Comfort and joy

The kitchen smells like vanilla (there was a big spill and lots of swearing) and soon will smell like cookies. I am keeping a low profile in order to secretly sneak some cookie dough before I get chased out of the kitchen. Meanwhile in the corner of the same room the three stooges, I mean my three half-brothers, are at it again. I don't know if they are too dumb to know someone else is already sitting there (they seem a little weak on physics) or if they like each other that much. But in this holiday season of being grateful for small blessings, I am glad they aren't hugging me like that! Merry Christmas Eve!

Usurped

There is a rule of parenting that reads thusly: When small children are in the other room and they are quiet then they are up to no good.

My human cousins were over last night and though they are nice enough (they play with me and give me treats and even lie under the table with me while the adults are eating) they do get into mischief. Even more than some little red dogs. So it may come as no surprise to you that these two sneaked off and pretended to be me and wrote in MY blog.

Anyway, here we are enjoying a holiday meal by lying under the tables waiting for scraps to fall. Well, that was what I was doing. I think they were just being kids.

Waiting

It was a boring day! All my Person did was cook, cook, cook. All I did was wait, wait, wait! Finally after the day had mostly gone by my Person had other Persons over. And who did they bring?! Two Little People. One was small and the other was large. The large one's nails on his teeth were different colors than before! I noticed he was wincing while he bit the crust of the tasty pepperoni pizza. Me and the Little People played and when they went to eat at the table I sat and waited patiently. Maybe I did beg a little but not so much because last time I begged when the Little People came I was yelled at by my Person. After a while I got bored and went to lay on the couch. The big Little Person came over and we played a little bit. Then the both Little People left and went to the box and were pressing buttons that made words appear on the screen. Right now I have retreated to the couch and am sleeping. I suspect the Little People are still on the box. sigh. I have grown to dislike this box. I hope I get a walk tomorrow.

Better living through walking

Today started out right: a walk almost first thing. Someone has been a little stressed lately and though I constantly try to lead the way toward a better life, Someone seems rather resistant. Everyone knows the best way to start a day, and therefore the best way to live your life, is to go for a nice walk with a nice dog in the morning before you turn on your computer.

This morning I prevailed. I like running around at night. Don't get me wrong. I turn wild and spooky and all rules of polite leash walking are suspended in the dark. But a morning walk is so beautiful and leaves you full of hope for the day. So you have to come home and pick up the little pieces when you get back, at least you walked and heard the woodpeckers call and the nuthatches crab and you have seen the crows set off on their morning reconnaissance missions. You've seen the peachy morning light glowing on the rusted-out structure of the bridge you walked blithely under and that the spidery vein of open water in the Mississippi has expanded and that the river's icy coat has broken into floating islands of gray in the shining black water.

And, if you have walked to the right place, you are returning with a muffin in a little paper bag to share with your little red dog when you get home again.

Greener and greener

There is no picture because quite frankly I am moving too fast to be captured on film or whatever is inside my Person's camera these days. And this is why: Lat night I had my pal Adric's assistance once again and together we got into the Christmas presents. Someone is missing a Christmas present but that's their bad luck. What is important is that I have discovered an alternative fuel source - Legacy Chocolate cocoa mix!

Well, I was full of action all last night and all this morning and all afternoon too. This evening I raced through my walk, sniffing fast, prancing fast, and barking fast at other dogs in the dark. I ate my supper fast and then ran in the dark yard from fence to fence as fast as I could. Who knows when my tank will run dry?

Who needs ethanol? Maybe we should try some Legacy in the car.

'Til you drop

Can you believe it? I spent most of my lovely day off (like all of them are) shopping! Little did I know what was going to happen when I was invited along in the car.

I love car rides and they often mean Adventures. But I do not know of a single adventure that involves yarn, and certainly not books or even gloves. I am a little red dog and my adventures involve my nose and my feet. Whatever can one do with yarn?

We started a round of stops and at first I did what any polite passenger does when the Driver runs into a store, promising as usual "I will be right back!" You move over and keep their seat warm! The number of stops grew higher and that be-right-back promise seemed shy of truthfulness. So I decided to withhold the seat warming niceties and stay on my side and work on keeping my own seat warm instead. I worked up a pretty chilly glare to to give my Person as well.

Finally she wore out and we stopped for a refreshment. I scored half a pumpkin bar and once again learned the value of being the object of guilt.

At last this hellish trip ended and I got out for a woodsy walk as the sky turned the color of the pumpkin bar I had eaten and the snow glowed in the last light. My nose and feet were happily at work - nothing needed from some store. This was more like my idea of Adventure!

Beauty in a catsuit

The little red menace is out walking so I thought I'd tell you of my day. It has been thus since early this morning:

For a long while I sat on the radiator top, until my nose grew pink and my ears did as well and I could have been called Pinko instead of Pico.

Then I moved to the floor where I lay gently on my side and cooled down.

Then I moved to the radiator until I pinked up again.

And then I moved to the floor.

And so on.

I do not lead a life of restless ambition like Adric, nor one of fear and uncertainty like Ollie. And further yet from the child-like dog who has been with us for these two years. I understand that life is sweet unto itself and we tend to make our own misery. And so I rest and enjoy the heat and cool, the slow passage of time and the light that changes to dark and then light again. It is all one. And so am I.

Crumbs

My Person was a hysteric yesterday. She had computer problems. And she couldn't see that my needs are always greater than that little humming box she supplicates to and then swears at. I didn't get much attention though, I will tell you!

As the day wound down and I slumped into doggie despair of ever having fun again, my Person took off in the dark and left me alone with my half-brothers. (I am trying to be more charitable about them since they had the great misfortune of being born cats.) I chased them around the house for awhile, hoping my Person would come back for me. But she didn't. It was then that Adric, the wiliest of the three, jumped up on the kitchen counter. And he did the nicest thing! He pushed half a loaf of fresh whole wheat bread off the cutting board. I watched in awe as it flew gently through the air and landed at my feet!

The disappointments of the day were soon forgotten as I busied myself with my prize. I ran about the house with it in my mouth, this prize chunk as big as my head. I nibbled some in the living room, I gnawed awhile under the dining room table (how appropriate!) and then I took the remainder and off I went to the bedroom. I burrowed under the covers and discovered the pleasures of eating in bed.

After my Person returned and we retired for the evening, I continued to clean the many chunks and crumbs which had lodged in the tangle of sheets and blankets. My Person muttered sleepily, "Quit licking the bed." Finally she got up to examine things. As I stood and tucked my tail, she groaned "What did you do?" But exhaustion trumps curiosity it seems and she crawled back into bed and was soon sawing logs again. I scoured the bed for evidence until almost dawn and took a little snooze time myself. By morning you'd never know what had happened. In fact I think my Person has forgotten completely about it. She wonders why I am a little nicer to Adric today and she wonders why he keeps banging his pinhead into the new loaf of bread on the cutting board. Well, I am not going to tell her why and neither is Adric.

Ready and waiting

At the ready is this little red dog. Unfortunately being prepared doesn't mean anything happens. Still I await. Maybe for a Person who will throw my lovely but now beakless loon toy about for me, maybe a vicious mail carrier attacking the mailbox, maybe for a Siamese cat to roll on the ground at my feet. Maybe for an early dinner.

My Person is waiting for the temperature to climb above freezing. And we were both waiting for some sunshine and we were prepared, and we got it. This may not be cause and effect. Cause and effect is when I pounce on Ollie and he squeals and pats me on the head with his claws. Cause and effect is when I press my nose on a leg and the back door soon opens. Cause and effect is curling up in an ball on the couch and then being asleep. Maybe all my waiting will cause an effect in my dinner dish.

Asleep in a wheel

What else can you do when it is frankly Siberian outside? Though I love plunging into fresh snow, this current crop is getting a bit stiff and I wouldn't mind snacking on a few blades of fresh grass. But that is a long ways away. Walks are becoming too fast as I am dragged along willynilly by my monolithically suited up Person. This weather has rendered her about as personable as a speed walking sleeping bag. Not much stopping to admire the solid gray sky today!

Maybe tomorrow the sun will shine and I will uncurl from this little red circle and soak up some solar power.

Making my own fun

I got two new stuffed toys - a Loon and Meadowlark. Both sing when I bite them and I desperately want to go out and bury them in the backyard and save them for spring. They are that wonderful. But the ground is beyond frozen and my Person won't let me bury things in the yard. Not big pieces of toast, or a wild rice bratwurst that I won after it fell off the plate, nor a nice new bone from my favorite store and certainly not my new toys. She says "Enjoy them now." She says that is her motto. Maybe if she likes that idea so much I should bury it in the backyard for her.

I am afraid

Not of the dark, not of the cold.

Not of rottweilers, or helicopters or cars.

Not of hard work, getting dirty or getting lost.

Not of squirrels, or children or construction workers.

I am afraid of crossing guards.

Out at night

One of the benefits of being left alone during the day is the guilt that your Person develops. That guilt will build up and overwhelm her natural tendency to take a load off and instead she will play with you out in the Dark. Being out at night is so much fun, whether you are a kid at heart or a little red dog. Smells are more smelly, sounds are more intriguing. Mice creep beneath the snow on secret pathways and owls fly on silent wings. You can pounce and sniff and run and dig with abandon. The moon will light your way if there is enough snow on the ground and moving shadows are the perfect excuse for acting wild.

Go outside right now and look around. Pounce and sniff and look up at the moon - the stars will twinkle at you and you'll be glad to be outside in the Dark. And if you live where I do you'll be happy to go back inside too!

What to do with all this snow

Can you tell what this is? One bison dog treat to the first correct answer. Oops - that would be me, Lucky Finnegan! A hint: this proves that even food-obsessed squirrels stop for some fun after a big snow storm. (One in which a certain Person got stuck more than once in her Whimpmobile and returned home late at night and Shattered. AND my supper was late because of it. Talk about Shattered!)

What is this?? It is a squirrel snow angel! You can make your own - if you are a squirrel - or a regular one if you are a person. I don't ever do anything undignified so don't go looking for a little red snow angel any time soon.

More snow

The world seems quiet and gentle. The snow is deepening on the ground and muffles sounds from the human world. As the wind blows you can hear a thousand tiny tickings as icy snow crystals hit the dry leaves that still cling to some branches.

Our snowy walk was fast and purposeful, on my part anyway. We were trotting quickly along and I was busy Sniffing, a large part of my job description. My Person was busy doing what she calls Creative Musing or Composing In Her Head, which I know is also called Not Paying Attention. Suddenly it was obvious that we had passed a street sign but on opposite sides. We had captured the sign post with the leash and could go no further. "Go the other way," my Person told me. I obediently trotted in a half circle around the pole until I faced the direction we had come from. The leash was shorter and tighter now. "No, the OTHER way," my Person exclaimed. So I trotted another half circle, pointing back in the direction in which we'd first become stuck. I was now nearly strangled by the leash. A passerby snickered. A little red blush crept across my face. What could I do? I realize that my Person is somewhat hapless but she cannot look to me to solve ALL her problems.

Eventually we got unstuck and made our way home, the snow falling thicker and faster all the time. It was a good thing we found our way out of our predicament. In this kind of weather if you stay in one place too long you'll turn into a lump of snow and not be seen until next spring.

The art of winter walking

This is me, waiting for my walk. As you can see I take this very seriously. No horsing around.

I love walking in the snow, so much so I can hardly just walk. I have to run, scamper, pull left and right, dodge and leap, all the while sniffing the delicious smells left by others and listening for the little creepings of little creatures under the snow.

Watching me go down the street with my Person is like watching an unusual dance. I run wildly ahead and she hauls back on the leash. She builds up a head of steam and passes me just as I slam on the breaks to sniff an interesting smell. She lurches forward at the end of the leash. At that moment I am a particularly well grounded little red dog with my four legs splayed and my center of gravity low. And at that moment my Person, who is rather too tall, usually has one foot off the ground and a look of surprise on her face. Then I leap forward and we begin again.

Sometimes she thinks it is funny and sometimes not. Low muttering accompanies the latter and about then my name changes from "Bug" to "Finnegan!" (How would you like it if your name meant something like "You are very bad!")

At this point is is usually a good idea for me to stick my entire head into a nearby snow bank and pull it out just as fast with snow on my nose. A big sneeze from me and my Person is usually in a jolly mood again. And off we lurch on our wintry walk.

Wintery world

It is snowy as can be outside. The flowers have turned into wintery seed heads that will help the birds make it through until spring.

My walk was long and cold but I sniffed out where the raccoon was hiding in the street sewer and I dug him a little air hole. If he suffocated I would have one fewer thing to bark at and that would be sad.

While we were tramping along one of my feet froze up. But I am a tough nut if there ever was one and I just pulled it up and hopped on three feet until my fourth was back in working order. I suddenly had a terrifying thought. What if one of my Person's feet froze up? She doesn't have feet galore like I do and I think she'd be pretty stuck! Yet another reason to be glad to be a little red dog and not a Person.

My Person thought that a long walk on a snowy path deserves the reward of some book-reading time on the couch and some hot ginger tea. Spare me the tea and I am not sure how she can read with her book on her stomach and her eyes closed. My reward for my walk was a peanut butter flavored biscuit and some couch time too. But I won't pretend to read when I have my Winter's nap!

First real snow

It snowed today. A lot! When I wasn't watching it out of the window, I was out in it myself. Only yesterday the ground was covered with crunchy oak leaves the color of my fur, and except for my flashing white feet, you could hardly tell what was leaves and what was little red dog. Today my feet blended perfectly with the snow and I am sure when I went for my walk I looked just like a windblown cloud of oak leaves hurrying down the path.

My Person was having some time keeping up with me. As usual, four feet are better than two, and I dodged and jumped and ran circles around her as she trudged along.

The birds are smart and knew a storm was going to cover up all their normal food with snow and so they came to the bird feeders and they ate all day long. My Person attached an umbrella to the top of the feeder pole, an idea she swiped from my genius auntie veecee, and the birds ate in a little pool of peacefulness while the snow fell all around.

There is a pool of peacefulness around my food dish right now and someone better make sure I get the same level of concern about my food intake that the cardinals and juncos and a lone white throat got today!

Tale of a tail

I bet you think I lost my tail somewhere. But it is just a blur because it is wagging so fast!

My Person was gone on grave business for many hours and it was getting to be a long time past my morning walk in the chilly early hours. I was so happy when the door opened my tail started working overtime and kept it up for a good long while.

Someone said that it was so cold today that it was a bad day to be a little red dog. But my tail says that every day, no matter what, is a good day to be me.

Winter coats

The sun was shining but it was plenty cold as I waited for my walk today. I would have been shaking in my boots if I had any. I need little white Chewbacca feet instead of these little white socks. Or maybe I need a new winter coat.

I noticed that just as most of the trees have gotten rid of their coats (except those smart pine trees) the rest of the world is taking on new coats. The squirrels have thicker fluffy coats and they look even more fun to chase. Even my Person is thicker and fluffier. She says it is her new coat but I think it is Ice Cream. Her head seems thicker and fluffier too but I do not think it is Ice Cream - I think it is a Hat.

The river has a new coat as well - it is shiny and smooth with white scrawls across its blue gray surface. Some of the leaves the trees got rid of have stuck themselves to the river's new coat and I think they will be there until spring comes and we put our coats away (or shed them on the couch). But that is a long time from now.

Green eyed monster

Guess which one is me?

You probably can really pick out the real little red dog. The other is a sloth, at the Como Park Conservatory Rainforest. I hear it is a nice place to visit but of course I wouldn't know from personal experience. I wasn't invited along.

This brings up a sore subject, which I will lead up to.

My Best Friend was here for a few days. Now I know I am lucky to have my Person and Aunties and even my stupid Siamese cat-brothers. But I really like my Best Friend. And now my Best Friend is gone and I am a little down. I had fun playing Wrestle and Chase and Try To Grab My Squeaky Toy From Me and now there is just my Person to play with and she is a lot less fun than my Best Friend.

Now the hard part. Remember the last time I didn't write for a few days? When I was in Lock Up? That is when my Person was visiting my Best Friend and the irritating little plastic dog went along instead of me! Imagine how much fun that dog had with MY Friend. I know jealousy is a dismal character flaw but I am one jealous little red dog and sad all at the same time. So I am just going to lie here and sulk until my Person feels my pain and takes me for a restorative walk. Then I am going to sulk some more.

Thanksgiving

It is a feast day today as you can see. And a day to collect some snow on your shoulder. And for visits with friends and families. It also seems to be a day when my walk will be a little delayed because of all the food being prepared but I think today will be a tail-wagger!

Wag the dog

All of my little red dogginess is important to me but this is one of my best parts because I can talk with it. The rest of me is currently under the table but you can still tell how I am doing by watching my tail. It can wag and it can curve gracefully upward, both good signs. Or it can droop or curve frighteningly under, both bad signs. It can bristle and stand straight out and then someone is in big trouble.

What I like is going about my business and noticing that my tail is wagging - then I know I am just plain having a good day even if nothing special is going on. Maybe I just caught a wonderful smell in the grass, or chased an Ollie down the hall. Maybe I plopped down on Pico for a pillow or maybe a Person smiled at me as I trotted by. There are a lot of little things that set my tail in motion and it doesn't matter what they are. All that matters is that they happen!

Inside and out

I've been watching the birds. Today I have seen nuthatches and chickadees, cardinals and blue jays, a red bellied woodpecker and a hairy woodpecker and a downy woodpecker, a goldfinch and a house finch. And lots of sparrows. I think they are all amazing. They are so delicate and strong. They stay out in the cold and don't even wear socks. They have to do so much to stay alive and all they have to work with are two wings and a beak.

Imagine if you tied your hands or paws in back of you and tried to catch your breakfast, build your house, fend off foes, take a bath, peel your food, feed your family, all with your pointed nose. I know of some REALLY sharp-nosed types and I think they would still have a hard time of it. My Person tells me I am a remarkable little red dog, and I don't think I could do it. This made me think that life is easy for those of us who live inside and hard for those of us who live outside. And thinking this made me feel very tired so I went to bed and snuggled under the blankets with my pointed nose and then I fell asleep.

Not meeting expectations

This is my belated post from yesterday. I fell asleep before I could post this picture which symbolizes my feelings. Not enough fun!

Come with me

I've been waiting for you and I am cold. There is lots to see so let's get started. My Person is musing about the vagaries of human relationships, as usual, but I have my eye on the world around me, to wit:

The glowing gray disk of sun high above me in the flat gray sky, a sky that deepens in color as it curves around the earth;

The leafless trees whose sturdy trunks tower above. My eye travels up their branches to the filigree of countless twigs as I watch a squirrel;

The dried stems of fall wild flowers, mostly asters, that rustle and tremble above my ears. The flowers themselves have turned to small bouquets of winged seeds to scatter in the wind;

The leaf litter that stands to my knees, where I savor the scents of other animals. It is here that mice scamper and delicate butterflies have settled for winter. It is here I wish my Person would look. Under the leaves the grass is still green and small plants shelter.

Here I find a small pile of bones has been gathered by someone - the remains of a squirrel. I know my Person - she will want to pocket the delicate skull and moon about like some midwestern Hamlet but I pounce and sniff and scatter the pile and then I move on.

All things interest me but my Big Questions are What and Where and not Why. My Person accepts my wisdom today and follows me as I follow my nose. And if she needs to think about Why she can wait until we are done and I am settled in for my nap.

Energy saver setting

You probably have one on an appliance. I have one on me. Or in me. All I know is that is is a good way to be when People are busy and it is cold out or things aren't going my way. So here I am, saving energy. Tomorrow I am hoping to be solar powered.

Ordinary delights

Today was much like yesterday and much different. That is kind of a rule around here. Some routine, some wild variety. For instance I had two medium-length walks instead of one long walk. This broke up my day in an interesting way and I did not succumb to long hours of thinking but napped, trotted around stirring up dust and cats and mischief, more naps, a few nose prods to my Person's leg, occasional rewards, occasional scoldings. (Just because I sat on top of Ollie!)

Routine makes me happy though and my walks make me happiest of all. The river is always where it should be, surrounded by trees and grass and a nice path. The leaf litter is scented by the toes of squirrels and raccoons and foxes and even other dogs. The crows are always there to guard the trees against hawks and owls, while the nuthatches are pipping and the chickadees dee-ing and the cardinals calling almost like woodpeckers; they never grow tiresome no matter how often you see them.

They say variety is the spice of life but what I like the best are the ordinary everyday things I share with my Person.

Favorite Things

No one to play with, my Person busy working, left to my own devices. Trotted out my toys but no takers. I had to do some thinking to perk myself up. So like in the song, I started counting up my Favorite Things:
Birds: for taking dust baths (What a fun idea!)
Cats: when they are running away from me or sleeping for stupendous quantities of time or when THEY are bad and knock edibles from the counter
My Person: for walks and homemade food
Socks: for chewing and general carrying around
Couches: for snoozing and for spying on the neighbors because I am too short to see out the windows
Squirrels: for chase practice
Raccoon hideouts: for sniff practice
My toys: for making squeaks and for pressing into my Person's legs when I want attention
That is as far as I got before I fell asleep. Maybe tomorrow I will have more fun and won't have to resort to thinking.

Reconditioning

It has taken almost the full period of my new life here with my Person to recondition her. That is a psychological term we use in the training process. What it means in laydog's terms is that I have trained my Person to give me treats. I use the appearance of other dogs as the trigger to elicit the treat-dispensing behavior.

When I first arrived here, I would bark myself silly every time I saw a dog. My Person would try to block my view, to turn me the other way, to even cover my eyes. She made a portable fence and carried it on our walks. Finally she began to understand the correct response which was to pop a treat in my mouth.

I am proud of how she has come along. She rarely forgets to bring treats on our walks and only occassionally is so lost in her thoughts that she neglects to notice other dogs. When she does forget I make sure to reinforce the correct response by behaving very badly and barking up a storm. It is embarrassing but she has to be trained consistently and not babied. It has been a lot of hard work but as we all know, hard work usually pays off!

Family

It was a still and beautiful day today, the day after My day. The sky was pale blue and the Mississippi River near my home stretched like a broad sheet of glass, reflecting the sky and the bluffs and the trees, everything the same but just a shade lighter. Though I spent quite awhile on my own during the day, I still had a good walk and enjoyed digging for moles along my favorite walking path.

The peaceful weather so assuaged my native ambiguity about my half-brothers that I even played a bit with them. But I swear, they just are not normal. Would dogs do this? All this cuddling business is embarrassing. You know the saying about not being to able to choose family? Well, I guess we all chose each in this case but I think they got the better end of the deal. They got me!

Hurrah for me!

It's my anniversary of being adopted! My new family has been lucky to have me for two years now. Maybe I am a little lucky also, though living with three Siamese cats and a parrot and a parakeet is a little Weird.

My Person made sure that I was feted today and my Auntie gave me a neckerchief to wear until I lost it running like a Mad Thing through a swamp, hunting swamp creatures and playing with a Puggle (don't laugh, they can't help what they are). Then we went to a coffee shop and strangers fed me dog biscuits and said I was cute. Who can blame them?

The weather was perfect and the leaves crunched beneath my fast flying feet and I ate SO many treats that people downwind of me thought I had a few TOO many. It was a great day and I will finish my celebrations with a few runs around the back yard in the dark and a big nap on the couch before bedtime. Hurrah for my life!

The spirit of autumn or...

...I am an oak tree.

No animals were harmed in the creation of this fully compost-ready costume - except for right in the middle of the old dignity.

Patience

Every day I spend a certain amount of time waiting: for my Person to open the door, for the cats to forget about me so I can surprise them, for a squirrel to sneak into the yard when I am on patrol. I wait to go on walks, watching carefully for the time my Person puts on her shoes, a sure sign of going outside. And then there is that thing I love above all and that I have to wait for - my meal! Either I deserve a medal or a sympathy card. I don't know which but here I go. Waiting!

Natural order

There isn't much I can do to control how things go. I'm just a little red dog and I have to take what comes my way. Sometimes the sun shines and sometimes it doesn't and I must make the best of it. Today I was ignored hour upon hour and there wasn't much I could do except prod with my nose, whine a little and then, as they say, suck it up. At last I got my reward and the day re-ordered itself in my favor. I decided to do everyone a favor and re-order something myself.

I picked leaves as that something. For some reason, People without enough do have been putting the beautiful falling leaves - which have been outdoing themselves in their attempt to match me - into unnatural piles. I have discovered that if I run at the piles lickety-split I can, in a very short time, re-order all those leaves until you would never know they had been piled up! I am sure that once People see how I have returned their yards to their natural states, they are thrilled to share my point of view.

So remember, when you can't make big changes you can probably make small ones and make others happy at the same time.

A matter of perspective

My Person was talking about this subject with another Person. Apparently if you change your perspective you may get a different take on something that you don't understand or might want to change. So, today I tried out some new perspectives.

I sat on her lap for a while as she worked on her computer. Not only did that NOT improve my point of view, it made me pity her for not being a dog who does not own computer. Then I tried napping under the blankets for a change and that only made me hot. We went for a walk and I tried eating a small stone, just because I hadn't before. I won't again. I walked by a mail carrier without barking for a change but it doesn't seem natural. But this change of perspective suits me just fine - I understand squirrels so much better now. Maybe I'll even catch one!

Color

The newspaper said it. Dreary. And my Person read it out loud. "Dreary." Right there in the forecast.

Who would say such a thing about the weather? It is what it is, just like I am a little red dog, nothing less and nothing more. Besides, what could possibly be dreary about today? Out we went after many forceful proddings with my nose and this is what we saw: a whole world of color, not a speck of drear anywhere!


Maybe you felt dreary today but remember that if a little color will brighten your day, you just have to go and find it.

Everydog

Who is that standing out here in the cold, waiting for you to walk him? Is it your friend, your pet, your confidante, your buddy? I'll tell you who is standing out here waiting patiently and with only a few leaps at the door knob while you look for where you misplaced my harness and leash and while you email one more person and put on your jacket and finish your coffee and grab a pocketful of treats and put on your warm shoes and gloves and go back to get a handkerchief and finally get out the door. It is me. Everydog.

That is what my Person calls me anyway. At first I didn't know what she meant. I thought she couldn't tell that all dogs weren't me (she's a bit dim sometimes) and then I thought she meant I was the only dog left and I was pretty happy about that but it was clear after one walk around the neighborhood that it wasn't the case.

I think I have it figured out. I look like a Dog. An Archetypal dog. A blank slate, and everyone's image of dogdom. Everydog. People think they know me and what I am like and they want it confirmed. We are constantly stopped and questioned as I prance and my Person stomps along beside me. "What kind of dog is that?"

Must I be something? Can't I just be a little red dog out for a walk? Today we were stopped by a UPS man on his route. The familiar question once again. But I got even. I barked at his truck as he drove away. I don't think I am Everydog, but I am a dog after all.

Daylight savings

My day is all unsettled. My internal clock operates with the sun and not with that crazy little device that yells once in a blue moon when my Person has something important to attend to in the wee hours. I am not sure if we got up early or late today, and it is looking like my early supper will arrive in the dark. Why do people switch time? They are too far from nature, that is clear.

Still, it was a fair and sun-filled day until it turned into a gloomy one, and a busy day until it got a bit slow. A high point was playing soccer with Pico the Siamese. I mean that quite literally. I didn't have a ball. Just a Pico who had snuck out the door and into the yard. I think I had a better time than he did. Kick!

But a goofy mixed up day is sometimes sorted out with a good nap and butterfly chairs are the perfect place for little red dogs to sort out the day.

Friends and meetings

Do you ever spend the day thinking about what you would like to do more than actually doing it? My day was headed that way. My person seemed to be preoccupied with things other than a certain red dog and I spent too much time looking out when I should have been out.

Finally, when the sun had begun to lose its glow and the day was quieting down I donned my harness and leash and off we went. But as it turned out, and so often does when you are a little off schedule, we ran into someone we would have missed otherwise. And so I got to walk with my friend the sheltie. Shelties are quite nice if ridiculously furred.

There were enough squirrels for both of us to bark at and things to smell hidden deep in the drifts of leaves. Our People chatted and I was able to romp and charge with abandon, as far as that leash would let me. Compared to the stately sheltie I am a Wild Thing and it was fun to show off my untamed side.

All that dodging about has worked up a wild appetite and I had better go dance around the dinner dish before my Person forgets about me again.

What is wrong with this picture?

Anyone with a quick mind will notice immediately. There are large silly looking birds sitting quietly under a cypress tree. They aren't flying or squawking. They are near a dog but they don't mind because it is a little plastic dog and not a little red real dog. Think of the fun I missed. I guess I am still a little hurt by recent events. The betrayed heart is slow to heal.

However, it was a fine day anyway. First of all, I awoke in my own bed, deep in my Person's blankets. When I bounded down the hall the cats, who had been waiting like silent statues, each in his own pool of morning light, scattered like buckshot and peered down from counter tops as I ran by. I cleared the morning yard of squirrels and and ate a hearty breakfast and enjoyed my morning walk immensely. I waved my tail at the sky and I crouched in the dry oak leaves which match me almost to perfection and then I kicked them high. I broke into a graceful trot on a steep slope and was unfazed by the thunderous stomps of my loyal Person following behind me. Later in the day I barked at the substitute mail carrier and visited my Auntie and barked at her UPS man. Though I was relegated to the back yard I found treats like dead moles to occupy myself with. And so the long afternoon stretched on to a golden end and I am ready for my supper and a nap. And then dreams of tomorrow with crackling leaves and blinking sun and cats to chase and treats to eat!

There and back again

I am home! My dark week of the soul is over. (Though I have to admit everyone was very nice to me in Lock Up.) But the indignity: my Person went on vacation somewhere fun and took another dog!

She so rarely does anything that keeps me from yawning and finally she has an interesting plan and what happens? She locks me in Prison and and goes off with someone else. And he is made of plastic! He's not even a real dog like me.



They saw spiders as big as my head and fish that had been bitten in half by bigger, meaner fish. They walked in wildlife refuges and saw birds and turtles and frogs. They saw waves as tall as my Person and had ice cream every day. And I love ice cream! She even took him to an art museum and she's never done that with me.

Well, I am chagrined but I am glad my Person is home anyway. If I find where she put that little plastic dog this little Red Dog is going to show him who is boss. Next time I'm the one going on that airplane in the pocket of her backpack!

The night of the full moon

Should I be worried? Things are troubling me. My auntie veecee is sick. My Person has been humming a strange song about Camp Granada all day and then patting my head. I emptied the garbage bag out on the kitchen floor and she didn't get mad at me. There are TWO bags of cat food in the cupboard. What can this possibly mean?

The unknowable strangeness of cats

Cats. Of the many things I have learned about since I came to live here, the thing I have learned the most about and still understand the least is the cat.

I may have been a bit of a rube when I moved here. But now I can walk on a leash, sit and stay, do graceful u-turns and about-turns and come when I am called. Cats do not know any commands. They meander aimlessly through the day, stalking counters and refrigerator tops with impunity. They are willfully oblivious to commands of any sort.

The Encyclopedia of Dogs is divided by jobs and activities. Hunting dogs. Herding Dogs. But cats take no exercise and have little employment except a useless sort of make work that consists of sitting in the middle of the newspaper article their Person is reading, or crawling into unused cardboard boxes and sitting there for a very long time.

My communications are brief and to the point: the cheerful tail wag, the short bark of warning, the long bark of warning, and the growl of, well, warning. Plus the pant of laughter. Cat language is an unintelligible welter of mews, meows, mrows, growls, purrs, clicks, chatters, and snaky hisses.

One of the most confounding of their habits is their perpetual cleaning. Inside ears and between toes, tail tips and nose ends, they clean constantly. As a seasonal bather I understand the joy of a hard-earned patina of adventure. The grimy front paws from a good dig in the perennial garden or the sweet perfume of a roll in something past its prime can be enjoyed for a long time after the adventure itself has ended. Unless you are a cat and then you'll be too busy cleaning yourself to ever have an adventure.

Cats are pretty enough creatures and I do admire the way they can steal chairs while people are sitting on them, take over beds, sleep for up to 22 hours a day, get whatever they want by being haughty and sit staring at you from atop a door jam. But when it comes down to it, I just don't understand cats!

If only I were French...

...I would be inside that coffee shop with my Person. I would have my own chair perhaps, a croissant cut into bits and slathered with butter, a little au lait on my upper lip. I would rest my little white paw on my Person's arm and ask if I might have the rest of her pumpkin muffin. The server would air kiss me before I reset my beret and we'd be off on another adventure.

But instead I am left out here, my day a shambles. For now.