New ornaments

I'm not feeling the Christmas spirit this year. The tree is up, presents have been bought, and plans are underway to make cookies, but I'm feeling quite 'meh' about it all. Not quite Grinchy, but 'meh'.

Back when I did feel like Christmas, we added to our set of ornaments from our travels.

From Conwy Castle in Wales, we added our Welsh flag.

From Holyrood Palace in Scotland - the place where several corgis romped freely on the grounds, we have the thistle.

From the Disney Magic ship, our ornament to commemorate the sailing. Each port of call is listed on the back.

Lastly, from passing the store in the local mall, a Pembroke Welsh Corgi.

I remain hopeful the Christmas spirit finds me in the next few days.

Will you hurry up?

The other day I posed the corgis, took a bunch of lovely pictures and came back inside only to find out the memory card was not in the camera.

So, we went out again and took more pictures. This time around, the corgis were a little more cheeky and I managed to get this gem.

Tongue out Tuesday - the cake version

This past weekend, we held a get together with friends to celebrate Christmas and my upcoming birthday.

One of my surprises was my cake, which was modeled after a certain fluff ball. I'm sure you'll see the resemblance.

Long may she reign

We interrupt today's Wordless Wednesday to celebrate Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II overtaking Queen Victoria as the longest reigning British monarch.

Queen Elizabeth II has been monarch for 63 years.

Still my favorite picture of Her Majesty

Long may she reign.

Gimli practices his royal wave

When's the party start?

Your roots are showing

Pembroke's come in four main coat colors:

• Red and white
• Red headed tri-color
• Black headed tri-color
• Sable and white

You can see some examples here: Pembroke Welsh Corgi colors.

Both of my corgis are red and white. However, within the red and white category, there is variation. Some may be a lighter red, known as fawn, while others are a deep, dark red.

You can see some examples of the variation here: Red and white variation.

Merida is in the middle range, while Gimli sits in the dark red range.

This is why. He has black roots along his shoulder blades and the top of his back. The black hair makes the surrounding hair much darker than Merida.

Wordless Wednesday - Right there

Gimli likes to move it!

I filmed this one a number of years ago and I've been meaning to put it together for the longest time.

Corgis have the cutest butts and when they walk, they've got the wiggle down pat!

Hope you like the music choice :)

Wordless Wednesday - Corgi drummies

Rawr

It was one of those long days of looking at code, making incremental steps, (in the right direction!), that my brain is done for the day.

Instead, I give you Gimli and Merida pretending to be a water buffalo and a lioness.

3 little corgis

A number of weeks ago, we met up with the corgis' breeder at a dog show.  Merida was able to see her sister - Rolex and her brother - Ranger.

The three of them got on famously and wanted to run around and wrestle.  Gimli, on the other hand, felt like barking and barking and then barking some more.

Merida and her brother - Ranger

You'll see from the pictures that my little Merida is smaller than than her siblings.  I have a suspicion she'll be a bit smaller than the rest, but we'll see.  What she lacks in size, she makes up in cuteness, lovableness and a generally good demeanor. Not to mention the need to let you know it's cuddle time and proceed to cuddle with you.

The 3 littermates

Merida was finally big enough to wear a bandanna. That used to be Gimli's but he outgrew it.

National Dog Day

On National Dog Day, I am blessed to have my two corgis.

Anatomy of a corgi puppy

Take 2 cute ears, a button for a nose, 4 little white feet and a round belly, throw in some sass and you have a corgi puppy.

Blame Gimli

So, I was going to post a makeup for Wordless Wednesday yesterday and a post for today, but as I sat at the computer, something caught my attention.

A cute little corgi sat behind my chair and called me to come play with him.

I turned around and he scurried out the doorway and stood in the hallway with an irresistibly lovable face and so, I am to go play with him.

He's a hard taskmaster :)

Long Leash walking

Around Christmas, I took Gimli out to the nearby park with our 30ft leash in tow.  I need to work on his recall and this is one good way for me to let my guard down and relax, yet allow him the flexibility to be far away from me and safe.

The first time we went to the park, it was the middle of the afternoon and it was quite deserted.  I think it was the Sunday before Christmas and people were all scrambling to complete their shopping.  Gimli had a blast being able to stretch our and investigate all the strange smells in the park without me forcing him to be beside me all the time.

The first thing he did was roll around:

Then we played: let's-walk-around-and-see-how-far-you-can-get-before-I-call-you-back.

We did this for a while and played hide and seek behind some trees.  Gimli became very scared at that point when he thought he had lost me.  His ears perked up and he was looking around.  I whistled and eventually he found me.  He got plenty of praise for that!

When we returned home, Gimli was decidedly lumpy and sleepy for the rest of the afternoon.  I think we'll be venturing out to the park again soon.

Looking very smug that he found me.

Mr. Fox

Early one Saturday morning, I went out for a walk and I came across a tail-less fox.  His red hair gleamed in the rising sun and his fluffy coat looked so very soft and easy to cuddle.

He wiggled over to me and when I looked into those big brown eyes, I knew I had to have him.

As luck would have it, I had a red leash with me, so I could lead him home.

Corgi? What's that?

In our subdivision and perhaps in our city, corgis are not well known - either breed of corgi is not well known.  There are the more common German Shepherds, Labs and Goldens and the Doodle varieties and other small dogs.  Therefore, whenever we go out with Gimli or talk about corgis, people look at us with a "huh?" look on their face.  Mike and I resort to the standard: "They are the Queen's dogs", and then everyone knows what we are talking about.

I am so royal, they made a dish with my picture.

The other day, I walked Gimli down one of the lesser traveled streets in our neighborhood.  We came upon this lady, who had just gotten home and she asked if she could meet Gimli.  I obliged and naturally, Gimli was his usual happy, friendly self.  He was fresh from the groomers so he was particularly soft and cute. She remarked that she doesn't see that many corgis and she owns a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, but her late mother in law had a corgi.

After a few minutes, her neighbor came out from the garage and Gimli wiggled over to say hello.  We started talking and he asked for Gimli's name.

Candy: "His name's Gimli".

Male neighbor: "Oh, what a cruel name. How can you name him that?"

Candy: "He's named after the dwarf from The Lord of The Rings."

Male neighbor: "Oh, well that's different then."

Candy in my head: um, ok...

I then proceeded to give the male neighbor the abridged version of the corgi breed standard and about their herding and so on.

We left a few minutes later to continue our walk, maybe we'll run into them again another day.

It finally happened

There's no mistaking it, corgis are short.  Gimli stands about 11 inches from his toes to his shoulder and his head is maybe 12 or 13 inches tall.  Because corgis are short, people often mistake the fact that underneath all that hair and fluff, there lives a small tank.  A small tank that packs a mighty punch.

Before we left for vacation, I had a hair appointment one early Saturday morning.  Off I went and when I returned home, I came into the house and Gimli was uncharacteristically missing from the door to greet me.  I went into the kitchen to drop off my purse and then I heard it.

Mike's voice from upstairs: "Wait."

Gimli looking at him with big brown eyes.

Mike's voice from upstairs: "Ok, go."

To which I heard the thundering of paws racing down the stairs.  I crouched down and waited the 5 seconds it takes for Gimli to arrive, when he came charging at me and knocked me over.  I never thought Gimli would be strong enough to knock me over, but he did.

I fell onto my butt with corgi kisses going everywhere and me laughing.  Of course, when I laugh, Gimli acts sillier, which makes me laugh even more.

I love this dog!

Corgi Bloggers Secret Santa 2011

This year Gimli and I participated in the Corgi Bloggers Secret Santa gift exchange.  We were matched up with other corgis and their owners based on those that had submitted a picture for the "Corgis with Blogs" calendar run by Kelly over at CorgiButts.

We were matched up with Puppy on a Roomba and we received a lovely set of presents.

As shown in the picture, we received a fluffy ball, an unstuffed llama - that Gimli took a liking to, doggie bubbles - can't wait to try this out with Gimli, a treat bottle - this will be used when I'm working to keep Gimli occupied, bone shaped cookies - for when Gimli has been really good and a stuffed "Christmas light" that squeaks on one end and rattles on the other.


It was great fun and we'll join the fun again next year.

Thank you to Ty & Eve, those lovely corgis, and their owners!

Two Corgis or Not Two Corgis, That is the Question.

Mike and I have been going back and forth trying to decide if a second corgi is in our future.

On the one hand, we (I) am crazy excited at the prospect of another corgi.  A small little puppy that can fit in the crook of my arm as I carry it downstairs.  A small puppy to cuddle with.  A small puppy to take pictures of and track growth like what we did with Gimli.  Lots of training to avoid the mistakes we made with Gimli.  Oh, the fun to be had with a corgi puppy!

On the other hand, we are apprehensive.  How will Gimli behave with a new dog?  How will we be able to give each the attention they deserve?  Will the puppy pick up Gimli's resource guarding and then we have to deal with two possessive little monsters?  What will happen when we have to go away?  Taking care of one is easier than two.

So many questions and the unknown.  And, its unfair to the dog to take it in and then what happens if it doesn't work out?

Another thing that has me a little nervous is that I don't have the feeling yet.  I had the "feeling" with Gimli because there were so many signs pointing to "yes".  This time, there's very little signs and I think that's probably due to the many questions we have.

When we were on vacation at the end of September, I dreamt of a corgi puppy.  A cute little red headed tri-color puppy with a little spot on its head, perfect for kisses.  This puppy was for me.  I don't know what this means, but I told Mike that if Gimli's breeder, (who has a litter on the way), has a puppy that fits that description, I won't be able to help myself.

Here's what a red headed tri-color corgi looks like.