Life as a dogsitter

We are dogsitting for some friends of ours. Their little mixed breed dog Maggie is staying with us for a few days. She's doing fine.

I think it's making Punkin feel a little insecure. She keeps growling at Ginger for some reason. Not at Maggie, the new kid on the block, but Ginger who is always here. Dogs are wierd!

I used to walk three dogs every day, but I've gotten out of the habit. Walking all of them today was a challenge. It makes me realize that I don't really want to go back to having three dogs. I loved all three of ours, but am satisfied now with just the two. One hand per leash! Two hands, two dogs. It works.

I finished putting the binding on this quilt last night. It is for Wilson, my award-winning brother-in-law. He's a good guy who deserves his own quilt, so here it is.

I started this at my quilt guild's come and go retreat last January. I worked on it more in February when Samantha, Thomas and I were at the cabin in VA. I finished piecing it in March at the quilt retreat at West River. Then it languished for a while as a quilt top. I finally sent it off and had it quilted and put the binding on in just three days or so. It's ready to ship off. This is the third quilt I've finished in the last month and I feel good about that.

Are you watching the Olympics? We watched the Opening Ceremony, which had highs and wierds, but overall I enjoyed. Tonight is the first time we are actually watching the races (swimming) and the gymnastics. Thomas is way more into it than I am. I like it, but haven't been glued to it.

Not the Princess and the Pea, but sorta kinda like that

Back in the days of my youth and poverty I always bought the cheapest of cheap when it came to things like sheets. This week I was reminded why I am glad the days of being just broke are part of my past. 

We needed some new sheets, because the purple ones we had ripped at the corner. Instead of having to go for the thinner, cheaper sheets, we got some nice new white ones. Lest you think we went all hog wild and spent $159 on a set of 600 count sheets woven by French maidens and washed in the tears of a Unicorn - Thomas and I are somewhat frugal people. We like to have nice things, but the set of 400 count sheets we got were on sale for $59. They are smooth and have a certain heft to them, so getting into bed is a pleasure. I am sure that sleep on these pretty sheets is more restful!

Get your motor runnin’” head out on the highway….

Thomas left early for work today. He called 30 minutes later to tell me he'd been in a car accident. No damage to him (or the other three drivers) and the car was drivable after the accident, so it could have been worse. But it's never fun to be in an accident. The police came and wrote up the accident, and one car had to be towed away. It took two hours for them to write up the incident and clear everything away and send him on his way.

Our insurance, which is Esurance (owned by allstate) seems to be very good so far. In Maryland, basically the rule is, "if you hit someone else in the the back of their car, you are responsible for the damage to their car." So the person who hit Thomas will be responsible for the damage to our car and we will be responsible for the car in front that Thomas hit. I am still not sure how it all happened, but it seems to be something like two lanes merging into one. One car stopped suddenly, setting off a chain reaction of cars bumping into each other. T was in the second car in the chain...

Damage to back of car.

We went ahead and dropped the Civic off at the body shop this evening so they can give us an estimate and get started on the repairs. He has arranged to work from home the rest of the week.

His first works to me when I answered the phone were, "I have been in a car accident..." and oh man, I could feel the adrenaline dumping into my bloodstream. My mouth got that sharp metal taste and my hands got cold. Even though his next words were, "I am okay, not hurt, but the car is damaged in the front and back," I had a bad moment. This is Thomas though, he sounded like he was calling to tell me he was going to spend the day at the beach, cool and collected. I was the one who was falling apart for a brief moment.  It didn't take long to realize that this was a "good" accident, if there is such a thing. Nobody bleeding, nobody needed an ambulance, and everyone at the scene was calm and had insurance!

Let me introduce you to my two little friends

The Wonder Twins. On the left is the Generac generator. On the right, the (wrapped for winter) a/c unit.

See those awesome pieces of machinery? The one on the right is the a/c, which as far as I'm concerned is the most important invention of the 20th century. The one on the left is the generator Thomas and I bought this past winter, in response to frequent power outages over the past few years.

Buying the generator, having the gas lines attached to it, and having the concrete pad laid for it and the unit installed cost us about $5000 total. SO WORTH IT.

We didn't need it at all through the cold weather, but we lost power for seven days after the big storm at the end of June. Seven days. And during that seven days we managed just fine. The a/c did not work, the unit isn't powerful enough to run that along with everything else. What it does run is:
the fridge
lights
ceiling fans
washer and dryer
the internet router and tv

With all that, we were comfortable, able to eat, sleep, and hang around the house just fine. We had clean clothes and cold food/beverages. I got together with a friend last night who told us that they were out of power for only four days and they lost $1000 worth of food from their fridge and freezer. The Generac helped us avoid those kind of losses!

Aw Punkin!

Meet Punkin.

Punkin in a reflective moment.

This is Punkin, a foster dog we are taking care of for CSAC, the Cocker Spaniel Adoption Center. She's 12, weighs about 20 pounds, has luxuriantly curly hair. She's very lively for an older gal.

She has a somewhat sad story. She was owned by one person from puppyhood, but when he died, the "family" took her to a kill shelter where she was in danger of unnecessary euthanasia. She's a good dog and very healthy, but she is TWELVE. In your average shelter that means you have very little chance of adoption, and thus, survival.

CSAC took her in. She was with another foster mother for a couple of months. That foster said that Punkin was so depressed for the first couple of weeks that she refused to eat and just moped around. We took her because her foster mother was going out of town for a month and could not take Punkin with her. We saw the depression/moping/refusing to eat/snapping at us for the first couple of days she was here.

We are thinking of keeping her. This is a nice dog who has settled in well, and I keep thinking that it is not good for her that every time she thinks she's home and safe, she has to go somewhere else and start over. My friend Christine once said that each time we re-home a dog, we take a litle piece of their heart away. Dogs are amazingly adaptable, but this girl is elderly. She deserves to settle down and not have her life upended again.

She's active and in shape. When the back door opens, if she sees a squirrel, she LEAPS from the porch and shoots off after it. She barks enthusiastically at people doing crazy ass behaviour like riding bikes by the house or jogging nearby when she's on a walk. Punkin can't be having with craziness like that. She likes people who approach her quietly and slowly, but doesn't like being grabbed. But really, who does?