September 2, 2012

White Dog should have warned me that the White Dog Army was practicing their act for Cirque de Soleil. First, it was Nuka jumping over the napping Quinn. Then Oso came zooming into the house, turned a full somersault  landed on his feet, and jumped up to nab the piece of toast I was gesturing with. White Dog herself, tired of the lineup of those asking for bites of Steve's breakfast, jumped off the arm of my chair over the head of the politely sitting YoYoMa gracefully twisted midair to land next to Puff who was first in line. She then claimed her rights of being Serene Highness in the Pack.

It was the same acrobatic mad dash for the van after breakfast when we all loaded up to run errands (TOWD stayed to mind White Dog Ranch). Then it was like a high school Chinese fire drill" at each stop as the WDA switched seats and jumped up onto a seat or down to the dog pads on the floor. Even WD decided to try sitting on the back seat (of course, after making Nuka and Oso get down...and NO one got to ride in her commander perch even though it was vacant).

By the time we returned home I was numb from gasping and and tired of saying, "be careful...you are going to get hurt!" Steve exited and White Dog flew out of the driver's door onto the neighbor's gravel bed. She squealed and pulled up short. At the soun,d my heart leaped. She limped a bit so Steve picked her up and carried her inside.

Then he came back and opened the side slider to bring in the rest of the WDA. usually everyone waits their turn. Today my Flying White Ones bounded out like trapeze artists. First YoYoMa who successfully navigated the down then immediate up of the house stairs. While Steve was opening the door for him, Puff nimbly jumped out and ran to join the boys.

Oso, not wanting to be left behind threw himself into the air (looking as precious as Baby Dumbo in the Disney movie). He, however, is our clumsiest member and landed so that he crashed into the bottom step and whacked his head. Steve rushed out and carried him for examination after White Dog.

That left Nuka and I. "Please wait," I begged her as she leaned forward on the back seat. "Don't..." She had jumped not quite far enough to exit and was laying in a belly flop on the dog cushion on the floor of Pumpkin. Steve ran to grab her before a new attempt.

Once inside, we looked over the injured. Quinn eyed us suspiciously as if to ask just WHAT we had done to his siblings. White Dog has, it seems, pulled a muscle. She walks without a limp but is not jumping up on the bed and is asking for a hand up onto the chairs. A Composure and a massage left her napping without pain. Oso seemed none the worse worse for his tumble but we watched him to make sure his coordination and balance were ok and that he seemed to be seeing clearly...all good.

Their athleticism finally caught up with the seniors that make up our Army and they settled down for a sedate evening of movie watching (Atlas Shrugged Part 1) and snoozing. At one point Steve noticed I had a nice streak of grey at my temple that he had not seen before. "Wasn't there," I explained, "until today's Eskie version of Monty Python's Flying Circus!" Have a great...but safe...weekend.