Tag Archive | food

Bringing in the Paper – Part Deux

One of Mongo’s best learnings is retrieving the paper. Dad keeps the paper subscription as much for Mongo as for anyone else in the house. Every morning Mongo loves to burst out of the front door and hunt down the morning’s news.

Mongo has always put great thought into how to maximize his food intake. Many times his ability to plan through overeating has led to his detriment (See other posts in this blog). However, lately he has figured out a legal way to increase his cookie quota for bringing in the paper.

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Mongo and Pie

As summer has worn on, Mongo has gotten more and more hungry.  He has taken to nibbling black berries right of the cane, despite  the thorns, and he is continually searching for any low hanging tree fruit or fruit  that has fallen on the ground.  He has his favorite trees and bushes that he drags Dad over to, and then some that he only frequents if happens to pass close by them.

He likes green apples, red apples, pears, red raspberries, white raspberries, thimble berries, black berries, strawberries, blue berries, and peaches.  With all this fruit, it was only a matter of time before he tried to create a vehicle to better enjoy the gifts of the summer.  This week, he apparently decided to make a pie.  However, as one of his predecessors, Hudson the Golden retriever found out, pie making without thumbs is more challenging than it might appear.

Mongo started with flour.  Someone left the pantry door open again; a definite no-no around Mr. M. (See Mongo’s First Howl-o-ween for more info.)  He got a hold of a five lb bag of flour, and carried it into Kimi’s room.  There he opened it and created a huge sticky mess on the carpet, while managing to get most of it down.  Mix all that flour with all that fruit, shake gently and Voila! Pie!  Or in this case, just more dog “sick”…

Bloated Flour Belly

Bloated Flour Belly

And aside from having to clean up the flour paste, and the dog sick, they also had to clean up Mongo who managed to cover himself in flour paste also, right to the tip of his nose!

More white poop for Dad to scoop.

Summer Fair in West Seattle

One of the traditions in the Seattle area is Seafair.  Seafair is not one event, but an entire series of events and festivals in various neighborhoods that stretch over a month in the summer, culminating in the hydroplane races on Lake Washington and the Boeing Airshow.  And while the big events like the Torchlight Parade are held in downtown, most communities host their own celebrations on one of the weekends of July.  Tour de Terrace in Mountlake Terrace was the weekend of July 25th, and White Center Jubilee Days was the weekend of July 18.

West Seattle held its Summer Fair on the weekend of July 18th this year as well.  It featured a parade, a street fair on California Avenue, a middle eastern bazaar at the community center, and foot race down California called the Float Dodger 5K.

Honestly, what middle-aged foot-racing fan of Animal House could resist signing up for that race; certainly not Dad.  When Kimi heard Dad was running in the float dodger, Kimi turned to Mom-mom and whispered conspiratorially, “Watch that he doesn’t make a move for the marching band baton when they come through.  The parade scene in Animal house is one of his favorite parts.”  She winked and smiled at Dad.  Of course Dad did consider dressing as a Belushi Pirate for the race, as costumes are encouraged, but he wasn’t sure how the plastic sword would affect his time. Read More…

Mongo’s Motivation

The following excerpt is from July 2013 Smithsonian Article.  Having had German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, and now a Labrador, the entire family can attest to the accuracy of the descriptions contained within.  The family has never seen a dog more motivated by food than Mongo.  And to bolster that description of the breed, the following is provided.

“Among dogs, the best breeds for finding bombs may be German shepherds, Belgian Malinoises (also known as Belgian shepherds) and Labrador retrievers, more for their tireless work ethic than any special olfactory prowess.

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