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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>I don’t know if I mentioned it or not, but new houndies Baxter and Bunny are quite obese -- really, really fat. And they love to bellow and shriek any time anyone sets a toe in the kitchen – which is not real surprising, you don’t get as fat as they are on dog food, unless you get almost non-stop treats. Now you may not remember this, but Crazy Sister Bea was permanently banned from the kitchen several months ago for stealing cat food, and I have pieces of plywood blocking every entrance to the kitchen. The plywood pieces are about 2 foot high and fit into the door frames, they have a cat entry notch cut into each, so cats can come in the kitchen but not dogs. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>This evening when we all got back from our walks, I went into the bathroom to wash up and decide what to fix everyone for dinner. As I’m washing hands and filling the bathroom water bowl, I suddenly hear plywood rattling against a door frame. So I shriek at whoever is doing it to knock it off, put the water bowl down and walk out to see what’s going on. It was Bunny, she had tried to break into the kitchen through the door on one end, gave up and went to another door with another barrier, and she had her snooter in the cat hatch and was trying to lift the plywood up and out of the door. I forgot to mention that the evil squirt bottle now resides in the kitchen and is used on dogs who are screaming at whoever is in the kitchen. So Bunny is trying to break in through the den and the squirt bottle is in the kitchen, Baxter and Bea are egging her on, and here comes Mama into the den, bellowing extremely loudly and stomping her feet as hard as she can. Miss Bunny sees the feet flying up and down (kind of like marching and stomping at the same time) and hears the yelling and takes off, as do Baxter and Bea. Holly and the cats have already hit the flap to the pet door and headed out back. Silence. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Mama goes into the kitchen and fixes herself some dinner before everyone else gets theirs. Usually I’m last and share, but not tonight. Nope, Mama is mad. I fixed the dogs their bowls and made them eat in the den (tile floors) instead of in the kitchen. Handed out bowls over the kitchen door barrier, none of them is getting in the kitchen tonight. They ate, then all scattered and have been very quietly sleeping since. Good. No more food riots. Mama won this round.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>Anita Woodrum<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'><a href="mailto:awoodrum@clear.net">awoodrum@clear.net</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>