Brian and Sid have apparently been waking very early every morning and going to Prospect Park.  Brian claims that he asks me – while I’m sleeping – if I want to go along with them, and that I say “no.”  And then he says that he says, “Are you sure?”  And supposedly I say, “yes.”  Then I wake up two hours later ready to roll and everybody’s already wiped out from all the fun they had in the park.

So, last evening, while I was wide awake, I told Brian that I absolutely wanted him to wake me up for Sid’s morning park time. And what a morning it was!  There was a crazy mist covering the entire long meadow, and the leaves have finally changed into their vibrant fall colors.  We didn’t have the good camera with us, so I whipped out my iPhone and took some Hipstamatics:

Brian and Sid walking near the ball fields.

On the Long Meadow, looking towards the dog beach.

Brian and Sid heading towards the Long Meadow

The mixture of sunlight, morning mist, and fall colors was so lovely that even an ol’ curmudgeon like Sid paused for an extra moment to take it all in:

I’d like to imagine that the expression on Sid’s face in the final photo on the bottom right is Sid having an epiphany about what really matters in life, but it’s more likely him realizing that all of this nature-gazing is delaying his treat time…

We took Sid for what we hoped would be a nice fall stroll in the park on Sunday. As last weekend’s stroll had to be cut short due to Sid’s pee malfunction (he’s doing fine now), we thought this would be the day to bask in the fall smells and colors. But as we were walking around, Sid noticed something unusual.

There were a lots of tree branches on the ground – some of them really large. Usually a stray branch on the ground is one of Sid’s favorite things because it means a new place to mark that NO ONE has touched yet. But seeing so many of them confused the little guy. Of course, he had no problem zooming in for a closer look / sniff. Not entirely sure what to make of it, he headed a little further and came upon something even more bizarre.

There was this really cold, white stuff all over the ground. Sid did not know what this stuff was. It didn’t really smell like anything, and it didn’t really taste like anything. What was heck was it?

“Oh….right. I remember this stuff from last winter. It’s snow, right?” Yep, dude. It sure is – and it’s only October. Sheesh.

P.S. Happy Halloween everyone!!! We’ll get a photo up of Sid in his costume tomorrow.

Things have been really busy here at the Pug Slope Headquarters – so busy, in fact, that we accidentally let almost an entire week go by without updating the blog!

I wish I could say that we’ve been too busy for blogging because we’ve been traveling the globe, or solving world hunger, or finally catching up on the entire series of The Wire, but, alas, our lives are not that exciting.  Instead Brian and I have both been swamped with work (not exactly a bad thing) and Sid has been busy finding new excuses to visit the vet.

For example, two weekends ago, while Brian’s sister and her husband were in town from Chicago, Sid ate something unmentionable and definitely not edible that required a very embarrassing midnight trip to the emergency vet, where the previously-mentioned unmentionable was vomited up and then PRESENTED TO US IN A PLASTIC BAG.  Oh, and how did we even know that he ate this unmentionable item?  Could it be because the chewed up wrapper of said unmentionable was displayed proudly in his bed when Brian, his sister, her husband, and I returned home from dinner?  That could be it! 

Then, yesterday, while we were walking Sid in the park, we noticed that he was having trouble peeing.  Like, he’d lift his leg for 45 seconds, looking at us with a confused and slightly strained expression while nothing came out, and then uncomfortably hobble along to the next tree, where he’d repeat this charade.  Twenty minutes later, we’re at the vet’s and an ultrasound is happening and then a catheter is being inserted and…well, let’s just say that some sort of blockage has been extracted and is currently being tested in some lab somewhere.  We were sent home with antibiotics, and then, when he couldn’t pee again later in the afternoon, we had to go back to the vet’s for an x-ray and a bladder flush.  The pipes seem to be flowing a bit better this morning, so fingers crossed that this is nothing too serious.

In light of all the fun Sid has been having lately, we made sure to wake up early this morning for an extra-long walk and some off-leash time at the park:

So, Sid has never, ever, shown any interest in fetching a stick.  Timothy, however, is a stick aficionado, and the other morning while we were at Prospect Park, something amazing happened…

Timothy found herself a comically large stick.  It’s right there, in the grass.

We began playing fetch with Timothy.  Sid, mildly confused by Timothy’s excitement, began chasing her each time we threw the stick to see what she was so excited about.

After about five throws, something clicked in Sid’s brain – there must be something delicious about that stick!

So, Sid, for the first time ever, began playing fetch with a stick.

And, in typical Sid fashion, our game of stick-fetch instantly went from “lighthearted fun” to OBSESSION.

Struggles commenced.

Hilarious struggles.

But Sid would not let go.

He wouldn’t even drop the stick so Brian could throw it again!

Had we created A MONSTER??!!

Only time will tell…

Irene came and went and we survived unscathed. Sid, who has a bladder of steel, didn’t even have to resort to using the wee-wee pads. I think he’s too proud.

Park Slope as a whole faired well, and there were only leaves and small branches on the ground. We actually had to hunt around a little to find the larger debris you see in the photo.

Hope all you other East Coast pugs and humans stayed safe!

It’s 104° in Park Slope today!  Wayyy too hot for a pug to be playing outside.

Luckily, we’ve been sitting on never-before-seen footage of Sid taking a refreshing dip in the Prospect Park dog beach.

Much like how Noodles freaks out over bubbling brooks, Sid turns into el pug-o loco whenever he goes into the calm waters of a man-made pond.  Instead of having fun and swimming like the “normal” dogs, Sid becomes mesmerized / confused by the liquidy depths.  He essentially loses his mind while trying to get the acorns and berries that lie not on the surface of the water, but on the concrete surface below.  Also, you’ll notice in the beginning of this clip, that he also seems to think that his legs have disappeared.  It’s all very confusing and disorienting, but if anybody’s got the determination to pull something “edible” from the depths of the dog beach, it’s Sid.

After reading about Puglet’s new fish friend named Swedish, Sid thought he’d try his hand at being one last thing – a fish. It didn’t turn out so well when he realized he’d have to put his head under water. He was also severely disappointed to discover that what he thought were piles of treats below the surface were just pebbles.

He’s still happy to be a pug.