Lark: We drove 4 ½ days. That’s 1500 miles. To go where? Pictured ROCKS National Lakeshore! All that time in the truck, with my feet curled up under me going to sleep. With you hogging the seat. And what do we see? ROCKS. Haven’t I made it clear? I hate rocks!
Cory: I know you hate rocks. Mom and Dad know you hate rocks. As a matter of fact, everyone knows you hate rocks.
Lark: Even the beach is covered in rocks. Little tiny rocks that get between my toes. I dig in the sand and what do I find? More rocks.
Cory: So, we have established that rocks are your pet peeve.
Lark: And there you go again, talking in language I don’t understand. What’s a peeve?
Cory: I’ve told you before, a pet peeve is something that you find especially annoying.
Lark: Got it.
Cory: For now, I predict you’ll forget again.
Lark: Ok, you want to talk about pet peeves? You are my pet peeve. Always thinking you are smarter than me.
Cory: Because I am.
Lark: And you know what else is a pet peeve for me?
Cory: Besides rocks?
Lark: And you? I hate it when I’m trying to go to the bathroom and gnats crawl up my butt.
Cory: Ok, that might be a little too graphic.
Lark: Well, it is annoying. They were really bad in Indiana.
Cory: Yes, they were. But, we had a nice dog park there. Where we could run.
Lark: Yup, and I was running away from those gnats. And while we are talking about poop, here’s another thing that is annoying. The way Mom squeals, “Good girl, Larkie” as she runs to pick up my poop so she can carry it with her on our walk.
Cory: It’s not like she’s saving it, you know. She’s just cleaning up after you.
Lark: It’s still annoying. And I really hate it when she takes us out, and it is raining. Not going out in the rain. Nope, not me.
Cory: Gnats can’t fly in the rain.
Lark: And I’ll tell you something else that annoys me. When they can’t figure out which way to drive because that stupid plastic box tells them to go the wrong way, and everyone gets stressed out and starts yelling. It doesn’t help that you start barking, too.
Cory: just trying to calm everyone down. Speaking of barking, why were you going crazy on top of the Mackinac Bridge. There wasn’t anyone around and all of a sudden you start barking like you’d seen a ghost.
Lark: Maybe I did. I’ll never tell.
Cory: Well, it scared all of us, and I tell you I was already scared about that tall bridge with so much construction and traffic. Boats down below us looked like little toys.
Lark: To tell you the truth, I wanted to jump out of the car and dive down to get them.
Cory: Sure, you did. Knucklehead.
Lark: See, I told you that you were a peeve. And here’s another. That stupid exercise pen Mom brought. Does she really think that will keep me locked up? Why wouldn’t she just want to keep me with her, anyway?
Cory: Any more you want to tell us about?
Lark: Yeah, I hate being cold.
Cory: You’ve come to the wrong state. You should have stayed home. Anything else?
Lark: How much time do you have? I’ve got a bundle.
Cory: Um, I think times up. Let’s go see if Mom will fix our dinner.
Lark: That reminds me of how annoying you are when you bark the whole time Mom is fixing our dinner.
Cory: Next time, I’ll tell her not to fix you any.
Lark: Sure, peeve.
High maintenance dogs!! Who needs ‘em?! We apparently we all do!
Have fun!!