Whew!

Boy, what a day. If our year really is seven years of a dog's life, I think Milo and I are entering the Terrible Twos.

When I came home for lunch, we immediately went outside, of course, and did our usual 100 laps around the house, all across the gravel lot beside my house, then what seems to be Milo's favorite activity, sitting on the walkway watching cars go by. I told the girls at work I think he's actually an old man in a dog suit. All he wants to do is amble around the yard and then watch cars go by.

Then this evening was to be a big event, because Milo was going to meet Uncle Taylor. Uncle Taylor was coming to mow. But first, right after work I had to run a few car errands, so I picked Milo up and took him with me. He was quite good, but when he got a Milk Bone at the drive-thru at the bank, he took that as a sign he was to say "thank you" by climbing through the little slide-out window and personally licking the teller in the face. Boy, is he strong.

Then we got home and I sat at the computer a while waiting for Uncle Taylor. I'd forgotten, however, that my car keys were in my pocket, and I must have shifted wrong, and my security alarm constant horn-blowing thing went off. Milo went ballistic, barked and barked and lunged at the door. I got it turned off and we had to go outside so he could look at the car 72 or so times and pick up rocks in the driveway.

We went back inside, and we heard a car pull up. Milo started getting antsy, so we went to the door to find not Uncle Taylor, but Uncle Brother-in-Law. You'd have thought Milo had never seen a man in his life, for he got all excited and did a nervous pee, slightly missing Uncle Brother-in-Law's foot. They communed while B-in-L told me he'd come over to do some yard work too, cutting some tree limbs in the back yard and such, for which I was very grateful. Milo proceeded to pull me everywhere Uncle B-in-L went, but when the first shovel strike went into the yard, again, ballistic. Barking, lunging - it was a sight. I finally had to pick him up and walk to the stoop, where we sat and had a long talk about the rudeness of barking at family, especially family who was doing us a favor, and a calmer Milo kept an eye on his new acquaintance the whole time. One more lap around the house and a bit of car-watching and we went back inside, where for the first time Milo chewed on something he wasn't supposed to, one of my emergency slip-on shoes I keep by the door. I extracted it, moved it to higher ground, and substituted a toy.

Finally, Uncle Taylor showed up. Milo was a completely different doggie. He loped up to Taylor, greeted him, wanted to be petted, and seemed to be just fine. So I don't know, maybe he wasn't so much averse to Uncle Brother-in-Law as he was to watching someone do some hard work. Lord knows he hasn't seen much from me.

After Uncle Taylor was done with his chores, we went back outside to say goodbye, and walked over to Uncle B-in-L to sniff around, but Uncle B-in-L was now using a dirt and leaf blower, and this scared Milo, to the point where I knew if I lead him to the side of the yard he'd have a nice pee, and I was right. Scared the pee right out of him. Then after the B-in-L finished up we stayed outside and talked a while, and Milo kept trying to chew on large-sized rocks.

Oh, and while all the outside work was going on, I was working inside, where Milo attacked the leg of my wet blue jeans and had a small pee on the carpet while he was about six inches out of my eyeline.

I've come to the conclusion that Milo now understands he's got the gig, he's not on audition, and so he's really feeling his oats. Now I have to start being Alpha Dog. I mean, it almost makes me smile sometimes how he tests me.

But we're getting along. It's just that after all that in meeting two new people, on Thursday we're having a family dinner for my dad, whose birthday was this past weekend. Milo was cordially invited. I can't even imagine.

I guess he'll be OK just as long as nobody does any hard work.

Betland's Olympic Update:
* Acrowinners, we have acrowinners. So, who wouldn't want to kick cancer's ass?
- Runner-Up goes to Marla (marlamarlamarla), with her "Children Hating Dickheads. Rotten Wankers!"
- Honorable Mention goes to Michelle the dishy, with her "Charlton Heston doesn't really wanna." (Which I loved dearly, but....)
- And this week's winner is LilyG, with her, "Cancer. He's doing really well." That's about as perfect an answer as I can think of.
- Thanks to all who played, you've all done very well.
* And remember, the Hucklebug podcast still needs pledges for the podcastathon. Please go to the Hucklebug site to read all about how to join us to kick cancer's ass this weekend. It's easy and for a good cause!