So Let's Pretend...

Let's pretend that I am not a horrible blog owner who neglected you all shockingly for months, in favor of writing very short and not incredibly interesting tidbits on FaceBook (shoot me an email if we are not already friends and you want to rectify that...). I would also like to pretend that I have not neglected the laundry to the point I have about 10 loads left, after doing 10 loads this week. Yeah, I so totally ignored the laundry there, the kids had to dig deep and wear their second string shirts.

I think I am in denial about how much laundry there truly is...I was sitting on the floor sorting clothes -- I had dumped it into one big pile -- and Abe was reduced to giving me the sad puppy eyes, because it was chest high on him and he couldn't get through or around it. Abe likes to lean on me...


(No I am not posting a photo of my enormous laundry pile.)

Yesterday in between folding loads of laundry I vacuumed our bedroom. Mojo has to be with me at all times, and I kept having to make him move so I could vacuum where he was laying. He hates the vacuum, perhaps the fact that I occasionally can't help but suck up his jowls has something to do with his dislike...I sat down to hang out with him for a minute, because he looked so cute and because I was sick of vacuuming.

Abe and Tess wandered in, and since Tess lives to pester the dogs, they ended up having a wrestling match on my freshly vacuumed carpet. Tess discovered that if you blow on Mojo's back, he tries to lick your face. Actually he lunges at your head and licks ferociously. And if you get Moj worked up, Abe has to get in on it too.


Both dogs, looking fairly psychotic. Note that they are mere inches from my head.


Mojo's all time favorite move, grabbing Abe's hind leg and dragging him around. This is not my favorite thing, because Abe has had four surgeries on his knee (congenital deformity. A hazard of pit bulls. We think Abe is probably part pit because of his brindle coat and because there are many many many many many many pit bulls in Tucson.) See how lovely and freshly vacuumed the carpet looks? It so did not look lovely under a fresh coat of dog hair three minutes later. Abe is shedding like crazy lately. Also, proof I did not spend all day on FB -- laundry basket and vacuum.


Mojo with a mouthful of Abe's face. This photo makes me want to rinse out my mouth, just thinking about how much dog hair Mo must have on his tongue after he does this.

Now to completely change the subject.

I have taken some photos lately that I haven't posted here...


Taken on September 19. We haven't had snow yet, but all the leaves are long gone.


Trumpeter swan on Potter Marsh. Potter Marsh is one of my favorite places in Anchorage.


This is why I love Potter Marsh. Big sky, big views, mountains, birds, salmon, lots of interesting plants to shoot.


Deadish weeds.


Even a train.

The downside of Potter Marsh is that the Seward highway runs all along it, and the Seward highway is very busy. There's also a shooting range nearby, so you sometimes get the added ambiance of rifle shots. Makes it feel like the real Alaska.

Sheesh.

I never worried with any of the kids if they were eating. They were all great eaters.

(Besides which, they were babies. Nine peas is a full serving for a baby. I have always wondered at the moms who worried about their kids not eating, when really what they were worried about was that their kids were not in fact eating meals that would have made a longshoreman go "whoa. That's a lot of food." There's a reason baby and toddler dishes are little...)

Any way. So. Not one to worry about whether the kidlets were eating enough, even when Thor spent six months eating pb&j instead of ANYTHING at all that I made for supper. He ate apples and banana bread, which is a great vehicle for sneaking carrot and wheat germ and flax and oatmeal into your kids.

Now, these days, if Abe is eating, if Abe deigns to sniff at the food in his dish, I walk the other way around the kitchen counter so as hopefully not to disturb him. I will wait to refill my coffee cup. I will sit at the computer for an extra minute (like that's a hardship...) Because YAY! He's EATING! Not that he's particularly skinny or underfedish, but the dog just doesn't eat as much as he should. (Mojo, on the other hand, wouldn't miss a meal if he were in a coma.)

Because of course, I have adjusted my life to the dogs. Right now I have Things To Do, but I am reluctant to get up because Abe just curled up next to me and looks so content. (Both dogs feel compelled to follow me about the house all day, so once I get up, he will feel the need to follow me up stairs and to the bathroom door...)

Right. Edited To Add...I didn't mean you, obviously. I realize there are kids who truly seem to think food and eating are optional. But really, I have met moms who seem to think they have not done their job unless their offspring downs the equivalent of a nine course Thanksgiving meal thrice daily. Those are the moms I was referencing up there, not you, my loyal reader!