Hasta Luego!

We know we have been total blog slackers this month. Things have been really busy plus Mommy & Daddy are leaving for their honeymoon soon. That means we have to go to camp... again. It totally sucks and we wish that we could go to Pennsylvania to stay with Grandma & Grandpa.

Today Mommy was doing laundry and some packing. We just pouted and hoped that would make her feel guilty enough to not leave. This is us:

As you can see, we are pathetic. But this did not stop Mommy from packing. She did pack a bag for us to take to camp and we saw her put in Chewlottas, Nylabones, and Nutbutters. So at least we will have good snacks.

Since we won't be back online for a few weeks, we thought we'd give you an assignment to work on while we're away. Surely you're keeping up with your favorite presidential candidate but do you know how green they are? You can check out fact sheets on each candidate here and also listen to audio clips from their interviews.

Don't forget about us... we'll be back!

Catalogs are not cool (and we hate the mail man)

Every day the mail man brings tons of catalogs to our house. We used to like it because when the mail man comes we get to bark. To the left is a photo of Venus just waiting for the mail man to get near our door. You can see how excited she is to bark at him.

But then we learned how wasteful all these catalogs are and how companies are using endangered forests to print them. Plus we're not really sure how all these stores got our addresses, so that is kind of creepy. Mommy and Daddy hate all the catalogs and Mommy is always calling the stores to get removed from the mailing lists. We help her by napping and not barking while she's on the phone. This is Jigga helping Mommy tonight:

You can get involved in the catalog cutdown campaign to not only reduce the catalogs you receive but to also help put the squeeze on retailers to change their naughty catalog-printing habits. You can also learn about your privacy rights and how you can get removed from direct mail lists that get sold to stores around the country.

Oh yeah, and if you don't have the chance to reduce the number of catalogs you receive, please recycle them with your newspapers.

Have a good night!

We like to kiss

This is me and Venus at the end of a very long day. We like to snuggle with Mommy on the couch and hold each other and then I like to lick my sister's face until she falls asleeping. She really loves it, especially when I kiss her eyelids.


Have a good night.
xoxo,
Jigga

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

We have 4 footprints, how about you?

This is our friend Dexter. He lives in Rio de Janeiro. He and his feet are pretty little as you can see because he is sitting next to his own Daddy's big hiking boots. Dexter is really playful and likes to chase people around. When our Daddy visited, Dexter chased him... a lot. We told Dexter to be careful about all the footprints he's leaving on the earth from chasing people so much. We hope you are careful, too, and are paying attention to the resources you use each day. If you want you can take this really cool survey Earth Day Network that measures your Ecological Footprint.

We found some Green Living tips on another person's blog and thought we'd share our favorites with you:

• Turn down your heat by 1 degree for every hour you’ll be away from home.

• Replace traditional light bulbs with newer longer lasting/low energy ones.

• Don’t stand with the refrigerator or freezer open while you decide what you want.

• Unplug unused appliances.

We also notice that Mommy & Daddy use water that they've cooked corn and stuff in to water the plants outside. They of course wait until it cools down and they do not let us help. We try to make the plants less thirsty by peeing on them, but that seems to make Daddy fairly mad.

So we hope we gave you some good ideas of little things you can do to lessen your own footprint. If you don't start doing some of them, I will show up on your doorstep and arrest you. I've got this police officer outfit and I will use it. I have cuffs and everything.

xoxo,
Bean

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