Shared Excitement

Wednesday mornings, I am the one who puts the finishing touches on Kurtis before he leaves to go to his preschool program. Mandy leaves for work between 10:30 and 10:45 a.m. and she usually has Kurtis at least semi-dressed with all that is left for me then is to locate his shoes, get them on him and then, find his coat and backpack too so all is at ready when the van pulls up in front of the house to pick him up.

Today at least was one of the above described days.

But prior to donning his shoes and jacket, we had a visitor, of sorts, to the house.

We received a delivery of fuel oil and boy, you just can't imagine what a thrill that is.

Okay -it was a bit of a thrill for me because now, for a while anyway, we will have oil to heat our hot water without having to worry about who was going to have to be the party to take the big can up to the truckstop and get 5 gallons of oil so we would be able to have that hot water for showers, bathes, washing dishes and the like.

But this delivery was also a big thrill for Kurtis and not just for him but also for Sammy too.

I wasn't really awake enough I guess at the time when the delivery truck arrived to think about grabbing the camera to get a picture. Naw, didn't think about how cute that might have looked in a photograph of Sammy perched on the back of the loveseat, Kurtis standing on the loveseat beside him and both of them with their noses practically glued to the window as they each watched the delivery guy dump 100 gallons of fuel oil into our tank in the basement.

Kurtis was actually quiet as he watched -intent on seeing what the guy was doing whereas Sammy's viewing was far from quiet as his barks punctured the air, as if he was asking the guy "Hey! You! What are you doing there? Why are you, someone I don't know, this close to my home, my perch, my people, anyway?"

What made this moment even more special as I watched this play out was that the delivery guy would reach up and tap on the window at Kurtis (a move that also impelled Sam to bark a bit more but what the heck.) The guy was playing with Kurtis although they had this big bay window in between them and no words were exchanged, but you could tell too that Kurtis was responding to him with lots of smiles cause he sure was giggling away.

When the delivery guy came to the door to give me our ticket and bill, I commented to him that was quite the audience he'd had there, wasn't it?

And he remarked then about how he enjoyed "playing" with Kurtis, seeing how excited the little guy was over this whole deal. He said "The little one is so cute I just couldn't help but not pay attention to him and the dog -well, he's just mean."

I laughed at that description of Sammy and told him when delivery people come here and Sam goes nuts, barking and barking, we usually then refer to him as "Sid Vicious" instead of "Sweet Sammy" although, he is actually an extremely friendly little dog. Just has a whole lot of bark going on there."

Meanwhile, Sammy had appeared by my side as I was talking to the guy and I told him all he'd have to do is brush up against him and Sammy would then consider him a friend for life!

Watchdog -well yes, in a way Sam is that. He's noisy and does definitely announce someone's arrival.

Guard dog though? Nope, not in the least!

He's kind of like old Duffy -the dog I had when I was in my teens and who we used to joke would probably have led any intruders to where the key to the house was hidden and then, given a grand tour of the place to show anything that could possibly have been of the least bit of value before escorting the bad people out!

And ya know what? That's exactly the kind of dog I'd rather have instead of the kind that you have to be fearful that someone visiting may make an unexpected move or one that the dog interprets incorrectly and then you could have a law suit on your hands and worse than that, possibly a good friend or small child perhaps, injured.

Yep! Give me a friendly little mutt like Sammy any day of the week.

But sometimes I do think a muzzle might possibly help the ear drums too.