If I were A Carpenter

You guys remember my dad – the (more-than-a-little) crazy-making man, right?  The guy who does things his own way, no matter what.  The guy with a dry wit and a sarcastic tongue.  The man who’s picture is next to the phrase "old fart" in the dictionary.  Yep.  That’s the guy.

A couple of years ago, when my darling shar-pei Blossom was getting old, she did not like to sleep on the floor.  She wanted to be in the same room that her people were in – just not on the floor.  She also liked to look out the window, but her little short shar-pei legs just didn’t do it for her. 

One day I was looking through a pile of catalogs and found a dog bed advertised.  It was a wooden raised platform bed with a pillow on it.  It was SO NICE!  And it was SOOOOO EXPENSIVE.  So, I showed daddy dearest the picture, hoping he might spring for the bed (cause he really is a softie fer critters).  Did he?  Heck no.  He actually went one step further.  He took the picture home and built Blossom a bed.  Just like the one in the picture.  She loved it for the rest of her days. 

Then along came Cassidy.  And I didn’t use Blossom’s bed for Cassidy.  At first he slept in the kitchen at night.  I have all wood floors, except in the kitchen and until he was house broken – it was tile floors for Cass.  Then I bought him a pillow and he slept on that in my bedroom. 

At some point I dragged Blossom’s bed out of the garage and put it in my room for Cassidy.  He liked it fine.  All was good.  And then along came Kya.  At first Kya was a little smidge of a puppy and she snuggled in the same bed with Cassidy.  Then – overnight – Kya was a dog and not a puppy.  The terrible twosome no longer both fit into the doggie bed.  I bought another pillow….but it was on the *gasp* floor.

And the great game of musical beds was on.  Some nights Cassidy got the bed and some nights Kya did.  Usually they switched positions at least once a night.  They they put their little furry heads together and came up with the best solution they could.  Kya got the doggie bed UNTIL she was certain I was asleep every night.  At the first snore from me, Kya crept up onto my bed….every so delicately so as not to awake the sleeping giant and get banished to the floor.  Once Kya achived her bed objective, Cassidy hopped up on the doggie bed and all was well.

EXCEPT that I got tired of waking up with a dog’s butt in my face every morning.  I guess she thought her butt smells better than her breath…..but she was wrong.

So, once again I appealed to daddy dearest.  And once again, he came through like a champ.  Doggie bed #2 is made with cheaper wood and not as decorative as bed #1.  (Dad got a little miffed when Kya decided to teethe on bed #1 and took a couple of good sized chunks out of one of the sides.)  But now my room is largely taken up by TWO doggie beds.

So last night I introduced my babies to a new concept – one bed, one animal.  Yep.  There are warm blooded creatures in my room each night and each one of them now has their own bed.  There is no longer any reason to share.  YES!

We had a bit of a struggle.  At first Kya wasn’t willing to give up MY bed.

And then she got off MY bed, but Cassidy wasn’t loving this new arrangement….

But finally, after much cajoling and threatening (good natured, of course) everyone seemed adapted to the idea.

And all was right with the world….

Until about 3 this morning when I was awakened by the smell of dog poop.  I jumped out of bed to take care of the mess and went to put on my flip flops….that someone had chewed to a gooey pile of rubber.

Just goes to show you.  We two legged creatures just THINK we’re in charge. 

Tonight……round 2 of the great bed,bed, who’s got the bed debate.