Hello! My name is Alexander

[caption id="attachment_1467" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Here I am looking at you with my toy duck[/caption] I am a schnauzer.  You might be surprised to find me writing this post, but you shouldn't be, because I am Carol Ann's best friend.  I also have much experience writing.  I have been writing letters to a couple of dogs over the years - there was Winter in Minnesota and Major Bundles in Ohio, and because of those correspondences Carol Ann asked me to write a letter for her book on The Art of Letter writing.

Here you see the cover page of my letter with a picture of yours truly on it, but of course I look a little different there because I was much younger then.

I feel a little bored today so I decided to entertain myself (and hopefully you too) by writing about a typical day in my life. Carol Ann is always saying sharing doubles the joy, and I have to agree.

So let's get started.

One of the first things I do every morning is walk up to Carol Ann for my morning scratch.

I 'll just stand at her side as she's writing her morning letter until she stops and gives me a "once over".  You may not realize how hard it is to scratch certain of my out-of-the-way parts.  So this morning ritual is one of my very favorite things.  But I have a lot of rituals - simple ordinary things that with care become peak aesthetic experiences.  Do you have any rituals?

I like to keep an eye on Carol Ann at all times because she has a ritual of her own - going out!  I'm not crazy about this going out business because it means I'm left  all alone, and I get lonely.  What works well for me is having my doggie bed placed in the dining room, the room in the middle of everything,  so no matter which room Carol Ann is in, I can watch over her to be sure she isn't heading for  the door.

[caption id="attachment_1472" align="aligncenter" width="225"] I watch her in the living room[/caption][caption id="attachment_1475" align="aligncenter" width="225"] I watch her in the dining room[/caption][caption id="attachment_1477" align="aligncenter" width="225"] I watch her in the library[/caption][caption id="attachment_1480" align="aligncenter" width="225"] I watch her in the kitchen[/caption]

I watch Carol Ann a lot!

I like evenings because then Carol Ann will often get comfortable in the library watching a film with Bill.  I then can relax and take a nap without much worry that she will leave me.

[caption id="attachment_1483" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The library[/caption][caption id="attachment_1484" align="aligncenter" width="225"] I do love to nap. Don't you?[/caption]Napping in the library I like.  What I don't like is Carol Ann teaching piano.  It's not the music.  I like music, I really do, but when she teaches I get locked out on the porch.  That's because I once, only once, took a tiny little bite out of a piano student.  It was itsy bitsy, but nevertheless now Carol Ann says I can't be trusted.  Phooie!  Well,  the porch is fine, but not when I can't come and go as I please.

Would you enjoy being locked in a room? I bet you wouldn't!

Being a senior dog I have my likes and dislikes firmly established.  Recently I decided I had quite enough of dog food.  Have you ever tasted it?  I don't think you'd be crazy about it either.  I just went on a hunger strike.  After a day or two of this I was taken to the vet.  The vet couldn't find a thing wrong with me so he intelligently advised Carol Ann to just give me whatever I would  eat.  I should've thought of this hunger strike years ago.

I'm no baby, but I get baby food every morning now.  It's not too bad.  Just yesterday Carol Ann got a letter from a lady who had stomach surgery and she gets baby food too.  She told Carol Ann she likes it as I do and finds it quite tasty.  Of course she can probably feed herself.  I have to undergo spoon feeding.  This I'm not so crazy about.

First I get placed up on the counter and then a towel is tied around my neck.

Then comes the spoon.

The next thing I know my beard is a mess.  Plain chicken or beef isn't too sloppy. but the meats mixed with vegetables are really trouble,   an unflattering orange color.

How would you like looking like this?

[caption id="attachment_1499" align="aligncenter" width="225"] YUCK![/caption]

 Then comes the TOWEL!

I HATE  the rub-a-dub-dub with the towel!

Evening meals are much better.  I get my very own homemade meatloaf or the delicious chicken dishes that Carol Ann and Bill enjoy.  I can feed myself these meals.  My only suggestion which would  make  my evening meal even  more pleasurable would be to have my own  place at the dining room table, but Carol Ann says that's going a bit too far - even for me!

You can't blame a dog for trying to make his life as cushy as possible.

Then there's spa time.  Don't you just love spa time?  Some dogs may protest, but not me!  I hop in the tub and look forward to the pampering.

Oh, the delicious anticipation.

Then comes the warm spray of water that tickles me all over.

I love this!

Never mind that it makes me look like a drowned rat instead of a fluffy, lovable doggie.

But no one sees me in this stage but  Carol Ann.

Next comes the towel, but in this situation I rather like a towel.

Then it's shake -raddle and roll

and I'm all dry ready to go.

I wait at the top of the stairs to be carried down because at my age stairs are a little frightening.

And once I'm downstairs ...

it's out to the porch for me --- all clean,  fresh and fluffy.

I now feel great!  I'll spend a lot of time watching the cars and walkers go past my house.  Very entertaining.

I also have a toy schnauzer to play with out there in case I get bored.  See him?  We look a lot alike, but he's much smaller than I am.  MUCH SMALLER!  He's very lazy too, always sleeping.

When Carol Ann works in the yard I keep  her company outside.  I have a little house of my own which is portable.  She moves.  I move.  It's great!

I'm not too crazy about being tied up to my house, but we have a lot of rabbits running around our grounds and I'd love to chase them, but with a very busy street just beyond our yard Carol Ann doesn't trust me and you know, I don't really trust myself.  She leaves a pot of cold water for me to drink in case I get thirsty.  She thinks of everything!

Well, I have things to do and probably you do too, so I'll only tell you about one other ritual Carol Ann and I have.  It has to do with the times she must go out and leave me.  As I mentioned earlier I hate when she leaves so we make a game of it.  This helps.  Carol Ann cuts up bits of my favorite snack - Pup-Peroni, and she throws the bits under the dining room table.  I sit anxiously waiting for the toss.

Waiting

Then it happens, and I look here , there, and everywhere  for the tasty tid bits...

this way

and that way

I'm really amused for quite a while searching for those yummy treats

and by the time I find all of them I forget Carol Ann left me.  It works out quite well for both of us.

So that's a little about a day in my life.

Life is good.

If you are an old dog or if you have one, you might like a book Carol Ann bought.  The book is called "Young at Heart".

It's written by David Alderton and it contains good information to keep older dogs like me in tip top shape.

If you're a human, I hope you have a good friend like me to keep you company, and if you're a dog (or cat), I hope you have a nice human like my best friend, Carol Ann.  There's nothing like a good friend.

So I guess that's about it for now.  It's been fun sharing my life with you.

Bye bye and bow wow!