This Rover

My brother and I took down an old fence. Our neighbors put up a new one and, when they measured, it ended up that we gained an extra foot and a half in our yard! The space between the two fences was just big enough for me to fit in! I felt like Luke Skywalker! But, just like his fighter jet, I don’t go in reverse, so my brother had to start on the project a little earlier than he thought in order to take out enough of the fence to get me out.

Here we are the evening before we finished the rest of the project. My brother toasted my release from the Death Star corridor and the new fence with a Man Hat.

I don’t think about it much, but I guess I’m in better shape than my brother. He was sweating and panting a lot. As you can see, I’m as fresh as a daisy. Of course, I was the Supervisor. I think this job will be good training for my new position as Prime Rib Minister of the Winstonian Republics.

Well, here we are with all the up and down pieces taken down. I supervised from inside the house while my brother took down all the framing parts – it was hot outside! But, at least he got cooled off by a rain storm while he was moving all the wood to the side yard.

We celebrated a job well done that evening. My brother had some drink called a “Bully Aardvark: Yay!” That is the funniest name! At least I think that’s what he said. He made it with some of the Bourbon that he and our friend Mike found when they were on that trail in Kentucky. I guess in Kentucky they have bottles of Bourbon instead of good intentions.

Well, I hope you have a nice surprise today, like finding out that your yard is a foot and a half bigger than you thought! And then I hope you come up with a great way to use that gift – without getting stuck in the middle in the process!

Love, Winston

Good morning! While my brother is at Church, I thought I’d catch you up on the past week. First, I hope you all had a great Fourth of July. We did! It was very quiet. We grilled out and then watched the fireworks on the television. I know that some of you all want to make sure that I didn’t get too excited, like I do when it thunders. Well, here’s me last year on the boat.

As you can see, I’m as cool as a cucumber with rockets and their red glare, for some reason. Of course, there was food involved.
Now, here’s some very exciting news. While we were celebrating the Fourth of July, my brother told me, “Well, you know, Winston, you’re the Prime Minister of the Winstonian Republics.” I had no idea! In fact, I didn’t even know there had been an election! It made me do a little Whiskey Tango to celebrate!

To all of you who supported me, thank you. I’m very humbled, especially because I’m not quite sure where the Winstonian Republics are! I was also really excited when I thought I was the Prime Rib Minister, but I think Prime Minister will be great, too.
Has that ever happened to you – where you’ve been humbled to receive a gift and you’re not even sure just how big that gift is? My brother says that happens to him at Church a lot. I thought about it on our walk this morning, and here’s what I think we should all do:

You say a little prayer, try to do your best, and keep putting one paw in front of the other.

That’s what I’ll try to do every day as Prime Minister. I also hope that the hydrangea is the Official Bush of the Winstonian Republics. If they don’t already have an official bird, I might suggest the hawk.

We saw one on our walk and my brother got this picture before he flew away.

It’s too bad, because I was just getting ready to ask him if he wanted to be the Official Bird.

Well, maybe we’ll see him again. Or, maybe a duck would be more suited to me, being a Retriever and all.

After all the excitement, I decided to cool off in the Springs. It’s good to be led “beside” the still waters, but sometimes you just have to plop right down in them!

Well, I hope you can come visit me in the Winstonian Republics. I’ll let you know as soon as I found out where they are!

Well, my brother and I are back in Tulsa! I love our morning walks, and you wouldn’t believe how many bunnies are in the neighborhood! On our first morning back, I found this great bag of treasure.

I went into full retriever mode and was making a beeline back to the house, when I was faced with a very happy dilemma!

It was an embarrassment of riches! I stood as still as a statue until the bunny finally decided to move along. Those bunnies: they spend half their time standing as still as a stone and the other half sprinting like lightning!

Of course, that’s what my brother says about me when we meet up with the bunnies. When I’m chasing after them, he’s always telling me to slow down, and when I’m locked on the target, he wants me to move along. He says that he tells me “Keep walking” so much that people are going to mistake him for Frank Sinatra. Between you and me, I don’t think there’s any danger of that! If you’ve heard him sing, you know what I’m talking about.

A couple of days later, I got to try out my skills on a pizza box. My brother says that the guys at Benihana have nothing on me. I have no idea what he’s talking about! I do hear that the Olympics are coming up in Japan this summer, so if there’s a pizza box demolition event, please let them know about me!

On Memorial Day, my brother and I went around to the cemeteries. Here we are at Floral Haven. I think they may have the world’s largest flag collection!

I always love Memorial Day! It’s kind of like the Fourth of July without the loud noises. And don’t worry: I always make sure I use the restroom before we head out on our adventure.

Here I am at Cafe Ole last Saturday for brunch. We met Chris and his lady friend, Angela. Chris is one of the Mondo brothers, and he sure knows his food! Whenever we have breakfast together, he always gives me a whole piece of bacon at a time! I really like that guy!

Well, I hope today brings you whole servings of whatever you’re wishing for!

Love, Winston

Well, my brother and I left The District on the 11th of May. I had a couple of treats the morning that we left!

Our plan was to see our friends in Charleston and Hilton Head. However, as we headed down the coast, my brother kept telling me that the filling stations were running out of gas. I reminded him that our car has a plug-in, so you can run on electricity for about 25 miles at a time without using the hybrid something-or-other, but he said that, at 25 miles a charge, it would take us a very long time to get back home. So, we decided to head over to Columbia, South Carolina for the evening. Then, we went up to Clemson and drove on some beautiful, very winding roads on our way to our friends’ Mike and his dog Tripp, on Lake Douglas in Tennessee.

Tripp and I had a good time together while the boys went in to Knoxville for the day.

On Friday morning, we started back to Tulsa. We had a bit of a detour when we got to Memphis. It seems that the bridge over the Mississippi River was coming apart in the middle. It was like Tennessee and Arkansas were no longer shaking hands. That made me a little sad to think about. It is supposed to take a few months to fix, so we had to go south until we found the next bridge. That meant we didn’t get to stop at the Bass Pro Shops pyramid, which is right over by St Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Here’s some what they call “stock” footage of the pyramid, that we took last year.

Because we had some extra time in the car, I thought about how they could fix the bridge, and I think I have a good solution. Have you ever seen that commercial for Flex-Seal, with the fellow in the boat made out of window screens? There you go! Maybe Arkansas and Tennessee could split the cost. Plus, if they act now, they can double their order: I think they just have to pay shipping and handling.

Well, even with the broken bridge, we got back to Tulsa about 8 o’clock. It was nice to have my yard again!

The next time we talk, I’ll tell you about my latest Tulsa adventures!

Love, Winston

Good morning! I’m still trying to catch you up on our adventures in The District last month. I need to finish those because our adventures back home are starting to pile up! Whew!

Well, one thing I wanted to tell you was that there were several breezy days while we were back on the boat. I really liked it.

Then, I think I already mentioned that our Yacht Club had its annual Flag Raising Ceremony on May 2nd. My brother took this picture for me in the Clubhouse.

To celebrate, I did a little drinking of my own at the Club.

Refreshing! My brother and I also like to have our friends over on the boat. Here I am eyeing a Man Hat while we wait for our guests to arrive.

Another thing I like is to do my part to help keep watch over all the nice monuments. I’m not sure what this little house is, but it commanded my attention.

Now, contrary to what sone of my friends think, this impressive monument is a tribute to President George Washington.

I always make a point to stand guard here, just in case some other dogs who haven’t heard that news mistake it for the world’s tallest fire hydrant. That could be embarrassing for them!

Of course, there’s always time for a little Whisky Tango dance, beneath the beautiful, spacious skies!

We were walking over by the Spy Museum, when these tall planters caught my attention. As I’ve mentioned before, sometimes it’s good to go into Portrait mode after spending a lot of time in Landscape orientation. I highly recommend it!

I also spend a lot of time in Portrait mode when I’m standing guard on the boat. Now, the fun part about that is that I not only get to stand guard, I can also entertain everyone with my singing!

Well, before we started back home, we met my niece and her mom at Theodore Roosevelt Island for a nice walk. My brother always tells me that President Roosevelt was quite the Renaissance Man; he was interested in so many things. Kind of like me!

Love, Winston

As I mentioned last time, my brother and I got back to the boat in late April, just in time for my niece’s birthday! I celebrated that morning by taking a refreshing sit in the Duck Pond over by the Wharf.

A great way to start the day! I was glad my brother remembered to bring the Fancy Towel with us.

The next day was what they call Flag Raising at the Yacht Club. It’s the start of the boating season. What fun! Early that morning, we took a walk up on The Mall.

I love it that the sun is coming up earlier every morning! It made me happy to do a little Whiskey Tango.

It is great to see all our friends at the Yacht Club. My brother is the Chaplain this year, so he got to give the opening prayer at the ceremony. After they fired the cannon to say, “Now, it’s Boating Season!”, the John Glenn fire boat shot off their “waterworks”. I was on the boat at the time, so I had a front-row seat.

Well, I’ve been doing my part to help keep things clean at The Wharf.

I had my work cut out for me when we came across this pizza box. But , you know me: it was a win-win!

I’ll fill you in on some more of our adventures next time!

My brother and I have had a lot of adventures since the last time I talked with you! I think I’ll give you a few adventures at a time over the next couple of days.

First off, we went back to our boat in The District. The first night, we stayed in Indianapolis. I had heard that people drive fast cars there, but everyone seemed to be taking it easy, so I just had a nice snooze in our hotel room.

The next day, we stopped at a Cabela’s in West Virginia. Wow, it was almost like the Museum of Natural History! Look at these stuffed animals from Africa:

I don’t think that even the Disney Store has stuffed animals that big!

They also had a Deer Hall of Fame:

When we got to the boat, I was ready to take a little nap on the aft deck – one of my favorite places!

It was good to see all of our friends on the boats!

Well, I think I’ll save some more of our adventures for tomorrow. I hope you all have a great day!

Love, Winston

I got to go to the Barber Shop! I am now officially ready for Spring! My brother says that my fur is so soft, and look at this snazzy bandana!

When we got home, I had to tell all the neighborhood dogs about my day at the “Spa”:

Then, the next morning, I decided to lead us on a route we had never taken before. It was just the tiniest of departures from our regular walk. I headed us east on our street instead of going north. And that made a huge difference!

It was so fun to explore under the new azaleas and dogwoods … you never know what bunnies you might find there!

A lot of the neighborhoods on this route have little gates in front of them. We didn’t have our PikePass with us, so we just kept walking.

When we got back on our side of the street, we were walking on trails we go on a lot, but we were walking in what my brother calls a Clock Wise direction. I guess we usually approach it like an Unwise Clock, and it was funny how much it looked like a brand new neighborhood just by going the other way! Has that ever happened to you?

It’s so funny that walking up a hill you usually walk down can sure change your perspective.

As we approached this next house, I realized it was where my friend Barka Barkes lives. That’s what my brother says her name is, anyway. I guess she was still asleep because she didn’t run out to greet us.

When we got home, between all the excitement of the Barber Shop yesterday, walking like a silly clock, and a nice rain shower we had this morning, I was ready for a nap!

Well, as all the flowers and trees show off their Spring finery, I hope you get a chance to get spruced up a little and then get outside and enjoy the beauty of the season. I think it will really lift your spirits!

Love, Winston

Hello! I didn’t have time to visit with you last Sunday because I was kind of busy. More on that later. But, my brother says that there is an Octave of Easter, so I guess we get to celebrate the Eight Notes of Easter – kind of like the Twelve Days of Christmas. So, Happy Easter!

Easter morning was beautiful and we got to see the sunrise.

Then, I saw two bunny rabbits. For the first one, I tried to stand as still as a statue.

The second bunny encounter had a surprise ending – at least to my brother!

When we got down by Fort Brookside, there was a church group that was just finishing their Sunrise Service.

These were the same folks who were smoking a whole bunch of briskets the Thursday morning before Easter. Boy, did that smell good! Well, while my brother was talking to the pastor, I found the spot where they had drained the brisket juice. You’ve never tasted such delicious grass!

Later in the day, I was having a little trouble using my back legs, so my brother was worried that the brisket juice might have made me sick, but I felt fine otherwise. I think the computer makes him worry when he finds answers on it that he’s asked the wrong question to! We drove around to two Emergency Rooms but they had huge wait times – I think some dogs had too much Easter candy. He stayed up with me while I slept like a baby. I know he was really happy when I got up and nudged him early Monday morning! We went to see Dr Shackelford and he thought I might have pulled something when I was chasing the bunnies. I was doing great by Tuesday!

My brother went to Church on Easter and I watched the service on television. Wow, the Church was sure pretty!

Well, to finish out the Eight Notes of Easter, I’m going to try to sing the Easter Octave for you right now. Wish me luck!

Love, Winston