Cali's New Toy

This is an email I got from Mike this morning. I thought it worthy of being posted and wished I could have been home to experience the scene myself.

"I heard a crinkly, plasticy sound this morning and thought that Cali had found a water bottle, so I made the "Shh!" sound and she stopped. Once I finally got out of bed, I witnessed the true mayhem that that sound foreshadowed.

On the ground in front of our bedroom was a pile of dark soil. A few feet away were the limp remains of what once was a basil plant, I'd guess. A few feet further away was the cause of it all, Cali's new favorite toy, the plastic plant holder thingy. Yep, she did it all for that wonderfully chewy plastic plant holder.

She was quite happy with her morning's devastating work and proceeded to walk all over the dirt pile while wagging her tail and utterly disregarding the green corpse at her feet. I patted her oblivious little head, kenneled her with some roast beef to munch on, so she'd really learn her lesson, and went to work. Thanks to my extensive training in plant resuscitation (courtesy of Monsanto Corp.), I was able to very carefully replant the badly beaten basil. He is now recuperating on the back deck. Prognosis is still unclear. I also cleaned up the carpet as well as I could, but there was a giant brown stain and several paw-shaped smaller stains all over the place. I'm still waiting to see whether that carpet cleaner stuff works as well as it advertises.

Anyway, I would advise against leaving Mr. Basil (if he survives) within reach of The Cali Monster from now on."


I'll keep you posted on whether Mr. Basil lives.