Carpe Pila

J is going to be gone most of the day. She’s going to take care of a little human, actually it’s Zak’s human.  We met Zak and his people at the boat ramp last year. So J says this day would go into her “Because we walk the dog” file.  She has a mental file of people whose lives have touched hers and K’s (and ours), just because they walk the dogs. It’s a really long file. And full of happiness (she says).

I sorta wish I could go along to hang out with Zak. I saw him briefly yesterday, when J, Buzz and I walked to the lake.  Zak’s man takes him for runs beside their car on the days when they don’t have time to walk.  I could totally do that!!  We saw Big Head Angus on the other side of the road. His man sings to him as they walk. We can hear them coming.  I asked Buzz if he recognized the song and Buzz said he couldn’t really hear it but  it was probably “You Are My Sunshine” --but I don’t think it was. Not even close, to be honest.  It was coming out of the man’s mouth from the strings he had in his ears.

When we got to the boat ramp, the mowers and blowers were there, cleaning up after the storm on Sunday night.  It was so noisy.  Once our leashes were off, J chucked the ball for me and Buzz did his usual nosing around.  On good days, he finds a stray biscuit left over from gifts people have brought to Tickles, the Boat Ramp Dog, an old golden retriever who is so fat he can barely walk.  We haven’t seen him lately, I hope he’s OK. He and Buzz hang out and talk about their favorite meals and snacks. Buzz gets to drooling because Tickles has these two old ladies who bring him leftovers every evening – on a dinner plate!   Buzz says it’s a little embarrassing when he has to hear about roast beef and gravy and pork chops and Ritz crackers–and the high points of his own foodie experiences only involve snausages and knuckle bones.  He says he has always been something of a gourmand and that most JRT’s are, but that his food experiences have been severely limited by the Big She.  Macy can get him going with her pizza stories too.

I caught a high bounce off the asphalt, my favorite game next to diving;  and the one guy who always waves at us, the Picture Taker, turned off his blower for a second and said, “Yes ma’am, he’s a smart dog” and  J says,  he really is, which made me happy, then she said,  Maxwell, I don’t know how you can be so blasé about those noises when other ones drive you nuts.  Does she not see?  It’s the ball. She needs to give me the ball when I’m having a hard time with noises. 

I spent a lot of time in the water yesterday. It was early, but already getting hot.  My routine is to catch the ball a few times, then wade into my beach area and stand just far enough into the water that I keep my stomach cool.  Everyone should try this.  When I’m cooled off, I bring the ball back for more.  At first when I did this, JK would be like, Maxwell, come here! Right now! Come! And I would just stare at them and chomp madly on the ball and stay in the water.  Then they realized that with all my fur, I get super-hot and they felt bad for being so bossy. With their weird hairless skin, they stay much cooler but it also slows down their brains.  They can still get really bossy but most of those times, I think I probably deserve it.  I’m working on being better. No really, I am.

We saw a huge crane surveying for fish  and while I was swimming, J picked up a bunch of broken tree limbs and piled them up for the men to take away.  JK pick up bottles and cans there too, left over from fishermen or visitors. They say it’s their way of saying thank you for the use of the grassy areas and the lake. Once J found a $20 bill and once she found a whole bunch of coins mixed in with piles of broken glass, from where some bad people had smashed a jar of them on the parking lot. And once K found her a pair of awesome camo glove/mittens that she took home and washed and wore every day last winter.

So there’s treasure to be found. Buzz says he already knew about the treasure and he’s either eaten it or rolled in it.  Macy likes to roll in it, too.  JK says those are dead fish or rancid dumped liver bait.  Treasure is in the nose of the beholder.

We saw Macy and Ruth in their car, and Fonzie and his people – oh it was a great walk.

K never did get to Detroit yesterday! When we got home from our walk, J listened to his voice telling her their flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems.  He was on the plane and had to get off.  So he came back and then spent the whole day up in his room, talking to no one that I could see. I hung out with him when I could. It was so hot yesterday that we all stayed in most of the day. 

A couple guys came and cut some trees on Monday.  Now JK says some men are coming to move one side of our fence this week.  I can see I may have some gruffing to do, out the window.

So I’m hanging out with K and Buzz today.  Not to hurt J’s feelings, but just us guys together is pretty cool.  Once in a while.

No haiku today, but J says to make a kind of blah blog more interesting, I should title it in Latin. Need a hint?  If I were a knight, this would be carved on my shield above a field verde, with a couple of criss-crossed Chuck-its azure.