The Chairman called from vacation to talk to … Hoocher—collect, by the way. “I miss my dog,” she said. Hoocher, meanwhile, continues to push for control of the household. Last night, when the pooch thought we were asleep, he slinked into the bedroom, jumped onto our bed, and went entirely limp. No command or plea could move that dog. I had to get up and drag him to the floor, where he faked giving up by returning to a chair or couch in the living room.
I say faked giving up because he was back in the bedroom in about 10 minutes, which must be how long it figured it would take us to get back to sleep. When he saw I was awake, however, he gave out a doggy sigh and went back into the living room for the night. I found him racked out on a chair at 7:15 a.m.
Hoocher’s met some of the neighborhood dogs and is okay with most of them. He doesn’t know what to think about “the jumping dogs of Oakdale,” a pair of chocolate and black Labradors who live across the street. They’re usually on watch from a gate to the backyard and jump up and down and bark excitedly when people or pups walk past.
The Senator enjoys the jumping dogs, because they’re really friendly, once you get by the noise, and he likes to see them fetch a slobbery tennis ball that one or the other will bring to the gate. These dogs—Cia and Ranger—are quite the contrast with our late Cairn terrier, Sandy. Toss the ball for Sandy, and she’d look at you as if to say, “What the hell is this all about?”
Note to Nana: Thank you for alerting us to what could have been a misadventure when we take custody of The Senator and The Governor. Yes, we were planning to have ice cream in mass quantity but we had forgotten about sprinkles, which will be obtained in advance of the boys’ arrival. Various other ice-cream toppings are on the shopping list.
Blackberries.
If available, they are a delicious topping for vanilla ice cream.
Posted by: aelfheld at June 4, 2005 02:18 PM