Hennessey Hank

Drought

2012-01-31T15:46:00.002-06:00

Times are bad down the Pdog hole, let me tell you. This dern drought has us in mighty tight straits. Not enough moisture in the green goodies for Mom Pdog to make milk for the babies. No babies at all this spring. Can't feed 'em. Old dogs givin' it up, goin' off to that great prairie dog town in the sky. It's bad. Bad as I've ever seen it.

We packed it in early last year, burrowed down deep and tried to sleep through it all. Too hot to cuss. Haven't had much to say for a time. Not feelin' very sociable, don't you know. I don't know where this weather is going, but I can tell you that I'd just as soon not be taking this ride.

I know you two legged critters are troubled about your wheat and your pastures and we're just worried along with you. Everybody down the Pdog hole is up early and out lookin' for green and watchin' for rain. Don't take much to make us happy. A nice spring storm would be a start. Leastwise, if we could get her without a blow.

I can feel it in my poor old bedraggled fur though, we've got bad storms comin' this year, maybe all the way to June. Mrs. Pdog tells me I'm just a pestiferous pessimist, but you mark my words, down deep, the earth is feelin' mighty strange.

Brrrrrrrrrrl . . .

2011-02-01T17:01:00.002-06:00

Frizzle me whiskers! It's cold!

What kind of deal is this? Warm days and those infernal doves wake me up early, and then this! Snow down the Pdog hole. Temperatures dropping so low that the thermo-thingys are all bustin'. Wind whistlin' over our heads like some kind of banshee. Pups tryin' to check out all that white stuff. Can't feel my toes, they's so froze. I tell you, livin' in Oklahoma is just a powerful trial.

I'm tellin' you, though, this here's just some kind of a-bearation, not natural, some kind of out-of-fur experience, don't you know? Throws us prairie prognosticators all into a tizzy tryin' to keep up. But I still hold to my word. This ol' winter's going to stay with us a bit, but we won't have much of this kind of foolishness--just your normal Okie up and down 'til we get a late spring start on the twisters.

Not much of a way to start life in a new burrow, though. Heck of a deal...

Tough Year

2011-01-25T15:34:00.002-06:00

We hear tell how you two-footed folks have been having a rough time topside what with the economy and all. Well, let me tell you; it's been no picnic around the Pdog town this year either. I give it up in early October and put in for early hibernation. Glad to see that ol' year gone.

First off, you know there's no prairie dogs in Kingfisher County. Well, not official-like, anyhow. Ol' Mr. Farmer K and my buddies, we've got us this agreement. He don't tell folks we're underfoot and, well, we just don't get underfoot. Keep the burrows at fair to middlin', don't get greedy for forage, that kinda thing. Stay outta his hair.

It works out good for us, too, don't you know? Most ol' boys got three or four Pdog Mamas keepin' 'em in line. Me, I just got the one and all the pups. But, you see, it's them pups that got us into hot water. We've had us some good size litters these last two years, got powerful crowded below ground. I'm digging and tunnelin' and doin' my dead level best to keep the hills few and far between and all the time it's gettin' more and more crowded. Them older pups growed like turnips in the rain and they's startin' to get downright snarly. It were pert obvious somethin' had to change.

Long about May or there'bouts, by your kinda reckonin', I get up one morning and, lo and behold, no pups. No big 'uns anyhow. It's dern quiet down below. Those boys had took off in the night and gone out to the edge of town and dug up ol' Farmer K's back pasture for a prairie dog town. Now there's several things wrong with that move. First off, it puts Farmer K in mind of us when we'd just as soon lay low. Second, those boys built in his canola field and he was gettin' mighty close to harvest. First year for him to try it, canola, and he was pretty touchy about interference.

We knew we was in trouble but figured that those boys'd come on back to town when the machinery started runnin' in that field. They know what machinery'll do to a Pdog. But we never figured on the deer. You see, deer seem to dearly love that canola, come in the night and chow down by the dark of the moon, but they hadn't made much headway in that field, hadn't got Farmer K's dander up none, though he sure didn't like 'em out there.

Those young pups came out curious one of them nights, wanted to see what those big bucks were up to. Derned if they weren't up to chasin' prairie dogs. I tell you it t'were awful, the slippin' and sliding, the squeals and snortin', the downright devastation. Looked like a war zone before it was over. Bent stalks, tore up dirt. You just wouldn't believe what a few Pdogs and a deer or two or three can do.

I thought we were done for fer sure. Farmer K was boilin', got out his tractor and plow and came after our town. Just tore it up bad and him a'swearin' all along. Nobody hurt but we was refugees. I can tell you it were a sad sight to see, all these little Pdogs with their belongings tied in bundles on their backs hitch-hikin' down the road. Didn't know where we was goin' and weren't sure where we was when we got there. Ain't about to tell you where we ended up. Life's just that way.

Anyhow, we's settled now and I 'spect them young 'uns'll never do nothin' that foolish again, but there's a whole new crop of pups comin' up behind them and, you know, it's just out there to be done over again. You can tell 'em the tale as many times as you please, but they always gotta learn it for theirselves.

Crow Pie

2010-03-22T10:11:00.002-06:00

Well now, consarn it, can't a feller be wrong ever now and then? I mean, this ol' Pdog is just a regular critter like the rest of y'all, you know? I guess that extra long fall threw me off my form just a bit, confused me like, maybe. Mama Pdog is just makin' me miserable over it. Didn't even hibernate this year. Just stayed up and played with the pups 'til the snow hit and then had to wake me up to point out just how wrong I could be. Danged females anyway.

This Okie weather is one for the books. First, that derned Christmas Eve snow and now this dagnabbit Spring Blizzard. Makes me just feel foolish, don't you know? And I didn't get much shut-eye this winter neither. Pups tumblin' over one another, Mama Pdog off in a huff, last year's babies anxious to get out on their own--makes for one crowded Pdog hole, I can tell you.

But, I gotta say that the crocus was bloomin' in January and the birds was all come back from down south, so I weren't the only one to get it wrong. I tol' Ma that spring really did come early, it was just those cold snaps I predicted all got together to make me look bad.

She just asked me how I'd like my slice of crow pie.

Brrrrr....

2009-12-11T11:17:00.002-06:00

Oh, man! This is just what happens when you don't get down to the business of hibernating early on. It has been just double-dog cold down the pdog hole. That extra long warm fall caught us all unawares, you know? Sunny days and warm nights. Couldn't pass up those extra seeds and grasses. Got plum fat. Mama Pdog had got all soft and round and I'll be darned if I wasn't feelin' pretty mellow, then Ouch! Down went them temps like a deflated balloon and here I sit wide-awake and freezin'. Shoulda sacked out when I had the chance.

Mrs. Pdog has taken a notion that she wants a Christmas tree like those two-legged critters up topside. Where does she get such foolish ideas, I wonder? She's drug in some sticks of red cedar and stuck some berries or something all over. Just makes me itchy. Think I've got me one of them prairie doggone allergies. Dang rash just under the fur. Makes me powerful testy.

Tol' the missus that she could stay up all winter if she had a mind to, but, me? I'm burnin' daylight and gotta hit the sack.

Y'all stay warm this winter, now. Drive careful when the ice hits. Always does, you know. I'll be up before that Punxsutawney fellow and tell you just what I think about next year's spring, but right now I'm takin' my itchy little body down deep and chasin' me a nap!

Uh oh--Where'd the Summer Go?

2009-09-17T11:53:00.005-05:00

Gotta tell you, it's been a quiet summer down the pdog hole. Dern hot to start with. Just laid around and cooked for days. For sure, you could smell simmering pdog all round the town. Even the hawks headed for shade and we weren't too sure but the end was on its way.

'Course I told folks they didn't have to worry. All things pass, even scorchers under the sun. And sure enough, we've got them autumn rains freshenin' up everything now. Roses are puttin' on their last flashes of bloom and the grasses are growin' tall and sweet. It's a good time, time for takin' stock, you know? Totin' up the summer and checkin' the storerooms.

I'm telling you, this ol' boy didn't get a whole lot done this year. Gotta get after it now to make it through the winter. All of us workin' together. You gotta keep together if you want to make it through the tough times, you know. Watch those skies and look out for one another.

You never know what the weather's going to do.

Whoa, Nelly!

2009-02-10T16:58:00.003-06:00

Tornadoes in February? Who'd a'thought it? Man! when I called up an early spring, I didn't figure on this! Mama Pdg is enjoying the crocus and tells me the daffodils are not only up but getting ready to bloom. What'd I tell you?

February 5th, the way you folks reckon, some time in the night, spring came tippy-toeing in. I felt it down in the burrow, slipped up topside and smelled it coming, wet and warm and early. The birds come in that night, the robins and the doves and those dang grackels. Dove song makes me misty, but those dang grackels just give me the calf back shivers.

Don't you get all excited and put out those tender plants yet, though. This is Oklahoma, don't you know. There's still cold weather ahead and, I'm tellin' you--watch out for that late freeze. It'll get you every time!

Karaoke, Anyone?

2009-02-02T15:46:00.003-06:00

Oddest thing happened the other day, before all the ice came in--when it was still a warm Okie January day. There's this feller comes over to the pdog holes and sets out little microphones. We all wonder what the heck he's up to. Keep real quiet down below. You never know what kind of fool trap some of them human critters is going to come up with next. Don't want to end up in some pet store cage, y'know?

Anyhow, didn't seem too threatening, so we checked it out, talked it over, played with it a bit. Thought we might get up a quartet or two and try howlin' at the moon like the coyotes, but decided that might not be the best idea a pdog could come up with. The guy came back just before the ice came in. Guess he'd listened to his radio and figured he'd better collect his gear.

Come to find out, those human critters are studying our lingo! Imagine that? There's this Slobodchikoff feller out at Northern Arizona University who's researching our system of communication. Thinks we're smart! Huh! Coulda told him that if he'd come around these parts.

Sure wish now we'd got that quartet together.

yawn

2008-12-13T11:43:00.002-06:00

What a summer we had. Gotta admit we stayed hunkered down during the campaign season. Too many human folks up and down knockin' on doors, comin' and goin'... Big doin's for the country. Hope things turn out for you.

It was long and hot for Pdog folk. Just our kind of weather. But now, we're ready to tuck it in for the winter. Been cross as a snake ready to slip its skin--it's that time of year. The wind's up today. Dern near picked up Mama Pdog and carried her off. Testy as I've been lately, I mighta just watched her go... But, naw...that's just temporary cussedness...it'll pass. I 'spect that wind is going to blow in one powerful storm.

Think ice.

You human animals don't have the sense of Pdogs. Ya'll ought to just shut it down and sleep through the bad stuff--get after it again come spring. But, no, you just keep on keepin' on. Better lay in some provisions for next week though. My bones tell me we're in for a real cold snap just before Christmas.

Ya'll take care.

Rainy Day

2008-05-07T11:23:00.002-05:00

Well, I've lollygagged through March and April, just can't seem to get my get-along to get along. Still pretty sleepy from this chilly spring we've had. But things are lookin' up. Lots and lots of wheat to eat--and tall enough to hide us little critters from the bad eyes in the skies. Rain today all over the state, I've heard tell. It's off and on here by Hennessey. Good day to lay back and take stock of life.

When you're a Pdog, life can be purty tenuous, you know? Ten of them, not enough of us. Ever' body and ever' thing is out to get you. Farmers and cowmen and athletes don't like the holes. Owls and hawks and durn fool kids want to catch you up and take you to dinner, or worse (leastwhys them kids). You'd think we'd be a pretty new-rotic lot--scared of our own shadow like our cuz, ol Puxatony Phil.

But you just gotta roll with the hard knocks, you see. Gotta keep your little Pdog feet under you, duck into the burrow when time's are bad, graze on green things when you can, enjoy the pups playin' round your feet. They's new pups ever year. New babies to get to know. Ever' one different, ever' one a promise. And old friends down the way. Ever' body watchin' ever'body else's back--looking for that hawk in the sky and just cussin' the weather and laughin' together.

We've all been around here a bit, been together in this here last little Pdog town in K County a long time. We're easy with one another. Know who the hotheads are. Know the wise ones. The silly ones. The loners and the compatriots. We don't got no losers here. The yips and barks are easy to hear, 'cause we've heard 'em since we was born.

So, let it rain in Oklahoma today. Let the water come drippin' down into the Pdog hole. Let ol' mom snap and fret at the pups. I got my feet up and my head back and my belly full and life is good.

Yes, sir and madam, life is durn good.

Enjoy...

2008-03-12T15:47:00.003-06:00

Ahhh...
Sunshine on my fur.
Sweet green grass sproutin' up.
Calves friskin' in the field.

Gotta keep an eye out fer that lazy hawk and his dang circles, but other than that, life is good.

Them human fellers are havin' a time of it, though. Lots of grass fires, controlled burns gettin' outa control, some haybales set to burnin' a'purpose. What's people thinkin' of, anyhow?

It's too purty a day to make trouble for folks. We've chilled long enough...

What?

2008-02-08T21:19:00.000-06:00

Man, I'm as antsy as a hooked worm in a school of fish. Woke up this morning feeling just fine. Popped up topside for a look-see and danged if those crocus weren't finally coming up. Didn't dare tell the missus. I made such a ruckus over them squirrels stealing the bulbs, she'd never let me forget just how wrong I was.

Warm but windy after those flurries yesterday, just like I predicted. The ol' winter man ain't gonna give it up easy this year, but these warm days are nice. Ground's nice and wet. Hope Farmer KJ does well this year. What's good for the farmer is great for the dogs!

Anyhow, the day's going great, see? Nothing unusual. Just lazing around kinda half asleep like, then--What? It just comes over me all of a sudden. I'm restless, fidgety. I want something, don't know what. Wanta go somewhere, don't know where. I get all closed in in my own skin, itchy but nothing to scratch. The pups go wild, pushing, shoving. Mama dog gets snappish. I'm thinking, what the heck?

Then I get it. Sure. Spring just snuck in under the ol' winter man's nose and set up shop. The ol' man, he may not give it up easy, but spring is here just the same.

Don't Wake Me 'Til Spring

2008-01-26T15:55:00.000-06:00

Gosh durn it, can't a Pdog get any sleep at all? Mrs. Pdog and the pups are restless with all that sunshine warmin' the ground topside. She woke me last week to make my prediction and I guess that warn't enough for her. She keeps rootin' around makin' noise and interrupting my rest. Keeps frettin' about them dang crocus bulbs.

You see, crocus bulbs sprout about mid-January in these parts. Have every year since I was a pup myself. It's like a sign lightin' up and saying, "Hey, dogs! Spring's a'comin'!" This year, Mrs. K John had nary a one over in her yard--not one. My missus finds that ominous. Says that with the crocus late, the daffodils may not bloom, then what will we all do?

I'm the prognosticator in this here hole and I'll tell you what happened. Them squirrels got 'em. That's what I'm tellin' you. Them gosh dang rodents are ruinin' the neighborhood!

Blizzard, Oklahoma Style

2007-12-22T15:35:00.000-06:00

Can't figure out why anybody'd want to live anywhere but in Oklahoma. We've got it all. Grandest sampling of weather anywhere in the country. Well, that's just the reason we've got so many awards for our weather research and just about any weather practioner in the nation would give his eye teeth for a chance to work here just one year.

Take that mini-hurricane we had earlier this year. You don't find one of those just everywhere. And right now we've got high winds and blowing snow up here with roads closed in the panhandle because of whiteouts (That's Oklahoman for "mini-blizzard"). It was nigh on to 70 degrees yesterday.

Mary's closed the library for Christmas, but I heard tell that she was close to blowed off her feet in Enid this morning, trying to get her vacuum cleaner from the repair place to the car. We're all a lot concerned about them human kids in their 4 wheel vehicles trying to get home for Christmas.

Down here in the prairie dog hole, we're all snug and dry and ready for our winter's nap, and we hope you human folk all get to where you're goin' safe and sound and sleep well tonight, yourselves. Take care up there!

Ice on Toast?

2007-12-20T21:22:00.000-06:00

Dang... How's a prairie D. ever to figure out when it's time to hunker down and give it up for the winter?

Last week, we were froze in--solid ice, some snow. Just the kind of weather to send you down deep in the burrow and tight into a ball, ready for some serious shut-eye. Then, derned if the drips didn't start drizzling down on top of us. Ice melted, snow blowed away, and the sun toasted the ground until we were all steaming down below. This is no way to run a winter.

I figured I might as well go top-side and look for some seeds or what have you, and I heard Farmer K. saying that the sign on the bank down town said it was 76 degrees today. Tulsa and Oklahoma City are still trying to get the lights on after the biggest ice-related power outage in Oklahoma history and we've got 76 degrees.

And you folks expect me to make a prediction come February...

Counting Sheep

2007-11-17T22:41:00.000-06:00

Down here in the burrow, we should be getting a little sleepy. It is almost Thanksgiving topside, you know. But how does a prairie dog hunker down for a little seasonal shuteye when the temps stay in the upper 70s and lower 80s? Can't sleep in that kind of weather. Never could.

Got to admit, though, the last few days have had a good November wind that smells like fall. You pop your head up out of the hole and you better hold on tight. Dern wind can suck you up quick as that and carry you off. Heard about a P. dog got blowed clear to Kingfisher once. Never did get back across the river. They say he tried to start his own P.dog town south of town, but that new Walmart Super Center interfered with his plans.

There's not many of us left in this part of the country, anyway. Sure not enough to start a new town. The books all say that there arn't any P.dogs in Kingfisher County, and there's surely few enough of us to let what the books say stand. Too many plows.

Well, it's 45 degrees here at 10:51 pm, wind 7 mph from the NNW. That's all right. The cold'll get here.

Yawn...

October Already?

2007-10-14T23:15:00.000-05:00

Where did the summer go? Hot and dry after the fourth of July--sounds like a folk saying to me, but that's how it went. Not so hot as usual, though, and the grass grew and grew and grew. Lots of seeds, lots of tasty forage for a fellow like me.

But now the fields are turned for planting, empty red blankets of blowing dirt kicked up by autumn winds. Makes a prairie dog antcy (or is it ancy? Never knew how to spell it, just knew it when I heard it).

For all the rain we had early on, we could use an inch or two now.

How High's the Water, Mama?

2007-06-15T17:36:00.000-05:00

Two feet high and risin'...

The North Canadian is over flood stage, the Cimarron is deep and wide, Turkey Creek is at her banks, and the combines are stuck in the fields. We are all mighty grateful that Farmer K. John got his wheat cut between storms. The field sure is soggy though.

We go out to lunch and everything is so wet that we end up more full of water than grain! Prairie Dogs don't drink, you know, don't have to. We're the original Tee-Totalers. There's plenty of water in our forage to keep us happy when every thing's normal but, I'll tell ya, right now, I feel like I squish when I walk!

Sometimes I think all those prayers for rain that went up in the last 2 years got stored up somehow and are just now getting answered all at once! This is one P. Dog that is not complaining, however, no sir. You don't dig down too far before you hit dry dirt. We got a lot of catchin' up to do. I just hope this flood of rain doesn't just run off and float the farm away!

Who Was That Bearded Man In Sandals With All The Animals Following Two-by-Two?

2007-06-08T16:46:00.000-05:00

It has been a little wet of late here in Hennessey. Mama P Dog has the pups out of the burrow and in Farmer K. John's field to sample the wheat. Mighty tasty. Just a little on the thin side though--that late freeze really hurt. Then there were the army worms--yum. Like plump spaghetti... Farmer K. John wasn't too happy with the worms, but the pups thought they were mighty fine.

Had a real scare this morning. There we were, up early and out munching on wheat, staying just a little later in the day than we should. It's still pretty wet, you know, after all those May rains, so we were a little longer in the fields, not really noticing that the wind we had yesterday had dried things out considerable. Got the pups all scattered out, chowing down pretty good, Mama P Dog watching for hawks and such--owls turned in already--P. Dog Heaven. Life was good.

I felt it in the ground first, a vibration, you know? A tremble that you feel in the palms of the paws, then that odd sound. I never can figure why the two-legged folks go in for noise. I gotta admit, though, it's a good thing for us. I whistled to Mama Dog to get those young 'uns back to the burrow, like scat!

Trucks comin'. Combines startin' up. Birds flying. P. Dogs scattering to the four corners. You ever try to round up six PD pups that haven't seen the world and are chewin' their way through wheat like a two-legged critter in his first candy store? Darned if they didn't run toward those slice and dice death traps just to see what all the commotion was about.

We got 'em underground, finally. Out of the field and back to PD Town and into the burrow safe and sound and sorely irritated. It was like snatching Christmas out of their paws, but at least they were alive to grumble.

The fields are quiet right now. Just a little too much moisture comin' up from the ground for Farmer K to run into the night. Perfect time for Mom and the pups to have a little supper while I watch for early owls.

It just doesn't get any better than this.

Storms Everywhere, but not for me...

2007-05-05T23:40:00.000-05:00

It's a rocky night in Oklahoma, but Kansas has been hit hardest. Wedge tornados, the true big boys, are crossing the plains. The prairie dog hole is a good place to be.

Greensburg, Kansas was near to wiped off the map yesterday with just the local bar left standing and it was set up as a morgue. They don't know how many deaths yet and had to call off rescue searches because of the new tornados today. Sweetwater, Oklahoma was hit earlier tonight and there's a supercell moving toward Mooreland, but Hennessey is high and dry. Not even a rumble of far-off thunder.

Mama PD is having fits trying to get the pups settled down. They keep wanting to pop out topside and look for storms. Gotta admit, I've been to the surface a few times myself. The humidity and pressure makes my skin creep and my fur fluff out, but no action yet.

Howsumever, the night is still young...

This Is More Like It

2007-05-03T09:59:00.000-05:00

Ah, the 3rd day of May... Popped up topside to see what the world is looking like: dense fog, roses blooming, 61 degrees with 70s coming and the possibility of rain. Looks like the drought has broken around here, folks. It's getting a little damp in our entry tunnel.

Mama Prairie Dog is weaning the youngsters and it's about time to get back out into the world again. Not today, though. Too foggy. Too much opportunity for that sharped-eyed hawk to come swooping down out of the mist and taking me off to lunch!

Plant those annuals!

Ready to Rock 'n Roll?

2007-04-23T18:13:00.000-05:00

There's tornado warnings out for the panhandle and the air has had that peculiar feel to it all day. It's coming our way and tonight could get exciting.

Hello, Spring!

Punxsutawney Phil's Not Doing Too Well Either...

2007-04-16T22:46:00.000-05:00

Just checked the weather underground here in the prairie dog hole and found that Punxsutawney, PA is at 34 degrees with a freezing low of 31 expected tonight with snow showers. You know, Phil predicted an early spring too. Just to keep it all in perspective...

Mother Prairie Dog is pretty testy these days, burrowed down with 7 pups to watch and them all 4 weeks from weaning. Let me tell you, I've tried to make myself scarce. Added on a few rooms, just to give us a little more space. Thinkin' about building a new privy--two holer this time, what with the pups and all.

I popped up to the surface today just to catch some rays. 72 degrees and clear skies, not much winds. Such a relief after last week's cold snap. I'm telling you though, don't trust it. It's spring, sure enough, with the grass green and the wheat up to the cows' bellies, but this roller coaster has yet to coast into home. Remember: Don't put out your annuals until after May Day!

I Said There Would Be Unexpected Cold Spells...

2007-04-06T13:52:00.000-05:00

Ok, Ok. So it's snowing. So it's April 6th. It's Oklahoma, what do you expect? Maybe I was wrong about the early spring, but I was dead on with the unexpected cold spells!

It's warm and dry down the prairie dog hole. All that rain we got last week hasn't soaked down this far. Don't be deceived by that 6" downpour. The Drought is not over--not until our little black feet get wet down here.

I'm telling you, though, and you can mark my words. As sure as my name is H.Hank Prairie Dog, this is the last freeze of the spring.

But don't you go out and plant those annuals just yet. Wait until after May day.