A Tribute to Madi

It’s with heavy heart that we share the news that all of Blogville’s BFFF (Best Feline Friend Forever) Madison D. Cat has crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

She was the life of many a Blogville party and taught us all how to dance (that girl could twerk like no other). She fought a courageous battle with kidney disease with the help of her pawrents this past year and lived to 16 ½ years old.

You can visit her blog here to leave some kind words to her pawrents.

We will miss you dear Madi and hold you in our hearts forever. Our paws are crossed for you pawrents as they cope with this sad time.

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Chewy Review – Solid Gold Beef Bone Broth with Turmeric Dog Food Topper

Hi everyone! It’s Millie and Walter here! It’s time for our second Chewy.com review of the month.

What else was in the box this month?

Here’s a look at the second item that was in the box.

Solid Gold Beef Bone Broth with Turmeric Dog Food Topper

It’s a pouch of Solid Gold Beef Bone Broth with Turmeric Dog Food Topper. There are other flavors of Bone Broth available too.

We’ve never seen a container like this before.
It smells great whatever it is.

According to Chewy.com:

“This delectable topper is made with real, human grade beef bone broth and is rich in naturally occurring collagen, as well as vitamins and minerals essential for overall wellness. Added turmeric provides an aromatic and flavorful treat that even the pickiest eaters will love. Plus, this broth is easy for pet parents to use— simply add two tablespoons to your dog’s food as a tasty topper, use to moisten dry food for dogs with sensitive teeth, add to water for added flavor and to encourage proper hydration or serve on its own as a tasty treat.”

Some of the key benefits of the bone broth are:

• Holistic, natural food topper is ideal as a tasty and nutritious meal addition, hydrating treat or for moistening kibble for dogs with sensitive teeth, like puppies or seniors.
• Slow-simmered beef bone broth with turmeric provides an aromatic and flavorful addition to your dog’s meal.
• Rich in collagen—a protein essential for gut health and the strength and maintenance of bones, joints and nails, which occurs naturally in beef bones.
• Human grade beef broth is crafted with simple, recognizable ingredients you and your dog will love!
• Easy to serve in a convenient, resealable pouch—simply shake, pour and serve.

Let’s see what we thought of the bone broth.

Measure out a couple of tablespoons per meal

We got to taste it from the spoon first

That tastes great. Can I have some more?

This really makes my dinner taste even better than before.

Good to the last drop!

Check out the video to see how we liked the bone broth on our kibble.

If you can’t see the video you can go here to view it.

We both loved the Solid Gold Beef Bone Broth and give it 8 paws up (because that is all the paws we have) and we recommend them to all our friends.

Our mom wants to say a few words about the packaging. Hi everyone! It’s mom Cindy here. I just wanted to say that this was the first pouch with a pour top that I’ve ever used. The flexible pouch is a bit difficult to handle and when I went to pour some out onto the spoon the first time it came out very fast and Millie got a bit more than the 2 tablespoons recommended (not that I think it would be bad for her). So my word of caution is if you haven’t handled a flexible pouch to pour a liquid out of to be careful it doesn’t handle like a rigid bottle.

This month we are joining Koru Bear for the Chewy.com blog hop.

Disclaimer: As #ChewyInfluencers we received one Solid Gold Beef Bone Broth with Turmeric Dog Food Topper from Chewy.com to review. We did not receive any monetary compensation for this review and will receive no additional benefits for barking about the product or the company. The opinions in this review are the honest opinions of ours.

Chewy Review – I and Love and You Nice Jerky Bites Variety Pack

Hi everyone! It’s Millie and Walter here! It’s time for our first Chewy.com review of the month.

What’s in the box this month?

Here’s a look at what was in the box.

I and Love and You Nice Jerky Bites Variety Pack Grain-Free Dog Treats

We couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw three bags of treats! This is the I and Love and You Nice Jerky Bites Variety Pack Grain-Free Dog Treats.

There is lots of good stuff in all these treats

According to Chewy.com:

“…This 3-pack comes with three delicious recipes, all made with real meat as the first ingredient including beef, lamb, chicken, duck, and salmon. The tender and chewy treats are perfectly bite-sized and high in protein, which makes them great for training and for dogs of all sizes.”

Some of the key benefits of these treats are:

• With three recipes made with real meat as the first ingredient, including beef, lamb, chicken, duck, and salmon.
• Tender and chewy treats are perfectly bite-sized so they’re great for dogs of all sizes
• Perfect for training or anytime your pal deserves a tasty, high-protein, all-natural treat.
• Made with premium, handpicked ingredients like New Zealand lamb and North American beef.
• Lovingly made in the USA with never any fillers, grains, or artificial flavors, colors or preservatives.

Let’s see what we thought of all these treats.

Those are nice sized treats

I hope mom doesn’t break those into smaller pieces.

I can’t wait to taste those Chicken & Salmon treats
If we don’t look at them we won’t be tempted to go before mom says “Okay”.

Next up is the Beef & Lamb flavor

Those sure look tasty

The waiting is the hardest part!

Check out the video to see how we liked these treats.

If you can’t see the video you can go here to view it.

Finally we get to try the Chicken & Duck flavor
I hope I’m not drooling

OMG! This flavor is my favorite!

I took the treat so fast mom couldn’t get a picture of me taking it from her. BOL!

We both loved all three flavors and give the I and Love and You Nice Jerky Bites Variety Pack 8 paws up (because that is all the paws we have) and we recommend them to all our friends.

This month we are joining Koru Bear for the Chewy.com blog hop.

Disclaimer: As #ChewyInfluencers we received one I and Love and You Nice Jerky Bites Variety Pack from Chewy.com to review. We did not receive any monetary compensation for this review and will receive no additional benefits for barking about the product or the company. The opinions in this review are the honest opinions of ours.

Hooking on Hump Day – Summer Sunhats

Hi everyone it’s Cindy here. It’s been a while since I told you about my crochet projects so today I’m joining the Hookin on Hump Day blog hop to tell you about a couple of sunhats that I made.

Summer Sunhat for mom with white flower pin

If you’ve been following my blog for a while you may remember that I made a sunhat for my mom for Mother’s Day 2017. She took that hat with her when she visited her brother in Arizona this past winter and wore it many times. When she returned home she said how much she loved that hat but since it was navy blue she couldn’t wear it with some of her outfits and would it be possible to get one with more neutral colors.

Summer Sunhat for mom with tan flower pin

Since Mother’s Day was approaching again, by the time my mom returned from her trip, I picked out a nice khaki and used black and white for the accent colors. I used the same pattern for the Sheer Southern Style Sun Hat by Kathy Lashley as the previous one I made. The yarn used for this pattern is Omega Sinfonia DK-weight yarn which is the same yarn I used for the first hat.

Summer Sunhat for mom with black flower pin

As you can see from the pictures above I also added three pins she can use to accessorize with.

The hat is a hit and looks great on her

Needless to say she loved it and has been wearing it all summer long. In addition to the hat I wanted to give her something to safely store the hat in.

Claire’s Fancy Hat Box

After scouring the internet I discovered that Joann’s had the perfect sized hat box.

The 14″ hat box was a perfect fit

I found a fun hat embroidery and added some lettering to create the top of the box. With a little sewing and some spray on glue the box was covered and lined. I love how it turned out.

While I was working on this hat for my mom one of the young ladies in a group I get together with to crochet and knit told us she was just diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She knew she would be losing her hair during her treatment this summer and wondered if I could make a sunhat for her too.

A Sunhat for Hope

Hope picked out the colors of cream with light teal and navy accents.

Hope’s sunhat with cream flower pin

Just like with the other hats I made a couple of pins to go with it.

Close up of light teal flower pin

I don’t have a picture of Hope wearing her hat but this past weekend we had one of our get togethers and Hope told me of how much she wore it on a family vacation. She even had to rescue it when a gust of wind blew it off her head and sent it flying into the ocean.

My maternal grandmother died from ovarian cancer when I was about 1½ and I have no memory of her so I was more than happy to help Hope with this small gesture. She offered to pay but I only let her refund me for the materials.

Hope is doing well on her fight against her cancer but I’m sure she would appreciate any crossed paws or prayers you could send her way.

Flower Friday – Hydrangeas and more

Hi everyone. It’s Millie and Walter here. We are finally getting a break in our hot, dry weather and have enjoyed some time playing outside.

Today we want to show you what is blooming in our yard. Let’s start with our hydrangea. There are lots of varieties and we have quite a few different ones.

Smooth Hydrangea

Here is a close up view of a couple of the flower heads.

Next up is a mophead serrata hydrangea. This one turns a beautiful pale purple color.

We have a few Hydrangea Paniculata varieties too. These are favorites of all sorts of flying insects.

Our deciduous azalea just finished up blooming. It’s always nice to see these yellow azalea blooming in the summer.

We have one more shrub to show you. This callicarpa (also know as beautyberry) has these tiny flowers that are opening up along most of the stalks. We are waiting for fall when these little flowers hopefully will turn into bright purple fruit.

Let’s move on to the perennials in the yard now.

A view of our perennial garden from our patio

Another bright yellow flower we enjoy is coreopsis.

The hosta are almost finished blooming but here’s one to show you.

We have a couple varieties of agastache. They are a lovely purple color and are favorites of the hummingbirds and butterflies.

Blue Fortune Agastache

Last but not least is our pink loosestrife.

We hope you enjoyed checking out our what is blooming in our yard right now.

We are joining Arty, Jakey and Rosy for this weeks Flower Friday. Stop by their blog to see what other blogs are doing. They probably have flowers of their own to show.

Lighthouses Around the World Blog Hop

Hi everyone! Today we are joining our friends in the Lighthouses Around the World Blog Hop for National Lighthouse Day. We searched our archives and found a few lighthouse pictures we could share.

Living along the south shore of Lake Ontario there are a few lighthouses around. Many of our local lighthouses have been turned into historical sites and museums.

Sodus Bay Lighthouse and Museum

Sodus Bay is the largest natural harbor on Lake Ontario and is located about 38 miles east of Rochester, New York. The original lighthouse at this location was erected in the late 1850’s. This lighthouse is no longer operational but is used as a museum and is operated by the Sodus Bay Historical Society. You can read more about the history of this lighthouse here.

When piers were erected at the entrance of Sodus Bay the Outer Lighthouse was added to the end of one of the piers.

Sodus Bay Outer Lighthouse

The late winter shot above shows about 50 feet of dirty compacted snow that extends out from where the grasses are in the foreground of the picture. Below is a close up of the outer lighthouse.

Sodus Bay Outer Lighthouse

Closer to Rochester in Webster, NY there is another pier with a light tower on it.

Webster Park jetty in winter

It may be difficult to see but at the end of this ice covered pier there is a light tower. Here is a closer view in color taken on the same day.

Moving further west we will visit the Irondequoit Bay Outlet light tower.

West side Irondequoit Bay outlet light tower

This light tower is on the end of the west side pier.

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing a few of the lighthouses and light towers along the southern shore of Lake Ontario near Rochester, NY.

Chewy Review – Walter Tests a ThunderShirt

Hi everyone! It’s Walter here! It’s time for a special Chewy.com review.

Hey mom! There are no treats in this box.

Here’s a look at what was in the box. A Large ThunderShirt. There are other sizes of ThunderShirts you can get to meet your needs.

You may not know this about me but I can get a bit anxious/excited in certain situations. For example the last two times I’ve had to go to the V.E.T. (just for routine shots) when I came home I was so excited that I drank a bunch of water and then brought my breakfast back up on the floor. When the nice ladies at Chewy.com offered a ThunderShirt to review my pawrents jumped at the opportunity.

According to Chewy.com a ThunderShirt:

“…uses gentle hugging to calm your dog. With its patented design, Thundershirt’s gentle, constant pressure has a dramatic calming effect for most dogs if they are anxious, fearful or overexcited.”

Some of the key benefits of using ThunderShirts are:

• Patented design applies gentle, constant pressure to calm anxiety, fear, and over-excitement. This gentle hugging produces a dramatic calming effect
• Calms your dog during fireworks, thunder, separation, travel, vet visits, grooming, and much more with no training and no medication
• Comfortable and easy on/off. Made of durable, breathable, soft fabric that is washable.
• Recommended by trainers and veterinarians to relieve stress-related behaviors such as jumping, excessive barking, and inappropriate marking
• Proven effective in over 80% of dogs

According to the instructions before putting the ThunderShirt on for the first time, you should offer a small food treat using the folded ThunderShirt as a plate.

Is that treat for me?

Then mom tried it on me.

I look hot in this shirt don’t I?

It took a little wrangling to understand which flaps went where but by following the instructions she had it on me in no time. The large size fit me perfectly. I didn’t have any adverse reaction to wearing it and I think it felt pretty good. You may remember that I wore it while Millie & I tested the Kong Classic and Kong Easy Treat.

We didn’t have a V.E.T. visit to use as a test but we did have someone come to our house to discuss some work my pawrents are going to have done soon. To make it easier for our guest Millie and I were closed into our living room and our mom hung out with us.

Mom I hear a strange man talking to dad.

Normally I would be quite wound up and bark a lot. As you will see in the following video Millie was the one doing all the barking while I just paced a little and did a little whining.

Now let’s see how I did.

If you can’t see the video you can go here to view it.

This is more relaxed than usual for me with a stranger in the house.

As you saw by the end of the video I was able to lay down for a while and relax a bit. I admit I was still ready to jump up if necessary but my mom said it was more relaxed than usual for me. I also wore my ThunderShirt when we went on a car ride to pick up some take out food (sorry no pictures for this). Car rides can be very exciting and I usually spend the entire trip looking out the windows but this time I actually laid down and almost took a nap on the way home. My pawrents say it was the calmest I’ve ever been on a car ride.

I’ve worn my ThunderShirt a few times around the house just for the fun of it so my pawrents say I won’t associate it with only bad or stressful things. I don’t mind wearing it at all and since we have AC in the house I don’t get hot either.

I give ThunderShirt 4 paws up (because that is all the paws I have) and I recommend it to all our friends. We plan on using the ThunderShirt for my next V.E.T. visit or the next time we go to PetSmart for our nail trim and will let you know how that went too. We are also thinking of picking up another ThunderShirt for Millie so we both will have one.

This month we are joining Koru Bear for the Chewy.com blog hop.

Disclaimer: As #ChewyInfluencers we received one Large ThunderShirt from Chewy.com to review. We did not receive any monetary compensation for this review and will receive no additional benefits for barking about the product or the company. The opinions in this review are the honest opinions of ours.