Whew....

It's hard to believe that my last post was on the 1st of this month. I just got back from a whirlwind, seven day, round trip road trip from here (St. Louis, MO) to Los Angeles, CA. I rode with my daughter to pick up my son, who's moving... he's been in LA for 12 years now. Well, not any more.

Rita and I had a rooting-tooting good time on the way to LA, hitting weird things to see along the way... the biggest rocking chair (before we even got out of Missouri). We did selfies at every stop. We had her two dogs with us, Computer and Doc.

Here they are in the vehicle. Computer is the black dog. Doc is the pug. They had lots of room on the way to LA, but on the way back that whole area was chuck full and those two pups ended up in between the back seats, close to me. They were so sweet and so good!

All my other photos are on my phone... we'll get to those some time. We had a good time on the way back too. My son Casey indulged Rita and me with some stops along the way. Probably a good thing he was with us on the way back or we might still be on the road.

Dog Sitting

I agreed to dog sit for my daughter's four pooches over the weekend. What was I thinking? They each have distinct personalities. I guess you dog lovers out there know that.

The two pugs were rescue dogs, and Doc is the needy, jealous one. You can't pet the dogs without his little snoot snorting her way in.

 Doc

Gramma is Miss Loveable and easygoing. All of the dogs run right over her, take her bone away, push her and she just takes it all with complete ease.

  Gramma

Computer is Rita's first dog and in a dream she was told to name her dog Computer. He's part pug and shitzu or something. He looks like a little ewok. He's the guard dog... of everything. He guards his food, his bone, his blanket, and if someone comes in he barks. And barks. But not a constant... a rythmic type. Bark. Wait a few seconds. Bark. Wait. Bark. Wait. Come to think of it, I've never heard any of the other dogs bark.

Computer

Goddy is a beagle and he's a combination of all of them. He's loveable, protective, takes what he wants with slyness and I have no doubt that he'd growl if anyone tried to do anything to me.

  Goddy

I cleared my entire schedule to give my full attention to the dogs... other than a commitment to a 50th Anniversary party. The whole time I was at the party I worried about the dogs... and my house.

  Computer and Goddy play fighting

Even though they were good and they're funny and loveable, I look forward to my quiet space. Oh and our cat - Smeagol.

  Smeagol - The Prince is upset!

He hid under the bed as soon as the dogs came in and stayed there for eight hours. When they all napped, he hightailed it, jumped the gate and has steered clear. He came up last night and meowed, but as soon as he smelled dog on me, he hissed and ran away. Smeagol will also look forward to some quiet space.

Grand Dogs

Dear Mom,

Guess you didn’t know you are a great grandmother… to dogs. Sorry, you never were much of a dog person, at least from what I can remember.

I visited Rita one day at her house on The Hill and she pulled out different crafts that she was working on for her business, EgabragCrafts. She left the room and came back with one of her babies—a pug named Gramma.

  Gramma, "Oh for the love of..."

 Doc looks up, "Where's mine?" 

Gramma: "You'll be sorry..."

She left with Gramma and came back with Computer. I have no idea what kind of dog he is, but if you put Computer in a Star Wars ewok costume, he passes for an ewok hands down. I’m pretty sure he was less than thrilled to be dressed like a skeleton.

"Please, don't ever do that again."

 Their beagle, Goddie cried out...

 "Whoooooo.... stop the madness.”