Hi kid's, my name is Winchester and I am a 8 years old Golden Retriever dog.  I used to live in a house at Denver, Pennsylvania,  with my Mom and Dad and my two friends, Harry and Helen. We live right in the heart of Amish Country near to Lancaster.  Me and my Mom and Dad lived in that house in October of 1997. We came from New Jersey.  Before that, we lived in Germany. My Mom used to be a soldier with the U.S.Army. Now she works for the Lancaster Health Authority fixing up the computers for them. The Army gave my Mom the Legion of Merit when she retired as an E8 First Sergeant in November l997.  My Dad used to work in a British Coal Mine, but he is retired now and we both go  for long walks every day. My Mom's name is Terry and my Dad's is Mike.

As I told you earlier, Harry and Helen are brother and sister and were born just over a year ago on an Amish Farm near to where we live. We have all become the best of pals since our first meeting.   At night time, we all sleep in our Mom and Dads bedroom.  I sleep at the foot of the bed on the floor and Harry and Helen try to sleep on the bed but my Dad chases them off the bed and they go under it to sleep. In the mornings, Helen will get up on the bed and waken my Mom by biting her nose.  I think that is funny and it makes me laugh. Don't you?  (Bark Bark). Harry usually comes to my Dads side of the bed and rubs his front paws on the side of the mattress. I think he is trying to wake him up.  What I really like to do is to chew on my Dad's slippers, but he always shouts at me and takes them off me.  That's Helen at the front and Harry at the back of her. I let them both drink from my water bowl if they want to do.

ME AND MY DAD

This is a picture of my Mom and Dad when they were on vacation in Spain and thats me biting the tale of a Stripped Sea Bass.  My dad caught this fish from Sandy Hook Beach in New Jersey in June of 1997. It weighed 22lbs and was 35inches long. Sometimes he takes me fishing with him onto the beaches and I have a good swim in the sea. Can you see that bandage on my leg. Do you know that some stupid person broke a glass bottle on the beach and I stood on it and cut my foot open. That was really inconsiderate of them. don't you think so?. If ever you break a glass bottle anywhere, I think you should find a garbage can and put it in there, don't you children?   Harry and Helen lived in the house before we came here and 'boy oh boy' did they get a scare when they first saw me.  I tell you kid's you would have thought they had seen a ghost. It was so funny. I barked at them to say "hello" and they both stood up with their eyes wide open and their backs were arched and the hair on their backs was standing straight up and their tails where pointing up to the ceiling. And guess what kids, they started spitting at me. Well you all know that spitting is not a very nice thing to do, so I barked at them in my biggest bark and Helen jumped up onto the top of the kitchen cabinets and Harry ran upstairs  and hid under the bed. 

Ready for Christmas

The pictures above are of me ready for a party which was taking place at my Auntie Doris's house in Lancaster.  I was all dressed up and ready for the occasion as you can see.  Well, unfortunately for me, I was not allowed to go. As you can see I am looking very depressed and sad on the left side picture.  Well my Dad told me that there would be a lot of people there and that I might be in the way as Doris and Uncle 'Pap Pap' only have a very small living room. My dad gave me a good cuddle and told me he was very sorry but he would bring a surprise home for me. . Guess what happened kids?  My Mom and Dad brought loads of food home for me to eat. 'Yummy stuff' like, Turkey and Pork and cake and biscuits.  It was the best Christmas I ever had in my life.  Helen and Harry tried to join in at my food. I just gave the loudest growl and they both jumped up on the table. (Bark Bark).  Anyway, they had their own food and I am not allowed to eat theirs. My Dad brought some home for them, so why were they trying to eat mine? My Dad really is my best friend.

This is where we live on the edge of a small Village and that is the Jeep which my Dad uses when he takes me out.   Round the back of the house, at the bottom of the garden, is a one line Railway Track.  The train uses the track only two times a week to transport wood to a local factory warehouse.  At the side of the house, is a small country road which crosses the track. At the crossing, there are no gates or warning signals or flashing lights, so the train driver blows his whistle and horn and rings his bell.  This sound is really loud and it makes me bark like crazy and I run to the back door and my Dad lets me out onto the porch. The train is only traveling as fast as you can walk.  The train driver waves to us both, but I still bark like a mad dog.

This is a view of the track from the garden.  Across the track is a corn field. . If you really look hard, you can just see the small lane as it crosses the track. That's my mum on her way to work in our Dodge Caravan.   Many times my dad will take me for a walk along the railway track. I would never go down the track alone as this is a very dangerous thing to do. Sometimes I see rabbits in the fields. I chase them but they are very fast and I can't catch them.  I think even the rabbits like for me to chase them because when I chase them down their holes in the banking, I put my ear up against the entrance and  I would swear that I can hear them all laughing. I heard one of them say to another one, "it's that big doggy Winchester again hahahahaha"

This is a picture of the train which passes the bottom of our back garden. It's the same train which comes along every time #57.  My Dad built that dry stone wall from rocks, which the Amish Farmers plowed up in their  cornfields.  As I said earlier, I never go down onto the railway track alone. That would be a very foolish thing for me to do.  It would be much too dangerous for anyone to play near to a railway track.  The sound of the train really frightens Harry and Helen so that's why I bark at the train.  The train driver likes me to bark at him. He always waves to me and my dad. Sometimes he will wave his cap to us both.

One day when my Dad was walking with me along the country lanes, we came to a farm and I saw some of the strangest animals I had ever seen in my life. These animals were much bigger than I am and they didn't bark or anything like that. They made a sound like this "MOOOOOOO".  They scared me half to death.  I jumped out into the middle of the road with my tail between my legs to get away from these giants. My Dad laughed a lot and then I stood next to him for protection because I thought they might eat me.  I don't know the name of these monsters. Maybe you do.  Here is a picture of them.  I know one thing for sure, they didn't smell very nice to me.

Oh yes, and while I am walking around with my Dad during the day, we often see lots of other animals.  Some are even bigger than them smelly "MOOOY" things. they don't say anything. Well I haven't heard them saying anything.  They are always pulling a buggy cart behind them with people inside who wear strange clothes and hats or bonnets. When we come to a stream, I always run in and splash and swim about and when I come out, my Dad throws my lead for me to bring back to him and then we have a tug of war game.   I really love doing this. I even do this in the winter when the snow is on the ground.

Anyway here is a picture of that other animal which pulls the Amish Buggy. Maybe you know the name of this one also. His feet make a loud noise on the road surface as he moves along.  The sounds goes 'clip clop clip clop'.  Sometimes I hear a jingle bells sound coming from them and I can see bells hanging from their collars. It sounds really nice.

Oh!!!  I have something really really exciting to tell you now.  Just the other night when it was dark, my Dad let me out into our back yard for a wee and I saw the strangest of animals.  It was about as big as a cat.  It had a bushy kind of tail. It was black and had a white stripe from its nose which went along its back and up its tail.  I thought, now that's the funniest looking cat I ever saw.  I went to get a closer look and up went its tail and it sprayed my face with the most smelliest water I had ever smelled in my life. Well my Dad had never seen one of these animals before because he is from England and in England, they don't have anything like this.  Anyway he took me back into the house and told my Mom that there was a very strong smell outside.  My Mom jumped up off her chair at the computer and screamed, "SKUUUUUUUUUNK". Then she pushed me and my Dad back out onto the porch and slammed the door in our faces. My Dad said to me, "Well, what was all that about Winchester?" and I said "Gruff Woof" which means "How should I know"?  in doggy language and then they both got the hose pipe and some shampoo and washed my coat in the back yard.  Then they took me in the house and locked me in the basement. They left me there for a very short time and then let me out again.  That was strange to me because they never ever lock me in the basement.  Anyway,  I still smell from that stuff which that animal sprayed onto me. Don't you think that was very inconsiderate of that rascal to do that to me?  After all, I was only looking at him.   Harry and Helen  even turn their noses up in the air when they walk passed me now. He ran away afterwards and come to think of it, SO DID I...(Bark Bark).  You know what that sound is by now, don't you? That's right. Me laughing again..  But I will tell you something, I wasn't laughing at the time when it happened.  "POOOOOOOOOO" what a night. I will never go to one of those stinky animals ever again.  That's him on the left. 'The smelly little stinker'.

PLEASE click on the blue dot for another page of my continuing story for the year 2000