Marshall, Marshall, Marshall - with apologies to Marsha Brady

It's long past time to introduce the final 2 pack members at Weller's Wild Wiener Ranch. We've stopped doing rescue, but these two wound up joining our herd anyway.

We added a Great Dane/Basset Hound mix just after Thanksgiving. He looks like a low-rider Great Dane. We call him Biggs, because, compared to the dachsies, he IS big. He weighs about 45+ lbs and is not quite 2 years old. He is black with grey dapple markings and is a BIG PUPPY! He thinks he's a miniature Chihuahua puppy and acts like it. Not funny when he comes barreling into the house and brushes past you! He was kept outside, wasn't socialized and didn't know his real name (Charlie), so we've been trying to teach him how to live with people. He's learning, but he's got a very LLLLLOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGGG learning curve! It's always a Hallmark moment when Biggs greets Mike when we come home from the store. He clears the arm of the sofa and hits Mike like a freight train! Then, it's non-stop kisses until bed time. The good part about Biggs is that he doesn't drool like a Great Dane, so they aren't slobbery kisses!

Our sofa had a small (quarter sized) hole where Scooter had nibbled it. One of the first days that Biggs stayed home with the rest of the herd, we came home to find the hole was GONE! Of course, so was the entire length of the fabric on the back of the sofa! He's chewed up a couple of cushions from the sofa, another cushion from the chair, a leather chair at the store and the corner of another chair. We've been buying Bitter Apple as a deterrent - every morning, I do our "leave stuff alone" routine. I grab Biggs cheeks, stare in his face and growl, "DON'T CHEW ON STUFF". Then I spray the furniture with the Bitter Apple while he (and the other dogs) watch, chanting, "No - NO - NO - NO!!!" as I spray. Most of the times it works, but not always. Until it does, the sofa is not going to get replaced!

Then we come to the subject of this post - Marshall. His full name is Marshall Tucker Longhorn, though we usually just call him Marshall. He's also known as Marshy, Martian Mellon, Marsh mellow and "You little ratfink"! Marshall is a red, mini, smooth coated dachshund who weighs about 10 lbs soaking wet. He joined the family about 2 weeks after Biggs did. He'd had 3 families in 3 weeks and had separation anxiety. We brought him to the store for 2 weeks and he finally settled in. Nowadays, he and Biggs are partners in crime. One of their favorite heists is for Biggs to grab the toilet paper and take it outside, Marshall joins him and has a great time shredding the toilet paper - the patio winds up looking like a snow storm!

Marshal and Biggs are best buddies - inseparable, as the photo shows. Marshall is older by 6 months and he absolutely adores his "little" (as in younger) brother! Biggs loves Marshall - they play and Marshall will chew on Biggs from nose to tail and the big doof just lets him do it.

I actually made something with SEED beads!!

Let me start this by saying that I do not like messing with seed beads. I have a slight aversion to beads smaller than 4mm or so.

Gary taught me how to do this spiral rope stitch in about 5 minutes. It took me longer to get the beads, needles and thread together than it did to learn the stitch!

I really like this stitch and for me, that's saying a lot, because I don't normally like using seed beads. I can see a ton of possibilities with this - now, it's going to be a challenge to find the time to play with them!

BIG NEWS!!!!

If you are looking for displays, gift boxes and other supplies, we've just gotten set up as a distributor from one of the biggest importers of displays. We will have the necks, busts, ring stands, ring and jewelry boxes, plastic trays, tray liners (velvet pads and the compartment kind) and lots more.

We will be putting these items on the website and will probably use a combination of e-mail and telephone to process orders. Haven't gotten all of those bugs worked out yet - I'm still trying to figure out where we're going to put everything when the shipment gets here! Mike says it will "purt near" half fill a semi truck.

If you need displays or gift boxes, we'll have a very wide variety available. If there is something you've been looking for and can't seem to find, let us know and we'll add it to our first order - just for you!

CSI - LBS style!

Is there anyone out there who doesn't understand that a sign saying "Electronic Surveillance in Use" with a picture of a security camera means "Smile and don't EVEN think of stealing anything"?

Obviously, as a friend said, you don't have to be smart to be a crook.

We were robbed a week ago. Nobody was hurt and they didn't even steal from the cash register or anything dramatic. What was stolen was the Breast Cancer 3-Day donation jar with between $50 and $100 in it! I don't know for sure, because I don't remember how much was in it the last time I counted. YES - I *know*, I SHOULD have thinned the cash and put some in an envelope in the safe, but I didn't.

In the 5 years we've been doing this, we've NEVER had a donation jar stolen. The guy who took it came in with a woman and I asked him a couple of times if I could find something for him. He even sat in the comfy chairs in the findings room for a while. The most aggravating part is that because it was warm in the store, I even gave him and the woman with him an ice cream bar and then he goes and steals from me!!! THE NERVE!!!

I have gotten so used to the jar being "right there", I didn't even notice it missing until Weds. morning when I was talking to a customer about HER fundraising for a 3-Day walker. I told Mike to check the video and I called AJPD, who sent an officer out to take the report. In reviewing the video, we not only caught the thief in the act, we also got a good photo of HIM, including a very prominent tatoo!

The PD arrested him that night on an unrelated charge. When the officer on our case spoke to him, the crook confessed to stealing the jar. He's up for his preliminary hearing for the store burglary on Thursday morning. You bet I'm going to be there - I intend to prosecute and combining this with the other arrest, he'll be going away for a while!

I replaced the stolen jar with my old reliable pink piggy bank (taped securely to the desk), so if you have any extra change, we'd love to use it to fill his tummy!

Here I am!

I finally entered the blogosphere - for what it's worth. EEEEEK!!! I'll try to write something every day - some days may be wordier than others. Posts may range from tidbits about beads, our kids - 2 and 4 footed, or politics (local and national). Who knows what might fly out of my head through the keyboard into the posts? Caution: I am opinionated and am NOT usually politically correct!