Taking Care of Business

My dad has been in California this last week, and I have been taking care his house and his baby, Gidgie, a little white Pomeranian. She stays at home during the day and sleeps over at our house at night. Every morning I take her home, feed her, turn on the TV, open the blinds, come back later and let her out and feed her again, and when I get off work I go get her and turn off the TV, turn on the lights, close the blinds, and bring her home for the night. I've been doing this since last Tuesday and I'm getting tired. But dad comes back home this evening, so when I leave at 5:00 I will go let her out and make sure lights are on and whatnot and then go on home.

Gidgie

The reason for all the transporting and all is that I have three dogs at home and Bobby just last week went back on days, so nobody is at home to let her out during the day. My dogs are used to our routine, but she isn't, plus she would by necessity have to be cooped up all day. At Dad's she has the run of the house, and Dad's house is halfway between work and my house, so it's closer than running back to my house to let her out. At night she sleeps in a baby playpen in my boys room because Toby sleeps in our room and, well, it just wouldn't work!. 

You might at this point be wondering why Dad didn't just take her to a boarding kennel. The answer to that is that she is his baby and a boarding kennel might make her think nobody is coming for her. Before Dad would leave her with some friends, but they said it was too nerve wracking because she would stay at the window looking for him and they had trouble getting her to eat. It's what she did after my mom died. She kept waiting for her to come home, so now to ease her mind, Dad has certain things he does so she knows he's coming back. With this little routine we have going, she knows when I'm coming and what we're doing and it gives her peace. I also tell her that daddy will be back  in a few days, and she's fine. Sure, it's been a little inconvenient and a lot of running back and forth, but my dad has done so much for me all my life that this is just a very small thing that I can do for him.

Remember how much rain we had a week or so ago? Well, yesterday it was 91 degrees and today is supposed to be around 87. We went from Spring to Summer in just a few days, and likely it will flip-flop between the two for the next 2-3 weeks and then it will just be HOT. The good news is that the roofers are all out in force trying to get roofs done all over town before we get any more rain from that unstable weather pattern. When I walk outside, I can hear the sound of pounding coming from all directions - all over town - anywhere I go. Our contractors contacted our insurance company and told them that they didn't allow enough for us to repair the damages from the hail storm, so they sent the adjuster back out and they went over everything again, and it turns out that he made mistakes in the work-up and left out a bunch of stuff, so they have written us out another check, and now it will all get fixed. Huge relief!

So, Dad is coming home tonight, and I've made sure everything looks good and that the house is cool. Taking care of plants and such. Dad has these great shrubs that bloom every spring that look gorgeous, so I took a couple of snaps with my phone. I need to try to find some of these to put in the front of my house. I just want them (roofers) to hurry up and get my house done so I can get some stuff planted. Even though the contractors assured me that they will protect any plants or flowers, etc., I would rather wait until they're done, just in case. I can't really plant anything out back because my dogs think they are chew toys. 


I want to finish up with something funny that happened today at work. Across the street from the front door of the funeral home to the south is a small parking area separated by a concrete sidewalk/median and on the other side of that is a larger parking lot. While Gary and I were in the front foyer/reception area talking a little old lady pulled into one of the parking spaces across the street, sat there for a few seconds and suddenly rocketed forward with a loud crashing sound, high-centered on the median, and then with a squeal of her tires, got herself off of the median and took off down the street and turned. Gary and I looked at each other and I said "what was that??" As we discussed the many possibilities, we spotted her car at the stop sign about down the block, and sure enough she turned north and headed back up to the corner and turned right and pulled back into the parking area only in a different space. She sat there for a good 15 minutes while Gary and I pondered whether we should go check on her or not. Then she got out of the car, walked around it a few times, and also checked out the street to see if anyone had noticed her earlier adventure. Finally she turned and walked over to the buildings to the west of the parking lot...and into the optometrist's office. Gary went out and snuck a peak at her car and he said it looked like she'd done that before because her front grill was caved in, her left front quarter panel was banged up, and she had a red swipe of transfer running along the front left half of her car. I guess it was a good thing she was going to see the eye doctor.