Ski Bunny, Maybe, For Easter

This was LAST year's haul.

HOPPY EASTER everypuggy. We are adventuring this Easter which is unusual for us. We are normally EN CASA for Easter and have other people over for an EASTER egg hunt. But this year we are heading to LAKE TAHOE for a few days and it is SNOWY.

Remember this place from last SUMMER? Well this is exactly where we are headed only THIS TIME it looks more like THIS

Maybe a little LESS snow because this week has been a bit warmer and dryer than last week. BUT there is still supposed to be plenty of sledding opportunities. I am so looking forward to it as I have only been to the snow ONE TIME and it was not too much. Mommy pulled out my boots and jackets which generally get minimal use here in the Mediterranean climate of Silicon Valley.

Who knows, I might even try a bit of this - whatcha think?

Jamie Anderson

I think I'd shred the mountain real good.

In any case, Happy Easter to all of you and I hope that E.B. leaves you a LOT of TREATS.

Wordless Wednesday and Blog Hop

You Scream. . . I Scream . . ,

Can you hear it?

If you have ever heard a PUG SCREAM, then you know how terrifying they can be. How can that alarmingly disturbing sound come out of that little compact body? Ahhhhh. Well I'm gonna let you in on a little secret - I totally USE the scream to get what I want and FAST! I mean, who can resist "helping" a creature seemingly in distress?

I used THE SCREAM quite recently, as a matter of fact, to totally get something I have been wanting a lot

ICE CREAM

And lo and behold, Cousin E came home with some FOR ME and Molly!!!

Oh Please, Oh Please!

Here's what happened. Cousin E and her Bf J were eating ice cream and I was begging. They did not give in to my amazing cuteness so I had to up the ANTE just a bit. Enter the SCREAM. I stationed myself close and was very visible. Then I circled my back foot like it hurt. AND then I let it RIP - the biggest scariest PUG SCREAM I have ever done.

CathyKuzel.com

Cousin E looked at me, alarmed.

Bf J looked at me, terrified.

Mommy came into the kitchen to see what was going on. I acted all hurt.

Then Cousin E and Bf J left the house and when they returned, they had a bag from a PUPPY BOUTIQUE and inside was some DOGGY ICE CREAM.

Molly totally ate WITHOUT PERMISSION and got away with it. I sat there, patiently . . . waiting for the command. . .

Finally I could stand it NO MORE! I let loose another

Before you can say "Okay Noodles" I got the go-ahead and I attacked my bowl.

And suddenly the world was . . . BRAIN FREEZE!!!!!

What in tarnation just HAPPENED to me?

Omigosh - I cannot control the PAIN and the DROOLING!!

But it was OH SO WORTH IT!!!

So just remember

PUG SCREAM

I borrowed this from YOUTUBE. This pug sounds just like ME

It was pretty chilly here in SILICON VALLEY over the weekend. In fact, it was rainy all day Saturday and on Sunday morning, there was some snow on the higher peaks (Mt. Hamilton, Mt. Diablo, Mt. Umunhum), and patches scattered in the ring of mountains that make our valley. Not on our foothills, though, which is where I live. We had rain. We had cold. BUT we did NOT have SNOW.

It was a good weekend for staying in BUT we did not. There was a lot going on in and around the city: the March for Our Lives; the San Jose Sharks hockey game; the As vs Giants preseason game; and a carnival at my Cousin C's school. And rain or shine, they all HAPPENED. It was pretty cool to have a lot of options.

And on Sunday, the SUN made an appearance. It was such a welcome sight. It was not warm - not by any stretch - but it is amazing how much happier everypuggy seems when the sun comes out.

Spring finally makes herself known this week as there are no storms on the near horizon for us. A fitting way to celebrate Easter which celebrates the promise of Spring and the hope of new beginnings.

How do you celebrate Easter and Spring?

I'm going to the snow - go figure.

Friday Came With The Promise Of Something NEW to Try #chewyinfluencer

Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!!!! Is this what I think it is? Can I open it, huh? PLEEEEZE????

Note: Mommy ignores me when I get like this. I have to CALM DOWN first and then she will respond.

But, I was right. This was a BIG BOX just for me from my favorite peoples at Chewy.com. It was a special mission which I had agreed to just DAYS before. For the NEXT 30 days I am doing a CHALLENGE for Rachael Ray Nutrish Peak Grain-Free Natural Wetlands Recipe with Chicken, Duck & Pheasant Dry Dog Food. I need to fully assess if the food is working for me and if I like it. We already know that if it is FOOD, I will like it.

 So Mommy and I set about opening the box.

But I really wanted to ENJOY the process, so for a long long while, I just sat on the box and INHALED. I imagined all the goodness enclosed in that box. I couldn't really SMELL anything at all as the Rachael Ray Nutrish Peak Grain-Free Natural Wetlands Recipe with Chicken, Duck & Pheasant Dry Dog Food is really really really well sealed in a stay fresh kinda packaging. So any food smell was likely emanating from the kitchen where dinner was cooking OR my rich and vivid IMAGINATION.

 I finally conceded to let her open the box and then I insisted on climbing BACK IN and sitting on the bag of RACHAEL RAY NUTRISH PEAK food. It was comfy and had a really good feel under my TUSHY. I decided I would stay there for a while longer and maybe take a nap.

I can COMFORTABLY say it is the MOST amazingly relaxing bag of food I have ever sat and laid upon. EVER. So pseudo-thumbs up to the manufacturer of RACHAEL RAY NUTRISH PEAK for developing a new kind of COMFORT food.

At this point, Mommy was kind of begging me to get out of the box and let her open the bag. The challenge IS NOT to sit on the bag of food BUT to eat the bag of food and decide if

            (1)     I like it . . . to this I say DUH
            (2)     The food LIKES me. . . I have had stinky belches for over a month now and Mommy is looking for the cause and the cure

I was almost ready to reveal the BAG of food at this point but I had to keep it interesting.



So I let Mommy REVEAL the underneath bag but she had to open the paper up AROUND ME as I would not move.

So here you have it, MY NEW FOOD for the next 30 days. 

Some facts about Rachael Ray Nutrish Peak Grain-Free Natural Wetlands Recipe with Chicken, Duck & Pheasant Dry Dog Food 

• It is nutrient dense
• It is grain free
• It has easily digestible animal protein like real chicken, duck and pheasant
• It has real vegetables and no artificial colorings or preservatives
• A portion of the proceeds from this food goes to support Rachael's Rescue

I CANNOT WAIT to begin this challenge

** Chewy.com provided me with a bag of Rachael Ray's Nutrish Peak - free of charge - large enough to feed me and my voracious appetite for 30 days. The real challenge is making it LAST 30 days. But I digress. . .  We have not nor will be paid for this venture nor do we have a script of what to say. All opinions, as always, are developed and belong to A Bowl of Noodles©.

What Are RULES, Anyways?

What are rules? I just don't get what they are all about. I have RULES for eating. I have rules for going outside. I have rules about FURNITURE and doorways and windows. I have rules for that nefarious thing called BEHAVIOR!

And believe me, I have lots more of them. What is it about a rule that compels us to not only MAKE them, but to also FOLLOW them? And I usually do follow them, but only if they are really something I already want to do. Does that count as following the rule if I was going to do something anyhow?

So am I still A GOOD GIRL?

Are there rules for being a GOOD GIRL versus a BAD GIRL or only rules for being good. Does it stand to reason, then that being a BAD GIRL means no RULES? Then. . . how do you decide if a certain PUG is a BAD girl when at the time there were no overt rules to follow and become a GOOD GIRL?

AM I overthinking this? I must be because I am getting confused as anything. Are there RULES for thinking, as well?

Moody Mid-Week MALAISE

When the clouds are DARK and mysterious
I write a story in my head
It stars a pretty little DOG
An especially special Princess PUG

Our dear HEROINE looks for fun
Adventures fall in her lap
Into her YARD she stealthily moves
Looking for anything out of the groove

Into the LARGE pile of leaves
She LEAPS with complete aplomb
Sniffing and rustling noisily through
Always aware of something new

What's that NOISE over there in the HONEYsuckle?
I better go investigate
Our CRAFTY hero dashes away
Over where the leaves sway

A sneaky CAT and not her sister
Slinks away to the left
Bark! Bark! BARK! she shouts
Be OFF - I want you OUT

Just then the SUN comes peeking out
From behind a sinister CLOUD
"Good job my dear little HELPER
The WORK you do keeps the yard SAFER."

And there my STORY ends
The day is DONE, and put to rest
I'm tired - CREATING is an energy ZAP
I look around for my FAVORITE lap
THE END

Vernal Equinox Say What?

Hello Mr. Sunshine (not my sisteroid, the cat)
Are you hiding in there?

Today is the first day of SPRING. You wouldn't know it around here, though, as it is cold and rainy today. I am bundled up and in my bed by the heater, while Molly is nestled in Sunshine (the cat's) cocoon bed. And Sunshine is somewhere else - probably buried in the covers on Aunt B's bed. We are all hunkered down trying to stay warm and dry.

So how is this SPRING?  Okay, rain equals flowers, April showers and what not. I get it. But we are not talking Springlike showers. We are talking cold. . . lotsa snow in the mountains . . . cold and wet. Like February weather. And it is mid-March.

So while the days DO seem to be getting longer, the ol' weather machine seems to be stuck in WINTER Soltice. All of this is making Phil the Groundhog seem quite the sage, huh?

Nonetheless - Spring is here and we need to don our flower hats and dance to celebrate the (eventual) exit of WINTER.

HAPPY SPRING

Can You Teach an Old Cat Something New? #chewyinfluencer

This is my sisteroid Sunshine the Cat. She is pretty set in her ways because she is 15 years old. It's okay. She has earned it. She is generally a pretty tidy cat although she occasionally poops on the floor NEAR her litter box. We aren't sure what is going on. Maybe the box is too high? Maybe she can't recognize when she has to poop? Her timing is off? Or maybe she is simply acting out. We don't know. It really is a minor complaint.

One thing that IS NOT so minor is the litter box odor. This is an ongoing thing and it sometimes drives Mommy to frustration.

The litter/sand that works best is very very pricey. It lasts a long time but at $24-26 a month it gets expensive. For the most part it eliminates the odor completely. But Sunshine pees in ONE SPOT all of the time and even the best stuff will fail after a while. Then there is the stuff sold at all of the stores which is half the price. It works okay but in HALF a month you can tell there is a cat in the house the minute you walk in the door. (** Mommy note: The box is cleaned daily but the litter is changed 1-2 weeks, depending on the odor). At the end of a month, Mommy has replaced the litter so much she has to spend more money for more litter -and it ends up being the same or more than the expensive brand and she is doing twice the work.

As luck would have it, Ms. Natalie from Chewy.com asked me if I would be interested in providing a HOODED and special-system-kind of CAT LITTER BOX to Sunshine to try out. Well I thought long and hard on this (like 2 seconds!) and then told Ms. Natalie that SURE, I think Sunshine would like it.

I didn't KNOW if Sunshine would like it. I just know I DON'T like the smell of the LITTER BOX and I am a D-O-G! We dog's live for STINK. So you KNOW it must be bad if I don't like it. Besides, who doesn't like a little privacy now and then?

It arrived 4 days later. Calling all CATS. . . I, Noodles the Pug is happy to announce the Tidy Cats Breeze Cat Litter Box System

It is almost as tall as the table. See the underside of the
table at the top of the picture?

It was in a HUGE BOX. Like almost the size of her Kitty Kondo box, which was huge! I refused to go anywhere NEAR that thing - it was so big it scared me! That is why you see NO ANIMALS in this photo. We were all very intimidated.

Molly hiding under the table WAY away from the box

Then Mommy started pulling things out of the box (Some assembly IS required) and we got a little more curious. After a few HBO words, she had it all set up. It isn't difficult but the directions are all pictures and SOMEHUMAN has issues with that.

Mom had to photoshop Sunshine into this photo because she
would not pose. She claimed it was too private

Mommy did NOT think Sunshine would ever use the box. The pellets are large and Sunshine is picky about the texture of her litter. So Mom followed the suggestions in the literature enclosed with the Tidy Cats Breeze and kept the old litter box in place and put the new one near it. She also stopped cleaning the old box with was really really hard on all of us.

Still Sunshine seemed to be ignoring it. Then Mommy took off the hood. Sunshine is, after all, an old cat and the hood made maneuvering around the box difficult. The NEXT day, Mommy noticed paw prints in the pellets and when she pulled out the drawer, there was evidence of pee.

It took a week and a half for Sunshine to begin using the box regularly and Mommy got rid of the old box.

So what is the BREEZE system? Well Tidy Cats developed these pellets that allow the urine to flow through it. The Breeze cat box is three parts:

• The hood, which we discussed
• The tray which holds the pellets and had a an open grid in the bottom to allow liquid to flow through and solid waste to collect on top
• The drawer which hold the pad that collects the urine and makes clean up very easy

Because the pellets do not soak up the urine, there is no ammonia smell. The surface stays relatively dry so the cat is happier AND the pellets are large so they do not go flying all over the room when Sunshine exits the box. Solid waste can easily be scooped up and disposed of.

NOTE: Mommy has a bit of an issue with the abundance of plastic that is tossed into the landfill from using the pads. She would like them to come up with an alternative that would be disposable but also decompose-able. The pellets are clay and will degrade over time. But until there is a reasonable alternative, she will continue to use the Breeze system as Sunshine is happy with it.

And Mommy did the math to see of it is economical compared with the other litter/sand methods she has tried. We established they run $26 a month on average. The Tidy Cat Breeze System cost break down is like this

The box, lid, scoop, sample of pads and 3.5 lbs of pellets = $44.99 on Chewy.com
A package of 10 pads (one lasts a week or so depending on number of CATS) = $12.10 on Chewy.com
A 7 lb bag of pellets good for 1-2 month before needing replacing = $15.47 on Chewy.com

So in a year (and based on Sunshine's usage only. . . each cat is different) the system will cost a total of $231.67 versus $312.00 for the other litter/sand systems. That is a pretty good savings. The BONUS is NO CAT SMELL!

So Mommy's happy. . . Sunshine is happy . . . and most importantly, I am HAPPY.

Casa de Noodles gives the Tidy Cats Breeze Cat Litter Box System THIRTY. . . 30. . . hands/paws/claws UP for living up to its hype. We are so much happier without that kitty smell.

** Chewy.com provided us with ONE Tidy Cats Breeze Cat Litter System to use and evaluate. All opinions and mathematical-ing  are ours and ours alone.We were not paid to say anything.

Lazy Rainy Gray Kinda Friday

THIS is about all of the ambition I have today. It isn't much. Mommy feels the same way. She WENT BACK TO BED this morning (without me)! She never ever does that. I went in there and said "Mommy? Mommy? Mommy?" and she never answered. I heard her SNORING, though, so I know she was asleep. I tried ONE TIME to jump on her bed but there is just no way. So I went back to my bed and Lamby by the heater vent.

In the meantime, it was raining and gray outside. That's kind of the way it has been ALL WEEK. The weatherperson (who was totally WRONG last weekend) has predicted rain, rain, and more rain all weekend. Harrrumph! I don't mind rain during the work week but ON THE WEEKEND! Nah.

We're all up and doing our usual day job now. Mommy is at her computer working and I am keeping her company. . . in the RED BED . . . with my eyes closed. But I AM working.

Have a super weekend EVERYPUGGY. Play hard and nap harder.

New Love NULO #chewyinfluencer

Did I hear a FOOD PACKAGE open?

When I say CHEWY, you say YUM

CHEWY . . . YUM

CHEWY . . . YUM

CHEWY . . . YUM

Oh gosh! I am so tired now. Being a CHEERLEADER for good food is so hard. But I do what I can do to serve MY PUBLIC (you).

 

Here at Casa de Noodles, we often get the opportunity to try new things thanks to our being a part of the Chewy Influencer team. We are grateful for every day and for every opportunity that comes our way. 

The March Newsletter offered so many wonderful selections. It really was like finding the pot of GOLD at the end of the rainbow. We had a difficult time but finally I decided to try NULO Freestyle Grain-Free Freeze Dried Raw Dog Food. I mean - what could go wrong? The answer is

NOTHING - nothing can go wrong with such a flavorful combination of food. I mean . . . lamb . . . and to pair it with the sweet but tangy flavor of raspberries? Well my mouth is a-watering and it is nowhere near mealtime.

Mommy, my dish is empty

As usual we got the NULO just a day or two after ordering and immediately tried it. Nulo Freeze Dried Raw dog food is comprised of nuggets that weigh NOTHING! It is hard to believe there is so much flavor in something so unimpressive as a nugget. I think that is true of NUGGETS in general, don't you? They are just not impressive. . . unless they are CHICKEN nuggets and those make my taste buds run around the block and back.

Mommy never feeds me enough in an effort to keep my weight down. She gauges a food by how satisfied I act once I quit licking the bowl - which can take quite a while. For the initial taste test, she gave me this much

That is 1/4 cup which is my normal meal portion. She feeds me a half cup of meat a day and this allows room for vegetables, some yogurt and a variety of treats without making me put on weight. It much work because I am a lean and luscious PUG PRINCESS!

First Mommy tried to rehydrate it. Well, tried. It did not work all that well although there was a small amount of tasty sauce with the meal.

The water had not soaked in at all at this point

Nonetheless, I ate like there was no TOMORROW - which for me is a reality because it can be argued that for canines there IS no tomorrow only a long series of TODAYS. Excuse my intellectual musings. Back to NULO. . .

That stuff is UBER tasty and did not make me belch a lot. As I get older, this is something Mommy has to be aware of - my sensitive tummy. There was a little crunch but mostly smooth meaty tasting morsels. It is YUM. 

Since then, I have had the NULO as a food topper rather than a meal. The bag is really small (3.5 ounces is all) and Mommy wanted to make sure we could test it over a good amount of time.

Nutritionally speaking, Nulo Freeze Dried Raw offers some serious good nutrition. It also has a probiotic, GanedenBC30, which promotes healthy gut and digestion. Also a good thing in an older dog (as well as a maturing youngun). It is good food made from real food as you can tell from this ingredient list

Lamb, Lamb Liver, Ground Lamb Bone, Lamb Kidney, Raspberries, Broccoli, Apples, Dried Egg Yolks, Butternut Squash, Green Beans, Blueberries, Carrots, Kale, Spinach, Parsley, Apple Cider Vinegar, Ground Flaxseed, Salt, Dried Kelp, Inulin, Dried Bacillus coagulans Fermentation Product, Potassium Chloride, Salmon Oil, Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Mixed Tocopherols (natural preservative), Vitamin E Supplement, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Vitamin D3 Supplement.

There's no corn, wheat, soy, and no artificial preservatives or flavors. Nulo Grain-free Freeze Dried dog food is good stuff for the important pooch in your life. I could PUGSONALLY eat it day and night. . . if I were allowed to. . . but I am not. . .

If you are thinking of changing to a raw diet, Nulo Grain-free Freeze Dried Raw is a good way to do so without the mess of actually feeding your pet raw meat.

I give this food FOUR by FOUR by FOUR paws up because I am standing in a mirror that makes it look like there are three of me. . .

** We received free of charge a small bag of Nulo Grain-free Freeze Dried Raw dog food from Chewy.com for the purpose of trying the product and forming an opinion of it. We are never paid for what we write and we are never told what to write. All opinions and observations on A Bowl of Noodles belong to Noodles the Pug.

Rainy Wednesday Never Leaves Me Speechless

I realize for GREEN

Some rain needs to FALL

I think you know what I MEAN

When I stand and loudly BAWL

Rain get away from my SCENE

I just don't like you AT ALL

well. . .

at least . . .

not when . . .

I. . .

want . . .

To lay in a Sun BEAM all day LONG