Dogs, Cats And Guinea Pigs

Spring has sprung, but the dogs' lives still consist mostly of sleeping in the kitchen corner:

My Amish neighbor stopped by and tied his horse to the dogs' fence. This horse is not much interested in dogs and doesn't care if they bark or not. The dogs barked for a minute, then gave it up and went about their business. Yes, it snowed that morning, but the snow melted quickly:

Jack lounged comfortably on a fleecy dog bed:

A rare opportunity - finding all four cats together and holding still. Seamus was keeping company with Daisy, Bugsy, Sammy and Caspar:

And Caspar was keeping company with the dogs:

Clover, Seamus and Daphne were comfy and warm in the kitchen corner:

And just when we thought we'd seen the last of the snow, we got yet another surprise snowstorm. At least the snow doesn't last long this time of year:

Daphne, Jack, Seamus, Fergus and Clover:

I found the kittens in the kitchen playing with some kind of white strips. It turned out that they'd broken slats from the brand new window blinds. Ah, the joys of kittens!

And speaking of kittens, Caspar and Sammy each took a kitchen window to guard:

A typical bedtime, with the little dogs on the bed and Seamus on his big floor pillow:

Also in the bedroom are Meghan and Ruby, the guinea pigs of the house:

Midwinter Pets

Bugsy caught an upper respiratory infection which little Caspar brought home from the shelter. He's been getting better, but is less active than he used to be, often striking what I call his Buddha pose:

And the dogs still hang out in the kitchen corner. The giant green floor pillow was put there especially for giant Seamus, but the little dogs usually collect on it, leaving Seamus to find comfort elsewhere:

Bugsy and Sammy often take separate tiers on the favorite cat tree. Caspar or Daisy sometimes take the third tier:

A moment of friendly napping for Seamus and Bugsy. The yoga mats are handy for that:

And the yoga mats are also good for dog piles. Bugsy got close, but didn't join in on the dog pile:

Little Caspar, however, often joins the dog piles:

Sammy, Daisy and Daphne were watching me while I was at the computer:

Seamus, Fergus and Jack shunned the yoga mats in favor of a heat register:

All the dogs except Jack, who often keeps a bit apart from the crowd:

When my Amish neighbor came over to trim the horses hooves, he insisted that his horse wouldn't mind my barking dogs, so I left them all together. The little dogs never took to the big horse and they kept barking (though the horse really didn't seem to mind), but Seamus wanted to make friends:

When we had a big snowstorm, the dogs enjoyed playing in it. Seamus and Jack walked out into the deeper parts of the snow:

Fergus, Daphne and Clover hung back where the snow had been trodden down, but Jack was having a blast, running through the snow: