Happy Halloween

Mom says tonight is the night when all the shrunken human types (kids) dressed up in silly costumes will be coming around begging for candy - well we will certainly be doing our best to tell them to stay away - BARK BARK BARK - WOOF WOOF WOOF :)  Can you believe Mom says we might have to spend some 'time out' in the bedroom while the shrunken humans visit - that is providing any  come :)

Flash Back Friday

Mom hunted through some old photos and found one of each of when we were just 1 year old - ah those were the days when I actually liked to play with my tug rope :) Oddly enough we look pretty much the same - although I have a little less coat and Dweeb has a little more :)

Watching what you want for free

Have you heard of Roku? It is a steaming video player that you plug into your TV and allows you access to lots of free channel - including Mom's favorite PBS in high definition. There are many other similar devices such a Google Play, Amazon Firestick and so on. When we moved to Florida Mom and Dad decided just get basic cable & internet and it has saved then $120 a month doing so but for a one time purchase of $69 they got the little Roku and can watch all sorts of wonderful things for free (plus you can plug headphones into the remote for quiet listening at night time!)  Now there are subscriptions available through Roku and the other players  too if you want them - like Amazon, Netflix, Hulu and so on and through those you can watch all the latest releases. This week we have been watching two awesome PBS series - one called "The Brain" and the other "How we got to now."

We are especially loving the "How we get to now" which looks at how every day simple concepts have changed our entire world. The connections are quite amazing - in the first episode "clean" they looked at how the building sewer systems in our cities changed everything. Did you know that in Chicago they actually raised entire buildings and blocks of buildings so they could build the sewer systems underneath them? Those sewer systems also lead to a new development in clean water treatments which led to a boom in swimming pools, people learning to swim, new fashions in swim wear and so on. It even impacted on our need to be clean and to keep everything clean - thus lessening diseases that previously plagued the human race. Even more minding blowing is that nearly all the things we take for granted today have only been developed in the last 150-200 years. Planes, cars, computers, electricity, medical advances, phones, radio, TV and so on. If you love old shows from the 60's and 70's - you will love this option as all these old shows are available to watch for free. Dad is also super happy as a number of ESPN channels are available free too so he has been able to watch his beloved Penn State play - go Nittany Lions. And here is the one and ONLY time I have every worn something - this a flashback to 2008 and Dad bought me a Nittany Lion Shirt - my fur stuck out all over the place and Mom said I looked like I was exploding out of it - that is when I laid down the paw and said I would NEVER wear clothes again :)

Wordless Wednesday

That adoring look wasn't for Mom - can you guess who we were looking at ?

Meeting Oz

Wow weeeeeee - we got to meet our first ever blog buddy in the furs today - Oz and his Mom and Dad are visiting over at Amelia Island so we caught the ferry and went over to meet them. We went on a nice long walk and all got along just fine  - not so much as a woof between us in fact we were just like old buddies by the end of it and even Dweeb who was still shy didn't mind about being around Oz and his peeps. Mom and Oz's Mom chatted away the whole time about all sorts of things - while we were busy checking and double checking every smell and of coarse leaving plenty of p-mail to let every doggies know we had been there :) Unfortunately it was a full moon last night which also meant it was a was very high tide and it rained as well so poor Oz and his peeps found their camp ground underwater this morning - lucky their tent was on a spot just high enough they didn't get wet. It even rained when we were walking but we didn't even care as it helped cool us down and keep some of the mosquitoes away. Thank you Oz and his peeps for meeting us - it was pawsome !

Lakeside view

We were planning on going to the beach today but for some reason all the 'would-be-surfers' we out in force and MY beach was quite busy - not sure why as the waves were barely 3 foot high - we guess they were hoping it would improve. So Mom decided it was a good day to do a lap around MY Hanna Cowspotdog Lake which is actually 3 lakes but we just went around the big one today. There are 3 fishing docks on this lake and lots of places to just sit and enjoy the view. The lake has been stocked with a variety of fish and we love watching them jump out of the water - Mom thinks maybe there are gators in there after all as the fish we see jumping are about a foot long and it has to be something big chasing them to make them jump. We have yet to see any gators but we are always super vigilant when ever we are near the lake. There was also the ever present cormorant (shag) sitting on a pole drying off his wings. We love watching them dive bomb into the lake to catch a fish but they are so fast it is hard to get a picture of them doing it.

The Blue Angels

The Blue Angels are visiting Jacksonville this weekend for an air show - they actually flew right over our house when they arrived which scared the bejeebees out of the Dweeb and rattled all the windows. Mom and Dad of coarse were outside watching each one fly over as they were coming in to land - they had just come from doing an airshow in Hawaii. Their show is going to be right over the beach so Mom said we needed to get down there early before the crowds started appearing. We decided not to go to this show as Mom Dad and I have seen them perform many times before when we lived in Nebraska near the Offett Air Force base - plus it will be high tide when they are doing their show so there will be very little room for people to stand as there is VERY limited space and parking available at Jacksonville beach and usually when they have events like this people have to park miles away and then get a shuttle bus to the beach and they DON'T allow dogs on the bus!

Anyhoo - with all the wind we have had this week the tides have been super high and MY beach has been scrubbed clean and smooth but Mom did find this 'tree art' that was left in the sand as the water receded. We had lots of fun leaving funny footprints in the sand but yes - I think we will stay away from all the noisy jets today as they do their routine over MY beach :)
 

A reward for doing so good

We had our annual checkup last week and Dogtor Wilson was SUPER happy with us - why - because we have both lost 3 pounds each. I am now the perfect weight for my height and build but Dweeb still needs to loose another 2 pounds gawoof gawoof.  Mom says he can do it and lots of walkies will help. Mom was so happy with us she ordered some new treats from Chewy.com. but don't worry - Mom is being VERY stingy with them so we don't put back on any of the weight we lost and she chose single ingredient low calorie ones. Mom got us our favorite Bravo Freeze dried raw food, some venison soft treats, some bison soft jerky and some buffalo bully sticks for the Dweeb. Mom hasn't been buying many treats lately - mainly because they all seem to smell so bad - have you noticed that? Many of them seem to have so much garlic/herbs/spices or something in them that makes them stink and she says stinky treats make for stinky dogs (we are not sure what she means by that but she says it has something to do with escaping gases :). We are happy to say the treats Mom got us today don't smell  at all and didn't create any noxious fumes - does that mean we can an extra one Mom - she said NO :(

Come on Mom - open the box !

Those are some yummy treats!

Are you going to open a packet for us Mom?

YUM - bison soft jerky !

What you may not know about Jacksonville Florida

Can you believe we have been living here in sunny Jacksonville Florida for 6 months now. Mom says this is the most at home she has felt of any of the places Dad and she have lived. But there are unique and quirky things about Jacksonville in particular you may not know. Like for example -

U-turns - to get anywhere around here requires making multiple U-turns - Mom calls it the U-turn capital of the world :) People in Jacksonville also love to IGNORE no-u-turn signs - especially the ones at traffic lights ! To go left from our road means going up to the traffic light and making a U-turn and when coming back from the beach we have to go past our road and make a U-tun to come back. A lot of the U-Turns have been created because of the wide meridian strips down the center of the roads that have lots of trees planted in them.

Speeding - people in Jacksonville LOVE to speed and we are not talking 5 miles over the limit - we are talking 20-30 miles over the limit!!!  Most the roads around our area have a speed limit of 45mph but it seems  60mph is the norm. The bridge we go over to the beach has a speed limit of 55mph  but people fly across at 80 mph leaving Mom in their wake :) Mom was worried Florida would be full of retirees who drive slow - bawwwwaaaaahhhh she is the only one driving slow!

Weavers - Mom also says this is weaver driver capital of the world - it goes hand in hand with the speeding - people weave in and out of traffic like crazy always trying to get there 1/2 a second faster. Mom always laughs at these people and she ALWAYS catches up with them at the next light so all that weaving doesn't get them anywhere faster. By far the worst weavers are the Motor Bike Riders though - Mom has seen so many near collisions because of their recklessness and their speeding.

Circle Drives - nearly all the housing areas are made up of circular drives that have just  ONE entrance/exit. This is something Mom really doesn't like because if there was an emergency like a hurricane and our entrance got blocked we would have no way to get out. Mom doesn't understand this circular drive concept as it also makes going anywhere difficult - you can only follow main roads and not cut through side streets because none of the streets connect.

Bike Riders - with all the wonderful sunny weather we have - people love to ride their bicycles around here but sadly many of them seem to think they have their own set of rules. Now we have wonderful bike lanes on nearly every road and they are 3 foot wide but it drives Mom crazy when bike riders prefer to use the road and not the bike lane or they ride right on the line marking the bike lane. Bike riders here also don't seem to like to follow cross signals - choosing to cross roads when ever they feel like it and causing traffic to stop and wait for them.

Florida time - people here seem to eat later, go out later and many stores are closed on Mondays or at least one day during the week. That can be frustrating when you forget but Mom understands it serves the public better as people who work all week - at least  they know they can shop on weekends.

Jacksonville Aquarium - Plans are in development for them to be building an Aquarium here similar to the one in Atlanta. They are looking to build it in down town Jacksonville and have 3 possible locations - all on the St Johns River. This will allow them to run a ferry from the Aquarium to the Zoo which is also on the river. It will be a few years before they start on it though - the picture shows what it might look like when completed.

Hugs Around The World

There are times in ALL our lives when we just need a hug - whether it is because of illness, loneliness, sadness, happiness or just because we want that feeling of connecting to another. Today we are joining in the Hugs around the World blog hop to support everyone and especially the Pug's Dad who is in need of a hug today - we love you and are thinking of you today and every day.

Shame shame shame!

We were stunned while watching TV news to hear that 11 police dogs have died after being left in hot cars over this summer (2015) - 9 of them while "on duty". These dogs on average cost around $40.000 to train and take up to a year to reach the point where they become official police dogs. To let them die in such a horrific way is unforgivable. We acknowledge that while a police officer might be busy attending a crime scene it can be easy to forget a dog in the car but some rules need to put in place to prevent this happening. These brave and amazing dogs risk their lives every day when out on patrol and will do anything to protect their handlers - it seems only right that their handlers should do everything possible to protect them as well. You can read more about this story here http://www.weather.com/safety/heat/news/police-dog-deaths-hot-car

In other good news though animal cruelty is now a felony is 50 States here in the USA although sadly many judges are not willing to impose penalties that will really deter further abuse :(

The Beach Boys

Mom says one of the weird things about living at the beach is your suddenly develop a taste for beach music - like the Beach Boys.  Now Mom has lived most her life near the beach so why it should suddenly just kick in is beyond us but needless to say on our trips to the beach there is inevitably a Beach Boys cd playing.  Last weekend though Mom and Dad watched the movie "Love and Mercy" which is all about Brian Wilson's life - he was the lead song writer/singer for the Beach Boys and for many years he struggled with mental illness. It made Mom so sad to learn that many of his greatest songs were written through turmoil and pain in his life and for a couple of days she couldn't listen to their music anymore because of it. Gradually though she realized music - whether you listen to it or are able to write or perform it is a great source of comfort in one way or the other. It is a hard movie to watch and sadly makes you realize that often with genius comes a toll (ups and downs, depressions, drugs etc) - one that sadly many great artists have fallen victim too. We are happy to say though that Brian Wilson came through it and is still today performing and writing songs and we back to loving rocking out to their iconic tunes as we head to the beach. Mom of coarse says we are her most favorite Beach Boys :)

A revisit

Today we headed off to revisit MY Dutton Cowspotdog Island Preserve which is on the inter coastal waterway. We had so much fun, first we went for a walk along the boardwalk and then followed a path through palm trees and ferns to a lake. Mom was able to catch these cormorants (do you know Aussies call these birds "shags") drying off their feathers in the sunshine. We eventually came out at an overlook and loved the message that had been written on the fencing "the world is yours" - we so agree with that. Mom even thought the Spanish moss was looking pretty in the sunlight today too - she is weird!

The Asia Gardens

Yesterday Mom and Dad went to to the Jacksonville Zoo - WITHOUT us I might add. Mom said she couldn't take us as she would be scared they would fall in love with us and want to keep us there - hey - we could have have our own Cowspotdog exhibit :)  This was actually Mom and Dad's second visit (they are Zoo members so can go as many times as they want). Today they visited an area of the zoo called the Asia Gardens and spent 3 hours just wandering around this section. There was so many types of bamboo and Asian plants, a huge koi pond with HUGE koi in it and Sumatran Tigers - oh my! We would of loved to have barked as those big kitty cats :) The tigers have three separate areas that are interconnected with walkways that go above the paths people walk on - it was so cool. They also went to visit the very sad and tiny Australian Section - Mom was a bit disappointed with it - they only had 2 emu's, 3 kangaroos and 3 wallabies. Now one thing we must admit - even though Mom loves the zoo it does make her sad to see these wonderful animals  enclosed but she is also smart enough to know that for many of them this is the last chance for their survival - such as the pair of whooping cranes they have - there are only estimated to be 500 left in the wild so they are a part of huge breeding program. What Mom and us will NEVER understand though is why there are people who would want to kill any of these animals for sport - there is so much more joy to be had watching a living tiger moving and playing then there ever could be than seeing it as a rug on the floor :(

Entrance to the Asian Gardens - the Moon Gate

Giant Lily pads

The Bridge of Sighs

Flower of the giant lilies

Mr Frog sitting on the giant lily pad

Giant Koi

Warty Warthogs

Sumatran Tiger

Mr Tiger rolling around on his back

Watching and waiting for his buddy to come

Tiger waiting to be let in to the next enclosure

Tapia

Grey Kangaroo

Red Kangaroo and Wallaby

Pretty Flamingos

More pretty Flamingos

Leopard

Big Bushy Tailed Ant Eater