~ Liberty Images' photostream  

Ben woke me up one Saturday for the usual collie reason, so I swanned down the stairs in my 1950s red quilted satin "it turns me into Olivia de Havilland" robe to let His Collie-ness out. At which point I noticed it was snowing away (a blessedly rare occurrence this year). That means Ben comes back in with really wet paws after doing his business, and having just scrubbed the floors and carpets the previous morning...

So, while he was outdoors, I grabbed one of his cow hoof treats (hey, he loves them, and they're less than a buck a pop). I smeared peanut butter inside and then stuck two of his crunchy treats on top of the peanut butter. When Ben returned, I made him sit on the rug, then made a big deal about handing him the distraction, an acting exercise that was completely unnecessary since Ben can smell a molecule of peanut butter from a quarter mile away.

It worked. I gave Ben the hoof and watched him try to figure out how to get his treats (and that peanut butter!). After a few minutes of admiring my temporary flash of brilliance and Ben's total cuteness (not necessarily in that order), I began taking care of other things.

Ben didn't leave that rug for a full 20 minutes. My clean floors were safe! I think this was a winner.

Y'all have a great weekend. :)

("Our Handsome Buckley". I never did learn a language, though I gave teaching myself Italian the old college try back in the day. Alas, then I became too busy with ACTUAL college and work. Oh well.)

He is such a sweet boy. He has been hanging out with me all day—I've been feeling rather ill and exhausted all week long. The other day it was quite bad and despite being a die-hard Type A (you know, I think there is something to that "die" part going with "Type A" sometimes), I simply had no choice but to lie down and do nothing (the horror! Oh, it was awful!). I dozed off, and upon waking, was surrounded by furry critters. Pudge, of course, was resting beneath the coffee table, his wisdom-filled eyes watching me carefully. Then he hopped up and snuggled right up to me. A purring cuddle buddy? Best invention ever!

(According to BabelFish, that is "The Elegant Lucy Puff".)

Fridays are the big cleaning day here. I have a little cleaning schedule that means I do some daily, but Fridays I do all the floors and the laundry plus of course making sure anything done earlier in the week, well, 'held'. Ben hates Fridays (if you ask me, he takes all the vacuuming and mopping and such personally), but Lu follows me around, watching and, um, helping.

She has been very "attached" the last few weeks, and considering her naturally affectionate, "follow 'Mommy' everywhere" personality, that is saying something. She and Buckley are always following me around and checking up on me throughout the day, but Lu has been going so far as sitting on my desk as I work and everything!

I think her rebellious teen years are over.

Talk about riding off into the sunset! The Mother Road continues westward just a handful of yards from Kobels' boarded-up front door. Oh, I love it and miss it so!

It's a bigger place than I expected, Kobel's. And there's a lot of tall grass, so if you go crawling around, definitely keep an eye out for snakes (spotted: none) and check yourself thoroughly for ticks (found: none, miraculously, considering our earlier experiences on this trip) after getting out of the weeds!