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| All is in readiness -- we hope. |
Mike left at 6:15 a.m.
(Sunday) for this summer’s great motocaching adventure. Friend Sam will travel
with him as far as Denver, where Mike will meet up with son Yancey, and together they will
travel into New Mexico, geocaching as they go. But – that’s not my part of the
story. My part is here at home, staycating with Nellie and Bess.
Keeping two dogs gets a
little harder every year because of Nellie’s slow regression. When we first
started this 10-day summer routine – motocaching for Mike and staycating for me
– I walked both dogs at the same time. Now we’re at the point where Nellie balks.
This afternoon I coped by putting Nellie in the kennel and just walking Bess.
It’s much better exercise when I’m not dawdling with Nellie.
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| Start your engine . . . |
Nellie is often agitated now, and we surmise she has canine dementia. She will rather frantically run from one room to the next, stand at the door to go out, and even get in my face – or plant her snout on my laptop keyboard. What does she want, Mike and I ask each other. But – I noticed that she paced especially when Bess was lying on the big pillow, and if Bess got up, Nellie hastily took her place. Apparently Nellie doesn’t like the secondary (flatter) pillow and won’t get on the bigger pillow if Bess is there first.
So, on Saturday I asked Mike
to humor me and replace the smaller pillow with another large dog pillow from
storage. It won’t matter while he’s gone. So, he did -- and that did the trick.
After he left this morning, both dogs moped quietly on their separate pillows
for about six hours.
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| And he's off! |
I didn’t accomplish a lot
today, and I’m a bit ashamed of myself because these ten days will fly by. I
obsessively sought patterns for sewing and crochet. You see, I’m off on another
tangent. A little girl I know has a new Bitty Baby doll, and so my staycation
project is to make clothes for it.
Actually, this little girl
was offered an American Girl doll, but when she saw the catalog, she fell in
love with Bitty Baby (also manufactured by the good folks at American Girl).
She said she preferred a doll she could cuddle, and I applauded her decision.
As a child, a baby doll would have been my choice, too.
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| Staycation love from Nellie and Bess |
So, as a staycation gift, I ordered
myself a very used Bitty Baby from eBay to serve as my model. “This doll can
use a good cleaning,” said the description – and the price was right. “Ah! – That’s
the one for me,” I said. She’ll be here Thursday. KW
3 comments:
Did you have to ask Dad to humor you about the dog pillow because he didn’t agree that could be the cause of Nellie’s aggitation?
I always planned to buy Bitty Babies for my granddaughters, but alas!!! I know you will enjoy yours.
I have always felt for several years that Nellie needs a good big pillow for her old bones, and I don't think he agreed. I have restuffed pillows and even made pillows from scratch, and it just doesn't work. So, yes, I did have to convince him that it might help to have two big pillows. And it did. And it does! The two big pillows are still in the house. Sometimes they get up, turn around three times, and switch. But the tension is reduced.
Nellie is often agitated in the evening, which is a symptom of dementia. It's also true that she would like to go out and roam, and I won't allow that.
I know how that went for you with the Bitty Babies. We had two granddaughters, but their mothers bought their dolls. I think the care of a baby doll teaches nurturing skills, and I've been surprised at the popularity of the companion doll.
Thanks to both of you for your comments. Sorry I missed them wo weeks ago.
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