Thoughts On Turning Six

Happy Birthday to Me!

I took a walk this morning, I basked in sunlit driveway, I ate banana bread, I had a bath.

Well, the bath wasn't fun, and as Mom started cleaning the bathroom I could tell she was thinking if she was going to scrub the tub, she might as well make it really dirty first and wash three dogs....She seems to be on a kick this summer to have squeaky clean dogs.

I played chase with my girls, I helped Mom as she weeded the flower beds, I made sure our property was intruder free.

And if I can have one more bite of banana bread tomorrow, I will call this the best birthday ever!

I'm six years old, and that's a good thing.

Mom Smells Like Puppies

Holy Moses, Red Alert! Mom smells like Puppies!

Like she might have been holding, snuggling, loving Puppies. Like she might have petted soft puppy fur and let puppy breath sniffle in her ear. Like she might have patted fat puppy tummies and rubbed her check against velvety puppy ears.

This could be bad news for us. Mom is a sucker for puppies.

Oh, the puppies weren't Beagles?

We are safe then. Mom is a sucker for Beagle puppies. And sometimes, small Badger like puppies, but we're stocked up on those things right now.

Right, Mom?

She agrees. Whew!

Two For Smell, One For Sight

Mom thinks it is so funny to walk the three of us and watch how we take in our surroundings. Sarah Beagle and I are all about the scents and smells along the trail. We put our noses to the ground and our tails are up and we make a snuffle noise the more intriguing the scent is.

Olive Badger is a sight dog. She spends all her walk looking around, mostly on the look out for birds. She thinks she can catch a bird and does her best to fulfill that destiny.

The three of us are rarely on the same game plan. The times that Sarah and I are pulling hard to discover the source of a fascinating smell, Olive is being dragged along for the ride, not at all sure what has us so excited. The times that Olive is desperate to chase the bird she is watching, Sarah and I are not interested.

And since it is two against one, Olive Badger is on the losing end of this tug of war.

Sadder still, in Mom's opinion (not mine because I have to share with Sarah already) is that Sarah and I find things to eat. Be it bread or spilled mocha or something too disgusting for Mom to think about, we will sniff it out and eat it before Olive has a chance to see it.

She's too focused on birds. I know badgers usually have a great sense of smell and poor eyesight, and maybe I should change Olive's name to Olive Birddog, but she is quite fierce and prefers to be known as Olive Badger.

And since she is the best watch dog in our family, I think she can keep what ever name she wants.

Did You Hear That?

What was that noise? That rustling around in the carport? And the scent! Something is out here girls. Something is here, messing around on our turf!

We get it cornered, but that little scamp can climb high and cling to the rafters.

Mom is having a freak out. She thinks it's a rat. She saw it's skinny little tail and is not happy that something is crawling around in the messy carport. The way she ran back into the house when she heard a noise was kind of funny!

When Dad got home, he helped us flush it out. He wasn't afraid of a rat leaping off the beams and landing on him. Turns out, it wasn't a rat. Mom came out of the house a little to give a look see. It was a tiny chipmunk who sat here staring at us, giving us the eye, flaunting his superior climbing skills.

Stand down Sarah, it's just a chipmunk. Code Red Rat Alert has been cancelled. We can still be Code Pink Chipmunk Alert, but Dad says we have to come inside and let it be un-harassed for a bit.

But Dad! It will get away if we aren't out there watching it! I have a sneaking suspicion that is the reason he won't let us back out!

But Mom Said No

Yesterday was my lucky day. I got to go on a walk in the morning with Mom and Dad and it was nice outside and we smelled lots of good things and Olive Badger has finally gotten the hang of walking on a leash and we were hardly tangled up at all.

I got to go on another walk after dinner! Can you believe it? I was so surprised and excited. And not just with Mom and Dad and Sarah Beagle and Olive Badger, but my kids came too! That hardly ever happens now that they are in high school.

But things got even better. We only walked a little ways, but two houses from our destination, I went a little crazy with excitement. I just knew we were going to visit Grandma in her yellow house and I was right! I was pulling so hard at the leash, Dad had to walk faster.

I leaped up the steps and ran into the house were the girls and I promptly spazzed out. We ran around and around, we jumped, we danced, we leaped and galloped.

And we looked for food. Because at Grandma's house, where little kids like to visit, there are lots of crumbs of food hanging out under table chairs and the kitchen is a sticky smorgasbord! It's heavenly.

The girls and I were finding great things. We got to share a whole cookie that a little cousin had left behind. Olive licked up soda as it was spilling out of a loosely held cup. It was all great until a giant spider came out of hiding and wanted to join our party.

Mom and the kids and us girls all froze as we took in the size of that eight legged creature. It was a big 'un.

Grandma didn't freeze. She moved forward and smashed it flat. Go, Grandma! I leaped forward to investigate, possibly give it a lick to see if it tasted good, but Mom said, "No Emma!"

Humph. Grandma would have let me, but Mom said no. I watched Grandma sweep it up and toss it out, sadly without any idea of what it smelled like.

Good thing another cookie happened to break into three pieces and find their way to Olive, Sarah and me.

I love Grandma's house!

It's Not Christmas

It's not Christmas, but I see some presents wrapped in red paper.....

It must be some one's birthday!

Olive Badger and Sarah Beagle are busy leaping and cavorting on the couch,

but I get close just in case L needs help,

OR in case the present is actually for me and she's gotten it by mistake...

Nope, it's for her: a boring old music book.

Nothing to chew or squeak or eat.

L is happy and pleased, so I guess it's a good gift for a 14 year old girl.

It's kinda boring for an almost 6 year old Beagle!

Which reminds me....
Mom, I am working on my birthday wish list.

August 6th is just around the corner!

I don't need a birthday cake with candles, but a pancake wouldn't be remiss.

She Is Called Puppy

Olive Badger has always been and probably always will be called L's Puppy. She's not a puppy, but whenever Mom talks about us dogs, she calls Sarah and me "the Beagles," and Olive is "L's Puppy."

Which shouldn't matter except recently she was stopped in the middle of the story about the Beagles and L's Puppy to ask if we had a new puppy. No, the same old one.

How old is your puppy?

Mom did some math in her head....L's Puppy is 20 months old. Um, that's almost two years old. Not really a puppy.

Um. Hmm.

But the answer my friends, is simply this: Olive will always be called L's Puppy because that is what she is. L saved her money, $300 of it, and bought a puppy of her own, and since Olive is always going to be tiny, it's so easy to forget that she isn't a puppy.

She's more like a teenager. And yelling, "L, your teenage dog just ate a shoe!" does not roll off the tongue as easily as yelling, "L, your puppy just ate a shoe!"

And since Olive Badger is kind of a hooligan, and is always finding something to chew that doesn't belong to her, I think she'll always have the label Puppy.

It just fits.