Sherlock hates squirrels. They drive him crazy. He chases them, and goes nuts whenever he sees one. He especially goes mental if they dare to enter HIS backyard. As far as I know, despite no lack of determination, Sherlock has never caught nor killed one of these creatures.

I, on the other hand, have.

This morning, one of the little buggers darted out into the street while I was driving. I thought she had safely made it underneath the middle of the car, but then I heard and felt a thud from the rear of the car.

I saw no further movement when I looked in my rear-view mirror.

Sherlock would be pleased, but I feel terrible. The good news is that there is no major damage to my car, but the poor little thing! She never did anything to me, besides foolishly run under the tires of my moving vehicle.

And no, I don’t know for a fact that she was a she, I just imagine her as a poor sweet mama squirrel, with a bunch of squirrel babies, who are now looking for their Mommy.

Sorry, kids, but Mama got run over by some jerk in his RAV4.

And on top of everything, Sherlock wasn’t even there to see it.

This Sunday, on the Fourth of July, America will turn 234.  But more interesting than that is Sherlock will turn 7!  Yay!

Long story short: We adopted Sherlock on August 5th, 2005.  Since he was adopted, they didn’t know exactly when he was born, but they estimated he was 2 years and 1 month old.  (I’m not sure exactly how they estimate that – by counting the rings in his ears or something?)  From that, we deduced/decided that Sherlock’s birthday was July 4th, 2003 — 227 years to the day after the birth of this great nation.

It works out, because that means every year on Sherlock’s birthday, we’ll be outside, grilling meat products, and, since it’s his birthday, giving him some hamburger and other assorted goodies.  (Though we go easy on the hot dogs, those tend to… how should I put this… lead to some malodorous situations later on.)

So Happy Birthday, Sherlock!  And Happy Fourth of July to all!

If you have a strong stomach, check out this shaky-cam video of Sherlock’s very first trip into his new territory.

1. I am not playing by the “25 Things Rules” – none of you people tagged me. Thanks.
2. I tagged more than 25 people – I only have 30 odd friends, so whatever.
3. I love to sleep on top of people.
4. I know that I talk in my sleep sometimes, but I’ll deny it forever.
5. Speaking of sleep – my parents banished me from their bed. I love ‘em and all, but seriously, what gives?
6. I don’t understand why dogs are constantly sniffing my butt. Um, hello – I don’t even KNOW you.
7. And then when they start sniffing my wiener? On what planet is that socially acceptable behavior?
8. Peeing on stuff = awesomeness.
9. If it makes a squeaking noise, I officially love it.
10. I’ve never killed a squirrel or a cat, but I am totally confident my day will come.
11. I am ALWAYS hungry. You mind if I have a bite of what you’re having?
12. I hate going for swims.
13. I hate getting sedatives.
14. I REALLY hate it when my Dad posts video of said things on his lame-ass blog. (EDITOR’S NOTE: Ouch, that was harsh.)
15. I’m totally famous – I was on an episode of Animal Precinct once. But I don’t like to watch it; it’s all bad memories.
16. This may sound paranoid, but I am almost 100% positive that one day I had testicles, then I fell asleep, and when I woke up, THEY WERE GONE. Government conspiracy? You be the judge.
17. I could ride around in the car all day and not get bored.
18. Little kids are all right, up until they start whacking me with sticks. It’s happened more times than you might think.
19. One time I got into a fight with a Wheaten. She is still sorta messed up from it.
20. I love peanut butter, peanut butter treats, peanut butter cereal, peanut butter Puffins – basically anything that tastes like peanut butter.
21. Fireworks don’t scare me. All sorts of other random noises do.
22. Apparently, I am a very good boy.
23. Being such a good boy does not necessarily entitle me to the amount of treats one might think.
24. At least I’m not a fat beagle, I guess…
25. No, seriously – can I have a bite of that? Or maybe just the whole thing? Thanks!

The whole thing reminded me of a video they showed us in Psych 101, about narcoleptic dogs, though don’t ask me to remember what narcoleptic dogs have to do with psychology. All I remember was thatthe video was hysterical, and while I couldn’t find the exact clip on youtube, here are some other pretty funny videos of dogs falling asleep suddenly.

Don’t pretend you didn’t laugh…

And I wish all of my readers a Happy Hanukkah, a Merry Christmas, a Kwaaaazy Kwanzaa, a Tip Top Tet, and a solemn and dignified Ramadan.

After some fun traffic yesterday in Connecticut, the Noah family has returned to big city life. Fun times were had, despite the best efforts by the local bugs. I tell ya, New York mosquitoes will bite you and leave you alone, but those New England deer flies will dive-bomb you, trying desperately to fly into your ears no matter what you do. There were visits with family and friends (thanks for driving up, Uri, and Jess!), fireworks, and a whole of barbequing. We also headed into Boston for a day, and I got the full tour, including getting to see the world famous Boston Pops live and in person (pictured above). The week away did the three of us some good: I got to get some solid relaxation time in on the hammock, Courtney got in some shopping at the outlets in Maine, and Sherlock got to explore a place full of interesting new sniffs.

Actually, Sherlock had a very exciting week. In addition to his usual routine of chasing squirrels, he also got to go after ducks and chipmunks while off in the woods. He celebrated his fifth birthday, when he got a lot of people food, a tasty treat, a fire hydrant toy, and a brand new collar that’s sure to drive all the bitches crazy. And he even finally got over his fear of going for a swim. Sort of… See, previous trips to beaches and pools have always ended the same: Sherlock sniffs around the water, contemplates going in, and then decides against it. On this vacation, I decided he needed a little nudge, figuring that he’d love going for a nice doggie-paddle once he got past his initial fear. The below video shows the results of that experiment. (Before you watch, the stuff on my shoulders that looks like back hair is um, uh, just some dirt on the camera lens.)

Yeah, so he was not too happy with me, but hey, he dried off.