Allred, Betty, Bert, Cheerleaders and Mrs. Andersons Class

Becky and Bonnie came over to visit the other day. Poor Betty is missing her little baby Shilo who found a new home last week. But she was feeling a lot better after their visit. Becky just sat and cuddled and petted sweet Betty for about an hour. I know it must be hard for Betty to loose all those little babies, but hopefully we will get her into a new home soon where she feels like she belongs to.

It was Vickies birthday last week and her neice and family sent this really cool birthday present. Now everyone knows that Vickie is soooo not a cook, but I think it is time she tried reaching out and trying new things. Like baking dog bone doggy cookies. I have several ideas of things that would make a tasty doggy cookie and now that we have the bone shaped baking pan, well, it would just be wrong for her not to TRY to make use of it.

Oh Elizabeth, Brian, Callie and Scott, this is going to be more like a Birthday present to me…..I am so excited to try her first, second and third attempt at cooking. I sure hope she has figured out how to work the oven…..

Vickie got in a cleaning mood last week and was cleaning the back storage room which is the room that Allred the new kitty had taken up residency in. We don’t see much of the old guy accept for morning when it is time for breakfast.

He can make a lot of noise when he wants something like his morning supply of meaty goodies. He makes more of a racket than KC does. Meow MEOW MMEEOOWW.

Anyways, Vickie goes in to rearrange and clean Allreds room for him. She sweeps and mops the floor and stairs, she gets rid of stuff that she should have removed a year ago, then she starts stacking the closet with things like games and boots and luggage from the trip she never got to take.

About an hour later she came out with a big satisfied grin on her face telling me about “a job well done”.

The next two days fly by….of course that was Friday and Saturday of last week and if you read the blog before this you know that those were amazing days for me. I guess we were so busy having fun that we didn’t notice that Allred had not asked for his breakfast for two days in a row.

When we finally thought about it we all just decided that Allred had gotten out my doggy door and went back to where ever he came from. Vickie was a little concerned but not so much as she was too upset. I, on the other hand was quite pleased with the idea that Allred had moved on…….He didn’t much like me….

But by Sunday morning, with a huge storm making its way to Ogden, Vickie started to wonder if Allred was truly ok. She looked all over the neighborhood. Calling his name and asking her friends if they had seen him. No luck….

Then Sunday night, Vickie just jumped up out of bed and dashed into Allreds room. I thought she was crazy. I figured we had an intruder or maybe she was walking in her sleep……AGAIN…..

It was such a surprising move that everyone else in the house got up and started following her into the room. She was calling Allred…..”Allred, kitty kitty” “Come on Allred, where are you? Kitty Kitty Kitty”

For some reason, only known to Vickie, she went straight to the closet, calling Allred over and over. When she opened the closet door, she stopped. It was a pretty intense moment as we all stood there with her Listening. Listening to nothing. “Kitty Kitty Kitty” she called. Still nothing.

“Come on Allred, Kitty Kitty Kitty” Stillness…Quiet…..

Then from the far back of the closet we hear this tiny little muffled “meow”

Vickie started throwing stuff out of the closet, Shoes, Boots, boxes, and finally her big purple luggage case for the trip she never got to take……

“Meow, Meow” the suppressed hush of a tiny little voice, weakly called out.

Something was inside the big purple bag…..We all stood looking down at the bag as Vickie unzipped the possible tomb of Allred.

Boy what a great surprise for us all as it opened up and Allred jumped out. He headed straight to Vickie, gave her a sweet little thank you meow (I guess he didn’t realize that Vickie was the one who locked him in there in the first place) rubbed his neck up against my leg, then headed upstairs to the bathroom facilities and a big bowl of water.

Morel of the story is…..cats just never go away on their own……dang it, I guess he really is here to stay….

We did another demo at a school again this week. It was at West Point Junior High. We got there a little early so we were all just standing around out in the halls. Annie and Muppet came along again and it was killing me that we couldn’t play. We were all three firmly leashed to our buddies, Vickie, De and Azure.

Now I am not used to being too confined, as Vickie has always kind of let me loose to greet the children as I choose, but she got some burr up her side and decided that I was going to be more controlled from now on. Not my choice, I can tell you.

So we were standing out there in the hall and I was looking all around wishin I could check this place out. You see it was a great big open room with kids coming and going to an from classrooms and the gym. Vickie said there was a basketball game going on in the big room she called a gym and that I was not NOT NOT to go over there.

But you see there were these really cute girls laughing and having fun at the big rooms door. They were all dressed in the same clothes and they were soooooo looking my way. I did my best to keep their attention by stretching to the end of my hand leash. I did the “Bow” and the “Hand shake” in their direction and I could tell that they just wanted to come and pet me and love on me.

Then suddenly, I guess they decided they were going to take a chance, and started walking towards us. They were lookin at me and I knew, just knew that if Vickie would let me go, I could win their hearts with a simple swaggering stroll and a quick face lick to each one.

I don’t know what made her do it, but Vickie did let me go….I mean, she just dropped that hand leash and said “Ok Bert, go ahead and say hi to the Cheerleaders”

Well I excitedly jumped up from my sitting position and headed straight thru the crowd of kids and up to MY CHEERLEADERS. Now I am not sure what a Cheerleader is, all I know is that they were there for me…..all for me.

We spent a few minutes visiting and getting acquainted as well as posing for pictures for Vickie, then the girls had to leave and go cheer. They were so fun…..I want more cheerleaders…..

It was time now to go to the room where we were going to do our demonstration. Now I know that it is important for Vickie to speak to everyone. She is a teacher of sorts on how to stay safe in the wilderness but OH MY GOODNESS, after the 100th time, her whole talking thing can get a little boring.

She was all about making me sit down at her feet while she talked instead of the usual, letting me wander around. This was supposed to be for my good….helping me be more controlled….a better dog….yahda yahda yahda.

I WAS SO BORED…BORING….How long is this going to go on.

Oh My Heck…..STOP VICKIE STOP

PLEASE STOP….I need to get up……I need to stretch PLEASE someone shut her up…..

Finally it was over…..Something that I was beginning to wonder if it would ever happen.
And when she was finally FINALLY through, it was my turn again. I love this part.

One of the students gets to hide and I get to find them. This was a bit tough for me this time, but I came through with flying colors. See, they hid this girl inside a closed cupboard.

When I started to look for her (after I smelled and slobbered all over her sock) I went right to the side of the room where I smelled her but I just couldn’t find her. I walked up and down the row of cupboards, stood up and smelled in the sinks and back down again, smelling along the floor.

I could smell her, I just couldn’t find her. Finally I came to the cupboard that smelled the strongest of her and I just scratched on the door with my paw. Vickie opened the door immediately and out popped my lost girl. It was great. Everyone clapped for me and then I got to play with a new toy that they gave to me.

Vickie was very proud of how I worked….So was I. I could feel that I was doing a really good job.

After we were all done, Vickie De and Azure took us outside to play. Poor Muppet was immediately attacked by this big white bear.....ha ha it is really Annie...but Muppet was always getting run over, rolled over and tripped up by Annie and me as we ran and played.

But he never complained and he always came back for more. He is a real good sport.

All in all, it was a pretty fun day and I wanna thank all the kids at West Point Junior High who made us feel so welcome. I love kids.......I really love em........

Love

Bert