July 4th weekend looms

We want to let you know that we will

BE OPEN ON SATURDAY, JULY 4th and SUNDAY, JULY 5th.

Our hours on Saturday, July 4th will be 10 AM - 3 PM.

Our hours on Sunday, July 5th will be 12 PM - 4 PM.

We are having a Bully for You Sale on that weekend only.
There will be 15% off on all things bully stick on Saturday and Sunday, July 4th and 5th.

Why should only people get to have fun on holiday weekends?

This is exhausting...

This is Millie.
She is tired from being a puppy.

A Heads Up on a Good Thing...

Hi kids,

Just want to give you a heads up on a really good thing being in done in Roslindale for soldiers, veterans, and their families.

On June 15th, from 4 - 7 PM, at 16 Cohasset Street in Roslindale, acupuncturist, Karen Kirchoff and Reiki Master, Kim Ecevido will host the Veterans Acupuncture and Reiki Benfit Project.

Karen and Kim are doing this in recognition of some of the challenges faced by soldiers, Vets, and their loved ones. Acupuncture and Reiki can help relieve symptoms of pain, stress, insomnia, and PTSD.

The cost is on a sliding scale basis from $25-$45.00. Additional donations welcomed.

Please let anyone you think might benefit from a session know about this event. More information can be had by dialing 617-522-3990 or 617-469-8288.

Karen and Kim are really good people doing a really good thing so let's let people know about this. Thanks!

Save the Boston Park Rangers' Horses

Save the Boston Park Rangers' Horses

It has been publicly stated that the horses used by the Park Rangers of the Boston Park Department will be eliminated due to budget cuts. We respectfully oppose this action. The horses greatly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Park Rangers. The elimination of the Boston Park Department horses will adversely decrease public safety in the parks of the City of Boston.

* Eliminating the horses will dramatically reduce the ability of the Park Rangers to patrol the large park system especially the wooded areas where vehicles cannot go.

* Eliminating the horses will dramatically reduce the ability of the Park Rangers to patrol the large park system when there is a heavy snowfall.

* The horses are extremely vital for crowd safety control at parades and demonstrations.

* Rangers mounted on horses are six feet higher and can see over larger areas in urban crowds looking for lost children or in forests looking for lost hikers.

* Rangers mounted on horses can hear cries for help and assistance over large distances better then in patrol vehicles with engine noise and lower height.

* Rangers mounted on horses are an important friendly visible face of public safety assurance and assistance for both residents and tourists in the City of Boston.

* Horse mounted units cannot be easily reinstated because it takes years to train horses plus develop the trust between the individual ranger and individual horse.

We petition Mayor Thomas Menino, Boston City Council and Boston Parks Department Commissioner Antonia Pollak to keep the horses used by the Park Rangers to efficiently and effectively ensure the parks are safe for all the citizens of Boston and visitors from around the world.

Friends of Jamaica Pond

Sign on-line petition at:

http://www.petitiononline.com/BPHorses/petition.html

Very nice indeed

Big Shrimpy Beds, sold at The Pet Cabaret are great beds. They're tough and attractive.They're thoroughly washable inside and out. They're not cheap but they last a long time and are worth the investment.

Now though, they've introduced a first ever pet bed recycling program called Full Circle.

If you own a Big Shrimpy bed and it has finally seen better days, you can contact the company at
http://www.bigshrimpy.com/recyclable.htm to return the bed and keep it out of a landfill.

This is a really responsible move by a great little company that makes a fine product. Thanks to Bruce and Cici Kelling, owners of Big Shrimpy.

Poodle Day at the store

Poodle Rescue of NE will be at the store today from 11 am - 1 pm. They'll be handing out information and looking for some forever homes for some great dogs. Please stop by.

A great little guide

A quick note to let you kids know that we have recently gotten in a great little pet emergency guide. It's a very comprehensive one covering such topics as pet first aid, and travel and emergency planning.

At $16.99, it's a really handy guide to have around just in case.

For more info on the guide go to http://www.informedguides.com

Eastah Sunday.....

Just to let you all know...
we are CLOSED on Easter Sunday.

Have a lovely, relaxing day.

Thanks for everything.

Puppies in the neighborhood

There's lots of new pups and kitties
(and even chickens!) in the neighborhood.

Here's a picture of one of them.

Meet Edith.

Hello Edith.

Dragon Fish Dance

This is a short tape of the lovely Dragon Fish
that we saw at the Monterey Aquarium...they
move so slowly and beautifully...oooo...so pretty.

Celebrating in style

Professor Higgins knows how to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in style

A little update then

We're back from vacation where all went well but I think we're feeling as though we never left. Forgive us if we seem a touch crazier than usual.

Oh, the plane thing...the one about the other plane using the "other runway". Well, turns out the other pilot DID NOT get the "use the other runway" memo.

So here's what happened - the pilot, as I mentioned previously, tells us to "pay no attention" to the other plane that we may see on the right side of the plane.

OK then, fair enough, I think, he knows it's there, so I should refrain from any back seat driving.

We begin our descent towards the runway which I am happily watching on the little mappy thing that Virgin so thoughtfully provides on the screen on the seat in front of me. I am watching our descent, watching the numbers go down...we are at 2000 feet, 1000 feet, 500 feet, 161 feet....523 feet!

Weeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Up we go again! Really, really UP! Like in a straight line kinda 90 degree angle kinda up... kinda just a tad too rapidly for most people's taste kinda up...

The cabin of the plane falls eerily silent. Randy, Lisa S's brother and one of our traveling companions, turns and shoots me a look which causes me to laugh hysterically and of course, probably utterly inappropriately.

I avoid looking at the other Lisa at all costs. She is, suffice it to say, not a good flyer.

The guy next to me hasn't let go of my arm yet.

The other Lisa announces that if we smell something questionable in the cabin in the next few minutes, it is probably coming from her.

The pilot gets on the intercom and tells us that the other pilot was "disoriented" and that we would be using another runway on our second approach to SFO.

I wish like Hell that I could hear the conversation in the cockpit. You know it's a good one.

We saw...

...this at the Monterey Aquarium
and this...
and this...

oooo...pretty.....

Sign of the day

So yesterday we were at the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. It was great, lots of organic fruits, vegetables, herbs, cheeses, and meats.
This was the best sign that we saw while we were there.

Just so you know

Just a little heads up for all of you kids here...it is NEVER a good thing when the pilot of your plane says,

"If you look out of the right side of the plane and see another plane running parallel to us, pay no attention to it. It'll be using another runway...."

It's just NEVER a good thing.

More on this later.

A little dog to dog comparison

Just an interesting doggy note here...took a walk around the city yesterday shortly after arriving and it was raining. Naturally I had to go to the dog park because it had been about eight or nine hours since I had seen any pooches.

Most of the pups running around here had raincoats on. Even the breeds like Huskies and Chows were wearing them.

Most pups in Boston really don't wear them. Winter coats, yes, but not too many raincoats.

Question...are our Boston pups more "macho" than San Francisco pups? Discuss.

The saga continues...like you wanna hear it.

So as to prevent nausea


Day One/SceneTwo

We are, naturally, the last group to board the plane – part of group F, which undoubtedly has some sort of “Fashion Failure” connotation. They still let us board though, and for this I am eternally grateful.

Stepping onto the plane I feel as though I am walking into an 80’s gay bar meets backstage at “The View”. Lavender colored acrylic divides the uber cool from the regular cool and us. Soft purple lights wash up the cabin walls and line the ceiling. The flight crew is swaddled in sleek black uniforms with an occasional splash of red. Ambient, new agey music softly plays we take our black leather seats. Oooo...

Looking at the crew, I see the work of the selection criteria board is immediately apparent. Again, I imagine what the list looks like.

Crew members must include at least one of each of the following:
Cute gay boy with spiky hair
Dark haired Asian beauty
Pretty blond chick from American heartland
Strikingly handsome/lovely dark skinned man or woman
Other random lovelies

I immediately sort through the contents of the little catch bin in front of me. I find a tastefully designed barf bag, a tastefully designed emergency procedures manual, a tastefully designed menu, a tastefully designed welcome brochure, and a box of no roll crayons. Since I imagine that in my future, crayons will be the only implements that I am allowed to write with, I play with them first. This behavior earns an icy glare from the little one. I put them back. I'll get back to them later when she is sleeping.

I start to monkey with the personal viewing screen and discover that there is a remote control imbedded in the arm of my seat. I am oddly charmed and overly impressed. I wonder if Richard Branson would consider adopting me. I can cook and don't often soil myself.

My morning tea was laced with Dramamine so I spend the flight alternately drooling on myself while sleeping and playing with the entertainment system. Needless to say, it takes me most of the flight to figure out what my eleven year old nephew could figure out in ten minutes, tops. By the time I am comfortable with the system we are bouncing onto a rainy San Francisco runway.

We had some great Dim Sum for lunch at a little place in the Richmond and are getting ready to watch the Oscars even though we haven’t seen even one of the movies.

I have not yet had a glass of wine but I hope to remedy that situation shortly.

California, here we are

Day One, Scene One

First of all, big thanks to Uncle Eric for rousing himself out of bed early on a Sunday morning to drop us off at the airport. Anything to get rid of us.

We’re here are at the airport getting ready to board our flight. It’s 7:12 am, we’ve passed through security in an unusually uneventful way. The little one typically gets pegged as some sort of high security risk and we generally nearly get carted off to the airport equivalent of Guantanamo. This time, however, not so much. I think that we will only fly Virgin from now on.

The Virgin waiting area is a sea of coolness. It’s about twenty minutes old. All red and white graphics and blue glass tiled bathrooms. Touch screen computer monitors and multi ethnic passengers are everywhere.

We are hopelessly out of sync with the rest of the way hip flyers waiting to board the plane. It’s as if the crowd has been vetted out by some sort of selection criteria board. I imagine what their checklist might look like.

Qualifications to fly include/but are not limited to:
Possession of:
I Phone/I Touch/I Pod
Laptop
British accent
Pithy sense of humor
Some sort of fashion sense
Ability to pull off above mentioned fashion sense that may include the wearing of Uggs and fedoras

We clearly have been allowed to fly under some sort of “special admissions” program that allows the tragically unhip/uncool to mingle with the rest of humanity. I’m feeling like the best we can do is not draw attention to ourselves. It's not gonna be easy.

For general consumption...

OK Kids, we are going to be taking a little vacation from the bustling world of retail to regain our normally sunny dispositions. We are going to California to mooch off of family and theoretically stand in the sun for five minutes.

I say this as monsoon conditions blanket the entire left coast. I must say, our timing is really impeccable.

Here are the dates that we will be closed for vacation:

We will be closed from Sunday, February 22, 2009
through Sunday, March 2, 2009.



We will reopen on Tuesday, March 3, 2009,
keeping our regular hours 10:00 am - 7:00 pm.

Remain calm, carry on, and we will see you when we get back.

Thanks to you all, the best customers anywhere.

Baby Amani

This is the darling baby aardvark, Amani, born at the Detroit Zoo on Christmas Day.