I went to investigate those weird animals my person keeps talking about and I thought I’d start with her camera.
I found something that’s got me really confused.
Why is a mole out in the sunlight while I’m stuck in dog jail.
That’s weird.
I was getting ready to put on my Detective Dog hat and investigate those weird animals.
You know, the ones my person keeps talking about that for some reason are taking all her time from helping me with my blog.
But just as I went for my hat there was a knock on the door.
Knocks on the door are always exciting.
It means there’s a person on the other side.
And it was one of my friends.
He said he came to see Gizmo because Gizmo used to live with him.
But I know different.
He was looking for an excuse to come see me.
.
I’m all worn out now.
I’ll investigate those weird animals tomorrow.
I’m a genius!
I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before.
You see, my person is always making me wait while she takes pictures of flowers on my trails.
But she likes to take those pictures when the lighting is just right.
So I’ll only take her out on my trails when the lighting is all wrong.
When the sun is almost down and everything is in shadow.
The light’s no good for flower pictures, and this time of year the temperature is much better in the shadows.
So that’s what I’m gonna do.
No more walks in perfect light for my person.
It’s shadows from now on.
I bet her camera won’t even work.
***
Hey person, what do you think you’re doing?
It must be some kind of reflex or something.
My person gets her camera out by pure habit.
Oh no.
Stop person!
Don’t click that camera!
Can’t you see you’re wasting your memory card space?
You might need it to take pictures of me.
What is this?
Either my person has lost it, or she can’t see anything in these shadows.
That’s not even a flower.
These hedgehog cactus should have been done blooming a long time ago.
They’re torturing me, because my person won’t stop taking pictures of them.
Why don’t they just go away?
I keep thinking they’re gone and then some more of this colorful stuff pops up on my trails.
C’mon person. Haven’t you taken enough pictures of these cacti?
.
.
And again.
Okay person, that’s enough.
I’m taking you home now.
You’re going to wear out your camera.
Person?
Hey person, what are you doing?
You are so misbehaved.
You’ve got to stop wandering off like that.
Oh no, look at this!
My person is so obsessed with her camera…
…that she’s started taking pictures of ants.
Person, wouldn’t it have made more sense to wait until you had that ant in full view before you took the picture of it?
Somebody is trying to take over my trails.
She’s posting herself in a prominent place and making all kinds of noise.
And there’s scurrying in the bushes.
She must be gathering her army around her.
What am I going to do about this?
Spies in the bushes trying to take over my trails.
I wonder what would happen if I plowed into those bushes.
I’m much bigger than that would be trail thief.
I bet I could cause some excitement in those bushes.
But then that army in the bushes might move to my trails and I’d really have problems.
Maybe I should try it anyway.
I bet there’d be feathers flying everywhere.
That might be fun.
Alright you cactus sentinel.
I’m going in after your army!
If you try to let someone take over my blog I’m staying right in the middle of this kitchen floor.
Every time you try to eat I’ll be here.
Right in your way.
And I might trip you too, so you drop food on the floor.
Then it’s mine.
Who’s taking over my blog anyway?
It better not be the cats again.
You what?
You just want to tell everyone what my younger person did?
Well, why didn’t you tell me?
Can I tell them?
Woo woo!
Awhile back my younger person went to that college place – wherever that is.
And he wasn’t around here so much anymore.
But now he finished with that college place and he had to go take a bunch of tests from someplace called the FAA.
I think that means Forget About Animals because every time my younger person went to take one of those tests he left me and was gone for a couple days.
But now he’s done with all those FAA tests and he can officially work on airplanes, helicopters, and jets.
Hey younger person, if you want to work on this plane you’ve got to catch it first.
There’s nothing over here.
Just keep walking on the trail.
I’ll catch up with you as soon as I take care of business.
Just don’t look this way.
.
.
.
.
.
Person, you weren’t supposed to look over here.
I didn’t want you to see those cactus flowers.
Now I’m stuck.
She’ll be here taking pictures forever.
.
See. I told you so.
***
Whew! She didn’t take too many pictures this time.
Now we can get on with our walk.
Wait a minute!
What are you doing?
My person is so desperate to take pictures that she’s finding flowers that don’t even exist.
Since when do we have green flowers on my trails?
I’ve got some good news to share with you.
You see, a little over a year ago there was some serious mischief on my trails.
A crime actually.
Someone had murdered some of my prickly pear cacti.
If you want to know how terrible this crime was you can click on this link here.
Ever since then I’ve been sad every time I walk by and see them.
But those prickly pear are hardy.
And they’re beginning to show signs of healing.
They must have only been almost murdered.
How do I know?
.
Because dead cacti don’t grow flowers.
It’s like a miracle on my trails.
And things have gotten even better.
The injured prickly pear keep getting more flowers.
But please be careful around these prickly pear.
If you tell them they still look ugly…
they might shed a few flowers.