Stinky Beagle Strikes Twice

I don't understand it. I have had my beagle since he was 5 weeks old. It is not like we just got him. He has been house broken for a long time but the past two days in a row he pooped in the house. I know that he is not sick and is not having accidents. So what is his deal! He is a typical dumb dog but when it comes to pooping in the house he is no dummy. Normally when I leave the house in the morning I am gone atleast an hour so when I come home he is sooo happy to see me that he meets me at the door. Well the little piglet was no where to be seen the other day and I knew something was up. If he does something wrong like get into the garbage or chew up one of the kids toys, he'll go down into the cellar where his kennel is kept. He knows that is where he will go to be punished. So anyway, I looked down cellar and sure enough he was in it. It did not take long to figure out why. So I slowly tipped toed around the cellar to be sure I did not step in anything and sure enough a pile of poop was behind the couch as if I might never know. He must of thought he was clever. So he spent half of the day in his kennel as punishment. He did not make a peep because in his own doggy way, he knew he deserved it. Well, then today he did not even wait for me to leave. I was in the kitchen and smelled something foul. Immediately I yelled,"BINGO"! He put his ears down and headed for the cellar. I followed behind, looked in the same spot as yesterdays pile but nothing. He thought that he might pull a fast one and confuse me. He left his stinky stuff in the laundry room. SO again I put the dumb dog in the kennel where he spent all morning. I am hoping that he will learn his lesson and go poop outside. I don't know what to do.

Outdoors in Northern New England

Here in Northern New England it takes awhile for the weather to catch up with the calendar but after a long winter it has finally turned into spring. My family has been enjoying the summer-like weather by spending time outdoors. When I say outdoors, I don't mean "The Great Outdoors" or the wilderness or the woods as one might think. But here in this part of New Hampshire we call outside the outdoors. Don't know why, we just do. Just like the driveway is referred to as the door yard. I guess it has something to do with going out the door, through the door, out there, not indoors as we refer to the inside of a house or building. It is funny, I use these terms a lot and don't often think twice about it. I suppose the people I am talking to understand and use the same words. If I had to sit here and think about all the New Englandisms I use, I probably could not come up with any until I actually use them and someone who is either a english major or a city slicker would have to point them out. They are such a part of me now I really don't know the difference. I remember being a kid and picking on my mom for using certain phrases or words because I thought they sounded dumb or ignorant. But now that I am older I see how it is part of our culture and history and charm and that it has nothing to do with one's intelligence. I am sure there are still plenty of people from the big city who laugh at us in a condescending way, but I don't care. I will continue to embrace phrases like, "For corn-sakes!" Whatever that means, but my mom said it all the time so it must be important.

The Joy of experiencing your child's triumphs

There is nothing like being witness to your child succeeding at something. Tonight my daughter won first place in a local writing contest for her grade level. There is just something about being in a crowd of people and having your child singled out for their accomplishments. When her name was called it was so exciting, to see the look of sheer joy on her face and to meet her eyes from across the room and to give her the nod and wide grin of approval instinctively know what she is thinking and to communicate with each other only with our eyes and facial expressions but knowing exactly what we are saying. All of the emotions all at once brought tears to my eyes. Happy tears. I am so proud of her.