Texas Lady

Who’s the smallest in the Land?  Why Maximus thinks he knows….it’s him!!!!!!

“Momma, why’s there so many d-d-d-d-dogs here?”

I couldn’t decide which picture to post, so, hell, I just posted them both. 
This was red-letter day for Maximus, and, by default, us.  Max is 4 months, 9 days old, 46 pounds, and finished his puppy shots today.  Therefore, he can go places younger puppies can’t go….like dog parks for one.  So, since I start Nights tomorrow night, it had to be today.  When Ronnie got off work this evening we bundled up Bandit, medicated him for car-sickness, stuck him and Maximus in the Honda, and off we went to the Bay Area Dog Park. 
Bandit had been there before, as has Aidan and Gypsy, so Bandit was happy and running around greeting the rest of the dogs, happy as a clam.  Max was another story.  As soon as we got inside the gate, Max started growling deep in this throat at the first dog that approached him.  UhOh!  This wasn’t gonna work.  Aggressive dogs have to leave immediately.  But we calmed him down and walked further into the park.  Good thing we did because we met some folks that are big dog people who gave us some dog tips for handling his aggressiveness and some training tips, even who/where to take them for good training (which we’ve been talking about).  Max calmed down and we discovered that he was hanging exclusively around me and thought he was protecting me, not himself.  That shed a new light on the subject.  We just let him chill out, do a little growling but no damage to a few poochies under the watchful eyes of their owners, who encouraged it.  Eventually Maximus saw Ronnie and trotted off to play as if he’d been there ever day of his entire life.  I think the next visit will be much better.
The biggest problem we had was that Bandit’s anti-nausea medicine didn’t work.  He chucked in the car again before we got there.  Gotta contact his vet and go to step 3.  Poor Bandit loves to go but gets carsick so it’s not much fun for him to travel.  There are other meds; it’s probably time to move up to something else.  Whatever it takes, we will get it worked out.  We loves our canine babies.

This shift of Days about killed me.  I haven’t slept enough any of the three nights so I’ve been sleep-walking all day each day.  Then I’ve been having problems with my eyes dry and hurting, headaches and sinus pressure.  And I started my diet over again Friday so that hasn’t helped give me any energy to cope with no sleep.  My body is out of the habit of shift work, I think, since I was off work so long with my total hip replacement.  At my age, it doesn’t adjust as quickly as when I was younger. 
I have a life now that I didn’t have when my body was young enough to actually enjoy all the things I’m trying to do now.  And I still have 18 months before I retire so I have no choice but to keep going.  If I could retire today I think I’d feel just fine living the life I have, volunteering where/when/how I do.  I have more than enough to keep me happy and occupied.  But at least I have something to look forward to; I never have had before.  There was never a rosy future to dream about; just more work after more work until I couldn’t work any longer.  Now I have a life and a dream to look forward to…….way to go, Ronnie Lindsey!