Well, I missed a week. What can I say? Last week, the creativity juices were just not flowing! I was reading other peoples’ creativity, but not only could I not think of anything to write, I had a bit of a problem wanting to write. Sigh. And I’m told I should be a writer. A VERY hungry writer.
And so, I guess this is a good week for snippets, again!
Several months ago, I mentioned that we were planning on visiting England this year. That trip approaches! One of the problems we’ve had to face is our pets. In years past Scott and I could just pick up and travel, and we had built in dog sitting. But no more. Not since Gary moved to Portland, OR. In January, when we left, we arranged for a house sitter to come take care of our house and Princess Nikki. The sitter worked like a charm! For the house, that is. Our little timid Princess crawled under the bed and refused to come out to pee, poop, eat or drink while the sitter was in the house. So, after we got back she was sick for a week (well, a little indisposed, not sick really.)
In March, when we went to Oklahoma City for the weekend, we took our lady to the vet, figuring they at least would be able to assist her. She came home with poop in her fur, so we had to get her groomed. I’m not thinking I like that arrangement. I LOVE our vet, but not as a boarding option.
So, last weekend (Easter Weekend) we arranged with the couple that takes care of our dachshund, Ixhel, to doggy-sit both Ixchel and Nikki just as a trial (even though we stayed in town.) Worked like a charm! Magnificent! We’re taking them back for another trial run this coming weekend for 3 days. If this works, then when we go to England we have this covered.
But last week worked even better than as just a sitting arrangement. Princess Nikki has always, for 9 years now, slept next to me on the sofa in the evening. But when Ixchel came to live with us, Nikki stopped. She would not share the sofa, and let Ixchel win. I think that’s because Ixchel initially attempted to nurse from Nikki and Nikki would have NONE of THAT. Our friends who took care of Nikki 2 weekends ago have 4 dogs of their own. Nikki loved it. AND, after returning home is now much more willing to share space with Ixchel! I love having my hip warmer back by my side!
So, for England, it’s looking like our house-sitter will come stay at the house just so it’s not left alone, and our dogs will go stay with our dog-sitters! Yay!
In other news, I’m sure everyone who reads my blog is aware of the horrible storms that blew through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa over the weekend! Regarding the tornados, over 126 hit on Saturday, but we were so blessed that none of them were in Omaha or Council Bluffs! Though one DID strike about 15 miles east of us, out in farm-land.
But we had a deluge, and strong winds at home. If you go back a few weeks you’ll read about the BIG $$$ we spent getting our basement waterproofed. The whole south wall was treated. And about 5 feet of the East wall. There are two windows on the east wall, one about 7 feet from the south wall. We moved all our shelving off the south wall when the work was done, and it was moved to about 7 feel from that wall, along the East wall. In front of that window… Fortunately, we put it about 3 feet from the window.
Guess what?!?!?! The rain water poured off our roof, rand down our back yard, and filled the window well of both windows along the east wall! Both windows leaked. A lot. And as we were attempting to clean up the basement all of a sudden we realized… we have a new water feature in our back yard! Well, not really in the back yard. Actually the back yard is part of the water feature. It feeds the water from all point to a point directly in front of that window in our basement… and from that water well, the water SHOOTS into our basement! You got it… just over 4 feet straight out from the window… right onto the shelves!
Scott and I spent HOURS hand wiping down ever item in every box on those shelves, all while watching the basement floor fill up with 2+ inches of water! That’s about 240 square feet of basement 2, maybe 3, inches deep.
I should probably add… the dehumidifier could NOT keep up!
And that, dear friends, was OUR weekend!
On The Road II 
I’m glad that you found such a great pet care option for when you are out of town. It’s hard to have fun on a vacation unless you know that your dogs are in good hands. That’s a real plus that being with the dog sitter together helped your two pups bond with each other.
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