Tuesday, May 25, 2010

My Monthly Diary for April

I'm going to warn Auntie Naomi right now that she is NOT going to be pleased with me this month. So, maybe Uncle Fred should preview this one.

My tummy is feeling much better thanks to the Forco powder so I am feeling much livelier and am back to being perky and alert on my walks. So, on one walk this month Mommy and I were walking under some maple trees when WHAM!! I almost got hit on the head by a baby squirrel! He had fallen out of the tree and missed landing on me by inches! Before Mommy's slow brain could register what had almost hit me I had that baby squirrel in my mouth. I was trying to get it into a good shaking hold when Mommy finally came to and grabbed my collar and yelled, "Drop it! Spit!" The baby squirrel was a lot more squirmy than a big squirrel so I was having trouble holding it and Mommy shaking my collar wasn't helping. Then the squirrel started squealing and squirming even more and I lost my grip on him and he fell down. Then he got up and wobbled over to the tree trunk and climbed up. But he only climbed up about 4 feet and then he stopped and froze. I looked at Mommy and said, "Oh come on! He's just sitting there! Let me go over to the tree and pull him off." But Mommy said no I had to leave him be and let him climb back up to the nest. We didn't see him the next day even though I stopped and sniffed all around the tree so we figure he was fine.

Then the next week on our walk we passed by some bushes and I dove in and came out with a squealing baby rabbit in my mouth. Again Mommy the spoilsport yelled at me to "Drop it! Spit!" and started shaking my collar. I dropped the bunny and he hopped off to some different bushes and hid. On our walk home I insisted on going to the bunny bushes and checking for him, but I didn't find him. The next day however I walked Mommy to those bushes and I spotted that bunny again. Unfortunately Mommy spotted him too and she didn't let me catch him. He hopped to a different set of bushes and then looked at me and hopped on across the street to another set of bushes. I barked and barked and barked at him. I checked the bushes over and over again after that, but I didn't find the bunny. Mommy says if he has any brains he has moved on to saver property.

I've also taken some hikes with Mommy this month. We went on some short hikes and then we took an 8 mile hike. I had wanted to turn back to the car after 3 miles that day, but Mommy said she was sick of short hikes and wanted to go farther. I managed the whole 8 miles and wasn't too sore afterward so maybe I can do longer hikes than I thought. This is good because Mommy bought me a new Merlin Cam. I haven't gotten to use it yet, but I'm looking forward to the weather being more amicable for hiking.

The weather has been very weird. I'm not sure why we have skipped over spring and gone straight to summer but last Monday the temperatures were around 60 degrees then by Saturday it was about 73 degrees. Mommy and I took a long walk and ran a bunch of errands and on the way home we stopped at the Dog n Suds and I got to have some french fries and a bowl of water. The girls were very quick serving me this time so I didn't have to bark at them to hurry up.

By early the next morning it was 85 degrees and it came close to 90 that day. Mommy got out my shedding brush and gave me a long brushing. I don't usually let her brush me for more than 5 minutes, but it felt so good to get my old winter undercoat off that I sat still for a good 15 minutes and Mommy got four poodles worth of hair off me. Then she went and planted tomatoes and I slept on the concrete floor of the garage. Half way through the planting Mommy went in the house and got in the shower fully dressed, which was weird if you ask me, and then she came back out with a bucket of cold water and threw it on me. I couldn't believe she did that to me! I ran a couple of laps around the backyard and then went back to sleep in the garage.

It still has not cooled down. It was at least 90 yesterday and didn't cool down much after dark. It was too hot in our house to sleep last night so Mommy and I moved out to the porch. We slept there until about 1 a.m. when I heard cats fighting next door. I barked and barked at them and woke Mommy up. Mommy decided it was cool enough in the house for us to go back to the bedroom so we did. At 5 a.m. I decided it was morning enough so I woke up Mommy and told her I wanted to have breakfast. She got up and made me my kibble and Forco powder and yogurt. Did I mention I have decided I don't like Forco powder after all and now will only eat it if it is mixed in yogurt? Anyway, Mommy made me my breakfast and I looked at it and decided that I wasn't all that hungry after all and went back to bed. Mommy said I was a jerk. She wasn't so mad at me that I didn't get to go to the lake this morning for a swim and it was a GREAT morning to go to the lake. The carp were spawning! I love when the carp spawn. They swim up close to the bank and splash the water so I can find them really easily. I ran around where they were spawning and tried to grab them, but I couldn't catch any, and then at one point I dove under a fence and fell down the bank and into the water. I climbed back up, but I couldn't figure out how to get back out under the fence. Finally Mommy was able to help me out, but my back end was really sore on the walk home. I hope we go back to spring soon, but maybe without the thunderstorms.

Oh, Don't panic! Happy Towel Day!