Forward! – Conversations with the Pack

Posted on by H.J. Hill

I am Doodlebug, King of the Olde English Bulldogges. Those strange humans are back on our street, Lady Human!

Sweetie: Yeah, listen to all that noise! Let’s go!

Doodlebug: Yeah, let’s go chase ’em off!

Sweetie: BULLDOG CHARGE!

Me: Hold on just a second! Those are the trash collector people. The noise is from their big trucks. You don’t want to chase them off!

Sweetie: Who told them they could come snatch our trash away?

Doodlebug: Yeah! We may need that stuff someday…sometime…maybe.

Sweetie: If it doesn’t smell too bad. Save the garbage!

MoonCat: I think I’ll just find a nice out of the way spot where no one will see me. Best way to avoid nonsense.

©️ 2025 H.J. Hill. All Rights Reserved.

Head Rest – Conversations with Sweetie

Posted on by H.J. Hill

Me: Sweetie, what are you doing?

Sweetie: Just stay seated where you are, Lady Human.

Me: You’re nudging my leg over.

Sweetie: Yes, it’s almost perfect. There. The perfect head rest. Just the way I like it.

Me: You might want to ask me first next time. There are things I need to get up to do.

Sweetie: Never you mind about all that, ma’am. Being my head rest is the only job you have for now.

©️ 2025 H.J. Hill. All Rights Reserved.

Grumble Dogs – Conversations with the Pack

Posted on by H.J. Hill

I am Doodlebug, King of the Olde English Bulldogges. Errrrrr…

Sweetie: Errrrrr yourself! My errrrrr is better than your errrrrr. You just sound like wah, wah, wah…

Doodlebug: Says who?

Sweetie: Says ME, that’s WHO!

Me: What’s all the noise about?

MoonCat: Nothing important enough to wake me from my nap, that’s what!

Sweetie: Where’s my snack? And where has the sun gone? How can I sunbathe without a sun to bathe in?

Doodlebug: And when it going to stop raining? Stupid sky!

Me: Anything else y’all want to complain about? No, forget I said that.

Sweetie: As a matter of fact…

Doodlebug: Don’t get me started.

Me: Too late for that apparently.

©️ 2025 H.J. Hill. All Rights Reserved.

Who Is Throwing Ice Cubes? – Conversations with Doodlebug and Sweetie

Posted on by H.J. Hill

I am Doodlebug, King of the Olde English Bulldogges. The sky is screaming again, Lady Human.

Me: Stay calm and stay inside, y’all. That’s just the storm siren.

Sweetie: Just? Just?

Me: We’re alright.

Sweetie: The sky is throwing ice cubes at us! Is that alright? What is it trying to do? Make iced tea?

Me: That’s hail. It’s one reason we have a roof and walls.

Doodlebug: What are the other reasons? What else is the sky plotting to chunk at us?

Sweetie: I am going to write a strongly worded letter to the humans in charge of weather. Whoever that is, they are not doing a good job!

©️ 2025 H.J. Hill. All Rights Reserved.

Everything Not Nailed Down – Conversations with the Big Pack

Posted on by H.J. Hill

I am Doodlebug, King of the Olde English Bulldogges.

Sweetie: The wind, Lady Human! The wind.

Me: Yeah, when I was a kid, we used to say that winds like this were likely to carry off anything not nailed down.

Doodlebug: It’s about to carry me off! Nail me down!

Bud: Nail. Nail.

Me: Don’t worry. Y’all are safe inside.

MoonCat: Good. Fussing time is naptime for me. Good night.

Sweetie:  Nail me down, Lady Human, so I don’t blow away! I’m not that chubby! Really I’m not!

©️ 2025 H.J. Hill. All Rights Reserved.

Sweater Weather – Again – Conversations with the Pack

Posted on by H.J. Hill

I am Doodlebug, King of the Olde English Bulldogges.

Me: Hey, y’all. It’s still pretty chilly. Here, Sweetie, try on this sweater I crocheted. Doodle, I have some more sweaters you can try…

Doodlebug: Nope.

Me: Well, go ahead and try this one, Sweetie.

Sweetie: Nope.

Me: It’s plenty big and nice and warm…

Sweetie: Nope.

Me: Okay, Doodlebug. You go ahead and…

Doodlebug: Noooooo.

Me: Come on, y’all.

Sweetie: Let me spell this like the humans do. NO!

Me: In that case, MoonCat…

MoonCat: Don’t even look in my direction.

©️ 2025 H.J. Hill. All Rights Reserved.

The Earth under Our Feet – Conversations with the Pack

Posted on by H.J. Hill

I am Doodlebug, King of the Olde English Bulldogges. Look! Look! See!

Me: See what? Where?

Sweetie: The ground! It’s back! Right where it belongs.

Me: You mean the snow is pretty much gone.

Sweetie: And the earth has returned.

MoonCat: Oh my! Bulldogs. I give up.

©️ 2025 H.J. Hill. All Rights Reserved.

Cold, White, Wet, and Weird! – Conversations with the Pack

Posted on by H.J. Hill

I am Doodlebug, King of the Olde English Bulldogges.

Sweetie: Lady Human! Help! It is awful! And cold! And white! And wet! And weird! And it’s falling from the sky!

Me: It’s snow.

Doodlebug: Why?

Me: Conditions just got right and there it is. Snow.

Sweetie: Make it stop.

Me: It’ll do that soon enough on it’s own.

Sweetie: NO! NOW!

MoonCat: Calm down, silly bully. Do what sane animals like cats do. Take a nap.

©️ 2025 H.J. Hill. All Rights Reserved.

COLD! – Conversations with the Pack

Posted on by H.J. Hill

I am Doodlebug, King of the Olde English Bulldogges.

Me: You look disgruntled, boy.

Doodlebug: If disgruntled is the human word for COLD, then I am DISGRUNTLED!

Sweetie: It’s just another case of the humans not managing things very well.

MoonCat: Oh, dogs, dogs, dogs. Get snuggled down in your blankets and cushions. Tuck your chunky bulldog paws under you. Then bury your gigantic noses in a pillow. Simply compensate for human mismanagement

©️ 2025 H.J. Hill. All Rights Reserved.

It’s Rude to Stare – Conversations with the Pack

Posted on by H.J. Hill

I am Doodlebug, King of the Olde English Bulldogges.

Sweetie: Don’t look now, but the beady eyed birds are staring.

Doodlebug: At what?

Sweetie: I said don’t look!

Me: Why are you all agitated?

Doodlebug: Sweetie thinks the little budgies are staring at us.

Me: Well, apparently they are.

Sweetie: They’re invading our space with their eyeballs.

MoonCat: I don’t mind. When someone stares at me, it just means that they’re admitting the truth. I’m good to look at.

©️ 2025 H.J. Hill. All Rights Reserved.

Thinking – Conversations with the Pack

Posted on by H.J. Hill

I am Doodlebug, King of the Olde English Bulldogges.

Sweetie: How come you’re so quiet, Lady Human?

Me: I’m just thinking.

Doodlebug: Uh-oh.

MoonCat: A human thinking. Never a good thing. Hide!

Me: No, nothing bad. It’s just another holiday. New Year’s.

Sweetie: Where is its tree?

Me: New Year’s doesn’t get its own tree.

Doodlebug: Poor New Year’s. What does it get?

Me: Some people party. Some people cook a bunch of food. Some people shoot off fireworks. And some people like me are just quiet and think a lot. About the past. About the future.

Sweetie: About the food? Where are those food people? Let’s go New Year with them!

Copyright 2024. H.J. Hill. All Rights Reserved.

Why is There a Tree in Our House? – Conversations with Doodlebug and Sweetie

Posted on by H.J. Hill

I am Doodlebug, King of the Olde English Bulldogges. Lady Human, someone has made a mistake and brought a dead tree into our house.

Sweetie: No, they did it on purpose. They do this all the time.

Me: Not really. Just once a year. It’s Christmas.

Doodlebug: Did you bring it inside so the little birds could play on it?

Sweetie: Did you bring it in so it wouldn’t get wet and cold?

Me: No, it’s a traditional decoration for Christmas. You’ve seen them before. Not a big deal.

Sweetie: Uh, a tree in our house? Looks like a big deal to me.

Doodlebug: So if it keeps raining, can I just hike my leg and…

Me and Sweetie: NO!

Copyright 2024 H.J. Hill. All Rights Reserved.

The Passing of Little Friend – Conversations with the Pack

Posted on by H.J. Hill

I am Doodlebug, King of the Olde English Bulldogges. What is that laying in your hand, Lady Human?

Sweetie: It looks like…IT IS! ONE OF OUR PARAKEETS!

Me: NO! No, it’s not! Look! Both of our parakeets are still here! Tall Man found this little parakeet outside on the patio fence. He must have flown in and sat down and…passed away.

MoonCat: I had nothing to do with that.

Me: I know, girl. I guess this little guy escaped from his home, wherever that was. He was lost. And it’s been so cold these last few mornings that he just couldn’t make it and…

Doodlebug: He flew here because it was safe.

Me: But it was too late and we didn’t know about him.

MoonCat: And he perched on our fence.

Sweetie: Why did he come here? He could have gone anywhere.

Me: Maybe…

Sweetie: The Great Creator. He knew.

Me: This is so strange. Nothing like this has ever happened to us before.

Doodlebug: Just like when we all came here. Not an accident.

Me: The Lord Jesus said something very interesting about little birds. He said that the fall of even a tiny sparrow doesn’t happen without the Heavenly Father’s notice.

Sweetie: He should have a name. Everyone should have a name.

Me: All right. I’m going to call him ‘Little Tejas’. It’s the name of our home. Texas. It comes from an old Caddoan word that means ‘friend’.

Doodlebug: A little friend just passing through.

Me: Well, he’s home now.

Copyright 2024. H.J. Hill. All Rights Reserved.

A Bulldog Thank You – Conversations with the Pack

Posted on by H.J. Hill

I am Doodlebug, King of the Olde English Bulldogges. Lots of human food, Lady Human.

Me: Yep. Thanksgiving is food heavy. But it’s really about thanking the Great Creator of All for every good thing.

Sweetie: Like food.

Me: Yep.

MoonCat: And soft pillows.

Me: Yep.

Doodlebug: And not having to pee in the rain.

Sweetie: That one is at the top of every bulldog’s “thankful for” list.

Me: It’s pretty high up there on my “thankful for” list, too.

Copyright 2024 H.J. Hill. All Rights Reserved.

Good Ole Days – Conversations with the Pack

Posted on by H.J. Hill

I am Doodlebug, King of the Olde English Bulldogges.

Sweetie: What happened, Lady Human?

Me: What happened to what?

MoonCat: Don’t get her started, ma’am. You know these questions never make sense.

Sweetie: What happened to all the good ole days?

MoonCat: I warned you.

Doodlebug: Sweetie’s just bored.

Sweetie: I never used to be bored back in the good ole days.

Me: Why can’t these be the good new days?

Sweetie: You tell me, Lady Human. You’re the one in charge of entertainment.

Copyright 2024 H.J. Hill. All Rights Reserved.