We are Siamese if you please

Well, I don't please! Can you believe what I am cooped up with today?

The only retreat is outdoors, and I did go out for a romp but I got hit in the head with slush balls falling out of the trees. I got more soaked than I have since the last time I had a bath and that was so long ago my memory of it is a bit hazy. Acutely terrifying but hazy.

I like snow but the slop falling out of the sky today was not quite snow. It didn't please me any more than those Siamese do. As a matter of fact I am just a bit of a testy little red dog. I didn't get to use up my energy allotment for the day and I don't know what to do with the rest of it. I can't save it for tomorrow. I am not a global warming culprit - I am supposed to be using lots of energy, running at all hours and rarely powered down.

I could rest on my nice mattress but Guess Who and his brother Guess Who Else are all over it like two cheap suits. So I will mope, alone, in the dark, on the couch. Maybe Someone will take the hint and give those two bookends the boot but she seems particularly preoccupied. Or unobservant. Maybe a slush ball hit her head a little too hard.

I'm just hoping tomorrow is an improvement.

Tuckered

Gosh, I need to rest up. It hasn't been so much action that has gotten to me as a lot of people stuff going on. You know the social whirl can wear a little red dog out!

I have been visited by my human grandparents and cousins and uncle and aunts and my sheltie cousin. I have acted the gracious host for days on end: I have let the sheltie play with my belongings (under close supervision of course, you can't trust anything with a head that narrow), kept the cousins happy with my perfect dog routine, and showed the sheltie up by using comparatively good sense on a walk (smart dogs don't chase cars!). I sat on my grandfather's lap and kept him calm, and made soft eyes at everyone else to make them feel appreciated. I scared the bejeezus out of my girl cousin with my runaway dog trick while off leash, and kept her and her brother company in the art studio, always inspiring them with my shining enthusiasm for art and squirrel-watching out of the studio windows.

Today the relatives left and I finally got a little outdoor, countryside action with my Person and aunt veecee. We saw a big mother owl with little fuzzy young owls, birds of blue and rust and brown and black. We saw ducks and geese and vultures. We saw flying insects. We saw the proof that spring is coming.

Pretty soon when we look outside we will see a snow storm. The weather here is more mercurial than I am.

The fresh air took its toll on one who had been so busy seeing to the needs of other. I am a bit tuckered and I think I need a little rest.

Logged on

I am an educated dog. I've been through four levels of training. And I still can't understand what my Person does all day. Why she sits for hours, moving one hand around, muttering and scratching her head, is a puzzlement.

Today I spent several hours on the back step sleeping in the spring sun. There was room for her on the next step (well, part of her would have fit) but was she there? No, she was in front of this screen muttering and scratching her head.

Later I was snoozing and stretching out on the couch. There would have been room for her there if I had cared to shove over but was she interested? No, she was still sitting in front of this screen moving that mouse around some more and muttering and scratching her head.

I wonder if I can get some sort of help for her - there is so much important going on like mud getting warm again, and doves landing in the bird bath with their pink toes stretched out, and a merlin flying fast over the trees and last year's plants straightening up a bit and leaning toward the sun and blades of grass turning green. She's missing it! She thinks she is connected but from a little red dog perspective she is as disconnected as can be!

Polar bear club

The snow continues to fall even as the sun gets higher in the sky and the ground wants to warm up. Big icy puddles are showing up, just right for little red dogs to go wading in. You might think I would get chilled doing this but I need to cool off when I have been jumping over snowy drifts and running across the frozen lake and chasing scents among the reeds faster than any other dog ever did.

I was supervised by lots of worried chickadees. I am sure they thought I was a wild red fox.

One of these days soon the snow will stop falling on my head and this wonderful playground will revert to its summer state of marsh and unfrozen lake and the fun will be over until next winter, so I am relishing it while I can. Some Persons are tired of winter and dream of planting their gardens and walking in the sun but today I think I am a snow dog at heart.

Spring snow

This is an "I told you so" moment. Did you go stick your toes in the mud like I suggested? Have fun finding any mud today.

Speaking of fun, some people think the world is their oyster but that basically sounds boring and slimy to me. I prefer to think the world is my toy! And snow is the best toy ever - you can mold it, throw it, chase it, roll in it, eat it, build forts out of it, bury things in it.

You can dye it yellow if you are a little red dog, you can jump in it, pounce on it and sit quietly on it waiting for your Person to come take you for a walk in it.

You can shovel it, sniff squirrel toe prints in it and root in it for bird seed. No wonder everyone looks forward to a good snow day!

The mud is fine

This is a test. Let's see how waterproof your shoes are. Mine are leak tight!

This might not look too cheerful but it is - there is soft mud oozing between my toes and the air is almost balmy and there are some mergansers swimming near by. They seemed a bit perturbed by my interest - go figure. I would be complimented if someone peered at me with such interest. Maybe not with such avid interest. But I might be part duck toller so I might as well live the dream of my heritage.

Anyway, back to the mud. It is wonderful! Just a little ice and snow mixed in. Green grass poking up. And wouldn't you know, it is supposed to start snowing again. This is about the time of year my Person's forebearers disappeared into their sod huts and never came out again. It is easy to be discouraged.

Once the snow has retreated this far, it can only continue and soon this mud will be warm and inviting instead of cold and disheartening. So go stick your toe in some mud while you can because it might be going away again - but just for a little while.

In the drink

It is what passes for spring up here in the northern reaches of the Midwest. And like many young and happening types I headed to the beach for a little spring break. Just so happens that my beach is an ice shelf. But like Greenland's, it is getting smaller all the time. Here I am about to take an unexpected swim when I broke off a big chunk.

The good news is that I am dressed for the occasion. You may notice I am wearing my bathing suit. It looks exactly like my running outfit, my dinner outfit, my underwear and my pjs. Don't tell anyone but they are all the same. I never change clothes. (And I almost never bathe - except by accident like today. My Person says I smell good anyway.)

Anyway, I am clothed in the most amazing thing since leisure suits. My outfit stretches when I do, is highly stain-resistant, and never bags at the knees. It is automatically thicker and warmer in the winter and skimpier in the summer. It never is out of style either. No ironing - I am a wash and wear little red dog. Except the wash part.

My Person was moaning about not knowing what to wear in this gradually warming weather. She's stashed away her sleeping bag coat and shelved her giant hat for the season but it sure isn't time for shorts yet, even if some people think so. (Listen up! Shorts and snow boots do NOT go together.) If only my Person had an amazing outfit like mine she'd be comfortable all year long, and when that ice shelf gives way under her she'll be dressed for the occasion!

Locked up again

Did you miss me? I bet you did! I missed me. I was locked up and spent a dismal week in a cell with my blanket and my Squirrely, while my Person was many miles away. I am heartened she did not deceive me this time and take the Little Plastic dog with her. He got left behind also, without anyone to take care of him. Not that he needs much.

But I do! I need companionship and sunshine and lots of exercise. So here I am, back to normal life, getting all of the necessities. I am in such a good mood I'll give five cat crunchies (Adric won't mind) to the one who guesses what is in picture number two. Look carefully - the mystery lies in the water. About five of them. (You can always get a better look at one of my pictures by clicking on it.) I would have loved to have seen this myself. Suffice it to say there are a lot of strange looking animals out there and I am not talking about little red dogs either.

I spent a lot of last week barking myself silly but if I had been looking at those watery mystery animals I would have been barking for a good reason!

Doors

One of the highlights of my day, in fact of my life, is going through doors. If you go through a door something interesting may be on the other side. Someone interesting may be there as well. It might mean you are leaving one impossibly dull environment, full of worthless, sleeping cats and boring, working Persons and entering a world of adventure.

This is me waiting to go through the door of the studio. I love it in there. Sometimes going into the studio means going right through into the garage (through a door) and into the car (through another door if you are catching on here) and then out into the world. Endless possibilities - dog parks, friends, trips to stores that specialize in dog treats, you name it. Fun is out there waiting. Through a door.

Or maybe going through the studio door just means going into the studio and staying. That's fine with me too. My favorite chair is there. Or I can watch the squirrels in the driveway, normally hidden to me. I can watch the whole neighborhood come and go - always something worth barking at about to happen.

Today the young artists came to see me in the studio to hear my advice about painting. They are coming along very well and I can tell I am an inspiration to them. Art is like a door to adventure, and when the young artists come over we all walk through that door together.

Dim and dimmer

Today my Person has a big bee in her bonnet. She went to a Audubon Global Warming conference and came home pretty heated up herself. One scientist showed a depiction of what the country could look like by the end of the century if we all carry on on our merry and current way. Let me just say that real estate development in Florida is going to slow way down (unless you like living under water).

So, we all have to do what we can to save Florida and the rest of the planet. After all, Florida is where my Best Friend lives! He's a good swimmer but he isn't quite pelagic. He's more of a land creature, like me! Florida, and in fact the entire eastern seaboard, is going to be pretty short on land and pretty long on rising damp, right up over the tree tops.

What's the first step in this household? We have the high gas mileage dinky car thing covered - I can almost reach the gas pedal without tying blocks to my feet. Not that I am ever allowed to drive. And it is so cold inside here we do lots of huddling under blankets. All the standby devices are now being turned off at night - except my warning bark.

And my Person is swapping out all the light bulbs for compact fluorescent. Some people think they are a little dim. But let me tell you there are more dim bulbs around here than in the light fixtures. Here's a really dim bulb right next to me. Do you think if I gave him a good pounce it would brighten up my evening?