New Years Eve

A lot of people are doing their lookbacks on 2013 today;  I kinda think that I covered that on that 35 questions thing I copied a while back  (And Kelli at The House Of Hale has been doing such a great job on in installments).  So I thought I might look back and see what I did on my previous New Years Eves.

The first was NYE 2010, and it was a lot of statistics.  I talked about my 260 posts (actually 254, since I didn't know the stats page counted your aborted posts), which with this is up to 1,225; my 3,015 page views (of which I have 27 times that now); of which the USA was first (and still is), Denmark was second (now 9th), Germany third (still third), UK fourth (still 4th), Russia 5th (now 2nd, thanks to all the Russian scammers), Canada 6th (now 7th).  I then went on to do my top ten posts (the first place "by a wide margin" then is now 7th, 319 pageviews from the top) and a top ten of my who's dumber posts.  Finally, in lieu of a New Years resolution, I listed seven things I'd like to see... of which only two came true- my daughter stepped up and got her drivers licence, and we all stayed safe and sound.  Congress working together, not so much;  our African American community taking responsibility for their own failings rather than blaming the man, very slow progress.

The second was NYE 2011, and it was split between a very short post on one side of midnight saying toodles before I went off to a party; and another actually on the other side explaining the connection to the song I spend the moments after the New Year comes playing.  The third is 2012's, and it started with a post about my Life Verse from the Bible and how I got there, as well as two long, well-thought out comments from the aforementioned Ms. Kelli and Bobby G.  A pictorial covering the same ground as the one I linked above followed.

And now we are here, on the cusp of another New Year's beginning. And today I have a story about a certain insane dog to tell you.

You see, yesterday we had the second "Meeting of the Blogs" between Bobby G. and myself and our significant others.  It was held at the world famous Fortress of Reason in beautiful SE Fort Wayne, and one of the delights of the business was Scrappy getting a gift of a pair of rawhide chew bones.  As you will see, he appreciated the gifts...

...HOWEVER, they brought back one of his old habits I thought buried:  getting a treat and then whining until I try to take it away from him.  Unfortunately, this became an EXTREME comeback.  It used to be that after a few minutes of playing "take the treat", he'd be ready to devour on his own.  Not this time.  After several rounds of this, I came up with the brightest of ideas:  Ask him if he wants to go out, seize the treat and hide it while he's out, give him another treat when he comes back in, and his pea brain forgets all about it.

The plan worked out better than perfect:  he took it outside with him, and left it out there.  He got one of his Christmas doggie cupcakes, and it would seem all was well.

But then, he noticed it was gone.  He spent about five minutes looking around, and then tumbled onto the fact that he'd left it outside.  And he wanted out to go get it.  Since he was intent on being just as annoying in wanting it as he was in eating it, I let him out; he immediately shot right to it and brought it in, and for the next fifteen minutes I pulled, pretended to eat it, wrestled, and chased him around the room until he finally was content to chew it on his own.  Within about a half hour, he had one of the knots loosened and removed from the bone, and shortly thereafter it was consumed.  He continued to chew the rest all night (with short breaks to beg for people food and M&Ms); and when I went to bed he tried to bring the remnant up with him.  Laurie took it (and hid it away with the other bone for another time).  When that time may be, I don't know... I do have a variety pack of beer in the fridge in case nothing else develops tonight, and maybe that will encourage me to allow round two.

It'll sure beat trying to get a walk in today...