Senior Dog Woes

Today we did this *thing* for our senior dog, Gracie.

Sadly, a couple of months ago, she stopped sleeping on the bed with us. The bed hog has found that sleeping more independently is the way to go. My feelings are a little hurt. She will, however, storm the ramp and march over covers and body parts in the middle of the night in order to alarm us that we need to leave her outside to do *who knows what* a number of times during our slumber.

Since our bed is high and the fear of her falling off and injuring herself during her nighttime wake-up calls is real, we decided, while she was being groomed, it was time to remove our bed frame, lower the bed, and do some reconstruction on the ramp to make it shorter. Husband did most of the work. I watched. He was not in a good mood.

Her fall would be much less likely to injure her now, if she should fall.

It was our morning.

All clean!

A Conversation With The Dog

Gracie is getting old.  

As are you.  But wait.  No, I'm not.

Well then, why are you confused when I call you?  You look around like my voice is coming from the other direction.

That's my way of ignoring you.

And you bump into things when you walk...  because..... ???

You keep putting stuff in my way.

Okay then, why won't you sleep in the bed with us anymore?

Dad snores.

It didn't bother you before.

You snore too.

And you are up and down and in and out of the house all night.  You can't seem to rest well.

Duh.  There's some boy pee out there on the other side of the fence, and I can never get enough of the scent.

Whatever.  *clears throat* Back to my blog post.  She will be 17 in September.

A girl never likes to tell her age and there you go broadcasting it all over social media.  I am appalled.

Will you let me finish my post?

Sure.  Carry on.

So when she is no longer with me...  I will be closing this blog.

What!  Where do ya think I'll be going?  What about the memory I'll leave behind?  My legacy?  You are pushing my buttons today woman!

Gracie, go take your nap.

I believe I will.

Anyway.  I've started a new blog, one on Wix, that is affiliated with my author page, which I created since I am now retired and plan on writing for as long as the Lord will enable me to do so.  I'm working on it right now, but I will leave a link here before I leave completely - so those who wish to find me there will be able to find me.   All two of you.  LOL!!!!!!!!!!    

I will stay here for as long as Gracie stays with me.  I cannot imagine my life without her - but reality is that she is getting up there in years and showing signs...  I pray every day that she will never suffer...  and that we get many more years with her (healthy years) but we do not know what tomorrow brings.

Glad she's napping, or she'd have a lot of sass for my above statements.  Wait, do I see one eye opened...  

~~~THE HOUSE book trailer ~~~

2020 Highlights

 RE: Was the story of the lost eBay package true, you ask?  Well... yea,  kinda sorta.  All except for the diary part.  The package is still MIA, so I'm sure I will be refunding the buyer eventually.  I have refunded a lot of buyers for this reason.  I'm shipping Fed Ex 2 Day now, and things are going much better.  

So 2020 turned out to be the year for permanently closing my office, hence the eBay selling of office inventory and such.  All About Hearing almost made it 10 years!!  

And now, I get to write!

 July 1 my first fiction book was published on Amazon!  I had so much fun creating the characters and writing THE HOUSE.  A kind and talented narrator agreed to produce the book on audio for a royalty share, and it has just been released to go live.  So if anyone would be interested in a FREE promo code for a FREE listen on audible in exchange for an honest review, comment with your email and I will get it to you.  

If you love GOD and DOGS, you just may be interested!  

2020's Diary of an E-Bay Package

 I'm not one to want to sit around for long.  I like to go-go-go.  And, I like to know where I'm going and when I will arrive.  It's how I roll.

So, December was quite a troubling month for me.  

Destination:  Sorrento Florida

12.9.20  I'm in a dark place.  Wait.  It's a mailbox.  Cumberland, Maryland.  Looks like I be doin' some traveling this Christmas.  Can't wait to get there.   I'm wearing my Sunday best and riding USPS Priority Mail.   Woo Hoo!  Sunshine state, here I come!

12.10.20  Pick up.  On my way.

12.15.20  Whew!  That was a long ride, and with so many stops.  My place of deliverance:  USPS Facility in Baltimore, Maryland.  I'm being processed.  Guess I'm getting old, cause these trips are wearing on me.   

12.16.20  I am departing the Baltimore, Maryland facility.  On my way.... 

12.16.20  I'm now in Hyattsville, Md.  It's taking a lot longer to get there than I thought it would.  I was thinking 3 days max, but I guess traffic is heavy.

12.30.20  Someone must've slipped me a mickey.  Last I remember I was being processed in Hyattsville, Md.  I am now in Merrifield, Va.  and I'm being processed once again.  I feel violated.  

12.31.20  Another road trip.  This time I'm in a USPS Facility in District Heights, Md.  Confusion is setting in.  I'm road-weary.

12.31.30  Wait!  So I'm departing from the Merrifield Va facility again.  How'd that happen?  

12.31.20  I'm back in Hyattsville, Maryland.  Say what? Ain't no wonder I'm feeling lightheaded.  I'm going in circles.

1.7.21  I've been weeks on the road and I'm visiting the same places over and over again.  I am back at District Heights, Md. ...  Feels like Groundhog Day.  Or Twilight Zone.  Willoughby.  Next stop, Willoughby.

Almost a month on the road, with no end in sight....

~~FADE TO GRAY~~  

The Wild Life of 2020 Episode 2

 Okay, it's wildlife.  Close though, eh? 

There was the oddest of critters just...  showing up inside our fenced in yard....  and onto our back patio.  We gave him/her water and lodged him/her for the night with a plan of relocating him/her the next day to somewhere he/she would likely live a more duck-like (or whatever) life.  But, in the morning, it was gone.  

"Here ducky, ducky, ducky..."

Nowhere to be found.

2020 was a year of drinking in the beauty of God's creatures.

And then, another sudden guest...  just showing up with a MEOW< MEOW  ...  we fed her tuna, gave her lodging for the night, then took her to the animal shelter the following day.

A week later, I took my daughter and granddaughters down to rescue her.  Mandy Baxter is now home and happy.

  

And then, the wild life we keep inside our home.  And yes, wild life is the correct wording.

Quick to express her thoughts on 2020

The Wild Life of 2020 EPISODE 1

Did I say wild life?  What I meant was wildlife.  

 

2020 A Dream

From my dream journal.  

Yes, I keep a dream journal, because!!!   I BELIEVE God speaks to me through dreams quite often.  Proof comes in the form of the future unfolding in a way that causes me to 'get it' as I scramble to look back on what I have written in the past.  

Aha!   

I love how God gives me dreams.

2020 Gracie Style

At first it was good.  Mom and Dad were home every. single. day. 

ALL DAY.  But then it started getting weird.  They began to get on my last nerve.

I could run, but I could not hide.

They made me nervous, with their pawing all over me all the time.  There was no rest for the weary. So, I thought I'd give them a little something to do instead of rest their weary bums on the sofa watching The Real McCoys.   

I became sick. 

From there it was back and forth and back and forth in the Genesis to find health care for me. 

We waited in the car for hours till a stranger came out and took me inside.  We repeated this ordeal day after day after day and I wondered, why?  Why can I no longer hear Mom and Dad?  Why do these strangers keep piercing me with needles?  Why does Mom try to force pills down my throat?  Why am I walking into walls?  Why am I confused?  Why is my head... like...  sideways? I'm hideous!!!   And why does everything sound like nothing?  Quiet.  

Back and forth we went in the Genesis to wait for the people to come out and take me inside to torture me more. Everyone wore covers over their snouts.  They put a bunch of icky stuff in my ears that made it even worse.  I was dizzy and confused and sick and hopeless.   Months passed, and they kept taking me back to get tortured over and over and over again. This place, that place, back here, now there.  Why?!

After what Mom called the second ear packing, I started to feel a little better and could even hear her complaints talk of how much she loved me.  But Mom was freaking out when I began having uncontrolled jerking of my legs and body.  Coming off the prednisone, she 'hoped'.  Next day I was okay.  

Okay 2020, I beat ya!  I'm better! 

But then the falling off the bed and tearing my claw off episode.  Ya.  Couldn't hide.  All they had to do was follow the bloody paw print.  Here's how the scene went:

Mom:  She's hurt!  Oh my gosh, she's hurt.  The blood!!!!

Dad:  The carpet!  This has to be cleaned up!  The carpet will be ruined!

Mom:  My poor baby (sob, sob)

Dad:  (grabs some carpet cleaner and is down on his hands and knees) Don't let her walk!

Mom:  I can't help it.  She's hurt!  (applys paper towels around my injured foot, but the blood just keeps on a commin') All this blood! 

I tried to lick the blood away from my paw.  Bloody paw prints followed me throughout the house, outside and then back in again. All the while, Dad freaking out about the carpet.   Blood was everywhere.

All I wanted to do was make it better.  So I licked and I bit and I licked and gnawed and...

Well...

This scene was not a pleasant one either.  

Mom started tossing my pee pads all over the living room floor to shut Dad up so I could walk without leaving bloody paw prints everywhere.  Oh, and BTW, Dad did a good job of cleaning up the mess.  

The only evidence left behind of the horrid event is a lone claw.

    

I feel violated.