Truffles, Karen and Valentine


It was cool and cloudy most of the day today. Then it cleared off and got hot in the afternoon, and later a quick thunder shower wandered over and cooled everything off and then the sun came out and it got sticky and actually humid, which is out of character for dry, windy old Southern Alberta. It reminded me of summer afternoons in Cleveland, Ohio, which is where I was born. (go Indians)

Dale came home from Lethbridge with a huge yellow plastic ball, used for exercising. It's about two and a half feet high. "I got this for the girls," he said, smiling sheepishly. "I wonder what they'll do with it?" I took it out to the corral after supper tonight. Clouds of gnats everywhere, but I found a less buggy place behind the barn, where Valentine & Truffles like to stand in the hot afternoons, and roll in the smooth spot.

Valentine thought the big ball was contagious and wouldn't even come close for a sniff. She's very, very pregnant lately and is becoming most stately in her behavior, when she isn't being outright grumpy. She may have thought that that yellow thing had got itself so disgustingly pregnant that it didn't even have legs anymore, and she wasn't going to catch any of THAT, case closed. And so a gray behind with a very round tummy wandered a few steps off (in a stately fashion) to investigate the grass along the corral fence, just out of reach of big-yellow-thing pregnant germs, but close enough to keep an eye on it, in case it attacked.

Truffles was teetering on the verge of deciding to be afraid of it because the plastic makes a weird little noise when it rolls across the ground. I have never, ever, seen her ears perked so far forward, but I couldn't get her to come up to the ball. So I stood behind it and clicked when she looked at it, and gave her a peppermint. A lightbulb lit up over those dark chocolate ears. "What? Ball equals peppermint? Well, now we're talking! Let's see, I'll just keep my feet planted right here where they are - in fact, I'd better back up a little in case this ball is armed, and I'll str-r-e-e-e-e-e-t-ch my neck out really far, like this.... rats, no peppermint... ok, I'll str-r-e-e-e-e-e-t-ch my neck out and then st-r-e-e-e-t-c-h my upper lip out like a turtle here and I've...just...about... yaaagh! I touched the thing - yaaagh! Oh yick! I'm getting outa here ri- whoa! Two peppermints! Okayyy, I'll str-e-e-e-t-c-h my neck out........"

Valentine glanced over and raised an eyebrow, all without lifting her head. Stately supervision.

Truffles kept backing up but stretching forward over and over, and she really was being so very brave that I had to hug her hundreds of times and laugh and scratch her all over. But we didn't make any progress until I got the bright idea to lie across the nasty old ball to show her I could kill it if I wanted to. Ooooooo. She walked right up to me and hugged my back with her little head. I figured that was Donkey for, "And that goes double for me, buster." I told her I'd give her three peppermints at once if she could eat one right off the top of the armed and dangerous ball, and a half hour later she did. Twice. I sat on the ball and she came up and kicked it with her front foot (Take that!) and then hugged my shoulder. Peppermint. I stood up and pointed to the ball and said, "Go get it!" and she nudged it with her nose. Peppermint.

Valentine heard all the candy chewing and walked over, just close enough so the ball couldn't grab her and raised her nose and made her cross-eyed kissy face. "You may kiss me on the lips and give me one of those peppermints now, if you please, but only if you do so, I must remind you, in a stately manner, of course, in deference to my advanced and most pregnant situational situation." Which I did.

And then, since the moon was out and I was a little tired by then, I left them and came back into the house.