to hell with late comers

the latter day saints stopped by today. i lied to them. but in a pleasant way.

what is the deal with people bugging me on the day i get to come home early? it started with a picnic in the park and eased into a short nap through dr. phil. then the next thing i knew, zoey was flipping out at the top of the stairs and there was a knock at the door. i knew it wasn't the neighbor kid because he would have rung the doorbell, which is something we'll cover later.

the nervous gentlemen at the door had the right to be nervous. by the time zoey and i'd made it down the stairs, she'd worked herself into an excited and jumping froth. i had to haul her away from the glass so i could open the door an inch. even tho her energy had only good intentions (come on, look at that face), 70 pounds of jumping and barking dog might put you on guard.

i was so proud of her. it totally reminded me of the time we still lived on state road and had dusty, a 90-pound retriever/lab mix. he was a lot more laid back than zoey, but definitely got worked up in the presence of strangers. those poor jehovah's rang the wrong bell that day.

knowing they were bad news, i watched them walk up to the house. i posed dusty just behind the front door, grabbed his collar, and braced myself. when they'd gotten his attention, i opened the door, and he jumped forward ... all dog spit and floppy ears.

it was beautiful. i told the jehovah's i didn't know how long i could hold him. they tried to pass me some "literature" over him, but were unsuccessful.

today's adventure was pretty much the opposite of that in that the dog was behind me. i set one foot on the porch, kept the other inside, and looked like i was having trouble keeping my balance due to the crazy snapping and potential biting behind me.

turns out they wanted to chat for a while, but i told them, while i repeatedly pushed zoey back, that this wasn't a good time. when would be a better time? i looked at her, back out at them and shook my head. they didn't argue.

and then! not ten minutes later, the doorbell rang. neighbor kid. i wasn't quite as pleasant. when will it end?

oh well. at least i was fully awake for the family feud.

"this is my darling sister marie, who's stuck in 1972."