A Day in the Life of Samson

Posted in Samson by teamtradermom

My day starts when mom comes in to wake me. Some mornings I am up and ready to go. Other days I need some loving and lie back hoping mom will rub my tummy. She always complies.

As soon as I get out of the kennel, I take a moment for a long stretch and then shake my body to get the sleep off. I try to do that right outside the little hairless one’s room and make as much noise as possible.

Now it’s hunting time! I have to find dad right away! I cannot do anything else until I find him! Most of the time he’s in the Alpha’s room, getting out of bed. But sometimes he’s not! I must find him! He might have food! When I do, I rub my nose and body against his legs until he pets me. If he ignores me, I jump up on him. Sometimes I aim for his daddy parts to drive my point home. Hey, they took away my daddy parts so it’s only fair for me to punish his once in a while.

Then it’s time to go outside. Mom opens the door and lets me out. I will only go out in the following conditions:

It must be light out.
It must be dry.

If it is anything different, I will not go. I can hold it. I’m a big dog.

When I come in, it’s time to help mom get ready for work. I go in and sit in the bathroom like a good boy while she gets ready to shower. Before she steps in the shower, she gives me a treat! Oh boy! A treat! I will do anything for a treat! When mom is finished with her shower, I go lay in the bedroom while she gets ready. Every so often she throws me a treat and tells me how cute I am. Well, duh. I mean, have you seen me? But hey, it’s a treat!! I love treats!

Now it’s time for breakfast. Mom feeds me and then gets her own food. I scarf mine down as fast as possible so that I can then go over and get some of mom’s. Then it’s time for mom to brush her teeth. I love when mom brushes her teeth because then I get more treats! I love treats!!

Mom leaves and it’s me, dad and the little hairless one for the rest of the day. I spend most of the day sleeping and prowling for food. When dad gives the little one snacks, I try to snatch them from her hand. Isn’t that a fun game! I also love when the little one eats because she drops a lot of food on the floor. Score! My head is at the perfect height to dig my nose right in her crotch while she’s in the tall chair and get out any crumbs. Hey, I need food! I’m practically starving here!

I like to look out the window and keep an eye on the neighborhood. I have a few friends that walk by on occasion and when I see them I run from the front window to the back door and jump and bark. I have to see my friend! Hurry! Life as we know it will end if I don’t see my friend!!!

When mom comes home, I run to greet her. She might have food! If she doesn’t, I go about my business. If she does, I dig my nose in her bags until I find it. She really likes that.

My evenings revolve around food. The family has dinner and I repeat my process of stalking the little one in case she drops something. I also beg from mom and dad. Dad gets really annoyed with me but mom gives me stuff. It’s totally worth it if I get food!

When I’m bored, I randomly grab one of the little one’s toys and run around the house with it. I usually do this when dad is gone. Mom yells at me but I think it’s a fun game. Mom puts me in my kennel when I do this but i don’t mind. I like my kennel.

Most nights they give the little one a bath. I hate baths. I hate water. When I hear the water running I go and hide. No way they’re going to pull me in to that tub. Unless they have food. In that case I might reconsider.

Once the little one goes to bed, it’s all about me once again. Some nights I get a Kong. Sometimes I get to go for a car ride with dad to the store. Most nights I get to lay on the couch next to mom. She snuggles with me and pets me. I pretend I don’t like it but secretly I do.

Then it’s time for bed. I sleep in my kennel. It’s my safe place. One time mom let me stay out while dad was away and I didn’t like it. I went to my kennel anyway.

There you go! That’s my day! Tomorrow we start all over. Hopefully I will score some more food. I love food!

13Nov2010

Fall meets Winter

Posted in Holidays and Seasons by teamtradermom

The first snowfall of the year!

12Nov2010

5 Things

Posted in Family, Health and Weightloss by teamtradermom

Well being home this week with a concussion wasn’t all bad. Ok, so it wasn’t all good either. But, in the spirit of looking at the glass as half full, here are a few positive things that have come out of this week:

1. We saved on gas. My car was parked down at The Mall for the better part of 4 days and therefore didn’t get driven (drove? Whatever). Hey, if we can save a few pennies out of this whole ordeal, I’ll take it!

2. Speaking of pennies, we have now met our insurance deductible. We were about $1000 dollars away as of Monday morning. Considering Monday afternoon contained a trip to the ER, various doctor charges, a CT Scan, an MRI and blood work, I’d say we’ve more than covered that one grand. Not to mention they’ll probably charge me for the scrubs they “gave me” to wear home.

3. We know that I do in fact have a brain. Hey, some people questioned it but now I have the MRI results to prove it! And, not only do I have a brain, I have a big one. One of the biggest the radiologists have ever seen! Neener, neener, neener! Ok, maybe I’m making that up. Or maybe not. Guess only me and the radiologists will ever know…

4. I got caught up on sleep. Ever since being relocated to The Mall, sleep has been more and more fleeting. I get up earlier and go to bed later and do a whole lot more in between. But this week, I’ve been to bed by 9pm every night and had at least 1 nap every day. Awesome!

5. And the most important thing – I got to spend more time with Munchkin, CJ and Samson. While I would rather have another reason to be at home with them, I’ll take anytime I can get. Munchkin is such a joy and every minute we have together is precious. While I am getting stir crazy and am ready to get back to work, I will very much miss being at home with my family during the day.

12Nov2010

Annexed: The Haunted Theater

Posted in Annexed by teamtradermom

Monday started out as any other day. People were rolling in to the office slowly, trying to drag out as much of the weekend as they could. I was feeling particularly icky, dealing with a virus that had me down all weekend. But, things would soon be looking up!

I ate lunch with one of my co-workers, Bob*, and while sitting in the cafe, I saw a man come in through a door at the back of the room. I asked Bob where that door went. He said it led to the old theater. Holy cheap seats Batman! In all our wanderings around the mall, the Brit and I had yet to uncover the old theater! Bob and I immediately ran back to the Annex to get the Brit and tell her of our find. Upon hearing about the discovery, we decided the only sensible thing to do was grab our cameras and go exploring!

With a spring in our step and a twinkle in our eye, the 3 of us headed to the cafeteria and out the back door. What we walked in to was a small foyer with stairs on one side and a long hallway on the other. The stairs led down to the gym below and the hallway led to the theater. We turned right to go down the hall and were immediately stopped in our tracks by something so amazing that we were all rendered speechless.

The scooter!! Yes, Scooter’s scooter was sitting in the hallway, abandoned.

Where had he gone? Did Scooter really ever exist or was the scooter haunted? We didn’t stick around to find out.

We continued on and came to the theater, which is now a Mexican church. All this time, the bay across from the Annex that we thought was the church was really just their administrative offices. This was their actual worship space. Except, it was run down and grimy and dusty. Very Alfred Hitchcock.

The front of the theater. You can see the sign up in the corner which reads "Iglesia de Dios Fraternidad Cristiana"

I decided to be brave and go up there, where I found the old popcorn counter. And it still had bags of popcorn kernels and coffee beans in the display case!

I walked behind the counter and it was very dirty and scary and I was literally watching my steps, afraid I would step on a roach or mouse or something even more sinister. The Brit snapped a quick pic and then I was outta there!

We followed the ramp which leads down to the ticket office (don’t you love the Pepto Bismol pink walls?).

We then turned the corner and found the other side of the Theater/Church on our left and another set of stairs straight ahead.

On the side of the church was an emblem. The emblem is a big circle with several bible verse references around the outer edge. In the center is Davinci’s drawing of David, with a church building strategically placed over his crotch. Then it says “THE DWELLING PLACE” in huge letters at the bottom. I’m sure it’s very meaningful to this church, but we just found it kind of strange…almost cult like.

Anywho…

At that point we figured it was time to go back. So we headed the way we came – past the ceiling vent with black mold growing on it, past the old rickety door that is still locked even though it’s so barely on its hinges that even I could break it down with just a strong sneeze, past the “blood stained” walls and back to the hallway that leads out of this dark, desolate place. The very hallway where we first encountered Scooter’s scooter. We had been wandering and exploring for nearly 10 minutes by this point and we thought surely the scooter would be gone.

But it wasn’t.

It was still sitting there all alone, just as we had left it.

We all just stopped and stared at it. Bob said that maybe we should call someone. The Brit thought we should get out of there before he came back. Just as she said that we heard a flush and we all screamed like little girls and went running down the hallway, practically diving back in to the cafeteria. We didn’t slow down until we were safely back in the Annex.

Not but an hour later, I would find myself unconscious on the bathroom floor. Coincidence? You tell me. Could it have been something I encountered in the Haunted Hallway? Was it from breathing in the harmful toxins that surely pollute the air back there? We will never know.

Due to the unfortunate circumstances of Monday afternoon, I was out of work and unable to spend anymore time in the Annex this week. However, the Brit alerted me to the fact that on Tuesday afternoon, a water main broke in the area and all water to the building was shut down. It just keeps getting better and better! I can’t make this stuff up people!