Love that musk

A few weeks after Carlton and I had bought our house and moved in, I was at the grocery store after work to buy a few things for dinner one night.  I happened to bump into the guy who sold the house to us, Ted, and we chatted for a few minutes while I helped him find a specialty ingredient listed on his wife's "Honey Do" shopping list. As we talked, he invited Carlton and me to hang out with his wife and himself along with a group of their friends who get together once or twice a week.  Of course, I totally jumped on the opportunity to get to know some people who were our age in Moultrie!  Ted and his wife were recent UGA grads, and their group of friends were all newlyweds... the perfect group for Carlton and me to get in with!

So, a few weeks passed and plans were made for Ted and his wife Erin to pick Carlton and me up from the house and drive over to Tifton for dinner at a Japanese Steakhouse.  Ted, 28 was (and is!) a loud, sarcastic, animated character-of-a-guy who's easy to get along with right off the bat, and his wife Erin, 23, was so easy-going and sweet that we knew we'd stick around with this group.  We met the other couples: Cam & Erin (yep, a second Erin) were a freshly newlywed couple of two (or was it 6?) weeks, and Eric & Stella were also newlyweds of a few months.

After dinner that night, it became a regular weekly ordeal for each couple to host a dinner night and swap out cooking/entertaining responsibilities.  I soaked up the friendship and garage-door-style friends we had made... no knocking, no front door doorbell business... just bust through the carport door right into the kitchen, throw the beers in the fridge, and get to talkin' and laughin'!

The first time we had dinner at Eric and Stella's house was a big surprise to me.  I had heard tall tales, rumors, and other stories of a dog named Magnus, but other than that, Carlton and I knew nothing about him.  Honestly, I was expecting something like a Miniature Schnauzer or a Chocolate Lab or a Jack Russel Terrier.  But Eric and Stella had actually aptly named their dog.  Magnus's name fit him perfectly... he was a gigantic American Boxer and before I was even in the house he was running towards ME!!!  "Stand still and don't make eye contact! Don't run away, he'll chase you down and eat your guts! Hide your fingers, they're merely sweet morsels for this monster!" I told myself in instant stereotypical panic and fear of the beastly animal who was now fearlessly... sniffing my crotch and "wagging" his little inch-long nub of a tail???

Wait. I'm still alive?  I still have a face?  He's not eating me?  I still have my ears... my stud earrings didn't sparkle in the light and attract any quick-snapping jowly jaws of death?  And my ponytail is still intact... he hasn't yanked my hair off my scalp?  He's "wagging" that little nub and not snarling at me? These dogs aren't savage killing beasts?  I let him sniff the back of my hand.  He pushed his forehead into me and practically forced me to pet him.  Magnus was... kind?  Loving?  Sweet?  Craving love and affection from everyone around him?  Okay, I can live with a happy-go-lucky snub-nose dog!  And ever since then, Magnus and I have been the best of friends when Carlton and I visit.  (I ganked these pictures of Magnus from Stella's Facebook photo albums, so they may be a little distorted.  But ain't he cuuuuuuute?!??)

I even speak for him when Eric and Stella aren't paying attention.  For some reason he sounds a bit like Disney's character Goofy, only with a little more of a congested-sinuses undertone, and no "hyuk, hyuk, hyuk" after every sentence spoken.  He's actually quite the pouty whiner.

Well, nights with friends are always good ones.  But nights at Eric and Stella's are especially great for one of us... and it's not a person... it's a dog.  Of course, Magnus loves all the extra attention with all the extra willing-to-scratch fingers around.  But the truly happy dog in this situation is Vespa.

Vespa and Magnus have never met.  But, oh, would Vespa love to get to know Magnus!  I've tried and tried describing to Stella and Eric Vespa's elation, her exhilaration, her extreme-to-the-max love of Magnus's... musk.  When we come home from their house, it's usually around 11:00 or so on a Sunday evening and Carlton will quickly jump into the shower and get ready for bed.  And Vespa takes that opportunity to sniff and sniff and sniffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff until she just can't even breathe anymore!  Vespa is head-over-heals crazy about Magnus's musk.  She just can't get enough!  She'll actually sniff in for so long that she doesn't breathe out until she's almost choking or something!  But the whole time, Vespa's tail is just a-waggin'.

Below is a video of Vespa sniffing away at Carlton's crocks and athletic shorts that he wore to Eric and Stella's house on this particular Sunday night.  She can't even take the time to acknowledge me calling her name over and over again.  Please ignore all of her hanger chew toys and my overly-countrified accent... sometimes it's hard to hold on to that Hillbilly Georgia accent when you're around a bunch of Redneck twang!