Chicken!

About a month ago, we put an official end to our Great Couch Caper. (for a brief history, please see the Great Couch Caper and the Great Couch Caper Part 2) Bonehead and I drooled over the magical sectional couch with the bonus pull out bed for the occasional overnight guest, but our budget demanded us to scour Craigslist for a suitable substitute. Plus, hello, we have two young boys and a German Shepherd in our home. Even if we had the funding for a brand new magical sectional, I'm not entirely sure I'd enjoy yelling, "Get that off the couch!" for the next fifteen years or so. We saw a couple of sectionals on Craigslist that would have been perfect for us, but unfortunately (I'm pretty sure) they were gone before I could read half of the ad for them. They went fast. We did, however, find a nice, normal couch in the same town we live in. As an added plus for us, we only had to drive across town to pick it up. It's not a sectional, but that's OK. Bonehead has claimed one corner and I have claimed the other. Most evenings, between the hours of 7:30pm and 8:30pm, our sweet Smoochie sprawls in the middle, lounging on one or perhaps both of us.

Our dog is smart. He knows the rooms of our house. More specifically, he knows two rooms. If you tell him, "Sunporch" he will (enthusiastically) go to our sunporch so we can close the door and do things like, say, bring groceries into the house without him running all over the neighborhood while the gate to the yard is wide open. And while our immediate neighbors are totally in love with our loveable oaf, most neighbors do not appreciate surprise encounters with a loose German Shepherd. So, sunporch it is if our doors are open and the gate is open. Also in his vocabulary is kitchen where he has a spot on a rug by the kitchen door. You tell him, "kitchen" and he goes there. You say, "Get in your spot" and he goes there and pops a squat - or he's supposed to, anyway.

A couple of months ago, on a whim, I discovered that if you say the word, "Chicken" to Kepler firmly, he will, in fact, go to the kitchen. I have found it entertaining. OK, maybe I think it's hysterical and can be heard saying, "Chicken" quite often to the poor guy. Just for the giggle. It's just so funny!

This past Saturday, I made a big pot of Ham, Green Bean, and Potato soup (a family recipe passed down from my Grandmother and also the meal I request every single year for my Birthday dinner) and invited my sister and 3 nieces over for dinner. We spent the day playing games like Uno and Cranium, and my sons spent the day playing with their "girlies". Smooch adores his girlies, and is usually over tired by the end of the day when they leave. This past Saturday was no exception.

After the crew that is my family left and I put Critter down for the night, Bonehead and I migrated towards our newly adopted positions on the couch with Smooch between us. Kepler tried to join us in the living room and Bonehead decided it was his turn for a giggle. "Chicken," he stated.

"Ham!" Smoochie thew in.

There was much giggling and after a moment I could be heard offering up, "Steak!"

And so it came to pass that the three of us spent a partial evening in late April offering up the random meat phrase solely for our own entertainment.