Edison Jack Turns Two: Part Two

MARCH 21, 2007

A RED LETTER DATE IN DOGGIE HISTORY

When the boys finally woke up, there were funky party hats to be worn, though Bram was not nearly as blase about that detail as was Edison. There was a yummy and healthy homemade blueberry muffin that was waiting to have its candles blown out and then be nibbled and shared by two hungry little dogs. And lastly, there was even more playing with all those fun new toys.

All in all it was a great day and much fun was had by all: those with tails and those without. Happy birthday Edison Jack and may you have at least fifty more!

Edison Jack Turns Two: Part One

MARCH 21, 2007
A RED LETTER DATE IN DOGGIE HISTORY

Saturday was Edison's second birthday and we celebrated it with all the humans in the house and Bram. Even Maia Louise got into the act and helped Edison in opening some of his gifts. There was tug-of-war over the new goodies (in spite of the fact that Bram was given a "just because" gift of his own to keep him away from Edison's presents) and much racing around and around the downstairs until little Bram crashed and needed a snooze. Then Edison joined him in a very long nap for most of the afternoon.

To be continued....

A(n Almost) Springtime Walk

Today Griffin and I took Edison and Bram out for a walk. We started out in the back yard so I could give my new "coupler" a go before we hit the busy street that we need to briefly walk down to get to the empty and fairly deserted road that we take when we want a quiet walk and are feeling too lazy to go very far from home. The coupler is a great idea: you can link two dogs together on one leash and still give them a couple of feet between one another, but it forces them to walk together in an orderly way rather than heading off in two different directions, something I desperately need while I get used to walking two hyper little dogs at once, especially when one is still learning how to navigate while on a leash.

It worked fairly well for about a second and a half, or until Edison saw something intriguing off to his right and dragged poor little Bram off with him. You'd think that having a dog who is a bit over six pounds and a dog who is a bit over four pounds doesn't make for such a big difference in size, but trust me, with dogs who are this small to begin with, that two pounds makes a world of difference. I got them under control again, but once more only for a moment, when Edison again tore off with Bram bumbling along sideways next to him, banging against Edison the whole way. So much for the coupler. Clearly it will have to wait until both boys are relatively close in size and Bram can hold his ground should Edison decide to take a tiny detour from our predetermined route. And considering how the trial run went, it was a good thing that I took Griffin's advice and tried it out before we hit the street.

Once we got the dogs back onto their separate leashes and made our way to the empty road, all went very well. Bram walked beautifully and even made it about halfway down the lane before he began to tire, which is a pretty fair distance. Not bad for such a tiny little guy. I picked him up and carried him back to the house while Edison walked home like a big boy, and by the time we had gotten back to our front yard, Bram was bleary-eyed, head-wobbly, and half-conscious in my arms.

It was a good day all around: sunny, warm and tantalizingly springlike; and there's nothing better than spending a day like that out and about with your two favorite pooches.

Which Fork Do I Use For the Cat Food Course?

Snapshot: Maia Louise eats with her feet. Foot. Her left foot to be precise. I know she's left-footed because she does everything with her left foot: digging in her litter box, batting at a toy, slapping the dog in the face. But does she need to eat with it too?

Normal cats just stick their faces into their food dishes and chow down, but not Maia. She uses her foot as a spoon to daintily scoop some food from her dish and then nibbles her meal from between her toes. Then she shovels up another blob and eats that. But between each bite, being the uber-clean kitty that she is, she shakes her foot to get all those pesky and sticky little bits that have gone uneaten out from between her toes. And as she's fed on the counter to keep the dogs from eating all her food, both wet and dry (we went through a spell where the cat never got a bite of food and became more and more manic due to low blood sugar while Cordelia got fatter and fatter), her discarded food ends up spattered everywhere: on the countertop, the bread box, the coffee maker, the backsplash, and even on the leaves of my aloe plant. She eats three times a day and snacks in between, so three plus times a day I have to scrub everything down and make it all brand spanking clean again, usually just in time for her next nosh.

If a cat can be trained to use a human toilet instead of a litter box, then why can't Maia Louise be taught to use an actual spoon instead of her damn foot? Or better still, why can't she be hired to do a Fancy Feast Cat Food commercial where she oh-so-delicately reaches into that crystal dish on a stem and nibbles the morsels within with her girlish paw? Then I could take her royalty checks and hire a maid to hose down my kitchen every time she's feeling a bit peckish.