Rainy Monday

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I just want to say, that didn't work on my kids. They were never at a loss for words of ridicule, especially my son. Now .... they're gettin' theirs! Karma, baby!!


Dog update: Watching the relationships among my pack members is fascinating. Lolita has been with us six weeks now. Actually six weeks and 2 days. At first, she was simply the new toy for all four of the others. All the "big kids" thought she was just the berries, and they all kinda followed her around and played with her.

After a few days things began to settle down, and Joey resumed his position beside me on the couch (or on the couch alone while I'm doing things around the house), Max seemed bewildered and jealous while Sammy and Jazi either took turns playing with Lola or all three of them rolled around in a big ball of fur. Poor Max was just out of the loop, and he reacted to it. He is my most insecure baby and needs almost constant reinforcement to know that he is loved. This period was just miserable for him. He would watch the three play, and whine. Occasionally he would try to enter the games, but he did so with attitude, and it often ended up with a loud discussion of "who gets to lead the games" between the two boys. Sometimes even Jazi jumped in and told Max to cool it. All the time, poor Lolita just looked confused when the others got loud, growling and posturing, and often she would retreat to my side for protection and reassurance. It wasn't a pretty time for any of us.

The next step was sometime after Lola came home from her surgery. When she was able to really play again, Max stepped in and the two of them became inseparable. Poor Sammy sat, or even worse laid with his chin on the floor and only his eyes moved as he watched Max and Lolita play. It was absolutely heartbreaking, because for him it was a great loss. He actually "had" Lola for a while, and now he had lost her to another "man." Meanwhile, Jazi had kinda kicked back and removed herself from the games for a while, snoozing on the couch or in one of her hidey-holes. And Max was still growling, as if protecting his "treasure."

In the last week or so it seems that things have finally settled into a good place. Through the day I see the five of them taking turns playing. Sometimes it is one big thundering herd as they rip through the house, running and tumbling, often one of them hanging onto the tail or ear of one of the others. Other times, it will be two or three playing together, often changing who is the target of the others every few seconds. Joey has been running with the younger ones more often, and while he isn't normally a wrestler, he is often the leader of the races, as if the others think he is taking them on some great adventure into unknown territory!

The important thing is that the boys are no longer doing the growling/posturing nonsense. Once in a blue moon, there is some protective growling around the food dish, but is is minor and short lived. I hope this new era is a long lived one! It is just wonderfully fun to have everyone getting along, having found their positions in the pack. Right now, everyone has taken a time out. After running around crazily all morning, they have all kinda kicked back and are resting beside me on the couch or at my feet. . Oops! The three boys just heard something outside and have darted to the deck to check it out, while the girls are still curled up with me. I love these guys.

Speaking of loving the gang .... this is feeling like this is what is supposed to be. We still have some issues to work out, socialization and car sickness, for example; but this feels like, well, what is my life, how it is written. We have settled into a comfortable routine. Since weather is generally better now, I hope we will be getting out more and they will be normalized even more. It is good.

As the dog excitement is leveling out, becoming just life, I've been noticing that I am certainly ready for some other kind of excitement. In the last couple weeks, I'm noticing that I am, for the first time in a long, long time, lonely. Not lonely, abject and morose. No, but lonely and ready for a relationship. I'm not actively looking, but I'm ready, if and when. It'll happen.

It is raining! It looks like a lot of the country is getting rain or moisture of some kind, but we are extremely excited because it has been so dry for so long here. It began in the night and has rained constantly since I woke, a nice slow rain that seems to be soaking in. It is barely measurable, I think just barely over 1/10th inch, but it is RAIN!!! I love the smell of rain. Wet dog smell is something else, and I'm reminded that I need to give the gang a bath when the ground is dry again. Or make a grooming appointment. Or both.

Have a good week, everyone!


PS - here is a great bonus movie for the day: Wonderful Nature Photography

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