Well, ahoy me maties and shiver me timbers…today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day and because I apparently enjoy living dangerously, I thought why not try for another photo session with the ninja to celebrate it. I mean if she would no doubt pay me back anyway for the birthday Gotcha Day picture session, why not go all in and really make it worth her while? It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve walked the plank so I decided to go all in. It wasn’t as easy as you might think. Let’s review the process of how we got here after a few tidbits about how this day became what it is today.
Back in 1995, pals John Bauer and Mark Summer were playing racket ball together and randomly chiding each other by talking in an exaggerated form of pirate talk for the day just for fun. They decided to mark the day annually on Summer’s ex birthday so they’d be sure to remember it. For a few years it was celebrated mostly amongst themselves and friends until humorist Dave Barry brought public attention to it in 2002.
Now let’s see what it took for us to get here.
Step 1. Locate the hat thingy that Sam wore a few years back at a hospital visit one Halloween. Pull out the box that houses all the hats and bandanas. Drat, it wasn’t there.
Step 2. Ok then, no biggy. Find the bag with a couple of Halloween costume items. Normally I loathe the whole Halloween thing because the doorbell ringing always drove the dogs nuts but when I worked, our department was always a leader in clever costumes so I have a couple of old standbys from those days I can tap.
Step 3. Closet where the costumes live 99.9% of the time was going to need organizing in order for me to reach said bag that houses the costumes.
Step 4. Well I figured since I’m organizing any way, guess I’d better vacuum while I’m pulling things out, right? It’ll only take a second but discover vacuuming takes a while since I’ve been purging books, clothes and household items no longer being utilized into a large pile that I need to maneuver around. Grr…where the heck is THAT doggone bag in this mess?
Step 5. A-ha…find the bag. Rifle through it, poop…the Davey Jones hat thingy not there. However there is one other bag it might be in so I go find a step ladder to easily pull that one down to check.
Step 6. Eureka…finally found the Davey Jones hat thingy but realize it’s in the wrong bag so reorganize both bags to reflect what’s what. Get out labelmaker to identify the boxes both bags will now live in. Have successfully cleaned the shelves, reorganized the Halloween stuff and managed to find a bunch of old craft projects never started and arrange to include them in the pile headed for the thrift shop. This only took a couple of hours. Ugh, I’m tired and think maybe just forget the whole bloody thing.
Step 7. Fortuitously (or not, depending which side of the fence you’re on) Elsa sashays into the studio. Ooh, ooh, energy surges through my evil veins…”come here said the spider to the fly!”
Step 8. Surprisingly and unwittingly, Elsa waltzes over. I spend several minutes showering her with praise and ear rubs. She’s unsuspecting but now she’s giving me the signal she’d like to take a potty break. Sigh. To accommodate the princess, I take time to take her outside where she sniffs, sniffs, and sniffs some more. Finally, success. This only took 20 minutes.
Step 9. Aware I better strike while the iron is hot, I go into the pantry and pull out the chicken jerky and begin to cut up several pieces. Elsa’s nose catches that nirvana sweet smell of chicken and follows me into the living room, Davey Jones hat and chicken jerky in hand.
Step 10. I ask Elsa to sit politely. She’s starting to realize she’s walked into a trap while giving her a treat, and she plops down as I wave another one in front of her nose. Now I have her full attention. Like Blackbeard, I slyly go to set the scene.
Step 11. I slowly pull the hat from my pocket. “Uh-oh…what did I get myself into” expression flashes crossed Elsa’s face. Enter another well-timed treat. She relaxes-whew.
Step 12. Anchor hat on Elsa’s head which drops because she now realizes exactly what’s coming.
Step 13. Hold up head with the booty under her nose to get her attention. She perks up-snap!
Step 14. This old salt may be just a landlubber but I’m in the groove. I pull out another piece of jerky and wave it under the lassie’s nose. She sniffs at it like a true buccaneer and takes it ever so gently. Yum, she thinks…is this a great country or what?
Step 15. Snapping simultaneously as my hand quickly pulls out of the frame, I capture this pic. She may be a black dog and harder than heck to get any decent pic but after nearly 3 hours of preparation, I have my prize and shout for joy! Bonus, I have a clean and organized closet-woohoo!
Step 16. Elsa’s thinking ‘dead men tell no tales’ but another well timed piece of chicken jerky seems to make her forget her indignity for a few seconds. I retrieve the hat, put it in my pocket and dispense yet another treat.
Step 17. “Aye, aye, maybe this wasn’t so bad,” Elsa thinks. She even wags her tail a bit which she seems to know will also be rewarded since she’s not much of a tail wagger.
“X” marked the spot and we all found our respective treasure. Luckily for us, we have some time before there’s another photo session. I don’t think I can do this again any time soon.
Have fun today with International Talk Like a Pirate Day. All I can say is “thank heavens for Dave Berry and chicken jerky.”
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Good Friday morning and welcome to another edition of Nature Friday where we join our pals 
