Wherein the Felonious Barkers jam with the famous L.A. band, Cooper and the Cupcakes

No, that’s not an orange armadillo sitting in the Zadge’s kitchen – it’s the famous internet sensation, Cooper Cupcake!
Yes, the Cupcakes were actually in DA HOUSE last week!  As part of their Western camping adventure, they spent a night with the Zadge in Old Vicky.  And Cooper sported his fleece like any good Coloradoan.

The Zadge felt like a couple of old college friends had landed in her house, what with the laughs and the feeling of knowing each other forever, even though they just met last week, and the cleaning up of dog pee, after Harry spooked the pee out of Cooper with his over-zealous greeting.

Cooper did take a serious shine to Bugs.  Can you blame him?  Of course, the size difference  posed a bit of a challenge to little Mr. Humper.

With little Cooper in the house, it was like the Zadge had a real-live set of Russian nesting dolls, a small (Cooper), medium (Bugs) and large (Harry).  The Zadge and Cupcake tried desperately to get a photo of the three all lined up by size, but this was the best they could do:
The Zadge and the ‘Cakes wanted to go out for dinner and were worried about leaving Cooper alone in the house with Harry the Tormentor.  So they decided to bring Cooper with them to the Zadge’s neighborhood Italian spot, and sit outside on the patio.  Except they got there and the patio was closed.  Perhaps due to the 35 degree nighttime temp?

The Zadge saw the slight panic on Cupcake’s face at the prospect of either returning Cooper to the Harry-Chaos or tethering him outside while they ate.  The Zadge took charge.

“Look, in his little orange fleece, he looks like a service dog.  Just leave it to me.  Follow my lead,” the Zadge said in her familiar bossy voice.   Then she strode into the restaurant with Cooper the Orange Armadillo Posing as a Service Dog in tow and said, “Table for 3.  And this is a service dog.”

Boom.  DONE.

Pretending to be a service dog is exhausting work and the Orange Armadillo promptly passed out under the table:

The Zadge is pretty sure she could pull off the same stunt with Bugs. But with Harry? Fuggedaboudit.

After a scrumptious pasta dinner, Zadge and the Cupcakes returned to Old Vicky and held a jam session. Mr. Cupcake is an accomplished guitar player and convinced the Zadge to pull out Blue Lena and strum along:

Despite the excitement of the impromptu concert, Cooper still couldn’t get enough of Bugs’ enchanting rear end:

Cupcake and Mr. Cupcake harmonized beautifully together.  The Zadge sang softly in the background, trying not to draw attention to her warbley voice.

Cooper, channeling his best Randy Jackson on American Idol, barked at Harry, “Pitchy, dawg, really pitchy”:
It was a fun, fab visit.  The Zadge was sad to see them go.  But now she has family in Santa Monica to visit!