Santa in October

Hey guess what, I saw Santa Clause walking to school today. He had a genie by his side. I know the stores started setting out their Christmas merchandise the end of August, but it seemed a little early to see him strolling down the street in his signature red suit...

I scheduled in an appointment on my outlook calendar to write a post today -- I thought if I at least get one up each month during those less-than-prolific times of writing, that would be somewhat respectable and possibly alleviate comparisons to the beloved June & Fundie. I was going to write about diets, or as Garfield would say, "die with a t". Beamer, our toy fox terrier who resembles a stout sausage, is on a diet. He has been banned from doing dishes. It is quite a heartbreaking development in his life and could have merited a humorous (from my perspective) post, but seeing Santa Clause walk by just took my thoughts another direction.

With my youngest now officially a teen, I was kind of hoping my days of thinking about Halloween costumes were over. And in some ways they are, because instead of it being a consuming project involving trips to the fabric store and hours at the sewing desk, the kids have been on their own in recent years. For some reason the lure of free candy is a more powerful message than my, "You're too old to trick-or-treat". So they keep coming up with costumes. But it is not just them -- for the third year in a row, that stout sausage I mentioned above has also worn a costume. Unfortunately for him, there is no lure of free candy, just an evening walk with too many starts and stops.

Though Beamer no doubt wishes Michelle would stop buying him costumes (it is not me!), all things considered, this year he did better than in the past. The photo above shows one of Michelle's boards from her Expository speech and chronicles some of Beamer's wardrobe. His first Halloween costume, once again purchased by Michelle, was a pumpkin hat complete with little pumpkin garters to go around each of his four ankles. When Michelle decked him out in that one and then tried to take him for a walk, he just sat down on the street and refused to go any further. A dog has limits you know. After that, she mercifully lost the garters, but the hat is with us to this day. As soon as he can work it off, he grabs it in his teeth and shakes it for dear life.

Last year Beamer was garbed in a fisherman's, or fisherdog's, vest and hat. Very cute. Not quite as bad as the pumpkin. And, luckily for the sausage, he outgrew that one and it now fits only Squiggy.

So, considering his history, the Count Dracula cape Michelle lovingly purchased for her little dog this year is quite an improvement. It has panache. It commands a little respect. No pumpkin hat for this tough dog!

I took Beamer out to photograph him in his dapper cape. He patiently sat for me while I snapped a shot or two. Although he was obeying my command to sit, there was no way he was going to look at me. He had his eye on that ninja cat approaching from behind.

Some of you may recall previous posts on Squiggy. He is the crooked tail cat Michelle adopted for her birthday last year. What a little character. Although he continues to be gentle in keeping his claws padded, he has developed into quite the scourge of the other Rowland's pets. He's technically an adult yet he has remained quite small, and very playfully kitten-like. If he'd been a human, he would have made a great junior high youth pastor.

Beamer always has a careful eye out for Squiggy, who takes great delight in ambushing him whether it be as he climbs the stairs, or happens to pass an innocent looking box in the kitchen, or just walks past the couch. Think Cato in the Pink Panther movies -- although he appears so sweetly innocent at times, this orange ball of fluff is one persistent ninja. Just ask Beamer!

So there you go. Hopefully this post will not be front and center on my blog until the end of November. It is possible that before then I will be inspired to share something a little more profound. God has taught me much these last several months and put me into a ministry that is stretching me like never before, forcing me to depend on Him to a greater degree, and causing me to marvel as I see His faithfulness demonstrated over and over. Maybe some of those thoughts will reveal themselves in a future post. Until then, just be glad Michelle is not buying your Halloween costumes!

Oh, and BTW, about the Santa costume...Beamer's done that one too.