May 28, 2009

Dognabit, I am so confused!

For the last two weeks there has been all kinds of activity at my house. All our stuff got put in cardboard boxes that were then hauled out to some huge boxes in our driveway. Even the furniture went into the giant boxes. Huh.

Then when I came home from work with John last Wednesday the house felt even weirder and I realized the cats, Dash and Dewey, and the dogs, Meryl and Mina, were missing. Alien abduction? I started to ask but Marianne said "Let's go, Ross!" and she rushed me into the car. Even though I was worried, I fell asleep and didn't wake up until the car stopped. To my surprise, we were at my friend Halinah's house. She's a CCI puppy in training too. "Oh boy, a play date!" I thought as I ran up the stairs into the house.

But Halinah wasn't there, nor were her puppy raisers Jennifer and Chris or their other dogs. To my astonishment, our cats and Meryl and Mina were there! Curiouser and curiouser. Meryl told me they'd been there all afternoon, and didn't know any more than I did about the situation. But she showed me where the water dish and toy basket was. We thoughtfully chewed on some Nylabones while Marianne and John puttered around the house.

I was REALLY confused when Marianne said "Bedtime!" and put me in Halinah's kennel, told Meryl and Mina to settle in their beds and turned out the lights. At least she remembered to put my giant fleece bone in the crate with me. I fell asleep snuggled up to it, still wondering what was going on.

I was relieved the next morning when Marianne pulled out our dishes and our food from a box in the kitchen. All is not lost if regular meals are forthcoming!

After breakfast (first things first) I insisted on an explanation. "What the heck is going on?" I demanded. "Why is everything in boxes, what are the big boxes in the driveway for, and why are we staying at Halinah's house?" Meryl and Mina came over to listen as well.

"Oh, doggies," Marianne sighed as she sipped her coffee. (She feels about coffee the way I feel about breakfast.) "It's been so crazy that I haven't had time to explain what's going on. I'm sorry you're feeling confused." She gave each of us a reassuring pat. "Here's the deal: we're having some work done on our house, and we thought things would go faster if we moved out. So, we put all our stuff into storage (that's what the giant boxes in the driveway are for), and moved here."

"But where is Halinah and her family?" I wondered. "Won't they want to live in their house too?"

Marianne smiled. "Ah, that's the best part!" she said. "Well, OK, it's a mixed blessing. Halinah's family moved to California where Jennifer has a wonderful new job. We'll miss them so much, but it's a great opportunity for Jennifer, and Chris won't have to travel so much for his job." She rubbed my ears. "Jen and Chris will rent this house at some point, but said we could stay here until our house is ready. Isn't that great? We don't have to live with all the construction mess, the workers don't have to worry about you guys "helping" and we get to live out here in the country for a couple of months!"

Meryl and Mina barked enthusiastically. "I like seeing deer in the front yard," Meryl said. "They're my size; maybe they'll come play with me!"

I was stunned. "But when will I get to see Halinah again?" I whined.

"You'll see her when you go to CCI College in November. Believe it or not, they are living in Oceanside near CCI, and we can stay at their house. Won't that be fun?" Marianne patted me. "You'll see, this is going to be good."

So things settled into our ordinary routine until yesterday. We stopped at our house on our way home after work. My Auntie Elizabeth was there, which was a nice surprise. She scratched my ears and explained that she was curious to see what was happening at the house. We walked up to the front door and I noticed that the giant storage boxes were gone. In their place was a huge green trash bin that appeared to be full. I could see large pieces of wood sticking out.

"What's that for?" I asked.

Marianne said, "That's for all the stuff that's going away. I'm surprised at how full it is since they just started demo yesterday!"

We walked in the front door. The living room was full of tools and other stuff that I didn't recognize. I walked around the corner to the kitchen. "WHOA!" I yelped. "What happened in here!? All the cupboards are gone! The floor is all torn up!" I looked around and gasped. "Half the wall between the kitchen and the den is missing!" I rushed back into the living room. "Call the police!" I barked hysterically. "Someone has destroyed our house!"

"Ross, calm down," Marianne laughed. "I told you we are having work done."

To my relief, just then my Auntie Diane walked in. She is a sergeant with the Denver Police. I rushed over to her. "Am I glad to see you!" I barked. "Call in reinforcements! We've been vandalized!" I grabbed her pant leg and dragged her to the kitchen. "Just see what they've done!"

"Wow, this is amazing," she said, walking through the room. "This is going to be so cool!" Marianne and Elizabeth joined her, oohing and aahing.

"Isn't anyone listening to me?" I wailed. "This is awful!"

"Good grief, Ross," Diane said. "Chill, buddy."

"Ross, remember what I told you? This is all part of the remodel we're having done," Marianne said. "Come one, let's look at the bedrooms and bathrooms."

We walked into the hallway. Even the humans were stunned.

"Wow, look at that," said Marianne. "Oh, my!" exclaimed Elizabeth. Diane said something I'm not allowed to repeat.

"What happened to the rooms? Where are the walls? Where are the bathtubs? In fact, where are the bathrooms?" I whispered.

Marianne pulled me close for a hug. "Well, we're having the bathrooms updated with all new fixtures, floors and tile. We're rearranging the bedrooms a bit and putting in new closets. This is what it looks like when they've taken out all the fixtures and the walls." Marianne pulled out her phone. "Come on Ross, sit still and I'll take your picture. We'll call it "Before" and then we can take another when everything is done and call it "After."" I posed unhappily in what used to be the hallway. Marianne snapped my picture.

We walked back outside and Diane and Elizabeth waved goodbye.

"I guess you know what you're doing," I said to Marianne, though just between us, I have my doubts.

"We do, but I admit it's a bit messy and shocking to see it in this stage. They don't call it demolition for nothing." Marianne opened the car door and I hopped in. "But it's going to be AMAZING when it's all done! And I promise, your toys, bed, dishes, food and crate will all be back in place when we move back. OK?"

Harrumph. We'll see. I'll keep you posted.

Chow for now!

Ross

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