1 day or 9 days, dream, dog

Only one day to my birthday, nine days till Christmas.  In either case it is amazing that they have both come around so quickly.  Years tick by in a blink anymore, it is a bit scary.  I will be 39 tomorrow a full nine years past what I considered to be old age in my youth.  I try to not think about it.  I don’t act 39, I am holding up better than many people my age, I’ll just try to keep fooling myself.

For my birthday we are going to my favorite place to eat, Carrabba’s.  Although I like Carrabba’s in general, there is only one location that is my favorite, the one on Tamiami Trail, on the way to Naples.  It has a different layout than any other I have seen, I think it is because it is older.  I just love the environment, the 2 for 1 happy hour and the staff there is always top notch.  I am looking forward to it.

When I was younger my grandfather would always celebrate my birthday by tugging on my ear one time for each year.  It got to be painful as I entered my teens.  If he was still around today I’m sure he would still try and would still let him, damn it would take a long time.

I had a weird dream last night.  I was living in a house that had an indoor creek.  It ran along the back of the house and was landscaped lavishly.  At the one end there was a big, mostly glass room that also had glass above, that looked out across the indoor creek.  There were also little waterfalls and misters along the creek to add to the ambiance.    I sat in the glass room, just enjoying the view. The view almost looked like I was looking out of my dad’s old place in Gouglersville.  I remember half waking up and trying to figure out if our house actually had a creek in it.  After remembering our floor plan I sadly realized we had the pool but no creek.  Oh well, I fell back asleep.

Our dog Nicki is such an integrated part of our life it is odd I don’t mention her more often.  The routines we have developed over time are very funny.  In the morning when I am preparing lunch, she has this thing where she stands by her food table, looks at it, looks at me, cries and licks her chops.  This means she wants me to give her four marrow bone treats.  However I can’t just open the bag and plop the treats on the plate.  She likes it when I take a scissors and cut each one up so it breaks into little pieces.  If I give her whole pieces she doesn’t like it. 

She is very funny with her little quirks.  If we give her a treat or a chew bone that is new and she never saw before she deems it as too precious to eat.  Instead she will pick it up and cry as she walks around the house, looking for a place to bury it.  If we aren’t paying attention, we will discover the treat stuck behind the pillows of our bed that night.  It’s very funny.  Again, normally if I cut the treat it up, it will indicate to her that it is ok for her to eat it.

When I pick her and Ali up at work, there is a water cooler on the way out.  If she is thirsty she will make a left turn into the room, look at us and lick her chops.  This means I am supposed to pull out a paper cup, fill it and hold it for her while she drinks as much as she wants.

She is a very fussy eater.  Unlike most dogs that will inhale whatever you put down for them.  Nicki normally only eats once a day and there are many times she will skip a day.  For a long time we struggled with getting her to eat regularly.  One of the things we adopted is after her supper is prepared, which is a combination dry food and expensive wet food, I add a little blob of the wet cat food we give the cats.  She views cat food as the ultimate treat and is one of the few things she will eat instantly.  If we have medicine to give her, we put it in wet cat food, it’s guranteed to be gone in seconds.  Hell when the cats finally die we will probably still be buying Friskies…

I am her primary play partner.  When I am on the computer playing games, she often will come up with a toy in her mouth and growl and taunt me to come wrestle or chase her around the house.  If I don’t respond with that toy, she often will come back with another.  If I don’t agree to play, she often will slump down on the floor and just stare at me with the most pathetic “You won’t play with me…” face you have ever seen.

We have come up with so many names for her, all of which she responds to.  The quick list I can remember – Nicki, Nick Nick, Monkey, Monk, Monk Monk, Honey, Honey Pants, Bip, Bippers, Stinky, Stinker, Stinky Pants, Big Girl, and Monka  It’s all about the tone of voice we use.  We could say “shithead” in that tone and she would come.  I never would imagine that a dog could become so much a part of your life.  But she definitely is a huge focal part of our days and we couldn’t imagine life without her.  She’s my buddy.

 Even though the Camry Hybrid can be a gas sipper, if you need it to grow a set of balls it can, willingly.  It has a 16 valve motor that cranks out 187 horsepower which is only 3 shy of what the big V-6 in my truck puts out.  If you stomp the gas on the Camry, it sounds nasty and will pin you back in your seat a bit.  Damn, I love this car.

 I just noticed I clicked over 19 thousand hits on the blog.  Not bad, not bad at all. 20k will be a big deal.