The Big Banquet

Bunny here, writing about the big banquet being held in honor of the big race that Pip and I had at the beginning of the month.

It really was a lot of fun, and I was reminded that having friends is much more important that winning anything.  A lot of our friends seemed to enjoy that message a lot and so it was decided that we'd have a banquet to celebrate the big race.   Our coaches, Puddles and Roo were also asked to sit at the table of honor with us by Frankie, too.

I have to admit, I was pretty excited about the whole big day.  I mean, really, a banquet to honor little me?  When my sisters asked to come along with me, I was glad to have them come along with me.  Perhaps I should have known better when Lilac was waiting at the back door with a suitcase.  Still, I was so excited, I didn't ponder things like that the way I should have.  Since there were four of us, I told Puddles not to worry about swinging by in her souped up red  Pinto.  Instead, we decided to travel in style and we chartered the Spirit of Peoria to take us to the banquet.

After a relaxing ride on the river we arrived and entered through the spotlight. After a rather, um, motivational speech by Pip, we were all ready to eat.  There was so much food, I couldn't believe my eyes. I decided to try a taco for the first time, and it was pretty good!

I was a bit surprised as the festivities began to find out that Lilac had brought all her green papers in hopes of getting Bono or some other rock star to get a little closer to her.  I asked Morgan to make sure that she didn't bring one of them home in our suitcase, but she seemed a little distracted.  Blueberry seemed to have ideas about slipping off to the dance floor.  I reminded her to be careful with her splint, but I think I heard her say something about how she thought it was time for it to come off.   I really hope that all my sisters manage to behave themselves at this party!

If you've written a post about the banquet and would like to add it to the list of festivities, please feel free to join in the fun!

Wordless Wednesday 2/23 -- Spirit Of Peoria

Wordless Wednesday 2/16 -- Love Is The Only Thing That Matters

New Frontiers

I did something Monday night that I haven't done before.  I'd thought about it, but I hadn't gathered the courage to do it yet.  I guess the bronchitis has addled my brain a bit.  At least, that's the theory I'm going with to explain my bout of temporary insanity. 

I suppose you're wondering what it is that I decided to do.  I decided to take Morgan for a walk by myself for the first time.  Of course, I also took Bunny along, too.  We had to get our Idita Walk minutes in before the bitter cold hit on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Fortunately, Monday was just warm enough that the snow on the roads was a bit slushy and not slick as ice like it had been previously. 

Morgan gets serious bouts of Cabin Fever when she doesn't get her regular walks.  Mr. Taleteller has a bit of an aversion to the cold weather walks and I often settle for putting it off when he doesn't want to go.  I could go out by myself and take Bunny, but that seems unfair to Morgan who really needs the exercise.  I'm also guessing that my nieghbors appreciate not having to hear her howl the whole time Bunny and I would be away from the house.  I know Morgan well enough to know that walking her is not like walking the hounds. 

Still, I'm no stranger to walking two dogs.  There was even a time when I regularly walked three Greyhounds at once.  Bunny is used to walking with me and Blueberry, so I knew she could handle it, and it's not like she and Morgan don't know each other.  What could go wrong?  I told myself that we'd just walk the short route and get our thirty minutes in.  That would kill the time it would take Mr. Taleteller to get home from his after work meeting. 

As we started out, I was patting myself on the back.  We were walking along and I even had both dogs' leashes in one hand.  Morgan was surfing the snowbanks while Bunny was demonstrating her perfect walking techniuque for me.  I couldn't believe I'd waited so long to try walking the girls together on my own.  I didn't need Mr. Taleteller to wrangle any dog!  I could do it all on my own.

When we got to the turning point between the short walk and the long walk, I started to think about doing the whole long route.  However, that's when my bronchitis decided to rear its ugly head and remind me that I am not invincible after all.  So, we made a turn and headed towards home, albeit reluctantly on all our parts.  We passed the school and there was some event happening that had a lot of cars parked or driving along the road.  I muttered a bit under my breath about people refusing to stop and let us by and we crossed the street to walk in the church parking lot, which was cleared much better anyway. 

As we passed through the parking lot, Morgan could see people walking around across the street and she went into alert mode.  I talked to her and she managed to make it past them all without showing her wolfy side.  I was so proud of my girls as we crossed the street and got within a block of our house.  At the corner, there was a house with a giant black lab tied out in front for his powder room break.  Morgan was on full alert by this point, but still holding it together.  I kept reminding her that I was there and thought we'd actually make it past when Bunny was overcome by the spirit of playfulness.  She did a little play bow and I said her name with that warning tone that signals I'm serious and must be obeyed.

Morgan's control snapped when Bunny started trying to get the lab to come and play.  The next thing I knew Morgan was leaping over Bunny in a move that the makers of the Matrix movies would have been in awe over.  Bunny ducked under her in perfect execution of her ninja play bow and I braced myself to go down hard as Morgan and the other dog both started to bark.  However, they had managed to twist their leashes together and instead of pulling against me, they pulled on each other.  I had to laugh as they both took a moment to pause.  The woman came to the door and reeled the black beast inside and I convinced Morgan and Bunny that going home was a good idea.  

I learned some things through this experience.  First is that I can walk Morgan and Bunny at the same time.  Second, there's a big dog that now lives along one of our usual walking routes.  Third, the next time I take Morgan and Bunny out together it will be warmer and dry on the ground.  Fourth, if I decide to walk Blueberry with Morgan and Bunny both then I need some sort of intervention.

We’re participating in this Saturday’s Pet Blog Hop, hosting by Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume.  If you’d like to participate, please follow the rules and follow your three hosts, add your blog to the Linky and copy and paste the html code into your html editor.  Thanks again to our hosts for putting on the hop!

A Hiking We Did Go

Bunny here at the keyboard to share my hike from Saturday with you. 

Dad thought it would be fun to go to a place that we hadn't been before for our hike, so we headed off to Wildcat Run State Park which is in Muscatine, Iowa.  He'd read that it has wonderful Winter hiking so we decided to give it a try.  It was nice to get out for a while after we were blitzed by that blizzard last week. 

Before we even got there, we had our wildlife sighting.  Morgan and I offered to catch one for dinner, but Mom and Dad said no.  I guess it would have been a little big to carry back with us, but it would have been tasty.

One of the things the park is known for is the old schoolhouse and the Pine Creek Grist Mill, which has been restored by people in the community.  Part of the park exists on land donated by Emma and Clara Brandt, who were sisters who lived there for a time.  We thought the mill was particularly pretty.  The schoolhouse and the mill were both closed while we were there, so we didn't get to see what they look like inside.

It's also known for its high cliffs, dens and rock formations.  One of them is called The Stage Coach, while another is The Devil's Punchbowl.  We didn't get to taste any punch while we were there, though.  Some of the cliffs could make you feel pretty small. 

We had to hike through some pretty deep snow in parts of the trail.  Actually, I wasn't sure that I wouldn't have to drag Mom part of the way back, but she kept going.  It was really pretty out in the woods, although the only wildlife we saw was a Cardinal.  He was pretty, but he didn't get close enough for a good picture.

I decided to try out a technique that I've admired Rusty of The Thundering Herd do many times, too.  He has it perfected and I'm still learning.  Mom was laughing too hard to get a picture of it when I was doing it the best, but I assure you, I shall try it again.  Dad was not quite as amused as Mom was.

I was glad to get some good time to record for my Idita Walk sheet, since the hike took us two hours.  It was a refreshing break from the winter doldrums.  What did all of you do this weekend?

The Big Race

Bunny here showing you the results of The Big Race that I had with Pip.

In an undisclosed location, somewhere between Florida and Siberia, the event of the year is about to begin. The honorary, Frankie Furter, Mayor of Blogville, will officiate. Chief of Police, Sarge, and his loyal Deputy, Zona, have surveyed the course and removed all contraband.

Mayor Furter has promised that these contrabanditems will be held in his possession until the guilty parties are located.  Um, I'm glad I'm not one of those guys!

The mayor lays down the law before the race.  "Listen up, we are going to have a good, clean race. Everybody play nice and no monkey business. Any questions?"

What if I have to go potty during the race, Frankie?

This is going to be easier than I thought!  I almost feel guilty! 

While Pip and I run our hearts out, Coach Roo and Coach Puddles share some quiet time together. 

Coats are for little girls.

Sure hopes Pip don't wet himself in his purty coat. Bawhahahaha, I kills myself. 

Listen short stack, you want to talk some trash, I can talk some trash.

Zip it Roo Roo, before I stuffs a Cheeto in your whistle.

Meanwhile ...

As I cross the finish line, nobody seems to notice.  Frankie is the only one there.  So, I find that I have to ask.  "Where's Pip, Frankie?"

"Not back yet ..."

"Geez, I didn't want to win like this ...poor Pip, the snow must have been too much for him. Listen, Frankie, you never saw me, understand!"

"You, Bunny, nope, never saw you." 

 "Help, I have fallen and I can't get up!"

" I am coming, Pip, hang on!"

"Save yourself, Bunny! I can't make it!"

"Nonsense, give me your paw! We are going to finish this race together or not at all!"

And so in the ends, I found out that being friends is more important than being right or winning.  I was a winner the day I found Pip as my friend, along with all the others I've made along the way.  I hope you'll all enjoy celebrating with us at the after race party.  Thanks to everybody who helped us with the race, whether it was training us, sharing the story about the race on their blogs, or doing other things for us!  It has been a lot of fun!

Winter Challenges

Bunny here at the keyboard with a few fitness challenges to share.

Most of you know that I have a big race with Pip tomorrow.  I've been doing a lot of training to get myself into racing form.  It's not easy maintaining your figure when there are all these dog bakery treats and pup cakes around, but I've been motivated. 

Anyroo, I came across a couple of challenges that I thought I'd share with all of you.  One of them is the Idita-Walk.  It's a physical fitness challenge that you can do with your humans.  Basically, you try to walk for thirty minutes for thirty five days between February 1 and March 31, for a total of 1049 minutes, which is the amount of miles between Anchorage and Nome, Alaska.  The focus is just to get out and walk with your humans a little every day.  You and your human can both register.  So far I've logged in sixty minutes.  If anybody out there wants to join in, we'd love to share notes!

The second one is shorter and has to do with a big event that a lot of people are all excited about here in the States on Sunday.  That would be Super Bowl Sunday.  I'm going to be honest, I don't care who wins, but I do enjoy watching the commercials.  Especially the funny ones where the dogs outsmart the people, like that Doritos ad from last year.  Anyroo, Subaru has had some funny commercials with dogs this year and now they have the Subaru Game Day Dog Walk Event.  It's simple, sign up and pledge to walk your dog on game day and you get some cool loot.  So, see if you can get your humans off the couch and paying attention to you for a bit on Sunday!

I hope these ideas help you to get your people motivated to get out there with you and enjoy a little bit of winter weather.  It's fun as long as you dress for it and you don't overdo it.  Now, I'm off for my pre race nap.  Wish me luck for tomorrow!