Animal House

 Well, the headaches are still with me. I have an appointment for my 6-month check-up in two weeks, and I am hoping they will subside before she orders more tests. My blood pressure is normal again, only high when I am in pain.

Someone should have warned me that getting old was not going to be a walk in the park! In the meantime, I am still getting my garden beds ready for winter. I am actually making great progress and have even motivated The Man to help with the yard clean-up. What I thought was butternut squash initially and then let The Man plant a seed of doubt in my head that they were really gourds. They did look a lot like gourds, but you can't tell for sure without cutting them open.

They are squash. I was happy either way. We ate one and it is good, with lots of flavor. The only drawback is that they are really big. I usually buy ones that are smaller and split them down the middle and put butter and seasoning in the middle where the seeds were and bake them. That makes one meal. I am sure I will manage to come up with other recipes. The Man is not a fan of soup, but I am sure I can slip it in and he will be unaware.

Marble's litter of one is on the move again. She moved the baby to the steps leading to the upper deck (that we never use, another story I will tell one day). Since they are snug against the embankment, it provided shelter from the rain. I ventured up to take a peek. His(?) eyes are still unopened, but he is growing. Cute little thing with black and white stripes, he looks a little like Martha, the boy cat. I will definitely be taming him.

The sleek black cat named Barack has been following me more and more. Still a little skittish, though. He came up on the porch today while I was tending some house plants. I made no move towards him, and he just walked around investigating everything. He will look me in the eye, and I read somewhere that is a good sign. Marble looks me in the eye, too. I still miss Kevin and a picture of him will bring a tear to my eye.

Eddie is still on a diet, but not any lighter than he was before. You would think 6 months would show some progress. He is allowed to go out with me and follow me while I do yard stuff. Today I caught him sampling the cat food. It is poured into a trough for the cats to be able to all reach a spot to eat.

I was busy and he wandered over to the carport and was munching away when I spotted him. "Eddie!! What do you think you are doing?" Lucy and her look alike kitten; Lulu watched me scold him. I swear they were smirking. He tried his best to nonchalantly ignore me. I put my foot in the food trough and told him to go inside "bad boy!". Eddie can be stubborn; it is in his breed. He sat down at the trough and refused to move. I asked him just what he thought he was doing. I am pretty sure he was waiting for me to pick him up and carry him inside. I found a long stick and nudged him in the butt. He stood casually and started to walk very slowly. He is quite lazy, as well.

So, he was still unhappy about his snack being interrupted when Barack followed me to the door of the house and was just about halfway through the door when Eddie spied him from his daytime napping spot. I did not know that fat dog could move so fast! He was up like a shot and chasing poor Barack out to the fenced in yard. Of course he did not catch the cat, since cats can jump and Eddie is so low to the ground. 

Taking Eddie on a walk is a brave endeavor. Some days he will walk along, keeping pace with the other two, while other times he will simply sit down and refuse to go any further, or even go back. I will pick him up and carry him and he is quite content. My original doxie, Oscar would sit and refuse to move but also refuse to be carried. He was so stubborn. He would always get the best of the rest of the family and only move when I told him to. I loved that little devil so much!

Toni Louise has learned to remove her diaper. I now have to add a piece of tape over the velcro tabs. I asked her why she took it off and she just gleefully did her show horse routine dancing and pouncing on her hind legs. I have no idea why she is so happy.

Ginger comes inside at night. She likes to knead her claws into our legs in bed. A spray bottle of water in her face cured that. Now she kneads Eddie and he will yelp when she gets him in his tender belly. She loves Eddie with such intensity. He is the object of her adoration just like The Man is Toni's. If Eddie jumps in my lap, she joins him. Poor Bo misses his cat, Kevin. They played together and slept together. He has been getting extra attention from me. Sad little guy. Strange thing is that he will let Ginger eat some of his food out of his dish. He growls at the other two dogs if they approach his food.

That is it for my animal house today. My headache is reaching intensity. I suppose my plan of simply ignoring it was in vain.