Dead Monkey

What is that glorious feeling? I'm feeling light and happy and worry free. The kids are arguing but it's really not annoying me very much...

Oh, I know what it is!

THE SCIENCE PROJECT IS DONE!

putting the finishing touches on the piece of  hell called, "Dancing Dogs"

Do you remember my rant last year? 

This year, Kat and I both came up with the idea and so there was no argument like there was last year.

She wanted to play different types of music for the dogs to see if they reacted differently. The idea came from the volunteering we have been doing at PACC. Sometimes they play classical music for the dogs.

Every time I walk into the cat room, there is a bad recording of lullaby music. I say it's a bad recording because every once in awhile, there is a second or two of some really bad static. There is a such a huge difference between the dog rooms and the cat room. It's like night and day. I find the static rather annoying but maybe it's there to keep people from drifting off to sleep.

Anyway, no one could find the one piece of classical music we owned,  Tchaikovsky. So, we used The Beatles instead. Sgt. Peppers I believe.

Then we picked an old Techno cd, The Shamen and finally some Reggae by Bob Marley.

Katrina thought the dogs would be the calmest during reggae.

We set it up and played two minutes of each type of music for each dog separately. This was before we had Shannon, our fourth dog, but it seemed like it still took forever.

All the dogs started at 4 points. Points were deducted for leaving the room, hiding behind the couch (seriously, they would do this), etc. Points were added for sitting calmly, sitting for a treat, etc.

We did it for three days and discovered that the music did nothing. Each dog is so stubborn that their normal, everyday personalities overshadowed any affect the music had.

Zoe ignored us and left the room looking for Erik.

Manny paced back and forth because he knew he'd have to sit for a treat and knew we had it somewhere.

Gigi just sat there. She is so mellow and she didn't care what was going on even though Manny was jumping on the window wanting to come in for his treat.

This is how they always act. This was nothing new.

After the 3 days, I had to deal with the "Shannon issues" and so we never had time to go back and do more experiments.

This is the bad part. I fibbed on the testing. We made it look like we had tested for a week, not three days. I knew nothing was going to change with the dogs so I added 4 more days of testing and now I feel slightly guilty for it which is probably why I'm confessing here.

But, at least the science project is done. The monkey is dead and has fallen off my back. It won't be back for another 364 days.

Sloan and his puppies

I came home with another dog today.

Well, not really.

The kids and I were yard sailing today. We stopped at one and I saw this picture of this cute dog and puppies inside a dog frame.

"Is this the stock photo or a real photo?" I thought I asked myself but apparently, I said it out loud and loud enough for the owner to hear.

"Oh, that's Sloan. He's my dog. He is the dad of all those puppies. I had him over 25 years ago", she said.

I looked up at her with shock on my face, partially because I had been caught talking out loud again and partially because of her answer. I am a scrapbooker and photographer and the thought of someone getting rid of their childhood dog and puppy photo struck a dark and deep chord somewhere in the depth of my soul. (Very dramatic, huh?)

"You can't sell your picture of your childhood dog in yard sale! You have to take it out before you sell the frame."

I started to take the picture out of the frame.

I don't know why I thought I was the boss of dog pictures and frames but at that moment I took over that position.

"Oh", she said in a laugh, "I have lots of pictures of Sloan. That is just one I had in a frame that had been stuffed in a drawer and I didn't need it anymore."

I thought that was acceptable (I'm still in "dog picture and frame boss" position) since she had other pictures, but now I couldn't put Sloan and his puppies back.

"Well here's a buck. I'm taking Sloan and his puppies home with me."

"Thank you. Have a nice day", she said as I held Sloan and his puppies tightly to my chest.

Since taking the photo above, I have removed the bright pink $1.00 price tag. Sloan and his puppies are sitting on a shelf. Eventually, I'll probably put a picture of my dog over the picture of Sloan and his puppies but for right now, he looks like he's part of the family.

I'll keep the photo forever, just cover it up with a new photo. Someday, I'll confuse my grand-kids or some other sucker at a yard sale telling them he was my dog and then they'll buy the picture and the frame for $10.00.

Oh, and Erik was totally relieved when he realized that it was a photo of a dog and not a real dog. I must make a mental note to not enter the house and announce, "I've adopted a new dog and a bunch of puppies!"