The Christmas season is a time of peace, harmony and a time for families to get together and reminisce about old times. And so it is in our house...usually. You probably just queued in on the word usually written in the prior sentence. It's meaning sort of lets a reader know that although an occurrence might happen ninety-five or ninety-six times out of a hundred, there's a slight chance when the occurence doesn't happen. And that's what this posting is all about.

The peace, harmony and tranquility of our Christmas time were both shattered like a teapot falling to the kitchen floor, with shards scattering in all directions. You see, Declan and Lyric, two of our Shetland Sheepdogs (a.k.a. Shelties) decided to have a go-at-it in our kitchen the day after Christmas. Here's how the events unfolded...

We had made a fine pork roast for the special day. Cooked in a 350 degree oven, basted with a delicious paste of garlic, rosemary and olive oil, it pleased the olfactory senses with a tantilizing aroma and eventually graced our table accompanied by red potatoes roasted in the same pan with the pork. And what a fine meal it was, enjoyed by all and finished with our choice of pumpkin or apple pie,  the former with whipped cream, the latter with creamy vanilla ice cream. True, it was a cholesterol-watcher's nightmare, but as such was certainly a fine repast. I'm certain Scrooge, Cratchit etal. would have drooled over thr foodstuffs we had availalbe for our culinary considerations!

The next day, I was cutting some of the pork for a sandwich. All the dogs were around me, waiting expectantly for me to accidently drop the entire roast on the floor or at least to share some of the slices with them. The two contestants in the eventual battle, Declan and his mother, Lyric, were standing side by side, waiting for their share of the loot. Before I could react or stop their antics, the two of 'em went at it. Lily joined in, always ready to join in any rumble that occurs. Before I knew it, I was knee deep  in flying dog fur. I eventually broke up the spat, puting Declan in the living room and put a plastic kid's gate across the doorway. When I turned around, I noticed spots of blood on the floor and believe I uttered, "Oh, no!"

I coudn't immediately determine who was injured, but as the dogs milled about, saw that Lyric had a couple of spots of blood on her nose. Investigating further, I saw Declan had bitten her on the tip of her left ear. We brought her to the bedroom and administered the appropriate emergency care, which amounted to merely washing off the wound area and putting an antiseptic on it.

All parties are none the worse for wear and of course they're getting along O.K. together, but I really gotta stop feeding the pack when they're all together, most espacially when Declan is with them. 

As a corollary to the events that unfolded between Declan and his mother Lric on the day after Christmas, please note that when I sat down to dinner later that same day, I separated the little alpha boy (Declan) who always seems to start rumbles when there's food in the vacinity. All went well (meaning there was no blood spilled either during or after our meal).