Mimi Sitting on Things Again

Mimi and Buddy both don't like the dog all that much, maybe because Millie has barked and snarled at the both of them when they've tried to get up on the bed when one of us was already in it and she was feeling extra protective. Buddy will hiss at her and then go somewhere else when she is around. She has no problem at all with the other three indoor cats and the two cats outside. Harri sleeps at the foot of my bed most nights and Millie crawls under the covers and they both get along just fine all night. Pepper just kind of ignores Millie but Bear is quite curious although a little intimidated. Millie likes Bear and will come right up to her and sniff her and Bear will just sit there. If Millie is on the couch next to me Bear is not afraid to get up on the arm of the couch and sit there to be petted.

I took Millie for her walk this morning, hoping the promised rain would hold off until after the walk, and so far it has, hours later now. Keith did call from Barstow and said it had started raining there, so hopefully we will get some here sometime today. It's been chilly the past few days and I'm glad I didn't get rid of the well worn winter clothes just yet, I almost did thinking that it wasn't going to get cold again what with all the warm days we've been having lately. Sorry, rest of the country, I know your weather is ridiculously unbearable right now with no end in sight. Anyway, Millie the little yappy dog is still kind of a pain to take for a walk what with her pulling on the leash and getting all the dogs in the neighborhood to bark as we go by. We were coming down the sidewalk and a couple with two small dogs were coming the other way and knowing what Millie does when other dogs come along, I stepped to the side and crouched down to hold her still while she barked furiously at the other dogs. She kind of wants to go check them out but is also doing her protection thing. I'm beginning to think I need to call a dog trainer or something. They do have a dog class that I see every Saturday walking the well behaved dogs around behind the pet store, but I think they are the advanced class and all she would do is bark and lunge. Bark and lunge. Plus, they do their class really early in the morning and I'm just not that ambitious first thing in the morning. We will see, I did pick her up and carried her a couple of times this morning when she got too excited and strained too much at the leash, maybe if I don't let her walk when she's acting like that she will get the message.

She also really likes motorcycles and when they go by gets very excited and barky and tries to run after them.

I have not been feeling like doing much of anything lately, yesterday Keith was sleeping most of the day so I read books until I almost had to take a nap from all the inactivity. I did get the vacuum cleaner out this morning and did the front bedroom and hallway, then wheeled it into the living room where it is still sitting. Mimi has a thing for the coiled up cord and really likes to sit on it.

Silly, silly kitty.

Cat In The Laundry Basket

Unlike Millie the dog who prefers a laundry basket filled with nice smelly dirty clothes to lay in, Mimi the cat just can't resist the lure of an empty laundry basket. Or any other type of basket, box, container, what have you.

I was being nice and folding Keith's laundry while he was napping the other day and the empty basket was sitting on the floor and yes, about 2 seconds after it was emptied and put on the floor, little Miss Has To Sit On Or In Everything was in the basket. Where she was quite content for a while.

Today I went on two walks with the dog, one this morning down the street behind our house to the intersection at the end of it and back around. It was really foggy and rather cold and I was glad that I had put on the hat that Jennifer made me for Christmas. Kept my ears nice and toasty warm. The fog didn't lift until about 3:30 today, so much for the warmer weekend we were promised.

I was getting really hungry around 4 and when I'm home alone I really don't want to cook anything, not that there are any ingredients to make much of anything with anyway. I needed to go over to Office Depot and get some ink and figured we could just walk down a little further to Sonic, where we can order at the ordering machine on the patio and the dog could sit with me while I got something to eat. The ordering machine that you can't understand a single word the person taking your order says and you just hope they got it right. I've only eaten the actual food there once before and wasn't real impressed but when you are hungry and don't want to fix anything and it's the only place that you can bring a dog with you when you don't have a car available for the drive thru, Sonic it was. I ordered some popcorn chicken and a plain cheeseburger to give some to Millie and some cherry limeade. The cherry limeade was good and Millie seemed to enjoy the hamburger (after being so rude as to bark at the girl who brought it to us) but the popcorn chicken tasted worse than the cheapest frozen popcorn chicken you can buy. I only ate a few pieces of it, but Millie sat there on the bench and was a good girl while I fed her some of the cheeseburger. I don't get why people eat the food at Sonic, it really is just not very good. Now, the ice cream and shakes, YES! Food, no. If they didn't have the ice cream and all I don't think they'd be in business long. McDonalds cheapest hamburger beats them by a mile. Even the chicken nuggets are better.

So, two walks in and a lousy dinner. The only other thing I've done all day is work on some things for my shops and mess around printing up more things to make.

New Year's Resolutions Anyone?

No? Me neither. Although if I had made a resolution to get more exercise, having a ball of energy type dog certainly helps. I've gone for a walk every single day since a few days after getting the little yapper. I'm about ready to go for 2 walks a day but it's been kind of cold outside so for now one a day is about all I can handle. My legs must be getting used to it all, I could have gone a bit further than we went today (which was pretty far) but I don't want to make her walk too far on those short little legs. Although the guy down the street with 3 little yappers walks them out of our neighborhood and up the main street, down the street by the high school, then down the street by the grocery stores and then back around down the street by Walmart behind our houses. A big huge rectangle basically. It's a long way to walk, I have no idea exactly how far but even on a bike it's a bit daunting.

So, the walking part is good. The barking part not so much. She is a barker, that's for sure. I did a little googling of Chiweenies and yes, while they are very loyal and a good companion, they do love love love to bark. It's the small dog syndrome I guess, I'm small but I have a big bark!

She is also getting quite territorial, she likes to sleep with me when Keith's not here and gets down under my covers with me. Last night I was almost asleep when Buddy jumped up on the bed and Millie DID NOT WANT anyone else on the bed and came out from under the covers snarling at him. She got a spanking and a BAD DOG for doing that and this morning Buddy got back at her with a swipe of his claws.

I can't imagine having this type of dog if you are away at work all day. Besides the barking at every little thing, they really do need a lot of attention and most of the time want to be near a person. This afternoon I was trying to work on the computer and list stuff in my shops and she wanted to be on my lap and when that didn't work got up behind me on the chair. I finally put her bed on the shelf under the workbench/desk and she seemed happy enough to lay down there by my feet. That's where she is right now.

She is also just like the cats in that you can't go to the bathroom without an animal following you in there. They see you just sitting there and hey! your hands are free to pet me!

I have a feeling this year is going to go by quickly, here it is over halfway through the first month already. Time does fly by fast when you get old!