Animal Expressions

            Corey used to have a cat, which he named Starbuck.  Corey and Starbuck lived in the basement.  Starbuck would use the stairs on occasion.  I have fond memories of his racing up the stairs one December. 

            Each time the door was open, Starbuck would race up the stairs.  Each time he got faster.  His goal: to climb the Christmas tree.  One family member or another always caught him before he made it to the tree.  But on New Years Day there was no stopping him.  He actually stopped himself.

            We had always taken the tree down on New Years Day.  I don’t know how long it had been down.  We were still cleaning up as I recall.  Starbuck was unstoppable.  He tore up those stairs and rounded the corner ready to pounce. The tree was gone.

 It would have been great to have a camera.  I’ve never seen a cat (or any animal) make that expression before.  It was hilarious.

I don’t think it was near as funny as Tony and I witnessing our dog Daisy make a mad dash for the TV when Garfield appeared on the screen.  The fact that Daisy was running towards the TV was amusing, but even more so because the computerized cat doesn’t even look like a real cat does.

Highness’s expressions are usually ones of guilt

Puppies are cute; That doesn’t mean I want one.

Biff’s girlfriend (at the time) gave him a puppy for Christmas – ironically the last year they were together.  They didn’t even make it to the next Christmas.

The puppy was cute with his little brown patches and Jenna liked holding him and playing with him while his patches were still intact. As Buddy got bigger (just in the matter of months really) the patches disappeared and Biff had a large white dog who wanted to play 24/7.  Biff couldn’t give him 24/7.  We all needed to sleep sometime – except Buddy. Barked if we tied him up.  Lot of complaints from the neighbors.

Buddy was no longer cute.  He was a nuisance.  Jenna loved him when he was a puppy, but when he got bigger than her, he was just too much for her to handle. He went through the chewing stage and managed to get some of her toys while indoors.  She hid all of her outdoor toys in his dog house – which he refused to take shelter in.  And that was okay by Jenna.  She liked playing in it.  After about four months he had outgrown the dog house anyway.

We both got to hate that dog.  Buddy actually grew to bigger than Biff.  It was great entertainment to watch Biff giving Buddy a bath.

Biff and his girlfriend broke up, but still had a platonic relationship.  I think the only reason that she continued to visit was to see Buddy and not Biff.  He should have given her custody of the dog a lot sooner.

Carrie wanted a puppy and so Randy got her one for Christmas.  Not just any puppy – a two hour drive to a pure breed puppy farm.  They lived in an apartment at the time and had to pay extra fees when their newfound friend was discovered. Plus they’d have to take turns getting up and letting the dog out of the apartment while trying to potty train him.  I got up with a human baby.  I am NOT getting up for a dog!

Potty training isn’t the worst of it though.  They seem to catch onto it better than many human children do.  It’s the teething and chewing and barking that I have a problem with.

Randy would bring the dog over to our house and leave it in the yard (I didn’t want him to be making messes in my house, thank you very much) and sometimes come back for it after his classes or it would be here all day until Carrie  returned from work. 

Chief liked to Chew on Highnesses ear – and though I have called our own dog finicky and high maintenance but he really is a good natured dog – not thrilled at having Chief biting him, but never fighting back.  I didn’t have many problems with Chief being outdoors until quite recently actually.

When they moved out of the apartment Randy bought a scooter and left the dog at his house (YEAH!) and so we didn’t see as much of him anymore.  But then there was that day that their car broke down and they just happened to have Chief with him and the dog got left at our house again.

That dog is a terrorizer!  He chewed on almost everything that he could find in the yard – Jenna’s wading pool (which she had only used once) the floatation device that came with it, and a mop I had left outside to air out among other things.  I hadn’t even realized that we had had that many things in the back yard until I had to clean up after him.  I WASN’T HAPPY ABOUT IT either.  I told Randy and Carrie both:  DO NOT LEAVE THE DOG IN OUR YARD ANYMORE!      The only reason our trampoline survived is because he is still unable to reach the tarp (at least on all fours)

Randy replaced the pool.  I put it on the side of our house.  When Chief got left in our yard again – really?  Listening is definitely not one of  Randy’s strong points – he dug up the seeds that we had barely planted – plus he stepped on some plants in the process (I was surprised he hadn’t attacked them when he attacked the pool and the mop)

Today I bought a cable.  If/When Chief comes again, he will have room to play among the weeds.  He won’t be in our back yard.  He will be on the side of our house where it’s nice and shady.  And if he would like to dig up or step on all the weeds, I will learn to love him again. 

Here’s hoping Randy and Carrie may take the hint and just leave Chief at home until he is no longer teething.  There is a reason we have always gotten older dogs. 

Dog Sitting

 Noel took Jenna for half the day two Saturdays before Christmas.  In the process Jenna fell in love with Noel’s dog, Hallie.  Later, when Noel was traveling out of town, she was looking for a sitter to take Hallie for four days.  I volunteered – more for Jenna than Noel. 

Unlike our dog, Highness, who’s only preferred activities are sleeping and taking walks, Hallie is an active four year old lab who LOVES to play – possibly more than Jenna.  I don’t know why Noel has her on such a strict diet, but I can’t leave food out for Highness to eat at his convenience as Hallie is supposed to eat certain foods at certain times – and Highness is such a fussy eater that he usually chooses NOT to eat what’s been left in his dish.

Last week I watched Lacy – who belongs to Frank and Marie.  Normally I’d have said “No” except for they’ve watched Jenna on several occasions – not overnight, but several hours each time. Unlike Hallie, Lacy is a small dog – Affenpinscher, maybe. I was afraid she’d get stepped on.

Jenna has played with her as well, and seems to have had fun with her while at Marie’s but seemed to hate having her around our house – or laying on her bedding as Lacy smells.  I can’t smell her, but Jenna seems to have an extra sensitive nose. 

I also believe Marie has spoiled her and she is bit of a fussy dog and almost as High Maintenance as Highness. She liked being in Jenna’s room.  She was not fond of the rest of our house.  She didn’t like our yard at all.

We are watching Hallie again. Poor dog is always hungry and searching for food.  Roland found Highness’s bowl on the counter and put it on the floor.  I imagine Hallie scarffed up what was left – which I’m sure would not go over well with Noel. But what can I do.  The evidence is gone.  And I’m thinking maybe I shouldn’t give her the nighttime “meal” that Noel portioned out (Lacy seriously would have eaten a larger portion; Hallie is a long white lab who’s always in the way)

In addition to giving her small portions for breakfast and dinner and keeping her out of the garbage cans and away from food that may be within her reach, Noel has also given me some medicine to give to her inside of a peanut butter ball.  This is a job for Biff – not Biff’s mom.  He’s the animal charmer.  I am an animal tolerater.

I don’t watch Randy’s dog – well actually Carrie’s puppy, Chief.  Randy used to leave him in our back yard (only after I banished him from being in the house) when he and Carrie lived near his and Jenna’s schools.  But they have moved farther west and he has been riding his scooter and Chief gets left in their yard.  Except the other day.

They were on their way to taking Carrie to work when the car broke down.  Roland picked them up and brought Chief back to our house. He is in his teething stage and destroying stage.  His cuteness wore off before he got bigger than Highness.  Chief is at the top of Jenna’s black list.  She had used her pool only one day and Chief managed to have pool bits all over our yard

It wasn’t just the pool he had destroyed.  It was almost everything in the yard – some things I wasn’t even aware were in the yard until they became chewed up bits.  It’s a wonder he didn’t destroy the hose or garden.  I feel so fortunate that I didn’t have Lacy out there.  He probably would have chewed her to bits as well.

Reflecting on Horton and Pinky

As a child, I was pretty much on the gullible side – or perhaps just wanted so much to believe in the unreal that I tried to make it real.

I recall an Easter when my Aunt Alice purchased two white bunnies.  She gave the bunnies to the children of her two brothers.  Patrick and I called ours “Pinky” (though Patrick himself most likely didn’t have anything to do with the naming; it sounds like I came up with the name and forced him to go along) and Kevin and Michelle named their rabbit “Greenfeet” or so I believed.

I was fascinated by both Dr. Seuss “Horton” stories – in the latter, the egg hatched at the end of the story and out came a bird that had Horton’s head.  How fascinating.  I wondered if it would work on rabbits as well.  It doesn’t.

Never mind that Pinky was only three or four weeks, totally uncooperative and wouldn’t sit on the egg unless I was holding her on top of it (or him.  I don’t think I really knew if Pinky was male or female.  I don’t really guess I thought about it one way or the other.  I never thought of Horton as male or female.  I was not all that bright) but I had taken the egg from the refrigerator.  Placed it outside near a bush in our backyard (Pinky was usually in a cage on the inside of the house) but I didn’t want my mom to find out what I was doing.  

I don’t recall how many weeks went by before a rotten odor was detected coming from the direction of that bush.  Not only was I not getting a half bird/half bunny.  I had wasted (and forgotten about) the egg.

Pinky and Greenfeet both died within the first three months.  I think they were “loved” to death. All that I have left now is this story.  I don’t even know if Pinky's bones remain in my mom’s former backyard.  Probably.