The poor dogs have had to endure short and wet walks, mostly just to relieve themselves. The timing has been uncanny, every afternoon as I am coming home from work, the rain starts and has spoiled most afternoons and evenings. Kat and I have been frustrated, mainly because we desire to stay active both struggle with our weight and we begin losing the battle if we have periods of inactivity. Plus, who wants to stay cooped up in a 29 foot home.
So we did take some action to increase our living space. We setup an 11 x 11 covered screen room so we can enjoy the outdoors sans 6 legged flying critters. But, even that has been challenged by sideways rain. But we have been able to use the room a few times now. It makes such a difference eating and relaxing outdoors
The 2nd thing we did was to purchase a 22 inch TV and install it under the counter. We had been getting by without a television since we were spending most of our free time outdoors. The constant rain did cause us to adjust our priorities a bit.
We did not do anything elaborate like get cable. We are using our Roku for most of our entertainment and the antenna for local coverage.
So, we did add spend a little money to upgrade our living space this week.
The next item was not such a success. Last Sunday evening (a rare dry evening) I was walking the 2 bigger dogs by the lake. It was a nice, enjoyable walk. The dogs were able to play and wrestle. So, with them secured on their leashes, we starting walking back towards our camper. As I neared the road that leads up the hill to our camper, I noticed that the neighbor's toy poodle had got free from its owner and was running straight toward my dogs, barking and growling. I tried to move away from the small dog, but it veered right into and attacked my (much bigger) dogs. Obviously, this is not an example of how smart poodles are supposed to be. Now, Zorro, really hates to be in fights, so he actually slid out of his collar and put some distance between himself and the situation. But Nova, who notoriously has small dog aggression, did not back down. She ferociously defended herself. The poodles owner finally arrived and helped me to free the poodle from Nova. It was quite horrific. I expected severe damage to that poodle. Fortunately, no vital places were punctured on the dog. It had blood on 3 legs and will make a full recovery. One more minute may have been a different result.
I know the poodle was traumatized, but it will do the same stupid thing next time. I was traumatized too and even Nova seemed pretty shaken up from the whole matter. So, I have decided to just pick Nova up in future instances like this. We were very lucky that it was not worse. Then a few days later, I got a chance to test this method. Again, the rain was a factor. A storm had come through right as most people were coming home from work. So, everyone had to wait until the lightning and rain subsided to walk their dogs. As we were walking our dogs, I noticed about 10 other dogs being walked, not usually a big deal, but ... the rain had caused all of the dogs to feel a bit anxious, it seemed. To make things worse, a little girl (about 7) was trying to walk here medium size dog. It was too much for her. The dog pulled her off her feet. She let go and the dog was headed right for us. (Deja vu). Just then a chihuahua got off leash and headed toward the loose dog which was headed for us. A perfect storm of events. I did manage to pick up Nova. Kat took Zorro and we headed up the hill without incident.
We managed to get through the week and it appears that this weekend will be drier. Things are looking up, already. This was not as much fun to talk about and post, but I do not want to give the impression that nothing bad ever happens to us. We just push through and try to not let it impact our overall outlook.
Until next time - Kit.
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