I'm not Wearing THAT!

"Charlotte left it for Ray," I said to Rachel. Charlotte is my neighbor down the street. "It" was a halloween hat, in the form of an aviator's cap, for a dog. It looked like a pumpkin with googley eyes on the front. I was actually embarrassed for Ray but I couldn't help myself. I put it on him when no one was around to see. Laughed myself silly then took it off and gave it to him to tear into. He tried to pick the eyes off with his teeth but lost interest when they didn't come off easily (short attention span dog) and left it on the floor in the front hall where it sat for a week (or more. I'm not into cleaning so much when the house is being swiss-cheesed). It didn't really fit him well. His ears were too big to fit though the ear holes, so I thought of Murphy's perky little flappy ears

Rachel and Murphy were in the backyard. They had been walking by when I yelled out the door, "Bring Murphy over to play with Ray! He's driving me crazy!" I'd been thinking all day of the lyrics to the Elvis song, Hound Dog. "You ain't nothin but a hound dog. Cryin all the time. You ain't nothin but a hound dog. Cryin all the time. Well you ain't never caught a rabbit and you ain't no friend of mine." I know I've mentioned before that Ray is a whiny-baby and now I know that Elvis (or his songwriters) had had, at some point, first hand experience with hound dogs and their whiny-baby trait. Ray had been following me around all day, whining. There is NOTHING more annoying than a whiny-baby dog. Even if he is blind.

We'd gone for a walk around the lake and Gregg had taken him for a walk around the block. We had played keepaway. I'd pulled him up on my lap for some quality time, and except for the moment when he tried to kill himself by stepping on the power window control in the backseat of the car and practically choking himself to death (note to self - remember to engage the window lock before letting the dog in the car again), Ray had had a pretty good day. But still he was whining.

So Rachel and Murphy were in the backyard, Ray and Murphy were tearing around having a marvelous time, and I was handing the silly, pumpkin, aviator's cap to Rachel. "You gotta put it on her and take a picture," I said, "but don't leave it on her. It's too embarrassing." Rachel was laughing but I could see the wheels spinning in her head. She was going to do it.

Just as we finished our conversation, Murphy came running up and made a flying grab at the hat in Rachel's hands. Murphy snatched it and took off like a shot with Ray in hot pursuit. She flashed the hat under Ray's nose as she went by. Ray managed to snag a bit of the orange fabric and an intense game of tug-of-war ensued. Rachel and I watched as the hat was destroyed. We were both disappointed that we'd never get to see the hat on Murphy, but dang, that game looked like fun. Still, the googley eyes remained well attached. The dogs were obviously happy that such an atrocity would never be visited on any dog ever again.