sniffing

You know, I love sniffing.

The kitchen is a great place to sniff. Sometimes I get something good, like a piece of carrot or a bit of cheese or hamburger. Then there is nasty stuff like onions or lettuce. It's good to be descended from carnivores.

I have a little game I play called "sniff out the toy". I can always amaze the humans with my skill. Their piddly snouts are useless for sniffing out anything but the most powerful scents. I'll hide my sparkle ball for a couple of weeks. They'll think it's lost and bring me another one. I'll go on my sniffing rounds and show up with the original sparkle ball in my mouth. You should see them, the can't believe their eyes. Right now I have a total of 3 sparkle balls, 2 of which are cleverly hidden.

Sniffing outside is just sublime. I can tell where the cat has been. I know if there have been any intruders in my yard. And as the snow melts, a new layer of scents is revealed every few days. I can tell how recently the deer have crossed the road. When I 'm out for a walk I can tell if Howie has been by. I can sniff out Rocco and the other two golden retrievers. I know if George has been past the house with his kids. I recognize the scent of the paper carrier and I know if the mail has come.

It's so great to be me and I do love my nose.

seasons

I wonder what the next season will be? I was born in April, so I know all about the first season. Spring was a time for being born. The season after that was the warm one. Summer was the season for hiking in the mountains. The next season was for falling leaves. In fall there was lots of work getting done. The season we have now is the season for snow. I am enjoying winter, but I wonder what will be next.

I'd like the new season to be for dogs. It would be for fetch, walks, belly rubs, chewing, treats and naps. Thats all. No staying home alone, no waiting until the work is done, no having patience while newspapers are read, and definitely no brushing or bathing. The season could be divine. Spring, summer, fall, winter, divine. And then maybe there could be some kind of very short season for cats. Just a couple of weeks for them to hiss, spit, scratch and leave fur all over my afghan. We could call that season crummy. Spring, summer, fall, winter, divine, crummy.

This cat lives at my house. He is not

Mr. Friendly. In fact he doesn't even have a name, he's just called The Cat.

stinker/stinky

I am sometimes known as "stinker". I guess it must be kind of like my middle name, Chili Stinker.

This is what I mean:

The humans were snuggled up under the afghan watching a movie on TV. I was laying on the floor chewing my bully stick when I noticed the tassels hanging off the afghan. So I chewed one off. "You're a little stinker", "W" was scowling at me and shaking the chewed tassel in my face.

I love sticks. Every day when I go into our back yard I bring some up to the back door. They won't let me bring the sticks in the house, so I collect them on the fluffy mat just outside the back door. I've got pokey ones with little thorns, long ones with lots of branches, short ones with dried leaves and even some with a few frozen berries. When "W" stepped onto the fluffy mat in her sock feet, she got one of the thorny ones. "You're a little stinker!" She hopped around on one foot and threw my collection onto the snow.

"Stinker, stinker, stinker" all day long. But today something new. I just got home from a walk and was minding my own business when I heard "Chili, you're a little stinky." Next thing you know the humans are trying to drown me in the kitchen sink. I was sprayed with water, lathered with bubbles and rolled in a towel.

I like the lanuage dogs need. Words like: walk, fetch, cookie, sit, stay, come, good boy. I don't care for some of the other words like: no, down, bad boy, stop and vet. And I really really don't like the word "stinky."

Not a Bird

We've got birds in the big trees in our backyard. The humans hung up a dish full of little black stones. The birds hang on the dish and eat those stones! It seems a bit cruel to feed them stones, but they keep eating . I'll be watching my dish of kibble a little more closely in the future...

The birds have been trying to eat tiny red berries from the trees. They peck the berries, take off flying and then spit them out. The snow in my yard is covered with rusty little stains from the berries. I guess they taste bad.

I'm glad I'm not a bird. They have a hard time finding decent food. It's easy for a shaggy dog like me to get food. I just have to stand by my dish and whimper.

Sticks and String

How do you like this new sweater? You will never believe this, but it was made by magic. Grandma did it for me. I watched her doing it. She made it using sticks and string. I have some experience with sticks and I am no stranger to string, tug-of-war is one of my favorite games. But I could never make a sweater from sticks and string!

It's a good sweater and I got to wear it today on Mt. Rose. I went up there on the snowshoe trail with the humans. You might remember my trail report from Mt. Rose in the fall. There were lots of good tracks for sniffing; the deer tracks with their tangy twig scent, and rabbit tracks disappearing under the bushes. I got to sniff mouse tracks and I wondered if he might have been drunk the way he had zigged and zagged all over the place. Hope he got home OK.

When we got to the top of the mountain it looked much different from the way it had in fall. Of course the snow was everywhere. But also, the trees were covered with beautiful frozen thorns. I wonder if the thorns are like leaves and they will fall off when the seasons change?

disheveled

I've been told I am disheveled. Whenever I'm told that, I get roughed up by a human with a hairbrush. I'm doing my part to rid the planet of the nasty cactus spiked hirbrush!

Disheveled

freedom, flight

digging, chasing, rolling

spirit, carefree, tight, straight

primping, sitting, staring

sick, sorry

Tidy

snowshoe trail

I went to see "The Kids" again. They cut down the tree that was in the living room. I saw it in the backyard when I went out to pee. It looked like it was dead anyway.

I got to have a sleepover again with one of the kids. We played fetch up and down the stairs. I managed to tire him out! "W &A" had been away to a place called Nakiska Ranch. They told me I would love it there because of all the moose, deer, squirrels, jays and grosbeaks. I guess they had fun at Nakiska. They had all their winter toys, like cross country skis and snowshoes. They spent a lot of time drinking wine in the hot tub when they got home.

Today I got to go out on the snowshoe trail in the field by our house. The snowshoe trail is a bit different from the hiking trail, but it is just as much fun. The snow is so soft and deep, but the sun was shining and that made me smile.