Happy Birthday Ajax!

Today, Ajax turned 8. It's hard to believe he's getting up there in years, especially after tonight. To celebrate his birth, we took Jax for a walk to the park with the kids after dinner. When I say "took Jax for a walk", what I really mean is, "Jax dragged my ass in full on sled dog mode all the way to the park and back."

He's still crazy. I'm sure one day he'll slow down, but that day hasn't yet arrived. Ri tried to feed him a doggy treat, one of the treats we bought him for a present today, while we were on our way to the park. Jax was like, "Screw you chick - I'm going to the park and I'm not stopping for nothing - especially not for food!"

Of course, the crazy ass dog is somewhat trained. I even got him to sit for me at the street corner as we were waiting for a safe chance to cross. Then it was full on sled dog mode once again.

While at the park, the children played while Jax barked. His version of participating. He also spent a bit of time shedding about 8 trillion pounds of fur as I pet him to keep him quiet.

On the way back home, we took "the long way" by the haunted house - Ro's favorite way to go. Every time we pass that crazy broken-down house ,we never knew existed before the park was built, we spot some new creepy attribute. Tonight we noticed a strange rope dangling from the upper most broken out window. Why? I don't know. Perhaps some kids were trying to sneak in for fun.

Anyway, after wondering past the old "haunted house", we went our usual path back home next to the farm. The cows were out - as they usually are. Surprisingly, Ajax has never in his life noticed that cows exist, much less that they live right there in that grass field he walks by all the time. He didn't notice them on the way to the park. But on the way back his nose went wild. His ears shot up. The fur on the back of his neck ruffled up.

It was the craziest thing I had ever seen. My 8-year-old dog realized for the first time that we have cows two blocks away. He decided right away these huge beasts were going to eat us and he must do everything in his power to protect his pac. Little does he know, we aren't afraid of the sweet little calves and big mama cows - the sheep creeps me out sometimes, but I'm still not scared of him. Right about the moment he nearly pulled me over head-first, I realized I had made a huge mistake not bringing the claw collar of doom tonight. The claw collar keeps Jax from pulling too hard on the leash. I survived, as did the cows. But they were sure stunned as hell to see my completely wild white dog lunging at their fence, snarling his most vicious of barks at them, all the way down the street.

I'm sure one day Jackie will slow down. But thankfully that day hasn't yet arrived.