WOW #23 A Wonderful Place!

Today Mummy took me to another one of my very favorite places: the Cookie-And-Toy store! It's so fun to go there! I had a little trouble convincing her to take me. I had to tell her I needed material for my blog! THEN I acted really pathetic and emaciated (that's a new word I learned from my good friend George on Facebook, thanks George!) Mummy told me I didn't really look very emaciated at all, but she took me to the Cookie-And-Toy store anyway. We took Auntie A with us too. She needs to have more fun, at least that's what I think. Mummy needs more fun too. You SEE? It was really a treat for all of us!

There's lots of stuff to do at the Cookie-And-Toy store so let me tell you a little about the very best places. You don't want to waste time looking at fish and birds or at cat toys. I WOULD like one of those little gerbils or hamsters though. I think that would be a lot of fun but Mummy says "no, absolutely NOT" so I guess we won't be getting one.

Anyway, here's the stuff you don't want to miss:

1. People. There are a lot of people in the Cookie-And-Toy store and they all love dogs!

First I saw this nice lady. She knew all the good places to pet a dog! I really liked her a lot!

THEN I met this really cool guy. He played with me for a long time.


Mummy said that he works for the store. I think he must have the same job I do: official greeter. That's ONE of my jobs anyway, maybe it's only one of HIS jobs too.

See how smart he is? He knows exactly how to treat a dog!







I also met some ladies shopping for cookies-and-toys and a little girl and her family who really liked me a lot!

2. Other dogs. Today I didn't see as many dogs as we sometimes meet. I did make one new friend though.

He was REALLY TALL! We had a nice conversation anyway before Mummy and his daddy made us move on.




3. TOYS! I looked at all the toys. Mummy told me to choose some special ones for us to use as presents. I don't know who the presents are for. I HOPE they're for me! I also hope I don't have to wait until my birthday to get them!

I looked at all the possible assistants to see if I could find a new one. A lot of these seemed to have children and I don't really think it would be good to have all those little ones running around the office, do you?

Hmmm, would any of these make good presents? (wink, wink)

I do NOT think a snake would make a good present! EWWW!

Ahhhh! Now THESE have some possibilities!

Oh Mummy! Oh Mummy! Look! Look! Look! The PERFECT thing!

Oh. Mummy says those are for puppies! I thought I WAS a puppy......Mummy says they're for really little puppies. (Heh heh, I THOUGHT they must be for me! I wonder why Mummy's being so mysterious about it?)

Hey! A cat! I like cats! I have one at home. I play with him a lot! Mummy says she needs to put my cat in the washing machine. I hope he likes water better than most cats! THIS cat is nice and clean.

I don't understand, Mummy. WHAT is the purpose of this thing?

I have to make sure to sniff out ALL the best bargains!








4. Treats! Yippee! I like the cookies and treats even better than the toys!

I want some of these, and some of these, and some of these...oh and some of THOSE. Yum YUM!




5. Food! I think I'll check out the different kinds. Maybe I'd like a NEW brand!

THIS smells good! Look Mummy! It says "healthy fresh and delicious" right there on the box!

It REALLY smells GOOD!

40 pounds WOW! FORTY POUNDS! Look Mummy, I sniffed out another bargain! What? Oh. Mummy says this is puppy food and anyway we don't need any food today. Shucks!




Oh well, we did pretty good I think. Here's our haul:

Not bad huh? Time to go to that last interesting place...












6. The pay counter. This is where you buy all the cookies-and-toys.

They have cookies here too that they GIVE to the dogs! See the big box?



Also, I watched Mummy very carefully and I was RIGHT! She DIDN'T use that flimsy green stuff to pay for our loot! She used the rectangular plastic thing just like I THOUGHT she did! Apparently that green stuff is some sort of joke.

Well that was my trip to the Cookie-And-Toy store. It was SOOO fun! Be sure to get your moms and dads to take YOU as soon as possible! Tonight if you can manage it!

WOW #22 Birthdays!

Mummy told me this morning that today is my Grandpa's birthday (Mummy's daddy). At least today would have been his birthday if he were still with us. He's gone to a place called Heaven. Sounds nice. Anyway, he went there before I was ever born Mummy says a LONG time before. Auntie A said Grandpa would have been 87 years old today (you must not get any older once you go to Heaven). That's OLD! REALLY REALLY OLD! But Mummy said Grandpa would have LOVED me. She said he would have come and gotten me and Horton (that's Mummy's truck) and taken us out riding sometimes while Mummy was working...or on the weekends maybe. She says he probably would have acted like it was some big chore he had to do, but he would have loved every minute of it because he loved dogs. He loved hound dogs and bull terrier dogs and all dogs. Auntie A says he also loved cats and I guess he must have. Here's two pictures of Grandpa that Mummy gave me. You'll see why I said he must have loved cats.

Here he is with a whole armload of fuzzy puppies. See how happy he looks?

And HERE he is with Mummy and a couple of LIONS. Now I would think that you'd have to really LOVE cats to hold lions long enough to have your picture made with them!





I'm sorry I never got to meet him. I would have loved him too. I KNOW it! I asked Turbo if HE knew Grandpa and he said no. Grandpa had already gone away even before Turbo came to live with Mummy. THAT's how long it's been!

Anyway, I hope Grandpa had as much fun on HIS birthdays as I've had on mine! I've had two and they were BOTH spectacular! Here's my list of birthday must haves:

1. Decorations. Surprise decorations are the best! Auntie A and Auntie M and Auntie B(Auntie M's sister) all came in after I left work the day before my birthday and put up decorations for me. Here's what you need:

Streamers. All over and all different lengths.

Balloons. Lots....

...and LOTS of balloons!

Fun signs

right at doggie-eye level!









2. You should also get cards. MY card was a singing card and it sang one of my favorite songs!

"Who let the dogs out"!









3. Presents! Everyone needs presents on their birthday!

Here's the giant dinosaur bone Mummy gave me...

...and the football Auntie A gave me (this is when I found out I was a great football player!)...

...and here's the soft toy and rope toy Auntie M gave me. Auntie M gives lots of presents. I LOVE Auntie M!






4. Guests are essential to a good birthday, especially if they bring presents.

Auntie ViolinK and C and M stopped by to give me a belly rub (AHHHHHHH that feels SOOOOO good!) AND presents.

More guests. I thought they were more presents, but it turned out they were guests who were doing a special formation for my birthday: I call it "The Leaning Tower of Birthday Guests."










5. Birthday parties! Gotta have those! My Grandma had a birthday party for all my brothers and my sister and me at her house. My Momma AND my Daddy and Beatrice all came too. It was SOOOO fun!

Here's a group of us getting ready for a party game. Mummy said we moved around so fast she was lucky to get even one picture!





6. Most important for a birthday is the CAKE! Here's our first birthday cake:

If Bella is your sister, you have to be really careful. She really, REALLY likes birthday cake (I think I mentioned this in an earlier blog). She ate my piece of cake before I could even blink! Then Grandma gave me another piece and I barely got the first lick of THAT when Bella scarfed IT up too! So Mummy and Grandma gave me another one and stood guard, but...you guessed it...the mad cake bandit struck again. Mummy said she never saw anything like it! There was this blur and then the piece of cake was GONE! If Bella comes to your birthday party, be sure to ask for your cake in a doggie bag. Then hide it...preferably in your mom's car...with the doors locked...and all the windows closed up tight!

That's how I think birthdays should be celebrated. I bet Grandpa would agree! HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!!!!

WOW #21: Errand Day!

Today was a GOOD day! Not perfect...quite...but very, VERY good! First of all, I got to go to work! On Thursday! Mummy doesn't have to go to those meetings any more, YAY!!

Once we got to work, there was lots going on. I had plenty of visitors to greet. I ran up and down the hall a LOT!

Today was also errand day...well...Auntie A runs the errands by herself most days. Sometimes she lets me go too and we visit the bank and the post office. I LOVE the bank! I have a lot of really great friends there. I think they love ME too, they always give me cookies. Plus on the days when we go inside, there are lots of people to greet. Some of them can't see me, I'm not sure why. Auntie A says not everyone in the world wants to play with me, but I think she's mistaken, don't you? It must be that they can't see me. Poor things.

Anyway TODAY was special because MUMMY came too. When Mummy comes along, we go to TWO banks and THEN we do something REALLY outstanding. You won't believe it! Here's my "TO DO" list for errand day:

1. Make sure Mummy has her leash on, you don't want to lose her.

2. Off to the bank!

"I'd like to make a withdrawal please."












3. Stop by the post office (that's not very interesting) on your way to...

4. ...the SECOND bank!

"Hurry to the window Mummy! I need to make a withdrawal HERE too!"






5. Okay, now the fun REALLY begins! We went to lunch at my favorite, FAVORITE place! Five Guys!

If you don't have a Five Guys near you, you should hurry and GET one as fast as you can!














6. You buy the food inside. This is what it looks like from Basset level:

The serving counter. (VERY important!)

The waiting/dining area

and the door.












******Of course I didn't REALLY get to go in. You see there's this silly rule in Virginia about dogs not being allowed in restaurants. (I'm sure the people at Five Guys would love for me to visit if it weren't for that rule, they're all so nice!) Auntie A took the photos for me by getting down on my level. She said I should be sure and say that the manager was kind enough to give permission for that. While she was in there, she also got our food.******

7. LUNCH TIME! Yum yum!!

MMMMmmmm! Oh Mummy! Oh Mummy, hurry and pass it back here! Smells WONDERFUL! I wish all of you could smell this!

Five Guys makes the absolute "bestest" hamburgers anywhere! I LOVE them!!







Mummy and Auntie A both love their fries too. They say the fries are every bit as good as the burgers and they're always hot and fresh too! I'm not much of a fry hound, so we'll have to take their word on that. I'm sure it's true. Mummy and Auntie A know their fries. Anyway, I just let them eat all the fries or as many as they can anyway. Five Guys is also VERY generous with their fries. I just concentrate on my delicious burger.

8. After eating, go back to work. I thought we should go to the Cookie/Dog Toy Store, but Mummy said we had to do some more work, so back we went.

It WAS nice to have a little rest after all that excitement.











What a great day! Hope YOURS was equally good!

WOW #20 Q & A Part 1

Hello everyone out there in Bassetdom! And there are a LOT of you I know! I've enjoyed meeting all my new Basset friends on Facebook this week! What a fun crew!

Anyway, I thought it was about time I answered some of the questions that have been piling up. I'll try to do that every once in a while. I'll probably get Beatrice to help out with that sometimes because she's so smart! Also, you just need a lady's opinion once in a while.

I thought I'd start with these two questions that I picked because they have basically the same answer.

Q1: Would you teach writing lessons to my class?
From a teacher friend of mine, Ms L

Q2: Do you offer seminars on proper workplace etiquette?
From a business woman I know, Ms. J

The answer is simple. SURE! I'd LOVE to! Just let me know when! There's something you should keep in mind though before you set a date. My spoken vocabulary is rather limited. My most-used word is "woof". Check with your students/employees to make sure they speak fluent Basset or they may not get much out of my lectures. If they need a quick refresher course, here's a handy dandy glossary of commonly used words:

1. "Woof."

(I have information of an important nature to impart. Sit up straight, face forward, spit out your gum and listen carefully. This WILL be on the exam.)



2. "Woof"

(Something is missing here. Hurry up and figure it out, we don't have all day!)












3. "Woof!"

(Break time! Where'd you put the cookies?)















4. "Woof!...Woof!!"

(Mummy! Here I am Mummy! Right here, in the hallway! Mummy? MUMMY!)









5. "Woof!!!"

(Will you kindly CUT THAT OUT?!)











6. "woof...."

(I'm sooooo weak....I just can't go on without cookies....)















7. "woof?"

(please?)














8. "Woof...squeak??"

(Pretty please with chocolate on top?)

















9. "WOOF!"

(Mummy it's time to go downstairs and get cookies...uh...I mean...visit the guys in the shop!)









10. "WooF!!"

(KISS me you fool!)








11. "WOOF WOOF!!"

(It's time to go home NOW!!!)












12. "woof..."

(Do not disturb. Genius at work...)