JOSEPHINE IS NINE

On the very first day of December, I lugged all the boxes containing the Christmas decorations up from the basement. I put together our little tree and decorated it with my favorite ornaments. I set out the menorah and Abominable Snowman. I hung the wreath on the front door and set my light-up elephant on the front stoop. I hung all the Christmas stockings on the wall by the tree. Then I packed up the boxes and put them all back into the basement. I was like a Tasmanian Devil of decorating and I only half noticed the order in which I had hung the stockings.

But the Cabbage noticed straight away.

You see, the order of the stockings from right to left is me, Michael, Josephine, The Cabbage and finally, Albus. The Cabbage saw how the stockings were placed and viewed the order as order of importance. Meaning Josephine trumps the Cabbage. When the Cabbage mentioned this, Michael said “I’m less important than Josephine.” Now…that’s not…true…..Maybe there’s a little truth there. Anyway. I’m the one that decorates. I can do what I want. The only time the other two have any interest is when I decide to not decorate and then there’s complaints. So if the stockings end up in an “order of importance” so be it.

Josephine turned nine on the eighth of December (I believe this is right because the earliest picture I have of her is for December 2014 and her eyes were barely open). We didn’t really celebrate. There may have been an extra treat that day and the discovery of an old lost toy. [Complete side note: I’m missing two spoons from my silverware set that I received from a favorite college professor when Chris and I got married. I made Michael look under the couch for them because who knows?. Instead, he found an old bone and Josephine’s stuffed snail. The spoons are still missing.] I don’t think to celebrate Josephine’s birthday in December because she didn’t come home to us until late January, but also I tend to celebrate her existence every day.

It is winter temperatures and that means, Josephine and I opt out of our morning walks for snuggle time under the covers. She will go outside only because I’ve told her to go outside, but then she runs back inside as soon as she’s done, and hops up onto the bed to burrow under the comforter. The two of us lay there with me scratching her ears or belly until it is my turn for the shower. Sometimes, there is competition from the cat where I’ll only be able to pet with one hand because the other hand has to scratch Albus’s ears. I don’t think Josephine likes sharing, but she tolerates it because like I tell her every single day, she is the best puppy in the world.

And she is.

Josephine is everything I could have asked for in a canine companion. She’s smart and inquisitive. Her personality far exceeds her size. Everyone who has interacted with her all tell me that she is the sweetest puppy. She is so much more than a pet. She is a member of my family and a true companion. Josephine is always by my side. Or on my lap. I choose to celebrate her life every single day because the life of a dog is shorter than a human’s. Which, come to think of it, is how we should probably treat each other. Every day is a gift.

Take a moment to celebrate that gift.

MEET ALFRED

Say good morning to Alfred

4 Likes, 1 Comments - Cindy Maddera (@elephant_soap) on Instagram: "Say good morning to Alfred"

My heart is sad for Las Vegas. I have so many crazy happy memories of that place. I was married there! I got my first tattoo in Vegas. Chris and I shared a 99 cent half pound hot dog. We drank a fishbowl sized alcoholic beverage that smoked with dry ice. We played bingo with a bunch of old ladies and had a wonderful time. I'm just sick about the mass shooting that took place there last night and like many of us, I'm shocked and saddened that this is now a common occurrence in this country. We've made zero headway in preventing mass shootings. Shame on us and this government. But that is all I'm going to say about any of it. Instead, I'll turn my focus and maybe your's to something lighter and joyful. Something to take our minds off of tragedy. 

Josephine's toys consists of stuffed animals that the Cabbage has won from a crane game, a female park ranger doll (also stolen from the Cabbage) and some small stuffed animals I got as swag from a science conference. She does have a fox and a little tube shaped dog that are actual pet store dog toys, but Josephine prefers the stuffed animals she's stolen from the Cabbage. I feel real bad for the park ranger doll. She's currently laying naked somewhere in the backyard. Josephine was real attached to a blob shaped stuffed creature that was supposed to represent an antibody. Antibody Annie was one of the swag items I brought home from ASCB last year. She had red troll doll like hair that Josephine would groom. Eventually Antibody Annie lost both of her arms and then last week I stepped out into the living room to see her bleeding stuffing out all over the living room floor. 

We had a small funeral for Antibody Annie. It was not the first stuffed animal funeral that we've had to have this year. Josephine's lost a few toys. One of those toys, we just blatantly took away from her. The little red tube dog has a squeaker and Josephine would sit just out of reach and just chew on the squeaker. Squeak squeak squeak. She really liked to do this while we were trying to watch something on TV. Michael tried to dismantle the squeaker, but it still squeaks. The odd thing is, she has other toys with squeakers, but that is the only one she does this with. It is not even her go-to toy. She would much rather have you throw her knobby ball that has unpredictable landings. That poor ball is barely hanging on. It got run over by the lawn mower and has a big crack down one side. I tried finding a replacement and the closest thing I found was a spiky ball. She will roll her eyes and go after it if you throw it, but it's not her favorite. This is unfortunate, because knobby ball is not going to last much longer. 

I was in Target on Saturday and I remembered Josephine's most recent loss. I thought that maybe it was time I bought her a new toy. Our target didn't have a large selection to choose from, but I did find this really cute alligator. The tag advertised that it squeaked at a level only dogs could hear and I was all "SOLD!" When I got home, I removed the tags and then handed it over to Josephine. She has a tendency to take all of her toys outside and then bring them back in once they've been rain soaked and crusty with dirt. So before I let go, I looked at her and said "let's keep this one inside." She went straight to her dog door with it. I then watched from the kitchen window as she took the alligator on a tour of the back yard. She shook him around just behind the house. Then she walked him over to the back corner where she sometimes watches the cat. Josephine introduced the alligator to the chickens and then she showed him the fire pit before bringing the alligator back inside.

We've named him Alfred and the two of them have been inseparable ever since. Actually, I've never seen her take to a toy as much as she has with Alfred. It's really very sweet. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOG!

Old man Josephine

"Old man Josephine"

Josephine is officially a year old today. At least I think it's today. I looked at her paper work and I can't tell if that's a five or an eight. Since I missed the fifth, I'm going with eight. I bought her a Kong on Saturday and I think she likes it. I've seen her chewing on it even without the peanut butter smeared inside it. We determined that she was using the old logs propped next to the fence as a diving board for flying over the fence. Michael moved them and Josephine was still in the yard when I got home yesterday. So, fingers crossed. Michael wants to change her name to Henri with the French pronunciation. She is still so much puppy. She wants to obey, but it's so hard for her to sit still. Chewing and tearing up things is the most fun and Michael's room is best room for finding pens and candy wrappers and socks. I let her have run of the house last Friday as a test. She and the cat broke into Michael's room and Josephine destroyed the blinds in one window. They were crap blinds anyway. 

Josephine is my dog. Michael would probably cook her up and make puppy stew if given the chance. Or so he says. I've seen him laugh at her ridiculous puppy ways and the way he places his hand on her head when she plops down against his leg. Mostly though, she's laying in my lap or following me around the house. Josephine has been waking me up around midnight like she needs to go out. I let her out and when she comes back inside she just curls up at the foot of the bed and I let her. I've never had a dog that slept in my bed. I guess Odie did before he was banished to the outside. Hooper never had any interest in it. He always preferred the floor or his own bed. That time we had the ice storm that took out everyone's power for weeks and weeks, I spent that first night alone in our rent house in OKC. Chris was babysitting Quinn. He called me just as the power went out and said he'd come get me, but I told him to wait until morning when it was a little safer. I grabbed every blanket and hunkered down for the night. I tried to get Hooper to lay down next to me, but as soon as I stopped petting him, he was off the bed and sprawled out on the floor. 

Josephine doesn't snuggle up next to me at night, but instead has her spot at the end of the bed. She loves the wool blanket I brought back from Ireland and she snuggles down into. As much as I'd like to be all strict and say "NO DOGS IN THE BED", I find that I cannot be. She is a comfort and warms my feet. She doesn't walk all over me or hog the bed. Sometimes she snores, but she did that in her crate too. In the mornings, she'll get up when I get up and stretch into down dog, followed with up dog and I rub her belly. Then I open the door and the cat is usually sitting there and Josephine jumps down to bite his ear or neck or leg. The two of them follow me to the kitchen for food. By the time I'm done with my shower and pull back the shower curtain, Josephine will be laying on the bathmat with one of her toys and Albus will be sitting on the sink. That's where the three of us hang out in the mornings. 

Josephine is a crazy messy hilarious little dog. She's smart and loving. She reminds me of my Pepaw. I look back on when we got her and she was so dang tiny. So tiny. She's still small, but only in size. Her personality is huge and when I look at her she makes my smile huge. She'll get an extra scoop of peanut butter tonight in celebration and maybe a bath. Happy Birthday Josephine Boisdechene Clofullia!

LOVE THURSDAY

Her favorite spot

"Her favorite spot"

The other day, I was scrolling though my Instagram feed looking for a particular picture for another entry when I scrolled past some pictures of Josephine when we first got her. Holy cow, I can't believe how tiny she was! I also can't believe how little I've talked about her here. I've gushed a lot about the chickens, but poor Josephine has only been a side note. She's definitely not a side note in our daily lives. I don't know why I haven't taken time out to go on and on about her here. Maybe because she's family? I don't talk about my loved ones too much here. I tend to limit those stories out of respect for their privacy. It could be that Josephine has been subconsciously put into the same category. 

Josephine is now six months old and with the exception of a few I'm-so-happy-to-see-you-I'm-going-to-pee moments, she is completely potty trained. Last night we started being more vigilant in training her to meet house guests. I've been a little lax about the whole obedience training thing mostly because it's been too difficult to shift her focus from OH MY GOD LET'S PLAY to I AM TOTALLY PAYING ATTENTION TO YOU AND THAT TREAT. She knows sit and down really well. She comes when we call her most of the time. Sometimes barking at the neighbor dogs distracts her. She likes to get in the last word. She wants to be petted while she bites on you, but she's learned to do the whole soft bite thing and she's lost most of those needle sharp baby teeth. I've taken to giving her the cardboard toilet paper insert to chew on and I finally gave in and let her have the forest ranger doll we brought back for The Cabbage from our Dakotas trip. Of all the stuffed animal/dolls in the basket, the girl forester ranger doll was the one that Josephine kept stealing. She showed a thousand times more interest in that doll than the Cabbage ever did, so I finally said "fine. she's your's." The next week the Cabbage said "What happened to my forest ranger doll?" Any way. Josephine loves that doll and carries her every where. 

Josephine is the kind of dog that seems to always be on a mission. She runs with purpose to one room and may come trotting out with one of her toys or some bit of paper in her mouth. The other day she had a pecan, shell in all, in her mouth. I don't even know. She has a pigs ear she's been chewing on for weeks. Sometimes she thinks that I need to chew on it too because she'll place it on my lap while I'm sitting on the couch and then nudge it with her nose as if to say "go ahead...it's really good." She will be gone doing whatever outside on her own for twenty minutes or more and then come running inside like a bullet and then jump all over you like she wants to tell about this totally amazing thing that just happened outside. I'm sure whatever she has to say has something to do with the chickens. She wants so badly to get inside the coop with them and the only one that seems interested in this idea is Matilda. Matilda will walk up to the screen so that she can be beak to nose with Josephine. 

Josephine has a way of holding her mouth that reminds me of Pepaw. I know this sounds really strange, but Pepaw had a certain set of his jaw. I don't know if it was because of his dentures or what. Sometimes I see my mom holding that same jaw set. I definitely see it in my Aunt Martha. Josephine does it too. In fact, one day she was sitting there just looking at me with her mouth set like Pepaw's. I cocked my head to one side and tentatively asked "Pepaw?" She didn't respond to that name, but I do wonder sometimes if Pepaw has been reincarnated as a miniature Schnauzer named Josephine. 

The best thing about Josephine is that it appears she has grown to love us as much as we love her. I can tell by the way she wags her little nub of a tail and the way she sighs with contentment when she rests her head on my feet. 

Mess face. #365

"Mess face. #365"

Happy Love Thursday.