It's odd. Being laid off from my job, I should have time to "muse" more often, but I seem to look at the same jobs over and over again all day instead. Today, I'm going to "muse" though.
Murphy has become a welcome addition to our lives. He has brought me a couple of really good laughs today which I am going to share. I decided, since Sydney was asleep, to let him ride with me on my trip this morning to the grocery store. In many ways, it was a typical Murphy ride, he bounced from side to side of the truck, me panicking every time he pressed the automatic window button, and grabbing him before he could make a foolish decision, to jumping on me to be able to see above the dashboard. This contrasted strongly to Sydney's ride with me to go visit my mother, earlier this week, when she tended to lie on the seat most of the time. He, I have to admit was a very good boy. He did no damage at all to my truck while left unattended for 20 minutes or so, even though part of that time was with groceries in the truck, when I had to return to the store for something that I had forgotten. (POM, for the Pomegranate margaritas) Proud or not, my evil side took over on the ride home, and as he was standing on the passenger seat, with his front paws on the dash, I just had to hit the windshield wiper switch, which scared the poor little guy to death. He managed to reach my lap before the wiper had hardly begun it's travel. He has this modified "big dog mentality", acting brave and aggressive until actually confronted, then he runs for protection. He's fine; It was only a matter of seconds until he was running back and forth once more.
Later this afternoon, I got a call from one of our subcontractors who wanted to come by and receive payment for a couple of jobs. As one dog can't hear and will casually stroll in front or behind a moving vehicle, and the other chases after them, I thought I'd let the two dogs out to roam and back inside before he arrived. It's been windy this afternoon, blowing occasionally in the 40 mph range. Murphy was running around the corner of the house as one of the big gusts came through, and it literally blew him over. 12 pounds isn't much anchor against a 40+ mph wind gust. Again, he's fine, even his ego doesn't seem bruised, but I'm grateful for the laughs he has provided me today.
Another interesting aspect of Murphy's life recently, is his burrowing instinct. Several weeks ago, we began to let him on the "people" bed after his supper, until bed time when he goes into his crate. He insists on burrowing under the blanket on the bed, frequently completely covered, and often with it wrapped around him in a tangled mess. It is an absolutely adorable thing to watch. He is such a good boy though, that at the correct time each night, when bed time arrives, he jumps down and goes into his crate by himself.....where more often than not, I cover him with his sheet which he has in there. Murphy is certainly a special boy.
Sydney is doing well. As well as a dog her age can be expect to be anyway. She gave us quite a scare a short time ago though. I didn't see it happen, but apparently she was running (trotting would be more accurate) toward the house and collapsed on the ground. We stayed with her outside for a little while, then I carried her inside, where I stayed and held her for over an hour. Her heart rate was extremely slow, but she slowly recovered, and by late the next day, you would have never guessed that anything had happened. No dwelling on what will eventually happen. She seems happy and doesn't show that she is in any real pain, other than the joint pain that all of us suffer as we age, so I'm hoping this will continue.
