Meltdowns

Yesterday, two members of the Saratoga Animal Shelter have suffered what can only be described as mental meldowns.

1. The Duck- I couldn't get her egg out from the duckhouse yesterday because I was too tired, so I had my dad look for it when he got here. He didn't find it either, which then required that we go on an egg hunt in the Little Backyard to see if she happened to lay it in another one of her nests. We did not find an egg. What we found was Randi's tennis ball neatly placed in her nest. I'd have a picture but when I said, "Dad, I'm going to take a picture, don't move the tennis ball," and went in to get the camera, he heard, "Dad, get the tennis ball." The duck clearly has some issues if she believes she can hatch a tennis ball.

2. Puppy Clark-Last night we all got into bed rather quickly and calmly. I was flanked by Randi and Clark and Earl was pleasantly posed at the foot of the bed. All of the sudden Clark jumped off of the bed and faced the wall with his tail in between his legs. He wouldn't move. He wouldn't look at me. He wouldn't sit. He wouldn't turn around and he wouldn't jump on the bed. Normally this type of behavior is preceded by some sort of altercation with Earl's alter ego Mob Boss Earl, but I had heard nary a peep out of either of them. In case Earl had been sending Mob Boss psychic energy or looks, I tried blocking him from Clark's view by propping up a pillow. That didn't work. I advised his girlfriend via text that her boyfriend had gone insane and per her instruction I told him that she loved him and would be home soon (but not that she was at a party in a penthouse at Cesar's Palace, which surely would have put him over the edge.) When that didn't phase him, I decided to perform canine resuscitation: I went to the kitchen and took out the cold cuts. Clark pulled himself out of it long enough to eat some turkey, but as soon as we walked back into the room he went right back to staring at the wall next to the bed. I figured he wasn't too far gone if he was still willing to eat cold cuts, so I turned off the light and went to sleep. About 3:30, he snapped out of it and jumped on the bed.

This morning I found two eggs in the duckhouse which I had to throw away because I don't know which was laid this morning and Clark is acting perfectly normal.