Photo Shoot and Fences

Dear Gavin,

We had an exciting weekend. Aunt Debbie came and spent the night with us and the fence keeps going up! Aunt Debbie did not bring Kiley with her. I was kind of bummed about that,but I got over it. She got to meet Toni Louise for the first time. I know you might be wondering if Toni behaved herself. She didn't. She peed in the floor, same as usual. Gramma scolded her, but really, Toni does not care! When Gramma scolds me, I feel bad and sometimes I even cry. I don't like it when Gramma is upset with me. Toni must think Gramma is just kidding.

But, that is not what I am writing about today. Gramma had to go into town and renew her driver's license. Oscar tells me that you must have one of these in order to drive a car. Gramma's had expired and she had to go take an eye test (I hope this did not hurt) and get a new picture. When she came home she told Papa that she had a regular photo shoot. This was scary. Why did they shoot her? She did not look like she had been shot! Emmy laughed at me and Toni. She told us that having a bunch of pictures taken was what you call a photo shoot. Well, if that is the case, then Gramma not only had a photo shoot, but she is a photo shooter!
As you can see in these pictures, I was sleeping peacefully in bed with Papa and the puppy called Toni. I like to take the cover that Gramma sleeps with and curve it around my body, just so, and then take a little nap while Papa sleeps in the morning. Papa and I do not care to get up as early as Gramma and Emmy. Oscar likes to sit with Gramma while she has coffee.

So, there we were, Toni on Gramma's pillow and me in her blanket. Suddenly there is a flash of light. I opened my eyes at first, then I shut them. There is really not much one can do to stop Gramma and her camera.

Gramma was whispering and telling the puppy called Toni to look at her. Toni would not look at her. She kept turning her head to one side. Gramma kept on and on, telling her she was just being shy.

Finally the puppy called Toni stuck her tongue out at Gramma! Can you believe that?

Then she lay her head down and Gramma took the last picture and said, "Who could not love that face?" Seriously? I can think of two dogs right away. Oscar and Emmy. They don't really care for the puppy called Toni. I have to admit that I really like playing with her. She can be annoying, but we have lots of fun together.

The fence is almost done. They put a see-through fence up in our yard while they are working on the privacy fence. Us dogs need our yard so that we can go out and do our business (that is what Gramma calls it) whenever we need to. Gramma told Papa that the whole "walking on a leash thing" was not going to work while the store was open. You saw what happened in my last letter.

So, us dogs have been watching the man called Charlie work on our fence. At first we got really excited when we saw the big gap under the privacy fence. Oscar was the one who saw it first. He told the rest of us dogs that with just a little digging we could all escape and go into the park! We all stood there looking. We could see under the fence! We saw people in the pool swimming and others walking around. This was going to be great! We decided that the puppy called Toni should do the digging. Emmy volunteered to be the look-out and Oscar said he would lead us. We had a bit of an argument over this issue. I can run a lot faster than Oscar and told him that I should be the leader. I am also taller than Oscar ..........

We planned for three whole days. We would run into the woods by the tent sites and then work our way through the park. We would return for food, of course. Emmy said that the hole should be inconspicuous (that means hard to find) so that Gramma wouldn't notice it right away. Toni disagreed and asked how we would find our way back in if the hole was hard to find. Oscar looked at her with disgust and told her that she was definitely lacking in the hound genes. He said that we should just follow our own scents back.

I must say that I had not thought that far ahead. I was too busy worrying about Gramma discovering the plot. If it worked and we were not found out I would have such feelings of guilt that I would not be able to hide my distress. If Gramma discovered us gone, then she would send out a search party and we would all be in trouble. This scenario was equally distressing to me. Then I started to think about Gramma worrying about us dogs and I felt bad even more. I wanted to back out of the escape, but I was worried about what the others might think of me. What if one of us were injured? My tummy stared to hurt and before I could stop myself, I ate a bunch of grass and threw up! Oscar knew what I had been thinking and he made fun of me and I started to cry brown tears. When I went inside and Gramma saw me, she knew that something was wrong. She washed my tears off my white fur and held me. I knew then that I could not go through with the escape plans.

You will be happy to know that before I had to tell the others that I would not be joining them on their adventure the man called Charlie covered the gap between the fence and the ground with some things called landscape timbers. Not only are they too heavy for us dogs to move, but he secured them to the fence with screws. Oscar said that he could read the writing on the wall and knew that this was an idea of Gramma's. I have no idea where this wall with writing is, but I could not find it. Emmy confided to me that she had no intention of participating in the great escape and I told her that I would have stayed right here with her while Oscar and Toni went without us. Emmy said that in her younger days she had enjoyed many adventures with Louise, the Saint Bernard. She even confessed that after Louise broke her elbow that she had been the designated hole digger! This was before my time. Emmy has always been such a goody-goody around me. I see her in a whole new light now. Emmy told me that I was like Sarge, the Collie. She said that he was a worrier, too. He would always try to talk Louise out of escaping, but she was stubborn and willful. I suppose this is why the puppy called Toni is the puppy called Toni Louise!

Gramma told me that you said you missed me while you were talking to her. Same here, my boy. I will always be missing you when you are not here with me. You are, after all, my boy! I know that you are busy getting ready to go back to school. Gramma says that you will be in the second grade this year. I am very proud to be the dog of a second grader!

Your loving dog, Wall-E