Tag Archives: dogs

I Love Dogs – Part 2

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A few days ago I got a notice that a couple of people had read and “liked” a post I did from January 2015 titled, “I Love Dogs.”  After I got that notice, I went back and read the post.  OMG, talk about opening the water works and tears flowing.  Our little Cavaliers, Shawn and Maggie were just a little more than 3 at that time and I wrote in detail all about them and their little personalities.  We lost both dogs last year, Maggie in July and Shawn in November.  Cavaliers are prone to a genetic heart defect and that defect took both of my babies at just 8 and 9 years of age.  We have so missed them and reading that post opened up the wound again. 

We have been actively searching for a new fur baby, but not another Cavalier.  The heart defect is just too prominent in this breed and neither my husband nor I can do that again any time soon.  As I said in my last post, we had decided to change breeds to the Shih Tzu.  You know researching breeders is exhausting.  The other thing that is exhausting is we can find no puppies.  Most of the time, they just recently had puppies but they are all gone.  Most of them have a 6 month to 12 month waiting list.  Now I am a patient woman, but this has been a real test.  I’m just looking for a glimmer of hope here….

In carefully looking at breeders, I found one just about 75 miles from our home.  She had a dog who would have pups towards the end of January and be ready to go at 12 weeks, which would be in April.  OK, now we are getting somewhere.  These days you have to put your name on a list and then when puppies are born, the breeders go down that list.  We found the same thing with the Cavaliers.  I guess when you have the demand, you can do that.  So I put my name on the list.  She had a vet checkup date set for my birthday to see if the dog had conceived.  The appointment was on December 30 my birthday so that’s a good sign right?  Well a dagger got shot through our hearts.  Her dog had not conceived.  So our name on the list goes to the next set of dogs she has that she will breed.

The next batch of puppies from this breeder are due in late spring, not sure if that’s April, May … If we are lucky enough to be high enough on the list, we might have a baby in June or July…  My patience is waning and really, just makes me sad.  My husband suggested that we see if we can find another breeder in the meantime.  I really didn’t want to start over. 

I was coming home from work when I noticed my neighbor out in her front yard repotting a plant.  Her little dog was out in the yard with her and then I remembered, SHE HAS A SHIH TZU!  Maybe she would have a contact for me.  I walked over and we talked for a bit and she said she would check with a few people.  BAM, within an hour she had given me the names of 5 people to check with.  One of those had sold a puppy to her niece at Christmas.  This breeder had a private Facebook page.  I asked to join and was immediately accepted.  As soon as I got on the page she was showing two four week old females she had left in her current litter!  And there she was, this adorable little black and white baby.  I turned the phone to my husband to see her and he said, “When can we go get her? I love her already.” 

Well we can go get her in 3-4 weeks.  Can you believe it?  We are going to be parents again!

Goodbye 2020

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Happy New Year!!!!  Let’s all take a big breath and be grateful that 2020 is gone…. but certainly not forgotten.  I’m not naive, I know that the problems we had in 2020 are not going to magically disappear, but I can begin the new year with the hope that 2021 will be much better.  We had a really wet and cold New Year’s Eve with thunder and flood warnings.  Then at 9:30 p.m. all the lights went out in our house.  We opened the front door and all was dark everywhere we looked.  Wasn’t that just a perfect end to 2020?  The power was only off a couple of minutes but maybe that was the universe giving us a reset.  Fingers crossed.

With all that went on from March through December, I had one personal realization and we suffered two tragedies. 

I had a light bulb moment about 3 months ago.  My priorities were changing.  An opportunity for a new chapter in my life; a new chapter where I spend more time with those I love doing the things I love.  In order to begin this new chapter, I must retire.  And so I shall on July 1, 2022!  Life is short and I don’t want to put off that next chapter any longer than I have to.  If I could retire today, I would.

My husband came into my life when I was 44 and we have been together 17 years now.  One of the wonderful things about our marriage is that we would rather spend time with one another than with anyone else.   When we went into lock-down mode and spent even more time together, it made me aware that I needed more of that. Thankfully, he feels the same way.  When he asked me what changed my mind about retirement it was an easy answer.  I want to spend more time with you.  Retiring will also give me an opportunity to see my daughter and her family more.  They live in Arkansas and COVID kept from seeing them for a whole year.  Do you know how much a 9 and 12-year-old can change in a year?

In the middle of everything else going on last year, we lost both of our beloved Cavalier King Charles Spaniels within four months of one another.  We are heartbroken.  This was the first holiday season Keith and I haven’t had a dog.  I have to tell you; it is a huge hole in our life.  Both dogs suffered the horrible heart disease that Cavaliers are prone to.  We lost Maggie in July and Shawn in November.  She was just a few weeks away from her 9th birthday and Shawn was 9.  Both deaths happened unexpectedly and we were not prepared.

When Maggie died I told my husband that at some point I might not want to have a dog in our life.  He was quick to respond by saying, that’s just your grief talking.  Of course he was right.  Shortly thereafter, we started trying to find a friend for Shawn, another Cavalier.  While we were actively trying to find another Cavalier puppy, I was taking Shawn to doggie day care for a half a day.  He absolutely loved it and we saw another fun side to him.  Then it happened again one Saturday night.  He went into congestive heart failure we lost him.  Again in my mind I told myself, no more dogs…..but of course that was my grief talking again.  Yes, we want another dog in our lives, we just need to grieve for a bit.  This time I had an additional emotion to add to my grief, anger.  I am not sure why, but I felt extreme anger over both of their deaths for weeks.  I still cry some days when I think about them and I still expect them to greet me at the back door.  It’s a process and we are working through it.

In moving forward, I was adamant about us not getting another Cavalier.  How was I going to get my husband on board with that?  Their personalities are what sold us on the breed to begin with.  A dog that would be happy just hanging out was what we wanted and what we got.  They were sweet, happy go lucky and great little travelers.  If I was going to talk him out of another Cavalier, I would need to find us another option and sell him on it.  After my research, I had come to a decision about our next dog breed and I called my daughter to talk about it.  When I told her I wasn’t sure I could sell my husband on it she had some sage advice.  “Mom, all he wants to do is make you happy.  Just talk to him.”  She was right of course.

I pulled up a picture of the Shih Tzu on my phone and went in to talk to him.  I tearfully said I couldn’t do another Cavalier and he agreed he couldn’t either.   “So what kind of dog would we get?” he asked.  I turned my phone to him to see the picture.  “What is that?” he asked.  A Shih Tzu, a Chinese lapdog who wants nothing more than to sit on our laps and hang out.  Then I said to him, “Guess what they most often die from.”  “What?” he asked.  OLD AGE, NOT HEART DISEASE.  So the search for our new baby has begun.

So as we begin 2021 with hope for a better year, I will remember 2020 for the things it gave us and for the hardships that came with it.

Just Some Random Thoughts

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OceanIt’s the last week of school in my district and although I work in the district office, I am so ready for this year to be over. The last month has been crazy as it is every year at this time.   I am worn slick. We all are. So today all I can offer are “random” thoughts because my brain can’t process much else. So let’s begin.

Every day when I come home from work I pass a small manufacturing facility which boasts a sign telling the world how many days they have gone without an accident. I always look at it. I can’t wait to see if they made it another day. About six weeks ago I noticed they had made it up to 30 days without an injury. However, here we are six week later and the sign still says 30 days. I know. Maybe the person that updates the sign got hurt…..

It is a sad day when insurance companies feel they know better than you who should remove your brain tumor. It’s even sadder when they want you to foot most of the bill when you decide that they shouldn’t be the one to dictate who cuts open your head. More to come on this I’m sure.

There are days in my office where the phone rings nonstop and my patience is wearing thin. But it never fails, just when I’m about to bite the head off the next person that calls, a friendly voice is on the other end of the line and I feel my stress level go way down. It’s one of our child nutrition staff members who has called with a daily scripture reading, just because she is a wonderful person and somehow she seems to know just when I need it. Wonder who else’s life she changes with this every day?

On the news today there was a report about how much Hillary Clinton made in the last 30 months or so. It was a very large number. The reporter viewed it as a negative. You go girl.

When Keith and I start packing for trips, the dogs know. They begin pouting and sadness engulfs them and me. On our most recent trip, they went with me into the garage as I put my bag and pillow in the back of the car. Their little faces were smiling, their tails were wagging and I realized that they thought they were coming with us. Broke my heart and I shed a little tear as I explained that I would be back in a couple of days.

Olive Garden is one of my favorite places to eat, so when we travel, we look for one. On our latest adventure, we stopped at one in Temple, Texas. It was packed. We got seated and right next to us is a big table of about 12 people. One of the family members appeared to be a boy of about age 8. Now I like kids, but when one is allowed to bark like a dog for about 15 minutes in a crowded restaurant, that’s a bit much for me. In my mind, I really wanted to go over to his parents and remind them that “dogs weren’t allowed in the restaurant.”

When you are driving down the road and see one of those little Kia Soul vehicles, do you look to see if a life-sized chipmunk is driving. I do. Haven’t seen one yet, but I haven’t given up. I know they can drive those little cars, I’ve seen it on TV.

I was recently sitting in the car at the San Antonio airport waiting to pick up my sister-in-law.  I was watching people arriving and being picked up by friends and family. It was fascinating watching their reactions when they saw their loved ones. Some people jumped up and down, some waved madly. Some ran up to each other and hugged. Made me smile.

Enough random thoughts for one day.

I Love Dogs

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King 2013Rarely has there been a time in my life when I was not the proud human parent of a dog or dogs. They bring me absolute joy and I can’t imagine my life without a dog in it. My parents started me off on this journey when they got me my first dog at the age of 18 months and I had that dog until I was 14. Dogs have come and gone out of my life over the years and a few have been extra special. In 2011, I lost my precious Westie, Rylee Jo Lynn, after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. Not a day goes by when I don’t think about her and I’m still shedding tears because I miss her adorable little face and spunky attitude. She was one of those dogs in my life that made an imprint on my soul. I was devastated when I finally had to let her go and getting another dog seemed like something I would never be able to do again. Alas, my husband thought the perfect solution was to get another dog quickly. Not ready to consider it, I put him off.Rylee

I had Rylee when Keith and I met so we were a package deal. I am very proud to say that Keith fell in love with her too. Months before we lost Rylee, we knew our time with her was limited. Knowing that in time we would want to get another dog, we didn’t know what kind of dog. While I loved my little Westie, I could not bear to get another one. Even now when I see one somewhere, all I can think about is Rylee. She was just so special that I could not replace her with another one. So our search was on. We started by thinking about what attributes we wanted in a dog. I wanted something small, but not too small. Something that could travel with us, something that I could cuddle with and something that would sit in my lap. We both wanted a dog with a good temperament, non aggressive, fun loving and gentle. Tall order huh?

That summer we went on vacation in Colorado. One of the days we were out looking at the sites, we visited Seven Falls. We took the elevator up to the top to look out over the area. When we arrived onto the observation deck there was a couple with a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. I had never seen one in real life. I walked over to the owners and asked if I could pet their dog. While I was petting the dog, the owner proceeded to tell me what wonderful dogs that Cavaliers are. Keith quickly noticed and he came over as well. A light bulb went off in our minds and in our hearts. Our dog research now included the Cavalier.

When we got home we started looking up the specifics of the King Charles Cavalier Spaniel. According to our research: The most beloved characteristic of Cavaliers is their sweet, kissable, and delightful temperament. They are playful, extremely patient and eager to please. Great with people of all ages and are the essential “lap dog”.  Sounds like the perfect breed for us! So by the time Rylee had passed, we had decided our next dog would be a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

About a month after Rylee’s passing, I told Keith I might be willing to consider getting another dog. Maybe it would help. Now where in the world would we find this dog? We knew no one in our town that had one. In fact, the only one I had ever seen outside of the AKC dog show on TV each year was that one in Colorado. Of course you can find anything on the Internet. We did some research and found a woman who bred them in Edmond. We went up and visited her and her dogs and just did not feel comfortable with her situation and I’ll leave it at that. We kept looking and found a breeder in Cleburne, Texas, three hours south of Ardmore. We contacted him and scheduled a visit to “look” only.

20140530-163644-59804379.jpgWe arrived at Cavaliers of Castlemar and the breeder took us to the kennel where he had current puppies. It was a fantastic facility that was clean, had places to sit and visit and had no bad smells. Through my research I knew I wanted a little girl and that of the four colors of the Cavalier, she needed to be the tri-color [black, tan and white]. There were probably 10 puppies and a few of them were tri-color girls. The owner pointed them out to me and one took my heart. I picked her up and just held her. What a feeling. She cuddled up and kissed me and I was in love. I looked at Keith and he knew, I had found my new baby. However, my baby was only five weeks old and not ready to go home with us. That didn’t stop me from staking my claim on her and returning when she hit eight weeks.

As we sat there in the middle of all these puppies and one very special little girl, Keith asked the breeder his opinion about having two puppies at the same time. One of the things we had discovered in our research was that Cavaliers don’t like to be alone for long periods of time. We both worked so any dog we get would be alone all day while we were at work. Now the wheels in my head began to spin. Was Keith really considering two dogs? Two puppies? Has he lost his mind? Who is this man? I finally looked at him and said, “Are you really considering two dogs?” “Yes.” He replied. OMG!

Well I have my baby, now Keith needs to find his baby. He wanted a little boy and he wanted the Blenheim color [which is a white background with chestnut brown markings]. The Blenheim cavalier is the most popular color and the one that is seen the most often. Within just a few short minutes, Keith had lost his heart over an adorable little Blenheim boy, who was 10 days older than my little girl. Again, not ready to go home with us, but we staked our claim on him too. We left there with the follow up appointment to come back in three weeks and bring our babies home.

Well here we are three years later and I cannot tell you how ingrained into our lives these two little dogs are. Shawn and Maggie are our fur babies and we are just silly over them. They are indeed sweet and kissable with delightful temperaments and are lap dogs. I gravitate into the recliner every morning with my cup of coffee and within seconds I am covered in dogs, just the way I like it. If I sit down anywhere, they think they must sit with me and do.

They have very different personalities, which is fun. While Shawn is every bit the Shawn“whussy” dog, he is the alpha dog between the two. If you pick him up wrong, he cries but if something as dangerous as the “Roomba” is loose in your house, he’s on it. If Maggie walks out onto the patio and sends a warning bark, he runs out in his bad boy stance to see what’s up. Never fear Maggie, I’m here. He runs faster than the wind and he’s hilarious when he wants to play. He doesn’t want Maggie to get any attention that he is not getting and if you are petting her, he will put himself between her and you. Essentially getting her out of the way. He has a way of walking in and sweeping his backside that pushes Maggie out of the way. When I am not home, he gathers my shoes into a pile and lays with them all day. If he can’t get one of my shoes, then an article of clothing will do. Sometimes he decides that the shoe or the article of clothing needs to go out the dog door into the backyard. I have a running shoe out there right now that I need to go retrieve. But as I’m writing this, they are both sitting with me snoozing.

MaggieNow there’s my little angel, Maggie. She has the same little brown eyes that my Rylee Jo Lynn had and sometimes when I look into Maggie’s eyes, I see Rylee. I find comfort in that. When Maggie looks at you, she is looking into your very soul. Her favorite thing to do is sit in my lap and while I’m home recovering from this surgery, she is spending lots of time there. There is not an alpha bone in her body. Her favorite pose is lying flat on her back in the “pet my tummy” position. We find her there every time we go into our walk in closet, on her back, in the position. No one can resist it, especially me. But caution, if you are down there rubbing her tummy and Shawn sees it, he will come over, whip around and sit on her so you can’t rub her tummy any more. He’s not jealous at all. While Shawn likes to lord over my shoes, Maggie’s bad habit is paper shredding. If we leave the bathroom wastebasket within her reach, she will take out whatever tissues are in there and shred them. Or, if you leave paper towels or toilette paper within either of their reaches, they will take them outside and toilette paper your yard. I can’t tell you how many times that happened at our old house before I learned my lesson.

So my love of dogs continues. Someday I will have to say goodbye to Shawn and Maggie too, but I can’t think about that now. I am just going to enjoy every day and every experience with my two little angels. We just returned from our latest adventure where we all packed up and went to Little Rock for Christmas! Shawn and Maggie had a great time in Pug Nation visiting and playing with their oing to see their friends the Milligan pugs: Roxie, Conan and Zeppelin. Yes, it will be a five dog Christmas and I wouldn’t have it any other way.Dogs

The Things You Can See on an Irish Tour Bus

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One of the great things about our recent trip to Ireland, a country we have never been in, was that we were on a guided tour.  Every few nights we stayed in a different hotel, rode on a comfortable charter bus every day and learned a lot about Ireland from our tour director David, a Canadian.  Never fear, our bus driver was a young man from Ireland with an adorable Irish accent and we all loved him.  His name was Brian.    Since we didn’t have to drive and figure out the crazy roads with the crazy “round abouts”, we could just enjoy the view and take in the sites.  I had my camera ready for anything.  Of course sometimes taking pictures through the window of a moving tour bus results in less than perfect pictures.  But here are some of my favorite things we saw while taking it all in.

Sheep are so cute and Ireland has lots of sheep.  All kinds of sheep too, long haired, short haired, curly haired.  They all had colors spray painted on parts of their bodies which meant different things.  It could mean who their owner was, it could mean what field they were supposed to be in or it could mean who their daddy was.  I have never been able to eat lamb and thisGoat King trip was no exception.  In fact, the one day I thought I might eat Irish Stew, it had lamb in it.  Nope, couldn’t do it.  Check out this statue of a goat with a crown.  He was prominently displayed in one of the towns we drove through.  He even has a name, but I just can’t remember it.  Information overload on the tour bus, sorry.

They even had cows in Ireland.  When I was a little girl, my grandpa had a farm and he raised cows.  When we would go visit him, I would take my little Kodak Instamatic camera and take picture after picture of cows.  My mother would take my film down and drop it off to be developed onCowsly to find that every photo was of a cow.  So here I am in Ireland, taking pictures of cows.  My mom would be so proud.

I love the ocean and could not wait for the day when we did the Ring of Kerry and I was not disappointed.  We worked our way out to Dingle Bay and around the Ring to spectacular views of the ocean.  We had lunch at a cute little cafe which had amazing views.  One thing I did notice was that this area was very remote, yet there were quite a few homes and people living out on the edges.  Everyone on the bus kept wondering where the nearest Wal-Mart was. Dingle Bay

It seemed odd but as you are driving through the country side here and there you will see the remnants of  castles.  Some are in better shape than others, but castles none the Castleless.  I got to thinking, I wonder how many there really are.  Can you imagine the time when they were all prevalent?

Periodically our bus would stop at a turnout in the road at scenic points.  We would all get out of the bus and snap pictures.  One of these turnouts was overlooking a beautiful meadow and creek.  Standing there was an Irish man Irish Man and Dogwith a donkey and an adorable dog sitting on the back of the donkey.  He was the cutest thing, the dog, not the man.  I wonder how long they hang out at this spot because I know tour buses come through all day long and I did see people having their picture made with this Irish looking man and dropping coins in a box for him.

I was really missing our little dogs while we were traveling.  The day we went to Blarney Castle I saw a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Freddie.  He was the same color as our little Shawn.  I stopped the manFreddie and asked if I could pet his dog and he was happy to oblige.  Freddie however was a bit shy but he was adorable.  I was thinking that Freddie maybe should have gone up to kiss the Blarney Stone so he could have been given the gift of gab too.  He was terribly quiet.  Here this Irish Cavalier has a very American name “Freddie”, and our Cavalier has a very Irish name “Shawn”.  Go figure.

Now for all my fellow Ardmoreites, look at this sign we came across!  Yep, Ardmore, ArdmoreIreland.  We all really wanted to drive through this small seaside village, but alas our tour director said no.  But our amazing driver Brian did pull over so we could all snap pics.  Thanks Brian, you’re a peach.

More beauty from Ireland to come….

 

Observations

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Bluebonnet 2Keith and I had to make a quick trip to Austin and back this weekend. His dad, a World War II veteran, has been selected to go on the Honor Flight, which takes WWII vets to Washington DC to show them their memorial, along with other military memorials. It is quite an honor and is a wonderful thing for these men who have given so much to this country. Keith is getting to go with his 93 year old dad as his guardian so off to Austin we go for a Saturday morning orientation.

Austin, Texas is about five hours away and any trip in the car for that long gives my mind the opportunity to wonder, think, ponder and observe. So here are some of my observations.

Observation #1: The traffic from Fort Worth to Austin is TERRIBLE. In addition to the traffic, there always seems to be road construction. So you are whipping along at 75 mph, then you are slowed to 60, then to 70 then to 65 then to 75. Kind of like a roller coaster. Then there are the concrete barriers on both sides of the road you must maneuver through.   When traveling through those areas on the highway with concrete barriers, it always seems that right next to you is an 18 wheeler. As you work your way through, praying to get through, you are wondering, is there really enough room between these two concrete barriers for me and this 18 wheeler? Apparently there is, but I’m holding my breath each time.

Observation #2: Bluebonnets are beautiful! From about Ft Worth all the way to Austin and all around are the most beautiful bluebonnets. It is that time of year when they are blooming and they were standing tall and were spectacular. They always make me smile when I see them. Some of them were so thick and covered so much area that it looked like a beautiful blue blanket. The site of them made me want to go and lay down in the middle of them. Still smiling thinking about them.

Observation #3: Need for Speed. Keith and I usually trade off driving when we go longer distances. So it’s my turn and we are just south of Ft Worth heading down the 75 mph stretch of I-35 which is awesome. I can drive 75 and not feel guilty. As I’m driving along, a Texas highway patrolman passes me doing about 80. I noted to the Keith that Mr. Patrolman was not doing the speed limit. Ha Ha Ha, are they ever? We moved on for another few minutes when I noticed something in my rearview mirror. It was a car coming very fast up my right side doing WAY MORE than 75. I said to Keith, get ready for what’s about to come up on your right. At just that moment a little Mercedes doing about 90-95 zoomed pasted us and before we could say anything there was a Jaguar chasing it. It literally looked like they were seeing who could get to Austin first. They were zipping in and out of cars like a NASCAR race. About that time it dawned on me, if they aren’t careful, they are going to whip right around Mr. Highway Patrol Man, who I could still see ahead of me. Pretty soon around the bend we saw flashing lights and I thought, could it be???? The answer is nope, it was some Ford F150. I don’t know what happened to Mr. Mercedes and Mr. Jaguar, but I’m sure they got to Austin before we did and apparently with no speeding ticket.

Observation #4: What is taking so long? We finally arrived at our hotel in Austin and we were pooped. It’s late, we were tired and we really need to find a restroom. But we need to get checked in. I have never seen two people working the check in counter at a hotel move any slower. Really it’s true. I thought for a moment we might have been on Candid Camera or 20/20. They would start to work on getting us checked in and then they would stop and chat, or someone would come by with a question. All the time, I could see the lines forming between Keith’s brow, which I know means, “I am about to lose my patience.” I offered to stand there while the two hotel staff members chit chatted so he could find the restroom, but he insisted it shouldn’t take much longer. Well it did take longer and again, I offered. This time my normally very patient husband, furrowed his brow even further and said, with a slightly elevated and stern voice, “I’m sure it won’t take much longer, will it?” The clerk popped to attention and said, “No sir, not much longer”.

Observation #5: Getting out of your routine. I have heard it said that it is good to shake up your routine sometimes. Get out of your comfort zone. Live a little. Well all this may be good and I agree to a point. But, if you are a caffeine junky like I am and CANNOT function in the morning unless you have sat quietly for 30 minutes and sipped your hot cup of coffee, then I wouldn’t suggest changing your routine. Changed mine yesterday, paid for it all day…..Waiting a couple of hours to get that first cup of coffee, not good.

Observation #6: Sure are a bunch of old people here. Let me tell you, my 90 year old mother-in-law is a hoot and sharp as a tack. While we were sitting through the orientation ceremony Saturday morning for the Honor Flight for 120 World War II veterans, she leaned over and said, “There sure are a bunch of old people here.” You think?   She is a doll.

Observation #7: Siri knows Austin. Keith decided he needed new running shoes and he selected several stores in Austin that specialized in running shoes for us to visit. Neither of us knew how to get around in Austin so we put the address in our IPhone and Siri mapped us out the route we needed to take to visit store #1, which was the store Keith really wanted to shop in. Siri took us right into the trendy section of Austin along the river with apartments, condos, restaurants, running trails, and dog parks. Everywhere we looked people had on workout clothes and were walking or running. There were lots of people walking dogs and I loved it when we passed a dog park full of people and dogs. It was so much fun to see this in a community. We finally made it to Keith’s running shoe store and guess what, it was closed for inventory. Siri, to the rescue. On to store #2.

Observation #8: Furniture shopping, the good and the bad. Keith and I will need a few new furniture items when our new home is finished. We have looked at furniture in Ardmore, have made two trips to Mathis Bros in OKC and several other places in OKC. I find something I like, he’s not crazy about it. He finds something he likes, I’m not crazy about it. It has been oddly stressful. So we are driving back to Oklahoma and on the north end of Austin on I-35 there is an Ashley Furniture Home Store. We decided to walk through, what could it hurt. OMG. They had everything we needed AND Keith and I were in agreement. Had Hell just frozen over, what was happening?   Well I’ll tell you what was happening, we were 5 hours away from home and this store doesn’t deliver that far. Our hearts sunk, until we found out that there are at least three of these stores in the Dallas area, which probably will deliver. Our quest for furniture continues….

Observation #9: I need a little down time. Got up this fabulous Sunday morning to rain and an enormous amount of laundry to be done, along with my deceased father’s tax return looming over my head and reading assignments for my EFM class. But I knew that before I could tackle anything, COFFEE WAS NEEDED. In fact, I had 2 big cups of coffee while I sat motionless in the recliner with both dogs in my lap watching a couple of items recorded on the DVR. Still not much energy, so Keith went off to church without me. But I have slowly been moving forward and have accomplished several things, it has been very quiet and my two adorable dogs have provided me with many opportunities to scratch their bellies and rub their necks. Truly therapeutic and just what I have needed.

Observation #10. I need another day off, but work will be calling tomorrow. Back to the craziness.

Sleeping with Pugs

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imageNot only am I in Arkansas to take care of Max and Molly but also my grand pugs:  Conan, Nana and Zeppelin.  They are quite the trio and last night I had the “honor” and I use that term very loosely, to share a bed with them.  My daughter insisted that I sleep in her room while they were gone in case Max gets up at night and I can hear Molly on the monitor.  I really think she wanted me in there so the “pug’s” routine didn’t change.  Reluctantly I agreed.  I love the the guest room and the bed is very comfortable.  I sleep like the dead in there.  [FYI Loni & Charles:  PLEASE BUY A NEW MATTRESS FOR YOUR ROOM]

Now sleeping with pugs shouldn’t be that big of a deal, I sleep with two Cavaliers at home in our king-size bed.  What’s three pugs in a king-size bed?  I finally got both kids to sleep last night and it was time for Mimi to lay down her weary head.  Zeppelin, the very large black pug saw me heading for the bedroom and he couldn’t get there fast enough, leaping into the bed with absolutely no effort.  He was ready.  He may be the biggest of the three, but he can jump like a gazelle.  Now Nana is a wee bit of a girl and you have to pick her up and put her in bed, which I did.  Then there’s Conan, the middle child.  I have seen him jump onto that bed many times and many times yesterday alone, with no help from anyone.  I slide into bed, got situated and there’s Conan sitting on the floor looking at me with a very pitiful look.  Get up here I say to him.  He just keeps looking at me batting his eyes.  Again I say, get up here.  Nothing.  I had to get up, pick him up and put him in bed.  What a baby.  I think he played me.

Now I’m scrunching my pillow and trying to get comfy when all three dogs are trying to get under the covers.  Apparently that’s their routine.  Ok, get under the covers.  Now “the Nan” heads to the far corner of the bed and all I can see is her small lump.  The other two, well they have to be touching me.  One around my knees and the other one, Zeppelin the big man, wants to lay his head on my shoulder.  Geez.  We finally all fell asleep but a few hours later I woke up and needed to turn over.  Nowhere to turn, trapped in by pugs.  I pushed and shoved and finally maneuvered them a bit and went back to sleep.  Next thing I know I am being awakened by the sound of snoring.  Who’s snoring?  What’s that?  I can “feel” the snore.  I opened my eyes to find Zeppelin with his head on my shoulder, sleeping away, FACING ME and yes snoring very loudly.

Obviously, I didn’t get a very good night’s rest and I only have to sleep with them one more night.  Sigh…..  Looking forward to moving back into the guest room tomorrow night.