Hugo La France SAYS:
Dearest friend Zwabje, WE ARE SO RELIEVED to hear you are all right... but sorry of course that your mom has been upset... we understand... of course "the devil is in the details" as the English say, every love affair is different, but in the end they boil down to pretty much the same sorts of joys and pains, mostly the latter if they don't work out as we hoped. It's funny about humans... Daddy says when love affairs break up, most men truly believe it was the woman's fault; but the women blame the man! He says it's because although men and women need each other in many ways, they are also very different in some ways, in temperament, and how they look at things, and the minute there is an argument, and a feeling of resentment, each immediately thinks the other one is being unreasonable or unfeeling! (Men the former, women the latter...) All I can say is, aren't you glad we're not human?!?! Such things don't concern us at all! i guess we don't really have anything to argue about HAHAHA. Well things have been quite dicey around here since we last talked, but for very different reasons... actually, you probably wouldn't believe it... Daddy was supposed to have knee surgery on Sept. 7, but on Aug. 30 he FELL in the shower and injured himself pretty bad... and he couldn't get out! He couldn't reach the phone to call for help... he was stuck in the shower with no food or water (the faucet was OFF and he couldn't reach it!) or his medications, from 9 pm. till 6 am when someone in the hall finally heard him calling for help. He said later, it was the very last time he thought he could call, because his voice was almost gone... the lady called "911" and the St. Paul Fire Department came and broke our door down, and rushed Daddy to the hospital, leaving me alone in our apartment and the door gone! All our stuff could have been stolen, including me! But our friend Tiffany downstairs heard all the noise, and came up and rescued me! She took me to her apartment for the whole ten days Daddy was in the hospital, and our building manager quickly sealed our apartment and then had a new door installed so that worked out... the doctor in the hospital said a few more hours, and Daddy wouldn't have made it... he finally came home, I was SO HAPPY... but then he got VERY SICK for about two weeks, and almost had to go back to the hospital, but finally he felt better... then a few days later, he was taking the Senior Bus to a doctor appointment, to see how he was coming along, and the bus had an ACCIDENT and Daddy was thrown from his wheelchair and cut his head bad, and was bleeding profusely, plus many bruises and WHIPLASH if you know what that is (terrible neck pain) and he was rushed to the hospital AGAIN... at the hospital he tried to call Tiffany to come get me again (he had given her a key to our apartment this time), but he could never get an answer on her phone. He was only in the hospital one day this time, after they sewed up his head (he says he looks like Frankenstein now), but when he got home, there I was alone in the apartment, nothing to eat!!! Well at least I had water...and I ate a couple of magazines for nourishment... and he still couldn't get Tiffany on the phone, so finally he called her sister and she started crying and said Tiffany had become sick, and rushed to the hospital, and died! She was our dearest friend here in our building for many years, and took care of both Louis and me many times, and kept an eye on Daddy, and brought him milk and bread when he ran out, or got his mail for him, she was the dearest person, and we are still in shock, and cry a lot, and miss her with all our heart. After all this Daddy has become much weaker and unable to take care of himself like he used to, so he is getting a full-time nanny to be here with us every day for several hours, to clean and help with meals etc. He had to do that, or else they were going to make him go to Assisted Living, which is halfway between a private home and a nursing home, but they DO NOT ALLOW DOGS, so he refused to go, and has hired the lady instead, even though it costs over $4,000 a month, so I feel very special and loved!! (As if I didn't before haha). Then, for a Grand Finale, Daddy asked the orthopedist if he could reschedule his knee surgery, which had been looking forward to for SO long, because his knees hurt SO bad, but the surgeon said NO, he will not do the operation anymore, because Daddy is too weak and probably would not live through the surgery, so he will just have to take pain pills. But guess what? Daddy is exercising and on a diet and doing everything he can to feel better and be healthier, he says he is going to "fool those stupid doctors one more time!"" hahaha he is laughing and making a challenge out of it and is planning to live many more years and hope for a cure for MS, which they are working on very hard, all the scientists, and some think a cure is not that far away! So who knows! But Daddy is optimistic. Well we hope this will help your Mom put things in perspective... like Daddy always says, "The best cure for feeling bad is to see how much worse somebody else feels!" and we hope she gets a better internship too! Just remember, life is like a roller coaster, yes it goes down... but it will go up again! GLAD YOU ARE OK don't make us worry quite so long next time!! Votre ami éternellement, Victor Hugo La France

Hugo La France SAYS:
Dear Zwabby, I haven't heard from you for 3 months and I am getting awfully worried... I don't see any other mail on here either. You have been one of myu favorite friends on Cuteness so I hope you are OK. If you can't write, please ask Benji to check in with me? However you are, and wherever you are, please believe me your friend forever, x x x x Hugo La France

Hugo La France SAYS:
Heh.. yeh that Discovery Channel idea sounds good... they can show videos of us poor guys tryig to make puppies with the ladies and just staggering around and falling on our heads CLUNK! hahaha Pitiful... While the ladies roll their eyes and shake their heads "What a bunch of losers!" So humiliating... that is why lady Frenchies prefer other breeds of dogs! ANYTHING but a male Frnechie hahaha!! Well we may be helpless but we look good in a fedora!! x x x x Hugo

Emily Louise SAYS:
Hi there my beautiful furry friend !!!!! Yes, it's nice to have a short coat that dries quickly ! I can play more outside in the water. We have a pond across the street, but I'm afraid of it plus my mom says that it's not clean enough for me to go near so I just stay on my side. I finally got up enough courage to go meet my neighbor across the street (in the other direction from the pond of course) He loves me and I will go to him now without hesitating. I'm really very shy and it takes me a LONG time to get to know someone. But everyone loves me so I guess it's OK if I go and visit occasionally. I also met the new family that just moved in behind our place. He's very, very nice and just LOVES dogs, but she's very allergic to us (as my mom is to cats) so when I see her outside I have to be on a lead because I don't want to run over and upset her, even though I wouldn't get near her but I'm not sure she knows that. But it's OK, because when she goes inside I get to run in the field again ! I think that was just the most clever thing to find a hole in the fence so you could go "explore" ! It's FUN isn't it?????? It's raining today so I'll be inside most of the day but that's OK. We really needed the rain. Was getting tired of sun, sun, sun, etc. constantly ! Of course, even as big as I am I may get lost in the grass in the yard because mom hasn't been able to mow lately ! But one of these days when she can't find me, she'll mow ! (only kidding, it's not really that bad, but it does need a trim !) As a treat last week, mom bought us all knuckle bones (they're rather large, I think they're from a cow) Well, Misty didn't know what it was and was afraid of it, so it's still sitting on the floor in mom's room waiting for her to discover it, Katie tried to attack and kill it, jumping and pouncing on it like it was alive ! but me, DEVOURED it in minutes ! (well not the bone itself of course - the meat and marrow) DUMB DOGS ! I'm thinking of stealing Katie's the next time she's not looking !!!! Ooooooo mom just lit a couple of candles - it's soooooo pretty in here. Will talk to you more later. Have a wonderful day (or evening I think at this point in time) I keep forgetting about the time difference. Happy dinner time if that's what it's close to ! Lots of love and doggie kisses to you my friend !!! xxxooo Emmielou !

Katie SAYS:
Hiya Swabby ! It's sooooo great to hear from you ! I love friends in other countries - it's sooooo interesting to learn about them and their climate, etc. I'm glad it's cooler for you now. We still have mid to high 80's. Today is the first day it rained in a while and I enjoyed every minute of it this morning ! It's only mid 70's now and that feels good compared to what we had! I think that this will be the same as last year - VERY hot summer, then instant COLD, then instant HOT again. We had no beautiful Fall season last year and really no nice Spring this year ! Hope it changes. I've never been in a supermarket either, but they don't allow us in there. I can understand about our fur flying and food all over. Besides, if I were let loose in a supermarket - I'd eat EVERYTHING in sight !!!!! They'd throw me out for sure ! We've never really been on a Holiday (neither has my mom) but she takes me in the car a lot when she goes different places. It's fun because we always stop at some really beautiful grassy spot so I can get out and walk around and pick up the different smells of the area. I love that ! Has your mom been able to make any different treats for you yet? I keep forgetting about our time difference - so it's morning here - is it late afternoon or evening in Holland???? If it is, HAPPY DINNER TIME !!!! Will look forward to barking with you soon. Have a wonderful day or evening as the case may be. xxxxoooo Katie