FRANKLIN FRIDAY ON MONDAY: WE BEEN SAD

Hi. I know I said I would come back soon to tell you about our Kissmas presents, but we haven't done any blogging around here because Mom goes to that stupid werk and because we are sad. Our good friend Mrs. Ducky, who leaves nice comments on our blog and sends Mom funny grammar cartoons, lost her Bud. Mom says Bud was Mrs. Ducky's hubsend and they were married for a long, long time.

this is me being sad

this is Penlapee being sad

I promise we will start to get over our sad and show you soon what Santa Paws brought for us.

Mrs. Ducky is so brave that she is blogging at fishducky, finally! and sending out funny emails to her friends. If she isn't your friend yet, all you have to do is visit her blog and behave yourself, doing stuff like sit and shake, and she will be your friend. That's the kind of person she is. 

Mrs. Ducky is helping us feel better at our house (we are also missing Favorite Young Man right now, but he'll be back).  She sent an email to Mom that said her Bud would have liked Mom because *snicker snort* Mom is bat-shit crazy. *snicker snort*

It's true. Mom is *snicker snort* bat-shit crazy.

Okay I love you bye-bye.

We love you, Mrs. Ducky.

FRANKLIN FRIDAY ON SUNDAY: MERRY KISSMAS!

Hi! Hi! Hi! Merry Kissmas, Every Buddy. Merry Kissmas. Can you hear me? I barked


Merry Kissmas!

Me and Penlapee will write to you soon to show you our Kissmas presents after Santa Paws delivers them.

Remember last year when Penlapee got this jacket and was worried it made her butt look big?

I had to tell her about a million times that her butt didn't look big. She worries too much.

See ya soon, and

Merry Kissmas!

Okay I love you bye-bye.

FRANKLIN FRIDAY RERUN: MOM WENT TO GEORGIA AND YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT SHE GOT US

Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

Can you believe it's been a little more than three years since Penelope came to live with us? Franklin and I want to commemorate her arrival by rerunning the post that he wrote about her, which first appeared on October 2, 2015.

We love you, Penelope.


Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug


Hi! Hi, Every Buddy! Hi Hi Hi Hi Hi hihihihiihhihiihihihihihhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! I'm so excited I can't stop hi-ing.

It's me, it's me, it's me, Franklin the Bordernese, whose mom always needs to peepee.

Mom went to a far away place not too long ago. It's called Georgia. She was gone for about a year. She claims it was only part of a day.

Mom went to a place called Claxton. I Googled it after she left. I figured she went to get a world famous Georgia fruitcake.

Nope!

Anyway, you won't believe what she brought home with her. It's sooooo much better than a fruitcake.

You know I been missing my buddy Harper since he went to heaven. Harper can't ever be replaced, but we can have new family members.

MOM BROUGHT HOME A SISTER FOR ME!

Mom saw this picture

online at a place for rescued dogs. Mom didn't tell me what might happen in case it didn't work out. She didn't want me to be disappointed.

She thought this doggy looked perfect to be my sister. She named my sister Penla-la-peee. Oh. Mom says her name is spelled like this: Penelope. She already knows that's her name.

I remember when I came here to live. I found out I was moving into a castle with a Queen. A big man with pictures painted all over his skin carried me to the backyard. I thought he was the servant, and he kinda is, but he's really my human brother.

When Penelope got here, she was scared. She didn't wanna get out of the car. She finally got out and ran into the backyard. She was safe because we have a good fence. But she wouldn't come inside. She wouldn't let Mom get close to her. She didn't know she was moving into a castle and that our mom is the Queen.

Mom had to call my human brother for help. It was raining hard, and it was getting dark. Painted Brother was patient with Penelope. He followed her around the yard and talked to her and showed her a dog biscuit.

Penelope went under Mom's car in the garage. At least she was out of the rain, but she couldn't stay there all night. My big brother is the bravest, strongest big brother in the whole world. He's better than a fruitcake from Georgia, too. He got down on the floor of the garage and slid under the car. He helped Penelope get out from under the car. Then he carried her into the house.

He and Mom dried her with towels and made her warm and cozy. Brother cuddled her for a long time.

That's when I met her. I did everything I could to help, and I'm still helping her learn how to live in the castle. Mom says one really good thing about Penelope is that when she needs to go potty she always goes outside. She never goes in the house. I typed this part small because it's about personal stuff.

Penelope learns every single day. I showed her how to sit just perfict like the dog of a Queen should.

See! See! See!
This is my perfict royal dog sit.
I will teach this to Penelope.

I've written a lot now, so I will try to tell you more about Penelope next week.


Mom hasn't gotten many good pitchers of Penelope yet because she wiggles a lot. She doesn't know the perfict royal dog sit, but I just know she can learn it. I'll try to find at least one good pitcher of Penelope at our castle.

Here's my sister.

That big furry thing is my tail and one white paw.

Penelope isn't as furry as I am. She's soft and sleek.

She likes to kiss me.

She kisses Mom, too.

Sometimes we both kiss Mom at the same time.

It makes Mom happy.

I'm tired now. I been working so hard to take care of Penelope.

Okay I love you bye-bye.



Franklin the Bordernese

IT'S VETERANS DAY

Dear Hearts,

It's not Veteran's Day. It's not Veterans' Day.

It's Veterans Day.

I know because I used to write it incorrectly and I've seen it with an apostrophe a number of times yesterday and today.

Now I imagine a few of you scurrying away to make corrections.


Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug

wrong, wrong, wrong

HAVE YOU VOTED?

Gentle Readers (especially U.S. citizens) . . . and Maxwell,

Have you voted yet? If not, today is the big day. This election is crucial. I urge you to vote for candidates who want to look out for our best interests.

I don't want a Democratic majority in Congress because I hope to see Donald Trump impeached. If that happened and he were convicted, then we'd have President Mike Pence. I don't see that as an improvement.

I do want a Democratic majority in Congress because I hope they can impose some sanity in Washington. Democrats can help to balance out the fake power in The White House. I see that as an improvement.

I voted Sunday evening. The line at the polling place was longer than I'd ever seen it before.

At least I got a chuckle out of the people around me. I said, I'm glad so many people are here––as long as they vote the same way I do.


Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug

LOOK FOR THE AMERICANS

Tonight I was reminded what Pittsburgher Mr Rogers said in times like today: look for the helpers.

And tonight I want to instead say I'm looking for the Americans. The patriots who don't suffer anti-Semites. Ever. The Americans who don't think any Nazis are good people. The strong who don't hesitate saying the kind of filth who did this don't deserve to be in our midst. The believers in this nation who fought, and won at great price, a war against the frightened, narrow-minded cowards who live in the shadows until they feel emboldened to strike out.

I'm looking for the Americans.

(quotation from Dr. Karl, the foremost philosopher of the twenty-first century, written after the killings at the synagogue)

TIP TUESDAY: QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

During our previous TIP TUESDAY post, a couple of questions came up, so they must be answered.

Lovely Inger of Desert Canyon Living asked about the difference between complex and complicated.

My Roget's Super Thesaurus tells me that complicated and complex are synonyms for each other.

Both are adjectives and mean something intricate, so I think it's safe to say that they can be used interchangeably, based on the one you prefer at a given moment or the one that might sound a bit better.

Darling Martha of Plowing Through Life wanted to know when to use awhile or a while. This one irritates me––not because you asked, Martha, but because I see awhile all the time when it should be a while.

These two terms represent different parts of speech. The two-word expression a while is a noun phrase, consisting of the article a and the noun while (which means “a period or interval of time”).

The one-word awhile is an adverb that means “for a short time or period.” Although these definitions are similar (and although the terms can sometimes be used interchangeably), there are a few simple rules that are helpful in keeping them straight. (source: Dictionary.com)

Awhile is an adverb meaning for a while, and it only works where it would bear replacement with that three-word phrase. Where for a while wouldn’t work in its place, it is probably not an adverb, so it should be two words: a while. (source: Grammarist.com)

I think the Grammarist.com information is more helpful, because for heaven's sake, what's the difference between "a period of time" and "for a short time."

My personal way of solving this problem is to use "a while" because it's what I prefer. I know, I know, normally it's the kind of thing I'd be all fussy about and say "if 'for a while' won't work then it should be a while." But as Dictionary.com says, they can sometimes be used interchangeably.

I vote for using "a while." I think it looks better and makes more sense than awhile. Besides, I've also seen explanations of the two that say "a while" is correct and awhile shouldn't be used anymore because it's outdated. 

Can we all agree to use a while, or do some of you want to argue about it (in which case I will ignore you)?

See you in a while.

Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug