My Saturday started off well enough. I got a phone call from my seven-year-old niece -who’s growing up way too fast! – asking if it would be Ok if she and my nephew came out to the dog park near my house. I was a little confused about whether she wanted me to come and pick them up and take them to the playground at the park, or pick them up and take them to the dog park with my dogs or what. The park my niece was referencing is a really big park. There’s at least three playgrounds, a soccer field, a baseball field, a historic home/museum and a dog park. The dog park itself is large as well. It’s divided into two sections, the one for small dogs is about the size of a football field and has a small pond, the one for large dogs is the size of at least two football fields with a larger pond. I spoke to my sister and clarified that I didn’t need to pick the kids up, she was going to bring the kids and her dogs out to the park and we’d meet there.
I had just enough time to do my garrison chores on the two toons that have them and then the dogs and I headed out to the park. We have two dogs. Our old lady, a Border Collie mix named Callie, will be 15 in April. Our youngin, Roxy, is a 2 year old Lab mix and she’s been bouncing off the walls all week. The short walk I managed to take them on earlier this week didn’t last long for Roxy – she’s still a pup in a lot of ways and she needs her exercise.
The park was great. Roxy was a lot more relaxed than last time I took them. My husband rescued her from the local pound when she was five months old and she’d spend three of her five months of life locked up there. Because Roxy missed that incredibly important early interaction with other animals, she’s much more comfortable around a lot of humans than she is a lot of other dogs. And she’s got a serious must-kill-cats instinct so I guess it’s a good thing the hubby and I are both severely allergic to cats and none of our neighbors have any. But I digress.
The park was great. There were a lot of others there and my girls had a great time. Roxy even played some, which she doesn’t normally do, mostly with my sister’s dogs, but with a few of the others too. The kids had a blast as well of course. Kids and dogs are just natural together and so fun to watch.
It was cold though and I should’ve worn more a proper jacket rather than just a flannel over my t-shirt. It might’ve only been in the 50s F, but it was breezy and I’m pretty damn anemic so I get cold easily. Getting jumped on and rubbed against by wet dogs fresh from the pond didn’t help and by the time I got home my fingers and toes were starting to go numb.
I let the girls in the house and then went back outside to get the trashcans. When I brought them up to the garage I was alarmed to hear the water heater hissing and dripping. I looked at it and it was leaking from the top where one of the hoses is and the drip pan at the bottom was almost full. I know nothing about water heaters, but hissing and dripping can’t be good!
I went inside and got the hubby. He looked it over and said it was just the hose that needed to be replaced. Hooray for something inexpensive that we could fix ourselves! By the time we got done changing out the hose, I was shivering with cold and had a headache and the hubby needed a breathing treatment (his COPD has been bad the last couple of weeks).
It took me an hour of huddling under the covers after I’d turned the heat up to get warm again. My bloody headache lasted until about 7ish. And just like that, half the weekend is gone. /sigh
At least my dogs had a great Saturday. How was yours?
Until tomorrow, love and /hugs,
The Pink Pally
Taverns & Towers 