Thursday the 10th. September.
11:40 pm
This night did not end smoothly.
I was keeping myself busy with work, and noticed that it had gotten to be past 10. Buddy was still lying on the floor outside the kitchen, and had been after we stopped playing with the bunny. Bubba was sleeping in the fireplace bed.
Whatever is going on in Buddy’s mind is getting worse – at least temporarily. He doesn’t seem to want to be inside at all. While I was cleaning up, he disappeared. I peeked out on the deck for him, checked behind the exercise bike, looked in the bedroom closet, under the bed, back out in the livingroom to see if he pulled a Sneaky Bubba move and was lying in the bed watching me.
I finally found him out on the deck, in the far corner behind one of the chairs. I don’t think he was out there for the weather. He tried to slip out the front door on me, earlier, when I was taking out the trash. Either there are ghosts, or we’re gonna get hit with the motherloade of all earthquakes. Whatever it is – it’s not having an effect on Bubba. He wanders around at will, and sleeps, fully relaxed. I got Buddy another Greenie to see how he would react. When food enters the equation, he forgets his fears.
And then I found the ants.
The second food dish was under siege. The ants were coming in from behind the MODX. I sprayed everything – the food dish, the floor, the rug, under the rug – everywhere there were ants. I use the Lysol spray. Whatever that stuff is made of, it kills ants immediately, and since it’s a cleaner it makes the next step easier. Then I sprayed with ant spray under the baseboards where the ants were coming in and a few feet in either direction. I let that soak in a bit, then cleaned up all the surfaces where the dudes could come into contact with the poison. The poison was only for under the baseboards where the guys can’t reach it.
I got the ants all cleaned up, the water dishes washed and refilled. Buddy was falling asleep. Bubba was asleep. The lights were down for the night. It was just past 11:15. I started packing up my computer – and then Bubba had his first bad coughing fit of this trip.
Apart from the weird fear thing, and the rapid breathing thing, Buddy seems fine. He eats, he drinks, he really enjoys playing games with the bunny, and continues to get better at dodging me while I’m trying to grab the bunny’s ears. I’m probably being over-protective and worrying too much. I *hope* I’m worrying too much.
9:30 pm
Bubba was sleeping. Buddy was lying on the floor, just outside the kitchen. He wouldn’t come into the living room, or to me when I called. He didn’t want to rest of the couch or the recliner. I’m still concerned about the rapid breathing.
I think it was just too cold for him. He went outside on the deck, and I didn’t notice. I looked behind me and didn’t see him. I called. He saw him out of the corner of my eye, out on the deck, running into the bedroom through the dog door. I grabbed a flashlight and went to check the deck to see if he had been sick – but he hadn’t. It was very comfortable out. He followed me out while I was checking for signs of a sick dog. I realized he was just out enjoying the outside. I sat down in one of the chairs, so he would just relax and enjoy the fresh air, knowing that if I went back in, he would follow.
When I went back in, he followed. I opened the front door so he could enjoy the outside air from the inside. He sat on the rug, but the edge closest to the couch. He wouldn’t come to be, and didn’t want to accept my invitation to have him join me on the couch. He sat, eyes scanning back and forth, as if looking for some predator on the hunt. A couple of hours ago, we were playing fetch and tug with the bunny and he didn’t seem spooked. Now, he’s acting the way Bubba was acting when his long nails had him afraid to walk on the floors everywhere in the house. But he’s walking around fine, outside, between the rug and bedroom – just something about the living room and the couch.
I asked if he wanted a Greenie, and the ears shot up. He knows that word. I got up, and he immediately followed me into the kitchen, and took the treat from my hand, then returned to the rug to eat it.
I got up to start early clean up – both pee pads needed changing. One dinner dish was empty, and the water dishes needed cycling.
6:05 pm
We finally went out! We had a pretty good walk, although it was short in distance. It will still pretty warm, even though it had cooled off and the sun was on it’s way down. Bubba was having a lot of fun, running through the grasses, looking like a puppy. He had to be carried down the stairs when we came out, but he was running as soon as he was put down at the bottom. He’d been sleeping all day, and had stored up a lot of energy.
We started on a usual path, across the street, and through the memorial. Both guys pooped, and Buddy turned us up the first stairs, wtih Bubba following. But when we got to the island, Bubba wanted to run in the grass, and ignored Buddy trying to use his body language to lean us home. We spent a lot of time running around on the grass, smelling everything, and rolling around in whatever-is-there to pick up the smells. Tomorrow is Groomer Day, so I just let him get himself stinky. I’ll wash the beds and blankets while they’re getting bathed. It was too good seeing Bubba enjoying himself to bother him.
Both guys pooped. I’m not sure what time we got back. I got good photos of both guys, but Buddy’s pic needs some editing in Photoshop to remove some garbage elements that ruin the picture.
2:40 pm
Buddy hovered while I was by the door, so I tried getting his harness on, and he was okay with that. I got the leash on him, and then he got resistant. I basically picked him up to get him outside. Once we were outside, he ran down the stairs. We went around the corner to head out to the grass out by the path and he ran to use the bathroom, then we came right back.
2:20 pm
Bubba got up, having his first coughing fit of the day. It wasn’t as bad as others, even though it lasted a while. There were long breaks between the bursts of coughing. After the coughing settled down, he tucked into the day food, with an impressive appetite.
It cooled down and the humidity has lowered. There’s a really nice breeze, so I opened the doors and shut off the AC. The guys kept moving to the front door to enjoy the fresh air. If I waslked over and picked up one of the leashes (in a pile by the front door with the pooper scooper and Buddy’s harness) they both would quickly scamper away.
1:20 pm
The guys have still not gone out. Buddy has to be ready to explode by now. We got 10% of the way to a walk one time. I got up, one of the many times Bubba got up to think, and Bubba let me put on his harness. That got Buddy up. I hooked up Bubba’s leash, expecting that would get Buddy running over, and the guys would convince each other to go out. But once the leash was hooked up on Bubba, he walked over to the piano, sending a very clear message of how he felt about me getting the leash on.
Still no accidents. Bubba has gotten up to go to pee twice, but that’s it.
11:15 pm
Bubba kept getting up every 5 minutes, pacing around the house, looking like he was trying to figure out what he wanted to do. I got up every time to take the guys out once Bubba figured out that ‘walk’ was what he wanted to do. But he finally settled into the fireplace again to sleep.
10:30 am
We still aren’t walking. Bubba got up, walked around thinking about stuff. He went out to the deck through the bedroom. He came back in, sat down on the rug by the front door. Buddy jumped down off the couch. I understood – that meant walk time.
But it wasn’t. I got the leashes, and Buddy ran to the front door bed. Bubba slowly returned to the fireplace bed. I returned to my work.
8:05 am
The guys really REALLY didn’t want to walk. I forgot my place, and I showed up with a fresh cup of coffee, and they didn’t want to get up.
Buddy greeted me at the door, and was happy to see me, but he didn’t get a bunny to start a game. Bubba was curled up in the fireplace bed, fully-awake, but not getting up. Buddy got a drink, and then jumped up in the recliner to sleep. Bubba eventually put his head down, after watching me wander around taking care of the morning chores. I set up my computer, and by the time I was done with that, and sat down to start today’s log, they were both asleep.