K k k k Katie, beautiful Katie

For those of you waiting for a full report about our evening out over the weekend, here's how it was, just as we thunk it and spoke it:

Saturday evening. February 14, 2009. Romance in the air. After our previously noted conversation about what to wear, we decided on our best Valentine bandanananas (gifts from our Orlando pals, Jack and Alle Truett). Mom had a different idea though -- and so we also had to wear our usual garb. As if we were going to run away or something. But never mind.

So there we were, all spiffed up and ready to go. "OK, Dogdad, are we getting this show on the road, or what?""And are you sure you know where we're going?" OK. I guess we made it OK. And what is that we hear? A sweet feminine bark????? She must have heard our car arrive -- kind of like us, at home, huh? Let's go see. Hmm, nothing feminine about this foot!!"And dinner, Mom? Didn't you say dinner? ""Oh, you say, that kibble at home was our dinner and you humans are having dinner here while we watch????? And wine? And cake and ice cream?" How sad is that???

But where is our canine hostess??? We keep hearing her bark, but where is she???"
Oh, she's the shy type? Perhaps she'll come around with a little sniff or two!! Just Harry, do your best!! We brought her some squeaky toys -- if the sniffs don't work, perhaps we can lure her over with a few squeaks...But what's that? Wowser, what a big bath tub!!!
Uh oh, this wasn't some scheme to lure us over for a bath, was it???

Oh, but who's that????? Finally! Wow, what a beautiful golden tail she has!!! And those dainty little feet!!"Gee, Katie, you're a cute little thing!!" "Yep, k k k Katie, you're a beautiful girl!!!"

"Thank you for inviting us over!!! We had a swell time and hope you'll come visit us."

And that's how it was, pals -- we had a good time, even though Mom never did share a morsel with us, and we saw something we'd never seen before. Mom said it was a "pool" and people swim in it -- whatever that means. We're not so sure how we feel about that -- perhaps during the summer we'll try it out.

Given our reputation as the Barkalots, we do have to point out that we did not bark even once -- even though our gal Katie kept at it. After dinner, Mom disappeared into the den and found Katie on the couch -- they had a nice quiet conversation about us with lots of ear and tummy rubs, and Katie apparently relaxed 'cause it was after that she made her appearance.

Our human hosts were very kind too. They said we were good boys and very "well-behaved" and could come again if we wanted to. But first, we think we'll invite Katie over to our house for a play date.

Jake and Just Harry

Dinner!! We're invited out to dinner!!!

Well, it all started out like a normal Saturday -- except that we knew it was kind of special because of those flowers and some extra smoochin' going on when they thought we weren't looking. OK, if the truth be told, we got some of that smoochin' too -- but then we realized we were being set up.

Yesterday Dogdad was at the office and one of his colleagues who lives near us invited him and Mom for dinner tonight -- and added -- and BRING THE DOGS!!! That sounded kind of cool so we were pretty excited. Excited that is, until we heard Dogdad sweet talking us onto his lap with the furminator, and the comb, and his plucking fingers, and finally the scissors and the clippers. (What an arsenal to deal with two simple hairy dogs!! Do our whippet friends have to go through this? We don't think so!!)

Anyway, I guess we should be flattered that Dogdad spent the better part of the day transforming us from two roly poly porkers (see below)into svelte ready-for-prime time wires (again, see below). Had we known, we would have entered Mango Minster!!! But never mind -- here we are once again looking our best -- and getting ready for our outing. We heard our hosts have a Pomeranian -- so we're not sure what to expect -- But YAY, WE'RE GOING OUT FOR DINNER!!!



"Hey Jakey, what do you think we should wear?"

" Gee, I don't know, Harry. I kind of like being nekkid!!"

Lots of Valentine's Day smooches to all our pals!!!! And wirey woofs all around!!

Jake

Stopping to Smell the Flowers

The doorbell rang a few minutes ago. We responded with the appropriately loud, non-stop barks and ran for the door. Dogdad, working from home, picked up JH and put him in the guest bathroom. Then he picked me up while Mom answered the door.

There stood a lady with flowers. Mom said what moms always say, "For me?"

She brought the flowers inside while Dogdad put me down and rescued JH. She picked up the card and said, "I bet they're from my aunt." Dogdad just smiled. She read the card and got all teary -- discovering they were actually from him. (And from us, of course!!).

['Scuse the stuff on the table -- but this was a moment not to be missed as we all stopped to smell the flowers.]

Happy Valentine's Day everybody --furry and not.

Jake

Sleepy Sunday

It has come to our attention via certain friends and other means -- like the expression of guilt on our Mom's face when she looks at us -- that we are suffering from NBS (Neglected Blog Syndrome). As the reasons for NBS may continue for a few more weeks, given Mom's silly work commitments, we asked her to at least let us say hello, however briefly, to our pals and tell them that we are still alive.

And this is the best she could do!!! Do we look like two lazy furry slugs or what??? (And don't even mention her insensitivity to any pretext of modesty!)

Sigh.

Woofs and wirey love to all,

Jake and Just Harry

Wherever you are, whoever you are... LET'S CHERISH THIS MOMENT!!!!

We are experiencing this amazing day with tears of joy, a sense of relief, a feeling of optimism. We keep pinching ourselves that this is really happening, and we are so happy to be alive to experience it!!!

May our new President be safe. May the world be a safer place because of his administration.

Jake, Just Harry, Mom, and Dogdad

Post-trip Reflections from Our Secretary (OK, Our Mom)

We've loved reading all your comments about Jake's travelogue. Jakey, the Professor, is a very insightful dog, so I respect his interpretations. Were Just Harry to have written about the journey, I suspect it would have been a bit different. But now, it's my turn.

First off, I learned a lot about our two boyz from traveling with them. One happy surprise was how very well behaved they were. Our fears of their barking in the middle of the night at unfamiliar noises in motels never materialized. Strangely, while at home they wander all over the bedroom during the night, sleeping in each other's beds, on the floor, on the rocking chair by the bed, anywhere they please. Throughout the trip, however, even the whole week upstairs at Jack's Mom's townhouse, they each stayed in their own bed throughout the night. With barely a bark or even a slight growl.

The biggest surprise, however, was that Just Harry, who we typically call "the nervous one," never got upset at anything. We have straps for the boyz that link to their harnesses and to the seatbelt in the back seat of the car, and we had placed their beds next to each other on the back seat to make it more comfortable for them. Just Harry immediately curled up and went to sleep. He stayed asleep for most of the travel time every day -- popping his head up every once in a while to see what was going on.

Jakey, on the other paw, never stayed in the back seat. He's always liked standing on the console -- which he could even with the strap. And he's always panted a bit from excitement. But on the trip, his panting became excessive, even frightening, and the only way I could control it was having him on my lap with his head down, so he could snooze a bit. Every so often, he'd want to stand up and see what was happening, and he'd start to pant again.

We tried a bit of dramamine on one day, at Patience's suggestion. And we tried 25 mg of Benedryl another day. Neither had the desired result, although he did sleep a bit longer with the Benedryl. I've read a lot now about calming medication for dogs with valerian root and camomile, and I wonder if anyone has tried them. We're assuming, since it's not the motion that gets to Jake, as he is OK with his head down, that when he looks out, his brain is overwhelmed with all the stimuli of the passing cars, landscape, etc., creating anxiety. Any thoughts?

Then there were the bowl scenarios. Again, Mr. Allegedly the Nervous One, couldn't wait to eat, regardless of where I put his bowl. The Professor, however, was much fussier. "Why isn't my bowl where it always is?" he kept asking. "I recognize that it's my bowl, but I'm not sure what to do with it." The first morning, after he snubbed the food in his bowl in the corner on the floor where I had put it, I had to trick him into eating, first by moving the bowl to the desk. As he likes to jump on chairs, he jumped up, sniffed the bowl, and lookd at me rather quizzically. Then I put the bowl on the chair, and he stood on his hind legs to eat. Finally. As the trip wore on he got more used to eating in new corners -- but often I had to sit with him to reassure him that all was OK.

Interesting difference between our two guys!! Very unexpected.

When we were in St. Louis, we made a few choices as to how much excitement -- big people, little people, little dogs (two tiny aging chihuahuas at one of Jack's brother's that we were afraid would look too much like lunch) -- we would expose them too. But generally, other than Jakey's wrapping his paws around one of our nephews and humping him for all he was worth, and Just Harry's jumping on the laps of anyone who looked inviting -- we were fine. (I've chosen to ignore Jake's low crawl into the whippet room....) And we had lots of fun observing their antics and watching their reactions to new people and places.

Would we do it again? As Jack says, perhaps not such a long trip tomorrow. But having the barkies with us rather than missing them over the holidays, as we've done in the past, was definitely a delight. And we will do it again -- hopefully when it is not below freezing!!

Joan

Note: The Last Episode of Our Trip is below the Camel Post

Somehow that elegant -- but apparently pushy -- camel nosed his way under the proverbial tent -- so if you're looking for the Grand Finale of our trip, please see below.

Jake