Sharing again

It has been a long cold week. Rivers are rising in many places as the spring moves forward in a series of wintry stalls and open water ices over and then melts again. My favorite riparian dog park is almost completely flooded - where dogs so recently were leaping and chasing, ducks are now paddling. I guess we dogs are sharing our park with others, but we don't have much choice.

It is good weather to go for a run and then head inside. My frenemy Tasha's couch spot has been taken over by my buddy Pico. If I get too close he makes a funny sound like he's losing air, so I stay as far to one side as I can. But it is nice having someone to share with.

Speaking of sharing, my Person has been busy baking her favorite no-knead bread and she shared it with me a couple days ago. If it is on the counter and she's off somewhere and wasn't polite enough to include me, then I figure all is fair game. So off to bed I trotted with my prize and spent a glorious afternoon munching and dozing under the covers. I was happy and my Person got an unexpected opportunity to share.

Isn't that the stuff that gives life meaning?

Blowing out the cobwebs

Ah-ha! To run on dirt and grass instead of snow is a springtime pleasure...even though the grass is still looking pretty dead. My Person and my Auntie Val and I had a big hike today in the high wind and milky sun and I got to lead the way. I followed a deer trail along a creek and got us lost and then I got us unlost. I am a pretty good tracker but I am better at finding where moles and voles are than where the trail went.

It was a good airing out though and we all needed it.

The house needed some airing out too. The Barking Furball has gone home and though she was glad to be shut of us she left some bits and pieces behind. Tasha lives up to the Furball part of her name even more than the Barking part. If Tasha were musical and had bad taste, she could be a one dog hair band.

In the Olympics of Housekeeping my Person would score a solid 4.4: okay start and very bad follow-through. But when I start sneezing up cat fur and the cat brothers start complaining about the dog fur on their feet it is time to vacuum. So my Person hauled out the air sucking monster and the last of Tasha disappeared. Now if I want to see a little Tasha I will have to go to the dog park instead of looking between Adric's toes.

I shall be released

It is the big count down until Tasha's Person #1 and Person #2 return home. (They can fight about who is which.) And then Tasha can return to her home as well. And then I will rule once again!

Right now she's outside scaring birds and I have sneaked out one of my toys for some play time. You won't be surprised to hear that Tasha commandeers my toys when she finds them so is has been a toyless two weeks for me.

Pretty soon I won't have to listen to my Person saying "Good girl!" from the other room or listen to the crinkle crinkle of treat bags being unrolled but not for me, and there won't be a furry puffy one anchoring the other end of the couch or someone to show me up on the finer points of dogdom, like heeling and such. It will just be me, me, me. Plus Adric and Ollie and Pico. And some others I won't even mention.

Will I miss Tasha - of course! But I will see her at the dogpark. And if she doesn't bring her Barbie suitcase I might even invite her for a sleep-over.

In praise of short hair

Do I look a little damp? I should be. My Person decided, with her unerring sense of timing, that it was just right for a walk for me and my frenemy Tasha, well ahead of predicted sleet. Ha! Here I am an hour later, damp and slightly disgruntled and trying to forget the feel of ice pellets banging on my little red head.

But you should see Tasha! Being plumy may lend a certain charming and girlish appearance (as if I care) but imagine having five-inch belly fur, crusted with ice and clotted with mud and hanging all damp and bedraggled. Yuck! Needless to say she is sequestered in a highly absorbent environment for a while until she dries out. I maybe look a little wet but I came out of it better than she did!

My Person must realize the advantage of my hair style since she just had her scrambled and Tasha-like hair chopped off. I think maybe she took a picture of me with her to the stylist, not having found more practical or attractive styles in a fashion magazine. I won't tell her but the look is more successful on me. Maybe if she had furry ears...

Play time?

This may look like the pose that a jaguar or a leopard assumes before dropping on its heedless prey but it is really an invitation to play. From the position of advantage that is. I'm as smart as a Big Cat.

You see, the Barking Furball started playing with me today. At first I thought she'd popped a circuit breaker. My Person even left her beloved computer and came to gawk. So I assumed the Big Cat position and wouldn't you know, Tasha stopped playing as suddenly as she began. And I was just ready to mix it up.

Of course Tasha's idea of mixing it up probably has something to do with donning pink wings and playing Barbie. So it is just as well. But I think I'll hang out here awhile just in case any likely prey - I mean playmate - happens to wander beneath me.

The agony of sharing

I can't believe I am sharing my couch with a girl. I mean my Person is a girl but this dog girl on my couch has me all worried. Is nothing sacred?

I guess things are going better than I expected with Tasha the Barking Furball. She has been just slightly condescending to me (she only likes fuzzy dogs) and she has shared my backyard peaceably and she has even shared some of her treats with me. Cheese and Bacon Madness! Would my Person buy me a treat called that? No way! (Actually I wonder about the wisdom of buying Tasha treats with the word Madness in the name but I am not her personal shopper.)

So, we are embarking on Day Two of life with Tasha and I am doing my best to be non-controversial and keep my opinions to myself and I am incapable of discussing religion or politics so maybe things will continue down this path, fraught with more bark than bite.