How Letty Found Magic by Murphy Doodle

 Letty knows how much i love to play, every>>night, , , , , , before we sleep,

but lately she says NO..........that is a word i no and i do not like it,

Some>>times she would walk around the yard with me and then sit down and take a nap

She said her head felt cluttered and needed naps so it could work better

all winter she sat in her play room making words, like J E F F E R S O N out of letters on her computer,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,She could not help me write my stories

I stayed with her and watched for squirrels + cats at the window or slept on my bed,,,,,,still we played inside games at night before sleep

One day she told me to stop whining and go play with>>out her then she showed me her frown face

I whined for her to play and she growled at me 

I laid down in the corner behind her 

It began to rain 1 day then 2 days 

I took naps 2 because the house was quiet

At last the sun came out and there were flowers blooming

Letty went outside with me and played frisbee,,,,I ran as fast as I could

I heard her tell Jack that the wind might blow the clutter out of her head

The wind blew day after day but the clutter did not fly away and she kept her frown

I licked Letty's face and ears

She smiled :)   :)    :) 

If Letty would chase me around the house her brain might work better ??????

I wagged my tail and gave her my paw

She smiled (:   (:    (: 

Finally, , , , ,she whispered in my ear and it tickled--I liked it--then she whispered again with a smile

"Murphy," she said my name while she rubbed by chin and ears "Where is your toy ? ? ? ?"

I jumped for joy and fun and found my toy then I dug out another toy and she threw my toys all over the house

She laughed and laughed and I jumped over the furniture and raced around the house

The next night we played toys and she laughed again........It felt like magic in the air

After she laughed her frown went away!

I wish people were more like dogs

Dogs do not frown

But people make magic when they laugh

{}[]\\||?/?/?/{   } letty let me hit funny keys on the black writer 

 

Murphy and the Paws That Talk

no body wants to play outside with me today so i decided to write about what happens when i try to right or play inside..,.,.,,, i think i have forgotten how to right correctly for people talk , , , , now i remember the curly comma like my tail

today letty told me that I needed to use a period so that my sentences didn’t run on

she said it makes people paws

now that makes no sense at all first of all I am a dog and I run 

she says I run and run and run it only makes sense that I would use run-on sentences. 

In house running is called the zoomies.

she takes short steps and stops sometimes to look at the sky

she can use short sentences and periods.  

sometimes her sentences  end abruptly like when she sits down and puts her hands in the air and says no more. that means stop playing now

people talk is so confusing I no that NO means stop that sit means sit and stop but period also means stop how can that be the same thing?

when we walk letty says NO when i want to eat left over foods on the ground and she says SIT when i am suppose to stop for cars and other dogs and people

is sit the same as stop as period as NO?

when jack or letty sit too long i must make them stand up and play toys with me

Jack is up now we can play keep away. 

to help them stand up,, i use my paws to tell them what to do

most of the time they understand. the most fun is when i sit behind letty when she is on the computer and i paw at the chair. i don't think she likes the noise it makes.....

what i do not understand is how they paws the big screen story machine?

Letty's Back by Murphy Doodle

Letty's back

 when I was a puppy letty held me on her shoulder  my nose sniffed her ear { } and she made funny noises { } and shook her body ";" 

the next year and the next year letty and jack played soccer with me. .  .   .    . toss the Frisbee and keep away with tennis balls and toys... I love those games  

last year jack began to walk with me every 
morning sometimes without letty....that made me sad so i slept in her chair 

one cold winter day letty sat down to write her stories, not my stories

i thought she forgot about me

i pawed at her and she said NO!!

Sometimes when i whine she will rub my neck

I slept on the bed behind her and she smiled and petted me.

I slept on her feet and she { giggled } so i did it again and again }{ so i could be with her  I missed letty rubbing my belly everyday

i missed letty tossing toys in the house everyday for 2 years now

one day when it was 2 hot 4 me 2 play outside she stood up from the "come peewt her" and did a funny dance step and said, " 'Murphy please dance with me' "

I jumped off the bed and ran down the hallway in my zoomie run

she laughed and chased me

back and forth and forth and back we ran

Now everyday she has rubbed my belly {}{}{}{}

i love letty and i like her front  much better than her back

i think she loves me 2

*Note from the editor--Murphy likes to use funny symbols rather than , and .  I think his spelling has improved. 

Best of all I am in the final editing stages of the latest collection of stories "Jefferson Then and Now 1894-2025, Norman, Oklahoma's landsite school." I plan to play everyday with Murphy now and begin coloring in Zen patterns with crayons and colored pencils. 

 

Murphy Versus the Rains of November

 

I  am having a long boring day, and letyty says that some days are like that, even in Australia....whatever ? that means??

lettty laughed when she said it so,',',',',',' it must be good;

 look at the new lettters i am finding on the big keys;

;;;;;; this looks like my tail with a dot; i think i will use it instead of a black dot

I have black dots on my chest and bellly and that is where they belong, not on a piece of paper;;;;;;; these letters make me think that i am waggging my tail;;;;;;;

it is raining and i am not wagiging my tail====

I cannot go outside and chase the squirrrels out of my yard and we sure have tooo many of those long tailed varmits====

i played with my toys yester night when it rained //////

 I have been playing with my chews and my bouncy ballls and my bones! then lettty said NO MORE

jack says that i look pitiful but i do not look pitiful enough or he  wood take me for a walk>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

now i am having fun on this computer and letty is laughing;;;;;;

she says that i must really be bored to play on the key bored like this][ or look i can make a box [] 

I can make <><><><><><> a doggie lease

guess what????????

letty and jack have to drive somewhere and it is not raining, so i can go with them;;;;;;;

this is so much fun;;; look at me run,;,;,;,;,;,;,;,; splash splash

Now i am home and dry and happy

maybe the sun will come out tomorrow

BLAM letty hit some keys and i watched a girl named Annie sing this song that i LOVE 

 The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

Elvis in the Shower by Murphy Doodle

Did you say shower?????

I have to take a inside shower whenever letty says I smell like a dog,  a dirty dog,  Doesn’t she understand that I am a dog? 

I have learned to walk to the shower because there is always a treat for me before I step inside and after I step out. Before she had to drag me,  but she figured out that a treat would tease me into the shower,

She is really smart for a person

I do NOT like the first blast of water. . . When she covers me with soap I begin to shake all over and this time she laughed at me 

She said that I looked like Elvis in the shower and she laughed and laughed and laughed some more ?????

 I do NOT know what Elvis is, but I didn’t think it was funny the way she laughed at me. . . I was a wet dog and shaking all over from my black head to the tip of my white tail.

 She kept laughing and then started singing something about a hound dog  I am not a hound dog. . .... I am a cute dog   That is what people say when they see me at the park. 

I decided to shake again to show her that I am a wet dog not an Elvis dog

 After that Letty said, “Murphy. Settle.”  she took a deep breath and made a long sigh and then she  began to laugh again?

 When I dropped my head, she stopped laughing and tried to talk to me like a person.  “I am laughing because of the way you shake, rock and roll like Elvis Presley in the shower.”

what is an ELVIS???  she does not hear my question when i look at her

 After she opened the shower door for me to leave, I shook as fast as I could and then wagged my tail. 

I get the zoomies when I get out of the shower.

when i am wet all over, It is more fun out of the shower.  Now, I can shake rattle and roll inside the house. It makes me feel good all over. I guess it’s ok to be like Elvis in shower. 

I think i will act like Elvis more often now since i know it makes letty laugh.

She tried to show me this on the computer  Hound Dog  

 

 

Big Bad Ass Bald Cypress by Murphy Doodle

Letty says that it has been a long winter and she is tired of me dragging in leaves and twigs,

first of all, i do not drag anything into our house but sometimes when i shake my body, brown pieces of leaves and grass fly through the air,

even i do not like the brown twigs that stick to my tail and ears,

it is not my fault that brown needles from a tree called bad ass bald cypress sticks to my fur,

that is why i shake in the house and rub my head on the carpet

most of the time letty and jack pick the needles out of my hair, and i don't cry or act like a whimp when it pulls or bites, i am not a puppy

one night when i was scratching and itching because of the nasty needles letty told me that the bad ass cypress will grow a new set of lovely russet-red lacy needles this spring,

if that is what poet tree is then whoever said that has never slept with red lacy needles in their tail

 

the lady who gives me baths and loves on me while she dries my hair told me that i was really dirty and sticky this winter

I hung my head

i am lucky to have a lot of curly hair that keeps me warm in the winter,

when the lady who cuts my hair shaves by body i don't get cold but i do look funny and skinny, no one says I am a cute dog when my hair is not curly,

but the big bad brown needles do not stick to my short hair except on my long wagging tail,  

today is not winter where i live, so jack sits outside with me on afternoons like this and keeps me company,

when we are swinging the big ass cypress stands bald behind the swing in the gardeners yard, i think bald means no hair and maybe the same thing for a tree, that is because all of the trees hair fell in our yard and i rolled in it

jack says in a few more weeks all of the needles will be gone and he won't sit on the swing and pick at my hair, 

i hope he is write and i hope he will still swing with me

maybe when spring comes to our house letty will spend more time outside away from her computer

my favorite time is when she sits on the swing with jack and me

What I Am Learning by Murphy Doodle

I am Murphy Doodle, writer and people lover.

I am two years old now whatever that means to people but I am still the same writer I have always been

Letty said I had to use CAPITAL letters when i write...it is hard for a dog to hit two keys at once but i am learning

I like to write about what I see and smell...mostly smell

one day letty turned to jack and said that I had a keen eye for squirrels

I think she meant that I could smell squirrels and see them run on the fence and in the trees…I think that is what keen means

There are little mice running in letty's garden and i try to catch them everyday so they will not hurt letty...once when i caught one she screamed like it was wrong...i dropped the mouse and ran away

Once maybe twice when I was a puppy  and very small I saw a square flat thing on the table and mice where on top…they didn’t move and I couldn’t smell them but it bothered me to see them in the house…

I decided to sneak up on the mice and kill them before letty got home…it was very difficult to kill them…worst of all they didn’t move or even smell like mice…I chewed an chewed on the corners of the box until I was tired of the taste…the mice didn’t move so I guess they were dead  

When Letty came in the room she picked up the box and scolded me in a loud scary voice that made me hang my head and feel really bad on the inside…she didn’t understand  that I wanted to protect her from the mice

Next she picked up boxes everywhere and said these are BOOKS, MURPHY…do not eat BOOKS and she pointed a finger in my face and hugged the BOOK (box)  i think that means i need to learn a new people word called books...she has books everywhere but i will not eat them ever again

One time I chewed on letty’s purple eye glasses because I was lonely and wanted to be by her side…when she saw what I had done she shook her head sideways (that means no in body language) and then she scolded me again and said NO NO NO

Later she invited me to sit on her lap and she petted me….so she did not stay mad at me very long

I have chews everywhere now so i do not get in trouble

 

I wag my tail a lot now that I am older because I am always happy to be in my home and I do not chew up things like I did when I was little

 

 

 

 

THE MAD PLANTER: Part 2

Once upon a time, in our backyard fence row the Burning bush became a sensation over night each September when she would go from green to red in a matter of days. She was glorious to watch. She was the older of the two Bush sisters by at least ten years. Her sister across the the patio, that we planted seven years ago, shines, too, but never as bright or as large since she is protected by a Harry Potter tree (Privet) on one side and Pampas grass on the other side. It was the Privet, the Pampas and the North side fence that saved the younger sister's life during the icy winter of 2021. 

The original Burning Bush in her glory. 

Last week we cut out the last remaining off shoot from original Burning Bush's  remains. The big bush died after that winter ice and the bitter snowstorm of 2021, but last summer we nursed her off spring with care and this spring she returned, a bit slimmer than her mother bush but upright and reaching for the sun. In mid-June, I examined her and noticed her leaves were beginning to curl. Within two weeks she wilted and died before my very eyes. 

Once again the "Mad Planter" went to work. It is too hot now to dig up the roots to the big bush, but they showed above ground, and I could easily trip over them. Looking around the yard for inspiration I spied a potted plant nearby that could be moved in to replace the bush and cover the roots. I use potted plants throughout my gardens to fill spaces and holes where other plants have died or where I want a change of color or height.

This fall we will replace it with a Burning Bush or a Yew.

To be honest, there is a space where the potted plant once stood, but upon close observation I decided to let the Lillies, Sedum (Never Die) and Purple Heart fill in the space over the next few years. I do have patience, sometimes. 

 

We planted English Ivy between the Yew bushes and before I die it may fill in. 

Murphy is thrilled with his new freedom along the fence line. No more bushes scraping against his side.

The top of the fence is flat which makes for a perfect Squirrel Highway. It also gives Murphy hours of recreation, running and leaping as he chases the squirrels along the fence highway. Now we are all happy.

But gardening never ends...does it?