Pele Crosses The Rainbow Bridge

Pele crossed the Rainbow Bridge today.  The name brings back memories of High School and College.  Dad remembers reading about him in High School.  After Dad graduated from High School, Dad watched him play for the NY Cosmos on TV.  Pele's coming to the US brought soccer to the nation's conscience.  

Pele-1963 

Dad managed to convince Grand Paw to take him to watch the Cleveland Professional soccer team when he was in High School.  The team was named the stars and was later named the Cobras.  Below is a sticker with the Stars logo and a Cobras logo.  There was no soccer team at his high school, but one of the reasons Dad chose the college he went to was that they had a geology program, and they had a soccer team.  It was a silly reason to choose a school, but no one has ever said a High School student normally make logical decisions.  Dad was never a very good soccer player, but he always tried his best.   That trait of to keep trying has served Dad well.  As for the collies, Normandy's favorite toy is a felt squeaky mini-soccer ball.

Cleveland Stars

Cleveland Cobras

The world will miss Pele.  He influenced a lot of people during his lifetime.  Soccer couldn't have had a better ambassador.  

Dog Speed,

Dog Dad

Merry Essexmas - 2022

We want to wish everyone a Merry Essex-mas.  We are fine and the temperature is a cool 57 degrees.  We totally enjoy that temperature though Dad finds it a little cool.  We spent some time at or favorite place in Key West, Angel Paws Dog Park.  This is an Angel Paws pawtograph from today.  We are sitting pretty waiting for a treat.

Chucho, Normandy & Gemini Sitting Pretty

Dad will try to do a couple of posts before the year ends.  There hasn't been a lot happening lately.  Dad has a lot of cleaning to do.  

Merry Essexmas,

Gemini, Normandy & Dog Dad

30 November 2022

Bowsers, we finally got after Dad to drop a quick note.  Today we danced because it is the official end of herricane season.  Which makes us happy.  Next week Dad is going to be doing Essexmas baking.  We are looking forward to having him home with us.

We are both doing fine.  Things are very slow at Angel Paws.  Sometimes there will be a larger group of pups, but many times there will be only a couple of pups there.  We'll get Dad to post more this weekend.  Norm told Dad he'll mess with his feet all night if he doesn't post this weekend.

Dog Speed,

Gemini & Normandy

Ian Update

Cyber Paw Pals,

Some downed palm fronds, coconuts and some broken umbrella trees was all Herricane Ian did to us.  We were very fortunate.  Key West did not evacuate, and we stayed in our house.  We heard a lot of wind, but not much lightning.  The biggest issue seemed to be from getting storm surge and having the King Tides.  King Tides is a lunar thing, that results in a higher high tide.  

Gemini Resting On The Couch

Normandy Chills Under The Table

Dad watched the weather channel, while Gemini rested on the couch and Normandy was under the table.  We got several walks but didn't get to go to our beloved Angel Paws.  We will give you an update on how the park faired, when we get a chance to go over there.

Dog Speed,

Gemini and Normandy

Watching Herricane Ian

Bowser, early last week we heard a noise we hadn't heard in two years.  Norm looked at Gemini and barked "Auntie Gem, I think that is the "Angel Dog Jake Tropical Storm Alert System!"  We could hear Jake bark out an alert telling us to get Dad to get things ready in case we had to evacuate.  Jake said he and the other Angel Dogs would try to bark the storm away from his family and ours would try to bark the storm away, but herricanes often have a mind of their own.  We imagined Essex, Deacon, Sherman, Jake and JH barking at the storm.  We even joined them in their barking.

Angel Dog Jake Sending a Tropical Storm Alert

We then got after Dad to get ready to evacuate.  Dog treats, dig food, leashes, a couple dog toys and of course some cheese.  Right now, the herricane track looks like it will avoid us, but we are worried about some of our pals.  However, we trust cats more than we trust herricanes.  

We'll post some pawtographs soon.  Dad is in a rare cleaning mode.  Next on the list is to mow the grass.  All the rain has made it grow and Key West is expecting rain over the next five days.  Dad will get perishable food after the storm passes.  He doesn't want to throw out stuff because the power went out for several hours.

Dog Speed,

Gemini & Normandy

Happy International Dog Day & BeaDee

Happy International Dog Day to everyone out in Cyber Paw Land.  We got after Dad to post about such a special day.  First though was a visit to Angel Paws.  Not very much going on in our world.  Angel Paws is hit or miss.  We haven't had any adventures (for which Dad is thankful for). 

We want to relay some good news.  In our last post we talked about our pal Loki crossing the bridge.  Well a young collie named BeauDee came to console and live with his Mom.  BeauDee is only 14 months old.  His Mom is remembering the challenge of raising a young pup.  Below are some pawtographs of BeauDee.

BeauDee is a handsome feller, and we hope to meet him soon.  He was born in June; the month Sherman and Gemini were born.  His hobbies are eating tasty treats and chewing shoes.  

BeauDee is lucky to have such a grrrreat Mom.  Sherman told Gemini when he was a pup, that BeauDee's Mom is a little bit wacky like our Dad.

Dog Speed,

Gemini & Normandy

July Update - Enu - Rooster

A lot of things have happened this month and we didn’t pester Dad enough.  We’ll try to make him send out several posts this week to catch up with our reporting.  

The Key West collies have written about her collies a number of times.  Her collie Enu passed away on 13 July.  Enu was battling cancer and it was time to let him go.  Even when you know it is coming, it is hard to let pups go.  Enu was a good collie and fit in well with the household with cats.  

Enu

While waiting to get another collie, she is fostering a smooth tri-color boy named Rooster.  Rooster is not a year old yet, so he is proving to be a challenge.  He will probably be in foster care until 14 August.  The lady adopting Rooster is moving from Tampa to Tallahassee.  The lady lost her smooth coat collie earlier this year, so is very excited to having a Rooster join her pack.  

Rooster

There are no senior collies to teach Rooster the way of the collie.  Rooster is finding inventive ways to make life interesting.  The cats are trying to keep Rooster in line, but we’ve never found cats to be good teachers.  We’ll try to post more later this week.  We’ll just have to pester Dad.

Dog Speed,

Gemini & Normandy

27 June - Gemini Is Seven

 Yesterday dad woke me up by singing Happy Barkday to me.  Hard to believe that I am seven years old.   Dad had to go to work, but when he got back there was some extra dog treats, cheese and quite a while spent at Angel Paws.  Norm gave me plenty of kisses and Dad gave me a great big hug.

Norm and Gem at Angel Paws

Dog Speed,

Gemini

All Is Well - 06 June2022

All is well here in Key West.  We expected a lot of rain from the tropical system this Friday and Saturday, but we got just enough to make the grass grow.  We were all happy.

An Angel Paws Rainbow

We saw a rainbow at Angel Paws.  One thing about living in Key West is we see plenty of rainbows, but that could be because Dad spends more time outside.

Dog Speed,

Gemini & Normandy

Busy May

We've been trying to get Dad to post, but things keep on popping up.  May has been busy and Dad is behind doing stuff.  It seems there is plenty of house stuff to be done.

Normandy & Gemini Posing Pretty

On 11 May norm celebrated his second Bark Day.  We spent plenty of time at Angel Paws.  

Looking At Dad

Today Bear and his hoomans went to live in a new home in Key West.  We will miss our pal.  It was a fun two months    Bear is already missed.

Dog Speed,

Gemini & Normandy

Bear

 We've been meaning to post for some time, but Dad was busy with something called taxes.  Dad didn't even have time to find the rabbit ears.  As for us we slept through most of Dad figuring taxes out and using colorful language.

Normandy & Gemini Resting While Dad Does Taxes

We have new neighbors, and they have an Australian Shepherd mix named Bear.  If we are outside the same time, Bear will hop over the fence and the games begin.  Norm and Bear chase after each other rough housing.  All the while Gem barks at the two of them.  If Dad hears the barking, he will come outside and watch the three.  He has a smile on his face all the while.  

Bear

The Three Amigos Playing

Water Break

Dog Speed,

Gemini & Normandy

Timber

Mid-day Saturday we had a lot of wind and a little rain.  During that time frame our last coconut tree fell down.  We didn't even hear it.  Thank dogness no paw was hurt and when it landed in there were no cars parked in the street.  

This afternoon cut the fronds off the top.  A little while later Dad's neighbor Bob got out his chainsaw and helped Dad cut up the tree.  They were done quick.  To get the big piece out of the hedges, they got the smaller pieces and put them under the big piece.  That reminded Dad of the ancient Egyptians building the pyramids.  Using the logs to roll the big stone blocks.  Dad has some pawsome neighbors.

When we got back from Angel Paws a man asked Dad if he could take the smaller pieces.  Dad said no problem, he was going to call the city to remove it anyhow.  A couple of hours later all that remained is the big piece.  

That was the big excitement today.  A couple of weeks ago, we had a small adventure due to a hole in the fence.  We will tell you that story later this week.

Dog Speed,

Gemini & Normandy

20 FEB 2022

We've been trying to get Dad to post, but things just keep he kept finding other things to do. Sigh.

We have a number of things to talk about.  Angel Paws was only closed fur that one day.  They put a traffic cone over the area where the fake fire hydrant was located.  We got the rest of the story from the other pups.  It turns out some big pups (over 80 lbs) were wrestling and playing.  We they smacked so hard into it, that it broke and the poles that held it out stuck out of the ground.  It hasn;t been fixed, but a cone was put over it to protect the pups from hurting themselves.  

The Fire Hydrant & The Cone

At Angel Paws, there are sometimes a lot of pups and other times only us.  We've been enjoying the cooler weather and done our best to keep Dad at the park longer.  Gemini as usual likes to use the bench when things get hectic.  It makes the hoomans chuckle.

Gemini and the Bench

In are yard we have several Papaya Trees going.  We know Dad's neighbors will enjoy the fruit when it starts growing.  We don't mind the trees because they make excellent P-Mail sites.

Papaya Trees

Dad has a Pawsident's project to work on.  Well talk about that tomorrow. 

Dog Speed,

Gemini & Normandy

Angel Paws Closed

When we arrived at Angel Paws today, there was a sign that read it was closed until further notice.  We are not sure what is going on and will try to get Dad to take some pawtographs and talk to some other hoomans to find out what is going on.

We will let everypaw know when we find out more.

Dog Speed,

Gemini & Normandy

A Cool Weekend

Angel paws has been hit and miss this month.  There are days there are ten dogs there and others when it is just us.  Gemini usually just takes it easy, while Normandy likes to run and play.  

Gemini Resting

Normandy Sniffing

The weather that last two days has been in the 50s.  That is cold fur Key West, but ideal collie weather.

We hope all of you are having a pawsome 2022 so far.

Dog Speed,

Gemini & Normandy

2021 In Review

It wasn't until we started writing that we realized that a whole lot of things happened in 2021. There were plenty of Rainbow Bridge crossings, pawlitical events and weather events. Life fur us has been mainly watching Dad go to work and enjoying Angel Paws.

= = = = = = = = = =

6 January – US Capitol riots

12 January – Angel Paws closes fur renovations.


16 January – Angel Paws reopens.

22 January – Hank Aaron crosses the Rainbow Bridge.

24 January – First dogs, Champ and Major, move into theWhite House.

16 February – Winter Storm Uri ravages Texas causing massive power outages.

18 February – NASA Rover lands on Mars.

2 March – Our pal Miles crosses the Rainbow Bridge.


19 March – We give Dad a big scare.

 

16 April – Our pal Loki crosses the Rainbow Bridge.

 

21 April – Norm test positive for kennel cough.

11 May – The return to Angel Paws and Normandy’s first Barkday. 


19 June – Champ, the Pawsident's 13-year-old first dog, crosses the Rainbow Bridge.

6 July – Herricane Elsa visits Key West.

10 July – Our collie cyber-pal Mick crosses the Rainbow Bridge in Michigan. 


8 July – 12-story Champlain Towers South condo collapses in Surfside, Florida.

11 July – Our pal Luna crosses the Rainbow Bridge in Lost Wages. 


16 August – Our collie pal McGee sends us Tehune’s book “Lad of Sunnybank.”

16 August – Afghanistan falls to the Taliban.

29 August – Hurricane Ida slams Louisiana.

16 October – We see a Rainbow – Moon.


18 October – Colin Powell crosses the Rainbow bridge.

19 November – Our collie pal Sir Oliver crosses the Rainbow Bridge. 


24 November – First report of the COVID-19 Omicron variant.

14 December – 8-year-old Boston Terrier named Henry savesbabies life.

16 December – We meet the Great Danes Samson & Orion.

16-17 December – Super typhoon Rai devastates the Philippines.

17 December – Copper comes to visit us.

20 December – White House welcomes new first dog, Commander; while Major issent to live in a quieter environment with friends.

30 December – Boulder, Colorado Wildfire over 500 homes burned down to the ground.

31 December – Betty White crosses the Rainbow Bridge.

= = = = = = = =

2021 was a busy year.  We have enjoyed ourselves and hopefully “The Year of the Tiger” 2022 will be better than 2021.

Barky New Year,

Gemini & Normandy