Sir Barky-Butt Chance

Hmmm...this is probably not a good thing as far as Sir Barky-Butt Chance is concerned.

Rumor has it that he had one of these famous collars while he lived in Hawaii. Do you think he knows what is about to happen? And do you think it will help? Oh my, this is difficult - I've had the blasted collar for over two weeks but have not had the courage to put it on him.

But, after a very barky Easter morning, and knowing the house would soon be full of activity, I broke out the collar, installed the battery and tested it...Yikes! - it worked. No barks escaped from Sir Barky-Butt until the two grandboys came bouncing through the door. Then, "BARK!! BArk! ba-rk.... That was it. Although very active for the remainder of the day, there were no more barks while those grandboys were here.

Soon, Chance settled down with his football and stuffed squirrel and waited for his dinner. Down but not out...no sooner had I removed the bark control collar than he was out the back door to terrorize the backyard neighbors hounds - large or small, he has no mercy - Sir Barky-Butt Chance is his name and barking is his game!

Noodles for Papa and Chance

You know those 'noodles' they use at the beach and in swimming pools? They work great! They are useful for other things also - you can cut a slit all the way down one of them and place a brightly colored 'noodle' on a hauler cable to keep innocent race fans from accidentally running into a cable. We purchased two of them to use on our motorcycle hauler - bright green (I wanted pink, but considering that Jenn and I have already inundated Roger with pink everywhere, thought I'd give him a break and get bright green.

Chance always greets us at the front door when we get home from anywhere and today was no different. Roger carried the two green 'noodles' through the front door and instead of just putting them away, he began to entice Chance, who immediately took the bait. Then instead of the normal command, "Chance, DROP!" Roger fell to the floor and began to wrestle the monster Dane! Before I knew it the two of them had that big green 'noodle' in shreds all over the living room floor! What a waste of a green 'noodle!'

On the other hand, I suppose it was worth the $1.50 just to watch a 56 year old grandpa roll around on the floor with his humongous shinning black Grandpup.

The Very Long Grass

It has rained and rained...and rained. Seems that it likes to do this around Easter time. So, Roger and I spent what seemed like hours yesterday afternoon trying to mow down the very long grass that had managed to take over the yard. It had to be done - but why? Because it is supposed to rain some more, of course. Then as I turned from my mowing chore and glanced toward the front of the house, there they were - my beautiful bright orange Tiger Lilies. Rain really is a good thing after all.

Friends? at last!

Grandpup 'Chance' the Regal Dane has lived with us for just over a year, while long time cat and family member 'Adagio' has been around for 12 years or so.

Adagio basically owned the place. He walked around the house anywhere he pleased - the refrigerator, washer, dryer, top of the sofa, between the legs... Then one day literally out of the blue (on an airplane from the Hawaiian island of Oahu) Grandpup Chance arrived. Yikes! What a 150 pound shock to our 9 pound fuzzball, Adagio!

Their first encounter sounded something like the attack of the Venetian wildcats on the massive Martian horse-dogs; and the result was a trip to the minor medical clinic for me! Adagio had lost his freedom. He could not accept this huge noisy, shinning, black monster who had moved into his territory.

Then, one year and 2 months later, as Jenn and I sat at the dining room table and Chance sat on the kitchen floor drooling over our eats, Adagio nonchalantly walked up to Chance and gave him a kiss on the face. As Chance drool swiped across Adagio's face, Adagio continued to be overly affectionate toward Chance. Can this be? Has Adagio forgiven Chance for moving into his home?

Only time will tell...