Due to circumstances beyond my control… when you work in a 60 plus year old building you learn to be grateful for the little things like power and water and when you don’t have one or the other or both all morning, you learn to be patient…


Wet, Wet. Wet

It’s raining. Dogger and I are going to have to take a walk in the rain after I get home from work and neither of us really wants to do that.

Me – Come on Dogger! Let’s go pee!

Dogger – You’re home! Yay! Let’s go out and Pee! Yay!

Me – Okay Dogger! Outside!

Dogger – Pee! Let’s go pee! Let’s go pee! Yay! Outside! Wait. It’s wet.

Me – its not wet, its not dry! Okay! Out the door! Yay! Pee!

Dogger – Can we talk about this? I don’t really have to go right now. I could wait, till, say after it stops being wet.

Me – Come on! Outside, outside, outside! Let’s Go!

Dogger – No. I’m fine. Really. I want to go watch TV or chew on my bone or bring about a detente’ The Not Dog.

Me – No detente’! Let’s go!

Dogger – All right. ( takes two steps outside, squats and prepares to go back inside)

Me – No! not inside! We have to go on our walk! Go walky now! Yay!

Dogger – No. We don’t. I’ve peed; I want to go back inside.

Me – We have to go. You know how cranky I get when you don’t get a walk. Do you really want to have to stay in your crate because you annoyed me?

Dogger – I swear to Gawd. I will not annoy you. Let’s go inside!

Me – You say that now but we both know that you lie.

Dogger - Really. Totally. I will lay there at your feet and, you know, purr or something. I will not annoy you.

Me – Let me define “annoy” to you. Annoying Mama means that you are taking things off the table tops and shredding them, it means that you are chewing on Kitty’s baby, it means playing keep away with Mama’s things, it means you are barking inside… do you think if you don’t get a walk that you will be able to not do any of those things tonight?

Dogger – As long as it’s a short walk.

I also never realized how much of our conversations include frivolous abuse of explanation marks on my part. Dogger doesn’t even know what the words “walk, pee, outside, cookie, chewy” mean, she has learned “toy” and she can “get” her toy. Up talking means nothing to this dog.


I hate the winter, even with out the rain I have to run home, change clothes and drag Dogger outside all within about five minutes of arriving home. This is not restful. Dogger doesn’t even get a real walk in the dark part of the winter. We go in the car to the ball field at the rec center and I throw the ball for her. It’s good for her to run and I hope that a little running is about equal to some walking; and it does remind her of the whole Fetch idea that she forgets after not doing it for months and months. It’s a lot more fun for me when she finally remembers that “Go get it! Get the ball!” does not mean “Grab the ball and go to far corner of field to eat it” or “snarl at Mama and snap at her when she tries to get the ball back” or my favorite, “lose interest in the ball and make Mama search around in the dark for it.

It will be spring again when?