UPDATE!

The cicadas are out all the time now, and they make lots of loud noises way up in the trees.  I think that when they make these noises, they are saying "Ha, ha!  You dogs can't eat us when we are way up here!"  It's pretty annoying to hear the cicadas talk like this, but what they are too dumb to know is that when they make all that racket in the trees, they are just telling the birds where they are, and the birds can come and eat them.  Ha!

Hunting for yummy cicadas

Anyway, we had a few days when it was cooler weather, so Mom took us out cicada hunting.  She calls this "going for a walk," but we know the real reason we are out there.  Other days it's too hot for Mom to take us cicada hunting, so she says we can just hunt cicadas in the back yard.  Which is what we do.  In fact, we go running out the door first thing every morning to see if there are any cicadas on the patio.  Mom worries about her plants because sometimes we knock them over while we are on the trail of a juicy cicada, but Mom just needs to understand how very, very important it is for us to catch cicadas.

One of Mom's plants blooming.
 It's called a stapelia.

Lately, Mom has been paying way too much attention to her plants, if you ask me.  And the reason for this is because next weekend will be the cactus show and sale, so Mom has been trying to get some plants ready to sell, and she also has to decide which plants to show, and she repotted some stuff, too.  Sometimes I think that Mom loves her plants more than she loves her dogs, which is a silly thing for her to do because plants are boring and stupid.  They can't even "sit" or "fetch" or "roll over."  Although they can do "stay" pretty well, and some of Mom's plants are also good at "play dead."

This one is called a hoya.

Anyway, Mom stayed home for a couple of days and mostly messed around with her plants, but yesterday she went out shopping to some thrift stores.  And what she bought was one pair of shorts and three t-shirts.  Mom said that this was three more t-shirts than she needs, but they were only $1 each, so how could she say no?  And right outside the thrift store, on the sidewalk, Mom saw a big, fat, green cicada, but did she pick it up and bring it home to us?  No!  What kind of mean and thoughtless mom is that?

But at least Mom also went to the Brookside Barkery and Bath, where she bought some dog food for us.  And what she bought was Nature's Variety Prairie Venison, which is what Gabe has been eating, but now Mom has decided to have all of us eat it.  I'm happy about this because I think it is very yummy food.

Gabe dreaming of chasing cats

Let's see, what else should I tell you?  Oh, Mom's dog bite is mostly healed up and it doesn't hurt much anymore.  And Gabe got the results of his last blood test, and everything looks good, and now he's only taking one prednisone pill every other day instead of two.  And the reason he has to take prednisone is because of his Inflammatory Bowel Disease, but since he was taking a bunch of it, his hair was getting thin and he was getting sort of sunken cheeks,  which Dr. Senter, the dermatologist, says is called "pred head."

Chloe

Well, maybe I should also mention our fat cat foster kitties.  Mom put a different gate in the door of their room, so they can get out of their room if they want to.  Sometimes they do come out, which I think is kind of nice, but if Gabe sees them, he chases them back into their room.  So Gabe is mainly the reason why we can't have cats roaming around in our house.  Mom and I both wish Gabe would be nicer to the kitties, but he thinks it's more fun to chase them.

Oh, but guess what!  Our kitties have lost some weight!  Charlie lost 1-1/2 pounds already, and Chloe lost 1 pound.  Mom says that in another 6 or 8 months they might be more the right weight!