Mea Culpa

Life is busy, mostly chaotic and usually fun. Cowboy's been home for a little while and as usual, he makes demands... Some make me laugh; most I ignore and since he's so o-l-d, he's not able to catch me as quickly as he used to. Ooooo, cool breeze. I feel a swat coming...

I called the "Wild Animal Rental" place to see if that birthday party camel was available for 4th of July weekend but it was already booked. Tsk. We're expecting 40-50 dogs plus their owners. These are the dogs we've fostered over the years. Some no longer live in the area but most have RSVP'ed that they will be here. I'm excited about seeing them again. I hope they're still well behaved. I'll be putting whole groups of them through their paces. We'll have the cooking grills set up - hot dogs and burgers for pups and their people. Ice cream, too. Later, in the evening, a pyrotechnic outfit will be putting on a fireworks show at the neighborhood park. It should be great fun.

The Bulldog pups are absolutely adorable. They're all weaned now, mostly stand in their food dish while they eat. All have families waiting for them - about 2 more weeks and they'll go to their forever home - so I didn't want to name them. I put a different colored ribbon around their necks, refer to them as Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Mo and Monster. Monster has his nose in everything, most of which is not happy about it - BullyBoy's stomach, DomTom's ears, the Rott's dish, etc. Curious boy. The mastiff noses the little guy out of the way; the Rott shoves him and the cat smacks him upside the head. That one's going to be a handful. I hear muttering in the background... who could that be?

Some of Cowboy's old SEAL team members were here visiting. I mostly ignored them. They were drinking wine, swapping stories and doing a lot of that male bonding nonsense.

SWAT!

Tsk

Then, they started singing songs - raunchy ones. I immediately went downstairs and started throwing fish at them - SEALS... - frozen shrimp, scallops, halibut cheeks... My gesture was completely shunned and I got a certain look from the biggest (and oldest) SEAL in the crowd.

Laughing softly... I opened more wine for them and looked around for my miniature tape recorder. I love having ammunition for future situations. For our next family get-together, I might play the tape to show people what I have to endure when SEALs get tipsy.

SWAT!

Tsk

Brought the cat home from the shelter. This is the little darling that was set on fire and is slowly growing its fur back. About 10 months old the vet decided. Her name is Pipsqueak - that's the sound she makes when she has something to say and believe me, she has a LOT to say. Very cuddly and affectionate despite the trauma she suffered. She adores the mastiff and apparently, the feeling is mutual. He drools on her head regularly. Ewww.

My SweetPea doesn't care for cats but seems to understand that this one needs a lot of affection. The dog doesn't growl or shove her away, simply lets her crawl up next to him. When she squeaks at him, he tries to look nonchalant and ignores her. The other cats aren't sure what to make of her yet but they're tolerant for the most part.

The heat is killing us - we're not used to heat out here. I have fans running in all the rooms and naturally, the dogs are hogging them (along with a giant squid) and until it cools down, I'm not baking. No peach cobbler on the horizon.

"The peaches are ripe, bambina."

"Uh huh."

"Do something about that. Use them up so they don't go to waste."

Hauled a bushel of peaches to the upstairs bathroom. Stripped, got in the shower and squeezed peaches all over my naked self. Invited the giant squid upstairs. He took one look, clothes went flying and he "helped himself" to the peach crop.

He's o-l-d but he still has what it takes to consume peaches.

"Good?" I asked some time later.

"Delicious!" he said.

"Damn straight!"

SWAT!

Tsk

~Sar~