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February 19, 2006

Me in the sun

I thought I'd show you what I do all day...relaxing in the sun. I got Joan to shoot this short video of me (it's really small). See how happy I am!

Watch the video

If you want to see a big picture of me, click here:

View image

I have one more thing to tell you - how in the end I slowed down our walk. I wanted to go for a walk so I was kind of bugging Joan by looking longingly at her and at outside and then back at her. She was fooling around saying things like "do you..." and "do you want..." without finishing the sentence. I know what she's doing!!! She thinks I only know the first part of the sentence. I was a bit annoyed with her so when said, "do you want?" I jumped up on her. Well, she had a cup of something hot and it spilled on her. She put down her cup and went to the bathroom to soak up the liquid on her sweatshirt. Then, we heard a big "ka-plunk!". Joan went out to see what it was. It sounded like someone threw something at the house. Then she scanned the room and happened to notice that her mug had fallen down and hot tea was everywhere on the hardwood floor. Sooooo....then instead of going on a walk, she had to clean that up! Meanwhile, I was ....waiting....

Finally, she cleaned all that up, got on some good clothes for outside and we went on a walk. I love Sundays - they are so quiet - no one is every around, especially on our morning walk. In fact, we heard a tree cracking that might fall down any moment...but it didn't fall down while we were near it. phew.

COLD and empty dog park

Yesterday, Joan took me to the small park near my house around noon. There was no one - no person, no dog - there. And I could only see Joan's eyes because she was completely covered everywhere with clothing. I guess I can understand (a little bit) because it was really cold - like about 0 but with windchill more like -20. That weather doesn't bother me that much since I have a fur coat on - I'm very versatile with weather. And as long as I can run around, I stay warm. I played fetch with Joan and she kept working on "GIVE" to get me to give her the ball so she could throw it again. As much as I like her to chase me, I guess it works well also to GIVE her the ball if she throws it again for me (which she does).

The biggest problem I had at the park is the lack of water. I was thirsty with all my running and the cold weather, but the water in the water bowls there was frozen solid. I kept running over there to check but I kept finding solid ice. That doesn't work for quenching my thirst.

After a while, we left and we saw another man get out of his truck with 2 dogs. Joan said "no one is in there." He said, "I'm not surprised." We couldn't really see what he looked like because he was clothed similarly to Joan - couldn't see anything but his eyes. As we drove away, I saw the two dogs - a lab and a golden retriever - I whined a bit because I bet it would have been fun to play with them! Instead we got to go home, and I got a drink water.

Today is warmer at about 2 when we went for a walk this morning but little wind so we did our longer morning walk which I liked as opposed to the one or two block walk we did when it was really cold -30 windchill. Right now, after I finish this entry, I'm going to lay down on the floor where the sun is streaming in. Even though it is so cold outside, it is suprising how warm the sun can be where it hits the floor or the bed or whatever. Have I told you how much I love the sun???? I love it!

February 13, 2006

Squirrels in my backyard

This morning the squirrels were really bugging me! Actually, I kind of like it. When Joan and I returned from a morning walk, there were tons of squirrels playing in the oak trees overhead. They make "che che che" sounds from their mouths, and "swoosh swoosh" from their tails, and "ratatata" from their feet cluching on the oak bark. I was standing on HIGH ALERT waiting for them to fall or come near me. I wouldn't even play ball with Joan - I had to know exactly what was going on with the squirrels. Joan got bored and went inside, but I stayed outside eyeing them. After a little bit, Joan made me come in while she took a shower (I think she's afraid I might jump over the fence...and you know how I've done that before!). When she got out, I started whining and she let me out again and I went tearing after a squirrel that was on the fence. Unfortunately, he took a quick turn into the neighbor's yard, and I lost him. But I stayed out there, sitting on the snow ready to pounce if a squirrel dares get close to the earth or swishes his tail near me on the tree. I can jump about 6ft in the air, up the trunk of the tree, so sometimes I scare the squirrels when they taunt me too low on the tree trunk.

A bit later, Joan came outside dressed and in her down coat and she said "go to the bathroom." I heard her, but I didn't move. I can tell she's going to leave and I really really wanted to stay in my backyard. So I just sat steadfast in the middle of the yard, ignoring Joan a bit. She repeated her command to me, and I continued to ignore her. Then she said "come" and kind of made a "kee kee kee" sound out of her mouth. So I ran over to her on the stoop. She petted me, and then said, "go to the bathroom," so I went! Then I ran back to her and we went inside. Now I'm stuck i nside and can't see what's going on with the squirrels in my backyard!

February 9, 2006

Sad eyes ... don't work.

So last night, Joan got into bed and I could tell she was going to read and not go to sleep. I walked over to the side of the bed and looked at her - hard. She was about to say something and instead of listening, I jumped up on the bed and laid on top of her. hee hee hee. I kind of startled her because she made a funny noise and almost dropped her book. Then she started talking, "Bosco you are not allowed up here when I go to bed. You have to go lie down on your bed...bla bla bla." I just stared at her again with kind of watery, sad eyes. I know she thought I was cute, but it didn't work. She said "Go lie down on your bed." And I know what that means, so I got up and started for the corner of the bed where I jump off and onto the rug, but the corner of the rug had several pairs of shoes, and I was afraid to jump down there ;-) so I just plopped down again and waited....It didn't work. Joan got up and moved the shoes and then told me again to go lie down on my bed. So I jumped off and went to my own bed.

BUT - this morning the alarm went off and music started playing. Despite it being early, I took advantage and went over to the side of the bed and jumped up on it and snuggled up in a ball next to Joan. This time she didn't say anything to me - I think she was sleeping. Not too long later, Joan started petting me. Then later, Joan said "do you want to go for a walk?" I immediately jumped up on all fours and started wiggling and jumped off the bed. Then we went on a run around the river. Now that is a great morning!

February 5, 2006

This dog has new clothes

Yesterday was an interesting day. Joan slept in...which means she got up to feed me and let me out for bathroom duty but then went back to bed again. When she finally got up, she took me to my dog park. I was very excited and made all sorts of noises - yelping and crying - on the way there. We did our usual walk through the park, except Joan fell down once on some hidden ice. She did not get hurt or anything but she really needs to grow some sharp nails like me so she can dig into the ice or snow as needed. I liked all the dogs I saw and I also even went into the river - I just got my legs wet - which Joan thought was crazy since it was 18 out. I don't mind though; I'm tough.

On the way home, we stopped at the gas station. I waited in the car while Joan pumped stuff into the car. Then we got in a line in front of this big door that goes up and then the cars go into a little room. I was kind of yelping because I wanted to get home to drink some water and check on the squirrel situation in my backyard. Instead, the big door opened and Joan drove in. At first it was okay but squirts of stuff covered our whole car and I couldn't see out the windows anymore which made me a little concerned. THEN, a big noise started and water started spraying against the windows really loudly. I was VERY afraid and climbed into the front seat and tried to lay in Joan's lap - I was so scared. This happened for a bit of time and then I went to the back seat again because it stopped and I could see out again. Joan then drove us out of this little room and we went home. I don't know what was up with that but I'd prefer to not do it again!

When we got home, Joan ate some food and relaxed. Around 3pm, I started bugging Joan to go for a walk again, despite having returned only a few hours earlier from the park. I have a routine - and Joan may decide to violate the schedule - like skipping my morning walk - but that doesn't have any impact, in my opinion, on the rest of the routine - like me liking to go on an afternoon walk sometime between 3:30 and 5:00 PM. She doesn't understand my reasoning because despite my trys at a walk, she decided to brush me. I like being brushed but I kind of protested because I really wanted a walk. At one point, Joan called me "Chewbacca," I think in response to the noises I was making but I don't know what that means.

Then she pulled out some new dog-wear for me, a new collar. My old collar is okay - it is brown leather, but I know (she has told me) that she was shopping for a reflective collar so I'm safer outside and on walks. She wanted to buy a reflective collar from Orvis that also would have my name and phone number on it, but it would cost $40, and she thought that was ridiculous. She ended up buying this one for me on ebay for $5. Doesn't it look cool? I think red is my color.

bosco_newcollar.jpg

Then, we finally went on a walk. Finally!!!