October 10. Saturday.
Midnight
It’s going to be a long night. It’s raining pretty good. There have been flashing of lightning, but so far off in the distance to the Northeast that there’s no thunder to go with it. We haven’t had any crashes of thunder, but I am imagining that Buddy is not a fan. The rain seemed to have him on High Alert. I don’t know if it’s the rain itself, or if he can hear the thunder off in the distance. He finally went to sleep. I’m exhausted. It’s been a long day. If there’s thunder overnight, I’ll have to go next door to make sure he’s okay, and if not to keep him company until he’s calmed down and can get back to sleep. The electrical storm part seems to have started after it has already passed us – hopefully that will hold true all night.
We walked around 6pm, after dinner. I didn’t think they’d go out. It was raining, but they wanted to walk. Bubba had a couple of moments of reluctance. I’d start to steer Buddy to follow Bubba home, Bubba would start walking again, but change directions on us. We only made it around the building once, in a semi-chaotic zigzagged circle pattern. Neither guy pooped, which is what I had hoped for. We hadn’t been out since the 9 am walk.
Both guys were up and playful at 10:30 pm. Bubba was absolutely hyper, and would engage in play, each time he would start running to or away from me, a coughing fit followed. But even so, he still wanted to play. I like that, because it means he feels good. After playing, they both had big appetites, and they emptied out both dinner bowls and the day food bowl. Immediately after eating, Bubba retired to the bedroom. Buddy watched me doing clean up from his spot on the couch. At 11:45, he finally put his head down and started drifting off to sleep.
Both AC units were off. I turned off 3 fans – it had gotten chilly inside. Tonight I’ll be napping, rather than sleeping – fully dressed, and ready to head over to calm down a guy in case the thunder decides to invade our rest.
3:30 pm
Buddy was just lying down at the door, watching the rain. The rain was really light, but you could smell it. It does smell nice.
Something fell. I was reading on my tablet with my glasses off, so I didn’t see it fall. I thought it was Bubba, who was sleeping in the bed by the front door. I thought maybe he had gotten up and then collapsed heavily. Everything is just a blur in the dim lighting. I can see better if it’s bright. Whatever it was, it made Buddy jump up. He was by the open door, and I could see his outlines better. He was looking at me, then his head would turn towards Bubba.
With my glasses on, I could see that Bubba was still sleeping, or at least was in the bed. Whatever fell, it didn’t wake him. He was breathing. It had gotten windy outside, so I closed the window. I think the blinds might have knocked something off the table, but I couldn’t find it. Bubba was fine. He got up a while later to run to the bathroom and came back to curl back up and sleep.
1 pm
The rain started while I was carrying my mother’s [way too much] luggage down to wait for her Uber to the airport. I was glad I brought the stuff in from the deck.
12:30 pm
It’s humid, but cooler. The sliding door to the deck is open, letting the breeze blow through to the front door which is also open. Buddy is camped out at the front door enjoying the air, lying on the carpet rather than using the wooden floor for extra cooling. Bubba has chosen the bed by the front door to camp – both guys showing that it’s much more comfortable today.
I pulled in the paper towels and the outdoor bed, and put up the outdoor pee pad frame, removing the pad. It looks like rain might come sooner than predicted, so anything that doesn’t do well in the rain was removed from the outdoors.
9:05 am
It was a gloomy gray morning, and I expected the guys to be sleeping in and not enthusiastic about walking, so of course I got the exact opposite. I barely had time to put out the day food to soak.
I was greeted at the door today. I enjoy the door game – opening the door just an inch, watching Buddy trying to find a way to get his nose and one eye to share the limited space so he can investigate the new arrival. Then when I open the door, he runs to get a bunny. But I mixed things up on him today. I grabbed the reindeer, and his eyes lit up. He started running to fetch it before I even acted like I was going to throw it. For me, it’s a bunch of fun – watching him trotting with this giant toy in his mouth. Then he drops the toy and his mouth bites up and down the toy – something I had completely forgotten – as he tries to find the squeaker. He has never been able to squeak the reindeer – it’s in a spot too far for his mouth to reach from either side. Once he convinces himself there’s no squeaker, I pick it up and squeak it.
Bubba came out after the first time I threw the reindeer. Either he could feel the rush of Buddy running, or he could Buddy out in the hall from the bed. He came out quickly, and we got dressed and went right out.
Bubba didn’t need help to get across the landing today. I had planned to still keep him on the loose-but-short leash, so if he slipped I would keep him from falling, trying to keep him from regressing to being afraid. Usually both guys wait at the top of the stairs for me before they go. Today, zero hesistation from Bubba. He didn’t pause inside the door, then curl up and tail tuck outside the door. Bubba darted out the door and straight down the stairs, and Buddy took that to mean he should, too. I was scrambling, trying to get the door locked and get my key out without breaking it off in the lock, before Bubba slipped down the stairs. Bubba’s transformation to afraid to come out, straight to running the whole wait surprised me.
We walked the full length of the park slowly, then returned with a stroll through the neighborhood to explore. Bubba was extra-curious with the nose today, the whole trip. Buddy seemed more intent on getting home once in the neighborhood, but he did some serious deep-level sniffing while at the park.
We walked an hour and 15 minutes, and both guys pooped.