Hello to all our furry and not-so-furry friends! It's me, Patches. First, I want to say a great big THANK YOU to everyone who wished me a happy barkday. A very special THANK YOU goes out to Maggie, Mitch and their mom for the bootiful e-card they sent to me. It plays music! This has been my very best barkday ever!
I am getting lots of love and treats! I am learning how to play with Poppy and Penny and I'm learning that I have to wait my turn for stuff since I am no longer an only doggie. This morning, I had my teefies brushed for the very first time. It was kind of fun since the toothpaste tastes like beef. My new mom says I did very well for the first time with a toothbrush in my mouf! I bit it a little bit, but I didn't try to swallow it.
See all these bears on the poles? Well, Mom informed me that I am not allowed to touch ANY of them! I told her that is no problem since I don't really see the point of playing with toys. I am much more interested in FOOD! I stop and smell the toys, sometimes, but I just don't see what is so fun about playing with them. Now, Poppy and Penny feel differently...they are ALWAYS playing with stuffies and Poppy likes to hump the big ones! She's a silly girl.
This is the back of my new house and part of the BIG backyard that I get to run around in. Now that I have been here almost a week, I have finally figured out that I don't need a leash on to go out there. I get to be free-range doggie as long as I'm in the house or in MY (okay, OUR) backyard. I have inspected every inch of the yard and the day before yesterday, I almost caught an evil squirrel! The squirrels around here, have become used to just staying in their feeders when Poppy and Penny go out. They weren't aware, however, that there's a new dog in town that might want to taste them. I was about two feet away from one when he realized I was there. He ran to the nearest tree and I missed nabbing him by about an inch. Mom was yelling at me, but I was on a mission so I ignored her! One of these days, I'm going to catch one of those evil critters!Our Bluebird puppies are still here, but we haven't seen them since the day they left the nest. We know they are here, because the mama and daddy birdies are taking 5 or 6 meal wormies, at a time, and flying towards the front of the house. They come back really quick to get some more, so we know they are still feeding the babies. The book says that the parents continue to feed the babies for about 12 days. Dad put up a new Bluebird box for them and both parents have done a close inspection of it. The book also says it can be anywhere from two days to a month before they start on a new batch of babies. We sure hope they decide to have their next "litter" here, at our house!
Our mom is feeling a little better, but not great, yet. She's less sore than she was after her tumble down the steps. She's finding out that the older she gets, the longer it takes to recover!
Well, everyone, that's all for today...I need to go see if I can score some more treats before Mom goes to that work place. I get to stay home and watch Dad run saws and stuff like that. I'm sure I'll take some Aire-naps and get some more treats whenever he eats.
Aire-hugs,
Patches (and Poppy & Penny too!)































This last picture is Queen Pockets. She was our mom and dad's very first Airedale and she went to the bridge 6 years ago on May 8. Tomorrow would have been her 11th barkday. Every year, on her barkday, Mom used to take her to the pet store and let her pick out her own present. Mom says she had her lips on every toy in the place! I never got to meet her, but Penny got to spend almost two years with her and she learned all of Pockie's Aire-head tricks. She still uses a lot of them on ME!











This is what Mom was doing outside, after they came home from the peeple vet. She was digging some really big tree roots out of our yard. Dad keeps running over them with the mower so Mom decided they had to go. Since we have had a drought for sooooo long, a lot of the roots are coming to the top of the ground and dulling the mower blades. Mom has made a pretty good dent in the over-abundance of them, but there are still like a gazillion more!
Our dad's surgery went well, but he is in a LOT of pain, today. The doctor used a 7 inch long needle to put the electrode into his spinal column and now, Dad can't lean back against a chair. He can't believe that a "pain clinic" would inflict so much pain! So far, he says the neuro-stimulator isn't doing much to relieve the pain in his legs, but we are hoping that will change!