Answering a Few Cat Questions

Dear Friends

We have been astonished at how kindly our posts about our feline nieces have been received. We do, however, need to clarify a few points:

1. Like most dogs, we are not too crazy about cats. We have just been trying to keep family peace and recognize that love comes in many shapes, sizes, and species.

2. We have never actually been in physical proximity to the cats in question. Ninja lives in Orlando; Mistletoe and Holly live in Tampa. Jakey was in Orlando once at his human sister's house, but the cats weren't in the same room. JH has never been there. When we met him in Orlando, it was in the presence of wires only. And neither of us has ever been to Tampa. As for the cats in our family who live just to the north of us -- we could actually drive there for a short visit; but the cat parents haven't expressed much interest in our visiting them.

3. Mom's birthday was a few days ago and we sent her this card. Mom couldn't stop laughing when she read the inscription on the bottom. It says, "Love, Just Harry and Jake the Dog. Harry picked out this card... I told him they were KATZ. JAKE. "

We hope that sets the record straight. The only cats we have physically shared space with are those that Dr. Dan has at camp and they stay in their own turf. Then there are those that we sniff out from under the cars. And you know how we feel about them.

Jake and Just Harry (I thought it was a cute card and Mom liked it, so there Mr. Smarty Pants!!!)

More Nieces

What are two wire fox terriers born into an extended family of cats to do when they feature one of their feline nieces (Ninja, the runaway come back home to our sister in Orlando) and all the rest -- two more in Orlando, two in Tampa, and two just up the highway a bit) -- start miauling for equal time? To keep peace in the family, we decided to give them all their fifteen minutes of fame as soon as we can. So, while Mom and Dogdad were in Tampa this weekend to visit our human brother and sister-in-law and attend a University of South Florida college football game, they snapped this photo of two more of our nieces, Mistletoe and Holly.

These two lovely young ladies are as different from each other as we Barkalots are. Holly is very friendly and acts almost like one of us; Mistletoe is more reserved. We say this only on second paw information, however, since we, as usual, were not present at the game or the house visit. Had we been there, who knows what this story would have been like!!

In any case two down; four more to go.

Jake and Just Harry

No November Noel

Wildfires, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados, volcanos, ice storms, drought -- depending on where you live, Mother Nature has lots of tricks up her sleeve. The ones she likes to share with us here in South Florida are hurricanes and the occasional tornado.

Hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30 every year -- but about the end of October, we start to breathe a sigh of relief. That's why news about a Tropical Storm named Noel out in the Caribbean last weekend didn't seem too serious. Wrong!!! Noel turned out to be a deadly storm that did a lot of damage in the Caribbean, and killed about 100 people.

Here in Florida, the winds caused beaches to be gobbled up by the rising surf, knocked down sea walls, and created other damage and concerns -- but, thank dog, no fatalities, no evacuations, no animals in harm's way.

Mom was in Tallahassee, the state capitol on Monday and Tuesday. She flew up early Monday morning on a commuter jet and had a very bumpy ride thanks to swirling winds. When it came time to fly back home on Tuesday afternoon, she and one of her friends looked at each other and decided to drive instead. It took 7 hours, but they were blissfully bump-free. And we were tail waggingly happy she was back.

Dogdad worked from home the two days Mom was away so that we could stay here instead of another trip to camp. We had lots of fun -- long runs on the golf course, treats at lunch, good guy talk!!! He's a little harsher than Mom about our barking, though, so we had to choose our moments.

And now Noel is out to sea. It's expected to weaken into a nort'easter affecting Cape Cod and then Nova Scotia. So we hope our friends up there stay safe. And the only Noel we'll be looking for is the one planned for December 25.

Jake and Just Harry

Our Niece Ninja

Just Harry and I have a human sister in Orlando and our human sister has three cats and a small dog. About a month ago, one of her cats, Ninja, a beautiful but feisty black girl, spied an open garage door and disappeared. Our sister was terribly sad and kept looking for Ninja. But then, a few days ago, just when she had almost given up hope, she caught a glimpse of a familiar black tail hiding underneath something a few houses away. Knowing Ninja's independent personality, our sister got down on her knees so as not to scare her away She waited and waited, and little by little, a tiny black nose emerged from the hiding place, then two paws, and a furry body, and Ninja was back!!!
After more than a month out on her own , Ninja's awfully skinny, but a check-up with the vet showed nothing else is wrong. The vet said that, if she eats and drinks to gain her weight back, she'll be just fine. We don't have to tell you that, like most of our kind, we're not too crazy about cats -- but Ninja is our niece, and she is black, and it is Hallowe'en, so we thought you wouldn't mind if we featured Ninja in our blog today.

And, while we are at it, speaking of black cats and Hallowe'en, we want to wish Joe the Cat, a friend of ours over on Mr. Doodle's Dog, a very happy 13th birthday. How cool is that? Black, and 13 and Hallowe'en!!!

FYI: This unique, for us, paw shake across the species does not, however, extend to all those scalawags who hide under our cars (see JH's photo a blog ago).

Jake

Disappointed Dreams

Well, our dreams of taking over the world last night came to an end after the pawty and we had to fly home. We tried to enlist the help of several pawty-goers, but every dawg was having so much fun, they weren't into world domination. So, just as in all the episodes of Pinky and the Brain, Pinky asked me, "What are we going to do tomorrow night, Brain," and sadly, I had to reply, "The same thing we do every night, Pinky, plot to take over the world." Narf!!

But Mom and Dogdad had other ideas. They went to an annual local art show yesterday and when they saw a new exhibitor with cool collars and harnesses, they bought us each a set. Mine is plaid and JH's has puppies on it.

When we're all decked out in our new clothes, no one will ever know what we do every night...

Jake (aka, you know who)

FYI, That's JH checking for cats under the car -- typical "Pinky" behavior!!

Pawty Time

Well, here we are, waiting for Aire Ruby to come get us and take us to the pawty at the Seven Gables. Do you recognize us? We're Pinky and the Brain, those two goofy lab mice who try to take over the world every night. I, Jake, am the Brain -- of course, of course -- and my brother Just Harry, one of the world's most lovable goof balls, is Pinky -- of course, of course. So we're ready to pawty!!! Don't forget us, sweet Ruby!! Narf!!!

Barking, Jumping, Card Sharking, Oh My!

Hello Every Dog,

Well, we're back from our extra long weekend at camp. After Mom and Dogdad flew back from St. Louis, they had to turn around and drive to the Tampa area on business, so we spent two extra nights at Dr. Dan's. While we were there, I think I out did myself in jumping. Dr. Dan says that sometimes when he passes by, I look him in the eye -- and he's about six feet tall! And of course we're hoarse from barking. But we are clean, and very very very tired (the poker games night after night on top of the barking and the jumping will do that to a dog!!).

While we were away, we learned that one of our favorite humans, Aunt Gianna in Italy, had sent some photos of us to one of our wire fox terrier groups. The first one above is recent -- and Aunt Gianna "groomed" me so that both of my ears are down. What do you think? An interesting sometime look, no?

The second photo is when we were puppies. Confession though, even though both my ears were down when I was just a few months old, by the time I got a wee bit older, one sprung up. But in this photo too, Aunt Gianna groomed me. JH was groomed too by Lyn before he came to us.

As soon as we got home from Dr. Dan's this morning, we ran to our respective water holes. This is mine: Jake's Dog Bar. Dogdad made it for me several years ago. He keeps saying he'll make one for JH too, but for the moment, JH has his own water dish somewhere else and eats in his own "cubicle." Do I look a bit chunky in that photo? So what were Mom and Dogdad doing while we were away? They were at a wedding in St. Charles, a historic town just outside of St. Louis proper. It was a beautiful day and they had lots of fun as both the bride and the groom (Dogdad's nephew) come from big families with lots of young humans.

The wedding took place in a conservatory, part of an old building. As this plaque says, this spot was the starting point for covered wagons goiung west in the 1800s.

And this is the conservatory itself, where the wedding was held. It was bright and sunny and a wonderful setting for a wedding. The only thing it needed to be perfect was a few dogs.
The name of this bar, Trailhead, is a reminder of the historic nature of the town Mom and Dogdad stopped in for a moment before heading off to the reception.

And now we're all back and we are free to Stay at Home for awhile!!!

Jake, the Spokesdog for the fanily