Love, Sticks, and Happiness

To all of my friends all over the world... here's to a New Year filled with sticks, adventures, health, and happiness!  Get out there and make it a GREAT one!!!

Love,

Bogart

Sunny Seat As Seen on Kafka

Around Chez Bogart, you know that we test out a lot of doggie products - I always give my honest opinion, and I just LOVE to get packages - but despite sharing my home with 4 kitties I don't often get them involved in the testing.  Today that will change as we've received a Sunny Seat to try.

Now.  We don't normally do the "as seen on TV" stuff no matter how intriguing they may be.  Firstly because Kafka (the short-haired orange tabby) won't let us get the remote, but also because we don't have cable, damnit.  And our antenna is one step above rabbit ears, so basically we never really see the stuff.  And at first look, we didn't have much hope that this would be all that great.

Sure, mama thought, there is no way this can hold even one cat, much less 50 pounds worth.  The pieces looked uninspiring.

But it was indeed really easy to assemble - taking the 5 minutes that the box said it would.  Whew!

After assembly, we attached it to our window with the big suction cups.  Hm.  It's staying.  We were pretty sure this was the moment it would fail, that the suction cups wouldn't do their job, and that it would fall off of the window sadly in a heap of plastic.  But we were wrong.

How best to test?  With our un-shy-est cat, Kafka.

Kafka is a sound 15-pounder.  He's not afraid of much, and once promised some chicken liver treats in exchange for posing for photos, was completely on board with our testing.

This holds!  It does what it says it does!  Thumbs up (is this the part where the chicken liver treats come out?)

Kafka - still waiting for those treats.  But damn, this window seat HOLDS.

A little lovin' for our fine, feline product tester.  Your butt for science, Kafka!

After the initial testing phase, Kafka took over the seat as his own.  We even caught him napping in it.  No sign of it coming off of the window.  As we said earlier, we thought that this wasn't going to work but this window seat really performed!  No tools needed, nothing that has to be screwed into walls, this just sticks on a window.  For us, it's big enough for one kitty, so we can't speak as to the holds-50-pounds-of-kitty claim, but it really does hold and Kafka seems quite content in it.  AWESOME!

Love,

Bogart

Did Someone Say Strudel?

OH YES

Many of you had been wondering after my last romp through the Christmas Village if I indeed got any of that yummy strudel. THE ANSWER IS YES

But I'm not very good at waiting for it, you see. Patience is not a virtue in my book. When in doubt, GO ALL IN I say...

All schnoz in, that is.

Push your nose all the way down towards the yummy goodness of the apfel strudel. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO

NOM NOM NOM

Oh thank you again, dear Helmut. I am a huge fan of your work.

Mmm... Mmm... Goodness

There really was no stopping me after mama foolishly waved the box in my direction. And then she couldn't stop laughing so I continued digging for the gold-en goodness at the bottom of the box. No need to warm it up on my account, just GET IN MY BELLY

Love and happy strudel-y thoughts,

Bogart

Here We Go a Strudel-ing

The Christmas Village has moved from City Hall over to Love Park - and we almost missed it!

There's a big Xmas tree, the giant macaroni-and-cheese noodle, and lots of German specialties.  The tree kind of freaked me out.

To get into the proper spirit I tried to yodel - which I could tell was appreciated by all as they turned their heads toward me and clutched their children closer to themselves.

YOU'RE WELCOME PHILADELPHIA

It's a very cool setup, with lots of small gingerbread-house-type stalls selling all sorts of lovely and yummy things.

You should go full-on traditional I think.  The folks selling earrings and scarves (and burritos), yeah well, that just didn't seem as in the spirit as it could have been.  And it was freezing cold today for the first time this year - I wasn't allowed into the come-inside-and-get-warm-with-some-hot-alcoholic-beverages tent - so really, go with the fun traditional stuff.

Hey, what's that?

Austrian strudel - MMMMMMMMMMM

Yeah, that's right.  Dogs don't generally eat apfel strudel.  But I'm not just any dog, and since my dad was from Austria I AM ALLOWED TO EAT APFEL STRUDEL.  It was tasty indeed, not as good as mama has had actually in Austria, but still yummo.  Don't let one bite go to waste!

Love,

Bogart

Ah, the Golden Hour approaches, and we are going to be in the right place at the right time for some superb Dale photography...

This is the new Race St. Pier here in Philadelphia. What was once a crappy old pier is now an urban park with super-cool vistas.

So come along with me - I've got a nice big stick for us - and lets explore!

On my left is the Ben Franklin Bridge. Busy, noisy, but damn it looks cool from this vantage point.

Lots of trees = good. Not being allowed to pee on said trees - not as good. But fine. I have a stick to distract me.

Yes this is a civilized urban park, and doggies are allowed. Even off of the end of the pier...

All the better to pose majestically, my dear.

And stare wistfully off into the distance toward beautiful Camden, New Jersey.

With no people around, the opportunities for Airedmiration were few. Not that I didn't try.

YOU LOOKIN' AT ME?

Really, all of this posing is getting a bit silly mama. Although I am thoroughly enjoying barking in a spot where my mighty bark reverberates like crazy. I think even the folks on the trains above me can hear.

Handsome, eh?

Yeah, I'll toss out a few model-esque poses for you.

And one with my ear fuzz whipping in the wind.

So this si where I'm going to briefly explain the lovely golden tones in my yes normally quite dark tan fuzz but today even especially so. This is the "golden hour", the last hour of sunlight, a time when the sun makes me look especially tall, dark, and handsome.

Not that I have the patience to deal with this - being a model is ridiculously hard work, after all - but there it is.

Really, mama? STILL HERE? Still laying on your back taking photos of me?

Ok, one final truly majestic one:

I am quickly losing patience with you, mama. See that train? I'm gonna let loose a howl that will wake 'em all up if we don't move on soon.

Fishing? Really? You humans are funny.

But see how the quality of light has changed dramatically in only a few minutes?

Not that the quality of DALE has diminished, nor has the quality of this fine stick.

I like the Pier. It's cool. And dog-friendly. We shall return.

Love,

Bogart