House Scorecard

Remember Tyger?  

He's just about the cutest thing you've ever seen.  He's getting taller (by a LOT) and he comes to greet me every day when I walk in the kitchen door.  Well, Tyger has become something of an amateur escape artist.   For instance, the other day while both my roommate and I were gone to school, Tyger proceeded to escape from his cage.  Did he figure out how to open the door?  No, my friends--that would be much too simple!  Instead he discovered how to pop off the side panel of his cage.  This is one smart puppy, folks!  He didn't wreak too much havoc on the house.  He spared all of Sarah's and my belongings (thanks, Tyger!), only bothering to tear up the trash.  :)  

However, due to this persistent pup, we've had to take some measures to ensure that if Tyger does escape from Alcatraz he can only go so far.  Sarah (my roommate) set up a doggy gate to keep Tyger in the kitchen and she barricaded our swinging door to the dining room so he couldn't get through.  This is all well and good except for the fact that Tyger is expected to end up weighing approximately 60 lbs.  For a puppy he's already pretty tall.  So last night, Tyger got it in his mind to leap the doggy gate--and he did!  He's stubborn like his Mom and his Aunt Carrie.  :)

And the scorecard read:

Tyger--1 / Doggy Gate--0

Sarah set out to look for a remedy to this.  She decided that placing two chairs in front of the puppy gate would keep Tyger in the kitchen (Tyger--1 / Doggy Gate--1).  Good plan.  Then she went to bed, and Tyger seemed content to stay in his cage as I puttered around, whipping up The Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti.  YUM!  I cook for myself, often once a week.  If I make a big casserole of something, I am able to take it for lunch and/or dinner throughout the week.  So, I have to make sure that I make something delicious that I'm not going to hate by the end of the week--and PW's casserole is just the thing!

After the casserole came out of the oven, I got myself a heaping helping!   Then I headed to my room to buckle down with Paradise Lost and questions of nature, gender, and science.  The casserole was so good that I needed seconds!  I carefully stepped back over the gate and scooped out some more Chicken Spaghetti.  Then I turned the kitchen lights back off, and stepped across the gate with my left foot first.  However, my left knee rammed into the black chair that I didn't see, sending the heavy wooden chair falling over and me limping around.  I kept my Chicken Spaghetti safe though--fear not, readers!  I'd swear that Tyger laughed at me.

In case you are keeping score that means:

Tyger--2  /  Doggy Gate--2  /  Carrie--O

That's right, friends.  A graduate student in English was defeated by a doggy gate, a 5 month old puppy, and a wooden chair.  

But I did get a good meal out of it. :)