Exploring our new place

After all our boxes got unpacked and it looked as if we were going to stay here a while, the humans started taking me around this new place where we are living.

One of the first places they took me was to The Beach. This seems to be a big deal to them. They seemed to have hopes that I could learn to be a Water Dog, like all the deluded canines in this picture.

I could be at home on a comfy blanket, but my humans brought me here.

Well, I could give you lots of reasons why The Beach isn’t such a fun place for me, but the main ones are water, water, water, and water.

1. That’s a whooole lot of water out there. If it doesn’t fit in my water bowl, I don’t want anything to do with it.
2. This water makes noise and goes in and out and sometimes splashes up over my head. Water isn’t supposed to do that. Water is supposed to stay in the bowl.
3. This water tastes terrible.
4. If papillons were meant to go in the water, they would be laborador retrievers.

So when they take me to The Beach, I keep as far away from the water as I can. It’s fine at a distance. One good thing about The Beach is the sand. It’s soft and squishy and flat. It feels good to just run around in any direction. No. 2 likes to do that too so we run together.

No. 2 took a picture of me striking a heroic pose. He says I look like Rin Tin Tin. I’m just wondering how long I have to stand on this rock, and how soon I can get back in the car where the wind isn’t blowing.

King of the hill

After a while the humans figured out a place to go that I like a lot better. It’s really close to our home, it has a nice civilized sidewalk, it has some water but not the crazy kind, and plus there’s a park up above the water with regular grass that I can run around on. When the weather is warm we go there almost every day.

A good place to walk

For some reason the Klingons never go on these walks with us. Back where we lived before, we would all go together for walks in the woods. But here there aren’t any woods close by and there are more streets and cars. Both the Klingons and the humans seem happier if the Klingons just stay on the patio and sleep.

Seems pretty unexciting to me.

Woofs,
Willie

Posted: February 7th, 2010 under Outings - No Comments.

Our boxes are here!

Our boxes came! And our sofa and our bed and even the frigidator! How did they know where we went?

Those crazy Klingons have been freaking out in these first few days in our new home. The humans go looking for them and find them in the kitchen cabinets, under the sink, and even one time up in the cabinet with the dishes! What are they so nervous about? I guess they’re settling down some now.

I went with No. 1 and No. 2 to some class of a parade. There were a lot of stompy feet and I had to be quick on my feeties not to get stepped on.

Hmph! What happened to the Papillon contingent?

This is the way that things look around where we live now. That’s a lot of water down there.

Woofs,
Willie

Posted: December 18th, 2009 under Other dogs - No Comments.

The long, long car ride

Some humans came and took away all of our boxes and our bed and our frigidator and everything. But No. 1 and No. 2 are still here so it’s all good. That’s what really matters to a dog.

No. 1 put one of the Klingons in her bubble in the back seat and put me in the front seat and we went for a car ride.

It was a really long car ride. My favorite place to roost on long rides is the little part of the car that goes between the front seats. It’s just papillon-sized.

Finally the car stopped and No. 1 rolled down the window. Another human walked up and guess what! It was No. 2! I did not know that he came too! This was a happy!

He brought our other car and there were the other Klingons. I jumped in to inspect the situation.

We went into a little room that had a bed in it. Now I know why you would want to give a Klingon a pill. The humans had given the one in my car a pill to make her sleepy so she wouldn’t go “Meooooowr! Meoooowrrowr!” the whole time in the car. This didn’t turn out to be the best plan, because that night when we were all trying to sleep, this Klingon was all loopy and she kept clawing No. 1’s arm and fastening her teeth in No. 1’s elbow. Finally No. 2 took the drunken Klingon off our hands and we got some shut-eye.

The next morning it was back in the car. They didn’t give her any more of the goofy pills and she did fine, just went to sleep in her bubble. Me too. I dozed on the console, just waking up enough to accept crumbs of cheese-cracker sammiches that No. 1 got for lunch and then back to dozing. If the sun got too hot in the front seat, I crawled into the back seat and slept on top of the pillow next to the Klingon.

Each night we would stop and No. 2 and the other Klingons would appear and we would go into a different little room with a bed. This went on for several days. One morning we got a slow start because that same pesky Klingon got herself lost. See, she’s goofy enough already, she didn’t need any pills to make here worse. The humans called her and called her, and they kept asking me where she was. What am I, a bloodhound? No help here. We looked up and down the halls and asked everybody, but we were still down a Klingon.

Finally No. 1 started turning the room upside down. She found a rip in the mattress. They lifted the top of the bed up and… nothing. Then No. 1 said, “I see a lump!” That dumb Klingon had crawled inside the bed and was sleeping inside the top part like it was a hammock. Oy, what a bother. We finally got out of there and weren’t sorry to see the back of it.

My favorite stop on our long, long car ride was a place that was not just a room, but a whole house.

Okay, there was some sort of a Springer spaniel there that got on my nerves, but other than that it was fun!

We went outside and there was lots of room. I could run! Run the wide open range, like a coyote!

But the next day it was back on the road. We got to one place where there was no bed. In fact there wasn’t much of anything.

No. 1 went into one of the rooms upstairs and I kept hearing her say a word that I know all too well. “No. No no no no no.” I went to see what all the fuss was about.

“Howard Johnson!” she kept moaning. I didn’t see it was as bad as all that… it’s just wavelengths, as No. 2 would say. Apparently it was supposed to be this color:

We slept on some class of a thing on the floor. The next morning I expected we would pack back into the cars. I was getting used to this life on the road, and like I said, all a dog really needs is his pack.

But… I was so surprised! We stayed!

Woofs,
Willie

[No. 2 here: We want to thank the Howdy Pardner Bed and Breakfast for showing Willie such a wonderful time when we passed through Cheyenne, Wyoming. A dog loves his wide open spaces!]

Posted: November 28th, 2009 under Car rides, Other dogs, Strange occurences - No Comments.

Something unusual’s going on

Something suspicious is happening in our home.

I think it all started when the humans took me for a ride in the car with the Klingons. You have to realize that Klingons and cars don’t mix. The only place they ever go in a car is to the vet. But this time, we just drove around for an hour, and the humans said something about getting them used to long car rides. Why?

After we had been driving for half an hour with no apparent decrease in yowling inside the car, No. 2 made up a song called “99 Kitties Crying and a Dog.” He sang it to the melody of “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.” It went, “99 kitties crying and a dog. 99 kitties crying. Give one a pill, make her get ill, you’ll still have 99 kitties crying and a dog.” I didn’t like this song. How did this dog get mixed up with 99 Klingons? Why did they give one a pill? How did it end? What does it mean?

Then the humans’ friends started coming over. One night it was No. 1’s friends, the ones who use sharp implements like she does.

Another friend, who has lots of dogs, came over and had lunch. This human is goofy and knows how to have fun.

Lynnie

Then we went to some more friends’ house and had dinner.

That wasn’t all that much fun. At these humans’ house, there are at least eight white boxers. Maybe it’s only three or four, but when they come at you and smell you all over and bat at you with their great clumsy paws, it seems like boxers everywhere you turn. Here’s one of them.

They all look the same from down here, trust me.

Finally, something strange started to happen in our house. The humans’ stuff started getting put into boxes.

The only benefit I can see to this development is that for the first time I can get into the frigidator! All the way into it! It should always be this way!

Woofs,
Willie

Posted: November 3rd, 2009 under Quilting, Strange occurences - 1 Comment.

A tree came inside

Now it’s all brrrr outside again and the white stuff is back. You won’t believe this, but a tree came inside… right inside the house! Maybe it was cold.

Lots of new things around too.

One morning we ripped all the paper off of those new things that were lying around. Oooh, that was fun! They let me help and I ripped and tore with my teethies!

No. 1 got that large item. She uses it to put blankies over.

But, the most exciting thing that happened was right after lunch. Since the humans have trained me to lie down through dinner and always give me some of their food afterward, I’ve gotten the idea that doing a ‘down-stay’ is a good idea if I want a treat at any time, even if they don’t tell me to do it.

So I did a very polite ‘down-stay’ while they were eating lunch, and do you know what I got?
THE BIGGEST DOG BISCUIT I’VE EVER SEEN!

No. 2 got it out of the bag of dog biscuits that I had gotten under the tree. No. 1 said, ‘That big thing’ll make him sick,’ but of course I’m smarter than that. I ate two of the knobs, and then just carried the rest around with me the rest of the day, from the bedroom to the living room and back. There’s nothing better that carrying a big dog biscuit in your mouth.

Woofs,
Willie

Posted: October 12th, 2009 under Foods - No Comments.

Good places to sleep

Good places to sleep are mainly on top of No. 2. He’s more floppy than No. 1.

No. 2 is more prone to naps.

See what I mean?

Here’s an example of a place to sleep that is not good. I really wonder about the Klingons sometimes.

What was she thinking?

Woofs,
Willie

Posted: October 11th, 2009 under Naps - 1 Comment.

How I became the Quilt Puppy

You may have noticed that the name of my dogblog is “The Most Excellent Life and Times of Willie the Quilt Puppy.” You may also have wondered, “How did such a thing as a quilt get into the act?”

No. 1 is always fooling around with hunks of cloth. Sometimes she sits at a table and runs a contraption that goes whiiiirrrrr.

Other times she sits with a big blankie on her lap and does things with it. Sharp implements are involved.

At these times I am not allowed to sit on the blankie on her lap. I can lie under the blankie, or I can lie on the part of the blankie that is on the floor (but for some reason she moves it frequently so it’s not all that satisfactory).

In my opinion, the hunks of cloth could be left just the way they are. A pile of them makes a good bed, and they would be fun to scrunch up. No. 1 does not agree. So I abide by her wishes and take up my self-appointed duties as the Quilt Puppy. Here’s my job description.

• Keep No. 1 company in the studio.

• Dog-approve all quilts by lying on them at some stage of completion, testing them for comfiness.

• Fetch spools of thread that have rolled under the sofa.

My favorite quilting activity is the reading of magazines.

Very edifying.

I take my duties seriously. In fact, it will come to pass in a few years’ time that No 1 will name her whole company after me. But that’s another story, one that will be told in the fullness of time.

Woofs,
Willie

Posted: September 27th, 2009 under Quilting - No Comments.

They’ve taken leave of their senses

The humans have gone off the deep end. Last night they lined me up and subjected me to the following spectacle.

Not knowing what to make of this behavior, I figured it was best to play along, so I stood up on my hind legs and pawed the air, in the maneuver known as “the papillon wave.”

This episode was followed by tasty treats, which enabled me to get over the shock.

Jazz hands. Really?

Woofs,
Willie

[No. 2 here. For those of you who are wondering, "What is that song?", I'll explain. I'm a folk music fan and dulcimer player, so one of my favorite musicians is John McCutcheon, a dulcimist extraordinaire. At almost every concert, John used to (and probably still does) sing this song, called "Cut the Cake." As John explains it, he wrote it to save the world from the Birthday Dirge, that ghastly song that most of us are subjected to on our birthdays. It's peppy and happy and up-tempo, the way a happy-birthday song should be.]

Posted: September 14th, 2009 under Teenager - No Comments.

It’s getting cooler

The weather isn’t quite as warm now, and it looks like this in the back yard.

Just like dogs, our trees are shedding. They’re turning all their leaves brown and dropping them on the ground. The leaves are crackly and crunchy when you step on them.

For some reason, the humans are not content to let the crunchy leaves stay on the ground. No. 2 rakes them up into big piles. Then the Klingons come along and jump into the piles and scatter them around again. This is fun to watch, except that the colors of the Klingons and the colors of the leaves are about the same, so you have to keep a wary eye out in case of sneak attack.

When they’ve had their fun, they lay around and don’t even help make the piles again.

No. 2 goes away sometimes. I don’t like this. The first clue is when the suitcase comes out.

All of us help him pack. The way we do it is, No. 2 puts the suitcase on the bed. The Klingons get into the suitcase. No. 1 calls out “Socks, underwear, shirts, pants!” No. 2 yells “Check!” I watch with a sinking feeling in my stomach. It’s good to have a human and a spare.

Woofs,
Willie

Posted: September 8th, 2009 under The way we do things - 2 Comments.

Our walks after dinner

When it’s warm outside, we go for a walk after dinner. The whole pack goes… me, the humans, and all three of the Klingons. The way we do it is, one of the humans says “Walk!” and we all get ready.

Did you say walk? Now? It's time?

I get my leash on and we all gather in the side yard. Then we go up the road a little ways and turn left. The Klingons are slow, so we have to wait until they all catch up. Then we go down a hill. We stop and look out across a field to an old house where nobody has lived for a long time.

No. 1 says this is her favorite view of all.

Then the funnest part. We go into the woods! There’s a little path there and we all walk through. I stay on the path but the Klingons take the high roads.

At the end of the path we come out behind a house where there’s never anybody there, and my bestest Klingon goes and rolls and flips in a patch of dust. I really don’t know why she enjoys this but I guess it takes all kinds.

Then it’s a race to the finish. No. 2 goes out ahead and calls the race as the Klingons head toward home. I must say that they do not understand the concept of a race, because they go in fits and starts, and they stop to look behind them all the time.

One time on the way home I walked through a patch of weeds, and they grabbed me! I was stuck! Couldn’t move forward, couldn’t move backward. The humans rescued me from these grabby plants and carried me home. “What a mess!” I heard. They took a long time to pick a whole bunch of little bitty green sticky things out of my coat. I heard No. 1 exclaim, “213!” That was not that much fun.

Woofs,
Willie

[No. 1 here... the "house where where there's never anybody there" is a non-residential frat house down the street from us in Gambier, Ohio, a tiny academic town in central Ohio, home to Kenyon College.

No. 2 and I cherished our walks with Willie and the cats. The neighbors always marveled to see three cats walking with us. In fact, they were known as "The Famous Gambier Walking Cats."]

Posted: September 4th, 2009 under Teenager, The way we do things - No Comments.