Discovery.
The first canine opposable thumbs.
Audacious Aisha
After taking the dogs hiking along the Potomac, I came home, bathed both of them, and started cleaning the apartment. I accidentally left the pantry door open, and apparently Aisha was quite hungry from the exercise, because I suddenly heard strange noises from inside the pantry. Upon investigation, I discovered that she had wedged herself between the trash can and the wall, and was ravenously inhaling dog kibble straight out of the bag.
Surprise! Again
I was sitting in the office at home, peacefully enjoying the unusually silent apartment, when suddenly the silence was interrupted by a muffled barking sound coming from the living room. The sound was highly unusual for a pack of dogs that generally only howl or scream sharply, so I bolted into the other room to see what was the matter. Kobe and Aisha were both sitting silently and staring fixatedly at what appeared to be a thumb-sized hairball that had clearly just been deposited by one of them. For a moment, I too stood and stared in shock at just how revolting it was, and in that instant, that hairball was practically a celebrity on the carpet. The moment was lost, however, when Aisha bent over and tried to eat it, obviously not understanding that if it had come up once already, chances were that it was still inedible.
Surprise!
There is nothing more enjoyable than waking up too early on a Saturday morning to find that a bored Shiba Inu has overturned your garbage can, spread the garbage all over the room, and chewed each piece into soggy shreds. Always the optimist, I immediately rationalized that at least the trash can had been half-full instead of half-empty.(Oh, and that little spot on the carpet next to her? That's where she just peed.)
Insomnia
I woke up this morning at 2:13am, and realized that I was still fully dressed and sprawled out on the couch with the lights on. Deciding that this was no way to spend the next six hours, I brushed my teeth, washed my face, and climbed into bed. Then I laid awake for an hour.Finally deciding to do something about my sleeplessness, I started reading with my little booklight while Paul snored next to me. After another hour passed with no signs of drowsiness, I got up and made a snack in hopes of eating myself to sleep. It was during this snack (at 4:26am) that I decided to seize my inability to sleep as the perfect opportunity to watch the sun rise from the dirt mountain. It was either that, or start carving happy faces into my legs with the potato peeler as the insanity of insomnia set in.My ...continue reading.