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I am glad to report that Hilde is feeling a lot better; thank goodness!

I heard mom tell Hilde this morning that if she threw up this morning that she was going to take her to see our doctor. Well, it’s the afternoon now, and Hilde hasn’t thrown up. So, I guess Hilde lucked out.

I also heard mom tell dad that Wooly has to go back to the vet pretty soon to get his thyroid checked again. He’s on medication because it’s out of whack; I guess he’ll be on it forever and ever. As long as it helps him with his weight, I guess I’m okay with it. He doesn’t like medicine, though. Mom has to hide it in peanut butter and fool him into taking it. I, on the other hand, don’t mind taking medicine when I have to. I take my Interceptor pill every month (just like all the others), and I just chew it up unlike the others who have to have it put into peanut butter or bread or something else. It doesn’t taste bad, so I don’t know why the others put up such a fight about it.

Wait, maybe they’re smarter than I give them credit for. They get peanut butter or bread or something else while I just chew up the pill. I ask you–is that smart?

I know this doesn’t mean much to a lot of humans, but Hilde is my friend. When my friend is sick, I cannot help her. Mom tried to help her, but I don’t know if she really did or not.

Mom took Hilde’s temperature, and she didn’t have one. You know a dog’s temperature is different from a human, right? Hilde’s temperature was 102 degrees, which is completely normal for us furry ones. Mom also gave Hilde a Pepto-Bismol tablet after she threw up in the hall. I think that calmed down her stomach, but, again, I can’t be sure.

All I know for sure is that Hilde didn’t eat last night. And, today, she sorta nibbled at her dry dog food. If she had been feeling real good, she would have eaten all of it. So, my conclusion is that Hilde is still not feeling very well. I tried to give her part of my dog biscuit, but she wouldn’t eat it.

So, after second thoughts, I bet mom takes her to see Dr. Eitleman (our doctor) tomorrow if she doesn’t eat tonight or if she throws up again. Mom watches us very carefully and knows when we are sick. I’ll let you know tomorrow what happens with Hilde.

I guess Valentine’s Day is a good day for humans. From now on, it’s going to be a good day for all of us as well. I’m not sure why it’s celebrated, but now it includes us.

Mom says it’s a day that you show people you love them by giving them a gift of some kind, i.e., candy, flowers, bones. Well, we got new kinds of flavored bones, and they are great. I guess Milk Bones decided to give us furry people a little variety in our lives. Anyway, that’s what Kasha, Wooly, Hilde, and I got for Valentine’s Day. Oh, yeah, we shared them with Misty, Samantha, and Candy. Pretty soon, you will get to see pictures of them.

Dad gave mom a really big box of chocolates, and she shared them with me. I know I’m not supposed to have chocolate, but a little milk chocolate never hurt anyone, especially on special days. Mom also got chocolates from Jason and Richel plus a fuzzy little bear. I found it on mom’s computer table and took it to her; she was really surprised. I wanted to keep it, but mom wouldn’t let me. Oh, well, maybe next year.

Mom went off to town today and left me at home. She said she had to go in too many stores and couldn’t leave me in the car that long. I didn’t want to stay home, but I didn’t have a choice.

When mom got home she said she went to Wal-Mart and got dad’s Grapette and Orangette. Those are the only drinks dad likes besides Propel’s Kiwi-Strawberry water. She then went to H-E-B (that’s a grocery store) and picked up dad’s prescriptions; they were for his diabetes and cholesterol. She went to Walgreens after that to get Wooly’s Kaopectate; the vet says he has to take those softening tablets forever because of his colon surgery. He takes one in the morning and one in the evening; mom gives them to him in peanut butter so he doesn’t know he is taking medications. She had one more stop to make and that was at Garden World.

Mom said she had to go there to get something to put down on the lawn that would kill those pesky sticker burrs. Those little suckers get stuck in our feet all the time, and the only time to put down those friendly chemicals are in February and then again in May. She says this way those stickers will not get in our little feet (she’s not talking about Hilde’s feet) and hurt us any more. I think, also, she got tired of telling us not to eat them; I guess she doesn’t know those stickers are fiber. I don’t think she would really care anyway, because we get enough fiber from the rice she cooks every night for us. Maybe she thinks those stickers hurt our mouth when we eat them, but they don’t hurt very much. Oh, yeah, about my new toy.

It looks like a barbell, but it’s not. It is a long black thing with three knobs–one on each end and one in the middle. It has flashing red lights between the knobs that come when I drop it off the bed. It’s pretty cool, although I wish it had sounds like my red ball.

Wooly, hairy little person that he is, is not mad at dad anymore it seems. At any rate, he went to the computer room with dad this afternoon, and he went to bed with dad tonight. Dad is all happy about it because he couldn’t figure out what was wrong with Wooly.

Between you and me, Wooly was never mad at all; he just wanted attention from mom. Mom didn’t brush him night before last, and Wooly was upset about it. When mom brushed him this morning, Wooly immediately got over his sulking and pouting. That’s why he went with dad all day and why he went to bed with dad tonight.

I really would hate to be that selfish, even though I must admit I didn’t like mom paying him that much attention. If I only had a lot of hair, mom would brush me every day, too.

I think Wooly has finally lost his mind.

Dad is wondering what in the world is wrong with Wooly. He won’t go down to the computer room with dad lately, and he won’t go to bed when dad goes. That is so strange. Usually, Wooly stays with dad 24 hours a day and seven days a week, except when he needs to go outside and then mom takes him.

Wooly seems to be eating all right, and he isn’t unusually grumpy; that is to say, Wooly is just being Wooly. Maybe dad yelled at him or something, but I don’t think so. The only time dad yells at us is when we are barking when he is on the phone or watching television. And, he only has to threaten us once or twice, and then we shut up. When he yells, we think he is barking with us; that’s why we don’t quit barking.

Mom, on the other hand, just whispers “sssssssssssshhhh” and we usually quit barking. Mom won’t bark with us, so it’s really not much fun and that’s why we quit.

Well, I guess Wooly will stop being mad at dad some day, but not today; maybe tomorrow.

Jacob and Katy are looking for something

     This is Jacob and Katy searching for I don’t know what in the back yard. It looks as if she found something though; it could be a grasshopper or worm. Jake is coming over to look at it–whatever it is.
     You have to admit they were very cute. Katy, like me, loved being outside, especially when she had someone to play with. Jake always played with her when he got to come over. Did I mention that Jake is mom’s grandson? If I didn’t, I’m telling you now. They (Katy and Jake–not mom) grew up together–Jake is now a senior at Smithville High School, which is in Texas. When Jake wasn’t around, Paul or mom would play ball with Katy.
     Katy, like me, loved to play ball. She (so mom told me) had so many balls, she never knew which one to play with first. She had footballs, soccer balls, basketballs, squeaky balls, sparkly balls, plain balls–oh, she really had a lot of balls. She was taught to catch a ball when it was thrown (me, unless it’s close, I won’t even try to catch it). When Katy got bigger, she could run very fast, Paul would throw a ball, and Katy would catch it. I bet that was really something to see. Mom said Katy looked like a golden streak running across the lawn. But, she certainly didn’t look like that when dad wanted her to swim with him. As a matter of fact, Katy, like me, would run the other way.
     She, also like me, didn’t like the water; there was too much of it. She preferred to swim in mom’s bathtub where the water was warm and had lots of bubbles (like me, too). Besides, mom always let Katy have a ball in the water with her; I don’t want a ball while I’m taking a bath. When I play ball, I play ball, and when I take a bath, I take a bath. And, mom said Katy always smelled so good when mom finally took Katy out of the bubbly water; mom doesn’ tell me that. She would get a towel and dry her as much as possible (she was very hairy like Wooly and unlike me), and then mom would brush Katy’s hair all the while talking to her about how pretty she was and how much she loved her. Those were good days.
     Not that nowadays are not good; they are. But, like mom, I miss Katy.

I can remember when mom used to leave every morning and come back every evening. I didn’t like the day without her in it. All I had were the other dogs and dad, but I really missed mom. She would take us outside when she got home and give us treats.

Now, mom’s home all day and all night, and I love it. I know the other ones feel the same. But, you know, sometimes it’s boring when all mom has to do is watch us and love us and feed us and pet us. Now, since mom is home all day and night, I have to behave myself. And, believe me, that can be boring.

I used to be able to get in the trash sometimes, but not now! So, all I have to do is eat, sleep, and go outside seven or eight times a day. I’m telling you–it’s a dog’s world.

I hate to tell you this, but I did something terrible. Mom has always taught all of us to respect other living things whether it is a flower or a bug or even a wasp. I like to play with things, but I would never hurt anything on purpose. But, that’s what happened.

Mom took all of us out this morning to do our business. When we got ready to come back inside, I spied a movement out of the corner of my eye. I stood real still for a minute. Mom told us to “get in the house”; those are the words she uses when she is serious. I do have to admit it was pretty windy, but it was real warm outside. So, I kinda stood there looking to see if something was going to move.

So, very slowly, I began to creep towards where I thought I saw some movement in the grass. Hilde came over to join me, but Wooly and Kasha went into the house. I was almost to the place where I thought the movement came from. Then, all of a sudden, this little furry creature darted toward the front gate. I made a running leap (sort of kind a tackle, really) and caught it on the fly. I had it my mouth ready to take to mom and show her what I had found to play with.

Mom told me to drop it, and I did so immediately. But, I guess I accidentally hurt it when I caught it, because mom told me I should be ashamed of myself. So, you know the worse. I admit I did it, but I didn’t mean to.

In case you are wondering about my title, it is the name of a movie mom and I just watched on television. It is about an expedition to Antarctia and what happens to the team and the dogs.

I know humans think we furry people cannot watch television, but we can. We can also hear things that humans cannot. We can do a lot of things humans don’t know we can do. For instance, we can smell out a varmit–any kind of varmit–wherever we are (I’d like to see a human do that). When we go outside, it is my job to ferret out smells to find out who has been in our yard. That’s the reason I run the fence line about two or three times a day. Back to the movie.

Who knows what the humans were looking for; maybe they were just having fun. Surely nobody would make a movie about humans just having fun! Well, as usual, the humans got themselves in trouble and had to be rescued. I’m not sure what happened, but mom said that they left the furry people behind in the cold and ice. Can you believe it? Mom would never do that to us.

I guess that was what one of the humans thought, too. He demanded that the rescue team go back after the sled dogs that were left behind. Apparently, this guy is like mom; he loves his dogs. I cannot imagine not being loved, can you?