Bogart vs. the Volcano

Have you ever had a walkie on a volcano?

As of today, I HAVE...

Mt. Tabor is right in the city of Portland and yes, it is a volcano. Not an active one, there was no lava or spewing ash (thank goodness). It's a beautiful park with cool trails and beautiful views and it's close to my house - so we piled into the Bogie-mobile and off to our date with volcanic destiny!

Lots of things to see, and it's quite the lovely day here in Portland - no rain!

I've heard there is a statue around here somewhere... think it's this way?

Eh, follow me mom. This schnoz can find ANYTHING!

S-U-C-C-E-S-S

(very exciting, huh? can you tell I was bored with having to sit in front of it while mom took a picture?)

Ooh... MESSAGES!

Love,

Bogart

To Aire is Divine

Like a Rolling Stone

I'm gathering no moss!

I will, however, EAT MOSS

NOM NOM NOM

MINE MINE MINE

Love,

Bogart

To Aire is Divine

Mississippi Mutt

Today we explored a little bit of the Mississippi district in North Portland...

Mmm... LOTS of new smells, I haven't been to this neighborhood before.

Lots of cute little shops and a LOT of little restaurants with big groups of people waiting patiently outside. And a TON of bicycles - which kind of freak me out. Normally bicycles don't bother me, but having so many in one place at one time (there must have been some sort of event because some streets were blocked off) made me nervous. I can never tell when they're going to start riding or if they're going to stop.

Definitely a lovely afternoon, we'll be coming back sometime soon!

Love,

Bogart

To Aire is Divine

Summer in the City

SUMMER IS HERE!!!

It's been a little grey here lately, but now the sun is shining and summer has arrived...

Time to go for my first official walk of the summer here in Portland! Going to hit my regular local hood spot, Powell Butte.

We take different trails all the time, and some of them have great little streams for me drink from. Cool and refreshing...

It's so great to look around and everything I see is GREEN - back in Los Angeles I understand that it's been dry and over 100 degrees for the last few weeks. That always made me tired (and mom cranky) and my skin all flaky. No such problems so far here in Portland...

It's easy to forget, walking through the forest, that there is actually wildlife here - the only thing wild that I've seen so far has been bunnies (which I'd like to get closer to if dad could let up a little on the flexi-leash) but I hear there are deer and other critters too.

Ah, at the top. It's clear and beautiful today, lots of good smells, and a great view of Mt. Hood.

Summer in the city... and what a great city it is!!!

Love,

Bogart

To Aire is Divine

Photo of the Month Nomination!

I'm SO EXCITED!!!

This photo has been nominated for Photo of the Month over on the Bone Zone at Dogs With Blogs... if you're a member, head on over for the exciting voting... there are some other very cool photos to see as well (of course not everyone can do what I can do with my tongue...)

Love,

Bogart

To Aire is Divine

Daily Blogger Award

BIG AIRE KISSES to my buddies Maggie & Mitch for this cool award!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

I've gotta check around to see who hasn't gotten the award yet before I pass it on, thanks so much for thinking of me! You two make me feel all warm and fuzzy...

Love,

Bogart

To Aire is Divine

Going for Guinness - Firefox 3!

Today is the big download day! Get yer new version of Firefox 3 and join the Guinness Record race - the good folks at Firefox want to set a Guinness World Record for most software downloads in a day... so mom and I downloaded our new version onto her (uh, that's MINE) laptop.

Ack... things are running s-l-o-w-l-y. I guess that's what happens when people all over the world try to do something at the same time!!!

Ok, almost done...

Woo-hoo! Now we're fully loaded with smokin' hot software and hopefully helped get that Guinness record going! Love ya Firefox!!!

Love,

Bogart

To Aire is Divine

Cuckoo for Cocoa Mulch - Warning

This is forwarded from a good Airedale friend - and unlike many product stories that I see or hear about, this one seems to be worth some further inspection and awareness, especially as summer is almost upon us and we dogs get curious about new stuff in the garden...

Over the weekend the doting owner of two young lab mixes purchased Cocoa Mulch from Target to use in their garden. They loved the way it smelled and it was advertised to keep cats away from their garden. Their dog, Calypso, decided that the mulch smelled good enough to eat and devoured a large helping. She vomited a few times which was typical when she eats something new but wasn't acting lethargic in any way. The next day Mom woke up and took Calypso out for her morning walk. Half way through the walk, she had a seizure and died.

Although the mulch had NO warnings printed on the label, upon further investigation on the company's website, this product is HIGHLY toxic to dogs and cats. Cocoa Mulch is manufactured by Hershey's, and they claim that 'It is true that studies have shown that 50% of the dogs that eat Cocoa Mulch can suffer physical harm to a variety of degrees (depending on each individual dog). However, 98% of all dogs won't eat it.'

Information about the mulch can be found here - Snopes.com: Cocoa Mulch

Theobromine (in Cocoa Mulch) is in all chocolate, especially dark or baker's chocolate which is toxic to dogs. Cocoa bean shells contain potentially toxic quantities of theobromine, a xanthine compound similar in effects to caffeine and theophylline. A dog that ingested a lethal quantity of garden mulch made from cacao bean shells developed severe convulsions and died 17 hours later. Analysis of the stomach contents and the ingested cacao bean shells revealed the presence of lethal amounts of theobromine.

Feel free to pass this along to other gardening dog owners...

Love,
Bogart
To Aire is Divine

Airedale Pride

Hey everybody! It's Queer Pride weekend here in Portland, and as I have been known to dabble in some nice fuzzy Male Dale butt on occasion, we thought it made sense to head on over. Mom always goes to Pride events, they're a lot of fun and here in Portland it's dog-friendly!!! So I strapped on my best butch camo bandana (thanks again Stanley) and off we went!

Woo-hoo! SWAG!!!

The event was really busy even though we went early... this is gonna be a FUN day!

Look at the lovely girl Rottie I met! She was an absolute sweetheart, and mom gave her some of my Chez Bogart treats (yes, we've fired up the dehydrator again to see how things go!!!).

And she wanted more... that's a good sign :)

Then they had a pet contest - they had some awards for best costume, gayest dog, best trick...

So of course mom and I had to get up there!!! (that's mom in the black outfit and the red shirt holding me)

I wasn't really in the mood to do any tricks though - I kept wanting to check out some of the folks and doggies in the audience. So even though I'm usually an excellent parlour-trick-provider (mom was shooting for either a give paw or a high five), today was no dice. So I didn't win but it was still awfully cool...

I'm having an awfully good time - everybody here is cool and wants to pet me! Me likey...

With all of this walking around, a boy can get kind of hungry and tired. So it was time to go... On the way out there was a large group of pirates (yes, PIRATES) - we couldn't figure out what they were up to, but the costumes were pretty amazing...

So where should we go? We wandered around a bit and wound up at the Deschutes Brewery in the Pearl, right near mom's work. We've walked past here before but never stopped, and we weren't disappointed. Pizza for mom (thanks for the cheese!) and venison chili for dad, washed down with some good beer. Very pleasant.

This is Bogart Handsome Devil, intrepid reporter, letting my freak flag fly..... reporting from the Pearl. I'll definitely be back next year!!!

Love,

Bogart

To Aire is Divine