Island Beach State Park, NJ

We went hiking on an island today, fur real!  We lives rilly close to the oshun but we hardly effur go there coz it be way too crowded in the summertime and dogs is not allowed there in the summer.  But this time of year dogs can go and there do be lots less peeples.  It woz a bootiful day today and not too cold so we hiked 12 miles - 8 miles of that woz in sand so mom not be needing no Thigh Master from Santa Paws!

Here I is looking fur the oshun...

 

 OMD!  Wot is this in the sand?

They let 4 wheel drive MONSTER TRUCKS drive on the whole beach!  It woz horribulls.

There woz trucks up and down the beach as far as you could see.  It maded efurrything ugly and mom had to crop the tire marks out of pikshures to make them prittier. See this pritty pikshure?  Mom cutted the tire marks out.

But then you see boats all lined up along the horizon.  With so many peeples with trucks fishing on the beach and so may boats on the horizon fishing, I wonner if there be any fishies left in the oshun?

I do like to gib my furrends a woofout when I be in they nayborhood so seeing as I woz rilly close to Inglund, here goes...

We seened lots of burds on the beach...

And in the doons...

And some gnarly driftwood...

Then we seened the Barnegat Lighthouse on the udder side of the inlet at the end of the island...

We went around to the bay side and taked a break so I could has some Powah Bones fur reenergizashun...

Here I do be in the bay getting my paws wet...

Then we seened an osprey nest but there not be anyone at home...

Here do be me and mom's shadows walking on the road...

So it woz sad that the beach do be so icky with all the monster trucks on it and stuffs but it woz better on the bay side where there be no trucks.  So that be our beach visit fur the year.

Thanksgiving Day Hike

OMD, we did a Thanksgibbing Day hike!  I has to show you the hilites rite off the bat:

I dussn't think you can get more Thanksgibbing than that!  Wot is that you say?  Wot about Thanksgibbing Dinner?  Well mom woz cooking that while we woz hiking.  Rilly.

That do be the stuffed Tofurky and veggies in the crawk pawt.  Not fur me and my sisses.  We has something else I show you later.

So anyways, back to our Thanksgibbing hike.  We wented to Harriman State Park in Noo York coz it be a no hunting nefur ever park wot we can go to in the middle of the week.  Our hike woz 12 miles long.

One of the furst things we seened woz this gravestone:

That be Farmer Lewis wot used to farm the land there until he died.  I wonner wot happened to Lavinia Lewis - she could not still be alive, could she?  Spooky.

This be Lake Nawahunta - it used to be Farmer Lewis' field until peeples dammed it to make a lake:

At the top of Long Mountain there be a memorial fur Raymond Torrey who woz responsibull fur a lot of the trails in Harriman Park.  When he died his ashes woz let go here on his fave mountain where the memorial be.

That memorial woz atop a mountain where we woz up high and could see all around.  Even into West Point Military Academy where we is not allowed to go - no dogs, no peeples!  All of that ahind me be West Point, the furbidden zone...

As you has prolly noticed, the wevver woz icky.  This do be all we seened of the sun:

I did see the Hudson River but no Noo York City skyline today coz it not be clear wevvers.

Then when we gotted ofur to the top of Black Mountain, something woz hitting me in the eyeballs...

OMD! It do be snow!  The furst snow of the season.  See it on my furs?

We seened lots of wildlifes today.  Many deers, skwerrels, ducks...

An acorn all peeled and wif little teef marks in it like a chipmonkey woz hasing his Thanksgibbing dinner...

A Pileated Woodpeckah...

A Downy Woodpeckah...

Lots of Woody Woodpeckahs today!  And can somebody like Anna, Bunny, Buttons, any of you wot knows efurrything there be to know bout all things pink pawlese tell me wot this is?  Pink burd poo?!?!?!

Just when we woz almost back at our car at a lower elevashun, the snow becommed rain and this is wot we drived home in...

So then we gotted home and DINNER TIME!  WOO WOO!

Altho we woz all furry interested in the Tofurky...

We wozn't allowed to has any coz mom did put the onions and salty stuffs in it wot not be good fur dogs.  So we got this!

NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM!!!!  From all of us to all of you, we be wishing you

The Story of Me

So my furrend Minna Krebs is hasing a contesty fur her Gotcha Day, wot be on Thanksgiving Day, where efurryone has to bloggie bout "The Story of Me" of how you commed to be in your home.  Then Minna Krebs do be drawing from all the bloggies wot pawticipates fur a GRAND PWIZE WINNER!  The grand pwize do be a donashun of $50 in the winner's name to an animal charity.  Woo hoo, so let me get started...

THE STORY OF ME, SHAWNEE
It woz a hawt day back on the elebenth of Jooly 2001.  I woz just a puppeh, only 4 months old, curled up in the corner and shaking violently in the big, lowd, skeery, (DURTY and STINKY) inner city animal shelter in Newark, Noo Joisey.  We woz told I woz dumped at the shelter coz I woz not "purebred enuff".  I has faulty white markings, oh the horror!  The laydee wot werked at the shelter broughted a laydee ofur to my cage and asked the laydee to take me in her reskoo groop to foster and find me a home.  The laydee sayed no coz she duss not do puppehs, she prefurs older dogs wot not gets into as much trubulls and has less chance of getting out of the shelter alive.  The shelter laydee then picked me up so the reskoo laydee could get a closer look at how pawthetic I woz and I had the runny poos all down her white blouse fur added effect.  The reskoo laydee could see how skeered I woz, she knowed I would neffur get a home all skeered like that, all shaky and reddy to jump out of my furs.  So she sayed OK, gib me that puppeh, and putted me in a crate in her car.

I did not see this as being a good thing at the time, espeshully when we gotted to the laydee's howse and I gotted a BAF!  Where do be PETA when you needs them?  Then it woz off to the V-E-T fur needles, the thingy up the 'you-knows-wot', poking and prawding...  I woz even more skeered.  I puked all ofer the place.  I had the kennel coff cooties wot I gotted while in the shelter.  This do be me on that furst day.

"HELP!"

Paralyzed by fears in the boys lap.

As you can see, I woz NOT a happy camper.  I just wanted to crawl in a hidey spot and DIE!  You see, the prawblem woz I woz feral wot meaned I had no sochulizashun with hoomans and woz terrified of being tutched.  It woz like I had been borned in a barn, prolly at a back yard breeder, somebody just tying to make monies from making puppies, and I had hardly effur seened peeples, prolly nefur been tutched by peeples.  Mebbe they shunned me coz I did not look purfect.  I dussn't rilly rememmer.  Anyways, my foster mom had lots of werk to do with me to get me to trust peeples.

When I woz around udder dogs, I woz all happy-go-lucky normal like a puppeh should be...

Playing bitey leg with foster dog Flossie.

Playing bitey face with foster dog Flossie.

Telling sekrits with foster dog Flossie.

Chilling with foster dog Flossie.

Then one day foster dog Flossie woz gone.  All gone, nefur to be seened again.  I did not unnerstand why at the time.  But then came foster dog Benson...

Playing bitey face with foster dog Benson.

Getting wet with foster dog Benson.

Then one day some peeples commed and taked Benson away.  I cried pitifully coz I knowed I would nefur see him again.  (I akshually did see him again 4 years later when the fambly returned him coz the teenagers woz no longer interested in him, grrrrr.  Oh doggie, did mom has werds with that doodyhed fambly!  How can you say you be tired of the dog after 4 years?  Dogs is supposed to be fur furever and ever. We founded Benson anudder home and he still be there to this day.)  But evenshually I started to unnerstand they woz foster dogs and woz only here temporary until they finded furever (hopefully furever and ever) homes.  There woz always foster dogs fur me to play with.  Efurry time one got adopted, my foster mom would go back to the shelter and bring home a noo one wot woz about the same size and age as me so we could be furrends.

I always liked my crate coz it do be my safe hidey spot back then.  I keeped all my pwize posseshun stuffies in there.  Foster mom did not has to shut the door coz I would not come out inside the howse.  Fur me to go outside mom would has to drag my crate out the door on to the deck, udderwise I would wet myself if'n she tried to tutch me to get me out.  So I kinda housebreaked myself like that.  Once I started coming out of my crate inside, I only had 2 potties in the howse the whole time I woz a puppeh.

My foster mom werked with me so I woz not so skeered of peeples.  She would feed me nommy treats, furst throwing them so I did not has to come close to her until I gotted braver and would take them from her hand.  Eventually I would sit in my foster mom's lap to nom my treats.  To this day if'n somebody be sitting on the ground, dussn't matter who, I sit my behind in their lap!

Then commed the day when I woz loaded up in the car with all of my stuffies and my blankie.  I puked the whole time coz I knowed I woz leaving like all the udders.  My foster mom woz the only one I trusted.  Sometimes.  She leaved me in a strange howse with a strange laydee and anudder dog.  My foster mom tolded the laydee I would be skeered and it would take me time to be comfy.  After my foster mom left me I would not come out of my crate.  I did snarly face at her udder German shepherd dog (wot woz 20 gabillion times bigger than me), I behaved furry badly.  Within 4 hours the laydee called my foster mom and sayed it not be werking out, that she be needing to return me like I woz a dress wot not fitted. Little did she know that had she gibbed me time to settle in and learn to trust her, she would has had a rilly wonnerful dog pal in me.  It do be her loss coz she nefur gibbed me a chance and she did not lissen to any of the instrukshuns mom gibbed her about me.

It akshually werked out just fine fur me coz I wented back to my foster mom, wot then becamed my mom coz she sayed she would nefur ever make me all skeered and behaving badly like that again by trying to adopt me out to peeples wot not unnerstand me.  She deemed me "unadoptable."  So that is how I comed to live here furever and ever.  I has commed such a long way since those days long ago.  Peeples who knowed me then cannot beleef I be the same dog now.  I used to not want to walk out on the driveway, nefur mind up the street or to the park.  Now I hike all ofur the country and has grate adventures. I went to obedience school once a week fur 5 years to build up my self esteems.  I gotted my Canine Good Citizen fancy schmancy certificate on the wall.  Sometimes I still weird out over things wot skeer me but when mom gibs me an obedience command, it brings me back to earth and efurrything be good again. 

So on this Thanksgiving I want to woof how thankful I is that I has a furever and ever home and so many wonnerful bloggie furrends.  And fur you, Minna Krebs, HAPPY GOTCHA DAY!

And I has to send out anudder Gotcha Day greeting fur a pal of mine wot woz gotted one year ago on Thanksgiving Day.  That be my former foster sis Buttons wot we drived ofur to Illinoy to her furever and ever home on Thanksgiving Day last year.  Pop on in ofur at Buttons' place and gib her a woofout!  She duss has the bestest furever and ever home!  And if'n she duss not post her story, we has it rite here.