Dear Readers,

As usual, our summer began with a lot of activity. First, we had to replace our rickety old dock. As you can see, I was made to stay on the deck to avoid being lifted away by Donkey Dock’s crane. Momma was there, too, as she felt she had to supervise to make sure things got in the right place. Nate pretended to listen to her and went about his business.

In the end, Momma loved it, mostly because of the flag. And as you can see we also got a table and chairs that swivel and rock, although Momma is scared to sit in one in case it falls into the lake.

And speaking of falling into the lake, you may also notice the tiny little table, which has an opening to put in an umbrella? Although Momma is now boycotting Target, she did break down and purchase an umbrella from them. And it was perfect. It fit just right and had little twinkly lights on the ribs that were solar powered (Momma was deeply suspicious of anything solar powered but gave in on this one occasion). It really is difficult for her to function in this world anymore with all of her viewpoint restrictions. Just woofin’.

After carefully studying the little instruction book that came with it, Momma painstakingly put the umbrella together, mounted it in the table, and stepped back in awe. She was so excited about the whole thing, she told me she was going to leave the umbrella up while she golfed and then return home and we would sit under it (Momma risking the new swivel chair and me presumably on the hard metal dock), and she would read a book while I watched the boats go by. Picturesque. Kind of utopian. And by then, the little solar cap would have powered up the twinkly little lights on the umbrella.

When Momma returned home later that day, however, the umbrella was gone. How could this be? she practically screamed as she let me out to go potty. We ran down to the water, and sure enough, there was the umbrella upside down in about three feet of water with the pole sticking straight up in the air.

All thoughts of her idyllic evening reading a book now a distant memory, she went to work on retrieving the umbrella. When she finally excavated it from the sand, she was shocked to see the twinkly lights were still on (way to go, Target!) And here it is back in place, with just a slightly bent rib.

So we were all set for summer and the 4th of July. However, because I cannot tolerate the fireworks exploding practically on top of our house, Momma took me to Camp Bow Wow for an overnight. This was my first Bow Wow visit of the year because of the canine flu scare (I’ve now had the first vaccine shot), and she instructed the folks there to keep me in my cabin unless they were taking me out for potty or for my personal enrichment sessions. (I could almost hear the eye rolls.) And then, to make matters worse, Momma announced that she had forgotten to bring my bed and “bankie” along (really, Momma?) and rushed home to get them. Here’s Andy doing his best to accommodate us.

As usual, we had great service from Bow Wow, and all was well, even if Momma interrupted their staff meeting at 6:30 the next morning when she came to get me before I could possibly have contact with other dogs.

Lina, Safe

WOOFDA!