the world is your acorn

Sitting at the kitchen table today, pretending to get some work done, I looked out the window to see Oliver playing with another dog. In our fenced yard. For a while I thought my depth perception was just bad and they were playing on opposite sides of the far fence. But then Oliver clearly jumped on the other dog, and it rolled over onto its back.

So the astute reader should be asking right now, “How did the other dog get into the yard? Isn’t it fenced?” Yes. It is fenced. And the gate is always closed, since Oliver does not know how to “come” or “not run away” or “find his own way home.” There is a section of the back fence that has a big hole in it, and someone (before we bought the house) “patched” it with a piece of plywood and some other garbage. There didn’t seem to be space enough for a dog to fit through which is why we haven’t worried about it. But then today there was a dog in our yard, one who did not enter through the house or the gate.

The Little Red Haired Girl heard me arguing with myself about whether the dog was inside or outside the yard (and for a little while whether it was a cat or a dog). She laughed at me for a while, until I confirmed that it was definitely in. At which point she ran into the room, donned her duck boots, went outside, picked up the other dog, and dumped it over the side of the fence. If Oliver was sad about losing his new friend he made no sign.

Anyway, the fence has to be fixed. The Little Red Haired Girl threw some rocks in the hole, but we need to do something more permanent and less ugly. Add “new fence” to the home improvements list.

The Little Red Haired Girl just fed our doggie guest his own eye boogers. Oh. Sorry. She claims she did not really feed them to him. She just picked them out, and he licked her fingers “like it was a natural thing.” Then she made me Google “Why do poodles eat their own eye boogers?” Now she is giggling her little brains out. Guess who’s hammered?

We are dogsitting for a professor for the next week. It is really bizarre having someone else’s animal in your house. Especially when the animal is about 3 times the size of your existing pet. I took them both on a walk this afternoon at the park, and found myself constantly tangled up in their leashes. Generally they wanted to go in opposite directions, but occasionally our guest would want to sniff at whatever Oliver had just sniffed at. That would be fine if Oliver didn’t usually pee after sniffing. I had to do a lot of yanking and maneuvering to keep our guest from getting his head peed on. Or pooed on, in one nearly disastrous instance.

The Little Red Haired Girl promises to join me on those two-dog walks from now on.

Yes, we have become those kinds of pet owners. Oliver now has his own website.

An email I received from a friend today:

if you want a kitten or know someone who wants a kitten, plllleeeaaasssseeee pass this along
These three adorable kittens (photos attached — CUTE!) live in our yard (and sometimes in our house) and are friendly and sweet and playful and will be spayed and have their shots and are ready for adoption in the next few days! YAY!

look who got a new outfit today!

Before:

After:

I emailed my mom to let her know about the new dog this morning. I was a little nervous that she’d be critical of the decision to get a dog, saying that it’s too much work or too expensive or something. To my surprise, she seemed pleased. Here is what she said:

that is great! can I borrow him? where did you get him from? you need to learn grooming the dog. it is very expensive to have him groomed. does he cost you arm and leg?

Some thoughts:

• What is she going to do with him if she “borrows” him?
• How can she “borrow” him? She lives in Connecticut. I clearly don’t.
• Is “grooming the dog” some sort of line dance?
• The Little Red Haired Girl said that she could borrow him in exchange for her arm and leg.

Oliver!!

The Little Red Haired Girl and I took a walk at Radnor this weekend, on that gorgeous 65 degree day. There were tons of turtles out and basking over the lake, which made us miss Murfen a ton. Well, I missed him. The Little Red Haired Girl talked about how he bit her, again. We even saw a couple of red-eared sliders at the lake, although not many. I don’t know what kind of turtles the others were, but they were really fun to watch.