Since I recently told a story about my Mommy's parents, now I want to tell a story about my Daddy's parents. Their names are Grandma and Papa and they live in a pretty town on the ocean near Los Angeles. When I used to live in California Mommy and Daddy liked to take me in the care with them for the long ride(!!!!) to visit Grandma and Papa. My Uncle and Auntie and my sweet little human cousin, who is just 9 months older than me, and my Great Uncles and Great Aunties also live there too. I would love to have a doggy cousin. Mommy and Daddy have tried to convince my Uncle and Auntie that I should have a doggy cousin. But apparently Uncle and Auntie saw enough of my antics as a puppy and decided that I was enough dog for our entire family. So anyway, back in the good old days when we lived in California and I was my Mommy and Daddy's only child, we would take rides(!!!!) to visit our family in Los Angeles a lot.
Grandma and Papa live in this really nice town. There's lots of famous movie people that live there. I'm not really impressed with famous movie people. There's also lots of people that may not be famous but that find themselves really super duper important - much more important than most anyone else in the world. They drive fancy cars and act like they are a gift to the earth. They honk their fancy car horns and they sip their fancy coffee and they talk on their cell phones and wear fancy clothes and live in fancy big homes. And almost everyone in this fancy shmancy town owns a dog. But these dogs aren't like me. The dogs are about the size of my paw and they generally go on outings in their mommies' purses. My Mommy doesn't have any purse big enough to hold me. The fancy self-important people don't take their dogs for walks, they take their dogs for stroller rides. In doggy strollers. That's right, you heard me right. Doggy strollers. I may not have any fancy purse to be carried around in but I certainly don't want to have walks replaced with rides in a stroller. I mean, really? So anyways, you can imagine how a big crazy puppy like me must fit in with this small-dog-in-purses-and-doggy-strollers town. Sometimes when we would go visit Mommy would take me for runs in the fancy neighborhoods. Shockingly, I was not always as well behaved as some of the purse-and-stroller puppies. The fancy people stared at me sometimes when I wasn't being a good listener. Mommy and Daddy said I just had a lot more spirit and all the fancy people were just jealous because their purse-and-stroller pups weren't as cool as me.
It's important to understand that my Grandma and Papa are super important to me, but they don't act more super important than the rest of the world, like many people in their town. They don't drive fancy cars and think they are better than everyone else. My Grandma and Papa are super wonderful and fun. Papa throws toys for me to fetch. Grandma and I share a special bond because we both have the same birthday- April 10th! Next year when when I turn 10 (and my Mommy and Daddy are counting on me to reach age 10!) Grandma will officially be just one year older than me. By about June of next year I'll be older than her, at least in dog years. Anyways, Grandma and Papa live in one of the older homes in their neighborhood, perched on a big piece of land that would sell for lots of money. There house is perfect- not fancy or pre-pre-pre-posterous. It is perfect for a big bumbling dude like me. Especially the backyard. The backyard is my favorite place to roam. Grandma and Papa used to have doggies when my Daddy and his brother were kids, but they haven't had a doggie in a long time. So on my first visit to see them I was free to make their backyard my own. When you turn me loose in a back yard, you know what happens. I spent most of my first romp going around their backyard marking my territory. Pretentious purse-and-stroller puppies BEWARE- Grandma and Papa's backyard is now officially MINE.
Grandma and Papa might have thought I was a little bit nutty when I was a puppy. Okay, maybe more than a little bit nutty. But they love me so much. Grandma became especially enamored with me one day on that first visit. Much like I did in my Mima's garden with the Ollie-Lilies, I did some re-arranging of my Grandma's yard. I was out prancing around. Everyone was inside the house, so I had fairly free-reign. And then it got quiet. Remember what happens when I get quiet....nothing good. So Grandma decided to go out and check on me. And then she found me. Once upon a time, before I took ownership of Grandma and Papa's backyard, there was a picnic table with a table cloth on it. It was in a nice sunny spot, perfect for catching rays. After I took ownership of the backyard I removed that table cloth and showed that table cloth who was boss. Remember, I'm an interior (and exterior) designer and I didn't think the table cloth was giving off a real good feel. So after taking care of the table cloth and satisfied with my work, I climbed right up on that picnic table and perched myself in a most perfect poise. Just like a sphinx. Grandma nearly fell over laughing. When I got caught I got off the table, so unfortunately we don't have a picture of me as a shinx. But ever since that day, Grandma has called me her "Noble Beast." Even though I live far away from Grandma and Papa, they still tell me the story of me being the sphinx back in the days when I was a puppy.
Now Mommy and Daddy say they'll gladly accept any signs of my crazy puppy-ness. Anyone have a picnic table with a table cloth?
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