Fall Turkey

Pgot drawn again this year for the Fall Turkey hunt. He was soooooooo excited, and of course so was I. I love to go camping and run around and smell all the smells. I kept J company in the campground.While I was keeping her company and protecting her from all those scary forest animals, we took time to play. I love my orange toy and you can see I had fun playing. One of the days we went with P on one of his evening dusk hunts. I think I might have scared all the turkeys away with my excitement running through the grass, but we had still had a good time. I hope he gets drawn again next year, by them I promise to be stealthy in my approach to grass....

I love birds! They are so fascinating. Except of course the little yellow one that P & J keep calling my little brother. He doesn’t look ANYTHING like me at all! But they make sure to keep a cautious eye out when we play together. I just stand and stare at him for hours. And he stands over the edge of the cage and shows his wings all spread out and whistles at me. I worry about him and every night I have a ritual that as P & J tell me its time to go to bed, I make my rounds and help them tuck him in by watching him while they close his cage. If they forget, I keep running back and forth between the bedroom and his cage until they get up and check on him. I love my little yellow brother from another mother!

Lakes Are Fun

There aren’t a lot of bodies of water in Arizona where you can take a dog without a bit of an expedition. So, when P & J were boating, they also brought a toy for me to see if they could entice me to play in the water and see what I would do. They would throw it around and finally I got right in. Now I am a water dog. They’ve taken me to the lake a couple of times, and every time I’m the first to jump right in. I love it now. It will be nice when it’s so hot down in the valley that I can cool off in the water. Ah, the dogs life for me.

Boating and water!

P & J like to fish, but they have never, ever, ever taken me before. They always send me to play at daycare with the other dogs and puppies. So, this time, they looked at each other and said, let’s try it. So, P got his boat all fixed up and filled it with gas. J made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for us – and let me lick the peanut butter knife when she was done. And then we were off! We went to the lake to have some fun and see how I would do. Well, as usual there was nothing for them to be worried about. I am awesome! As I must say myself. I walked right over to the boat and hopped right in. And then, had fun recreating Leonardo DiCaprio in the Titanic. I stood at the front and let the wind blow through my ears. It’s a lot like sticking my head out of the car. I love that too. I think I will like fishing and boating.

Snow videos

Here are some snow videos to show how much fun I was having!

Christmas Time Again!!!!

Something is up! P & J were busy pulling these green and red boxes out of the garage. When they do that, that means the really big stick is going to be coming into the house and have lots of lights in it. And....We get to go pick it ourselves! This year there was this fluffy white stuff that we don't see down in the valley. P & J call it snow! I was a bit cautious at first, but when I saw everyone, including P & J's niece playing in it, I couldn't help myself and just had to follow. I think I will like playing in more snow!

Fall Leaves

P & J love to go look at the Fall Leaves. They are not like they are back east, but they are still pretty. So we went up along the backside of Roosevelt Lake and spent all day hiking, walking, eating lunch and looking at the leaves. They went to a new place that they had not been before. And guess what, there was a surprise for us at the top of this mountain. The Flintstones live in Arizona. Look at me sitting on the couch. I don’t get to do that back at home, but P&J said it was ok here. I am such a handsome boy and P&J are so proud of the great dog that I have become. Thanks to Twix and Rocco for giving me these great genes. See the one of my standing on the rock all lit up in the sunlight. I have had many wows, and how pretty a dog I am when J shares this with others.

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!

J is posting this a lot late, but she wanted to get some cute pictures of me and daddy all geared up to go turkey hunting. It was a great weekend in October to go hunting, the days were warm and the nights were crisp. P went out every morning and evening, trying to find a turkey, but he never did. Secretly J was hoping he wouldn't come home with one since P told her she'd have to pluck the turkey. And she wasn't looking forward to that. But she was sad for P as this was the first year in almost 15 that he actually was drawn for Fall Turkey. Anywhoo, with the hunters out there, I stayed with J in camp while P when out hunting and we played and chased and just had a good break from J’s crazy workload where she couldn't get email and her blackberry didn't work. She made me wear my red hiking vest so that no one would shoot at me thinking I was a turkey. My, my how could anyone think that. But P & J love me sooooooo much they want me to be around for the long term. I agreed. Although I did sometimes roll over and squirm and squiggle on my back to itch it. I was a great boy and P hopes that he will get drawn next year so that maybe I can go with him. Next up for us is Christmas tree hunting!!!!! Yea, that means Santa is just around the corner.

Growing Tall and Long

P & J are getting ready to go camping and turkey hunting in early October. I’ve never been hunting – nor has J. So this will be interesting to see how we all do. I am not sure that I can be quiet when stalking up on things as I have so much energy that I just am beside myself sometimes. This should be fun however seeing the changing leaves and some of our Arizona fall. Anyway, we were getting ready to do some hiking and P&J put my doggie backpack on me to see how it fits now. And as you can see, I have grown a lot since they first put it on me – I am becoming a handsome grown up boy. Have fun seeing visually how far I’ve come. I am starting to look more and more like my birth mommy's backpack silhouette in some of her pictures her family shares with us, she likes to go on lots hikes too and is working toward her trail certification...

Can you guess which one is my puppy picture and which is my teenager picture? Check out my long, svelte legs.

Summertime In The City

It's hot here and we are all ready for the Summer to be over. P&J bought a little play pool that we could all get some break from the heat. Its big enough that all 3 of us can fit (tightly) but we still fit. I would jump in and out as I was just a bit unsure of the water. But I couldn't fight the urge to get my toys and eventually I would get into the water with them. I hope we have more pool play days.

Did You Know That Canoes Are Tippy? And Water Is Wet?

On Canoeing - Well, P&J took me up to the forest to get out of the heat. We are all very tired of the summer and ready for the Fall to arrive. This time, they packed up this big green thing on top of the car and drove to this thing that is big and wet and has lots of people around it. Apparently, I was in for my first canoe ride on Willow Springs Lake. Since this was my first time in a canoe, P&J decided that we should do a little expedition cruise - so if I jumped out of or tipped over the canoe, we would get wet when the water was at its warmest and we would only have us and the paddles to save. And guess what.....I did GREAT!!!!! I didn't tip the canoe over and dunk us. But I did cause it wiggle & rock a lot since I couldn't sit still.

On Swimming - After we paddled (ha, P&J paddled, I got to sit and watch the herons and ospreys) across the lake to the far side, P&J got us all out and we played with a stick in the water. It was also my first full on experience of swimming in a lake where I couldn’t stand on the ground and I did good there too. I was pretty confident in my abilities until P threw the stick just a little too farther than I could reach the bottom and I sunk down, but them popped right back up. (Of course J was having a heart attack - nervous mom as you know she is & P was ready to jump in too as he also wants to make sure I’ll be around for a long time.) I had fun running through the water, up and down on the shoreline, I was grinning from ear to doggie ear. I hope they take me again to a lake soon as I think I like it.

Now, the only picture J has of me is after the fact. She was worried that I would tip us over as said earlier and that the camera would float on down to the bottom of lake forever. So, it is all memories for our first canoe ride, but I can assure you it was fun for all of us. The picture is of Willow Springs Lake on the Rim and of the canoe aftermath. The other picture is of me sleeping as I couldn't even keep my eyes open for the ride back to the campground I was so tired from the excitement and the swimming events.

Desert Adventures

P&J always have something they are working on. Today it was making prickly pear jam, syrup, and juice for cooking. So, we packed up our water (it is the middle of the summer out here - and it was forecasted to be the hottest day of the year) and drove out to the desert to harvest the fruit.

Of course everything in the desert either has stickers or wants to bite or sting you. So, they were very careful to keep an eye out for me to keep me safe. Fortunately, we did not run into any snakes or scorpions (that we saw of course :-) ). Once we got home, the whole de-stickering and juicing process started in earnest. As you can see I like to help and kept P&J company while they worked for hours and hours. They picked, cleaned, & juiced 23 pounds of p.pears. They say the prickly pear mojito was very good and worth the effort. I like going on adventures with them!