Shasta's Corner....from Tennessee!

I have been meaning to post the email I received from Shasta a few weeks back. It sounds like things are going quite smashingly with grandma and grandpa in Tennessee, much to my relief and joy! So, here it is, from the horse's (oops, I mean, dog's) mouth:

Hello there!
Shasta here. Sorry I’m so long in writing but these people are so caught up in their church work that I can never get any computer time.
Things are great in Tennessee . I think I’ve just about got these people trained. Gran is always watching out for me and worrying about me on the stairs, but it really is not a problem. I always go up to sleep with the fam. at night but I also like a sip of water at about 2AM. Gran hated that I would lumber down the stairs and then back up again so now there’s a water bowl in the bedroom. Nice. This house now has two dog beds and a water bowl on all three levels.
We’ve had interesting weather. There were some Alaska cold mornings in January. One day it was 12 when they let us out. After a few minutes, Gran came to the door to let us in. Blair bounded into the house, but I just kept lying in the grass and gave Gran a look that said, “Bite my fur. I’m not comin’ in.” But she said, “Bite mine. You are old and you are comin’ in.” The next day the temp. was about 22 and sunny. When Papaw came down to let us back in I gave him the bite my fur look and he let me say out for a while longer. I like him.
I’ve heard that Papaw has said that Labradors are the best dogs. It’s hard to believe that he thinks that because he is such a pushover for me. He’s the one who feed us at night and they are soooo protective of Blair and her allergies. They are always afraid that if I leave some of my food then Blair will eat it and it will make her ears itch. So I figured out that when he puts my food down in the kitchen, I just act aloof and walk into the TV room and lie on my bed. Then, get this, he brings me my supper in bed. So I lie on my bed and watch TV and eat supper. Excellent.
In February we had some fabulous days. Sunny blue skies with highs in the 50’s. Blair and I stay out most of the day when it’s like that. Of course we have water bowls and beds on the porch. But mostly I like to lie in the sun and be queen of my vast domain. I allow Blair to be by attendant. We are vicious in guarding our domain with a usual morning walk around the perimeter to check for any breach in security. We are very serious about this and God help any dog or person who comes near our fence.
One Monday when everyone was home there were “power men” hanging a new line. I can understand why a boy would want to be “Power Man” with the great hard hat and big ole tool belt climbing those poles. Sorry for Matt that he couldn’t make the cut. HA HA. anyway… you should have seen how we terrified those tough guys. One of them had to knock on the front door to beg Gran to let us in so we wouldn’t eat them alive. It was great fun.
Gran says a dog always needs a fenced yard. She says that especially when dogs get old and incontinent like Jessye did that it sure is great just to let them stay out a lot. What does incontinent mean? She says I don’t need to worry about that right now.
On very sunny warm February days, Pap would sometimes walk outside and say, “THIS is why we don’t live in Chicago !” What does that mean? Does that have any thing to do with Ann Arbor ? I hope not.
As you can tell life is good here. I think I will be glad to see you when you get back but Pap thinks I love them best and won’t go to Ann Arbor with you. We’ll see. I may become a Southerner.
Ya’ll travel safe now and don’t hurry home.
Hugs and kisses,
Shasta Belle