School's Looming and Coffee Grounds Apparently are not a Dog's Best Friend

I got a jolt this morning while pouring my first cup of coffee (mind you,  in that non-caffeinated state, I should never receive any kind of surprise when holding hot liquid), when Jay asked/stated, "The kids are back to school next week?"  Damn.  Not that reviving and expanding their summer-soaked brains aren't good things, it's just that there's always that same slap in the face every mid-August that reminds us summer is almost over.  But, just as I was reminded by my parents when I was a kid that if Christmas were every day it would totally lose its appeal, summer cannot be year-round lest we take its lazy-ass-gin-and-tonics-on-a-school-night attitude for granted.

Enough waxing all sappy and wistful.  The onset of the autumn months brings about a couple of other occasions.  Our old-woman-dog, Scout, tacks on another year.  This will be number 15 for her in September, warts and all, though the warts are a few years younger than the rest of her bod.

Awesome capture of Scooter's eye-wart.  Sorry if you're eating breakfast.  Amazing how--erm--we don't even notice it.

And Pippet, the Poster Dog for High Maintenance, turns two on her quasi-birthday, which we made Halloween since we only know she was born about eight weeks prior to Christmas.  I don't know much about the zodiac calendar, but she makes me wonder if the sign for late October is The Anxious Worrier. 

And you know where this is going.  Cue the musings on Canis Bizarrus, a.k.a. Pippet.  She's calmed down a lot in the last year, though her love of all paper products is still ever-present.  So she's still in the running for a spot on "My Strange Addiction."

Taken today.  Kleenex the victim.

The thing I'm noticing now is that all of her cute puppy oddities are being replaced by full-on neurotic behavior.  Behavior that makes her a great candidate for Xanax.  Here are some of her latest things that she's sprung on me, just in the last 6 months:

• Full hatred for Leo, the neighbor's cat.  This vitriol has been a work in progress, which is aided by the fact that Leo has taken over our yard as his own.  Pippet's not buying.

Leo.  One of the most lovable cats around.  But after petting him you have this film on your hands that makes you want to scrub with soap and water surgeon-style. 

• Howling in the middle of the night, usually when Jay is away on business, so that I have every light and TV on at 3:30 in the morning to make things all the livelier, though not necessarily safer against  hooligans. 
• Constant stalking of Scout.  Like hiding and peeking around corners and then jumping out at the old girl.  Not nice.
• Barking at my phone (and only mine), be it a call, text, alert, whatever.
• Whining like Timmy's Stuck in the Well whenever I knock the soggy coffee grounds out into the sink (yes--I know that's bad for the septic--Jay makes sure to remind me).  Also when I fill the coffee pot back up with water.  This is a fairly new behavior.  And super-weird.  Here she is watching me fill the coffee pot, whining the whole time.  Note the concerned face.

• Chewing the remaining fringe off the living room rug when nobody will play with her according to her schedule.  She'd forgotten about the fringe for a while, but is currently back at it.  I wish she'd finish it off so that the new look would be complete.

• Barking at the basement door.  Our daughter's insistent that there are ghosts of cats past down there.  I'm still wondering if she's detecting the critter that was storing pecans in the rafters  (The Imperfectionist: A Fond Adieu to Cats and Other Stuff, July 1, 2012). 

I know.  All of the strange behavior must say something about the owner.  Maybe.  Or maybe Pippet's just a seriously uptight dog. 

One thing is certain.  From the way my mind has wandered through these paragraphs, obviously I need some structure back in my life.  School to the rescue!  We'll work on Pippet later.