That's a bird of a different color!

Settle a debate for me. Mom says the strange bird on the roof is pretty, and I say NOT! You can't really see it in the picture, but trust me. That thing has beady little eyes. Like, scary beady eyes. And it stared at me and didn't blink. Mom gets some weird ideas sometimes. 

Mom told me to leave the bird alone so it could fly home. No worries, Mom. I don't want to get involved. I'm sure between Loki, the fox, and the Red-tailed hawk, the matter will be dealt with but Mom would prefer the owner come to get him instead.  

And what is a pigeon doing all the way out here? Pigeons don't live in the woods. They live in a town or in a coop. 

I'm going to ignore the pigeon, I don't care if it's descended from the dinosaurs. I'm descended from the St. John's Dog, so there! 

I'm a smart dog, and problem pigeons are above my pay grade. I'm going to find a nice cool, quiet place and take a nap while Mom and Dad are working on their computers. The parents will have to handle this one without me. 

Deuce's Day, black Labrador Retriever, pigeons, a country dog, smart dogs, Loki, a writer's life, black lives matter, Red-tailed hawk, foxes, country living, rural lifestyles

I'm not down with this tree branch

It rained kittens and puppies yesterday! I knew it was going to rain because I'm Deuce and I know things. And I heard Dad tell Mom it was going to rain, but that was later. It rained sideways! I'm really glad Mom took me outside BEFORE it started. 

And one bolt of lightning hit pretty close to our house and there was a big POP! The parents investigated to see if there was any damage and Mom found that a breaker had tripped. I don't know for sure what that means, but if Mom's not excited, I'm not excited. 

So with the rain came a lazy afternoon and evening. Dad was watching gun educational stuff on the television so Mom invited me to go to her office to watch television with her. She watched some old show about a hound dog named Reckless Walton, and I settled down for a nap.

This morning, it was still wet and misty outside. I had no choice but to go out to do my outside activities and that's when me and Mom discovered a tree branch had blown down on the John Deere. This did not make us happy at all. Look at me. Do I look like a happy dog? Noooooo.  Tree branches belong in trees, not on the ground. 

Mom's not too worried. She said it's too small a branch to have done any harm and it wasn't a direct hit. She'll pull the tractor out and put the brush crusher on it to move the branch to a burn pile, and then Dad can put the bucket back on and use the tractor to level out a few ruts in the gravel in the lane. There's always something to do after it rains.

I just hope nothing else falls on my John Deere. My parents depend on it to get stuff done. Besides, it's fun to watch. Like Mom says. It's cheap entertainment. 

Deuce's Day, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce, thunderstorms, John Deere 1023, fallen branches, simple country pleasures, a writer's life, country dog, Black Labrador Retriever, funny dogs, blogs about dogs,  storm damage

My "new" van is here!

I have a new ride! It's red! I like it!

I've been wondering what happened to my truck. It's been missing for a few days and now I know it's because Dad sold it. I sure hope he doesn't want to sell me. I'd be sad. 

Seriously, I know he never would because Mom would put a hurt on him. I'm her furbaby and that's all there is to that. 

Anyway.... I have a new van and I think I like it. It's really easy to jump into. Mom and Dad put the back row of seats down into this compartment, then did the same thing with one of the seats in the second row. I have gobs and gobs of room! 

Dad said it's a 2015 Town & Country, which is not exactly what he was looking for, but this van only has 39,000 miles on it. I'm not sure about that. A mile is a long way to walk so I can't even imagine doing that thirty-nine thousand times, but Mom agrees the mileage is "good."

Have I mentioned that the parents have some odd ideas? 

I guess it's okay that Dad sold my truck. Dad is going to take us to McDonald's for supper in the van. I love Mickey D's! I can have my very own puppy burger! I think he really wants to drive it and that's why we're going, but it doesn't matter. It will be fun! 

And maybe he'll stop at the ice cream place on the way back. I'll have to be sneaky and let him know I want him to turn in there. 

I'm Deuce. I know I can convince him. Convincing Dad is my superpower! 

Deuce's Day, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce, black Lab, Town & Country, ice cream, simple country pleasures, a writer's life, rural lifestyle, good dogs, dog with a blog, black lives matter, Retrievers, 

Walking down a country road

This morning, Mom was ready to go for a walk! I can tell you that ten days is forever in dog days. FOREVER!! I'm really glad Mom wanted to take me along, too. I mean, I did confess my faux pas where I knocked her down. I'm still sad about that one. 

We left the house as soon as Mom finished doing some work in her garden. The weather bug told Mom it was going to rain later in the day so she wanted to go early. I don't know what a weather bug is, but it's in her phone. What if it dies in there? 

We had the old homestead trail all to ourselves, which was really nice. I got to be off-leash and really poke and sniff around. And Mom sang to me about walking down a country road. Who's JT? He wrote the song. 

Then we came to some horseshi...er...horse pucky. Mom told me to "leave it" in no uncertain terms. I know that tone of voice and I jumped away from it. One good sniff made me remember what happened the last time - SOAP happened! 

Mom said her Fitbit recorded over 5,000 steps for her and that was a lot for her hip but it felt okay. If it feels okay tomorrow morning, we'll do a short walk to keep it loose. We're not going to overdo it too quickly. 

The weather bug was right about the rain. Mom and Dad both are at their computers. Mom is playing with Photoshop so I stayed with Dad. I have to remember to spend time with him now that Mom's retired. Me and Dad have been buds all my life, and Mom being home won't change that except when it's time to go walking. 

JT is right. My paws know where they want to go when we walk down a country road. 

Greenbrier Smokey Deuce, Deuce's Day, black Lab, simple country pleasures, walking in the woods, James Taylor, a writer's life, country roads, retirement, Fitbit, dog walks, creeks, woods, country lifestyle, rural living

What's a faux pas?

It's a valid question, and I, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce, have an answer.

A faux pas is when your actions, such as knocking Mommy down in the middle of the creek and she gets hurt, cause you embarrassment. I'm sure that beneath my black fur my skin was red. It had to be. Here's what happened. 

Mom and I went for a walk, and on the way home, a stick had fallen across my little plunge pool. It's a deep spot and I can get my belly wet so I love it! But I couldn't get in because of the stick. So Mom stepped into the creek to move the stick and I got so excited thinking she might throw the stick for me that I lunged for it and knocked her down. She fell pretty hard, too. She wasn't expecting me to do that. 

The water is really cold and the creek bed is very rocky. Mom has a big bruise on her left hip, her left wrist got jammed and swelled up a bit, and her right side ribs hurt. It could have been really bad. I don't know what I would have done if she couldn't have gotten up. I'm not Lassie. No way would I leave her side. 

We were lucky. She got up and we made it home, but it's been over a week and we haven't gone very far. I'm really sorry I did that, but Mom says it was her fault for not watching to see what I was going to do. She knows I can be impulsive when I'm playing. 

I hope Mom's bruise is gone soon so we can go on walks again. I'll be more careful the next time Mom steps into a creek. Honest. 

Greenbrier Smokey Deuce, Deuce's Day, black Lab, a country dog, a writer's life, walking in the woods, country lifestyle, black lives matter, spring-fed streams