LIFE WITH DOGS

Friday, June 13, we went into town. We dropped Pepper off at the pris - er, boarding facility first thing. We just don’t have room to keep her in town. I’m reminded of that line from It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World where Ginger Culpepper says of her daughter Billie Sue: “You keep forgetting if a girl is six-feet-five inches tall, she's bound to have special problems.”

 

Once we had settled into the town house, I checked on Bess and Nellie and found them napping -- so tired after four days of romping with Pepper.

And below is an out-of-focus picture of Bess cuddling with Mike.

Saturday evening we put the dogs to bed early and drove out to the “event center” at the casino for the Don Williams’ concert. I figure the average age of those in attendance was probably 70. Yes, we were an older crowd. Amazing what they ask – and get – for concert tickets these days, especially considering the venue was nothing extra. But we enjoyed it. You have to do things or you get so you can’t do things.

Sunday we picked up Pepper from the “facility” and took her for a brief run – brief because she had to be returned within the hour or we’d have to keep her. If we didn’t run her, she would get virtually no exercise while incarcer – er, boarded. In fact, she is so hyper that they sedate her there. We took her to a dog-friendly hiking spot in our neighborhood. Naturally, Nell and Bess (and I) went along.

 

In town, the dogs will sleep in until 6:30 or so on long days, and even when they want out, they’re fairly quiet about it. At the farm, however, Nellie whines insistently at the door at 5:00 – 5:30 if I’m lucky. Bess lets Nell do all the work of attracting attention while she romps around the yard until the door opens. Once they’re inside, Bess takes over the begging. I do fine with the 5:30 timeline, but I struggle to stay awake after 8:30 p.m.

The dogs get plenty of walks at the farm.  The other day, Mike walked them down the lane after lunch. I went along, thinking that would suffice as the daily walk and during his bike ride I would have some time to myself. Wrong! Once he rode out of the yard, they demanded their usual walk. Bess whined and vocalized while Nellie stretched out on the floor to mope. How can you argue with that? So we headed out for a little exploration. KW