Brief Update

A quick note to let you all know that all is well here in KSA. Hmm, well, to be honest, it's not that great but we don't have open violence in the streets.


I am planning a trip OOK in a few days--I was going to come and go through Bahrain. After the events of yesterday, I scrapped my original itinerary and simply bought a new ticket that takes me in and out of Dammam in Saudi Arabia instead.

Like you, we all must wait and see how all of these terrible events across the world will play out.

The Magic Dresser

Dogs are so smart, yet at the end of the day they are just dogs. Mimi can get her three neurons whirling around and accomplish some amazing feats but she still does things that leave me shaking my head.

When she started deliberately destroying a toy, I would take it away from her and put it on top of my dresser. After a few days, I would take it down and let her play with it again. When the destruction started up again, I'd repeat the process.

The unfortunate result of what started out as a logical solution to a problem is the creation of an entirely new problem: Mimi has become obsessed with the dresser. If I say "let's play some baby!" she will run upstairs and start boinging in front of it--even if there is no toy on top! She will completely ignore the array of perfectly good toys at her feet. I can't entice her to play with a toy from the floor. No, only a toy from the top of the dresser will do.

I tried ignoring her and would play with Harry instead. Mimi would whine and fuss and literally insert herself between me and Harry, trying to get my attention to shift to the dresser.

In the end, the only solution is for me to pick up a toy from the floor and set it on top of the dresser for a second or two, maybe wiggle it around a bit. It doesn't seem to matter that she can see me put the toy from the floor on the dresser--she excitedly boings the whole time. It doesn't even matter which toy I choose. As long as it has been on top of the magic dresser, that's the toy she wants and that's the toy she will play with.