Happy Halloween from Mojo

Mojo may have been a little devil this year, but he wasn't happy about owning up to it. Or maybe it's just the hat?

Kisses

The hubby and I always give the kids kisses before we leave: goodbye kisses before we head off to work, etc. We usually kiss Mojo and Katie on the forehead and then leave.

Katie is sometimes sly and tries not to get her kiss.

But today Mojo had a surprise for us.

This morning I went to take Mojo downstairs while Matt slept in. Instead of bounding down the stairs like he usually does, he jumped on the bed and gave Matt a big fat kiss on the forehead before he went downstairs. A kiss goodbye kiss—how sweet!

Cat fight

Our kids like to fight. Guess who usually wins.

Salad Thief

Last night I made pasta for dinner. I decided to make some salad while the noodles were boiling. When the salads were done I went ahead and put them at the table. When I brought a bottle of salad dressing to the table a few minutes later, I found the cat pulling a leaf out of one of the salads, gnawing on it.

Apparently, she wanted salad too.

Lunch Break Mud Puddle

Usually my lunch breaks are spent at my desk eating leftover, half-surfing facebook and half working and answering phone calls.

Last Tuesday, however, I had to go home for Mojo. Matt usually takes care of the dog but couldn't that day, so I actually left the office.

I went to take Mojo on his normal lunch time walk. We passed his girlfriend's house and he drug me straight to her door. (He tries to get her to notice him so her person will let her out). He made such a fuss that she started barking and her owner came to the door (lunch in hand) and decided to let them play.

We went to his backyard and since it had recently monsooned I tried to steer the dogs away from the muddy parts of the yard. I yelled at them every time they ran through the mud because I didn't want Mojo tracking mud in the house. It was going well and it was about time to head home when Mojo headed to his favorite spot behind some flower bushes and plopped down on some pine straw and started chewing on some leaves. I went over to get the leaves/sticks/whatever he was eating out of his mouth, when I realized the pine straw he had flopped on was very thinly covering some very slimy red mud.

He had in essence plopped down stomach-first in a mud puddle to happily chew on sticks and leaves.

It was definitely time to leave so I clipped his leash (which was covered in mud) on and practically dragged him home. Only when we got to the house I didn't know what to do.

His paws were fairly muddy but when I reached down to his belly, I got a handful mud so I couldn't really let him inside. I sprinted inside long enough to grab some paper towels and then went back outside.

I considered hosing him off outside, but thought that would likely make a bigger mess. So instead I wiped his paws as clean as possible with the paper towels and led him upstairs to the bathroom.

He made a break for it when I went to close the bathroom door. I still had his leash on it, but he went running around the bedroom. When I caught him, he firmly planted his haunches on the ground and did not want to be led to the bathroom. He gave me a stubborn look and wouldn't budge.

I managed to pull his leash so hard his collar came off, so he made another break for it. I yelled at him and maybe he got the idea that we really weren't playing. He was trying to hide in his bed and he really had nowhere to go, so I reached down and picked him up. That totally surprised him.

I lugged him to the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind us.

He just stared at the door willing it to open.

I ran some warm bath water. When it was the perfect temperature, I picked him up and after a struggle got him in the tub.

Once he was in, he just stood in the bath and smiled. He didn't fight at all. He just let me wash him. And since it was my lunch break, I didn't give him the full bath with his puppy shampoo, I just used water, a wash cloth and only cleaned his legs and belly—just where it was dirty.

When he was done I got out of the tub. I wanted to see what he would do and he just stayed standing the tub. I called him to come and he got out. He shook off and then got towel dried. (He really likes being towel dried).

After he got in the tub it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Maybe those two trips to the groomer helped, or maybe the water was fun?

We went downstairs and he got lots of treats and just smile, smiled until I left to go back to work.