August 29, 2010

  • Baron And The Beast's Thoughtlessness


    I say in my profile that I am a bedspread junkie and I really am.  I love to have different ones for different moods and times of the year.  However, since Baron has joined our family, I no longer have a nice bedspread left except for the one I use during the Xmas holidays.  Why?  Baron. 

    He had a lot of problems with chewing as a pup.  Not the usual stuff people expect like shoes or wood but with fabric.  He would actually suck on it and chew.  Many a pillow, pillow case and top sheet was lost to his chewing.  And, unfortunately, he chewed some holes in both bedspreads and comforters.

    Not big holes.  Some were repairable like my patchwork quilt.  It wouldn't have been repairable if it it hadn't been a patchwork quilt however.   When he was a pup, there wasn't a whole lot I could do about it except try to catch him in the act.  The Beast was always clueless.  He never paid attention to a lot of the stuff the dog did just as he hadn't paid attention to the kids at home.  In his mind, that was MY job.  Of course, with everything else I had to do on a daily basis (I always worked full-time my whole life except when pregnant), watching everything else going on was EASY........NOT!   It has always, always pissed me off about him.

    I started yelling at both of them when I discovered the destruction wrought by Baron's chewing fetish.  I told the Beast he had better start paying attention or he was going to be paying for a LOT of replacement linens, bedspreads and comforters around here.  It worked......for a while.  He made the dog keep off the bed and so did I. 

    Then, I discovered more holes and it was a real puzzle because they weren't wet, which is the way I could tell the dog had been chewing on an area.  I started watching a bit closer and one day, I discovered how it was happening.

    The Beast had been, and still does, buy the dog all kinds of rawhide chews.  Some are shaped like a pretzel; some like a bone; others are twists.  All to help with his need to chew.  I swear, the dog chews more than a damn beaver.  You would think his teeth were constantly growing and he HAD to keep chewing to keep them under control.  However, he had been chewing them ON THE BED.  All while the Beast was at his computer, of course.  He just didn't pay attention and let the dog stay there. 

    What was happening was the holes were residual damage from the dog chewing his rawhide.  The pretzels especially have some rather sharp edges on both ends that the fabric catches in.  Also, when the rawhide gets soft and the dog bears down on it, he sometimes gets part of the fabric along with the rawhide.  Mystery solved. 

    So I am back to keeping a closer eye on the dog and making him get off the bed.  I also yell at the Beast every time I go in and find the dog there.  He just looks abashed but STILL doesn't pay attention unless he gets up to use the bathroom and spots the dog there. 

    I bring this up because I finally found THE bedspread I want for our bed.  Okay, for now.  I have spent about two years looking for it.  I had an idea of the style and color(s) but couldn't find one that quite filled the bill.  However, it's not cheap and I am hesitant to buy it and take the chance on having a disastrous hole appear in the new one.  I know that I could keep it just for show but then I don't get to enjoy it every day, which is more what I had in mind.  So, there I am.  Any suggestions?  Remember, I don't have a Beast that pays attention to help out so I really could use some helpful suggestions.  It's not like the dog doesn't have his own bed.  He does and it's even one that HE picked out.  He pulled it off the shelf at Pet Depot and laid down on it, very happy with his own cleverness.

    Other than that......our mornings are getting a bit cooler, which is nice.  We haven't had much of a chance to enjoy our deck this year or have our morning coffee together out there, either.  The days are not so brutally hot, either.  At least it stays in the mid to upper 80's.  Seems almost balmy these days. 

    The Beast and I have started noticing that Chewlee is actually using very complete sentences and losing the *baby talk* thing she had.  It seems almost like it was from one day to the next that it started.  Weird!    Kids are so darn smart.

    The Beast is using the ATV to take the dog for his run now that the scooter has died on us.  The dog is not as fond of it but he still cheats to win by cutting across this one neighbor's yard.  It still cracks me up to watch the two of them going around our circle here.  Especially the spurt the dog makes at the end to get back here to the garage before the Beast does.  I told the Beast that he should take the same shortcut since the ATV can manage it and shock the hell out of Baron but so far, he hasn't done it.  I think he doesn't want to break Baron's little heart. 

    Love you all and hope you have a great Sunday. 

                                       Give me a sense of humor , Lord ,
                                       Give me the grace to see a joke ,
                        To get some humor out of life ,     and pass it on to Other folks.