Return to Bear Mountain

Happy Labor Day, furiends!

We had family visiting over this long weekend and decided to give Bear Mountain another go, since the carousel wasn't open last time we went.

It was open this time and look what I found: me!

But did Little Boy or Girl Twin choose my wooden replica to ride on? Noooooooooooooo.

I was a little miffed that they chose the cougar and the fox, but I got over it quickly enough when I spotted these:

My human was so tempted to let me go swimming since she saw another doggy in the lake, but then she thought I might be a tad smelly on the car ride home (and didn't want to be busted by the park rangers).

Hope you all had a great long weekend, too!

Duck, Duck, GOOSE!

Two goose sightings in a week, I'm one lucky bird dog! This time, my Family took me to Bear Mountain State Park, on the Hudson River about an hour north of NYC. It's kinda a family tradition to go at least once in the summer, when the kids' cousins come to stay with us for a couple weeks. There's a small lake with boats to rent (but no doggies allowed, harumph), a little zoo (ditto, double harumph), picnic grounds & a playground, hiking trails and the coolest carousel around with carved wooden local animals (raccoon, turkey, fox, skunk, otter, rabbit and even a bear, bobcat and cougar, altho' those guys haven't been sighted around there in a long while, thank Dog!).

Unfortunately, with all the cutbacks in this bad economy, the carousel only operates now on the weekend. The kiddies were not amused. So we had our picnic, checked out the geese & took a short hike up the mountain.

That's my human dad. He was tempted to let me off lead so I could chase the geese, but we didn't want to get thrown out of the park. Too bad! I was rarin' to go, as you can see.

We found raspberry & blackberry bushes along the hiking trail! I didn't care for the blackberries 'cuz they were pretty sour, but the raspberries were yuuuuu-meeee!

I even managed to scramble up the (smallish) boulder for a family shot.

All in all, a great Monday! Hope yours was, too!

Road Trip!

Greetings, furiends! Sorry I've been incommunicado for a week, but I was on my first road trip!
We drove down to northern Virginia to see my human grandparents and godparents. I handled the drive and temporary digs like a seasoned pro, if I may say so myself.

The trip down took almost 6 hours (it's normally about 4 and-a-half) 'cuz we hit lots of pockets of traffic. My human was getting a little nervous since we had only made one potty stop, but she had nothing to fear. I was a little excited since my usual car spot is on the floormat of the 2nd row, and this time I was in the very back with Girl Twin...I've never seen stuff whiz by the window before!

It took me a long time to settle down on my bed but I finally did, and even snuck in a few cat naps along the way.

But I was pretty happy when we finally arrived at our destination. My human godparents (or is that 'dogparents'?!) wondered how I'd behave in their home, but I was fine. Not a single accident in 4 days and only a little "innappropriate chewing" (hey, I'm only 6 months old, I'm still entitled). Besides, their indoor plants really did need some trimming. And the kids' foam puzzle pieces looked a lot better with little teeth marks on them.

Anyhoo, everyone was pretty impressed with how quickly I made myself at home and was fairly content to just hang out at people's feet, gnawing on my new bone. It was a good one! It had marrow in the middle that took me a looooooong time to get to. Here it is in the car with me:

But the best part of the trip was the sleeping arrangements: I got to sleep in the guestroom with my humans and Little Boy! I'm used to sleeping on my own, in my crate in the kitchen, so this was a real treat! I mostly slept on the blow-up bed on the floor, over Little Boy's feet. That stinker does aerobics in his sleep, so I would spend part of the night under my humans' bed and even occasionally slept on my own bed. But I was quiet and didn't try to wake anybody up, so my human was very pleased with me. Now that she knows how well behaved I am at night, she feels a little bad that she doesn't let me sleep in their bedroom, but she has to let the kitties have some place to call their own, since I effectively upended their world when I arrived. I get that.

During our stay, we went to a park where I saw my first real duck and geese! I was so excited, I wanted to jump into that lake and chase after them, but alas that was against the rules. So I contented myself with practicing my tolling (cavorting on the shoreline to arouse the waterfowl's curiosity and draw them in). It worked, too!

My godmom/dogmom was so happy to spend time with me, 'cuz she really misses her dog Nicky. Nicky crossed the Rainbow Bridge a few years ago and my goddad/dogdad isn't sure he wants to get another doggy. I stayed with her and the little kids while my human took the big kids to play miniature golf, and I didn't even miss my human (sorry, Mom!). Look how much my godmom loves me!

So today we returned to New York. I knew the drill and settled in right away. To pass the time, I read the Kong Stuffing can to ensure there were no preservatives or artificial ingredients. Then I convinced Girl Twin to slip me some while my human was distracted by traffic:

Getting sleepy......................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I'll leave you with some "live action" of the trip home courtesy of Girl Twin.

Goin' Quackers

As a Duck Tolling Retriever, it's my duty to point out that Donald Duck celebrated his 75th birthday last month. Happy Birthday, Donald!

Donald was/is my human's all-time favorite Disney character. She told me about meeting him at the original Disneyland in California when she was 5 and being so star-struck she couldn't say a word. Since the person in the suit--I mean, Donald--didn't speak either, they just sort of stood there staring at each other for a few minutes, until it got really awkward and my human was compelled to walk away.

So it was destiny that she got ME!

I would love to get out there and toll some real ducks, but until then, I'm practicing at home.

Strange, though...this one squeaks instead of quacks.