Sigmund's Fine Adventures

 Good Morning to Mom’s Coffee Friends!

I have not written a blog in a long time and neither has my Mom.  She said I could write this one for fun.  Mom can be a way to serious on her blogs.  We need a good belly laugh every day to stay healthy.  Doggies like me also need a good belly scratch every day and of course a good long walk.  Sometimes those walks lead to fine adventures.  Sometimes the fine adventure happens in my very own house.  Just so you will know my house is where my parents live.  I am an inside dog.  Right now I am on the road in our motorhome seeking warmer weather for my parents.  I have lots of fur so cold weather is not so bad for me. 

I have so many fun things to tell you about I hardly know where to begin.  Right now we are at Hunting Beach State Park in South Carolina.  Our motorhome is parked where we can see the ocean through our front windshield.  The weather is sort of cool – in the low forties and breezy – my parents have to bundle up to go walking with me but I take them anyway.  My Mom is a good sport, she will walk me for miles on the beach.  I really enjoy all the smells.  I do not like to walk down next to the water because all the smells have been washed away.  I like to walk close to the sand dunes where there is a variety of smells.  I need frequent smell stops and most of the time I have to leave a little scent behind for the next connoisseur of delightful scents that comes along.  I also really enjoy walking through the campground.  There are lots trees with hanging moss and many animals like to live here.  I think it must be called Hunting Beach State Park because it would be a hunter’s paradise.   I have personally identified deer, fox, coon, possum, rabbit, squirrel, and birds of various types. 

Speaking of animals, I need to back up and tell you about my last summer’s adventures.  You will be amazed.  I still smile and make little barking noises in my sleep when I think about it.  You see in the summer I have a doggie door so I can come and go as I please without my Mom having to get up at various times throughout the night to let me in and out.  Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy – did my doggie door every lead to some fine adventures.  First, I should tell you about the feral cats.

There are many feral cats that live in the neighborhood and they discovered there was food on the inside of my doggie door so they came in and helped themselves.  I do not chase cats so I would just lay there and watch them eat so we sort of became friends.  They would just walk right by me to get to the food.  They were very hungry so we purchased them a big bag of cat food and just left it on the floor where they could help themselves.  Soon there were seven.  This led to the cats thinking they owned the house and they started using the bathroom on my quilt on my sofa and I could not lie there anymore!!  This did not make me happy!  Finally, my Mom figured out where the smell was coming from and that was the beginning of the live trapping program.  All feral cats hanging out inside my house were safely moved to the humane shelter.  I helped Mom with this project as I did not like them using the bathroom on my stuff and let me tell you it was not just a little tinkle –no, it was the stinky stuff.   I always go outside for Mother nature projects – if you know what I mean. 

Well let me tell you having food available inside and a doggie door to get to the food is very tempting for wildlife.  The possum in the fireplace was most interesting.  You see we have gas logs in our sunroom and in the summer they are turned off.   The possum must of smelled the cat food because in he came right through the doggie door and then he saw me.  I was not doing anything.  I was just lying there waiting for the cats.  I hardly even twitched my tail.  I did not chase the possum.  I did not bark but that possum did a double take when he saw me and jumped right into the fireplace and crawled behind the logs.  Lucky for him there was no fire.  I did not know possums could jump.  I did not get much rest that night because I kept checking to see if the possum was still there.  I did not wake my parents up during the night to show them because I was taking care of things.  I did show them the next morning.  Hmmmm, fun times!  Finally the possum sneaked back out through the doggie door.  I watched him out of the corner of my eye.  I did not chase him. 

Then there was the black snake that came right to the door but did not get in because Mom just happened along at the right time and saw him.  He was all coiled up, his little head raised, his red tongue flicking in and out. He was thinking about the doggie door.  This was not good but things were going to get a lot more interesting at the doggie door before the summer was over.  You see snakes are not that bad, they just like to shed their skin everywhere and grow a new one, sort of like I shed my fur everywhere and grow more.  Needless to say, my parents did not think a snake crawling in the house would be a good thing so with some help from my Uncle Charles we caught that snake in a plastic box with lid and hauled him off to a neighbor’s barn for safe keeping.  Have you heard the story about the cat that came back.  Well, the snake and family moved into our shed in the orchard and spent the summer haunting my Mom.  She would have to pull her sweater up around her neck and very carefully look at the ceiling when she had to get things out of the shed.  The snakes liked to hang down from the ceiling and greet you as any good host would do. 

Raccoons are naturally born smart.  They already know how to steal all the sunflower seeds from the squirrel proof feeders.  They already know how to fish and wash their food.  They also seem to know that there is food on the inside of doggie doors.   At least the raccoon that showed up in our bath tub knew how doggie doors worked.  It was the middle of a warm summer’s night and there was this crash in the house.  I woke right up and immediately set my nose to work to figure it out.  Mom, hopped right out of bed and ran to the bathroom and there it was.  The coon was standing on his hind legs looking at us, he was acting ever so cute, cause he was so very guilty of home invasion.  My Mom was ever so smart about that one.  She backed out, turned off the light and figured the coon could find its own way out.  It did.  If she had chased the coon he could have destroyed a lot of things trying to escape. 
 

I told you about my sort of friends the feral cats.  One night, I was going into the sun room and I smelled a new cat.  It had not visited before.  I looked carefully at it and saw that it was black with a cute little white stripe down its back.  I flicked my tail in a friendly manner and moved in closer for an inspection and wham this overwhelming smell was all over me.  The cat ran for the door and I was left in a smelly mess.  Mom, was yelling and closing me out in the sun room.  My eyes were streaming tears.  I had this sinking feeling in my heart.  Oh no, what kind of cat was it?  A skunk!  What kind of cat is a skunk?  I will just let you use your imagination about the cleanup project!!  Needless to say, there is a strong possibility I will not have a doggie door next summer.  Mom will be letting me in and out – just in case!

 

Wow, my blog is a lot longer than I meant for it to be, but I hope you are enjoying it. We have moved to a different campground.  It is a KOA in Starke, Florida.  They have some great walking trails in the woods where the power lines run.  There is a door in the back wall that leads to a little shopping center.  I have been dreaming about doors, they lead to such interesting places.  Hope your door is full of magic.

 

With Love,  Sigmund