Chet Baker, Attention-Seeker

As I watch Mether garden I think about how to divert her. She is very focused when she is gardening.

All she seems to think about is where to bury this plant, and where to bury that plant. To a certain extent I understand that; it is like when I have a bikkit I need to bury and I trot around the house  and yard looking for just the right place to put it. Mether does that, too.

 Phoebe tries to help. She points out bunnehs I can chase. There are a lot of them and my work is never done.

But usually I hang around watching Mether work. Suddenly it comes to me! One way to get a gardener's attention is to mess with their stuff! Sometimes I drag her buckets around.

But other times I get right up in her face. So when Mether comes up the sidewalk dragging a heavy bag of potting soil I spring into action!

I grab the bag and shake it! Potting soil flies everywhere!

That works. She laughs and dares me to do it again.  So I do! I shake the bag and growl and tear it! I spill the soil! She cannot pot plants if she has no soil! Ha ha ha ha ha!

She says I am a Very Naughty Terrier and I need a Big Spanking! Those are just the words I was hoping to hear!

They send me into a Full Google Run!

and when I am done running and she is done laughing she goes right back to gardening. Obsessed.

 I am underwhelmed, but I stay close by for the next opportunity to distract her. Which leads me to my second ploy: telling her I need to be checked for ticks. Then she will run her hands over me, which I adore.

When I have been checked for ticks, I deploy my third tactic:  looking disgruntled, but at the same time sweetly kissable. I stand between her and what she is trying to do.

That one always works, because I always look sweetly kissable, no matter how disgruntled I am. 

But notice she is still carrying a plant.

All photos in this post by my sister Phoebe Linnea Thompson.