Her fox

Years ago in another lifetime when Amelia's daddy was just my friend, he sent me a stuffed fox from Saudi Arabia. (He was in Desert Storm.) It may have been mail order so it probably didn't actually come from the desert, but I've always considered it my desert fox anyway (history buff that I am). Fast forward from 1990 to our Amelia days and she thinks it's her fox. I mean, every other stuffed animal in the house is hers, so why not the fox, too. I can understand her logic but it still tickles me when she calls it 'her fox'.

Daddy's orange cat, Maynard, is getting older and spends much of his time curled up and sleeping in one of three places. The other day Amelia came upon him and thought he was 'her fox'. Ever since the face incident of 6/22/07, we are vigilant about keeping her away from Maynard. Sometimes she toys with us, knowing but not understanding (remembering) why we are so wary with her near him, but we don't take chances anymore. So when she thought Maynard was her fox, when I knew it was Maynard, I jumped up and saw that she looked baffled when she realized it wasn't her fox and that she wasn't trying to mess with Maynard. I distracted her by reminding her the fox was on the sunroom and she went and got it. In her defense, I put the fox next to Maynard so we could see just how alike they are.

One of the other places Maynard likes to sleep is on the rug in the bathroom. This drives Amelia crazy because she knows she can't touch him or run him off. Just a few minutes ago, from the bathroom I hear, "Just like I have to take the hair out of my nose when it's in my way, you need to get out of my way, too, Maynard."

[picture 10/4/09]