Mother Nature, I'll call her "Ma" is up to her old tricks today. Yep, snow, not much but just enough to complicate a person life. Of all days - Trashy Tuesday. Like a blue Smurf, I don my sweatpants and t-shirt. Since it is snowing, I have opted for my snow boots instead of the sandals. I put on my down jacket, mittens and Cousin Eddy's hat. Dutifully and Smurf like, I put my trash into the GARBY and my recyclables into the CURBY. One by one I wheel them out to the curb, plodding along cursing every step in this miserable snow. Now the Garbage Gestapo laws state that your containers MUST be at curb height. They are not to be stacked onto of a snow bank. They really don't define exactly what a snow bank is. Is it a pile of snow 6" high? Perhaps 12" high. Better yet 2 feet high. I have about 7 or 8 inches of snow above the curb height. I was so disgusted with the weather that I just plopped the containers onto of the snow. I will let the Gestapo deal with it. They may pick it up anyway, leave it or storm the house with their tactical Gestapo Swat team and arrest the perpetrator. I will let them chose the fight.
H, the educator, has expressed a desire to enroll her Labradoodle doodling all day puppy in our Spa's Puppy Paws class. Yes, H is expecting. Rather unusual for a retiree but so be it. I believe delivery is expected tomorrow. Should be exciting in the neighborhood. I will probably take over some hot chocolate, puppy treats and sandwiches just to ease their transition home. Her puppy, whose name and sex is unknown so far, will be welcomed with open paws to the spa. Seeing as how it is a larger breed, I will assign Kinnick as a mentor after the initial training. It is just not right to have a puppy learn everything the hard way. Kinnick is so patient and willing to be of help that I know he will love the task.
Speaking of Grandpaw Bailey's Fitness Center and Spa, we have introduced our granddogs to some exciting new exercises and games in the indoor facility. Barney and Max, the black pugs, are learning some obstacle course routines. I have started them on the jumping over a series of 6" high bars. I want them to go as fast as they can. It is kind of an agility thing, you see. Max, Mister Ball of Energy, saw this as a challenge worthy of his time. At first, he thought the quickest and easiest way was simply to run around them as fast as he could. Eventually, he realized that just jumping over these things was a heck of a lot faster. You see, at the end of the course are some niblets for them to eat. One thing Max has NOT mastered is the art of eating. Don't get me wrong, he loves food. It is just he doesn't really want to slow down enough to actually chew his food. He is more like a Dyson vacuum; he consumes everything in his path. His solecism is a cause of concern for sure. Max is not dumb and knows the shortest line between points A and B are a straight line.
Barney is somewhat of a different sort. He walks up to the first bar, sniffs it and decides he is too tired for this nonsense and goes and lies down. He watches Max go back and forth on the course getting niblets each time. Barney casually saunters down to the other end, presumably to use the French Doggie Bidet. That is only a ploy, however. He actually veers to the left and low and behold he is right there at the niblet bowl. He looks around casually to see if anyone is looking. Then very methodically starts eating the niblets. Now Barney is a connoisseur of eating. He savors every, and I mean EVERY, morsel. He doesn't hurry ever. This is a dog that practices eating food just like the fitness experts tell humans to eat - slowly, chew thoroughly and swallow. Never rush a meal. Barney will usually cleanse his palate with a few sips of water after cleaning the bowl and head to the French Doggie Bidet to do his business, get rinsed off and blow dried. None of this Charmin "Soft and Strong" toilet tissue for him. So you see my challenges when bringing these two totally opposite personalities together in a training regime.
Word of the Week: SOLECISM
Before I leave the dog thing, my current wife, still Sue, and I were over to Debby's, the younger, home the other day. It wasn't to just visit; it was to install a new mailbox on her house. Actually, Debby wasn't even home. Barney and Max were there. They enjoyed seeing us, and giving us courtesy play time. At one point Max, who usually has a small ball in his mouth, and Sue were playing "toss the ball and bring it back". Barney thought he should join in. Sue, bounced the ball straight down, Barney jumped up to catch it as it bounced back up. The ball went higher than Barney could; Barney was quite a way off the ground and stretched upwards vertically. He went after it so high and with so much energy that when he missed it and came back down, he landed flat on his back. It was a hoot. Barney gave a yeoman's try for sure. Lastly, for quite some time I have been looking at opportunities to volunteer at a dog shelter, humane society or whatever as long as it is related to pets, especially dogs. A friend of ours volunteers at the Cedar Rapids Animal Care and Control agency. She is very enthusiastic about it. I think I may give them a try since I don't know a thing about any of the others groups around town. If you have some experience, let me know.
Okay, part of the Gestapo task force has been by, the CURBY group. They didn't seem to have an issue with the height of my container. The true test comes this afternoon when the GARBY gang comes by. They play by the rules a little closer than the CURBY group does, usually.
I have several weeks under my belt now with the French Coffee Press. I have come to like it a lot. I have even coaxed my current wife to imbibe once in a while. She can only handle about a 1/4 of a cup and then dilutes it with water. Am I making it too strong, you think? Oh well, it is good. I have almost gone through my organic French Roast coffee that came with the press. I guess I should wind this down but before I depart, we need to finish up on our word of the week. I actually used it in a sentence in this blog already so I will proceed to the definition. SOLECISM - a breach of good manners or etiquette. Sure applies to Max. Until next time, TA!
PS. I hope Fred & His mom, JP get a chuckle. Fred loves to read about the dogs since he is one himself.
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