Two Close Calls

It has been a snowy couple of days. As my loyal readers already know, I love playing in the snow. I love digging holes in the mountains that Ma and Pa build for me when they’re shoveling the walk; I love running up and down the driveway to discover just how far I can skid when I try to stop; and I love plowing through all the snowdrifts in the backyard at top speed like a crazy dog. In fact, I love the snow so much that I don’t even mind when Sister catches me being particularly silly. Take this picture, for instance…

Sister says that I look like a little old man with a fluffy white beard. Normally, I would take offense at this statement. I would question why she chose the picture she did rather than, say, this one…

…you know, one that makes me look majestic and even more handsome than I already am. But not when it snows. Nope, I have so much fun playing in the snow that I end up not really caring about looking foolish.

Anyway, that’s not why I’m posting today. Today I’m posting about two recent events that nearly ended in disaster.

Close Call Number 1:

Last Friday, the people Sister works with threw her a surprise birthday party. As a result, Sister came home with lots of nice smelling food (yay!) and a couple of menacing helium and latex balloons (boo!). I was a brave dog, and investigated the floating intruders once Sister tied them securely to the back of a chair, but, overall, I tried to avoid them as best as I could. Well, on Sunday, I sauntered into the kitchen only to discover that Sister had cut the latex balloons loose because they were weighing down the helium ones. To say I was not momentarily startled would be a lie (discovering giant globes rolling around your kitchen separating you from your food bowl can be quite off-putting), but I decided to be brave and ventured into the room to face, head on, the green and yellow balloons. I walked up to the first balloon, gave it a bunk with my nose, and watched as it rolled away from me. Then I walked over to the second balloon and gave it a sniff. Deciding that the balloon was not dangerous, I leaned over, opened my mouth, and…

“Rigby, no!” Sister screamed before I could sink my teeth into the giant green ball.

Close Call Number 2:

Can We Go Now?  How 'Bout Now?

Later in the day, Sister, racked with guilt that I had had three consecutive boring weekends, convinced Pa that he should take us to Belmont Lake State Park for an action packed walk. Ma bailed because she said it was too cold, but after a few agonizing minutes of waiting for Pa and Sister to put on six or seven layers of clothing, Pa, Sister, and I jumped into the car and headed to the park.

I had a ton of fun at the park. I sniffed lots of trees, sloshed around in a couple of mud puddles, and watched the ducks swim by on the pond. Everything was going swell when all of a sudden I saw them: two giant white swans wading through the water. I pulled toward the pond, but Pa pulled me back.

“Those birds are bigger than you are,” he warned, “they’ll beat you up!” Then he pointed toward a couple of swan boats docked around a bend in the pond. “Those are more your speed.”

I was not amused.