Maggie and the Eclipse

"Me and My Mommy View the Eclipse"

by Maggie, a geriatric border collie

Some of you who've read this blog for a long time will remember I used to post when I was younger. If so, you remember that I decided to be a kennel dog when I was about a year old even though my mommy had bought me to be a house dog. A couple of months ago, after a decade of being a kennel dog, I made a career change and became a house dog again. A few months ago, I had to have surgery on my ear, so I got used to being in the house while I recuperated.

I don't stay in the house all the time. I make Mommy take me outside. She has to use a golf-cart because she can't walk good so I walk beside it. She keeps me on a leash because she knows I might slip away if she wasn't watching. Anyhow, Mommy said were going to see an eclipse. I wasn't sure what one was, but it involved going outside. Once we were out, Mommy looked at the sky but she said there were too many clouds.

She said the eclipse might be behind these clouds.

 I looked around but I didn't see anything.

I did see some blue sky toward Smith Mountain, but she said that the sun wasn't over that way.

She said the eclipse was taking place behind these clouds, so we were missing it. I still couldn't figure out what it was.

Before long, Chloe saw us looking at the sky and decided to join us. 

I like Chloe better than the house cats because she doesn't mess with me the way certain house cats do. She doesn't try to take my toys like Alfreda does or smack me like Arlo does or—Oh, I guess I'm getting off-track. Anyhow, Chloe and I sat down to wait for whatever Mommy was waiting for.

Waiting for the eclipse was boring, so we took a little nap. 

After we'd napped for a while, I asked Chloe what an eclipse was supposed to be, and she said it was when the moon blocked out the sun, but the sun still shone around the edges. "It looks like the end of my tail," Chloe said, and held up her tail to show me. 

I thanked Chloe for her explanation. "You're welcome," she said. "Always glad to help out a good dog."

Back up in the sky, not much was happening. Mommy said she could see a little sliver of sun every once in a while, but I didn't see anything.

Chloe had some cat-work to do so she left, but I had to stay with Mommy. Finally Mommy got tired of waiting too.

I don't see why she couldn't have just looked at Chloe's tail. It would have saved a lot of time.

~

I Get Around

. . . considerably better now, thanks to a golf cart. For way too long, I've been having leg problems, and walking has often been a problem. If I walked down to feed Melody and the barn critters, sometimes I had problems getting back. Walking to the mailbox meant a stop at either the gazebo or one of the benches to rest. Usually, instead of walking, I drove the old PT. But there were places on the property where a car wouldn't go. For a while, I used the 4-Wheeler, but it became increasingly harder to swing my leg over the seat and hard to change gears.

I thought about getting a Trail Wagon at Tractor Supply with the 10% off coupon that came in the mail. However, I couldn't test drive the ones there because the battery was dead in all of them. That didn't bode well. I thought I'd better look for something else.

So, I decided to get a golf cart. My husband and I watched ads for a while, and then went to look at a used one that was about 10 miles from us. The seller had several for sale.

We got there before he did, but we found the one that looked just like the ad.

So we checked it out.

After the seller arrived, my husband and I both test drove it.

I found it very easy to handle.

I wrote a check. I figured we'd need to go get our flatbed to take it home, but the seller agreed to deliver it immediately for no extra charge. The cart was easy to load on his flatbed.

. . . and soon it was on the road.

It wasn't long until it was in my yard. It looked right at home.

The next day, a big orange cat occupied the cart.

George thought it made a great place to nap.

He didn't like having his nap disturbed.

Looks like I'll be sharing my new ride. . . .

~

Bed Buddy

Today, I bought a Memory Foam topper for my mattress. I didn't have the camera handy until after I'd spread out the foam and covered it with the mattress cover. Then my little buddy Tanner decided to help with bed-making . . .

"This is so comfy!"

"I can stretch out good."

"I can stretch out even better!"

"Oops. I got tangled in the sheet."

"Ah, that's better."

"Need to smooth out a few wrinkles."

"I ought to wash my feet before going to bed."

"This one looks pretty clean."

"Do I see something I might want?"

"A box! And it has an armhole!"

"Not enough room for me to get both my head and arm out of this hole."

"The inside is nice and roomy though."

If my furry little buddy hadn't helped, I could have made up the bed in half the time.

~

House-cat work

by Tanner (Youngest Resident Cat)

The other day, I blogged about my decorating skill. I still have a bit of work to do on the window treatment, so it is a work-in-progress.

Sometimes I have to stop and read the writing on the wall. I think I live pretty well.

But, as a house-cat, I have certain work that I must do. Sometimes I have to look high and low for meaningful work.

One thing I do around the house is check to make sure the dishwasher is properly unloaded.

Getting out can be a little tricky. Plus there's one dish that hasn't been unloaded yet.

Good thing I noticed that.

Next, I have to check the cupboards to make sure the dishes have been put away properly. Opening a cupboard door isn't easy, but I have learned how to do it. 

Everything in here looks OK.

I also inspect clothes going into or out of the dryer to make sure they have enough cat hair on them.

One way to see if the clothes are dry is to lie down on them. This also helps add cat hair.

Wait! Those jeans need a little more drying time!

Sometimes I have to re-read the instructions.

Doing cat-work can be tiring, so I often make time for a nap. A warm dryer door is a good place if you're not too heavy. (I am a very svelte cat, so it works for me.)

From the dryer door, I can reach other clothes that need washing.

A load of warm clothes fresh from the dryer is a good place to nap. It also gives me another chance to add cat hair to the clean clothes.

The top of the dryer is another good napping place.

Writing this blog post has made me so tired that I think I'll take another nap now.

~