That’s Snickers the Wonder Dog out on her birthday walk. She’s 10 years old this morning.
We’ve walked a lot. On the short end, I figure we could have walked from Philadelphia to Taos, New Mexico if we’d have strung our morning walks together. It’s more likely that we could have walked from Philadelphia to San Francisco. If we had done that and arrived today, I’d let her pester the pelicans and sniff the sea lions at Fisherman’s Wharf.
Our walks are a little slower than they were ten years ago. But Snickers the Wonder Dog still takes each day like it’s a new adventure, with new scents to notice, new rabbits to startle, and new friends to greet. We could all learn a little from that.
Now, imagine a lion’s roar. Full throat. Plaintive. Only in a 10-pound body.
That yowl — that roar — is Benny J. XXIII demanding his back scratch from me.
It’s part of our ritual. No matter where he is, no matter what he’s doing, no matter how far away he is, the minute I start brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed — there he is, like a feline Chucky doll.
Benny starts his caterwauling while I’m scrubbing my molars. He flops on the bed. Jumps up on the sink. Slinks under my feet. Bumps his head against my ankle bones. And yowls.
Oh, man, the yowling.
Years ago I started this ritual. I’d crawl into bed and scratch Benny’s back. You might know that not all cats love back scratches. Dogs love back scratches. Cats…not so much. But Benny is part dog. The harder I scratch, the more he loves it. And he wants every inch of him scratched and rubbed.
And when I do, he turns into Silly Putty. His purrs start out like a Cummins diesel on a January morning. When I flip him on his back, he goes into BMW M5 mode. And by the time I get under his chin, he’s a full on Ferrari.
That’s every night. Without end.
Goes for employees, too. Once you start scratching their backs you can’t stop. They like the endorphins.
Me? Benny and I have a good thing going. He says so.
It was time to frost the Christmas cookies last night. As with most things in our house, Snickers the Wonder Dog featured prominently. She waited patiently while we frosted (yeah, I helped…what of it?). So, there’s a payoff. I love these cookies that Sheryl makes just once a year. My lucky colleagues at iFractal get to taste them today.
