Glowing White?
It was mid-winter. The time of year in the Pacific Northwest when the days are very short. It was dark when Dad took Mongo out for morning walks, and dark when he took him out for evening walks.
On one of these short dark days, Mongo found the door to the pantry slightly ajar. For Mongo, this is always an open invitation for noshing. The first thing to catch his interest that day was a five pound bag of rice.
Eating five pounds of rice actually takes longer than one might think. It is a lot of rice, even for Mongo. It turned out to be a whole day affair.
Black and White Bonanza
Mongo is a talented dog, and his problem solving abilities are quite impressive, at least when it comes to solving problems related to getting more food. This morning, as Dad and Mr. M walked past a neighbor’s driveway, Mongo locked up in a point.
Normally, this posture is reserved for birds, squirrels, cats, etc. However, when Dad looked to see what had caught Mongo’s attention, nothing jumped out at Dad, literally or figuratively. Dad scanned the area for a moment. Then he realized what had caught Mongo’s eye.
Sailor Boy – Pilot Bread
This modern day version of hardtack, albeit with some leavening and shortening, is produced today by Interbake Foods of Richmond, Virginia. Alaskan law requires all light aircraft to carry “survival gear”, including food. So, the blue-and-white Sailor Boy Pilot Bread boxes are ubiquitous at Alaskan airstrips, in cabins, and virtually every village.¹
98% of the Pilot Bread is sold in Alaska. However, Drewbie found some in a local market in Northwest Washington State. He decided to surprise Dad by bringing some home.
Back in the day, Uncle Marc and Dad had feasted on hardtack from K-rations whenever Grandpa came back from maneuvers. Canned eggs and ham, hardtack, and waxy chocolate were among their favorite eats.
Dad and Drewbie each enjoyed one palm-sized Pilot Bread cracker as soon as Drewbie brought them home. Dad reminisced about the good old days, and about opening dinner with a genuine p51 can opener, and drinking hot chocolate from a canteen cup. However, after one cracker each, they both decided they had had enough. They each grabbed a glass of water to wash down the rather dry delicacy. The box of Pilot Bread box sat on the counter for several days, undisturbed until…
The Other White Meat
Mongo will eat almost anything. Things he will eat include tomatoes, apples, pears, lettuce, socks, hats, and rocks. The last three have proved costly to remove. During one vet trip for intestinal distress, the vet looked at the x-ray and said, “Well, there’s a few pebbles and some loose change in there, but that should all pass. ” So it did not come as a surprise that Mongo liked cauliflower. In fact, he’s not the only dog in the family to like cruciform vegetables. Back in the day, one golden retriever, Hudson, waited until Dad had planted all the broccoli and cauliflower starts in the garden. Then as soon as Dad went inside, Hudson pulled up all the starts and ran joyously around the backyard munching on them. Dad caught a glimpse of Hudson reveling in broccoli through the window and sprinted out the back door to find more than half the plants gone. A fence was eventually had to be installed around the garden to keep Hudson from pillaging the vegetables, when Dad became frustrated that all the almost-ready broccoli florets were disappearing!
However, none of the girl dogs in the family seemed to enjoy leafy greens. One golden girl, Dixie, did enjoy sneaking strawberries from the planter next to the back door, but that was about it.
So while Dad was using cauliflower as a substitute for cream in an alfredo sauce, it came as no shock that Mongo enjoyed a few cauliflower twigs that Dad tossed to him. The shock came when Mongo missed a piece of vegetable that Dad tossed at him, and it landed near Spork. Spork is legendary in the family for being finicky. She’s been know to turn her nose up at dog food if it has too much filler in it!
Where is the Panic Button?
Dad was in a pickle. He had no choice but to head back out into the storm. There was no doubt that he had messed up this time. Now he and Mongo would pay the price; which was strange because it had all started so innocuously.
Twice the News!
Mongo is a very clever boy. Just look at the number of ways he finds to counter-surf, or the number of non-foodstuffs he consumes in an effort to “eat more”. Eating is an obsession with Mongo. Kimi says his family motto should be “Omnia Nomnia Bene Est”, or “It’s all good!”.
But Mongo does not limit himself to raiding the counters and eating non-foodstuffs which might smell slightly food-like. He also uses a certain logic to acquire more treats.
He knows Dad loves the morning paper. In fact, Dad is so enamoured of these newspapers that Dad trades Mongo a dog biscuit every time Mongo brings Dad one. It really makes Mongo question Dad’s value system. (Click HERE to see video of Mongo fetching paper.)
Some times Dad is distracted and forgets to put away the paper, and Mongo can re-deliver the same paper twice. Dad always falls for this trick and gives Mongo another biscuit for the same paper! Clearly in Mongo’s mind, Dad is not the brightest bulb in the shed.
Today, after morning walk, breakfast, paper-fetching, and morning apple, Dad went into the bedroom for a couple of minutes to put on work clothes. As Dad was putting on a nice shirt, he never dreamed that he would re-emerge right into the middle of a Mongo Mystery.
Mr. Post Thanksgiving Day Dinner
Mr. Post Thanksgiving Dinner
Mongo’s gallery
Mongolope 
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