Cat vs. Dog: a Christmas Tale

Cast of characters:

1. 10-year old resident cat. 

2. 10-MONTH old visiting dog. Still a puppy, really.

3. Litter box.  To the cat, it's a toilet.

Sequence of events:

1. Cat lives here.  Cat is King!

2. Daughter and son-in-law bring dog over for Christmas visit.  Dog is interloper!

3. Cat is dignified and regal.

4. Dog is goofy.

5. Cat watches dog from strategic vantage point.

6. Dog innocently wanders past, oblivious to cat.

7. Cat CHASES Dog.

8. People react and yell.  Chaos ensues.

9. Dog is caught and held.  Dog is scared.

10 Cat is chased away and given a little spanking.

11. Cat stomps off to kitchen and eats some of dog's food.

12. Dog is oblivious.

~~~

13. Time passes.

14. Humans eat Christmas dinner. Yum.

15. Cat digests dog food.

16. Cat visits litter box, leaving massive and pungent treasure due to unaccustomed dog food.

17. Humans sit around, semi comatose from Christmas dinner.

18. Dog walks past previously unnoticed litter box.

19. Dog decides that litter box is some sort of Christmas BUFFET.

20. Dog reaches in and grabs (with paw? mouth? who knows?) large and succulent cat poo.

21. Dog puts cat poo on small carpet in front of litter box.

22. Dog ROLLS on massive squishy yummy cat poo.

23. Dog rubs face in same. Arf Arf Arf this is wonderful.

24. Man of the house notices dog behaving weirdly in utility room and suggests that son-in-law see what's up.

25. Son-in-law waves off dad-in-law.  Son in law says dog is just playing with 'something'

26. Odor of flattened, smeared, cat poo wafts into family room.

27. A nanosecond passes.

28. !?!

29. Men spring off couch; men yell; dog jumps up from mat; dog runs around scared; men catch dog.

30. Dog is temporarily tied to front door.

31. Daughter comes running from other room to find dog smeared in poo and tied to front door.

32. Daughter drags dog to bathroom.

33. Dog has unexpected Christmas bath.  Dog is not thrilled.

34. Cat sits on Christmas village, in triumph.

35. Cat 1; Dog 0. Merry Christmas!

Merry You-Know-What

This is the general mood around here.

In case anyone was wondering.

Fathers and Sons

Talk about the 'world in a grain of sand'.  Did Blake have a son?

~~~

We had occasion to have our son in the car with us when we had to stop and pick up a few groceries.
He doesn't live at home any more and we miss doing things for him.

Dad to son: This won't take long. If you need some groceries for yourself, I'll pay for them.
Son: OK dad. Cool!

Shopping starts.  We grab cart, son grabs hand basket.  I confer with husband over bananas and squash; son goes his own way.

We go down one aisle; we see son scooting down another, items accumulating in his basket.

Nearing the end now - our cart half full, son's basket full.

Dad peers into son's basket.

Dad: Hey that peanut butter's full of sugar.  How about you put that back and get the natural one without all the added crap?

Son: Well dad, how about I pay for my own groceries and then I can get what I want?

A few seconds pass.  I look at these two, who are really quite alike.  Dad 50, and son 21. Both kind, reasonable men.
They look at each other. No antagonism - just measuring, assessing. Looking.
Eternity in an hour.

Dad:  Well, how about you get what you want, and I'll still pay for it?

Son: (Smiling) OK dad.  Let's go then.

Me: *smiling*.  We go.

The Weather Outside is Boring?

It's pretty blah out there.  No exciting snow, no blustery wind, no cosy rain, no gentle late fall sun.

Just grey, cool-ish, blah.

I'm remembering last spring; the deck was warming up, annuals were grabbing hold, and it was nice enough to go and take pictures of outdoor stuff.

And just like that, summer was here.

At least things were happening out there.

Whereas now.....nothing.  Just blah.

We need some action around here!

This time last year

Today is my berfday!  I call it a berfday, because birthdays remind me of childhood.  Balloons, cake, presents, fuss.  Of course I don't call it a berfday out loud.

This time last year I was here:

and often here:

and frequently here:

and all over here:

People sang to me is a foreign language:

and I was the embarrassed center of attention for a few minutes.

But that berfday ended in a "zero", and I felt the need to do something extraordinary.

This year's berfday ends in a "one", of course.

We'll spend the day doing errands, take a walk, go for a quiet dinner for two, and then have the family over on Sunday.

....and I'll enjoy it just as much.

This wasn't meant as a solicitation for Birthday wishes.  In fact, if you are moved to comment, then please tell me about a memorable birthday of yours.  Or what you would like to do to make a memorable birthday.

Or if you prefer a quiet day with no fuss at all.

Or if you still picture birthdays as childhood celebrations (like I do).

Honestly, shouldn't there be some balloons in that picture?

In spring we plant a lot of annuals in pots on the deck.  These plants are perennials - don't ask me what they are.  I was going for a zen effect in this pot.  You can see that the predominant colour around here is green, green, green.  the annuals give us some nice contrast.  Here's a nice burst of spring and summer colour to give temporary relief for the December blahs.....

Oops.  Green again.

View from the deck

I've been inspired by DJan.  She enjoys the critters she sees around her balcony.  Over the next little while I'm going to show some of the flora and fauna on and around MY deck....which is attached to a normal house in a smallish yard in a regular subdivision, in south-western BC.  

Small and suburban, but so busy with all sorts of swooping and scurrying. 

 I love it.

I'll try to post a picture every few days.