There Ya Go
May was a real you-knowwhat. I’ll put it right up there with March as our most stressful month of the year at the Headlight. This is a good thing for Tara and me. But we all have our limits, we all hit a point where it’s sometimes too much.
Tara almost got there in late May. Between work and personal matters, I think she was ready to take a break, one that lasted more than an hour here or there.
But that’s easier said than done for us. So I wanted to do my part in easing some of her stress. I wanted to do what I could to be her melatonin, if only for a couple weeks. Actually, I didn’t have much of a choice.
My role in getting ready for Ben’s graduation this Saturday was part boyfriend, part dog sitter. The former, I’ve been doing for about 12 years, so I got that down. The latter meant I needed to take the four dogs that occupy her house out of the graduation picture.
That meant they were to come live with me out on the farm for a couple weeks.
The timing for me was perfect. As I wrote last week, I recently lost my cat, so the more four-legged, tail-wagging creatures I could have at my house, the better.
In preparation for my guests, I had to get a kennel ready. Being the kind of person that I am, I needed to find a way not just to keep them at my place, but do it in style. That is to say, I needed to find a way to spoil them, like a grandpa does to his grandkid. I have a soft spot for my granddogs, which is why I devised an indoor-outdoor kennel, which means they’ve had the the run of the garage (with food, water, straw and my old mattress) while also being able to enjoy the great outdoors in my driveway.
Their extended stay began with them breaking out of their kennel. These canine convicts found a hole in one of the chained-linked fence panels and made their great escape on their first day in. Thankfully, I decided to check on them that day. It came as no surprise when I saw them wandering the yard. The good news was, while they were able to escape, they did stay close to home. Little did they know, they could’ve gone anywhere, but they literally know little, so they just hung out by the house.
Sometimes, when it got super hot, I’d put them in the house before going back to work. Maybe they’ll have an accident, maybe the won’t (they did), but I can live with that.
So for the last couple of weeks, I’ve had five dogs at my place. That’s a lot of dogs. People who board dogs don’t have this many running around. But it’s all good. They’re good dogs. Not perfect, of course, but they try.
And having the dogs at my place meant Tara didn’t have to deal with them. For the last couple weeks, there was no starting her day with picking up poop or Swifering urine. There was no getting up at 4 or 5 in the morning to let them out. There was no worry about them somehow getting out of their fenced-in yard and running amok around the streets of Tracy.
There was no dog stress. I’ll give Ben a gift for his graduation, of course, but this year, I gave his mom one as well — the gift of freedom, at least from her canine kids. She deserves it.
But I do hope she realizes this gift has a shelf life. Plus, she has to miss them by now.
