Angel Jake at the RBC (Rainbow Broadcasting Corporation)

Angel Jake at the RBC (Rainbow Broadcasting Corporation)

Friday, April 16, 2010

Harry and the Cable Guys

On Tuesday, our cable service suddenly ceased serving. When we called our provider, they tried and tried to send a new signal to restart the service, but nothing worked. So they scheduled a technician to come out on Thursday morning -- yesterday.

As Mom waited for his arrival, she suddenly heard -- big surprise -- loud, persistent, ear-splitting barking. Just Harry kept sniffing at the door. And our barking frenzy kept getting louder and louder. Not seeing a truck outside, Mom thought we were just enjoying the sound of our own voices, as we sometimes do -- but then when we wouldn't stop barking, she looked through the peephole in the door and saw them: two cable guys.

What to do next? Open the door and have the two of us fight over who should have the honor of greeting the men? Or -- brilliant idea -- give us treats to distract us while she opened the door and apologized for the delay and racket? "I didn't see a truck." (They had parked it down the street.) "I have two dogs." (Yep.) "They like to bark." (Duh!!)

Well, she decided on the treat approach and let the two cable guys in. Our treats finished, we were happy to greet the men in our usual friendly (i.e., boisterous) way. But they liked us. They really liked us!And as they tried to figure out what was wrong, we offered to help.


Long story short: it turned out that the cable company itself had erroneously cut our service off on Tuesday instead of that of a neighbor who had moved.

To figure that out, however, they had to go outside, and open the gates of our patio. Which meant that Mom had to keep us inside. At one point she decided that one of us -- I, Jake --would be better off in the bathroom with the door closed so she wouldn't have to worry about the two of us getting in each other's way.

Not such a brilliant idea this time: I hate being confined. I first expressed my displeasure by barking. But then, when she didn't come get me right away I decided to leave her a token of how p___ed I was. It was only later, when she herself went into the bathroom that she discovered the puddle I had left. So, here's a lesson for all of you moms who think that dogs don't do things on purpose when they are upset, forget it. We do. [Note from Mom: Jakey had been out not an hour before and always holds it until we take him out.]


While we are writing this light-hearted tale, our hearts are actually very heavy thinking of our leader, Jackson, who has suffered a few more incidents since his stroke a few weeks ago and is fighting for his life. So we once again need all your prayers, zen, power of the paw. Please! He is such a fighter. Such a cool guy. And his Js are such amazing peeps.

Wirey love to all -- especially to our pals in England, Scotland, and parts of Europe who are affected by that cloud of volcanic ash!!

Jake

24 comments:

Angus said...

Additional treats are in order. The cable guys would never have got it all sorted that quickly without your advice.

Gus said...

OH, me and Teka love repairmen! And our contractors/handymen...well, Jeff is our flavorite, but we love them all.

gussie

Lacy said...

w00fs, at least u greet them, all me wants to do is bite them...heehee and me pees too when me trying to teach the hoomans a lesson...

b safe,
~rocky~

Molly the Airedale said...

We guess you got the point across to your mom that you didn't like being confined in the bathroom! It was the right room of the house to pee in, right?!
Our paws remain crossed for Jackson.

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

NAK and The Residents of The Khottage Now With KhattleDog! said...

Ha!!!

Too funny about the khable khutoff!

As fur helping, of khourse!

I help all the service tekhhs that end up here!

It was really fun two years ago when the basement was flooded when the sump pump khrapped out - the plumber heard me splashing towards him to help!

Great job!
Woo were working dogs fur a day!

My paws are khrossed fur Jackson too!

Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra

♥♥ The OP Pack ♥♥ said...

Mom makes us stay in the kitchen behind our gates when workers come to the house. But most of the time the workers just love us and we get to go visit them too. What a stupid mistake the cable company made - hope they did something nice to make it up to you.

We never really got to know Jackson but we do keep him in our thoughts and prayers. Poor guy has not had an easy time of it.

Woos - Phantom, Thunder, and Ciara

Dexter said...

Hey! I am glad that the cable guys figured things out even though you were in lockdown and had to transmit your thoughts telepathically.

That peemail was kind of a bad idea, though. Better to just chew on the window or any other piece of wood in there.

Slobbers,
Mango

Ina in Alaska said...

We don't know Jackson but as always we care about all the dogs in our Global Pack so we have our paws crossed too!

Your cable story is funny! I too hope they do something nice for you but that is a good lesson - if someone in your 'hood moves and the cable goes out, might be they have turned off the wrong signal! and I SO AGREE with you about how our little canine friends show their displeasure. Our late sister, Suzie, could hold it like an Olympian! But if she was sick, and nobody was around, she would do only her little poops right next to the toilet. Such a smart little girl. She is now at the Bridge waiting for us.

Have a great weekend!! xoxo

Asta said...

Jakey
I salute you!
We have to let ouw hoomoms know ouw opinions somehow if they wefoose to leawn doggie language. I', suwe that the cable guys wewe able to solve this pwoblem only because you and Just Hawwy helped them out. I bet it made theiw day to have you awound!
I'm pwaying so vewy hawd fow Jackson..he is so special to all of us
smoochie kisses
ASTa

Eric said...

Smart Boyz!Is there no end to your talents helping the cable men ...though of course we DO know one end of a wire from another..HAAAAA!!

Wiry loves Eric xxx (still giggling)

Martha said...

Sometimes humans don't really appreciate how much help we dogs are!
Of course the cable men liked you - they knew you were helping.
As for shutting you in the bathroom Jake - well Martha would have done exactly the same!
Sometimes it is essential to communicate your displeasure to humans in ways that they understand.
We are sorry to read about Jackson and are thinking of him and his
family.
love
Martha & Bailey xxx
ps we have seen no sign of volcanic ash in Scotland and the flights are flying again. So paws crossed!

Kari in Alaska said...

we are sure you provided lots of help

Agatha and Archie said...

Listen DO NOT TELL HER THIS...Archie has been trying to become a cable guy and he was down your way learning(he couldn't come to visit cuz he was really busy) and uhhhh he is no longer doing it......becasue uhhhhhh he was the one who cut off your cable..Just as well he is much better at cooking Love A+A PS Looks as if Mike Lowell is staying(yeah!!) and Big Popi is on the cutting board now..geesh...

Noah the Airedale said...

Crikey, lucky they were able to fix the cable problem. You look like you were getting lots of cuddles from those cable guys. I would have given them a big barking too!!!!

Poor J, we hope he can recover from more set backs. He's been through such an awful time of late.

Noah Willow Tess Lucy

Lorenza said...

Haaa!
I thought those "mistakes" happened only here in Mexico!
Glad they found out and fixed it!
Hmmm.... Jake... you go to the bathroom to... Yes! You did it in the right place! Ooops!
I have my paws crossed for Jackson too.
Take care
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza

WFT Nobby said...

Your story reminds me of a little episode that occurred about a week before Hamish died. I had an man round to install a new thermostat on my hot water tank. Normally Hamish took a great deal of interest and would try to help any workman who came to the house. But this time, although he was in the same room, he just ignored what was going on. I remember thinking that it was a bad sign. So be grateful that your boyz want to get fully involved!
Cheers, Gail
PS Less than twenty four hours until I am no longer 'between dogs'.....

Unknown said...

Ahh, I've been known to drop a tennis ball right into their work bags just to get a game going with repairmen! Of course, anytime the buzzer goes off in our apartment, I just assume whoever is on the way up is coming to see ME!

Don't know what we're going to do about our disappearing beagle babes...

Your pal,

Petey

WFT Nobby said...

Just remembered that you asked about the reference for the chart of relationships between dog breeds that I posted on my blog. It's in the journal 'Nature', volume 464, 8 April 2010. The article is titled 'Genome-wide SNP and haplotype analyses reveal a rich history underlying dog domestication' by Bridgett vonHoldt. As you can perhaps guess from the title, it is written by scientists for scientists, and some knowledge of genetics is required to decode the article!
Cheers, Gail.

TwoSpecialWires said...

Hey! We're playing catch up in a major way, and we don't even have Doggie Camp to blame. At least we announced a brief "Time Away" a couple of weeks ago. (Not that that makes us feel any better about our long hiatus.)

ANYWAY. 1. Deliberate peeing. I (Jake) used to do it all the time. (Still do, on occasion.) In all the wrong places, according to Moma. (Luckily Our Girl still loves me ... ahem ... it seems a certain place in her bedroom ... well ... I won't elaborate.)

2. Workers. Of the male variety. We don't have many men around this house. When they come, it's good for the male dog's soul. And snooter. Seems butt cracks are beyond temptation when a plumber is under the kitchen sink.

3. Jackson! We just read that he may be up for a short stroll (and photo shoot) at the Brighton Fun Walk on Saturday! Yay! Paws up for terrier tenacity!

4. Who is Penelope? Hmmmmmm? We noticed that demure little "hi". Seems a bit like the flirting sort to us!

Your Colorado pals,
Jake and Fergs xxoo

Scruffy, Lacie and Stanley's Place said...

Hello BOYZ!!!!!!!!

Yep...we know all about barkin' at repairmen...just today the doorbell rang...we ran to the front door...AND MUMSIE RAN OUT THE GARAGE...she sez it's "easier"....Sheesch...

Now Boyz...in no way did I mean to infer that all herons eat koi and lose in poker...that one was just a bad seed and a worse poker player...now your heron...I know he doesn't eat koi...actually, he and I've gone on a date...he did take me to a nice seafood restuarant...he had the roughy...I had a very small steak...about 56 oz to be exact...with a large baked...oh, you're probably not interested in what we ate...
But I was impressed with his skills as a photographer...he took 768 pix of ME...each one better than the last...

Anyway, I'll stop prattlin'...

Kisses to ya!!!

Miss Lacie Girlie

Princess Patches said...

Isn't it amazing how the cable company screws up and yet YOU have to be without cable for two days? We also have our internet and phone service with the cable company. Once we were without all 3 for 3 whole days and they only gave us $12.?? off our bill. Oh, yeah, and when they signed us up for phone service, they said that even if the cable went out, the phones wouldn't. LIES! I guess we are at their mercy since we've already tried satellite and it was even worse!

Aire-hugs,
Penny & Patches

Lenny said...

I love this story. Of course you guys helped the repairmen - they were fixing WIRES!! I am impressed with your technical know-how.

Your friend, Lenny

KEY WEST COLLIES said...

We are surprised that you didn't p-mail the cable guy.

Essex & Deacon

Maxmom said...

Hey there Jake!
So is your cable fixed now?!
I just had to pop by and wish you lots of strength in coping with your Mom's diet! She left some strange message on Maxmom's blog...I think you might want to offer her some of your supper! :) :)
Tell your mom we love her humour!
Lotsalicks
MAXDOG IN SOUTH AFRICA