January 9. Friday
5:10 pm
Bubba finally decided it was time to get up. Dinner was out and he was hungry. Any minor worry that he was sleeping so much because he was sick vanished instantly. Buddy wasn’t hungry and didn’t start dinner when it came out. Bubba got out of bed, walked over to the closest dinner bowl and emptied it completely. Then he went back to bed.
Buddy stayed by the front door, listening to the new downstairs neighbor moving things from her car into her new home.
There were toys scattered everywhere. They went from dryer, to toy basket, to a chaotic redecorating of the living room. We had a bit of fun with the toys earlier, when I accidentally squeaked the duck while taking it out of the dryer. That prompted Buddy to run into the laundry room to investigate. So then as I moved each toy, one at a time, from washer to dryer, it got squeaked. He stood, eyes wide, ears up, one leg up in pointer form like a hunting dog. Because of our other game – the one leading up to the great basket crash – he didn’t believe I wasn’t carrying toys when we left the bathroom, and he repeatedly sniffed at the empty toy basket I had in one hand, and my smartphone in the other. Neither of those are dog toys.
I would later find out that a girl dog had moved in downstairs, which probably held his interest more than the sound of the person moving her posessions into the home.
3:50 pm
Paused deck washing to walk Buddy. Bubba still hasn’t gotten out of his bed. I don’t think he’s sick – this is a common thing the day after Groomer day. He likes it there, and he plays pretty hard.
We went out to the grass at Selva, and he pooped. I expected him to make a U-turn and head home, but he wanted to walk again. That’s twice today that bathroom runs were actually real walks. I hope that behavior sticks. I miss Buddy and I walking alone – they are faster-paced and we both get exercise that we need (especially me). We went up to the top of the hill, and he kept getting stopped on our way back down. People wanted to stop and say hi to him, and tell him how cute and sweet he is. I’m glad he doesn’t speak English, that could really go to his head. Twice, people with dogs stopped us, and seemed to just ignore their own dogs to fawn over Buddy.
We walked about half an hour.
3:15 pm
We had a heart-stopping accident today. I bumped something on the collectibles shelf while walking backwards – playing a game with Buddy. Everything sounds like a complete disaster when dropped on hardwood floors, so I felt it, then heard it, then stood, frozen – afraid to see what, and how many, things that I had destroyed.
By some miracle, nothing was broken. It was mostly post-it pads, some change, a bunch of backstage passes that make a nice loud SLAP when the laminated cover hits the floor. The one terrifying moment was seeing the EVH pick case top-down on the floor. I felt amazing relief when I turned it over and the glass was intact, and the pick was undamaged.
I’d love to blame it on the other kid that was playing, since he can’t speak to defend himself. But since he’s only 7 or 8 inches tall, the adults might not believe he could reach the shelf.
After pausing to look at the other items on the shelf that could have been knocked off, we formed a new rule forbidding playing GateKeeper or Chase in that area. My heart couldn’t handle the stress.
The basket and it’s contents were placed on the dining room table, because I did not know if things should be organized a certain way.
3 pm
We are a non-walking crew, today. Bubba is still in bed. Buddy is up and about, but runs to bed on the sound of the query, “walk?”
So the deck is getting the next round of steamimg
12:15 pm
It’s amazing how quickly that stuff on the balcony becomes petrified if not treated quickly. The steamer makes slow work of it, but it comes off grandually and without chipping away at the paint on the deck.
A new neighbor his moving in downstairs, and Buddy is a little agitated by the activity. Bubba hasn’t seemed to pick up on Buddy’s energy and stayed in bed, just relaxing. A woman introduced herself as Christy, and said “I am moving in” so hopefully none of the other 4 people helping to unload the U-Haul are also moving in. She said “I” and not “we”. I hate change, and I love the quiet of this building, and Christy seems perfectly pleasant and respectful – a model neighbor – but I still hate change. But then I saw them unload an electric guitar case, so I’m reserving my distaste at having a new neighbor until I learn more.
10:45 am
Buddy and I went out for a walk. First across the street where he stopped to have a perfectly normal looking poop. Whatever ailed him the previous two days was over. So all of the messes and awfulness will only last the duration of my stint as dog sitter. I think they did this on purpose. They got ahold of some black market ExLax just to add some complication and drama to the 4-day gig, and make me really earn my money.
After pooping, he wanted to walk, and we took a stroll around the park. When we got back home, Bubba, still resting in the door by the front door let out a groan when we came in, that sounded like disapproval that we returned. I know it was just old guy noises – I make those every morning, myself – but it sounded like he would rather we stayed away so he could sleep.
9:30 am
The guys still don’t want to walk. There’s some serious lethargy at work, this morning. Bubba got out of bed, front paws only, and stood with his hind quarters still in the bed for at least five minutes, looking like one of the worst cases on indecision in his life. He finally finished getting out of bed while I worked on a deep-clean prep on the deck, which had become a biohazard zone after yesterday’s explosions.
Bubba came out to watch me working, and stood in the sun where his outdoor bed goes. I went in and grabbed the bed, picked him up and put the bed under him. He seemed perfectly okay with the whole process, and continued to stay on the bed until I went back inside. Buddy had taken over the bed that Bubba had vacated, so – of course – this was now the exact bed that Bubba needed, and he helped Buddy understand that tresspassing was taking place.
I put the toy basket into quarantine. I needed another coffee before I began testing which toys were soiled and needed to join the toy basket in the wash. The skunk – somewhat ironically – was the only toy that was away from the soiling and was left out for playing.
8:30 am
It was too early. I thought the guys would be up, since they went to bed so early. Buddy jumped out of a bed to come to the door when it opened. Bubba glanced at me from his bed once, quickly, and went straight back to sleep.
Bobbie moved the toy basket yesterday, and it was sitting on the other side of the fireplace. I figured Buddy wasn’t going to have an issue with it, and I didn’t move it immediately. I forgot about it then, and just left it. I didn’t consider Bubba’s opinion, since he doesn’t play with the toys.
Bubba took offense.
There was a nice puddle to remind me that things have a proper place, and if I don’t want to clean Alpha Pee, I need to make sure things remain where they should be. That was the only accident, so tummies might be better today.
Buddy was grinding his belly by the front door, but when I grabbed the harness he ran for a bed. It was too early to walk.