I am playing with these two. I just haven't posted many pictures of my pets, and they have a pretty big influence on my playful nature, so let me introduce them.

Tamashii, the dog, is possibly part sheppie and maybe mostly Norwegian Buhund. The bandanna he is wearing is something he always has on, and he's got a more extensive wardrobe of colors and styles than I do. He's fiercely loyal, and enjoys everything. I base some of my excitement about the world around me on the fact that dogs are inherently happy. If a dog can be happy about pooping in a snowstorm, I should find a way to enjoy even the less enjoyable parts of my life. He's playful, curious, and affectionate. He's also never had an accident in the house. Ever. Tamashii is fine with new people if we introduce him, but people he does not know are considered their own food group. As such, he is actually better than an ADT alarm system. Someone breaking into the house can guess they can grab stuff and get out before the police arrive, but the injuries immediately and shamelessly inflicted by a protective dog don't wait for the police to arrive. He's everything anyone would want out of a dog.

Diva, the cat, is a petite Manx. She is a cat. She is stuck up, introverted and malicious. She is affectionate to specific people, and inexplicably distressed by others. She has sinus trouble and when she sneezes it looks like something off a Garbage Pail Kids card, it's like silly string and I don't want to try to adequately describe it here because it will affect my "General" tag. Diva is very SMALL. The dog is not that big, but next to her, he looks like a pretty big dog. Diva likes to hang out on my shoulders while I play on Tapestries and purr, which feels nice for a while, but then she falls asleep and I am afraid to move because she will put her claws into me when it startles her, and then she will wake up and sneeze on the back of my head and I will have to excuse myself to take a shower, and people assume that I needed one for other reasons.

Both these animals are very amicable to one another, even though they did not grow up together. When Diva first met Tamashii, she beat the ever living dog-snot out of him and secured his obedience and subservience to her, his master. In his revenge, Tamashii gets to enjoy the fact that we think Diva is allergic to dogs.

Also featured here is Tiggywiggles. The dog toy is a stuffed hedgehog named after Tiggywinkles. Tamashii has had this toy for five or six years. If we threw it away, we are fairly certain he would disembowel himself on the living room floor. Thankfully for everyone in the house, the squeaker in this toy broke over a year ago. Still, if you aren't paying attention to him and he wants to play, he WILL stuff Tiggywiggles up your ASS.

So there they are. Now, when I say "Tamashii and Diva" in a post on my journal people won't head over to Wikipedia and such to figure out what the heck I'm going on about.

Lots of love!