Thursday, February 21, 2008

PET Peeves, Real and Imagined

Okay, we'll switch gears a little. All those of you who have been ducking your heads under water until the poetry is over, you can come up now!

But before you read this week's challenge, can you please do us a favor? if you will look around the upper right corner of the page, you will see a place where you can let us know what kind of writing challenges you kind of prefer. Can you go vote on that and then come back? Blogmarm, and the young Blogglings who help her out, will wait right here.

Now that you've given us your vote (or at least tried to.... if cyberspace or your computer doesn't want to cooperate with you for some reason, you are excused), .....

I'd like to hear about your pet peeves.

Wait, it isn't that easy. Your PET peeves. In other words, what does your dog do that drives you NUTS? How does your goldfish act that makes no sense at all? Be sure you tell us your pet's name, what kind of animal, and what the baffling habit is.



Oh, and don't worry if you have no pets. Or if your pet is perfect and simply never peeves you. You're not off the hook. (Thought you were, huh?)
You get to tell us about an imaginary pet. It might be your pet - oh, I don't know - walrus. Picture the big fella, name him, and decide what strange or irritating behavior you might have to contend with, if he were really yours. Consider it a very-mini-novel for us to read.



And if you just feel like picking an imaginary pet instead of your own trusty-true Fido (maybe you don't want to publicly embarrass him : ), that's okay, too. Hopefully we'll be able to tell the difference between the non-fiction reports and the works of literary art. (So if you go fictional, you might as well make your pet far-fetched, to help us out!)


Okay, peeves, anyone?

14 comments:

The Blog Marm said...

We all share this little dog, but I suppose I am the only one who is driven nuts by this habit. (In fact, it's what inspired me issue this week's challenge.)
Our bedroom door closes but doesn't "click" closed unless you make some effort. Even if you lock it, it does no good unless you kind of lift up the door and make it click.
So I can't tell you how often (at least daily) I walk into my bedroom, casually push the door shut, and start to change clothes, then hear (within 10 seconds and just as I am changing....) someone else follow me into the room! Stormie may be tiny, but she throws all 7 lbs. of her weight around and hates to see a door shut between us.

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised you weren't thinking of Skittles when you posted it, Mom!
I guess it's just a parrot thing, but her constant squawking can really get to you!! Once in a while, she makes kissing noises or says, "Step up." It's much quieter then!
Actually, at the moment she's being very quiet...probably because she's too busy eating. :)

Caitlin said...

Another one for Skittles...she always knocks her food dish over (it's attached to the side of her cage) and spills all her food. Then later she starts squawking at us because she's hungry!

Anonymous said...

Daisy is so high strung she throws up in the house. I ask myself over and over "WHY do I have an animal living in the house?"
In Salt Lake we watched the show The Dog Whisperer he actually said that Daisy is a dog not a person and should be treated as such. I guess that's true but we would have to let Daisy down easy on that one.

Us: said...

Our dog Daisy really drives me crazy too. She comes into my room and jumps on my bed and will lay there until I tell her to get off. She will also lick my face whenever I sit on the floor.

Anonymous said...

(In the words of Isaiah, who is the only one not peeved by the licking):

I lift up my shirt so Stormie can lick my back - also my tummy. And I like it when she licks me! And she licks my hand....and she follows Mom. And she licks everybody's hand.
The End.

Anonymous said...

Stormie does "her business" on the porch and sidewalk more often than she does on the grass. Also, her breath smells terrible sometimes....
Other than that, she's a cool dog.

Anonymous said...

I can't sleep when Skittles makes a lot of noise. But I still like her.

Anonymous said...

My horse Josie has this weird phobia of being in her stall. (Which is where I feed her) Most days she's alright, but whenever it's dark, rainy, or cold, (which translates into horse hyperness) she is always running in and out and spilling her food everywhere. She has almost run me over several times and even after much discipline she STILL does it. -_-
-Catherine W-

Anonymous said...

Our Dog "Bell" whines and cries for no reason.
~Charity Sharpe

The Bowes Family said...

Kyle writes . . . .

Hi! I have a yellow Labrador named Danny. Here are some things that he does that drive me crazy! He likes to RUN to his neighbor-friend Taffy, thus making ME have to RUN up the hill (with my ever so helpful sisters) to get him. (He also has ruined wonderful visits to the beach when he runs to meet another dog!) He also likes to “mark” everything when we’re walking in town, from water hydrants to car wheels and does his “duty” in all the wrong places! Back at the house, he tracks mud into the house, and also tries to jump into my lap when he’s 85 pounds! But other than these things, he’s a great dog!


Lydia writes . . .

Justice, my one-year-old ram lamb gets into lots of trouble. I feed him graham crackers whenever I go to the pasture, and well, if I forget, he’s not too happy about it! He jumps all over me, and chews on my pocket (where the crackers should be)! He also does the same thing if I’m holding something he wants but can’t reach it.

He also loves attention. I often sit down in the grass and pet him and his sister, Mercy. If I turn my back on him so I can pet Mercy, he paws at me with his hard hoof! I have a jacket that is very obviously showing the hoof prints. Is is a work of art indeed . . . at least to Justice!

One other thing he has figured out is how to open the pasture’s gate. He uses his nose to slip the chain up off of the hook that holds the gate in place. The he paws at the gate until it swings open and he, and his sister are free at last!


Caroline writes . . .


Hi! I have a brown goat that when I try to feed him grain he runs over to any bucket but the one I want him to go to! So, I have to wrestle him over to the right bucket and let the other goats eat out of the other buckets.

Another pet peeve is when I TRY to walk him. He is very, very, very stubborn, so I pull and push and all he does is walk a few steps or jump up into the air! And when I finally get him to where I want him to be, he charges back to the pasture, and I have to start all over again!


Valerie writes . . .

I have an Australian shepherd named Anna who I love very much. However, there are a couple of things she does that I could call “pet peeves”. One is when she sleeps with me, she comes up to my face and licks me. Then I pet her for a couple of seconds and I will put my hand down on my bed and she will use her cold, wet nose to lift my hand up off the bed. Then she will tilt her head way up and that, if I don’t do anything with my hand, will make it slide down her face and back.

My other pet peeve with her is that she is a wonderful escape artist! Since she is not fully potty trained yet, we have to keep her contained or tethered at night and when we are away. The problem is, she can slip out of her collar, chew through all her leashes and escape a gap in our metal pen!

Victoria writes . . .

I have a goat named Faith. Every time I try to walk her she gets up on her hind feet and jumps! Also, when I let her out of the fence to feed her, she runs over to the sheep’s grain bin and head-buts the lid until it come off. By the tie I close the gate to the pasture, she is already half-way in the bin eating all the grain! Even when I love her so much, she is still frustrating sometimes.

Mommy writes . . .

Llama spit:( Yuck!

Anonymous said...

My howler monkey, Spanky, is always... well, never mind, I guess that goes without saying...

Anonymous said...

Ok, here is the sequence of our animal (must I say pet?). Farmer Allen prepares garden area, rototills, fertilizes soil many times, many ways. Purchases choice plants. Places them tenderly in freshly toiled and pampered land.No pets of our own though we appreciate do own them. Freshly tilled soil lures every feline for miles around. Oh, what a new, pretty sand box Farmer Allen has prepared for us. This feline invites another. To farmer Allen's dismay beautiful tomato plants and others have been sprayed with foul smelling urine and in an attempt to cover their entry to said garden it has been dug in, peed in and Farmer Allen patiently visits garden center again. Where are the beloved owners of said felines? Waiing in the wings for those precious items to grace their table but their wait will be a long one as Farmer Allen repurchases, replants and wonders how many other times this will be repeated. Where are the feline owners? We do not know but we know the ONE who does.

The Blog Marm said...

By the way, that was my mom : )