I was working at my desk and the bossy Ms Maddie Sue started barking at me to take her outside. I tried to cajole her into sitting in my lap, but she was hot to trot.
Not one to be ignored, she happily ran to the door to await her leash and then ran down her ramp to join me for a walk. I assumed she had to go potty -- why else was she so insistent that I drop everything and hurry outside with her?
As soon as we hit the lawn, Ms Maddie Sue flopped over on her back and started fishtailing around. Rolling in the grass is one of her favorite activities -- the first being eating.
At first I felt duped. "You mean you stopped my work, interrupted my chain of thought, just so you could come out here and roll around in the grass?"
"Yep," she said, "its a beautiful day for a roll in the hay....so to speak." (fresh one she is)
And it was.
I had spent several hours at the beach today. Why not let Ms Maddie Sue have a few minutes of bliss herself. And as I stood there watching her wiggle back and forth -- it made me feel happy to watch her happiness. She has a smile that is truly a smile.
After about five minutes, I asked if she was ready to go in and up onto her feet she jumped, quickly trotting on the hot brick drive to reach her carpeted ramp. With a hop, skip and a jump, we were back in my office and she was satisfied.
(Had I tried to bring her in before she was ready, she would have resisted to the point of getting road rash on her back by not getting to her feet.)
I think we are the same, Ms Maddie and I - two independent cusses, just trying to enjoy life's offerings. And why not?
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Taking Forgranted What We Longed For
When we lived in Connecticut twenty years ago, our family would vacation in the Keys for five weeks each year in February and March. We so looked forward to it -- we would talk about the restaurants we liked, what we would do, how much we enjoyed the water and sand and sun.
It almost seemed that the eleven months were spent waiting for the time in Florida. Finally, we decided to move to Florida, our dream vacation spot in the sun. And got jobs - and forgot about the fun in the sun.
Now I live within sight of the beach. If I walk one block, I am in a glorious palm arboretum, with lush lawns, tennis courts and Olympic sized swimming pools. If I walk through the park, I am at the beach.
How often to I go?
Eleven months of the year I would long to lay in the sun and sand.
Now I can walk two short blocks, and do I?
Sometimes when we get what we want -- we no longer treat it as special.
Isn't this true with so many things in life?
All of that was a long way to say: today Ms Maddie Sue had that wild eyed gazelle look as though she needed to romp in the wilds of her world.
Now let me confess, I have never seen a gazelle, much less a wild eyed one, but she gets this look that I would imagine a gazelle would get just before a crazed and crazy gallop through the wilds.
So I saddled up the "littles" - Lex and Maddie -- and off we went to the beach.
The walk through the park's lawn took a long time because one of Maddie's favorite things is to roll on her back in the grass and just wiggle this way and that. It is so cool that I will re-post a video clip of her delightfully delicious wiggle above. Lex just sits and waits for her to finish.
Once they got to the sand, the both looked feral and wanted to race. Oh how I wish I could let them go. But I chose to let them run circles around me -- like we would do when we were kids with those little airplanes on a tether - round and round.
Our joy was interrupted by some little yappy dog in a sun visor growling from a pink baby carriage. Oy! Probably jealous of all the fun we were having. (FYI -- it is a "no dog" beach -- but what the heck -- it is good to get your paws sandy sometimes.)
Note to self: why not take the "littles" there with my morning coffee each day - heck we walk around the block, why not two blocks to the beach?
It almost seemed that the eleven months were spent waiting for the time in Florida. Finally, we decided to move to Florida, our dream vacation spot in the sun. And got jobs - and forgot about the fun in the sun.
Now I live within sight of the beach. If I walk one block, I am in a glorious palm arboretum, with lush lawns, tennis courts and Olympic sized swimming pools. If I walk through the park, I am at the beach.
How often to I go?
Eleven months of the year I would long to lay in the sun and sand.
Now I can walk two short blocks, and do I?
Sometimes when we get what we want -- we no longer treat it as special.
Isn't this true with so many things in life?
All of that was a long way to say: today Ms Maddie Sue had that wild eyed gazelle look as though she needed to romp in the wilds of her world.
Now let me confess, I have never seen a gazelle, much less a wild eyed one, but she gets this look that I would imagine a gazelle would get just before a crazed and crazy gallop through the wilds.
So I saddled up the "littles" - Lex and Maddie -- and off we went to the beach.
The walk through the park's lawn took a long time because one of Maddie's favorite things is to roll on her back in the grass and just wiggle this way and that. It is so cool that I will re-post a video clip of her delightfully delicious wiggle above. Lex just sits and waits for her to finish.
Once they got to the sand, the both looked feral and wanted to race. Oh how I wish I could let them go. But I chose to let them run circles around me -- like we would do when we were kids with those little airplanes on a tether - round and round.
Our joy was interrupted by some little yappy dog in a sun visor growling from a pink baby carriage. Oy! Probably jealous of all the fun we were having. (FYI -- it is a "no dog" beach -- but what the heck -- it is good to get your paws sandy sometimes.)
Note to self: why not take the "littles" there with my morning coffee each day - heck we walk around the block, why not two blocks to the beach?
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
The Naked Chihuahua --On the Lam Again
It's been six days now since the last Naked Chihuahua incident, enough time that we, Ms. Maddie Sue and I, can begin to think about telling the story. She is perched in her writing chair, next to me, eyes scrutinizing the keyboard lest I misspeak......editing each thought and phrase.
One good thing, is that I learned that the spelling of "on the lam(b)" is without the "b" -- always good to learn new things. Maddie Sue was no help here -- she wanted to add the b as in a "lamb" on the run.
So what happened? It may be better said, "What happens on the beach, stays on the beach," that is Maddie Sue's version and so far, she's stickin' to it.
Here is mine:
It was a dark and stormy night. I worked a long and hard shift at the trauma unit and I wanted nothing more than to lay my body on my bed. It was 1 a.m., and being what I like to think of as "The Good Dog Mother" -- I gathered the three leashes on the back porch and whispered to the dogs to come go outside. Two showed up -- no Ms Maddie, who is usually the first. I whisper, "treats" - which will snap her from a sound sleep -- but no Ms Maddie.
I get a flash light so as not to disturb my sleeping Gordon and start looking under the bed and in corners in case she had some sort of seizure or spell (which she has never had) and taken to the far corners of the house as it is rumored dogs and elephants do. No Ms Maddie.
I awake my sleeping Gordon who recalls taking all three for a walk at 8 p.m. and bringing all three home, unleashing them, and locking the house up for the night. He takes to the car and starts driving around. No Ms Maddie.
I decide to sit on the various porches listening with the keenest of mother ears in case I hear her. It is my hope that someone took her in for the night and would call me in the morning.
After all, she was last seen wearing her red harness with my phone number embroidered upon it.
Morning came and no calls. We posted a fetching photo of her with the banner "LOST" with our phone numbers all around the beach area, all around the dog park, and all around our home. One of our friends, a former military pilot took to his bicycle and rode a rescue/recon grid pattern for at least 5 hours covering every inch of Old NE with the mission to either bring back Ms Maddie (optimistically, he carried a leash) or to bring home her body. No Ms Maddie.
I called every vet in St. Pete. I tweeted and Facebooked her photo and emailed it to vets and shelters in the area. At 2:30 I called the "Kill Shelter" and when I gave them my address and said I was looking for a chihuahua, they said to check out an address about 4 blocks from my house toward downtown.
I dropped everything and ran to that house. It was Apt. 1, but there were no doorbells. I knew the lady's name was Tracy, so like a fish monger's wife, or like Dustin Hoffman in the Graduate at the church scene (Elaine, Elaine -- now THAT dates me) -- I stood on the street shouting, "Tracy, Tracy" and tried to look in windows for a chihuahua. I saw a pomeranian, but not a chi.
Finally a nice man rushed out of the building telling me to "shush" -- that Tracy is on the phone to "the government" and I should just wait. I did. Tracy then came out and invited me in saying she had found a chihuahua.
There in the hallway -- was the showdown at the OK Corral -- Maddie Sue and I -- face to face, looking at each other. And yes, she was indeed NAKED!
Finally I said, "Well?"
And she ran over to me, I picked her up, and she began kissing all over me. Whew -- some kind of proof that she was mine. I guess she was snarling at her good Samaritans. I mentioned that the dog I was looking for was a bit, how do you say it politely, "Crabby!!"
As I carried home the dirty, sore, naked chihuahua, there had been such a neighborhood hoohah about finding her that several cars honked their horns and yelled, "Is that the lost chihuahua?" Some bicyclists waved and gave me the thumbs up sign.
One car pulled up and asked if this was the lost chihuahua, and when I said it was, she said that it looked like HER lost chihuahua, Sandy. But good ol' Maddie Sue was not ready for another confrontation or adventure and when the woman came over to reach for her, as I was fumbling with my iphone to show that I had photos of MY lost chihuahua, Maddie Sue did the nasty: snarled, snipped, and growled at her. "See," I said, "I told you it was MY chihuahua. Mine is a little crabby." The lady rushed back to her car and drove away.
I let Maddie Sue enjoy her Hero's Homecoming as we walked home down Beach Drive, knowing that as soon as we entered the house, she was getting her privileges pulled and heading for a major lock down.
As yet, there is no sign of her harness and she is NOT telling how she got naked while out cavorting all night long.
She no longer has back porch privileges and I still have the nasty cold I caught waiting up for her all night long on that dark and stormy night.
Peace has returned to our abode.
This blog post had been approved by Ms Maddie Sue, The Naked Chihuahua
One good thing, is that I learned that the spelling of "on the lam(b)" is without the "b" -- always good to learn new things. Maddie Sue was no help here -- she wanted to add the b as in a "lamb" on the run.
So what happened? It may be better said, "What happens on the beach, stays on the beach," that is Maddie Sue's version and so far, she's stickin' to it.
Here is mine:
It was a dark and stormy night. I worked a long and hard shift at the trauma unit and I wanted nothing more than to lay my body on my bed. It was 1 a.m., and being what I like to think of as "The Good Dog Mother" -- I gathered the three leashes on the back porch and whispered to the dogs to come go outside. Two showed up -- no Ms Maddie, who is usually the first. I whisper, "treats" - which will snap her from a sound sleep -- but no Ms Maddie.
I get a flash light so as not to disturb my sleeping Gordon and start looking under the bed and in corners in case she had some sort of seizure or spell (which she has never had) and taken to the far corners of the house as it is rumored dogs and elephants do. No Ms Maddie.
I awake my sleeping Gordon who recalls taking all three for a walk at 8 p.m. and bringing all three home, unleashing them, and locking the house up for the night. He takes to the car and starts driving around. No Ms Maddie.
I decide to sit on the various porches listening with the keenest of mother ears in case I hear her. It is my hope that someone took her in for the night and would call me in the morning.
After all, she was last seen wearing her red harness with my phone number embroidered upon it.
Morning came and no calls. We posted a fetching photo of her with the banner "LOST" with our phone numbers all around the beach area, all around the dog park, and all around our home. One of our friends, a former military pilot took to his bicycle and rode a rescue/recon grid pattern for at least 5 hours covering every inch of Old NE with the mission to either bring back Ms Maddie (optimistically, he carried a leash) or to bring home her body. No Ms Maddie.
I called every vet in St. Pete. I tweeted and Facebooked her photo and emailed it to vets and shelters in the area. At 2:30 I called the "Kill Shelter" and when I gave them my address and said I was looking for a chihuahua, they said to check out an address about 4 blocks from my house toward downtown.
I dropped everything and ran to that house. It was Apt. 1, but there were no doorbells. I knew the lady's name was Tracy, so like a fish monger's wife, or like Dustin Hoffman in the Graduate at the church scene (Elaine, Elaine -- now THAT dates me) -- I stood on the street shouting, "Tracy, Tracy" and tried to look in windows for a chihuahua. I saw a pomeranian, but not a chi.
Finally a nice man rushed out of the building telling me to "shush" -- that Tracy is on the phone to "the government" and I should just wait. I did. Tracy then came out and invited me in saying she had found a chihuahua.
There in the hallway -- was the showdown at the OK Corral -- Maddie Sue and I -- face to face, looking at each other. And yes, she was indeed NAKED!
Finally I said, "Well?"
And she ran over to me, I picked her up, and she began kissing all over me. Whew -- some kind of proof that she was mine. I guess she was snarling at her good Samaritans. I mentioned that the dog I was looking for was a bit, how do you say it politely, "Crabby!!"
As I carried home the dirty, sore, naked chihuahua, there had been such a neighborhood hoohah about finding her that several cars honked their horns and yelled, "Is that the lost chihuahua?" Some bicyclists waved and gave me the thumbs up sign.
One car pulled up and asked if this was the lost chihuahua, and when I said it was, she said that it looked like HER lost chihuahua, Sandy. But good ol' Maddie Sue was not ready for another confrontation or adventure and when the woman came over to reach for her, as I was fumbling with my iphone to show that I had photos of MY lost chihuahua, Maddie Sue did the nasty: snarled, snipped, and growled at her. "See," I said, "I told you it was MY chihuahua. Mine is a little crabby." The lady rushed back to her car and drove away.
I let Maddie Sue enjoy her Hero's Homecoming as we walked home down Beach Drive, knowing that as soon as we entered the house, she was getting her privileges pulled and heading for a major lock down.
As yet, there is no sign of her harness and she is NOT telling how she got naked while out cavorting all night long.
She no longer has back porch privileges and I still have the nasty cold I caught waiting up for her all night long on that dark and stormy night.
Peace has returned to our abode.
This blog post had been approved by Ms Maddie Sue, The Naked Chihuahua
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
