Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Peculiarities

Milt Dog just loves to spend quality time in our foyer, his room of the house.  Usually, he lies with his nose pressed to the window ready and waiting to defend with a mighty bark, but occasionally he rests further back in the room to take a little snooze break from security duty because, well, it can be stressful at times.

A planter for a pillow


Sometimes when a boy wakes up from one of these itty bitty naps, his tennis ball is just in the oddest of places, like so.


Tucked away in the dirt for safekeeping


It's like a giant Easter egg.

Oh, that Milt Dog.  On a side note, this morning at 4:30A.M., I awoke to the sound of Milton furiously lapping up water; he tends to have a powerful thirst in the middle of the night that quite often will wake both Jeff and me from a very sound sleep!  Once the thirsty boy was finished, he, of course, walked over to nudge his big wet nose onto the bed to ask me (It's always the Momma Dog!) to let him out of our bedroom.  As the cold water dripped from his muzzle onto my pajama sleeve, I realized that Milt's water dish was, indeed, not in our room, and he had just taken a generous, probably more than generous, gulp of our toilet bowl water.  Ugh.  Some days I think Milt is almost human, and then I crash back down into reality!  He's our little... dog. 

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

High Above Cayuga's Waters...

Okay, well, this is a biiiiiit of a belated birthday post but oh well.  Milton's birthday, as some of you may know, was on April 7th, and we had a rather subdued but intimate party for him.  The only two people, other than Jeff and me, who really recognized Milt's birthday were my good friend Lindsay, with a text message, and my mom with a card.  See the below:


Our alma mater in the springtime

I was so surprised and happy when I opened this card to find Cornell's slope, with the clock tower in the distance, staring back at me --  What sweet memories!  Even sweeter were the words of the card:


Why yes, yes, it is.

Milton has yet to grace the rolling hills of campus, but I will be spending my entire two-month summer vacation up North, so, I do believe, a trip down memory lane is an absolute requirement.  Maybe he will even want to attend school there one day.  Oh wait, he's a dog -- I tend to forget as I constantly correct, Jeff, whenever he refers to Milton, our son, in such demeaning terms.  Well, actually, to be quite frank, I do believe Milt Dog likes being a dog, and I just have to accept him for who he is.  Oh, well.  Some dog!  

Monday, May 19, 2014

Puppy Photo of the Week

Recently in Dallas, we had tornado warnings coupled with dark stormy weather, and they actually went into effect at the end of my school day.  As soon as I heard the announcement at 3:45P.M. (The kids had already left, and I get out at 4P.M.) that we might be asked to take cover, I packed up and got ready to get a move on.  With Jeff and Milt Dog waiting at home, I certainly did not want to be stuck in the "tornado position" at school.  If you grew up in the North, like me, you probably have never experienced this, so see the below picture:

Courtesy of Google images

I actually have never needed to awkwardly crawl into this position at my current teaching job, but at my previous job, yes, yes, I did, and it was quite unpleasant.  On my drive home, the tornado warning was, thankfully, called off, and I stopped by Walmart, which was blissfully empty, and I was able to leisurely peruse the aisles without swarms of people getting in my way as I tried to buy my favorite Walmart brand salsa, toilet paper, etc. (the essentials).

One of the highlights, for Milton at least, post-storm is the abundance of fallen tree limbs that are readily available all along the sidewalk.  Our boy is half-retriever and quite pleased with himself whenever he is trotting along with a twig, or, even better, a whole limb, proudly dangling from his mouth.

What a find!

Luckily, the full force of the tornado never slammed Dallas or else I would not write such a light-hearted reflection!  Walking after the rain is such a refreshing experience for both the Milt Dog and me.  As that silly boy is carrying his prized stick and gazing up at me, I, oddly enough, begin to feel quite proud as well!

Happy, Happy Monday, everyone!  

Monday, May 5, 2014

Puppy Photo of the Week

This weekend was an eventful one for our little family as we had parties on both Saturday and Sunday afternoon -- a Kentucky Derby soiree and a one-year-old birthday celebration!  Both were equally delightful with an overabundance of good friends and tasty food.  In particular, it has been quite interesting to watch the party evolution as many of our friends move from puppies to babies.  Jeff and I are still quite content with our big fur baby, but scenes like this do tug at our heartstrings.

Babies playing with babies

Two blondies innocently playing fetch is a sweet little scene.  It appears that these two boys, Johnny Five and Milton, like to have fun regardless of the playmate's size, stature, and hair/fur length.  Maybe we will consider acquiring one of these human babies someday for the Milt Dog's enjoyment, of course.  He might like that.

Happy Monday, everyone!