dogs & cats

Dogs are the best security systems ever.  Dean especially; he'll bark at anything amiss. When Cole gets going, he can shut down small armies...Cole can bark.  But he rarely does.  Dean is Chief of Security in this house and I have to tell you, it gives me great comfort when I'm home alone and it's late or Steve is out of town.  He has a fierce big bark (which is funny considering he's afraid of things like the rain and toenail clippers) thanks, I think, to the shepherd in him.  

An AT&T sales person came to the door last week and I was totally prepared for the barking that would ensue as soon as she rang the bell.  But there was no barking.  Instead, there was low growling coming from Jane who was watching her walk to our door.  She was growling.  Like a dog.  Only she's a cat.  And after she did her growling bit (whoa!) she bolted from the window and scrammed under the bed.  Then came the doorbell.  I usually don't answer the door for sales people, but the door was open - exposing our screen door thus making it look like I was in fact home, baking cookies and doing general Martha Stewart afternoon activities.  I put the dogs in the bedroom (only Dean was barking hysterically), went to the door and listened to her tell me about fiber optic cables blah-blah.  The woman was d-r-u-n-k; I almost got wasted from breathing in her parfum de gin.  She slurred all her words and so I felt she was, as a salespeople go, a non-threat; it was easy enough to dismiss her.  Now enter the fourth pet, perhaps the sweetest of them all:  Mr. D. Sergei.  He came to the door with me, sat properly on all fours and squinted at her like, "You drunks are my people, give me some of that love."  She did.  I mean, she pet him, she didn't serve him alcohol.