Welcome my friends to SPOTLIGHT THURSDAY. This is the time that I will introduce you to one of my fellow anipals so you can get to know them better. Some of them, you may already know. We hope that you enjoy this series!
Name: My name is Harper Lee. I’m named after the author of To Kill a Mockingbird. My human mommy is embarrassed to admit that she’s never read To Kill a Mockingbird. She hasn’t even seen the movie. Pathetic! My pesky little sister is Tallulah Bee. She’s named after the actress Tallulah Bankhead and she was one of four little puppies in her litter, which was called the Bee litter. It’s interesting that we are both named after fiercely independent women from Alabama. What in the world were our humans thinking!
Age: On March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day), I celebrated my seventh birthday. Tallulah Bee turned one on April 22 (Earth Day).
Location: Tallulah Bee and I live in New Orleans, Louisiana, with our human mommy and daddy. I moved to New Orleans from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, just a little more than a year ago with my humans. Tallulah was born the day we moved into our new house and came to live with us a couple of months later. We live in an area called the Irish Channel. (Isn’t that perfect for a girl who was born on St. Patrick’s Day?) Our house used to be a corner store. It was converted into a residence right before we moved in. My sister and I love to walk all around our neighborhood and in the beautiful Garden District, which is just across Magazine Street from the Irish Channel.
Web/Blog Page: My blog is called thek9harperlee: Reflections of a Golden Retriever Named Harper Lee. Here’s the link:https://thek9harperlee.wordpress.com/
What were your first thoughts when you met your new parents? Harper Lee: My humans came to the house where my litter mates and I lived. Mommy and Daddy were sitting on the ground with all the puppies running around them. I took one look at my daddy, marched right over to him, jumped into his arms, and gave him a big kiss. And that’s when I thought to myself, “I just totally won you over!”
Tallulah Bee: When my humans came to pick me up, my mommy swept me into her arms, held me next to her face, and kept kissing me. I thought, “This woman won’t let me go!” And I’m so glad she didn’t.
What was the defining moment when you knew you were in your forever home? Harper Lee: I knew I was in my forever home when the neighbors came over for a Sip and See. That’s a Southern custom where people come over for cocktails to see the new baby when he or she comes home from the hospital. I was the new baby and I was home!
Tallulah Bee:I knew I was in my forever home when I claimed my spot in the house. I call it my perch: the doorway to the laundry room, which is up two steps from the kitchen. I can see everything from this spot . . . and everyone has to step over me to get through the doorway!
What has been your biggest “Oh no, now I’ve done it” moment so far in your home? Harper Lee: When I was a young puppy, I was helping my human mommy plant rose bushes in the garden. She looked up and saw me running around the yard with what she thought was a tree branch. But then she wondered why the leaves on the branch were such pretty fall colors in spring. That’s when she realized that I had pulled up one of the newly planted rose bushes with its pretty red flowers. She was not amused, and she let me know it. That is the one and only bad thing I’ve ever done.
Tallulah Bee: I’ve been a bit more mischievous than my big sister, but overall I’ve been a pretty good girl. Except for the day that I decided to take a photo book off of the coffee table and have a little nibble. I would have gotten away with it, too, if my tattle tale big sister hadn’t rushed into the kitchen with a horrified look on her face to tell my human mommy that I was up to no good.
Who do you have wrapped around your paws more – mom or dad – and why? Tallulah Bee and I have our human daddy absolutely, completely, and totally wrapped around our little paws. Our human mommy is the alpha dog. Daddy is the sucker. We can get him to feed us when we want to be fed, walk us when we want to be walked, wake up when we want to wake up. It’s fabulous!
What’s the biggest misconception that humans think about you? Harper Lee: People always think I’m older than I am. Perhaps it’s because my face has a little extra sugar (also known as gray hair). Or maybe it’s because I’ve been so totally laid back since I was just a tiny puppy. My humans say that I am an old soul.
Tallulah Bee: People think I’m a boy. Can you believe that? I mean, I wear a pink collar, people. Please!
Hope you enjoyed meeting my friend – check back next week for another Spotlight edition!
This month, we are truly having a blast from the past and posting pictures of your grannies and grandpa’s… you know the ones that gave birth to your humans. Let’s see how many pictures we can show off of family for this month’s Bacon’s Show and Tell.
Well, I’m taking one step further. I’m going my Nana’s mom. I’m doing this because I came across the coolest picture of my grandnana and granddada. OMP – for a moment I thought it was the original Bonnie and Clyde – Snorts with piggy laughter.n So here you go – our outlaws – 🙂
Hello friends. I hope that you have been enjoying our Travels in the South edition. Today, we continue our adventures with Fozziemom and Fozziedad who visited all the way from Australia. Today, I want to focus on a restaurant that everyone went to on their way back home from Tybee Island. Also this is a restaurant that Jean and Bill visited while they were visiting as well.
It’s a place that my mom has been going to since she she was small child. She actually introduced my dad to it and it’s a great feel at home kind of place.
This restaurant is called Buckner’s Family Restaurant and has wonderful vegetables (for our vegetarians) and the best fried chicken you will ever wrap your lips around – just sayin’ so says mom – snorts. Which brings me to the chicken in the picture – his name is Elmer and he’s a pretty cool dude. His tall – really tall and his sign says do not touch… Personally I think too many people in the past have wanted to get up close and personal to him to have their pictures taken if you know what I mean.
. Now you see the cool thing about this place is all of the tables are round. Okay I can see you going okay and what’s a big deal about that. Well you see in the middle of the round table, they have the biggest movable section – a giant lazy Susan if you will. The workers will come to your table with all of these bowls containing wonderful delights – creamed corn, green beans, beats, cole slaw , lima beans, rolls, chicken, barbeque pork, peach cobbler – just to name a few. And as you eat and things run out, you just ask for refills and the servers gladly fill everything back up. So you have a buffet without having to get up and down all of the time. You sit and the staff bring YOU the food. Cool huh?
Now you have to remember that everyone stopped here on the way home from Tybee Island. They were tired, exhausted if you will, and at the point of just being silly. The moms didn’t even have make up on. So, I’m tell you that in preparation for this final picture. A picture to show you (A) how tired they looked and (B) how silly they were being trying to get a picture with Elmer. So here you go my friends – the moms in their bare necessities.
This month we are posting anything we want to share that you cook, prepare, fix or throw together at your crib. It can be anything. So knowing this, we want to share something that we absolutely love here at the Hotel Thompson. You here a lot of flack about one of the ingredients but to be a true southerner, you love it. And since some of the ingredients are shall we say pig related – this is Bacon’s mom taking over the posting today.
For those cool mornings or nights that you don’t feel like cooking much – we fix a big pot of southern cheese and sausage grits. Yep, you heard it – grits. Grits are a southern love. They are made from ground hominy. And in this picture, we went to our local Waffle House one night for dinner.
Grits are very cheap here. You can buy a 2 pound bag at most markets for around $3.00 – and trust me, they go a long ways (probably less than $0.50 a meal). Now here at the Hotel Thompson, we put about three cups of water in a pot and put it on the stove medium high. Season with salt and add one cup of grits. You are going to let the water boil and the grits cook for about 20-30 minutes. Make sure that you stir occasionally – grits will stick and expand.
While the grits are cooking, go ahead and fry up some sausages in a pan. I make sausage patties and cook them on a skillet beside my grits so I’m constantly watching. I buy a pack of 12 sausages and cook them for the entire week. One pack is $4.00 – we use about 6 patties with the grits.
When your grits are about done, add 1/2 stick of butter (around $0.30), more salt to taste and black pepper. Now add grated cheddar cheese (we buy blocks and rate our own (around $0.50) to your grits and stir everything together to melt the cheese. Your sausage should just about be done. Cut the sausage up into bite size pieces and add to your grits, stir everything together and there you go – a southern delight for sure!
And the bottom price with everything – around $3.50
Guess what started Sunday night my friends. You guessed it – Shark Week! It started Sunday on the Discovery Channel. We at the Hotel Thompson look forward to this every single year. It’s so much fun to see sharks – on television of course. Now when mom/dad go to the beach, they will think twice about putting their piggies in the ocean.
And never fear, Discovery Channel has promised not to make the mistake they did back in 2013 when they ticked everyone off during Shark Week. Do you remember what they did? They showed “Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives”. Everyone watched it including us here and then learned that was two hours we couldn’t get back. The show was about the possibility that the giant megalodon shark was still alive. After the show, it was revealed that the “scientists” in the show were really actors and the events in the documentary were scripted. The Discovery Channel got so much backlash for that it wasn’t even funny. And then can you believed that even after all that bad publicity, the Discovery Channel showed the sequel in 2014, “Megalodon: The New Evidence.” Of course, by then we were all like, “Really Discovery Channel?”
We *almost* didn’t watch last year because of their stupid melodrama but for some reasons the sharks kept calling our names.
Even Houdini is getting into Shark Week this year. Mom put his costume on and he was running around the Hotel Thompson. I kept calling him Shark Bait – it was really funny to watch.
Dear Bacon – I made the mistake one day of showing my human that I had skills. I know my way around under the hood. And, I’m small so I can get into all of those hard to reach places. Well since he found out, he’s put me to work at the garage. I’m his ‘secret weapon’ that no one sees. So the next time you get your car worked on, think about me. Signed Monkey Wrench
Dear Monkey Wrench – Oh my piggy heavens! Now the secret is out. No wonder it always costs mom/dad and arm and a leg when they take their Jeep in for service. The secret weapon is working on it. WOW – I think you do have skills my little friend. AND I do hope that your human knows that the price is high to maintain an excellent worker of your caliber. You enjoy your tinkering!
Dear Bacon – After a while, one gets tired of waiting for the master to feed us. Sometimes we have to take matters into our own paws. I did just that. I started a garden in the backyard. Most dogs hide their bones but I on the other paw want to make food. All kinds of delectable tastings so when I get hungry all I have to do is take a walk. And don’t worry about watering – I have that covered if you know what I mean – barks! Signed Farmer Pooch
Dear Farmer Pooch – hey I like the idea of having my walking grocery store in my own backyard. I agree with all that you say… except for maybe the personal watering part. I do hope that you wash that food before ingesting… just sayin’. But in the meantime, do you think you can grow me some strawberries and watermelons? I would really appreciate that my friend. Thanks!
Dear Bacon – There I was romping around the farm minding my own business. That’s when my human picked me up to go shopping. Heck I don’t mind. I was already dressed and not doing much anyway. So we went to our local hardware store so that they could get some material for the fences. I sat in the kid seat minding my own business like a good little toddler. So nothing to see here – just a kid in a buggy. Do you like going out on field trips like this? If so, where have you been? Was it fun? Did you sit in the buggy? Signed Romping Kid
Dear Romping Kid – Now that is a vision to behold my friend. Just a kid riding around in a buggy at the local hardware store. What’s to see, right? You look good and let me add that you probably acted better than some two legged kids in the store. Am I right? Snorts with piggy laughter. Once when mom took me to the vet, we stopped by our local Home Depot store to pick up a few things. Mom had my Radio Flyer in the Jeep with her. She pulled it out, helped me in it and pulled me through the store. It was also a vision to behold. A pig being pulled in a Radio Flyer through the Home Depot. I met a lot of people like I’m sure you did this date on your visit.
Dear Bacon – I don’t get it. Mom put some milk in her cup. She set the cup on the counter in front of me. It was like she was inviting me to take a sip so I did. Then she started snapping pictures like a Chinese tourist here at Walt Disney World. I don’t get it. And laughing – oh my gosh – I thought the woman was going to hurt herself she was laughing so hard. Shaking my head – humans are weird. Signed Nosey Kitty
Dear Nosey Kitty – Oh my goodness my friend. I have to admit that *I* almost hurt myself snorting so hard looking at that picture. Look closely – you can almost smell the fun factor – oh my gosh – I’m killing myself here. It’s a great picture my friend. Don’t worry. Your human was just having fun – of course at your expense – but I have to admit it was hilarious.
Remember my friends – Dear Bacon can’t happen without YOU. Please continue to send me your letters and pictures ❤
Barks friends! Just wanted to drop you a note and let you know that mom more than made up for his mishap of forgetting my birthday last weekend. OMD!! I had a blast on Saturday morning. Mom took me to the spa – I love the spa! All she had to do was mention it the night before and I was so ready and waiting the next morning. Afterwards, I got my very own chicken nugget happy meal with fries and apples. All mine! I was in doggy heaven. And just to show you how much of a great time I had, I’m attaching a video of my excitement. Hope you enjoy it!
Welcome my friends to our weekly issue of Journey with Friends. This is a time that we come together for support, for encouragement, for fellowship – all with one single goal in mind – to live better. Welcome to our journey to share our goals and our accomplishments and our disappointments and frustrations.
Together we can do this!
Hello friends – how did you do last week? I walked 17,906 steps which is equivalent to 8.48 miles. Not bad. I am up from last week. I’m still trying to shoot for 5,000 steps a day which is still not happening…yet 🙂 I have faith that I will get there soon. It’s such a balance of walking for health but yet not walking to hurt with my rheumatoid arthritis. But it’s getting there. I didn’t lose any more weight last week but I’m okay with that since I lost so much right off. So – the goal for the next week is to walk more and eat better. I can do that – you can do that!
I also had some blood work done last week and got my results back. My cholesterol is right on key – no problems. My A1C went from a 10 to an 8 so I’m on key with that going down. I get blood work done again in 3 months. I’m hoping to have that A1C down to at least a 7 or below by then. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
So how did you do my sweet friends? How was your journey to a better life?
This post goes out to my brother Hemingway – Hemi for short. He is a lot of things here at the Hotel Thompson.
He is my brother.
He is my friend.
He is the master cat.
He is mom/dads oldest.
I talk about him a lot here on my blog. Mostly about him using his ginormous paw to slap me on the rump – snorts. But really, today is his birthday. Today he turns the big 12 years old. Happy birthday Hemi.
And just remember Hemi, with your age – snorts –
you might want to cut back on spanking this oinker.
Just sayin’
PLOL (Pig Laughing out Loud!)
Oh friends, did you know that mommy/daddy adopted Hemi and his brother Tybee when they were three weeks old? They barely had their eyes open and had just started walking – I guess you could say that was walking. Their little tails were like a piece of yarn – 🙂 They had gotten picked up by Animal Control and taken to the shelter. Mom and dad saved them both and brought them home. They are such softies when it comes to us four legged animals, you know 🙂
Miniature pot bellied pig and friends - Bacon, Houdini, Hemi and all of the Rock Clan with Journalist Rocky the Squirrel all out looking for adventures from the Hotel Thompson.
Spotlight Thursday
Name: My name is Harper Lee. I’m named after the author of To Kill a Mockingbird. My human mommy is embarrassed to admit that she’s never read To Kill a Mockingbird. She hasn’t even seen the movie. Pathetic! My pesky little sister is Tallulah Bee. She’s named after the actress Tallulah Bankhead and she was one of four little puppies in her litter, which was called the Bee litter. It’s interesting that we are both named after fiercely independent women from Alabama. What in the world were our humans thinking!
s the defining moment when you knew you were in your forever home? Harper Lee: I knew I was in my forever home when the neighbors came over for a Sip and See. That’s a Southern custom where people come over for cocktails to see the new baby when he or she comes home from the hospital. I was the new baby and I was home!
Now you see the cool thing about this place is all of the tables are round. Okay I can see you going okay and what’s a big deal about that. Well you see in the middle of the round table, they have the biggest movable section – a giant lazy Susan if you will. The workers will come to your table with all of these bowls containing wonderful delights – creamed corn, green beans, beats, cole slaw , lima beans, rolls, chicken, barbeque pork, peach cobbler – just to name a few. And as you eat and things run out, you just ask for refills and the servers gladly fill everything back up. So you have a buffet without having to get up and down all of the time. You sit and the staff bring YOU the food. Cool huh?
This month we are posting anything we want to share that you cook, prepare, fix or throw together at your crib. It can be anything. So knowing this, we want to share something that we absolutely love here at the Hotel Thompson. You here a lot of flack about one of the ingredients but to be a true southerner, you love it. And since some of the ingredients are shall we say pig related – this is Bacon’s mom taking over the posting today.
Grits are very cheap here. You can buy a 2 pound bag at most markets for around $3.00 – and trust me, they go a long ways (probably less than $0.50 a meal). Now here at the Hotel Thompson, we put about three cups of water in a pot and put it on the stove medium high. Season with salt and add one cup of grits. You are going to let the water boil and the grits cook for about 20-30 minutes. Make sure that you stir occasionally – grits will stick and expand.
believed that even after all that bad publicity, the Discovery Channel showed the sequel in 2014, “Megalodon: The New Evidence.” Of course, by then we were all like, “Really Discovery Channel?”
Piglove 