Sunday, July 30, 2006

Exiled to the back yard

I'm mad at the girl. She locked me outside for 2 whole hours. Can you believe it. TWO hours! and it is HOT out there. And all because she was having that kid over to visit. I don't like that kid. I can sense that she doesn't like animals, so I'm not going to like her back. She never did anything bad to me, but I still don't want to be anywhere near her; I snarl when she is around. It's my house and I should be able to decide who gets to visit or not! I can't believe that she gets to come in and I get stuck outside. Hmmmph!

I could tell something was up this morning. She moved the rock that keeps the big metal door on the back from closing. I knew she was getting ready to close that door, which means she was either going to lock us in or lock us out. The girl kept looking out the window like she was waiting for something. I was hoping it was pizza! I saw a car drive up and the girl sprung into action, trying to get BLU and me out of the house. Aha! we were going to be locked out. NO way!

I ran for my crate, since sometimes she will just lock that door and let me stay inside. BLU pushed her way into the crate too. Geeeez, there's no frigging way she's gonna let us both stay in here together.

I can tell she's getting mad that we won't come out. She grabbed my collar and tried pulling me out of the crate. I almost slipped my collar but she was too fast and wrapped her arm around my middle. Not a good sign. Now she can grab me and pick me up. Yep, my feet actually left the ground. I tried squirming, but she just held tighter. As we approached the door, I tried one last wriggle, and a bark. All it did was call BLU. Darn it! If BLU would have stayed in the house, I would have been able to try to sneak back in when she tossed BLU outside. Now we are both stuck outside. FOR TWO HOURS!!!
Comet

Enough of your incessant whining already. If you were capable of behaving in a civilized manner, the girl wouldn't have to toss you outside every time she invited somebody over to the house. The part that is unfair is that I get thrown out with you, even though I know how to behave myself. Besides, it wasn't that bad outside. The temperature was only in the lower 90s and it was overcast. It's not like you had the hot sun beating down on you. If I wasn't uncomfortable with all my black fur, then you shouldn't be whining about being outside. Besides, the girl put out a big bowl of water for us. It's not my fault that you decided to dig a big hole in the girl's yard, then wash your feet in our clean water. Learn some manners!

And as far as the crate goes, you have some nerve laying claim to it. Yes, technically the girl bought it for you when you first moved in. But you HATE the crate! You complain almost the entire time you are locked in there. Plus, the only time you go in is when the girl puts you in time out or you did something naughty and try to hide from her. I love the crate. It's my favorite place to go when you drive me nuts and I need a nice quite place to relax without you poking at me to play. I also love to go into the crate and dig. I don't get my feet dirty that way, and there are no holes for the girl to fill when I'm done. Since I like it and use it, and possession is 90% of the law, the crate is mine!
BLU



Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Big Flap Over the Door

Wow! I just found out that there is a big hole in the back door. Usually I have to push this heavy flap, but last night the girl took it off and I could run in and out without it. It was soooo cool. I like it alot, especially since I can now see BLU coming through the other side and we don't run into each other. I hope the girl leaves it this way.

Oh drat, she put a new one on. It's nicer than the old one - I can see through it without all the nose slime on it. And she got it on just in time! There were a lot of bright lights flashing in the sky and loud booming noises. Sometimes I could only count to 2 or 3 between the flash and the boom. I was scared and wanted to keep running in the house to hide, and back out to look at the lights. The girl didn't like that when she was putting on the flap, so she locked BLU and me outside while she worked. The weather was really really scary. I'm glad to be back inside, and glad to have a new flap.

Comet

Sunday, July 23, 2006

HOT HOT HOT

This weekend has been hot hot hot! I really really wanted to go out for a walk, but every time the girl opened the door, really hot air came in. It was around 116F for the last three days! As hot as it is, it doesn't compare to the hottest temperature in Phoenix, which was 122F on June 26, 1990. I'm glad I wasn't around to see that!

I spent most of the weekend sleeping on the tiles in the bathroom. They are nice and cool. Comet hogged the chair that is right under the air conditioning vent. The bathroom is also nice and convenient when I get thirsty. There's a great big water bowl in there just for me. For some reason though, the girl keeps putting the cover on it so I can't get any water :-(

I kept trying to tell the girl to cook an egg on the sidewalk (yummy for me) but she didn't. She did drop some frozen raspberries on the floor, and I gobbled them up before she could get them.

BLU

Friday, July 21, 2006

Bugzilla

What a great afternoon I had! There were these giant bugs in the back yard! Woo hoo. I dug them up out of their holes, and tried to eat them. Most of them crawled back down, but that just meant I got to dig bigger holes. I'm sure the girl won't mind. After all, I am protecting her from the giant bugs. A few of them got away, but only because BLU was standing in my way when they took off. If it wasn't for her, I would have had most of them for sure.


I was lucky enough to catch one. I was so proud of myself, I brought it in the house for my girl to see. I still don't understand why she wasn't thrilled with my gift.

Comet

**********************
Sheesh, you can be so dense some times. Even though my girl used to be an entomologist, why would she want a bug in the house? Do you know anything about women? Besides, you didn't leave her the whole bug. You chewed it into smaller pieces that she had to clean up.

If I were our girl, I would have stuck you outside during dinner time. You can eat the dirty old bugs all you want. I am going to sit and beg for the Chinese food the girl brought home for dinner. She knows how much I love vegetable lo-mein.

BLU


Comet Speaks


Hey BLU, for someone who is usually so quiet, you sure do write a lot. And I mean a lot.

I gotta admit – it was hard adjusting. The girl has all these rules! No jumping. No begging. No peeing in the house. No barking all night. How can a poor guy keep track?

At my previous home I was locked out back all day and could do anything I wanted. Well, almost anything. I couldn't go in the house and I didn't get lots of snuggles. I can’t even begin to tell you what a ball I had at the shelter (oh wait, they took my balls!) So yeah, I bark. I mark. I snark. I beg. I jump. (At least I don’t hump!).

But I’m cute, I’m soft and fuzzy, and I love coating all the girl’s black clothing with long white hairs. I don’t know why she keeps me around, but life is pretty darn good now and I’m not leaving! That’s all the background you need on me (unlike BLU who can write a book). If ya got questions, ask and I’ll answer them. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll make things up. Ha ha just kidding. If anything eventful happens, I’ll fill you in – unless BLU bores you to death first.

Comet

BLU's Bio

Woof,

Woof, woof, arf rrr h-h-h-h-

Oh, sorry, I forgot that I need to translate into English. Too bad altavista’s babblefish doesn’t have a dog to English translator. That would make writing this blog much easier for me.

It was a dark and stormy night. Oh wait, that’s a different story. It was a dark (but not cold) October evening about 7 years ago, I was about 1 year old and was wandering the streets alone and hungry. Not sure what to do or where to go, I was resting under a bush. Suddenly, a big lumbering pit bull/lab mix passed me, dragging a rather nice looking lady behind her. I decided to see where they were going. The big dog, Tequila, encouraged me to join them, saying how much fun the nightly walks were. The lady didn’t seem too keen on that, and kept trying to shoo me away. Every now and then I would stop or take a detour to check out a dog in a yard as we passed, but I kept running back to them.

After walking what seemed like miles (it was 5!) Tequila and the lady finally went home. Tequila invited me to spend the night, so as soon as the lady opened the door, I ran in to make myself at home. She promptly led me back outside and closed the door. Some invitation! I stood outside the door for the longest time, begging to be let back in and explaining that Tequila invited me. I heard Tequila on the other side of the door, trying to explain that I was a guest. I guess she was convincing, because she opened the door and let me in.

For the next few days, the lady tried to get rid of me. I heard her calling Animal Control, the Humane Society and several other missing pet organizations. She took my picture (even though I hate cameras!) and made posters with me on it. I must admit, I’m pretty darned cute. I think I overstayed my welcome, because I overheard her on the phone one night telling friends that this was just a really bad time to get another dog, but she couldn’t take me to Animal Control because they considered chows aggressive breeds and would euthanize me (whatever that means) if my owner didn’t claim me in 10 days.

I guess Tequila did a good job convincing her that I wouldn’t be too much trouble (if you didn’t count the corners on all her new furniture that I chewed off), and finally she decided to let me stay. Of course, that decision wasn’t necessarily pleasant on my end – it involved a trip to the vet for shots, getting spayed, and getting a collar and tags. In retrospect, that wasn’t a bad trade off for daily hugs, kisses, food, water, shelter, and play time.

Life at my new home was pretty good for about three years. We had a nice doggie door that allowed Tequila and me to run in and out of the house at will, while “my girl” was at work or out with friends. Suddenly, one day we were being locked out back all day. Even though we had shade and water and enough toys to play with, I missed my soft couch during the day. I missed laying on the cool tiles. I didn’t like being outside all day, especially when I could see strangers wandering around in my house!

About a month later, “my girl” was boxing everything up and taking us to a new house. This new house was so much fun. There were windows everywhere! I could see all the action on the street and there were lots of trees and bushes in the back yard. I could chase lizards and birds all day. The fence was a bit different – instead of concrete block it was wood. If I pressed my eye against a crack, I could see into the neighbors’ yards and into the alley. How exciting!

Tequila was a little more excited than I was. She would just snap the boards off and go for a walk through the neighborhood. Sometimes I would follow her, but I didn’t really like exploring on my own. It reminded me of being alone before my girl found me. I like staying with her better. After a few “jail breaks” the girl figured out how to fix the fence to keep us in. I felt much safer after that.

About 2 years after moving into the new house, Tequila got sick. At first she was just slowing down, but then she started to have other problems. My girl became really sad and started giving Tequila lots more attention than me. I was a little jealous, especially when Tequila got all sorts of car rides and I had to stay home. Tequila told me I didn’t miss anything – just trips to the vet to be poked with needles and prodded. Every time my girl went to the vet, she came back with red eyes. She was really sad about Tequila’s illness.

One night Tequila seemed really sick. My girl noticed it too and spent the night on the living room floor next to her. When Tequila wasn’t getting better, she carried Tequila to the car at 5 am to go to the emergency vet. I don’t know how she picked up Tequila, who weighed nearly 100 pounds! As they were heading out the door, Tequila gave me a kiss goodbye and said not to worry about her, that her pain was going to end. My girl came back from the vet a couple hours later – alone - her face red and puffy from crying. She picked me up, put me in her lap, and just hugged me. She cried on me until my fur was wet. That was pretty gross, but I knew she needed me more than ever. Truth be told, I needed her too. Tequila was my best friend and now she was gone.

We were both really sad for a couple of weeks. I couldn’t eat and didn’t want to play. My girl took me for walks and to the dog park and even invited her friends and their dogs over for a play date. I didn’t want to play. I missed my best friend. I was lonely during the day when my girl was at work. I needed a new friend, but I wanted my old one back.

A few weeks after Tequila died, my girl came home smelling like other dogs. Then she snapped on my leash and took me for a car ride. We went to a really scary place. There were all sorts of dogs and cats in lots of cages. Some of the dogs seemed happy, but most seemed scared and desperate, like it was their last chance. I sure hope she doesn’t leave me here!

A few minutes after we arrived, a lady took us to a cage with a fluffy white dog. She put a leash on that dog and then we walked to a large grassy play area. I didn’t like it one bit. It smelled like a lot of dogs and the white dog smelled funny. I tried to be polite, but I was very nervous and scared. The white dog was too. The next thing I knew, my girl, the white dog and I were in an office, and my girl was filling out all sorts of paper work. Then they put a big scary collar on the white dog that made his head look like it was bigger than my body! It was really scary. I didn’t like it one bit and decided I would growl once we were in the car.

The white dog didn’t seem to like the car either. I scared him out of the back seat and into the front, where I know dogs aren’t allowed. He kept trying to crawl on my girl’s lap while she was driving, his giant head blocking her view. I’ve never been on such an awful car ride where we kept driving and stopping, driving and stopping. My girl would alternate between being cranky and laughing and sometimes even crying a bit. If I knew how to open the door, I would have, to let the nasty white dog out.

Unfortunately, the white dog made it to the house. My girl kept him in a crate when she wasn’t home, so we didn’t fight too much. I didn’t like him – he was pushy and rude. He peed on my furniture. He jumped on my girl. He drove me nuts with all his barking. I wanted to be really mean to him, but my girl would get mad at me if I was too snarky. After about 2 months, I decided he was here to stay, so decided to play nice and get along. I can’t believe it’s been a year and a half with Comet. He’s still an obnoxious pain, but I actually have fun playing with him now.

BLU