Trip to the lake

Well I got left at home again today, but that is fine with me. Mom and dad took the biped puppies to the lake. The lake for me is like a very large bath that you share with thousands of people... no thanks I will stay at home and protect the house.

Mom and Dad also met Granny, Grandpa, Jason, Micki, Ethan, and Emma. They all had a blast. Everyone rode on the inner-tube except Mom who was having a little bit of a Headache, and Granny and Grandpa. I have uploaded a picture that mom and dad took of the kids having a blast. They said they will need to go again soon, but I still plan to stay away thank you very much.

Dog Days of Summer.

Heard the term dog days of summer? It is my understanding that the “dog days of summer” come from the ancient Romans who thought that the star Canis Major (Large Dog Star) added heat to the sun because it rose and set in conjunction with the sun during the summer. Every dog knows that summer is due to the tilt of the earth towards the sun, and not because the sun and a star are in alignment, or because the earth is closer to the sun, or any other reason. But regardless of why it’s hot, it is hot, even hotter if you have a fur coat and can’t sweat through your skin.

You know it is going to be a hot day, when the temperature is over 80 degrees by eight o’clock in the morning. Yesterday topped 100 degrees outside, and with the humidity over 80 percent, pushed the heat index closer to 110.

Mom and Dad took the two biped puppies to mass then to a birthday party at a go-kart track in Conway, so it was up to me to sentinel the yard. A duty I sadly abandoned due to the fact that dad turned on the air conditioner in the shop building for me. I spent a good portion of day in the nice cool shop building. I figured that any intruder stupid enough to be moving around in 100+ degree heat, and did not instantly burst into flames deserved not be troubled by me. I will grant them a reprieve till cooler weather prevails.

Night without the Puppies.

Granny and Grandpa took the puppies to their house for the night. So mom and dad left me in charge of the backyard while they went out for a date. They went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. The loved the movie, dad said the ending had a lot of loose ends, so you could tell that there is going to be part III, but it was still good. After the movie they went to Outback for dinner. They brought me home a doggie bag, but left in the truck over night, so dad threw it out, and drove to work with the windows down. It is what he gets for leaving my treat in the truck!

Dog vs People

Not much happened today, Mom was down with a headache and dad had taken the day off. With mom down, he just spent the day with us, his puppies, and started to clean out the storage room. When dad cleans on his own, that can't be good. He was in a funky mood today. This got me to thinking about how humans in general behave vs. how we dogs behave.

With dogs you can always tell what kind of mood we are in, happy, sad or pissed. With humans, it is just not that easy. If a human is sad a few hours of petting my soft fur should cure them right up. For example if Mom is having a headache day, I just go in let he know that I am here for her, a quick kiss on the hand, or resting my snout on her leg while she sleeps the headache off. Humans just don't get it, they wonder arround lost, and even start cleaning.

Humans don’t go for the sniff test that I use when I meet a new dog. That is a shame, as the little sniff test tells me quickly if we will get along or not, how old they are, and what kind of mood they are in. If I don't like what I smell then I go my way and they go theirs, no big deal. If we meet again then we try again. Humans need to come up with their own sniff test to make it easier to tell when something just is not right. Maybe every one will be in a better mood tomorrow.

Family visit

Today Dads side of the family came for a visit. This included his parents and his brother and his brothers’ family. They setup one of those new water slides in the back yard for the two biped puppies, and their cousin to slide down. No water slide for me, but that is ok; I don’t like water, to much like a bath. The puppies had so much fun. Dad also setup a sprinkler on the trampoline and they enjoyed it as well. Check out the pictuer of Ethan, and how high his dad bounced him. It looks like a look of fear, but he had so much fun.



But what really caught my interest was the home made ice-cream. Yum! I sat loyally by dads’ side and flashed my big brown eyes at him. He finally got some on his spoon and held it up and I caught the drips from it… well most of them anyway, a few globs of ice-cream landed in my fur. When I thought no one was looking I stretched up to the patio table and got some licks off of the ice-cream makers paddle. Yummy! I got yelled at but, that stuff is so good!

Go-karts

The family went over to Kim’s uncle’s house today for a late Fourth of July get-together. I stayed at the house to protect the back yard from intruders like moles, birds, cats, possums, and other superfluous animals. The biped puppies had a blast; they could talk of nothing else once they got back. Josh and Meagan rode Uncle Rob’s go-karts and had a blast. Dad must of rode a lot as well, because man was he dirty. Dad’s shirt started out the day white, but was the nice light brown color of dust when he came home. Dad took some pictures of the puppies ridding, and even driving by them selves, I will have to see if I can find them, and upload a few of them. Edit: Found them!

Camping in the back yard

Well last night was a switch for me. Instead of sleeping inside the house with my family, they slept outside with me! It all started yesterday in Wal-Mart when the family was out buying me some food. Dad took Josh and Meagan through the other areas of Wal-Mart while Mom picked up the foodstuff. For some reason not having the two biped puppies makes Moms life easier when shopping. Any howl… they ended up going through the camping section, and one thing led to another and a campout in the back yard was planned.

They setup the tent that night in the back yard, and the puppies slept on top of sleeping bags, and mom had to have the blow up mattress. I slept outside the tent, so I could keep them all safe from the things that go bump in the night. The weather was great; the lows that night were in the lower to mid 60’s. I even saw dad get up at about two and get another blanket from the house. I guess that is the downside of not having a fur coat.

The puppies had such a great time, that they talked about it non stop, and how they want to go to Petit Jean state park and camp out. Mom and dad thought this was a great idea, but would have to wait for the weather to get cool again.

Busy July 4th.

It was a very busy July 4th at the house. The dishwasher broke so mom and dad took the other puppies out to eat more often than usual. This is bad news for me, as they never bring home a doggy bag for me. Guess they do not understand the concept of a DOGGY bag. I also rained a bunch yesterday, but this is a mixed blessing for this dog. I did not have as much fireworks noise to scare me, but it also means that people will just continue to fire them off through out the week. I am scared to death of those things.

Mom and Dad took the biped puppies for a day of fun over Kim’s parent’s house on Friday. The puppies had a fun swimming with their grandparents and cousins, but they had the most fun with their uncle broke out the go-carts. Josh is getting big enough to reach the gas pedal by him self, though it took several pillows and a lot of stretching. Much to her dismay Meagan still had to ride with dad, but still had a blast giggling and laughing the entire time. I got to stay home and hide from the fireworks.

Mom and dad were going to have dads parents over last weekend, but due to the dishwasher and granny and grandpa being a bit sick, they decided to postpone till next weekend. Unfortunately I am willing to bet Dad will try to give me a bath this week, so I can be all smelly when they come over. Man I hate baths, I just stand there and glare at dad the entire time. When it is all over, I run, rub, and run and rub just trying to get that soap smell off of me! I hate baths.

I hate this time of year...

This is the time of year when all the puppies, and those old dogs that still have some puppy at heart, break out the noise makers. I am as patriotic as the next dog, but those fireworks scare me to death! I spent most of this weekend in the house waiting for one of those loud fireworks to go off, and when they did I would only look up with my big brown eyes to dad, and ensure he is still there protecting me. When I was not inside I spent my time in the shop, coming out only when absolutely necessary... for a bathroom break. The whistle of a firework is like nails on a chalkboard, and the pop of a firework hurts my sensitive k-9 hearing. Or is it just my age showing?



On a quieter note, dads flower bloomed this weekend. He missed the first boom on Friday beacuse of work, but caught its second appearance on Sunday. Maybe now he can spend more time petting me and less time watching the flower!