MaggieMoose: Reality WOOF WOOF!

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more....It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend."

Melody Beattie

  Maggie thought she had it all; twig, toy and her red squeaky ball laying next to her cozy bed. Then I told her we won another blogging award. Holy twig! The REALITY award! The award comes with a few steps, like answering some questions and nominating some other bloggers. I'll scribe for Maggie as we lay down the rules & answer questions. Maggie wondered whose reality is this? WOOF WOOF! No Maggie, the REALITY award stands for lots of special qualities! See....

Here it goes:

Display the award on your blog somewhere… Acknowledge that blogger on your blog and link back to them… We want to thank WRITETOWAG (All things Cairn…Snapshots of my Cairn Terrier, Trev) for giving us this honor. We are very grateful and humble that you chose us.

Answer these 5 simple questions....

1. If you could change one thing, what would you change?

Maggie would like to be allowed to eat raw hide chips all day long. Much like a human sits and eats a whole bag of potato chips. If only she had the freedom to open the pantry door herself. She does know how to sit by the door and beg with her baby brown eyes, but it never quite gets her the raw hide chips she desires. 

2. If you could repeat an age, what would it be? Any year?

Maggie would repeat her puppy age around 12 weeks in the fabulous year of 2011. She loved lots of holding, loving and fawning from everybody (she still gets it)! She also liked being the star of her puppy obedience class.

3. What is one thing that really scares you?

We had a difficult time coming up with an answer for this question. We can't think of anything that scares Maggie. Maybe running out of raw hide chips?

4. What is one dream you have not completed and do you think you will be able to accomplish it?

Maggie's all about the moose size pawsabilities. She doesn't know the word impawsable. Maggie will accomplish her dream of going on her children's book tour and mingling with her fans when her book is written. All of her is a social butterfly waiting to flutter!

5. If you could be someone else for one day, who would it be?

Maggie doesn't want to be anyone else. She likes herself. Truth is she has a pretty good setup here being the little princess tomboy that goes WOOF WOOF!

Nominate up to 20 blogs for the award and notify them….

Terrier Torrent 

Dina

likeitiz

Echo

Cherokee Billie

Rachel Mankowitz

Gratitude really does unlock the fullness of our hearts. It makes a stranger a friend! Thanks again WRITETOWAG friend for the lovely REALITY award! 

MaggieMoose: Laughter A Day Keeps The Serious Away

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

The laughs mean more to me than the adoration. If two girls walk up to me and one says 'you're cute', I'll say thank you, but I appreciate it much more when the other one says 'you make me laugh so much'.

Michael J. Fox

  Oh boy. I can hardly stand it. The twigs are out of control. Every time I turn around I'm surprised by Maggie with a twig hanging out of her mouth. It's so ridiculous, yet she's so serious I die laughing. She just sits there or stands there looking at me as if she's communicating a novel's worth of information. Secret twig code? Maggie tickles my funny bone. I start chuckling again and again. Twigs all shapes and sizes. 

I keep telling her 'you are so funny'. Maybe like a true comedian she knows she's hit her sweet spot of twig jokes? As a cute dog Maggie gets a lot of compliments about her looks. I think she prefers the notoriety of being a comedian instead of for her cuteness factor. I'm sure she appreciates the comedic side so much more! Knock Knock, What did the one dog holding the twig say to the human? I don't know, but I'll drop it if you give me a treat? Oh Maggie, you are so funny. chuckle chuckle

 

MaggieMoose: Love In Two Words

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

Immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says 'I need you because I love you.'

Erich Fromm

  Maggie's love relationship with her tennis ball is complicated. Possessive is one way to describe it. Abandonment is another word to use. Either way love is spelled "tennis ball" to her. In the past, all of my other dogs loved a good tennis ball too. There wasn't ever a problem with releasing the tennis ball from their clutches for me to throw. Bingo! That ball was at my feet. It got tossed over and over ad nauseum. Then Maggie entered my life. On day one she was hooked on old tennis balls. In my opinion, the issue with Maggie's love relationship with the tennis ball is she wants me to throw it, but she doesn't want to release it. She holds on tight. We've had many discussions about the necessary tennis ball catch & release program. Ball gets dropped, I throw it, and Maggie brings it back. Her love affair with  her tennis balls has her holding on dearly.

Sometimes Maggie won't look me straight in the eye if her tennis ball is in her mouth. I call this the avoidance strategy (you are interrupting me-bug off). Or maybe it's the "I'm invisible and you can't see me." If I look at her directly I feel like I'm interrupting a personal moment between her and her tennis ball. Once in a blue moon she'll throw her ball at my feet. At that moment I think we're making progress.  Then it's back to the vise grip of love. I wonder if this is mature love I need you because I love you or immature love I love you because I need you? Either way, for Maggie love is spelled in two words- tennis ball. I accept her passionate love affair with the tennis ball and kindly bug off.

MaggieMoose: Wishful Twigs & Thoughts

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thought we wish to dominate our lives."

Henry David Thoreau

  Maggie has a stellar mind. She sets her focus on something and badda badda boom it's done. Single minded purpose. I'm amazed at how quickly she snatches a leaf as we walk inside from the outdoors. In a nanosecond swoop-it's in her mouth incognito. Practicing this swoop over and over again has given her master skills. It doesn't stop there for Maggie. Twigs too. Right now we have the season of the multiplied twigs. One breeze here or there and the twigs are everywhere, including in our house.

Lately I have seen lots of wishbone shaped twigs. Is this a sign? I'm not sure if this has a higher meaning or not. Maybe Maggie wants to make a wish with me holding the other end of the twig? Kind of like how us humans use to do with the wishbone from the chicken or turkey. I remember as kids my brother and I were really into doing this wish making with the dried poultry bones. Serious business. Where did this tradition come from? No clue. We just believed in it, because we did it over and over again. Better yet, how does Maggie know about it? Well, Maggie drops the wishbone twig at her paws waiting for me to pick it up. What's the dominating thought here Maggie? Moose size pawsabilities? Whatever the answer, I'm game-let's make a wish Maggie! I still believe. WOOF WOOF

MaggieMoose: Harley - Puppy Love Chronicles

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking."

Marcus Aurelius

Harley

  Maggie and I finished looking at the photos of the puppies from her breeder born on New Year's Day. There was Harley's photo in front of us. He reminded me of Maggie. On his cute young face was a serious look. What thought process was going on in his head? The look was so much like Maggie's as a puppy and adult. The other word that came to both our minds was intent. The concept of thoughts are things vibrated. What was little Harley manifesting for himself? Happy forever humans? Images of frolicking in the grass? Playing with his mates? I remember looking at Maggie's puppy photos. The same soulful and purposefully driven thoughts exuded from her cuteness. 

Maggie puppy

I like to think Maggie chose to think her way into a happy life. Our past two years have been a riot of fun. Our fun is sandwiched in between poignant moments of reflection written all over Maggie's face. Proof captured in photos. Little Harley appears to have a good life in store for him. Whomever he ends up with will probably have a path like Maggie's; serious fun, because it's all in the way of thinking!

MaggieMoose: Paige- Puppy Love Chronicles

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."

William Shakespeare

Paige

  Puppy ears-the best! When I first got Maggie as a puppy the one part of her body that was so easy to stroke were her velvety ears. She would lay across my lap and I would stroke her ears while she slept. We both liked that. Win-Win. Her sweet little vibes came back to me with each stroke. I imagine it was like being on the end of a good massage for her. Maybe comforting too. As an adult dog, in the winter the best thing Maggie loves is her ears being stroked. She comes in from the cold and sits next to me while I'm at the laptop. I stroke her now much bigger velvety freezing ears. I can feel them warm up. When her ears are warm she's ready to go find a toy. At nighttime she lays next to me while we spend time together and I play with her ears. Maggie melts. I might be partial to the velvety, plush feeling of English Springer Spaniels' ears, but my other dogs before Maggie loved their ears being stroked too. 

We both feel a special connection when we touch. Maggie loves the loving. She also hands me (or any human available) her paw to stroke. Foot massage? The paws are a whole other chapter! A touch of nature between two creatures makes our world kin. Sweet!

Maggie as a puppy

My what lovely ears you have!

MaggieMoose: Duke- Puppy Love Chronicles

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"The dog was created specially for children. He is the god of frolic."

Henry Ward Beecher

Duke

  As a two year old Maggie still likes to make hay while the sun rises. Everyday is a fun adventure in waiting. Maggie and I looked at her English Springer Spaniel breeder's puppy photos. Seven sweethearts were born on New Year's Day. We saw something special in Duke. He is all about kids and having fun. Maggie and I could tell he had that spark about him. Duke reminded Maggie of herself. He looked so ready to pounce out of Carlie's lap and go chase butterflies. Maybe chew a twig or two? 

Carlie with Duke

Adventure awaits young lad! Kids have that special magic waiting to explode when a puppy's around. For the grown humans, nothing like a puppy to bring out the joy of their own inner child. Maggie thinks I'm thinking kind of Zen like. She's more of less thinking and more doing....like throw me the tennis ball please! OK Maggie, in a minute. I want to reflect back when you were a puppy wuppy. So like Duke, ready to go explore and discover! A little goddess of frolic!

Maggie as a puppy

MaggieMoose: Lexie- Puppy Love Chronicles

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face."

Bern Williams

Lexie

  On New Year's Day when Maggie and I woke up we didn't know we had a surprise in store for us. Back in Missouri a new batch of puppies were born at Maggie's breeder's. Smack dab in the middle of New Year's Day! Happy New Year's 2013! We thought how special is that? It took us back to when Maggie was a puppy roaming the farm lands of Missouri. Country life filled with running with the big dogs and then cozing up at night with mom and the other pups. Country girl Maggie's life changed when she came to the cosmopolitan burbs surrounded by country. Little Lexie's life will soon change. Some lucky human after they pick her will get licked all over as they breathe in that sweet puppy smell. Time marches on. Before Maggie, we had many rescue pups who ultimately went on to heaven. I wanted a pup to keep my old girl Annie young for as long as she had left. I got Maggie. Annie and her were the best of buds even if Annie was 3lbs and Maggie much bigger. They cozied up next to each other till Annie's final days. I thank God I had Maggie to help me with that transition. It did make it easier for me. Puppy's really are the best psychiatrist in the world. Maggie's licks back then and now always bring love straight to my heart. Her licks put a smile on my face. I look back at Maggie's puppy photos and she was the cutest bug. Just like little Lexie. Life goes on, but puppy love remains the same. It touches Maggie's and my soul every time we see a sweet puppy face. Lick Lick.

2011 Maggie with Asa as a pup

2013 Lexie with Asa

MaggieMoose: Thou Swell!

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

Thou swell! Thou witty!

Thou sweet! Thou grand!

Hear me holler I choose a Sweet lollapalooza in thee.
I'd feel so rich in a hut for two;
Two rooms and a kitchen I'm sure would do;
Give me just a plot of,
Not a lot of land,
And Thou swell! Thou Witty! Thou Grand!

Hart & Rodgers

  Monday morning. Computer glitches already. What's in the air? I haven't yet started on my first cup of coffee. I turn around and look back at Maggie. Holy lollapalooza Maggie! She 

reminded me of the upbeat song by Hart & Rodgers called Thou Swell!  Everyone should 

wake up to Maggie! No frowns allowed, just BIG smiles and hearty chuckles. Maggie 

remained dead serious firmly holding her orange ball surrounded by a pink melody of cozy. 

The breakfast bowl broke her steady pose. She jumped off the bed and left the orange ball 

solo.

Breakfast done. Maggie's back on the bed. She hasn't had enough pink cozy yet. Too early. 

I'm busy doing what mum's do; negotiating with the computer, checking emails with other 

correspondence and drinking my coffee while I wake up. I look behind me. Maggie is staring at me. Omigosh, I start laughing again. With a MaggieMoose everyday is funny. Thou Swell! Thou Witty! Thou Grand! Holy lollapalooza Maggie! Thanks for a great wake-up on a 

Monday morning.

CLICK ONLY IF YOU WANT TO SMILE: Thou Swell song by Joe Williams

PS. The formatting and the fonts are having their own formatting & font frenzy. 

They have decided to look like they want, not like I want! It's a take-over. We're hostage, but I have Maggie. SMILE.

MaggieMoose: Neighbor Dog's World

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"What a dog I got, his favorite bone is in my arm."

Rodney Dangerfield

  Maggie and I have realized we live in a dog world. Maggie likes that. I know because she's all about the WOOF WOOF let's go for a walk! Or a car ride! One day we decided to take a MaggieMoose non-scientific poll. We wanted to see if when we went out & about would it be possible to NOT see a dog walking with their human? The first day we tried this experiment every human we saw was walking two dogs at a time! WOW-a lot of doggy love happening in the neighborhood. I guess some humans want more than on dog. Great news for Maggie's canine pals. 

One day of poll taking wasn't enough for our non-official poll so, we carried on our work for a few more days. We saw people walking one dog at a time. Lots of people in fact. All this exercise and human-canine bonding. Most excellent we thought. We know the most popular dogs in our neighborhood are the Golden Retrievers or Labrador Retrievers, but we saw a lot of shorties too. The big dogs stroll at their leisure. The shorties were the quick movers and shakers. We were almost unable to capture them on camera-blitz & gone.

We'd feel like David Attenborough if we were able to spot an English Springer Spaniel like Maggie. English Springer Spaniels are a rare species in our neighborhood. No such canine on our little poll. We did see many dogs species like the friends Maggie has in the virtual pet world (Twitter, Blogs or Facebook). From 100% mutt to Pitt Bull to Pug to WOW-what was that kind? Our conclusion is that every time we go out we will see at least one dog. We live in a dog world here. WOOF WOOF to that! We think that for a lot of these walking dogs their human's arm must be their favorite bone as they lead them about their neighborhood walk. 

Maggie & I were so impressed by our non-scientific poll that we decided to create a column called "Neighbor Dog" when our web page is unveiled. It will be online soon, shortly, in a couple weeks according to what our web guy says. Maggie read somewhere we are only separated by 6 degrees of separation.... Since Maggie's world is global we want to highlight pets from around the world which includes our local neighborhood too. If anyone has a pet they want Maggie to highlight in our Neighbor Dog column please send us a photo and some info too (who, what, where, when, why) to our email: maggiemoosetracks@gmail.com. All animals are welcome (cats, horses, rabbits, etc.)-they can have their Dog Day! WOOF WOOF

MaggieMoose: L-O-V-E Refreshment

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"Love is the greatest refreshment in life."

Pablo Picasso

  Maggie is the Princess of Hearts in our home. She wears her princess crown and carries out her royal duties with grace. Maggie knows when to have her manners about her. She's always camera ready for me. When her crown comes off she's a St. Bernard dog hug, licks and kisses in an English Springer Spaniel body. I have a Valentine's Day card everyday from Maggie. She's the living & breathing version of the multilingual song L-O-V-E made famous by Nat King Cole. Her love needs no translation.  

L is for the way you look at me 

O is for the only one I see 

V is very, very extraordinary 

E is even more than anyone that you adore can 

Head to toe Maggie's got the LOVE thing down pat. My girl is always willing to share a body hug, a snuggle, a lick or two in kisses, or chase a ball and bring it back to me. We walk about and admire the flowers on this special Valentine's Day. Love really is the best refreshment like the pretty primrose flowers on our brisk morning walk. All I can say to Maggie is:

Love

 Love You

 Love

 I love You!

Happy Valentine's Day Maggie!

Wanna hear some Love? 

CLICK YOUTUBE: Nat King Cole - LOVE (Multilingual Version)  

MaggieMoose: Bullet Train Choo Choo

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy."

Rabindranath Tagore

  Maggie and I were watching the first night of the Westminister Kennel Club dog show on television. We were really into it. The Toy breeds were on. Although Maggie's a Sporting dog, we have fond memories of our beloved 3 lb. Annie (Yorkshire Terrier) and our Scotty (Maltese). Our attention was glued to the tube. We got a text from Maggie's human sib Julie stating that she was on the bullet train. Great, no wait at the train station, a quick in and out. We should've known when we got the next text "one stop away" that it was too good to be true. We were at the train station in a bullet minute. The bullet train's minutes seemed like hours as we waited. Maggie kept looking out our Subbie car window. Patiently she waited as she scanned every human that walked by. Where was her human? After all, she had a Twitter pawty chat (#WKCdogs) going on back at home. And Maggie wanted to see JULIE!

Wouldn't cha know, the bullet was late for the train station! Me thinks bullet train means fast, minimal stops.... It looked like once again the old train pick up meant we needed to bring a Kindle to read the night away while we hurried and waited. Instead we broke out in song "She'll Be Coming Around The Mountain When She Comes.... Choo Choo!" Singing entertained us for awhile. Finally the 2nd trained stopped in front of us. We were hopeful. The train left again. Oh no, false alarm... then SURPRISE-there's JULIE! WOOF WOOF! Our life of what seemed like imposed servitude melted into joy. A very good feeling indeed seeing Julie's smile while Maggie wiggled her bum back and forth. All worth it! CHOO CHOO

MaggieMoose: Fat Tuesday Portrait

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"It is dressing your dog in a costume....

Mardi Gras is the love of life. It is the harmonic convergence of our food, our music, our creativity, our eccentricity, our neighborhoods, and our joy of living. All at once.”

Chris Rose

  Maggie is ready for the Big Easy. WOOF WOOF! She's wearing her authentic New Orleans costume complete with her Mardi Gras beads and the yard dog t-shirt. Fat Tuesday ready. I took her portrait to remember this special day of festivities. No, we're not in New Orleans, but what we brought home from this past summer's trip was the spirit of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana. Maggie's human sibling Julie and I went there last August. We blogged all about our trip in a week long series of posts about our Cajun Tails. I shared with Maggie all the wonder of such a magical place steeped in humidity. We loved everything about New Orleans and their outer regions; the people, the eccentricity, the creativity, the alligators, the music, but mostly the food. Today as our Jambalaya cooks on the stove I can tell Maggie is voting for the food! SNIFF SNIFF 

I need to look for some sunglasses to put on Maggie. We're going to recreate a California yard dog photo Big Easy style. Meanwhile, visions of King Cake with its colorful frosting and toy baby inside have us drooling. I'll pull out the photo album for Maggie and I to reminisce over our NOLA photos. They're plentiful with seafood images and more. I think we need to put some Zydeco music on too. Come on cher, let's get our gator on and celebrate the joy of living!

CLICK YOUTUBE: CAJUN ZYDECO MUSIC HALL OF FAME 

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MaggieMoose: Holy Skating Dogs & Blogs!

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same."

Elbert Hubbard

  Maggie sat next to me while we watched the tele the other day. We played back two shows we recorded on the DVR called Who Let The Dogs Out from the Hallmark channel. It's about Tillman the skating bulldog and his friends as they meet other pets and their owners across the country. Highlighted on the Blog Paws segment we saw the world of pet social media. Some of the people we have met online through blogging or tweeting in our social MaggieMooseTracks media world. Blog Paws is really a connection for pets and their owners to meet and network with others while sharing some laughs or tips along the way. What Maggie and I liked about the Who Let The Dogs Out show is its worthwhile content. This Hallmark channel show highlights what's good in the world. From military dogs to what's happening in the pet world of blogging. We appreciate learning something new. Maggie and I love sharing moose size pawsabilities. Tillman the skating bulldog is all about the pawsabilities. Maggie thinks he skates better than some humans she's knows.... wink wink.... OK Maggie, Tillman's four legs work better than my two! I give. Tillman in a small, but BUFF package packs a wallop of a tail skating up a storm to bring some laughs and joy to his fans everywhere. Maggie loves her friends around the world. Technology makes this all pawsable. We have met a lot of great friends doing wonderful things through the medium of blogging. On the Blog Paws show Tillman attended the 2012 Blog Paws Conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah. WOW! Pets everywhere with their humans talking human. If Maggie and I had an opportunity to attend the Blog Paws Conference (2013 near Washington, DC - May 16-18th) we would smooze, smooze, smooze, and learn a bunch too. Maggie likes that friends like ya just as you are.... she can sniff out any and all doggie treats the whole time and no one would think she's rude if she didn't go WOOF WOOF!

MaggieMoose: The Orange Ball Caper

Maggie's pawsability thought for the day:

"The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself."

Henry Miller

  It all started with the rumblings from the other room. I'm busy doing non-MaggieMoose stuff. The noise was reminiscent of Maggie throwing her toys out of her toy box. I know she's seeking that one special toy. I continued on doing my own thing. Suddenly, there she is, the orange ball is in her mouth. Maggie looks at me longer than comfortable as if it's suppose to mean something. The next thing I know she's on her Scooby Doo towel. I think, oh OK. I continue on.

Before I can say BOO Maggie has moved to the couch. Oh no. Darn her. I know what she did. I didn't pay attention to that orange ball in her mouth and now it's under the couch. This means I have to get up off my chair and retrieve that dang ball. This is Maggie 101: How to Get Attention. Quietly roll the ball under the couch so, the human has to get up and get it. I've played this game many times. It's Maggie's personal favorite game when people come to visit.

OK, I'm here Maggie. I get on the floor and look under the couch. SURPRISE. Orange ball. I retrieve. Maybe I was a Golden Retriever in another life? Except my tail isn't wagging in this life.

I give Maggie the ball back by throwing it down the hallway. OK, she's happy I threw the ball. Maggie saunters back with the ball in her mouth. I turn away for a quick moment. I look back. Oh no. Her look tells me she's put that dang orange ball under the footstool. It didn't roll by itself. I know my Maggie. She's behind this caper, this orange ball caper. 

SURPRISE.

Heavens to Betsy. Maggie me thinks, you're genius, you could do your own advertising campaign. Want Attention? Add Maggie. Maggie got her little play time with reluctant me. Life is funny how paying attention to one thing can give it so much magnificence it becomes a world unto itself. Life's a BALL! Maggie goes back to Scooby Doo, her elk antlers, and her twig toy with the orange ball laying still in front her. Visible to the world of MaggieMoose.