Chapter One—Breakfast, No OUTSIDE

I caught a lizard!!  Yes, I did!  It was fast, fast, fast, but I was FASTER!!

Let us see, this is August.  August is usually an over-the-top hot month, but NOT! THIS! AUGUST!  I am loving it!

I go outside as soon as Mom lets me go.  Which isn’t early enough, mind you.  I would go outside the second the sky starts to turn light. Well, not really, like it just starts to get a grey sort of color.

Mom lets me go outside when SHE goes outside.
So silly, Mom.  I’m a big boy I can take care of myself.

I tell Mom that and she says: “Not right now TLC, there are still foxes, coyotes, skunks, raccoons, and stray cats moving around out there. And YES(!) they are in the farm yard and even on the lawn.  You just have to wait until I go do the chickens. By that time the sky is waking up, the birds are chirping sleepily and those nighttime creatures are heading slowly back to their bedrooms.”

Sometimes I just keep rubbing on Mom’s leg while she fixes everyone’s breakfast, but sometimes I bite Mom to get her attention.  But the best thing I do (when I remember) is I lick Mom on the leg.  That always gets me a big love on the face and a kiss on the nose.  Rubbing Mom’s legs sometimes gets me pushed away, with her saying: “TLC you are going to trip me someday, Move over.”

If I bite Mom, I bite really hard and fast then I run really fast to the back door hoping she will be mad enough that she will want to open the door and let me peel out.   It never works.  She just lets me sit there while she keeps on fixing everyone’s breakfast.

STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT BOO BERRY!!! STOP IT!

Well, if you would just come over here and sit quietly by the chair leg, I bet you would still get your food.  That’s what I do and I still get my food.

Yeah, but—-she won’t hurry!  I want her to HURRY!

I’ve been watching for a long time now and Mom doesn’t hurry.  It takes her the same amount of time every morning. EVERY morning, TLC.

But…But if I can get her to hurry, and I can get a couple or two of licks on the cat food into my tummy Mom will head out to do the hens!  AND WE CAN GO WITH HER!

Nope.  Doesn’t matter if you get a couple of licks of cat food or not, when Mom gets the chicken food ready that is the only time we go outside.

Try it sometime….just sit over here by me.  Stare at mom with a big excited smile on your face and watch.  First Mom gets your cat food and puts it in a dish, then she gets my dog food and puts it in a dish, then she gives it to us.

You take two licks of food, jump down, and rush to the back door.  Me, I just let the dog food sit, it’s not going anywhere.

Don’t do that!! TLC, just sit here and watch.

Now, while you are meowing at the back door Mom is working on the Chicken food.

See.

Ah…here we go—Mom, a big dish of chicken food, me right behind Mom, and you screaming at the back door.

If you would just sit here you can make it to the backdoor just before Mom and you can peel out the second she opens the door.

See!

Yep, just like every morning—-OUT WE GO!

Oh! Boo, Berry, this isn’t about food—it is about GOING OUTSIDE and Doing STUFF!  Who cares about food! 

Well, TLC, I do.  I really do.