Gone to the dogs....

I didn't become a dog owner until I was 50. By then I had figured out that after 44 years of being owned by cats and 31 years of dating or being married to men that I liked woman and dogs much better.

If I had known how amazing it was to experience unconditional love from a four-legged furry mass of love, I would have had less ex-husbands which would of been good for all involved.

After a long day of working I come home to a welcome committee at the kitchen door. Chloe walks up to me with her latest favorite toy of the moment to show me what she has. Fast Eddie and Chancey are bouncing and making funky little sounds at me. Heaven!

Now having four dogs ranging from barely furry at 30 lbs. to extremely furry at 55 lbs. isn't without its drama and lots of work to maintain them, our house and our sanity. Tyler Noel is the fourth dog and not ours but he is with us every day and has a occasional sleep over with us.

So an average day consists of walking them for about a mile (thanks Mary), feeding them twice a day which is drama in itself. I could write an entire posting on that alone. Letting them in and out to go pee, to bark at passing motorcycles (thanks Chancey), to howl(a group event) at Yogi, our neighborhood black bear. Breaking up fights on whose toy that belongs to at that moment in time. Which means yelling over and over at Fast Eddie because he is our trouble maker and bully of the group. Trying not to break your neck as you step on Mr. Dinosaur (hard plastic with sharp spikes) and the story goes on and on.

I can't believe the amount of dog laundry we do each week. There are dog towels to wipe off their muddy feet when returning from the dog park. There are throws to protect and cover the couch and beds. There are blankets that we wrap ourselves in while watching TV while the dogs lie on top of us. Then there are the blankets that each dog gets covered with at bedtime. Oh, did I mention that Fast Eddie doesn't like to experience cold or rain so he has an assortment of dog coats he can choose from.

Today is a great example. While at my Saturday part-time job, I get a call from Mary. Fast Eddie just came in from outside stinking of something he rolled in and part of it is smeared on his leg. Minutes later he promptly throws up large quantities of grass all over our living rug. So between giving him a bath and cleaning up the carpet more towels that will have need to be cleaned.

It is now 7:30 p.m. and all is quite in doggie land, I’m going to go watch a DVD and lounge with them before letting them out at 10 p.m. for one more pee. Then each one gets a night night treat which means making sure that Fast Eddie doesn’t eat Chancey’s treat. Then they all get tucked in and everything is quite until something goes bump in the night.

More later…

I'm back to posting.....

Good Morning!

I have already been up for more than two hours doing some of my morning chores: paperwork, picking up dog toys in the living room and more dog toys down the hall, doing laundry, folding it (3 loads), tidying up around the house, riding my in-door bike about 2.5 miles and so on. And this is also the time period when I have a chance to think about what is happening in my life. And a new addition to my morning routine, is praying.

Praying is a new thing for me. I’ve been searching for a religion and a church since I was seven years old. At that time we lived on a military base in Lincoln, Nebraska. I would go up to complete strangers and say “What Church do you go to?” they would tell me and I would say “What time will you pick me up on Sunday?” Let me tell you I saw some beautiful churches that way. Didn’t find God but the hunt was on…and would continue for many years.

I found God in my teens but not a Church that I wanted to grow old in. Well, I’ve finally found it in All Saints’ Episcopal in South Hadley, Massachusetts. The way they have accepted Mary and I with open arms has been truly amazing. The result of their love is that we are both very actively involved with in the Church. So much so that when I have too much to do, which is often, I just volunteer Mary to do it. She is now teaching Sunday School, she helped with the weeding and mulching this past summer, and she was a great help at the Columbus Day Food & Tag Sale Extravaganza. The joke running around at Church these days is “Great to see you Mary, what did Sharon volunteer you for now?”

So back to prayer. It really is a wonderful source of comfort to me. I’m not the type to ask God for parking places or to keep the light green until I can make it through the intersection. I am getting into the habit of asking for his guidance and wisdom for the day I face ahead of me. Plus I pray for any of my peeps who are experiencing trouble in their lives whether it be illness, the death of a loved one, unemployment etc.

Well my time is up. I've got to move on with my day, hopefully more thoughts tomorrow.