Hi. I am RosFrankie. What's your name? This is my story and it is an never-ending story. I am not still a puppy but I am not yet an adult. I am in the middle where nothing fits right. I love to do all sorts of different things but I never seem to do anything totally right. ‘Not to worry,’ my mother always says, ‘You’ll grow into it all eventually and get it perfect.’
I often twist and do a distorted turn to look at my back legs, which are way too long for the rest of my body, and at the end of my legs there are really really big feet. ‘I hope I grow into them,’ I think to myself ‘because sometimes I get tired of tripping on them!’
Of course, my long legs and big feet are not the only reason I keep tripping. Another is the fact that my fur is wild and so unmanageable that my long furry ears keep getting in my eyes and blinding me so that I can not see where I am going. And generally I am going everywhere at the same time in all directions. My fur on my head and ears and tail is so uncontrollable that it will fly away anywhere, anytime, no matter how much conditioner I put on it. Sometimes I put so much conditioner on it, that my fur gets totally flattened onto my skin and I look like I am bald and have no fur at all. But I keep trying to get it all right anyway because ‘keeping trying’ is the way of me.
And my teeth are even bigger than my feet. Usually I am always happy and smiling. I also have a really long tail which often catches on my long rear legs and makes me trip and fall and roll over. Sometimes my long tail will get stepped on by my big rear feet and it will really really hurt. I howl like a banshee. ‘Not to worry,’ my mother always says, ‘You’ll grow into it all eventually and get it perfect.’
I'm not sure what I want to be when I grow up. Maybe an Alaskan sled dog or a Seeing Eye dog or a horse. I still have lots of time to decide what I want to be when I grow up. Of course, I know I want my feet to be smaller but my mother says that I have to wait and get bigger before my feet will get smaller. I don't quite understand this logic but I am willing to wait and see. My mother has never been wrong before.
Right now I have decided that I want to take ballet lessons. I hope it will teach me how to stop tripping so often because ballerinas never trip and fall down and roll over. And maybe I might even be able to sit correctly. I can’t seem to ever sit right because my way-too-long back legs are always in the wrong place. Before I start my ballet lessons, I must first get a tutu to wear to ballet class. The store has no ballet slippers big enough to fit my feet, and the smallest tutu they have is too big for me and keeps sliding down and getting caught on the end of my long waggy tail. ‘Not to worry,’ my mother says, ‘You’ll grow into it all eventually and it will fit perfectly.’
I often twist and do a distorted turn to look at my back legs, which are way too long for the rest of my body, and at the end of my legs there are really really big feet. ‘I hope I grow into them,’ I think to myself ‘because sometimes I get tired of tripping on them!’
Of course, my long legs and big feet are not the only reason I keep tripping. Another is the fact that my fur is wild and so unmanageable that my long furry ears keep getting in my eyes and blinding me so that I can not see where I am going. And generally I am going everywhere at the same time in all directions. My fur on my head and ears and tail is so uncontrollable that it will fly away anywhere, anytime, no matter how much conditioner I put on it. Sometimes I put so much conditioner on it, that my fur gets totally flattened onto my skin and I look like I am bald and have no fur at all. But I keep trying to get it all right anyway because ‘keeping trying’ is the way of me.
And my teeth are even bigger than my feet. Usually I am always happy and smiling. I also have a really long tail which often catches on my long rear legs and makes me trip and fall and roll over. Sometimes my long tail will get stepped on by my big rear feet and it will really really hurt. I howl like a banshee. ‘Not to worry,’ my mother always says, ‘You’ll grow into it all eventually and get it perfect.’
I'm not sure what I want to be when I grow up. Maybe an Alaskan sled dog or a Seeing Eye dog or a horse. I still have lots of time to decide what I want to be when I grow up. Of course, I know I want my feet to be smaller but my mother says that I have to wait and get bigger before my feet will get smaller. I don't quite understand this logic but I am willing to wait and see. My mother has never been wrong before.
Right now I have decided that I want to take ballet lessons. I hope it will teach me how to stop tripping so often because ballerinas never trip and fall down and roll over. And maybe I might even be able to sit correctly. I can’t seem to ever sit right because my way-too-long back legs are always in the wrong place. Before I start my ballet lessons, I must first get a tutu to wear to ballet class. The store has no ballet slippers big enough to fit my feet, and the smallest tutu they have is too big for me and keeps sliding down and getting caught on the end of my long waggy tail. ‘Not to worry,’ my mother says, ‘You’ll grow into it all eventually and it will fit perfectly.’
I’m very excited to start my ballet lessons. But when I walk into class, all the other ballerinas are tall and thin and stand up straight and their tutus never fall down. I think that they might laugh at my clumsiness but they don’t laugh at me because they are all too busy concentrating very hard and standing up very straight and being tall and thin. In fact, they never seem to laugh at all. ‘Maybe,’ I think, ‘they have mouth-crampy.’ I always get mouth-crampy when I concentrate too hard trying to do something too hard to do. To me it looks like the beautiful ballerinas may not even be breathing. And when they dance to the music, it doesn’t look like they move their bodies at all. They are very stiff and still but they still seem to manage to end up in a different place. But they don’t smile and their tails don’t wag. I wonder if maybe they are robots. Their tails never wag. So they must be robots because dog tails always wag. Robots don’t wag their tails.
‘Ah,’ I say to myself, ‘I am in the wrong class. I am not a robot dog. I think I will not take ballet lessons after all. I will do something much more animated and important and enjoyable. Like mud bogging. I love mud bogging. I’m really really good at mud bogging!’ And when I go mud bogging, I don’t have to pay to go to an expensive spa because I have plenty of mud in my own back yard. And the mud cakes my fur and helps to keep it from being so wild. Unfortunately the mud ate my tutu.
All content and images copyright Jule Dupre 2009
Observe much - Think long - Say little... [thank you Oxford professor of C. Darwin]
Except, of course, in an emrgency. Then you should
Look quick - Think fast - Yell loud!
[credited to The Evil Grandmother]
Remember to always check your references!
Always question, but question with due respect.
Words to look up:
Tutu, ballet.
Questions to ask:
What is a Seeing-Eye dog?
What is an Alaskan sled dog?
Do Alaskan sled dogs only live is Alaska?
Where is Alaska?
How is ballet different from other types of dances?
Where does the word 'tutu' come from?
Do you think that RosFrankie should cut her hair?
BTW:
The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, usually just called the "Iditarod", is an annual sled dog race in Alaska, where mushers and teams of typically 16 dogs cover 1,161 miles (1868 km) in eight to fifteen days from Willow (near Anchorage) to Nome. The most famous event in the history of Alaskan mushing is the 1925 serum run to Nome, also known as the "Great Race of Mercy." A diphtheria epidemic threatened Nome, especially the Inuit children who had no immunity to the "white man's disease," and the nearest quantity of antitoxin was found to be in Anchorage. Since the two available planes were both dismantled and had never been flown in the winter, Governor Scott Bone approved a safer route. The 20-pound (9 kg) cylinder of serum was sent by train 298 miles (480 km) from the southern port of Seward to Nenana, where it was passed just before midnight on January 27 to the first of twenty mushers and more than 100 dogs who relayed the package 674 miles (1,085 km) from Nenana to Nome. The dogs ran in relays, with no dog running over 100 miles (160 km). The Norwegian Gunnar Kaasen and his lead dog Balto arrived on Front Street in Nome on February 2 at 5:30 a.m., just five and a half days later. The two became media celebrities, and a statue of Balto was erected in Central Park in New York City in 1925, where it has become one of the most popular tourist attractions. However, most mushers consider Leonhard Seppala and his lead dog Togo to be the true heroes of the run. Together they covered the most hazardous stretch of the route, and carried the serum farther than any other team.
Check out:
Alaskan sled dog
Salisbury, G.- The Cruelest Miles, WWNorton, 2003.
http://www.workingdogweb.com/
Ballet
http://www.the-ballet.com/
Horse
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/category/for-educators/eduby-animal/eduhorse/
http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/horses/
http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/horses/
Seeing eye dog
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guide_dog
http://www.nfb.org/nfb/guide_dog_schools.asp
http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/fr/fr22/fr06sum16.htm
Next chapter: About My Friends due to be posted on October 08, 2009...
Chapter 1 - May 14, 2009 - Tutu Troubles
Chapter 2 – Oct. 07, 2009 – About My Friends
Chapter 3 – Oct. 15, 2009 – The Inheritance
Chapter 4 – Oct. 22, 2009 – Finding Answers
Chapter 5 – Oct. 29, 2009 – A New Friend
Chapter 6 – Nov. 05, 2009 – A Treasure Map
Chapter 7 – Nov. 12, 2009 – A Treasure Hunt
Chapter 8 – Nov. 19, 2009 – And Beyond
Chapter 9 – Nov. 26, 2009 – Lost Data
Chapter 10 – Dec. 3, 2009 – Found Data
Chapter 11 – Dec. 10, 2009 – The Castle Cellar
Chapter 12 – Dec. 17, 2009 – Forever Never Ending
