More Pictures that look alike and Good Golly Miss Molly!

Can you even find me in this photo?


The weather down here has been hot, sunny and a bit too humid for Mom's liking (or at least, Mom's hair's liking) — perfectly gorgeous. We had super high and low tides last week - over 81/2 feet! - which means big wide open beaches as the tide's going out. I love it because there are plenty of tidal pools to take a dip in. 

Now throw the ball already!

Here I am ignoring Mommy because I know she wants to throw the ball into the ocean so I have to swim a big. No thanks, too many breakers today. We did meet a man walking two ginormous dogs. One was a Black Russian Terrier who weighed in at about 100 lbs. She was an alpha female and her owner said she'd make mincemeat outta me. No thanks! I play with a Russian Terrier pup at the dog run in New York named Sputnik and he's a big sweetie, but this one takes her guard dog reputation a bit too seriously.

But her pal was a big friendly Airedale boy named Briar. He was even more ginormous than the MIA Stanley of Gooberstan! I asked Briar if he knew what had happened to Stan but he didn't have a clue. 

Here are some beautiful sky shots from the beach. We watched this storm moving across the ocean, but then it disappeared before it ever got to shore. 

Here's some more rain over the ocean, near the shipping lanes into Savannah, Georgia. Oh! Noah asked where we are — we're on Hilton Head Island, off the coast of South Carolina. It's the 2nd largest island on the East Coast after Long Island. There are lots of tourists here in the summer, but right now, it's mostly Islanders or families with very young preschool age kids. My favorites! They're just my size and they'll throw the ball for hours.

Still more rain that never made it over here!
Ah, here's one of those adorable toddlers who just can't get enough of me. I'll drop the ball for them in a minute. But Mommy always has to warn them to throw the ball quickly before I get impatient and grab it from them and make them cry. She was like a little mermaid girl...

And then we met this crazy 2-year old Golden Retriever gal named Molly. She really loves her ball! She looked like a chicken sitting on an egg and try as you might, you couldn't get that ball out from under her!

Once all eyes were on her, she'd get up and start rolling and rolling all over and under the ball!

She was hilarious! A big goofy girl!
She sure knows how to show off for the camera. 
Well, off to Terrier Time this afternoon. Last week, we had 11 dogs there! Mom also took me to a swell dog park yesterday — Best Friends Dog Park - don't you love the name? We got to walk on a trail through the woods to get there, delicious smells for this city boy— then it was about 3 acres of woods and benches and doggie drinking fountains and dozens of nice muddy tennis balls. I could have stayed longer but Mommy was getting attacked by hummingbird-size mosquitoes. She's going to spray some Off! before we go back. It was a dream come true! The beach AND the huge dog park??? I may never go back!

Life's a beach!

Hi there, it's me, the original Salty Dog! Greetings from the beach. It's hot as mid-summer down here and we've had perfect weather all week - only rained a bit at night. We even went to the beach after a cloudburst the other night and the clouds and sunset looked like they'd been painted by Maxfield Parrish! Did Mom have her camera or phone with her that evening? Of course not.

Mom actually had me doing some agility style jumps over this piece of driftwood. I'll do pretty much anything to get the ball!

I've been playing with little kids on the beach every day - they're the best, they never get tired of throwing the ball for me and always clap when I catch it! We've had really high tides, which mean deep tidal pools when the tide's going out, so I've become quite the swimmer. Still don't like the waves though.

Been playing with Buddy, going for bike rides to Terrier Time to see my Island doggie pals, and guarding the back deck from squirrels, alligators, etc. When we were at Buddy's house the other night, we heard some barking from across the marsh - it was gray foxes. Buddy's mom said someone had spotted a cougar recently too. We just laughed and Mommy said she imagined there were plenty of cougars around.

Here's the beach house I made for me and Rosie. Of course, when we're not there, you're welcomed to come down and use it. Don't know if I should extend this invitation to Mango, his relentlessly huge self might knock my cabana down...

Someone said that all my beach photos look alike. Can I help it if I don't wear a different bathing suit each time we come down here? So unless we have something really special to share with you, we probably won't be posting too often.

Thanks for all the concern about our Mouse Poison Adventure. Fortunately, we are just fine. Mommy's wallet is a bit bruised, but that's okay—I only need a couple of tennis balls a week...

How to scare the bejeezus outta your Mom

We've had a bit of a mouse problem in our apartment lately — and frankly, Mica has been delighted. These are pretty stupid mice to come into an apartment with a cat and a mouser dog. (Petey's caught one, Mica has caught 3 over the past month.) The exterminator has been here FOUR times.

Mommy tried live-capture traps and had zero luck with them. She told the exterminator that she didn't want to use glue-traps because they seem way too cruel.

But after the third mouse sighting, she agreed to poison that the mice injest, then go back to the nest where they die surrounded by friends and family. We also stuffed a likely entry hole in the floor with industrial strength steel wool.

But tonight, instead of scaring Mommy by prancing into the living room with a mouse in his mouth, Mica came in with a bag of mouse poison, which tore open when he dropped it. Mommy put the steel mesh trash can over Mica so he couldn't eat the poison, then went to get the vacuum. When she came back with it, I was giving the poison a sniff so I was ordered up on the couch while she frantically vacuumed. There was a trail of little blue green pellets leading from the bathroom to the bedroom to the living room.

And since we're leaving early tomorrow morning, Mommy called the emergency vet two blocks away. Long story short, we both went it, were given stuff to make us puke, some intravenous fluids, then a nightcap of activated charcoal (which I threw up on the walk home.) The good news is, the vet didn't see anything blue in our puke and the charcoal should protect us from any remnants.

$525 later...

We're now home resting. Mom's a bit exhausted from the ordeal as well but she still has to finish packing!

Ahhh, the trouble a 19 1/2 year old cat can get into...isn't he supposed to just act like a stuffed animal with batteries, sleeping 23 hours a day?

MORNING UPDATE: Mica puked up some charcoal last night on the living room rug - two big black stains. Oh! And I drank lots of water and peed on the bed this morning - through the bedspread, comforter, sheets and mattress pad. Mommy just loves doing laundry at 6:15 am!

Also, ChemDry Stain Extinguisher, available at Home Depot, is a godsend!

Tanner's a real swinger and time to say "Afskeid vriende!"

Once Joey was reluctantly found — reeking of nachos and warthog — we could all kick back and celebrate Tanner's 5th Birthday. Needless to say, with his new Tanzar personality, it was a swinging good time! I'll be curious to hear how that loincloth goes over in Arizona. Tanzar, if anyone gives you any grief, fly over to New York and we'll set you up in Times Square with the Naked Cowboy.

Rosie and I snuck away from the festivities to enjoy our final South African sunset and drink a toast of Amarula to our delightful new friends and excellent hosts Tammy, Max and Toffee.

We couldn't help but notice a familiar silhouette towering over the grazing herd of wildebeests.

Fortunately, Lacie was prepared with her tranquilizer gun should the big fella get any more amorous ideas — he'd been watching a racy video called "Beests Gone Wilde" on Dennis' plane about Spring Break migration and kept murmuring "what happens in South Africa stays in South Africa."
So we've packed our rucksacks. rolled up our tents, and loaded Asta's 47 pieces of Poochi luggage and steamer trunks and the time has come to say thank you and afskeid vriende. As a lasting memento of our stay, we've left some new decorations over the piano!

Off to our next adventure. But first, maybe a nap.

P.S. Mommy and I will be headed south on Friday for the next five weeks so our postings may not be quite so frequent. And you can expect to see lots more photos of me biking, playing with Buddy and romping on the beach. Same old, same old. We may be gone, but hopefully, we wont' be forgotten!

The most dangerous safari!!!

You may remember, on the first day of searching for Joey, I accidentally swallowed a Mango-dosed tranquilizer dart! Even though neither of the nurses on the trip seemed at all concerned about my comatose condition, a worried Rosie consulted Tammy and Max who called a local doctor who makes tent-calls.

His prognosis? Take two freeze-dried dung beetles and drum him in the morning.

Since I'd be sound asleep for the next 24 hours, Rosie gathered the girls for an excursion with their Tour Guide Tammy! You see, she leads safaris of her own and they are of a much more dangerous variety—at least to your credit cards!

Off they went into town! Their first purchase was some Jungle Green pills to dispel any remaining bean gas among the boys. You can't see it in the photo, but they got Jungle Greens In A Drum for Mango.

The Dughallmor Beagles had sent Rosie a shopping list — they can devour pigs' ears in a matter of seconds, let's see how long it will take them to polish off these elephant ears.
And naturally, she couldn't resist ordering several crates of these leopard-print tennis balls. I don't know, it kind of tastes like a mouthful of Mica. Not that I'd know from personal experience.
Rather than spending all her rand on a shopping spree, Khyra decided she really wanted to indulge a complete South African makeover. She'd noticed the admiring glances that Tammy got for her luxurious blonde locks and decided to see if it was true about who has more fun...

So what do you think of her new look??? I think she's the Cat's Meow!

...and apparently, these local gals agreed with me.

The girls were delighted to meet a local celebrity - Gregory Da Silva, the world famous Egg Man of Cape Town, South Africa!

As Asta and Honey posed for a photo with the Egg Man, Rosie was inspired....and after a private consultation with the Egg Man, she revealed herself as....

...the TENNIS BALL DOG!!!

How she's going to get that back on the plane, I have no idea! She may have fit that tent in her totebag but I think she'll have to wear this on the flight.

A few hours after the girls arrived back at Max's estate, there was a knock on the door...*

"No, you fool," replied an irritated Lacie, "I didn't say I wanted to 'bag an alligator' — I said I wanted to get an alligator BAG!"
Well who knew? Apparently Lacie won't date just anybody/thing!

* Other than the bouquet of flowers, this photo wasn't retouched. It is a REAL alligator that came to visit some people on Hilton Head — where we're headed on Friday — when they were barbequeing in the back yard!!! Fortunately, this alligator was on the other side of the Island from our house and the alligators in the lagoon behind the house always phone before they drop by!

Rosie's Arrival in Africa!

After finding me up to my neck in hot water — literally—and coming to my rescue, Rosie came back with me to Max's estate. Unlike the other girls, Rosie had only packed a single tote bag for the trip...

Rosie was none too pleased with the proximity of the boys tent to Lacie's tent — and even less with Lacie's habit of dashing into our tent in the middle of the night, shrieking about a teensy bug and fawning around in her leopard print babydoll nightie (definitely NOT from the Martha's Secret® wooly bloomer collection!*).

Since we are an old married couple, she felt it was only right that we share our own tent. Out of her totebag, she pulled out this portable pup tent....

...laid it out on the ground, along with a fresh supply of tennis balls....

...and moments later, our tent was set up! That Rosie! She is one handy gal to have with you in the wilds of South Africa!

We retired inside for a little nap before the evening's festivities. (Rosie even packed our favorite red blanket!)

And late in the afternoon, everyone dropped by to discuss Mango's exciting plans for our evening. Mango was dressed as a Banana Republican, Asta was a vision in practical white silk safari couture, Lacie was wriggling her recently shrunken backside in silk harem pants and strappy gold sandals, while Tanner had found this snappy zebra-striped suit with matching hat in the International Male Doggie-Style catalog.

While Tammy, Max and Toffee prefer to go "au naturale," they donned towels to make us feel more comfortable. Truly, they are the perfect hosts and hostess!

At Joey's suggestion, Tanner had set up his own tent as well. (Apparently Tanner got confused and got a kitten tent instead of a pup tent.)

Seems to work - look at the neighbors he met when he woke up from his "cat nap!"

* Martha's Secret wooly bloomers are available in Modest Medium, Ladylike Large and Basset Big.

Now for the remainder of our relentlessly huge adventure today,

DON'T MISS MANGO's POST!!!

A day to remember our heroes...

Let's never forget our brave heroes, both 2-and 4-legged on the anniversary of this sad day.

Guess what's for dinner?

After the excitement of finding the diamond fields, Mango, Dexter, Lacie and I decided to take a walk around Max's neighborhood and see what else we might discover.

We came across this charming local village. Naturally, Lacie was thrilled at the possibility of a South African shopping mall...

Practically before we finished introducing ourselves, the villagers insisted that we stay for dinner. They promised something fresh and delicious!

Oh no! They had a Canineibal Cookbook! And the main entree was for Relentlessly Huge Stuffed Mango!!!!

Thank dog, they didn't have a stew pot big enough for our intrepid friend and his Relentlessly Huge bulk splashed water out of the pot, extinguishing the fire.

Dexter wasn't quite so lucky. His chef was an expert at shrinking heads! Unfortunately, Dexter leapt into the broth and his head — and everything else — shrank!!! He truly was Pee Wee!!!

Luckily, with his expert swimming skills, he swam circles around the soup pot...

...and scrambled to safety! (After a quick dip in Max's swimming pool, he was back to his normal size. However, we continued to call him Pee Wee!)

As for me, well, I was the main ingredient for "Cairn Terrier Saute with Tennis Ball Garni!" I thought I was a goner until I heard a familiar "ARRROOOOO!!!!" shattering the jungle silence. As hundreds of birds took to the skies, the villagers ran away in fear — this echoing cry was far more frightening than an angry lion's mighty roar!

It was my Rosie Posie to my rescue!!! She was none too pleased to be left alone in Scotland whilst I went off to South Africa...particularly when she heard that Lacie was coming along, so she cancelled the remainder of her pageant tour to find me. And not a minute too soon!

Speaking of Lacie, the villagers decided she was too tough and stringy to make much of a meal. However, fascinated by Dexter's shrinking potion, she sat right down in the pot, hoping it might instantly reduce her sizable posterior...

Well... it kinda worked!