MY MORNING

I woke this morning, wishing that I could have just stayed in bed.
Eva Gonzalès Morning Awakening -"Le reveil" Paris 1876

But unfortunately I had to get up and get ready for work.

I was hoping that Ralphie had learned his lesson....  

 I went upstairs to brush my teeth.  I'm standing at the sink and Ralphie is in the doorway facing out towards the hall and Rosie is sitting on the heat vent being Marilyn Monroe -

(she's waiting for the heat to come on again)

(it's kicking on, starting to blow...)

(she's starting to feel the warmth...)

(ahhh, there it is! Notice her hair swirled up and blowing...she loves this. Look at her little tongue sticking out...shameless.)

Blue is laying in the hallway looking into the bathroom.

He's got his face flat on the floor, watching. Then Ralphie starts barking and bouncing in place at him. I look over, mouth full of toothpaste and Blue raises an eyebrow and looks at me.

It's like..."See what I have to put up with!" I continue brushing and watch Blue lower his brow and then raise the other one and also open the side of his mouth just enough to show his teeth as he looks at Ralph. Then he looks at me. I am shaking my head at him and he stops. I rinse and spit and yell "Knock it off! RALPHIE!!!!" Then I walk out of the bathroom and Ralphie runs down a few steps ahead of Blue and then stops and barks at him. I push ahead of Blue and yell "go" and swing my foot in Ralph's direction. I'm not trying to kick him, just give him the idea of get going. Behind me Rosie is still "twirling" circles in the bathroom, this is a ritual she has to do before leaving a room. Three twirls, then a scurry to the door threshold, then a "leap" over the 1/4 of an inch thick piece of wood and then throws herself down the steps and does three more twirls.

Now that we are in the living room, Blue walks over to one of the loveseats and little dogs jump off, except for Twinkle.

Blue loves Twinkle and she just scoots further into the corner to make room for him. Jimmy is laying on the other loveseat and looks up at me. "I had nothin' to do with it! I wasn't even up there!' his expression seems to say. Rosie is running across the room like a teeny tiny horse, lifting her legs high and runs behind the loveseat where the BIG dog bed is and joins Ruby and Claude, both of who are too small to get up on furniture by themselves. Or maybe they are smart and prefer the comfort and room on the dog bed. Ralphie is running around barking again so I tell him "outside!" He turns and runs for the backdoor which I open and he's already on top of the picnic table bouncy and barking as he looks up the tree for that squirrel.

I set up the laundry room area with the daily ritual of new towels on the floor and potty pads. 

I let Ralphie back in and he runs through the house to the living room window. He plasters himself against it like those stuffed suction-cup feeted toys that you see in car windows. Is that a rabbit tiptoeing across the yard?
Ralphie's in a panic! He must have that rabbit!

I corral the little ones in the laundry room and leash up the terriers and Blue and out the door we go.

Going down the steps, Ralph is straining as far as the leash will allow. Luckily the one and only command that he obeys is "kennel" which when he hears that, he will jump into the van and sit inside his kennel cage. Jimmy heads in that direction but always needs assistance going in. Blue sits down on his comforter in the back. I slid and slam the door shut and go around to my side and get in. Blue has already gotten into the passenger seat.  He gives me the look -"Hi!", I don't feel like getting out again so I let him win this one. Usually if he's up front I will belt him in. It's already snapped closed from yesterday and I let it go but worry about it the whole way to work.

We arrive.

I'm kinda worn out with all this dog stuff and my day hasn't begun.

Is this how kindergarten teachers who are mothers feel?

But the up side of my job is that I run a boarding kennel. And I plan on leaving Ralphie overnight. Poor Jimmy, guilt by association, but he's staying tonight too.

I need a break.