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! 

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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. 

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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. 

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Why would they do that to me?

It was a beautiful morning! I even thought Loki chasing some poor unfortunate rodent through the yard was fun to watch! Mom did not agree, so I tried to play it cool, but she knew I was interested.

I was interested right up to the point when I realized Mom had on her hat. Her hat means a walk! Her hat is a good thing even if it does smell like bug repellant. I forgot all about Loki because a walk with Mom trumps everything. It's my very favorite thing to do. 

We got to the end of the lane and I looked at Mom to see which way we should go. She said, "left," and that's a new word I'm learning. I went in the correct direction and got TWO snackies for that! I always learn better with snackies. 

But when we got up to the old reservoir, I was not pleased. Someone had put big sticks across my pool. Why would they do that to me? And to other dogs? Some of us enjoy splashing in the creek. Some of us are big dogs and we need more room to splash. I was sad someone would do that, but Mom was sort of angry. She thinks teenagers must have done it. They probably believe no one would ever see what they did, but when it comes to the trails we walk, Mom sees more than I do. 

Mom removed some of those big sticks and says she'll do the rest next time. She'll be sure to wear her really old walking shoes because it won't matter if they get wet. And that's the thing. This creek is really easy to step across just a couple of feet downstream of my little splashing hole. 

People need to leave things alone. The woods are for everyone. Not every furry human is as lucky as I am. Some of us may only get to enjoy a splash hole once in our entire life, so don't ruin it for us, okay? 

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Not again!

Cousin Dave... I love Cousin Dave! He looks out for me all the time! And he always tells me I'm a good dog, too!

Where was I? 

Oh, yeah. Cousin Dave had to go to a visitation, and he asked Mom if Sadie could come up and stay with us while he was gone. Mom didn't ask me, she just said "sure!" 

Really, Mom. You could've asked me first, you know. Sadie makes me nervous. She jumps all over me and you know I don't like that. What's a guy to do? Cousin Dave looked out for me when Dad was in the hospital, so of course, Mom had to look out for Sadie. I do get it. 

So Sadie came up and she was all excited to be here. She went round and round and round until I had to show her my excellent teeth. I didn't snap at her or anything, but she saw my lip curl up and she stopped making me dizzy. 

We had a little chat, and then everything was okay. I stretched out beside Dad's chair and we touched noses, and then Sadie went over and sat on the other side of Mom's chair. 

I think Sadie is finally growing up. She didn't jump on me - not once! That's so much better than before when she'd paw at my face. I don't like that. But this was fine. Well, until she sniffed my rump. That was rude, but I smacked her with my tail so she might not do that again. 

Cousin Dave came and got her and they walked home. I guess it'll be fine if Sadie comes to visit again. And maybe we'll go on walks together this summer. Heck, I might even like if she plays in the water with me. We'll have to see how that goes. 

Ok, so it's neat

 

Mom decided she'd better go through the papers on her credenza. She had to scan and then shred a few papers, go through some old receipts she kept in case she needed to return anything, and file a couple of things. It's all stuff she has to do to keep the Manor running smoothly. BUT... do you see what I see? 

Look closer at the picture. 

There are TWO clear glass antique canning jars on Mom's credenza. 

And they are EMPTY. 

They should be full of MY treats! 

What gives, Mom? Why are the treat jars empty? Don't you love little Deucie any longer? Was I bad?

No. I was not bad. You always tell me I'm a GOOD DOG! So why no treats in the jar, hmm? 

I don't know about this whole retirement thing. Mom says she'll be here to take care of me every day. That we'll be able to go on long walks and play in all the creeks. She can go to the store whenever she wants to make sure we don't run out of stuff. 

So... why no treats in my jars? 

I think I'm missing something

I'm confused. Mom was home a lot for a while, and we got to spend a lot of time together. Now she's gone back to going to her office in town every day. What's a protégé, and why does Mom need to spend time with her? Mom should be spending time with ME! 

Mom told me she only has to leave me and Dad 20 more times to go to her town office. TWENTY!! That's an awful lot! At least I think it is, but I'm a dog and sometimes we dogs don't count very accurately. But it seems like a lot! 

I really want Mom to be home with me and Dad so we can go on long walks together. I love, love, love to walk on the trails and splash around in the creek. It's a lot of fun for a Lab (that's me) and Mom and Dad like to watch me have fun. 

Of course, when Mom is home, Dad and I will lose some nap time unless we can convince Mom that naps are a vital part of our day. I bet if I hopped on the bed in the middle of the afternoon, Mom would join me. I'll have to try and remember to do that. 

I'll have to watch Mom and Dad pretty closely the next few weeks until whatever is going on gets resolved. Dogs don't like a lot of schedule changes, at least the smart ones don't. 

I'm Deuce and I'm pretty smart. I know how to observe my parents and figure them out. 

Is it spring yet?

 

Mom and Dad told me it's spring. I think they lied to me. It was only 21F when we got out of bed this morning. Do you know how cold that is on my bare paws? It's COLD!

And boy, did the wind blow! And it snowed! The parents called it a snow squall but snow is snow and snow is cold. Sure, it melted really fast, but I feel very lucky I don't have to live outside in a squall. Some dogs do, you know. People, too. It makes me sad.

Mom tells me not to worry, that I'll always have a warm place to sleep. I wonder if Mom and Dad have room for just one more dog that needs a home. Our den is sorta small, but we could probably squeeze in together. I'll have to talk to Dad about that and see what he says. 

We did a daffodil check around the yard on Saturday. At least, I think it was Saturday. I'm a dog and I get confused by the days sometimes. Mom and I went all around so she could video the daffodils. I don't care much about them, but they make Mom happy,

I sure hope the cold weather blows out of here soon. We've only been on a couple of long walks so far this year and I'm itching to get going! Every time Mom stands up, so do I. I'm not going to let her get out the door without me. No way. I'm too quick for that to happen.

I guess I'll just have to be a bored couch potato pup a little while longer. 

Is it really spring yet?

For no reason at all

Mom is a little nuts sometimes. The other day we were relaxing in the living room with Dad, and she made me get up. And I was comfy, too. 

Anyway, I got up to see what she wanted and she took my picture. 'Good one!' she told me. 

But why? I don't get it. She has a BIG folder full of pictures of 'lil 'ol me. I'm not kidding. 

Was a snackie involved? Nooooo. 

Turns out, she just wanted a picture of how I looked today. 

Mom is a little nuts sometimes. 

Double for pancakes!

 

Mom. Dad.

Remember when I told you I'd snatch a donut one day? A whole donut? All for me! Well, it goes double for a stack of pancakes.

Pancakes! I love pancakes!

What do you mean I had a whole pancake with butter on it? I do not remember that. 

You'd better keep an eye on your plate.

Don't say you weren't warned.