Oops, I Added a Pet

Francis the pet rat is here to keep me company! And I am here to keep him company! Francis is recently bereaved of his cage-buddy, Cyrus. Rats are very social animals. They rarely sleep alone when caged together; rather, they make a rat pile. Francis was also suffering insult added to this injury, in that cat Jekyll has recently adopted Francis' person, my daughter. Francis was terrorized and depressed, and I was going to be the only moving part to my house for a while, so it was only natural for my daughter to bring Francis to me for some rest and rejuvenation.

I have Francis all set up on the table near my computer...but not attached to my computer. I don't want him running and chewing and peeing and picking up things on my desk; that would indeed be too distracting. He has his own table to spread out on when I am home and I open the cage for him. He has several boxes to play in, with little portals he can go through. He seems to enjoy my company, sitting still for petting and coming out from wherever he is hiding, when I visit him.

Down Dog

Now I have downsized my dog. Supposedly, I am busy downsizing my collection of things; and I should be able to say here that I have such a momentum going of getting rid of so many things that the dog got swept out in the whirlwind. But that's not how it is. I have been so very slow about getting rid of anything, it's more like I owe some downsizing and so it falls to the dog. It's not really like that, either.

Husband is working out of town in El Paso and has an apartment out there. We get 2 weekends together each month, out there or at home. We decided it would be nice for my husband to have the dog out there with him. She dotes on him, crowding in to lick his feet every chance she gets. She'll lick his feet for hours. I shove my feet in her face and all I get is maybe one small lick if I'm lucky and/or have been walking in gravy.

So, daughter and I drove out there to visit and brought the dog and left her there. The dog gets a nice walk up the mountain every morning and gets to be with my husband all day at work in his office. What she doesn't get is her doggie door that opens onto our lawn...and me. I talk to her on the video phone each evening. She lifts her ears and cocks her head to each side trying to find the source of my voice. I think the worst for her is that there is very little grass in El Paso, particularly around the apartment complex and where they usually walk. My husband isn't sure that his coworkers really like having to greet the dog when she comes to jump on them every time they enter his office, but that, of course, is what this friendly dog likes the best! We're trying it out for a while.

Distraction: Interim Before the Next Project

The carpet cleaning did get finished, with everything put away. A few choice items that were taking up space unnecessarily, eg, on the shelf that I did remove from the end of the couch, ended up in the garage for downsizing, and a few places got dusted. Everything looked great for my daughter's vacation. She is here from the big city Chicago for a few weeks. I am overjoyed about having her here!

I always have downsizing on my mind, but I have a kind of stretchy mind, and right now downsizing is far toward the edge, kind of in a pooched-out place. I am taking a vacation and enjoying visits from both my daughters.