The Watering Hole

It turns out my absence resulted in the addition of another dog to the pack. Well, sorta-kinda. Long story short, a gal living about three miles away as the buzzard flies works in a town about an hour away. For a time, when she went off to work in the morning her dog went on walkabout and showed up at Hacienda Sophia. TMIMITW sez she just let herself in and lounged on the porch like she belonged there.

She had a collar but the split ring holding the tag had been pulled apart so she was traveling incognito. TMIMITW threw the dog in the truck and drove her around until he found someone who recognized her. That someone called the owner who called TMIMITW and made arrangements to collect the dog on the way home from work.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

TMIMITW puts on a hard shell but he's a soft touch. After a few days of this he said he told the gal he was concerned for the dog's safety on her daily jaunt and suggested the gal just drop her off in the morning and pick her up in the afternoon. And so it is. He hasn't let her in the house but says she follows him around as on a bungie cord when he is out and about. When he is in the house the dog lounges right outside the kitchen door, apparently content just to keep tabs on him from there. The other dogs have apparently accepted her as part of the pack.

And so it is.... somewhere between joint custody and "doggie daycare." It's a temp arrangement but not sure what the parameter on "temp" is. Until she gets her fences dog proof? Until she can begin working from home? Until she retires? Until TMIMITW runs off with her? Dunno.

"loaner" dog.

It's a love-hate relationship.

I love my little tractor. I hate lubing it. But because I love it I put up with the hate.

I'm getting better at gittin' 'er done with less and less of a mess. Managed to get all the fittings cleaned up and ready for greasing. Managed to get the grease gun loaded up and operational. Managed to get all but two of the fittings squirted full enough to have new grease oozing out the far side of the joint without having to get on the ground and wiggle around like a worm..... but there are two that can't be reached any other way.

I put that job off until last. Now it's time to get dinner fixin's ready. Got two elderly neighbors with wives visiting kids out-of-state (Wisconsin and Florida) so I've invited the poor souls to la hacienda for a proper meal and an evening on the shady east porch. A bit breezy but we should be sheltered from the wind on that side.

I should probably get cleaned up first. When you can smell yourself you know it's time to hit the shower.

Tiger-Ock said:

Already seeing a tiny redhead near my age. Is it too soon?

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Al the Infidel said:

Do what your heart tells you I say.

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Amen. Life is for the living. But you do know what they say about redheads, right?

Blackwolfe said:

Not unusual for men to get involved with another quickly after losing a partner. Men don't like being alone. Women will usually wait a significant amount of time.

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One of the elderly folks I visit on my annual trips "back east" says the same thing. She is a golfer so gets out regularly with her golfing crowd. Her observation is the widowed men usually have a significant other joining the group not overly long after their loss but that the women tend to remain unattached.

Loaner dog has obviously made herself part of the pack. That's my exercise mat. I was off it only a moment before they decided to move in and commandeer it.