Wherein I Show You 12 Pics of Smokin' Hot, Shaggy and/or Red-Headed Guys (1 of Whom Is My Dog)

I'll just come right out and say it: My Cardigan Welsh Corgi - Jon Farleigh - is a hottie (because "hot dog" just doesn't work in this situation). He makes me swoon. Here are just a few reasons why:

OK, time-out. On second thought, maybe there's really only ONE (multi-faceted) thing about him that makes me die a little inside every time I look at him. A thing so big, so undeniably HIM, that it has to stand alone. And that, my friends, is his glorious (if unconventional), silky-soft, sometimes unruly, undeniably sexy...

Fluffy Red (and white) Coat!

Still a puppy and ne'er a blade had touched his locks.

Its squish-ability calls to my wanton fingers (and face - yes, I bury it in there sometimes) like a siren song.

You know you want to lay hands on it.

And that white patch on his hip? [sigh]

White swirly on his thigh? Artistic brilliance.

Let's face it: I knew he'd be a lady-killer before he was even five months old!

Swoon!

Know what else? I'm pretty sure that Jon Farleigh is to Cardigan Welsh Corgis as this guy is to people:

  (source: princeharry.org)

I believe you've all met Prince Harry.☺

But wait! Here's a better shot...

source (this photo and 4 following): Popsugar

And so you know, just like Jon Farleigh, the Prince grooms up well...

Would you look at that! He even loves (reddish) dogs!

And brownish-black dogs!

AND itty bitty hedge hogs! ♥

Come to think of it, Jon Farleigh reminds me of this guy, too...

source: Josh Holloway

And this one...

source: People Sexiest Man Alive 2014: Chris Hemsworth (aka Thor)

I've become too distracted to type anything else. 

Classic Cardigan: Foster Kittens Terrify Jon Farleigh; Force Him Into Running Shower

At the risk of revealing a photo source, and contradicting a recent theory on dogs and baths (because I'm preoccupied with Halloween-related tacky cardigan stuff today), I'm "treating" you to a classic (aka previously published) post.

The following is a true story.

Originally published on May 31, 2012...

Terrible Tales with Jon Farleigh: Purrassic Park

(As told around a campfire to a bunch of eager "Pup" Scouts with short attention spans.)

Listen up; this is scary stuff.

My best friend Dewi and I could hardly contain our excitement, imagining the thrills we were gonna have chasing the three "clone" kitties that our Mom person had brought home for us the day before. 

We hadn't seen them go into the room-where-it-rains that first day, but we could hear their faint mewing and smell their "not-quite-cat" (because they were created special, just for our amusement) scent from underneath the door. We just knew something wonderful awaited us because of all the time Mom and all our other peeps were spending in there getting things ready. 

On the afternoon that she invited us to follow her through our sleeping room to the door separating us from our adventure, we were so excited that we forgot our manners and shoved past Mom's legs, through the cracked doorway and into A TERRIBLE NIGHTMARE!

They're gonna rush me in 30 seconds.

At first the creatures seemed harmless enough (they were tiny), but then, before I could even decide which one's butt to sniff first, they rushed me!

All three of the tiny carnivorous monsters came at me with such conviction that I began to fear for my safety (no cat in its right mind rushes a strange dog; they had to be mutants out to make a meal out of me)! So I let out a half-chortle, half-cry and scampered away from the beasts as fast as I could!

(It was sadly too late for my friend Dewi, as the menacing fur balls had already transformed him into a minion through mutant feline mind control.)

Dewi: Whatever you ask, I do.

But wherever I went, they came after me (that is, when they weren't lapping up what must have been minced dog meat from a silver platter)! 

nomnomnomnomnom

Alas, there was no where left for me to turn...except the place where it sometimes rains on my people. 

Oh, please no.

I'm doomed.

So, I went in because it wasn't raining, then, BUT THEY FOLLOWED ME! And just when I thought my life was over...

MOM SHOWED UP!

And, wouldn't you know, all those horrible fake cats wheeled around and went straight after her? That's when I slipped out and hid in the room with the big white bowl...and waited.

Then, next thing I knew it was raining, and the noise caused those little terrorists to run back over in my direction. But just inches before I was a goner, I ran straight into the torrential rain and did not budge. I was soaking wet, but safe (because like real cats, the mutants didn't like getting water on their fur). Whew!

If I get in there, my fur will melt.

In the end, Mom made the rain stop and wrapped me up in a towel. 

I was relieved when she said my adventure was over. Dewi was too (once he snapped out of his trance).

I think I'd like to take a break from adventures and eat more snacks.

The End

Sweet dreams, everyone! ;)

Classic Cardigan: A Virtual 'Motherly' Day Card from the Dogs (and a Note to the Mystery Human Who Let Them Use Her Credit Card Online)

Yes, you read that right: A human (who remains a mystery, as of this writing) recently succumbed to my pets' (yes, all seven) wily ways and allowed them to use her credit card to order this:

No, not Maddox (the cat), the whimsical little doggy-shaped planter with the lovely yellow-flowering plant inside. The UPS man left it on my porch yesterday. It bore this card:

To that brave and generous person (who is not my husband, by the way; he would never let the animals use his plastic online): Thank you!
You (I mean, all my pets) totally made my day! And it's so CUTE! 

Jon Farleigh and Dewi have such great taste, do they not?!

I think it's time you got us our own credit cards.

I'd like mine peanut butter flavored, please!

And with those words of dog-wisdom, I'd like nothing more than to share (with all of you) a post I wrote for "motherly" day last year. I hope you enjoy it doubly this time!

Originally published on May 11, 2012...

A Virtual Motherly Day Card from Jon Farleigh and Dewi

Please note that "Motherly" Day includes anyone who has ever behaved in a motherly fashion toward another living being. In other words, YOU.

To: All our readers and peeps

From: Jon Farleigh and Dewi

We would like to give you all of these things:

Dog Flowers

Colorful Springtime Garden Creatures

A Trip to Walt Disney World (without kids)

A Nice Bath (garden hose optional)

Something Sweet to Eat (hope you like gingerbread)

And a Big Sloppy Kiss

Have a happy day, friends!

What If LOL Cats Were LOL Cicadas?

Like, for example, this...

unaltered image: Gerry Broome/AP via NPR.org
caption: mine

It could work, no? ;)

OK, maybe not. But US East Coast-ers, just a tip: they'll be here at any moment, so you have three choices 1) run for your lives (in a westward-ly direction) 2) hide in your homes for the next two (or so) months 3) get the dang bug some Visine before it dies, already!

Oh, and...

Cicada Mania

And now is the part where I give you something warm, fuzzy and hilarious with which to (virtually) scrub the previous images from your traumatized retinas!

For instance, this...

Oh, wait! That's Maddox's stink eye. My bad.

OK, this...

Muah

So, frankly, I don't know what Maddox is doing up there; just like I don't know what Dewi's doing down here...

(But Dewi's a dog, and I digress.)

I do know, however, that Bertie (as pictured below) -- in addition to being warm, fuzzy and funny -- has a nurturing personality. And, how do I know this?

Because not a day goes by (by golly) that he doesn't make sure his pet Canada Goose (aka Goosie) gets at least one good meal and a drink of/swim in the water!

OK, swim, little guy; I'm waaaay-ting.

Time's up, Goosie! Food's gettin' stale!

nomnom...MindifIjoinya?...nomnom

So, have you forgotten about those cicadas yet (now that I've reminded you about them)? (sorry)

Well, that's okay, because I wanted you to be good and grossed out before I told you about the 1,000+ other warm, fuzzy and HILARIOUS cats over at Petfinder's

The Funniest Cat Contest!

Why? Because you need to look at more funny cats!
(to exponentially increase your happiness quotient!)

Like Kahlua, here...
(Hint: Click photos to see the kitties' details on Petfinder.)

And this guy named Spice...

(Seriously, people, I've already browsed through hundreds of funny kitties over at Petfinder, because... I couldn't tear myself away!)

So, have you got a funny cat of your own? (All cats are capable of being funny, btw; I should know.)

Then enter him/her in the contest (through May 21, 2013) and you could win a $250 gift card (for yourself) and $4,500 for your favorite Petfinder adoption group!

Thinking of adding a cat to your family? 

Oh, goody! There are plenty just waiting for you to take them home!



LOL cicada, LOL cicada, LOL cicada...
Go look at the funny kitties on Petfinder already! sheesh!

An Insider's Tip for Getting Cute Videos of Your Pets: Make Your Kid Send You the Ones She Took with Her Phone

Notes:

<> When I say "insider," I mean me.

<>  If you don't "have" a kid, feel free to hire one; they're usually up for it.

<>  If you do use your "own" kid (however, whatever you do), do NOT ask them to take the videos for you. No, this would, in fact, be perceived as a chore (e.g. scrubbing the toilet bowl), resulting in belligerent glances and eye-rolls, and most likely, crappy videos. Which unfortunately means that this tip is only relevant (when depending on your "own" kid) if that kid already routinely takes video of your pets for fun. 

So to clarify: the tip is to MAKE your child send all of them (the videos they already took for fun - without being asked) to you (which, frankly, might also result in some belligerent glances and eye-rolls; however, too bad, because you can threaten to take the phone away).

And now that we're all on the same page, I just scored (from Middle Child) a bunch of adorable (and funny) home videos of my pets (mostly Dewi and a couple of the kitten, and my giant shelter cat, Maddox)!

There are six in all, including a reprise of Dewi's wookiee (yes, that's the correct spelling) impersonation. You can view them all HERE at the blog's YouTube channel.

But for those who'd rather be spared the trip to the tube, here's a sampling:

Here, let me help you get your hand out from under the blanket...



Maddox's purr sounds like he's under water...



Dewi does wookiee (reprise)...

Also, Dewi might have a touch of cray-cray. ;)

One last thing about our YouTube channel: 

THE CHRONICLES OF CARDIGAN HAS A SOUNDTRACK!

Actually, it's a playlist of 17 tunes/music videos that appear as external source audio accompaniment somewhere on the blog! Elvis Presley, Van Morrison, James Brown, Bob Marley, The Beatles, The Muppets (and the list goes on)...

Anyone?!?

Have I mentioned that you all rock for being here? :)

Waxing Nostalgic: Purina Pet Food Commercials from the 70s and 80s

Attention blog "shoppers": The contents of this post are intended for entertainment value ONLY. That said, if your opinions are such that you feel the need to offer advice about pet food choices, please refrain from doing so in comments, but rather, send me an email. In other words, I am trying to have an innocent, warm-fuzzy-feeling "parade" here and any "rain clouds" will be promptly deleted. I mean it. Thank you. :)

Alright, so before I get to the commercials and stuff, here's a bit of Chronicles of Cardigan nostalgia:

I say, eating is best done while in the napping position. 

That is adolescent puppy Jon Farleigh (c. 2010) having some breakfast. Never mind what was in his bowl (it could've been a whole steak for all he cared), he ate every meal lying down for his entire first year! For many weeks I naively thought this was some innate corgi thing. Then Dewi proved otherwise. I guess one could say Jon is the more "laid back" of the two. :)

Speaking of feeding time, as I was recently reminiscing (while creating the quiz for last week's post) about my (much) younger days, enjoying partaking of a few morsels of Purina Cat Chow (from my childhood cat's bowl), my memory suddenly cast me back to the classic series of Purina commercials, in which cats have the uncanny ability to dance the "chow chow chow." Does anyone else remember those? (You'd better be saying yes. Just sayin'.)

So anyway, that led me to Google, which led me to YouTube, which led me straight down a groundhog hole (I love groundhogs, y'all) to what seemed like a bazillion vintage (mostly 70s and 80s) pet food (and Underalls, Dr. Pepper, Charmin, Maxwell House, Big Wheel...) commercials that I had nearly forgotten about. Talk about a mind trip! And someone please tell me how the heck I got to 2013 so fast?! I mean, I was just riding my Big Wheel and having a (not diet) Coke yesterday, it seems! ;-)

But back to the point of this post: I thought some of you might like to watch some of the classic Purina* (brand) pet food commercials, too, so I compiled several of my favorites in a playlist (on the blog's YouTube channel)! 

Here are a few of my playlist faves...

You just don't know how badly I wanted my cat to do the chow chow chow. He wouldn't. However, I used to get on all fours and do it for him. Was that wrong? ;)

This Dog Chow bit is just flipping hilarious...

As is this one for Meow Mix...



You'll recognize the voice in this 70s Puppy Chow commercial...



It's Sterling Holloway (aka Winnie the Pooh). :)

And finally, who could forget the (miniature) Chuck Wagon?

Rod Serling totally could've written a Twilight Zone episode about that blasted Chuck Wagon, no? :)

So, did you see any of your favorites?
Hint: If not (ahem, Morris the cat, anyone?), jump over to the playlist; it/they might be there!

And a final thought: Is it me or are these pet food commercials a lot like sugary cereal commercials? I can still remember all of those, too. Those crafty marketers.

Happy day to you!

* Although it is the majority, Purina isn't the only pet food brand represented in the playlist. Also, Purina has never heard of me or this blog. :)

A QUIZ! Betcha Can't Guess Where the Dogs Are! (Then again, Maybe You Can.)

Hint: NOT on my kitchen table (for once).

OK, look what I did for y'all on Tuesday!...

Bunny? Or deranged Easter Bunny? ;)
Movie Trivia Alert: Click Play arrow below for a funny 7-sec sound byte!

Flower? Or overpaid canine actor? ;)

Frog? Or dog swallowed by frog? :)

So, friends, just for fun, I thought I'd drop a little 3-question quiz on you today. Just to see whether you can guess where this little Springtime photo shoot took place (and perhaps learn a little something "new"). hehe

Here you go! It'll only take a minute!

Click HERE to take the quiz at Polldaddy.com.

So, how'd you do?! Any surprises?  ;-)

Happy dance for Friday!!!