The Dog's Morning Shower

The morning routine is fairly well set in stone.

I get up before six in the morning, get myself mobile and able to walk out the door.

I'm followed by my dog, so I have to gauge how mobile she is as well.  Talk to her a little bit to see if she can actually hear today since she's 12.  Yes, along with all those other problems, she's not able to hear well every day.

There are better days than others so that keeps us on our toes.

She can always hear the clink of the ice cube in the bottom of that 32 ounce iced tea glass!

It's still dark so I am standing on the inside of the door to see if there are any critters about, two legs or four, that we need to worry about.

Since the street is clear, we step through the door into the morning and sniff the air.  I'm cold, it's 57, she's loving it.  The beginnings of the morning breezes are stirring and she's reading the messages that are wafting across the yard in the silence of the dark.

I'm beginning to wonder if she's going to move out to the yard to relieve herself.  She's not exactly agile, and she's been known to root herself in a spot and just groove on things. 

It's an old dog's prerogative.

There's something not quite right.  There isn't anyone nearby so I can be relaxed with her wandering off across the street but she still hasn't moved.

And then it clicks what is missing.   It is Thursday Morning.

You see we have twice a week irrigation here.  Thursday and Sunday.

Now it is time for Lettie's Wake-up Call.

I hear it first.  The hissing of the air running out of the lines to the heads of the sprinklers in the front yard.  Lettie is looking due North toward the new construction and doesn't suspect a thing.  She's standing exactly in line with the largest sprinklers in the yard.

I'm calling to her to try to get her free of the impending doom, but it doesn't help.  Lettie gets a blast of water that shoots through her legs and out the other end all the way to the street.   She leaps into the air a full foot.

Who knew Grandma could do THAT?

Now she comes down, doing a dance over the stream and trying to get out of the chilled water and basically not getting anywhere.

Finally she extracts herself and runs out to the other side of the car with me in tow.  Since she doesn't have her leash on her at this time of the morning, I'm watching her as she walks out to the neighbor's yard.  She would walk herself at this point but that just isn't done.

Shepherding the sheepdog back into the house, it's time for breakfast. 

The fun doesn't stop there.  I prepare the first syringe of food for her, and that takes well.   The second one on the other hand ends up badly.   There was a clump of food in the bottom of the syringe and a bubble of air that compressed behind it.  Not being able to get it to go, I push hard on the syringe.   It's vertical when it finally lets go and now instead of being a fountain of water outside, we have a shower of dog food squirting into the air.

Today's project:  Clean the dining room ceiling.

Never a dull moment around here.   Hey, could you pass me the paper towels and that spray bottle?  Thanks!