I wondered why we were walking across the Burnside Bridge this morning, and it turns out that they were staying at the Jupiter Hotel and we were off to welcome them to Portland.

I cannot begin to tell you how much fun we had – sitting outside at the Life of Riley tavern and all getting to “know” each other.  I feel like I know these two because we’ve both been around the dog blogging world for so long…

They got my attention instantly when they gave me a fantastic present – a bone-shaped stuffie with the Australian flag on it!  Woo-hoo!

And I got this amazing souvenir of the Dogs With Blogs USA 2010 Tour!

Mama and I just LOVED them from the second we saw them.  We laughed, and laughed, and laughed for hours.

They also both have some amazing tattoos – mama couldn’t resist taking some pix…

We played here for HOURS – the time flew by…

Greg immediately became one of my favorite people in the entire world.  He understands me on a deeper level, and he’s the first person other than mama that I’ve allowed to get up close and personal with me since daddy passed away.

I gave him a couple of kisses to show my appreciation.  He seemed to like it.

Brooke really knows how to give a great booty scratch – much appreciated after a long day!

By the end of the night, Greg and I were lounging on the sidewalk at the bar just like old friends.  I know we will see each other again sometime, and we will always be super-duper friends.  Mama promises to come and visit you in Australia sometime!!!  And I send lots of love and Aire Kisses to Opy & Benson!!!!!

Love,

Bogart

BookmAIREk Me!

We met up with not one but TWO Airegirls!!!  Sasha and Savannah!

I was smitten immediately, and was ready to be the center of a Bogart sandwich.  I could not resist their charms…

Although I should perhaps apologize for some of my more, um, horndog behavior.  I know that you pretty gals are spayed.  But I JUST COULD NOT RESIST…

We had so much fun getting to know each other, and creating a stir in Laurelhurst park.  Yep, the sight of 3 Airedales together is just too much for the human heart to bear.

I’m pretty sure that the girlies liked me too… we were all flirting up a storm.

It was really hard for mama to get many good photos of us because we were all running around so much.  And of course, because at every opportunity I tried to give those girlies some of my special Bogie-lovin’.

I was really in my glory, running around with these two pretty Airegirls.

And even though I tried and tried, they managed to keep me in check in a very feminine yet direct way.  Oh pretty girls, I’m sorry that we didn’t meet up sooner but I’m so glad we got to spend some time together!  Love and kisses S+S!!!

Even two pretty Airegirls can only distract me for so long from a good pine cone.  That’s right mama, THROW THAT CONE!!!  I’ve got to work of some excess energy now…

Caught it, chewed it, see?

More of my luscious tongue, might want to save some of those cone bits for later in my beard…

And a big kiss for mama for bringing me together with the Airegirls and having such a fun day!  It’s important for us to see things in Portland as much as we can before we head across the country…

Although this isn’t a Bogie-beetle or a Bogcedes (it’s just a rental) there is indeed nothing like driving around with my head out of the window, delighting passers-by.

OH YEAH…

Love,

Bogart

BookmAIREk Me!

A place where a boy can collect his thoughts, and his pine cones.

Surrounded by lovely blue flowers that provide both shade and an awesome background for photos so that mama will finally put the camera away.

See?  This is what drool looks like before it comes out of my mouth.  I’ll be you won’t forget my vest and thermos next time!

Oh all right, just a few glamour shots…

No need to deprive the world of all of my tongue-y goodness…

Love,

Bogart

BookmAIREk Me!

Continued testing with the cooling vest has been nothing short of a complete success – longer walkies have been accomplished and more precious cones have been gathered.

See?

We also swung through the early Bastille Day celebration here in the Pearl District – not much for doggies to do this time around.

The place was swarming with overly-caffeinated children and slow-moving adults.  Not really my cup of tea, and I didn’t see any dog-related booths so oh well.

Jamison Square – where the Bastille Day celebrations took place – is one of the parks that I visit daily in my quest to pee and poop over everything here in Portland.  On the hot weekends it becomes almost a beach – children running wildly in the fountain, adults variously chasing said children and lying on the grass, lots of weird chalk writing and odd foodstuffs left behind.  So I am just doing my part by “leaving something behind” – I poop here during the week, so you fancy Pearl-people may lay on it during the weekend.  A fair trade, I think.

With all of that ruckus, a boy has to go outside of the park to find a decent stick.  I found three.  And carried them all around NW Portland.  Kind of like recycling – but not.

Love,

Bogart

BookmAIREk Me!

We went with the Large and mama is very pleased with the way it fits!  I don’t have any issues putting things on over my head, and then it just clips on both sides of my shoulders.  A snap to put on.  The thing that mama liked about it the most was that this vest works with just water – there is no freezing of inserts and no possibility of anything hurting me – and after the initial soaking you can reactivate the cooling powers by just pouring more water over it.  Perfect.

And yes, it seems to work!  This covered my entire back – which, being black fuzz, gets very hot in the sun – and the coolness of the vest keeps my skin cool.  Most importantly to me, this vest doesn’t limit my ability to do some of my favorite things, like trampling plants…

Going for long walkies…

Finding interesting things to add to the “Keep Portland Weird” file…

And of course, peeing.

The vest is from Ruff Wear – it’s their Swamp Cooler vest.  It works well with my deep, manly, muscle-y chest, is easy to use, and most importantly, IT WORKS.  I was definitely more comfortable in the 90+ degree heat with this on, and during our hour-long walk mama poured a cup of water over me two times for added refreshment (it’s SO GREAT to not have her pour water directly on me).

And see?  It’s actually quite dashing on me.  And I can wear my favorite harness over it.

Of course we still take it easy on our walkies – mama still has that broken toe and it is going to be 90+ for the next few days – but now I don’t feel the need to plop down in the middle of the walkie because I’m too hot.  I can go back to plopping down for more important things…

Like eating sticks, of course.

Love,

Bogart

BookmAIREk Me!

Something we’ve never noticed before near the South Park Blocks…

Come in a little closer…

Yes, it is a salmon – on the corner of Salmon Street (these humans think they’re SO FUNNY sometimes)…

Back in the Pearl, this is another little cove that I visit on occasion but don’t think I’ve ever been photographed in.  It used to be the entrance to an art gallery, now there is some art store there.  But it’s really a lovely little oasis…

The water isn’t really drinkable though, and since it’s not moving it’s not that interesting either.

Ha!  There’s mama in the reflection.  I’d know that red hair anywhere!

These are pieces of the original freeway that ran through the Pearl District before it was the Pearl District.  Apparently most of what we walk in and where we live used to be industrial areas.  But these are cool and help keep some of the original character of the neighborhood.

Notice the wild animals in the column and the wild animal comin’ at ya… Woo! Hoo!

Love,

Bogart

BookmAIREk Me!

A big, red double-decker bus.  And people were getting on.  So I decided that I would as well.  However the crabby gal with the clipboard wouldn’t let me on.  I turned on the charm, and mama did her best (which usually gets us into places) but this time, no dice.  I’d really hoped to ride up top with the wind beneath my floppers.

No matter.  I’m sure I can find something to do that will annoy them just to show my displeasure.

Hey, it worked!  I got their attention!  And they wanted me to step away from their bus!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Now I shall just stare at you for an uncomfortable period of time.  Don’t worry, I’ve got at least an hour of walkie before I get hungry, so I’ve got the time…

People are so funny.  They weren’t mean or anything, just not willing to go along with the spirit of the game – having a local superstar in their midst, you would have thought they’d at least have a sense of humor about it.

I bet THIS guy would have let me ride AND would have had a sense of humor…

Love,

Bogart

BookmAIREk Me!

I mean, not all the time, there are occasionally some things you do that make me a little crazy or a little annoyed, there have been times when I wanted to go one way and you wanted to go another, and those times when I wanted to sniff a cute doggie’s butt and you pulled me away, and the times when I wanted to fight with some other doggies and you put a stop to that, and the times that you’ve embarrassed me in public by kissing me a little too much, and of course there is the ongoing issue of you hugging me just a little too much, and sometimes my dinner is late because you forget to turn on the crockpot, and occasionally my tiger blanket isn’t in exactly the place that I want it to sleep on…

Just kidding – I LOVE YOU MAMA

No, seriously.  I LOVE YOU MAMA.  No matter what.  We’re a team.  The Gruesome Twosome (plus 5, but nothing is really as catchy when trying to go along with Seven-some).  Thanks for all the adventures…

Love,

Bogart

BookmAIREk Me!

Mama and I both are feeling it – even though I got a major hair strip in the last few days, I’m still getting tuckered out just doing our regular walkies.  I did get a spiffy new thermos of my very own for our walks (much better than a water bottle because a thermos has it’s own cup, you see) and now mama’s thinking I might need to get a cooling vest to keep me cool enough for when we move to the east coast.

I love ya mama for thinking of ways to keep me comfy… and for understanding that less walkies are NOT a valid option…

Love,

Bogart

BookmAIREk Me!

Time to head down to the waterfront with all of the other hot and steamy folks here in Portland who aren’t yet used to the heat.

I thought I might like to jump in until I remembered that the Willamette is deep and dirty.  Fun to run the paws through, but that’s about all.  So I busied myself watching some overly-tan people whizzing by in a bright orange speedboat.  Again and again and again.

You would think that if someone was going to keep going by – because obviously they knew they were being watched (that boat was LOUD) – they would do something either different or interesting at least once.  And you would be wrong.

We don’t normally walk through SW Portland past the main downtown area, but today we were feeling like explorers…

And we found this:  Lake Tai Rock.  Just in front of City Hall in a lovely, shady park.  A gift from Portland’s sister city in China.  It is a large, irregularly-shaped rock with a lovely pool of water.

Which I found FASCINATING.  These plants must be kind of special because they don’t just get to sit in still water, they have their own gurgler.  Yes, I understand that gurgler is not a word.  But really, that’s what it was.

Did I mention that it was FASCINATING?  Not only did that water water feel good on my toasty paws, but that gurgler was driving me insane.

Behold – the large, irregularly shaped rock.

As well as this smaller cousin-rock.

Did I mention that I found this FASCINATING???

Who knew that mama was filming?  So yes, you can see my little freak-out, and realize that you too would do the same.

Love,

Bogart

BookmAIREk Me!

I’ve almost forgotten what a day without rain is like.  Almost.  Not quite, tho.  I am SO HAPPY that it’s not cold and rainy today!

Mama and I are reconsidering my h-aire-do at the moment.  Now that it looks like the worst of our cold and rainy days may be behind us for awhile, I think a little more deforestation is in order.  A little manscaping. Nothing too drastic, just enough so that I won’t feel like I’m always carrying around an extra fur coat with me everywhere I go.

Love,

Bogart

BookmAIREk Me!

I’ve spent the past week still doing normal, everyday dog things, like watching this little bird’s excellent worm-catching technique (lots of worms out here in rainy Portland)…

Checking out new and exciting flowers in full bloom from all of our recent rain…

Mind the bumblebees!

And avoiding enraged crows intent on preventing me from walking past their special spots.  This one was SERIOUS, not only was he squawking his feathery head off, he dive-bombed me and mama several times.  His aim is flawed, thankfully.

Here he is working out the coordinates for yet another unsuccessful diving mission.  Ha ha my winged friend, VICTORY IS MINE every time you miss me and one of those times you may fly a little too close to my waiting mouth and then who’s your daddy, eh?

This just made me and mama laugh.  It was a mini trailer.

Still love me?

Hehehe – you silly humans are POWERLESS TO RESIST!  I will not deprive the world of my fuzzy mug for such a long time again, I know your delicate hearts cannot stand it.

Love,

Bogart

BookmAIREk Me!

Especially the girlie poodles.  I am also not a doodle-anything or anything-doodle.  Despite the fact that many humans have never seen anything as cute as me and most assume that I am a “something”-doodle.

With another day of sunshine promised by the weatherman, we thought we’d get in a full day of walking – so it’s off to the eastside!

On the eastside walkie, one of my favorite places is this parking lot.  It has a spectacular pine tree which always produces the most excellent cones in large numbers.

I can catch a few, and relax for a moment to contemplate the rest of my walkie.

And of course I can get in a little exercise – you know, circuit training…

A little back and forth, side to side action.

Some flexibility training…

And some cardio.

Then a few moments of relaxation.

Before we head out to Laurelhurst Park!

Come on mama, you’re lagging behind!

Pond is still green, still full of ducks and geese.

And Airedales posing majestically.

We will definitely miss this park.  While a little far away from where we live, it’s always worth the walkie.

And of course the folks who put out the free bucket of doggie water.

Thank you Portland for a great summer day!

Love,

Bogart

BookmAIREk Me!

This is the first day of 80 degrees since last September here in Portland.  So we’re all a little summer-crazy.

Along the Eastside Esplanade, I spotted the stick of my dreams.  Yes it was floating in the stinky Willamette River.  Yes it would be rather impractical to carry home.  BUT I WANT IT – a boy can dream.

Everything is so very green from all of the monsoon rains we’ve had lately – and today I get to enjoy it.

Just a handsome boy in the city…

Every time we come here I try to find different places to walk and new things to see.  I am a very visual canine.

This little boy found a snake, and I was intrigued.

Just a garter snake, but it was pretty cool to look at.  I’m sure I wouldn’t be happy if it was in my house, but in the great outdoors, and with someone else holding it, it was neato.

My normal paw soaking area was literally under water!  With all of the rains we’ve had, the water levels have risen.  No worries, I can still soak my hot paws.

And of course, stop to pose majestically.

The water is grungy, but it’s cool and feels good.  And there are so very many sticks here!

No I don’t want to go yet!  And I’m going to let everyone on the east side of the river know!

Hehehe

Notice the guy in the blue shirt in the background – he was stunned by my dulcet tones and my perfect pitch.  Not to mention the amplification of my big boy bark at top volume!

The result of 15 minutes in the Willamette:

And the piece de resistance…

Love,

Bogart

BookmAIREk Me!

Mama has been a very, very bad blogger – yet there is a real reason this time (other than her usual laziness).

In another month or so, we will be packing up our lives here in Portland and heading east – to Philadelphia!  Mama says that she just found us an apartment, and hopefully someone will want to give her a job (I’d prefer that she stay home with me all day every day and cater to my needs, wants, and desires, but hey, someone has to bring home the bacon).  Mama is from the NY area and well, we’ve been pretty lonely here in Portland since Dad passed away.  So it’s finally time to bring good friends and family into our lives again.

I’m helping out by packing – first the most important bits, my stick and pine cone collection.

So soon it will be off to (hopefully) greener pastures.  We’re all really excited and really scared out of our minds.  It’s going to be an epic road trip and a huge change for all of us.  But mostly, WE’RE EXCITED

Love,

Bogart

BookmAIREk Me!

Respect.

Love,

Bogart

BookmAIREk Me!

I like to avoid all of the bike riders by walking off of the main walkway when I can – plus it smells far more interesting down here.

Hard to see in this photo, but you will notice that it is not completely grey today – we are experiencing a “sun break” for a few hours and I cannot tell you how fantastic this is.  So fantastic that mama and I decided not to wait until our normal evening walkie time to run out and walk in the sunshine.  This is a photo of the waterfront village, the part of the Rose Festival that I was walking through yesterday that was deserted.  More intrepid folks wandering around today.

What’s that?  Some-thing or some-one is yelling at me.

It was this little bugger.  He was singing and taunting me from his perch on the SE Washington sign.  I thought he might try to “let loose” his frustration, so we didn’t walk directly under him.

Mama didn’t plan on us taking a dip in the dirty water, but hey, we were in the neighborhood so why not?

Splishing and a splashing means I’m gonna have to get a bath at home tonight… but who cares?

Looking handsome – ruggedly handsome.

It doesn’t matter where I am, there will always be either a stick or a cone for me.  This lovely piece of driftwood needs to be mine.

Mine Mine Mine

Can you hear me, Portland?  THIS STICK IS MINE

Arrrrrrrrrrooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

I mean, I’ll carry it home (at least most of the way mama)… all of this walking has made me HUNGRY

Love,

Bogart

BookmAIREk Me!

Ah, the many days of rain have put a damper on everything around here – even I am starting to grow weary of getting soaked every time I have to pee – and the Rose Festival is no exception.

The Fun Zone is not only not fun…

It’s not educational either (you must MAINITAIN forward movement – what’s mainitain?)

All of the rides look so sad – the Tiger Express isn’t roaring, and the lumberjack bears aren’t, well, lumberjacking.

And I think the water slide doesn’t even need any added water to be slide-y.

The Fire Brigade is grounded – no one to save from fire in the rain…

And the Flying Tigers aren’t flying either.

Motorcycles don’t run really well in the rain.

We were looking for the live animal area – on the news this morning we saw that there are tigers and lions here – but I imagine because of the rain they were cuddling inside somewhere.  Maybe another time…

Love,

Bogart

BookmAIREk Me!

Luckily, just as mama was about to give up, this appeared courtesy of Kafka (yes, it’s cat puke):

And he was kind enough to “produce” on the off-white carpeting that covers our place.  Purrfect.  So we first cleaned up the “extra” bits per the instructions, and then soaked the new stain:

After waiting for about 15 minutes, most of the stain was gone, with no scrubbing:

After another round:

The stain was almost completely gone.  And mama can confirm that the smell was gone as well.

At the get-go, we weren’t expecting much.  Mama has tried almost every product out there that claims to get rid of pet-related stains.  We were really pleasantly surprised.

This product worked really well on fresh stains – it was a bit more challenged by older ones (yes, we have a few of those around as well).  It definitely faded them (even one that wasn’t pet-related) and didn’t do any damage to the rug itself which was great.  The can itself is large but empties rather quickly (after soaking the one new stain 2x and trying out 5 smaller older stains), but maybe mama soaked them more than necessary – if you have a lot of stains to remove, definitely get more than one can.  I’d say that this was a really tough test for this product, as our carpet is both lightly colored and fuzzy and therefore difficult to clean (I can hear mama whining about it now), and it performed well and as advertised.

The bottom line is that Clean + Green is a definite Buy Me product, super to have around for “accidents” – especially ones that you find quickly.  It’s completely safe and non-toxic for pets (a BIG plus), and I saw some at my local pet store the last time I was there.  Take a look for yourself at their website, you can buy online too!

Love,

Bogart

BookmAIREk Me!

It looks like it’s going to have all sorts of rides, events, and things for the humans to make themselves sick on.

I am not much for these sorts of things, they’re usually really crowded and have lots of little children screaming.

I understand the appeal of the shiny, light-up things, but not of being thrown around and around right after eating greasy carnival food.

And of course, dogs don’t like to fly (unless it’s straight up in the air after a tasty pine cone, or I hear that frisbees also can induce some canine aire-time)…

One of these days we have to walk over the Steel Bridge – it’s the coolest looking one here, but it’s never been open for walkers whenever we’ve wanted to walk across.  It’s raining today, so maybe next weekend…

Your intrepid Rose Festival report – completed.  More to come when it’s actually in full swing!

Love,

Bogart

BookmAIREk Me!