Otto's summer

I like the reflection in his glasses. He thinks I am an idiot I know he does.

Elkhart Lake is the epitome of summer. There is an ice cream stand that serves fresh peach ice cream by a 16 year old that could be considered God's gift to summer time.

Everyone is having such a nice time...except for... you know who...Otto hates el-touristos with their boat trailers clomping down the road disturbing the Osprey's nest just below our house. Afterall, they do have babies!


Every morning, at warp speed, Otto visits the end of our 50 foot driveway and promptly tuckers out for the next mile of our walk. The dead morning june bugs fascinate him, he paws at them a few times before deciding that feel is better than taste.

The summers up here are like magic complete with lightening bugs that just thrill Otto at dusk. He jumps straight up in the air like he has springs on his paws and when he catches them, he spits them out like he swilled some Tabasco sauce...

Just when you think that life is peaceful......look what has come to our feeder every morning at 5:30 am. So much for quiet mornings....

Click on the picture for a close up of the masked foe!


Otto is going to end up in the insanery down the street...or I will from lack of sleep.

A cool reception.

It is amazing to me, I was called away to Indianapolis for 5 days. I was so worried about Otto's care having never really left him longer then a couple of days that prior to my leaving, I asked my husband Gordy throughout the day..."Will you be nice to Otto?" "Would you mind terribly putting a few drops in his eyes if they look red?" Would you mind if it wouldn't be too much trouble sleeping half off the bed because Otto prefers to take up at least 3/4's of the available bed space...Would you please check his toenails and don't walk on the grass, he might have an allergy to grass...don't ...don't just DON'T!"..... "Will you be nice to Otto?" That was my primary concern. I was tore up about having to leave him, it hurt my heart.

So off I went, worried every day that Otto's needs were not being met....worried..worried....worried...every free chance....worrying about the worry....worried about his eyes...worried about him becoming overheated...worried about allergies...

I have become my own worst nightmare as a parent of ...A DOG! I have become one those women that I used to think to myself, "God she needs to get a life!" I worry about Otto, I think about him and I worry, to me he is fragile and precious.

Finally I returned home this past Friday..Two planes, 7 hours of travel later, I finally walked in the door and got to see my furry pal. He looked wonderful. My reception? It was considered lukewarm, I walked in and he came to the door and turned his back on me. I said in my happiest of voices. ...OTTO! OTTO! OTTO! I missed you so much, thought about you all the time, I missed you!...Otto walked back into the bedroom.. I mean he turned and walked back in...sort of slowly.....

Okay, it is bad enough that he doesn't ever give me a little lick when I come home on a daily basis ...like he does to complete strangers...so having been gone for 5 days and receive this sort of greeting was really disappointing...he hates me. He must hate the fact that I clean his ears, clean his what ever needs cleaning...dream about how handsome he is...brag about him...write a stupid blog about him....trim his toenails, brush him weekly, brush his teeth...and so on...there wasn't even a wag...

Until the morning when I found him across my legs...I looked down at him and said, " Otto, I missed you and I thought about you all the time." He wagged his tail twice and went back to sleep.

Anatolians are tough.

Turkey!

It is hard to imagine that Anatolian Shepherd dogs tolerate the heat well. Otto has been refusing to walk in the warmer temperatures. He has even taking to throwing himself on the ground, tongue fully extended in protest of continuing back home in the warmer weather.. While the house looks like a cyclone of dog hair, he still hasn't managed to cast off his handsome heavy winter fur coat so I am sure he is overheated...or just PLAIN LAZY.

The highlight of Otto's spring has been the daily visits by a lone female turkey. She comes everyday like clockwork, once in the morning around 8:00 am and again promptly at 5:20 pm to eat the fallen seeds from the feeders. On the top of the feeders we set out grape jelly and oranges out in anticipation of Baltimore orioles, my most favorite little spring darlings.

Turkeys love grape jelly. Who knew? It has officially made Otto crazy. Click on the pictures to get a close up of Ms. Tom.

On to the next feeder!

Otto and the Chipmunks!

This is Chippee, Otto's favorite new toy!





This is Otto's new daytime favorite!

POOR DEER OTTO!

Time to get the Windex! You need to click on the pictures to get the full steam and drool effect...

His entire body was shaking!

Otto exercise!

The Wisconsin winter has caught up with my waistline. I discovered fresh cheese curds and "fish fry" and put on a quick 10 lbs. I decided typing isn't the aerobic activity I needed so I went to the thrift store and purchased some 99 cent exercise videos. You know you are in trouble most of the exercise videos still in their original sealed box as opposed to all of the other well worn videos.



I set aside a little area in our home for me to watch the tapes and punch, kick or do what ever torturous activity required to shed the 10. I hate the thought of exercising, I prefer sitting, cooking, eating, even working appeals more to me then sweating away at a public place with equipment that has been touched by ANYONE...sickens me just the thought of it....

Otto has never seen me exercise except when I have to chase him to retrieve something he has taken or when I am doing aerobic vacuuming after his weekly brushings. My husband has never seen me exercise either aside from folding the laundry or cleaning the windows ( Otto's lookout posts) four times a day so the mere suggestion that I was venturing out to get myself a mat from TJ Max and a Billy Blanks (Otto's worst nightmare) Tae Bo tape was really amusing for him.

I wish I could describe better how my first 29 minute "Denise Austin" "Flatten those ab's" video went. Prior to going to "the room" to exercise, I put Otto in the bedroom, closed the door and told my husband that I would be back in half an hour...I wasn't even past the opening credits and "WARNINGS" in her video before the audience arrived. Otto, his 10 year lab pal Scout, and my husband all planted themselves down, as Gordy says, "Moral Support."

Have you ever had an animal laugh at you? Whereas my husband wouldn't dare, Otto was laying on his side when I started the sit up torture and every time I would raise my head (grunt and exhale) to my knees, he would wag his tail with his mouth open making like a chirping growling noise. He actually looked like he was smiling at me, for sure he was amused. This went on for about 10 minutes when I looked at my husband who was sound asleep on the floor...slightly snoring. He is like a baby, he can sleep anywhere regardless of anything...lucky guy..I have to have complete darkness, the right pillow...and must be all tucked in real tight and NO NOISE at all. I don't sleep too much between three snoring males in the bedroom.

Well, I made it thru the tape but decided that tomorrow, Billy Blanks, Tae Bo and I are going to have 30 private minutes, no audience, no moral support and no laughing dog.

Otto Quit Chasing the Deer!

I quit. The new sheriff is quiting and two weeks notice is served. For the past few days on most every walk, morning, noon, early evening and late night...there are so many deer outside our home, outside our doorstep- it is like a wildlife breeding area. We are growing deer here in Elkhart Lake! The snow is melting and deer are emerging from the drifts in large herds!

Otto has gone bonkers, he hates deer. From the moment we leave our house, his nose is high in the air, he walks on his tiptoes and his chest is puffed out. I have tried every trick I know to distract him and correct him- short of carrying the boiled skinless boneless free range organic smiling chicken breast that he enjoys every morning. Otto is very focused on causing bodily harm to the entire deer population. When he is in the house, he huffs at each window and races around the house, up the stairs, down the stairs, over and over again, the deer are visible from all windows.
It has been a record breaking snowy miserably cold endless winter and Otto has cabin fever. I don't, he does.

I think his dreams must be about busting thru the slobbery glass and running after his look-a-likes! If that ever happened, it would be the last time I ever saw him.....tomorrow I will bring the chicken with me.

OTTO WAIT FOR ME!

I am taking the kind advice of some of the more experienced dog owners, those who have left comments to me on this blog. With much appreciation, things are going remarkably well at least they have been for the past two weeks and four days. There is a new sheriff in Otto's life and as I start to believe that to be true, it transcends to Otto.

For example, who would have ever imagined that the simple way that I exit my home can set the tone for the rest of the walk. For the past 4,380 walks, Otto has pushed by me to get out first and I have consistently been catching up with him and being pulled by him. I was always under the impression that the lesson starts once we are outside when I can position him correctly on my left side. Boy was I wrong! A few days ago, new rules were enforced. Leash, sit, wait, I go out first and Otto gets to go out when I say it is okay. By the sixth walk, Otto was making eye contact with me instead of the door, that is a good sign.

The problem as I see it is "rules are rules" and I think in order for them to work, they must be consistently followed by everyone (husband) otherwise it is confusing to Otto and counterproductive to my efforts. We all have to exit the door in the same manner, consistently, not one day, one way and another day, another way...even when everyone is tired.

Getting Otto off the bed is a different story...I am not too sure about enforcing that rule especially when every morning he creeps into bed and lands asleep on my legs until I get up. It is quite sweet. I love this dog, he is my most unusual friend.

Pillow Fight!

Whew! We are almost unpacked from the Chicago move. Hopefully it will be years before we have to move anywhere again. It is still cold in Elkhart and we still have snow on the ground but it beats Chicago any day.

Recently we met a very nice couple and decided to have them up for a visit. I spent a solid two hours vacuuming up dog hair which is nothing new to anyone reading this. A can of Pledge and about a gallon of Windex on all of Otto's lookout posts and I felt like we were in pretty good shape, exhausted but tidy. Remember the little valentine's day pillow that Otto took such a liking to? Well, it had been relocated to my nightstand two weeks ago and he seemed to have forgotten it existed.

Just before their arrival, Otto was put in "his room" with his water and his toys, animal planet on the TV and a see ya later biscuit.

The couple arrived and we were having a very nice visit until about 40 minutes into it, she said, "I thought you have dogs, where are they all? All I keep hearing about is your Otto, where are you keeping him?"

Otto must have been listening at the door because as soon as she said his name, he started in with his version of, "Why I right here, behind this door, being such a good dog." Otto has many different barks and sounds that he makes. " Rabbit under the lounge chair RIGHT NOW!" bark is very different then "SOME ONE JUST RANG TO DOOR BELL" bark. The, demure, "I am hungry" is very different then "SNOW PLOW GOING BY" high alert bark.

So, we all ventured downstairs to meet Otto. I asked them to sit at the table rather then greet him standing up just in case Otto decided to do one of his flying tiger leaping dragon moves at warp speed. Sure enough, like a lighting bolt, he pushed by me at the open crack of the door and ran past to investigate the newcomers to his home. A few quick licks (how do complete strangers get licks and I can't get one.) The interest in the new people quieted down quickly....on their part as well.

For some reason, Otto ran as fast as he could up the stairs. It was as if the doorbell rang or something urgent was happening upstairs. The couple said something about how BIG he was then changed the subject to discuss something else. They did not rave or say "That is the most beautiful animal I have ever seen" either. While she was talking, I could hear the pitter patter above my head and some fast movements. I was trying to pay attention to her story but I was wondering what Otto was doing. I had a feeling either he was eating her boot that she so kindly removed when she entered in from the snow...or worse, dragging and shaking her purse around.

Otto had run upstairs very quickly and left us all, something that he wouldn't normally do unless it was to investigate if anyone else in the house. Normally he would have come racing back down the stairs.... right away.

He did.....with my Valentine's day pillow in his mouth. He had helped himself to it, right off of the back my nightstand........and the lady said, "Oh look, Otto brought us one of his toys!"

New friends, world's worst dog, two choices. "No, that isn't one of his toys, it is MY PILLOW!" Otto is now in the rear end up and front legs down, wagging and shaking the pillow in his mouth position. It was like he was saying, "Did you think you could just lock me in my room, exclude me from the party without any consequences? Did you think I had forgotten about YOUR PILLOW? That you HID TWO WEEKS, THREE HOURS AGO??"

Honestly, sometimes he is worse then having a child..I couldn't make a scene, if I got up to chase him it would make the situation worse because then he would have run in and out of the room, leaping by me....so I just sat there and watched him, gnawing away on my little heart shaped pillow.

Ignoring Otto sometimes lessens his excitement, except in this case. He then went up to the new guy and jammed the pillow in his upper leg (crotch) all while making a low growling sounds which I know to be "Play with me" sounds but I am not sure that the guy believed me. Thank heavens my husband got up said the magic words, "Biscuit" and Otto went running after him... back to his room, dropping the slobbery little heart on the floor.

I would imagine that will be the last time they come over to our house!

Naughty, naughty, naughty.....

Bond, Otto Bond

Otto-Chicago

This is the past......

It's official now, Otto is a Cheesehead.

One blue ribbon dog

Otto has the classic coloring, fawn with a black mask and he comes from championship bloodlines....so even though I neutered him AND my husband thinks he is a runt AND our uncle's brother said he was the "Smallest Anatolian" (that was the end of that friendship,) Otto does have one first place, blue ribbon for best puppy from the Waukesha Dog show. Who cares if he was the only Anatolian male puppy in his class and who cares if he stopped half way around the ring to relieve himself. He attended and won the only show he was ever entered in so I can say he retired with honors.

Anatomy of a nap.

Hmmm, I'm so sleepy....so sleepy...
I just can't stop yawning, I am soo exhausted...

Maybe a quick power nap would help...

Need to make it comfortable.......

I can't keep my eyes open..........so sleepy.....

I am going down..............

Can someone please close the blinds in here??

zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............

Otto's Way

It was nice waking up in Wisconsin this morning. We all went for our morning loop and when we reached the end of our road, a couple was walking up the hill. They did not have their dog and they were in heavy winter clothes. Otto took one look at them and started barking and barking, he just wouldn't stop. My husband told me that was the couple who owned the female black lab that Otto went after last summer.

I could barely contain Otto. He was lunging, growling and barking at the couple which was not a good way to start my pre-coffee Sunday morning. I thought for the first time that he was actually going to attack without a visible fear of threat and I was plenty worried. My husband excused his behavior by saying to the couple, "Well, Otto must smell your dog on you." Then he asked them, "How was Lucky doing?" He told us that the cancer was in her leg, spreading fast and she could no longer walk but that she was comfortable....what ever that means and then suggested that they walk ahead of us. I knew the woman must have remembered Otto as the "Mean Dog" that had attacked without provocation, her old dog Lucky.

So, am I now to understand that Otto, from a distance, can smell the cancer of a dog from the clothes of the owner? Did he view the owners as a potential threat because of this smell? Can a dog smell other dogs on their owners clothes without the dogs being present from a distance?

I am going to have to look into this further, maybe take him to the entrance of a hospital or something similar to see his behavior.
Otto could be like a directional signal for the sick or soon to be sick. I, on the other hand, will be locked up in the mental ward ranting about Otto's abilities.

Otto meets the Burberry's

Otto is like a kindergarten bully with a black belt degree. His personality completely changes when we return to Chicago almost immediately after we pass the highway sign, "Entering Cook County." Sirens go off continuously from car alarms, police and the fire station down the block. I am sure that Otto is stressed out. Last night, he lifted his leg so many times that towards the end of our walk, he was just wearily brushing by posts with his leg just slightly raised... translated, I assume to mean, I am still here and don't you forget it.


My husband and I thought it would be fun to walk the dogs one last time around Wrigleyfield. There is still a good amount of ice on the sidewalks and it made it hard to stay upright, especially when Otto becomes "Otto the Sleddog." Around the bend at Wrigley, a woman was walking her schnauzer towards us and the sidewalk was pretty narrow. The woman had on a huge plaid Burberry scarf, matching hat and matching plaid boots. Her dog is wearing much the same outfit. He had little plaid boots and a little plaid winter coat. They were fast approaching us and HER Schnauzer started barking at Otto. To my immediate left and right were banks of ice. I said loudly to the Burberry's, "Can you please just wait there until I can cross the street?" She kept on coming, Burberry Schnauzer still barking. Otto proceeded to crouch down, he wasn't going to cross the street, he simply refused to move and he was starting to escalate the tension. Again, I asked the lady, "Please don't come by us, I am on the ice and I have no where to go , can you just give me a minute here...???" She then said, "Why do I have to cross the street...you should cross the street, why do I have to???"

Charming...


Then something came over me. I said to her," Better yet, don't cross the street, feel free to walk right by us...." I have no idea why I said that, I know better. I must have been overly exhausted with the whole moving thing. I know about liability issues so I must plead insanity on having uttered this comment...Otto, at this point was standing, (bootless and coatless,) lunging, growling and barking at her dog. I think he was calling her dog names, cursing at him in anatolian babble which drove the schnauzer insane. Burberry Schnauzer was lunging with his boots up in the air, and Mrs. Burberry was dragging him, still complaining about having to cross the street.

We have had enough of Chicago...I am dreaming about seeing the bunny under our snow covered lounge chair, the hawks in our trees and the old fashions at the bar.

The best protection of all

Our move from Chicago is starting to take place today. Otto is like a shadow over me in the City and I feel his protection all the time when I am here.

Click on the the picture and see if you can see him.

ADT has nothing on him...

I can feel him thinking so loudly, "don't you know that can only watch you from here, take me with you.."

Two more visits to the big City and then we are gone. No more bars on the windows, it is no way to live...I can't wait to return back to Elkhart Lake....neither can Otto.

Naughty Valentine

Otto has discovered the new heart shaped little pillow that was my Valentine's Day present. He took it right off the nightstand this morning. Very naughty dog..

A really bad throw..

When I was in the 6th grade, Field day was a mandatory event. I can still clearly remember when my turn came for the softball throw. I wound up as best as I could and with all my might, I threw the ball...directly in front of me, right into the ground.My athleticism really hasn't improved.

I had to take this picture of my two favorites on the bed and the results of the last toss of Otto's toys in the corner under the television. I couldn't make that shot again if my life depended on it.

Click on the picture and look closely at the fan...

Not so Lucky

Otto intensely disliked a female black lab named Lucky that used to walk by our house in the early summer mornings. The dogs had one meeting and it didn't go well. Otto is usually very flirtatious with females, both women and dogs. Yesterday I saw the owner of the dog and she informed me that Lucky, the female black lab was on the way out with cancer all over her body. This makes #4 on the test factor for Otto's ability to detect disease in dogs and people.

Otto's breeder once told me that Anatolians know when things are not right, they can sense it, they don't like it and will try to eliminate it. I must be careful with him.

On a happier note, Otto has been walking like a show dog and has even given me one, one little kiss on the face. He is even waiting for me at the door instead of paws up in the bed. Something isn't right. Maybe his brain got frostbit. Any minute, he will surely be parading with my sock, or trying to attack the red truck passing by or just maybe, all of the "bad Dog Otto" is behind us now. I wonder. He is just a little bit too accommodating, like a naughty light switch, he just clicked over to "GOOD DOG ON" and I'm not entirely buying it.

Maybe, at 3 years, 2 months, Otto is growing up. I doubt it, he won't be full grown until he reaches 5 years old. Maybe he is just horrified that I posted his pictures in various get ups and he can't believe that 5000 years of Anatolian perfection has landed him with a mother that likes to dress him up. Regardless, I sure am enjoying him and he seems to be taking life in good stride.

Otto, my special Valentine

Otto's apology card

I hope the neighbor's have a sense of humor...

Otto and the Pee-Mail

The phone rang at 8:02 am this morning. The caller identified himself as our neighbor, whom I have never met, nor do I know which house he lives in. Guess we haven't been very social in the one year we have lived here with the neighbors. I was thinking to myself on this Pre-Valentine's day morning, it was a little early to be inviting us to a party, or, as are most of the neighbors calls to us, a solicitation to buy their children's girl scout cookies...to make a small contribution to their son's basketball team...I don't remember any of them ever saying, "Welcome to the neighborhood."

The caller politely asked me if I wouldn't mind, it isn't like they don't like and appreciate dogs, and that he "really didn't know how to nicely say this"...but ...if I really wouldn't mind "CURBING THE DOGS AWAY FROM HIS MAILBOX!" I apologized three times, sorry, very sorry and so so sorry, and promised that I would do my best to make sure that they avoided "their mailbox."

How embarrassing is that? It is entirely my fault but I must say in my own lame defense, it has been 40 below here and unimaginably windy. I have between wearing multiple layers of clothing, two hats and ski goggles because my eyelashes have been freezing, it has been dangerously cold outside. It is true, my dogs have been visiting the neighbor's mailboxes (all of them) doing their version of checking their pee-mail. One goes, the other dog goes immediately after leaving a bright yellow spot in the three foot drifts beneath each mailbox. It really doesn't look very nice. I should have pulled them away from the mailboxes but frankly I just wanted to get the walks over as quickly as possible. I realize that I am accountable. (At least Otto didn't whiz IN their mailbox, which in his more macho days, easily could have.)

So, we went out with the dogs after "the call." Husband shaking his head, defensively mumbling... "what a ___hole.." Both dogs sadly leashed. The 10 year old lab has never even been on a leash, he kept looking up as if to say, what have I done, it's the other ones fault..

I wonder if Hallmark makes an apology card for this?

BL-OTTO!

The New Wisconsin Mascot

Ottoman's Empire

Otto's Father

"AKAR"

So handsome, his eyes could pierce thru anything!

Coldest day yet...

40 below here in Wisconsin

Guardianship

I have had a revelation.

My walks with Otto consist of me being led by him and me pulling him. We have yet to find the side by side heel position that our black lab has so brilliantly mastered. Otto stops about 10 times during our 1 mile loop, sometimes he just sits down and stares. I always seem to be yanking him, tugging on him, yelling "Come on, Come on, Let's go." I attributed this bad behavior to stubbornness, dominance on his part and poor training on my part.

I was vacuuming and the vacuum caught the edge of a fringed throw. My immediate inclination was to pull back and turn the vacuum off. I got aggravated..and then like a sledgehammer on the revelation meter, it dawned on me.


The vacuum vacuums and Otto guards.

Otto views every possible occurrence as a potential threat, it is in his blood. It is his tradition. I didn't make him a guardian over me by telling him that I was afraid, it is ingrained in his blood to be on his guard 24 hours a day. When I am outside with him, he is on constant high alert code red status. This is his instinct and his nature. Fighting this reality is counter productive, it is contrary to the very reason I got him in the first place.

Maybe with a better understanding of his nature, I won't get so frustrated with behavior. Otto may or may not like me but one thing is for sure, he is incapable of acting any other way then what 5000 years of his purebred history dictates. When Otto stops in his tracks and looks around, he isn't killing time, his senses tell him that something somewhere requires his attention. It might be imaginary to me but it will stop him in his tracks until HE feels that the threat, whether real or perceived has passed. This is his nature.

I didn't grow up in a maternally protective environment, nor do I have children, so natural guardianship it's not a concept that I am familiar with. With Otto, I am just beginning to understand it.

Smokin' hungry!

Doesn't he look like he is smokin' crazy ? I have no idea what he is doing, probably being sassy because I wouldn't give him a biscuit before his dinner. I snapped this picture of him...He looks insane.

Speaking of smokin', I felt my husband's head this morning, he felt like he was on fire. Finally, mid morning, he broke down and admitted that he needed to go to the Doctor pronto, he felt beyond lousy. For him to admit that, I was thinking that we were going to medivac him right to the Mayo Clinic. We went to the local Urgent care and 62 minutes later we were in route home armed with some antibiotics to treat a sinus infection. Urgent care is the greatest, every one is so nice.

On the way home, in between asking me three times how fast I was driving, he asked me twice if it wouldn't be too much trouble if we stopped off at Culver's to have a little snack which consisted of Chicken tenders, large onion rings and a coke. ( I heard him say large.) This is not the request of a dying man, we are soon to be on the mend. End of that story I hope.

I felt bad because I told Otto that I wanted him to go with me to the clinic. He loves to go in the car with me, even if it is around the block but I got so nervous when my husband said he was ready to go that I shut the door and left Otto. When I got back, he was waiting at the door. I wondered if he was disappointed.

Nothing worse then disappointment.....Friends can disappoint and in that deciding moment of truth, you know in your heart that the friendship might well be over. Dog's can disappoint, several times a day and we gladly forgive them, defend them, love them even more the next day.

Bunny-mouse

People hunt in Wisconsin. I have found that when the hunters are not hunting, they are talking about hunting or teaching their young children about how to hunt...Even women are hunting! It isn't that I am against hunting, I just personally don't find there to be much sport in killing the big strappin' struttin' Tom Turkey that visits our bird feeder several times a day, feathers all fanned out, displayed to his harem...or shooting a regal 15 point buck that has survived the harsh winters and endless SUV's of Wisconsin, it just doesn't have any appeal to me...actually it reminds me of shooting a St. Bernard. I know there is tremendous sport in hunting, it just isn't my cup of tea.

Several months, Otto walked out in our garage and started sniffing the undercarriage and the two front wheels of our station wagon. (Ottowgn) Normally my husband pays me no attention when it comes to odors in the house because I am forever smelling something and complaining about it. He can't smell anything. I can smell a mildewed sponge from thirty yards out but my sense of smell pales in comparison to Otto's...so I joined him in sniffing the car. I smelled nothing, he smelled something and that was good enough for me, the search was on.

Nothing exciting came the first night of blood hounding in the garage except that our black lab was now feverishly snorting in the wheels of the car. However, the next day, I went to grab Otto's leash off of the hook in the garage and I spied three little black perfectly segmented unmistakable droppings in the corner. I calmly called my husband to tell him we had a mouse in the garage. He didn't believe me. That is so annoying, it makes me feel like a child having to explain the exact location of the monster in the closet. I showed him the droppings whereupon he started ranting, "Oh my God, Oh MY GOD, do you know how much damage rodents can do to the electrical system in the car? DID I HAVE ANY IDEA?? Why those little bstrds could eat an ENTIRE system...let alone the TREMENDOUS DAMAGE they can do to the under-something harness. Then he tells me that I need to go to Farm and Fleet and get two mouse traps, that he would go but well...he wouldn't know what to get and could I please go right away. I thought to myself, he can't go because his founding member PETA club card might accidentally fall out while he was shopping for a mouse rifle.

My husband is a member of every "Save the..." in the world. He hates women in fur, he releases every fish he ever caught, he traps spiders instead of stepping on them. He doesn't eat veal! He is a gentle soul, a protector of all life .....unless that life happens to be potentially messing with the wiring of his car. Amused, I came back with two of the quick-snap old fashioned mouse traps and found that he had already opened the package of smoked aged gouda cheese that I have been saving. Otto, like most dogs, adores anything smoked. He was sitting like a turkish soldier, drooling, watching him carefully cut two perfect cubes. Otto never ever drools. My husband looked at me and said, "You know, for their last supper I think that it should be a good one." Down went the two traps, one under the front tire, one under the rear. The entire garage smelled like a smoke house.

Otto hears everything, I smell everything, husband sees everything. Not more then 15 minutes passed before we all heard, WHAAMM! Otto started barking, hackles up and hauling back to the garage. Frankly, I expected my husband to have a slight bit of remorse for killing the little rodent and was suprised when he gloated, "GOTCHA!" Poor guy, he was one inch short of a gouda feast.

For a joke, we were going to hold the mouse's ears up like the hunter's all do when they photograph their big game and send it out for our Wisconsin Xmas card but thought better of it, instead, we mounted the remainder of one of Otto's most favorite stuffed animals, Bunny-mouse, over our fireplace. It is a reminder of fall garage hunt. To this day, no one has noticed it and it just tickles me everytime I look at it.

For a better view, click on the picture.

Wet noses...

Well, my husband now has a full blown flu-bug and Otto has been laying in the bed with him for 3 days now. There really isn't much one can do at this point and there is less sense in reminding him that he didn't believe in getting a flu shot so I will just keep quiet and wait for it to stop snowing. In sickness and in health... Cabin fever is setting in.

The weatherman on the news last night looked like he needed a sedation. Between the tornado's battering the south and the 18" of snow heading to our county, he was dewy with anticipation. We are indeed having a small blizzard, will try to post a few pictures later on.