Happy Birthday to me!

Again I find myself apologizing for slacking in my blog posts. I am going to try to make an effort to set aside 5 or 10 minutes a day to keep my faithful followers apprised of my activities. Make no bones about it, I have been a busy boxer this summer and love every minute of it. Basically, I am on my fourth vacation since Memorial Day. We kicked off the summer with a week in the OBX with the rest of the Knowlton Klan.

Then in July, Mom and I went camping with Pappy John and Jasper at Stony Creek Campground in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. We had a blast hiking some seriously steep trails and wallowing in a local water hole. Since I'm not a swimmer like Jasper Phelps, I really didn't do much more than wade but it was still fun.
Here are a few pictures of our camping trip.

In August Mom and I went to our first ever Blue Ridge Dog Scout Mini Camp which was organized by Carlisle Troop 161. What a blast! I spent almost a week with the founder of of Dog Scouts of America, Lonnie Olson and her boxer mix, Kozi, who taught me how to paint earning me my Art of Shaping badge. I'm no Picaso but Mom thinks that I really have potential. I entitled this work of art "Wipe out at the Daytona 500." If you're interested in purchasing a copy, just shoot me an e-mail.

"Wipe Out" by Newman Knowlton

I also earned five other merit badges -- CPR, First Aid, Backpacking, Overnight Camping, Dog Care and Maintenance. If you are interested in learning more about Dog Scouts and the requirements for earning badges, etc., I encourage you to visit the DSA website which houses a host of free, educational information on getting involved with the organization, responsible dog ownership, training videos and guides, and much more. Here is just a brief album of some of the activities that took place at Mini Camp. Enjoy!

And as tradition has it, we say goodbye to summer and celebrate my birthday with two weeks in the OBX. In addition to my birthday, today was also Grandparents Day. So Happy G-Day to all you grandparents out there. While I'm on the topic of holidays, I love presents just like anyone else, but I do not care for the brown, fly-ridden ones left behind by other K-9s and their irresponsible owners here the past two weeks. While I have already accumulated the requisite 50 stray piles of poo to earn my Clean Up America I Merit Badge, Thelma Lou and Roger have really put a dent in their logs over the past week and a half. 

My 5th Birthday Celebration

You know the old saying, "The early bird catches the worm," well tomorrow morning this early bird is going to catch the turd -- meaning that I plan to get out early and patrol the neighborhood looking for those who neglect to clean up after their four-legged friends. It saddens me to say, that this is one of the worst years in my history of visiting the OBX that I have spotted and cleaned up so many stray piles of poo.

Photos of vacation in the OBX to be posted later this week. I promise.

Happy Grandparents Day!

In light of the 10th Anniversary of 9-11, I decided to hold off on posting this message until a little later in the day. While not an official Penn State holiday for Mom, today is Grandparents Day! I just thought that I should alert my followers who may not have known about this ever-so-important holiday.

And here's a little bit of history for you. The impetus for National Grandparents Day originated with Marian McQuade, a housewife in Fayette County, West Virginia. Her primary motivation was to champion the cause of lonely elderly in nursing homes, something that The Triple Threat does with great pleasure on a regular basis. Ms. McQuade also hoped to persuade grandchildren to tap into the wisdom and heritage that their grandparents could provide. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter proclaimed that National Grandparents Day would be celebrated every year on the first Sunday after Labor Day.

Love your neighbor as yourself 

The Triple Threat really does not have a particular photo that portrays how much we love our grandparents. However, having just received an e-mail message from a friend quoting Perry Smith's poem "To a Keeper" we thought that a modified version was particularly appropriate to post considering that the 10th Anniversary of 9-11 and Grandparents Day fell on the same day.

Happy Grandparents Day

Did you know that today is Grandparents Day? The brainchild of West Virginian natives Marian and Joe McQuade, Grandparents Day was first proclaimed a national holiday in 1978 when President Jimmy Carter signed the bill into law designating the first Sunday after Labor Day as national Grandparents Day.

While some cynics might view Grandparents Day as just another money-maker for the card companies, many passionate pups like Rog and me choose to celebrate the occasion with cards and calls to our loved ones. If you haven’t done so already, we urge you to take this opportunity to do the same.

The sun rises and sets with grandparents