At this current moment, the Hughes household is divided.

Steph is hanging out in Portland, Maine this week.  She’s out there for business and not to play in the hurricane which is fortunately far enough south that it isn’t bothering her except for large amounts of rain and wind.  She’s a bit cooped up, stuck between the client site and her hotel room, but otherwise safe.  I’m back here in Iowa and surviving as best I can (which is remarkably well all things considered).

The pets, however, have not taken to her absence nearly as well.

Tim Tam (the cat) seems more annoyed with me than usual.  Yesterday I came home from work to find that a water glass I had left on the table had been knocked over.  I grabbed a towel, cleaned up the floor, and then laid it on the table to soak up the water.  While it was doing that, I turned around to let the dog out.  When I turned back, the cat was sitting on the towel.  He looked at me.  Then to the glass I had turned upright.

Then he knocked it over.

I set it upright.  He knocked it over again.

I don’t think he likes me right now.

Tucker is normally apathetic when either one of us is gone on a trip.  As long as we give him a treat before leaving, he doesn’t care.  This trip has been slightly different.  He has taken his aggression out on the bathroom garbage can.  After a couple of clean-ups, I ended up setting the garbage can on the toilet before I leave the house (he likes to sleep on the bathroom floor so I leave the door open for him).

Last night when I returned from ASL class, the first thing I noticed was that the bathroom door was closed.  The dog was nowhere in sight.  A bit concerned, I went to open the door … and found I couldn’t.  Poked my head around the corner to find that the dog had knocked the garbage can off the toilet and in falling, it shoved the door shut, effectively trapping the dog inside.

He seemed very content sleeping amongst the trash.

*sigh*