Taken from my children’s series THE ADVENTURES OF SAUSAGE DOG AND LISA POODLE

This is one of my series of children’s stories told and later written for my Grand Daughter.  The series is based on the imagined experiences of her toys. Sausage of course is her toy Sausage Dog.  Lisa is a white French Poodle and Spots is what we call a “Bitsa,” or a bit of this and a bit of that in breed. Other real toy dogs and animals she treasures are characters in these stories.  For those who are parents I hope your children enjoy this story and of course adults are welcome to read it too.

Family and Friends Make the Perfect Day

It was a beautiful summer day, and Lisa stretched her legs in bed and pulled sheets from over her eyes to look out the window.  Her friend Woody the woodpecker was tapping on the window to get her attention.  Lisa jumped out of bed and opened the window.

“Hi Woody Woodpecker! Why are you the early bird tapping on my window this morning?  I wanted to stay in bed longer as it’s a holiday today.”

Woody squawked happily and pointed with his wing to a nest high up in the tree.  Woody had pecked a hole in the tree to make a house, which would be protected from the weather and lined it with twigs and grass to make the nest cozy and warm.  Mrs. Woodpecker leaned out of the hole and waved her wing at Lisa.

“I just wanted to report Mrs. Woodpecker hatched her babies last night and we have four little Woodpeckers now.”  Woody squawked again, and Lisa clapped her paws in excitement.

I’m coming out to see the new babies,” said Lisa pulling on her top and slacks and hurrying to the back door.  She grabbed the long ladder just outside the back door and ran to the tree, placing it firmly on the ground so it wouldn’t fall as she climbed to the nest.

“Hi Wendy Woodpecker, congratulations for hatching those beautiful babies,” said Lisa as she peered into the nest.  The baby woodpeckers made funny noises and opened their mouths looking for a treat from Lisa.  Lisa giggled!  “Look at that, aren’t they cute?”

After talking with Wendy Woodpecker for a while Lisa climbed down the ladder and went to her kitchen to make breakfast.  She opened a can of dog food.  “Hmm, I think I’ll have some of this on toast this morning.”

Just then the phone rang.  Lisa picked up the phone and listened.  “Lisa, are you there?  Its Sausage speaking!”

“Yes, this is Lisa, how come you’re up so early this morning Sausage?”

“I was feeling sad because you’re going on vacation to your cousin’s farm today.  Will you be at Mr. Butcher’s Shop this morning when all our friends arrive for their breakfast?  We all want to wish you a happy vacation before you leave. We’re going to miss you.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to be there this morning as I’ve some packing to do.  I suppose I could call in on the way to say goodbye to everyone.  I’ll start packing right away after I finish breakfast.  See you at Mr. Butcher’s shop Sausage.”

After finishing her packing Lisa tied her bags on the back of her shiny new red motorcycle, put on a helmet and jacket then headed to the Butcher Shop.  As she drove around the last corner, she could see her friends gathered by the side of the road looking anxiously in her direction.  They were all there, Sausage, Gruffy, Pipi, Whitey, and Spot.  They clapped their paws together as Lisa parked the motorcycle outside the Butcher Shop.

Sausage handed Lisa some treats he’d saved for her.  She protested. “I’ve just eaten my breakfast friends so I’m not very hungry.”  She saw spots looking greedily at her treats and suddenly felt hungry again.  She gulped the treats down in a hurry.  Spots looked disappointed.

“When are you leaving for the farm Lisa?” said Gruffy.

I told my dog cousins Zooky and Leesle I’ll be there by lunch time, so I suppose I’d better get going now.  I really should have left earlier, but Sausage said you all wanted me to call in and say goodbye.  So, see you when I get back guys, and thanks for the treats, Sausage.”

“You’re welcome, Lisa, we’re all going to miss you.”

Lisa waved to her dog friends as she sped off on her new motorcycle.  It was a beautiful day, and she loved the feeling of wind rushing past her fur as she entered the freeway for a long journey to the farm.  Truck drivers waved at her and whistled as they went past.  Children in cars waved from their back windows as they sped past, but Lisa didn’t take her paws off the handlebars, and hoped they wouldn’t be disappointed when she only smiled at them.  She was still getting used to her new motorcycle and didn’t want to have an accident.

Just when Lisa was beginning to get tired of the journey, she saw a sign her exit ramp was coming up in the distance.  Soon she was on a little country road leading to the farm and glad she was off the freeway where there was so much traffic.  She turned into the farm driveway and honked her horn to alert Zooky and Leesle she’d arrived.

Leesle opened the door and ran out to hug Lisa.  She untied bags from the back of the motorcycle and took them inside the house.  “We’re glad you decided to accept our invitation and take your vacation at our farm,” said Leesle. 

They climbed steps to the upstairs guestroom and Lisa gave a cry of delight. “Look at that beautiful view!” 

“Yes, our bedrooms also look out over the farm, and we never get tired of that beautiful view.  The farm animals were very excited when I told them you’d be visiting with us for vacation.”  Leesle smiled at Lisa and gave her a hug.

After Lisa had unpacked her clothes and hung them in the closet, they both went out to look for Zooky and greet farm animals.  Zooky was fixing fences when Leesle and Lisa found him, and two horses were talking with him while he worked.  The horses whinnied in joyful surprise.  “Welcome to the farm Lisa”, the horses whinnied.  Zookie gave Lisa a hug.  “How’s Sausage?  I thought you may talk him into coming with you,” he said.

“Well Sausage is going to school again to learn more about fixing motor cars, so he didn’t think he’d be able to make it on time.  We’ll just have to have a good time without him, and I’ll tell him what he missed when I return home,” said Lisa. 

They all laughed and headed back home for lunch.  Leesle served up lots of good things they’d grown on the farm.  Lisa was so full at the end of the meal she almost couldn’t stand up.  Zookie laughed at her.  “Looks like you’ve eaten too much!”

They were about to go out on the farm again to pick berries when they heard a car coming up the driveway.  They hurried to the window to see who was coming.

“Why its Sausage’s car, and he has all the dog friends with him,” said Zookie.  They ran outside to greet their friends as they drove up to the front door.

“We’ve come for the vacation too,” said Sausage.

Leesle and Zookie looked at each other in surprise. “We don’t have any more room,” they said. 

Sausage laughed.  It’s OK, we know you’ve lots of room in the barn loft and we bought our sleeping bags and lots of food.  We’re going to camp in the barn if it’s OK with you and will wash ourselves in the river in the mornings.

Zookie shook Sausage’s paw.  “Of course, we’re happy to have the extra company and you’ll be quite comfortable in the barn.”

“I just finished telling them you couldn’t come with me because you were going to summer school Sausage.  What happened to your school plans?” asked Lisa.

“When I went to school this morning, they’d cancelled the class because our teacher reported sick.  So, I decided to come join you on your vacation, and the rest of the dogs made a big fuss until I agreed to take them with me.” 

Lisa smiled to herself.  She was so happy Sausage was with her on her vacation, and it would be fun to have the rest of her friends there too.

There was a loud mooing, and everyone looked around in surprise.  The horses, cows, donkeys, sheep, and pigs were standing by the fence next to the house.  They’d asked the cows to moo a welcome on behalf of all animals gathered there.  A rooster crowed on behalf of the chickens, ducks, and geese.

“Looks like everyone is happy to see our dog friends from the city today,” laughed Zookie as they all helped to shift the luggage to the barn.

This is going to be the best vacation I’ve ever had Lisa thought as she helped unpack her friend’s luggage and help them settle in the barn loft.

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