Working dog

Meet Maddi. She’s a mix between a Labrador retriever and a standard poodle, and she has a cool job working with deaf children at the N.C. School for the Deaf in Morganton. My person Cheryl met her and her handler and some teachers and students a few weeks ago for a story for the newspaper.

http://www2.morganton.com/news/2011/apr/01/rescued-dog-finds-work-ncsd-ar-909329/

While the cat’s away

Cheryl, Kendra, Stacy, Joy and Leslie

“That’s not how mom does it?” Our person Wes had to hear that all weekend long. Because five friends from college, our person Cheryl being one of them, went to the beach for a girls’ weekend out, five husbands were left in charge of 11 children, five dogs, two birds, a cat and a guinea pig. What were those ladies thinking? I’ve heard bits and pieces about how things went down at the other houses. As for our house, when Wes set off our burglar alarm, I said, “Mom punches in the code before she opens our door so the alarm doesn’t make that loud, screechy noise at 5 a.m.” And when he gave Duchess her meds on Saturday morning instead of Sunday morning, Duchess said, “Mom gave me a prednisone yesterday so I’m supposed to skip today.” And when Lexie saw that the bed went unmade and there were dishes in the sink, she told him, “Mom’s not going to like that.” “While the cat’s away,” is what Wes would say, adding a little laugh. “What does that mean?” Lexie wondered. “We don’t have a cat.” I had to explain to her that it’s a figure of speech and that Cheryl is the cat and we are the mice so we should take advantage of her being away and do what mice do when there’s no cat around: play. So play we did. We played fetch with Wes, who throws the tennis ball much better than Cheryl. We enjoyed the way he makes us gravy when he adds a little water to our food, which Cheryl doesn’t do. And when we weren’t playing or eating we got to take more naps than usual on a weekend because there were less chores being done around the house – the vacuum cleaner, washing machine, dishwasher were all silent. So what if things didn’t get done like Mom would do them? Maybe the outfits didn’t match and the hair bows didn’t get clipped in and no one asked for lunch so everyone got an early supper. We all survived and our moms got a much-needed and well-deserved weekend away to reminisce about their college days, share child and pet rearing tips, exchange recipes and spread the word through text messages and Facebook updates that a friend of a friend spotted the Bachelor Brad, Emily and her daughter in Charlotte. We hear that this girls’ weekend away may become an annual event, and that’s fine with us, if that’s the way Mom wants it to be. Want to read Kendra’s blog post about the weekend? Click here: http://kendrahaneline.blogspot.com/

Weekend warriors

With spring finally springing and the weather warming, the people are jumping to get outside and do stuff. They started clearing a spot for a vegetable garden and finally tackled the jungle between Neighbor James’ yard and ours (and Cheryl has the poison ivy to prove it. Who knew you could get "the poison," as she calls it, before Easter?) The approach of spring also is prompting spring cleaning goings on inside. Alison’s room got its annual cleaning on Saturday and Cheryl’s closet got its semi-annual cleaning. Wes hauled out three big garbage bags full of their discarded clothes to give away to charity. Which makes Lexie and I wonder what charity could use our winter coats when we start shedding?

In the presence of Mickey

“Wes, you just got back from war. What are you going to do next?”
“I’m going to Disney World.”
The Army sent Wes to Afghanistan for a year, and now it is sending him and Cheryl to Orlando, Fla. for long weekends of seminars and site seeing. The weekends are designed to help with the “reintegration process” for the soldiers readjusting into civilian life and their families regetting used to them being back home. But through this whole process, the Army has forgotten about the dogs of deployed soldiers. We should be invited on these trips to Florida, too. No. 1, Duchess, Lexie and I missed our soldier as much as the people did. And No. 2, we could benefit from some PowerPoint presentations and small group discussions on what we went through. And No. 3, Duchess really could use some doggie therapy for her separation anxiety issues. And No. 4, I really, really want to meet Mickey Mouse. I guess we’ll just have to start our own support group and a fan club. In the meantime, here are some photos of a therapeutic trip Wes and Cheryl took to Downtown Disney.

Lexie would love to sink her teeth into this bone!

The boat Forrest Gump named "Jenny"

Apparently the water monsters eat the boats in Downtown Disney.

Balloon ride anyone?

I’m proud of my newspaper, The News Herald, and its staff, including my person, Cheryl. Read about their recent awards here: News Herald staff collects four press awards morganton.com

Turkey vultures

Big black birds have been hanging out in the tress in our backyard and in the neighbors’ yards. They identify themselves as turkey vultures and talk of feeding on some poor dead creature along the creek. Lexie not only is a bit weary of these ominous looking creatures, but wonders how these turkeys survived Thanksgiving. I tell her we don’t have anything to worry about, but Duchess on the other paw, might. Those birds could easily mistake her for a little, white rat and swoop down and grab her with their talons. I told my people I was willing to risk life and limb to put my body between the vultures and Duchess, that is until I realized how sharp those talons are. So until they move on to a greener feeding ground, my suggestion is we keep Duchess on a short leash.

The Blizzard of 2011, or not

Needless to say, last night’s snow wasn’t exactly at blizzard levels. In fact, the mere dusting disappeared by mid-morning. It was still enough to prompt the school system to call at 5:30 a.m. to inform everyone in the house of a three-hour delay. Oh well, at least pantries all across the land are stocked with enough bread, eggs and milk to make French toast every morning until the next forecast of snow.