Bad week for Mom...

Mom had to go to the hospital this week and have an operation on her shoulder.
Right now her arm is broken-busted-bad, and it hurts a lot too.
The doctors said it will be a couple of weeks before she can throw the Frisbee for me, so for now, it's up to Dad and me to take good care of her until she feels better.
Hopefully she'll be back to her old self in a couple of weeks.

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Move over Jesus, the world has a new savior....

Wow, just when you thought he couldn't get any bigger, Mr. Gore has done it again.
First he he won an academy award for his wonderful acting in a movie where he played himself delivering a lecture about global warming, and now he's won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Not bad for a guy who only eight years ago couldn't even carry his own home state of Tennessee in the 2000 presidential race. Although, I must admit I haven't the slightest idea what global warming has to do with world peace, but I guess it really doesn't matter. They gave one to Yassar Arafat and he was anything but peaceful. Mr. Gore is far more deserving, and even though he didn't invent the problem of global warming, nor did he solve it, he sure knows how to talk about it.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised he wins the Congressional Medal of Honor next, or maybe even the lottery, who knows what else he's capable of.

We should all be very proud of Mr. Gore. He's a real American hero. If I had any say in the matter I would suggest we have his face carved into that mountain up there in South Dakota.
We could even change the name to Mount Rushgore.

That would be cool. A great, big, giant head made out of rock. That's you Mr. Gore.

congratulations !!

PLEASE CKICK ME
PLEASE CLICK ME



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Hey, where did my summer go!

I must admit I'm feeling a little blue today. I've finally come to accept the fact that summer is really over, which I think is kind of sad. It's like I waited all year for it to get here and now it's gone already. How can that be?

I guess it's true what they say: The older you get, the faster time flies. That's about the only way I can think to explain it, after all I'm not exactly a puppy anymore; I'm only a month away from my second birthday and I'm not getting any younger.

This next year will probably fly by even quicker then the last, but I guess that's just the way it works.

The older we get, the faster it goes.

I suppose I'll just have to work harder this year to get in as much fun as possible, even if it means having to give up some of my nap time.

The other thing that's got me feeling blue is that Mom had to take another trip this week. She left last night on a flight to Hong Kong where she'll spend a day or two and then onto China.
So for the next two weeks Dad will be taking care of us by himself. Not that that's a bad thing, as I've said before, he does an OK job, it's just that it's always more fun when Mom is home and we're all together.
Sorry Dad...

Anyway, It's been a wile since I posted any recent pictures of myself, so I thought I'd show a few from my summer vacation.
Hope you all like them....

I spent a lot of time goofing off this summer.


Here I am cooling off on a hot day.


Here's a picture of me dancing by the pool.
I did a lot of that.


When Grandpa came to visit he told me he liked me the best.


Here's Zoe and I playing the Bed Game with Mom.
It's a great way to get Mom out of bed on a Saturday Morning.


I still haven't figured out a way to solve this problem on my own.
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PS.
Hi Mom.
Love you. Get home safe.
Reilly...

Goodbye Michael Vick...

The other day I was thinking I should write a little something about that dog killer Michael Vick, but I suppose there's hardly anything that I could say at this point that hasn't already been said.
I’ll give it a shot anyway.

I find this whole business of dog fighting very disturbing because it goes against everything I thought I knew about people. This has really given me something new to think about. Sorry to say it’s not one of my normal happy thoughts.

I've always loved being around people. I’ve spent everyday of my life in the company of people and I can’t say I’ve ever met one I didn’t like, or that didn’t like me. I was under the impression that everyone loves dogs. Now that I’ve heard this terrible story, I guess I was wrong. I was also under the impression all humans were highly civilized, but apparently some are less civilized then others.

They say that dogs are a man's best friend, if so, how could anyone do this to their best friends? What did any of those dogs do to deserve this kind of treatment?

None of this makes any sense to me at all.

Right now Michael Vick is in big trouble. He’s the bad guy everyone is looking at. Almost over night he went from being a Football super-star to become the ugly face of dog fighting in America.
Vick has found himself in the middle of a storm and suddenly people from all over the world know who he is.

Some have suggested there’s a racial component to all this. I don’t think so. Some say it’s a cultural thing. Really, what kind of culture would allow this to go on? Some have even suggested that dog fighting is a sport.
It’s not a sport. It’s a crime.

What seems inexplicable is why a man blessed with so much success would choose to involve himself in this dirty game to begin with.
Surely it wasn’t about the money, he has millions.

It’s been suggested that there may have been something in his childhood to blame for his behavior.


To that I have to say: Who cares?

There are no mitigating circumstances to consider. The bottom line is this:
He chose to engage in this barbaric form of entertainment because he wanted to. Why? Because he enjoyed it; and because he thought he could get away with it. It’s no more complicated then that. Some people want to put him under a microscope; I just want to see him in prison. I honestly don’t care what makes him tick.

Vick knew exactly what he was doing and he knew it was wrong, but that didn’t stop him. He put up the money; he owned the property, the kennel and many of the dogs. In other words: He made this happen, not once, but many times. A lot of dogs died a terrible death in the hands of Michael Vick, both in and out of the ring. Thankfully now that he’s been caught he’ll pay a heavy price for it.

But of course that’s not the end of the story. It should be noted that just because Vick is the only one under the spotlight he’s not the only one with blood on his hands. This was after all a spectator’s sport and anyone who came to watch and gamble on these death-matches is just a responsible.

I guess this is what I find most disturbing, just knowing there are so many people willing to witness this type of spectacle and that some actually enjoy it. You have to wonder what kind of person finds pleasure in watching dogs violently tearing each other apart? What is it they find so exciting? Do they consider this just another form of entertainment, to sit around in a circle watching two dogs fighting and dying a bloody and painful death on a filth dirt floor?

How dare anyone call this a sport! No dog should have to die this way.

It’s very sad that so many dogs are being mistreated like this. I know there are many poor dogs living in all kinds of miserable conditions because they have terrible owners. I feel sorry for each and every one of them.
I consider myself very lucky to have the life I have.
I still believe most people are basically good and would never intentionally hurt any dog, but I also know there is some bad out there beyond the back yard fence. And I’m not talking those deer that live in the woods.

But, be that as it may, I’m not going let any of this color my view of people. I’m still basically an optimist. I know that bad things sometimes happen to good dogs but I’m not going to let myself worry about the things I can’t control. Thankfully I know there are still far more good people in the world that know how to treat dogs well and it’s good to know I live with two of them.
And that’s about all any dog can hope for...

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Save us Mr. Gore...

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Gore for the wonderful event he put on last weekend to help save the world form global warming. A problem so serious that if we don’t do something to fix it right away, we might all end up dead someday.

I know some people don’t like Mr. Gore, but I think he’s nifty. Not only was he the Vice President for eight years, he’s also a self-taught, junior scientist, who knows everything there is to know about the earth. He spends all his time flying all over the world in his private jet, urging people to conserve energy.

As you may know Mr. Gore was the driving force behind this word wide event he called: LIVE EARTH. He inspired hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes, all over the world, and travel long distances by car, bus, trains planes and SUVs to get to these rock concerts, where they were then encouraged to save lots of energy.


I watched some of it on TV and I must admit, I didn't know much about this global warming stuff until I heard Ms. Cameron Diaz being interviewed back stage at one of the concerts. I think she's very smart; I wouldn’t be a bit surprised she’s a junior scientist herself, because she certainly seemed to know an awful lot about global warming and how to fix it. Somehow she was able to give a scientific explanation of this complicated problem in a way that even a dog like me could understand.

I know that real scientists all over the world are working hard to fix the earth, but there is only so much they can do on they’re own; thankfully now we have rock stars working on the problem as well. A little fact that sure helps me sleep a little better at night.

I know these are complex problems, requiring complex solutions, so I supposes we should consider it a blessing that, Madonna, Bon Jovi and
The Black eyed peas have all joined forces to save our planet from global destruction. I think it's nice that all those rock celebrities came together last Saturday to help spread the word: that we all have to learn to live our lives just a little bit greener to help our planet survive.

You know, just like they do.


Come to think of it, it must have been very difficult for Mr. Gore to get all those rock stars to and from all those concerts. I'll bet many of them had to travel thousands of miles just to get there. It probably took hundreds of tour buses, tractor trailers, limousines, vans, shuttle buses, helicopters and countless private jets to get all those important people together, so they could teach us how conserve energy. I wouldn't be surprised some of them even rode their bicycles so they could say they were carbon neutral. I’m not even sure what that means, but I think it would be a cool name for a band.

From what I’ve been told, this is not the first time rock stars and Hollywood celebrities have come to our rescue. Over the past thirty or forty years some of them have been very busy solving the world's biggest problems like: ending wars, saving whales, ridding the world of nuclear weapons, fixing Africa and eradicating poverty.
Every one of them worthy causes, I'm sure.

So I guess when Mr. Gore learned that the earth’s average global temperature was shown to have increased by nearly seven tenths of one degree Celsius over the past hundred years, it was only natural that he would think to pick up the phone and put in a call to the Red-hot chili peppers to ask for their help.

Come to think about it, I’m a little surprised I didn’t see U2 performing at any of the shows, it seems they’re always getting involved in these kinds of things. I guess Mr. Bono was too busy that day working on other problems, like finding a way to refinance the debt load on developing nations, or wiping out world hunger.

I’m glad to know that rock stars and Hollywood celebrities care enough to get involved in these important issues. It makes me wonder what we’d do without them. Maybe we should consider electing only entertainers to public office from now on. It seems to me they’re the ones with all the answers. Politicians never seem to be able to fix anything important anymore. This is probably due to the fact that the public seems to put more trust in celebrities these days then they do in public officials.

Take Mr. Gore for example: when he was just the Vice president nobody took him too seriously. Now that he’s out of politics, he’s suddenly a super-star.

And how about that Fred Thompson, everyone loved him when he was on Law & Order; now that it’s been suggested he might run for President as a Republican, some people are talking about him like he was Hitler. What’s that all about?

I guess it just goes to show that when politicians today need to get something done, or fix a big scary problem like global warming, the first thing they need to do get celebrities on their side.
It all sounds very strange to me, but I guess a dog can’t be expected to understand these things. I'm just glad to know that Mr. Gore has the backing of rock stars and Hollywood celebrities to help save the world from global warming. Hopefully they’ll find a solution to this problem in time to save the world from burning up, and the polar bears from drowning.

I kind of like that one they call: Knut. I think he and I could be good friends.

Now, as for me, I’m going to spend some time this weekend thinking of ways to lessen my own carbon footprints. I think that would help to save energy because then Dad won’t have to vacuum them up so often.

Oh, by the way, is this what they mean when they talk about those Hybrid Cars?

The dog days of summer...

Just came off a great weekend, the first weekend of summer and the best one I've had in a while. The weather was good, no rain, sunny skies all the way, just the way I like it. I got to spent a lot of time out doors playing in the yard with Zoe and the bumpy ball, and I even learned how to chase and catch a frisbee. Something totally new to me. I liked it. It was awesome!


In case you're wondering why I've been so quiet lately, it's because I haven't had much time to write, or much to say. The past month and a half has been kind of weird. For one thing, Mom and Dad haven't been around much. Especially Mom. She's been doing a lot of traveling lately so we haven't spent much time together, but I think now that summers here she'll be traveling a little less, hopefully we'll be able to spend a little quality time together over the next few weeks.

Just to give you an idea, here's a little run down of what it's been like around here recently.

May came in with a bang. Very busy month right from the start. Mom had to spent the first couple of weeks flying around from place to place on account of her job, so she wasn't around much.


Then Mom and Dad both went away on vacation for two whole weeks, which meant that Marley, Zoe and I ended up getting shipped off to someplace with a bunch of other dogs we didn't even know. They call it a kennel. A place where dogs have to live in misery while their selfish owners are out having a good time. Mom and Dad like to refer to as doggy camp. Wink- Wink.
Oh yeah, it was a camp alright, a concentration camp. Calling that place a camp would be like calling Guantanamo Bay a religious retreat. I thought going to camp is suppose to be fun, like it is in that TV commercial (Ain't got no bugs on me).
This place was anything but fun. So while Mom and Dad are off playing in a tropical paradise, I'm stuck in a kennel run smelling Marley's bad breath day and night.
What's so fun about that?

Finally after two long weeks they suddenly show up one morning to take us home. What a relief. I was so happy to to get out of there I couldn't even stay mad at them. All I cared about was going home. Thankfully the ordeal was over and somehow we survived. Needless to say, after two weeks in the pens we arrived home in a state of filth. Usually getting dirty doesn't bother me all that much but this reached a new level, even for me. I couldn't wait to get a good hot bath. It took a heck of a good scrubbing and fierce amount of grooming to get the three of us back into shape. And even after all of that Marley still smells like she's been laying in something nasty.
Of course it could just be Marley. Yuck!


Then, no sooner are we home and Mom had to run off to Philadelphia to attend some swanky affair at her Mom's old school, which kept her away over night. Yeah great, hope you had a good time Mom. ...NOT.

The next day she came home and right away had to start packing because the following day she was leaving for a two week trip to China. You know, that place where all the dog toys are made.

So off she went and for the two weeks, leaving just Dad taking care of us. Not that I'm complaining, I love him dearly, he does the best job he can, but he can be, ....well, how do I say this..... a little boring.


Usually when Mom goes to China she's all business. She spends most of her time running around from place to place, meeting with lots of people and eating all kinds of strange food.

Hopefully she didn't eat at this place.

While in China she usually works seven days a week, but on this trip she did manage to sneak away of an hour or two and got to do something really cool, like spending a hour or so talking with a class of kindergarden children.

They wanted to hear a little bit about America, and what the kids here like to do to have fun. Mom doesn't speak very good Chinese and most of the children didn't know much English, but that didn't seem to matter because Mom had lots of pictures to show them, which they enjoyed.

But of all the things Mom told them, the thing they wanted to know about most was me. ...... Reilly.

Okay maybe a little about Marley and Zoe, but from what I hear, I was the one they found most interesting. Mom said the kids were fascinated with my pictures and wanted to know all about me. And who can blame them, it's not often they get to see a dog of my pedigree. Who knows what they're used to over there. Maybe the dogs they have in China are just not as interesting. It could be that they don't like kids, or maybe they bite, or maybe they're just plain weird. I really don't know. All I do know is that they seemed to like my pictures. A lot.
Mom says people in China sometimes read my blog when they can get it. I guess some of them will probably read this. I bet it will give them something else to talk about the next time Mom pays them a visit. Maybe someone will think to name a new dog toy after me. I suppose they could call it a REILLY BONE.

But then again, maybe not.
Now that I think of it the idea seems kind of creepy.

So anyway, that was last week. Mom is home once again and everything is getting back to normal. Like I said, I really enjoyed this past weekend playing in the yard chasing after my new frisbee. I'm looking forward to having a lot more fun this summer. I find the summer much more enjoyable then the winter, although I'm not crazy about the heat it's okay because we have air conditioning. That's something not too many dogs in China can say. Kind of sad actually, -but true. I guess that's just the way it is.

So here are a few more of my weekend pictures. I'm sure there will be plenty more to come soon. Maybe next week I 'll try to talk Mom into taking us to the park. That's always a lot of fun because it's full of great things to smell.

Sometime just can't believe how lucky I am.
LIFE IS GOOD.

Happy Father's Day..

Goodbye Ilene...

We had a little family tragedy this week. My cousin Ilene passed away in Philadelphia last Monday.

Ilene was a thirteen and a half year old Golden Retriever, who was a happy and spirited friend to everyone she met. She was also a trusted and loyal seeing-eye dog, and a loving companion to my Mom's Mom, Peggy Garrett.

We're all going to miss her very much....






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Dogs just want to have fun...

Okay, I know it's been a while since my last posting, and I do apologize. People keep asking me why my blog hasn't been updated in over three weeks. I wish I had a good excuse but I don't. The plain old, boring truth is: I've just been too lazy to write and too busy with other things lately, so I guess I got a little behind. I'll try to do better in the future to keep my postings up to date, but I can't make any promises.

First I have to tell you, I'm feeling pretty good about myself these days. I put on a little weight over the winter and grew about another inch. I'm also much stronger and faster then I was last summer, and probably a little more mature, although I don't feel very mature. This past winter was a real a drag. No snow, raining all the time, being cooped up in the house all day with grumpy Marley.
Yeah, it wasn't much fun. So I'm totally ready for summer. In fact, I'm so ready I can almost taste it.

The memories I have of last summer are a bit faded by now, but pleasant, nonetheless. They say one year to humans is equal to about seven in dog years. If this is true, that would put me somewhere around ten and a half in human years. I suppose you could say, at that rate, a single day of your life is equivalent to about a week in mine. So you can you imagine what it must be like for us dogs, having to endure something that resembles seven years of winter, waiting for your summer to arrive. It's no wonder so many mutts end up chasing their own tail. Truth be known: winters here in the northeast just plain suck. It's lucky I didn't pull a Cujo myself and bite somebody. I have to thank Zoe for that, if I didn't have her to play with day and night I
don't know how I would of spent my time.
But- enough said, I survived, it's over and I'm ready to shed my winter coat. For me it's all about the spring now and I'm just so there. I'm in love with the spring. If spring were a girl, I'd ask her to marry me. Everything about it is good. It's a time when everything old is new again. The days are getting warmer, the flowers are in bloom and the grass is once again green. What could be better then all that?


I know I should be inside writing my blog, but all I want to do right now is run around outside and have fun. Yes, that's right, I said fun, and I don't mean work. I mean real fun. The kind that makes you want to get up early to watch the sun rise over the trees while pooping on the front lawn, where the grass is still perfect.

The kind of fun that make you want to pull on a rope or chase a ball or run with a stick.

The kind of fun only a dog knows how to have. Like when you just happen to find something delicious lying outside in the dirt, and you just know it was meant for you to eat, even if no one even knows what it is, . . or what is was, . . .or where it came from.
Who cares. Eating stuff is fun. Yum-O!

The kind of fun you have barking at the brown guy that comes to your door and rings the bell. The one who always has a brown box under his arm, wears brown shorts, and drives the big brown truck with the squeaky breaks. Oh yeah, that guy is fun.

The kind of fun that makes you want to chase a herd of wild deer from the yard, even though they're ten times your size, just because you can.

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. That's what make a dog's life happy and full. So forgive me dear readers of silly blogs. I'll be back to pecking on my keyboard very soon. I'm not going away. Life is for the living and I have some catching up to.
So for the next few weeks I'm going to take it easy, enjoy the spring weather, and do what a dog was made to do.

JUST HAVE FUN!!!

Reilly goes to work.

Wow, I had a great day on Tuesday. I went to work with Mom and had lots of fun catching up with all my friends at the office. It's been a while since my last visit so naturally everyone was happy to see me. I got there early and made my usual rounds; up and down the halls, bouncing around from room to room, checking to make sure everyone knew I was there. I can tell it really makes their day. Everyone I meet just seems to smile when they see me.
I suppose they're very fortunate to have me around. It's makes me feel good to know they really appreciate me up there. It's like a party breaks out whenever I arrive. Mom says I even help reduce the stress level in the place. I guess that's a good thing, although I can't see why anyone there should be stressed about anything in the first place. It seems to me, all they to do in that place is sit around all day in their little rooms, waiting for little old me to arrive. What could be stressful about that? It's not like any of them need to worry about anything important, like fending off a herd of wild deer at a moment's notice, or having to deal with someone ringing the door bell every other minute. Those are the things I find stressful.

Come to think of it, it makes me wonder just what goes on up there on the days when I'm not around. My guess is: not too much. That's probably why they're always so happy to see me, they're all just bored. I suppose I should feel sorry for them, it must be a very lonely just sitting around all day in their little rooms, waiting for me to show up just so they can have a little fun.

I guess that's what I don't understand about people; if it's so much fun to have a dog around the office, and everyone is having fun, then why wouldn't they just have a dog there all the time?
I mean, if it's possible to have fun part of the time, why wouldn't they just choose to have fun all of the time? That would be the thing to do. It all makes perfect sense to me, I don't know why they don't see it. If they had a full time dog in the office everyone would be much happier and have less stress in their lives. It would even give them something else to talk about around the dinner table at night.

You know, sometimes it's so hard to figure people out.

So anyway, here's a few pictures Mom took of me at the office with some of my friends.

This is Diane. She didn't even like dogs until she met me.
Hey, what's not to like?


Here I am with my friend Aaron.
He's cool, he and I talk guy talk.


Here I am with visiting with Kim.
She probably would like it if I had a brother.


There was another dog visiting while I was there.
His name was Arthur and it was the first time we met.
At first I thought he was a little full of himself, being
French and all, but in the end we got along fine.
Even if he does have a funny hair cut.


Here I am with Lissette.
I think she was getting a little carried away.
I think I'm going to have a little talk with her.



This is Irma. As you can see, we really like each other.




Lastly, this is my good friend Theresa.
I like her a lot, but I think she's a little afraid of me.
Somebody needs to tell her I don't bite.

I can't wait until my next trip to the office with Mom.
Who knew a day at work could be so much fun.

Reilly The Deer Hunter ...

Spring is in the air and I'm having a lot of fun. I'm completely over the whole snow thing, that can wait until next year. Right now I'm all about playing outside, warm sunny days and the smell of fresh cut grass. If this is what they call spring fever, I don't want the cure.
I'm feeling great!

Something cool happened on Friday; I chased away a couple of deer all by myself. Marley and Zoe were nowhere to be found so it was totally up to me to defend the yard against the intruders. I was playing outside with my wubba when I first caught sight of them. As I recall, there were about five of them, but there could of been more. They were lurking in the woods just beyond the back yard fence. They didn't see me but I saw them and I knew just what to do. I sat perfectly still and waited to see how close they'd come before I made my move, but I didn't have to wait long. Before I knew it, two of the brazen creatures came strolling right out in the open like they owned the place. I couldn't believe the nerve of these things. I couldn't wait another minute, so I jumped up, and in my loudest, and most my authoritative voice. I let them know who was in charge.

"Hey you deer! Get the buck off my property" I said.

I'm only about 45 pounds but you wouldn't know it by my bark. To them I probably sounded like a mountain lion, or even a bear.

Needless to say they were stunned by what they heard. Even I was a little stunned. I didn't know I had it in me. Their reaction was immediate. It didn't seem to matter that I was 50 feet away and about a 100 pounds lighter then the smallest one. I could see they were scared shitless. They couldn't have been more afraid if I were in a Hummer full of drunken rednecks and armed to the teeth.

It didn't take but a second for those deer to turn tail and dissolve into the woods, faster then spit. It was great. My first solo encounter with the dreaded deer and I was fabulous. I only wish Marley and Zoe were there to have seen me in action. I can't wait until the next time, but I doubt we'll be seeing any of them around the yard anytime soon.

A little while later dad found me playing with a bumble bee and took it away from me because he was afraid I might get stung. I felt like saying "What are kidding, didn't you just see how I handled those deer, I was fabulous. You think I'm afraid of a fuzzy little bug?"

So that's my big story for the week. Next week is Easter so I'll have something to say about those rabbits and their silly eggs.

Oh, before I forget, I should mention that Monday is Mom's birthday and I'm very excited about that.I'm thinking about giving her that bumble bee I found as a gift. I don't think she has one of those yet. I'm not suppose to tell anyone how old she's going to be because she's a little sensitive about it, but she probably wouldn't mind if I gave you a little hint so here it is: If we were talking dog years, she'd be pushing 357.

Wow... that's old. I'd better not say anymore.
It's getting late, I need to go find that dead bee before I turn in.