If my home life was a sit com, and we had a theme song, it would be the Pointer Sisters singing “I’m So Excited”.

I’m so excited, I just can’t hide it

I’m about to lose control and I think I like it

I’m so excited, I just can’t hide it

I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I want it.

We run for the pure joy of running

If you have dogs, you know what I mean.  Every little thing is a huge, exciting, adventure for a dog.  Meal times always begin with dancing and singing.  MacDuff, the little sheltie twirls and woo, woo, woos.  Foxfire the German shepherd has been told to sit/stay but she moos like a steer and bounces on her butt.  Tempest the soprano is singing in a range that will one day shatter all my windows. 

Come

 To a dog, car rides are pure science fiction, something akin to the transporter on the old Star Trek series.  We all climb into a box, the world rushes past the windows with a woosh.  Then the box opens and we all jump out into another time and place.  Magic stuff.

A car sitting in the drive is an invitation to ride.  I came home with groceries Tuesday and the dogs ran and barked while I unloaded.  It must have been frustrating that the car doors were all closed and the dogs couldn’t enter the transporter.  Tempest decided to hop in the trunk for his ride.  I laughed, just couldn’t help it.  Mistake.  My ‘out’ command didn’t sound convincing when it was said through laughter.  We had a tug of war before he finally jumped down.

Fox with her jug, an old Arizona ice tea container she carries everywhere.

 And then there are the treats.  We all give our dogs treats they don’t need because it makes them so darn happy.  They will do anything--anything for a treat.  A treat can be the size of a pea, doesn’t matter.  Dogs don’t taste treats, they just inhale them.  The German shepherds are very delicate when they take their treats but I have to remember to be careful of the sheltie.  He will remove fingers along with the treat.   For the sheltie, I have to show him the fist and then slowly reveal the tiny treat so those sharp little teeth don’t snap down on flesh. 

A few days ago, I told the dogs we were going for a walk.  That word triggers the twirling and wooing, singing and mooing.  Then the phone rang.  It was my health insurance provider with questions.  Three dogs sat down in front of me while I talked.  Then the soprano started warbling.  The low mooing joined in, and sharp barks made up the beat.  The woman on the other end of the line started giggling.  “What is that”, she asked.  I had to stop twice to shush the dogs while the insurance lady giggled. Finally she said, “Good news, tell the dogs they can go for their walk now”. 

 We are going outside for a walk now.  Shh, don’t say it out loud.  It’s a secrete until I put on my coat.  I have a new camera and we’re going to take some photos.  The shepherds will run around and play-fight but the sheltie will get upset when I point the camera at him.  He thinks the camera is another Star Trek gadget—the death ray.  He’s pretty sure cameras vaporize dogs.  Good thing I have a zoom lens.  He won’t notice it so much from a telephoto distance. 

Tempest waits for me to catch up.

By the way, I really like my new Panasonic DMC-FX40 24X zoom lens camera.  These photos were taken with the camera just out of the box, no time to study the manual.   The above pix are long zooms on a gloomy day shot at ia mode.  I'm going to enjoy working with it.