The 20th of November. Thursday
5:50 pm
Buddy was restless. It was raining down buckets outside. He kept moving, from sitting by the front door, to the recliner, back of the couch, seat of the couch, back of the couch – randomly moving about, never staying put more than a few minutes.
I opened the front door so he could see outside. I sat down against the screen of the open door to sit with Buddy as he listened to the rain, leaning up against my leg. It was very peaceful, petting him while he was absorbing everything going on outside. Bubba slept in the piano bed with his back to the door, oblivious to the rain, but ocassionally picking up his head to look back at Buddy and I.
After a while, I got up to go sit with Bubba. He looked tired, but not bothered by me sitting on the floor petting him. I just stayed with him a while. I hadn’t noticed, but he had not hacked all day, or had any reverse sneezes, and he wasn’t wheezing. My cold got worse, and he seemed to be over his.
Sitting with the guys was good.
2:35 pm
The rain has arrived, well-ahead of schedule. So much for my 3 walks before the rain plan.
1:10 pm
Buddy and I went for a walk. Buddy was ready straight-away, but we tried to get Bubba to join us. Bubba wanted nothing to do with it; he can probably already smell the approaching rain.
We went up the hill, and we ended up stopped at the top for a while. Buddy just sat, while I bottlenecked the outting by staring at funnel clouds forming out over the ocean. They were small, very very far up in the clouds and never came close to the ground (water). Buddy sat there bored, unaware of what was going on, while I stared out over the ocean in amazement, waiting for one to extend down to the water. Half a dozen or so formed, and then they stopped forming, and we went home.
Walk was a little over 30 minutes. He pooped.
9 am
Today is all about trying to get in 3 walks before 4pm. The torrential downpour is supposed to begin at 4, and not slow down until the middle of the night. I went over, with a bag of trash to throw in the dumpster on my way to rouse the gents.
There was no greeting at the door today. Buddy was still asleep on the back of the couch, but he shook off the sleeping quickly and jumped off the couch. Bubba was curled up in the piano bed, looking asleep but wasn’t. He got up as soon as the breeze touched him to let him know the front door had been opened. He got up, and both guys came over the the front door. Buddy starting signaling walk, and Bubba poked my ankle with his nose. It was time to walk.
I started looking for a place to set down the bag in my hand so we could go right away, when I realized I had carried my trash up with me. I can’t do anything right without coffee. So I apologized to the guys, who can’t hear and/or don’t speak English, and I went to throw the trash in the dumpster. When I returned, I found that the guys were – understandably – confused by my leaving and thought the walk was cancelled. Buddy had laid back down, and Bubba moved into one of the beds in the bedroom. I wasn’t gone that long, and expected to see him in the living room still. I had to search for him. When I came around the corner, his head shot up – surprised – like it stunned him that I had returned. He jumped out of the bed, and enthusiasm for the walk was back for both guys.
We took our standard morning walk through the park. The walk took about 50 minutes, we stopped to visit with Deni and Boise. Boise is an 80-100 pound guy, but Bubba wanted him to know who the Alpha is. Boise is shy and timid for such a big guy, so Bubba was able to get acceptance of his rule. Both guys pooped.