Two years ago on June 30th of this year, I picked up Cali from the Burbank Animal Shelter and she became part of our family. Last July 4th, I took Cali to the beach and it was such a great way to celebrate my Basenji-girl that I did it again this year. On one of my days off from work for the holiday this year, I packed up the pooch and we headed to Oxnard to enjoy a day on the beach. Well, it was more like 1 1/2 hours because we got tired of running around and really needed a snack.
But before we were tuckered out, we ran onto the beach towards the water, Cali’s leash held firmly in my hand (mistake) as she tugged and tugged to get closer to the waves. Her fear was gone as she bounded into the water and we jumped wave after wave. Cali was covered in salty water and sand and she loved it! I wish I could have taken pictures to show you, but it is hard to operate a camera while holding onto a Basenji at the same time.
Cali turned on the gas yesterday morning and no one was there to turn it off until our dog walker showed up around 11:30am. When I got the call on my cell and saw the caller ID, I immediately jumped to the conclusion that the dog walker was calling me because something was wrong with Cali. But the first words out of her mouth were not hi, but “Cali’s fine!” We both laughed.
I was not that worried about the gas leaking into our house. Probably not as worried as I should have been, but what could I have done at that point in time? I just reassured our dog walker that Cali uses the stove all the time to prepare her own food because we are teaching her to fend for herself. And she likes to cook!
This is not the first time Cali turned on the gas from jumping up on the counter to take a gander out the kitchen window and see which tree the squirrel was in today. One time she jumped up there out of fright when I was running the vacuum cleaner–I heard the click-click-click and ran downstairs as fast as I could so I could turn it off and rescue her from the sink where she had taken recluse.
Cali and I had an encounter with a squirrel this morning. It was the same one we see every morning beneath a short tree along one of the paths in our complex. It hangs out underneath this tree and feeds on the bird food on the ground that falls out of the feeder. Cali saw the squirrel, her back hair spiked up and she took off.
I wonder if she knows that she can not catch these creatures but she continued to chase it until it went up the short tree. However, the squirrel should have been smarter and gone the few extra steps to one of the bigger trees. The short tree just made Cali think that the squirrel was actually attainable because it was closer to the ground.
And the squirrel made the loudest noises I have ever heard a creature that small make and that just infuriates a basenji. Cali kept clawing at the tree and balancing on her hind legs as if she was saying, “Come down little squirrel, I just want to play…” But I bet she was thinking to herself, “I will get you squirrel! You’re furry tail is mine!”
You are cold, I know, that is why you creep closer and closer to me during the night. Now you are under the covers, but I do not mind. I like how you press your cold nose against the back of my calf and breathe out warm air. This is the last night of cold, I promise. Tomorrow night we will have a new, heavy quilt for the bed and we will be able to stretch out and be warm without being on top of each other.
Now you are standing up and you crawl towards me like you do Saturday mornings. But it is still dark and I can tell you are uncomfortable in the cold and quite confused. You lie on top of me and with one eye open, we stare at each other in the dark. You bury your nose underneath my pillow, close your eyes and start to breathe deep. I guess we will try sleeping this way for now.
One of Cali’s Christmas presents last year was a green, rubber lightbulb, which she adores. It is hollow on the inside with an opening at the stem of the bulb making it a very versatile toy; on top of being very squishy and chewable, it also does a great crazy bounce, always flying in an undetermined direction.
Cali is so light on her feet when on our carpet that you never hear her footsteps as she approaches, instead you hear her hollow breath bouncing off the inside of the lightbulb’s walls as she trots all over the house with it in her mouth. She carries it by the stem, so the large bulb end sticks out the side of her mouth and she is always looking for it to be thrown.
I like sausages. These days my favorite sausages are made with roasted garlic and Gruyere cheese. Mmmm, I can taste them now…
I like them grilled, but pan-fried with butter are just as good. We bought a stash of them from the Costco a few weeks ago and after eating a couple, we froze the rest. I am really bad about remembering to set them out in the morning so they will slowly thaw in time for dinner that night. This morning was one of those forgetful times.
For Valentine’s Day, I got Cali a pink porcupine stuffed animal that is holding a small red heart. When squeezed, the heart makes a smooching noise three times. Cali is a fan of all noise-making toys so I thought this one would be a hit. But instead of her activating the noise over and over again like she does with her other noise-making toys (turkey, kitty-cat, wolf, harley davidson bone) she actually spent an entire afternoon working her hardest to remove one of the arms from the poor porcupine’s body, all without the heart smooching once.
In this video, Cali’s just the referee. The victim is the large golden retriever named Buddy and the instigator is the wily little guy named Jack. The black border collie in the background, Zoe, wants no part of it. Let’s see what happens when Jack attacks…
It is raining again today and the snails have come out in droves. I killed a couple last night while wearing my rubber-bottom slippers. Ick! Cali does her best to prance around the slimy creatures, but despite her tip-toes, I can still hear a CRACK! now and then.
