Beagle Tag

I got home from school before Rex today - whoo hoo! Even though there is a sink full of dishes and laundry to be done, I have neglected them in favor of something far more important: playing tag with Elvis, our beagle.

To be honest with you, the only reason I'm writing this blog is because I wanted to signal to Elvis somehow that our game is over, and he doesn't bother me when I'm on the computer. Now he's curled up on the couch taking a nap. Awww...

He's taking a nap because he's tired. We've been playing tag for the past half-hour. Good thing there's not anyone living in the apartment underneath ours, because we have been running and jumping around like a couple of crazies. Elvis is a pretty good tag player. He does all the ducking and dodging of a skilled first grader. He kept trying to bite my scarf, but obviously that doesn't count as making me "it" because he didn't actually tag ME. He wasn't getting that, so I took off the scarf and the game ran much more smoothly.

About twenty minutes into playing, Elvis wanted a drink. He gave me a look that I swear said, "Drink break. Do NOT try to come catch me," and then he sauntered over to his dish. I walked into the kitchen too, thinking I could use a drink as well, and he jumped away from his dish and glared at me as if to say, "WE'RE ON A DRINK BREAK! NO FAIR! GO AWAY!" Then he realized I wasn't actually trying to get him, and he went back to his drink. When we were finished with our drinks, we started chasing each other again.

After I was finished playing, I laid down on the ground and said, "Elvis, aren't you tired? Let's be done." He stayed away at first but then crept cautiously toward me as if I might be feigning exhaustion to set a trap. As soon as I turned my head to look at him, he jumped as if I had just shot a gun and ran away at full speed. So our new game turned into, "I'm going to creep up on mom, but if she looks at me then I have to run away." That was fun for a while.

Lying on the floor gets boring after a while, so I stood back up. Elvis thought that meant I was ready to play again. I gave him a treat and patted him on the head, saying "Good boy," but he didn't get the message. He just kept running and then looking back as if to say, "Hello! Aren't you going to chase me!?" So I had to sit down at the computer so he would get the idea that I'm finished playing. It worked, so mission accomplished. Elvis is now enjoying a nice nap.

I don't think there's ever a day that is so bad that can't be made at least a little bit better by playing with a beagle - especially mine. He's awesome. :-)