Pirate

Inspirational song: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything (Veggie Tales)

A very small pirate came to visit this afternoon. She was quite content to play in the play pen, to stand and "walk" and crawl all over the living room, and mash out a few notes on the piano. It was quite a pleasant visit. There are a lot of baby games she plays now, and she is still enjoying the call-and-response of "mmmmm-bah!" (I'm still convinced she started that after I was trying to teach her how to say "mama.") She is even closer to standing without holding on. She can do it for a brief second, like when she is switching hands, but there doesn't seem to be much hang time yet. No one can tell me this kid isn't smart and strong and on the right side of the development curve for her age.

She and her mommy were out running errands when I was given notice to expect them. It was a good thing they warned me. Until that point I had been moving as little as possible, and had just put myself back on the bed, hoping that the pinch in my neck would loosen itself up. I don't even know what I did. First thing this morning, Saoirse jumped on the bed and I turned to face her and pet her. When I turned back, my neck pinched, and my day was ruined. Having company at least pushed me to take a long, hot shower and loosen up the muscles that had thus far resisted Ben Gay, baclofen, and lidocaine.

To give me a little extra clean-up time, the girls stopped to meet the new kitten I wrote about a couple of days ago. I haven't met him yet, but my daughter says his floofy tail is epic. I noticed that in the pictures and videos I have been sent. I hope I get to meet him while he is still kitteny.

Challenged

Inspirational song: Once Bitten Twice Shy (Great White)

Do service dogs necessarily need to be smart? Like smart smart? Can they be generally goofy, if they can learn most of the tricks? I am pretty sure Saoirse would rather be a stand-up comedian than a service dog. Although if she gets one more raspberry cane stuck in her mouth, the best job she will be able to get would be village idiot. She has done that twice in two weeks. She was making funny faces and moving her mouth all weird, and I asked her whether she had something stuck in her teeth. Mr S-P just reached in her mouth, and there it was. Same spot as last time. I just don't know where to go with this goofball.

We were practicing some of our class work from last week this morning. She did great on line up and heel, but stay needs a lot of work. I turned my back when we were done, and she went and grabbed my empty yogurt container that I had failed to put in the recycling. I gave her a minute to enjoy her prize, and then tried to teach her how to drop it in the bin. That may take a lot longer to learn than stay.

Our weekends are a lot more free now. Our daughter's work schedule changes starting this week. With fewer babysitting hours per week, it makes sense to break down and store the baby equipment. Harvey will be disappointed. He has just decided the play pen belongs to him. If only it were a little smaller. It takes up way too much floor space.

Babies

Inspirational song: Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd)

Let's see how far into this I can get. A few hours ago I used a compounded prescription that always knocks me on my butt. (Keep this one vague. You don't need all the details. Just know I have an extreme reaction to this one.)

It's a new baby day, twice over! One of my girls' high school friends gave birth for the first time last week. (She was already a mother to a stepdaughter.) My younger daughter took a carful of baby supplies that our Grumpus has outgrown to pass them along, and sent back fresh baby pictures. The difference between a one week old baby and an eight and a half month old is phenomenal. I look forward to watching these girls grow up to be friends like their mommies are.

But wait, there's more! Not the only new baby today. My foster daughter, also a classmate and friend of the above, decided that her one cat needed a companion. She had not adjusted well to living with a large number of other cats when they were all living together as roommates with the other folks, but she also didn't seem happy alone. The local humane society had a photo of an eight month old kitten on its website, and she went down today to meet him. The appointment went well, and she took him home as soon as they took care of a little vet work. So now she has a baby boy who looks just like my Athena. For all we can tell, he seems to like being held a lot better than Athena, though.

I made it to the end. Still pretty loopy. Here are the photos I swiped today of the new babies in the extended family.

Flare

Inspirational song: Firework (Katy Perry)

Okay turns out what got me yesterday was a plain old autoimmune flare. Stuff I've been through hundreds of times, and there will be hundreds more. Still sucks, but it's nothing scary. Nerves overloaded, pain in the "needs attention" range, lack of desire to be an adult at any level. Yeah, been there, done that. These are the times I use my get out of jail card, and say this is as much writing as I plan to do tonight. Ice cream and early bed after this.

Messy

Inspirational song: Raspberry Beret (Prince)

We are officially under contract! The final details were worked out, and we signed this morning. We ran the numbers thoroughly, and we came in a few hundred over our break even point for where we need the sale money to go. There won't be a bunch left over to do the concrete work that we need (our driveway is basically powder at this point), but the solar panel installation will be paid for. I am okay with this.

I spent all day sending documents back and forth. The massive updates I ran yesterday corrupted the files I had created for this listing last fall. I had to go back into the archives of my DocuSign account to get functioning copies for my transaction file at the brokerage. I'm trying not to think about the implications for all of the other deals I made, for which I am required to keep all documents for four years. I need to get better about backing up my computer. In that I need to do it at all.

Either the urgency of meeting all my immediate deadlines was overly stressful, or I was just due a day of feeling yucky. My stomach has been acidic all day, and I was in sensory overload. It was a babysitting day, and I couldn't handle the sounds of Lord Grumpus when she was vocally cranky, nor could I handle being crawled on by her or any of the legions of cats and dog who wanted my attention. (No less than three cats parked in my lap at my daughter's house, while I waited for the baby to be ready to go home with me.) I hate it when I don't feel well around the grandbaby. I'm sure she can tell, and I don't want her to think I'm mad at her or disappointed or anything. It wasn't her fault I felt bad. Hopefully I will feel better by tomorrow, and can re-establish how much this baby amuses me, in a way she can understand.

Playing the Game

Inspirational song: The Gambler (Kenny Rogers) 

An offer on the condo came through this morning, as promised. It was a little lower than I had hoped, so we calculated out the numbers and what that would mean for us. We decided it was worth the risk to counter, even if it meant letting this fish wriggle off the hook. It became an even better gamble early in the afternoon when I got a call from the other folks who had toured the property on Friday. I was honest with the broker who called, letting her know I was working on a counter to an existing offer, and when my response deadline was. She tried to get her buyer to move quickly, but the added pressure proved too much, and they got scared off. 

I hadn't been using my laptop since before Christmas, so when I fired it up to write a counter, I had to go through four hours of updates. Holy cow. I was afraid I wouldn't get the counter written in time. I did manage to get it off with just over an hour to spare. Right before I started writing, I saw the answer. I need to discuss with my co-seller, and my vote will be to accept the negotiated price. I'll do that in the morning, as he is sound asleep now.

Too soon to open the champagne, but there is a better than average chance that we will be free of 50% of the headache of being landlords by the end of February. Now if we can finally unload the house where we used to live in New Mexico, we will be unencumbered.

Present It

Inspirational song: Come and Get It (Badfinger)

Saoirse and I made a quick check on the condo this afternoon, ahead of a realtor and her client taking a second look at the condo. There was basically nothing that needed to be done. It was left clean over the weekend, but I didn't want to take any chances. We were there so briefly, Saoirse didn't even come inside. I tied her lead to the handrail on the stairs, and let her sniff the bushes. The realtor called me from her showing with specific questions, and gave me a verbal intention of submitting an offer within a day. I'm just waiting for it to arrive now. I don't know what happened with the people who viewed it twice on Friday. Their feedback said they were interested, but I've seen nothing since then.

Way back in my college days, I spent a lot of time in Denver with my brother and (then) sister-in-law. The SIL had a very memorable way of dealing with downtown Denver traffic. She would make a somewhat pushy move, or go the wrong way into a parking lot, or similar, and if anyone honked or made mean faces at her, she would gesture at her out-of-country car tag, and say, "I didn't know, I'm just a dumb Canadian!" It was a total ruse, and we both knew it. It worked a surprising majority of the time. I took lessons from this.

I have to turn over HOA documents to whomever buys the condo, and naturally, I do not have current copies. I didn't want to pay for a document request, and the last time I encountered the website that comes up with HOA Google searches, it was for pay only (and I think it might have funneled real estate professionals into a subscription, which I do not do enough business to justify). Everyone says that as the homeowner, these documents may be free. So I tried writing the two HOAs to request them. I used my personal email and language that a homeowner would choose. It was my "I don't know; I'm just a dumb Canadian" attempt, and it failed. They sent me to the website, in rather rude responses. Maybe tomorrow I'll see whether my friend who is a title agent can save me from myself. This is one of the parts of the process I really don't enjoy.

Baby Jail

Inspirational song: I Wanna Be Sedated (The Ramones)

The Ramones' song I intended to use, up until the moment I opened the program, was Rock and Roll High School. But as I am writing hours earlier than usual so I can go dip into the pain medication that puts me to sleep, I made a last minute switch. The right hip that has been inflamed since before Christmas is actively spasming, and I am over it. I just want to make it stop bothering me and go to sleep. The football game is nearly over, and I could use an early night.

While Saoirse and I were at her school, refining her line up, heel, stay, and wait skills (and to be honest, she was pretty distracted by other dogs, so "refine" is a strong word), the baby came over for her usual grandparents time. On the way home, the puppy and I stopped by Target to retrieve a playpen by curbside pickup. So far baby accepts it and Saoirse respects it, but that almost-toddler will be able to climb out far sooner than I want to think about. If nothing else, it is a safe place for naps, where she can't fall off a bed and puppy won't step on her. 

Ok. Jammies and meds time. I have choices to make on both scores.

Wealth

Inspirational song: If I Had a Million Dollars (Barenaked Ladies)

Well, I did not wake up an instant billionaire this morning. I'm assuming none of you did either, unless you were the guy in Michigan who is about to be reacquainted with every distant relative, every person he or she went to school with, or all random folks they encountered just long enough to exchange names with. Honestly, if I won a lotto jackpot like the big one this week, most of you would never know, and I would expect you to keep such information from me if it were your win. That would change every relationship from that moment forward. Can you imagine how uncomfortable and suspicious it would make you?

Even without a sudden mound of cash dropping on my head from an unlikely lotto win, I am feeling pretty positive about my prospects. I'm finally seeing the kind of traffic at the condo listing I expected to see in November. The agents are returning good feedback, and I am hoping one or two of them will turn into an offer by Monday.

Our grandbaby was here for the afternoon. She was much easier to handle today, although we are accepting the inevitability that we will need a playpen sooner than later. In lieu of a playpen, I've discovered that letting her go wild in a bath is a good substitute. She can do what she wants and I don't have to worry she will crawl over something that could be damaged or damage her. I just have to stay close by, because she spends a lot of energy standing and sitting and standing and sitting... I tried to teach her a new vowel today. When I picked her up, we were petting her cat Moosie, so we discussed the "oo" sound. Or rather, I made it over and over, and she watched my mouth and never tried it. Maybe next time.

Excursion

Inspirational song: Love's Great Adventure (Ultravox)

This Enormous Puppy rode in a truck for the very first time today. All three dogs were in the back, for a drive up to Fraser to exchange 4runner parts with the guy we bought some from last summer. Taking everyone with us meant we didn't have to have anyone come let them outside midway through the day, and it gave Saoirse a chance to have a whole host of new experiences. She did well overall, but there were a few things she didn't like.

The Mr left side windows on the truck topper open, so all the dogs could have sniffies as we drove to the mountains. It was loud, and the higher up we went, it was increasingly chilly. Generally it was a beautiful day, but at interstate speeds, it got a little brisk. We had barely reached the far edge of town before Saoirse was howling and baying at us, sounding like a hunting hound. She was just certain there had been a clerical error, and she ended up in the truck bed by mistake. She tried to crawl through the windows we had open to the cab. (I think that twisting around and wrestling her paws back into the back was the moment I pulled something in my back, that subsequently wrecked my evening once we got home.) I tried to video her pitiful wailing, but every time I pushed the record button, she stopped and just stared at me.

We pulled over at Berthoud Pass to give the pups a chance to stretch their legs and pee at high altitude. I was snowblind and couldn't actually see my phone screen, so I had to hope I captured her first exposure to deep snow. A few minutes later, we were at the dude's house to pick apart another Toyota carcass, and drop off the pieces we didn't need from the last trip. All the dogs got out again and ran through his yard, entertaining his new puppy. The baby was what he called a "Colorado Mountain dog," which seems to be a blend of Great Pyrenees, Bernese Mountain dog, and another that I've already forgotten (it's late and I took a pill for the aforementioned strained back). The puppy was named Winter, and he looked a lot like Saoirse's brothers did when they were three months old. 

Some of the pictures from the trip are on the camera that my daughter gave me for Christmas. I haven't yet set out my routine for transferring from one device to another appropriate for blogging. When I do, I may bring those pictures out, with a brief explanation 

Friends

Inspirational song: Best Friend (Harry Nilsson)

Today's activities went a long way in fighting pandemic loneliness. Some of it was a little risky, but mitigated as much as is possible. One of my closest friends from Rotary has a birthday this week, so we met at a restaurant that I knew for sure had good social distancing (and gluten-free fried chicken). We sat and talked for a solid two hours, masked except for the time we were eating. This last year has been so hard on all of us, and it isn't going to be significantly better for months. Having one good visit will keep me going until it is finally my turn for the vaccine (my friend has had her first dose).

This evening was the larger group for D&D. It was a rowdy night. Not every game is this active, but it was rather exciting. Let's just say there was a chance to negotiate with a dragon, and it was a hoot. We had to stop before the encounter was concluded, so we have to wait two weeks before we can be certain we have averted disaster.

This is one of those nights when my writing actually sticks to a single theme. The best way I have found to stave off loneliness is to grow myself a whole new best friend. This doofy puppy that I recognized instantly was made for me, when I saw her picture at three weeks old, is now six months old as of today. Next week I take her to be weighed again, and I am confident she will top 50 pounds and be well into the weight class for the next size up in heartworm preventative meds. I've never had a relationship with a dog that was this cuddly. I've had dogs who were sweet and I considered them full members of the family. But I never tried to pick them up and set them in my lap (which is quite a trick with a big honking bruiser like Saoirse). I don't know what I would do without her. It's pretty weird, being a dedicated cat enthusiast, who is so obsessed with a dog she can't stand being away from her for more than an hour or two. This is a once in a lifetime experience for me. For Saoirse too, I guess.

Wrestling With Demons

Inspirational song: Hail to the Chief (James Sanderson)

Contrary to my prediction, I didn't break. I felt my cheeks flush a little bit when Bon Jovi sang "Here Comes the Sun," and I got chills when the Marine band played "Hail to the Chief." But the chills happen at every inauguration, and not once did my eyes even water, much less cry. I'm honestly surprised. I thought I might be one of those people who break down and bawl in catharsis. I figure it has to happen eventually, but who knows what will finally trigger it. For now, my unhealthy hypervigilance continues. 

I couldn't even say I finally took a deep breath today. Shoot, I had a harder time breathing than usual. But there was a logical reason for it. I spent all day wrestling with a rabid gorilla on amphetamines. Or a baby. It was hard to tell exactly which. Either way, I barely survived until she wound down enough to nap. She is cute and all, but she is strong and determined. I'm old and damaged. I'm doomed when she learns to run, aren't I?

The baby hand-off was while we were out and about. My daughter needed a new light for her kitchen, so we tried a couple of stores, and broke down and ate at a restaurant in between them. The baby got to eat some chips, no salsa, and she tried a nibble of the lemon from her mommy's tea. I took twelve photos of that bite in rapid succession, and still missed the initial grimace when the sour hit her. It's a pity. She does seem to like lemons, though. That's good, as we all tend to cook with them a lot.

Make It So

Inspirational song: Get Me To the Church On Time (My Fair Lady)

As I start to write, there is half a day left. I'm nervous and excited and anxious and, and, and... Emotions roll over me in such rapid succession, I can't process any one of them, and I mostly feel numb. I am just waiting to see what happens tomorrow. I've heard and read a lot of people say they expect to be bawling like babies. I don't know whether I am prepared to let go of the tight control I keep on myself yet. Could be interesting.

I'm starting to think my dog can read. I don't remember saying out loud that I was going down to check on the condo in Boulder, but I remember writing it in the blog. She huffed and whined and stared out the front window all morning until I got up and started gathering my purse and shoes and stuff. Then she sat at the front door, blocking it unless she got to go too. She's great when we go on these excursions, but she did get a little whiny when we drove past PetSmart and didn't pull into that parking lot.

This may be one of those times I intentionally leave the TV on all night. News started breaking once I started writing, and things will get going early tomorrow on the East Coast. Let's see whether it's moving enough to make me cry. I'll be in good company if it does.

Senior Skip Day

Inspirational song: Waiting On the World to Change (John Mayer)

Is everyone watching the clock tick today? I sure am. Every couple of hours, a bot I follow on Twitter (no, seriously) posts a countdown of days, hours, minutes, and seconds to noon on Wednesday. I click like almost every time. I just want to get there without more riots or attempted (or worse successful) assassinations. Maybe then the knot in my stomach will release.

I did very little today. I tried being up and about this morning, but I found myself back in bed by noon. It was only then, once my face was pressed into the pillow, that I let myself feel the migraine that was threatening to take over. I think I won the battle and kept it from fully realizing its power. But it was a long day in bed, shivering, lying still but awake, acutely aware of the entire right half of my body from scalp to the arch of my foot. 

I managed to get up and make myself some cheese soup around 5 o'clock, and I've been perking up a little since, enough to snuggle the dog and cat who share a bed with me on a regular basis. There's a good chance tomorrow will be better, and I can go check in on the condo. (More showings scheduled, still no offer.) I'm glad I have the ability to stay in a quiet place when I need to. It was rough working full time when migraines came along, and I had to stay at my desk, doing things like helping library patrons or counseling students. The only ones who needed my attention today were much easier to manage.

Smart Girls

Inspirational song: Run the World (Girls) (Beyoncé)

School is back in session. Puppy school, that is. We missed a solid month and a half, waiting for the state to scale back Covid restrictions. In that time, a certain puppy developed a few minor bad habits, but she didn't lose all her training. She actually did all right, even when we had to each stand up in front of the class and practice "line up." Her buddy Forrest was there again, plus three new guys. We had one bark at the brindle boy next to us early in the session. Then she was great. We are both glad to be working again.

We had the baby today. She gets smarter every time I see her. This is such a fun age. We were trying new foods, and while she sat in her high chair, she watched me clean the cat hair off a couple of the dining room chairs. I've had marginal success scraping the fur off with a silicone spatula, and when I offered the spatula to her, she leaned over and tried to do the exact thing she had seen me do. So clever.

I still have to watch the girls closely when they are together. Saoirse spends all over her time trying to lick the baby's face, and when I held her back too long, she got anxious and reached out with her paw. Baby did not like having a large dog paw scrape her cheeks. By the time we were back from puppy training, all was forgiven.

Window Closing

Inspirational song: White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane)

Time is almost up. Optimal blood saturation level has almost been achieved. After a long walk through almost every section of a Super Walmart, I gave myself permission to dip into the good stuff in my medicine reserves. The mild muscle relaxers I had tried twice during the day had barely held off the worst of my hip and back pain, and by the time I got home, my whole body was shrieking. Technically it still is. 

So here I sit, feeling my feet throbbing and listening to my ears ringing, waiting for my medication to kick in. It's already hard to focus on writing. I think it's just a matter of a few minutes before the sore muscles are muted. For all this hurts now, it was worth it to shop with the prettiest girl in all of Colorado.

Too Much

Inspirational song: Car Wash (Rose Royce)

Where yesterday we had to resort to aimless driving through dark neighborhoods, today Saoirse got to go on productive errands to entertain her. We started out easy, stopping at the closest gas station, so I could run in and buy MegaMillions tickets (I mean, the jackpot was huge), and I left her in the car. We were parked by the door, and I had my eye on her the whole time. She did very well. Danced in the seat just a bit, but no panic. Next stop was the pharmacy, and when I told the girls that my puppy was in the car, they insisted she was allowed to come in and say hi. She really enjoyed having three women fawning all over her.

The longest stop was long mostly because of Saoirse. We are running low on puppy food, and I didn't like the kind she had last. (Let's just say this dog sleeps with her head at the foot of the bed, and the smelly end pointed toward my pillow.) So we walked down every aisle, reading ingredient lists, getting frustrated by how many foods contain oatmeal (so not allowing an oatmeal-eating dog to snuggle me!) The store had just gotten a huge shipment of foods, and there were pallets of giant bags of dog food clogging the aisles, and all hands on deck unloading them. It was way too much stimulation for a six month old to handle. She sniffed everything, pulled on the lead, and when we were paid up and heading out, she woofed deeply at a golden retriever. Not cool, child.

We were on a roll, and I wanted to test her on one more situation. I knew it might be scary, but we had to try. We went through the car wash. She started barking when we were pulled up next to other cars in line, waiting for the sensor to read our membership. We circled around so she could see the cars disappearing into the tunnel, and she got quiet and watchful. She tried to hold it together when the sprays started, but the spinning sponges started smacking into the windows, and she lost it. She barked and spun. I hugged her, trying to be soothing, but she was so panicked she put herself into the back seat....while she was still buckled in the front. We had to pull over in the vacuum stalls, to unhook her and let her heart rate come down before heading home. Lesson learned. We Do Not Like Car Wash.

Skinny Puppy

Inspirational song: Sunshine on My Shoulders (John Denver)

Saoirse is rapidly becoming a teenager. She is easily bored, and it's making her needy. Like the Rum Tum Tugger, she is always on the wrong side of every door. It doesn't matter whether she has just been let through. If she's in and one of the other dogs or her papa are outside, she loses her mind wanting to be where they are. When she is left unsupervised, she has hit the destructive phase. She has eaten half the foam out of Elsa's bed, and she is systematically pulling up our raspberries and roses. In fact, that boogerhead got a raspberry cane wedged in her mouth. It bridged the roof of her mouth, from molar to molar, way in the back. If she didn't have a habit of lying across my lap, looking at me upside down, grinning, I might never have looked so far in her mouth. I couldn't pry it loose, and had to get the Mr to do it.

I promised her all day we would go somewhere, like wandering around Lowe's and maybe to a pet store for crickets. I never did go. So after dark, when she was throwing herself dramatically on the bed and huffing (like I said, teenager), I put on a hoodie and slippers, and grabbed her harness. It was too late to take care of normal errands (good thing, considering how I was dressed) so we just drove around with the window open, so I could see who still has Christmas lights up (lots of people), and she could sniff around. We started with McDonald's for fries and a coke, and we split the food and chatted for half an hour, looping through neighborhoods. It didn't burn off as much of her energy as training classes, but it was better than nothing.

Everybody mangles songs to personalize them for their pets, right? Not just me? Saoirse might just have "her" song now. As I was leaving McDonald's, shoving food into the face hole of my puppy whose bones have grown so fast they've left her no calories for a drop of body fat, I started singing. "French fries... in my doggy makes me happy..." Sorry, John Denver. The song is ours now.