We Can See Clearly Now

We can see clearly now the rain is gone. It is a bright, bright sun shiny day. Dad took us out for a walk this morning and it was windy. His brudder, Stevie-grrr-Wonder, slept until after 9 AM. Gee, he sleeps so late, he should get up at 5 AM like when woke up Dad.

Last night you could hear the wind howling and the rain coming down. We couldn't see much because the windows were all boarded up. Dad kept us inside during the bad weather. We hope the storm weakens before it makes landfall, so all our pals on the Gulf Coast are safe and snug.

We did get some rain and blustery weather before in real came down. Deacon went outside and did a little excavation around the yard. Would you believe Dad and Stevie-grr-Wonder wouldn't let him in because of muddy paws. Dad even got the green monster out and had it spray cold water all over Deacon's paws. Just look at those paws, wouldn't your Mum and Dad let Deacon in their house.

Let me in Dad

These paws are pawfectly okay, right.

Dog Speed,

Essex & Deacon

Collie Update - 30 August

We wanted to let everyone know we are doing fine. No dog park today, but we did go on three walks. The last one was around 5 PM. We have heard some wind and heavy rain. We are keeping our paws crossed.

Dad is tied to the weather channel and local news. If you live on the North Gulf Coast talk to your Dog Mom and/or Dad. Pay attention to the weather and be ready to evacuate. Stay safe every-paw. We will post tomorrow morning, when we wake up and Gustav has passed.

Dog Speed,

Essex & Deacon

A Sigh of Relief

We are breathing a sigh of relief as Gustav will not be paying us a visit, but we are now watching Hanna. So Dad is still on edge. We are keeping our paws crossed and praying that every pup is safe. To those of you on the gulf coast keep an eye on Gustav. To those on the east coast please watch Hanna. We are looking forward to Dad's brudder, Stevie-grrr-Wonder arriving tonight to visit us this weekend. Hope he likes rain and a little wind.

Now for our ray of sunshine. In two to three weeks our cousin will be coming down to live with another family in Key West that is friends with our Dad. It will be good to have a relative in Key West, even if he isn't living with us. Best of all, it has been narrowed down to three pupsters and we have photos of the three. The pups are driving us nuts with this slow elimination game. They are woofing at us, "Essex and Deacon, guess which one." We are barking back "Just tell us. Inquiring Collies want to know."

Cousin 1

Cousin 2

Cousin 3

Have a happy and safe weekend.

Essex & Deacon

Herricane Gustav

We get Dad all settled from Fay and now he is watching Herricane Gustav. Does anyone have an idea how we can get him back to watching animal planet. What happens if you hide the remote at your house? Does you Dog Dad bite your nose if you hide the remote? We would try but that low growl really makes a dog worry about the consequences.

Dad's brudder, Stevie-grrr-Wonder, is suppose to visit us this weekend. We sure hope Gustav leaves us and our friends alone. The Collies and Dog Dad have an uneasy feeling about this one. It isn't as big as Mitch, but the water is so warm. If it hits the gulf, we are worried a monster will awaken.

Those of you on the Gulf Coast keep an eye out on this one. It could become a real pain in the rump. We pray that Gustav mellows out and no-paw is hurt because of it. We hate herricane season.

Essex & Deacon

A Date with Fay

Our friend Tyler learned a very important lesson Monday.

Tyler’s Mom was playing with him and getting things ready for Tropical Storm Fay early Monday. As his Mom is getting things in the car one of the outer storm bands approaches. Tyler waits for the door to open and zooms out the door to his Mom’s surprise. She starts after him and calls his name, only to have her voice silenced by the wind and rain. She can’t see Tyler because of the rain. Tyler decides in his youthful exuberance to keep going in search of adventure. His Mom looks and calls to no avail. Tyler has decided to brave the elements and go on a date with Fay.

His Mom is upset, but knows she can only pray for Tyler’s safety. Tyler merrily romps around outside going farther from home. This rain and wind isn’t so tough, bring it on Fay he barks. So Tropical Storm Fay starts to rain harder, the wind gets stronger; and Tyler is alone and lost. Fortunately Fay was a short storm for us in Key West, lasting around seven hours and the winds not that bad here.

A dazed, tired, hungry, muddy and extremly stinky Tyler wanders into familiar area. It looks like home but nothing smells the same. Suddenly he hears voices and sees people. Tyler runs to meet the hoomans. They rinse him off with a hose and feed him pizza. Tyler greedily devours the pizza, crust, cheese and spicy tomato sauce. A friend of the people knows PJ and calls his Mom thinking it is him. PJ is home says his Mom, but she thinks of Tyler. She asks if the miniature schnauzer has a red collar. Yes says the lady. PJ Mom says I know the owner and will take him for the short while. She doesn’t have Tyler's Moms phone number though.

PJ and Tyler play and sleep together. PJ Mom removes several tics that decided to tag along during the date with Fay. Tyler pays for eating that spicy pizza. The next day Tyler is rejoined with his Mom.

Tyler is one lucky pup and must have had a dog-angel by his side. He is lucky that Fay was not longer and stronger like most other tropical storms. We did notice a slightly different Tyler at the park today. He tends to watch his hooman closer and not stray so far away. By the Great Dane, we believe he has learned a valuable lesson that we hope he remembers for a long long time. A wise dog once told us, dates with tropical storms and herricanes can be a fatal attraction!

Our paw-pal Tyler at Angel Paws today.

PS - Our cousin is now walking. Only five more weeks until Dad's friend can go pick him up. We did find out he is not the light colored one in the lower right. That one is the girl.

Five more weeks and we can't wait.

Dog Speed,

Essex & Deacon

Fay Was Gentle

We are happy to say Tropical Storm Fay has been very very kind to us.

The day started with our early morning walk, followed by second walk around Dog Dad figured when he took us for a walk at 10 AM it would be our last of the day. We stayed in the house watching the weather channel and local news following the progress of Fay. Then the power went out for 45 minutes. We are not sure what happened because the weather didn't seem that bad. We all took a quick nap in the dark. We awakened when the power came back on. We turned the local news back on after awhile. We were able to go for another walk around 5 PM.

We check out the yard afterwards. The only thing we noticed were a couple of palm fronds that fell down. Palm fronds are great to play with.

We hope Fay is just as kind to Jake & JH, Booker, Buster and everyone else she might touch. We really appreciate those of you that dropped a note, prayed and wished us the best of luck. It meant a lot to us.

Dog Speed,

Essex & Deacon

Orion Rising

That is what Dog Dad calls this time of year, "Orion Rising." When we go on our o'dark thirty walks Dad will frequently notice Orion. That means lots of mumbling, the weather channel is on, the herricane sites are visited in cyber-paw space, bags are packed and a lot of praying is done.

We are not sure what we are going to do quite yet. There is a good chance we will be hunkering down in the house. To help in make a decision Dog Dad has several favorite herricane sites. Those of you in the tropics may find these of use:

- The Navy's Meteorology Home Page
click on "Satellite Imagery of Tropical Cyclones (TCWEB)"

- National Hurricane Center Home Page

- Jay's page o'hurricane images

- Weather Underground

- Hurricane Central - The Weather Channel

Dog Speed friends,

Essex & Deacon

Ekka

A couple days back our paw-pal Reilly made us fair dinkum honorary Aussies. We take those kinds of honors seriously. We could have asked Dog Dad about Australia, but he’s a Yank. So we talked to our two pals Kanga-Pup and Little Roo. They said to check out what Queenslanders call Peoples Day at the Ekka this 13 August.

Kanga-pup and Little Roo

Let's talk Ekka

We checked cyber-paw space and found out over 90,000 people showed up for the 132nd Royal Queensland Show in Brisbane. Ekka is a giant fair and from what we read it is absolutely pawsome. They even had a Greyhound Lounge. We found two pawtastic photo galleries, just click on the follow two links - Brisbane Times or Quest News. You can read about its origin at the following link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekka.

We were late because we forgot what Charlie told us many dog moons ago. It is always tomorrow in Australia, or was that is always yesterday in the states. Egads, we’re getting confused. Maybe a few more cans of Pawsters and Kennel Brew will get us unconfused.

"Hey we are out of Pawsters and Kennel Brew "

"Auntie hurry back with the Pawsters and Kennel Brew before Dad gets home. I'm thirsty"

8-O-8-O-8

We could not resist this title. It is the eighth day of the eighth month of 2008.

Imagine this, it is 2 AM Tuesday morning Aunt and Nephew decide it is play time. Time to run around, play growl, bit legs and clash teeth. Imagine doing it in a really, really dark room. Add in that Dog Dad is sound asleep. Well, we did that last Tuesday. The next thing we heard was a loud, low growl. We are not sure if it was a giant Kodiak bear or Dog Dad. We immediately went silent and tippy pawed out of that room. We swear you could have heard a flee jump a nano-second after that growl.

Great Uncle Bobby’s Mom e-barked us and told us how proud she is of us and that Bobby’s Wheels were donated to Kansas State University. His Dog Mom remarked how Deacon could have been Bobby's twin. Looking at the two photographs of Bobby taken in May 2005, we agree. She even stated that Bobby and Mac would even fall asleep at times belly up just like us. We do love it when Bobby's parents e-bark, they are part of our extended family now.

Late Great (Great) Uncle Bobby

Doesn't he look like Deacon's Twin?

Bobby sleeping on the job.

Bobby's best pal Mac

We miss Uncle Bobby but we are looking forward to our cousin coming to Key West. This picture was taken yesterday. So he is 24 days old in the photo. As you can tell, he is doing well, though none of our cousins look like Collies yet. There are four boys and one girl in the litter. We can’t even figure which one is the girl in the photo. Well, one of the five is coming to Key West to live with Dad’s friend. They just aren’t telling us which one. By the Great Dane, we wish one of them would spill the water bowl.

Cousins, which of you are coming to Key West?

Essex & Deacon

Outback

When Dad got home yesterday, he found a box addressed to us. We were so excited that we chased our tails. When he told us it was from his brother Stevie-grrr-Wonder, our eyes got really big. What could be coming all the way from Ohio for us?

We opened the box, and found two Australian Dog-Hats, a Pineapple and Kangaroo dog toy. Dad has asked Reilly's Mum where she found his hat. Dad told his brother Stevie-grrr-Wonder, and the rest is pawstory. Kangaroos are Dad’s second most favorite animal after a Collies of course. The reason has something to do with what a baby Kangaroo is called.

More importantly, we have a hat to wear so we can pay tribute to ANZAC Day with our cyber-paw pals in Australia and New Zealand. We can wear the hats when we feel down under. If Dad takes up on our hint he will order a carryout of steaks at a restaurant called the "Outback." Do you think that hint is too subtle? Dad did you hear us? Dad??

Essex and Deacon

A package for the Collies?

Look at the dog stuff inside.

Essex looking Pawsome.

Deacon is thinking of a big thick steak.

This pineapple is pretty neat.
I guess the Roos are just smaller Up-Over.

New Friends & Gemi Update

We met some new paw-pals passing through Key West this weekend. The names of these two boys were Rox and Buddi. They played a little bit with me. Essex was on fence patrol. Rox was a bit worried because we are so big. These two were visiting and live on the west coast of Florida. They told us how much they liked it their and about their family. Our Dads hit it off right away. They were talking about World War II. Grand Pa K is a World War II veteran, so Dad was always interested in that kind of stuff. Dog Dad can talk a dog into a coma.

Rox, the Sheltie

Buddie, a Lab Mix

Is it safe to use the water bowl?

As for Gemi, she is recovering quite well. She is due for her first check up soon, but her Dog Mom is very happy with her little girl. She is back to running, sniffing and being a good watchdog, just like Auntie Essex. Saturday was the first day Gemi was not on some type of pain meds in over a year. We didn’t see an update, so we are guessing she is A-Okay.

All this typing has wore me out. It is time for a puppy power nap.

Deacon takes a power nap

Dog Speed,

Deacon