Dial M for Mailman, Mischief & Mama!

A little thing happened today.

It was an ordinary day, by all other counts... until that shady mailman planted his capitalist propoganda into my mailbox... and what can I say...

Today I snapped.

Hear me out! For four years, he's tiptoed onto my porch in his eerily passive, yet oppressingly official blue uniform and sneaky shoes. He plants all manner of documents... catalogs, circulars and bills, in the metal box by my front door. To his credit, he occasionally brings cards that I send Mom... but for the most part, he delivers pure evil.

And today... I snapped.

What did I learn about hitting the window and barking with wild abandon? Well...

1. The alarm really works. Thank you Brinks!


2. Policemen take home intrusions seriously. (Shout out to Officer Dave!... Smooches!).


3. Mom can get home really fast when she's scared.


4. Auntie S, next door, is even faster.


5. It's probably not a good thing to bark wrecklessly (as if she's a burglar), when Mom can't remember the alarm password.


6. All in all, though, not a bad deal. Mailman at bay... Mom home early... and tons of attention!

Hmmmm... I may try this again tomorrow!

Wise Words from President Truman

"If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog." —President Harry S Truman

Seeing as how it's President's Day, and I didn't get to greet the mailman today (snicker), I had a little extra time to do some research.

Here's a list of animals who had Presidents:

George Washington: Polly the parrot; 36 hounds; horses
John Adams: horses
Thomas Jefferson: a mockingbird; two bear cubs, a gift from Lewis and Clark
James Madison: Macaw the parrot; sheep
James Monroe: a spaniel
John Quincy Adams: an alligator; silkworms
Andrew Jackson: horses named Truxton, Sam Patches, Emily, Lady Nashville, and Bolivia; Pol the parrot; ponies
Martin Van Buren: two tiger cubs
William Henry Harrison: a goat; a cow
John Tyler: Le Beau, a greyhound; a horse named The General
James Knox Polk: a horse
Zachary Taylor: Old Whitey the horse
James Buchanan: Lara, a Newfoundland; an eagle; an elephant
Abraham Lincoln: Jack the turkey; goats named Nanny and Nanko; ponies; cats; dogs; pigs; a white rabbit
Andrew Johnson: white mice (editor's note... ewwwwww!)
Ulysses S. Grant: Faithful, a Newfoundland; horses named Jeff Davis, Julia, Jennie, Mary, Butcher Boy, Cincinnatus, Egypt, and St. Louis; ponies named Reb and Billy Button; pigs; dogs; a parrot; roosters
Rutherford B. Hayes: Siam, a Siamese cat; Grim, a greyhound; Duke, an English mastiff; Hector, a Newfoundland; Dot, a terrier; canaries; cows; horses; goats; other dogs
James Garfield: Kit the horse; Veto (editor's note... snicker) the dog; fish
Grover Cleveland: a poodle; canaries and mockingbirds
Benjamin Harrison: Dash the dog; Whiskers the goat; dogs; an opossum
William McKinley: a parrot; an Angora cat and her kittens
Theodore Roosevelt: Sailor Boy, a Chesapeake Bay retriever (editor's note... close in my ancestry!); Manchu, a Pekingese; Skip, a mutt; terriers named Jack and Pete; cats named Tom Quartz and Slippers; Josiah the badger; Algonquin the pony; Eli the macaw; Jonathan the piebald rat (editor's note... did Sailor Boy know???) Emily Spinach, a garter snake; twelve horses; five bears; five guinea pigs; other snakes; two kangaroo rats; lizards; roosters; an owl; a flying squirrel; a raccoon; a coyote; a lion; a hyena; a zebra
William Taft: Pauline Wayne the cow
Woodrow Wilson: Old Ike the ram; sheep; chickens; cats
Warren Harding: Laddie Boy, an Airedale; Old Boy, a bulldog; canaries
Calvin Coolidge: Peter Pan, a terrier; Paul Pry (née Laddie Buck), an Airedale; Calamity Jane, a sheepdog; Boston Beans, a bulldog; King Cole, a shepherd; Palo Alto, a birder; collies named Rob Roy (née Oshkosh), Prudence Prim, Ruby Rough, and Bessie; chows named Blackberry and Tiny Tim; canaries named Nip, Tuck, and Snowflake; cats named Bounder, Tiger, and Blacky; raccoons named Rebecca and Horace; Ebeneezer, a donkey (Mom would love Ebeneezer); Smokey, a bobcat; Old Bill, a thrush; Enoch, a goose; a mockingbird; a bear; an antelope; a wallaby; a pygmy hippo; some lion cubs
Herbert Hoover: Glen, a collie; Yukon, a malamute; Patrick, an Irish wolfhound; Eaglehurst Gillette, a setter; Weejie, an elkhound; fox terriers named Big Ben and Sonnie; shepherds named King Tut and Pat; an opossum
Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Fala, a Scottish terrier; Meggie, a Scottish terrier; Major, a German shepherd; Winks, a Llewellyn setter; Tiny, an English sheepdog; President, a Great Dane; Blaze, a mastiff
Harry S Truman: Feller “the unwanted dog” (adopted by Truman's personal physician) (editor's note... evidently he didn't want a friend in Washington!); Mike, an Irish setter (belonged to Margaret Truman)
Dwight D. Eisenhower: Heidi, a Weimaraner
John F. Kennedy: Tom Kitten the cat; Robin the canary; Zsa Zsa the rabbit; Sardar the horse; ponies named Macaroni, Tex, and Leprechaun; parakeets named Bluebell and Marybelle; hamsters named Debbie and Billie; Charlie, a Welsh terrier, plus dogs named Pushinka, Shannon, Wolf, and Clipper, plus Pushinka and Charlie's pups: Blackie, Butterfly, Streaker, and White Tips
Lyndon Johnson: Him and Her, beagles; Freckles, a beagle (Him's pup); Blanco, a collie; Edgar, a mutt (née J. Edgar); Yuki, a mutt; hamsters and lovebirds
Richard Nixon: Checkers, a cocker spaniel; Vicky, a poodle; Pasha, a terrier; King Timahoe, an Irish setter; fish
Gerald Ford: Liberty, a Golden retriever (editor's note... smart man, President Ford!); Chan, a Siamese Cat
Jimmy Carter: Grits the dog; Misty Malarky Ying Yang, a Siamese cat
Ronald Reagan; Rex, a King Charles spaniel; Lucky, a Bouvier des Flandres sheepdog
George H. W. Bush: Millie, a Springer spaniel; Ranger, one of Millie's pups
Bill Clinton: Socks the cat; Buddy, a chocolate Labrador retriever
George W. Bush: Spot, a Springer spaniel, born in the White House in 1989 to George H. W. Bush's Millie (died Feb. 21, 2004); Barney, a Scottish terrier; India (“Willie”) the cat. The Bushes' orange-striped polydactyl cat Ernie was judged too wild for White House life and now lives with a family in California. In 2004, the President gave his wife Laura a Scottish terrier puppy named Miss Beazley for the First Lady's birthday.

Welcome to My Blog

I decided when I was a mere pup, while confined in the house during the day, maybe I would try some of the things that Mom enjoys.

She does a lot of writing, so I tried pens. I quite enjoyed the plastic between my teeth, but not so much my Mom's reaction to the creative ink spot on the floor when she got home. What can I say? She has to appreciate creativity all day at work, when she gets home... I think she's spent.

Next I tried the new Living Bible she bought. She seemed to glean a great deal of satisfaction and peace from it. I ate about a quarter of it one afternoon. I can't tell you what she said when she got home. Suffice it to say, it was not holy. I protested by telling her... "But Mom, I am full of the Living Word"!

I've learned a lot since those early days. Mom and I moved into this house, from our townhouse, 2 1/2 years ago. Since then, we have both embraced our responsibilities for both home and yard.

I fertilize regularly and find that security is an important issue. When confined in the house, I keep a close watch on both the front and back yards. The perimeter is a big concern for me. I rarely bark unless someone or something has entered my boundary. You just never know when that mailman, or that woman pushing the baby stroller, might decide to invade our abode.

There is also an emotional game that I play. I place my head in the front window as Mom backs out of the driveway. I return from time to time during the day, but at 4pm, I must hurry and camp out there again, awaiting Mom's return. It is good for her to think that she was missed.

Each day, too, I make it a point to visit and re-arrange the pillows on the sofa. The guest bed is an easy mark, too. It provides the perfect diversion for my afternoon wallow... and ultimate nap.

But there are times that I need to fill. Until today, I've filled those hours by re-circulating my toys from toybox to floor, by seeking out the TV remote to change channels or increase audio volume, by watching as much CBS as possible (especially Oprah... but when is Mom going to figure out that I'm missing Ellen) by being teased by squirrels who sit in the patio chairs, by transferring as much hair as possible to couch cushions, comforters, pillows and floors, and by thinking up new emotional tactics to use when Mom decides to leave home (and me) in favor of other pursuits.

Today... those things just didn't seem enough. And the thought occurred to me... a BLOG. I have so much to say. Mom is gone for many hours during the day... the computer is idle. THIS is PERFECT.

So, BLOG it is.