Ten-Finger Exercises

the last minute busies

Maybe 'busies' isn't a word after all. You'd know what I meant if I said it, but it looks funny, doesn't it?

Today is the day to finish mending, ironing and get packed for our 6 a.m. flight to Florida to meet the new grandson! Whoopee! It's also the day to take Seamus to the kennel, and I've just come from there and am rewarding myself with some time to blog. It's better for me than the whole package of double stuffed mint Oreos that I still have in the car, unopened, with the other treats left over from the grief group. Oops, wish I hadn't brought those up....

H-hm. I will proceed.

Another of today's tasks is to clean out the fridge, and so when I came home from work I heated up the one remaining mug of turkey lentil soup. It was tasty. I thought a fruit roll would complement it, the orange one. They're fun, a little stiff at first, but if you work them with your tongue into an object like a rolled up lizard's tongue, they get soft and pliable. Hm...this one seems to have something hard and sharp in it...yikes, it's my tooth!

At first I couldn't tell where the enamel crown came from, and the terrible thought occurred to me that it might have been someone else's stuck in the fruit stick! I guess that made the shock of it being my own more, uh, palatable.

So, I called the dentist, who could fit me in if I came back to town very quickly. It was fast and painless, thank goodness. Then home to take Seamus for a walk, the last treat before the trip to the kennel. We went through the orchard at a leisurely pace, which was even slower than I needed to go, but then I don't need to stop and sniff. He hadn't been there in awhile, due to all the bad weather we've had, and his friends had left lots of pee-mail for him to check and reply to.

Thanks to my clever suitcase trick, piling the old-fashioned suitcases at the back bumper for him to use to climb up into the way-back, we made it to the kennel before closing hours at 4PM, after which there's an extra fee, of course. Did I tell you they've dug a swimming pool for dogs? It will be open by summer. It's about fifteen feet long. Seamus won't care, but some dogs will love it!

The kennel owner said Seamus never sleeps on his bed, always lies on the hard cement instead. That makes me sad. I went to look at his kennel, thinking that he was okay when we were there last time. I didn't expect him to be a kindergartner about it, but he did bark his croaky little bark when I left. So now I feel very bad.

The kennel he's in has two parts, one with a bed and food and water dishes. The bed has what looks like a cover on it, pulled down like you'd find on a cruise ship at bedtime, and there's a doggy treat lying there. It looked very cute. Seamus had ignored the whole setup and had gone through the little doggie door into the outdoor part, about 4x6'. The dogs can see each other there. Maybe that's the attraction. He came back in to see me though, and then barked when I left.

Okay, now I'll go iron and stuff. Thanks for a little break.