the
song is "What's New"
Sun. Feb 28 Again, a long-overdue installment. Penny's settling down a bit, so I should have time to update more frequently.
Let's see...... I'll start with Penny (who else?!) since she's taken up the majority of my free time this last month. She's becoming quite obedient, when she's not being a headstrong little s**t! She's really good most of the time, but she can be a real stubborn adolescent sometimes. Mostly when I ask her to do something and she can't see anything in it for her. She's incredibly smart - I'm pretty sure she's watching the Walk/Don't Walk signs when we wait on the curb for the light to change. When she's paying attention instead of looking down the cross street (to see if she can see any dogs or kids), she tenses up and gets ready to go when the "Walk" sign flashes on.
She's becoming a familiar sight on our walking routes. There are a number of people who know her name and always stop to say hello. Penny's a very social girl, and she loves attention. She behaves like a perfect lady when people she knows approach her to say hello. There are a lot of kids who consider Penny their friend, too - if a child evidences interest in her I ask the parent if it's OK that they meet. You should see the grins on their faces when Penny sniffs their ears and licks their cheek.
She also knows the neighborhood dogs, including the chow at the laundrymat. And yesterday was an absolutely glorious early spring day here, so I packed up the new, 26-foot retractable leash I just got, a couple of bottles of water, and some "bikkies", and we went to the park. It's an 18-block walk from here. It's a very large urban park, and we walked around it twice, meeting people and other dogs, and lots and lots of kids. We sat on a bench along the East River (actually, maybe it's the Harlem River up there) and watched some big barges coming and going, we went into a clear area and ran until we were out of breath, sat and relaxed in the sunshine (I even got a little sunburn), and just enjoyed the fresh air for about 3 hours. Then we walked back and, about 6 blocks from home we came across the Mr. Softy truck parked at the corner. I thought "what the heck - she's been a really good girl!" so I stopped for a vanilla ice cream cone. My intent was to eat half the ice cream from the top of the cone and give Penny the rest, but the kid who was serving asked "Can your dog have ice cream?" and made Penny a little cone all her own. We walked over to a bench and sat down, I had Penny sit facing me, and I licked at my cone while she licked at hers (very delicately and lady-like, I might add). She got ice cream on her nose but didn't want to stop to lick it off, and I started laughing out loud. Suddenly, I realized mine wasn't the only voice laughing and, when I looked up, we had an audience! I'm glad that other people get as big a kick out of her as I do - she's really quite adorable. One of the onlookers was a very handsome fellow, too, and a block away a cop stopped us to pet Penny. She's serious date-bait, friends!
Mesh-Mesh has finally forgiven me for spaying her and has started sleeping with me again. In fact, the last 3 days she's been unusually affectionate, and I think I got a couple great pics of her this afternoon. She has such a winsome little face with the biggest round eyes - they take up what seems like half her face. She's a petite little pixie.
Loverboy is still being affectionate, and Mr. French comes and demands an extended cuddle each time I spend time in the front of the house without Penny. Calliope, French and Twinkletoes are the only cats that do their best to avoid Penny - the rest will come and go unconcernedly as long as Penny's crated, sleeping, or lying quietly. Lambchop gives her headbutts, and allows Penny to sniff her briefly. Fritz plays with her, sort of - he squeals and strikes out at her but doesn't seem to want to get away from her, which he could easily do. Tika just wants cuddles from me, and simply ignores Penny sticking her nose under Tika's tail. I think this is really going to work out well - as Penny grows up and gains still more self-control, I think everybody will coexist in harmony.
I've lost a few more pounds, and I've been working on the house a little at a time. Both maintenance cleaning and "spring" cleaning. There's a lot more to be done, but at least I've gotten started.
Mon. Feb 15 Well, it's been a long time since I've had time to update my diary and I'm long overdue, so this is likely to go on for a while!
Since Penny came to live at the Zoo on January 22, I haven't had a spare moment for anything except the animals. Penny's a darling, but she's worse than triplet 2-year olds for needing constant supervision. She was not housebroken and she had absolutely no manners when she arrived, but in just 3 short weeks she's really beginning to have some self-control. I've learned not to ask too much of her first thing in the morning when she's full of p*ss and vinegar or after she's been crated during the day when I'm at work unless I take her for a nice long walk first. She approaches her world with a joyous enthusiasm that's contagious - while she waits patiently at the curb at corners and waits for me to signal before she steps off into the street, she usually springs off the curb enthusiastically as soon as I give the sign. We're the morning show for everyone walking down the street - everybody giggles at Penny as we pass.
We have a routine we follow in the mornings: we walk a fair distance then we stop either at Dunkin Donuts or the Bagel House so I can get breakfast. Penny has learned how to sit patiently in line, moving forward and sitting again when the line moves. Her reward for this good behavior is either a glazed donut or a mini-bagel when we get home. (OK, don't chastise me for feeding her junk food - she loves it and it works great as a training aid!) In the evening when I arrive home from work, Penny goes to the curb to tinkle, then we go back inside and have a little nosh. After a half-hour or so, we go for a nice walk, again. Sometimes we stop at the pet store and pick up a little treat for later, and sometimes we stop at the bar and I have a couple of beers and Penny has a few ice cubes (her favorite treat). We also usually take an abbreviated walk just before bedtime. Penny is the best thing that's ever happened to my hips - I've lost 8 pounds in 3 weeks!
The rest of the time we just play it by ear. If Penny naps in the evening I get a chance to catch up on my e-mail or cuddle other kitties. If Penny's not in the mood to nap, I leash her to the leg of the piano in the living room with a pig ear to chew on while I clean litterboxes, feed everybody, cuddle the Mushroom, take the trash out, etc. Penny's fascinated by the broom, and she tries to "catch" it as I'm sweeping the hardwood floors. She's also fascinated by the vacuumn cleaner; she can't hear the noise it makes, and so is not frightened by it. She watches the lint disappear and I can tell from the look on her face that she's trying to figure out where it went.
Bubba and Penny are bosom buddies - I actually caught them snuggled up asleep together yesterday afternoon. Bubba had placed his head across Penny's hind legs down by her feet, Penny had lifted one leg and replaced it over Bubba's neck, and Bubba had then wrapped one paw around the foot over his neck. Very sweet. Bubba will lie under Penny when she's standing and entice her into chewing on his head, his ears, and the back of his neck while he "bites" at the emerging feathers on her front legs. They're really cute and funny together! I make a "husky guy" posture when I refer to Bubba, and Penny has learned that that's the sign for her buddy. Saturday night Penny was chewing on a pig ear when she decided she needed a drink. While she was at the water dish, Bubba stole the pig ear. Penny went back to where she left it and, when she didn't find it there, came to me with an accusatory look on her face. I made the Bubba sign and said "I didn't take it! Bubba did!" and Penny wheeled on her heel and went over to Bubba and gently reclaimed her chewie. They're really a hoot to watch.
Peek-a-Boo taught Penny a little lesson on Saturday morning about leaping at cats with enthusiasm - Boo-Boo really swatted Penny and drew blood (just a little) on her snout. (I'd just trimmed her claws 5 minutes earlier!) Since then, Penny approaches all the cats (except her buddy Bubba) with great respect. She's been so respectful of Peek-a-Boo that Boo-Boo actually deigned to give Penny a kiss yesterday afternoon. Fritz, Lambchop, Tika, Lucy Maud, and Tootsieroll will all lie within several feet of Penny when she's being calm. Twinkletoes, Mesh-Mesh, Tinkerbelle, and Loverboy are all adjusting fairly well - they'll come in and sniff Penny when she's asleep. Calliope and Mr. French want absolutely nothing to do with this bombastic big kitty who's come to live with them, but are willing to let sleeping dogs lie, so to speak. I think that, as Penny matures and gains more self-control, everything's going to be just fine at the Zoo.
I have some sleeping-accomodation rearranging to do tonight - Penny's getting too big for the crate I have her in so I need to move some stuff around so I can set up the bigger crate in my bedroom. I want to place it where she can see down the hallway so she doesn't panic when I leave the room. As it is now, my bed blocks her view of the hallway when she's lying down. If I can get my room straightened and rearranged, finish up in the kitchen, and put a hook and eye on the bathroom door (Penny seems to enjoy the taste of soap), I should have a fairly puppy-proof area so Penny will have a little more room to roam.
I've had to move the cats' dishes and litterboxes into the front of the house so they don't have to come to the back of the house to attend to any necessities, and so Penny won't eat their food or dig for tootsierolls in their boxes. (Eeeeuuuuwwwww! How can they eat that stuff?????) And I've figured out a way to block open the door between the kitchen and the dining room so the cats can get through but Penny can't.
So, everyone's making adjustments, but everyone seems to be adapting well. Now, if I could just get more than 5 hours of sleep a night, I'd be a really happy Zookeeper!
