Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Lesson Learned

I am completely and deeply offended that you do not
want me to assist with the decorating
We had just finished decorating the tree. It had sat naked but for lights for over a week and now the final string of gold beads was hung. It was finally done. I breathed a sigh of satisfaction and went to sit and admire our handiwork.

As always, Ray was a gigantic help, positioning himself between me and the tree or me and the bin of ornaments until, in total exasperation, I told him to "Golaydown." Ray huffily complied only to be replaced by Juno and Harvey. While Harvey enjoyed basking in the shade of the tree under construction, Juno took a more Ray-like approach to the whole process. Although, instead of getting between me and the decorations, she just positioned her dumpling self on top of them.

This is AWESOME.
I think we should always have a tree here.
Hmmm hmmm hmmm. Hmm hmm hmmm
jingle all the way…
As I sat relaxing and enjoying the moment, I heard lapping. Harvey, feeling a bit thirsty after all the activity, was helping himself to the Christmas-tree-water. Having read just recently that animals should not be allowed to drink Christmas-tree-water, I yelled in my dog-correction voice "Hey! Get outta there!"

…oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh
Whereas the reaction from Ray would be a look of mild enquiry, the reaction from Harvey was a bit more dramatic; he exploded from under the tree taking with him a string of lights, a length of gold beads, and three ornaments. I heard the dog-gate crash as the panic-stricken cat shot through the small-animal escape hatch, and then the fhwwwwip of the cat flap into the garage.

Laughing, outraged, and feeling more than a bit bad about Harvey, I went to re-decorate the tree. In his frantic flight, Harvey had unplugged the string of lights and snapped an ornament in two. The other ornaments had been stripped out of their dangly holders. I re-hung the gold beads on the lower branches of the tree and went to look for the scaredy-cat.

You don't like Jingle Bells? I know others.
Harvey was hiding in the garage. Although he came out of his hiding place when I called, he wouldn't let me approach him, just mewed and paced anxiously. I saw a flash of orange out of the corner of my eye and realized that he had been followed by Juno who was also hiding and wouldn't come out at all.
That is, wouldn't come out at all until Gregg came and shook the treat can. The Dumpling came right inside. It took Harvey two more hours to calm down.

Note to self: Do not use dog-correction voice with cats.


8 comments:

  1. that is sooooo funny. i could so picture that scene in my head.
    hahahahahaha

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  2. peeps just don't understand our need to dogervise so they get thing right :)

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    1. hahahahahahaha. I guess he was doing that in his own way (since he can't actually see what I'm doing : ))

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  3. And here I thought cats didn't give two hoots about humans yelling at them - I always thought they just gave a sassy stare at the human. Harvey and Juno must be extra sensitive. Or you must have a really scary dog-correction voice! ;)

    I'm so relieved Blueberry has shown zero interest in the Christmas tree, except when I am near it. Then she sits there and stares at me as I give it water or adjust an ornament. I am allowed approximately 45 seconds to do this before she comes over to try and get between me and the tree. I suspect she'll do a little dog dance when Christmas is over and the tree is taken out to be recycled. She can't handle the competition.

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    1. hahahahahahahaha. Competition from a Christmas tree, good thing you don't have another pet. BB would be beside herself.
      Cats tend to be much more skittish than dogs and are usually alarmed by loud noises. There are exceptions to this rule. There is a feral tomcat in our hood that sits on the top fence rail just above a yelling Ray and never bats an eye. Ray's voice is about as loud as it gets, the cat just eyes him with contempt.
      My dog-correction voice is so scary that Ray will actually raise an eyebrow when I use it. He doesn't stop what he's doing but I'm pretty sure he hears me.

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  4. Pets... they add SO much to our lives!!!

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