Another day...

So today was yet another 5 mile hike, a swim in the pond (for those of the hippobottomus persuasion, a wade for the rest of us), a little misbehaving (it was Abby's fault, I swear!) and some tennis ball chasing. Oh, and some doggies (who weren't us).

We started off on our usual trail...

Curiously, the parking lot for the trail access has this sign:

What are we supposed to do? Levitate from the car to the trail? Have Mom and Dad carry us? Needless to say, Abby piddles as close to the sign as she can....

Moving on...

While it has been nippy at night lately (in the high 30s!), it has been just perfect during the day. So, off we go into the wild blue yonder...

Being the good, well-trained dog that I am, I obey all traffic signs...

We made it to The Park With The Pond, and were happy to discover that there were no evil trolls nice Animal Control officers there, and the pond was all ours!

We usually have two tennis balls in play; one for the Hippobottomus, so she can go do her long-range swims, while I play in the shallows.

But for some reason probably because she suffers from acute Puppy Brainitis that is unknown to me, she didn't go after one of the balls that Dad "threw deep" for her.

If you biggify that picture, you can see how she's totally ignoring the ball that Dad threw her. And so Dad threw a second ball for her. A second ball?!?

So, feeling totally neglected, I thought that if I took the initiative and went down to the grassy field, I'd have my own tennis ball time. Abby decided to come with me. Because I'm her hero. Apparently, Dad was Not So Keen on me deciding that it was time to change venues...

So, we got marched back up to the pond, and I was made to lie down while Abby got in a little more swimming time. Why is it that the older sibling always gets blamed? This was SO Abby's fault. If she hadn't left her tennis ball in the pond, leaving us with just one tennis ball, I wouldn't have been bored and taken off...

So I had to sit while Abby went chasing after the one remaining tennis ball.

Oh, wait. Wrong picture. Here we go. Hey, it's a mistake ANYONE could make... Heehee!

After the "appropriate" amount of time with the hippobottomus doing her thing, we finally went down to the field so I could do my thing.

Although Dad still thought that I needed to "behave". What about Pod Puppy?

I'm telling ya' - the youth of today can get away with anything...

But unlike Abby, I actually share and let her get the ball sometimes...

But at the end of the day, I am Queen of The Land!

Especially since I'm nowhere near as goofy-looking!

Then it was time to head back. On the way back, we met a bunch of other doggies, some of whom Mom actually got pictures of...

This girl actually waited for us...

So, of course, we had to say hi...

Her sister came up and said hi, too.

Abby is a bit, erm, shameless when she meets new doggies, but I'll give you the PG photo...

I'll leave the rest to your imagination... Sheesh. I don't know where the girl learns these things!

So. Yeah. Um. We saw some other doggies, too, but Mom wasn't as quick on the draw with the camera, so no photos. Until we passed this hound, who has a front-row seat for all the traffic on the trail. He barked. We barked. All was good.

And then we went home, where there may or may not have been some bitey-face action...

So, just another day at the office! ;-)

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

I redeemed myself

I redeemed myself at The Park today. Mostly. When we got there, there was no one there. Which was fine by me. But as soon as Dad got my leash off, a Mom showed up with her daughter, a tennis coach (or something) and Another Goldendoodle! My first encounter with another Goldendoodle since my halcyon days back at the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm!!

Her name was Cindy (I think), and frankly, she wasn't super interested in playing with me. Or playing in general. We ran around a little bit, but she headed back to her Mom, and when Dad threw the football, she was interested in playing in the stream, instead. And when her human sister started hitting tennis balls? She went and stood on the side of the tennis court. She didn't even chase the spare tennis balls on the court! And she's only 4 years old! Dad called her 'mellow'. All I can say is that is that if I ever become that "mellow" I'd better be TaiChi's age!

Mom didn't get any pictures because she was "protecting" the sandbox area from me. For the record, Mango, I did NOT pee in the sandbox. I can't say the same for the itty-bitty kids who play in it - I didn't stop to check.... Anyway, I only went close to the sandbox once, and Mom pointed me back to Dad.

The only time I got slightly distracted? Well, I mentioned that there was this girl hitting tennis balls with her coach, right? Well, they left the gate to the court open. You might see where this is going.... Anyhoo... It wasn't my fault, really. I mean, if they leave the gate open, can I be blamed if I decided to go requisition one of those spare tennis balls?

I don't understand why they didn't want the ball back... Maybe they were just very nice people, and felt that I needed a tennis ball. I did notice that they shut the gate after I left the court, though... I guess I'm not ready to play tennis yet.

But after my excursion on to the tennis court? I was Very Good. I paid attention to Dad and got to chase the tennis ball a bunch of times. (Boring Cindy was still standing on the side of the tennis court. What is Up With That?!? I mean, she LOOKED like a dog, and her Mom said she was a Goldendoodle like me, and she even kinda sort of looked like me, but how could you POSSIBLY be someplace with all those tennis balls rolling around, and NOT chase them? Somebody should revoke her dog license. Sheesh.)

And I didn't attack any little kids. I only just looked at the one Very Little Kid that walked to the sandbox. I didn't go chase her, or try to eat her, or anything. So I totally redeemed myself today!

But did Mom get pictures of this? NO. And can you believe that Dad actually asked "Why do you take pictures? They all come out the same?" Is he kidding?!? DAD! They are NOT the same. Besides, you CANNOT have too many pictures of me. Using his logic, he shouldn't ever get any more pictures of him racing; but like that's going to happen....

*sigh*

So I'll leave you with some pictures of me playing with one of my toys.



Pee Ess. Mom and Dad say that sometimes I am "shifty-eyed" - hence the picture yesterday. I don't think I'm "shifty-eyed" - I think that I just have a wide range of facial expressions.