_________________________________________________________


Welcome to The Levi and Cooper Chronicles. I'm the 'Cooper' and my baby brother is the 'Levi.' We're not siblings in the literal sense of the word. He's a miniature schnauzer and I'm a miniature poodle but our differences go far beyond our breed. You see, I'm the famous angel dog who blogs from the Rainbow Bridge. Well, not famous down on earth but up here in doggie heaven all canines get to do whatever we like and I like blogging. We dogaroons up here can also gaze down through the magic water under the bridge and keep tabs on our humans. Isn't that cool! After I discovered the magic water, I decided that little Levi---who got adopted into the family shortly after my departure from earth---could use a guardian angel. When he blogs he types in pink and when I put my two cents worth in I type in blue.
_________________________________________________________
.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Levi is Back!

Anyone there? Levi here. Boy, I had a busy week since the last Schnauzer Saturday. Wanna read my diary?


Sunday: Moomie let me sleep in the master bedroom for the first time. Me forgot to kiss her goodnight at first but I remembered around 4:00 AM so gave it to her then. She wasn't very happy about that. Levi doesn't know why. I give good kisses.


Monday: Moonie and Daady took me to a park to look for sticks. Me found bunches of them but she wouldn't let me take them to the river to wash them off.


Tuesday: Me found a GAINT toad in my dog yard and Moomie almost wet her pants when I told him "hello" and tried to kiss him. She got so yellie it hurt my ears. He was almost as big as me. No, really, he was. I hope he comes back but Moomie scared him pretty bad. He hopped away before she could kidnap him and put him in her Relocation Program.


Wednesday: Moomie and Daady went to some place called a car museum and they were gone a LONG time. I had to stay home, they said, and keep the place safe from aliens from outer space. Daady came home with a big smile on his face and all night he kept saying, "old" over and over. "Old" must be very good but me was disappointed that Moomie and Daady didn't tell me what a good job I did watching for aliens to land outside the windows.


Thursday: Levi found a moving stick by our cattails but Moomie got all yellie again and she wouldn't let me play with it. Me don't understand. At the park she didn't care how many sticks I carried around. That one must have been really special. She even gave it a name---Baby Blue Racer.


Friday: Me got to go to Starbucks for a little cup of cream. Moomie and Daady LOVE Starbucks and me loves the girl at the window who gives me cream.


Saturday---today: Moomie FINALLY let me get on the computer. She is still typing, typing, typing ALL THE TIME at the political sites and won't let me at the keyboard. She promises only one more week and she will get back to normal. Where is normal? Where is she going?


Smell ya later.


Love Levi



.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Levi's Diary


Me missed blogging on Schnauzer Saturday because Moomie was busy on something called political sites. She was like a crazy person typing, typing, typing. But today she finally said I could post my diary from last week.


Monday: Levi had a stick up my butt. I tried and tried to poop it out but it was stuck and Moomie had to come to my rescue. That was embarrassing. Me didn't want her to help and I kept running away, but it sure did feel better after the bark up my butt was gone. That's what happens when you eat it, she says, it has to come back out.


Tuesday: Moomie took me to a place that dog-napped me from her arms and then they stole all my hair! When she got me back Moomie said I wasn't cute anymore. I changed colors and now Moomie is sad that I am more gray than black. I don't know why. She and Daady are all gray. Me thinks I look awesome.


Wednesday: Daady dropped some good stuff on the floor. Beans and potatoes. Levi learned to sit right by him at dinner time because he spills me treats.


Thursday: The mailman brought a torture thingie to the door called an Easy Walk harness. Moomie says I walk SO nice when I'm wearing it because Levi doesn't pull on the leash. Me managed to step out of it once when some little girls wanted to pet me. But Moomie tighten up the torture straps so I don't think that will happen again. Me likes little girls.


Friday: After dark Moomie let me go bug hunting on the deck for a very long time. Boy that was fun. Me really good at catching flying bugs.


Saturday: Moomie brought me treats from some place called the Farmer's Market. They were better than the beans and potatoes.


Sunday---today: Moomie got all yellie because I was playing with a spider in the house. Me threw him in the air and then would watch him run and then I'd throw him in the air again. Levi doesn't understand. She takes me bug hunting on the deck but I can't bug hunt in the house? Humans have weird rules.


Smell ya later,


Love Levi


.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

The Long, Hard Cry

Time has no meaning up here at the Rainbow Bridge which is my excuse for not keeping up with my blogging. I just got busy with angel training; I'm learning to give new born puppies a little angel power push into the world. I've also done my share of shade sitting under the tennis ball trees. Some of the dogs up here are crazy about those trees. They're not content, like me, to just wait for the balls to fall on their own. You can always find a few canines jumping on their hind legs, plucking yellow prizes from the low branches.

I haven't been checking up on my earth family much lately either. But I came running to the magic water recently when I heard my mom seriously sobbing like I hadn't heard her do in a very long time. She's not generally a crybaby like that. I could feel her pain all the way up here and it broke my heart. I barked for my angel brother to come along and we saw her standing in front of the Moving Wall, the replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. She was telling her friend that she didn't expect her emotions to boil up like that. She didn't stop crying until she and Dad got back home and she took a long nap.

They had seen the real Wall in Washington D.C. a few years after its dedication in 1982 and at that time they spent a long time looking up names in the book so they could find them on the wall. Mom had been pen pals with over fifty serviceman back then. Boys, really, she says. After one of those servicemen came back home they met and he affected her life in ways she still doesn't talk about to anyone.

"So many wasted lives," she kept saying in her head. "So many families touched by all those deaths." And by the ones who came home with physical and emotional scared. There was one homemade plaque placed at the end of the memorial with a name and the words "death by diaxin." It really affected Mom and Dad. Dad had a friend who fought the effects of Agent Orange for decades and died now long ago. Mom felt so badly that she didn't think to bring any flowers along to place beneath the Wall. When they visited the real Wall she brought a poem she wrote.

Tomorrow is Schnauzer Saturday and I'm hoping Mom will help Levi blog about his adventure in Senior Citizen Land but it might be Sunday. You know how old people are. One day is just like another....except on Saturdays. That's when my humans savor the farmers market. And I need to get back to keeping a closer eye on Mom. She's been a little down lately. ©

.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

BIG Trouble for Levi

Anyone there? Levi here. I'm in BIG trouble and me don't know what to do. I needs advice. Oops, Levi has to go. Moomie is coming and I'm not allowed on the computer without her next to me.

Being an angel dog sure isn't as easy as you might think. I was right in the middle of watching the Angel League Agility Trials when Levi started sending urge mental telepathy messages out into the world. By the time I got back to the magic water to look down to see what was going on, Mom had come into the kitchen after her nap to find my dad had scattered every mail order catalog in the house all over the table and counter top. He was on a mission. He was looking for the same baseball cap that Levi had just chewed up. It was his favorite hat, a Tony Lama number they bought 3-4 years ago, and there wasn't a chance in hell he was going to find it in the current batch of catalogs.

Mom had been warning and reminding Dad not to leave that hat on the table next to his La-Z-Boy but he forgets that Levi isn't me and he will steal things off all the low tables in the house. Poor Dad. He wore that hat every where, probably because it reminded him of his pre-stroke days. He loved his western attire---Pendleton wool shirts, Levi jeans, Tony Lama cowboy boots and Stenson hats. But they aren't very wheelchair compatible so he traded them in for a better level of independence that comes from sweat pants and pull over knits.

Levi was upset when Dad caught him in the act. Dad was upset, too, and he blamed himself for not taking better care of his hat.. My baby brother had never ruined anything more than a piece of paper before. (Not that he hasn't tried but Mom keeps a close eye on him.) Even Mom felt guilty for not corralling Levi in the laundry room when she took a nap. The whole house was in a gloom and doom mood as Mom searched the internet for another Tony Lama hat like the one Levi ate. No such luck. I wanted to use my angel power to help find one but my older brother tells me I can't do that. There are rules, he keeps telling me, about frivolous interference. Yadda, yadda, yadda. So now I have to watch poor Levi worry about getting un-adopted over this. Silly boy thinks Dad and Mom won't love him anymore.

Speaking of love, Levi got this neat Blogging Friends Forever gold card from Nottie Scottie, Rocky, and the gang over at Forget Sit & Stay. Levi will be beside himself when he sees this gold card and maybe it will make him forget about the hat. Thanks you all!

Like all awards it has some suggested rules for pawing it forward:

1. Only five people allowed.
2. Four have to be dedicated followers of your blog.
3. One has to be someone new or recently new to your blog and live in another part of the world.
4. You must link back to whoever gave you the award.

We're going to paw it foward to: Mr. T-Bone Beasley, Secret Schnoodle, Scruffy, Lacie and Stan's Place. And the forth one goes to any long-time friend who hasn't gotten this award yet and wants to grab it. For our new blog follower we paw it forward to: Mona and the Mommy.

.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Best of Levi Sleeping Award

Mom and Dad went to a family day picnic today. They had all kinds of entertainment for kids and grandkids, which Mom and Dad don't have but they always go anyway. Among the activities was a clown show, a balloon artist, dunking booth, fish pond and Mom's favorite, a cake walk.

Mom has fond memories of cake walks going back over sixty years to her pre-school days when she won a cake at her very first cake walk. It was a strawberry angel food cake made from scratch and it was decorated with whipped cream and juicy red berries. The cake walk was a popular custom at the weddings of her youth. Mom walked the cake walk a dollar's worth today---four times with 2008 rates---and she told Dad, "Some traditions die hard when you have such vivid memories of the first time you ever won a prize." That got me to thinking about poor Levi not placing in the medal at the Paw-limpics today. Every puppy can't win every contest they entry but they should have a good memory of their very first contest. So I want to create one for my baby brother.

Levi sent in several photos for the sleeping category at the Pal-limpics and the judges picked the first one below to go up against all the other dogs who entered. Did they get the best photo of Levi sleeping? I'm asking all our friends in cyberspace to vote between the four below so I can present Levi with his very own prize. Silly, I know, but he'll be so happy when one of his photos wins this Best of Levi Sleeping Award that he'll forget all about not winning metal at the Paw-limpics. Vote in the comment section!


1) The Wall Hugger



2) The Floor Kisser



3) The Full Monty #1

Add Image

4) The Full Monty #2



Congratulations to all the dogs who placed in the medal and honorable mentions at the Paw-limpics. There were some awesome entries. Here's a link to the sleeping event. Mom especially like Bolo, Archie, Willow, George, Happy and Jackson.

.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Levi and the Pawlimpics

Anyone there? It's Schnauzer Saturday and Levi gets to blog again.

Guess what!
Me...I'm going to be in the Pawlimpics! Just one more day and my event (singles sleeping) will be posted and judged. Moomie says not to get my hopes up for winning because her camera is a dimeasore. Dinosaur. Poopy spelling! Does it really, really, really matter if it's dimeasore or dinosaur? Levi doesn't even know what dinosaurs are. Big book---dictionary---say dinosaurs are 'extinct.' That was no help because I didn't know what 'extinct' is. So I looked THAT up and it says it means no longer on earth. But my daady has Sinclair dinosaurs in his collector space case and Moomie's has her dinosaur camera. I am so confused! Maybe dictionary doesn't know they came to our house to live?

Why does the dinosaur camera want me to lose anyway? I sleep good. I sleep cute. That's why Levi gets to be in the Pawlimpics. I hope the dinosaurs don't eat my picture before tomorrow. Then you can't vote for me at the doggies choice awards. Moomie cautioned me to remember that all puppies sleep good and are cute doing it. "You need to develop some
majesty...modesty and manners," she told me about being a contesting contestant. Or was it the angel voice in my head that said that? Me not sure anymore who told me to get modesty and manners. Levi better look up 'modesty' and 'manners' in the dictionary so I know what THEY look like when I find them.

Smell you later.

Love, Levi


The Pawlimpic events are posted each day at Lenny's.

.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Toad Hunting

Levi here. Is it Schnauzer Saturday yet? Can me blog today? Me can't see the calendar. Moomie has it too high in the air. Me---no---I tried to grab it to bring it down so I can read it but Moomie is a meanie and she won't let me do that. She also says I I I I I I I---not me---has to learn to use proper English. That is SO unfair. Daaady says "me" all the time. "Me coffee." "Me sleep." But Moomie says that's because he had a stroke---whatever that is---and he can't say, "I." Well, maybe me wants to be like Daaady. Levi pours---no---Levi pouts over that. Poopy spelling! I get so confessed confused.

Guess what. We caught another baby toad last night. That makes five that Moomie's put in her Relocation Program. Every night at midnight we go hunting in the dog yard. Moomie takes her flashlight and an empty Starbucks cup and I take my schnauzer instincts---that means I'm a good hunter, Moomie says. I always find them first and me wants to eat them. Me don't want them to grow up BIG so they can eat me someday. They are growing fast! Last week they were dime size. This week they are quarter size. Moomie gets hysterical when I find one. "No, Levi, NO!" she yells. Someday I'm going to get one in my mouth before she gets it in the Starbuck cup.

Me gotta go. Moomie coming.

Smell you later.

Love, Levi


.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

The Naughty Puppy Catalog

Anyone there? Anyone there? Levi here. Me graduated from puppy obedience class last night! Moomie says we might go back in September. Me hope so. Me will miss playing with my friends.

Levi, it's not Schnauzer Saturday yet.

Me gotta go. Moomie's coming. If she catches me on the computer Levi will get in trouble.

Can you believe my baby brother? He finds the most creative ways to get into trouble. This past week he's been a handful with his wussy reaction to his neutering surgery and he's added several curious items to his naughtiness catalog. 1) He's started playing on the internet when Mom's back is turned and 2), he's been peeing on my gravestones. What's that all about? Seriously. Does he somehow know that I'm the one whispering advice in his little ear? I doubt it but it's got me puzzled and I don't mind telling you, it's kind of creeping me out. I guess I should have my angel powers checked out to make sure I'm doing things right.

In addition to the wussiness, grave peeing and internet episodes, Levi's figured out that one of Dad's feet doesn't work very well so he's been snatching the sock right off that foot and running with it. Every time Mom turns around she has to track the sock down and return it to Dad's foot. He's got no respect for Dad's disability. Well, that's not entirely true. When Mom helps Dad with his showers, and has to transfer him in and out of the shower stall, Levi has learned to sit-stay just fine. But I think he's only doing it for the treats, not because he really understands the safety issue of getting in the way.

Mom's got treats in all her pockets. She never did that for any of her other dog-kids. Half the time she forgets to remove the kibble from her pockets when she does the laundry and it gets washed and dried. Weird, it doesn't look any different having gone through the laundry process. It just falls out the dryer door and Mom scrambles to pick it up before Levi gets to the detergent laced stuff.

Got to go. It's been busy up here at Rainbow Bridge and I want to tag along with the welcoming committee, help out if I can. ©


By the way, if you haven't seen the Bone Relay for the 2008 Paw-limpics, you have to check out the neat video that Lenny made. What a lot of work he put into that video and it turned out to be an awesome start to the Paw-limpics.

.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Ghosts from the Distant Past

Mom's walking down Memory Lane again. You can always tell when she does that because she heads for the book shelve where she keeps the photo albums. She's not a big picture taker but she inherited my grandma's photos so she's got lots of stuff from when she was a little kid. It's a shame Levi never met our grandmother. She loved her granddogs almost as much as her grandchildren and she was always there to babysit me if needed.

Here's some photos of the dogs that were in the household when Mom was growing up. This first one is of Mickie and Mom. One of them is fifteen months old but it's kind of hard to tell which one from the label Grandma put on the photo. Could be both.



The second photo (below) is of Pat. She was my grandmother's favorite dog. She even had that photograph blown up and hand-tinted so she could hang it on the wall. Grandma liked to tell a story about how Pat became the surrogate mother of a litter of kittens. The mother cat was young and didn't want any part of nursing or being around her kittens so Pat would hold the mother down with her paws and make her stay there long enough for the kittens to nurse. Pat would clean the kittens with her tongue, carry the kittens in her mouth, and taught them to use the sandbox. And when it was feeding time again she'd hunt the mother down and repeat the whole process. The mother cat never did learn to like motherhood but Pat sure did.



The photo below is of King. He's the first dog Mom remembers really well. He was her constant companion for many years. And he was the source of her first real heartbreak when he got lost at their summer cottage. Grandma thought he probably wandered into a farmer's field and got himself shot but for months after he came up missing they'd run up and down the roads in the area, looking for the lost King. He's the reason Mom's dogs from adulthood---angels Sarah, Jason, and me---got so little freedom off the leash.



The photo below is Mom (on the left), Cindy and one of Mom's cottage friends. Cindy was a black Belgium shepherd who had been abused by a previous owner. It took months for Grandma to teach Cindy to trust people again. She became intensely loving and protective around women but men had to earn her respect.



The next photo is of Grandma, Cindy and Scottie. Scottie was a blond dog of questionable parentage and she lived to be 23 years old. She was blind for 21 of those years. When she was young she had a form of polio and was completely paralyzed. She spent months going back and forth to a Veterinarian College for experimental treatment. Some treatments involved getting shots above her eyes; that's how she lost her eyesight. She lived in the bathroom during that time and grandpa carried her outside several times a day and would hold her up to pee and poop. It wasn't so much to save the dog that grandpa did all that. The drugs were something they wanted to test for human use and Grandpa agreed so long as the college didn't get to keep Scottie. He wanted to be the one to decide when she was ready to give up. She never did.



Scottie did learn to walk again and Mom would wear bells so Scottie could follow the sound around the block for exercise. Grandpa said that any dog who went through all the stuff Scottie went through deserved to live---blind or not---so he built a pen for her with a deluxe dog house cut into the garage. Lately Mom's been wondering if Scottie was the one who taught her that you don't give up on sick people, even when doctors say there's no hope like they did with my dad eight years ago. Dogs do teach kids a lot about life. From her childhood dogs Mom learned about love, loss, devotion, heartache, joy, human cruelty, triumphing over adversities, and the fact that you don't have to be a mother to give motherly love.

I've never met Mickie, Pat, King, Cindy or Scottie up here at the Rainbow Bridge. I hear rumors that dog souls that old---Mickie's been gone nearly sixty years---get recycled back to earth again. I guess it doesn't matter if it's true or not. But one thing is for sure, we canine have an important part to play in the balance of things on earth and in the memories of people like Mom.

The next four photos are Mom's adulthood dogs:

Angel Sarah, a puppy mill poodle who only lived five years. Dim-witted but loveable.



Angel Jason, a smart-as-a-whip poodle who got a rolling dog house from his human dad so he never had to get left behind when they went on vacation.



Me---Angel Cooper---with my friend Phil. If you've read any of my posts before I crossed over the Rainbow Bridge you know I had a bit of a reputation as a bad boy.



And last but not least, the very much alive Levi who Mom loves so much it scares her.



© Jean Riva 2008



.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Levi and the Name Tag

It's Schnauzer Saturday but before I turn this blog entry over to Levi, I'll update you on his recovery from his neutering on Wednesday. He's being a little wuss. I mean that in an affectation way, of course, but he does cry and whine when the clock says it's time for a pain pill. Mom's afraid he's going to be a drug head because he seems to need them so much. Plus he will only walk about six feet before his little butt drops down to the floor. Six feet. Drop. Six feet. Drop. The incision looks good, though, and the onsie is working just fine to keep him from pulling on it.

Levi's been tagged by Happy at Serendipity Park to do the name game. So I'm turning this blog entry over to my baby brother now.

What is your name?
Me Levi Strauss

If you could change your name, what would it be?
Button Fly Levi – good name for baseball player

What is your pet's name?
Blue Boy

If you could change your pet's name, what would it be?
Bat Boy

What are your brother and/or sister's name/s?
Angel Cooper, Angel Jason and Angel Sarah

If you could change their names, what would they be?
Angel Cooper = Bad Boy Leroy (Me hears stories. He scary bad!)
Angel Jason = Buddha Boy (Me hears stories. He scary good.)
Angel Sarah = Silly Willie (Me hears stories. She sillier than me.)

For the name game Levi has to tag as many people (or critters) as the letters in my name. Me likes to meet new pals so me tagging newbies in the Dogs With Blogs Community: Gucci, Tuffy, Weeze, and Reilly.

Did Levi win the name game? Me try really hard to do it right.


Can me---no---can I tell you something else? Levi not scared anymore about losing my balls but me still not feeling good. My crotch itches and burns and the onsie thingie Moomie puts on me to cover up my ouchie is too hot. Me---no---I saw that Bella Starlet dog on the Greatest American Dog Show on TV. She's the one who wears clothes all the time. Levi feels sorry for her and hopes Moomie doesn't get any bright ideas about doing that to me. Moomie promises only three more days in the onsie and Levi is going to make her keep her promise. ©

Smell ya later,

Love Levi



.