Made in Richmond

The poor baby hates the 4th of July. Dogwood Dell’s finale almost killed her.

Though it’s hard to see, this picture shows our newest bedtime ritual. The rear end closest to you belongs to Zapp. The one farther back belongs to Shooter. Zapp’s new most favorite thing is to burrow into any blanket she can find and then prance around with said blanket on her head. This prancing is usually done on the bed and in the general direction of Shooter (who is also on the bed and it has to be his “general” direction because she can’t see where she is going, what with the blanket on her head). Shooter then responds by pummeling her, typically onto my lap or onto my MacBook which is typically on my lap. Then the mystical dance starts all over again, repeating until one of us explodes into a storm of grumbling fury, sends the dogs to their crates, and swears that we will never ever get another dog ever.

We discovered Zapp curled up in a trembling ball on our bed yesterday evening.  Of course we automatically thought she was having a seizure because of Shooter’s history.  But, she was responding to her name and the trembling stopped from time to time.  We think she has just developed a really bad fear of thunderstorms.  Just to make sure nothing was really wrong, we had her stay with us in the bedroom.  It turns out that this dog dreams like crazy.  And by dreaming I mean twitching and kicking ALL NIGHT.  I got about one hour of semi-decent sleep while the rest of the night was spent in that annoying state where you’re not completely with it, but you are fully aware that you are not sleeping and guaranteed a rough day come morning.

I was just sitting here, reading some blogs and thinking about what a nice day I’ve had when I suddenly heard a sound that I haven’t heard for over two years.  That would be the sound of urine streaming onto carpet.  Specifically Zapp’s urine onto specifically our bedroom carpet.  Oh, and specifically onto some of my clothes that, yes, I like to keep on the floor.  All I could do was stare at her with my mouth hanging open.

This one is testing my patience.  Last night she jumped on the bed (apparently after a lovely time digging up our backyard), spreading mud and dirt and mulberry bits all over our yellow sheets.  I responded with “Zapp!  F***k!”  I’m not proud of my response, but it is what it is.  I am owning it and you would have said that same thing if she had done this right as you were about to climb into bed after a very exhausting week.

It was 1:00am and Zapp was very determined to see what I was doing on the Internets. I took the opportunity to capture her beauty for all of you to behold. As you can see, we have matching eyeliner and we are very much in love.

This is Sadie! No, she’s not ours (unfortunately). My mom and step-dad will be getting her in the next few weeks. I can tell by looking at her that I’m already her favorite. Her teeny tiny ears kill me with their cuteness. She will be staying with us for a week in June and I am SO EXCITED. Hopefully my two gigantic pups won’t eat her.

Setting: The Catrow house, 8:00 am on a typical Saturday

Characters:

Shooter Belle Catrow: Epileptic, OCD, and captain of the Fun Police

Zapp Along Catrow: Tall, gangly, and stupid

Z: OHMIGOSH!!!!! WE GET TO GO DOWNSTAIRS!!!! I LOVE DOWNSTAIRS!!! IT’S SO FUN!!!!! LET ME SHOW YOU HOW EXCITED I AM BY SLAMMING INTO THE WALLS AS I WIGGLE AND SHAKE!!!! SHOULD I KNOCK EVERYTHING OFF OF THIS TABLE WITH MY TAIL????? OK!!!!

S: Miss, please hurry up. It’s been quite awhile since you fed us last.

Z: ISN’T THIS GREAT?!?!?!?!?!?! OMG OMG OMG!!!!! SHE’S GETTING YOUR BOWL, SHOOTER!!!! LOOK AT HER, LOOK AT HOW SHE GETS YOUR BOWL!!!! I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!!!!! LET ME JUMP ALL OVER YOU TO SHOW YOU HOW MUCH I LOVE HER!!!!!

S: Miss, make sure you coat each of my epilepsy pills with olive oil. You know I won’t eat them, otherwise.

Z: AND WATER!??!?!?!?!?!?!?! WATER, TOO? THIS IS AMAZING!!!!!!! LOOK AT HER GO!!!! SHE’S FILLING UP YOUR WATER DISH!!!!

S: Hop to it, please. I need to get back to my OCD rituals of sniffing every doorknob in the house.

Z: OMG, YOU’RE GOING TO FEED ME, TOO????!!!!!!!?????????? LET ME THRASH ABOUT 2 FEET OFF OF THE GROUND LIKE A FISH OUT OF WATER TO SHOW MY APPRECIATION!!!! OOPS, I KNOCKED OVER THE TRASHCAN BECAUSE I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!

I came across some long forgotten pictures of Zapp from when she was a puppy. I have a hard time remembering what either one of the dogs what like before they became giants, but apparently they were insanely cute. Take a lookie:

Her first picture with us. Her head now reaches to the top of the washer and dryer and she is much more excited about things.

Their first meeting. Don’t worry, Shooter is not the devil.

About two days after we got her. Ok, not really, but it felt like she grew that fast. BTW, there’s no way she would fit under there now.

My heart skips a beat when I see this picture because she looks so cute. She’s about twice as big as that now and even stupider than ever. But I love her, our Zappy-Girl.

Friday afternoon/night: NEW HAIR!!! Nap, ate some mozzarella sticks for dinner, watched some TV, bed.

Saturday morning: Gym at 8.

Saturday afternoon: Lunch with the sister, short nap.

Saturday night: Saw Notes on a Scandal with hubs (it’s really good) and then drinks and snacks at Capital Ale House. Bed.

Sunday morning: Unexpected babysitting instead of feeding the homeless as planned.

Sunday afternoon: Finally started taking down the Christmas decorations. Church.

Sunday evening/night: Dinner with the in-laws, did some work for PharrOut, off to bed in a bit.

And here are two of my favorite things that I love so much:

On the left we have Zapp, our hound-dog-mutt. She’ll be 2 in March. She loves digging, sniffing, kisses, standing on her head, and petting people. She is not smart.

On the right we have Shooter, our German Shepherd mix. He’ll be 4 in July. He loves empty paper towel rolls, socks, and Clementine oranges. He’s an excellent prancer. You can tell he is very smart by his distinguished gray face.