AAAAA-CHOOOOOO!!!

Guess what?  I have allergies.  Actually I don't sneeze that much.  I scratch.  And scratch.  Until something gets pretty red and then Mom gets weird.  She calls the vet. 

I really wish she wouldn't call the vet.  'Cuz then she always end up bringing me in.  I do not like the vet.  The last time she brought me to the vet, she left me there for a long time.  They gave me a bath and trimmed my toe nails and brushed my teeth and made me sit while they used a hair dryer on me.  (She wanted me to be clean for the Alzheimer patients when I was doing my Therapy testing.)  That's foo-foo stuff.  I don't like it.  And I don't like being at the vet.

When we got there this time, I tried to run back out the front door.  Didn't work.  They were on to me.  They put me in a room and shut the door.

The room was kinda cute, actually.  There was a bulletin board with my name on it.

"Welcome, Guinness."  That's me - Guinness.  But you knew that.  I didn't much like the poster next to it.  Did you know that dogs can get Valley Fever?  Do you know what Valley Fever is?  Me neither.  But I don't think I have it.

I looked around to see what else was in the room.  (There might just be a way out.)  I found a television. 

The television wasn't on.  That would have been nice to have the television on.  I could maybe watch some shows and not think about all the awful things that could happen in that room. 






There were also some neat pictures on the walls.  I really liked these:

I didn't so much like this one.  (I think my Auntie Deb the Dentist would like it a whole lot!)

 

 

After surveying the walls.  I decided to find a way to escape. 

 

 

To start with, the door was big.  And I don't know how to open doors anyway.  (You might remember my blog about Doggie Doors?    Doggie Doors    This door wasn't any easier.

 

 

 

Then I thought.  Maybe, if I back away and look the other way, someone might open the door and I could rush the door and escape!

 

  Shoot, not happenin'!

 

Well, I finally DID get out.  But not after a bunch of poking and probing.  And they weighed me again.  63.6 pounds.  Mom's putting me on a diet again.  I've just GOT to figure out how to stop going to the vet!

 

Any ideas?

 

Love, G.

 

ARIZONA SPRING

Last week I introduced you to Blue and showed you the neat pictures of the cactus blooming.  'Member?  Course you do.  It was just last week.

Anyway, I decided it would be a good idea to introduce you to Arizona in the spring.  It's really pretty.  I'll even try to give you a lesson on the Fauna of Arizona.  (That's the flowers in case you didn't know.)

So let's start with the one from last week.  And here is another picture of it a week later:

 

This is called an Argentine Giant Cactus.  Which I don't get.  There are a lot of cacti (that's plural for more than one cactus.  Latin stuff.  I never took Latin.  In fact I never took any language.  Uh, oh.  I'm doing that digressing thing again.  Sorry.)  Anyway, why is this a GIANT cactus?  It's pretty small compared to some cactus I've seen.  And this is not Argentina, either.  So how can this be an Argentine Cactus?  It needs a better name.  I'm going to call this cactus:  Very Pretty White Blooming Cactus. 

 

Now let me take you on a tour of some of the Flora around my house. 

 

These yellow plants are called Yucca Plants. 



 I can't be sure.  But I think it's because they are not as pretty as most of the other flora.  So they are sort of Yuccky.  So someone decided to make Yuccky sound like it was Latin, too.  Yes I'm sure that's how it got called Yucca.

Then we have the Ocotillo plants.  They have pretty red flowers right at the tips of these really long spindly branches.  Most of the year they just look long and spindly.  But in spring they look like they have little red birds on the ends of the branches. 

 

In Spanish, Ocotillo means little pine tree.  As you can see, this is as bad a name for it as the Argentine Giant Cactus.  Does that look like a little pine tree to you?  Sometimes it is called a Flaming Sword.  That makes much more sense.  So I'm going with Flaming Sword.

 

 

Now this is a Prickly Pear Orange.  I can deal with that.  This little cactus is definitely prickly.  The leaves are kinda pear shaped.  And no one can argue that the blooms are orange.  I'll let this one be called a Prickly Pear Orange.



 

This next one is called Pretty Blue Flower.  (I'm kidding.  I have no idea what it's really called, but it is a pretty blue flower, don't you think?  Let's go with that.)

 

 

Can you guess this next one?  If you guessed Prickly Pear Yellow, you'd be right.  Pretty easy, no?

 

 

Now this is an Orange Lantana.  What the heck is a Lantana you might ask?  I have no clue.  It's latin for a tree that's supposed so look like this plant.  (Also, in case you wonder why I was looking the other way?  I was getting kinda tired of posing beside each plant.  Is there really a need for me to be in every picture?)

 

 

 

 

Now this one is my favorite for two reasons.  One, it's really colorful.  And two, it's called a Purple Prickly Pear with Yellow Flowers.  A plant that looks just like it's name!  What a novel idea.  

 

 

There are a ton more lovely plants in my neighborhood.  You should come and see them.    We do have a guest room.  (Although I usually use it to spy on the neighbors.  But there's room for all of us if you come visit!)

 

 

Hope you have a lovely spring soon, too.

 

Love, G

 

 

Oh, what a night!

Only it's not late September, it's early April and the weather is beautiful and the flowers are blooming and I met a new friend and so did Mom.  (I think that's too many words without breathing.)

Anyway, here's what happened.  Mom and me (no that's Mom and I), we went out after dinner - just to our little park up the street.  There was this gal taking pictures of flowers and she had a puppy with her.  So we stopped.

Mom was amazed at the flowers, 'cuz just this morning, they looked like this:

 

I remember her saying, "I wonder what these will look like when they open?"  Well they look like this:

 



 

Aren't they just beautiful?  (And you might be thinking that these are better pictures than Mom usually takes and you'd be right.  These are pictures that the gal we met took and then she emailed them to Mom.)  

And best of all, I really liked her puppy.  His name is Blue.  That's because he is an Australian Blue Heeler.  At least, I think so.  He's not as old as me.  So we can't go drinking together.  Not yet, anyway.  But we had lots of fun.  We rolled around and wrestled and played.

 

 

I had to be careful, 'cuz I never knew when he might get me by surprise, so I kept an eye on him.         

 

And in the end, I let Blue be the winner 'cuz I want to play with him again.  Lots of times if we can!

 

 

Mom and me (I mean and I) finally went home after Blue's Mom promised to send pictures.  (She said she's not really Blue's Mom, just a friend.  But Blue told me she's as nice as Blue's Mom and my Mom likes her and that's good enough for me.)

 

So all in all, it was a really good evening in Paradise.

 

Love, G