Venus is in recovery

We're not quite sure how, but poor Venus has a boo boo on her right eye. It was swollen and red so she went to the doctor and was really brave and got eye drops. Now she has to get eye drops two times a day. I am jealous when she gets them because she gets hugs from Mommy & Daddy. Although her eye is less swollen and appears to be healing, Mommy & Daddy are still worried so Venus is going to see an eye care specialist on Thursday morning. She will probably get more eye goo there.

The good news is that Venus has been a really good girl and is not scratching at her eye. She also has not lost her appetite or desire to bark with me at the neighbor dogs. So no pictures today but please keep my sister in your thoughts. Send her hugs and boneless babies.

xoxo,
Bean

Baby sisters are loud

We are back after a mini-sabbatical. So much has happened over the past few weeks, so we will try to do a couple of posts this week to get you caught up. The biggest announcement is that we have a baby sister. Her name is Turtle Face. This is an aerial view of her.


Isn't she cute? She is little and very green and has an orange dot on each side of her head. She is only about 3 inches long. We will try to get a better picture. It's hard because she likes to move around her room, which sits near the TV and we can see through. The pebbles move around her feet and we get excited. One day Bean got so tired from watching her that he had to take a nap and be under a blanket:


Sorry again for going so long in between posts. We hope it wasn't as hard for you to wait as it is sometimes for us to hold in our pee when Mommy & Daddy have to stay late at work.

xoxo,
Venus

Toenails are not a great snack

What a weekend! We had many walks, played in the back yard and went to a party. At the party we finally met Patches and a Guinea Pig named Casey. We met two rabbits but my short term memory is bad and we can't remember their names. Patches is super nice and very pretty. We played in her back yard and we each pooped there too. I knocked over a pot and Jigga did nose paintings on Fran's glass door.

And then we got home and Daddy cut Jigga's toenails. And I ate them. I got to the little pile before Daddy got the vacuum. They were really delicious but then my belly hurt a little and I had to grumble and lay in the TV room like a slug. So I figured out that toenails are not a great replacement for kibble.

Mommy & Daddy were complaining about going back to their jobs after Labor Day so that got me thinking about what I want to be when I grow up. I maybe could be a model but I want to be recognized for more than my smooth brown fur and 11 nipples. So I think I will go to college and maybe become a veterinarian or maybe a journalist. Wherever I decide to go, I want the campus to be environmentally friendly. So I started looking at these green colleges and universities so that I can get an early start on my applications.

xoxo,
Venus

p.s. Don't tell Howard but I have a huge crush on a doggie named Daddy. He is on the Dog Whisperer show that we watch. He's really handsome.

Three day weekends rule! And so do Greenies.

You know, it's a busy week in the news and we've had a hard time keeping up with everything between naps and barking. We saw Barack Obama on the Daily Show and really liked him. It seems like he cares about energy and oil dependence but we'd like to know more about clean air & water, national parks, and green spaces.

So we're almost to Labor Day weekend! We are excited because we're going to meet Patches this weekend at a BBQ. We're going to play croquet and grill Greenies. But we are really worried about child labor laws. Places like Firestone exploit children and other workers in Liberia and many other companies around the world are guilty of abusing children to turn a profit. Great organizations like Rugmark are working to end illegal child labor in the carpet industry and instead provide educational opportunities to children in South Asia. Visit this page to find out more about ways you can help and also to get a list of companies you should avoid.

Finally, Venus wants to audition for Flavor of Love 3 and the next Bachelor. Which photo do you think she should use?

This up close one that shows off her lips?
Or this profile shot?

Let us know in a comment, please.

xoxo,
Bean & Doodle

Get to know us better

We thought we would share a bit more about ourselves. You see, Venus is the more serious one. She is very delicate and likes flowers and pretty things, especially when the pretty things are purple. She is very sweet and gentle and wants to please everyone else. She is very shy when she first meets new people but will be your best snuggle buddy once she gets to know you. If she could have a job, she would be an artist so that she could paint pretty pictures for everyone she loves.




I, on the other hand, am silly. I like to tease Venus and play tricks. I even
like to sing. I like to take many naps and only please myself. I will hop on your lap the first time I meet you and try to eat things out of your nose. I get grumpy when I'm awakened from a nap and get cranky when Daddy rubs his whiskers on my nose. My first choice for a job would be to sell kibble at the price of $1 per kibble bit. But if that didn't work out, I would definitely be a jester.

Mommy likes beer and sometimes Daddy picks her up from the bar so she doesn't have to take Metro home by herself. If I could draw a cartoon character based on Mommy, she would look like this:
If you have questions for us, please post them in a comment. Then we'll answer them in a future post.

xoxo,
Jigga

Do you want to get rocked?!?

Tonight Mommy & Daddy going to a Def Leppard concert. Mommy is super excited, Daddy is going mostly just to make Mommy happy. Anyway, when we told our cousin, Maddie, about the concert, she made this face. We think she wishes she could go.

The Leppards that are playing tonight are probably endangered just because hair bands are slowly dwindling. But there are other kinds of leopards that you can help to save from extinction. Visit Big Cat Rescue to find out how you can adopt a leopard and to help keep the sanctuary up and running. It's the purrrrfect gift for someone you love ;)

We're Back to Reality

We are finally home -- back from camp and caught up on naps and snacks. We were super happy when Mommy & Daddy picked us up a day early. It was really exciting to ride in the car on the way home. We made nose paintings on the windows and barked at motorcycles.

We spent much of Sunday catching up on TV. We love The Rock of Love with Bret Michaels, The Real World, and Scott Baio is 45 and Single. But then after we watched the premiere of the Real World: Australia, we heard that the next season is going green. That's right. The 20th anniversary season will have those over-sexed peeps living in an energy efficient house with lots of recycled stuff and environmentally friendly practices.

We don't have an action for you today but we can say that we're glad to be back.

xoxo,
Venus and Jigga

We love collars but we don't love (other) fur

We got new collars from our cousins Henry and Maddie. They live in Maui with Aunties Nikki Jo and Molly. We're super excited because we like getting new things to wear. Unfortunately, we couldn't sit still long enough for Mommy to get a picture with our collars on, so we took them off and she took this picture.

Jigga got the one with the card suits and I got the one with the paws and cross bones. Pretty cool, huh?

After we took off our collars I decided to make Jigga put on a bunny outfit. I can do that because I'm bigger and can make him do things. Anyway, you can see from the photo shoot below that he is pretty
unhappy.


He said he would rather go naked than wear fur, which is pretty strange because he has no choice but to wear fur since it's attached to his skin. But to make up with him, I promised I would do this post to encourage everyone else to go fur-free. Rid your closet of fur coats and choose to donate them to PETA's Fur is Dead campaign. Your coat will go to someone in need either here in the U.S or to women and children in Afghanistan and Iraq.

xoxo,
Venus

Campaign Tail 2008

We're not sure who to endorse yet in the 2008 election but John Edwards is looking pretty good. We like that he's making his campaign carbon neutral and we think that he would give pretty good back scratches. Be sure to read his interview with Grist Magazine. Here is Venus' tribute to his photo from the Grist article.



She doesn't have the bangs but she looks pretty serious and trustworthy. Check back for future posts on other candidates.

By the way, we are super happy to live with our parents but we know many animals don't have food in their bellies, a nice place to sleep at night, or humans to love and care for them. The Humane Society can help you find your local shelter if you're looking to adopt a pet or if you would like to volunteer.

Protest Vick in Style

We think Michael Vick is a total douche bag. Tell others you think so too by wearing a t-shirt or neck kerchief to express your opinion. CafePress has great doggie and human gear.

We love reality TV

Check out this picture of Venus watching TV. We watched "The Age of Love" last night and were sad to see Maria eliminate herself. We thought that Mark should have ditched that nut job, Amanda, before she boils his puppy. She is a bit off her rocker. We are hoping that Jen wins in the end.

This morning we got to have our favorite treat, Nut-tastics. They are delicious because they taste like peanut butter. And we love them because they have a mini size for me (Jigga) and a normal size for Venus. Grandma (Abuela) gets them for us from Pennsylvania.

We have to go to camp this Friday when Mommy & Daddy leave for the beach. We hope that they take us to see Underdog before they leave.

xoxo,
Bean & Doodle

Our first blog post

We are Jigga and Venus Messman, two furry babies that live in Alexandria, VA. Our parents are Dave Messman and Bobbi Russell. They let us set up this blog so we can keep our family and friends up to speed on what we do. We probably won't post every day because we need many naps and are busy in the evenings with barking and eating kibble. We also don't have thumbs so typing can be hard on our paws. But we'll do our best.

We hope you enjoy our blog...and look forward to hearing from you.