Foto Free Friday: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

What was Photoless Tuesday has now become Foto Free Friday.  Why?  'Cause alliteration rocks!

I am the one in the house that always breaks the no dogs on the furniture rule.  Really, it's less of a rule these days than a guideline.  Or maybe it's more of a no dogs on the furniture when the Hubster is around rule.  I am constantly inviting the dogs up for a cuddle when I'm watching a movie, playing around on the interwebs or writing a blog post.  The girls are so used to this that they automatically jump off the bed when they hear the Hubster approaching.  Sadie in particular gets this adorable "I'm so sorry Daddy for breaking the rules" guilty look on her face and slinks off the bed in shame.  One might say that I'm making things confusing for them (though I stick to it being the Hubster who is confusing things) but the girls seem to understand that Mom cuddles in bed and Dad doesn't.  I do wholeheartedly agree that no dogs sleeping with us is a good rule to have in a 3 dog household.

So imagine my surprise last night, when I enter the bedroom to see Hurley stretched out beside the sleeping Hubster.  In the spirit of breaking rules, I decided to let him sleep with us for the night (really, it was the Hubster who made that decision; I just didn't un-make it).  And as much as I wanted photographic evidence of this phenomena, even more important than letting sleeping dogs lie is letting sleeping husbands sleep.

All my attempts to get Hurley to give up his spot next to Dad and settle at the end of the bed where met with outright, dead-weight refusal.  That not-so-little-anymore puppy refused to give up his spot.  I cajoled, I tugged sheets and blankets, no dice.  Finally I gave up, retrieved a blanket from the sofa and settled in to a tiny corner of the bed with Hurley snuggled between us.  My defeat was my victory.  As soon as I was settled, Hurley scootched to the end of the bed and proceeded to drape himself over the Hubster's sleeping legs.

And this morning, for the first time in almost 5 months, it was the alarm clock that woke us up, not Hurley.

Photoless Tuesday: Generous Thievery

Hurley developed a fun new game this past weekend.  And because he's such a magnanimous little guy, he generously shares his bounty with the girls.  I could get photos of this for the blog but I refuse to encourage him being a little shit this kind of bad puppy behavior.  Especially since it involves my poor garden.

The game goes like this:

Hurley hurdles/plows over the fence surrounding my garden and makes a beeline for the tomato plants, one of which he has completely decimated.  With a green tomato safely in his jowls, he hurdles/plows back over the fence.  Chomp, chomp.  Hey Sadie & Maggie, you want some of this?  He graciously hands over the unripened green tomato to one of the girls.

So is he being a generous thief?  Or has he wizened up and realized that others can share in getting in trouble?

Photo-less Tuesday: Cuddling

I can't tell you how many moments I catch where I wish my camera was at hand.  But alas, the second I move, the moment is ruined.  Three pairs of eyes are honed in on me.  What's Mom doing?  Are we gonna get treats?  Where's the ball?  And with their focus on me, the precious moment that was is shattered into activity.

This past week, there were two such moments that stand out for me.

Each morning, I make my coffee and sit down to catch up on all the blogs.  Some days, I do this in bed.  And sometimes, I invite one, two or all three dogs to lounge about with me in bed.  OK.  Mostly it's just Maggie or Sadie as Hurley generally just wants to romp and play in the AM's.

Earlier this week, I did invite all 3 to lounge with me.  Hurley of course was more ready to play than to cuddle.  He and Maggie settled into a nice game of bitey mouth on the bed - Maggie probably not the most willing of participants at first but hey, she pretty much plays with her little bro whenever he wants.  She is cunning though and slowly decreased the intensity of bitey mouth until they were just laying there with both arms completely around each other, tongues hanging out and bitey mouth game forgotten.  It was such a precious moment and one I wish the camera could have caught.

The other moment this week came when I invited Maggie up one morning.  Maggie always lays at the end of the bed.  Always.  But this morning, she stood right next to me and then settled down in the crook of my arm.  While checking the blogs one-handed and left-handed at that was a tad difficult, having some special cuddle time with my Maggie Mae was truly special.