe.
On Sunday they went to the Opry Mills Mall. There was a new restaurant called the Aquarium that had a huge fish tank wrapped all around the inside of the restaurant.
There was even a diver cleaning it like Mom cleans the house.
Xena: I wish she was here cleaning the house now. And holding me.
Lucy: Dad already cleaned the house as a birthday surprise for Mom. And she can’t hold you while she cleans, Xexe, you know that. Back to what I was saying. Hmm, where was I? Oh yes, restaurants. They didn’t eat there, ’cause Mom wanted her PA friend to experience real southern pulled pork with all the trimmings. So they walked through the mall to a real Southern BBQ joint and chowed down.
Xena: Now I’m hungry. When are we going to eat?
Lucy: Dad already gave us our supper. And it was more than even Mom gives us.
Xena: Yeah, well, I just hope she comes home soon. 
Lucy: She will be home soon, little sister. I can’t wait for her to open the card we got her:
Like I said, Dad’s fed us our supper and I am just going to take a little nap and wait.
This is Lucy and Xena waiting for the deserter Mom.
PeeS: I’m thinkin’ about getting me a snake so I can be just like Athena. ~Xena Schnauzer Goddess Princess
Lucy: This is our first time to join in the Flower Friday blog hop. First, we want to thank Rosy from
After reading all the pee mail and leaving some, too, we went home and ran, ran, ran in the front yard. The grass is long and still wet from the dew and high humidity, so Xena’s legs got soaked.
Lucy: Hi Friends. Since I am the official reporter on the grooming beat, I get to go first. Some of you might remember 
Why so many? Because she has had two litters. The one in the top left corner is called Cow Puppy, he, he. The only one to look like his daddy is the second one on the bottom row. And you will never guess…Laila is in a delicate condition again, due on September 15. Her Mama said it happened while she was on vacation and didn’t know what was going on. My Mom suggested she get Louie “fixed” right now before this third litter of puppies are even born. I sure wouldn’t want to have that many kids! Thankfully, they did all get good homes. 
This is Louie and Laila after they got home from being groomed last weekend. Mom hates Laila’s haircut, but it’s how her Mama wants her done.
I wanted to go, but see, here’s what happened. Me and Lucy went to the dog park on Monday morning and that’s when Mommy stuck her hand in the poop bag container and got stung and her hand swelled up like a balloon and she had to take bennies and she couldn’t drive. So she called Miss Nancy who is my teacher and Miss Nancy loves me and said she already knew that I’m ready to move on to the next level so she would still give us my graduation certificate the next time she saw us. I still wish we could have gone to class…it is sooo much fun!
Xena: Yep, he knew not to mess with me. It was a lot of fun to run with you and the other big dogs, though. And today I got to rule over Gracy, the Pyrenees mix.
stay on the porch – or the little dog side of the park.
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?)
We are not engaged. He is not even my boyfriend.
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.) 
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.
Do you remember when Mommy and I almost died in an almost car wreck? And then I was 
Hey Mommy, where are we going?
Dr. Smith said the same thing you did about my ears being super dooper clean. I wish my favorite vet, Dr. Karen, had been there. Thanks for stopping the helper lady from putting that glass stick up my butt.
Xena: Hmm, let me think. I know! You are thankful that I am so beautiful!
And that I’m beautiful, right?
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.
