My First Trip to Tennessee

For maybe just the third or fourth time in my life, I got to leave the state of Indiana last weekend! I’ve been to Ohio a couple of times to visit family and friends, but that’s it, until this past weekend when my parents took me down to Tennessee!

Unfortunately, we didn’t get over to Knoxville, Tenn. so that I could call on Smokey, but we did make it all the way down to Nashville/Nolensville, Tenn. to stay with my good friend, Reese (Peanut Butter Cup) the miniature daschund and her parents Jason and Betsy Weatherly.

It was also the first time that I got to go along with my parents for a race weekend as my dad was going there with Vision Racing to work the Firestone Indy 200 at Nashville Superspeedway.
I didn’t end up getting to go to the track with him, but I probably could have. I had my credential (Its true. See picture below) and Ed Carpenter (2003 Butler grad) had his motor coach there with the A/C running. It could have worked!

Instead I stayed back at the Weatherly residence and tired myself out playing with Reese. Her and I are like a regular “Milo and Otis,” so to speak. I enjoy stealing her toys, she enjoys stealing my food and we both like to chase each other around the furniture as displayed in the video below. Ahh, good times.

It was a good weekend and fun for me to get away with my parents for once. I had such a good time and wore myself out so much that I slept the entire way home.

Yep, for the 5+ hour ride home, instead of sleeping on the back seat, I laid down on the floorboard in the back and sawed logs all the way home. I only got up once when we stopped for a quick potty break.

Other than that the past couple of weeks have been fairly uneventful. I’ve just passed the time by taking naps and tearing up my toys around the office. Below is a picture and evidence of the destruction. The victim in those pictures was an alligator of mine, which has actually been in my stash of office toys for probably two years. I finally decided it was time to cause havoc on the poor gator. I was particularly proud of myself that day.

On Wednesday morning I had to go visit the vet b/c my mom found a chipped tooth underneath all my defining flabs and wrinkles. My parents are kind of sensitive about my teeth because well, I don’t have that many, and because one time I broke a molar in half and had to have it removed before it caused infection. What can I say, I’m a British bulldog…I naturally have bad teeth.

Anyway, a tip of one of my fangs has been chipped and the tooth is starting to die (don’t worry, you can’t see it…my flab covers it). Dr. Kurt Phillips (a Butler grad) at Woodland Animal Hospital in Carmel, Ind. said that it looked fine and as long as it wasn’t causing me any pain, then my health was not in jeopardy. He said a doggy dentist would want to do a root canal and cap it, which he said at this stage was excessive.

I was happy to oblige with the no-treatment route and be on my merry way. (In the picture it might be hard to tell that my fang is chipped, but you can start to see the discoloration caused by the slow death of the tooth.)


Speaking of the vet, I think I may have failed to mention that I was there a while back for my annual check-up…shots/vaccinations, ears, eyes, etc. I weighed 62 lbs. and received a clean bill of health. I also got a new jangle to my jingle with my updated rabies vacc. tag (pictured).

This weekend my parents are headed off to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for another race and a bit of camping. I love to camp and you’d think that this would be one of the races that I’d get to go to as it’s probably the most conducive venue on the circuit to having dogs around. But, the owners of the place must not like dogs or something because pets aren’t allowed at Mid-Ohio.

So, that means I’ll be headed north again (read: Wabash, Ind.) to spend some time with both the Kaltenmark and Richards grandparents. I’m so lucky to have such a loving place to go. I’m looking forward to the attention, sleeping-in and special treats!

To get ready I spent a lot of quality time with my parents last night. I got a bath and was thoroughly furminated. Then we went outside on the back deck where we all got on the swing and enjoyed listening to the locusts and just hanging out.

Today I have another piano camp photo-op and that’s about it. So I’ll probably just nap, eat, bark at inanimate objects, shred some toys or boxes, sleep some more and just hang out. It’s hard being me. Luckily I’m up for the task.


I hope your summer is going as well as mine is. The weatherman says that it’s only supposed to warm up over the next few days so crank up that A/C, keep cool and apply sunscreen liberally.

Blue II