A Very Busy Day

Chillin'

There are days made for relaxation--days filled with long naps lying in the grass, soaking up the sun on the porch, or curled up on the couch.  But the Saturday in which the following events occurred, a Saturday which happened about a month and a half ago out east, was not one of those days.

The day started bright and early with me investigating my backyard for an intruder who had apparently made himself quite comfortable in my week-long absence.  That's the problem with visiting out east only on the weekends--many animals such as deer, stupid little bunnies, squirrels, voles, moles, field mice, robins, cats, and other dogs assume that my backyard is up for grabs.  Well, it isn't!  Anyway, I was so busy sniffing around following the trail of heaven knows what that I almost didn't notice that my buddy Bruno (the Boxer next door) was at the fence wanting to say hello.  Key word here?  Almost.  The annoying trespassers completely wiped from my mind, I immediately scurried over to the property line and bunked noses with Bruno.  After saying hello, Bruno and I began chasing each other up and down the fence which, admittedly, is a bit hard for Bruno to do since there are tall bushes on his side.  He managed to make do, however, weaving in and out of the shrubbery while tearing off stray branches as he passed.

Eventually, Bruno went back inside and I resumed my intruder search.  All of a sudden, a voice called out with the words "up and in!"  It was Sister's voice.  Heeding the advice, I began running at full speed across the yard and up the flight of stairs leading to the house.  It's a favorite activity of mine, by the way, running headlong across the yard and up the stairs.  I've done it hundreds of times and it never gets old.  But this time, something went wrong.  I missed one of the last few steps before the top.  The sound of wooden step on canine knee resonated like an echo and I stumbled my way up the final steps with a limp.  Sister came running up beside me and quickly checked my knee.  She asked if I was okay and rubbed my ear when I wagged my tail and took a couple of tentative steps without limping.  With only a little blemish to my pride, I went into the house and collected a get-well cookie from Sister.

A couple of hours later, Sister announced that she was going to the beach and was wondering if I would like to go with her.  Now, some might look back on all the excitement from earlier in the day and say: "You know, I'm a bit tired (and sore), maybe I'll pass on this trip."  But not me!  Nope.  I jumped up and ran straight to the door eager to start the next adventure. 

Smiling at the Beach

Minutes later, Ma, Sister, and I arrived, via the car, at the beach and I proceeded to pull Sister left and right along the shore sniffing at shells, sea plants, and reeds.  But then a strange thing happened.  I suddenly had a dreadful urge to go into the water.  Now, this might not sound too weird.  Golden Retrievers, after all, are supposed to love playing in the water.  But as my readers know, I'm not a huge fan of water, unless I'm dig-dig-digging in the doggy pool.  In fact, I usually have to be enticed into the ocean with a cookie or a piece of seaweed dangling on a stick as a lead. But not that day.  Nope, the ocean was calling me and despite Ma's cries that it was too cold, I kept dragging Sister closer and closer to the water.  At one point, I managed to pull Sister close enough to dip my feet in a stagnant pool formed by a little cove.  The water was nice and cool and felt oh so good on my toes.  But when Sister pulled me out, I noticed something.  There was a nasty smell following me.  I looked around confused; where was the smell coming from?  Then I looked down at my paws and realized with horror that the smell was coming from them--it was the stagnant water I had just stepped in.  The smell was so distracting, in fact, that I could only walk for a step or two before stopping to stare at my feet.  This odd gait drew Ma's attention and, after putting two and two together, determined that the residual smelly water on my toes was what was bothering me.  In an attempt to remedy the situation, Sister led me down to an open bit of shoreline and allowed me to step into the cold fresh water to wash off.  With the stinky smell behind me, Ma, Sister, and I continued on with our walk.

A little bit down the beach, I came upon a group of three women and two dogs--one large black lab and a smaller brown pup.  The two dogs rushed over to me and we said our hellos.  The three women came over shortly thereafter to talk to Ma and Sister and scratched my ears while the larger black dog wandered away to continue to explore the beach.  I must have mistakenly thought that the smaller dog named Augie (a name that Ma wanted to give me so that she could refer to me as "Augie Doggy") also wandered off because when he suddenly stepped out from behind his human and barked at me with his high-pitched bark, I jumped about ten feet.  One of the ladies then asked if she could give me a cookie.  As I've done before (most recently to that nice lady at Old Westbury Gardens) I snubbed the cookie and walked away.

After walking for a little while longer, Ma, Sister, and I mutually decided that it was time to go home.  We wandered our way back to the car and I happily jumped in and hunkered down in the backseat.  I had just started dozing off when we arrived back at home.  So out the car I jumped and made my way back into the house and settled down on my pillow.

The rest of the evening, at first, appeared to be uneventful.  I snoozed peacefully on my pillow and in front of the fire (I love snoozing in front of a nice warm fire) while my family ate dinner and watched television.  But then it was time for the final business trip of the night and I begrudgingly rose from my bed and wandered outside with Pa.  As is customary, when I got outside, I immediately started toward my business spot all the way across the yard, but after taking a few steps in that direction, I sensed movement by the fence and took off after it like a bat out of hell.

I'm not sure what I saw that evening--it was way too dark for either Pa or me to see--but whatever it was, I chased it up and over the back fence and out of my yard.  A day that started with me tracking an interloper ended with me chasing one away.

After doing business, I wandered back into the house and went to bed.  After such an exciting and exhausting day, I was desperate for a good night sleep.