Water conference

Out of earshot of the humans, there was business to be done. Important business.

This gives us the WILLIES

House-infesting brown dog tick becoming resistant to common pesticides, UF experts say

House-infesting brown dog tick becoming resistant to common pesticides, UF experts say

Yesterday, H-Mom was sitting at her desk and felt a little tickle on her ankle. Not a Madison whisker, not an errant doggie beard. It was a tick and it was looking for breakfast.

Makes you itch for days.

Busy busy

We have been so busy around here, in an un-busy kind of way. H-mom is writing for Demand Studios, which has her concentrating on things other than Madison's blog. So even though we are quiet, H-mom is doing "doggy" things. She has been writing on a lot of dog-related topics, which is kind of intriguing, in a minute kind of way. Lots of her little articles are on the Web, at eHow. It's cool, and it pays. That keeps Madison in ocean fish flavored dog food and marrow bones.

She has done articles on flea eggs, dog heart murmurs and Omega 3 in dog food. On demodectic mange, pad injuries and grapefruit seed oil. Not earth shattering news, but she is WRITING. And after the dog park, which always includes a really good long swim, Madison is more than happy to lay under the table, her head on H-mom's foot and dream encouraging dreams.

In the dark of the morning

This is cool. It's Madison's new job. She leaves the condo in the deep dark part of the morning and walks with H-Mom up to the corner.

Then she patrols. Back and forth, sniffing, snorking. And watching for the school bus. This is what it looks like. It's loud and large and kind of stinky in a school bus sort of way.

And when Madison spots the school bus, she turns abruptly to the other direction and watches for the teen-human. She stands on alert. This is serious business. And when the teen-human comes around the corner and the convergence of Madison's beloved best girlfriend and the school bus is complete, Madison and H-Mom head back home. The bus driver always hesitates for a moment and shouts hello to Madison. And Madison wags her whole rear end - just take care with my teen-human.

Upstairs, Madison goes to the kitchen to wait where she gets a biscuit and there is time for a quick snooze before heading to the dog park.