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Life’s a Dance You Learn as You Go

Hello! The title of today’s adventures is from one of my brother’s favorite songs, by John Michael Montgomery. I think he has a sister named Lucy Maude Montgomery. That’s such a coincidence, because Lucy Maude was one of my niece’s favorite writers growing up! Between you and me, I think the Montgomery family might have cornered the market on middle names: I don’t think I even have one! That’s OK, though. My thought is, if you don’t need something, leave it for someone else. I know my nephew-in-law uses his all the time, so I’m glad to help out.

Anyway, Lucy Maude had a bunch of stories about a girl named Anne who lived on Prince Edward’s Island. It’s up on the ocean, even farther away than our boat, if you can believe that! You may know Prince Edward from his cigars, but I don’t think Anne’s stories ever talked about those, so he might have had another island just for them.

Maybe he went long in middle names, too: I’ve heard that princes and princesses do have a lot of them. By the way, I tried a cigar once and didn’t care for it, but I’ve since heard they’re not for snacking.

Wow, I’ve gotten way off-course from today’s adventure! Anyway, I thought of John Michael’s song this morning when we got to Fort Brookside on our morning walk. My nose picked up the smell of bagels, coming from inside the Fort:

… Had sure things blow up in my face, seen the long-shot win the race

Been knocked down by the slammin’ door, picked myself up and came back for more…

That was sure a surprise! Don’t worry, though, because I had an idea. It was time to play the long game:

My brother says it’s kind of like fishing. And, sure enough, my patience paid off!

Success! I knew I wanted to grab those tasty bites, because Fort Brookside is right across the street from the place that sells old, school bagels. I guess it’s an outlet store for all the leftover bagels they have because the kids aren’t going to school as much anymore. My brother says it’s actually named “Old School Bagels” but don’t let the name fool you. They are delicious, and fresh as a daisy! Better, really, because I put daisies in the same category as cigars, at least as far as taste. Maybe they could change their name to something like “Fresh School Bagels”. Or, if they wanted to leave out the middle name, “Fresh Bagels”. Simple and to the point!

Well, I’d love to hear about your adventures today! Here’s John Michael again while you think about all your fun times!

Life’s a dance you learn as you go,
Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow.
Don’t worry ‘bout what you don’t know,
Life’s a dance you learn as you go.

Love, Winston

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Grillin’ and Chillin’!

I hope you all are enjoying these nice days we’re having now that it’s Spring! We’ve been grilling out just about every evening. My brother gets back from the Health Club, lights the grill, and fixes himself a Coattail. I thought that was a funny name for a drink, but that’s just the general name. The drinks themselves are even funnier. Here’s a picture of me guarding a Man Hat:

Funny! Now, here I am with something called a GT. I guess our Mayor is named after that drink. I don’t know if he goes by Gin or Tonic, but I hope he didn’t get kidded too much in school!

I think I’ll just stick with the big punchbowl in the bathroom!

Well, we had a beautiful sunset yesterday evening while my brother was waiting for the charcoal to get ready. It was very pretty!

I went to sleep dreaming about sunsets.

Then, when we got up this morning and went for our walk, there was a big, full moon setting on one end of our street, while the sun was just coming up on the other end. I had never seen that before! I guess God worked a little extra last night to start getting everything ready for Easter! Here’s a little dance I did to celebrate by dawn’s early light:

Well, whether you enjoy a moon-set, a Man Hat, a Tequila Sunrise, or just a regular one, I hope you are getting to be outside in these pretty days!

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Spring, Sprang, Sprung!

Hooray! It’s Spring! I love all the flowers and birds. Plus, we get to go on our morning walk a little earlier each day!

This morning, I celebrated with what may become a yearly event: The Neighbor Cat First Day of Spring Stand-Off.

Did you think that you were looking at a picture at first and not a video? I did, too! I hardly ever sit that still! Well, luckily, it’s only once a year!

Our neighbor’s grass is also turning green, so I shifted into four-wheel drive and did some exploring to check it out.

As you can see, our yard is also starting to show some green – right on cue for St Patrick’s Day! My brother celebrated with his annual sighting of “The First Martini of Spring”. He put a green olive in it, just to keep with the festivities.

Of course, all these fun things led to me dancing a little Whisky Tango! I hope you can get out and enjoy this nice, Spring day, preferably with something equally nice to rub your back on!

Love, Winston.

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Coming Back from Daylight Saving Time

A while back, I let you all know that we had moved from Daylight Saving Time to Daylight Spending Time. Well, this morning we started back on Daylight Saving Time, so I guess we’re making deposits instead of withdrawals. It sure seems like we’re spending daylight, though! I had to lie down and think about it awhile!

I usually wake up a little before six in the morning. I let my brother sleep a little bit more – until the respectable time of about 6:20. Well, today I went in to wake him up and it was already 7:20! Funny!

It was raining, too, so we didn’t get to go on our walk, although I don’t think we can blame the Daylight National Bank for that. My brother says it’s like we’re back in Washington without having to make the drive there. I have no idea what he’s talking about!

As you can see, I got plenty wet just going out to the backyard for my morning constitutional! That was a double win: I actually like walking in the rain, and I really like getting dried off with the fancy towel!

Oh, and I almost forgot: look what my brother found at the Goodwill Store yesterday:

I think the resemblance is striking! What do you think?

He says he’s going to use it every morning. That will be fun!

Well, I guess we’re saving more daylight during this cloudy rainstorm day, so I’ll go take a nap. Here’s some pretty Spring flowers that are coming up in our back yard. I hope you are getting some flowers, too – and can enjoy them during all this daylight we’re saving!

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Around the World in One Week

My brother is off to Church this morning so I thought I’d fill you in on what we’ve been doing this week.

The most exciting find was this “World Showcase Hallway” we found at the grocery store! They take their boxes and crunch them flat, then stack them up sideways. Let me tell you: it is the most amazing cavalcade of smells! It’s like a world tour just walking past it. Apples. Bread. Chicken. Mangoes. Cheese! Bananas. Bacon!

It’s a big accordion that’s playing a symphony of pretty notes for your nose!

You know what’s coming next … I did a Whiskey Tango happy dance!

In other news, my brother got his second distemper shot last Tuesday. I’m guessing that’s what it was for. I figure some of our two-legged friends might be getting in a bad temper after having to wear their muzzles for a the last year. I hope it helps them out. I’m just glad the Lord has blessed me with a good mood!

Did you think that we went to the beach in this picture? It sure looks like it! Actually, they’re building a new house on one of our morning walk routes and I just decided to soak up some morning sun. My brother says it’s a Ronald McDonald Mansion or something like that. I thought those were the places where children and their families could stay when they got sick, but they’re building so many in our neighborhood that it makes me sad that there might be so many children who are ill. It may be an even bigger problem than the distemper!

Well, this has been a week of ever-changing views! I’ll leave you with another mini-vacation we had this week on our morning walks. It was like we were at a mountain stream!

Watch out for bears!

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There’s a Market for That?

Let me tell you about a little scare I had yesterday! It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and my brother asked me if I’d like to go for a drive. Of course! So, everything started out great:

We got to the Fairgrounds and there were a lot of cars. My brother kept driving around to the different buildings. I asked him if we were going to the Gun Show and he said no. I then asked him if he was trying to find where to get his second distemper shot, but he said that was next Tuesday.

He was getting ready to ask a man who was carrying a five-gallon can but the man asked him first if we knew where they were giving out the portable water … I guess to put in his five-gallon can. He must have had a thick accent because it sure sounded like he was saying “potable”. Ha ha, that’s a funny sounding word! Kind of like that time when some fellow told us he was “very impotent”. I guess he meant he was “very important” but, either way, it didn’t seem like a proper topic for discussion.

Anyway, my brother then asked the portable water man something that really surprised me:

“Do you know where the Flea Market is?”

Flea Market! Why on earth would we want to go there? Just the thought of it made my skin start itching, even though I get to eat those Bravecto candies every few weeks. I sure don’t have any fleas to sell – and I’d like to keep it that way. I certainly didn’t want to buy any!

Well, my brother saw my concern, so he explained that a Flea Market is another term for an indoor garage sale. I think “portable water” makes a lot more sense!

When we got back home, I did a little celebration dance.

It was partly because I was happy that we didn’t go long in the flea market, and partly to scratch those imaginary fleas on my back! Does that ever happen to you? I know that every time my brother sees a snake on television, he makes sure to lift his feet up onto the Auto-Man.

Well, I hope you have a flea-free weekend!

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My Niece Has a New Book Out!

Hey, I wanted to let everyone know that my niece, Lindsay Smith, has written a new book and it was just released today! I am so excited! Here’s a link:

https://www.amazon.com//dp/B084V89P6N?pd_rd_i=B084V89P6N&pd_rd_w=hnEVx&pf_rd_p=913409dc-37fa-4e61-b170-a2f77cb9d36c&pd_rd_r=93e19104-17cb-44f0-bc40-2935f489e552&pd_rd_wg=nrN0P&ref_=pe_42015120_571046240

It’s called The Shadow War and my brother read me how the people at Amazon summarized the story: “Inglourious Basterds meets Stranger Things in this dark and thrilling tale of power, shadow, and revenge set during World War II.”

Wow! I can’t wait to read it! Actually, my brother and I are going to listen to it as an audiobook. I hope you’ll do both!

And, it’s published by the Penguin Publishing company! Imagine that! I’ve always liked penguins but I never knew that they had anything to do with books. You learn something new everyday!

Well, happy reading!

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Lint and Ashes

Happy Ash Wednesday, if that’s the proper greeting! Through a happy turn of events, I got to go to Church today! Well, we got to watch it on television, anyway.

It snowed overnight and kept snowing this morning. Once it stopped, my brother went out to finish shoveling the driveway, and I supervised.

By the the time he got done, it was too late for him to make it to Church, so I got to watch the service with him.

It was when Fr Carvajal started talking that I made an amazing discovery: did you know that “lint” and “Lent” are two different things? Wow, what a surprise! It threw me for a loop!

All this time, when my brother has talked about “giving up something for lint”, I thought he was going to replace something in his diet by eating lint. That’s so crazy I’m not even sure cats would do that, although hairballs are a close second.

Anyway, I don’t think Fr Carvajal is from the South, so I could tell when he spoke that there is a difference between “Lent” and “lint”. When it came time for us to bow our heads, it made me think of other things that might be different than I originally thought.

For example, did you know that there are “Dell” computers? We usually have Apple computers, so it made sense to me that there might be a Pickle computer brand. When my brother bought our MacBook, I thought he was telling me he chose it over a “Dill laptop”. Ha ha! That would be a sight to see! I am wondering what makes a computer a Kosher Dell, though.

I’m also wondering if my brother has been talking about the lint trap or if there is something called a Lent Trap. Maybe that’s when you give up something and then find out that you really like life better without it, so then you wonder if it really counts for Lent. My thought is that it does, and you’re also better off without it, so it’s a win-win! Maybe I’ll try to give up eating aluminum foil for Lent … next year!

Well, as we travel through Lent, I hope you can use this time to get an even clearer focus on things in the Bible. Maybe you can do something as simple as say things with a different accent. I know that was an eye-opener for me!

And let’s all give up lint for Lent! We sure wouldn’t want for it to build up and catch fire. That would be celebrating Ash Wednesday the hard way!

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Snow Day!

Oh boy! We got some snow yesterday and today! Don’t you just love snow? It makes me so happy that I just run and run, and then run some more.

I like the way it makes my nose tingle.

Well, my brother got his exercise, too. He shoveled our driveway and sidewalk. He asked me to guard the house while he was outside. I took my job very seriously.

I was hoping that he was going to keep going across our street and up the other street so that we could start going on our walks again. By that, I mean so that he could start going on our walks again: I’m ready to go!

Well, all the excitement and exercise fun and my job of guarding the house was hard work, so I was ready for a little nap.

I hope you all are having as much fun on your snow days as I am! Let me know if you get to run around outside. Better yet, send me some pictures!

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And the Treasures Just Keep on Coming!

I often get questions on how I manage to score so many wonderful treasures on our walks. There are actually five methods I use – and each one availed itself today!

Before we get started, let me show you the first – and to my mind, best – treasure of the day:

A beautiful sunrise! It set the tone for all the treasures to come!

Now, I’ve already covered the first tactic – which is distraction – in my earlier post about our trip to PetSMart. You can get the details at this link. This morning, I used the distraction technique to get a slice of pepperoni pizza while my brother was trying to untangle my leash. This is the method I use the most, but then my brother is so easily distracted that it’s almost like taking candy from a puppy. You may not be so fortunate with your brother or sister, so let’s discuss some other tactics.

Another good way get some nice treasures is to be nonchalant right before going for the prize. This morning, I was just walking past some shrubs – or so my brother thought. Actually, there was a baby back rib bone under the plants and I had already seen it out of my perennial vision. So, I played it very calm and collected, then boom! Ribs for breakfast!

The opposite technique also works well. Be chalant, if that’s the right term. Maybe Hyperchalant is an even better word. Sometimes, you just need to exert all your strength to reach the prize! For example, this morning there were two grilled chicken breasts is a container, just sitting there on the pavement! There was nothing to distract my brother with and I didn’t have time to act disinterested: we would be passing it by in a matter of seconds! So, it was time to take decisive action. I calculated exactly where I would have to grab the container to open it up, figured out how best to bite into the chicken breasts to swallow them the quickest, took a deep breath, and charged!

This container tastes just like chicken!

As you can see, the chicken breasts were gone before my brother had time to grab his iPhone. Success!

The next technique is to look for treasures in unexpected places. This morning, I smelled some French fries that were up in a planter. We don’t have any video of that, but here’s some stock footage of me back at The Wharf a couple of weeks ago:

Going Portrait

There is an element of surprise to this method. In this example, I’m almost always in landscape orientation, so I went portrait! Unexpectedly! Works like a charm!

My last tip is to take a view toward the long game. This morning, near the beginning of our walk, I saw a carton of mini Nilla wafers. I knew I wanted to be able to take those back home as the treasure of the day, but I also knew there would be plenty of other treasures in the meantime. So, I decided to just be patient and wait – and make sure that we came back by them on the way home. That was the easy part! My brother is really well trained on following directions.

Vanilla wafers – to go!

Well, I hope these tips help you to find the treasures you are looking for! The best thing is that some of the best treasures – like sunrises – don’t require any special skills at all!