I spent part of this week dog sitting too -- this time for my mom & sister who were out of town for a few days. Cali, the Alpha dog, is a rat terrier who loves the sound of her voice. Hero is a 90 lb. Dalmation who lives up to his name because he is the one who brought my mom's attention to her breast cancer. These dogs are spoiled to say the least. All animals in our family are spoiled! (Although my little Bridget is feeling a little neglected since I've been dog sitting so much lately.) Anyway, I had a good couple days with Hero & Cali, except for one pretty rough thunderstorm that spooked them. I woke up the next morning with both dogs huddled as close to me as possible. There's something so cute about when dogs use pillows just like humans. Took these with my phone, so they're not the greatest.
Well, my dog & cat sitting duties ended today and I found it hard to leave the little black dog. For whatever reason, I have really bonded with Dexter. Course he's a happy dog and seems to love everybody, but I know that he thinks I'm special too. :) I survived the week and enjoyed snuggling with Dexter at night...except for last night, when he just DID NOT want to sleep! Dexter & Carter both said goodbye to me when I left, but Abby kept her distance. It was so cute! I'm back home now and my own little gray & white cat, Bridget, is sooooo happy to see me. And I'm happy to see her too.
This dog & cat sitting thing is wearing me out. I didn't realize how easy I have it with just a fat, 15-year-old cat at home. She might be grouchy, but she is very low-maintenance. Tonight Dexter just wanted to play, play, play. He constantly pounces on Carter, the black cat, who finally took refuge in the laundry hamper. Abby pretty much stays to herself, but came downstairs tonight to lounge.
Well, day one of dog sitting (and cat sitting) is over and the little black dog is finally asleep. At 2am. It hasn't been too bad -- I've only cleaned up one mess, chased one cat when it ran out the front door and learned that the little black dog doesn't like to sleep or even nap anywhere but his mom & dad's bed. We played with the laser pointer for a long time...hours of fun for the animals! Wish me luck, I'm already exhausted. Only 6 more days to go!
Ok, wish me luck friends. I'll be dog sitting my brother's little black dog, Dexter, all week while they are on vacation. He's still very much a puppy, so he'll keep me on my toes, I'm sure. I'll try to blog about my adventures in dog sitting. :)
I alluded to this in an earlier post about the cruise, but thought I’d elaborate. I managed to control motion sickness on the ship, but on our excursion in Cozumel, all bets were off. First of all, those prescription patches that are supposedly waterproof are no match for my sweat! Mine kept coming off and I’d find it on my shirt, on my pants and reapply it. I guess I should have known it wouldn’t be as effective after that. When we docked in Cozumel, we were amazed at how blue the water looked. I was actually looking forward to spending an entire day in the hot sun wearing my bathing suit and cover up. If you know me, you know that would normally be a day in hell for me. But I was looking forward to snorkeling and walking around the shops in the city. I remember snapping some pictures on the little catamaran on our way to snorkel and then all of a sudden starting to feel sick. Really sick. Like I’m not gonna make it to the little restroom downstairs sick. I think someone brought me some soda and the sugary taste just made it worse. Finally, the boat stopped moving and everyone said I’d feel better in the water. Well, I’d never snorkeled before and never even worn flippers before, so I was a little nervous. To top it off, there were like 80 of us on the boat, all swimming in this sectioned off area in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. As Jill said, it felt like a rescue situation. Initially, getting in the water did feel nice. And then I put my mask on and tried to snorkel. That’s when I got sick and “fed the fish” – let’s just say fish like eggs benedict. I tried to stay away from the others as I continued to get sick in the ocean, but I guess they were following the fish…and the fish were following me! I eventually gave up and one of the divers swam me back into the catamaran. A few minutes later, Jill followed. She “fed the fish” too! I guess we’re just not ocean people. Julie had a great time, though.
The boat then took us to a private island with hammocks, beach chairs, water floats, kayaks, all sorts of fun or relaxing stuff. I would have been happy with the beach. But just about the time I started feeling better, we were loaded back onto the catamaran and they sped back to the pier. Immediate nausea. I just laid down on one of the benches, blocking my face with my “Dude, It’s Not That Hard” fan from work. Got a sunburn on the underside of my arm from that trip.
And the last thing I wanted to feel on our ride back was the “rhythm of the island!” Ahh yes, the other passengers giddy from their nausea-free, glorious day of fun in the sun snorkeling, swimming and drinking margaritas, began a festival of line dancing, loud music…and a conga line. You might think a conga line would cheer anyone up, but let me tell you, that was the last thing I needed. I vaguely remember peering out from under my fan and seeing the conga line – from the chest to the knees only – dance by. I think I looked up at Julie & Jill and threatened to harm the conga-ers at that point. It’s a miracle I didn’t get sick again on that boat, but somehow I made it back to land. And what did I do? I walked back to the comforts of the big ship and crashed in our little cabin, R98, for about four hours. Secretly, that might have been the best part of our trip. ;)
The Lido deck - pool, hot tub, 24-hour buffet, etc.
View from the ship...look at that blue water!
Hammocks on the beautiful beach we spent a little time on in Cozumel.
Last night I was lucky enough to see The Donnas, Blondie & Pat Benatar concert here in Austin with my friend Robin. I can't even remember the last concert I went to, so I was excited. We had a great time! Pat Benatar was awesome & hasn't aged a day! Here are some really bad pics from my camera phone.
