Special early morning edition

Just a small visual recap of this last week at the Bearmatt Daily. It's raining as we put together this edition. A fitting end to the hot days of summer that came before and now are washed clean and renewed for the beginning week.

The mailman just came. It's about 1:00 and the whole neighborhood came out to see him. And before I could even glance at the postcard, Mattie saw the writing, took it from my hand and won't give it back. That's the postcard in her paws. I think she's smiling at the thought of seeing everyone on Friday. Well, their both pretty excited.
The Bearmatt Daily just finished sending our newest intern to do some backyard clean-up. That's the new indian name we gave to him, Big Black Claw, Scooper of Poop.
And now Bear has come into the Bearmatt Daily Head offices for a little petting and some love. I'll finish this post with a quick pic of her beautiful face.

A hazy morning today with peeks of sun coming out. The flowers have been watered and the dogs are inside waiting for me to let them out for their post breakfast fence-sniffing patrol.
Mattie is waiting on the floor. Waiting. Looking up at me typing this and going back into the other room and waiting. I go in the other room and take this picture. Look at that face...okay, time for us to go outside for awhile.

Bearmatt Daily News Wire:
Lenny is getting really big. The tanks had to be called in but he managed to move right past them. This picture was taken from a small aircraft just over a furry white parking lot. The dogs are normal size, thank goodness. More updates if we get them.

The cicadas were singing (or scrrrreeeeching as some folks call it) tonight as we all enjoy some time outside. That's frisbee number TWO for Mattie, by the way.

B A T H T I M E

click on pics to enlarge

She was coaxed in. She was willing. She was bathed. She was rinsed well, so was the tub o' hair. She was towel dried. She played with the towel. She just played. She's now in the backyard getting dirty again. What did that last? five minutes? The end.

It's a nice, cool morning today. The dogs looked out the window before breakfast, thought they were all tough by barking at an 80-year-old man walking slowly with ultra-white tennies and ultra-white tube socks on, ate up, had their treat(s) and now are hanging outside in back. Bearmatt Daily is waiting for the other shoe to drop, this is too good.

It's Monday morning and we just got done with our walks. I put the dogs inside and shut the screen door. I start to water the flowers in front and look beside me and see...MATTIE? HUH? HOW DID YOU...GET...OUTSIDE? Sneaky little dog. And so, I had to take a picture of her handy work. Bear, on the other hand, and intelligent as well, just goes outside to be let in so she can have another jerky treat. You win this round Bear. You got me, but no more! I'll give you a treat before you go out AND when you come in. So there. I think all the compliments she got on our walk today went to her head.

Bear got on the roof today.
No worries, she got down safely and carried on into this evening like nothing spectacular happened.

It's 8:10 a.m. Sunday morning and the stage has been set. The small crowd (well...one dog) is waiting patiently as the new mouse handler prepares to begin THE FEEDING OF LENNY THE SNAKE. It's as if the crowd has no idea what is about to happen. This weblogger has never seen a feeding in person. I'm nervous because I have overheard this latest mouse handler is new and is still being trained on what the insiders call, "the thawing of the mouse".
Some of the crowd with weaker stomachs are staying on the upper level of the feeding area. It seems as if other entertainment is happening there. "A-man-working-on-his-truck-in-his-garage" is also being performed as well as "Bird-flying" plus "Woman-walking-with-two-small-white-dogs" and is of great interest.
This is being reported live as I see it. I must remain anonymous because this type of feeding is usually performed in secret and behind closed doors. Meanwhile, we all wait, and must sit and enjoy the pre-show performers and snacks on this beautiful summer day. Will return soon.

Update: Lenny ate the whole thing. It was like a small opera. It started slow. Lenny acted indifferent to the main attraction and flicked his tongue at the audience of two. Then, in almost an instant, the audience was still and Lenny went for the head of the mouse, but NO! He was only fooling. Lenny backs off. I heard Len was a great entertainer, but never expected such drama and control like I saw this morning. He played the crowd like a piano. And then with a strangle hold of his long body he goes in a begins the process...gulp by gulp, all the way until only mice feet stick out of his mouth. Wow. Nature is the true Cirque du Soleil.