Skunked!

“Mmmm...” JoLee’s nose was up in the air, right alongside mine, as we inhaled deeply. “What is that incredible smell?”

I cocked my head to one side. “I think it’s what Mom calls ‘Skunk,’ Jo. I’ve never met one myself, so they’re a bit of a mystery to me, but anybody that smells like that has got to be interesting in person, don’t you think? I’d love to meet one!”

As we got closer to the Vampire House, the odor intensified, and so did JoLee’s desire to meet a Skunk.

“I’ll bet that Skunk is in the Vampire House!” Mom said, from behind us, on the end of our leashes. Vigorous rustling sounds were coming from the dark area next to the house, where the stairs go down to the basement, and Jo strained at the end of his leash, eager to go meet a Skunk.

But Mom hauled him back, like a fish on a line. “You don’t want to get involved in that, JoLee, trust me,” she said, forcing us to continue on our way. “Skunks may smell great to you, but I don’t really think you want to meet one in person!”

Mom likes to think she knows us, but sometimes Mom can be so wrong!

The New Marsh

When Mom came home, we knew something was up. See, we have our usual routine - Mom comes home, I grab a toy to tease JoLee with, Mom lets JoLee out of his crate, and then we usually race each other upstairs to play and wrestle while Mom changes her clothes. After we settle down, Jo and I like to lay on the bed and swap rawhides, and sometimes, Mom will lay down beside us and pet us and relax for a bit. It’s a really nice time of day.

But that night was different. Mom had an extra spring in her step, and we could smell exuberance in the air. When we went upstairs, Mom changed into her hiking boots and jeans, instead of the flip-flops and shorts she’s been painting in. Neither Jo nor I could concentrate on our rawhides with all those messages hanging in the air.

“C’mon, kids!” Mom said, once she’d changed. “Let’s go exploring!”

“It’s been a time since we’ve been exploring,” I told JoLee. “This is going to be fun!”

“What’s ‘sploring?” JoLee wanted to know.

“Well, it’s when you go somewhere you’ve never been before,” I said. “And we’ve been here so long, we’ve pretty much run out of places to explore - or so I thought!”

Mom unfolded the StarSteps and after we climbed into the Dogmobile and the steps were re-stowed, we were on our way!

“D’you think it’s far?” JoLee asked anxiously.

“I dunno,” I replied. “Why?”

“I - uh, well, I probably should have peed before we left.”

I laughed. “Well, we’ll see. Haven’t you learned how to hold it after all your crate practice?”

JoLee shifted. “My crate doesn’t go over bumps like the Dogmobile.”

He stuck his head back out the window. So did I - just in case.

It wasn’t long before we got to the New Place. “See?” I brought my head back inside. “Not far at all - in fact, it’s closer than Shoemaker Marsh!”

JoLee was jumping around - Mom thought it was all excitement, but I knew better, and I stayed well away when he got out of the Dogmobile. Jo rushed over to the first tall weed he saw, and I could see the relief on his face. It made me grin, to be honest.

We walked over to a placard/sign sort of thing that explained what Mom was looking at - we were standing at the edge of another Salt Marsh - a rare thing, so Mom read.

“If they’re so rare, how come we have so many of them?” JoLee asked.

I shrugged. “I have no idea, JoLee - I really don’t.”

We walked down to the edge of the Marsh, where truck tracks led the way around the edge, and began our exploration. It was interesting, but nothing we hadn’t seen or smelled before. Since this was our first time here, Mom was being particularly careful that nobody else was out there, so nobody could appear unexpectedly. After a while, she decided all was safe (which I could have told her - it was raining), so she let us both off-leash. What a grand time we had! JoLee sprinted ahead, and I chased him, and then I led him on a chase all the way back to Mom - and we did that lots of times!

By the time we were headed back, my tail was drooping, I was so tired.

“Star, you’re limping again - did you overdo it, sweetheart?” Mom was concerned, and she stopped me to give me a hug. I licked her on the nose.

“I think I twisted it, back there in that muddy part, Mom, but I think it will be okay. Just let me walk slow for a while.”

We continued on our way, and JoLee and I both collapsed, panting, once we got back into the Dogmobile.

“Hey, that exploring stuff is fun, Star!” JoLee grinned. “But - hey! Where’s your boomerang?”

“What? No! I didn’t lose my tag, did I?” I was so bummed - mostly because I knew Mom would be bummed, too. JoLee sniffed around, looking for it.

“Nope - it isn’t here. You must have lost it when you slipped back there. Oh, man.” He nosed me. “But your new collar is still very pretty, Star!”

I put my head down on my paws and sighed.

“Well, I guess Mom will get me a new tag. I hope I don’t get lost before then!”

On Guard!

“Want to come outside with me?”

Mom held the front door open, and Jo and I obediently filed outside.

I headed straight for my Porch Bed (it’s one of those Coolaroo beds, with an old sheet draped on it, because the bed fabric is so nubbly it hurts my elbows). JoLee started flycatching. Mom’s painting the Front Porch, you see, and we like to hang out with her while she works.

“You mostly just nap, though,” JoLee observed.

“Well, there’s no need for me to do anything else,” I replied, mildly. “You have Guard Duty all sewn up.”

Jo looked proud. “Yeah, I’m pretty good at letting Mom know if anybody’s coming up our sidewalk, aren’t I?” His little chest puffed out.

I grinned. “Yeah, and if someone’s on the sidewalk on the other side of the street, and if there’s a squirrel or a bunny, or anybody walking their dog, or someone down the street coming out of their house, or if someone parked their car, or - ”

“Yeah, yeah,” JoLee interrupted me. “I get it, already. I’m just - interested in my surroundings. Yeah, that’s it.” He wiggled his eyebrows and grinned.

It’s actually quite pleasant, keeping Mom company on the Front Porch. It’d be even nicer if she would stop moving her ladder around - that makes me nervous. I’ve seen lots of cartoons where a bucket of paint turned a black dog into a white one, and I don’t particularly want to see how I look in sky blue.

“You could always be ‘Navajo Red,’ Star” Jo interrupted. “Just think of it - a red dog with black spots. Or maybe that mustard yellow - just the thing with your eyes!” He laughed.

I grinned back at him. “With my luck, it would just be that dull tan they’re painting the walls, and nothing interesting or spectacular.”

Jo sat beside me and we both basked in the morning sunshine. “I kind of like being out here on the Front Porch,” Jo said. “Why don’t we spend more time out here, Star?”

I considered. “Well, I think it’s because Mom doesn’t feel safe with us out here. You see how she has us barricaded in with the glider, the trash can and those two tables. If we could prove to her how good we could be, and never run after anything we saw, even if it was a dog who looked like it might want to pee on our yard, she might spend more time out here with us.”

JoLee barked a laugh. “Yeah, right. Like that’s ever gonna happen!”

We grinned at each other.

Too Tight!

I panted. I tried to sneak a breath in, but I couldn’t. I started wriggling, trying to get loose.

“Star, stop it. I’m trying to get your new coat on you!”

I whined. “Mom, it’s too tight! I can’t breathe!”

JoLee was laughing at me. “See, that’s what you get for being a little wiener,” he sneered. “I won’t let Momma put a coat on me. I’m tough.”

I stuck my tongue out at JoLee. “My legs are much longer than a wiener’s, JoLee.” I tried to stand still, but it was difficult. The world began to swim, and I started getting dark spots before my eyes.

Mom tugged at the coat again. “Star, sweetie, this just isn’t going to work.” (Like I couldn’t have told her that already). “Tell you what, I’ll see what I can do to adjust it so it will fit.” She ripped apart the velcro strip that ran down my belly. I sucked in a deep breath of fresh, clean, glorious air. Mom continued. “And we’ll make it so there isn’t any velcro on it, too. I know how much you hate velcro - and I do, too.” Humming, she held the new coat up, and folded it experimentally. “See, sweetling, if I just cut it right up the back here, and put in a panel with a zipper, that would work.” She kind of trailed off, and started rummaging around in her sewing supplies, and pretty soon she was in the closet, measuring the coats that are hanging in there.

I sat down and scratched behind my ear. “Gosh, I hate winter,” I said, mournfully. “I want it to stay Fall forever!”

JoLee dropped into a play bow right in front of me, and grabbed one of my flews in his teeth. “Not me! I love the snow!” I growled grumpily at him, and he ran into the living room, tail wagging. He bounced back up to me, and I nonchalantly rolled over onto my back, luring him in, and when he got closer, I grabbed him!

“Take it outside!” Mom hollered from the kitchen. “Remember - ‘it’s all fun and games until someone ends up in the Cone!’”

Bully for Bullies!

“Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!” JoLee was jumping up and down frantically at the front door, looking at the stranger in brown getting out of the big delivery truck. Just about then, Mom came from around the side of the house, and she exchanged greetings with the stranger. Then he gave her a big brown box with writing on the side that said “Best Bully Sticks.”

“Ooooo, look, kids! You’re gonna be so happy we got this!” Mom exclaimed as she opened the door. She could barely get inside with us crowding in closely, sniffing that box. “It’s your bully sticks! They’re here! They’re here!” JoLee looked like a Mexican Jumping Bean, he was so excited. Mom took both big bags of bully sticks out of the box and chose one stick out of the batch. We trailed behind her out the back door and to the garage, where she used her band saw to cut it in half.

“Me! Me! Me!” JoLee cried, but when Mom gave him his half, he spit the bully stick out on the ground. I waited patiently, and Mom reached over JoLee and gave me the other half. When JoLee saw I had a firm grip on my bully stick, he snatched his back up.

“I got the big half,” I teased Jo in a sing-song as we raced to the back door. We waited until Mom opened the door so we wouldn’t hit our precious cargo against the sides of the dog door, and raced into the living room. While Mom and Dad ate their lunch, we chewed on our bully sticks, and the next thing we knew, Mom and Dad were getting ready to go back to work! I took my stick to my crate, but JoLee left his out in the middle of the living room.

“I don’t like to chew in my crate,” Jo whined, looking at me sideways through his crate. “But that sure does smell good, Star. Would you mind shoving mine through so I can chew on it some more?”

I laughed. “No way, Jo-lay - if Mom hadn’t picked it up and put it away, I’d be munching yours down, too!”

We sure do love our bully sticks!

My New Hummer

“What the heck is that thing?” I stared at the red globe hanging from the tomato stand. A tiny little green thing hovered right next to the spout sticking out of the bottom of the red globe.

“I dunno, Star. Does it look like it tastes good?” JoLee was busy burying a Granola Bone under the Big Piney. (Don’t worry, he won’t lose it - he digs it right back up and chews on it, dirt and all. Yuck).

“Well, I can’t rightly say, Jo.” I squinted and cocked my head to one side. Just then I heard the back door squeak and Mom came out.

“Star, sweetie, come here,” she said, settling down onto one of our Wonderful Patented Picnic Blankies. She patted the blankie beside her, and I sat down and leaned against her. As soon as Jo saw Mom was out and I was leaning on her, he had to come lean on the other side, so for a few minutes, we three watched the teeny green whirring thing dart back and forth from the red globe to the Ugly Juniper Bush.

“Isn’t it cool, Starling?” Mom said, in hushed tones. “It’s a hummingbird, and it’s drinking the syrup I made for it yesterday!”

“I think it’s weird looking,” Jo declared. “Look at how its head stays still but its body kind of swings around like it has no feeling in it!” He sniffed. “Doesn’t look like much good eatin’ there, either!” He wandered off again, probably to dig his Granola Bone back up.

Mom and I sat there for a long time, just watching my new little Hummer.

“It’s magical, isn’t it, Star?”

I leaned over and kissed Mom. She can be so cute when she’s being silly. I rolled my eyes. “Mom, it’s just another bird.” I shook my head, and then laid down and put my head in her lap. “But if it keeps you still so we can snuggle, it’s a magical thing for sure!”

“Don’t! Stop! Don’t stop!”

“Grrrr....” JoLee growled at Dad as he tried to get into bed.

Dad ruffled Jo’s fur. “Hush, little buddy. I’m just petting you.”

“Grrrr...” Jo said. I poked my head up above the other side of the Big Bed.

“JoLee, you’d better stop growling at Dad. You know that’s not really your bed. That's Mom's and Dad's bed, and they’ll kick you off if you aren’t careful!”

“Grrrr...” Jo said.

Then Mom got into the picture. She sat up and started ruffling Jo’s fur, too. As she ruffled, she said, “Okay, you rotten little dog - if you’re going to growl at your Daddy, we’re both going to pet the growl right out of you!”

Then she and Dad petted JoLee all over, from the top of his head to his tail. At first, he kept right on growling, but eventually his growls got smaller, and then they stopped. And when Jo stopped growling, Mom and Dad stopped ruffling his fur.

There was a minute of silence.

Then JoLee scootched his way over close to Dad and said, “Grrr...”

It took Mom and Dad quite a while to stop laughing after that!

Ow!

“YIPE!!!” Jo hollered as he left his crate. Out in the kitchen, Dad said, “Oh, poor little Jo. Did your Mommy hurt you? What did Mommy do to poor little JoLee?”

Mom came into the kitchen, a murderous expression on her face. “I didn’t do anything!” she declared. “He did something to himself when he launched himself out of his crate!” She went back into the living room to rearrange the bed in JoLee’s crate, but even I could hear the hissed intake of her breath when Jo came back in to the living room, limping and sprinkling blood liberally all over everything he passed.

“Oh, no!” Mom cried. “JoLee!” Jo went back into the kitchen, and Mom followed. “Look at his poor toenail!” Mom pointed down. Dad looked down, and I thought he was going to faint. One of JoLee’s toenails was pointed sideways, and blood was pouring out of his foot.

Dad reached for the phone, and Mom rattled off the phone number for the vet. He handed her the phone, and just a few minutes later, Mom whisked JoLee away in the Dogmobile!

“Yeah, you should have been there,” Jo said, from in his crate. His right foot is probably twice the size of the other, due to the huge bandage that it is swathed in. "Mom tried to hold my muzzle shut, but even she couldn’t keep me from snapping when the Doc yanked the rest of my toenail off. The pain was awful!”

I got a shivery spasm in my groin at the thought. JoLee went on.

“And then, after she pulled the rest of my toenail off, Doctor Grosch wiped my foot with this stuff that stung really bad, and I cried and squirmed and almost bit Jan, the vet assistant, and then she put this purple stuff on the poor nubbin where my toenail used to be.”

I shivered again. “Oh, ow.”

Jo nodded. “Yeah. It wasn’t much fun. And then Doctor Grosch slathered this ointment stuff all over a big wad of white cotton stuff, and folded it over my whole foot, and then she put this wrapping stuff all around it.” He chewed thoughtfully on a bit of bandage that was sticking up. “But, Doctor Grosch says that the nail bed wasn’t damaged, so if I leave it alone, the nail will grow back, good as new.”

I touched his foot through the bars of his crate. “You’ve been doing really good on three legs, though.” Jo pulled his foot back, reflexively.

“Yeah, Mom says I’m a good Tripod.” Somehow, he didn’t look real happy about that. “Star?”

“What, little guy?”

“When am I going to be able to run on all fours again?”

I considered. “Well, I would say - I honestly don’t know.” I cocked my head to one side. “Mom said something about taking the bandage off tonight. You aren’t going to bite her when she does that, are you?”

Jo got a gleam in his eye. “Well, if it hurts, I won’t be able to help myself.”

“Sure you can, Jo.” I gave him one of those “Winnie looks.” You know, the kind that make you be honest. “Biting is always an elective thing. You could just grit your teeth instead.” I cocked my head to the other side. “Don’t you want to get rid of the bandage?”

“You bet!” he said fervently. “As soon as possible!”

“Well, then,” I said as I got up and shook myself, “Keep your teeth to yourself!”

The Furry Frisbee

“Star! NO!” Dad hollered across the parking lot. He and Mom were standing by the edge of the creek, looking down at the water that ran across the crossing to the rest of the Wilderness Area up by Chadron.

I’ll admit it: I ignored him. I felt better about ignoring him when I heard Mom say, “Don’t just yell “NO” at her - walk over and see what she’s looking at first.”

Soon all four of us were gathered around the object of my attention. “It looks like it’s just a piece of hide - see?” Mom nudged it with her foot. “There’s no meat attached. Nothing bad. It’s probably deer hide. No, it’s not the right color fur. Antelope, maybe?” She looked over at me. “It’s okay, Star. Go ahead and play with it!”

“Thanks, Mom!” Wow. You know what? I think Antelope is my new favorite flavor! It was intoxicating, I’ll tell you. I threw the hide up into the air and caught it, and shook it back and forth -

“Yeah, and you wouldn’t let me have it,” JoLee was sulking. “I thought you had a bum leg - but you sure did play a good game of keep-away!”

“Well, so I did, JoLee!” I grinned. “But that’s odd, about my leg.” I thought about a minute. “I think I might actually be recovering. I stretched it and flexed it experimentally. “Yeah. I think so!”

“It’s too bad you didn’t bring the Airborne Antelope back with us,” JoLee said. “It would have made for some real good eatin’.”

That JoLee. All he thinks about is his stomach!

Love,
Star.

The Talking Dog

A cold, wet nose prodded me in the muzzle. I growled and squinched my eyes shut more firmly. Insistent, the nose came back - this time in my ear. “Leave me be, JoLee!” I growled again. When I felt that icicle nose again, this time near my posterior, I’d had it. I launched myself out of my nest of covers at the little monster.

Jo backed up as fast as he could, his eyes as big as saucers. “No, wait! Star! I couldn’t sleep!”

I stopped my headlong rush. “Why?” I asked curiously. I poked him. “You know I really wouldn’t have bitten you.” I nonchalantly scratched that place where my harness makes me itch. “Hard, anyway.”

Little stress lines were on JoLee’s forehead.

“You’re really worried about something, aren’t you?” I asked. “Whazzup, pup?”

“Well,” he began, “It’s that video. The one Mom was watching last night. I just can’t get it out of my head. That poor pup!”

I nodded, sympathetically. “I know what you mean.” (If you want to see it for yourself, check it out here: Talking Dog

Jo continued. “I just can’t believe his Skinperson would eat all those things and not share.” He shook his head. “We do have it good here, don’t we?”

I nodded. “You got that right, JoLee.”

And we don’t have any cats!

Love,
Star.