Happy Foster Mother's Day!

Tulia:  I played a really fun trick on my Foster Mom today.   I've been pretty nervous around stairs, so she hadn't yet tried to get me to go up and down more than the few it takes to get into the house, which I just sort of leap over. Today, Murray went into the back yard by going down a bunch of steps leading to the yard from our back deck.  I was afraid to do it, so after encouraging me for a while, Mom just walked me around the house to the back.


 Here's a picture of me      

resting in the shade under the deck in the back yard.  I enjoyed a nice salad while I was there.


Anyway, when it was time to go back into the house, Mom decided to teach me how to go up the back steps instead of walking me back around.   There are about 15 or so steps with a couple of landings in between.  Mom put my front paws on the step above where they were, then moved my back paws up to the step immediately beneath where my front paws were and kind of pushed me up.  It took about 10 minutes and was exhausting for both of us.  The Murdog (that's what they call Murray) came running up the steps behind us.  Then Mom went into the house to get us a drink of water.  While she was gone, the Murdog decided to go back down into the yard.  So I followed him.  Actually going down the steps was easier than I thought.

Murray:   That's because she learned from the Master.   Me.

Tulia:  Yeah, well.  Anyway.  Mom eventually came out of the house and looked really surprised when I wasn't on the deck anymore.  After looking down at us in the yard and laughing (I'm not sure what was so funny, but I'm glad she was happy), she went back into the house again, and Murray went back up the steps to see what she was doing.   So I followed him.   It was much easier without Mom interfering by trying to move my paws for me.

Murray:   Mom looked like she was about to fall over with surprise when she saw us waiting for her on the deck.  It was a pretty good time, kind of like April Fool's Day!

 Mom took some pictures of Tulia and me chillin' in the back yard and on the deck.  I told her only to include the pictures of Tulia to show you how cute she is.  (After all, I'm not up for adoption, and I don't like to get anyone's hopes up.)  Like I said yesterday, Tulia really is a looker, and pretty sweet too, except that last night she tried to eat my treat that I was reserving for later.  I had to teach her that even adorable only gets you so far in this house. At some point, I may even have to reconsider that girlfriend thing, but not yet.  I don't want to upset her because she's still pretty fragile after everything she's been through this past week.

Tulia:  Murray, that's really special.
  
Murray:   That's what I'm like.