A New Routine

There's no denying that adding a new dog to the mix shakes things up.  Adding Morgan in with the girls has been an entertaining and uplifitng experience for us.  I sometimes wonder if she feels like she landed on another planet.

One of the routines that I've always loved is when Mr. Taleteller leaves the baby gate down on Saturday mornings and Bunny comes back to bed with me.   She comes in and curls up and will sleep until she senses that I'm waking up.  Then somehow her little body winds up much closer to mine.  She'll lay there and watch me until I make the mistake of starting to pet her.  After that, there's no going back to sleep.  You do not stop petting Bunny on the bed once you've started.  If you do stop, you are sternly reminded with The Paw.  She also ends up with her head beside me on the pillow, and honestly, in my completely biased opinion, she's just too adorable to stop petting.

However, now there's a new element to the Saturday morning routine.  After Bunny has decided that she's had enough or she needs a drink or something attracts her attention in the living room and she's gone, Morgan decides that she needs to come in for some quality time.  Morgan time is nothing like Bunny time!  I hear one thundering step on the bedroom floor before the bed shakes from the earthquake of her landing.  Then it's a pounce and two giant paws hold my shoulders down while Morgan expresses all of her feelings with her tongue.  Honestly, by the time she's done I don't feel like I even need to start my day with a shower or brushing my teeth.  She rolls over for a belly rub, which is a full body experience as she wriggles around in ecstacy. 

It's definitely two different styles of wake up call, but honestly, I've found that I enjoy both of them!  It's nice to have a little time with the big fuzzy girl before she heads off with my husband to obedience class.  While they're gone, I get to spend some quiet quality time with the girls in the living room and think about what adventures we can get into during the rest of the day.  I just find it so endearing that they all have their own little routines that they have to share with you. 

We're participating in the Saturday Pet Blog Hop today.  Thanks to Life With Dogs, Two Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume for hosting this fun event.  It's a great way to find some new blogs and perhaps attract a few new followers to your own blog.  Simply add your link into the McLinky tool, then copy the code and paste it into your html editor.  We hope you find some new friends!

Conversations With Lilac

Lately, I've begun to relate a lot to Morgan Freeman's character in Driving Miss Daisy.  Getting older isn't always fun, but a sense of humor certainly helps.  It helps in coping with the side effects of aging in those you love, as well.

I've mentioned earlier that often in the mornings, Lilac has a lot to say.  The other morning I got up and went to the kitchen to grab some water before heading to the bathroom to start getting ready.  While I was in the kitchen, I caught Lilac devouring Bunny's food while her food bowl sat mostly full.  I told her to eat her own food and picked Bunny's bowl up and put it on the counter.  Then I went in the bathroom and closed the door.  Sure enough, a few minutes later, Lilac had something to say.

Lilac:  Hey!  Hey you!

Me:  (opening the door, hoping for a Vincent Price sort of entrance and knowing it won't matter) Are you talking to me?

Lilac:  Yes I am!  I'm STARVING!  I need food!

Me:  You have food.  It's in your bowl in the kitchen.

Lilac:  No, Bunny ate all my food!

Me:  No, YOU ate Bunny's food!  Yours is in your bowl where it always is!

Lilac:  I need that other bowl!  That food tastes better!

Me:  It's the same food in all three bowls!

Lilac:  It still tastes better out of that bowl.

Me:  The bowls are identical!  There is no difference!  Now go and eat if you're hungry.

Lilac:  I'm not hungry anymore.  I think I'll just go start on my morning nap.

Lilac wanders back off at this point and I close the door again.  I finish brushing my teeth and turn on the shower.  Like clockwork, Lilac has more to say.

Me:  What is it now?

Lilac:  You forgot my morning scratch.

And so I dutifully scratch her in all her favorite places, behind the ears, along her back and across her chest, finishing with some rubs under her chin.  She gives a little sigh of satisfaction and wanders off to the living room to get comfortable on her orthopedic dog bed.  Of course I was running a few minutes behind by that point, but it seems a small price to pay to give the old lady her moments of happiness.  Sometimes it's a small blessing to be the only two early risers in the house and have our little rituals.

Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder...

Going back to work has been challenging for me this time, for various reasons that I won't mire everyone down with here.  The girls all handled it pretty well.  I imagine Bunny envisioned stretching out even more on the couch than she did before.  Blueberry probably figured she'd be able to rearrange the dog beds however she wanted them to her heart's content.  Lilac was probably enjoying eating out of any dog bowl she wanted to without me telling her to eat out of her own bowl.

However, they all have their own little routines to let me know that they've missed me, just a little, during their regularly scheduled all day naptime.  Lilac goes first, barking at me early in the morning while I'm getting ready in the bathroom.  Most of the time, she staunchly avoids the bathroom at all costs, because she believes the only good thing about water is that you can drink it.  She does not want any part of a bath, playing in the pool in the summer, or even walking through a shallow creek or water puddle.  The fact that she gets baths in there a few times a year has made it a perilous place to be avoided at all costs.  Yet this week, she's decided she's coming in for a morning scratch and chat time every morning.  Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Mr. Taleteller, aka The Giver of The Dreaded Baths, is back in bed at that time.

Blueberry is the most aloof of our girls.  Her little routine is waiting to come in from turn out and then getting on the couch with me before Bunny can.  Her beautiful head will wobble a little and she curls up just close enough that there's not room for Bunny, looking like a regal queen on her throne while she allows me to pet the softest greyhound fur in existance for a few moments.  As a lowly serf, this is a great boon she allows me.  She will close her eyes in contentment for a few minutes while Bunny snorts and stamps her little foot on the carpet.

Bunny doesn't waste any time letting me know she's missed me.  There are soft sighs from her in the morning that let me know that she's unhappy that I'm leaving, at least until she gets to have my yogurt cup to clean out.  When I get home at the end of the day, she has to do a little tap dance on the floor, then she runs to the living room, where I am expected to follow.  So, I sit on the couch for a minute, while Lilac grabs her rabbit to let me know that it's time to go outside, and Bunny leaps up to lean against my chest for a few minutes.  Her little body just can't seem to be able to contain her joy.

I have to say, it almost makes it worth going back to work, just to come home and see them so glad to see me.  Almost, but those Monday mornings still come awfully early!  If we could just ease back in with a later work start on Mondays, that'd be great. 

The Princess Puppy and the Pea

When we had Treat, she slept on the bed with us and that was okay, although a bit uncomfortable at times. We sort of made up our minds that after we lost her, we wouldn't have any more dogs sleeping on the bed. Our others didn't seem to have an interest in it. Once in a while Blueberry would get up there with us, but it was unusual for her to sleep all night there. So, we decided that it was alright if she got up there with us, but we weren't going to encourage her.

A month later, Bunny came to our house. She didn't get the memo about cute, adorable little puppies sleeping on the floor. Oh no! That very first night, she hopped right up on our bed and curled up right beside me. I was smitten. My husband was smitten. So, from the get go, the princess had her king-sized bed to sleep on. On occasion, she will sleep on a dog bed on the floor -- usually during the summer when it gets hot. Most of the time, however, she sleeps on the bed with us. Truth be told, if the door were open, she'd probably sleep in there all day, too.



Her habit of sleeping on the bed has instilled certain routines for us, however. A remarkable phenomenon happens when Bunny gets on to the bed. At the vet's office, the scale says she weighs 50.8 pounds, however, after she lays down on our bed, she suddenly weighs around five hundred pounds. Trying to move her over is an exercise in complete futility. So, generally, one of us goes to bed first, and gets comfortable, while piling a few pillows on the other side of the bed so the other person can have a space, while Bunny curls up in the center.

This sounds simple enough, I know. Yet somehow, when Bunny lays down, she always manages to be sideways, her little behind curled up in the middle of the space where your back should be. We're not talking about even a little sliver of space left over that you can cling to here, we're talking about just enough space so that Bunny's tail doesn't fall off the edge of the bed. On nights when I come to bed last, I walk in a few minutes after my husband and the hounds have turned in for the evening and generally find that my husband has misjudged how much space I actually require on my side of the bed, or that Bunny has rearranged the pillows in her favor. Amazingly enough, she manages to fall into a deep slumber in a matter of mere moments after curling up on the bed. This results in me arriving at the bed and the following conversation ensuing.

Me: Bunny, scoot over, I need to get into the bed!

Bunny: (ear twitches)

Me: I know you are not asleep yet!

Bunny : (burrows nose under husband's side of the blankets)

Me: Bunny! I'll still snuggle with you, but you have to let me get into the bed!

Bunny: (lays very still)

Husband: Bunny, I know you're not asleep! You were just pawing me to pet you! Now scoot over!

Bunny: (cracking open one golden eye) Sooooooo sleepy...

Me: You faker! Move over!

Husband: Bunny, move over and let her in the bed!

Bunny: (large yawn, followed by the nose burrowing even deeper into the blankets)

Husband: Alright Bunny! Look out!

At this point, my husband begins moving his hand under the covers, which always gets some kind of reaction from Bunny. Sometimes she pounces on it. Sometimes it's the evil eye. Then there are other times when she pretends indifference, but that never lasts for long. At bedtime, however, there's another reaction.

Bunny: (suddenly alert) What are you doing?!

Husband: I'm going to move you over.

Bunny: You wouldn't dare! You know how hard the wrinkles in the blanket are on my sensitive skin!

Husband: Well, you've left us no choice.

Bunny: But I'm so sleepy! (exaggerated puppy yawn)

Me: Alight, fine, I'll do it!

Bunny: (leaping up) Okay! Okay! Sheesh! You people!

At this point, Bunny does stand up, and I get under the covers as quickly as possible. No sooner do I lay down than Bunny curls up against me as close as she can get. At least she's forgiving!