“Mommy, mommy, mom
I need much more attention
And I need more toys
Oh and by the way
I also need more cuddles
We need to nap more
There is nothing else
All your time should be with me
Me, mommy, me, me”
“As you can see, I do not get enough love, toys, or attention. It’s hard being me.”
“‘allo! This is Jacques. I had to commandeer my mommy’s computer because she is, in my opinion, slacking on the job. You see, she is supposed to be writing about ME. I do lots of interesting and amusing things daily like nap, bark at clouds, yodel when the UPS guy drives by, nap… oh. Yes. I already mentioned that. Well, she is not writing about me. No! Instead, I find her writing about volcanoes and plate tectonics for her class and googling torn tendons because she now has a stupid, ugly boot on her foot. (I do not understand how something on your foot can keep you from typing…) Occasionally I find her googling snorkeling spots in the Caribbean, but that I find acceptable. The rest – no! She should be writing about ME!! So, my dear blogosphere friends, I want to apologize for the lack of Jacques’ Dog Blog lately. It looks like in addition to manning, er, dogging my Instagram account, I shall have to dog my blog too! (At least until the semester is over and/or Mommy gets the stupid boot off her foot.) Ha-rumph!
And, now… on to more important and impressive things. I want to send a special THANK YOU to my friend, Noodle, who nominated me for the Blogger Recognition Award!! Noodle, you and your mom are too kind! Thank you so much! I am humbled. Wait. I do not know if I am capable of that… I am humbled to the best of my abilities. Yes.
There are, apparently, rules and so on that come along with this award. I do not do so well with rules, but I will give it a try. I am supposed to share how this blog got started… I think Mommy started this blog because she likes to laugh at me. No, no. It is okay. I know she likes to laugh at me and I, Jacques, will let her laugh. I am unconfidently confident in myself; her laughter does not bother me. In fact, I find myself trying to make her laugh because… well, it makes me happy. There. I said it. I, Jacques, love my mommy and like to make her laugh. So, I let her share it with you, my blogosphere friends.
I am supposed to list a number of blogs who have impacted me and/or this blog. There are simply too many. When Mommy misses Rocky and shares it, so many of you offer kind words and loving stories. We have friends who share adventures from all over the globe. Friends who offer historical stories about Hawaii. Friends who share crazy/strange/fascinating stories about food and travels in Italy. Friends who share their wisdom and insight on life and getting older. Friends who are cats (shocking, no?) whose lives put any telenovela to shame. We even have friends who blog in haiku. I do not know what that is, but Mommy loves it. And, of course, we have our fantastic four-legged, furry friends. All of you make Mommy smile, laugh, and pause to think. I know I speak for Mommy when I say, ‘THANK YOU!!!’ to all of you! You are wonderful! Thank you again, Noodle, for this nomination.
Now, it is nap time… being ‘humble’ is hard work. Until next time, my friends.”
I am now an instructor at our local two-year college. Jacques hates how much time I have to spend working on lesson plans and lecture notes. He doesn’t like or understand that he can’t sit in my lap while I feverishly work on my next lesson. There’s a lot of grumbling and mumbling coming from the little pork chop as he voices his displeasure. In contrast, there’s a lot of giggling and border-line hysterical laughter coming from my husband, A3. Why is that? Well, amongst my school supplies, he’s found a new toy. This “toy” has turned a grown man into a giggling little boy who just can’t help himself.
I’m not going to lie – it’s pretty hilarious. (I mean, it took my late German shepherd about 30 seconds to figure out that I was messing with him.) But I also feel a little bad for my totally neurotic, OCD Westie who will look for that light for close to an hour at a time. (I wish I was exaggerating, but I’m not.) Not even an offer of a treat or a snuggle will break his Westie focus. He. Must. Get. The. Light.
“Must. Get. Light.” (a few minutes later) “Wait! Where did it go??” (20 minutes later) “I know it is here somewhere!”
A3’s argument is that it keeps Jacques occupied and keeps him out of my lap while I work. That is a true statement. I just worry about the potential “harm” it may do to his already insane-too-tightly-wound-neurotic-OCD brain.
Things have been super crazy around here lately (much to Jacques’ dismay). So much so, that I didn’t realize it was a National Dog Day until the day was almost over. (gasp) As I hurriedly tried to get a celebratory post on Jacques’ Instagram feed, I received notification that Suzuki Cycles of North America had seen a picture of Jacques sitting on our Suzuki DR 650 and wanted to feature it (along with a couple of other photos) on Instagram in celebration of National Dog Day. Needless to say, we agreed to let them use the photo. We were thrilled! And Jacques’ ego was inflated even more – though I didn’t think that was possible. He feels that it is absolute validation of his superstar status… There has been no living with him since!
Our National Dog Day tribute to our boys… past and present.
(A number of our Instagram friends know this, but we thought we would share it with our blogosphere friends.)
A few weeks ago, I was asked to teach a science class at the local college. I didn’t have much time to prepare coursework before the semester began. Needless to say, I have been VERY busy. A certain someone has been very unhappy about that. He and I had a haikode (haiku + ode) throw down the other day… it went something like this:
Jacques:
play with me right now
you have been working so long
I am begging you
I don’t ask for much
just bones, snuggle time, and treats
play or I will pout
Me:
just minutes ago
we played until you walked off
play, stop, play, stop, aargh!
I have played with you
now I work to buy you treats
you’re not neglected
His life is not that bad – no matter how much he complains!
Jacques' Dog Blog 