Happy Holidays!

We're sending you the best of the season and joy in all the days to come.🐾 Thanks for being our friends, and thanks for loving this wacky world. 🐾 Our Christmas nap begins.

Look: our tiny tree!

All our love,
Tootsie, Renee, & Dachshund Daddy ❤️

BAD HARVEST by Dzvinia Orlowsky

BAD HARVEST by Dzvinia Orlowsky is a gorgeous poetry book (Carnegie Mellon University Press). Total paws of approval. We love it.

 "Hope was a thing with pink feathers / circling Olympic ice."--Dzvinia Orlowsky

Time to Post Tootsie's Annual Holiday Crisis!

Sit / Stay / Read

It's almost time for the holidays, and guess what we want to do for all the days and nights?

We're happy to say "hi" and to share that all is going well. Tootsie wants to report that she feels the cold as a senior tube of fur, but her waddles still take her places. (And Dachshund Daddy does a fair bit of carrying.) Our vet Dr. Pozzi at Centro Veterinario Scairolo is amazing--he's incredible with little dogs. And, really, what would we all do without the littles? 🐾🐾

Love,
Renee, Tootsie, and Dachshund Daddy

Hiking in Austria

We're super proud of the hiking we did in Austria this summer. In particular, our hike to the top of Speiereck was our biggest in years. 🐾 🐶 🚠

 Us at the top of Speiereck above Mauterndorf, Salzburg, Austria.

I'm super happy to be back at Casa Burrow. In exchange for agreeing to have a bath, Mom did all my laundry. Even a little dog generates a lot of laundry on the road.

Dog Days of Summer with Unicorn

The Lowdown

Here's the lowdown: 2/3 in but 1/3 out. 🐾🐾

Also, a wonderful artist named Holly Sellors ran a contest on Twitter to submit a photo--and she would paint it. We submitted the photo below, but she picked a guinea pig named Judy!

They Say / I Say / Dog Say

Tootsie helps with English Composition lesson planning!

TGIF: DreamSack

Tootsie didn't make it all the way into her burrow! This is her DreamSack handmade by Dachshund Delights. It comes with us when we travel. 🐾🐶💕💤

If you're on Instagram, you can follow us there. And look: Tootsie made it all the way inside.

New Writing Online!

I'm thrilled to share several new pieces of writing online. One is a book review of Sophfronia Scott's beautiful essay collection "Love's Long Line" (Ohio State University Press). Read the review at "Brevity," here.

The other piece is a special post, "My Mother's Forestland," for Agricultural Climate Network. Read that, here.

In other news, I have a book review and personal essay of doggie literature that will come out in the journal "Fourth Genre" August 2018.

As ever, Tootsie helped with the writing and editing! She's a very good dog.

Flight Practice Begins, Again!

Our form needs assessment, but we're thrilled to be back in the air.

Sometimes, especially after lots of practice, we cuddle on a mountain.

What Is Going On?

Can you explain the 21st century to me?

Flight Practice Begins, 2018

In Tuscany, over Easter, we had an unexpected flight practice!

And we ate this "Colomba," a sweet bread from our favorite pastry shop, Gelato Café. (Tootsie does not eat it.) The same big bread we eat for Easter in Italy is the same as the big bread we eat for Christmas in Italy. "But it is in a different shape!" says Dachshund Daddy.

Called: "Colomba di Pasqua" (Easter) and "Panettone" (Christmas), respectively. 🐰 

[P.s. This one has pear and chocolate bits.]

A New Friend?

Just before we met Bandit, the very good-looking doggie in the photo below, Tootsie had been barked at by a tiny chihuahua who was wearing a tiny Swiss sweatshirt. She was still shaking when Bandit came along. As soon as he came up to her, she stopped shaking and started wagging at a very high frequency.

Tootsie loves big dogs; I think they remind her of her fur-brother Truffle.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

As Ren & Stimpy say, "Happy, happy; joy, joy!" Or maybe Verdi has something else to add?

For a Verdi birthday treat, follow this link, here.

Dachshund Grandpa Made Us a Bench!

Grandpa designed and built our bench so that we could transport it home from Idaho to Switzerland as airplane luggage, and then we could set it up in our special entrance spot, which Grandpa had previously measured.

Dachshund Daddy took the lead but we all worked as a team to put it together. Thanks, Grandpa, for including the necessary tools in our luggage! The bench is made of oak with a touch of teak.

Thank you, Grandpa, for our bench. We love it!

New Clothes and a Squeaky Toy!

Dachshund Delights is the best. Tootsie loves her new squeaky toy, which Dachshund Delights included as a gift, and she loves her made-to-order Hold-a-Dog Harness, Snap-a-Danna, and raincoat.

Do you ever have trouble finding clothes that fit? Every item from Dachshund Delights fits because it is made to your size. For dogs only, no humans. All breeds welcome!

Snout. Tail. Unicorn.

THREE PARTS OF A NAP.

Waddles & Walkies for Safety & Peace

It is a sad week in our country of origin, and we are heartbroken by the loss--by the slaughter--of innocents. There is absolutely no reason not to ban bump stocks and AK-47 rifles. None. Our hearts go out to all affected by terrorist gun violence.

Since we've now lived abroad for ten years, we've spent quite a bit of time thinking about America and about what it means to be an American. If it means to go grocery shopping with a man wearing a Confederate flag jacket, a pistol on his belt, and three extra clips on that same belt, including dark shaded eyeglasses, well, count us out. If, on the other hand, it means to celebrate the ability of a population to vote out politicians who are not protecting children, then, count us in. It's a relief to live in a country, Switzerland, where one does not fear being assassinated at a school or university or concert. We wish you might experience this feeling of safety and peace, too.

And so... in short, we turn right now to the small, graceful joys that make daily life meaningful and that fill it with love: walkies with our champion waddler, our Tube of Fur.

Scout on Sette Termini and Thoughts on the Constitution

After surviving a major health crisis last fall, I feel renewed and rejuvenated. I go on substantial walkies almost every day, and I've already been on several long hikes. One thing that has changed in my life is that I don't bark at big dogs anymore. If you don't believe me, here's some photographic evidence from my recent encounter with Scout.

Scout is four years old and loves hiking.

I met him on Monte Sette Termini, east of Lake Maggiore. You can see a tiny piece of the Lake in the photo below, taken from the summit meadows (just over 3,000 ft above sea level). It's hard to tell, but the photo also shows a German Shepherd running around the meadows. I didn't bark at him, either.

Barking used to be my way to remind European dogs that we Americans enjoy freedom of speech as a result of the First Amendment. Now that I'm older, I've come to realize that a savvy sausage needs not bask in American exceptionalism.

Am I A Bumble Bee?

This snazzy sweater is handmade by Puppy1Love!

We call this Tootsie's raft

Every Day Gratitude

Writing Ideas

Here's Tube of Fur seeking immediate paw-proval for a new writing idea.

And here's Tube of Fur after abandoning that new writing idea.

Ready, Set, Go

Tube of Fur is thinking of the new semester.

She's all dressed up and ready to go!

La Befana 2018

Tootsie does not understand why HumanMomRenée & Dachshund Daddy get to eat these Italian pastries for La Befana...

while she has to eat dry kibble from a Tupperware bowl. At the very least, the kibble presentation could be vastly improved.

La Befana is a witch who delivers chocolate or coal. (She's also known as Frau Perchta. This is All King's Day, but celebrated in Italy and southern Switzerland as La Befana.) La Befana looks rather like the witch on stick that you see in the United States for Halloween. Or she looks kind of like this (though this witch is from a trail marker in Germany).

Here's a throwback to an earlier post we wrote about La Befana.

Dog Socks!

After my illness this fall and winter, I've recovered some solid footing.
xo Tootsie

Check out the amazing store Socks Dreams where we found these paw socks to celebrate the 30k words HumanMomRenee wrote during November.

Buon Anno e Tanti Auguri!

I'm praying that 2018 is a year of peace for all. A dog can dream. Xo Tootsie