I wake her up around 7:30. Once she gets out of her kennel, she heads for the kitchen for a drink of water. Sometimes she pauses by the food bowls. She is probably trying to figure out what to do next. We have a routine that we've followed her whole life, but she forgets what she was doing sometimes. Finding herself in the kitchen doorway, I think she can't remember if she was coming or going...time to pee or time to eat. Usually, if I nudge her in the right direction, she'll head for the door. She may do some stretching while all this goes on. Riveting, huh? Once on the porch, there is another "where am I?" moment. This could be because she's blind and deaf or she may have doggie dementia...I'll bet it's both, bless her heart. Then she waddles across the porch to the ramp Lee built her and does her business in the yard. After all the poking around she did getting outside, she is now fully awake and ready to pester me to insanity until I take care of her. She sure can do her morning yard business fast and get back up that ramp to the door. She taps on the front glass door with her nails until I let her in, she wants her treat, and wants her food immediately after that. If ignored, she stomps around the kitchen beneath my feet, knowing I will break my own neck before stepping on her. Sometimes it's just best to drop everything and get it all out of the way at once, even though I think it's ridiculous that she thinks food should follow her treat. This is not how she was raised! You can't reason with her. It simply will not work anymore. After eating, it's nap time. Can you believe it? She has a huge dog be in the living room. I hate it, but I want her to have a change of scenery, other than her kennel, so I have keep this in our living room for her to sleep on during the day. The idea was that it is big enough for all the dogs. Mindy lays dead center. It's clearly her bed. Ruby got sick and threw up on it last night. Mindy is not pleased this morning. She's in Oliver's kennel right now and Oliver has been forced to lay in Ruby's kennel. Ruby is rolled up in her Snuggie on the couch. Anytime Mindy gets out of bed for the rest of the day, you have to be on your toes. The phrase "She's on the move" is an alert that she is up and therefore needs to be routed outside after her drink to pee. Unlike the demands for food, she won't ask to go out anymore. She just stands around for a while and, if ignored, she'll do her business where she right there. Thank goodness we don't have carpet anymore. When it's time for bed, around 10PM, she suddenly has her wits about her. She finds me, asks to go out, wants a bedtime snack, and usually goes to sleep. She has her bad night, too, though. She will go out the door, turn around and tap on the glass, like she's done. Lies...all lies! I have to make her go down the ramp. After being tucked in, sometimes she wants a drink or to run around the living room/kitchen partition. Hilarious! She's like a little kid that doesn't want to go to sleep. This whole scenario cracks me up, so I let her act a fool, then put her back to bed. These dogs are a mess! Caesar Milan couldn't fix this old wiener dog. Oliver is looking more and more low maintenance as the years pass...now that we got rid of all the carpet that he liked to mark. He is a little escape artist though. He can unlock his kennel from the inside. Ruby could use some therapy. She's so anxious....I think she gets it from me. She learned my social anxiety or something. I always thought, "What's one more dog?" Now we want to travel, and with each of them getting older and more ornery, I see that having more than one dog can be quite foolish.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
A Day in the Life of Mindy
I wake her up around 7:30. Once she gets out of her kennel, she heads for the kitchen for a drink of water. Sometimes she pauses by the food bowls. She is probably trying to figure out what to do next. We have a routine that we've followed her whole life, but she forgets what she was doing sometimes. Finding herself in the kitchen doorway, I think she can't remember if she was coming or going...time to pee or time to eat. Usually, if I nudge her in the right direction, she'll head for the door. She may do some stretching while all this goes on. Riveting, huh? Once on the porch, there is another "where am I?" moment. This could be because she's blind and deaf or she may have doggie dementia...I'll bet it's both, bless her heart. Then she waddles across the porch to the ramp Lee built her and does her business in the yard. After all the poking around she did getting outside, she is now fully awake and ready to pester me to insanity until I take care of her. She sure can do her morning yard business fast and get back up that ramp to the door. She taps on the front glass door with her nails until I let her in, she wants her treat, and wants her food immediately after that. If ignored, she stomps around the kitchen beneath my feet, knowing I will break my own neck before stepping on her. Sometimes it's just best to drop everything and get it all out of the way at once, even though I think it's ridiculous that she thinks food should follow her treat. This is not how she was raised! You can't reason with her. It simply will not work anymore. After eating, it's nap time. Can you believe it? She has a huge dog be in the living room. I hate it, but I want her to have a change of scenery, other than her kennel, so I have keep this in our living room for her to sleep on during the day. The idea was that it is big enough for all the dogs. Mindy lays dead center. It's clearly her bed. Ruby got sick and threw up on it last night. Mindy is not pleased this morning. She's in Oliver's kennel right now and Oliver has been forced to lay in Ruby's kennel. Ruby is rolled up in her Snuggie on the couch. Anytime Mindy gets out of bed for the rest of the day, you have to be on your toes. The phrase "She's on the move" is an alert that she is up and therefore needs to be routed outside after her drink to pee. Unlike the demands for food, she won't ask to go out anymore. She just stands around for a while and, if ignored, she'll do her business where she right there. Thank goodness we don't have carpet anymore. When it's time for bed, around 10PM, she suddenly has her wits about her. She finds me, asks to go out, wants a bedtime snack, and usually goes to sleep. She has her bad night, too, though. She will go out the door, turn around and tap on the glass, like she's done. Lies...all lies! I have to make her go down the ramp. After being tucked in, sometimes she wants a drink or to run around the living room/kitchen partition. Hilarious! She's like a little kid that doesn't want to go to sleep. This whole scenario cracks me up, so I let her act a fool, then put her back to bed. These dogs are a mess! Caesar Milan couldn't fix this old wiener dog. Oliver is looking more and more low maintenance as the years pass...now that we got rid of all the carpet that he liked to mark. He is a little escape artist though. He can unlock his kennel from the inside. Ruby could use some therapy. She's so anxious....I think she gets it from me. She learned my social anxiety or something. I always thought, "What's one more dog?" Now we want to travel, and with each of them getting older and more ornery, I see that having more than one dog can be quite foolish.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Time Flies
We have been busy, nonstop, for about a month now. I can't say I'm loving it. We are used to a slower pace. That's why we like living in the country and off one income. There are never many engagements and Lee makes the money and I take care of things at home. So, when 5 o'clock rolls around, we can sit on the swing and have a cold drink and chat. That just like we like it.
We got off course about two weeks ago getting ready for a big party. About the time I got everything back to normal, Aunt Flo showed up. That bitch! So I got tied up tending to her and the house went back to hell. It hasn't rained much in the past two weeks, so I was tickled to death when it began to rain yesterday. We got two nice showers. My rain buckets filled up, so I can stop hauling water from the tap out to my flowers on the porch and give the sprinklers a rest. My plants are spoiled to chlorine-free water. It's been so hot and they are suffering because they had a rough time with five male dogs hanging out here over the weekend of the 4th. Somebody would pee on an azalea, then everybody else would have to mark it. Vicious cycle. And in the end, I am frantically trying to save two badly piss burned azaleas and a hydrangea. I'm seeing some new growth on the hydrangea, but the azaleas look pitiful.
Oh, and the red bud I've been nursing for 2+ years. Gone. Ruby and Coleman were playing so hard that they took it out. Lee and I saw them do it, looked at each other, shrugged, then he said, "I'm getting a smoke tree." I'm relieved. If I don't dig up the roots on the little bastard, it will torment me for years to come. It keeps getting wiped out and it keeps coming back, very unstable and in need of lots of tlc. Death to the red bud. I have dumped gallons upon gallons of miracle gro on that thing, and my results have never been impressive. Good riddance.
Mindy has been so demanding here lately. Spoiled is what she is. I know she can't be feeling great, and that's why I let her boss me around. She keeps eating her share of food and everyone else's. I don't know if she remembers being fed. She has her treat, then breakfast. Around 4 o'clock she begins following me around stomping her front feet. Afraid I'll step on her, cause I'm usually getting dinner started, I'll go ahead and feed her. Then, her daddy comes home, which is when she is supposed to be fed and she wants her dinner again. She has gained some weightt. It's so bad for her. She already has a difficult time walking around because her little legs are so short and seem to be less stiff and more rubbery these days. When she wakes up for her hours of napping, she toboggans off her over-sized dog bed and slides around on the bamboo floor. She always gives herself a good shake which leaves her spread eagle on her tummy. The she slips and slides until she makes it to the kitchen floor, which has some grip to it. She exhausts me.
We have found our honeymoon destination. Puerto Vallarta! The Barcelo resort, formerly the La Jolla de Mismaloya. We had a difficult time deciding because it's our first big trip that we've booked and paid for ourselves. I made a list of 11 destinations we were interested in. After devising a pro/con list based on all-inclusive price, safety, beach, bar, and food, we arrived at 4 possible destinations. Then, it just really came down to hotel to pool ration. Some of these places had beautiful grounds and a huge hotel, but the pool was tiny in comparison. Then, all I could think about is how nice that swim up bar looked and how it would keep it's patrons from having to get out of the pool. All those people from all those rooms in that pool that looked to small for the hotel. That's why the other places got crossed off the list. Barcelo won because back in the spring we saw it on the Travel Channels top 10 Mexican Beach Resorts, or something like that. It was made famous by the movie, Night of the Iguana. It looks terribly romantic with it's jungle back-drop. We have transferred funds from our saving to checking to purchase the tickets. We have bought our new traveling abroad luggage. It should arrive tomorrow. We have just a little over an hour to cross Houston's airport and board our flight to Mexico. Checking baggage would make things impossible. We bought back packs. They actually look like duffel bags. They are made by Osprey. They are light weight, have a ventilation system, alloy frame, cushioned harness and hip belts, and compression straps. Yes, we studied up. Matter of fact, we spent 2 days on our back pack research before making a decision. Crap, we may have spent more time making this decision than on the trip itself. But we plan to use them for future globe hopping adventures.
Now to find Lee some swim trunks, that he likes.
We got off course about two weeks ago getting ready for a big party. About the time I got everything back to normal, Aunt Flo showed up. That bitch! So I got tied up tending to her and the house went back to hell. It hasn't rained much in the past two weeks, so I was tickled to death when it began to rain yesterday. We got two nice showers. My rain buckets filled up, so I can stop hauling water from the tap out to my flowers on the porch and give the sprinklers a rest. My plants are spoiled to chlorine-free water. It's been so hot and they are suffering because they had a rough time with five male dogs hanging out here over the weekend of the 4th. Somebody would pee on an azalea, then everybody else would have to mark it. Vicious cycle. And in the end, I am frantically trying to save two badly piss burned azaleas and a hydrangea. I'm seeing some new growth on the hydrangea, but the azaleas look pitiful.
Oh, and the red bud I've been nursing for 2+ years. Gone. Ruby and Coleman were playing so hard that they took it out. Lee and I saw them do it, looked at each other, shrugged, then he said, "I'm getting a smoke tree." I'm relieved. If I don't dig up the roots on the little bastard, it will torment me for years to come. It keeps getting wiped out and it keeps coming back, very unstable and in need of lots of tlc. Death to the red bud. I have dumped gallons upon gallons of miracle gro on that thing, and my results have never been impressive. Good riddance.
Mindy has been so demanding here lately. Spoiled is what she is. I know she can't be feeling great, and that's why I let her boss me around. She keeps eating her share of food and everyone else's. I don't know if she remembers being fed. She has her treat, then breakfast. Around 4 o'clock she begins following me around stomping her front feet. Afraid I'll step on her, cause I'm usually getting dinner started, I'll go ahead and feed her. Then, her daddy comes home, which is when she is supposed to be fed and she wants her dinner again. She has gained some weightt. It's so bad for her. She already has a difficult time walking around because her little legs are so short and seem to be less stiff and more rubbery these days. When she wakes up for her hours of napping, she toboggans off her over-sized dog bed and slides around on the bamboo floor. She always gives herself a good shake which leaves her spread eagle on her tummy. The she slips and slides until she makes it to the kitchen floor, which has some grip to it. She exhausts me.
We have found our honeymoon destination. Puerto Vallarta! The Barcelo resort, formerly the La Jolla de Mismaloya. We had a difficult time deciding because it's our first big trip that we've booked and paid for ourselves. I made a list of 11 destinations we were interested in. After devising a pro/con list based on all-inclusive price, safety, beach, bar, and food, we arrived at 4 possible destinations. Then, it just really came down to hotel to pool ration. Some of these places had beautiful grounds and a huge hotel, but the pool was tiny in comparison. Then, all I could think about is how nice that swim up bar looked and how it would keep it's patrons from having to get out of the pool. All those people from all those rooms in that pool that looked to small for the hotel. That's why the other places got crossed off the list. Barcelo won because back in the spring we saw it on the Travel Channels top 10 Mexican Beach Resorts, or something like that. It was made famous by the movie, Night of the Iguana. It looks terribly romantic with it's jungle back-drop. We have transferred funds from our saving to checking to purchase the tickets. We have bought our new traveling abroad luggage. It should arrive tomorrow. We have just a little over an hour to cross Houston's airport and board our flight to Mexico. Checking baggage would make things impossible. We bought back packs. They actually look like duffel bags. They are made by Osprey. They are light weight, have a ventilation system, alloy frame, cushioned harness and hip belts, and compression straps. Yes, we studied up. Matter of fact, we spent 2 days on our back pack research before making a decision. Crap, we may have spent more time making this decision than on the trip itself. But we plan to use them for future globe hopping adventures.
Now to find Lee some swim trunks, that he likes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)