Gobiblog #8

Hola Amigos

Another month has gone by, and things are just chugging along for the upcoming events, Maui Jim and the AEC’s. Mom got back from Kentucky and immediately left again for California, but our Grandmother Ana was here for ten days taking care of us. She lives in Texas. She loves to feed me cookies and take me for long walks in the garden where I can prove how brave I am by tracking rabbits and mice. The only time she scolds me is when I roll in deer poop. I don’t think she understands that doing things like that is a big part of the subtle dachshund mystique, important even though I’m pretty sure that no one has ever successfully made paper from deer poop.

My BIG NEWS is that two people, Ana and another of my friends, Sheila from Arizona,

have given me elephants!! Of course they aren’t real elephants, but they are soft and fun to play with. Mom is very careful not to let Sluggers and Bruiser have them because she knows how much I love them and what good care I take of them. I guess that until I can manage to get a real elephant, a stuffed one will have to do. The picture on this page is of me snoozing on the blue Texas elephant. Cool, huh? Mom also just ordered a book that was recommended to her, “Elephantom.” It sounds really interesting, and I’m sure she’ll share it with me when she’s finished.

Before Mom went to Kentucky, she attended the jump building seminar that Not So Mean Dan conducted for the IDCTA. I didn’t go, but my apprentice reported that it was a great weekend. The weather was good, there was lots of food, and the participants were very generous giving treats. They also built three beautiful jumps which will be used for the AEC’s! (By way of explanation, since this Blog has taken off, I have had to farm out some of my research, and my first apprentice, Jasper, has so far done a pretty decent job of noting important details. Of course he’s not paid for doing this. It’s what I sold him as a “prestige gig.”).

Mom had lots to tell me about Rolex week. Bruiser listened in while she was talking and later asked me to clarify something that had been confusing him. He was sure that Mom had gone to Kentucky for “Timex,” and it took a long time for me to explain the difference between Timex and Rolex. He hasn’t really been exposed to many of the more sophisticated things in life so he can be forgiven for his ignorance. He’s lucky to have me to mentor him! Sluggers is lucky too, but he’s so dense that it hardly counts. Grandma Ana explained that Sluggers had been through a tornado in Louisiana before he came to live with us, and she thinks it might have sucked all his brains out. Could this be possible?

At Rolex, Mom met some people from Florida who said they are planning to come to the AEC’s in September, and while they were talking, they mentioned the Gobiblog and told her it was very popular with many of their friends. This makes me feel proud! Our friend Sheila has suggested that someday I might put my observations into book, and maybe I’ll do just that. She’s especially impressed with the “Gobifacts” I’ve pointed out in former Blogs, cool stuff like elephant poop writing paper. Yesterday, she sent me a really interesting e mail on the subject, and I’m planning to add a new “Gobifact”section to my Blog employing some of her ideas. What does everyone think of that?

According to Mom, Rolex had lots and lots of very beautiful horses entered. Even though she was apparently insanely busy, she did take the time to appreciate their talent. Even though I do respect horses for what they do, and I listened attentively to Mom talk about them, I was much more interested in some of the more offbeat details of the weekend. One thing especially stood out. She told me that when the horses were examined for lameness, one rider, Ian something, wore a dress. Now that seemed really weird until she explained to me that he comes from a country called Scotland where all the boys wear skirts. I didn’t know that, and perhaps this could rate as a Gobifact! I wonder what the girls wear. I also wonder if they have elephants in Scotland, and if Ian something has one.

Another neat thing that happened at Rolex was that a lady started to have a baby in the Trade Fair. I wish I’d been there. I understand about puppies, but the only use I can see for babies is that they are short and often drool their food down their fronts which makes it easier for dachshunds to steal.

Mom did learn some good news about Ralph, the rider who had the accident in Georgia and who was flown away with broken bones in a helicopter. He is home with his family in Kentucky and is apparently talking again. Mom said they were selling green bracelets at Rolex to help him pay for all his hospital visits. She bought one. It’s a pretty color and goes well with the others she wears on her wrist – Long Live the King in Thai, (orange), one for a laminitis research fund in honor of Barbaro, (blue), and one with Maui Jim Horse Trials on it, (dark green). She just ordered bracelets with American Eventing Championships on them too. I don’t really understand all of this or care much about it, but maybe that’s because dachshunds don’t have wrists and don’t wear bracelets. Whatever ……..

When Mom got back from that place called California, she looked like five miles of bad road. She was complaining about something called the Red Eye which as far as I could gather is an airplane ride that lasted all night and which was filled with people who smell bad. That sounds awful. Maybe she’ll stop going so far away even though she said she went to a really nice event out there which just happened to be across the street from a wine factory. She would like that! She also said there were people planning to come all the way from California to Wayne with their horses for the AEC’s. Maybe they can all take A Red Eye together with the smelly people.

Well, time to wrap this up. I will leave you all with Gobifact Number One to think about. Ready? King George VI’s first name was Albert. Now that is totally bizarre. Why isn’t he called King Albert? And humans are supposed to be logical? NOT!

Happy rest of the spring – and don’t forget to sign up for Gobiblog announcements by clicking the link above..

Lots of love.

Gobi