Oliver’s Bungalow Blog

On the other hand, there may be another reason the mail wasn’t delivered for a few days…

this “Dog Warning Card” was in my mailbox when I got home on Friday. I don’t think it was meant for me, the customer, but rather it is meant for the mail carrier. Nevertheless, Oli and I are a bit despondent over the whole thing. It is hard to imagine anyone thinking my sweet boy is a “Dangerous Dog”.

It is no mistake, either. It has our address, Oli’s breed “golden retriever”, and his name. And not just Oliver. It says “Ollie”! So, they know this dog. I mean, I know he barks at people, but if they stop to talk to him, he’s so easy, he’d roll over for a belly scratch from a complete stranger. The most dangerous thing about him is that wicked wagging tail. Or the sandpaper scratchy tongue he uses to give kisses.

The UPS guys have no problems with him. I’ve seen them when he is out. They call out to him, toss him a biscuit, deliver their box to the front porch, and hop back in their big brown van before Oli’s even finished chewing.

Now, I know the postal carriers are on foot for their daily deliveries, because we are in town, but still. The mail is usually delivered in the middle of the afternoon, when I’m at work. When I’m at work, Oli is locked safely in his room in the house. He can’t even jump at the front door or anything wild like that. And if I am home when they deliver mail, I’m generally outside if Oli is out. Especially if he is on the front porch. And then I’ll just walk out to greet the mail carrier, and they will just hand the mail to me.

And I get that mail carriers encounter all sorts of dogs, some who might actually be a threat. But Oli is not a threat. On top of that, he very rarely has unattended access to the front porch.

Dangerous Dog. Vicious Golden Retriever. Indeed.

I thought I’d share a couple of pictures from my party the other day.

First impressions: here we see a cleaned up porch (who knew?), with one fluffy golden retriever ready to bark at anyone who fails to greet him. As you may recall, most of the spring and summer the front porch has been dominated with various projects including, but not limited to, baby robins, plant potting and screen door staining, and consequently has looked quite trashy. So it was nice to finally get it cleared up.

Here I am, in my kitchen, which was all clean only a few hours before. It is a constant battle. And sorry to disappoint, but that is only iced tea there in my cup.
The all important dessert spread. My grandma Gloria made the coconut cake. It is kind of her specialty. She makes it with fresh coconut, and it is soooo good. Grandma Gloria got a pacemaker only six days before the party, and had heart bypass surgery five days before that, but she looks great and is doing so well that she was able to come, and my grandparents stayed for more than three hours. I think the thing she is most upset about is that she can’t wash her hair! She’s so funny. There was almost a week between the time the doctors determined that she had a heart attack (absolutely no pain) and when they scheduled her for surgery, so she had too much time to fill, so to keep herself busy, she made my birthday cake and put it in the freezer. She was worried that I wouldn’t have a birthday cake! Can you imagine? Grandmothers!

p.s. Who needs tiebacks when you can use mis-matched scrunchies? Aah, now isn’t this the life, eh, Oliver?

And finally, some beautiful flowers that were given to me by dear, lovely people I work with. Although, as you know, I can’t leave well enough alone. I had to take both bouquets apart and sort them into arrangements I found more pleasing than the florist’s.