Jack Frost

In addition to my inexplicable need to torture my dogs with silly outfits I also love to make The Boy crazy with weird things that freak him out. There was the infamous wobbly cat toy that to this day is The Boy's best reaction to any mysterious object I've ever witnessed, but a few other things have come quite close. A friend of mine offered her 'welcome snowman' to me since she hates him and wanted him to go to a new home. He has a little jingle and says things like 'Come on in, it's cold outside' and 'Be our guest, stay awhile' so I knew this was the perfect opportunity for some evening amusement.

I set him down in the livingroom and the first dog to discover his little motion sensor trick was Leeloo. She was mildly suspicious but lost interest fairly fast. Archer also had a few good stares and curious head tilting but again, no more than you would expect and a quick acceptance of this new fangled item Mom has brought home. The Boy ... it was all hysteria the second it made a noise.

At first he would go no closer than about 8 feet and that was even pushing it. When it actually made noise he shot backwards and then crept slowly forward on tenderhooks waiting for the laser beams of death to strike. He gradually got closer and closer but as soon as the motion sensor went off it was back to square one.When he had Archer for back up he was a little more brave but I assume that he figured dog eating snowmen liked their Ridgebacks young and tender - like veal.

He eventually came within a few feet and the expression on his face is priceless - it truly does a body good to have this sort of entertainment for a half hour or so on a snowy evening.

He gradually came around to the possibility that this was not in fact a Ridgeback eating snowman but I think it really took Weasley's thumbs up to finally convince him. The snowman doesn't get activated now unless someone walks in the door so its not as talkative as it was last night and even now they barely flick an eyebrow when it sings its little jingle. Although ... I am now beginning to see why someone would be eager to give it away ...