Thunder and Lightning

We had another California first for Caleb this morning: Thunder and lightning!

Thunder and lightning are rare where I live, so I have an odd fascination with it whenever it does make an appearance. It woke me up at 4:45 this morning, and after peeking out on the patio to see what I could see (Admittedly it was hard to enjoy...what with my mother's voice in my head screaming at me to get back in the house and behave myself, and all...), I started to worry that Caleb may get upset by the commotion, so I hurried back in to scoop him and put him on the bed with me. After he got situated, he was asleep 20 seconds later. So much for thunder and lightning related hysterics!

After a few more hours of sleep we both grudgingly got up early to make it to Caleb's grooming appointment. No, Caleb does not need to go to the groomer, all they do is wash him, brush out enough fur for two or three more corgis then trim his nails, all of which I could technically do, but there is an unfortunate lack of windows in the bathroom at my apartment...I have a hard enough time keeping the humidity from the shower out of my bedroom (even with the bathroom fan going full blast)...and the prospect of eau de soggy dog permeating my apartment for a month afterward is less than ideal. Plus, I love these little old ladies who groom and love on him, and he smells WONDERFUL afterward, and always sports a snazzy new bandanna when I come to pick him up. So off to the groomer we go!

I picked him up a few hours later, all clean, smelling wonderful, and sporting a new blue bandanna, and off we went to meet up with my friend Kazzie and her dog, an Aussie Shepherd / Lab mix named Lexi. Poor Lexi has had a couple of crappy dog related incidents (pit bull gnawings, to be exact), and this was the first time she'd spent any time with any other dogs since that incident. I am happy to report that Lexi and Caleb got along swimmingly! There was only one growly moment when Lexi tried to stick her nose in Caleb's ear when he wasn't looking; I think he was more startled than anything else, but we handled it, moved on, and everyone had a great time. There were plenty of people outside of the coffee shop that stopped to admire our friendly puppies, and another person brought his newly rescued terrier mix over to say hello to us as well. Gooooo Team Rescues! While Kazzie and I got to catch up, Caleb helped himself to Lexi's cup of water. When I offered to share some of the treats we brought, Lexi took it from my hand, dropped it on the ground and kicked it out of her way. Kazzie and I sat there for a second, mouths agape, then collapsed into hysterics. What can I say, you cannot argue with a girl who knows what she wants, and what she does not want. I wish we'd caught video of that! After coffee we went to the Los Gatos Creek Trail. After getting hopelessly lost and querying both the iPhone AND Kazzie's brother, we finally made it and had a nice walk around the lake. I think we are going to try to do things like this more often, Lexi needs more good doggie interactions, and Caleb can always use more socialization.

Of course, in typical corgi fashion, Caleb just had to pull something. I made it all the way to the end of our walk with a nice clean (but really pooped out) puppy, until I turned my back for one second to say my goodbyes and Caleb decided he was going to rest in the shade UNDER the front of my truck, IN a mud puddle. *EPIC SIGH*

Side note: Bark in the Park 2009. Be there or be square. If you happen to be in my vicinity, that is.