Posers

Quillette is staying with us for a few days. Yesterday, we went for a walk to Volunteer Park where we posed for photos of Seattle icons. The picture above was taken at a small park outside the big park and it's impossible to see, but in the distance the mountains have snow on them. While we both look bored, I'm a thrilled the snow is finally falling. I can hardly wait until we head to the hills for fluffy romps in the cold crystals.
Next, we posed by the "donut" in Volunteer Park. Quillette is staring at a small dog walking across the street from us. She isn't the friendlist to strange dogs, but she obeys well and "stayed" when asked. I, on the other hand, am smirking with impatience. How many photos do they need of me?
Now, here's the kind of photo I love. I got to play with Oshi and Perdito (in the foreground) yesterday. Perdito likes to pretend he's going to get the ball from me and I like to pretend I'm going to let him have it. But he doesn't and I don't. Oshi occasionally chases after us, but never with much vim or vigor.

We're about to head out today to pick up Ollie. Quillette doesn't get to go because she doesn't play well with others. She's older, too, and needs more rest.

I don't. So, let's go!

Balls

I don't get it. Perdito (above) is a dog. Dogs play fetch. Dogs chase balls. It's what we do. But Perdito he just doesn't get it. "Ball, what ball? What's a ball anyway?" he's always saying.

I try to show him...
..."This is a ball, dude, and this is how you hold it in your mouth," I tell him, but he still doesn't get it... He just sniffs it and keeps walking right on by.

"Dude! It's a ball, play with it! Chase it. Kick it. Growl at it. Toss it in the air. Squish it in your mean teeth. Roll it with your nose. Get really excited when the ball comes out of the backpack or the pocket. Race like the wind when the ball is thrown. Fetch it, dude!"

But he doesn't. No matter how much education all of his dog pals try to provide...
...he doesn't get it!

Keeping everyone happy

This is Quillette. She's an older dog and kind of temperamental, but occasionally, she let's her hair down. We took her on a long walk this afternoon and headed for my favorite new trail in town. We both got to run off leash and I helped her practice "frisky in the leaves!"

Earlier that day, we played with Lucy and a new friend, Tacoma or Taco for short. Taco is a pesky little devil. He stole Lucy's ball again and again, but eventually, she gave up on him and stole my ball instead.

And then there's Ollie. He loved romping with me and Lucy. When Taco joined us, he was all around pleased with himself. Oh, and he finally figured out what he's supposed to do with a ball!

I'm exhausted now, though I keep my eye on the back porch. Cats are approaching these days and when I see a cat, I am out of control beside myself crazed. There are no pictures of that, but I imagine there will be soon.

A November Summer

It's unseasonably warm this mid-November. 62 degrees today. I wanted to go swimming, but my pal Lucy isn't much of a swimmer so we played fetch instead.

Fetch makes me bounce. My ears go up and I get this uncontrollable smile on my face. Can you see it? I'm pretty good at fetch, but Lucy is the Queen of Fetch. She's speedy, she's quick, and she's obsessive. Every picture we have of her looks like this...

And in every picture I am far behind. Oh well. The sun was out, the day was beautiful and tomorrow promises the same. I'm hoping for swimming, but I don't think it's going to happen.

Fetch anyone?

Frivolity

This might look like a seriously awful fight -- two dogs showing their mighty fangs -- but not to worry. It's just me and my best buddy in the whole wide world, Monty. We play like this a lot. Yesterday, we got to go to our favorite off-leash park and we had a wonderful time. We ran, we chased, we played fetch, we swam, we sniffed, and we wrestled. It was glorious.

Sometimes in our wild play, things get awkward. Above is a picture of Monty (who was chasing me but then I stopped) jumping over me. We moved on, as we always do, and I started running and he started chasing me.

It helps to have a ball in my mouth. That way, I feel as if it's the ball he's after and not me.

After we wear ourselves out, we head to the river, which this year, is mighty high. Usually there are steps down to the water, but this year the steps are under water. The fences are still up, too. These protect the salmon who are trying to spawn, though the flooding, I'm told, sort of ruined all of that.

Still, it was nice to take a dip in the water after such frivolity.

Monty liked it, too.

Levitating

The rain stopped. It made Ollie levitate. I tried, but I think it's too hard to carry a ball in your mouth and lift yourself off the ground all at the same time.

Besides, Ollie's a lot younger...

And it's supposed to be nice today. Hallelujah!

Tuesday...not so dry!

Well, as you can tell from the photo, it's raining today. Not hard, but enough of a steady mist to make everyone a little wet. Tuesday is Ollie's day, but Ollie, like me, has a curly coat that tends to mat when it gets wet. So mom dug out my old raincoat, the one I've outgrown, and fitted it to Ollie. He jumped for joy...as you can see!
I, on the other hand, hate my coat. I only ignored it after a long walk and a chance to play fetch at the tennis courts. Momma Ann got to go with us as she is off today, though she is working very hard on what she calls Report Cards. I thought the idea of vacation was to NOT work, but I guess I worked today, too, so who am I to judge.

Ollie likes the rain, though he's not very good about fetching the ball. He just runs around and occasionally we play, but mostly we look stylish in our coats...even though I hate mine.

Here's one last shot of Ollie trying to look stylin' in his/my coat!

More rain for tomorrow. More wind, too. It's not supposed to be pretty, which means I'll more than likely have to wear that damn coat again.

Monday

Despite the threat of rain, it turned out pretty good today. We didn't have to walk in the rain (yet) and we got to play fetch at the tennis courts, which is always fun for me.

This is Perdito. It's hard to get him in a standing position. He's always moving, even when he isn't.

This is Oshi. It's hard to get him moving unless we're heading back to his house. Then he's in the lead and in a hurry.And believe it or not, this is a picture of the three of them though it looks like Oshi is an addition to Perdito. Perdito LOVED Lucy though she wasn't so sure about this carpet sample smelling her backside.

And where am I? Staying out of the fray.

Check out Lucy's sweater, though. Hard to see it, but it's a white skull and cross bones on a black background. It makes her look bad ass. She's not as this picture also tells because I have her tennis ball as well as my own and she's just waiting patiently for me to let her play with one. A true bad ass will just bully it away from me, so while the sweater is cool, it doesn't really change her personality.

The day is only half over. There's more to do, but mom's a little under the weather so I think we get to nap before we venture out again.

And still...no rain!

A Rainy Work Week

I got to sleep in this morning. This is a good thing for I haven't had a lot of sleep this past week. I've been working. Unfortunately, because of the rain, we haven't taken a lot of pictures.

Well, there are these:

This is Lucy who ALWAYS gets the ball first!

This is Perdito who my mom calls a carpet sample on a leash...

Lucy again, and Monty. Somehow Monty got the ball first and Lucy is none too pleased...other than that, they liked each other...

...and this is me and Monty yesterday evening after a long week of work...