What a day, what a day!

This morning I wake up, a little later than usual today... the parents are finally home so I wasn't waking up at the crack of dawn to take Cory and Minnie outside and feed Zephyr - Charlie, the good boy, has learned to wait until much later to go outside and get fed... such as today. My door was open last night because I like the dogs to be able to come and go from my room as they please, and this morning it was still open even though mom and dad were up, and the dogs were already in and out. But Charlie remained on the bed - at one point, I guess, mom walked by and said "good morning Charlie!" because he was sitting up very alert on the bed, but he didn't budge. He just wagged his tail and she moved along, and he curled back up next to me. Very sweet.

Anyway, so I got up and he was very excited and we went right outside so he could take care of all of his business... and I'm there stretching and looking at the field while Charlie is doing his thing, and I look back to see if he's finished only to see a big, gross, white WORM! I just hung my head and let out a slew of words that aren't appropriate for this setting.

So I go inside, and I have my cup of coffee and then call the vet - as it turns out, we need to get them all another round of flea and heartworm meds anyway. Now Charlie is on a round (well, it's only one round - it's powerful stuff) of Drontal. This poor guy...

Then this afternoon we enjoyed some wonderful, delicious bourbon reserve - 101 proof, aged 10 years - that my parents purchased on their trip. We went ahead and let Charlie join us outside off his leash so he could run and play with the other dogs, and he went exploring in the field, but he didn't go far. He just sniffed and sat and enjoyed the sunshine and the freshly cut grass. He looked so cute out there just hanging out in the field, surveying the land. I'm sure he's never had this before - he's able to enjoy the scenery and the wildlife without being on guard; he kept looking back to make sure we were in sight and earshot, and eventually he came trotting back up - though not before checking out a little toad hopping around in the grass.

Mom and I took all the dogs out once it was dark for one last trip outside for them. We strolled into the upper field and Charlie was on his leash, but even Cory started trying to play so I just let him off his leash - it was a rare thing to see Cory that playful and excited, and I love seeing Charlie run and jump and bark - things he hasn't done in such a long time, if ever. Those two dogs were growing and chasing and wrestling... and what was most adorable, is that they started playing hide and seek. They ran into the side bushes and hid from one another - peeking their little heads out every now and again to see if the other was still there. Cory ran away, but Charlie just stayed crouched waiting for him - once Cory was back within running shot and turned away, Charlie raced off after him and tackled him to the ground. It was so sweet to watch those two - mom and I couldn't help but giggle.

We got inside and Charlie just couldn't settle down - he leaped on the couch with me and attempted to wrestle, but I had to calm him down. He didn't like that, and in the process he sort of nipped at me - not to cause harm, but to say, "hey! hey! c'mon! let's play!" but it ended up hurting quite badly and instinctively I whipped around and gave him a harsh tap on his haunches. In a very Matrix style moment, we both just looked at each other; immediately in his eyes I saw fear and a recognition of a familiar pain, and in mine I can only assume he saw how guilty and awful I felt at realizing what I had just done. I turned to my mother completely shocked, and she told me a story of how once she was holding me in her arms and she looked down at me and I looked up at her and promptly smacked her on her face - you know, how babies test to see what you'll do in a situation, and to try something new and unfamiliar. Instinctively, my mother tapped my face right back and that is the one and only time she ever hit me - and it wasn't even a true smack, just pure animal instinct to say "hey, that hurt, back off." These things happen, in other words. I turned back to Charlie and kept apologizing and and hugged him so hard - he cocked his head to the side and leaned his head way into mine and just pushed back on me and then just let himself fall into my lap and he just sat there - as if to say, "it's OK mommy, I'm sorry I nipped you, it's OK that you nipped me back."

Dogs are so humbling and forgiving, it's just astounding.

So then Zephyr joined us inside, and Charlie loves Zephyr... I think she likes him, too, but she's a picky girl and isn't the playful type. So she just watched him try to play with her, and then she made her way over to the couch with me and curled up - Charlie was relentless. Bouncing back and forth, lying down then siting up, whining and then growling, nuzzling her and then jumping back. She just wasn't having it and now she's sleeping and Charlie has only sort of given up - he's lying on the floor just waiting for her to wake up. Silly boy.

Finally, a break

Well, my week of hell is finally over. There was some drama, some serious stress, too much exhaustion, and a lot of chaos, but it's all over and done with :) We are all moved out of the apartment, and the inspection is done, and we're all moving forward.

The dogs are doing much better. Cory had all sorts of allergies going on, and he's on some serious meds and is doing much better! A brand new doggy. Charlie is doing better as well, but we'll see how he does once his round of medication is done...

He had a very busy couple of days in Burlington, as well. Not only did he have to put up with me moving things all over the place, but he was in and out of the car all day, but he did really well. And I tried to walk him as often as possible, and we made lots of trips to the dog park!

We had a few interesting moments together, however...

So, I have my dads car while my parents on vacation - and although it doesn't have AC, it DOES have automatic windows, which makes it easier for me to provide some fresh air for Charlie when he's either in the back seat or the passenger seat. So I've got the windows all down, and Charlie is looking around and enjoying the weather; we stop at a stop sign, but because of traffic we were sort of over the crosswalk a bit, so naturally there was a pedestrian on the sidewalk waiting to cross. He was a big dude, just hanging out, minding his own business, and in anticipation for the traffic to move, he began to move forward, and Charlie did NOT like that at all. He immediately started barking at him, to which I settled him down and we moved forward, but it was definitely interesting.

He's also getting better about meeting people - and generally, people in Burlington are extremely friendly and respectful towards dogs and their owners. Many people recognize that he's a rescue dog just by his demeanor towards strangers, so they're very sweet. Some other people, aren't so cautious. We were in the local video store visiting a very good friend of mine who works there and several people got right down on their knees and just showered him with love and kisses and hugs - it was so, so sweet; and they all asked beforehand if it was OK to pet him - which was also really awesome. But, we were in the corner looking at some videos, and someone, dressed in all dark clothing carrying a large bag (he really doesn't like anyone with big bags) came marching around the corner, clearly knowing exactly what she wanted. Charlie started barking and got quite defensive - I apologized and calmed him down and explained he was a rescue and gets nervous around strangers - but she cut me off and responded with a brief, "yeah, ok, I guess I'm cornering him, sorry," and pushed me aside to get her video. Rude!

But that's going to happen. Some people are animal people, and some people just aren't! Whatcha gonna do.

And we spent the night in the new apartment last night - I was on an air mattress and we were both totally exhausted. Charlie curled up on his bed, but immediately saw me crawl into my little air mattress bed and he came right over and zonked out right next to me. I'm noticing that he dreams quite vividly, because I'm finding that he kicks me in his sleep! Funny boy. He's like me - he likes to take up as much of the bed as possible, he kicks in his sleep, and he tends to roll over on top of his bed mate - i.e. me. But I certainly wouldn't trade any of it for the world.

So now I'm home, and my other doggies were here at home for the last two nights. My wonderful neighbor has been keeping an eye on them, and has been giving Cory his meds. But they were totally excited that I was home - I haven't seen Cory that excited in such a long time. Now we're all in the living room curling up for some movies.

I'm about ready to not think about anything that has to do with cleaning, packing, unpacking, or driving for the next 24 hours. So I will be parking myself on the couch with the dogs until I absolutely have to get up :)

R.I.P. Boots

I think we've lost another one of our cats :( Boots has been gone for just about 24 hours now, and that's really unlike him. He was such a loving, sweet boy. He loved to just lounge on your lap, and he and Charlie had a developed a very sweet friendship. Cory and Boots were quite the dynamic duo, too. And poor Zephyr... she was quite wary of him at first, but they became great pals. She's keeps looking at me and meowing. It's such bullshit - Boots was really, really young. We've only had him for a little over a year because we lost our other cat Gordo. It's all these male cats - they get so adventurous and wild... it just breaks my heart. I've still got a bit of hope left in me that he's on his own little trip and he'll be back... but, I don't know.

Doggie Loveseat

Oh my goodness - look at these two!!!

A little tribute to my other dogs

This is just a little post giving some credit to my other two dogs, Cory and Minnie, for not only just being wonderful, but also for being so good with Charlie. They are such wonderful dogs.

Minnie is our eldest - and has the silliest story behind her arrival into our household. Mom purchased her from a local pet store in Hawaii when we used to live out there - she bought him in a bit of a panic because she was on her way home to tell me that there was no Santa Claus. She had heard from a teacher that after the students in class talked about the story of Santa that my response was: "No, Santa is real because my parents would never lie to me." And thus, we have Minnie, our little Miniature Pinscher. We've had her since I was in the third grade, and now I'm 23. She's very old, she's almost completely deaf, her sight is going (ugh, I heard her run into a wall last night when she was trying to get out of my room in the dark... poor thing, we're getting a night light for the hallway for her), and I'm pretty certain she's on her last leg due to a number of health issues we've noticed as of late. She has been so sweet with this young dog - who has taken quite a liking to her. Charlie always tries to play with Minnie, though unfortunately she's just too old to do that anymore. But she likes to sleep near Charlie, and she tends to try to share food with him (which Charlie definitely does not like, but I think it's kind of a cute gesture). If he's sleeping on his bed, she tends to join him on there, and Charlie gladly welcomes the company. He's also been very good about giving up the entire bed to her - she likes to sleep on the bed when he's not on it, and he just looks at her (even if there's enough room) and just lies down next to it instead. She's currently sleeping near my feet, and I'm really glad I get to spend so much time with her this summer, because I don't think she'll be here next summer. As mom said tonight, "she's never been a little dog - she's always been a very brave, big courageous dog. She's a tough, take-no-shit kind of lady."

Cory is our extremely sweet goofy lab. He's about seven, so he's got some time left, but he's starting to age around the face, and he's quieted down a bit in the last year or so. He's such a love of a dog. The cats always cuddle with him, he and Minnie sleep and snuggle all the time, and he take such good care of his family. He has taken little Charlie under his wing to show him how to be a dog - since Charlie didn't quite know how to act around other dogs. He was always engaged, but he never participated. Now, he's always trotting alongside Cory, he follows Cory if he's exploring something, if Cory starts barking Charlie will follow suit... And Cory has been such a sweet dog to me as well. I'll go ahead and admit: I have a terrible fear of the dark, particularly out here in the middle of nowhere. I'm mostly scared that I'm going to run into an animal I don't want to run in to. Anyway, when I had to take Charlie out very late at night, Cory would hear me get up (even if he were in my parents room) and would come outside with us even if he didn't need to. He would walk right alongside me, not leaving my side. It was so sweet and touching.

Well that's all. They're such good dogs. All of 'em.

BFFs

Our cats always come around to a new dog - they're always a bit put off at first, but that's totally to be expected!

Zephyr, the older of our two cats, has always had a very aloof attitude when it comes to the other animals - her nickname is "Miss Priss" and she kind of runs her own show. We absolutely love her for it.

Boots, on the other hand, is really bonding with Mister Charlie! The two of them are forming a very sweet friendship, and whenever Charlie sees Boots around he follows him and always tries to play or cuddle.

I snapped a few photos of the two just a few minutes ago. I was cooking some food up for Cory in the kitchen and I turned around to see Boots totally sprawled on the floor with Charlie right there with him. It's adorable!