Hot Summers

by

Cool Hot Summer Fun: 9

Remember I told you that I love to play indoor soccer with my stuffed buddies? Well, today I played it to celebrate that my dear friend Octopus finally made it out of the ICU. He went AWOL for a very long time after I had chewed off more than I could handle. When I saw him again he was called Septopus. After a successful surgery and speedy recovery,  Octopus is back in the game, up and running on all his legs.

THE GAME

Prerequisites: First, I had to learn the names of my stuffed animals. This sounds more complicated than it is. Every single time a new fellow joins my herd, I’m taught his/ her name.

Octopus in the ICU
You have to be fast
Got two!

The rules:

  1. My human kicks one of my stuffed friends. This really sounds worse than it is. My friends sometimes squeak but I’m sure this is from delight. Let’s say it is Mr. Crocodile that gets the boot. And yes, boots can hurt us canines so we only play this game barefoot.
  2. As my human kicks Mr. Crocodile, she says “get Crocodile” and then we both run after him.
  3. If my human gets to my friend first, she kicks it again. If I’m first, I grab my friend and we go to step 4. I make sure that I run very fast. I don’t want my friends to be kicked in the butt twice in a row.
  4. Next, my human says the name of another friend and kicks it. We then run as fast as we can after that fellow. Repeat steps 3 and 4 as many times as you like. You can include all your friends in this game or just one or two, it’s up to you and your friends. I can now hold up to three stuffed fellows in my mouth. That’s why we play the game with more than three friends. My favorite friend right now is Mr. Crocodile. He has an ultrasonic squeaker. I hear it but humans cannot! It’s a win-win for all.

Happy days, 

Benji

by

Cool Hot Summer Fun: 8

What to do on one of those lazy Sunny Days? Make new friends! This one was technically speaking not a new one as he had been hiding in our doggie pantry since November 2016. Yes, you read that right. That’s when a V.I.P. stayed with us and we did the coastal tour. Oh, those were the days. Cool temps, excellent company, what else could one want.

I love Mr. Crocodile
He fits in well with my other friends

From l. to r.: Ducky, Crab, Moose, Rabbit, Rhino, Rope, Wallie, and Mr. Crocodile

I’m glad we found Mr. Crocodile. We hope he can stay and play with us for a long time to come. It all depends on his heart a.k.a. squeaker. Sometimes I have to do CPR on my friends. In the past, I have experienced some losses (see R.I.P. Ducky I). I guess I have to practice more. I also hope that Mr. Crocodile is a good soccer player. I love to play that game. More about that later; it’s getting pretty close to dinner time!

Wishing you a happy 4th of July weekend,

please keep your furry and not-so-furry ones safe,

Benji

by

Cool Hot Summer Fun: 5

You thought all the wet stuff was behind us, right? Well, so did I. Apparently, we forgot about the beach. The beach is actually fun as long as you don’t get saturated with the wet stuff. We go to the beach a lot in the winter and fall, but we hardly go in the summer. It’s Florida you know. If we go in the summer, we go at night when the sand is cool and still a bit wet. I love to play in the sand and look at sunsets.

beach3.jpg

I have been going to the beach since I was a youngster (12-17-15). Click on the photo to watch my video

sand

The sand is fun (1-1-16)

img_7068

I like to just sit and enjoy the scenery (11-23-16)

sailingh

And reminisce about the day (2-5-17)

Phew, I made it through the wet stuff alright; onwards to the dry matter,

Benji

by

Cool Hot Summer Fun: 3A

OK, I tried to postpone this watery post as long as possible for reasons that you are probably well aware of by now.  However, higher authorities ruled differently and I was bound to get WET as part of the Cool Hot Summer Fun series. Yes, you read that right. Don’t get me wrong, I do love to DRINK water. However, do not soak me in the stuff. It’s wasteful you know. And it certainly isn’t fun.

There are many ways to get wet and all are bad: in the bathtub (not a good idea for the interior of your bathtub; I do have nails), a pool (are you nuts, I would drown!), on a wet towel (ok this one isn’t too bad), … Anyhowls, you get my drift. The other day headquarters decided that we had to try something else. Ms. Zulu and I both love to drink from a hose, so the thinking was that we would enjoy playing under a lawn sprinkler. Hmmm, in what kind of universe does that not totally soak you?

hose.JPG

This is not gonna work you guys

Of course Ms. Zulu and I are always a good sport so we did try this new game. The first attempt was with a spray nozzle attached to a water hose. The nozzle was quite rude. He was quick to point the finger, or whatever part it was, at us. I’m happy to report that the end score was: Spray Nozzle 00 – Benji 11. I even stayed dry and got all the treats. Ms. Zulu didn’t stay completely dry but she didn’t get wet to the bone either. Nor did she get any treats now I come to think of it. She can have some of my treats. Oh, I guess I inhaled them all. Well, I’m sure there are more wherever they came from. Look in the pantry.

hose2.JPG

Ms. Zulu got a bit wet and was still smiling 

Since both Ms. Zulu and I didn’t really seem to cool down from this game, some more serious looking equipment was pulled out of the shed-with-one-hundred-and- thousand-plus-tools and a real sprinkler was attached to the hose. I will give you an update on that later.

In the meantime stay dry,

Benji