Nobuddy asked me

I jus' found out. Tomorrow Me, Drover and Tux are headin to the Pet Lodge. AKA Pet Dun-jean-on.
Augh!
Mommy and Daddy are goin to visit My farm in Colorado. And Sissor is all busy with Olde English junk and other classes, she can't come to let us out to potty and to feed us and stuff on a couple of those days when Mommy and Daddy will be gone. She will be here, to take care of the cats and chickens.

So off we go tomorrow mornin to the Pet Lodge.

Nope, we can't all go in the camp trailer. They don't want to take it that far so they are gonna stay in a No Dogs Allowed motel place.
Maybe sum other time we can all go in the camp trailer but since we just got it Daddy wants to do stuff to it before we take it too far away.

So, I don't even know if I will be able to bark at you pups for the next few days. I will try. And I hope they don't furget to come pick us up when they get back.

Wish me luck. I sure hope they feed us a lil bit a the Pet Lodge.

We were really good dogs

*Zoe noses here way through all the colorful balloons her pals have sent*

Can you pups hear me? Can you see me? Looky all my balloonies! Thank you for sendin them to Me and the other furmily members! We didn't send out many 'cause that was the day Pearlcat left for the Bridge and Mommy was sads. Then yeserday, we got left All Alone for A Really Long Time!

Lemme tell ya 'bout it.
The day started off like usual. We got up, had breakfast, Daddy left for work. Mommy left for a little while.
Then Daddy came home early. I had barely had time for my mornin nap.
We went outside while he hustled 'round puttin stuff in the pick-up truck.
We came back inside and Mommy and Daddy left.
No big deal, I guess.
I barked at the mailman, even though he didn't leave no boxes for me.
We barked at a big tractor workin in the field 'cross the road.
Tux ran around and messed up the rug under the kitchen table, the rug in the livin room and the rug at the back door.
We barked. We napped. We barked.
A long time. A really long time.
Drover and Tux started complainin they were gettin hongry for a snack. Tux thought he might be able to open the pantry doors to reach the cookies. But I told him No, Mommy wouldn't want us to do that. So we didn't have no snacks.
Then the boys started needin to potty. But I told them No, you gotta hold it. It is naughty to potty inside. Mommy wouldn't like it if they pottied inside. Tux whined himself to sleep. Drover picked up his copy of The Return of the King. He is readin the Appendixes to be ready for the Hobbit movie when it comes out later this year.
Finally, the red pick up truck pulled in. It was pullin some trailer thing. Mommy opened the back door and we all rushed out. Of course we barked at the truck and trailer thing sittin in the driveway.
Then we pottied. And pottied. And pottied again!
We went inside with Mommy and she checked for any chewed up furniture or potty on the floors. Nuthin like that.
We were good pups.

And to reward us for bein good pups we got our biggest size of cookie. A whole one. Then later when Daddy came in and Mommy gave him our good report, he gave us another big cookie.

They were both very proud of us for bein good for So Long.

But don't ever do that again Mommy and Daddy! That was pushin the limit of our goodness.

*note from Mommy*
I hesitated leaving the dogs for that long. We went to look at a camp trailer. Minimum four hour round trip. That didn't include time to look at the trailer. We were gone for six hours! The dogs were great! But they were very tired after we got home. I think they spent most of their time waiting for us to get home.
Good dogs!

Sads here

One of our garage cats went to the Rainbow Bridge this mornin.

Daddy was leavin for work. It was still dark o'clock out there. Pearl ran across the road.
Daddy feels really bad that it happened. He likes all of our cats but those garage cats are kinda special. All the peepoles have warm fuzzy feelins for them. I guess since they been here since they was borned and got feeded by Mommy, Brother and Sisser with tiny little bottles of milk.
Them garage cats are almost More like dogs than us. They follow the peepoles 'round outside. Sometimes they've even gone for walks with us. Mostly the Puffcat does that.

Anyways, Pearl was a nice kitty cat. She was real purdy. All white with blue eyes. But she wasn't deaf like some all white, blue eyed kitties are. And she loved to roll in the dirt. She was usually kinda gray. Bol. And she shedded her white furs a lot. The peepoles would pet her and create a cloud of white hairs. Kinda like that Peanuts guy Pigpen. This guy:
Pigpen
Just think of Pearl bein in middle of a bunch of white hairs.
But she was a sweet girl.

I think the typist needs to wind this up now. She is becomin 'motional.

Lookin' for Boomer

Last evenin we was all outside messin around. We barked our heads off when a girl ridin a 4-wheeler put a piece of paper in our mailbox.
Daddy went out to get the paper.

It is about Boomer. He is missin, maybe in our area. He is a heeler/Catahoula mix guy. He is black, white and tan. The paper tells us to not try to catch Boomer 'cause he's not always nice. But there is a $300.00 reward for his return or even information leadin to his return.
I think I'll head out to go look for him.
I could sure use $300! Just think of all the goodies I could get! And I could get stuff for you pals too!

What, Mommy?
Oh, she says If we happen to see Boomer and If we got the $300 we would give it to our favorite shelter.

I think I should be able to keep sum of the money, don't you?


BOOMER! Where are you?

She's never satisfied

Ok, so's Me and Drover got groomed/tortured a week ago or sumtime. There were 2 groomer/torture wemen there. Drover got the owner/torturer. She does a good job and knows what Mommy likes and doesn't like when it comes to how we look.
The other person did the work on me. Mommy knows it was the other person on account because the way I look.
My hairs on my skirt are too long. Mommy likes for us to have kinda short hairs 'cause we get stickers and mats so bad.
Drover was fine. Me? Nope.
So today, while I was standin all nice at the back door to go out to tinkle and mess around, Mommy grabbed me and tossed me up on the washer and dryer. Good thing the lid was closed on the washer!
She had sum super sharp sissors up there and cutted my "hula skirt" off. Now I have a ziggy-zaggy skirt. And she cutted off sum of my toenails. They were too long too.
Drover didn't have to have nuthin taken offa him.
I was the only one that got "home-tortured". But Tux and Drover got cookies too.
I got told I was a good girl at least.

Worse and worser

The smoke from the forest fires. It got worse yeserday and now today it's even worser. Peepoles are 'posed to try to stay inside or at least not do a bunch of work outside. I think they're not 'posed to breave or sumthin like that.
Great 'scuse for Mommy to Not go out and trim and mow the yard! Bol!

Yeserday I couldn't see very much. Now I can see even less. I can still bark though! I may not see way over there to bark at stuff but I can hear stuff. Or maybe even make up stuff to bark at. ;-)

I am waitin for the mailman and the brown truck dood. And I've been barkin at every single truck or car that goes by My place.

Smoke may get in my eyes but I can still bark!

I can't see

Well, I can't see too good. I may be missing some barkable stuff.
Lemme 'splain.
There is nuthin wrong with my eyes. I can't see cause of a lot of smoke in the air. Usually, I can see Way over there across the big field. Sumtimes, if I look in between trees Way over there I can even see big trucks. Mommy says that highway is 2 miles away. So see, I can see good.
But there are some big fires in my state of Idunno. Don't worry, they are not close to My place.

*Zoe turns her head over her shoulder and hollers "Mommy, how far away is the closest fire?"*
"Uh, Zoe, if you would look over your other shoulder you would see that I'm right here in the same room. You don't have to holler. And the fire is about 200 miles away from us, up in the mountains."

Yeah, anywho, the smoke is comin all the way to the flat land where I live. It is a lot of smoke makin the sky and ground be all gray colored. It is ugly. And it's makin it so's I can't see good.

It's gonna be another slow barkin day, I can just tell.
Well, it is trash pick up day. That will be good to bark at the trash truck. And Mommy tells me to expect the brown truck guy. Nuthin for me. Sumthin for Sissor's lil white SUV car. Daddy will fix sumthin on it with what the brown truck guy brings. That means Sissor will be comin home next weekend. And bringin me nuthin, just like always.

Ho hum.

Avast! It's bark like a pirate day!

Arrrr!

There be nothin' t' bark about.
It be so borin' here I'm thinkin of walkin the plank. Or maybe I'll just keel-haul that scallywag Drover.

They be givin away free Jolly Roger flags in t' gift shoppe.
Thank all ye scurvy dogs fur sendin me and me furmily lots of them skull and crossbones!

Ok, enough of the pirate speak!

Hey, did you see that purdy Irish lass Cleo is Dog of the Day? Sure hope she got tons of treats for the special honor.
And our lil buddy Puff has a Diary Pick. Congrats to you!

Seriously, it is borin 'round here. The worker men aren't comin 'round anymore to move the irrigation pipe. The cows have moved to another pasture and don't come close to My place anymore.
Things have slowed down Too much.
Well, let's see, there was a group of ladies walkin and kids ridin bikes and dogs along with them last evenin. That was good barkin.
But that has been just 'bout it.

I sure hope it's more 'citin at your place than it is 'round here.

Sissor's home!

So there I was, on My Love-Seat-Look-Out. I saw Sissor pullin in in her lil white SUV-mobile.
Yippee! I love it when Sissor comes home for the weekend! Really! She plays with me and I like to watch her when she stuffs all her dirty clothes in the washer.
I asked Mommy to let me outside so's I could greet Sissor at the back gate.
Here she came. She had her backpack thing with her laptop. She had her laundry basket of stinky stuff.
And she had some other sacks.
When she got inside, I cuddled up next to her feet, her hobbit-slippered feet. She gave me a noogie on my cute lil noggin. And then she started showin me what was in the other sacks.
Stuff for me! Sissor had gone to Petco, 'specially to shop for me. She had 'bout 8 new squeaky toys. She had 'bout 8 packages of good and tasty but healthy treats. And a new pink floofy collar and matchin leash. She told me she would take me for a walk later and I could wear my new things then.
Then in another sack she pulled out a fun Mr. Spock outfit for me to wear. She knitted it herself. There was a black cap with pointy ears. And a blue sweater top. I would be rockin the Spock look when I wore it! I sat still while she put it on me right away.
Then she wanted to put her stuff in her room and get her laundry started.
When she had done that, she came out to fix us sum tea. I would like to have Earl Gray, hot, please, SissorDear. You know, like Capt. Picard drinks on Star Trek: The Next Generation show I love to watch.
She said of course, Zoe-woey, PreciousPup. Anything you want, just let me know.
When the tea was ready, we sat down together on the love seat. We snuggled up, cause we love each other and we are real touchy-feely.
Then outta her knittin bag she pulled out a surprise. Sum purdy pink yarn and knittin needles. She was gonna teach me to knit! Fun! She said the pink yarn was just sum left-over from all the other pink yarn she had from other projects. Pink is her favorite color too.
As we drank our tea and Sissor showed me how to do the cable stitch, I glanced over my shoulder.
There was a herd of cows moseyin along the road, poopin in our grass.
I had a sip of tea and turned back to our knittin lesson. Drover started to read aloud from The Canterbury Tales.



"Zoe, Zoe. Wake up. You must be dreaming," I heard Mommy say.
I sat up with a start. I shook my fuzzy head to clear the cobwebs out.

Dreamin? More like a nightmare if you ask me!
Yikes, no more of those lil black beetle guys for snacks right before bedtime.

Like a high-pitched fog horn

You pups know I live out in the country. Sumtimes stuff happens. Men workin in the field movin irrigation pipes. Big tractors movin 'round. Pick-em-up trucks pullin stock trailers. Joggers with dogs. Bike riders. That's when I bark big time, alla time.
Oh yeah, and last evenin I barked at 6 horsies walkin round over the other side of the road. Big Barkin then.

But durin the day time, things kinda slack off. Not many trucks or cars go by. Not as much barkin needs to be done.
But I don't take time off. No sir-ree.
Those slow times, I am kinda like a fog horn. Regular. Steady. Dependable. A high pitched fog horn.

I stay on My Love-Seat-Look-Out and do my security work.

There's Scootercat crossin our front yard.
BARK!

I see a magpie sittin on a fence post
BARK!

A truck is way over there the other side of the big field.
BARK!

I see sumfin, Mommy has no idea what.
BARK!

Kinda like clockwork, I let out shrill barks. Warnin. Watchin. Sumtimes makin Mommy jump.

:-)