Something's Missing

I ran off for a long weekend with the Boyfriend this past weekend, which means Caleb spent a few days with his FAVORITE. PEOPLE. EVER. More commonly known as my Mom, Brother and Sister in Law.

It's so funny to call to check on him and hear how he is a completely different dog when he's at their house. Everyone that walks in the front door gets greeted with a happy dance and barking. The happy dance is normal, the barking - not so much. Remember, Caleb never read The Official Corgi Handbook and doesn't know he's supposed to bark like a fool at everything. He has also taken it upon himself to appoint himself to the position of Official Guardian of the Backyard while at my Mom's house. He lays in living room with his front paws hanging just outside the sliding glass door (We've had dogs for so long we gave up on the idea of a screen door years ago, and just leave the sliding glass door open most of the time) and WATCHES. When he locates an intruder: ZOOOOOOM. He shoots out of the door at mach 1o to chase away the cats and squirrels. This makes my Mom particularly happy, as the cats tend to leave 'surprises' in the pumpkin patch.

We got back to our house Saturday night, but because I actually had to be in Mom's city on Monday for other reasons, and because I am fairly certain she would dognap Caleb and keep him forever if she could figure out how, Mom suggested I just leave him with her until Monday when I would be down there anyway. So I was sans Corgi for a whole extra day.

Well, now. It turns out that I am a much less productive member of society when I am sans Corgi. First of all, I woke up on Sunday morning at ten. I do not even remember the last time I slept in until nine, let alone ten in the morning! Shocking! Disturbing! Completely unnecessary! Then I did not even bother to get dressed until about half an hour before I was supposed to be someplace! Horrors!

Once I got home, I decided to get caught up on my TV shows. Which was an experience, let me tell you. I plopped down on the couch, hit the play button...and watched TV. I guess I forgot how people without dogs watch television, because with Caleb, watching TV goes something like this:

1: Realize I want to watch TV. Begin contemplating the most effective ways to tire Caleb out.

2: Proceed to tire Caleb out through fetch, nose work, and a long walk. Yes. All three.

3: Pay that I still have one bully stick left for Caleb.

4: Rejoice when I find the last bully stick; present it to Caleb.

5: Sit down to watch TV.

6: Find my lap immediately occupied by Caleb AND nasty bully stick.

7: Try to convince said Caleb to lay down quietly in my lap. Get danced on instead.

8: Shoo Caleb off my lap, insist he take nasty bully stick with him.

9: Realize I've missed the first 10 minutes of my program. Rewind.

10: Notice my foot is now strangely slobbery. Look down to find a half dead, slobbery stuffy on my foot.

11: Wonder when Caleb had time to slobber on the stuffy in between dancing in my lap and gnawing on a bully stick.

12. Throw the stuffy. Fifteen times.

13: Realize I missed the first 1o minutes of the show again. Give up and let the show continue.

14. Watch 5 minutes of TV.

15. Notice that I have not been pestered for 5 minutes. Look for Caleb.

16. See that he has finally curled up and gone to sleep. Right up until I looked directly at him. He can hear me looking at him. No joke.

17. Repeat the dancing, gnawing, stuffy throwing and random bouts of sleep routine until my program ends.

So you can imagine how odd I found it when I got all caught up on my shows without so much as a phone ringing to interrupt me. I found it more unnerving than anything.

Dinner was another fun adventure. And by fun adventure, I mean it was completely mundane and routine and not at all as exciting as it is when you have a Corgi in your kitchen during dinner time. I made tacos and accidentally dropped some shredded cheese on the floor. Now, cheese does not normally hit the floor in my house, it is instead snatched out of the air with glee. So it never occurred to me that I would have to clean it up until I came back in the kitchen after dinner and found it right where I had dropped it. Before it dawned on me that Caleb was still at my Mom's, I thought I had entered a parallel universe.

I am definitely not one of those people who cannot go on vacation without worrying about their pets the whole time. I know that Caleb is with my Mom and he will be just fine. I do call everyday, but other than that I can let go and enjoy the vacation. But I was completely out of sorts all day yesterday! I think it had something to do with the fact that when I am on vacation nothing is routine, but when I am at home I expect things to go the way they always do and apparently a vast majority of my routine revolves around Caleb.

I have never been so happy to have Monday get here. I have my dog back, and all is right in the world.