Hi! My name is Casey. Sue and Jim are my
mom and dad, and Cody is my big brother.
I asked Dad to write this for me since
my toes are too fat to type on a laptop computer keyboard. Mom
dug up some old and new photos to illustrate my story.
I was born in northern Virginia on
August 15, 2012. Mom and Dad adopted me when I was eight weeks
old. I knew I liked them from the first minute I met them
at the breeder's kennel:
And I haven't stopped licking them
since!
My birth mother and at least one sister are beauty
queens (my sire was a champion, too), but I guess I wasn't
predicted to have the looks or personality
for a career in the show ring.
Belquest Deep Run Easy Peasy AKA "Easy" (my dam)
Robney's Two Thumbs Up at Moonlit AKA "Siskel" (my sire)
Deep
Run Lemon Squeezy of Kaleef AKA "Squeezy" (one
of my six sisters)
That's okay, because Mom and Dad think
I'm cuter than my sister and they didn't give me such a silly name on
my AKC registration.
Easy Peasy? Lemon Squeezy?? Give me a
break!! (Mom thinks it's clever.)
I really love my life and wouldn't
trade this lifestyle for anything. I bet I have a lot more fun
than Squeezy does, having to primp and pose all the time!
I get
to climb gnarly rocks (White Mtns. of NH, July, 2014) . . .
. . .
hide from Mom (Whites, July, 2014) . . .
. . . find
cool rock windows (Colorado
Springs, May, 2015) . . .
. . .
and swim in lakes, streams, and oceans from Florida (above, April, 2015)
to
Alaska (below, June, 2015).
We used to live in a house in
Virginia, and it was okay but we sold it and now live in our
nice big camper. I think we're pretty lucky because we get to
travel anywhere in the country we want to.
I really love my family and they
really love me. I'm sure glad I picked them for my family.
I
even got to help Dad pick blueberries on a mountainside in
Alaska this summer.
I'm
good at sniffing out (and eating) all kinds of
berries. (Aug., 2015)
When we aren't busy, we like
to hang out together by the camper. (AK, June, 2015)
Mom feeds Cody and me our breakfast
and takes us for walks every morning. I really enjoy that time
with my mom.
Sometimes we go for longer hikes in
the desert, mountains, or wherever we're staying. I like when Dad goes with us, too.
Playing with Dad in the sand at the nearby conservation area; I love to
retrieve
sticks on land or water but I don't easily give them up!
(AZ, Nov., 2015)
I
like all the water at the conservation area but Mom won't let
me in when the birds are nearby. (Dec., 2015)
Above
and below: Hiking in Black Canyon, AZ (Oct., 2015)
I'm usually pretty tired when we get home.
I prefer hiking where there are trees and water so I can stay
cooler:
Cody
and I are drinking water in a shady creek at Explore Park in
Virginia.
Every night I make my bed just the way
I want it, and Mom always messes it up again.
Doggone it. I had these towels all scrunched up on my
bed so I could curl my body around
them
but Mom insists they lie flat to keep the beige-colored
fleece cover more clean. (August, 2015)
My life isn't all playing, eating, and
sleeping though.
Dad and I have been guarding Yuma Proving
Ground (YPG) in Arizona for a couple of months now, since we arrived
in late October. I get really excited when Mom or Dad mentions
"Walky Dog." I can't wait to get going.
We usually patrol the entire post
twice a day. Each round takes about 45 minutes.
We go almost every morning and
evening. It's usually cooler if we go after dark and
that's when all those marauding creatures are out doing their
deeds. There are always several foxes and coyotes looking for
mischief after dark.
Starting out on our morning patrol; that's our camper and
truck behind us. (Dec., 2015)
Since we're working at night we need
special equipment. We bought lights for our bike and Dad let
me have the tail light for my harness. We have to be safe and
look professional if we're going to guard an important
military installation like this.
I really look spiffy with my light and
sometimes I get comments from people we see. But I have to
stay focused. I can't just stop to look at all the holiday lights and
house decorations on post when we're riding around at night:
This isn't the first military contract
we've had.
My first assignment was King's Bay Georgia, one of
only two nuclear submarine bases in the country. I had just
started using the
Walky Dog there. It's a very useful piece
of equipment.
I
liked all the green grass and lakes at Kings Bay but I
couldn't get
in
the water because of all the big alligators. (Winter,
2014-15)
Sometimes I have to pull so Dad will know which
direction to go. I don't think he would know how to get back
home if I didn't pull him along. Dad finally got used to it by
the time we got to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
We've guarded other military installations, too
-- the Blue Angel Naval Recreation Area and Pensacola Naval
Air Station Florida, Malmstrom AFB Montana, Joint Base
Elmendorf-Richardson Alaska, and Hill AFB Utah.
Having fun at the Blue Angel Rec. Area (April, 2015)
"On
duty" at JBER in Anchorage, AK this summer
I used to get a tiny Milk Bone every time I
stopped to "do my business," but I'm on a diet now. I only get
one when I go #2.
And I try to always do that in the
Colonel's yard. He's the Post Commander at YPG so it's important that
Dad pick it up. Sometimes he mumbles something about doing it
behind a bush where he doesn't have to pick it up but that's
hard to do when I'm on such a short leash . . .
Dad
always stops to get a couple poop bags out of the handy
dispenser located
a few
feet from our camper. He never takes me anywhere without a
poop bag!
We average a total of 6-7 miles every day. The time it
takes varies, depending on
how many critters we find. We always see at least one fox in
the family housing area, sometimes two. A coyote hangs out by
the ambulance barn and another fox stalks the library
entrance.
They don't seem frightened of us. We don't mean them any
harm; our goal is to protect military property.
Above and below: Dad seems to enjoy
this job as much as I do. (Dec., 2015)
Sometimes my big brother Cody and I will
play with toys on the floor.
He's fun to play with, but
sometimes he's a little grumpy, like when he rebuffed my
efforts to play in the picture below:.
I'm
moping because Cody won't play with me right now.
(August, 2015)
Here's a good picture of me pestering, er, playing with
Cody when I was just a
little squirt. I have to be more gentle now that I'm a Big
Girl. (Oct., 2012)
Playing with a rubber stick toy at Joint
Base Charleston (Nov., 2013)
I can usually get Cody going if
I nudge him long enough and put a ball or one of our stuffed squeaky toys
next to his nose. Mom really likes to
see us rolling around on the floor, playing together. We play
even harder when she laughs at us.
Mom and Dad used to put a gate up at the
bottom of the steps to keep me from going up in their bedroom
in the wee hours of the night. I only did that a couple of
times though, mostly when something scared me, like lightning
or high winds.
They stopped using the gate because
I've outgrown my fears and don't go up there until I hear them
stirring in the morning. I love to go up and lick Dad's face
when he wakes up. I get so excited in the mornings. They seem
really happy to see me in the morning, too. Cody lets me do all the work. I
do all the wiggling and licking and we both get breakfast.
All-in-all, I have a pretty good life
and I'm very happy. I can't wait to see where we go next.
I really like snow. Dad doesn't, so we're
in Arizona for the winter. Although it gets
cold in the desert at night, we won't be getting any snow in
Yuma. Phooey. (CO, May, 2015)
As long as there's a place where Dad
and I can play ball and go for bike rides, I'll like it there.
Another military contract would be nice, too.
[Addendum from Sue: At 3+ years of age Casey is less of
a
Wild Child than she used to be but she's still an exuberant
little girl who charms nearly everyone she meets. Cody is
almost 13 now, fairly old for a Labrador retriever. He's still
in great shape and mostly tolerant of Casey's antics. We think
she's probably keeping Cody younger -- us, too, because
we frequently laugh at her silliness and she makes sure we
bike or hike a bunch with her every day. She's an animal!]
Next entry: year-end review of our 2015 RV
travels
Happy trails,
Sue
"Runtrails & Company" - Sue Norwood, Jim O'Neil,
Cody the ultra Lab, and Casey-pup
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© 2015 Sue Norwood and Jim O'Neil
