A new addition to the family

Current Location: Rocky Point Oregon sunny, warm, and gorgeous!

How many times can I write an opening sentence for a story? Guess I’ll revert to an old technique I learned in some great Gestalt therapy I had many years ago.  “What are you feeling right this moment?” 

The sun is shining brilliantly into my office window.  I am in a sundress, with bare feet and it is barely May.  Wonderful.  Today I planted a few goodies in the greenhouse, even a couple of tomatoes.  That goes completely against all the rules that say don’t plant a thing in the Klamath Basin until after Memorial Day.  Or at least Mother’s Day. 

I guess I am having a hard time with opening sentences because things are beginning, things are ending.  Some things are basically right in the middle, and my mind is finally settling down after a crazy month of working on the Klamath Falls Painter Street house and dealing with getting her on the market. 

And of course, knowing that a surgery is coming up has been always in the background, creating a deadline, and just bugging me in general.

And now it is basically here.  Mo has the MoHo in the driveway and the Tracker hooked up for the trip to Springfield tomorrow where we will park for free in the hospital lot with electrical hookups.  At least if they aren’t all full.  Otherwise she will be boondocking in the lot until something comes open while I languish in the comfy, air conditioned, fully electrified big fancy hospital.

Should be fun.

I probably wouldn’t have done a blog post at all about any of this if it weren’t for one thing.  We found a dog, and yes, in spite of the business of life, we decided it was time.

Our very smart, very well thought out decision to wait at least until after our fall trip to Ireland just flew out the window when Mo said, “Hey, look at this.  You have to see this little dog” and she showed me an internet photo of “Tilly”, a 2 year old rat terrier/mix at the Klamath Humane Society.  She had a sweet face.  Mo didn’t really want a little dog, so her reasoning was that if I got a little dog for myself, a little lap dog of sorts, I might miss my cat a bit less, and then she could later find a medium sized dog to her liking.  Two dogs?  We already said we wouldn’t get any animals again for a long time.

Animal lovers know how silly it is to say that.  Somehow when there is a vacancy in a home that has had loving animals, it is like water flowing into a low spot.  Something happens and the new family member shows up. 

Tilly has been renamed and she now is “Mattie”.  Eleven pounds of fear and anxiety.  We have taken on a project.  I knew when we found her that it might be like this.  She was so afraid, and what little history we had of her life explained why.  Shuttled from Shafter, California as a stray several months ago, then to Sacramento, to Redding, then to Klamath Falls, she is afraid of most everything at the moment.  Except sitting in my lap.

When we took her to the visiting room, she was fine on my lap, but when she was put down on the floor she ran to a corner and tried to make herself as small as possible.  What in the world happened to her?  We will never know. 

There are many things about her that are encouraging, most of all the fact that she completely loves to be held, to be in my lap.  After a few days, she will now look me in the eye, and loves to have her ears rubbed.  Today she finally ate a bite, drank some water, and thank goodness piddled outside.  She had surgery on Thursday, so that was an excellent milestone.

She is afraid of the outdoors, and when I take her out will anxiously run back to the house if I let her. But each time it gets a little bit better.  She has shown no signs of aggression, except for a tiny growl in PetSmart as we were fitting her harness.  She growled at a big dog passing by.  Shocked the heck out of both of us, and we have yet to hear her bark.

Yeah, the timing may be a little strange, but then again maybe not.  Taking care of a small, needy being is a great way to get outside myself and quit obsessing over stuff. 

Travel?  She loves being in the car, she loves riding in my lap, and she seems to have no issues with separation anxiety.  I think our biggest challenge will be getting her to actually get out of her little bed on her own!  This week will be the first MoHo test with Mo and the little dog, and I have a feeling it will be just fine. 

While you are at it, check out the beautiful quilt on the chair behind me.  Here is a better shot of it.

The amazing women of the Rocky Point quilt guild donate what we call a “huggie” quilt for comfort to anyone in the community who has lost a loved one or is in the hospital at least overnight.  Day surgeries don’t get a quilt.  They surprised me with this very special quilt last week, a bit early, but time to enjoy it a lot before I have to go as well as afterward.  The special story behind this quilt is that each of us made sets of blocks and then put them together after being inspired by a quilt we saw last year at a show.  What a surprise to be on the receiving end of this group effort.

Next on our travel agenda will be a week we have planned at Harris Beach in June.  I plan to be mobile by then and am really looking forward to walking again! Judy will be there volunteering, and has promised another round of her famous New York Chicken!  A week in the MoHo with the little dog at the beach will be a great break from the next round of projects that are on the big transitions list that we have going.