July 19.  And according to the Crazy Calendar, it is Stick Out Your Tongue Day.  Which is strange, because once upon a time, it was not considered really polite to do so.   But today, it seems like people think it’s a cool thing to do.  Go figure.

I know that we dogs LOVE to stick out our tongues when my human is doing a photo shoot.  It drives her crazy when, in a photo of the three of us, two are looking great and one of us is sticking out his tongue.

Anyway, to mark this day – let’s look at some dog tongue facts.   Did you know that if a dog’s tongue is blue – it could be a sign of lung or heart problem?  EXCEPT in  Chow Chows and Shar-Peis – who have blue or dark colored tongues all the time!

Contrary to popular belief, dog tongues are NOT cleaner than human tongues.  And the idea that we should lick our (or your)wounds to clean them is NOT a good plan.  Like humans we have lots of bacteria in our mouths – so licking does not promote healing.

When we stick our tongues out and are panting, it is a way that we use to cool ourselves off.  They say that when we pant, air is moved through our mouths and into our respiratory tract, bringing in moisture to cool us down.  

We actually have fewer taste buds in our tongues than humans – although we reportedly can taste sweet, sour, bitter and salty.  But we have less than 1/6 the number of taste buds than humans have.   Perhaps that explains my affinity for dryer lint….

We use our tongues to lick and convey emotions. We lick people (and other dogs) when we are happy and to show affection.  I LOVE to lick Einstein’s face.  And do so whenever my human is not paying attention.  I REALLY like to do it right after she grooms him.  I have actually begun to lick the FG, but since I have always been a bit aloof with him, he isn’t quite sure what to do if I lick him. His hair doesn’t mess up as well as Einstein’s hair – his always looks crazy – so it’s not really as much fun to do.

They say that the size of a dog’s tongue can affect his bark.   If size affects the AMOUNT of barking one does, Einstein must have a GIANT tongue.

So those are my crazy facts for today.  Gotta go -time to go lick Einstein.

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days: 58

So you all know that we have Big Brother in our house.  One of those webcam things that allows my human to check in on us throughout the day.  It actually sends her notifications if we even MOVE so we can’t get away with much.  Mind you – she doesn’t look at EVERY notification she gets – because she wouldn’t get anything done at work!  But it is handy to check in – and if heaven forbid,  I have a seizure, she can check on me later in the day to see how things are going.

We also know that Big Brother can also reveal the culprit in home crimes.  Like tevealing the guy who stole the bananas and ate them, peel and all.  That would be me.  Or the guy who stole the oven mitt.  And shrededed it.  That was also me.  Hey.  I get bored.  What else can I say?

Now the only problem with Big Brother (from my human’s point of view) is that it can’t see everywhere.  Like the laundry room.  Which has the garbage can that holds the delectable dryer lint.  Usually the door is closed – but as we all know, sometimes it isn’t latched all the way, lending easy access to dryer lint treats.  My favorite.  Again.  Hey.  I’m starting to look like the bad dog in this house.  Mind you, it WAS because of MY antics that this whole blog thing started…

Anyway,  the other day, the door just happened to have been left unlatched.  BUT – there was no dryer lint in the garbage can.  It was empty.   SO.  SOMEONE decided to attempt to remove the toilet paper from the roll.  The roll was pretty full, and in fact, it didn’t even roll off that easyily.  Not that I’m saying it was ME who did it, but that was my observation.  And because there is no Big Brother to point the finger, my human couldn’t accuse anyone.  Score.  Off the hook.  For that one anyway.

In the meantime, I did get busted for not one but TWO runaway episodes in the past week.  My human got home from work and let us out to pee.  And not once, but TWICE did I start heading back in the house, when the call of wild occurred.  The first time, my human put Einstein and the FG in the house and went to the neighbor’s house to find me.  No luck.  She went to another neighbor’s – lurking through yards trying to remain inconspicuous.  Good luck with that.  When she didn’t find me – she went to get the car.  She drove up the road – but no sightings.  So she headed home.  And guess who had doubled back and was waiting at the door?!  Don’t I LOVE doing that?!  Because I have her over a barrel – she can’t get mad beacuse I have returned.

I did it again the other night – but this time, I met the neighbor.  He had just pulled down his driveway and here was my human coming from his backyard.  Oopsie.  I was put on leash and taken home.  

I think I’m being bad because I’m getting excited for her summer vacation.  Who am I kidding?  I’m just bad.  No.  Let’s call it adventurous and entertaining.  Yeah.  Let’s call it that…

Have a good one.Peace   and paws up.
Seizure free days: 57

What was she thinking?  Sometimes my human has what she refers to as a brain fart and she does something that clearly does not involve much thought…

Well the World Cup is over. And while we PONs were devastated because Poland was out of the running pretty early, the FG was pretty smug from the beginning.  And not only did France do well from the start – but they went on to WIN the World Cup!  The FG was pretty excited, so although we were disappointed for our national team, we were happy that someone in this house got to celebrate!

Well we are moving to a highrise condo in the heart of the city.  The wilds of country living have finally become too much for my human.  With the bears, the deer, the crazy bunnies, the field mice, the black flies, and the porcupines, she has decided that city life would be much less adventurous.  And why the decision?  What drove her over the edge?  A snake.  Who is now residing somewhere in our garage.  

Today is July 14 and according to the crazy calendar, it is Pandemonium Day.  It is supposed to be a day to celebrate being unstuffy, to living in an unorganized, unplanned, uproarious way – for the day, anyway. To bascially “engage your inner child” and feel FREE.  That’s what the website said.

My human laughed HYSTERICALLY when she read this.  Our entire LIFE is Pandemonium  – or what she refers to as PONdemonium.  No two days are EVER the same.  Or calm.  Beginning with someone counter surfing, or Einstein barking out orders, or someone sneaking into the garbage and eating dryer lint, or me standing at the garage door staring at it and willing it to open so I can race in to look for dog food…. Or then we have the FG licking Einsteins’ private parts – while Einstein is at the water bowl sloshing it everywhere – and my human is racing for the squirt gun to stop him.   We have the alarm going off to remind her to give me my pills.  And the staring threesome who drool while waiting for her to share her banana.  After which the FG rubs his face along every cupboard and  wall.  He’s even knocked over chairs while rubbing his face.  And then we have the three of us rolling on the new, clean carpet.  So far the edges have remained intact.  So far.

And all of this has happened BEFORE 7 AM.

And somebody invented a DAY to celebrate being spontaneous?   Let them spend a week with us.  Make that a day.  They’ll be proclaiming the Need for Rest and Silence Day.

Anyway – if you DO live a sedate, organized, calm life – go out and be crazy today.  And if you’re not sure how to do it – give us a call.

Have a good one.  Peace and pawsup!
Seizure free days: 53

More neighborhood excitement.  It was Wednesday morning.  It was cool and foggy when we went out for our morning walk at 5:15.  In fact, the street lights were still on because the skies were overcast too.  We trotted up our driveway and that’s when we first spotted the carnage.

Wednesday is garbage day.  And in addition to regular garbage, it is also green bin organics collection day.  As soon as we got 3/4 way up the driveway and we had a clear view of the road, we noticed that our neighbor’s green bin had been knocked over.  And someone had been rummaging through – resulting in a stinky mess on the road.  Obviously Mr. Bear was back.  Across the road, another green bin was also knocked over.  With similar messy results.  My human kept us on SHORT leashes – after all, what could be more irresistible to a PON than stinky garbage.  As we wandered up the road, it was evident that only two out of seven cans were left standing.  We had not put out our green bin – that had been emptied a few nights before.  It was evident by the carnage that Mr. Bear had thoroughly enjoyed his buffet.  And now the crows were shouting out the news about leftovers and helping themselves to the treats.

My human texted the neighbors to give them the heads up – although she felt a bit guilty about being the bearer (no pun intended) of the bad news so early in the morning.  Happy breakfast.

When the FG went for his walk, my human had to again steer clear of the crow smorgasbord.

It looks like green bins will have to stay in garages until Paddington moves on.  I honestly thought that he was gone after we saw him the first time, but evidently he is enjoying the neighborhood soup kitchen too much.   And imagine his delight when the bins were all conveniently lined up for him!! I would have liked to have been riding down the road to see him during the feast.  Note I said riding – IN the car.

I’ll keep you updated about any sitings.  Now.  We just need to see a moose…

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.
Seizure fee days: 52

July 12.  And today is the birthday of Henry David Thoreau.  He was an American writer, naturalist, and historian who believed in simple living but also was a political activist who wrote about Civil Disobedience.  The term refers to nonviolent resistance to government policies. Seems like a term well asssociated with the canines in this house.  So we had to salute him.

Have a good one! Peace and paws up!

Sunday night my human was getting ready for bed.  In fact, she was IN bed – but checking owl sounds on her iPad.  Yes – you read that correctly.  Owl sounds.  Why?  Because she was just dozing off – and could hear an owl outside.  It’s not the first night she has heard him – but she wanted to figure out what kind of owl it was.  Is it any wonder we dogs have attention deficit problems – look at our human.  Anyway, she was playing a bunch of owl calls and determined that it was a Barred owl.  Maybe.  She’s no ornithologist.

As she was playing the calls on her iPad, the FG suddenly sprang up, raced to the kitchen and gave out THE most fierce big dog bark I have EVER heard him do. We all know that Einstein aka the Canine Crier is the one who intiates barking in this house.  For EVERYTHING.  But it was the FG who started this, quickly followed by Einstein – who ran after him into the kitchen.  I stayed in the bedroom with my human – no point in all of us doing guard duty.

 My human figured that were just reacting to her playing the owl sounds on the iPad.  So she told them to settle down – and after a few more woofs, they slowly came back to bed.  And it was a peaceful night.

HOWEVER, we found out the next morning that the FG and Einstein DID hear something besides the owl sounds.  And there was clear evidence about what they heard.   Our garbage cans and green organics bin were all knocked over.  It appears Mr. Bear may be back in the neighborhood.  We thought he had moved on – but clearly he has come back.  So we have to be on alert again.

The weather forecast is a BIT ominous for Thursday.  It could be a Tropical Storm.  It could be a hurricane.  Or it could be a few showers.  Surprisingly the weatherman didn’t throw in blizzard and sunny skies just to cover all bases.  All I know is that if it involves rain, we PONs will NOT be impressed.

Today the forecast is beautiful – so we’ll take it.
Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days: 49