RGBP Big Event: Geocache Internationale

Hi, The Typist here, with another interruption of the dogblog to share some more about the RevGals' Big Event. (I pull rank now and then; it's one of the many benefits of having thumbs.)

So... if you know The Vicar of Hogsmeade, you know about geocaching. Trust me: this is a good thing! Here we are near the start of our morning in Cozumel:

(That was the part where we were going the wrong way. Which was perfectly fine; after all, we were on an Adventure.)

Then we got closer to what we were hunting:


See that cap in the lower left corner? It's on The Vicar herself, our illustrious leader for this endeavor.

And, after much careful searching (along with some toes in the water and a nice rest at a patio table), we found the cache!


As you can see, serious geocachers never go barefoot while on the hunt. The rest of us were along for the experience, and a lovely one it was. (If you click for the larger version and look really closely, you can see will smama's blister a few inches from her tattoo. Both accessories were hard-earned.)

So, while it may be on The Vicar's official log, God Guurrlll, will smama, and I also share the distinction of being international geocachers now.

Thanks, Vicar!

RGBP Big Event

The time on the ship is over, but I do feel as though the rest of it is just beginning.

I'll be reeally late for work if I blog all my thoughts this morning, but I do have time to share a photo...


Only one of these is permanent, but they're all "real."

As has been said by St. Casserole and many others: Love ya... mean it!

She's back, and look!

We got special bandannas!


The Typist got us these new bandannas when she was away with some other RevGals. Our friend Zorra was there, but didn't get Amie one because Amie doesn't like to wear bandannas. (We don't understand that around here. We like accessorizing.)


See the logo? These bandannas help out other dogs and cats in Cozumel.

The Typist had a great time with the other RevGalBlogPals, but is very tired now and is saying something about laundry and a shower and bed. The Boy and I don't really care for laundry or showers, but we're right with her on the bed thing. Anyway, we think she'll probably do her own blog entry pretty soon. But for now, we're glad she's back and that she brought us cool stuff.

Thumb-havers are silly.

Tonight The Boy and I got to go for a ride, then a walk up and down the Greenbelt. Which really means up and down a wide sidewalk, because they wouldn't let us walk in the mud. No fair. (Might have something to do with those baths to which we were subjected over the weekend. But at least I'm all soft and fluffy.) The Boy managed to walk in some mud anyway. He's quick!

Another weird part was that The Alpha kept giving The Boy's leash to The Typist, and she would keep us sitting on the sidewalk while he rattled around in the bushes -- well, not so much bushes as little trees without their leaves on them, but you get the idea. He was "geocaching." I think it helps to have thumbs if you want to do that. And a Gee Pee Ess receiver, whatever that is.

Anothernother weird thing is that our blogfriend Mindy is getting her Peeps all ready for Easter, and that got The Alpha excited. He says there's going to be a Peeps experiment this weekend at the fire pit. Mainly the fire pit means "stay away, dogs, because your tail fur might get burned." But dogs are supposed to stay at the edge of the firelight anyway. It is our heritage.

So, that's what we've been doing tonight. How about you?

Adventures of last night

Last night, The Boy and I got a big walk, and then a ride!

First, The Alpha and The Typist left in our car, and we stayed in the back yard. Not unusual. But what was different was that when they came back, they came in through the front door, and without our car! Then they fed us supper. (I could tell they'd already eaten because I could smell beef.)

So, after a little while they took us for a walk, but not our usual route. At first we thought we were going to get to go to the Magic Treat Window, but we walked right past that place. Instead, we went past a pond and over a bridge and across quite a few streets (I lost count because it was more than four), and before we knew it, we were at a place with lots of cars, including ours! We could also smell beef, so we were pretty sure they'd had their thumb-haver supper in the same area. That, and they said something about walking it off being a good thing.

We hopped in our car for our ride, and we rode... right back home! It didn't take long, but it was still fun. After all, walks and rides are two of the best things a dog can get, and last night, we got them both!

A memory of Lady

In the comments on my last post, The Alpha wrote: Cub, you need to tell everyone about the time Lady came to visit and you were both left in the kitchen for a few hours, and how you both made an escape and noted your displeasure with the situation. It was ... memorable.

You know, there are some secrets that I prefer to keep. One of those secrets is exactly how Lady and I got out of the kitchen that night. Let's just say that I was already taller than Lady, but much younger with practically no street smarts. This was more than 7 thumb-haver years ago, so I was still a pup. The Alpha and The Typist and Lady's thumb-havers think Lady was the brains of the operation, and I was the muscle. But I'm not talkin'.

When the thumb-havers got back from their late-night gallivanting at some place that doesn't allow dogs, Lady and I had made our statement. We made it by going through the trash cans and decorating the floor with what we found -- something I've never done since (it was a very special occasion).

And, on the carpet... right in the middle of the carpet... we left a very special statement that explained what we thought about Getting Left.

The thumb-havers marveled at the size of our statement, and concluded we only could have created such a huge statement by working together. Then they cleaned it up.

Again, I will not reveal the secret. But I will say Lady was one smart mutt.

Woozy day...

Well, I had an odd morning... glad I'm home. I'm still kinda..huh... from whatever needle they put in me at the special vet. Then The Typist came back and rescued me. I'd like another nap in a minute... I didn't want anything to eat until after my all-day nap, but when I was ready I got fed a lot!

Thank you for praying for me!

The Alpha and The Typist are talking about my food. They've been looking at something new. Amie will be happy because it has pumpkin!

I Got Blessed!

Today The Typist took me on a ride! to go get blessed! (It was just us girls. The Alpha stayed home with The Boy, because the thumb-havers thought it might be too much for all of us if The Boy went.)

We rode for a while, and when we got to the church I helped by unbuckling my harness myself. It wasn't our church, it was another church a little further away, where The Typist knows some thumb-havers. She said hi to people while I said hi to people and dogs.

After a while we all got quiet and sat in a circle in the parking lot. Pastor Katherine read a Bible story about how it isn't good for thumb-havers to be alone, and that's why God made me and all the other dogs (and cats!) who were there. After that, the thumb-havers all said a prayer together and Pastor Katherine went around the circle and blessed every one of us by name! She also asked God to heal my liver.

Then I got to sniff some more dogs and thumb-havers before we got back in the car for another ride. (I've noticed that rides usually come two at a time.)

I was very, very good when I went to get blessed. I didn't show my teeth to any of the other dogs (and The Typist didn't let me get close enough to the cats to even try). I politely sniffed other dogs and less-politely jumped up and kissed lots of thumb-havers. And there was this one miniature hot dog who freaked me out a little bit, but I was even nice to her.

I highly recommend going to get blessed! Maybe next time they'll take The Boy, too. Though The Alpha says he may need an exorcism instead of a blessing. (I'm not sure what that means.)

We went places!

Friday we knew something was up because we got dressed in our bandannas and harnesses. And the thumb-havers started putting stuff in our car.

The Boy decided to see what was in there. Usually he tries not to touch our car when he stands up to look in, but here he is, caught with his paw on the shiny paint. I don't think he's supposed to do that.

So, sure enough, they put our beds in the back seat and we got all buckled up and went for a big, long ride!

We rode and rode and rode and rode, and The Typist played with her sticks and yarn and The Alpha drove, and right about time to eat, we got to Mamaw's house!

The Boy had never met Mamaw before. He liked her, but he wasn't sure we were supposed to stay at her house for very long. He kept whining in his soft little shouldn't-
we-be-doing-
something whine.

But we just settled in and spent the night there and everything. And in the morning Mamaw even let us have some eggs for breakfast. (She wanted to give us some gravy, too, but The Alpha and The Typist said that probably wasn't a good idea. But Grendel says gravy is love, and I think that may be the case. Even though The Typist says it wasn't the same kind of gravy that Grendel has.)

Then the thumb-havers who call us their Granddogs came to Mamaw's house, and we followed their car in our car and we rode and rode some more, and got to this place where we got to stay in a motel! Once again, we were Very Good Dogs. We were so Very Good that we even stayed in the room alone for a little while, with our very own TV to watch (there was a wolf pack documentary on PBS).

And we also got to go on a big, big walk downtown, where we met lots of people who loved us and said how beautiful we are. Some of them even let us come in their shops. In one shop that smelled a lot like rawhide chews, I saw this other dog that looked just like me inside this little window near the floor. The Typist laughed when I tried to go behind that shiny little window that she called a "shoe mirror" to get closer to that other dog like me. Funny, I sniffed and sniffed and never could smell that other dog.

Here we are waiting with The Alpha outside a shop we couldn't go inside. This is how well we watched the door where The Typist went -- as soon as she came back out the door she took this picture. You can't really see in the picture, but there was a bubble machine blowing on that street, and I wasn't even scared. (I didn't like bubbles when I was littler.)

We also saw a Real Wolf! On a leash! while we were downtown. The Alpha and The Typist seemed pleased to see him, but they wouldn't let us get very close. I think maybe it was because the Real Wolf! was growling. And I think they probably made the right decision for us. They take very good care of us.

Near the end of our walk, The Typist saw a yarn store and wanted to go in there. We were ready to wait outside with The Alpha, but the shop owner saw us and said, "Oh, we're dog friendly! Please come in!" and gave The Alpha a place to sit and learned our names and everything. The Typist got some more yarn to put around her sticks.

Then we walked up the big hill and we were Very Tired Dogs. But we'd had a Very Good Day and our beds were in the motel room all ready for us. So we had a Very Good Nap. Then today we came back home. We had fun, but we like being back here, too.

Adventure in the Wee Hours

Actually, I think it all started last night, when The Alpha and The Typist decided to have their supper in our backyard. They were watching some silly thing through the window, and they had a fire going in the grill for roasting food they did not let us have. But, they were also dropping perfectly good peanut shells on the ground, so The Boy and I snacked on those.

Which I think is where it all started.

In the wee hours of the morning when everybody was asleep, I started to feel kinda funny. So I decided to get rid of those peanut shells.

When The Alpha heard me acting on my decision, the adventure started! He woke up really fast and decided we were all running to the back door! Even though I wanted to finish my project right there on the bedroom carpet, I went with him. I even put most of my project outside, so he and The Typist only had to clean up a little of it.

Then we all went back to bed. But I don't think everybody got back to sleep. Funny, that seems to only be a problem for thumb-havers. I can take a nap anywhere, any time!

Off to do that now...

Lieutenant Calf! You got five laigs!

Remember the game from Sesame Street? "One of these things is not like the others?"


Notice anything different about the middle calf? Well, besides the fact that he's relieving himself. Which he's not doing in this next picture. So, do you see it? Up by his shoulder?


We are sorry we couldn't get a better picture than either of these, but his mama wasn't going to put up with us for very long.

Just so you know, he seems perfectly happy, running along on four of his legs with the fifth one swinging from that attempted thigh growing out of his back.

Thank you, Farmer L, for taking us out into the pasture for a visit. We appreciate knowing that this is the first time an extra leg has ever occurred in your decades-long farming career, as well.

But we wish Mama Cow had let him have his close-up.

Dogs on a Mission

Well, the thumb-havers forgot the camera, so there are no action shots, but they took pictures of us at home after we completed our mission.

We're incredibly humanitarian, especially when you consider that we're dogs.

This morning we did a CROP Walk. See the special stickers on our bandannas?




The Alpha and The Typist tell us that there are hungry thumb-havers all over the place. As much as The Boy and I complain about Never Getting Fed, we know we're just being whiny and that we're actually quite well-nourished (The Boy has even had to go on a little bit of a diet this week). So we walked to raise awareness of all the hungry thumb-havers out there. It was a nice walk, too... a little longer than our usual neighborhood walk, but there was a water break halfway through. Also, lots of thumb-havers noticed that we are Really Good Dogs and came over to pet us and say how pretty we are. We even saw my friend Bear's thumb-havers -- they got to meet The Boy for the first time. They were amused, I think.

Anyway, doing CROP Walk is just one small way we can help. We love to help. You can help, too, if you like.

Dog Logic for Thumb-Havers

After supper the other night, The Boy and I got walks... all the way down to the Magic Treat Window at the back of the pharmacy! They said my name, and handed back and forth a card and a piece of paper, and got a little white bag, but we knew why we were really there.

The thumb-haver inside the Magic Treat Window saw that we are Very Good Dogs. He saw that we were so good we each needed TWO treat bones. Not the little dinky kind we get at home, either. Nice, big, long-as-my-muzzle, serious treat bones. Apparently The Alpha and The Typist do not understand that these are what we actually require.

But, thanks to Sunny the Papillon, whose thumb-haver is John the Methodist, we now have a training tool for our thumb-havers. Sunny showed me a great thing that this other thumb-haver by the name of Khoi Vinh uses to figure out what his dog, Mister President, is thinking:



Go see! It could change your life.

Smells of Not-Here

Well, The Alpha and The Typist were gone for a while, but we didn't really notice because they sent Aunt Cathy to stay with us. We did notice when they came back, especially because they had a lot of dirty laundry for us to sniff.

I'm not sure, but I think I smelled this:



And possibly a hint of this:



And most definitely THIS, all over the Typist's stuff:

She keeps calling that last smell Walter. And she insists that Walter is a good Walter, even if he was gassy.

I wonder why The Boy and I didn't get to go smell all those smells up close?

They're home!

I can blog again because The Typist and The Alpha are back! But right now they're tired, so I have to wait some more. In the meantime, The Boy and I will be smelling the laundry they took out of their suitcases and will tell you what we learn from that.

Also, we LOVE Aunt Cathy, and we are so glad she came to stay with us. We barely even noticed we Got Left by our regular thumb-havers.

Why I Love My Thumb-Haver Cousin

First off, The Typist met back up with us today, and we're glad. And she wants to say that she doesn't know how anyone on dial-up has the patience to blog, and that's why there will be no linking in my post tonight. (Turns out I'm not the only girl in our pack who can be a bit of a priss.)

We got to ride in the car! with The Alpha yesterday for a big long ride to visit the thumb-havers who call us their granddogs. That also means we've been getting to see our Aunt Who Gives Us Cute Bandannas, and our Thumb-Haver Cousin Who Isn't Much Taller Than Us.

Tonight after supper I was feeling a little bit snackish. Nothing to whine about, of course. So I wasn't going to give them any pitiful puppy stares or anything. But when Thumb-Haver Cousin walked by with a Snack Cake in each hand, it sure looked like he was offering to share. So I took him up on the offer.

From the way he reacted, I don't think he really meant for me to eat the whole thing, but he didn't seem too upset. And the bigger thumb-havers all seemed to think it was funny. Then they had me give him poppy kisses, which they also thought was funny. And it meant I got a few more crumbs of Snack Cake.

It did not taste like my usual treats. It didn't even taste like Frosty Paws. It tasted really, really, really good, though. So good that I'm guessing The Alpha and The Typist won't let me have another one any time soon.

Oh, and The Boy got all scared today. The Alpha and Thumb-Haver Cousin were lighting things on fire that made popping sounds, and The Boy went to hide. He feels much safer back inside, where we all are now. He's still Not Quite Right, but then again, he never was.

I think we get to go on another ride in the morning.

Some important thing: General Conference

Last night The Typist and The Alpha were talking a lot about this big important thing called General Conference. Turns out The Typist is going there.

The Boy and I are hoping that even though we can't go (General Conference is Not For Poppies), maybe we can visit her while she's there, because it's not as far from home as a lot of places we've gone on rides (and we like rides!).

RevGalDogPal meetup!

The Typist just came home from church stuff and has to go to more church stuff, so she doesn't have time to help recount the story of our wonderful RevGalDogPal (and RevGalBlogPal) meetup yesterday. But that's okay, because Mary Beth helped Josie and Boudreaux tell all about it on her blog. Go read it!

The Gathering, x|y style

Hey, The Typist here...

It's been several days since we got back, and some folks (read: Andrew) have been bugging me to post about the Generation x|y Gathering that we had last week at Mount Sequoyah. The upshot is, it was great, especially for a first-year effort, and we all want it to happen again next year. Got good constructive feedback on the evaluation forms, too, so I'm sure next time it'll be even better.

As for pics, turns out one of the settings on my camera got bumped to "wrong" in my laptop bag, so I don't have very many good ones. But look! It's a few of us in the Bishop's Cottage, which housed our guest speakers. There's Cub's Uncle B on the mandolin, Tim Keel in the middle of the couch, and Marcia on the right (no, she's not asleep, she's just closing her eyes in amazement at what she's hearing).


And, wait... what's at the bottom of the frame?

Those, my blogfriends, are Doug Pagitt's toes.

I probably wouldn't have mentioned Doug Pagitt's big, long toes except for the story that Benjamin shares here. So, here I am, typing on and on about Doug's toes. Which, by the way, are not any more follically challenged than average toes, just so you know.

More thorough reports are available elsewhere on the blogosphere. But I'm the only one with a pic of Doug Pagitt's toes. So far, anyway.

Our weekend

The Typist is back now, so I can tell you about my weekend.

We didn't really get left... because Aunt Cathy came over!!!

We LOVE Aunt Cathy. She gives us belly rubs and takes us for morning walks and lets us sleep on the thumb-havers' bed with her. The Boy even stayed up on top of the bed this time, instead of going underneath it like usual.

The Alpha and The Typist are back now, and we got to go to Petco (Wonders Untold!) tonight. We got a new ball because we chewed a hole in the old one, and The Boy got a special new thing to go around his neck. It's all pinchy -- I know because they had me try it on, too. But when he has that pinchy thing on, The Boy all of a sudden really wants to go everywhere The Alpha goes. Should make for a different feel to our next walk.

Oh, The Typist wanted to say something about where she went, but it's getting to be her bedtime, so she'll get back to you later.