We had a visitor!

Hello everydog, kitty, hammie and hooman! It's me, Patches! We had a surprise visitor, early this morning. It was a Hoot Owl! Isn't he pretty? We really didn't get to see him since it was dark outside, but we think this is what he looks like. The first time we went outside, this morning, Mom kept hearing this really weird noise. At first, she thought it was a dog, but the noise was exactly the same every time and it didn't sound like anydog she had ever heard before. Finally, she came in and got Dad to come out and listen to it. Being the old farm boy that he is, he recognized it right away as a Hoot Owl. Mom thought it was really strange that none of us barked at it. We all took off in the direction of the hooting, but nodog barked.

Yesterday, our mom took a box into the computer room and it had a plastic bag in it. She put it on the floor under some shelves and went back to the kitchen. The next time she came to this end of the house, this is what she saw. The plastic bag was shredded all over the bedroom floor and the big bed. Somedog had been having a ripping good time! Since any of the three of us could have done it, I figured I was safe because I didn't have any evidence hanging out of my mouth.

Well, I was wrong! Somehow, Mom knew that I was the guilty party. I still can't figure out how she knows! I tried to tell her that the pink teddy bear did it, but she wasn't buying that! Maybe Poppy and Penny told on me when I wasn't looking. That Penny is a real snitch...she tattles on me and Poppy all the time! Mom keeps telling her she's not the "enforcer", but she does it anyway.

Poppy was told, yesterday, that she isn't too far from needing another Aire-cut. She figures she has a little time to think about it since Mom and Dad are still spending so much time trying to figure out the new 'puter. For a few years, we used the Windows XP operating system and now, we have found out that you can't buy a new 'puter with that system anymore. Our pawrents went to look at MacIntosh computers, but after suffering sticker shock, they went back to a regular old PC. Now we have the Vista operating system and it is way different from XP. Mom says the people at Microsoft are just stoopid! Either that, or they are way smarter than she is. They have made everything much more complicated than it used to be and she is not amused! She keeps saying something like "you can't teach an old dog new tricks". We know that isn't true for doggies, but I guess it must be true for some hoomans!

We each got a new stuffie, yesterday, but mine was taken away from me already. Mine is a reindeer with a big nose and it seems that I am obsessed with trying to rip his nose off. When I almost had it off, Mom took him away. Now, he's on top of the "coolerator", in the kitchen and there's no way I can reach him. I guess I will have to attack Poppy's c-a-t or Penny's dinosaur when they aren't looking. I gave Mom the play bow, but she still won't give me back my reindeer. What a buzz-kill!

I finally decided to just lay down and watch my mom freaking out at the 'puter. It's pretty entertaining, but she keeps saying HBO words all the time. After she says a few of those words, she goes and gets Dad, aka Techno Boy, to fix the problem. Some of them, he can fix, but sometimes he says "that's how Vista is". That causes Mom to say even more HBO words.

Well, everybuddy, I'm going to stare at the 'frigerator and see if I can send a mind-meld message for my reindeer to fall off into my jaws of death.

Aire-hugs,

Patches (and Poppy & Penny too)