Chaos Theory

Since I mentioned that my dog Pearl is keeping me company in my last post (along with a couple of photos that do not demonstrate how nuts she is), I thought my next list should be…

Pets I have had in my 35 years of life:

1. Cats – I’ve had five cats total. Growing up at home I had Satan (no really!) and Sargent. Since moving out I’ve also had Cricket, Caesar, and Angel. I still have Cricket. She would be keeping me company too but she’s neurotic like you wouldn’t believe and hides in the bathroom all day. This is Cricket:
   
2. Dogs – I had a dog named Baloo who was the Most Perfect Dog Ever but alas, he lives with my ex, I haven’t seen my sweet puppy in about ten years. I hear he’s getting old but doing well. And now I have Pearl who may end up giving me more gray hair than my kids will.
3. Lizards – I had an awesome iguana named Henry and a Tokay gecko named Liz (Liz was unexpected, I found her when I moved into one of my apartments, the previous tenants had abandoned the poor thing).
4. Rats – When Hayley was little we got “her” (me) two rats, Mozart and Nicodemus. Totally cool pets but they don’t live long enough. This is them, Mozart was the beige one, Nicodemus was the dark one.
   
5. Hamsters – We’ve had two hamsters named Henry since Hayley was born, and I had two at my parents’ place named Gypsy and Cara. Also don’t live long enough.
6. Rabbit – I had a super awesome dwarf rabbit named Socks, I miss her.
7. Fish – Tons and tons of goldfish.
8. Random odd pets – Sea Monkeys which were kind of cool and I once had a baby crow that I rescued about 11 years ago, but it didn’t survive the internal injuries it sustained after falling from the nest and being attacked by a cat. I did my best with advice from a vet but it died in my hands two days later. His name was Beaker and he was ADORABLE.

Lots of pets. I think I was a zookeeper in a past life!

Right now I’ve got a little bit of company. First off I have Pearl.

Pearl is a purebred Beagle that we got from the SPCA last September when she was just under three months old. Now that she’s just over a year old we’re still waiting for her to CALM THE HELL DOWN. For the record, when people say that Beagles are “stubborn” they’re being polite and toning it down because in all honesty, stubborn is not a strong enough word for it. Hyper and overactive combined with years and years of genetics which make them ignore you completely while out on a walk makes for an interesting dog. She’s lucky she’s cute and is having more good days than bad ones lately because for awhile I had considered trading her in for a nice quiet goldfish.

(Pico, my Blogathon monitor, has a Beagle too, so she inspired me to share!)

Swimming doesn’t look like it’s likely to happen today which is too bad since I was looking forward to blogging poolside, but on the other hand it might have ended up really tiring me out so maybe it’s not so bad. Hayley’s still over there since she slept over but Breanna is keeping me company too.

George put a computer together for the kids not too long ago because we didn’t want them using ours (I need mine for work and George needs his for work and for creating music) so now they have their own. It blows my mind how well my three year old child can navigate her way through games.

Who’s keeping you company today?

Please consider sponsoring me while I do the Blogathon for the UNHCR!

This morning was the first day back into the full-on routine. I stupidly stayed up until midnight, so when my alarm started blaring at 6:15 I was a little confused. I had just been dreaming that I was having lunch with Wil Wheaton and his wife Anne (clearly I am being influenced by Wil’s presence on Twitter) so I wasn’t even sure where I was, especially since 6:15 is still just a tiny bit lighter than pitch black outside.

I hit snooze and dozed for the next nine minutes (and never got back to my dream so I have no idea if the chicken I had ordered was any good or not), then turned the alarm off and dragged my ass out of bed. I debated going out in my pajamas and coat, but decided that flannel is warm but not quite thick enough so I managed to dress myself and get Pearl. Pearl, meanwhile, has also gotten used to late nights and late mornings. Having been walked sometime after midnight when George got home, she was not quite ready to get up and go outside at 6:30.

Then when we came back I found that Breanna was mildly hysterical because she had woken up and not found me in my normal place. She calmed down once I got in and she realized that I had not actually disappeared into thin air.

Hayley was not keen to get up either and it took a few minutes of prodding and also of interpreting the mumbles which were her breakfast request. She only wanted applesauce which isn’t very filling but I decided that for the first morning it would be easier to let that one go and give her what she wanted since it was at least healthy and they do have a fairly early morning snack at school.

Miraculously, the rest of the hour went smoothly and she was out the door on time and relatively cheerful if not ecstatic. She was tired when she got home but she wasn’t too cranky so I guess she survived the day fairly well – and as a bonus she fell asleep very easily and quickly tonight.

Other changes in the household were that Breanna finally had a nap again, and that was nice. It kept her crankiness to a minimum. I also worked differently, doing more in chunks as opposed to the “post here and there when I can get five seconds of peace” method I had used over the holidays.

As for Pearl, I got a glimpse into the future. I know now how she’ll be when she’s a little older and not in the crazy puppy phase anymore. Being thrown into a whole new schedule again put her out of whack and she spent most of the day lazing around. Even at supper time, she laid in the hall outside the kitchen and looked at me pitifully as though she were saying, “I’d be sniffing for crumbs but I just can’t get up.” In fact, right now she’s passed out on the couch and snoring.

Really, doesn’t her face sum up everyone’s first day back at school/work after getting to sleep in for two weeks?

Let’s see if tomorrow is less sleepy for all of us.

Hayley has a bit of trouble training Pearl or getting her to do things when she wants, such as getting her to let go of something or to get down. Mostly it’s because Hayley either talks with too much of a playful lilt, which makes Pearl not take her seriously, or she gets hysterical and starts shrieking which doesn’t work at all.

Surprisingly, even though Breanna is the smallest one here, she does very well with it. She uses a no-nonsense but calm tone when she speaks to the dog and it’s hilarious. There have been times when Hayley has tried unsuccessfully to retrieve one of her stuffed animals from Pearl’s jaws and she’ll ask Breanna to do it for her – and it works.

Here’s a quick clip I shot of Breanna teaching Pearl to sit and stay before returning to give her a treat and some praise for her efforts.

I love her dramatic, “stay. Staaaaay.”

But it works!