Friday stuff...

Yet another day of pouring rain. Just when you thought that huge rain cloud had passed us after giving us two pretty days, the sky opened up and turned a warm and sunny morning into a steaming, humid, muggy, soggy afternoon.  For the entire month of August, we haven't had a good-hair day.

However... we've had some good-puppy days here. Savannah and Satchmo continue to take turns being the puppy-boss of the house. Savannah is very patient with the puppy when he nips at her ears or tries to grab hold of the fur around her neck with his teeth. When Savannah has clearly had enough, she will take her paw and just let it fall on Satchmo's head or on his back, and that quickly calms him down. A good long walk up and down the road will do the same thing, and I've done that quite a few times during the day. Satchmo loves to walk, head held up high as he inspects the road and the surrounding pastures.  I honestly believe he thinks he's in a parade in the French Quarter, judging by the way he prances up and down our hill. When Satchmo has had enough walking, he will just stop and lay himself down in the middle of the road. A little tug on the leash will get him going again, but if it's too hot in the sun out there, I'll just pick him up and carry him back to the house. (No, this puppy is not spoiled.)

I have been tucking Satchmo into the quilted tote-bag that I bought for him... he loves it... his head peeks out from between the two front shoulder straps and his tail is usually sticking out from the back and he keeps it wagging as he inspects the view from different rooms. I fully intend to bring Satchmo into town one day, to the pet store there along Main Street.... this puppy is just begging for an outfit. Or two.

Speaking of that... I found a board on Pinterest showing puppy clothes made from baby onesies. With that in mind, I looked in the local thrift store and found a 0-3 month onesie that's blue with a pattern of tiny puppies and dog-houses. Now how perfect could that be? And for just one dollar, and a pair of scissors (to remove the snaps at the bottom), Satchmo now has a cute little tee-shirt to keep him from shivering in the central air-conditioning. (I haven't yet brought Satchmo outside in that little shirt... it's way too hot out there for such a thing now, but just wait till the cooler weather rolls in.)

The stray kitten is still in the barn... and I'm still feeding him. Barn Kitty (more of a description than a real name) has been eating all the Fancy Feast and Purina One Kibble that Mickey turns away from. Stray cats are usually so hungry that they're not as picky as house cats who have learned that there's an endless variety of cat-food flavors. ("I don't feel like tuna today... what else have you got?")  If I can get that stray kitten into a cat-carrier, then off to the shelter he will go, regardless of my fondness for all-black cats. I just don't have enough hands to take care of one 70-lb. dog, one 12-lb. puppy, one inside cat, one garage/coop/outside cat, and one barn cat.

For the pet-lovers out there who think that taking care of two dogs is just as easy as taking care of one.... think again. Because Savannah and Satchmo are so different in size, it's very difficult to walk them at the same time, and believe me, I have tried many times. Had we not truly believed that having another dog would help Savannah, a second dog would not have been on my wish-list. That being said.... this afternoon we heard a loud boom from somewhere in the hills... we don't know if it was a gun or a back-fire from a farm vehicle, but we clearly heard the noise reverberating  in the house. Within a split second of that noise, Savannah ran from the TV room and skidded to a halt in the kitchen, right next to the spot where Satchmo was sitting. Savannah didn't start shaking and I didn't have to put that ThunderShirt on her... she just sat down next to 'her' puppy and she was fine.

I will have to remember that when I'm asking myself if I had lost my mind when I agreed to getting another dog. And that question pops up at least three times a day as I'm trying to get two dogs out into the yard, or Savannah is trying to eat food from Satchmo's tiny bowl, or both dogs are drinking water from Savannah's large bowl and there's water splashing all over my floor and I have to clean it up before I step into it and go sliding on the tile. ("How come Momma is flat-out on the floor like that? Doesn't she look funny?")