Memes

Don't you just love--and hate--memes? I know what a meme is; but I don't really know what a meme is, do you?

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about computer memes: The term Internet meme (/ˈmiːm/; meem)[1] is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet.[2] The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although the latter concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information. The earliest known usage of the word meme is in the book The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins published in 1976.

I still don't know what exactly a meme is, but I know that I've been sent plenty of them to complete and pass on and I've read plenty of them on the (too) many blogs that I read.

What if our dogs were to do a "Tell Us About Yourself" meme?  Maybe Darby's and Pumpkin's would go like this:

1. What was your favorite pastime when you were young?

Pumpkin: I used to like....
Darby: Wait! Let me answer first. I'm the oldest. I should go first. I used to like running after The One Who Feeds Us and nipping at her heels.
Pumpkin: I liked to rumble with my brother Bailey and the big dogs at Leda's. I wish Darby-do-goody would play-fight like Bailey and I used to do.

2. What do you do for play now?

(silence)
Darby: Well, aren't you going to answer, Pumpkin?
Pumpkin: I thought you wanted to go first because you are the oldest. What I do for play now is chase lizards in the backyard.
Darby: Not fair! That's what I was going to say!

3. If you could have one change in your life, right now, and have it stick, what would it be?

Pumpkin: You go first.
Darby: I would have The One Who Feeds Us stay home with us every single day, all day long, not just on those two days that come after the five days she leaves for most of the day.
Pumpkin: Oh, geeez, Darby! What a suck-up.  You don't even know if she is going to read this!  I would get a fresh marrow bone every day.

4. What was your most memorable meal?

Darby: Wait! Let me, let me! I remember the time The One Who Feeds Us and The One Who Doesn't Feed Us were talking REALLY loud during our dinner time. They didn't notice that the lid was off the dog food container and I got to eat as much as I could reach! Pumpkin didn’t get any because she is too short to get into the bucket. She also can't drink out of the toilets.
Pumpkin: Yeah; that was a bummer. My most memorable meal was that lizard I caught and didn't drop when The One Who Feeds Us said "Drop it!"

5. If you could go back in time and tell yourself one thing, what would it be?

Pumpkin: "Don’t worry, Girlfriend. That cranky Darby will come to love you."
Darby: I’m not cranky and I don't love you.  I just tolerate you.  I love The One Who Feeds Us.  I would tell myself, “Don’t worry. Some day you’ll actually like it when The One Who Feeds Us wants to hold you on her lap."

6.)You find a $50 bill but you have to spend it right now—what do you buy?

Darby: Well, of course we aren't physically capable of buying something, but if we were, I would by something nice for The One Who Feeds Us.
Pumpkin: Marrow bones, marrow bones, and MORE MARROW BONES!

8.) What are the top 5 things on your bucket list?

Pumpkin and Darby in unison: What's a bucket list?

Pumpkin:  So, aren't you supposed to DON'T BREAK THIS CHAIN, send this to five thousand people including the one who sent it to us, in the next five minutes, so that something WONDERFUL will happen? Hurry, hurry! Do it and maybe marrow bones will rain from the sky.
Darby:  That isn't very likely, Pumpkin.  Still, it won't hurt to send it; you never know!