Did I pick this picture to show our dogs enjoying a ray of sun? Or is it because that corner of the coffee table looks as clean as it ever gets and is better than usual? The dogs. The answer is the dogs. On closer inspection you can still see the smudges, the ready-to-cascade-to-the-floor pile of magazines, not to mention that Mick's bottle of foot lotion is in the frame, too. Missing? Receipts, three pairs of headphones, books, rubber bands, an empty Ipod case...and whatever else dwells beneath the top layer of crap on that table.
As mentioned before, this was the first summer that the girls and I spent here in Dallas. Previous summers were spent in Pelican, Alaska with Mick, the girls, and all four pets. Our dysfunctional traveling circus. And during those summers, Mick and everyone else had to listen to me bitch and moan about taking those dogs out for five walks a day because they have pea-sized bladders. And Zeus poops like a Play-Dough factory. Rain or shine, and face it, in Pelican, Alaska, it was far more rain than shine with a good dose of wind, therefore it was the dreaded sideways rain. Five times a day. Occasionally at 2:00 a.m. which thrilled me NOT AT ALL. Up and down stairs, in the light, in the dark, in the sun, but usually in the rain. Five times a day.
So Mick got to hear over and over and over and over and over...get the idea? "I can't wait to get home so all I have to do is open the slider and let these freaks out into the yard!" Famous last words? Well, hardly my last words. More a case of eating my words.
So this past summer, summer of 2009, Mick went to Pelican and the girls and all four pets stayed in Dallas with me. And Mick would get phone calls from me that would start and end, with no greeting, just the words, "All I have to say is DOG DOOR, DOG DOOR, DOG DOOR, DOG DOOR!"
They drove me insane, those two. It was constant. It was never-ending. I got so used to opening and closing that door that I even opened it for the cats. They would sit there and fake me out. Readers, they are strictly indoor cats. In, out, in, out, in, out...and the flies. Dear God, I think we still have flies living in this house. They would fly in, but they wouldn't leave. Hate flies. And even more irritating than that, Miranda, for whatever illogical reason, is freaked out by flies. So I get to listen to her shriek when one comes near her.
So now Fall is here with a vengeance. Right now it is so windy outside (but no rain, and for that I'm so grateful) that it is rather spectacular and awe-inspiring. Of course, there have been and will continue to be days with plenty of rain. And I will complain about it, just for good measure. I shouldn't. I think we get about forty inches annually, as opposed to Pelican which gets about 248 inches of rain annually. That's not a typo. And yes, I will complain anyway.
I will also complain about our dogs, the wonderful and infuriating Zeus and Louise. No longer is it in and out and in and out. Now it's, "Come on! Get up, you lazy curs! It's time to go out. No. No. Don't you go to bed yet. I'm NOT letting you out in the middle of the night! You made friends with a skunk last time. Now, come on! No, no, no, get back here! Don't you go to bed on me! You go outside. Now. Outside. Fine, be that way. Don't you dare ask to go out in the middle of the night. Lazy beasts..."
However, by Spring...I want that dog door.
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