Happy New Year everyone! Mommy kept track of how far she and I walked this year and it was 1004.15 miles. That is an all-time record for us, and it brought our imaginary walk to Alaska to completion. We made it to Anchorage and even had some miles left to start our journey home. We have decided to take the scenic route and are heading to Fairbanks before heading back south.
View Imaginary Walk Around America in a larger map
We won't be doing a real New Year's Day hike this year because it is COOOOOOLD. Only about 15 degrees and gale force winds. Mommy and I walked into town this morning and were both frozen when we got home. I lay with my back pressed up against the baseboard heater until I warmed up. Mommy says she's still chilled.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Happy Howlidays! My Monthly Blog for November
First off, some folks were asking to see my very un-PC Halloween costume, so here it is:
Now, let's see. This month I went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Thanksgiving. Grandpa's college roommate and his wife were coming so I made sure I wore my best tie.
Grandpa's college roommate is in the early stages of Alzheimer's and he sometimes loses track of what he was saying or he can't find the right word, then he becomes frustrated. I noticed when he would get frustrated and would go up to him and lean on him when it happened. He would pet me and we would both be happier. I was a very good boy and only tried a couple times to steal the hors d'ouvres. After Grandpa cut a second serving of turkey I stayed in the kitchen to make sure everything was okay in there. Grandpa had left a whole turkey leg RIGHT BY THE EDGE OF THE COUNTER and I was just about to help him move it some place safer when Mommy came in and said, "Merrrrrliiiiin". She seemed to think I was planning to eat it or something. After dinner when Mommy and Grandma and the roommate's wife were putting away the leftovers I decided to help by taking care of the leftover gravy. Grandma had put it into a big butter tub and left it on the kitchen table so I carefully picked it up by the edge and was sneaking, um carefully carrying it out to the family room when Grandma spotted me and yelled, "Drop that!" I was so startled I dropped it, but it landed on its bottom and only splashed a little bit of gravy and Mommy ran over and picked up the container before I could pick it back up. All in all I thing Grandma and Grandpa were very impressed by what a good dog I was.
This month it got very cold very early. Mommy got one of her old sweatshirts for me to wear on our morning walks. On one walk we noticed that there was an odd smell in town. Then Mommy noticed that there were stripes on the street and she realized they were spraying some kind of deicer on the road. We stopped in to City Hall to ask them what it was made of to see if it was safe for my bare feet (I hate booties), but they didn't know, so they asked a public works guy to call Mommy and tell her. He did and it ends up it was made of sugar beet juice with the sugar removed, salt brine and liquid calcium chloride, so it is safe as things like that are.
Finally this month Mommy had a very scary evening. She was running an errand on her work dinner break and when she went to turn left at a T intersection a young woman in an SUV ran the red light and hit Mommy's car without trying to brake or swerve. She told the police officer that she had dropped something on the floor of her SUV and had bent over to pick it up (while driving about 45 mph in a 30 mph zone) and when she sat up she was hitting Mommy's car. Luckily Mommy has strong survival reflexes and had spotted that the car in the other left turn lane to her left had hit his brakes suddenly so without even wondering why he had done it she hit hers and swerved to the right. That meant that the SUV took out her Prius right in front of the front tires instead of t-boning her. If she had been t-boned I don't think she'd have come home to me and I'd probably be moving to Mommy's youngest brother's house to live. I would have been very very sad. Mommy's leg, shoulder, chest, back and neck were hurt, but not bad enough that she had to go to the hospital, and she is feeling almost normal now, a bit achy and tired, but she thinks we should be able to do our New Year's Day hike. Here is what Mommy's car looked like when she went to get her stuff out of it the next day:
Anyway, we have a lot to celebrate this Christmas and New Year if you ask me. Happy Howlidays everyone!
Now, let's see. This month I went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Thanksgiving. Grandpa's college roommate and his wife were coming so I made sure I wore my best tie.
Grandpa's college roommate is in the early stages of Alzheimer's and he sometimes loses track of what he was saying or he can't find the right word, then he becomes frustrated. I noticed when he would get frustrated and would go up to him and lean on him when it happened. He would pet me and we would both be happier. I was a very good boy and only tried a couple times to steal the hors d'ouvres. After Grandpa cut a second serving of turkey I stayed in the kitchen to make sure everything was okay in there. Grandpa had left a whole turkey leg RIGHT BY THE EDGE OF THE COUNTER and I was just about to help him move it some place safer when Mommy came in and said, "Merrrrrliiiiin". She seemed to think I was planning to eat it or something. After dinner when Mommy and Grandma and the roommate's wife were putting away the leftovers I decided to help by taking care of the leftover gravy. Grandma had put it into a big butter tub and left it on the kitchen table so I carefully picked it up by the edge and was sneaking, um carefully carrying it out to the family room when Grandma spotted me and yelled, "Drop that!" I was so startled I dropped it, but it landed on its bottom and only splashed a little bit of gravy and Mommy ran over and picked up the container before I could pick it back up. All in all I thing Grandma and Grandpa were very impressed by what a good dog I was.This month it got very cold very early. Mommy got one of her old sweatshirts for me to wear on our morning walks. On one walk we noticed that there was an odd smell in town. Then Mommy noticed that there were stripes on the street and she realized they were spraying some kind of deicer on the road. We stopped in to City Hall to ask them what it was made of to see if it was safe for my bare feet (I hate booties), but they didn't know, so they asked a public works guy to call Mommy and tell her. He did and it ends up it was made of sugar beet juice with the sugar removed, salt brine and liquid calcium chloride, so it is safe as things like that are.
Finally this month Mommy had a very scary evening. She was running an errand on her work dinner break and when she went to turn left at a T intersection a young woman in an SUV ran the red light and hit Mommy's car without trying to brake or swerve. She told the police officer that she had dropped something on the floor of her SUV and had bent over to pick it up (while driving about 45 mph in a 30 mph zone) and when she sat up she was hitting Mommy's car. Luckily Mommy has strong survival reflexes and had spotted that the car in the other left turn lane to her left had hit his brakes suddenly so without even wondering why he had done it she hit hers and swerved to the right. That meant that the SUV took out her Prius right in front of the front tires instead of t-boning her. If she had been t-boned I don't think she'd have come home to me and I'd probably be moving to Mommy's youngest brother's house to live. I would have been very very sad. Mommy's leg, shoulder, chest, back and neck were hurt, but not bad enough that she had to go to the hospital, and she is feeling almost normal now, a bit achy and tired, but she thinks we should be able to do our New Year's Day hike. Here is what Mommy's car looked like when she went to get her stuff out of it the next day:
Anyway, we have a lot to celebrate this Christmas and New Year if you ask me. Happy Howlidays everyone!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
My Monthly Diary for October
Well, this month we did the whole Halloween thing. I dressed up like an un-PC Indian by wearing one of Mommy's older brother's Indian Guides headdress and plastic bear claw necklace. People liked my outfit and I didn't cause anyone to cry or run away like I did last year. I only helped open the door for the first half of trick-or-treating and then I decided I was done. This was fine with Mommy and she let me sleep on the couch. Then around the last hour I wanted to go out so Mommy let me out and I got upset when trick-or-treaters came to our house and didn't come to the back gate to say hi to me no matter how much I yelled at them to come see me. We didn't get as many people this year as last year and most came in the first half of the night so most of them got to see my costume.
We had that time change thing this month too, but I was a good boy and didn't get upset and throw up in the house. I have also stopped waking Mommy up at 5:30 to tell her I'm hungry. I just wake her up at 4:30 or so to tell her to move over so I can have the warm spot in the bed. I like the cold weather, but I also like the warm spot on the bed. Mommy says it isn't nice to do that, but I'm old so I get my way.
Mommy made me wing lights this month. You can see and read about them in my previous two blogs if you haven't already. I need the lights because it is so dark when we take our evening walk. One evening Mommy forgot to put the lights on me and her and we took our walk and Mommy didn't see a bad spot on the sidewalk when we were doing our power-walk end of our walk and she fell down hard. She slid along the sidewalk, scraped off the palms of both her gloves, got a skinned left knee with a HUGE bruise that covered the whole joint and a smaller bruise on her right knee. When she stopped sliding she rolled over onto the parkway and lay there for a minute or so. I helped by standing over her and staring in her face with my nose right up to hers. She told me I was a very helpful dog after she got up and we didn't do any more power-walk for the rest of the way home. I've been helping the knees heal by licking them whenever she is in the bathroom.
I got sore this month too because Mommy was using the leaf blower. I think the leaf blower is very exciting and I have to run around the yard full blast about a dozen times when she first turns it on. Mommy says I'm getting too old to do those crazy sprints and that is why my legs and back have been aching for the past week or so. What does she expect me to do? Ignore it?
I got to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house this month. Mommy was going to something called an opera with Grandma and it was a long one so I stayed with Grandpa to keep him company. I got so excited when I found Grandma upstairs that I stood at the top of the stairs and barked at Mommy. Mommy agreed it was exciting, but said I didn't need to yell at her.
I made Mommy laugh this month too when we took a short car ride to run errands. I decided to ride on the passenger's side of back seat instead of the driver's side for some reason and when Mommy turned to see how I was doing at a stop she noticed that I was sitting like a human. I was sitting on my butt, with my legs straight out in front of me, bent at the knees with my feet in the foot well and I was kinda leaning against the door with my right arm on the arm rest. She said she really wished she had her camera with her. If she'd upgrade her phone she wouldn't have these problems, but she doesn't listen to me about these things.
I met some new dogs this month too. They are little spotty dogs called Cavalier King Charles spaniels. They are the same color as my former girlfriend Kachina was and much smaller than me so I liked them right away. The boy is called Max and the girl is Jen. We see them on our morning walks and we make our Mommies stop so we can talk to each other for a while. They aren't the running around kind, but they are good sniffers.
Speaking of Kachina, I found out that Kachina's former Mommy sent her boy back to the breeder too. Mommy says that isn't true. He actually went to a boarding school and will probably be back in May. We were wondering why we never saw him on any of our walks this fall. We aren't very fond of sending your critters off to have other people train them up, but Mommy thinks this will probably be good for him. We hope he likes it at the school.
Finally today Mommy and I heard sandhill cranes this morning and when we looked up there were about 100 cranes flying south over our house! Then about 15 minutes later another 100 flew over and then about another 1/2 hour later another 100!! We have NEVER seen that many sandhill cranes at one time. I guess they all decided it was time to go to Texas for their winter vacation.
Have a great Thanksgiving everyone and don't eat any turkey bones. They aren't good for you, but eating them does mean that you get to eat a 1/2 loaf of Wonder Bread afterward, so it is extra tempting to do so.
We had that time change thing this month too, but I was a good boy and didn't get upset and throw up in the house. I have also stopped waking Mommy up at 5:30 to tell her I'm hungry. I just wake her up at 4:30 or so to tell her to move over so I can have the warm spot in the bed. I like the cold weather, but I also like the warm spot on the bed. Mommy says it isn't nice to do that, but I'm old so I get my way.
Mommy made me wing lights this month. You can see and read about them in my previous two blogs if you haven't already. I need the lights because it is so dark when we take our evening walk. One evening Mommy forgot to put the lights on me and her and we took our walk and Mommy didn't see a bad spot on the sidewalk when we were doing our power-walk end of our walk and she fell down hard. She slid along the sidewalk, scraped off the palms of both her gloves, got a skinned left knee with a HUGE bruise that covered the whole joint and a smaller bruise on her right knee. When she stopped sliding she rolled over onto the parkway and lay there for a minute or so. I helped by standing over her and staring in her face with my nose right up to hers. She told me I was a very helpful dog after she got up and we didn't do any more power-walk for the rest of the way home. I've been helping the knees heal by licking them whenever she is in the bathroom.
I got sore this month too because Mommy was using the leaf blower. I think the leaf blower is very exciting and I have to run around the yard full blast about a dozen times when she first turns it on. Mommy says I'm getting too old to do those crazy sprints and that is why my legs and back have been aching for the past week or so. What does she expect me to do? Ignore it?
I got to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house this month. Mommy was going to something called an opera with Grandma and it was a long one so I stayed with Grandpa to keep him company. I got so excited when I found Grandma upstairs that I stood at the top of the stairs and barked at Mommy. Mommy agreed it was exciting, but said I didn't need to yell at her.
I made Mommy laugh this month too when we took a short car ride to run errands. I decided to ride on the passenger's side of back seat instead of the driver's side for some reason and when Mommy turned to see how I was doing at a stop she noticed that I was sitting like a human. I was sitting on my butt, with my legs straight out in front of me, bent at the knees with my feet in the foot well and I was kinda leaning against the door with my right arm on the arm rest. She said she really wished she had her camera with her. If she'd upgrade her phone she wouldn't have these problems, but she doesn't listen to me about these things.
I met some new dogs this month too. They are little spotty dogs called Cavalier King Charles spaniels. They are the same color as my former girlfriend Kachina was and much smaller than me so I liked them right away. The boy is called Max and the girl is Jen. We see them on our morning walks and we make our Mommies stop so we can talk to each other for a while. They aren't the running around kind, but they are good sniffers.
Speaking of Kachina, I found out that Kachina's former Mommy sent her boy back to the breeder too. Mommy says that isn't true. He actually went to a boarding school and will probably be back in May. We were wondering why we never saw him on any of our walks this fall. We aren't very fond of sending your critters off to have other people train them up, but Mommy thinks this will probably be good for him. We hope he likes it at the school.
Finally today Mommy and I heard sandhill cranes this morning and when we looked up there were about 100 cranes flying south over our house! Then about 15 minutes later another 100 flew over and then about another 1/2 hour later another 100!! We have NEVER seen that many sandhill cranes at one time. I guess they all decided it was time to go to Texas for their winter vacation.
Have a great Thanksgiving everyone and don't eat any turkey bones. They aren't good for you, but eating them does mean that you get to eat a 1/2 loaf of Wonder Bread afterward, so it is extra tempting to do so.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Headlights! The Next Generation
Mommy saw these lights at the Container Store and she bought them for me.
She thought they were nice because they light up two ways, have spring clips and can swivel in all sorts of directions. So, they have taken the place of my original headlights. The original headlights had the disadvantage of being easy for me to turn off because they were pop lights, and, because they were held on with Velcro, rub off. These lights aren't as bright and I don't cast shadows when I'm wearing them, but they still make me visible. Mommy says when I'm wearing these new lights I look like a techno-angel so they are definitely wing lights not headlights. Here is me wearing them:
Me from the front
Me from the side
Me from the back
Me running
She thought they were nice because they light up two ways, have spring clips and can swivel in all sorts of directions. So, they have taken the place of my original headlights. The original headlights had the disadvantage of being easy for me to turn off because they were pop lights, and, because they were held on with Velcro, rub off. These lights aren't as bright and I don't cast shadows when I'm wearing them, but they still make me visible. Mommy says when I'm wearing these new lights I look like a techno-angel so they are definitely wing lights not headlights. Here is me wearing them:
Me from the front
Me from the side
Me from the back
Me runningMommy is going to put my old lights on elastic so she can wear them like armbands and keep herself nice and lit up safe too.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Headlights!
Mommy worries about me when I walk with her at night. I had a red collar that I wore, but I have large ruff and it was often obscured. Besides that, we lost it about a month ago. Now that even my evening walks are after dark Mommy decided I needed some lights. She couldn't find a good lighted collar for me so she made me some headlights (or wing lights) out of a couple of drawer lights and Velcro. Here I am wearing them!
Me from the front
Me from the side
Me running
Me drinking out of the birdbath
Me from the front
Me from the side
Me running
Me drinking out of the birdbathTuesday, October 26, 2010
My Monthly Diary for September
I was pretty active this month. Mommy and I did a few hikes and I took her on a couple of crazy long morning walks (see my previous entry about one of them). Mommy started taking something called Tai Chi again and I don't like it. I don't like anything that changes my routine. She plugged the nasty beepy thing back in the wall again too, which I didn't like so I got all nervous and whiny for a whole night. It didn't even beep, but just knowing that it was plugged into the wall and COULD beep is worrying enough.
I almost caught some squirrels this month too, which impressed Mommy and some strangers who saw one of my near misses. It's a good thing they weren't there for the day I tried to catch a squirrel at the squirrel park. I was walking with Mommy and I spotted a squirrel. I went after him and he ran up a tree right in front of me. I tried to brake, but I was standing on a whole bunch of acorns and they all were rolling under my feet! My feet slid around like a cartoon character running on ball bearings and I finally fell over and slid into a drainage ditch. I was very sore that night, but I didn't need any meds and I felt fine the next day. Those squirrels are evil.
Weird Kitty who Mommy says is an opossum has come back to visit us at night. He likes to see what Mommy has put in the compost heap and I like to go out and chase him up the trees. Mommy says he isn't the original Weird Kitty because he is smaller and whiter than Original Weird Kitty, but he is just as fun to chase and bark at.
I met the new neighbor dog. She is a HE!! His name is Cocoa and we thought he was a girl because he pees like a girl! He is a grown up boy dog, but he doesn't know how to lift his leg. Very sad that. He came to the fence to talk to me and I got all excited and barked at him and he decided he wanted to go back in the house. A couple days later he came back to the fence to talk to me again and this time I didn't bark at him right away so we got to talk a little bit, but then I got excited again and barked and he went in. Mommy says that my barking is scaring him and I need to stay a little calmer so he can get brave enough to play run along the fence with me.
I also went to the vet this month. I needed my rabies shot. Mommy told the vet how I was slowing down and not wanting to walk long distances anymore and she was worried that my back or joints might be hurting me more than they used to. The vet checked me out and said that I didn't seem to have anything major going on, but that I had lost some muscle in my hind legs. She told Mommy no more babying me. She said that Mommy should take me for 8 mile hikes even if I was getting grumpy at 4 miles. She said I should just stop and take breaks every mile or so if I want to. So Mommy has started doing that with me. On our last walk I got grumpy around mile 4 1/2 but we did 8 miles anyway. I was tired for the rest of that day, but not the day after, so Mommy says it is working.
I made some new friends this month. Mommy and I were walking home from the lake and we passed a house where some people were standing in the driveway talking. One of them said, "Oh look! It's the dog that I told you I saw the other day." I know when people say "dog" they mean me so I went up to him to say hello. He thought that was funny and he pet me and I smiled and he really liked that. The others pet me too so they could see me smile and we had a good long petting session. Finally Mommy said I had to go and we left. The next week when we were walking back from the lake we passed the same house and I slowed down so they could see I was there. One of them did and she came out to pet me. Her friends who had pet me the other day saw she was out petting me and came over to pet me too! Then some kids came by and pet me as well. Now when we walk by that house I make sure to slow down and look for people who want to pet me.
It is good I have some new petters because the girls who come out to pet me at night live on a block that is too dark for Mommy and me to safely walk down at night so we don't get to see them much anymore. This weekend Mommy and I took our evening walk earlier than normal so I made sure that we walked down the road where the girls live. When we got to their house they were not out. I stopped in their driveway and refused to move. Mommy said they were busy and weren't going to come out to pet me. She tried to get me to move, but I refused. She pulled on my leash so I sat down. She told me to stop being silly, the girls were not out and they weren't coming out and I needed to start walking. I lay down in the driveway and refused to move. Mommy pulled on my leash, but I still refused to get up and walk. We argued for about 10 minutes and then the girls' father came out of the backyard where he was raking leaves and started laughing at me. He went to the house and called inside, "Your friend is here. You need to come out and say hi." The girls said, "What friend?" and the dad said, "Merlin" and so the girls and their mom came out to pet me. After a good petting session Mommy said we needed to go and I agreed to leave. As we were walking away I made sure to give Mommy a very smug look. For some reason she thinks I am spoiled.
Oh! I almost forgot! Mommy FINALLY figured out that I say, "Yes". She had noticed a couple years ago that if she asked me if I wanted to go see the guys at the feed store I would lick the right side of my mouth. She thought that was funny because I was anticipating getting a treat and licking. Then one day she asked me if I wanted a treat and I licked the side of my mouth. Again she thought it was anticipating a treat. But this month she said, "Do you want to go for a car ride?" and I licked the side of my mouth. Mommy said, "Wait a minute! Do you want to go for a car ride?" and I licked. Mommy said, "Do you want to take a hike?" and I licked. She said, "Do you want to take a bath?" and I didn't lick. She said, "Do you want to take a car ride?" Lick. "Do you want a bath?" no lick. Mommy said, "Does licking mean yes?" and I licked and Mommy nearly fainted. She now asks me yes and no questions and I will answer yes with a lick. The feed store guys today said, "Do you want a treat?" and I licked and Mommy said, "He just said yes." She may be a little slow, but she finally caught on!
I almost caught some squirrels this month too, which impressed Mommy and some strangers who saw one of my near misses. It's a good thing they weren't there for the day I tried to catch a squirrel at the squirrel park. I was walking with Mommy and I spotted a squirrel. I went after him and he ran up a tree right in front of me. I tried to brake, but I was standing on a whole bunch of acorns and they all were rolling under my feet! My feet slid around like a cartoon character running on ball bearings and I finally fell over and slid into a drainage ditch. I was very sore that night, but I didn't need any meds and I felt fine the next day. Those squirrels are evil.
Weird Kitty who Mommy says is an opossum has come back to visit us at night. He likes to see what Mommy has put in the compost heap and I like to go out and chase him up the trees. Mommy says he isn't the original Weird Kitty because he is smaller and whiter than Original Weird Kitty, but he is just as fun to chase and bark at.
I met the new neighbor dog. She is a HE!! His name is Cocoa and we thought he was a girl because he pees like a girl! He is a grown up boy dog, but he doesn't know how to lift his leg. Very sad that. He came to the fence to talk to me and I got all excited and barked at him and he decided he wanted to go back in the house. A couple days later he came back to the fence to talk to me again and this time I didn't bark at him right away so we got to talk a little bit, but then I got excited again and barked and he went in. Mommy says that my barking is scaring him and I need to stay a little calmer so he can get brave enough to play run along the fence with me.
I also went to the vet this month. I needed my rabies shot. Mommy told the vet how I was slowing down and not wanting to walk long distances anymore and she was worried that my back or joints might be hurting me more than they used to. The vet checked me out and said that I didn't seem to have anything major going on, but that I had lost some muscle in my hind legs. She told Mommy no more babying me. She said that Mommy should take me for 8 mile hikes even if I was getting grumpy at 4 miles. She said I should just stop and take breaks every mile or so if I want to. So Mommy has started doing that with me. On our last walk I got grumpy around mile 4 1/2 but we did 8 miles anyway. I was tired for the rest of that day, but not the day after, so Mommy says it is working.
I made some new friends this month. Mommy and I were walking home from the lake and we passed a house where some people were standing in the driveway talking. One of them said, "Oh look! It's the dog that I told you I saw the other day." I know when people say "dog" they mean me so I went up to him to say hello. He thought that was funny and he pet me and I smiled and he really liked that. The others pet me too so they could see me smile and we had a good long petting session. Finally Mommy said I had to go and we left. The next week when we were walking back from the lake we passed the same house and I slowed down so they could see I was there. One of them did and she came out to pet me. Her friends who had pet me the other day saw she was out petting me and came over to pet me too! Then some kids came by and pet me as well. Now when we walk by that house I make sure to slow down and look for people who want to pet me.
It is good I have some new petters because the girls who come out to pet me at night live on a block that is too dark for Mommy and me to safely walk down at night so we don't get to see them much anymore. This weekend Mommy and I took our evening walk earlier than normal so I made sure that we walked down the road where the girls live. When we got to their house they were not out. I stopped in their driveway and refused to move. Mommy said they were busy and weren't going to come out to pet me. She tried to get me to move, but I refused. She pulled on my leash so I sat down. She told me to stop being silly, the girls were not out and they weren't coming out and I needed to start walking. I lay down in the driveway and refused to move. Mommy pulled on my leash, but I still refused to get up and walk. We argued for about 10 minutes and then the girls' father came out of the backyard where he was raking leaves and started laughing at me. He went to the house and called inside, "Your friend is here. You need to come out and say hi." The girls said, "What friend?" and the dad said, "Merlin" and so the girls and their mom came out to pet me. After a good petting session Mommy said we needed to go and I agreed to leave. As we were walking away I made sure to give Mommy a very smug look. For some reason she thinks I am spoiled.
Oh! I almost forgot! Mommy FINALLY figured out that I say, "Yes". She had noticed a couple years ago that if she asked me if I wanted to go see the guys at the feed store I would lick the right side of my mouth. She thought that was funny because I was anticipating getting a treat and licking. Then one day she asked me if I wanted a treat and I licked the side of my mouth. Again she thought it was anticipating a treat. But this month she said, "Do you want to go for a car ride?" and I licked the side of my mouth. Mommy said, "Wait a minute! Do you want to go for a car ride?" and I licked. Mommy said, "Do you want to take a hike?" and I licked. She said, "Do you want to take a bath?" and I didn't lick. She said, "Do you want to take a car ride?" Lick. "Do you want a bath?" no lick. Mommy said, "Does licking mean yes?" and I licked and Mommy nearly fainted. She now asks me yes and no questions and I will answer yes with a lick. The feed store guys today said, "Do you want a treat?" and I licked and Mommy said, "He just said yes." She may be a little slow, but she finally caught on!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
My Crazy-Long Morning Walk
Mommy needed to return a DVD to the library this morning so she decided we would walk there. Since she figured we'd only do a 5 or 6 mile walk she didn't wear any shoes. We went to the library and then through the park and then I decided that I wanted to go see where a new bike trail I had noticed last week went. Since it was a nice morning Mommy said okay to following the bike trail for awhile. We took it north to a park I'd never been to before. It was rather boring being only a baseball field surrounded by houses, so I decided to backtrack to where a different new bike path broke off. We followed that path and found ourselves at some nice lakes full of geese surrounded by some big McMansions. Mommy kinda knew where we were even though the trail twisted around a lot so we kept going straight. Eventually we came out to the busy road that is by one of my favorite forest preserves. We found there was a new bike trail there too so we followed it towards the forest preserve. It was starting to get rather hot at that point and Mommy had no water for me. We had gone about 4 miles at that point and my tongue was hanging out, so when Mommy saw a Walgreens up ahead she said, "Let's see if they'll let us in." She stood in the door and asked if we could come in and get some water for me and a soda for her. The manager said okay so we walked in in our bare feet and got some water and a soda and Mommy bought me a mug to drink out of. Here is my new mug:
We went to a shady bench and I drank my water. A person who was in the store felt sorry for me and gave Mommy a couple more bottles of water, which was very nice, but unnecessary because Mommy knew that if the trail continued the way it was going we'd be at my forest preserve in about 1 mile and there was a drinking fountain there. The lady refused to take the water back so I drank another 1/2 bottle and then we followed the path which DID go to the forest preserve. I finished off the water there and Mommy refilled one of the bottles at the drinking fountain and talked to some older ladies who said I looked tired. We had done about 4 1/2 miles by then and Mommy said I was and we were not at all where she had planned to be. They asked if we knew how to get home and Mommy told them we did. We followed a bike trail we knew that headed towards home, but breaks off and goes through another development that Mommy didn't know so we just cut across the grass because I was getting really tired by then. When we came to a nice shady spot Mommy and I lay on the grass in the shade by the side of the road and rested for a little bit. Then we continued on our way. Eventually we got to a section of bike trails that I recognized so I started to lead the way home again. We took that trail to the creek path and then the creek path to the main road to the Dog n Suds!!! Mommy said I could have some cheese fries so we stopped and she ordered cheese fries and a bowl of water. We shared the cheese fries and I drank the water and finished off the water she had gotten from the drinking fountain at the park. I tired to get the car hop girl to give me more fries, but even though she thought I was very cute, she didn't come out of the building to bring me anything. Then we continued to town. I wanted to go get a Pup Cup at the Tastee Freeze but Mommy said she was out of money. So we walked through town and I tried to get her to stop at all the restaurants to see if they'd give me anything, but she said no to that too. We did walk to the lake and I took a short swim and then we walked the final 1/4 mile home. It added up to about 9 miles and 4 hours of morning walk and we found all sorts of nice new places! Mommy says we can do it again, but she needs to bring water and a bowl for me if we are going to do it.
We went to a shady bench and I drank my water. A person who was in the store felt sorry for me and gave Mommy a couple more bottles of water, which was very nice, but unnecessary because Mommy knew that if the trail continued the way it was going we'd be at my forest preserve in about 1 mile and there was a drinking fountain there. The lady refused to take the water back so I drank another 1/2 bottle and then we followed the path which DID go to the forest preserve. I finished off the water there and Mommy refilled one of the bottles at the drinking fountain and talked to some older ladies who said I looked tired. We had done about 4 1/2 miles by then and Mommy said I was and we were not at all where she had planned to be. They asked if we knew how to get home and Mommy told them we did. We followed a bike trail we knew that headed towards home, but breaks off and goes through another development that Mommy didn't know so we just cut across the grass because I was getting really tired by then. When we came to a nice shady spot Mommy and I lay on the grass in the shade by the side of the road and rested for a little bit. Then we continued on our way. Eventually we got to a section of bike trails that I recognized so I started to lead the way home again. We took that trail to the creek path and then the creek path to the main road to the Dog n Suds!!! Mommy said I could have some cheese fries so we stopped and she ordered cheese fries and a bowl of water. We shared the cheese fries and I drank the water and finished off the water she had gotten from the drinking fountain at the park. I tired to get the car hop girl to give me more fries, but even though she thought I was very cute, she didn't come out of the building to bring me anything. Then we continued to town. I wanted to go get a Pup Cup at the Tastee Freeze but Mommy said she was out of money. So we walked through town and I tried to get her to stop at all the restaurants to see if they'd give me anything, but she said no to that too. We did walk to the lake and I took a short swim and then we walked the final 1/4 mile home. It added up to about 9 miles and 4 hours of morning walk and we found all sorts of nice new places! Mommy says we can do it again, but she needs to bring water and a bowl for me if we are going to do it.
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