Eva.

I found out today that my sweet dog has cancer.
How do you process something like that and remain a workable human?

Eva has been a gentle gift from the moment we decided we needed her in our family.

I don't deserve her.

My brain cringes with guilt over the times I scolded her to hurry up or to get out of the way or to stop begging for snacks.
What was the hurry?
Why didn't 'I' get out of the way?
And who ever in the world can have to many snacks?
Eva never goes far from home.
Eva worries about the other dogs in the family and lets me know if one of them is still outside or stuck behind some other closed door.
When we take our daily hike, Eva waits patiently for any stragglers before she continues on the path.

Did I mention I don't deserve her?

Eva weighs 104 pounds and tries to do things that she sees the little dogs doing.
Eva tries to be a good girl in everything we ask of her.
Eva doesn't push her way out or in the door.
Eva has never trampled her way to her food dish and will wait patiently for her bowl of boring, every day the same, dog food.

Have I told you I don't deserve her?

Eva loves a good scratch around the ears.
Eva loves to swim on hot days.
Eva loves a nice walk in the woods.
Eva loves me.
Eva loves most everyone unconditionally.
Eva loves our family and her giant wagging tail lets us know she does whenever we make eye contact or join her where she is.
Eva could easily bite our faces off, but chooses daily to refrain, thus making her one awesome creation.

Eva is the best of the best.

I have never deserved anything as precious as she is, but am ever so grateful for the grace of the world that gave me such a gift.

The doctor says except for the fast growing mass, she is healthy right now.
Sheesh.
How is that fair?
But I guess it also means that she still has time to play and run and eat scrambled eggs and squeeze out some good times while consuming copious amounts of dog snacks and then opt for a bit of sleeping after some slow easy belly rubs.

Eva totally, completely and in every other way deserves every good thing.
The challenge is before us.
Together we will will bark at the darkness.

Thanks for being here.


Eva


Fun times with Eva

Caturday Post. Lava.

"This is the only safe surface right now, hurry I know the way!"

Cats don't like to lay on clutter free cleaned off surfaces.
A cat has to be on something added too or covering any household surface.
There is the primary surface such as the floor, the table, the counter.
There is the secondary surface such as anything that is on top of the primary surface.
Examples:
A jacket that fell off the hook and onto the floor.
Empty boxes. Size or place does not matter.
Books, magazines or newspapers sitting on the kitchen table, that you are possibly even in the middle of reading.
Computer keyboards that you are possibly even using.
Sheets you just took off the bed and were going to immediately put in the washer once you got the pillow cases off but now you can't do anything because the cat is curled up adorably and sleeping like an angel in like the last 47 seconds so you have to do something else while she gets a nap, like make the bed with other sheets from the linen closet, but you really don't want to do that because then you will have to fold the cleaned sheets that the cat is sleeping on now instead of taking them out of the dryer and putting them straight on your bed, thus, making the delay in the laundry timeline thrown off causing the sheet washing to NOT be finished in time for making a clean bed by bedtime because by 8:00pm even brushing your teeth is exhausting and making the bed then is equivalent to attempting a 12,000 foot mountain hike in winter, wearing only flip flops. Thank-you, NO.

Not even one cat hair will be touching the primary surface, because every cat seems to think that the primary surface is lava and only the secondary surface supports feline life as we know it and is safe to inhabit.

It's probably true.
I remember playing the lava game and jumping from chair to sofa to chair to sofa...repeat 697 times.
The floor was completely avoided due to the threat of a fiery death until a parental unit heard you and your sister laughing loudly and told you to "Cut it out this minute!" and you did till you heard the parent walk away and then you tried it a few more times until your mostly quiet combined sisterly snickering kept escalating and the punisher came back and threatened 'NO TV FOR A WEEK!'
Lava game over.
For this day...

Cats don't care.
Viva la Lava!
Life is a game to a cat.
All day every day!
Every surface must be tested, dominated and tried out by a cat.
I haven't even mentioned when cats join you while you are sleeping and you wake up coughing because the cat thought that your neck and face were comfortable, warm and lava free.
Purrrrrrr.

Thanks for being here.

P.S. I blame my cat on the condition of my house. There is stuff on every surface so that my cats won't stress about the lava.

Yeah, that's it!