Welcome Summer Vacation

Today was the first day of summer vacation. A joyous day. Right? Last night I was so exhausted I collapsed into bed when I put the bigguns to bed at 10. Yes, that is an hour later than normal, but it was the last day of school. We were out riding bikes until after 8. Celia was really progressing on her new 20″ bike. No training wheels. Today we hoped to work on that some more.

At 8 the phone rang. It jarred me awake. I saw that it was my sister. I answered but no one was there. I dozed off only to wake 20 minutes later because Daniel was up. I called Jaime back. She hadn’t realized that I wasn’t up at 7 to put the kids on the bus. We talked for a little bit about Father’s Day and our lack of plans. Then I heard my Dad’s dog going nuts outside. I jumped up to let her in, to find her terrorizing a Box Turtle. I corral the dogs and rescue the turtle. I moved him into a tub with a little water, a low flat rock, and a scoop of wet cat food. The three boys and I spent a bit of time outside, then I herded them in so I could shower.

Just before I was finished my wonderfully cold shower (seriously, wonderful), I heard pounding on the door. Celia asked if she could answer it. I said she could look out the window. All the dead bolts were locked anyway. I don’t think she could have answered it. It was my neighbor. My cousin’s wife. Celia came running in announcing that Kristie was at the door, holding my cat. Then the cat bit her and ran away. I called their house, but no one answered. So, I went next door. No one answered the door. I saw my cousin back near their garage, so I walked back and asked how Kristie was. My cat had broken skin. I apologized to them. Mostly to Kristie. My cat is on the nasty side because he never had a cat Mommy. Only me. Brad said he would have kicked it if he’d been the one who was bitten. I ignored him. Kristie said it really hurt. I offered her pain killing Neosporin. She accepted. She thanked me for it and then laughed, “Thanks for the cat bite and the ointment.” Yeah, Neosporin was the least I could do.

Later in the afternoon, I went into the backyard with the dogs. I heard a screeching and Bailey (my dad’s retreiver) was sniffing around going nuts. I rushed over to see what she’d found. I struggled with her for a few moments, only to realize that the screaming was coming from where my Bassett hound was. She’d found a bunny nest. And she killed a poor hairless bunny.

The kids had been rammy all day. A woman at Wal-Mart this morning assured me that it lasts the first two weeks after school lets out and then it will even out. I certainly hope so. I was so flustered today. Far too stressed out.

I decided that a drive would help us all. So, we hopped in the car, spent a fortune filling it with gas, and then drove. About 10 minutes into the drive, a bird flew up and hit my windshield. I have no idea if it survived. I was just glad that it didn’t break my window.

I was having a bad animal day. Shortly thereafter Scott called me. I told him that with my luck within a few hours I would be calling him to announce that a deer hit me. And too ironically for me, on the way back home, there were three doe standing in the middle of the road. I did NOT hit them. I saw them early enough that I came to a complete stop and waited for them to cross. But it was closer than I liked.

I just can’t believe how the animal kingdom rose up, united, and attacked me today.

Basset Hound Woes

Some of you may know, I have a Basset Hound.  Yes, four kids and the dog.  And the cat.  And five young frogs.  And a fish.  And as of yesterday, three slugs.  With the recent separation, I thought Scott would be happy to have a dog to keep him company.  He is a dog lover.  But, he said no.  We moved in with my dad who has a dog also.  They play well together.  But my dog will counter top surf and knock over the trash can.  My dog has gone upstairs and pooped on my dad’s floor several times since we moved in.  Since things here are tense and my dad doesn’t actually talk to me much, I decided that I should find a new home for the dog.  It was something I had discussed with Celia already.  Something I’d thought about since before leaving Texas.  My mom thought it was the right decision.  Scott didn’t really say what he thought.  Just that his mom said Daisy could stay there for one month while I made up my mind.  All I heard from my dad was a report from my sister that I didn’t have to get rid of my dog.  That was it.

The same horrible day that I enlisted the kids in public school, I posted the dog on Petfinder.  Since then I’ve received emails from 6 families.  Three of them were previous basset owners.  One of them didn’t actually have internet.  The tech from their vet’s office contacted me.  The gentleman had gone into their office and asked if they knew of any bassets that needed a home.  The tech had just seen my ad the day before.  I waited about a week before calling the couple.  I finally just called today.

They seem like great people.  They’re in their early 60’s.  The husband has macular degeneration and a guide dog.  The wife misses her basset.  She died 4 years ago and is now ready for another dog.  I talked to the husband for quite some time today.  He said he’d be calling me back soon.

When my dad finished with work, I told him that it seemed I found a home for Daisy.  He seemed shocked.  He said that things were going well.  That she plays nicely with his dog.  That he hasn’t had to medicate his dog for her separation anxiety since we moved in.  He said she just lies in front of Daisy’s crate.  He’s begun closing the door upstairs so the dog and cat can’t go up.  He said he’d rather not have the cat on his new furniture either.

And wouldn’t you know that there I am torn up inside and my phone rings.  The wife was calling to find out if they could come up tonight!  It was 7 when they called.  They had to eat dinner and then drive an hour to get here.

I asked my dad what I should do.  His advice was to call them back and tell them the kids were really upset and now I had to talk to them about it more and decide what I want to do.  Then he adds, “Unless you want to get rid of your dog…”

So I did.  I feel horrible.  The poor couple was so excited about the basset they found.  They were so excited about it.  And I called them up and told them my kids were not handling it well.  I needed one more week to think about it and talk it over with them some more.

And it wasn’t truly a lie.  Earlier today Celia told David that we were selling Daisy and he got really mad at her.  I asked her to drop it.  That I would handle it.  She said, “So handle it!”  But we had just pulled into the gas station.  I said I would handle it…later.  While pumping gas, I could hear them fighting again.  When I got in, Celia announced that David was mad at her.  He was sitting there with a stern look on his face.  I sighed, “Celia, I wanted to handle it.  I wanted to talk to him.”  She said, “So talk to him.”  But I couldn’t.  He was so upset that he wasn’t going to hear me.

So, after all of that, I have kept my dog.  I have one week in which to decide if I truly keep her or I can call the couple and adopt her out.  Stay tuned…