COVID Recommendations

 COVID is not over.  There is a vaccine, but Mom told me she did an online calculation for when she would get a vaccine.  It told her there were 118,000,000 people ahead of her.  That's a lot of people! 

So we're still hunkering down here except sometimes we go to lunch or dinner where we can eat outside and all the waiters wear masks.  In fact, just the other day, we found a neat place none of us have been to before.  It was a little far away, 26 minutes, in Tempe.  When we got there, it had really good parking (a must for Dad so he doesn't get "furstated", or something like that.)  There was an easy gate to get to the outdoor patio.  But the neatest thing was it was right next to a little lake.  And on the little lake?  Tons and tons of ducks.

The waiter came out with the menus and a bowl of water for me.  "Thank you, Mr. Waiter!"  I give good marks to restaurants where they bring me water.  I know Mom keeps a collapsible water bowl in her purse for when they don't have a bowl for me, but I rather like getting the attention.  Does that surprise you?  Shouldn't.  But the best marks go to the restaurants where they bring me treats.  Like the one at Kierland Plaza, I think it was called Zinc.  That waiter came out with a Biscotti for me.  Yum, I didn't even know I liked biscotti, but I really do.  (Then again, what do I NOT like to eat, other than maybe lettuce?)  I gave him my signature "Paw", and he gave me two biscottis!    

Uh, oh.  I'm digressing again.  Where was I?  Oh, right, at the restaurant in Tempe.  It was called Spokes on Southern.  "On Southern", because it was on Southern Avenue in Tempe.  Spokes, because, I don't know why.  Maybe there were bicycle wheels inside the restaurant, but I wouldn't know that because, as usual, I didn't get to go in.

Here we are at Spokes on Southern:

Isn't it pretty?  Mom had humus and she shared her carrots with me.  Dad had something, I don't know what cuz he didn't share it with me, but I did get some of his waffle fries!  When they got to the end and were getting the check, I did my signature Paw, because, just in case the waiter wanted to give me a biscotti.

It didn't work that day.  But I won't give up.  I'll use it again.  Spokes on Southern gets a GOOD mark for the water, but not a GREAT mark for lack of biscotti.

So if you want to try a neat little place for lunch where you can eat outside, you could try Spokes on Southern.  Sorry to my friends who don't live near here.  But maybe you could go exploring to outdoor restaurants if you are in a warm place.  To my friends and relatives in cold places, "This too shall pass, the vaccine is coming!"

By the way, Mom has a recommendation, too.  She read a couple of good books if you're a dog lover.  They weren't novels, they were studies about animals by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas.  One was called "The Social Lives of Dogs" and the other was "The Hidden Life of Dogs".  The author says she isn't a scientist, she is an observer.  So she tells stories about how her dogs and cats and parrots interact with each other and with their humans just from what she observes.  And she tells it in a very entertaining way.  I think Mom's trying to figure me out.  Good luck with that!

Hope you're surviving the COVID times.  

Love, G

  

Not a Good Start to the New Year!

 I think I may have overdone it on New Year's Eve.  Mom and Dad went out for an outdoor dinner but I couldn't come.  Which was just as well.  Do you know how cold it was last night?  It was 50 degrees out there!  I'll take the comfy warmth of my own house thank you very much.

But I guess I partied too hard, cuz this is what Mom and Dad found when they came home.

I went to bed way before midnight.

When we got up on Friday, I still had a headache when we went out for a walk.  Probably why I was feeling cratchetty (is that a word?  If not it should be!), and then went and did this:

You can see why I was feeling cratchetty!

On our way home, though, something fantastic happened.  We were standing on the walkway, and a beautiful coyote went flying across the walk not 2 feet in front of us.  And another one followed him flying into the wash.  I wanted to follow them, but Mom made be stop and be quiet.  There was another coyote in the bushes.  He came out and looked at us.  Mom pointed her arm towards the wash and said, "They went that way!".  And the beautiful coyote rushed into the wash after his friends.  (I didn't know Mom spoke Coyote.)  I wish they would stop and spend some time to talk to me.  They look so much like me except their colors.  

Anyway, I think that was a sign that 2021 will be a good year.  And I went home to sleep on that.

 Happy New Year!  Hope your 2021 is the best ever!

Love, G