Category: Sparky (Page 1 of 5)

Sparky is mortified that I’m telling this story.

Ticks are bad this year.  Sparky is treated with Frontline Plus, but that kills ticks after they bite and, hopefully, before any pathogens are transmitted.  I prefer to get any ticks before they bite Sparky or me, so I watch for any signs.

Sparky had a bath today, which he doesn’t enjoy, so I wanted to give him some extra quality time.  When we sit on the floor watching TV, Sparky likes to snuggle up.  We were nice and comfy when Sparky set to licking his undercarriage.  Not that unusual, but he had to stand up to squirm around so he could really get in there.  That seemed rather vulgar for a gentleman like Sparky.

I got him to lay down, then I rolled him over.  I didn’t see anything at first, then I found a tick on the end of his dick.  Seeing a wretched little tick, with those pointy barbed legs, crawling around on his little soft pink spot, made me shiver.

Sparky wasn’t sure what I was playing at, but when I removed the tick, he was relieved.  The photo above is from shortly afterward.  No need for a photo of the tick in action.  That mental image will haunt me.

When I was in the hospital recently, my brother and sister-in-law had Sparky.  My brother texted pictures and video of Sparky so I didn’t worry about him. 

Having a dog is a wonderful thing.  I’m okay alone, but having a dog is better.

That night when I first took ill, Sparky laid in his living room bed, half-asleep, but ready to move.  He dreams when he is really out, and sprawls on his bed.  He didn’t know what was wrong with me, and didn’t know how to help.

My brother reported that Sparky was fine, but was getting too old to chase after Mr. Moose.  I knew that Sparky was worried about me.

When my brother brought me home, he offered to go fetch Sparky, and bring him to my house.  I thought it would be better if I drove out to pick Sparky up.  He loves a car ride and that would be the easiest way to let him know everything was fine.  When I got to his house, Sparky gave me the whole, Youtube, soldier returning home treatment.  Nobody has ever been that happy to see me.

Once we were home, Sparky was happier than ever.  He likes to lay on my belly as I watch TV.  That’s the photo above.  He did have trouble sleeping.  When Sparky sleeps, he usually dreams of chasing ducks and makes low woof-woof noises.  That night, the ducks were chasing him and he was making whiny noises.  It took him a couple of days to get over it.  Since then, Sparky takes more pleasure in the little things.  He smiles a lot now.

That’s why it is so good to have a dog.  I’ve got friends and family, and they have helped out plenty.  Nobody was in a funk the entire time I was gone.  And, I didn’t worry about how anyone else was handling my absence.  I don’t know what Sparky was actually thinking, and he won’t say.  I do know that he is happiest when I’m around, and he is counting on me.  That’s a good feeling.

Now that I am a punkwad, I have come to the opinion that dogs and children should not be indulged, but should conform to the customs of the house.

Being two old guys, Sparky and I agree on a lot of things.  Sparky doesn’t sleep in my bedroom because I am indulging him, we both just sleep better knowing what the other fella is doing.

When Sparky slept in his crate, no matter what time I woke up, he’d be sitting at attention.  He’d come out of the box ready to frolic.  I am not a big morning frolicker.

Now, he sleeps in to give me time to shamble around with my coffee.  I got out of bed two hours ago and Sparky is sleeping past his 10 am breakfast.

He is such a good dog.

Sparky was feeling  cheated for giving up the dead squirrel.  He always intends to do the right thing, but he doesn’t see a dead squirrel as a moral question.  He needed his faith restored, so I took him for a car ride.

While we were out, he made a compelling case for picking up a rotisserie chicken.  After picking it up, the truck smelled great.  Sparky couldn’t stop talking about how much fun we’d have eating chicken when we got home.

Eating the chicken wasn’t as wonderful as Sparky had hoped.  Being a beagle, his idea of a good time is eating so much chicken, he vomits.  Then eating the vomit and taking a nap.  Instead, I gave him an amount equal to about 4 human bites with no greasy skin.

He found a squirrel in the brush, and pulled it out to show me.  After I told him to drop it, I got his WTF look.  To his credit, he did drop and abandon it when I spoiled his fun.

Now that we are back at the house, he is acting like I promised him something even better than a dead squirrel.  I’ll take him for a car ride to even the score.

Playing Chicken Run today, Sparky snatched the prize five times.

When the chicken was gone, pepperoni was the prize.  It’s aromatic, so got Sparky’s attention.  I was concerned that it might mix up Sparky’s innards, so today, we switched to kielbasa.

Driving with FPV, is deceiving.  I seemed to be winning, keeping Sparky on the jump, but when I checked, the prize was gone.  Driving without the FPV, I see how Sparky cleverly comes from behind or wheels around, and snatches the prize without me even knowing he  was there.  And, Sparky can shimmy under the coach.

I’m not sure the prize ever made it to the solarium and back.  Sparky won, 5-0.

I found a deer skull in the woods.  This counts as Sparky’s Christmas present.  We are leaving it outside for now because nobody wants a skull dragged around the house.  Well, Sparky does.  It might get mounted in his crate.  Sparky would like that.

Sparky got his present today, on Russian Christmas, so that may be a cosmic sign that he’s Russian.  That would explain a lot.  He only understands English when it suits him and he likes bread and salt.  Sparky is warm-hearted, fatalistic and reckless, so the epitome of the Russian soul.

Sparky and I have the outline of a good game.

This is the Deadbolt.  An FPV camera is mounted on the front and a tray is placed on the roof rack.  A piece of chicken is placed in the bait tray.

My advantage is that Sparky gets skittish when Deadbolt is coming at him and the Deadbolt can drive under a couch to be safe.

Sparky’s advantage is that he is faster and more maneuverable than Deadbolt and I can only see straight ahead. 

To keep it simple, the video was recorded by the Fat Shark FPV goggles, so the quality is poor.

Deadbolt is hiding under the couch.  Sparky knows there is chicken somewhere, but since he hasn’t connected the dots, Deadbolt ran him down.

This time, Deadbolt is waiting with it’s back to the wall so Sparky can’t sneak up.  Since Deadbolt isn’t moving, Sparky gets bold.  When the screen gets a bunch more interference lines, that is me hitting the gas, but the battery is low.  Too low to escape, so Sparky snatches the chicken.