The Eagle has Landed

Or, taken off? Either way, Cora took her first steps on Monday! Yea Cora! Video to following sometime (maybe).

What Hath Morgan Wrought?

I guess Morgan and I had our first (and hopefully only) big adventure of her visit. Curly and The Guy were just getting into their plans for finishing the stairs to the basement. Curly was covered in paint and The Guy was doing all the grunt work that Curly didn't want to do. When The Guy came up the stairs to get a putty knife, he looked out the door and ruined all of our fun.

Morgan and I found a toad. Well, I guess we actually had to go looking for it. It was sort-of buried in the flower bed. We couldn't play with it there so Morgan and I decided to move it (and a little of the flower bed, too) into the yard. I was just
tapping it with my nose and making it jump. No big deal. Morgan had to take things a little too far. I think she licked it. She didn't hurt it, she just licked it. But that made her foam at the mouth. Of course, The Guy panicked and Curly had to see what was going on. She did a quick search on this interweb-thing and found out that toad-licking can be serious. I think you would have to eat a two pound Bufo toad, but none the less, since she didn't know what kind of toad this was, Curly wasn't taking any chances.

I guess the toxin the toad exudes is very sticky and when you lick it, it gets stuck to your teeth, tongue, and gums. It's a neurotoxin, so from what I can gather, it's not good. The recommendation is to thoroughly rinse the mouth of the toad-licker. So that's what Curly and The Guy did. Morgan. Flipped. Out.

Curly tried her best to hold her, but Morgan is very bendy and wiggly and determined. Curly couldn't hold her so The Guy had to (and let me tell you, boy, was he a happy camper). He held her very tightly and Curly took the hose and rinsed her mouth out. Then she rubbed her gums and teeth and rinsed some more. I guess it was sort of like going to the dentist when they tell you to open your mouth and they squirt water in and tell you to swish. Except with alot more water pressure. And Curly's whole hand in your mouth. The Guy was soaked since Morgan is so bendy. He also was covered in had a little black dog fur on him.

So, long story short, Morgan is okay. She didn't show any of the scary poisoning symptoms. The toad was tiny and she didn't eat it. Curly's Twin should not freak out. Morgan is at Curly's where anything goes and everything's fine. Hey, I like that slogan!

Also, notice that when I caught Morgan eating my food, I didn't eat her.


When she saw me she was startled and denied the whole thing!


I've added an (out-of-focus) picture of The Infant for good measure...


...and a really focused picture of me!

Yes, I Do Still Blog

It's just that I am very tired lately. With Curly back at work, that means getting out of bed alot earlier than I'd prefer and with The Guy working until 7:00pm three days a week that doesn't leave me much time for this wonderful creative outlet. Heck, I haven't even had a bath since the move to this house. I did get some sort of cleansing in the back yard for all the world to see. Talk about humiliating. I'm a dog. I'm supposed to lick my own tail, er nubbin', clean and she stands me out in the yard and caresses me while using a pink bottle of Herbal Essence. I was already neutered once, what else can she do to me? Oh yeah, and there was that time that Curly had the worst idea she's ever had when she tried to give me a shower. We won't go into that since I'm still suffering the effects of PTSD. But no, really, I haven't even had time to bathe (appropriately) in the last 5 months (really - I don't stink. Really.).

As busy as I am and Curly still has time to come home and whine about giving up her prep period and teaching four blocks every day. She needs to just suck it up. It was her choice and from what I can tell, she has good classes, so what is there to complain about? So what if she's at school before 7:00am each morning and has kids there before school and during lunch getting help. And don't get me started about finishing up the basement. It's not like she had to put up drywall, paint, put up trim, replace stairs, and patch the walls. So what if she has to have all the details finished in the next week, including painting the (very high) stairwell, so that the carpet can be laid.

So what is Curly whining about? Look at what I do around here (especially this week - I have to be a good host for Morgan), and yet I still found time to write this blog post. As soon as my life gets a little more back to normal I'll be posting more. Now I'm off to edit more pictures of The Infant and figure out new ways to open the French doors.

Happy 10 Months!

Curly used to do photo shoots with me. Now all of her camera time is devoted to The Infant. Oh well, I guess she probably is a little more photogenic. Curly went back to work last week and things just haven't been the same. It's so peaceful! The Infant is staying with Grandma E 2.0 again and of course The Guy works late, so I'm here all alone (not really, I'm just being dramatic. Cassie is still here).

So Curly told me yesterday that cousin Morgan is coming to stay for 10 days. Oh boy. When she was here this weekend she kept swatting me like a cat. How embarrassing. And no, I was not poking her trying to provoke her. Why would Curly even say such things. I promise I'll be on my best behavior while she's here. I won't teach her any bad tricks like Duke taught me while he was staying here. Anyway, since he left I've only dug in the flowerbed once, and Curly has no proof that it was actually me.

Working hard to finish the basement

I've been helping The Humans paint the basement (well, helping in my own way since I'm afraid to go down the stairs) and just been very busy this summer with The Infant so I haven't posted like I should, and for that, I apologize. They're now realizing that summer is coming to an end and are crazily trying to finish the basement before football season.

To give you a quick summary...

1. The Infant has 6 teeth
2. She says "Da" and "Mum"
3. The Humans left me for a week and went to the beach. The Infant loved the water and sand.
4. The Infant is eating "puffs" and is about to try some more human food. I've sampled to puffs when she's thrown them off of the highchair.
5. When The Humans went to the beach, Cassie stayed with me (she's living here anyway. Oh, did I forget to mention that?) and she brought my first-cousin-once-removed, Duke. I didn't eat him.
6. The Infant is a terror in her walker. She chases me around the house with a demonic laugh. I'm lucky I still have my achilles tendons intact (do dogs have those?).
7. The Humans and extended family took me and The Infant to the camp over July 4th weekend. It was so cold we were all wearing sweatshirts with hoods. The Humans, I mean.
8. The Infant doesn't wear shoes. Ever. This fall/winter will be tough for her.
9. The Infant has entered a screaming/shrieking phase. We'll hope it's short.
10. Whenever I walk by, The Infant expects a kiss. She opens her mouth in preparation. See.

Busy painting...

...but here's some pictures of The Infant in all her beach glory (except the first one - it was taken in the yard). Enjoy!

Any Port(-able highchair) in a Storm

So, how much can it rain this spring? I guess a whole lot! I didn't like the thunder so much and I knew Curly wouldn't let anything happen to The Infant so I stayed close by. As close as I possibly could.

The Infant really loves a bath. I mean really, truly LOVES a bath. Check out this video of her in the bath tub about a week ago. It was her first time in the big bathtub. She's back in her little one, for now. She was able to splash all of the water out of her little tub both yesterday and today. I hope she always likes water this much. Did I mention she has tooth number two? Oh, I didn't? Well, she does.



Back to the storm. There was alot of excitement tonight - Curly's softball game was canceled and Granddaddy came up to check out the basement. While he was here a tree fell across a power line just down the street and caught on fire. You can see the smoke in the picture in the upper left region. There really was an awful lot of rain as this video shows. The Infant would've loved to be outside playing in it. I, on the other hand, was perfectly content INSIDE and under Curly's feet.

I really have no other reason to post the following pictures, other than that I just really like them. I sure hope that Curly gets the camera that she's been wanting. It will be a Christmas present but she might get it soon. I really hope so since The Infant is only this age (or any age) once. Also, this link contains one last pointless video of The Infant trying to stuff The Cat in the Hat's butt into her mouth. I personally (canineally?) think a video of ME trying to stuff a cat's butt into my mouth would be much more entertaining.