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Corgi Capers Comix: Feeding Time
Welcome to a new feature on my blog. I’m going to try to post one of these each month. I spent lots of time in high school drawing comics–I mean, studying. I continued my interest in comics during college with the school newspaper. Though my drawings are very cartoony, I hope to keep practicing them here while sharing my love of those quirky little corgis. This first comic is inspired by my own dogs, who become ornery if I don’t feed them exactly on time. Enjoy! -Val Muller
Audio Book Now Available!
I’m pleased to announce that Corgi Capers: Deceit on Dorset Drive is now available in audio format. You can download your copy from Audible.com. I’ve downloaded several books from Audible–it’s a great deal when you purchase a membership, and if you sign up for a free trial, you can get several books free and then very inexpensively. I transfer my audio books to my mp3 player and listen during long car rides, runs, or even when mowing the lawn (I place my earbuds inside my ear protection).
I’m also giving away discount codes for the audio book. Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter. The prize is one download code for Corgi Capers audio book. For every 100 entries, I will add a second download code (up to 5), so share with your friends. In the meantime, you can listen to a free preview of the book here.
Enter to win:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Give Our Hearts to Denby Auction
I’m writing today about a special corgi and a special cause.
This is Denby Dog. In 2005, the corgi lost the ability to eat, drink, or blink. Today, he faces another challenge: degenerative myelopathy, a progressive and incurable disease of the spinal cord. Despite all of his challenges, Denby Dog and his special person are still going strong–Corgi Strong!, as his Facebook page asserts.
You can learn all about Denby Dog in this interview on Babble.com.
As part of this cause, a corgi community on Facebook, led by Iron Corgi Maggie Thatcher, has come together with some great (and mostly dog-related) items up for auction. The money raised in the auction will go right to Denby Dog and his Person to help with vet bills.
As part of this auction, I’ve donated something special: the chance to name one more character in the upcoming Corgi Capers 3: Curtain Calls and Fire Halls. Any and all money raised for this item will go directly to Denby, and I will send the winner an autographed copy of the book. You can find this item in the auction by using the link in the next paragraph.
If you’d like to participate in the auction, check out Iron Corgi Maggie Thatcher’s Facebook page (here), and then go check out her photo album (here) that contains all the goodies up for auction. Bidding is open for the week.
A Corgi Wonderland
Leia and Yoda Corgi have been enamored with the recent cold snap and the snow it’s brought. Except for times of extremely cold wind chill that send Leia inside, I have had to beg the corgis to come in from the cold. You hear people warning each other about the importance of bringing their pets inside during such temperatures, but I have a different warning:
Snow makes the corgis as frisky as ever. They love chasing each other, rolling in the snow (I think they’re trying to make “corgi angels”), and of course, eating it. One of their favorite things to do is have a corgi showdown (or “snow-down”). They stand at opposite ends of the yard and stare each other down. They creep forward one millimeter at a time until a loud noise–a bird, a car horn, or perhaps an “accidental” cough from me–sends them chasing each other at full speed:
When the snow is deep enough, they love running through the yard and creating “corgi paths” that they run through over and over again. Here is a shot of them making one such path:
Corgis gone wild in shoulder-deep snow!
Forging a corgi path in the snow.
Yoda is consistent in his love for the snow, but once in a while, Leia gets that little spark in her eye and becomes especially snow-happy:
Not sure how much more snow we’ll get this winter, but if it ever starts to get you down, just think like a corgi, and all will be well. Stay warm!
In Search of Winter by Sapphie Corgi
My person has been complaining lately about a thing called “winter.” It sounded like it might be good to eat, so I searched all over for it—the kitchen, the pantry, and even the compost heap outside, which was covered up in snow. But I couldn’t find winter anywhere. I got so mad, mad, mad that I ran around the house until I found my brother. Then I bit his ears. Biting Zeph’s ears always calms me down.
Zeph was no fun, as usual, and told me to stop. Like that was going to happen! But then I remembered that Zeph knows just about every word in the world, so I told him I’d stop biting his ears if he told me what “winter” was. He answered right away.
He said winter was the cold and snow and white skies and swirling sleet. I growled a little.
“Give me one,” I said.
“One what?” Zeph asked.
“One winter. No, make that two winters. Give me two winters. Mine and yours. I want to take them into my bed and eat them.” I always took treats into my bed and ate them. I usually steal Zeph’s treats, too. What’s his is mine, after all. Then I remembered Zeph was taking too long giving me his winter, so I snarled a little and said, “Give me your winter. Now, now, now!”
“I can’t give you winter, Sapphie,” my brother said. “It isn’t something that can—”
But I’d heard enough. “Where are you hiding winter?” I growled.
“I’m not hiding it, Sapphie, I—” But as he spoke, he glanced outside. He’s not a very good liar, and I knew he’d hidden winter in the yard. I’d have to go out and look for it, I decided as I bit his ear again. Only… finding winter might have to wait a while. Digging is hard to do when there’s so much snow on the ground!
Christmas Letters from the Corgis
It’s that time of year. The corgis have written their annual Christmas letters and thought they’d share:
Leia’s Christmas letter:
I know the world can’t wait to read about my experiences this year, so I’ll try not to be brief. After all, my name is Princess Leia. I know what “Princess” means. It means I can do what I want, when I want. And there isn’t a thing you can do about it. So sit down a while and prepare to be wowed by my tale (and my tail–it’s so cute and tiny!)
The year started out with some really fun stuff. There were boxes everywhere. Everywhere I turned, there was a box to sit in! Soon, though, stuff started getting packed away, and that was no fun, fun, fun!
Then our people told us they had to sell the house and we were too messy, messy, messy! They made us stay with our friend Buster the Boxer. Boy, did I get to practice being bossy. Not only did I get to boss around my brother, but I also got to boss around an eighty-pound boxer. He has a laundry basket full of toys, and get this: he thinks they belong to him—ha! Just like he thinks his food dish belongs to him.
Nope. Buster’s food dish, Yoda’s food dish, and my food dish all belong to me. And I ate from all of them, too! When my person finally came back to get me, I was a little rotund ball of happiness.
Who cares if Yoda lost weight because I wouldn’t let him eat? All that matters is me, me, me! Right?
Well anyway, then we moved to this new place. The yard is much bigger, and there are animals everywhere. The great thing I learned is that I have spring allergies that make my eyes water. I get to take this thing called medicine, which my person gives me as a ball of cheese. There’s nothing better, I tell you!
The first thing I did at the new place is light out after a deer. I ran past one, two, three people’s yards… all the way to the tree line. It was only then that I realized my person was screaming at me. I turned around and ran back. I thought I was going to be yelled at, so I immediately plopped down onto the ground and rolled over on my back. That melts my person’s heart, and she never yells at me. Then I followed her around all day and snuggled whenever possible just to make sure there was no yelling.
What was my stupid brother doing all this time? Did he take the opportunity to chase the deer with me? Of course not. He just howled at our person and sat at her feet like a stinky little fraidy dog. Hmph! He makes me look like the bad dog!
Anyway, besides animals to chase (because we got these stupid collars that scare me if I run too far. Haha! I ran down the battery on that thing real fast!), there are stinky piles to roll in. I basically have to get a bath every weekend. I’m proud of it, what can I say? I also found several dead things, mostly bugs, but one of them was bigger than a bug. My person is looking at me now, saying it’s not decent to write details about dead things I found (and played with), seeing as this is a Christmas letter.
Speaking of Christmas, my person bought us a bag of rawhide bones for Christmas. We smelled her gift, of course, and demanded that she give us the bones right away. She was all like “okay, just one each,” but we took care of that. Why, just this morning, she gave us the last of the bones from that bag. And it isn’t even Christmas yet! I’ll bet you two peanut butter cookies she goes out and buys us another bag before long. She says they’re from Target—she finally found “made in U.S.A. bones there.” Whatever that means. As long as she buys more, I’m happy.
The last thing that happened was the snow. At first I loved, loved, loved it! But then a thing called ice came and made a crusty layer that I was just heavy enough to fall through—but slowly, not quickly like my bigger brother. I was afraid, so I ended up doing my business on the patio. My person didn’t like that, but she has to remember that I’m in charge, not her. BOL!
Well, my brother is sitting here at the keyboard, so I guess I’d better let him write his Christmas letter. He’s a boring fraidy dog, though, so it’s probably going to be a stupid letter. You should just read mine again.
Merry Christmas to you, and don’t forget to send me Christmas treats!
Love,
Leia Corgi
Yoda’s Christmas letter:
I thought I’d start off this letter by warning you of all the scary things I’ve encountered this year: Leia, boxes, water, anything crinkly, bubble wrap, moving trucks, Buster, Leia, food dishes that are made of plastic, stuffed dog toys, foil, hats, costumes, stink bugs, ceramic ducks, dead animals my sister found, food dishes that are made of metal, books, bottles, baking pans, Howl-o-ween costumes, pizza boxes, Christmas trees, printers, and Leia.
Here are things that are not scary from this year: dried leaves (they are good to eat), rawhide bones, dog food, treats, blankets, leashes, and cuddling.
A lot of stuff happened this year, but right now, I’m sitting on my person’s lap, I’m in a warm house, I’ve had breakfast, and I’m being scratched behind the ears. My sister is on the floor not bullying me for once, and all is right with the world. I wish everyone was so lucky as me, to have a warm person with a lap to sit on and to be scratched behind the ears, and to feel how content the world is at times like these.
So all I can say is best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Love,
Yoda Corgi
Corgi Capers 