Animal Insting

We are very excited because we are going to have company visiting us, which hardly ever happens!  Who's coming is our Aunt Cheryl and her basenji, Hank.  Aunt Cheryl is a very special friend of Mom's, and we all like her because she understands about dogs, and especially about basenjis.  And Hank is a very handsome boy.  I like him a whole bunch!  Hank is a tri-colored basenji, which means he has three colors, kind of like the flag of the United States.  Except that his three colors are black, tan, and white.  He is exactly the same age as Gabe, which is 11 years old, and they will both be 12 in January.

Hank is known as Hankster Prankster because he is always getting into mischief.  He is a good example of how a Real Basenji behaves.  A Real Basenji is very curious, like a cat, and likes to get into things and on top of things and in the middle of things.  Also a Real Basenji usually likes to chew things up.  Gabe and I aren't such good examples of Real Basenjis because we don't get into trouble all the time, like Hank does.  Although, of course, we have our moments!

Hank used to open the refrigerator at his house, but now his mom and dad have a refrigerator with the freezer at the bottom, so he can't open it.  This is sad because Hank used to like to open the door get lots of yummy things out for all the dogs in the house to enjoy.  This was very thoughtful of him, in my opinion.

Aunt Cheryl and Hank live in Austin, which is a city in Texas.  It's not as big or as far south as Houston, where I come from, but being in Texas makes it a special city anyway.  Mom and Gabe and I have gone to Austin several times to visit Aunt Cheryl and her dogs.  There used to be a lot of dogs at Aunt Cheryl's house, but now there are only two, Hank and Gracie.  Gracie is not a basenji.  She is an airedale mix.  The reason why there are only two dogs there now is because all the other dogs got old and died, which made Aunt Cheryl very sad.

Anyway, this year we did not go to Austin because we stayed home all year so we could save money because of The Economy, like I explained to you before.  But Mom asked Aunt Cheryl if she wanted to come here and visit us, and she said she did.  It's been a long time since Aunt Cheryl came to visit us.  In fact, the last time she came here, I didn't even live here yet.  Aunt Cheryl was born right here in Kansas City, and she likes to go see some of the places where her grandparents used to live, and also the place where her father is buried.

Mom says we have to clean the house before Aunt Cheryl and Hank get here.  That means she will run the noisy vacuum, which always makes us dogs nervous.  Mom thinks we are not much help when it comes to cleaning house, and she is totally right about that!  I am getting very excited, though, because our visitors will arrive exactly one week from today.  Oh boy, I can hardly wait!