Kongo doesn’t have dogs.  He wanted to get a dog.  Some smallish thing with short hair that doesn’t shed and doesn’t bark.  Mrs. Kongo said, “sure, you can have a dog.  When you travel, it travels.”  She evidently does not recall the fond memories of taking care of dogs and raising two boys in younger times when Kongo was sailing the seven seas keeping the world safe for democracy.  So much for gratitude.  Anyway Kongo was allowed to build a koi pond during a house remodel and he has 10 beautiful (and big) koi swimming in the front courtyard but it’s pretty hard to take a koi for a walk.  They don’t snuggle up well and don’t perform tricks although they will eat out of your hand if you’re patient.

Anyway, to the dogs.  The sleeping canine above is Rocky.  His twin sister Sima is below.  Rocky is just a big, dumb Golden Retriever that bumps into things, knocks over drink glasses with his wagging tail, and sometimes gets excited and runs through screen doors.  He sleeps a lot.  He also passes gas when he eats too fast, which is pretty much all the time.

Sima, on the other hand, is the brains of this dog duo.  She lives pretty much for one thing and that is to chase tennis balls.  She never goes anywhere without one and there’s nothing quite like taking a snooze on the patio chaise and having a slobbery orb of a yellow tennis ball dumped on your stomach.  She will run through surf, walk across pools, and race across freeways to get a tossed tennis ball.  She can catch a speeding tennis ball without it even bouncing once when fired at her from across the yard.  One of her favorite tricks is to catch a tennis ball that comes down on the patio after it’s been bounced off the roof of the house.

Anyway, Kongo is dog sitting this week while the grand girls and parents are taking a brief summer getaway to Catalina Island.  Maybe Kongo can take them for a walk or ride around the back yard on their backs.  You have to be careful with these dogs because if the tennis ball goes into the pool, Sima goes right in after it.  Rocky will follow but basically he just wades around and wags his tail.  Then you have dog hair in the pool and it takes a whole lot of sweeping and filter running to get the pool clean enough for Kongo to get back in.  There’s nothing quite like coming up from underwater, taking a deep breath, and then having to pull dog hair out of your monkey mouth.

Should be a fun week.  The girls come back on Friday so Kongo’s Kennel is a temporary thing.

Have fun.  Travel safe.