April 1, 2019

Dear Friends
Happy April fool's day.  Well, it was April fool's day here as I wrote this, but it wasn't yet April 1st in California.  I am still confused about how this time thing works.  But apparently, I live in your future.  And I didn't even need a time machine.  Really, though, I don't even like the car, and so I don't think I would ever want to try a time machine.

It was another beautiful day in Poggio San Marcello.  Maree planted flowers in pots on the patio over the weekend, so the yard will look nice when people come to see the house this week.  It took her a while to decide what to plant because she had to find plants that wouldn't poison me since I eat every green thing I see, and I like to eat flowers too.  Well, she picked some basil, rosemary, sage and impatiens plants.  I am not interested in those herb things.  They all smell.  But the flowers are nice.  I am trying to restrain my appetite though since I know she worked so hard planting everything.  So far I have only stolen two of the flowers, but I can't promise that more won't go missing. 

We spent time at the beach again on Sunday.  It was so pretty and warm and I had a nice walk -- well, not really walk because I never walk when I am on the leash.  I just pull as hard as I can while Maree tries to keep up with me and the harness chokes me.  I sound like a dying pig as I pull Maree along, and people all give us weird looks.  I do have a brain, but sometimes I guess I don't use it.  It was very thirsty business pulling Maree across the arid desert, and we finally stopped to get me a drink of water at a restaurant on the sand. 

For me, Saturday here was a better day than Sunday, however.  I was the great explorer, Dino the Magnificent, looking for signs of long extinct species.  I ran out the front door, nose to the ground, and was hot on the trail.  I saw something hiding under the rocks and running for cover under the lavender bushes.  I was in hot pursuit.  Wait a minute, if they are extinct, how could I see so many of them?  Oh, well, no time to worry about such small details.  I ran up the road, and through the fields.  I could hear Maree's voice in the far distance calling my name.  But, I was a great explorer, and no one calls a great explorer home until he has completed his mission.  So, I just ignored her and wandered further and further away from the house through the olive grove and the fields clothed in small daisies.  I liked the smell of spring.  The soft grasses under my feet.  The pale green leaves on the trees.  But mostly, I liked the scent I was following.   It was everywhere.  It surrounded me.  I was euphoric.  But I was out of luck.

 I was having so much fun trying to catch those little lizardy things, but they eluded me.  Time passed as I wandered through the fields and our neighbors' yards.  Jim and Maree were getting worried because I ran further and further away, but they knew if they pursued me I would just keep running.  That is my favorite game, after all, running away whenever they try to capture me.  So, they kept calling me and I kept ignoring them.  I am not deaf, but I am not the kind of dog that grovels at their master's feet.  In my house, I am the master, or at least I think I am.  Well, anyway, after about an hour of pursuing my quarry, I was hot and thirsty.  I didn't know being an explorer was such hot, dry work.  So I finally ran back in the house for a quick drink of water.  That was my mistake because Maree and Jim were quicker.  The minute I set foot in the kitchen, I heard the door slam shut.  I was trapped.  I guess Dino the Magnificent had returned home from his great adventure, and he didn't even bring back a trophy.  Oh, well, next time I'll be sure to bring one of those lizards back as a memento instead of a tick. 

I did make another new discovery earlier in the week though.  I heard Maree ask Jim, "What hasn't Dino eaten?"  Well, that was a challenge, so I had to find something new.  I was upstairs in Jim's office with Maree who was trying to reset the router for the computer.  When she turned around I was gone.  She knows that is not a good sign, so she followed me down the stairs where I was, of course, chewing on something.  She traded a treat for what was in my mouth, but it was a little too late.  I had already eaten the Sim card for the dongle that provides our internet connection.  I wonder if that's why I've been hearing voices?  They are in Italian though, so I don't know what they are saying.  Well, all things come to pass they say, and I sure hope this does too, and that is no April fool's joke.   

Jim, Maree and I will be off to Sorrento in two weeks.  I know it will be an adventure  Who knows what things I might discover in Pompeii, but I am already worried about that long car ride.  And then, there is the stroller.  I almost forgot about the stroller.  I heard Maree tell Jim she bought one for me, so they won't have to carry me through all of the buildings in Pompeii.  And maybe if I am in a stroller they can go inside museums too.  What is a stroller anyway?  Is it like a car?  Maybe I can just eat it and be done with it.  But I guess I won't know until Amazon delivers it.
Wishing all of my friends a beautiful April and Buona Pasqua from Italy.  Until my next adventure,

Your friend,

Dino the Magnificent