Little Friends

This week we've been dog sitting our friend's miniature border collie, Nesmhe (their last name spelled backwards. Rhymes with Nestle) and she has had a wonderful time (or so I like to think). She's been exploring, she saw her first cow and met her first chicken and didn't even try to kill it! I think she drives Buddy a little crazy because he's been spending his days in the basement instead of the main level with her. Other than that, they get along just fine. Nesmhe makes Buddy look extremely mentally challenged, though. She listens to all sorts of commands like 'sit', 'stay', 'lay down' and my favorite trick, holding a treat on her nose until you say 'ok'. Buddy will sit if he has some incentive like a treat, but other than that he's pretty useless. Nesmhe is going home tomorrow and I think Buddy will be glad for the silence. I think that if we could hear her talk she would be jabbering all day long while Buddy is more the silent type.

It was a rainy day Saturday and after I cleaned my house I sat down to watch season three of True Blood. While watching hot vampires fight with hot werewolves I noticed something hopping around in the dining room. Somehow a very tiny frog or toad (I don't know which) found its way into my house. I panicked for a moment because I'm a girl and Art wasn't home. I knew he wouldn't drop whatever he was doing to come home and deal with it. Several scenarios went through my brain:

1. Leave it in the dining room until Art came home- which might not be for a couple of hours and Nesmhe might eat it before then and then she might die.

2. Pick it up with a towel- but then I was afraid that I would squish it or that it would get out and hop down my shirt.

3. Kill it- which seemed mean and unecessary.

I ended up taking a container and more or less slamming it down (from about three feet away- it was a bit of a stretch) over the frog/toad and slid a thin piece of cardboard underneath it. I then picked up the entire thing, being very careful that the cardboard stayed firmly under the container so as to prevent a variation of scenario number 2. I set him free outside where I'm sure he's much happier and there is less risk of one of the dogs eating him and then said dogs dying.

You can just barely see him on the rug- he's just down from the dark spot, in the third ring from the outside