Pippin, Dog

We're having some issues with Pippin. He's starting to act.....like a dog. I know, I know, he IS a dog - but we've always treated him like a person. He's our baby boy until we decided we'd like one (preferably) a little less hairy. He loves the new house, and who would blame him? He's got fenced in front and back yards to romp and play in. And so begins the problems..... I'm fine with him getting a little messy and muddy, that's to be expected. But he's got a new obsession - just call him Pippin, Bird Hunter. Or maybe Pippin, Bird Licker & Roller. This morning marks the third bird we've had to take away from him. Bird #1 happened in mid-April. Brent's dad was here helping us with the plumbing for the kitchen and asked me:

"Did you know Pippin is chewing on a bird?"

To which I said:

"Pippin?????? Are you sure????"

And yeah, one baby bird was firmly in his little jowls. We confiscated it and tossed it on the other side of the fence and called it a fluke. Until a week later....when he was caught with ANOTHER baby bird. Fresh. Like he actually CAUGHT IT AND KILLED IT. Pippin, a hunter??? He's a licker, not a killer. Then, we nearly saw it with our own eyes the next day. A little baby bird hopping around and he was about to go in for the kill if the two parents hadn't started swooping and hollering, catching mine and Brent's attention. We rescued Pippin from what would have SURELY been a nasty confrontation with the parent birds and ushered the baby safely through the fence.

And then today.....dear God.....the worst of them all. Our cabinet installer was due back at 9 am to finish up a lot of the moldings and that stuff. We had just finished up doing a couple things in there ourselves while Pippin was playing in the back yard. Brent went out to start working on the base molding we've gotten for in there and just as I was opening the door for the prompt installer Pippin comes bolting back in the door, obviously trying to get away from Brent. I grab him so he doesn't jump all over the installer and instantly he smells like trash. Nasty, rotting trash. His whole head, neck and collar covered in something black and smelly. Oh, the SMELL. Just gross. And he had JUST had a bath on Wednesday and still had that fresh, clean dog smell. Right on his heels was Brent with the wonderful news that he had caught Pippin ROLLING AROUND IN A DEAD BIRD. A bird that from the looks, smells, and flies had been dead a couple of days. And now DEAD BIRD was all over me, too. So Pippin had a Saturday morning bath and got a few treats to boot since his breath smelled like DEAD BIRD. And I had a wardrobe change a little earlier than planned.

Why can't he have an obsession with something....not so alive?? And not so gross when it's dead???

So, hopefully the cabinet installer will be done in the next couple of hours. The countertop measurer came Thursday, so hopefully in THREE weeks it will ALL be done!!! We've got loads to do today. There's a festival we'd like to check out, and there's also a running festival tonight with loads of famously fast people I'd like to watch. And, Brent's very first GALLERY art show starts next weekend, and we sort of need to get together what's he's going to show. We've picked out the prints but we need some frames and to decide on prices, etc. (On a side note, click on the show poster!! It's very exciting to see his name listed with the artists!!) The gallery show lasts for a month, and Plowhaus is open on the weekends so if you're in Nashvegas stop in!! His next show will be the following weekend with the same group he showed with the first time. AND, hopefully he'll get selected to show at the Tomato Festival, which would be HUGE!! So, busy times, busy times. The more he shows, the more experience we get with what works and what doesn't, so it's all awesome.

Well, I'm outta here. Brent should be home soon with lunch. Even though it's about 500 degrees outside I was dying for Wendy's chili. Go figure. He was making a side trip to HOPEFULLY score some really, really cool sounding free stuff! I love our local google group!!