Snakes To the Rescue

There's weird things are going on with Linda's back again.  The pain is definitely manageable, but her left leg is just buckling in weakness.  She goes to take a step and it feels like there are no muscles in her leg to support her.  During her class today, it kept being wobbly on and off.  (Being the trooper she is, she just kept teaching.)  After class, one of the members came up and said she was a massage therapist.  Since Linda did not have another class and the lady did not have any clients, Linda was able to go right after class for a short massage.  The women used all different scented oils on her hurt areas, and even put different oils on her pressure points to help it all work together.  All I know is she smells very herbal-ish right now.  I wonder if she also does snake massages?  How do the snakes know to stay on the persons back?  Linda had a 3 foot long baby Python named Rocky. He did a pretty good job of massaging her shoulders and neck now that she thinks about it.  Rocky is at a new home somewhere, probably 6 feet long by now.  The crafty snake got out of his cage once and tried to eat her kitten (Linda saved the kitten just seconds before he went to strike!), so he had to find a new family.    Linda's at-home work to ice-heat-ice-heat to get some of the swelling down.  Now she is icing (and freezing too!).  Today is lawn mowing day, but with how she is feeling, the lawn will just have to wait until tomorrow. 

Dog on Train

Sometimes, Linda takes my harness off  3 or 4 houses away from home.  I love when she lets me run like the wind all the way to our doorstep.  When we are walking the trail, I know all the turns to take coming home, even if we take different trails.  I don't know if I have the homing instinct as Eira, a 4-year old black lab.  Her owner took her to a kennel this past Thursday.  Eira escaped (I don't blame her one bit!) and made for the nearest metro station.  The super smart dog boarded the train, road 6 stops and got off at the train station closest to her home.  One of the train employees caught Eira and called the phone number on her tags. Eira and her owner were reunited.  If the employee did not detain Eira, her owner said the dog would have probably been waiting on the front doorstep for her to get home. 

Soon

This is what size townhouse we can afford...

But this townhouse would be OK too...

It has started.  All the talk, all the wishing, all the hype, all the "if only's and someday" started this afternoon.  Taylor and Sarah came over to take stock of our house and see what needs to be done to get ready for Linda to ...um.... ah....cough-cough... sell the house.  As her friend reminded her last night- Linda has been talking about selling the house for years (which is weird, because she never once mentioned it to her and has only been friends with her a few months..) Anyway... today Sarah took the first two big boxes of valuables that belonged to her Mom and Grandma to be listed and sold.  Taylor is going to get a giant dumpster and enlist some able-bodied men for a weekend to start cleaning out the garage.  Once we get it all cleaned out and a fresh coat of paint inside, Taylor will list the house and start looking for a small TH for us to live in.  We definitely need a fenced backyard and ideally, 3 levels but will settle for 2 if the price is right. 

Rain Gear

Ugh... it is cold and rainy but at least we got our walk in before the rain started.  Paul took us while Linda was gone. After going all around the sidewalks (the trail was too wet), we played together with toys until he went home to watch football.   Linda left at 8:15 a.m to meet Tierney for coffee before church, then went to lunch with the family, then right to a staff meeting at work.  She just got home now, over 7 hours from when she let this morning.   It's definitely a napping kind of day, so hopefully Linda will be able to get an hour in before she leaves again for nursery duty. It was a very late night for her since she went to a party at Taylor's and stayed way past her usual bedtime.  Linda said both Chim and I are getting raincoats unless we start being brave and going out in the backyard when it's raining.  She has to carry us down the deck steps and wait with an umbrella while we go.  I would look kind of cute in this though.  Chim would pitch a fit if Linda tried to put a raincoat on him. 

Chimmie=Embarrassment

"What is this torture??"

Just a puppy....

I loved the goats milk.  It was delicious.

The first half of our field trip was a disaster; the second half was amazing.  To start off, we went to Pet Smart.  Chimmie was very excited at first, but after a few minutes he was afraid of the sound of his nails on the hard floor.  Linda tried to find him a sweater since it's so chilly now in the mornings.  She held the sweater up to his back and he screeched, yipped and cried like she used a bull whip on him!  Three sales associates came running to see what the problem was.  After that, it went even further down hill.  There wasn't a line at the groomers, so she took him in to get his nails cut.  Linda warned the 6 groomers standing around doing nothing that he would cry, but they were all like "Pishaw.. we do this for a living and have seen it all."  Well, they haven't seen Chimmie.  The girl set him up on the metal table and he started shaking and crying.  She picked up his paw to use the clippers and he peed all over her, the table and screamed bloody murder.... before she got the clippers close to him.  They managed to get one nail clipped and promptly gave him back to her.  He did not try to bite or anything, it was just his screaming and flipping out.  Linda was so embarrassed she wanted to crawl under the counter.  During the fiasco, Linda recognized an old friends brother and got to meet his Bull Mastiff puppy Sherman (I guess as in tank.)   The dog will grow to be over 200 pounds!  Yikes.  On the way out of Pet Smart, she felt so bad that she bought Chim a pack of 6 mini-tennis balls, the kind he loves.  Since Chimmie isn't the boss, Linda continued with the plans and went to the Organic Pet store.  He LOVED it there.  What?  Yep, took treats from everyone, played nice with the dogs and even did a few tricks.  This is our free haul:  Raw goats milk, a raw chicken sausage and a deer antler.  The raw milk and food is from some organic farm in Pennsylvania.  It is supposed to make dogs digestion systems work properly and the paper claims it cures everything.  The lady said it would help Choop's seizures.  The deer antler will last years (so the lady said) but Linda is betting Chimmie destroys it in a few days.  UPDATE:  I have commandeered the deer antler and will not let Chim near it.  In fact, I'm growling and showing my teeth when he tries to take it from me.  I'm too tired to keep chewing, so I'm laying my entire body on top of it so he can't get at it.  Looks like Linda will need to go back to the store and get him his own.

This is MINE and you're not getting it Chim!!

We're Going on an Adventure

This toy lasted about 3 days.

Chimmie and I are going with Linda on a field trip this afternoon.  The local organic Pet Food store is having an open house with treats, prizes and food samples.  I've been there before, but this will be Chim's first time.  After that, we're going to Pet Smart to walk around the dog adoption fair.  We're not getting another dog (NO WAY!), but it will be good for Chim to get used to lots of dogs and people in one place.  Maybe if we behave, we can each pick out a new toy.  Whatever I choose, Linda will have to keep it up on the table until Chim is locked in his den or he'll chew it up to bits.  If there isn't a line, she will get his nails cut at the groomers right before we leave.  They are long and scratchy.  The last time he had them cut he cried like someone was amputating his paws, so she is going to save it to the end of the outing.  

Happy October!

Fall is such an amazing time of year.  The woods are beautiful and I can walk farther than normal because the weather is cool.  It's the season that we spend the most time on the trail.  I'm glad Linda came right home after family night.... and (drum roll please)... she is planning on staying home tonight too!  Yipee! This is the Linda I am used to, the one that is a home-body and not someone who is always running out to do crazy things.  The last month or so, it seems like she gets home from teaching, then showers and leaves again.  Some Friday's she is not home until very late.  The last few Saturdays we've had people at our house. She won't be doing much else except teaching and going to church service for a little while, so we'll get back to our walking 3 times a day schedule.  Next weekend is the Church Ho'Down, but I'll be able to go to that with her.  Chimmie will be a game-day call depending on how he is acting.  Usually Tier is running the sing-along hayride, so she won't be able to watch him.  If Dennis goes, he'll take him for the whole time so it might work.  We'll just come home after the H'Down. That evening, some folks are going to the Corn Maze then gathering for Movie Night, but she has decided not to go with the group this time.  Later in the month, she is spending the weekend with Taylor and Sarah in a fun country-bumpkin town.  Taylor is running Tough Mudder!  Oh man, there will be some very muddy photos from that weekend for sure!  I'll be staying with Jerry and Chimmie is going to spend the weekend with Tierney.  Tier will get a small taste of what it feels like to have a 2 year old toddler pulling on your pant leg 24/7 since that is exactly how Chim acts.