IT'S PARLOR TIME! / JULY 30,2008 =D

At the risk of this adventure blog turning into a live journal on Buster J, I’m going to write about this particular bit anyway! After almost 5 weeks of being with us, Buster J has turned from a smart and spritely mini-schnauzer into an adorable, cuddly….uh….mutt. Hahaha! You’d have to wade through tons of facial hair to get a glimpse of his puppy-dog eyes. His cropped cut has given way to a wave of curls.

“Tweet,” the Hubby said one morning, “Buster is starting to look like you.” BWISET! Hahaha! He was, of course, referring to the hair. (Or at least, he better be referring to the hair. Hmp. >:p)

And so it goes that after office hours two Thursdays ago, the Hubby & I decided to bring Buster to Pet Scan @ Tiendesitas for his first ever grooming session under our wings. At P550 per dog, I thought, man, mas mahal pa yung haircut and pedicure niya! Hahaha. =) But just as most moms spend more to bring their kids to the mall parlor with the fancy car seats instead of dropping by the neighborhood parlorista who would’ve charged only P40 (with shampoo and blow-dry na), we did not even think twice about shelling out the equivalent of a few day’s lunch money for our pup’s grooming needs. Ngyah. =)

The instructions given to the groomer were pretty routine—mini-schnauzer cut, Kuya--with the only major discussion point (between the Hubby and me) being about whether we should have Buster’s foot fur cropped. I did NOT want to do it. He’s a mini-schnauzer for goodness sakes; he should have fur on his feet! I told the groomer to just make sure that the fur between his paws were trimmed and that his foot fur did not extend too much to the ground.

The Hubby protested; he wanted it cropped. I suppose since he usually walks Buster, he’s the one who keeps getting irritated every time Buster J’s fur gets wet as he pees. I tried to stand my ground. The Hubby was adamant. In the end, I gave in. The discussion in front of the pet groomer was getting ridiculous. “The only way he will see the folly in his ways is to actually let him get what he wants,” I thought, seething.

“I-poo-poodle cut ko po yung paa?” the groomer clarified.

“Kuya! Wag yung naka-shave pati yung legs ha!” I blurted out, horrified by the idea of a Buster J with poodle legs.

“Di po, Ma’am,” he reassured me, “Yung sa paa lang.”

The Hubby gave a definitive YES!

We stayed with Buster J for a while and watched him go from all scraggly to cleaned-up, the entire time reassuring him (through a glass window) that things are going to be OK. When we felt Buster settle down, we decided to steal a bit of time to get a quick dinner over at the Savory Chicken House at the SM Supercenter right beside Tiendesitas.

Now I’ve always heard about the “oldies” speak about Savory Chicken with reverence. Father, in particular, would sometimes wax nostalgic over having lunch at Savory when he was younger and still worked in the vicinity of Ermita (it was the Central Business District back then). The Hubby, on the other hand, seemed to have a real recollection of actually savoring Savory Chicken when he was young. I had no such recollection, so I eagerly trooped along with him.

We both went for the combo meal. Quarter chicken, salt & pepper spareribs, rice, one sliver of banana fritters, two small turon pieces + a glass of drink. At P195 per plate, it was not exactly cheap, but what the heck! The food arrived. Forget the rest of the food. None of them were spectacular. If I were to go back a second time, I’d just go for the chicken. I’d pay for nothing more than the chicken. In my mind, only the chicken would give me my money’s worth.

It may not look like much in the pic, but the chicken was crunchy and perfectly seasoned. Not too salty, it was flavored with some unique spice I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It actually did not taste like fried chicken to me, and reminded me more of the fried pigeons I used to savor at the Macau Pigeon House in Rockwell before the restaurant sadly folded up. Savory Chicken was the type you would dream about going back for over and over. The “oldies” were right. =)

The Hubby decided he also wanted to have it for baon the next day, and ordered A WHOLE CHICKEN for take-out. P320. Still not cheap. We just hoped it would still taste as good the following day. I suspected that it will not taste as good without the crunchy skin. Sadly, I was right. After a night’s stay in the ref, the Savory Chicken was no longer as…uh…savory. =(

We were done with dinner in no time, and trooped back to Tiendesitas to find our Buster J being bathed, then blow-dried (which, from experience I know he totally, TOTALLY hates!).

He couldn’t contain his excitement when we finally went through the door to pick him up (the entire time, we were watching him through the glass window on the other side). Hubby Sweet took one look at him and said, “Uh…...Tweet......uh, hahaba naman yung hair niya sa paa, di ba?" ACK! Hmp. >:/ I wanted to bonk him, but decided to just laugh. “Mukhang weird kase. Nakakatakot. Parang di dapat kalbo yung feet niya,” he continued.

"Of course!" I thought, but resisted the need to say I told you so.

In any case, I suppose it will all grow back over the next four to five weeks. At least, I HOPE IT DOES. Hay. =)

Anyway!

Here’s Buster J with his new haircut. Please try to ignore his chicken feet. Hahaha! ‘D

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Buster slept soundly that night. I think maybe he may have been stressed by the entire thing. =( In any case, as soon as he entered the unit, he practically plopped down on the pillows we had laid out on our mats for watching TV in the sala.

“Huy, tabi dyan. Higaan ko yan eh!” Hubby Sweet kidded as he gently tried to move him, but our pup just wouldn’t budge. =)

“Huy, amo mo ko no!” the Hubby repeated, chuckling. =) No reply.

After that incident, the Hubby stopped calling him Buster, and has since referred to him by his new designation: Master. Meet Master Johnson. Hahaha! ‘D