May 15, 2009

Friday FriendsFriday Friends

I always look forward to Friday. Friday means the end of a busy week and time spent on the weekends recovering from my long week of work.  I get to rest my feet, sleep in, and spend time with my moms — both of them!

This Friday was nice because I got to meet a new friend — or I should say WE got to meet a new friend. Her name is Chloe and she’s a 3-month old American Bulldog who’s exploring the neighborhood for the first time.  Monty was with me when we met her and he’s always the one to take initiative. Gretchen calls him the Canine Historian who takes everyone’s story down to every last detail (or is that de-tail…I’m getting pretty good at these puns!)meeting chloe

It was no different with Chloe. He approached her like any good historian — without caution and immensely curious.  Chloe responded. I, on the hand, stay back until Monty assures me the subject (in this instance, Chloe) is harmless. I suppose it’s silly of me to think a three month old puppy would be anything but harmless, but I’m a cautious fellow. Sometimes those puppies can be right in your face and that, my friends, I find quite irritating!

What? (Gretchen’s mumbling something in the background.) I was NOT like that when I was a puppy…

…was I?

first smellI was very good with Chloe and she, I must admit, was very kind and cautious as well.  She let me sniff her and even wagged her tail when Monty nudged her with his nose.  Monty is a good natured fellow, but if a puppy gets too busy with him, he’ll let her know what’s what.

No need to do this with Chloe. She understands her place, which will serve her well as she gets older because you know, if she’s this big at 3 months, she’s going to be HUGE in another year!

pint size now

Monty and I took a nice long walk this morning after meeting Chloe and I got excited because there wasn’t a cloud in the sky!  No rain, yippee!  Monty is still on the mend so he went back to the house while I played with Oshi and Perrito.  And I mean played!

playingThe only downside to sunshine is that people play tennis on the tennis courts so we had to head to the small field where Gretchen let Oshi and Perrito leash drag.  Perrito has no problem with it. He flies across the field pulling that leash right along behind him.

Oshi isn’t so thrilled about dragging a leash. Or at least, that’s what I think, but it could just playing2be that Oshi isn’t nearly as rambunctious as Perrito.  Despite the helmet around his head, Perrito is still very active.

Of course, it doesn’t make for very good photographs…you can’t even see his face.

Oshi you can see because he’s always following Gretchen around snuggling up to her ankles whenever she stops.

close by

Oshi is pretty photogenic, though I think if you see Perrito in his right light, he has a friendly, if not comic, aire about him…especially with that lampshade. But his eye is healing…it’s looking better every day.

getting better

And the lampshade doesn’t really slow him down…at least not on such a sunny fun day as this!

shadow fun

Maybe that’s why Oshi was hugging Gretchen all day — too warm for romping!

in the shade

He did have fun, though, rolling around in the cool grass while Perrito tried to catch me.  Can’t be done, buddy, can’t be done!

rollingcatch me

After this romp, Gretchen took me with her when she walked Gerta.  Gerta was thrilled to see us again and was equally excited to wear that backpack again. Go figure.  We walked through the neighborhood stopping at key locations for photographic moments. First stop, the coffee shop to drop off business cards…

Think she'll get us a cookie from inside?
Think she'll get us a cookie from inside?
Don't hold your breath, Gerta. She parcels out the treats sparingly!
Don't hold your breath, Gerta. She parcels out the treats sparingly!

Next stop was at the camel. Yes, the camel.  Gerta was much more willing to pose than I was…

Do you think there's any similarity, Rubin?
Do you think there's any similarity, Rubin?
Same smile, but you've got a much warmer doganality than that camel!
Same smile, but you've got a much warmer doganality than that camel!

The cool thing about the backpack is that it wears Gerta out. She isn’t exhausted but 15 minutes into our walk and she’s not pulling us anymore. She’s walking right behind slogging the extra weight through the neighborhood.

heavy stuff

Of course, then she sees a pigeon and there’s no stopping her!

pigeon!

Who was next? Oh yeah, Teabiscuit…but today Gretchen left Monty and me behind so Teabiscuit could have a walk without worry about the big dogs around her.  And she got to play fetch, something she LOVES as much as I do!

fetching ears

According to Gretchen, Teabiscuit is quite the retriever. She would have played for hours, but it was warm out and Biscuit got hot quickly.  Well, not too quickly…she always begged for more.

throw the ballreally, throw the ball

"One more, okay?"
"One more, okay?"

Monty and I went for one last walk after Gretchen returned, but then we were pretty worn out so we rested and snacked on turkey treats…

Monty lounges by the front door
Monty lounges by the front door
Really, really lounging
Really, really lounges!

snack timesnack time2

And then Monty lounged some more…which is kind of funny because Monty doesn’t quite fit in my bed.

lounginglounging2

Doesn’t seem to stop him though.

Ah bed…that sounds kind of good on this Friendly Friday. I’m a bit worn out myself so I think I’ll call it a day and hit the sack…wait, AFTER supper!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Rubin

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