Lumbering Down Locust

We are really enjoying going down different streets every day, especially for the longer-than-usual evening walkie. Tonight we were heading down Locust Street...

Follow me! I know where I want to end up...

Past the folks dining al fresco, I have a destination in mind.

We are SO not in Portland anymore.

Useful machinery or Orange Monster?

No time to lose, gotta get to...

Rittenhouse Square! I love me some park action.

This little gal I am officially making an honorary Airedale. A pocket version, that is.

It's still really hot here, and the humidity is still kicking my butt. Luckily at this park they have a large fountain, perfect for sneaking a few sips on a hot night.

I can reach the water by standing and stretching, but sometimes I just for the gusto:

Did you notice the doggie trying to sneak a sniff of my sweet butt while I was drinking? Well, so did I. Notice that he's gone now and I can drink in peace.

Time to move on to other adventures. Enough amusing of random strangers for one evening.

Some chalk art...

I'm feeling kind of chalk-y myself.

Well, hubba hubba! A cute little Welshie pup! I love to see the mini-me's, they're pretty rare to see but I think that this gal and I will definitely run into each other again for some playtime.

Love,

Bogart

Spruce Street Strolling

(First things first... Woo Hoo! Camera is BACK IN BUSINESS!)

Mama had to go back to that "work" thing... and I wasn't exactly pleased. I am to be left to my own devices all day long now which is not my preferred schedule. Yes, I got a nice, long walkie this morning but I miss you when you're gone all day mama!

So lets get started on you making it up to me. LONG EVENING WALKIE TIME!!!

First up, Rittenhouse Square. Where the trees have knitted cozies (well, this one does):

I've just got to explore all of the smells here. Got the tongue ready to do battle.

Free concerts on Wednesday nights, hey, we might have to come back for that!

But more immediate and much more important, there are lots of cool doggies here. This greyhound has caught my attention a few times and today we got to romp! Lovin' it!

I was also happy to share with this cutie pie...

We've been slowly exploring our new city and walking through different neighborhoods. The Rittenhouse area is darned pretty and has lots of interesting things...

Town Watch Community sign or Martini with Olive, Little Roof and Straw sign?

Like mama always believes, Every Day is Halloween...

And of course a kind of portrait of the two of us...

Thanks for the extra-long walkie mama, it hit the spot. Now don't ever go back to that work place, ok? Spend all of your days with me and we'll both be MUCH happier.

Love,

Bogart

Axel and Bogart - The Video!

My New Pal, Axel

Terrier Time!

I was quite surprised when mama didn't take off my harness after the morning walkie today - could there be more excitement to my birthday weekend? YES INDEED.

The handsome guy swimming next to me is Axel - he's a Wire Fox Terrier - and today was our first meeting. His mama lives here in Philadelphia too and apparently my mama was excited to meet her and put us together. I don't get along with every dog I meet, sometimes I like 'em and sometimes I don't. But Axel and I got along like a house on fire (except for one little argument over a treat - but that was minor and over in a second).

We went for a swim in a lovely pond near the Art Museum while the mama's talked. There were donuts and dog treats and lots of laughs.

I am sure that we've both made a new friend and that we'll be seeing each other again really soon! Take care of your mama Axel till we see each other again!

Love,

Bogart

(PS - cell phone photo, but not too bad, eh?)

Happy Birthday to Meeeeee

Happy Birthday to ME... Happy Birthday dear MEEEEEEEEEE....

Happy Birthday to ME!

Today I am a strapping 5-year old Dale. Feeling pretty good. I'm sure there are lots of walkies planned, and I did notice a bag from Petco that was smuggled into the apartment last night by mama. Smells good so it must be for me.

Still no camera battery - bastards! - we may break down and start using the cell phone for photos (which mama HATES!). But this is getting crazy now, no photos of me... the world just cannot survive without a few new fuzz shots.

Love,

Bogart

Where You At?

You've noticed that I haven't posted in a week or so.

Do you:

Wonder if I've been abducted by aliens?

Think that perhaps I'm having way too much fun to stop and be photographed?

Or

Determine that the humidity has kicked my fuzzy butt?

Actually, it's far more banal than that... the battery has died in mama's camera once again, resisting all attempts at bringing it back to life via our trusty charger. And without photos I find it difficult to describe the amazing new things that I am seeing...

Battery has been ordered and should return soon. Mama has promised to try to take some semi-decent cell phone photos (which she hates) so that we won't be away for so long. I really do have a lot of cool things to share about my new home, so stay tuned!

Love,

Bogart

King of the Concrete Jungle

One cannot resist the call of the King of the Beasts...

Come on guys, everyone post majestically. Mama wants to take a picture.

Bingo!

Love,

Bogart

Where the Wild Things Are... in Philadelphia

So mama and I have been cruising around the neighborhoods of Center City for as long as we can handle the humidity each day (mama conveniently forgot to warn me about humidity, she swears that she forgot what it was like, living on the west coast for many years). And on the trips that she remembers to bring her camera (with both a full-charged battery and a memory card inside) we've seen some interesting things so far.

This door, for example. I went up to investigate and it got mama's attention. Why you ask?

That's why:

One can only imagine what led to THAT sign being put up, eh?

And this little guy apparently helps out when your boots need to be cleaned off. What a good little weiner he is.

And then there is this kitty - mama wants one in the apartment but I reminded her that we already are a bit overloaded in the feline department so we'll just have to walk past this one a lot.

Love,

Bogart

Keep On Truckin

As a very wise woman keeps telling mama.

Yup, I've been MIA from blogging for a little while, but I have a good excuse - we were driving cross country to our new home in Philadelphia!

While it was certainly less fun for the kitties than for me, as I spent a lot of time like this:

We all managed to have an amazing time seeing this great country from sea to shining sea. Intrepid adventurers that we are, we sailed off in our rented (and fully insured) minivan in search of the quickest way to get a large number of cats and a dog from point A to point B. Along the way we stopped in many cool places...

Wyoming is particularly pretty.

And I had to pee in every state along the route of course. Just to let 'em know that Bogie Was Here...

But most of the time I spent like this:

Or in these sort of places...

We stopped in many small towns and saw some really amazingly cool stuff.

But did I mention that I mostly did this?

The highlight of the trip for me had to be when we stopped at this nondescript river and I discovered one of my newest favorite things - frogs!

They were EVERYWHERE, jumping like mad to get away from the waiting jaws of this Airedale.

And I could not stop pursuing them, even going so far as to get my paws fully wet in my quest to eat a few.

Well ok, I don't know if I actually wanted to eat them, or even if they're particularly tasty, but I do know that I wanted to try.

And I wanted to try VERY BADLY

And oh, when I wasn't having fun in the water trolling for frogs, did I mention that I did a LOT of this?

It was a really fantastic trip - all of us in the Minivan of Fools with my newest pal Oliver. He also took lots of photos, was the navigator and in-flight entertainer for the trip. I even allowed him to take the leash from time to time when mama needed to use the facilities or go inside and buy me something tasty. This is truly a first for me - no one is allowed to take the leash except for mama - so I feel like I took a big step in developing some trust and relaxing a bit with my over-protective-ness of mama.

Plus he was awesome. That didn't hurt.

And then of course there's mama. She's under a lot of stress these days - planning our big move, getting a place for us to live, getting a new job and restarting our lives on another coast. I appreciate all that she does for me, and I know that the kitties do too - even if they complain constantly and destroyed their carriers along the way. That's just their way of expressing love...

And so to all of middle America I say a hearty "thank you" for your hospitality and a big "wowza" for the natural beauty all over this country. We're sorry that we didn't get to stop off and play with any of our doggie friends who all invited us to swing by - we had the pedal to the metal the entire way and just couldn't stop.

Mama and I are ready to roll - figuratively as well as literally - and this trip was just the beginning. I will have an entirely new and much larger city to explore, so stay tuned!

Love,

Bogart & Lulu