Is It Raining Outside? I Hadn't Noticed.

I woke up this lovely morning to discover that it is raining outside. Great huge drops of rain, coming down in copious amounts.

So, of course, being the Beagle that I am, and loving the be warm and dry, I have mostly stayed inside, bedded down in my crate with the heater blasting me with hot air. Sarah Beagle is likewise occupied.

Olive Badger, meanwhile, is outside, casually meandering in this downpour. Her look when she came inside, clearly said, "Oh, is it raining? I hadn't noticed. It's lovely out today."

Then she shook herself off, got the couch wet, and ran back outside to soak up more rain with her fluffy badger fur.

Too bad for you, Olive Badger, Mom's getting out the towel. You might not have noticed the rain, but Mom has. It's about to become that kind of day when you get dried off every time you come in the house.....

And yes, that is me laughing at you.

Olive Badger Finds A Frenemy

This is Olive Badger, looking unhappy because of something Mom is holding.

This is Olive The Other Reindeer, the thing that Mom is holding.

From the moment that Mom pulled Olive The Other Reindeer out of a bag, our Olive Badger has had a jones for it. It remains unclear whether Olive Badger likes it or hates it.

She acts like she hates it, but she doesn't bite it. She doesn't try to shake the stuffing out of it, but she does want it under her paw. Sarah Beagle and I took a turn at sniffing it, but frankly, it's just a stuffed dog wearing antlers. Olive Badger disagrees, and for that reason, Mom is being very careful where Olive The Other Reindeer lives. Like, it's going to live way up high on a shelf, safe from the climbing, acrobat that we know as Olive Badger.

Or at least, I hope it's safe. I looked over the area to see if there was a way to climb up to it, but I didn't see one. Of course, 5 years of living in our kitchen with a crate next to the counter, I never once thought I could jump up on the crate and get a loaf of bread down, and Olive Badger knew that was a doable action right away.

Olive Badger is clever like that.

Remembering Nemo

My Mom is a firm believer that dogs will be in heaven. I like that idea a lot. Sure, in part because I am a dog and I like the idea of heaven, but also, because that means we will see this big lug again.
Nemo was my cousin dog. He was roly poly, surprising fast, and he loved a good belly scratching. We did not always get along. We are dogs after all, dogs from two different families, brought together for parties and camping and various work days, all of which involved food of some kind and as previously mentioned, I am a food hound. So was Nemo. There were some conflicts!
I knew when my Mom came home from visiting nephews, that she would smell of Nemo, because Mom is one of those people who gets down on the floor to play with the kids, and if a very excited Corgi came over and sat in her lap, well, she's going to not only let him, but give him so much petting he will be delirious with it.

And that was okay with me. It was very exciting for us to smell her pant legs when she came into our house. The three of us girls would surround Mom, tails wagging, ears on alert, noses going overtime. Even Olive Badger would take a turn sniffing, although I'm sure it was more of a monkey see, monkey do situation than her really understanding why we were sniffing Mom's legs!

Sadly, so very sadly, Nemo has passed on. Mom has cried and spent time petting all of us girls. Some people might say that's weird, it's just a dog and not even a dog that lived with us. But Mom remembers a big footed Corgi puppy, tumbling around in her backyard, before we were even a twinkle in her thoughts. She remembers having a dog nephew before she had real boy nephews.

She remembers Nemo, and I will too. Catch you later, Corgi-gator.