A Drinking Problem

Rigby's Bottle

I always meet people at the door with a toy.  I mean, in my eyes, it's only polite.  My one rule, however, is that you can admire my toy, you can look at it with your eyes, but I will never ever let you have it (unless, of course, if you bring me a suitable item to trade for it like a nice piece of cheese or a pair of slippers).

Recently, I met Sister at the door with my squeaky beer bottle.

Now, of course, she's telling people that I have a "problem."

Thanks a lot Sister!

Christmas Roundup 2019

Christmas Morning 2019

Christmas Day has come and gone and it was mind-blowingly awesome, yummy-on-your-tummy delicious, and utterly and completely exhausting!

The fun and festivities started the night before with a late-night viewing of A Christmas Story and a party platter of cheese, pepperoni, olives, and crackers. Sadly, I didn’t get to sample much of the spread (only one piece of cheese), however, I was compensated/bought off with a PB&K.

Of course, while I loved the PB&K and the cheese samples, this late-night festivity did cut drastically into my beauty-sleep which became very apparent when my family woke up bright and early on Christmas morning and started working their way through numerous brightly colored paper covered boxes. I tried to get involved, as I’m wont to do, but my family, friends, and Santa were on to me and provided me with a seemingly never-ending supply of toys, bones, and PB&Ks to keep me occupied including:

• A giant club like Nylabone for rough chewers (from Ma and Pa)
• A squeaky bear/octopus toy (from Gina and Baci)
• A blue Mini-Mecki (from Jim and Dixie)
• A yet to be shared toy for later (from Sister)
• A bag of treats (from Santa)

The fun continued when Aunt B came over a little while later to celebrate with my family. Once again, food appeared, naps were missed, presents were opened, and I was distracted with a PB&K. I also decided to be “helpful” when my family tried to take their annual Christmas photo by blocking Sister from her seat when she hit the timer button on the camera.

Blocking Sister

"Don't Ya Just Love Me?"

By the end of the night, I was completely and totally exhausted. I threw myself onto the couch and only begrudgingly got up when I was told that it was time to go to bed.  By the next morning, I was still totally spent, so I passed the entire day curled up on the couch catching up on my “Zs.”

Snoozing on December 26th

Merry Christmas 2019

Wishing Everyone A Very Merry Christmas!

 

Tinkerbell

The One and Only Tink

I found out some very sad news today: my pal Tink, the Giant Schnauzer, passed away last week.

Tink, you were a fun-loving gentle giant of a pal who was always up for a boxing match, a game of chase, a snooze in the shade, or a sloppy round of "Who Can Slobber the Most?" (try as I might, you always won because of your beard). I loved our play dates (you were my first official play date and you helped Sister get over her anxiety about me playing with other dogs) and I had so much fun during our pack walk through Old Westbury Gardens.  I was also forever in awe of the stories your Mom told my Sister about you breaking out of your crate, terrorizing the pool guy, and opening peanut butter jars without cracking their lids.

You will be very much missed.

Happy Turkey Day 2019!

Happy Turkey Day 2019!

Catch and Release

"Goulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night."

It's a tough world out there.  There are hidden dangers everywhere one looks from slamming car doors to mailmen to stupid little half squirrel half bunny hybrids.  But one mustn't change one's ways and give in to the terrors that surround us; do that and the terrorists win.  No, instead one must go about one's business and take initiative whenever possible.  And that is exactly what I did not long ago.  I fought off one of those “things that go bump in the night.”  The terrorists won’t win on my watch!

Dead Asleep

So here’s what happened.  It was 9:45pm and Pa had just rousted me for my final business trip of the night.  I wasn’t thrilled about the idea--I would have much preferred to have continued my nap and woken him up somewhere around the 3 o’clock hour--but I knew that I would never hear the end of complaints if I did, so I begrudgingly got up and met him at the side door.  On went my leash, on went Pa’s jacket, on went the side light, and finally, Pa opened the side door.

As soon as the door opened, I could smell it.  There was something out there and that something was very close.  Within an instant, my nose and legs teamed up and I bolted out the door (leaving Pa stumbling behind me) and ran hard toward the front gate.  Growling, I made a bee-line for the corner of the gate, opened my mouth, and--CHOMP!--I bit down on something soft and fleshy.

Shocked (I've never caught anything before), I released my catch and watched as it turned, hit the ground, ran past a floundering Pa, and scurried off down the driveway toward the backyard.  With a guttural half-growl half-bark, I immediately took off after the intruder—running past Pa who was scrambling to get up.

I tracked the scent to the area around Pa's car, but try as I might (I circled, I backtracked, I stomped through Ma's garden), I wasn't able to find the creature.

Sister, meanwhile, having heard all the shouting, barking, and growling, came running out of the house in time to see me, with Pa hot on my tail, circling the car.  By right, she could have just turned around and gone back into the house, however, based on the sounds she had heard, she knew that this wasn't just a game so instead she went in, grabbed a flashlight, and came running back out to help.

By the time Sister joined the fray, Pa had managed to stumble over to me, grab my leash, and drag me back into the house.  With me safely inside, Pa and Sister started investigating and discovered, underneath the car, a large pointy-nosed, long-tailed, beady-eyed opossum blinking back at them.  Having identified the creature, Pa and Sister came back inside to check on me (I was fine) and alert Ma (who had missed everything) of the events.

The Skull I Dug Up

Now, loyal readers might recall an event just over three years ago where I dug up an opossum skull.  As horrifying as that was, let me tell you, this was much more horrifying.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, I was now running on pure adrenaline and the idea of sleep (it was now almost 10:30pm) was far from my mind.  For the next hour or so, I kept running to the door, barking to go out.  Ma and Pa knew what I wanted, they knew that I wanted to go check on my property, however, they were interested in going to sleep (and not interested in wrestling me away from the opossum) so I was kept inside.  Sulking, I eventually made my way upstairs to bother Sister.  I dug on the carpet, I howled, barked, and yodeled, and I slunk around looking for trouble.  Eventually, desperate to keep me quiet, Sister sat down on the floor with me and rubbed by ears until I fell asleep. 

I didn't sleep well that night.  I had dream after dream and ended up waking Sister up multiple times while yipping in my sleep.

The next morning, after waiting for Pa to check the perimeter first (I might be Head of Security, but I'm not stupid), I stormed out of the side door and ran straight to the car.  I sniffed high, I sniffed low.  I traipsed through more of Ma's plants and I searched the backyard.  The opossum was nowhere to be found.

Halloween 2019

Happy Halloween!

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