When Odessa came to us she had an emerald green collar to match her eyes,
with a little bell and safety clasp, and as she was quite used to it we left
it on her. Then yesterday it occurred to Louie that all the kids should have
some pretty jewelry too, so he went to Petsmart and came back with a dapper
blue one for Stosh, a pretty pink one for ladylike Roxie, and a bright
purple one for rowdy little Brandy.

And then all hell broke loose.

We first tried to dress up Stosh. "Oh, I don't FREAKIN' THINK SO!" he said
in no uncertain terms. He pushed my hands away, kept twisting about and
trying to nip me. We finally got it on him and adjusted, and when we put him
down he retaliated by grabbing my sock and trying to pull it off. when the
claws didn't work he resorted to teeth. He usually refers to me as Mama, but
this time called me Mother... and then concluded with the other half of the
word.

Brandy was whining all the way through. A spoiled child, she has a
well-developed whine and uses it when going for her shots, or when she's not
fed first. She was better than Stosh about getting her collar, but spent the
first hour contorting her fat little self tring to bite the bell off.

Roxie kept trying to run, more because she dislikes restraint than the
collar. But the bell confused her, and she was running in circles trying to
trace the source of the jingle. Like a kitten chases its tail, except she
had this "what the hell...?" look on her face.

Odessa sat calmly to the side, and I swear she was chuckling.

Stosh is now busting his chops trying to walk without jingling. The problem
is that he is somewhat lacking in the grace department, and walks more like
a lumberjack stamping mud off his boots than anything else. Otherwise, the
kids have gotten used to their new finery and look quite fashionable.

Blessed be,
Baha