There are so many stories that I still want to tell about P- . P- was an amazing golden retriever. So many great memories together. A part of me worries that I would forget them.

1. The Missing Raw Hides – one time, I came home from school and P- was chatting up a storm. P- never barked. Instead, he talks. It’s a mumble sound. hrrm hrrm. Usually, it only lasts a couple of seconds. Never more. But that day, P- was talking for what seemed like hours.

Well it turns out that Beanpole had a busy morning. She was mailing some packages and scheduled a UPS front door pickup. In other words, a UPS man dropped by our house and picked up a package from our doorstep.

Unbeknownst to us, P-‘s raw hides were delivered the same day and was left on our front door. Hijinks ensues. The UPS man took P-‘s raw hides.

No wonder, P- was upset. hrrm hrrrm hrrrm

2.  A New Friend – Beanpole, P-, and I went to Russian River for vacation. There really is nothing to do in Russian River. We will never go back. But P- made the best of it and we met a new friend.

Beanpole, P-, and I were hiking along a river that ran behind our cabin. Following the river, we spotted a dog. He was a funny looking dog but he was friendly. We weren’t sure if he was a stray but at the time, we didn’t think any dog would hurt P- since he was so sweet so we just kept walking with the dog following us.

After walking for a bit, we rested and then P- started digging. P- loved to dig when he is on vacation since he never gets to dig when he is at home. P- never looked around when he digs and BAM, the other dog was covered with dirt. It wasn’t dry dirt either. Since we were by the riverbed, the dirt was wet and sticky. When P- was done, the dog looked like a hot mess.

We walked back along the river and the dog went home.

The next day, we went back to the riverbed and walked along the river. As we walked, we heard a loud bark. We looked around and saw a house with a glass door. Behind the glass door was the dog that we met yesterday except he was all cleaned up. He barked and barked. It was a playful bark — like he wanted to come out and play.

More troubling, however, was the owner who was standing next to his dog. To this day, we wondered if he knew that it was our dog that got his dog all dirty.

3. Birthday Party – one year, we threw a birthday party for P. We invited all of his friends. When the time for the party arrived, we waited for our guests to arrive. P- knew that something was going on because we had decorations up and food.

P- looked sad because there wasn’t anyone at the house. Tick Tock. Time seemed to pass so slow as we stared at the clock. Beanpole and I was also sad because we weren’t sure if anyone would come.

We took P- to the backyard and gave him some toys to play with, to ease his mind but P- was still stiffed and looked concern. We reassure him that his friends would come. we waited and waited for what seemed like eternity.

Then the first guest arrived. Followed by a steady steam of guests with presents. P- perked up and we had a great time.

I was three before I went on my first road trip.  I think the delay is caused by the fact that I used to throw up in the car. Daddy drove. Mama sat in the backseat, alert and armed with plastic bags. Acceleration. Deceleration. <barf>

I don’t think Mama ever missed with the plastic bags because I don’t remember seeing any stains on the backseat. This is surprising because Mama always missed when she threw her socks into the laundry basket.  Daddy joked about how I should ask Mama to teach me to play basketball. Imagine that — a golden retriever playing basketball.

I guess when I was three, I learned that I could minimum the effects of the car movements by sitting between Mama and the backseat. In other words, I would sandwich myself in between Mama and the seat. After a couple of hours, Mama would get mad because her back would start hurting. Mama didn’t have the heart to rest against me. Mama tried to remedy the situation by scooting over. But I would just turnaround and re-sandwich myself back in.

As for the front passenger seat, it was vacant but Mama  couldn’t find it in her to move up because in Mama’s mind, “someone had to be in the back to protect me.”

Well back to my trip report.

This wasn’t a trip to visit family. Oh No. Rather, it was a trip to celebrate Daddy and Mama’s wedding anniversary.  A 5 day trip in a place that could be done in 2 days or maybe even 1 afternoon. But, at the time, Daddy had lots of free time so a 5 day trip it was. This was before Daddy entered law school.

On this trip, we met a friend…

My beloved pooh bear. Mama got you from the Disney Outlet store at the Las Vegas Premium Outlets. Daddy would buy clothes for himself. Mama would buy me toys.

Of course, Daddy wasn’t buying clothes at the Disney store. I meant he was buying clothes at the mall. I can see how that can be confusing since they do sell clothing at the Disney store. One time Daddy and Mama went into a Disney store and Daddy told the salesperson that he wanted to buy a “Lion King Painting.” The salesperson blushed because she thought Daddy wanted to buy a pair of “Lion King Panties.” It was a good thing that Mama was there.

I loved my pooh bear. I played with it almost everyday.  I would wrestle with Pooh and take off his shirt. Mama would put it back on and I would take it off again.

When it got quite worn, Mama wanted to buy me a new pooh bear for Christmas.  But around this time, Mama had shielded herself from the outside world. Malls were no longer her thing. So when she wanted to buy me a new pooh, she went on eBay.

A quick search and a new pooh bear was found. Engineer Pooh. Mama thought that I would have lots of fun trying to take off his bandanna and overalls.

When it arrived… it was half the size of the original pooh. Mama was furious. Not only was it smaller than what she had in mind, the overalls were also sewed into the body. In Mama’s mind, Christmas was ruined for her baby. She was not going to let that happen. No way. Mama hopped right onto the keyboard and wrote a lengthy email to the eBay seller. Couple more rounds of emails and bam… we got a free Engineer Pooh.

Daddy remarked, “Why that is highway robbery.” Daddy grew up around the time when the internet was labeled the “information superhighway. The posting didn’t mention the size of the pooh so it’s not really the seller’s fault. Daddy added, “This isn’t Engineer Pooh. This is Train Robber Pooh.”

We played with Train Robber Pooh a handful of times then it just rested in the back of my toy box. Mama didn’t want me to play with him since he might teach me bad things. It is still in a pristine condition.