Hurricane Irene

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Ammo

On Saturday evening Hurricane Irene made it’s way towards my home in Pennsylvania. I’ve never been in a hurricane before (after all I’m only 2!), so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I knew enough to be a little scared, especially since mom and dad brought in all of our outdoor patio stuff, and mom weatherproofed the shop on Saturday morning.

Several hours into the storm we lost power, only moments after we heard of a Tornado warning for our area on the news. So into the basement we went to hunker down for about 20 minutes before the threat passed.

I of course used this time to practice my scary bark threats – you know – to tell Irene to get outta here!

ammo the dachshund hurricane irene

The next morning I woke to a still very windy and rainy mess outside – which meant I had to spend most of the day inside. If you can’t tell I was a little depressed. Mom and Dad tried to keep me occupied by playing scrabble with me (especially since there still was no power), but I really just wanted to go exploring.

ammo the dachshund hurricane irene

In the late afternoon the storm finally cleared, and we headed out for a drive to take care of the ponies (who weathered the storm just fine).

ammo the dachshund hurricane irene

I couldn’t believe how much the water had risen along the Brandywine, which runs just below the farm.

ammo the dachshund hurricane irene

On the way back we stopped by the shop to make sure that it fared the storm ok.

ammo the dachshund hurricane irene

Luckily there was no water damage even though many of the streets in town were flooded. But there was some wind damage to the awning out front. Mom says she hopes it’s not too expensive to fix, I told her I’d try to sell a painting to help pay for it!

ammo the dachshund hurricane irene

Power was out at both the shop and at home, so lucky for me I got to spend the evening playing board games with my family. The “Chester County” game continued on into the wee hours of the night.

ammo the dachshund hurricane irene

Power at the house was out until mid-day Monday – which makes me very glad that I’m a dog, and I don’t require indoor plumbing!

P.S. I hope that all my friends weathered the storm ok and no one suffered any major damage. I’ll be searching for my groundhogs tomorrow to make sure they made it through the storm ok.

Vintage Finds

Posted on August 25, 2011 by Ammo

Today I thought I’d share some snapshots of my life via Instagram. You know, the super-cool retro photo app for iphone…..because I’m totally up on “what’s hot”. So, here’s a little glimpse into my life….

ammo the super dog

chincoteague minnow

ammo the dachshund

spider the kitten

crossing street

ammo and cricket

doxie races

spider the kitten

ammo and nitro

ammo

trooper and ammo

ammo and spider

ammo and trooper

mom and ammo

Sigh. Life is good.

Picasso Pony

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Ammo

It’s no surprise that I spend my time with a bunch of famous painting ponies. And when mom announces “it’s a painting day”, she really means it’s a painting DAY. As in I have to spend ALL day hanging around the farm while the ponies put their brushes to work.

ammo with painting ponies

Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing them create masterpieces, but all day can get kind of tiring.

ammo with painting ponies

But, the ponies always make sure everyone has a good time. Like Boomerang, who tells the best jokes when he’s painting – they even make him giggle!

ammo with painting ponies

At the end of the day, the best part is always the clean-up. Well, at least it is for little doxies that love to lick the floor clean of spilled cheerios and the ponies’ sweet feed.

ammo with painting ponies

You can check out all of the ponies’ masterpieces from our day of painting on their Blog.

P.S. Make sure you tell them that I sent you – so maybe next time they’ll leave a few extra cheerios on the floor for me!

Toy Box

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Ammo

This is what my sad, sad toy box has been looking like lately…

ammo's toy box

See that one lonely toy? Yeah, I’ve had that toy since I was a puppy – it’s in there for a reason – it tastes like plastic, and I don’t like it! And sadly, that was the ONLY toy I had left, well, until mom took me to the toy shop (aka Petsmart) on Saturday!

ammo at petsmart

I picked out 3 toys, well I picked out way more than that, but mom only let me bring home the ones she thought I MIGHT not be able to destroy.

1. Owsley the Owl by Martha Stewart Pets from Petsmart 2. Rope Bone by Martha Stewart Pets from Pestmart 3. JW Pet Company Hol-ee Cuz toy from Petsmart

ammo's new toy

Of course I went straight to work trying to destroy my new toys.

ammo's new toy

My “cuz” toy lost his little legs about an hour later. It had to be done. After all, I didn’t want him walking off in the night now did I?

ammo's new toy

Owsley the Owl safely made it through the night, but by Monday evening I ate both his ears off. He gave me the “dirty owl eye” so I let him have it. And my Rope Bone….still in the packaging, because mom won’t let me have him yet! Whats the fun in getting new toys if your mom won’t let you destroy them anyway. jeesh.

So, what about you? Know of any TOTALLY indestructible dog toys? I bet I could still kill it. Anyone bury their toys instead of destroying them? I’ve tried that too, but it’s just not as fun as the kill.

Thunder Dog

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Ammo

“Thunder Dog” – that’s totally an awesome superdog name if you ask me. I was actually thinking maybe I could use it. Ammo, The Thunder Dog or Ammo, Dog of Thunder – has a nice little ring to it, especially since the sky has been giving me lots of it lately.

thunder and lightning

After a nasty dry spell this summer mother nature has decided to play a cruel trick on us and let all of the summer rain come at once. Thunder so loud it shakes the ground and skies so dark I need a flashlight mid-day to hunt my groundhogs.

thunder and lightning

It’s actually sort of peaceful out on the farm as the ominous clouds start rolling in.

ammo the dachshund thunder and lightning

*wince* But, the THUNDER is out of this World!

ammo the dachshund thunder and lightning

Then the sky opens up and buckets upon buckets of water begin to blanket the ground. And really, there is only one thing to do when that happens….

ammo the dachshund thunder and lightning

….scream your head off and run around like crazy! (rain is fun, didn’t you know?)

chesapeake Lightning

Even the ponies are super excited about the rain, especially Chesapeake Lightning aka Blitz (see he was MADE for the rain) – because with rain, comes grass, and those ponies LOVE to eat!

Me, I love the rain, but sometimes what happens after the rain is even better.

rainbow

Hello Mr. Rainbow, did you come to brighten up my day?

double rainbow

But, holey moley, I must have the luck of a leprechaun, because it’s a Double Rainbow (do you see it?). Time to run around screaming my head off again – because I’m sure this is gonna bring me a whole bunch of luck!

What about you? Is mother nature storming on your parade too? Or are you puddle jumping and running around like crazy because you’ve been seeing Double Rainbows too? Do tell!

Artsy Fartsy

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Ammo

Don’t worry this isn’t a stinky post – although if they invented scratch-n-sniff computer monitors I’d totally be able to share all my favorite stinky smells with all of you! Now wouldn’t that be fun!

No, instead I’m going to share with you my new rubber stamp! (the unscented version at least)

ammo the dachshund stamp

How great is that! My mom helped me make it, and even though she thinks it’s a little rough around the edges still, I think it’s fabulous! You better believe I’ve been stamping all of my toys so Trooper can’t steal them!

Me and mom have been on an artsy fartsy kick lately – so much so that we rearranged my little corner in the shop that I share with the ponies.

ammo the dachshund and painting pony

Isn’t it cool, we now have walls to hang up all of our artwork (nevermind the fact that we had to drive 2 hours to get them!). Mom says we even get to test out our new walls when we set up our booth at the Ludwigs Corner Horse Show (and the Chadds Ford Dog Days of Summer Event) in a couple of weeks.

I can’t wait, because when we travel it means one thing and one thing alone……

…..WAY MORE COOKIES!

You can check out all of my artwork here.

Rainbows and Sunshine

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Ammo

My recent camping trip wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine as you might have guessed. See, I had a very important job to do on the camping trip. I was in charge of training Blitz (or young Blitzen as I like to call him) how to tie properly.

blitz and ammo

He looks pretty good right? You would have never guessed he started out like this:

blitz

Naughty ponies don’t get sugar cubes later on! Don’t worry though, I had a little talk with him. He has so much to learn about the World.

blitz and ammo

And we were just in the midst of really making some progress on Blitz’s training when the nasty thunderstorms came and cancelled the second day of competition for my pony friends.

ammo the dachshund camping

I might have had to hide under a towel in the tent on Saturday night – but I swear I wasn’t scared…..It was just cozy in there, honest!

ammo

But even though the rain put a damper on my fun, the ponies still won me a second place ribbon – they’re pretty sweet like that.

fallen tree

Mother nature wasn’t done having her little fun with me though, because on the way home (5 minutes from the farm to boot) we got stuck at a fallen tree. Luckily the nice electric company came to save me, although I did tell them that my teeth are razor sharp and I could have easily hacked that log to bits in no time!

But even without my rainbows and sunshine I still had a pretty awesome adventure!

Meet and Greet

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Ammo

One of the great things about going to horse events with the ponies is that “horse people” are inevitably “dog people” too….which means that I get to make lots of new friends!

ammo and nemo the dachshund

Like Nemo the Dachshund! I instantly felt a connection to Nemo (hence why I’m giving him a kiss on the forehead) – we do share an uncanny resemblance don’t you think?

nemo the dachshund

Well, except for the fact that Nemo decided to wear his winter coat to the event. I told him it was way too hot in August for fur, but I guess he thought otherwise.

ammo the dachshund and biggie

I also got to meet Biggie, who’s name is just about as “tough” as mine. But mighty dogs DO come in small packages – and this guy is no exception! (He MAY have scared the bejeezes out me in the bathroom when I saw him walking on his hind legs, I can’t be certain, but he may be part meerkat. hehe.)

Camping 101

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Ammo

I’m pretty much the king of camping.

ammo the dachshund camping

I’m so good at camping, that I even bring along my pony when I go camping.

ammo the dachshund camping with pony

ammo the dachshund camping

Want to see inside my tent? It’s pretty cool.

ammo the dachshund camping

I unrolled the sleeping bags all by myself.

ammo the dachshund camping

Want to come see how I collect sticks for the campfire?

ammo the dachshund camping

It’s key to whittle your sticks down to the right size – something they probably don’t tell you in the boy scouts, and I know, because I’m a stick collecting expert.

But as much as I’m an expert in all of the camping ways, could someone please do me a favor….

ammo the dachshund camping

Can you tell the tent manufacturers that they really need to start making built in doggie-doors.

ammo the dachshund camping

This is really cramping my style!

Raining Cats and Dogs

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Ammo

On Tuesday Mom said it was raining cats and dogs outside. Seeing as how I’ve only ever seen regular rain, I was super excited to check out all my new cat and dog friends when I got home from work. So I burst through the doggie door in search of said “cats and dogs”.

ammo the dachshund doggie door