One.
Between Emmett and Lucas, someone’s going to the vet nearly every week for a checkup or blood test. I dutifully schedule tech appointments at the same time to get Newt’s nails trimmed. And every time I get there, I have to tell them to cancel it because I, once again, couldn’t get her in her carrier. Then, my brilliant friend suggested wrapping her in a towel like a burrito and shoving her in, and today, gosh darnit, Newt got her nails trimmed! Winning!! Current score? Me: 1, Newt: 900 or so…
Two.
One of my dearest friends in the entire world got married over the weekend. I was blessed and honored to be a part of the ceremony. It meant leaving the herd for a couple nights–something inherently stressful but more so with current events. My parents came down to Bloomington, and they LOVE my parents. My parents spoil them to pieces. I knew it would be fine and, if anything, we might arrive home to find them a bit chubbier.
Saturday morning my phone rings, and my mom is breathless.
“Lucas is really scaring me,” she says. “He’s in the yard, and he won’t get up. I keep calling and calling, and he’s not even lifting his head.”
I sigh. “Go in the house, and get the package of cocktail sausages out of the fridge. Take it to the door, and shake the bag.”
I hear her fling open the door, run up the stairs, and rummage in the fridge. A few seconds later, through the phone I hear her fly back down the stairs, run outside, and…
“You little shit! You scared me half to death,” she yells. She picks up the phone. “He came inside for the sausages,” she growls. “I was having a heart attack.”
Sweet, obstinate Lucas will not come when he’s called in the house if it’s a nice sunny day, which it was, and he has found himself a grassy spot for a nap, which he had.
Three.
We are not having good luck with appliances. In the past little bit our garbage disposal broke (nbd, we compost most everything anyway), followed by the microwave (slightly bigger deal but still okay), followed by the washing machine. Not. Okay. We ordered a new one to be delivered today–yay!–and when it arrived it was all dented up–boo–so a new one has to come tomorrow. Anyway, when the delivery men first showed up, we put the dogs behind the gate in the basement and Newt closed in the bedroom. Dear, sweet, elderly, arthritic Emmett Mack-trucked his way through the gate, releasing the hounds all over the Lowes deliver men. We may or may not get a new washing machine tomorrow. (Incidentally, the pic above is the one I took after we discovered Emmett had “released” the recycling from its prison and spread it all over the house with the tastiest bits–milk cartons–licked clean from his dog bed! He’s TWELVE!)
***
That is life around here these days! I have this little notebook where I jot down post ideas. It’s getting full. I think I’m about done taking time off. Things are… weird… but they need to be somewhat normal. Although, funny thing about normal, we have two massive changes coming that I’ll share with you guys very soon. Anyway, plan is to get back to a posting schedule starting on Monday. In the meantime, have a wonderful weekend! We’ll be (hopefully) doing all the sheets, towels, clothes, dog beds, and blankets that have piled up over weeks of no washer, plus a micro-hike and trip to Sonic for Lukey!
🙂 🙂 I just cannot stop smiling about your Mom yelling “you little shit…!” at Lucas!! I can’t tell you the number of times I yelled the same thing at Callie and Shadow when they finally came scrambling out from under the utility building in the back yard to greet me when I got home from work. That was eons ago, when they were Ducky’s age, before I employed the dog sitter.
Ha! Glad to know Lukey isn’t the only stubborn mule 🙂
Love reading your posts!! Never a dull moment for you it sounds like. My pack sleeps all day, except for small breaks to go outside. We have a small backyard and a nice deck, but they don’t want to stay outside. They are too spoiled!!
Aww!! Sounds like they definitely have the good life! 😉
PS. I’m glad you’re ready to come back – I’ve missed you!
Thank you!! I’ve missed you! I’m planning to binge-read blogs this weekend and can’t wait to catch up on how you’re doing. Think of you every day!
Your poor mother!! What a stinker that Lucas is to scare her like that!
He really, really is… I was laughing, but she was upset! 😉
Mine have been abusing their in-house privileges a tad since the doggy door was installed a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday I came home to a partially shredded cardboard cat scratcher. Today the religious pamphlets I ‘accidentally’ left on the floor were completely untouched but the hounds found a portable water dish to chew. I just hope they’ll never notice the leather sofas are delicious….
Well… maybe they thought it was for them? You bought THEM a new toy. Not the stinky cats. That’s what they told me, anyway. They said they really thought that was for them… Yeah…
Well, dangit, Maggie, now my brain is hampster-wheeling over your two huge mystery changes! (I know they say change is good, but man, I reeealy hope these are way GOOD, considering all you have going on.)
Also, YAYYYY! I’m so glad the towel trick worked for you and Newt. And thank you for the kind word. 🙂 I have a feeling the score will sway in your favor before long. (Love that you took her picture behind mesh bars. Score, indeed!)
Such sweet faces behind all these vignettes. Naughty, sweet faces. ? But hey, at least the Lowes dude’s name wasn’t Emmett, Cooper or Lucas (unless it was, in which case, I bet he was REALLY confused). 😀
I spell hamster wrong EVERY flipping time!
I DO TOO! HamPster just seems right!
Anyway… Truly, I’m so grateful for the suggestion. I’m embarrassed to admit that it never would’ve occurred to me on my own, so thank you!
Ha! Daisy has taken to laying down in the sunshine in the middle of walks if she doesn’t feel like going inside yet. She just picks a place on the concrete in front of our building and stretches out, leaving me to yell, “You are not a cat!” like a maniac in the middle of the street. Luckily, she is half Lucas’s size and I just pick her up and set her on her feet, contrary to her heliotropic desires. (The first time she did it though, she’d been sick, so I have felt your mom’s panic. I was in tears, and when I found out it was just a desire for comfort, I was so ANGRY at the little brat. And relieved.)
Sweet Daisy! I can see how frustrating that must be, but I also think that’s hilarious!! Especially imagining you yelling that she’s not a cat–too funny!
I laughed out loud about the antics of your furkids. They keep life interesting, don’t they? I keep waiting for life to get back to “normal” too, but what is normal? Life keeps changing, and I guess it’s up to us to roll with the punches.
I was just thinking about you and the crew last night and hoping that all is going …as well as it can be. Speaking of little shits, that reminded me of when Ray was still in his cone he would whine and cry until I sat on the floor with him then he would sit on my lap and snuggle. Or so I thought. He was actually using me as leverage to bend his cone and lick his stitches. Little shit.
That would have nearly given me a heart attack as well, but of course your mom’s reaction makes it priceless. Oh sausages, eh? 🙂
hi, i too found your blog via schmoops blog. the pcuitres of maggie bought tears to my eyes and the thought of what you and your husband must be going through i just can’t imagine. my fur babies are in quarantine at the moment and i went to see them today for the first time of what will be a 20 week ritual. i was just feeling sorry for myself and then read about your loss. your pain must be immeasurable, and my heart now aches for you. i don’t know you, but i truly, truly, send you much love. i am so sorry.