December 21, 2013: I miss ‘em already! Snow Monkeys on the verge of another championship!

Are they back yet?!

As much as the dogs miss us when we’re away, I think I miss them even more.  Especially at night.  After a while, you not only get used to sleeping like a contorted magician’s assistant in one of those sword-through-the-box tricks, but you come to draw comfort from their pudgy, snoring, encroaching presence.  As crazy as it sounds, I now have trouble sleeping on a spacious bed.  A quiet room will keep me up.  When I’m away, I miss their plaintive cries the second dinner time rolls around, or their impatient barks as I hurry to fill their bowls.  Lulu’s version of fetch which involves her bringing you her toy and then snatching it back and running off with it the second you show an interest.  Bubba’s indolent refusal to go out for his final bathroom break of the night, forcing you to  scoop him up off the couch to help him along.  Jelly’s bad hips which require she be “chauffeured” from her comfy dog bed to the backyard or up the stairs or on and off the bed.  The way they eat their snacks: Jelly, challenged by the simple act of chewing, Lulu, always gentle, Bubba, who attempts to take the tips of your fingers too.  The day one of our national airlines starts selling pet seats is the day I  start buying flight passes.

I’ve always dreaded the prospect of being offered a terrific job somewhere overseas, not because it would place me in the difficult position of having to choose between my work and my dogs but simply because I’d have to turn down a terrific job.  It’s bad enough being offered work on the other side of the country as past experience well proves.  Remember that Toronto gig?  The major headache with that charter company?  The fact that I had to take the five and a half hour flight to Toronto with Akemi and two of my dogs, then turn around and fly back to Vancouver the next day so that I could fly back with a friend and my other two dogs the day after that?

Ideally, I’ll be working in Vancouver next year but if it’s L.A., then at least I won’t have to worry about flights.  Instead, we can all look forward to a family road trip!

Hopefully, it won’t come to that though.  The gang kind of likes it here, even with the occasional snow.

Big day tomorrow for my Snow Monkeys who go for their second championship trophy in fantasy football league play.  Wish us luck!

Touchdown dance! [Source: PacificCoastNews.com]

Anybody live on the way