Christmas Beagles

When the RAsburry household celebrated Christmas on 21 December (yes, a few days early, due to other plans for Christmas Eve & Day this year), the whole family got involved. Yes, the *whole* family, including our "Christmas Beagles."

Here Porthos and Gimli sport their Christmas collars, which they received as gifts last year. (It kind of looks like Porthos over did it on the rum-spiked eggnog and needed the couch to hold him up, but I assure you, that was not the case, at least for Porthos. :-)


Here our "Christmas Beagles" considered playing "Santa Claus" to hand out the presents, and thus take the job away from Son RAsburry, our traditional "Santa Claus." (They're lying down because they were getting impatient from all the pictures being taken while they waited for the treats that I was holding to keep them in place.)


Each of our "Christmas Beagles" even got to open a present - a pair of chew curls each, one (chew curl, that is) basted in chicken and the other basted in beef. It was great fun to watch each of them tear into their present. Yes, the chew curls were placed in boxes and wrapped with care using old Christmas wrapping paper that we didn't mind being torn to shreds. But what was even funnier was watching how Porthos wanted a) to guard his chew curl from Gimli, who was really too preoccupied with his own chew curl, and b) to hide his chew curl for safe keeping (a future snack?) under his bed cushion, behind the couch, or even under the Christmas tree. At first, he spent more time dashing around looking for a safe place to chew than he did actually chewing the darn thing.

Here's one of Porthos' ideas for securing and chewing on his curl. He wormed his way under the couch cover at the back of the couch, then squirmed to the right arm under the white pillow, and finally settled into his "chewing position" on the floor, wrapped up snuggly and securely inside the couch cover. (This picture is from today, but Son RAsburry caught him doing the same thing right after opening his present yesterday.)


And here is the wide shot to see just how safe - and "far" - Porthos got from Gimli.


And when Gimli took a break from chewing to look back and see what Porthos was doing, Porthos dutifully growled as if to say, "Don't even think about it, pal!" But Gimli, the ever-dominant sibling, just went on chewing his own curl (and no doubt thinking, "What on earth is that nut of a brother doing under that couch cover?")

Porthos & Gimli Update

Some of you have asked how Porthos and Gimli are doing, and some have even sent their "hugs and kisses" (okay, not your exact words perhaps, but a similar sentiment ;-). Here they are, enjoying the warm summer weather a couple of weeks ago, and, as they say in Trinidad, doing some "liming" (just hangin' out), except without the mandatory beer. (Yes, I've tried, but they just turn up their noses. Oh, well, more for me! :-)

All You Works of the Lord...

You dews and frost, bless the Lord;
you frost and cold, bless the Lord;
you ice and snow, bless the Lord:
Praise Him and magnify Him forever. (LSB 931:5)

What a wonderful blessing our gracious Lord and God has sent the St. Louis area: SNOW! At last a winter storm we can be proud of (at least for a day or two, until it melts off in this crazy, up and down St. Louis weather)! Some may fear such a phenomenon (watch out for many St. Louis drivers on snowy days), others may not like playing in it very much (see Pr. Weedon's blog - but I'll give him a break since he was probably returning home from, and thus properly fatigued from, celebrating The Purification of Mary and the Presentation of Our Lord two days early :-), however, I love it! Here are some pictures from my neck of the woods on this glorious snowy evening (Oh yeah, did I mention the snow day we get tomorrow? No school, and a relaxed pace for getting things done...or having snow ball fights, etc.!).



The parsonage at Hope. (The church is to the left, across the parking lot.)







A cool view of the side doors into the church at Hope.









The side of the church, across "our" parking lot from the parsonage (Yes, it's "our" parking lot, and we loan it to the church for those who come for services and other activities. :-)





Gimli after playing in the snow for a while. (Just before the picture was taken, he had a much fuller "snow mustache" on his whiskers.)








Porthos sporting some snow tossed on him by my daughter.










And a favorite snow day tradition in our home: "snow ice cream" (made with milk, vanilla, and sugar mixed in).

There's nothing like...

...new Christmas duds! Oh, I've not received any just yet, but Porthos and Gimli did, last night.


Here's Porthos proudly and regally sporting his new "Christmas collar." Don't you just love that distinguished, sophisticated Beagle look? :-)









And here's Gimli showing off his new Christmas collar (finally, after we settled him down from running around like a nervous idget...no, not because of the collar, but because he had to go outside for some "business"!).





And, with the help of my daughter (she has always loved dressing up our dogs!), Porthos gets to display his fashionable Christmas bow. (Actually, we were surprised he finally held still for the picture, because he kept trying to get his teeth under the "neck strap" to yank it off!)








And Gimli relaxing (finally) with his new Christmas look!

Getting in the Christmas spirit?

Two weeks ago we began our Christmas preparations by getting and putting up the Christmas tree. This year, however, we decided not to spend the whole weekend flooding the house with decorations. (For years I've said that we put away the normal house and pull out a whole new one - a different looking one - for the Christmas season!). Instead, we're putting up a few more decorations every few days. It kind of stretches out the preparations - a fitting way to observe Advent, if you ask me.

But even one of the dogs - Gimli - decided to get into the Christmas spirit...well, okay with a little help from a certain teenage daughter I know. Here's Gimli enjoying both his "decoration duds" and his rawhide bone (intended to keep him out of trouble while the family decorated a couple of Saturdays ago). Hmmm. I wonder which he enjoyed more? (which may explain how he allowed the "new duds" ;-)

And let me properly introduce...

...Gimli (left, with blue collar) and Porthos (right, with red collar), as they patiently wait for their favorite time of day: meal time.

Doggedly Determined

So last week I was playing around with my two favorite Beagles (okay, they were playing and I decided to butt in on their fun :-).

Just for the record, their names are Porthos (red collar) and Gimli (blue collar), and, yes, they are actual brothers, or litter mates. The name "Porthos," of course, comes from the Three Musketeers (but I must admit that we stole the idea from Star Trek: Enterprise, in which Captain Jonathan Archer's beagle is named Porthos). The name "Gimli," of course, comes from the entertaining dwarf in Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" Trilogy. (Hey, we wanted to be original! :-)

So, I joined my dogs at play, when they were wrestling each other and chasing each other over a milk jug. (Recyclables are great...and inexpensive...toys! A bit like the hours of fun my brothers and I had with the cardboard box that the new refrigerator came in, I suppose.) Well, Porthos and Gimli weren't just going to let me take their new favorite toy away! And they kind of add new meaning to "doggedly determined," as you can see here (yes, they are hanging about 8-9 inches off the floor!).