It's been really nice to be back home with my family. My mom had some surgery, so I went and stayed with Charis for a few weeks. She's Concerto's mom. She is so nice and having a big dog to play with was so much fun. Nothing like that grumpy old Zoe. But Mom wanted me to come home, so Mom, Dad and Liam all met Charis in Joplin. That was a long day of driving - eight hours in the car. Mom read Alice in Wonderland to me and Liam on the way back to Manhattan. I didn't pay much attention, but Liam and my parents loved it.
While we were in Joplin I went to my first restaurant. It was a buffet pizza place, so when my mom was going through the line I naturally assumed she was getting food for me. I told her what pizza slices I wanted and waited patiently while Mom put the food on the plate. When Mom put the plate on the table and sat down, I jumped up to get mine. Mom put a quick stop to that before I could even get one taste. All I got was a little kibble. Then she expected me to ride all the way home with my tummy rumbling for more.
There were a few adjustments when I got home. I kinda forgot how to ring the bells to go outside and do my hurry up, so Mom rang the bells and took me outside. She had to do this a few times before I figured out that I should ring the bells when I have to go hurry up. So the next time I needed out, I rang the bells, and immediately did my hurry up on the floor. Mom didn't seem too pleased about that.
I figured out the bell thing works for more than just my hurry up. If there's a squirrel, the cat Beebop, or something else exciting outside, all I have to do is ring the bells, wait for Mom to put my leash on, and dash out the door. It's really fun to drag Mom across the deck. Now she makes me sit and wait until she's out the door before she lets me out. By the time I finally get to go out, the squirrel is long gone. Sigh. At this rate I'll never get to catch one.
Mom continues to take Beebop's side no matter what happens. Last night when I had Beebop cornered under a chair for a friendly chat, Mom interrupted. When I turned around to see what she wanted, Beebop rudely ran off. That's when I discovered I was stuck under the chair. It took me a minute to figure out how to get out, but I managed to come out with my dignity still intact. After that Dad put a baby gate at the top of the stairs so Beebop can go someplace I can't follow.
Last week I begged Mom to take me shopping so we could find a new collar to match my gentle leader and pick up a few new toys. The old collar is getting a little small, so it was a good time to get one that matches. We found some pretty fun toys at Petsmart, but they didn't have any martingale collars I liked. Mom said she'd get one and a matching leash for me from
Uncle Amazon. He must be a pretty nice guy if he's willing to send me all that stuff.I wasn't too happy with the other things Mom got: shampoo and some stuff called Bitter Yuck. She's been spraying it on the newspapers and magazines I like to shred. That stuff is horrible!! Even Mom said so when she licked her finger after unknowingly getting some on her hand.
I was pretty good at Petsmart. I even let some kids pet me. I always thank people for petting me by licking their hand. I'm hoping none of them have Bitter Yuck on their hands.
Everything on our shopping trip went fine. That is, until we went to the mall. Mom asked me to do my hurry up before we went inside, but I was just too embarrassed to do it in a new place. Plus that I was pretty excited to go see the mall! Unfortunately I had to do my big hurry up worse than I thought. I had to stop in mid-stride to do it. Yup, right in the middle of the mall.
My Mom is pretty organized and generally pretty prepared for things. But she is the absent-minded professor type. (She says it come with the territory.) So occasionally her plans and reality don't exactly match up. (Like the time Dad packed the car for her Pampered Chef show and she took the wrong car.) So, being highly efficient, she put my hurry-up-mess-cleaning stuff in her backpack. Apparently she thought there was a little cleanup stuff in my cape, because she left the backpack at home. Nope. All I had was a couple of bags for picking up poo.
Apparently she was at a loss at what to do, which worried me a bit. That's when I stepped in the poo. Luckily I managed to do my business in front of Bath and Body. After scraping up as much poo as she could, Mom went into B&B to get some wet and dry paper towels. She should have brought some room spray, too. Boy that was one stinky poo!!! We had to go back outside to throw it away.
OK, Mom's waking up from her nap now. I know she'll want to use the computer so I better sign off before she catches me using it. I don't want her spraying Bitter Yuck on that, too! I can't imagine that there is anything else she needs to put Bitter Yuk on.
