My Monthly Diary for April, 2012

If you remember, last month was unusually warm, April on the other hand was unusually cold!  What is wrong with you Mother Nature?  We did have a spectacular full moon early in the month.  It was like someone was shining their headlights into our living room. It was so cool that I woke Mommy up so she could see it.  She didn't seem to appreciate that though.  We had some thunderstorms this month too.  I had to be sure to wake Mommy up for those as well so that she could help me put my shirt on.  One of the storms was so big that I was scared even when I was wearing clothes, which you would think was impossible, but I guess isn't. I was on Tramadol for one storm and I didn't care about the thunder at all.  Mommy got an evil look on her face when she saw that.  Even though the weather has been strange Mommy and I did get some hikes in and Mommy planted her vegetable garden.  I helped dig some of the garden, and I planted a stuffed animal and a tennis ball like I do each year in hopes of growing a toy vine.  They never seem to sprout and I'm beginning to think we must live in the wrong zone.

We had a sad, sad day here early in the month.  Pelles, my fish, was found belly up on the morning of the 5th.  We don't know what happened.  He was his normal self the night before, having fun doing rapid laps around his bowl and flashing at his reflection when Mommy set up his mirror, so we were totally unprepared for this.  Mommy read that betta fish only live 2 to 3 years at most and that most of the fish you get at pet stores are already about a year old, so he may just have died of old age.  Poor Pelles.

We also found out this month that my little shihtzpoo friend Harley, who is 16 years old, has terminal mouth cancer.  This is extra sad for Mommy because that is what my predecessor, Boo, died of.  Mommy talked to Harley's daddy for a long time about the disease and how it progresses and what she and her vet learned and she gave him Boo's cancer diet (at his request) and also suggested that he might want to contact our vet, because, as far as we know, Boo is the only dog in the area to ever live one year with the cancer.  Life expectancy with mouth cancer is less than four months for most dogs.  We hope Harley gets at least as long as Boo.

We had a really strange thing happen on one of our walks this month.  Mommy and I were one block north of the center of town and Mommy was waiting for a lady to get control of her dogs who were in her yard off leash before we passed when we spotted a wild turkey.  He was just strolling across the street!  Mommy's conversation with the lady went something like this:

Mommy: Can you hold your dogs while we pass?
Lady: They are friendly.
Mommy: Mine isn't.  I'd hate to have them come up to say hi and have him...TURKEY!!
Lady: What?
Mommy pointing: A wild turkey is walking across the street!
Lady: That is the funniest thing I've ever seen!

Anyway, the turkey finally crossed the road and the woman held her dogs and we continued our walk.  When we got to the turkey he was standing by a pick up truck like he was trying to figure out how to open the door.  Mommy pointed him out to me and the turkey turned and looked at us like, "What? You've never seen a turkey before?" and then he strolled away from the truck into a backyard.  We spotted him the next morning hanging out by the senior apartments, but we haven't seen him since.

Another funny thing that happened on one of our morning walks was that I found a baby snapping turtle.  It was just sitting in the middle of the road quite far from the lake.  We have snapping turtles up here, but Mommy thinks it was way too early for him to have hatched and gotten lost on his way to the water, so we suspect he was a pet shop dump.  He was very dry and sad looking so Mommy picked him up and put him in a poop bag and we carried him to one of the public access points on the lake.  Mommy put him down by the water and he ran to it and dove in, but it was very windy that day and he got slammed around by the waves so Mommy wound up wading into the water and catching him again.  We carried him in the poop bag again to a more sheltered access point and Mommy let him go and this time when he dove into the water he was able to swim to a leaf covered shallow spot and hide.  He may or may not make it, but we hope he grows big enough to bite the toes of unsuspecting children.

Another funny thing that has happened on a walk and a hike is that we have run into my V-E-T!!  The first time she drove up to the feed store loading dock as I was getting my cookie (I pretended not to know her) and the second time she came riding up the trail we were on on a tiny horse!  Mommy says she isn't sure if the horse qualified as a pony, but it sure looked like it could have.  There is something wrong about seeing your vet when you are off having fun.

Mommy got sick this month.  She came home early one day and went to bed.  I like when she does this because it is fun to have her to snuggle with.  The next day she woke up with a fever and cough and no voice so, after my morning walk (there is NO excuse for not taking me for a morning walk) Mommy went back to bed and we slept all day again.  The next day, same thing!  Now, by this point it isn't so much fun having Mommy home.  I mean, if you are going to be home this much we should be doing something fun like hiking.  So I kept bringing Mommy toys to try to get her to get up and play with me, but she wouldn't do it.  Finally she said, "Well, I guess I can be sick in lawn chair instead of sick in bed." and we went out in the backyard.  Mommy brought her camera outside and took some pictures of me and a red admiral butterfly.  I don't know if you have had a red admiral invasion where you are, but we sure have.  They are everywhere en masse.  Mommy posted one of the photos of me as our first Wordless Wednesday and you can see it in the previous post.  Here is another of me and one of a red admiral with his wings closed:

After Mommy got better she took the bed frame apart and put it in storage in the basement.  Our box spring and mattress are now sitting on the floor.  She also got a rug like you would put in front entryway and put it in front of the couch.  Mommy did this because she noticed how much trouble I have been having getting up on the bed and the other day my hind end slid out from under me when I was trying to climb up on the couch and I walked around on three legs for about a half hour and had to take a Tramadol.  Mommy wants me to be able to sleep on the comfy furniture without risking getting hurt again, which is funny when you consider that when I came to live with her she told me on the first day, "Dogs are NOT going to be allowed on the furniture in this house anymore.  You have your own beds and you are to sleep on them ONLY."  I was sleeping on the bed with her within the month, and about a week after getting run of the house the couch was covered with a sheet.  Silly Mommy thinking she could make rules like that.

Wordless Wednesday

No Float Coat for Me

Well, we didn't win the float coat. We weren't really expecting to and Mommy and I aren't upset because the dog who won it was a hind leg amputee so we think she needs it more than me. We are glad that they picked a real dog's photo (and it is a really good shot too!) and not one of the professional photographers who entered. The winner, Rona. Congrats Rona! Mommy says she will evaluate my swimming ability after we go up to Wisconsin for the first time this year and if I have as much trouble swimming then as I did on our river hike, she will spend her quarter jar on a float coat for me. So you might see me modeling one in the future.

Help Me Win a Life Jacket

Mommy and I never enter contests, but when we saw one where the prize was a dog life jacket Mommy decided to enter. You see, one thing I didn't mention in my last blog post was that when I fell in, um, took an impromptu swim in the lagoon I actually kind of maybe panicked. I've never panicked in the water before, but this time when I needed to swim my hind end didn't really behave itself and it sank which started dragging me down. Mommy pulled me towards shore with my leash and was ready to haul me out, but I got out on my own. Now, it could be that my legs didn't behave because the water was so cold, but Mommy is worried that this is a sign that I'm not going to be able to swim this summer. So, if I could win a life vest it would be really cool.

The problem is you needed to enter a photo of your dog having fun in the water, and Mommy really doesn't have any good ones of me. She entered an old photo she took with her point and shoot 35mm camera 10 years ago and scanned which is really pathetic if you see all the professional photographers who have entered the contest. One thing they said in the contest is that Facebook likes will count towards the winner along with the judges' opinions. So I'm asking all of y'all out there who have a Facebook account to like Mommy's pathetic photo. It is here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150783702311329&set=a.10150769125841329.451574.119784611328&type=1&theater

Who knows, maybe something will come of it! If the link sends you somewhere weird the contest is at http://www.facebook.com/BackcountryK9 and my photo looks like this:

My Monthly Diary for March, 2012

Well this has been a strange March as far as the weather goes. We had some days when it was in the low 30s which is about 10 degrees too cold for March and some days when it was in the upper 80s which is about 40 degrees too warm. We had a couple days where the temperature dropped 20 degrees in less than an hour. On the nice warm days Mommy did a lot of spring yard work while I supervised and ran squirrel and feral cat patrol. We also took some nice long hikes and walks, which were very tiring, but fun. We did three or four 8 miles or thereabouts walks/hikes. That is quite far for me these days because of my bad back end, but I love taking them even if I need to sleep for a couple days afterward.

I also learned a new trick and can now turn off the bedroom light. See my previous post for details on this.

On one of those walks with no snow or ice or anything that would make my footing unstable Mommy noticed that I was walking a little stranger than usual. My head was down and I was favoring my right front shoulder a bit so Mommy took me to the chiropractor. She did an adjustment but she told Mommy that, while my shoulder was a bit tight, my real problem was that I had "poofy toes" and that was causing me to shift my weight forward which means I have to put my head down to keep my balance. Mommy and I were both confused, so the chiropractor pointed out that my back feet were rather swollen. She explained that that was a sign that I have developed arthritis in my toes. This is probably due to old age and the fact that with my limited feeling back there I sometimes end up foot scuffing which isn't good for my joints. Even though I don't feel much back there I can feel that my toes are sore so I shift my weight forward to take some weight off my toes. She said that Mommy should take me to see my regular vet to see if she can come up with anything that will help my feet. We haven't done that yet, but Mommy says we will in the near future. We aren't sure there is much that we can do since I can't take any NSAIDs and Mommy kind of thinks the regular vet is going to say, "give him a 1/2 a tramadol when his feet look swollen" which is what Mommy has been doing anyway. Now I understand why our old neighbor, Bill, used to tell Mommy and me not to get old, but frankly, old seems better than the alternative.

But enough of being one of those old men who tell you about everything that is hurting. I have to tell you the fun stuff. First off, the chipmunks are awake! On one of my Saturday morning walks I could smell that the little striped guys were awake so I dug up one of their front doors so I could stick my head in and say hi, but he ran out the back and up a tree. It is nice they are awake even if they are antisocial. On that same walk Mommy and I heard the sound of a flying sandhill cranes and when we looked up there were HUNDREDS of them flying overhead in groups of between 25 and 75 birds. Mommy ended up counting 300 birds. Sandhills are some of our favorite birds. If you remember they are the big birds that some city boys thought were woodpeckers because they sound kind of like Woody Woodpecker when they are on the ground yodeling. This isn't our video, but it is a good example of what a whole bunch of flying sandhills look and sound like:

Last weekend we took a long hike along my favorite river trail. Since it was in the high 60s Mommy let me wear my Merlin Cam, but she brought her camera along too, just in case the Merlin Cam decided to shut down early, since we hadn't really used it since Christmas. It behaved itself for most of the hike and I got some good shots. Mommy took some decent pictures too, and I've agreed to let her post some of them since they illustrate the story of the hike.

At the beginning of the hike I had to do a lot of sniffing because there is a coyote den in the area and there is lots of coyote pee mail around the trail. Mommy decided to record the sound of the spring frogs while I was busy sniffing.

It was a bit windy when we started our hike so you can also hear the wind along with the peepers.

On part of the hike we walk by railroad tracks

The river has lagoons coming off of it and I decided to cool my toes and get a drink in one.
Lucky for me Mommy took my Merlin Cam off before I did because I fell in, um, decided to take an impromptu swim.

There were lots of turtles sunning in one of the lagoons

The river

I found one of those things Auntie Naomi doesn't like that starts with the letter "S"
and kind of look like the letter "S" too.
He came out from under that log and squiggled away from me then went into the water.

Water and cookie break (my hiking bowl is next to Mommy's leg)

The trail leads into a great big (100 acre) park. You know you are in the park when you see this monument. It was erected by the man who originally owned the land, in memory of the wife. She was killed in a car accident in France and he became a recluse after that. When he died his sister donated his estate to the town on the condition that it be made into a park. The top of the monument has been broken off and put back on. We don't know when or how that happened.

Taking a lie-down on one of the park's riverside benches.

Although it didn't used to be, the park is now our turn around point. So, after my 20 minute nap on the park bench Mommy and I headed back. I insisted on stopping for a fifteen minute or so lie-down at each trail-side bench on the way back. Mommy suspects this is how I picked up about a dozen ticks (almost all on and IN my ears) and she got four. So, even though it was about two months early for me to get them, I had to have tick drops put on that night when we got home.

When we got to a trailhead where we sometimes park I wanted to go find our car.
Mommy wouldn't do it because our car wasn't parked there.
It was at the trailhead that was about 3 miles farther down.

Me being tired and stubborn.
Too bad the Merlin Cam had conked out by that point or I might have gotten a good picture of Mommy trying to convince me to keep going by throwing treats down the trail in front of us.

It was worth eventually getting up and continuing on because when we got back to the area right before the coyote/frog spot we saw some big bunnies.

The big bunnies are saying "Why is that crazy lady wearing shorts and a t-shirt doesn't she know she is under dressed?" because, about 15 minutes before we saw them a cold front rolled in and the temperatures began to drastically drop. By the time we got back to our car it was in the low 40s (a 25 degree drop in a 1/2 hour) and Mommy had to turn the heat up in the car so she could warm up before driving.

Oh and one final thing, the Tastee Freeze has reopened so I got to go get Pup Cups a couple times this month! The Dog-n-Suds has opened too, but Mommy keeps forgetting to bring money with her on our weekend walks so I haven't gotten any cheese fries yet. She says she will try to remember for our next walk, but she said that after the walk before last too...

Lights Out for Earth Hour

Johann the Dog issued a challenge to all us clever dogs out there that if 100 of us learned to turn off the lights in time for Earth Hour 1000 dogs would get fed. Well, that is the kind of challenge Mommy and I like. I love learning circus tricks, but I haven't learned anything new since my toe was amputated. Mommy thought this sounded like something I could do even with my hind end being all wonky and my left paw being minus one toe. We knew I couldn't do a wall switch since I can't stand on my hind legs anymore and all the pull cord lights are in the basement, and I can't safely do the basement stairs anymore so Mommy decided I should learn to turn off the bedroom light which has a button timer on a long cord so she could put it on the ground.

We started off with Mommy standing over the timer and asking me to touch it. If I hit anywhere on the timer I got cookies! Then she got picky and told me no cookies unless I hit the button in the middle of the timer and the light turned off or on. That took more practice, but eventually I got it. Then we had to work on sending me out to touch the timer so Mommy didn't have to be right by it. We got that down and Mommy thought it was time to set up the camera. Well, when Mommy set the camera up I decided Mommy was changing the target and so I very enthusiastically touched the camera and sent it flying. You should have seen Mommy's amazing camera saving dive! I wish we had recorded that, but Mommy hadn't hit the record button before I whacked the camera. After Mommy explained to me that the camera WAS NOT the target and she wanted me to do the light trick again things went smoothly.



I have to apologize for the crazy whooping being done by Mommy. See, Mommy tried to learn how to use a clicker back when I was three years old, but she is such a klutz she couldn't get the timing down right so she went back to her "voice clicker" method which means when I am learning a trick and I do something right she say, "YES!" or "GOOD!" which works really well when I'm doing steps of a trick, but the first time I do a multi-part trick completely right on command Mommy switches to "street party" mode which means that she whoops and dances and calls me Pants Dog (which is short for Smarty Pants Dog). This makes me so happy and excited I will often repeat the trick over and over again without being asked just to see Mommy act the fool again. Anyway, be happy I edited the above clip to just the beginning of the street party.

After the first success Mommy thought she should try recording me again just in case the first one wasn't good enough so I tried a second time, but this time I didn't hit the timer quite right so the light didn't go out. I solved that problem though.



Mommy was surprised I chose to bump the light off because I'm not a big fan of bump, but it seemed like the logical thing to do. I hope all you smart dogs out there will go and pledge to learn to turn off the lights so that those 1000 dogs can get food.

My Monthly Diary for February, 2012

Let's see, what happened this month...

I have to say this was a much better February than we usually have because the weather wasn't constantly grey and nasty and so Mommy wasn't constantly grumpy and refusing to do things with me. In fact we went for a hike one day because the weather was so nice. We went to a lake I like a lot, but what we didn't know was that half of the trail was closed because they were doing some construction by the boat launch, so we wound up taking half a hike. We'd gotten a late start so it would have been a push to get the whole hike in in the time we had, but Mommy said she'd have taken us somewhere else if we had known there was construction.

I had some tummy troubles this month, probably because it is dead thing season. I love finding all the dead things that have been frozen at the side of the road all winter. They are extra yummy when they are totally flat and mostly unrecognizable. I grab them and Mommy yells, "SPIT! SPIT!" and I try to swallow as much of them as I can before Mommy gets to me and grabs my collar which means I have to spit it out or she will open my mouth and pull it out. It sure is yummy, but then I end up with tummy troubles and the farts and stuff. So this month I pooped in the house twice. Mommy, knowing tummy troubles come during dead thing season so she put the puppy papers down again and she did such a nice job of it that the first time I pooped in the house I pooped RIGHT NEXT TO the papers so that I wouldn't muss them up. Mommy didn't seem to appreciate it though. The second time I pooped in the house I worked really hard to squeeze myself under the upright piano next to the piano bench and poop on the ONLY carpet in the entire house. It is a small, light colored oriental-style carpet and I not only got the carpet I got its fringe too. That took great skill, but again, Mommy did not appreciate it. She didn't speak to me that whole night and now she has put stuff next to the bench so I can't fit under the piano anymore.

Mommy got sick herself this month and spent a couple days in bed. It is always nice to have her stay home and sleep with me, but when she is done being sick I always demand that we make up for our missed walks. So, a couple days after she was well I took her on a 7.5 mile morning walk. Mommy was a little grumpy about that because she thought we should take a hike that afternoon, and we can't do that if I take a long morning walk, but it ended up that I was the smart one because by afternoon the temperatures had rapidly dropped and it was hailing. Always listen to the dog.

The following Sunday morning the temperatures were in the high 40s so I took Mommy for the 8 mile morning walk to the forest preserve and back that I haven't been able to take for months. It took us 4 1/2 hours and I needed some sit-downs during the last two miles, but it was great fun. It was the day of the Great Backyard Bird Count so Mommy counted birds for the last 1 1/2 hours of our hike. She saw lots of good birds to report including a red-tailed hawk, a coopers hawk and 95 geese all hanging out on and around one pond!

We haven't had much snow this winter, but we finally had a decent 8 inch very wet snow this month and I convinced Mommy to play snowball with me. I had a great time playing, but boy was I tired afterwards. I needed a Tramadol that night and I slept through most of two days, requested a short morning walks for three and refused evening walks. For those of you who don't have snow, here is how you play snowball:

Wait for Mommy to make a snowball

Get ready for her to throw it

Catch it!

Tell Mommy to throw another one

Catch it!

Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.
As you can see, the fun of playing snowball is well worth the aches and pains later.

Finally this month Mommy and I were sleeping when we were woken up by what sounded like someone very big clearing his throat in our dining room. Mommy knew nobody was there so she couldn't decide if she had dreamed it or if our boiler (which is right below the dining room) had done something weird. She stayed up and listened for awhile, but the sound didn't repeat. Then the next night we woke up to CLANKCLANKBANGBANGBANGCLANKCLANK! then it went quiet. Mommy went down to check the boiler and its pump but everything seemed fine. Then the next night at 1 am CLANKCLANKBANGBANGBANGCLANKCLANK! quiet again. Mommy turned everything off and took the boiler pump apart, but the part that usually made a CLANKBANGCLANK noise when it breaks wasn't broken, but she put a replacement part in anyway and went back to bed. Then at 4 am CLANKCLANKBANGBANGBANGCLANKCLANKCLANKCLANKBANGBANG
BANGCLANKCLANK! Mommy called the emergency number for the heating guys, but when the guy called back 10 minutes later all was quiet. Then at 6 am CLANKCLANKBANGBANGBANGCLANKCLANKCLANKCLANKBANGBANG
BANGCLANKCLANKCLANKCLANKBANGBANGBANGCLANKCLANK! So mommy called the heater guy and left a message that she needed a morning appointment with a repair guy and he should probably bring a new boiler pump. So, at 10 am we got a visit by the heating guy. Mommy put the baby gate up at the top of the stairs so I wouldn't be tempted to try to go down and help him put a new pump onto our boiler. Mommy says it cost a lot of green stuff, but at least we can sleep through the night again and Mommy kind of half wonders if maybe the pump went CLANKCLANKBANGBANGBANGCLANKCLANK! while she was at work the day I decided to poop under the piano. I'm not telling her if it did, but I will tell you that that noise was enough to scare the poop out of anyone.