Milly's Robotic Vacuum Friend

Tired of pet hair, I finally broke down and spent $400 on a Neato robotic vacuum cleaner, which has been a huge help.

Of course, Mango is terrified of it, but Milly couldn't care less.   She was only slightly annoyed when our robotic vacuum encroached on her space:

I'm a Lady!

Mango is the most ladylike dog I've ever known.  She hates getting her butt sniffed, even though she loves other dogs and happily sniffs their butts. 

But the way she most exhibits her ladylike tendencies is to cross her paws when she lies down.

Our friends' male puggle is the most UN-ladylike dog, so our friends sent us this picture when they caught him copying Mango:

Anyone else's dog do this?

A Portrait of Milly in the Tub

Milly loves the bath tub after a shower.  You might think it would have a negative connotation, since this is where I bathe her, but no.  After I shower, she always jumps in and then just sits there.


I took this photo of her after she had been in there for 30 minutes this morning.

Milly's Dead Reindeer

Last Christmas was Milly's first Christmas with us.   Given her appetite for destruction, I was wary of how she would do with the Christmas tree, but I was determined to have one anyway.  At some point, she stole a cute stuffed reindeer ornament from Crate and Barrel off the tree.   I never saw her with it, until after we came back from visiting family over the holidays.  She had been playing with it while we were gone, and it was in bad shape.

A few days ago, she decided to kill the reindeer for good.

Hooray for Nordstrom!!!

Today is the first day of summer.  And it feels like it!   I woke up in San Francisco today, where it was already 75 degrees (no fog today), and then I came to Menlo Park for the day.  The temperature on the car thermometer (NOT when parked in a parking lot) read the following temperatures at various points:  85, 93, 95, 98, 97, 100, 78, 76.

Well our little Menlo Park apartment is like a greenhouse, and it has been sweltering inside all day.  Wondering how to escape the heat, I figured I'd go to the mall for a little while. 
Anyway, mall.... what can I do there? Four weddings coming up this summer means an excuse to shop for a dress, so I figured I'd start at Nordstrom. I knew I would at least be able to entertain myself looking at shoes if nothing else.
But I felt bad leaving Mango all day!  What about Milly, you ask?  She didn't seem to mind.  She spent most of the day like this:

Mango, on the other hand, was so hot she didn't know what to do except hide.  She spent the first half of the day like this:

I realized in the past I'd seen dogs at Nordstrom, so I called them and asked if they allow dogs in the store.  They do!  How awesome is that??  So Mango got to come escape the heat with me for a while.  I took her on the elevator- she's never done an escalator before, and knowing her, it would be a scary experience.  She came in the dressing room, but she did not want to wait patiently for me to try on 12 dresses.   She kept trying to sneak out the front by pushing the curtain to the side.  When I kept telling her to stay, she discreetly tried to duck under the wall and into the next dressing room.  How rude, Mango. 

I did find a very cute dress, and while I wanted to shoe shop, we needed to get back.  I think Mango and I will do some shoe shopping next week.   See you soon, Nordstrom!

Cat Bed Follow Up

A couple posts ago, I wrote how I was happy that Milly had stopped sleeping on OUR bed and had instead returned to her bed.
Well, Mango apparently got jealous, because I woke up one morning and found this:

Never mind the fact that Mango has her own bed that she really likes on the other side of the room.  Cat's bed MUST be better, even though it takes about 12 circles for Mango to get in it.

Brady likes food

Our friends' dog Brady is food obsessed.  This is usually a problem, as he comes in the house and swallows all of Mango's and Milly's food instantly.  But when you spill an entire cup of Raisin Bran on your hotel room floor, Brady's services come in very handy.  (Don't worry, I picked up the raisins, he just ate the bran part.)