STAYCATION 2018, DAY 8 (SUNDAY)

We’ve been staycating for a week now. The days have flown by. Nothing spectacular happened here – and that’s a good thing!

It was 7:00 by the time I was ready to walk with Bess. I meant to take the camera but when I got out on the road, I didn’t have it. The hawk was still there guarding his territory but seemed less aggressive. Perhaps he knows from experience that we aren’t really interested in bothering him.

A hot day was predicted, so I closed the house early and turned on the A/C in the afternoon.

I had a nice visit with the neighbor today, and several phone chats with family. Mike called tonight to say that he and Yancey enjoyed today’s ride through the Colorado mountains. Tomorrow he and Yancey will go their separate ways. Yancey will ride home to Denver while Mike’s plan is to be in Blackfoot tomorrow night. He hopes to come on home Tuesday. Yes – long days.

 

Honestly, I couldn’t make this day sound interesting if I tried. Maybe I can do better tomorrow. KW

[Photos: So glad I had Mike bring in another large dog pillow. Both Bess and Nellie enjoy the room to stretch out. And the third photo is of a doll afghan I finished during this staycation.]

STAYCATION 2018, DAY 7 (SATURDAY)

Once again, Bess and I took our exercise walk first thing. This time I carried the camera. A pair of hawks have a nest along our route, and they are naturally leery of Bess and protective of their home – wherever it is. I watched the soaring hawk until he (she?) landed in the rocks across the draw, where he was actually quite well camouflaged. By cropping the picture, I was able to make him (or is it her?) more visible. And do I see a pair of hawks in the picture, or is that just a rock?

My phone rang this morning, and the caller came up as Yancey, my stepson, who is motocaching with husband Mike. I was startled because I couldn’t think of any reason Yancey would call (instead of Mike) unless Mike were incapacitated. Turned out to be Mike using Yancey’s phone. Long story short, he had lost his phone, which he said he clearly remembered putting in his jacket pocket. ("The great god of geocaching is greedy this year,” I thought to myself.) He was calling because he needed me to find his password, but then he remembered it without prompting. Fifteen minutes later he called again, and this time it came up “Mike.” Apparently Yancey had taken hold of the situation and searched Mike’s person, finding the phone in the pocket of his chaps. Too bad he didn’t do it 40 miles and an hour and a half sooner.

While staycating with dogs, I don’t feel obligated to work. The care and feeding of dogs takes considerable time, so when they nap, I relax. But today I changed the bed, did the laundry, washed dishes, weeded and fertilized the tomatoes. 

Evenings are “me time.” (Okay – you can argue that the whole staycation is “me time.”) After supper I expect my charges to settle down and leave me alone, but Nellie is especially agitated in the evening. I take her outside, and when we come back in, she immediately wants to go out again. If I don’t let her out, she paces and sits beside me and begs. Maybe she’s hungry, but as Mike points out, she’s always hungry. My solution is just to put her to bed early, but I feel badly about it. I like having her on her pillow.

Bess usually settles down, but tonight she was clearly feeling sorry for herself. I suspect she was missing Mike, who is her main person. She probably wonders if he’s ever going to come back. Nellie would just as soon be my dog, but Bess loves Mike. KW

STAYCATION 2018, DAY 6 (TGIF)

I awoke at what I thought was 6:15, but by the time I made it into the kitchen, it was 5:30. Great! No, I mean it. It will be hot today, and I must exercise Bess and also water the drought-tolerant beds. So, I drank my hot chocolate, got dressed, and went out to open the kennel. Both dogs were ready to get up. I saw to Nellie’s needs, then put her in the house and took Bess for a walk.

 “You might have to water while I’m gone,” said Mike as he was leaving. “If you put the two hoses together blah blah blah nozzle blah blah blah, it will reach across the front.”

“Whatever,” I said to myself.

The spring has been cool enough – and wet enough – and the garden is well-enough established – that we haven’t needed to water yet. We gave up the drip system years ago because it was difficult to maintain, and now we just water once a week or so. But I will have to set up the hoses, and / or carry water, and for that, I deserve another staycation gift.

After yoga, I headed out for some shopping. I bought a 17.5-pound bag of dog food for $9.98. Naturally, a 50-pound bag would have been a better deal, but I didn’t want to wrestle with it. I also bought groceries – and a bottle of dark brown acrylic paint and a paint brush. 

Before

Work in progress

Once the groceries were put away, I tackled Bitty Baby’s “hair.” I didn’t know how to start, so I just smeared the paint over her head with the brush. The paint covered the bare spots well, but the edges looked awful!! I wished for a talented artistic person to show up and help me, but alas! – I was on my own. At that point I thought of the old antiquing process my dad used to use – rub it on and rub it off -- and was pleased to find that the paint could be rubbed off. I moistened a rag and began to rub that paint off along the

edges. Then, I dipped the moistened rag in the paint, wiping the thinned paint on and off until the effect was improved. The doll is much cuter now.

Another great staycation gift arrived today -- My Doll, My Style, by Anna Allen (here). Anna is one of my favorite doll clothes bloggers and this is her first book. I didn’t expect delivery until late this month, but to my delight, it was released early and arrived today.

A good walk does much to settle a dog, but an afternoon walk didn’t happen. We had just passed the neighbor’s house when Bess ran back home. And Nellie wasn’t going with us anyway, preferring instead to mosey around in the neighbor’s yard. Thankfully, they seem not to mind that we’re regular visitors.

Mike called tonight. It was a long, hot day for them, and he sounded tired.

Oh! – and when I went to bed I discovered my clock was off more than an hour, which explained why I thought it was 6:30 when I got up this morning. KW