Rain or shine we take Henry out each morning and each night. A well exercised pug makes for a less anxious pug. Well, the other night the skies, while gray did not appear too ominous. However, about half way through the full loop at Memorial Park, the clouds unloaded on us. It poured. Bucket loads. Oh man did it pour! We were all drenched. (Of course we did not bring an umbrella or wear raincoats. We are too smart for that!) Henry, however, never seems to notice the rain. And if he does, it has the opposite effect on him. He rather enjoys it. He was just plodding along in the rain with not a care in the world. He'd even stop to be offered his tasty beverage when his thirst hit.
Cars were driving by and I am sure the drivers and passengers must have thought we were insane. But we just kept on trucking. By the time we got to the Chinese curve, though, Henry could still sniff out the yumminess from across the street. Even though everything was soaking wet, it did not dampen the unique smell of the Chinese food. He took his own sweet time around that bend and then it was on to the home stretch. About 1/3 of the way into the glorious home stretch, Henry crapped out. He was done. It wasn't from being wet, it was from the long and winding walk. He gave us the "will you pick me up face?" and of course we obliged. Carrying his furry wet body back to the car in the continuous down pour was not my idea of a dream date but knowing Henry loved his walky and his puddles so much didn't make it as much of a bummer as one would expect. (Not until we got to the car, anyway. The car is typically loaded with towels but we had recently done a purge and wash but the fresh towels had not made their way back to the car. So home we went. Soaking the car seats and dripping wetness all over everything. Henry reminded us that Henrys don't melt and that we needed to suck it up, Buttercup!
And that we did. Once home, we were able to dry off and get back to some sort of normalcy. #HenryStrong #HenryIsSweetButNotMadeOfSugar #WetDogsRule
On a recent trip to Grammy's to help pill her kitty, We plopped Henry on one of the cat perches that Grammy has for her kitties. If Henry could see, he would know that this is quite a nice picture window to be enjoyed. However, he only stayed there for a short time and then he wanted to get down. Cats and dogs. Both cute, but oh so different in their likes and dislikes.
Often after I get home from work, I take Henry up to his Grammy's house. Grammy has a kitty cat that needs to get a pill each day and with all the experience we have pilling animals, we volunteer for this task. Henry is often in tow on this adventure. He gets a nice little treat at Grammy's and a few bonus minutes of Grammy time. I usually stop on the way home from this quick jaunt to get the mail. Henry, however, has not been very patient with this task, however. So, one day, I decided that he knew the way home (blind or not) and I locked his leash and let him go!
Don't panic. We live on a super quiet street and I had my eye on him and on traffic AND I could catch him if I needed too. But I wanted to share the video and the back story since sometimes now, if you watch him, he does not seem blind. He is truly smart and has learned his way around places and can navigate so much better than ever before. He is one good boy that Henry the pug!
So....there were no questions last week and we have been diligent about answering all that have come in previously. With that, we will simply share photos from past years but on this day (September 15th). Enjoy!
Maybe some day we will have a Go Pro camera to attach to the outside of the car to capture what Henry looks like from the outside of the car. Until then, we will simply have to risk the life of our iphone to capture semi-decent photos. However, what I love about this photo, is that you get a part of Henry's profile where you can tell he is thoroughly loving the ride but you also get a glimpse of his little puggy mouth with his tiny crooked teeth. He just sucks in the smells through both his sweet nostrils and his half open mouth. This is Henry. Loving life. We love this kid! #HenryStrong #HankLovesHisCarRides
While Larry Fornari Sr. Park is not the substitute for Doris Leeper, we felt like we should give a proper name to the place where we take Henry to enjoy the smells of the people beach. This is the little area where the spot stealers were. The park is named after a former Daytona Beach Shores Mayor.
This little area is a great place for Henry since there are many sniffortunities, an area that is shady, and if we are lucky the area is quite enough that we can sneak him on the people beach. Fortunately we have had a good gut instinct with regards to the beach PO PO. We have not yet been popped by them. We are shooting for a clean record.
Henry did not really want to pose for a photo with the sign so we are using this photo where one can interpret that he is reading the sign for himself. Henry used to be a master poser but that is one of things that has gone away over the last year. He's still #HenryStrong to us, though even if he doesn't sit for photos anymore.
Sorry, Doris Leeper, we are done with you for a while. The last few walks at Doris Leeper park (one of our former faves) has been dropped from our rotation until winter. We were overlooking the tall grasses that started to grow in the center of the path, the possible homeless camp that seemed to be forming and whatever critters were digging holes all over. However, our LAST trip to Leeper will be our last for until we get a freeze around here (which could mean not until January 2020).
Here is the reason: bugs. Many many bugs. Swarming bugs. We are not even sure what kind of bugs they were. They seemed like a tiny moth. They definitely were not mosquitoes or flies. Who knows? They could have been termites in the pre-lose their wings phase. I kid you not, though, they were ALL OVER everything. Including us! And even Henry who tends to be oblivious to most things seemed downright annoyed. So, for now, Doris Leeper park is off the schedule.
