Tuesday, July 6, 2010

New Nicknames


Spending eleven hours within the confines of an extended cab pickup truck results in new revelations about the personalities of both the people and the animals you thought you knew well. The behavior of the four dogs led to the assignment of new nicknames to describe their actions during the trip. MAGGIE's new nickname is "The Veteran." Being the senior member of the clan she recognized that the truck was arranged for the long haul and settled right in on the bed constructed of a laundry basket, bed pillows, and dog blankets for an 11 hour nap. RED ROCKET's new nickname is "The Strawberry Flash." Edward selected a strawberry shortcake ice cream bar from the cooler at one of the convenience stores we stopped at and managed to take about three bites before it started melting. This resulted in an autistic sensory meltdown as he hates the feeling of ice cream dripping onto his fingers. I took the stick of the ice cream bar and held it to offer Edward drip-protected bites. As I moved the bar towards Edward's mouth, Red Rocket stuck his head out like a striking cobra and grabbed the ice cream, stick and all. He had it consumed before I could even react. RACHSIE's new nickname is "Little Licker a' Leapin'." She could not decide whether she wanted to share my lap with Red Rocket during the trip or be on August's lap as he drove so she spent most of the trip leaping back and forth between August's lap in the front seat and my lap in the back seat. Each time she lept from one of us to the other she would put her little front paws on our chests and lick our faces as if to say, "Hi, I'm back!" Finally, HANK's new nickname is "The Huffer." Hank has taken many car rides to Starbucks or Petsmart but on these local jaunts he can hang his head out of the window or the sunroof to breathe the fresh air. On the interstate, however, the windows had to be closed so Hank spent many hours with his nose pressed up against the air conditioning vent making exaggerated inhaling and exhaling noises. I think in a former life Hank was the guy who overdosed at one of those oxygen bars in Las Vegas...

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