A Dale Near a Manger

So today I was doing my normal morning walkie through Old City, when I SMELLED SOMETHING. Mama wasn't sure why I decided to go in a new direction, and quite honestly, neither was I. But I knew that I had to get to the bottom of that smell. So we wandered further up Race Street, and suddenly, THERE IT WAS:

A live nativity scene with sheep, goats, and a donkey.

Well, there is something you don't see every day. Or smell every day. I thought they smelled quite wonderful, in fact.

Please Do Not Feed the Animals - I have no idea what this means.  Those little buggers seem hungry to me, they're eating the hay (I'd have to be pretty hungry to eat hay).

The donkey was hilarious.  Most of the time he sat in the back, behind the cutouts of the (kind of freaky looking) Mary and Joseph.  It was as if he decided that it's just too damn cold outside and he wasn't going to put on any dog-and-pony show (well why should he, he's a DONKEY) for anyone.  I appreciated his attitude.

This little furry guy was my favorite.  Not only did he smell the best, but he was affectionate and well, just so damn cute.

And then it happened - the ladies came outside with their buckets of goodness, and much excitement came over the herd.

The goats are the smartest - they seem to have this whole "live nativity scene" thing figured out.  Be shameless, bleat like crazy, and you will get fed first.  A-OK in my book.

Everyone else was a little slower on the uptake, busy with their hay eating, even though the ladies had much more delicious treats.  Come on guys, THEY HAVE SNACKS

And then, as if by magic, they all headed over to the snack bowl.  Even the lazy donkey.

The ladies did indeed have the good stuff, and everyone was apparently good this year so they were going to get goodies.

CARROTS FOR EVERYONE! 

Love,

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

A Very Full Saturday

It appears that this Christmas thing is rapidly approaching, which means that there are LOTS of chores to be done. Well no better than the Aire Force (ahem, that’s me) to help get your chores done in style…

First we had to fight our way into the post office - no one even noticed me this time to kick me out or ask what I was doing in there which made mom’s life a little easier. As I’ve already been there I wasn’t that fascinated with anything, so it was easy to be relatively calm.

After the first battle, a little lunch was in order at the Lovebirds Cafe.

I was the good protector of the table and of mom (occasionally jumping into her lap - she thinks it’s hilarious so I do that for her from time to time), watching out to make sure that no strangers got too close (that didn’t have any food for me).

Then we had to carefully approach the great evil-doer, Jiffy Lube. Yes, the ones who provide my Bogie Beetle with it’s vital fluids on a tri-monthly-ish basis. Usually they don’t let me sit inside but today mom put on her very own version of the puppy dog eyes (see, it works for ANYONE) and she and I sat watching old reruns of I Love Lucy until they had done their evil work. Luckily they didn’t suggest any pricey extras like they usually do, or I would have had to go into full Evil Dale mode…

As a final stop, we pulled into the Petco parking lot. Wheeee! Me love Petco. I slide around the floor like it’s an ice skating rink and I can see cats in boxes. Then I can try to steal bones out of bins conveniently (perhaps stupidly) placed at dog-nose height. Nothing looked that appetizing today however, so I just peed in two places. Now Petco used to have these little cleaning stations - you know, some paper towels and spray cleaner and plastic baggies with a little trash can - on the ends of their aisles but not any more at this particular Petco… mom had to run around actually asking for something to clean up my pee. The workers looked confused. Yes, I peed on your floor and now mom is being a good mom and wants to clean it up. Why is that so hard to understand? Anyway someone finally showed up with paper towels from the bathroom (no spray cleaner) so mom wiped up the pee and then she had to ask again for a plastic baggie. Luckily she’s relatively quick so before he could get away she asked where the trash was. Oddly there is no trash can available for the general public (???) (don’t they know who I am???) so she pawned it off on the lucky clerk. Amazing.

Then I got to run a bit in the park with Heidi and dad, which is always fun. A little exercise like that (running up hills, trying to stop her from biting my face) always tuckers me out.

So I guess I can get back to the important stuff - trying to get to my presents under that tree.

Love,

Bogart

To Aire is Divine

Tagged Again!

I've been tagged by my dreamgirl Sunshade for the Christmas tagging game:

Here are the rules:

The player of this game starts with "3 things he/she would love to get for Christmas" and also has to list "3 things he/she definitely does not want to get for Christmas". Then he/she tags 5 friends and list their names. The ones who get tagged need to write on their blogs about their Christmas wishes, as well as state this rule clearly, then tag 5 more victims. And the one who tags need to leave his/her victim a comment that says "you've been Christmas tagged!" in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

3 Things I Would Love for Christmas:

1. Miss Sunshade
2. Miss Maggie
3. Miss Faya

3 Things I Definitely Don't Want for Christmas:

1. "Relaxation" time at home alone
2. Dog food (I prefer cat food and freshly-prepared human food, especially in cutlet form)
3. Any sort of head decorations

Which other lucky dogs get tagged (ok this was a hard one because so many of my friends have already been tagged!):

Bogie http://bogiebits.blogspot.com
Romeo (Ozzy's little brother!) http://romeosblogny.blogspot.com
Bismarck the Boston Terrier http://adventuresofbismarck.blogspot.com
The Rascals http://adventures-with-the-rascals.blogspot.com
Fee http://magic-fever.blogspot.com

Happy Holidays Everybody!

Love,
Bogart