Idle Minutes

Rosie at play.

Yes…she’s playing. Actually she’s resting from play for a few minutes.

It’s still play because she uses these moments to her advantage
to psyche out her nemisis…the sheep.
In a moment she will pop up on all fours and grab ol’ sheepy cross the back
and clamp down for a couple of good loud squeaks.

Then reposition her clamp to the little stubby tail for a good shaking.

There is nothing ol’ sheepy can do.
He is trapped in the stare down.
He can’t move.
He can’t scream.
He can’t breath.
Poor thing can’t even take a fear induced dump.

But hey…most of the time he lives in an air conditioned toy box, free of harassment, with a dozen or so other tortured souls.
It could be worse.

Getting to this stage of play with Rosie involves pre-play and post-play.
Both of which require one human, usually my wife.
My wife is Rosie’s “Jolly Playmate”.
A subject for another entry in the Book of Rosie.

BTW, this one is a spread across two pages of the sketchbook. As with all the illustrations here at Idle Minutes, you can click on it to see a larger version.

As I mentioned in the last post, Rosie had a birthday this past Monday the 10th.
She’s thirteen. That’s uh, ninety-one in human years.

I hope I’m still able to bark as loud as she does when I’m ninety-one.
I also hope I’m still able to chase squirrels,
or at least be annoyed enough to bark at them like she does.
And I hope I’m still able to do the scratchy-rolly maneuver.

What exactly IS the scratchy-rolly maneuver?
She begins by pushing the side of her head into the carpet while walking forward (corgis are quite short legged), then flops the trailing end of her long body over on her back and begins to roll slightly back and forth. Coinciding with this rolly movement is a repeating left-right-left bending of her torso. All of this rolling and bending is done while still on her back and is set to the lyrical groans and noises unique to Welsh Corgis.

This typically goes on for thirty seconds to a minute with a one or two second pause here and there for a light sneeze (also while still on her back). Then she pops up on all fours, sort of freezes in position with a blank stare, and suddenly gives a good hard head shaking sneeze. Lastly, a good shaking from head to rump.

Maneuver completed. Time to do something else. Woofing, barking, racing ’round the couch, or simply going to the bedroom and curling up on the bed…again.

Birthday Modification…
On her birthday, around mid-morning, she performed the standard scratchy-rolly maneuver with one small modification. Instead of popping up and producing the final sneeze and full body shake, she remained on her back…and fell asleep.

What we see here is the modified scratchy-rolly maneuver.

I find this to be an ideal modification for one to make on their birthday scratchy-rolly maneuvers and I intend to incorporate it into my own birthday fun in April.

I learn something from Rosie almost daily.