exciting times on dogwood street

Things have been kind of crazy in my house these past few days... First, I'll start out by telling you that three out of five dogs in my house are on medication for three different things: Henry - antibiotics for his lick granuloma, Penny - something to help with her wicked upset stomach she had late last week, and Oliver - all natural "stress pills" for his recent anxiety attacks. And of course each of these required a separate trip to the vet. Why can't they understand that it would be so much better for me (and my bank account) if they'd just coordinate the timing of their ailments?

Anyway, two nights ago, I was in Martha Stewart mode and had baked a bunch of fun Halloween cupcakes to take to the office and give to friends. I had placed several - seven to be exact - cupcakes on the table in the dining room in order to make more room in the kitchen. When I went to retrieve them about 15 minutes later, I discovered Henry polishing off the very last one. Of course, they were chocolate. Chocolate cake and chocolate frosting. So I immediately begin trying to chase him down. But he thinks he's in trouble so he immediately begins running from me. I manage to catch him, dump him in the tub and then pour a couple tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide down his throat. I won't go into detail, but I'll just say that I got my seven cupcakes back - wrappers still on - about 2 minutes later.

And then last night, around 11 pm, my entire crew cornered one of these in the backyard:

So there I am, in my pajamas, trying to convince a pack of dogs that the inside of my house is more interesting than the live possum sitting on my fence. Miraculously, I did manage to persuade all of them of that... except for Ollie. That dog just has too much terrier in him to let a varmint go willingly. So I had to go and physically drag him back in the house while praying that the possum didn't decide to jump on my head.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we've had our fill of excitement for a while. I can't take much more...