Annabelle's off to boot camp

The colder air must be getting to the beast. This morning at the dog park she had the fire up her ass big time, would run halfway across the park yelling on orange alert at nothing in particular. Then a huge monstrous equipment-laden truck had the audacity to drive by the dog park! Annabelle led the pack of dogs in a full-fledged attack. It was then that I threatened to ship Annabelle off to military school.

Well, tonight was my birthday party/game night here at the house. Julia and I were "reminiscing" about the joy of Annabelle two months ago on Julia's birthday party night when she escaped 1/2 hour before the party was to start (Annabelle, not Julia) and rolled in shit in the neighbor dog's yard. So we wondered what she might do tonight to throw things off. Nothing, it seemed. With an hour left to go, I decided to run to the grocery store and pick up a couple last minute things. Did I mention that I ate DONUTS for breakfast this morning? Well, there was 1/2 a donut in the trash can, which is COVERED and also very full of other TRASH. I come home with 1/2 hour left until people will be showing up only to find Annabelle STILL ROOTING through the goodies she's found in the trash can. SHE DIDN'T EVEN HEAR MY CAR PULL UP. She was that intent on her treasure hunt. Coffee grounds everywhere. Whole-wheat pasta (which really tastes horrible, hence its being in the trash can) strewn about the living room and dining room.

The real beauty of all this is that my friends are so damn sweet that a couple of them brought not just gifts for me but for Belly too because they didn't want her to feel left out. She got a bag of snausages and a stuffed toy shaped like a bottle of champagne called "Dog Perignonn." The snausages and the toy will both come in mighty handy at doggie military school. Contraband.