It's about time

We've moved a couple of times, and I kind of like it here in Virginia in our brand new house. But I don't have a big yard like I did in Florida that I can explore, patrol and loll about in for hours at a time. Now we live in a town house, but I have an upstairs deck off the dining room. Which is great for people watching, I get to look down on them as they walk, or bicycle by, or wait to catch the school bus. We're on an end unit, so I get to see a lot of people going to work or to the grocery store.

Nora REALLY likes it here. She is really outgoing now, barky, spunky, outgoing, exploring things, letting people pet her. Who is this dog? She likes the cooler weather.

We have a lot more stairs to fool with here in this house. I tend to hang out with Alpha, especially when she's in the basement, well it's really the ground floor family room. Nora hangs out on the main floor, she likes the wood flooring up there. She likes to look out the window and bark sometimes.

We take a lot more car rides since we've moved. We've been to Georgia twice. We just came back after spending Christmas there. It was a really long ride for us. We napped and were fed ice chips by our people. We liked it in North Georgia. Lots of smells-deer, rabbits, raccoons, cats, dogs, the creek at the bottom of the property. That was great!! The trip took a lot out of us, all that driving, so after we got back we just slept all day the next day. Alpha went to work, Number 1 had the day off.

Next weekend I think we're going to Pennsylvania to visit Bella Bagel--She's a beagle-basset mix. She's about a year old. And since she's still a puppy she can be annoyingly feisty. But her people are OK.

we've moved

We moved northern to Virginia. It took us two days, stopping every two hours for breaks. We stopped over night at Bonnie the dog's house in North Carolina. Her people are very nice, and she has a pet baby too.

Bonnie was really obedient. I think Alpha started getting ideas. Nora didn't want to drink water on the trip, so Alpha had to keep reaching back and giving her ice chips as she drove. Silly Nora. Number One drove the moving van. Our little pack was together at every rest break.

Our collie car is now called Dog Force One. We had never been on a trip that long before. We did really well: no accidents, no fighting in the car, no body got off leash. Once we got to the new place Nora promptly threw up. What a silly dog.

Bark!

need new ghost writer

alpha has not written in so long I think she forgot how. we are moving and they keep taking us out so other people can look at OUR house, very annoying. but nora has been back to accupupture, well that's what I call it. it makes her spunky. and she is better.

alpha looked up how old we are in some dog book, according to this book, nora & i are middle aged. bummer, I still feel like a pup!

law school

Today Alpha told her sister who is a judge, that she thinks I am taking on-line law classes because I have learned to negotiate for biscuits to come in the house.

Her sister thought it was really funny. She is thinking of getting a dog one day too. Because she really liked us and thought we were sweet.

The weather is really nice down here now. We were outside, well, I was outside most of the time today. I love outside, especially when it is cool like now. Fall is a great time for collies.

Faithful Companion /Lifetime Companion

The other night Alpha did something I have never seen her do before. She did not go to bed.

I kept waiting, and looking at her, and waiting. She laid the sleeping bag on the floor for me beside her. I would sleep for a while, then shift and look at her to make her feel guilty, and lay back down. I would wake up and do it again and again giving her probing, pitiful looks.

I did it at 11:30 PM, at 1 AM, at 2:43 AM, at 3:30 AM. Over and over again I would wake up, look at her in stunned and exhausted disbelief, readjust and lay back down. But she just kept sitting at that desk--typing. I do not understand. What was so important? She was not working on my diary!

What happened? MY Alpha never does that. If she could she would sleep as much as we do. Napping is her hobby!! She's managed to nap on the dog walk before. What came over her?

Her lifetime companion went to bed. Nora got up and left at bedtime. But me, her faithful companion, I stayed with her all night long. All night, and she says we need jobs. Herding her is my job.

I was exhausted for days after that "all-nighter." And, at 5:40AM we took our usual morning walk. That threw off my sleep/nap pattern all week. I am almost recovered from that horrible ordeal.

Bark!

Nora Roulette

Number One and Alpha have a new game they play called Nora Roulette. If it is daylight out, they bet on how far Nora will go before she balks and we have to turn around and go home. I do no like this game. When Nora stops the walk it disturbs my chi.

So when we leave the front yard they bet: Will she make it to Emmy & Zippy's? Will she get as far as Daisy the Beagle's place? Maybe, just maybe, she'll make it to the Atlanta Bread Company house. I bet I will bite her on the head if we have to stop before the second speed hump, the normal turn around place.

A few times she hasn't gone past the house next door. This is very hard for me because I am a social dog and I want to see people, and talk to them, be petted by them. I am an out and about kind of collie.

But Nora does not like clunks. She does not like things that clatter. She does not like things that are out of their normal order. She is offended when people park on the street.

In the neighborhood they are digging holes for pipes. The first night we walked past the pipes and big digging machines, Nora barked and growled at them the whole way, very displeased. She does not like orange parking cones either. Go figure.

I was kind of skittish too, but a few nights later I became brave and sniffed the machines. So that I do not lose at Nora Roulette, I try to make sure the people (Alpha) get's up early in the morning so we can walk when it is dark. Oh, unless we have gone for a car ride first, then Nora will walk in the daylight.

Nora is a little strange, but she is family.

Car Rides and Coffee

One of Alpha’s favorite visions is of Nora laying down on her side, head up, looking about and then she just flops over as if overwhelmed by the weight of her own thoughts. She kind of groans as if being awake is just much too much for her.

She did that a few minutes ago. She is really tired because this morning we went for a car ride and a walk in the park, and then we went to Starbucks. I am not sure why they would not let me go inside. I guess they saw I had no pockets, and figured I didn’t have any money for coffee or pastries. Why didn’t Alpha and Number One loan me money? Hmmm.

We sat outside. Actually the people sat. I did not want to sit, I wanted to go inside where the people kept going. I tried to greet everyone instead. Nora spent most of her time trying to flee.

Number One and Alpha are still trying to help her not be afraid of everything. She is much better than she used to be, but it has been almost six years since she moved in here with us.

We have a long afternoon of napping ahead of us. What an exciting day so far.

Betrayal by Nora

Alpha and Number One love us, but that love often involves things we are not particularly enamored with, like nail trimming, making me come inside when I want to be outside nibbling grass, and baths, baths are an especially unwelcome turn of events.

It’s been about 4 weeks since they tricked us into taking baths. I was so upset it’s taken me all this time to get over it and write about it.

Nora, the little traitor, went right on into the bathroom and practically leapt up into the bathtub. She knows we get lots of little biscuit nibbles while we are in the tub. It’s a mind control devise that the humans employ to keep us from leaping out of the bathtub to freedom. Nora will do anything for food. Even after her bath was done and Number One and Alpha had to play dodge ‘em to get me into the bathroom, Nora pushed past the gate to come into the bathroom too to get more biscuit bits.

The people we stunned. Neither of us has ever disrespected a gate before. Nora and food, what else can I say? Well we were clean, and I didn’t like it. Oh, the inhumanity of bath-time for collies!

employment

Alpha says we need jobs.

We have jobs, being their faithful and loving companions. Except when it rains, I don't want to accompany them outside when it's raining, I don' t like to get my face wet.
Or when it's too hot, like when you can see the air shimmering in front of you. I can't let myself overheat. Too much fur.
Or if it's too bright out, Nora doesn't like to go for walks when the sun is out unless it's after a car ride someplace with a shaded path.

But otherwise I am their loving and faithful companion, and so is Nora. It's because of all the visits to the vets-X-rays, pain pills, ultrasound, blah, blah, blah. Like it's a problem. Alpha gives us doggie massages and has special orthopedic beds for us, special food for us. Jobs! What an outrage.

We work hard every day. Every time they come home we are waiting just on the other side of the door happy & prancing; or when we put our noses on the bed by their heads and breathe on them in the morning to wake them up; or when we go and sit down next to them and put our noses in their laps when they feel blue; or when we take them for walks each morning and evening.

My favorite job is staring at Alpha when she gets up on the roof to clean it off. I sit down and watch to see if she falls off so I can bark for help. Nora usually just runs around and wants to go back inside. She can't figure out why Alpha would be on the roof. In this house, why not? We have great jobs.

Like a greeter at Wal-Mart

Today I had to go to the vet because I have been favoring my front right paw. The people were not sure what was going on, but they wanted to know and they wanted it fixed. So off I went. They should have let me drive. A trucker saw me in the back seat looking out the window and did the air horn thing. Alpha waved for me.

When I got to the vet’s I greeted everyone in the waiting room, including the cats up for adoption as soon as I entered. As new people came, I greeted them and let them pet me. A little boy and his mom came in and he kept coming back to me, and trying to get his mom to come over so they could pet me together. I made a new friend with a greyhound named India. She lives there at the vet’s, and when Alpha gave her a biscuit she got really happy and bounced off to the back. I wanted to follow but had to stay and keep Alpha company; people can be very needy. Alpha and I went outside and I said hello to everyone on the porch too.

Everybody over 40something that saw me kept calling me “Lassie”, and saying I was a “Lassie dog”. Yep, but I am more fun than that dog on TV. I love to bark at armadillos and try to chase them. And bunnies too, Nora and I like to bark at bunnies. And motorcycles, I do not like the noise that they make, so I bark at them also. I love car rides, and visiting with our doggie friend Mariah. Plus I do my own stunts, which may explain the paw thing.

I bark at the shelties next door , and sit on my hill and watch the people next door on the other side do yard work. I am also good at tag and playing keep the toy away from the people.

The vet said is looks like a strain, nothing is broken, and I have something for the pain. Plus Alpha and Number One will be watching out for me and Nora. We are a little pack.