Annie

Poopy Weather

There’s nothing more invigorating than a tropical storm in tandem with a herd of Dober and Aussie kids who have diarrhea. I cleaned up doo-dee when I came home at lunch, as I was about to go on my way back to work, when I came home at the end of the day, after I let them out and all through the night.

Annie was particularly crafty by pooping at the crate door and using her crate blankey to cover it. I’d wondered why she had that opposite set-up in her crate when I left for lunch. It wasn’t until hours later and plenty of wiping up and realizing the odor wasn’t going anywhere until I did some snooping and found the well-hidden pile. Eeek! That Annie is a crafty girl, she is!

It wasn’t easy getting some of my CSK (cross-species kids) to go out that door and use the great wet outdoors as their potty.

Luigi woke me up at 1:30 a.m., when he finally decided it was time to take a dump. Thank goodness he didn’t just drop it in the house. Because it was drizzling, I had to join him in the rain while he did his thing.

Because of all the action going on, I cooked up a batch of sweet potatoes, red potatoes and rice with a slice of cheese last night. That was a modified Dr. Marty anti-diarrhea diet because I wasn’t going out to the store for that turnip and leek. I think it may have worked, but time and my lunch break will tell.

Here’s what Tropical Storm Fay looked like. She was a bit rude. That ladder you see in the picture? Well, last night I’d tethered the door open so the kids could run in and out due to their innards erupting out the rear with barely any warning, and when I came out to take a look-see, that ladder was knocked to the ground. So were several chairs; and my Luigi tree – aka a Vera Wood tree – had been pushed onto the fencing I’d just put up a few weekends ago. You can see the top of the Luigi tree in the picture with the yellow flowers. I picked up the tree, and leaned it over in the opposite direction on top of the sweet potato vines.

Fay is still moseying on by, with occasional bouts of rain and wind, but mostly she’s just bringing the color gray to Fort Doberdale, Florida, and its surrounding vicinities.

Helen

P.S. The rice and potato dinner worked. Lunch time, I held my nose as I opened the door, but no need! The air was fresh and clean of the doo-dee odor. Yeehaw!

Annie, Baby, Leissl, Lilian, Luigi, Weather

19

Aug

2008

Mind Games by Raven

Helen

What’s been going on in Raven’s mind these days? Plenty.

Here she is lusting after Annie’s rawhide. Annie gives her what for, though.

Oh lookie. Here she is making plans for a take-over of Luigi’s beloved Cuz ball. This attempt didn’t work, so she made plans to get that ball later. How? By watching Luigi out of the side of her eye until the right moment came, and she grabbed ahold of that Cuz and did not let go!

“I’m very good at this game,” Raven states. “No one can beat me at it here at Fort Doberdale. I’d guess in the whole world, no one could beat me at the ‘Gimme The Toy Game’ because I’m the best toy player there is. I am. It’s my stubborn nature. I’m beautiful, too.”

Times are, Luigi hides his toys in plain sight, yet in strategical locations. He never had a problem with this way of doing business. Who would think that anyone would have the nerve to jump up on the chest freezer for his well-placed gems? Then along came Raven. Eww boy.

Raven outsmarts a lot of us. When she does, she celebrates, and moves onto the next game she can find. She and Lilian have a rivalry. Lilian is very good at getting to toys I throw in the back yard. Raven stalks her, just as she did above with Luigi, and eventually grabs the toy. Lilian isn’t into long, drawn out tug-o-wars. She throws a hissy fit for 15 seconds, grasping, pulling and pumping out all sorts of sound affects. But Lilian eventually lets go, nips Raven a few times for good measure, and moves on. Raven gets the toy. She wins. Again.

Just so Raven keeps Lilian in her place, every so often, usually at supper time, Raven strolls into Lilian’s crate and takes over the den and all toys inside. Here she is making herself quite comfortable with one of Lilian’s prized Nylabones. Afterwards, when Lilith retakes her den, she checks to make sure all her toys are unharmed. And she adds one of Raven’s favorites to her heap. And you thought only people played mind games?

Helen

Annie, Lilian, Luigi, Raven

19

Jul

2008

Annie on Lizard Safari

Helen

Annie is very busy keeping the Fort Doberdale campus lizard free.

Snake!

Helen

As if the toad episode weren’t bad enough to end yesterday with, this morning, I woke up to more reptilian horrors.

As I washed the pavers and scooped the poop this morning, Bouchard (yes, again, it’s the Frenchmann) sounded the alarm!

“Snake! Snake! Snake!”
It was amongst the hoses trying to fit in.

I paced back and forth figuring what to do. I didn’t want to have to deal with a snake by the spigot! No no no! But I didn’t want to kill it either. But it was going under the house! That’s when it dawned on me it could end up IN my house! MoG! I didn’t have to kill it! Annie would! I know, you’re thinking Bouchard was the one who sounded the alarm, but he’s not the doer-inner. Annie is, and she did.

Then the rest of the FDSP (today, the S is for snake) got to work parading around with the thing.

Eegads! And I had to pick it up. All three pieces of it. YUCK! Thank goodness for large-sized pooper scoopers!

After I picked up the pieces and put it in the trash barrel with last night’s toad, Bouchard and Luna went looking for more snakes in that hole under the spigot. Now I have to figure a way to close that hole! I wonder if duct tape will work. Hmmm.

Meanwhile, ugh, don’t ask.

Helen

Annie, Bouchard, Trees and Plants

20

May

2008

Raven on Lime Safari

Helen

Annie went on safari.

Then Raven joined her.

Annie captured the beast. She was so fast, I didn’t get a picture. But I have one of Raven, having taken the prize from the ever-saintly Annie, then squeezing the beast to get lime juice.

No lime juice, so Raven decided to try something else. I knew she was up to something when we were all outside and Raven had run into the house. Moments later, Raven came back out with something in her mouth. She spat it out. It was half a lime I had squeezed and left on the counter! (Luna is looking at Raven as if she lost a few marbles.)

Raven stared at the lime for most of the afternoon. She knew the thing was food, but why couldn’t she eat it? It bit her every time she stuck it in her mouth.

Even Lilian came along to test sniff.

Nothing convinced Raven to let that lime go. Raven continued her fascination with that green fruit, while the rest of us wondered, “Just how loopy is Raven?”