Ode to a River

Cool, rushing river.

How I love you so.

My playground, my pasture of happiness.

Your banks covered with wet rocks, musty grass, and

the occasional dead fish.

Every part of you screams fun.

If I could spend but one more hour along your shimmery banks,

I would spend it on patrol, for a waterlogged toy,

flying through the air.

And when I see said toy, in an arc across

my dear river's rippled surface,

I am blown away by the need

to run, jump, splash and swim.

And landing, graceful, into your blessed, wet, coolness.

I am overcome with the need to chase my toy,

grasp it along with a mouthful of your river bounty,

And return to shore, to do it again.

Times infinity.

Camping is Cool

Here are some pictures from our camping trip.

I hope that they help you understand just how wonderful it was.

This is just an example of the amount of dirt that covered me after our trip.

Pretty impressive, right?

Camping was at least 10% awesome fun,

90% serious laziness.

No dog could complain when faced with those odds.

A dog's number one job while camping is patrol.

The humans' biggest concern is for these coolers,

which were heavily laden with yummy snacks and beer.

I watched them very closely.

This is how I spent most of the day.

Laying very still in the cool dust,

as close to the action as I could get.

This is my buddy Zonker.

He is a much more experienced patrolman than I am.

Look how serious he is?

Maybe he should go camping more.

Why Camping Changed my Life

This is me before my first camping trip.

Heartbreaking, don't you think?

It is really hard for me to look at this picture and

remember what life was like before I'd been camping.

(Check out that carpet, though. That is NICE!*)

Anyway.

Before I went camping I'd never known what it was like

to loll around in the dirt all day, to eat delicious hot dogs dropped from the table, or

the never-ending smorgazbord to behold from the hands and face of an 8-month old.

Before I went camping I didn't understand the joy that comes from

frolicking in the river for hours on end, or how funny it is

to refuse to do your business in the grass at the campground and

require your dad to drive you two to three times a day to the

off-leash area to take care of things.

Ahhh, camping.

This is a picture of me while camping.

Isn't the before and after remarkable?

*Mom and Dad got new carpet and wanted to advertise.

Busy Busy Teddy

I haven't posted in awhile and I'm sure you've missed me. Let me assure you that I have been VERY busy! When I posted last, I was telling you the story of my trip to the beach. Not long after, there was a barbeque at our house to celebrate the Fourth of July. The best part of the night was when my buddy Nate came over!

Mom and Dad are usually a little nervous about the fireworks because I'm afraid of many things. They discovered that I am more afraid of a newspaper falling off a table (super scary!) than really loud fireworks (not so scary).

I spent much of the evening lolly-gagging around on the grass.

Oh yeah, and chewing sticks!

Stay tuned for more about my first CAMPING TRIP!!