A-bed

Don't think there are visions of sugar plumbs dancing in my head. Maybe sugar squirrels.

I have taken a long break from my writing. I have been so busy organizing my Person's life and making sure she gets out on walks, keeping the ever-errant Ollie in line and most lately, supervising work crews who are transforming our little house by the river into a little house by the river with a modern heating system and slightly more room for cat-swinging. But only slightly more.

The days have flown by, the seasons change. The bright green grass is still bright green but it is deep beneath a layer of Finn-colored leaves (someone forgot to rake) and a deeper layer of cold, white snow.

And I am deep beneath a layer of blankets. This week I sustained an injury and my Person had to drive me to my wacky Vet in a slippery snow storm. It seems I was guarding the house against mail carriers and UPS drivers too vigorously and now I have a bulging disc in my neck.

During my recuperation my Person is responsible for providing soothing neck rubs and hot compresses, and she needs to get on the stick because my neck is a bit cold right now. She made me a little neck warmer by putting some dry rice in a sock and microwaving it. I love how it feels and might try to snack on it when I get better. She also has been giving me tiny pills stuck in peanut butter globs. I love taking peanut butter medicine!

Well, don't mumble out loud while you are reading. Some of us need to rest now.

Bad habits

Nah, I didn't pick up any bad habits. I just picked up my sheltie cousin's chew toy. Actually I guess I kind of stole it.

Maybe stealing is a bad habit.

There have been some bad habits on display around here. My car, which carries me on adventures with my Person, and to the dog park, and even more importantly, on trips to the store to buy my Super Supper, had its battery taken by some people indulging in their bad habit of stealing. Plus they cut all of the electrical wiring and that is just plain mean.

I don't know why I didn't sense what was happening with our little car. If only I had indulged in my bad habit of barking out the window I would have scared those bad people away. But I was indulging in my bad habit of snoring instead.

Well, two bad habits don't make a good one. Maybe that is a bad habit - making up sayings that don't make sense!

On the rocks

I know, it has been a long time. My Person has not been helping me much, busy coping with some sort of personal affliction. She looks like a lamprey bit her on the leg and believe it or not she had it done on purpose by a doctor, a remedy of some sort. I won't be visiting that doctor any time soon!

I did get a very short vacation in on the North Shore, land of wolves and bear and moose and visiting little red dogs. That was quite interesting, especially in the sniffing and running department.

Then came a great heatwave and we all lay low for days and more days and the only relief was walking to the Mississippi River for a big swim. Then back to sleeping the day away under the picnic table. My Person would have joined me there for a nap but she takes up too much room.

Last week she deserted me and I stayed at my frenemy Tasha's house for a sleepover. Tasha treated me very well as long as I stayed away from her Person and her furniture and her dish and so on. I did get to stay next to Tasha's Person's Person, Gary, and he helped me get through a very thundery and lightningy night, as I was very afraid. He is now my second Best Friend, right after my first Best friend.

Just thinking about all of that puts me in mind of napping, so that is what I think I will do.

Get happy

It is always good to see a friendly face when you are far from home. Yesterday my Person and I were on the road for hours and hours on our way to hang an art show at a gallery and then on the road hours and hours to get back home again. I am sure there were many other friendly faces around but they were whizzing by too fast for me to see and this friendly face was not moving at all.

Today I am not traveling by car. I am traveling in my dreams instead. It is hard to get your naps in when you are stuffed in a tiny Toyota and the sun is beaming right on your red rump and the car is bumping and swerving in the high prairie wind and your Person is howling "Summertime" to keep from falling asleep herself. I have a few hours of sleep to to put in before I am back up to "full" on my nap gauge.

But, if you aren't spending the day napping and you want to see a friendly face instead, just head west on that big old highway and at some point you will see one.

Made in the shade

Here is my variation on the dog and chair routine. Sitting on the chair usually makes me the tallest dog around. But today I wanted to be the coolest dog around. So under the chair I go.

It is quite nice under there. It is shady and damp and I am at chipmunk level. I can rest and hunt all at the same time. My Person sits above me reading her book and she sometimes puts her lunch dish down right next to me because she forgets all about me when she is reading. And the sun-loving bugs bug her instead of me.

There are no drawbacks that I can see. Unless I suddenly dart out at one of the young and foolish chipmunks heading for my bird feeder and accidentally bonk my head on a chair leg.

Otherwise it is the most peaceful way of surveying your realm that I know of. If it is a sunny day in your yard you might want to try it too.

Always ready

There are so many great things about being a dog, a little red one in particular. For instance there is attire.

Take me, for example. I am always suitably dressed for any occasion. You don't have to wait around for me to get ready. I am, always. No primping, no adjusting, no changing these white socks for some other.

Today my uber outfit was put to the test. First there was cat-chasing. I woke up appropriately dressed and pounced on Ollie before the sleep was out of my eyes. Next, a morning meal and did I need to change? Not on your nelly. Next, some very dull waiting-around time, but no wardrobe change was needed for that little nap I took to while away the hours. Then - big excitement - a car ride!! I was ready in a flash. Less than a flash. On the trip I visited a native plant store and was appropriately attired in my native garb. Next, a stop at the ice cream shop and it just happens that my native wear is appropriate for dining out! Then a dip or two in the beautiful St. Croix River and turns out my native-plant-viewing, eating-out outfit is, not surprisingly, the perfect swim suit.

Later in the day I watched my Person dig around in the garden and we walked along the river and I ate Super Supper and sat around in my very own lawn chair watching birds and bugs and my Person all toiling. And still I was dressed in the very thing I went to sleep in last night.

Meanwhile my Person was, by turns, dressy, muddy, sweaty, rumpled, absolutely dirty, partially cleaned up and back to rumpled and there were at least three costume changes for her this day.

I get tired just looking at her. And so does the washing machine. And while she spends time cleaning and changing I can just sit here and think about all the other great things about being a dog.

Sweet scents

Summer is sweet. Flowers bloom on trees, shrubs and perennials in my Person's yard. Nectar flows and is lapped hungrily by that wise guy hummingbird and its fellows. So many kinds of bees - giant bumbles and all sorts of medium and teeny tiny ones - visit different flowers according to their body size to gather pollen. There are young birds trying their voices out and their parents' patience as well, hungrier than I could ever be.

The earth is humid and rich with smells. I found a wonderful new smell at the beach: aged carp. I told the flies to move on over and I rolled on that fish and bulldozed my neck across the silvery scales and spread that perfume deep into my fur. How appropriate for a day when the next scheduled activity was a visit to my favorite outdoor fish restaurant!

Until my Person got a hold of me. "Stop that," she roared ferociously. Then she started sniffing me. "Good," I thought, "she's acting more like a dog, a step toward wisdom finally. She'll appreciate me now." But oh no. She sniffed and her nose wrinkled up and she intoned the words I hate but so rarely hear: "You are going to need a bath."

And off we went to the sweet-smelling backyard and she hosed me down and washed me! I smelled like a fish that had been shampooed. So she washed me again! It was awful. But it was that or stay home from the restaurant and sleep in the backyard until I smelled more like a little red dog than a little dead fish.

I got my reward - lots of snacks and even more attention from the other restaurant patrons. I am glad they were smiling and petting me instead of wrinkling their noses and staying far away from me.

If it is true that a rose is a rose, then it follows that a fish is a fish. But when it comes to going out for dinner it is better for a dog to be more like a rose and less like a fish.

I never!

There are some things that are too rude for even a dog to do. Apparently this little bird isn't as delicate about etiquette. True, we dogs may do all sorts of other rude things but in all my short days I have never seen two dogs face off and stick their tongues out at each other.

Maybe we don't know how to.

But this little pipsqueak with an attitude spent the evening in my backyard, slurping sugar water and making funny kissy noises and sticking its tongue out. My Person says it was catching bugs to eat but it sure looked like it was looking at me all the while. And maybe at you too.

I am going to practice this move - maybe it will be a superior way to be top dog at the dog park. I won't need to chase or bark or scrap or defend my honor. From now on I will just stick out my tongue. I wonder if my frenemy Tasha can stick out hers?

Patience

I can be a very patient dog. And I have been getting a lot of practice lately. I think I am some sort of regional model for patience in dogs.

Not that I want to be. Oh no, I'd much rather be running around, chasing down my enemies and frenemies alike, or setting off on adventures and riding shot gun as is appropriate for a valiant and watchful dog like me.

But no, I sit and wait by the gate and my Person buzzes around with a frantic manner, doing goodness knows what useless things and tapping away on her keyboard. She seems to have forgotten the things that make life worthwile, like lying in the grass and snapping at bees, napping in the sun, chasing squirrels, stealing snacks....though I think she has easier access to snacks than I do. Then again I always find snacks on walks and she never does.

What she lacks in natural wisdom she make up in diligence and at some point she always remembers that it is time to walk the little red dog. Remember him? He's waiting by the gate, very patiently.

Take me for a ride in your car, car

Oh boy! What Adric hates, I love - car rides!
Here I am off to Crex Meadows
What could make a dog happier? It turned out to be a crisp and dry spring day, and the meadows are beginning to fill with life: some animals passing through on migration and others that are year-long residents but sleep all winter or spend more time hidden in the snow and ice. Swans, geese and ducks were a-sailing with otter and muskrats and many beaver. There was a loon bathing while swimming, a practice I follow. Harriers, the sleek hunters of marsh and field, swooped low in their aerial prowls. There were soaring and sitting eagles and stalking cranes and a porcupine crawling out on a branch. There were timber wolf footprints all along the roads and bear were there too but were hiding from us. Deer crashed from ditch to ditch, sparrows called, doves cooed and snipe whizzed overhead as the sun finally set on a long day.

Visiting Crex was wonderful and I was able to sneak a few hitch hikers in the car before we left - wood ticks! Those I didn't keep for myself I shared with my Person and my Best Friend. I can only say they are not gracious gift-receivers.

And now the part that made me happier than anything else. I got a double cheeseburger for my supper! Travel is a wonderful thing is all I will say.

Well, when it comes down to it, who cares about tulips! It is spring and if the wild flowers are up so am I. And the wild flowers are up - the bloodroot flowers were waving their petals at the sun today.

What a joy this time of year is! The birds that flew south for the winter are slowly winding their way up the mighty Mississippi River valley. Phoebes and bluebirds are back and there are freshly hatched little insects flying around for them to eat - just in time dining! And speaking of dining I ate my share of greening grass today.

Tomorrow I start my annual bluebird trail monitoring duties. Good thing I don't have to wear a uniform because I filled out a little this winter. I think that Tasha stole some of my exercise time. But look at me and my exercise program - I'm going to roll and shake until I am in summer shape!

Free and easy

After the storm comes the calm. Tasha went home to her People and I have to admit, I got bored. I love chaos when it comes right down to it. And Tasha is chaos with lots of fur attached.

Sure, I had the couch to myself and no one else is in line to clean the cat dishes but me, me, me. But things did seem a bit slow after two months of having a roomie.

Luckily my Best Friend showed up and we all went on vacation. And here I am watching some chaos - the water at Gooseberry Falls was falling, and falling hard. Imagine - the last time I was there I trotted out onto the very rocks that are now covered by the crashing torrent.

We stayed in a little cabin that had the best smelling lawn. And then I found out a wolf pack had been hanging around - bet I scared them away.

But vacation is a fading dream and the snow in all gone in my back yard. The spring sun is trying to warm up the sleepy plants but all it is doing is making me a bit sleepy too. Time for a sunny nap where the snow used to be. Maybe I'll wake up when the tulips do.

Jealous

There seems to be a key personality in any family group. I am happy for my Person to play that role, but lately I have to come way down on the list.

I think I am a little jealous of all the attention that others are getting. That Hurricane of Hair, Princess Tasha, gets treats every time she comes inside, she's allowed to bark whenever she wants and she gets chewy things whenever she spends time in her little kennel. Thank goodness she's packing her curling iron and heading back to her home tomorrow - I want to be top dog again!

And then there is the ongoing melodrama All About Adric. Sheesh, he goes for more car rides now than I do. I love car rides! My only solace is he doesn't seem to enjoy himself and he always has to leave the house in a carrier bag, howling all the way. He just doesn't know how to have fun.

The strange thing is that when he comes back from one of his car rides he always has a different color bandage on his leg. Today's color is royal purple. He looks pretty dopey but I know better than to laugh at him. My Person takes his side in all interspecies disputes, and today she even let him finish the milk in her cereal dish. That is one of my other favorite things, handed over to the Man in Bandages.

Maybe I am seeing a little green (actually purple). But I hope one of these days spring will be here, I will be the sole lord of my warm and sunny yard, Adric will quit being the patient that tries my patience and I will be the only one who rides shotgun in my Person's car.

United in fear

No trying to be tallest today. Today I am just trying to get off the floor and so is Tasha. My Person has been on some sort of a cleaning rampage, and all of us four-legged folks are a little afraid of the vacuum cleaner. Not that we see it that much ordinarily, but there is a lot of extra dog fur, suspiciously long fur I might add, floating around lately.

Next, my Person did the weirdest thing yet. (And that is saying something.) She washed the floors with tea. I have long advocated having food on the floor but it never occurred to me to spread beverages around. My Person said it was sort of an old wife's remedy for dull floors. Well, she is older than she once was but I don't think that explains this behavior. The tea seemed to have no effect other than to erase all the little dog footprints and to scent the entire house like a tea shop.

I prefer the scent of pet food shops myself.

But if this sort of madness is to continue I am going to suggest my Person clean the floor with a beverage we all enjoy. Maybe vanilla milkshake?

Tallest dog wins

There are no equals in the animal kingdom. Or so says Pico's vet.

People try equality all the time and they make a right mess of it. Not too many people are really willing to sacrifice their own higher positions to level the playing field for others.

In the dog realm we have a similar tough time being equals. And while being Equality Dog is almost impossible there are lots of ways to become Top Dog. Being the snarkiest can work. Being the toughest and most aggressive does as well but you sure are going to lose that congeniality contest and your Person will be giving you the evil eye every time you act like a bully toward another dog. Some dogs think barking the loudest is the best way. (I've tried it, and I just get yelled at.) Being able to run the fastest will get you out of trouble but it won't really get you ahead. So I have come up with the best way of all: I am going to be the tallest dog around.

It seems the Barking Hairdo of a Tasha is just not one of nature's able jumpers. But I am. So whenever that Tasha is around and starts competing with me, I'll get taller. And to do this all I need is some handy furniture.

Believe me, my Person has lots of furniture around to help me. Maybe she doesn't like lying on, sitting on and eating on the floor as much as I do. Or maybe she's trying to be taller than me! Maybe I need to find a new way to be Top Dog.

Good dog

No matter how good I try to be, I seem to get into hot water a lot. But right now I am not in hot water. I am in cold water. And the water is so cold that, like Bambi once observed, it is stiff!

This is me on my usual constitutional along the Mississippi River. Only this time I am in the river. Or on the river. Whichever. Up to my neck at any rate.

All I know is I am going to remind my Person of this the next time I accidentally get caught eating the homemade bread left out to cool, or knocking over the garbage, or eating Ollie's breakfast before he finishes or, well, being a dog. After all, who can be mad at a dog who can walk on water?

Détente

What do you get when you add fresh snow drifts and bright sun and two cabin-feverish dogs together? You get some fun! Tasha and I forgot our household rivalries and got down to some serious dog play in the backyard today.

It is at times like this when I think Tasha is pretty okay, if too hairy. And she probably thinks the same of me, except for the too hairy part. If only we could always be like this but sometimes I am too rough and sometimes Tasha is too sensitive. And sometimes I am too sensitive and Tasha is too territorial. Sometimes we both forget how much more fun it is to be friends than foes.

Maybe we both have been hanging out with humans too much!

Pathetique

Adric continues to hold the center of attention around here. He is getting around too well if you ask me and has resumed his former role of King of the Hill and Lord all He Surveys. From his new height he can survey quite a bit, even if all of him doesn't quite fit up there on his perch.

I am reminded almost continually of how lucky I am to be a dog. I am sturdy and fast, I eat things I find and I rumble with other dogs, but I am not prone to the kind of things that get cats in trouble. I do not jump into boxes and I do not aim myself at open dresser drawers and I do not fly from counters and I do not leap up into linen cabinets. I generally stay on the ground floor. Believe me, there are plenty of interesting possibilities in life without launching oneself UP.

My Person sure is lucky she has me. And only one Adric!

Tasha's Sense of Snow

One of the good things about Tasha is she is so furry. One of the bad things about Tasha is she is so furry. I, of course, figure I am just right in the fur department - a little thinner in the summer, a little thicker in the winter, never long enough to step on, tangle-free and with a built-in cleaning setting (called "run fast!").

Tasha causes fur piles to collect in the corners and on the couch and my Person is spending more time with the vacuum cleaner these days, but the good news is that Tasha can stay outside for ever so long. No matter which part of herself she sets down in the snow - feet, backside, chest, forehead even - she has a nice protective blanket of Tasha fur between herself and the cold, cold ground. Who knows? Maybe Tasha is solid fur!

All I know is that I get to snooze peacefully in my little bed (whenever Adric the Wounded isn't already ensconced there) knowing that the backyard is vigilantly protected from squirrels. This is like a little vacation from my job as guard dog, and I am spending it much like Tasha's own People are spending theirs - relaxing in a warm place.

Stairway to heaven

Good ol' Adric used to be sort of like Tigger - you know, with a top half made out of rubber and a bottom half made out of springs. (And if you ask me, he is just as annoying as Tigger.)

But Adric is having trouble being springy these days. As a matter of fact he is under doctor's orders NOT to spring. The problem is Adric is a cat. And he is only happy when he is up on top of something. And in the winter, that means up on top of the hot water radiator.

Now in the summer when it is hot, all the cats mope around and throw themselves on the floor and spread out as thin as they can, looking aggrieved and moaning weakly because they are too warm. But in the winter all they want to do is toast themselves until they are piping hot! (Only fools try to figure cats out.)

Adric can't make it up to his favorite hot spot and so my Person decided to help him out by building him these great stairs and then covering them with comfy fleece. Now Adric can haul himself and his new bright green cast up to the cat roasting area and down again without doing himself another injury. The stairs are so sturdy I can walk on them too. Even though I have been told not to.

I wonder if my Person would build me some stairs for the places I have trouble getting to, like the cupboard where my food is, or the top of the refrigerator where my treats are? I'm not going to hold my breath - it seems to me that the things I want are frowned upon but whatever Adric wants, Adric gets.

Seeking warmth

There is this old saying that the January sun is a warming one, making the cold days of winter bearable. For in the far north, sunshine and extreme cold seem to be winter's favorite pairing. But it is hard to consider January sun a warming influence when it is below zero outside and the birds are puffed up like feather dusters and the snow sounds like styrofoam when you walk on it and the hairs on your chinny chin chin freeze into a frost beard while you root around on the ground for the interesting edibles that nature always provides for a keen-eyed and keen-nosed little red dog.

However, if you are in your Person's house and find a patch of January sun shining away, it is indeed warming. And here I will lie, warming myself and finding that I agree with that old saying so long as I am safely inside!

Poor kitty

My cat brother Adric has some nicknames - notably Badric. He earned this one by jumping on top of doors, shredding toilet paper rolls, turning on the hot water in the tub and then shutting himself in the bathroom creating a personal sauna and by assisting me when I scout for food (not a Person-approved activity) by tossing loaves of bread and other goodies to me from the counter top. He even threw me an entire bag of training treats from the top of the refrigerator. I ate them all and maybe that is why I am so well-trained.

Well, Adric has a new nickname and it is Sadric. He is the saddest sad sack of a cat ever. That isn't a holiday stocking he has donned. Poor Adric had to have surgery on his broken leg and now he's got this big old cast with a red wrapper to haul around and his very ample-looking thigh has been shaved. How embarrassing is that? And that other blob of shaved-ness is his even more ample belly.

That Adric sure doesn't have my trim sportsman's physique. But he doesn't go for daily runs by the river either. He sleeps and stretches and walks around like a princeling and sleeps some more. And that is on a busy day.

I feel badly for him even if he is getting the royal treatment - he has special beds all over the place and every time I try to nap on one my Person growls at me. And he gets extra food (look at that thigh, Person, and restrain yourself!), and he gets held whenever he wants and that is almost all the time. And he gets special medicine but I would rather have treats than that.

I am hoping for a nice romp outside today but there is a slick layer of ice on the ground. Even with four legs I am going to have to be careful out there. I may be a little red dog but I sure don't want to end up with a red leg like Adric!

Avoidance

I am using a technique my Person sometimes uses when she is doesn't want to deal with things. I am staying in bed. She calls it napping, and sometimes she holds a closed book in one hand and she calls it reading. But it all amounts to the same thing. Avoidance.

What am I avoiding? I am avoiding Miss Furry who is holding court in the living room, sleeping on my couch and every now and again bestirring herself to go outside to chase my squirrels.

There is a saying about house guests and fish...but I LIKE the smell of old fish and I know Tasha does as well. Dogs generally handle strange smells two ways: they whiz on the stinky thing or they rub it all over themselves. I prefer the former, and when it comes to rotten fish, Tasha prefers the latter. So I guess if the saying is true, I actually like having Tasha here, though I sure haven't whizzed on her. (She'd probably retaliate somehow, like rubbing herself all over me.) So, let's say we have a detente going on, and we've established some boundaries: Tasha rules where ever she is and I hide in the bedroom!

Brotherly love

Notice that this is not a picture of a certain red dog and a certain Tasha the Furry Interloper. This is poor Adric using poorer Pico as a pillow, and they are roasting themselves on top of the radiator. Adric looks pretty silly and his cast says "OUCH" (his vet is something of a wag) but my Person will not let me laugh at him. To his face anyway. What I do in private is my own business.

Speaking of which, I don't have much private business these days. Every where I look, there is Tasha. Every time I scrounge for crumbs, there is Tasha. Every time I go outside, there is Tasha. The only time I don't see Tasha is when I close my eyes and when I do that she stares at me!

Move over Adric and Pico - I think I'd like to join the cat pile for awhile!

Double trouble

This may look like I am trying to take a chunk out of someone but it is just me whispering sweet nothings into my best frenemy's ear. Winter Storm Tasha has hit and here she is now, stirring things up in MY backyard.

I think things are going pretty well so far, except my Person takes Tasha for private walks and Tasha gets special treats and Tasha follows my Person everywhere (I didn't know dogs were supposed to do that) and Tasha scares all the squirrels away from the yard (that is MY job) and she scares the birds away too (another thing I didn't know dogs were supposed to do) and she licks my Person's hands (maybe my Person isn't very careful about washing up after she eats, or that's a third thing I didn't know dogs were supposed to do) and she generally is trying to insinuate herself into the structure of our little family by being nice to my cat brothers (okay, that's a fourth thing I didn't know dogs were supposed to do).

I don't know whether I am being shown up or not but I think I'd better come up with some plans to outdo Tasha!

All quiet

Winter has settled in. The snow is deep and crunchy and there is a new layer of fresh snow on top - snow covered snow as it were. The birds and squirrels are furiously hungry, almost as hungry as I always am.

I caught a squirrel today, briefly. My Person screamed and jumped up and down (she exhibits classic primate behavior) until I dropped the squirrel and it ran away. I think it was an unfair match - the snow makes it harder for little animals to scarper. But I am all in favor of unfair matches, as long as things are in my favor.

I'm inside now and all is quiet. The calm between the storms, one might say. The snow storm is over and the next storm is yet to begin: Tasha, the Barking Hairdo of a Sheltie is coming to stay with me. For weeks!!

Talk about unfair matches. I am no match for this Little Miss and I think she knows it. Until she gets here I am going to enjoy the quiet life and prepare myself for Winter Storm Tasha!

A new year?

I don't really understand the human desire for the Big Do-Over. Periodically they think they deserve a new beginning. It seems to me that everything is a continuation. One can't really change what has happened before - we can merely go forward, and maybe even with good intentions.

If he knew about the concept, Adric probably would like a do-over for the moment he slipped his ankle into that drawer pull and then jumped. But Adric doesn't know about such ideas, and neither does his broken ankle and neither do little red dogs. Full steam ahead is what I say. (Or what I think even if I don't say so.)

Life is full of surprises (a concept Adric DOES understand) and I was surprised by some pretty deep snow and some pretty big snow people down along the river. They gaze out over the ice sheet with attention and quiet humor. They are only here for season at the longest and don't have time to regret. They merely ARE, right now, right here. And I like that about them. And I like that about me, too.

The calendar may say it is a new year, but since I can't read, I am protected from such frivolity. So don't count on do-overs and maybe-laters and what-ifs. Go look at the river and run and smile at your Best Friend. Forward, I say!