A Let Down

This is off topic for Molly but it is kind of a big let down whenever you work on a blog, you think a particular post is pretty good, and then no one reads it. You want the whole world to tell you how fabulous it is, you check the status on it, and only five people have read it. You re-post it thinking maybe that the Twitter or blogging world has missed out on it's brilliance, and the readership has made it up to seven people. It is a good thing I am not trying to make a living as a blogger (exactly how does that work anyway?) or I would be living out of a cardboard box and eating out of dumpsters. For some reason Molly insists that I keep dog treats in the house.

Storming The House

The other day I am sitting there looking out the window and I counted 12 squirrels in my front yard. Most of them were gathering acorns and that seems a little bit early for them to do that. I can't remember if that means that it is going to be an early winter or a long winter. I am sitting there watching all of these squirrels and my imagination took over. I can imagine the squirrels storming the house, commando style, and staging a hostile takeover and taking Molly and me prisoner. They already pepper my car and roof with acorns. They could arm themselves with acorn semiautomatic weapons and maybe an acorn RPG or an acorn launcher. My front window would be an easy target and they could breech the house there. I can see the flying squirrels parachuting onto the roof in their WWII fighter helmets and repelling down the side of the house. I can see whatever my imagination allows me to see.

The High Wire Act

I was driving down Highway 176 in East Flat Rock the other morning when I happened to glance up and see a squirrel making his way across a power line that ran over the top of the five lane highway. It wasn't exactly the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles but it was still very impressive for the little guy. I saw another one doing the high wire act in my driveway during mine and Molly's walk this morning. The squirrels are always jumping from tree to tree and doing other acrobatic things that would make the Flying Wallendas proud. The Squirrels are one of the few animals that have not managed to catch Molly's attention around here although she has caught theirs.

Being Social

One of the biggest mistakes I made with Molly when bringing her up was that I did not "socialize" her. She wasn't near too many people and I did not take her around other dogs either. I did not do her any favors because that is an important part of a dogs upbringing. I was probably more protective of Molly than she was of me and that is saying a lot. Molly did eventually learn how to get along with my roommate's dog Mandy, but Molly made it clear that there were certain lines Mandy could not cross. One of those lines was the threshold to my bedroom door. Mandy crossed that line few times but she quickly learned that it was a bad idea.

Tucking Molly In

First of all, I hardly ever make up my bed. When I get back in it at night is usually how I left it that morning. Molly usually takes full advantage of that by snuggling down in the covers and using my pillow but if she is going to sleep all day, she might as well be comfortable. Last night Molly achieved a new standard. I was trying to get in the bed and Molly was sprawled out all over the place. She refused to move so I had to pull the covers up over both of us and she looked right at home getting all tucked in and everything. Molly definitely leaves the good life.

Taco Night

It is a little known fact that Molly helps me make most of my meals. She wants to taste test everything, she helps me eat it, and she helps me do the dishes after we get through eating. Molly was very vocal in her displeasure because we ran out of tacos tonight but tacos give her gas so I only gave her a real small helping. When she realized she wasn't getting any more tacos, she stood in the kitchen and barked and barked at me. There is just no making her happy when it comes to food. Molly is now sleeping it off.

The Rain Won't Stop

It has been raining here for the better part of two days. It is great sleeping weather but it is not much good for walking Molly. As long as it is a light rain, Molly is fine with it. A heavy rain, she is not happy with at all. I take her out and try to hold an umbrella over her head so she don't get so wet and it helps a little bit. Molly does love being toweled off and what dog wouldn't? Molly has real short, thick hair so I have to scrub down deep to get her dry. Of course, Molly then jumps up on my bed with her damp self gets my bed all wet and soggy. Molly likes to share everything with me.

Thanks For The Cookie

Yesterday afternoon I was feeling domestic so I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies. My girlfriend came over later on and she helped herself to a few of them. My girlfriend was sitting on the couch, talking to her Mom on her cell phone, and she let her hand dangle down with the cookie still in it. My girlfriend really wasn't paying attention so Molly walked up to her, gently took the cookie out of her hand, and gobbled it down. My girlfriend didn't even realize what had happened until it was too late. Molly quickly earned the nickname the cookie bandit.

Waking Up

There are days when you wake up and everything is immediately off to a good start. You slept great, you feel well rested, and you are ready to start the day. This afternoon was not one of those days. I woke up and I wasn't quite ready to open my eyes yet and I caught a whiff of this god awful aroma. I open my eyes and Molly's face is about two inches from my face and she is laying some doggie bad breath on me. That is one way to make sure I get up. I told Molly, "Damn! Take a doggie breath mint or something." I was met with a blank stare and more panting. We both decided that she needed to go outside.

Early Warning System

Molly is my early warning system for everything that goes on around the house. I work third shift now and good sleep is a very fleeing thing. It doesn't happen often . I was sleeping today and Molly woke me up with her very urgent, very persistent barking. I was sleeping very well so I staggered up, made sure she had food and water, told her to get back in bed, and promptly went back to sleep. The last thing I remember was early crawling up in bed with me.

When I took her for her walk this afternoon I saw some bear tracks in the driveway so I am thinking that may have been the cause of Molly's barking but as long as they are not breaking down the door, I am safer in the house hiding under the covers until the bear leaves. Molly just thought I should know.

What I Have Learned

Today would have been my father's 79th birthday and I have made it a tradition 0n Molly's World to write something in honor of my father, the ultimate dog lover, and of course, Molly. I have been around dogs since the day I was born. I believe that our Poodle Midnight was in the delivery room when I was born. What I learned about dogs, I learned from my father, what dogs have taught me, I learned from Molly.

My father taught me to love and respect dogs and to value the friendship that they provide and Molly has taught me that as long as I have a dog, life is never as bad as it seems. Those are two valuable lessons from two influences in my life.

Always There For Me

No matter how great things are or how bad things may get, the one constant I can depend on is Molly. If I have a great day she is there at the door to greet me or if life has delivered a kick to my balls, Molly is there to share in my joy or to boost my spirits. Molly picks on my how I feel, emotionally and physically. Molly gives me the unconditional love I can never get anywhere else. I believe it was cartoonist Charles Schulze that wrote "Happiness is a warm puppy." His Peanuts comic strip centered around Charlie Brown's relationship with his Beagle Snoopy. They were always off doing their own thing but at the end of the day, they always had each other.

The Window

I was sitting at my desk looking out the window this morning and all of the animals out in my front yard was a sight to see. There was about seven squirrels, several different kinds of birds, and a turtle even crawled past. I have some kind of bush right outside of the window and a beautiful bird perched on one of the limbs so he could pick the red berries off of it. The bird sat there for several minutes checking me out as I was checking him out. It was a scene right out of the Dr. Doolittle movies.

The property I live on has become a wildlife sanctuary and I am good with that. I do wish the animals were a little more photographer friendly and allow me to take a few shots of them in their natural habitat.

A Substitute Walker

I let my girlfriend take Molly our for a while this afternoon. I just stood back and watched. I am going to need a "substitute walker" when I have my foot surgery in about another month and my girlfriend is the logical choice. Molly walked right along with her and never even batted an eye. Molly feels completely comfortable with her. I do not think that my girlfriend is completely aware of Molly strength and perseverance when she sees something she wants to go after. I am hoping Molly will understand the situation and take it easy on her but we will have to wait and see what happens.

Pillow Fight

Molly loves sleeping with the pillows. Last night she built herself a pillow fort and hunkered down in the middle of them and went to sleep. She is always taking the pillows in her mouth, arranging them just so, and then patting down with her nose. The pillow fort was a new one so she is getting more creative as she gets older.

In the mornings when I get home I take Molly for her nature walk and she immediately comes back in and goes to bed. She hogs all of the pillows and I have to out wrestle her for one just so I can sleep. It get quite comical at times. This morning I got scratched just about my left eye when she rolled off one of the pillows and her paw caught me. I have to fight just so I can get a pillow and get some sleep.

Let's Go See What That Noise Is

Cats have the reputation for being curious and having to be in the know at all times. Dogs cannot be far behind them. My house is surrounded by woods and I have already listed the various forms of wildlife that inhabit them. It is kind of like the old children's book "Where the Wild Things Are." I know they are out there and I don't really to know the specifics of which wild thing it is. I own a pistol but I am not about to shoot anything unless I am in very serious danger.

Molly has a different take on hearing noises in the woods. She has to know what it is. Molly and I have this discussion about every morning and every afternoon about how it is really not that important that we know what it is. I think we need to respect the wild thing's space and it's right to be in the woods and Molly wants to tell it to get out of "our woods." Right now we are agreeing to disagree.

Bears And Snakes And Groundhogs, Oh My!

The woods surrounding the property that I live on has turned into a zoo over the course of the past month. When I found out that three copperheads had been killed on the property last week, that made me really nervous. The Bear was bad enough because he can smack all of the ass off of me and Molly but at least he shows us enough respect to keep his distance. The groundhog shows us enough respect to run and hide whenever we see him. The snakes are sneaky and can kill you with one lethal bite. They are also camouflaged which makes them even harder to see. Molly and I went from ten acres to cruise around on to about a 50 yard square radius to roam around on to be safe. I love watching wildlife but I am used to seeing birds, squirrels, and rabbits. They are some of the cute and cuddly woodland creatures. Those I can live with.

The Molly Test

When it comes to people, I trust my instincts more than any person I know. Molly usually lets me know immediately whether she likes someone or not. There is one guy that I know who likes to embellish the truth when it comes to telling a story. There are probably bits and pieces of the truth when it comes to his stories but sometimes you have to dig really deep to find the small shreds of truth. The first time Molly met him, she tried biting him. Molly fiercely defends me but that is very unusual for her. She has only done that to a handful of people. Most of them are my family members so I am not exactly sure what that says about them.

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and they asked how my girlfriend and I were doing and I said we were doing well. Then she asked the key question- "Has she passed the Molly test?" I said yes she has. Molly feels comfortable enough to nap beside when I am not in the room and when we are out on one of our nature walks, Molly always waits on her to catch up with us. Yes, I would say my girlfriend passed the "Molly test."

A Hot Shower

This is Molly. I have hijacked Dan's blog while he is asleep. I do not understand this human ritual of standing in a tub under a pipe that pours out hot water, pouring soap on a towel, scrubbing off your body, and doing the same with your hair, and then wiping all of the water off with a towel. Dan shuts the bathroom door, I open the door, he shuts it, I open the door, he shuts it, and so on and so forth. If he wants to clean himself , he should wash himself off with his tongue and paws like I do. It gets the job done. Who needs water? I hate walking in the rain but I can understand the drying off thing. I kind of like being rubbed down with a towel.

Molly Knows Best

Molly knows best especially when it comes to her needing out. I was not that excited this morning when she needed out before it was daylight because of Sammy the Bear lurking around but Molly insisted so I took her. She also needed out this afternoon and that was very fortunate because there was some man and his two dogs prowling around on the property. They were just two dachshund's but I believe his intentions were honorable. He told me he had lost one of his dogs but he did not give me any information about his lost dog. He seemed rather pissed that I caught him. Molly took care of business.

Scratching That Itch

All dogs scratch. It doesn't mean they have fleas or anything, it is just a fact of canine life. As Molly has gotten older, she will scratch just because she thinks she has to. I will hear her back foot thumping the floor and I will turn around and look at her and her foot will be missing where she is intending to scratch. Molly does thump out a good beat though. It sounds like the beginning of one hit wonder Ram Jam's "Black Betty." I have thought about taking Molly to one of the local nightspot's karaoke night and Molly might be able to thump out a beat, but I can't sing. I wonder if it could get us on stupid pet tricks....

A Story Comes Together

I decided to try my hand at writing a children's book. The inspiration came from all of the wildlife that Molly and I encounter on our daily walks and there have been many animals. They are all unique and fascinating in their own way. I have to give them life and human characteristics but I did not want to make them too Winnie the Pooh or Charlotte's Web. I am going to leave the creepy crawlies out of my story because I do not think they would make good characters for me.

Molly is not going to be a central character for me but instead she is going to be a character in the background. Molly has spent her time in the spotlight, she has her own blog, and her adventures have been well documented. She might become a major character later but she believes it is someone else's turn.

Animals At Play

While Molly and I were on our afternoon walk, I always watch all of the other animals we see on our journey to see what they are doing. We saw these two squirrels playing and they were amazing to watch. One was chasing the other and they were running up and down trees and jumping from tree to tree and just having a great time. Molly wasn't impressed but I watched them for the longest time.

I have always been fascinated with animals at play- cats, dogs, squirrels, bears, and any other kind of animal you can think of. I believe animals play with imagination. Watch a kitten play with a ball (mine used to love playing with the cap off a gallon of milk), attack you from somewhere in hiding, or a dog play with a tennis ball or to try to get you to play with them. It is all fun and games and they get unbridled joy out of their play. A lot can be learned from watching the animals that we come across every day.

Bad Dreams

I have become so paranoid about Sammy the Bear that I have started to have bad dreams about him. If you put a title to dreams this one would be called "Bear On A Rampage." It was a Cujo type of dream except the main character was Sammy. I dreamed he was chasing me and Molly and I had to run into the house to get away from him. I turned Molly loose from her leash so she could get away but she ran back to fight Sammy so I could get away. I made my escape into the house. Molly made it in a few minutes later, all beat up and had several cuts where Sammy's claws got her.

Molly talks to me in my dreams with a human voice. She told me "I put up a good fight but he got me a little bit." I immediately started tending to her wounds and trying to patch her up. I looked out the front window and I saw that Sammy had been cornered by a hunter. The hunter shot Sammy and that upset me but Sammy had it coming for what he did to Molly. It was one of those dreams that seemed all to real.

Sammy Returns

Sammy the Bear paid another visit to my house sometime during the night. Molly picked up on his scent when we walked up to the cottage on our morning walk this morning. There was also a garbage can knocked over and two complete bags of garbage missing. Unless there is a garbage thief running somewhere around Flat Rock, Sammy had a little bit of a snack sometime during the early morning hours. I know Sammy is out there and he knows Molly and I are here so as long as we respect each other space (and he cleans up after himself), we will be fine.

I know a lot of hunters are licking their chops to go after Sammy and I will try to protect him as best that I can. Sammy is just doing what bears do this time of year and that is hunt for food. People are chasing bears out of their natural habitats so we are going to come in contact with the bear population. This is their land as much as it is ours and I have a great respect for wildlife so as long as they keep their distance and do not look at me and Molly as the buffet at the Golden Corral, we can coexist.

I Want To Stay Outside

There are some days where Molly just does not want to come in from our walks. She was moving in slow motion anyways and my feet hurt so we had our usual argument about whether we were going in the house or not. She talked me into staying out for a few more minutes so she could get a few more sniffs in. Molly was not doing well at all today. She stayed in bed most of the day and that is all she really does any more but that is alright. She deserves the rest.

Talking To Molly

Some of my friends have picked up on the fact that I talk to Molly just like she is a regular friend of mine. Why wouldn't I? Molly knows me better than anyone else and she is my best friend. We have regular conversations (as long as I can interpret her woofs, growls, and barks), she gives great advice, and she is a great listener without interrupting me.

Molly and I do have our disagreements but those are usually quickly settled. One morning this week our conversation went something like this. "C'mon Molly. We are going inside now."

"Woof." (No, I am not ready yet. I need to go sniff in that corner of the yard.)
"C'mon Molly. I'm not bull shittin'. We are going inside."
"Wwrroof." (Oh, alright.)

I actually won that argument.

Ups And Downs

Molly and I are both going through some physical ups and down right now but that is OK. We are in this together. Moving was hard for her yesterday and it was all I could do to get her off the bed and out of the house so we could take our walk. I am feeling it to and I believe Molly understands as only a dog can. She will walk out here and check on me once in a while and I really appreciate that. If I am laying down, she will get in my face to make sure I am still breathing and then she will lay back down. You cannot beat unconditional love.

Too Many Horror Movies

"Be cautious of bears at all times, even while being mauled by a tiger." Craig Benzine

Running into the friendly neighborhood bear a couple of times over the past couple of weeks has really amped up my paranoia about wild animals. I was stocking movies one day last week and I saw a horror movie about a Grizzly bear on a rampage. That was the last thing I needed to see. I thought giving him a friendly name might help me out some. I have decided on Sammy. That is a nice, friendly name. I believe he would like that.

I did not have a Sammy sighting this morning nut Molly did miss out on her visit to the dog park. That's OK. We were both kind of tired anyway. I did throw the garbage in the back of a dump truck on the property. I thought Sammy might not be able to get to it in there.

Winnie The Pooh He's Not

My house is hardly the "House on Pooh Corner" but I had another run in with the friendly neighborhood bear this morning. I should at least give him a name. He is also rather large. I realize now that on my best day, even with the fear factor included, I cannot out run him.

I came home early from work and the bear was dragging one of my bags of garbage across the yard. I scared him off when my car drove up and I am pretty sure the bear made an obscene gesture and grabbed his crotch before running off into the woods. I figured he would come back after I went to sleep for the day but he decided to stay away. Molly got a nice trip to the dog park out of it which is a treat for her these days. She got to ride in the car and got to poop on new ground so it was a win-win for her.

I am really not comfortable with the bear being that close to the house but with me working third shift now, it is going to be harder to prevent. Animal control refuses to do anything and to a certain extent, I can understand that but I am also concerned about the safety of the bear.