Holiday Week

Posted on December 29, 2017 by TJ

This week is zooming by. I wouldn’t have minded if it had slowed down a bit so we could savor EJ being home. It didn’t, and it’s already Friday.

Wednesday EJ finally got his new eye glasses. He chose bolder glasses for the first time–his glasses have color rather than just being gold wire frames. They had been ready for several weeks, but EJ had trouble getting to the eye doctor’s office to pick them up because they closed before he got out of work. With time off for the Christmas holiday, he finally was able to go get them. The journey to the eye doctor was quite an adventure. With the wind blowing the snow about, we couldn’t see very far ahead and, brrrr, it was cold! However, the snow-covered landscape was beautiful, and EJ got us safely to our destination and back home again.

Tuesday evening I realized that Hannah wanted to play. Sort of a “no-brainer” but it’s been a long time since we have had a young dog and even when he was young, Danny had always preferred to go for walks. He wasn’t a fetching sort of dog. When we threw a ball to him, he just looked at us with a “Uh….no” expression on his face. When I realized that Hannah wanted to play, I went out into the garage to find her a couple tennis balls and she happily played fetch–we would throw a ball out into the kitchen and she’d run to get it and bring it back. She gets her ball out when she wants to play and brings it to us. Hannah quickly demolished the tennis balls so after picking up EJ’s glasses on Wednesday, we stopped at the store to buy her a couple dog toys. She is mangling these too so I ordered a couple of balls on Amazon that are, supposedly, for “aggressive chewers” and are “indestructible.” We shall see.

After we got back home, I made more pot pies with the remainder of the turkey. I made the filling and the pie dough, and then Hannah Joy needed to go outside so I stopped my work to take her out. She got back into the house before I did and went after the pie dough, pulling the bowl down from the counter. We pulled her away and EJ took her into the living room so I could finish the pot pies (making new dough), but she snuck through the kitchen into the laundry room and went after the garbage, which put in there to keep it from Hannah. I probably forgot to shut the door when I realized Hannah had grabbed the pie bowl. In spite of these incidences, we do notice that she’s getting less frantic about food. She’s also gaining some weight, which is very good.

At home Hannah follows me everywhere, sits on my lap, sleeps with us, and is just soaking in all the attention she is receiving. We just love her! We have also been taking Hannah with us when we go places. At first we took her with us because we weren’t sure how she or the cats would handle being left alone together. Although Luke is still hissing, I now think Hannah would be fine left alone, but it’s just fun taking her with us. She loves looking out the window as we drive and people watching when we are parked. If we have to go into a store, one of us stays with her. She is very alert and intensely curious about everything.

Yesterday we finally had a break from all the snow so EJ snowblowed the driveway again. I offered to take a turn, but EJ says that I have to snowblow the driveway often enough so he would do it while he’s home. We live in a snow belt area (with a lot of storms) and we also get a lot of Lake Effect snow, which is caused by the moisture from the (relatively) warm water of Lake Michigan. The warm water also helps prevent the temperatures from getting as cold as other areas. Other areas are below zero, but we are in the single digits or teens. Once Lake Michigan cools, we will get less lake effect snow and colder temps.

Last Sunday we bought a dog kennel because we had plans to go to the Star Wars movie on Christmas day and didn’t know how Hannah would react to being home alone so soon after bringing her home from the animal shelter. (We ended up not going to the movie because the weather was bad.) Although we think Hannah would be fine alone now, we don’t consider the kennel is a waste. Last night EJ and I set up the kennel in the garage and made it warm and comfy for the cats. It’s bigger than the shelter I had made from an old radio cabinet so all three outside cats can stay together in comfort. Before we had even set the kennel up, Annie was in it and when I went out to the garage later, both Annie and Josette were in it so I think they all approve.

Several days ago–maybe as early as last weekend–Madeline killed another shrew and left it on the mat near their food bowl. Every time I went into the garage, I told myself that I would get a shovel and throw the body outside. But it was very cold so I decided that I would do it the next time I was in the garage, and the next time and the next time. EJ said he told himself the same. Wednesday I finally went out to dispose of the body…and found it lying in an empty cat food can as if it had been positioned peacefully in a coffin. I led EJ into the garage to show him and even though I knew he hadn’t, I had to ask him if he put the shrew in the can. Of course he didn’t. Obviously one of the cats put it in there, although we have no idea why. JJ asked, “Why do we have such weird pets?”

I’m not sure what we are going to do this morning, but this afternoon we are taking Hannah to the vet for a checkup and shots. Oh…the last dog rescued from the same abusive home as Hannah has been adopted by a family. Yay!