Dog years

Ms. Emma (aka Ems, Emmers, cow, and damn it dog) will be celebrating a special day tomorrow. She's turning 4! Which means we're about the same age...well, if you're counting her age in dog years.

We love our Ems...her personality, loyalty, playfulness and sweetness.

Here are a few random thoughts, stories and particulars about our cow.

• Yes, I call her cow. This came about because when she wants something she makes a mooing sound. A little growling purr that comes out moo. Not to mention she's always trampling my clean stacks of laundry and flower beds!
  

• We were given Ems as a gift. We were back in GI town for Christmas and some friends of ours let the girls come over to see the new litter of puppies. It didn't even occur to me that we would be bringing one home. But Christmas night, one of my favorite people in the whole wide world passed away...and suddenly I became vulnerable and emotional. Grief can make you act so out of sorts! Then you add the fact that John told me "No" when I said we should get a puppy...well, I became 'all-powerful-dictator mom' and we were coming home with a puppy, dang it! We had every intention of buying the puppy, but the sweet family told us to just take her...a gift from them to us. Seriously one of the best gifts ever!

• shhhhhhhh....this one's a secret! I really do love the dog, eventhough I'm hard on the girls about taking care of her, give John crap about spoiling her, and yell at her for sneaking on our bed. I couldn't imagine our family without her!

• I think John and I realized how large a part of our family Ems is when we went house shopping. We were always referring to the lot size and yard size by saying "Ems would love this yard!" or "Not big enough for Emma."

• Her full name is Emma Sue Kelly. You have to give a dog a middle name. Because when they get in trouble...its EMMA SUE... when she hears that her head hangs down and she mopes back to her pillow because she knows she did something wrong.
  

Finally, a story about Ms. Ems. John was out of town for a few days. And it rained and rained and rained. Dog + rain/mud + white neutral carpets + house for sale = ONE BIG HEADACHE! Not to mention Ems doesn't like the rain. She hates walking through the puddles on the patio- so we usually let her out the front door.

It was about 11pm and I was locking up the house. I decided to let Ems out before going to bed. I took her out the front door. She took her precious time finding just the right spot...mean while I'm standing on the front porch watching her (making sure she didn't spy that troublesome neighborhood cat and make a run for it). All of a sudden a car comes down the street and slows down in front of the house. Well, Emma interpreted that as a friendly visitor and started towards the truck. The truck was just slowing down to make the turn at the end of our street and when it sped up- so did Ems. I ran out in the yard, in the rain, yelling at Emma to get her little butt back here. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked at me like I was crazy. And I'm sure I did look crazy. Reprimanding a dog in the middle of the night, in the rain, barefoot, cursing under my breath and talking to her like the naughty child she was. I think our neighborhood shall miss us and our craziness!

Last night I told Emma we'd have to grow up and become more dignified in our new neighborhood...that would make John happy. She mooed, found a cozy spot on the floor and farted as she laid down.