Disney to Re-Make "Catch Me If You Can"

Over my desk came this press release: Disney is going to re-make the movie "Catch Me If You Can."  This time the plot line will be a two year old yellow lab who loves to steal shoes, socks, boots....

There will be no casting calls because apparently Disney found the perfect dog.

"Annie?  Did you just take my...."

Murphy's Day.

Garden Tours

November is never the time for garden tours.  But my back yard looks like a Calistoga mud bath.  Between the girls summer play and Annie's ball chase in the rain, the yard is a mess.

My mother and I used to attend the Northwest Garden Show every February.  The joke between us was my yard would always win last place.  Until one year I almost convinced her that we should enter a landscaping contest calling it: Dog Garden.  I bet then, and still do, that many people would have hired us to design a "dog garden."

First, I would have said, have no expectations that anything will grow.

Murphy's Day.

Is She An English Lab?

Lab people know there are several "types" of labs: English, field, and American.  Generally, English labs are stocky, blocky heads, shorter.  Field labs are lean, lanky, bred for hunting in the field.  And American labs, I think, are sort of like American cars: big, flashy, and break down a lot.  Sage is more of the English style, and Annie, well, she isn't just a field lab, she is a hunter herself.

Sage, I am convinced, has more of her mother's genes, even though she has her father's color and blocky style.  Her mother was quite sweet.  And spent the better part of her life underneath my friend Mary's desk.

English labs.  They know how to live with class.

Murphy's Day.

Cleaning

Several weeks ago my friend Les emailed to say he had piled a trailer with "stuff" to take to the dump.  It was a multi-day, multi-room task, rummaging through many memories, then choosing to keep or discard.  So it was with me this weekend (although I didn't load a trailer).  And I only got through the piles of magazines and catalogs that enveloped my desk and back closet.  I haven't even begun to think about the basement, garage, and upstairs "guest" room.

The girls got lots of attention and urban walks.  They really are not urban dogs, so the idea of walking down to the video store or through the local market (man, do those vendors know how to rip you off in food prices!  It was one of the reasons I stopped shopping at the Pike Place Market and now, rarely, go to the chi-chi local Sunday market...and of course, the best was the guy who showed up in his double cab Toyota Tundra and hops out with his made-in-China-filled-with-lead re-usable shopping bag.  Now there is someone who is saving the Earth!  Ok, sorry, an aside rant).  So we did those walks.  They of course now like those walks even more than romping in the woods because there seem to be lots of dog biscuits involved!

Yikes!

Murphy's Day.

Taking Over

I realized several evenings ago that Annie has taken over the household.  If I spend a few minutes "lovin' on" Sage, Annie's head pops into the middle of the action.  Trying to take Sage for a quiet, alone, walk is nearly impossible as Annie waits next to her leash.  And my mornings, alone, with Sage become a tad chaotic if Annie (aka Radar Ears) hears Sage rustling and comes downstairs.

Annie sits right behind Sage as Sage eats dinner, waiting to lick her big sister's bowl.  And while I am eating lunch her head always plops on my lap, tail wagging, reminding me that part of my lunchtime is playing fetch with her.

It's been a total take over.

Murphy's Day.

For the Veterans

Dogs, particularly labs and shepherds, are used by our armed forces and see combat everyday.  Dogs of many breeds have been trained and are now used by airport security to sniff out bombs.  And dogs have been used successfully in helping Veterans through injuries, wounds, or trauma.

Today is a day for our Veterans.  At Murphy's Day we also want to salute the amazing dogs who also put their lives on the line and give all their unconditional love, to keep us safe.  They are Veterans, too.

Murphy's Day.

Standard Time

Changing the clocks is hard enough for me, but for the girls this past weekend seemed to through them for a loop.  They are totally routinized.  Late afternoon walk at 4:30, dinner at 6, wake up at 4:30AM on the weekdays, 6:30 on weekends...

So, on Monday around 3:30 they both came into my "office," wandered around, wondering when I would shove back from my desk and take them.  And every morning they have gotten up rather than sleep past when I leave for my run, thinking it's the weekend.

Lab standard time doesn't require changing clocks.  It requires settling into a new routine, an hour off...I just sense they are thinking: "Jeez, what is up with Mommie?  Do we have to re-train her?"

Murphy's Day.