Report From The Hot Tub Party!!

Happy Friday Cats ‘n Jammers! Thank you all for all the warm Barkday wishes. Well, Baby Rocket Dog and I are finally recovered from our Wednesday late night hot tub & pool party. There were plenty of drop-ins from all over the globe. Sorry no photos because we had to keep the whole thing on the QT from my folk’s homeowners association…BUT, I will give you a synopsis of the guests & fun! We have had such hot weather here in Phoenix, triple digits all week, that we waited until after midnight to sneak into the pool area. Before that, our condo was so full of pooches that we had to ask Jeanne next door to house Mommy & Daddy. It was better that way, as Mom would have had a fit if she saw how many dogs piled on their double bed. A new record was set!

Lucky for us our buddy, Tempe neighbor Joe Stains, learned how to drive while his folks were away at a ball game. He and Tanner found a 20 passenger van so they shuttled back and forth to Sky Harbor Airport to pick up the guests. Sola and Nigel got here early so they helped by regaling the passengers with stories of crazy car trips and kooky neighbors. Fudgepants did bring the funnel he promised so he and my sweet girl Lacie (whom I will always love!!) were busy mixing up and pouring drinkies. Moco and Checkers stood by patiently to grab the first ones! Joe S. found Poppy, Penny and Patches wandering around on the tarmac and picked them up before they got heat stroke. Norwood’s mommy finally took him on a business trip to Phx with her and dropped him off at our place. That was nice of her. Travis gave himself a few days off his always busy job and made it too. He was quite a hit with the ladies! Scruffy,Eric and Stan were basking in the glow of his celebrity and the gals were all around them too! Ha ha. Smart fellows. Chase the puggle was SO cute and little that Baby Rocket Dog almost crushed him when she was giving him welcome Airekisses & hugs!! Fergi was taken aback by witnessing such a display of affection, but realized that that is Baby’s way and even let her plant a big smoochie on her.

Lilly, Piper, Carrleigh and Java of Rock Creek Scotties arrived (all sparkling and clean from just getting bathed) with a group of pups from Scotland. Baby was pleased to see her friend Hamish, who was wearing a towel designed like a kilt - plaid and all! Lovely Bassets Martha and Bailey brought along some CD‘s and a boom box to play them on. (They kept the volume low.) Noah’s sisters,Willow, Tess and Lucy, noted for their beautiful singing voices, joined Bogart, also a noted songster, in giving us an impromptu performance of melodies from the 60’s. It was pawsome! The Dughallmor Beagle gang and Kimi Wagner, with all their beach combing experience, were sniffing around looking for crabs and clams by the pool. Diego Dog was right behind them trying to pry rocks out of the cool-decking for Pedro! Sillies. Meanwhile, Butchey and Snickers were trying to figure out if Glitterboy and Sugar could live in a hot tub. Yikes! Ruby Red Dog from Northern Arizona came down to chill out a bit and made friends with Ruby from Oz! Mommy’s friend John, from Wales, let his Welshies Meg and William fly in by themselves because he felt bad that he had to kennel them while he flew to California last week. They were so happy to meet Dyos and Taffy, who was there with his main squeeze cutie Lakie Stella. The total Welshie presence was 5 I think. We’re small, but mighty!! There was an abundance of Dales to be sure. Almost like a gang! Let’s see if I can remember them all: Bentley, Bogart, Dewey Dewster, Digsby, Faya , Janie, Lucia, Ludo the cool dude, Maggie, Mitch, Molly, our new friend Nelly, fab Aussie Noah and his sisters previously mentioned, Penny, Poppy, Patches,Ruby and Stanley and Stanley from Gooberstan and my best buddy from Phoenix, Mr. T-Bone Beasley. That’s a lot of Aireheads, oops, I mean Airedales in one place! Did I forget anyone?? Beautiful Asta finally got to relax a little after planning the wedding of the year for her sissy, Myrna. She kept swiping my birthday hat off my head and putting it on other party goers. Asta also dropped into the swimming pool like a brick and came up with a grin on her face a mile wide. Seems she found Stan at the bottom and they played mermaid together. Fun. Tank joined the 4 Musketeers, Suzuki (who got here a little late…they had a long distance to travel!) and Mango for the ever popular water game of Marco Polo. Mango kept saying ,”Mango Polo”, but it was still the same, obnoxious game. he he. Nobody initially recognized little Vodka…he got his hairs all cut off and Pruett & Beasley, my bouncers, thought he was a party crasher at first and was ready to toss him out!! When he started yipping in Chinese Daphne & Lacy put 2 and 2 together and said,”That’s VODKA!! Let him in!” Close call there. Sally from across the pond was practicing T-Touch on him to calm the poor guy down! My (future) rodeo date, Agatha, was chatting up fashionista Asta trying to get clues for what boots to wear to an Idaho rodeo. Lacie was trying to tell her that steel toed, lace up, work boots are all the rage. He he. That Lacie girl. Scooby snuck away from his pre-surgery bed to see how many of his “matches” are still together. (Aggie and I are just gonna stay good friends because “she’s a young thing and can not leave her brother*“.) I was happy that Clive got by for just a few minutes but had to fly right back to the Emerald Isle to be with Little Man. Penny the Westie was so sweet and shy but seemed to get along well with Idaho resident Dr.Dre. Maybe they'll end up at the rodeo in Sandpoint too!!

There was an incident at one point where Tula jumped in the deep end and forgot how to swim, so Kellogg from Connecticut and I, Hootie the Wonderdog, had to jump in and save her. We were then referred to as the heros of the night! Awww shucks.

Mason Dixie came with tons of Farm Dog treats for everyone and Minnie-Moo, Tinkerbell, Oscar and Tucker just followed her around looking for extra nibbles treats! They were so tasty with the mixed drinks! Ludo van Doggy might have had one drinkie too many as he was singing Happy Barkday over and over again, and he kept singing, “dear Ludo”. Hmmmmm. I believe he has dragged his special day out for an extra couple weeks! Marvin and Opy were hiding under the waterfalls with some unidentified pooches. We heard Marvin saying something about sending Jeannie back to Australia or something?? Arrooo?? Simba and Jazzi showed up around 1am but at least Simba got to celebrate his Barkday with us too. That was nice. We birthday-boys have to stick together. I think everyone had a good time and I look forward to seeing you all in the funny papers!

WelshieSmooches, Hootie

Ps-There were so many pups there it would be easy to omit some dog. If I left anyone out, please drop us a few lines in comments and tell of your experience! We've been experiencing some formatting trouble, so please forgive the weird format here. Thanks!

*Sung to the tune of Billy Boy.