It's still unbearably hot here. 15 or 20 minutes into my daily walk, I am ready to go home so I walk slowly until mama and papa turn around and bring me back to the nice air conditioning. Last week, the heat gave me an upset stomach so papa made me chicken okayu. It was so good!!! Mama mixed it with my regular food so I had some home cooked gourmet food for a change! Papa calls me spoiled, whatever the heck that means... Anyhow, my stomach was better within a day and I am able to eat regular food again, but luckily for me, papa made too much okayu and he froze the leftovers so I still get to eat it even though I am not sick!!! OK, OK, maybe I am a little spoiled :-)
Since it's been so hot lately, mama prepares a wet towel for me to cool down afte
r my walks but papa wraps it around my head and calls me an old women. He says I look like I should be selling fruits and vegetables by the side of the road in the countryside. I prefer to wear the towel around my neck because it looks like I work on a construction site. It's a little more manly.
My photo shoot at my dog school went fairly well last week...kind of...sort of...well, actually it was a little scary. When we got there it was great! I got to run around without a leash and check out all of the cool camera equipment and the white background screen. All was good until the flashes
started going off. That kind of freaked me out and I wouldn't go in front of the cameras anymore. The photographers, the teachers, mama and papa all tried their best to get me in front of the cameras on the white background screen again but I wouldn't go there. Even when they tried to bribe me with food I wouldn't budge. Finally, papa calmed me down and picked me up and did the pictures with me. Mama also joined us and the 3 of us took the pictures together. That made me feel better and I wasn't as scared of the flashes. It's so much better when mama and papa are beside me. We don't know how the pictures turned out though so I don't know if I will be in the magazine next month. I hope I will be...I mean, how cute am I? :-) Just look at this face!!!
Yesterday, mama and papa both bought me a new toy! It took me just under 5 minutes to break the one mama bought me and then, in a moment of inspiration, I was able to break the toy papa got me in 2 minutes and 47 seconds!!! A new world record!!! Obviously papa doesn't know me very well! Luckily for me, and contrary to what papa says, I believe money does grow on trees so I don't have to worry because I know mama and papa can buy me new toys all the time!!!
Today, we went to the indoor dog run again because it was 34 degrees outside. I met a few wild and crazy pugs who I hung out with for a while until they left. Then I met an Italian Greyhound. To say he can run fast is an understatement. I couldn't run as fast as him even in my dreams! Unfortunately, there were some yappy Poodles there again. My goodness but are they ever loud and annoying. And they are no fun to play with. All they do is yap,yap, yap and then run away. I think I made one of them cry!!! Yay, 10 points for me!!! Anyhow, yappy and annoying...I think that's what the word "poodle" means...
Wow...it's been in the mid-30's for over a week now. Tomorrow is supposed to be 36 degrees (that's 97 degrees Fahrenheit for those of you still using the ancient ways) and over 90% humidity. Luckily, mama and papa leave the
air conditioner on all day for me or I would be well done by the time they got home from work. I don't mind the heat, but the humidity is a killer. Papa took me for a walk this evening but after 30 minutes I was ready to come back home. He let me off the leash for a while when we were in an enclosed parking lot so I was allowed to run around and play fetch. I'm not very good at fetch though. I love chasing the ball when papa throws it but it's a pain in the butt to bring it back to papa so I just leave it where I caught it. It's fun making papa fetch the ball. After a long walk in this heat, I love to get home to the air conditioning and lounge around on my sofa...
Papa's parents sent me an email today asking about our (my?) car. It's a Nissan Dualis. We got the 20G model in Cafe Latte Beige.
Papa says I'm too violent...no way!!! Me??? I just like having fun, and if the toys can't take a little rough play then too bad for them, they get what they deserve. Besides, why do toys need legs anyhow? If they were smart, they would use those legs to run away when they see me coming! But since they don't run, I guess they don't need their legs! Anyhow, mama and papa buy me an endless supply of toys so I'm not worried. I have 2 boxes full of toys now! Mama and papa say that they spend more money on me than they do on themselves now. I doubt it but that's what they say.
Papa has been reading a lot lately. I like spending the afternoon on the roof balcony with him while he reads. I stand guard for him to make sure he is not disturbed and can concentrate on reading. If anything moves, I bark like crazy and make so much noise that whatever moved will go away and not bother papa. I know that he appreciates me helping him relax by barking to keep away intruders like blowing leaves and dragon flies. He always says to me, "Thank you, Roots, you're a good boy...now shut up!"...whatever the heck that means...
756 homeruns...hmmmmm...well, i guess cheaters can finish first. But in this case, I still think 755 > 756. To his credit, yes, Barry Bonds did achieve something big. Even with performance enhancing drugs, 756 homeruns is an incredible achievement. But is it fair? Of course not. Barry Bonds was probably always headed for the Hall of Fame, but now it will be with the dreaded asterisk beside his name, figuratively if not literally. Of course, he has never been proven to have taken, and penalized for taking, steroids, but come on!!! How can a pretty good hitter all of the sudden go on such a torrid homerun streak so late in his career and blast 70+ homeruns in 2001? He slammed 258 homeruns in a 5 year period between 2000 and 2004. Most players develop into contact hitters as they mature and gain experience. It is extremely rare that they develop into power hitters as they near 40 years of age. Bonds took steroids and it resulted in more homeruns. It's ridiculous to think anything otherwise.Of course, the Babe faced controversy over corking his bat, but the media liked him so he was forgiven for a lot of his less desirable characteristics. No such luck for Barry. He is not very well liked, and has brought that upon himself. He would have had a lot less grief if he were likable and respected, but he has never earned it. When you cheat and you're an arrogant ass, you get what you deserve.On the other hand, the great Hank Aaron never faced questions about corking his bat or taking steroids. There have never been any allegations questioning his integrity or natural ability. He played in a tough time for African American athletes and he still excelled.
Bonds' reputation is tainted and he is definitely no Hank Aaron. So hats off to Hank as the real and true homerun king. Bonds is not even in the same league. I may only be a puppy, but I know the difference between winners and losers.
Yesterday was the 中目黒夏祭 (Naka-Meguro Summer Festival). Mama and papa took me to see it and, as you can see, I was a little surprised by all the dancing, noise and people. The taiko drums were pretty loud but I enjoyed myself by barking along with them. We spent an hour there walking around and buying food for dinner. Mama and papa love the matsuri food, especially yaki-soba and yaki-tori. I hope they take me to more matsuri . Everyone has so much fun that it makes me feel really happy too. The sights and sounds and smells are wonderful.
After the matsuri, I was pretty tired but mama and papa went out to their friend's BBQ. He lives just around the corner so it's easy for mama and papa to get there. They got home late and, like last year after the same party, papa fell asleep on the floor. I think he had a little too much wine...
On the way home, mama and papa saw Kimura Takuya from the band SMAP! He was driving home in his white Hummer. He lives just down the road from us and papa wanted to say "hi" to him but he lives in a big house with a garage and the garage door closed before mama and papa could get there. I think one of papa's dreams is to become a member of SMAP. He so silly...and he can't even sing...
Today we went to the indoor dog run again! I had fun as usual, running around and stealing other dogs' toys. But papa kept calling me fat boy...like he's one to talk...Papa thinks I am too fat and can't run like a real Jack Russell Terrier. He laughed at me because the yappy Poodles could run faster. Even the Papillon was faster than me. Maybe papa is right, but I still don't like being called fat boy :-( And I don't like the yappy Poodles either.
Mama and papa keep calling me mean and selfish now. It started yesterday at the dog run because I kept stealing the toys of other dogs. It's not my fault if they are too slow and can't protect their own toys. So then I started walking up to the other dogs and dropping the toys in front of them to taunt them and, as they moved to try to pick it up, I would snatch it myself and run away!!! It was so much fun because they were all so slow and dumb!!! I did that so many times and they never learned. Papa kept telling me to share the toys but I don't know what that word means...doesn't sound like a fun word though. I'm glad I don't understand some words. My favorite words are "me", "my", "I", "mine"...that's really all I know :-)
Mama and papa bought me a few new toys too! But I won't let them touch my toys. Any time they come near me, I grab my toy, snarl at them and run away under the table or sofa so they can't get my toys!!! I am so smart and fast!!! They call me mean and selfish but I don't care...what's mine is mine and no one can take them from me!!! Whenever they take a toy that I like, I go to where they put it away and then I jump around and bark. They still don't give me the toy but one day maybe I will drive them crazy enough to get what I want :-)
I heard today that despite his devastating and embarrassing loss, Prime Minister Abe does not intend to step down. He says that he will continue on with the mandate he was given and continue his reforms. Unfortunately, he has not initiated any real reforms to speak of and it seems to me that he was given a pretty strong mandate yesterday...a mandate to do the right thing and step down since he was never elected in the first place...he merely took office when Prime Minister Koizumi stepped down to leave politics. PM Abe is just prolonging the inevitable pain and runs the risk of becoming the Japanese version of George W. Bush or Paul Martin.
We got our (my?) new car yesterday! Mama and papa picked it up and drove to visit mama's parents and brother for dinner. They really love the car and said that the navigation system is great. It speaks to them and even tells them when and where to turn, as well as which way they will turn after that so they can get into the proper lane. The air conditioner has separate temperature controls for the driver and passenger sides. The stereo features a hard disk drive that automatically records CDs that are played so that we don't have to bring the same ones ever again. It also plays DVDs and MP3s! The other thing that mama and papa didn't know is that the stereo/navigation system also has a TV built in. Papa thinks it is dangerous to have the TV playing while driving so he really doesn't like that feature.
Papa was pretty tired yesterday because he took the overnight flight back to Tokyo from Singapore on Friday night and landed at 7:30am yesterday morning. He was so tired that he slept until
11:30am this morning. After he finally woke up, mama and papa took me to an indoor dog run near where papa used to live in Musashi-koyama. There were a lot of dogs there to play with and I had a lot of fun stealing other dogs' toys. I was so yancha and mama and papa were so embarrassed that had to go buy me my own toy so that I wouldn't steal toys from the other dogs (but I still did!). I ran around for an hour and a half with almost no rest so I'm really tired now. I've been sleeping almost the whole time since we got home 4 hours ago. I think mama and papa are happy that I am not bothering them for a change :-) Papa was also embarrassed today because the poodles could run faster than me. Papa says I'm getting fat so I can't run like a Jack Russell. I wonder whose fault that is??? It's not my fault that papa gives me so many tasty treats! Of course I'm going to eat them!!! Anyhow, I have to go on a diet now :-(
Lately, my hair has been getting quite long. Mama and papa used to think I was a smooth coat Jack Russell and then, as my hair got longer, they thought I was a broken coat but they are now beginning to think I am a rough coat. Papa says I look like a homeless punk rocker.
Today is the mid-term senate election in Japan. Many think this is the equivalent of a confidence vote on Prime Minister Abe who has been in power since September of last year. If it is, then PM Abe is in deep trouble. Exit polls indicate that his party is about to get smoked. Bye bye Mr. Abe...
Another visit to the vet for me last week. It seems that I have an allergy and, as a result, had a breakout of red pimple-type things all over my back. The vet wasn't sure what the cause is, but thought it could be a reaction to either fleas and ticks, something from the doggie kindergarten I stayed at while mama and papa went to Hakone, or food. Mama and papa started giving me Science Diet Nature's Best recently so they think that could be the reason (papa is also highly suspicious of Will dog kindergarten since the allergy started a day after I came home). As for the food, when I was a baby, I was given Eukanuba but papa didn't think that food was healthy so I started getting Nutro and Science Diet Pro. Now mama and papa are quite worried about my health because of all the additives, preservatives and unknown animal parts in the brand name foods and also because of the scare about ingredients imported from China and added to American dog foods. They have spent the last few nights studying about dog food and searching for the best thing to feed me. They decided on Lotus as the dry food and are going to take classes about how to make homemade dog food from natural products and raw meat. They said that there is an excellent article at 4dogma.com about dog food and have sworn to only feed me holistic food or homemade food! Notice that in the article, all the foods they have fed me so far are on the list of foods that are not good for dogs. I'm glad they found this out now rather than years from now!!! I'd hate to have kidney problems...doesn't sound like much fun.
Papa is going to Singapore tomorrow morning on business and staying until Saturday morning. He is dreading how hot it is going to be there. I'm glad it's him and not me. The forecast is scattered thunderstorms most of the week.
Our (my???) new car is going to be ready for pick up on Saturday! Mama and papa are really excited about it! They are going to take me to a dog run on Sunday. Papa wanted to take us to the Mount Fuji area but because of my allergy it's not a good idea to go too far and for me to spend so much time in a crate in the car. I don't care where we go as long as it's fun!!!
Papa started reading the last Harry Potter book. It was delivered last Saturday from Amazon on the first day of release. It's called Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Even the name sounds dark. The Harry Potter series has been getting increasingly darker as we've progressed through the story. In this, the final installment, papa is a little pessimistic and thinks that Harry will be killed. We'll see...he's reading slow this time though. Usually he gets through a new Harry Potter book in a day or 2.
Mama and papa went to Hakone Ginyu on
sen this weekend for 2 days. They took the Odakyu Romance Car train from Shinjuku to Hakone and then took a bus up the mountain to the onsen and hotel. The onsen was almost perfect. The staff were quite friendly and the atmosphere was so relaxing. The place itself is quite far up a mountain with a beautiful view overlooking a ravine that has a river cutting through its centre. The room was Japanese style with a 
tatami room for sleeping (futons, no beds). Beside the bedroom was a dining room with a large table and low, floor level chairs so guests can eat Japanese style. Attached to the dining area was the veranda which had a sofa, coffee table, a couple of cushions and an open-air bath!Mama and papa got to the hotel at 
about 2:30 in the afternoon and went to the onsen after a quick walk around the hotel. The first onsen papa went to ended up being his favorite. It was called Tsukiyo and was on the 5th floor of the hotel. The bath was quite large and was covered by a roof but was an open-air bath. The water flowed over the outer edge. Papa was the only one in the onsen at the time so he had the whole place to himself.
Dinner was kaiseki ryori. It was delicious but there was far too much food. Dinner consisted of all kinds of vegetables, fish and meat. The beef was memorable because the staff brought out a heated stone and mama and papa cooked their Japanese beef and veggies on it themselves. It reminded mama of "Lost in Translation" where they pay so much money and have to cook themselves. The next morning for breakfast, again way too much food was served but it was also quite tasty.
Mama and papa went into the onsen about 5 times over the 24 hours they were at Hakone Ginyu. They tried all of them, including the one on their bal
cony. It was an open-air bath and was very relaxing. Papa went in at night and again the next morning but mama didn't go in at night because there were too many weird insects flying around. There were huge, ugly flying beetles that had really long antennae but they generally stayed near the lights and didn't go near the bath. Papa really loved sitting outside on the veranda looking out over the mountains.
As for me, well, I spent the weekend at a dog kindergarten in Naka-Meguro. It may not sound fun but I had a great time. The people were so much fun and there were 15 or 20 other dogs for me to play with. The staff t
here said I was a good puppy and very lively and fun. I ran around quite a lot and played with all the other dogs. I didn't even know mama and papa (who???) were gone!!! They came to pick me up after they returned from Hakone and I was really happy to see them. But once I got home, I was so tired from playing that I crashed and slept most of the evening. I just woke up now because of an earthquake. It was quite small but had mama and papa worried because there was a bigger earthquake earlier today in Niigata that had a magnitude of 6. I didn't even feel the earthquake, whatever the heck that is...
Typhoon #4 is coming! やばいやなー！It's raining pretty hard now and the wind is getting stronger. This is my first typhoon だからちょっと怖いやんか! I wonder if mama and papa will let me go outside. I guess it's not a good idea in case I blow away. Papa mentioned something about a dog named Toto and not being in Kansas anymore...I have no idea what he's talking about but I think it means that I might end up somewhere far away.
I graduated today from Beginner 2 puppy school! Mama and papa were so proud of me. I think they like puppy school more than me.
Today was my papa's mother's birthday! Happy Birthday, Nana!!!
While we're writing this blog, papa is listening to 80's music. He seems to really like it and says it's cool...like, yeah, whatever...
At least he doesn't listen to hip hop. It gives me a headache. It's like listening to the same thing over and over, it's repetitive, repeating itself, singing the same thing over and over and over, again and again and again, reiterating, recurring, replaying..........oh, no...I sound like a hip hop singer now...I sound like a hip hop singer now...I sound like a hip hop singer now...I sound like a hip hop singer now...I sound like a hip hop singer now...I sound like a hip hop singer now...Today, after puppy school, we went to Will where I will stay tomorrow night while mama and papa go to the onsen. It was fun......fun, fun....fun...it was a lot of fun, it was fun, it was fun, it was fun, it was a lot of fun...(damn, I hate hip hop). Anyhow, I made a lot of friends and I'm looking forward to playing with my new friends again.
It's still unbearably hot here. 15 or 20 minutes into my daily walk, I am ready to go home so I walk slowly until mama and papa turn around and bring me back to the nice air conditioning. Last week, the heat gave me an upset stomach so papa made me chicken okayu. It was so good!!! Mama mixed it with my regular food so I had some home cooked gourmet food for a change! Papa calls me spoiled, whatever the heck that means... Anyhow, my stomach was better within a day and I am able to eat regular food again, but luckily for me, papa made too much okayu and he froze the leftovers so I still get to eat it even though I am not sick!!! OK, OK, maybe I am a little spoiled :-)
Since it's been so hot lately, mama prepares a wet towel for me to cool down afte
r my walks but papa wraps it around my head and calls me an old women. He says I look like I should be selling fruits and vegetables by the side of the road in the countryside. I prefer to wear the towel around my neck because it looks like I work on a construction site. It's a little more manly.
started going off. That kind of freaked me out and I wouldn't go in front of the cameras anymore. The photographers, the teachers, mama and papa all tried their best to get me in front of the cameras on the white background screen again but I wouldn't go there. Even when they tried to bribe me with food I wouldn't budge. Finally, papa calmed me down and picked me up and did the pictures with me. Mama also joined us and the 3 of us took the pictures together. That made me feel better and I wasn't as scared of the flashes. It's so much better when mama and papa are beside me. We don't know how the pictures turned out though so I don't know if I will be in the magazine next month. I hope I will be...I mean, how cute am I? :-) Just look at this face!!!
