i wonder what my pet is thinking when i talk to him/her.

the pets in my home are as follows:
-hank, an all black cat who was my birthday present some 7 years ago.
-a tank full of nameless fish
-zeke, our brand spanking new puppy dog

for this week's topic, i think i'll begin with the oldest pet and work my way down. soooo....let's start with hanky. it's funny how he was *my* gift, but became jas's cat almost instantly. he's a fine cat. i have no issues with him (other than the time he dropped a 1/2 dead mouse on my living room floor and it began scurrying about while i screamed bloody murder at the top of my lungs), but i wouldn't say we're close exactly. he'll walk by and i'll pet him and sometimes love on him, but he's not a real lovey-dovey cat. he doesn't interact with me much and i'm okay with that. he's long and skinny and has brown eyes. he's a predator and enjoys chasing rabbits and proudly displays his catch for us to appreciate on the back deck. thoughtful, isn't he? hanky is fiesty and my favorite (enter sarcasm here) time of interaction with him is when i'm sound asleep. sometimes, i'll sleep with my feet outside of the blankets and as i'm enjoying my visit to dreamland, when he'll bat at my foot with his paw -- claws out -- promptly scaring the holy heck out of me.

i'd almost bet that most times when i talk to hank, he's thinking, "come on, lady. please stop boring me with all of this talk. i have some serious business to attend to. word on the street is that the rabbit at the house a few doors down had a new batch of babes. quick! quick! think of a way to wriggle from her arms. ah, yes, bat her on the cheek with my claws. that does the trick every time." as you can see, he has way better things to do than love on little, ole me.

onto the tank of nameless fish. okay, i'm done. i never ever interact with them and only occasionally do i feed them. plus, i refuse to believe that they are even smart enough to think anything at all, much less carry on a conversation.

our newest addition is next - zeke. we just got him on saturday at around 5:00pm, so we've not had a full 48 hrs with this fine, young man. he's a mutt, but a beautiful one. he's golden in color and has feet and ears that he hasn't grown into yet. he's a sweet thing and enjoys being held and loved on. i've had lots of conversations with zeke in the past day or so. most of them involve explaining how to potty and poop outside of the house as opposed to on my living room or bedroom floors. other times, i'll ask him something like, 'hey, buddy! whatcha' doin'?' unfortunately, at this point, i think zeke hears me talk like the teacher on the peanuts cartoon, "whah, whah, whah..." he has wonderful expressions with his eyes, so it's a sure bet that he's thinking as he cocks his head to the side, "just smile and nod. just smile and nod. sure, uh, huh. okay, lady."

there are a few shimmers of hope though when something i'll say seems to break through to him. like this morning, for example. he started to sniff around on the living room floor, so i said, "zeke! do you have to go potty? do you need to go outside, boy?" he looked at me and thought, "okay, i know this one...think, zeke, think...potty...outside. oh! oh! oh! i know! pick me! i know the answer to this one!" he promptly ran to the back door and i let him out. i'm loving the breakthroughs - and so is my carpet. let's keep those lines of communication open!