Ohboyohboyohboy!I have something Really Exciting to write about! Even though I didn’t get to go on a hike today.*ahem. Although I did get to go to The Park. Which is something.
Mom was “busy doing stuff” – most of which seemed to revolve around cars.I guess they need to be cleaned every once in a while?They just get dirty again, so I don’t see the point, but I guess Mom thinks it is important.
Anyway, on to the excitement.
I have my own tie!!!
As you may or may not know, Farley’s Mom is in the tie-making business.And I got to be a market-research test subject, and test-drive a tie.It was very exciting!I don’t usually wear anything but my collar (what can I say?I’m like that!), so it was really cool to wear a tie!
And guess what?!?Now I’ve got a tie name after me!!!It is The Fiona Tie.How totally cool is that?!?I’m so excited – I’ve never had anything named after me before.I’m so flattered!
And here I am, modeling it…
Cool, huh?!?
I’m very excited about being a model!!!
More later… I think dinner is ready – Mom just doesn’t realize that she’s sharing it with me!
I did get to go on a hike yesterday. In fact, we went on a really long hike yesterday. And Mom only got us lost once (well, we backtracked three times, but it was in the same section, so that only counts as getting lost once, right?!?).
Before we got lost, I got to stop and smell the flowers!
I think we didn't get lost more often (or more lost) because Mom had a map. That was mostly accurate. The section that that was marked 'Extremely difficult - caution'? They weren't kidding. This picture doesn't do it just justice, but the 'red' section was about 300 yards long, super-steep (luckily I've got all-wheel drive when needed), and over-grown.
Trust me, this doesn't EVEN give you an idea of how over-grown this trail was. Or how steep it was.
I was not excited about having these bushes whacking me in the face, but Mom plied me with treats and encouragement, and kept calling me 'Fiona The Intrepid'. Which I liked. And which I think I'll have to be if we keep hiking, because sometimes Mom gets lost. Did I mention that already? At least she carries her phone with us (and amazingly she gets service) so that if we get REALLY lost, she can call Dad to come pick us up!
But it was fun. And we were out for almost two hours.
Which left me a little tired. (I think that that was Mom's plan.... Sneaky devil that she is!) As for today? I dunno if we are going out today - Mom has been 'busy'. But I'm sure we'll go tomorrow if we don't go today.
Can we go on another HIKE?!? Like now? Pretty please? Kthnks. I'll be the one waiting at the door.
*kissey face* -Fiona, The Intrepid
PS Rocky Creek Scotties, this is my tongue-sticking-out entry for the contest. (Mom says this picture shows my Retriever side - whatever that means...)
The distinguished Mr. Farley has tagged me on the Sixth Folder, Sixth Picture thing. I have a wee bit of a problem with this because when I open up Mom's Pictures folder, it sorts the folders differently than when I open up the pictures in Blogger. So, I'm going to post both. I think this all happens in part because Mom only organizes her Pictures folders by date, and not by category or anything. So this is the real Sixth Folder, Sixth Picture, by date:
This is my older brother, Ben, who crossed the Rainbow Bridge last December. He had cancer, and Mom and Dad are sad that he left this world much too soon. Mom's eyes are a little red even now. He was a big, handsome guy, and a Thinker of Deep Thoughts. Mom and Dad say that there are times, with a certain hair cut, or from a certain position where I look Very Much Like Him. They wanted to have one of his puppies, but that didn't happen, so they got me, instead. I think that the Universe wanted to make up for Ben not getting the chance to be a father, by making me look very much like I could be his daughter. Which is very cosmic, but very cool. And it sort of freaks Mom and Dad out (in a good way, I think), sometimes. Anyway, in this picture, Mom and Dad had just got the House With Wheels, and Ben testing out the couch. Clearly, he approves. And I'm glad he broke the couch in - because it is Just Perfect!
Okay. Now the second picture, which is what Blogger seems to think is the Sixth Picture from the Sixth Folder (try saying THAT five times fast!).
This is from this winter in Parker. I think it was early January, during a cold spell (hence the hat and fleece jacket on Mom). I am in my favorite spot, helping her read. Who says I'm NOT a pillow dog? In fact, I'm STILL a pillow dog. It's not my fault that the pillows are So Small. Besides, I was helping keep Mom warm. Note from Fi's Mom: this was NOT exactly the most comfortable reading position, as my 'backrest' kept squirming around on me.... But she is a good heater!
I don't know what Mom is talking about. I was comfortable, so where's the problem?!?
Anyway, those are my pictures. Some time I'm going to have to go through and pick a picture from each month and post it - because there are a lot of really cool pictures in these folders....
The weather is supposed to be nice, so I think I might convince Mom to go on a hike today. Which, of course, means treats for me!
Today the 'dog trainer' came. I really don't know why we need a dog trainer. I'm a Good Dog. I don't need to be trained.
Fi's Mom: Yes, Fi you ARE a Good Dog. We just want you to be a Great Dog, so that when clueless people let their 100 lb untrained dogs out without collars onyou can ignore the 100lb missile hurtling at you and continue to ignore them when they sniff at you while their clueless parents try to pull said 100lb collar-less dog off you while you are trying very hard to lie on the ground patiently. It wasn't your fault that the clueless lady couldn't control (or even get a handle on) her dog. *ahem. But really. How Stupid Can You Be? If you know that your dog doesn't respond to voice commands, how could you POSSIBLY let the dog out without even a COLLAR on?!? Fi's a little skittish around other dogs, and as such, jumps around when approached by strange dogs (one of the behaviors we are working on). Not that I blame her. And there's not much we can do about other dogs' behaviors. I just wanted to vent about the totally clueless woman who kept yelling how 'friendly' her dog was as he was trying to take my knees out. All that aside, I think Fiona can be a Super Dog.
See. I'm a Good Dog. That other dog? He might have been 'friendly', but all I know is that when we were finally able to get away without being chased (thanks to Mom giving the clueless lady some of MY treats to control HER dog....) I had slobber on the bridge of my nose. Nothankyou.
Anyway. The "dog trainer" is really a Human Trainer. I know all sorts of things (like how to wait by a door when it is opened, and how not to pull on the leash), Mom just needs to learn that if she wants me to DO these things , she needs to liberally apply treats. Luckily the trainer is teaching Mom this. I think with practice, Mom will eventually apply treats when appropriate (read: all the time) and she'll be happy.
And the trainer has a Big Bag FULL of treats. So she can show up whenever she wants.
But since Mom was busy learning how to apply treats, she didn't get any pictures. So I'll leave you with some pictures from my time at the park yesterday.
I'm too tired to type. (Actually, I'm Far Too Busy harassing my little-big sister and Mom and Dad, but that's neither here nor there!). But I would like to thank everyone for all the kind notes about the Wordless Wednesday pictures - I like flying! And I'm loving the ears. I really feel sorry for all of you who can't experience Ear Flappage. There's nothing like it! So here's some pictures from yesterday's hike.
By this point, Mom has stopped to take So Many pictures that I had to start looking around to see if she was still there. I think she was just using the camera as an excuse to not be able to keep up with me! Heehee!
Not to worry – I haven’t given up on the Ark.I just may have to revise my plans a bit.First, I want to make sure that I’ve got room for everyone, but second, the original directions have left me a bit confounded:
The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
What the devil is a cubit?When I went to Home Depot, I couldn’t find any measuring tapes that used cubits, and when I went to an employee to see if he could help me cut the wood into the appropriate lengths in cubits, he just looked at me blankly and told me that he’d have to find a supervisor.Of course, with the look he was giving me, he might have been going to call the police.Which might have been due to the fact that he was talking to a dog who was asking about cubit lengths of wood.But I could be wrong.
Anyway, I’m working on new design plans for the Ark.At least I’ve got some dry weather now, so I shalt not be hammereth-ing in the rain.And the new plans are going to be in feet and inches.Because cubits must be part of the metric system, and they didn’t teach us the metric system where I went to Puppy School.
In Operation Whack-A-Squirrel news, I have been practicing diligently with my training tools, but I got a little diverted yesterday. And in pre-diversion diversion, can I "forget" to bring the squirrels aboard when we launch the Ark? Just asking....
Um.Apparently, I’m a mouser.Really.Of course, I didn’t realize that it was a mouse – I just thought it was a squeaky toy.That moved.Uh-oh.Anyway, I have protected the house from a potential mouse invasion.I had to do it.TaiChi doesn’t care about the mice – as long as they don’t walk off with too much of her dinner, and Bufus, well, he’s not exactly a mouser.As a rescue kitty, he came to Dad de-clawed, and over the millennia years, he has lost all of his teeth due to his bad brushing habits inability to hold on to a toothbrush.So basically, if Bufus were to kill mice, he’d have to sit on them.Heehee.Or gum them to death.
Anyway, Mom did NOT get any pictures of my handiwork.
However, as I was focused on Defending the Homefront From Mousies, the Other Enemy was on the move.Or taking a lunch break, depending on how you look at it.
So I will get back to my patrolling duties tomorrow.Because the Rocky Creek Scotties have PROOF of what happens when dogs are not allowed to patrol a property.I think this is a shocking documentary that should be seen by all OWAS members.
So, time to go back to the training tools.I’m gonna be ready for them tomorrow!
Note from Fi’s Mom: Apparently she is a mouser. Eeech. Hopefully most of our mice have already been eradicated by other means, and this was just a rogue mouse. I am thankful, however, that she just killed it, and didn’t a) offer it to me as a gift, or b) eviscerate it. Yuck. And since I can’t close a post with that image, here’s a picture of Fiona during her panther imitation!
