Saturday, April 27, 2013

Don't Rain On Me

Today is a rainy spring day. It's Saturday. This rain comes after an almost full week of glorious sunshine. The weekdays were gorgeous, I enjoyed the sun through my office windows while at work. Today, my day off, the weekend it rains. That's is the joke here in the Pacific Northwest: it only rains on the weekends, and often on weekdays too. If you don't like the weather, wait ten minutes. That's another phrase heard again and again. Today if you wait, it would still be raining. Louie doesn't know if it's a weekday or a weekend. He only knows there are days I leave in the morning and some days I stay with him. He also knows there's no way in hell you're going to get him to go outside when it's raining.

You'd think Louie was from some warm climate, some tropical paradise where everyday was at least 80 degrees. Then he was suddenly ripped from his home while snoozing on the beach and teleported to Alaska in the dead of winter and left outside to fend for himself. He hates the cold and the rain. But he's Pacific Northwest born and raised. Shouldn't he be used to it by now?

Louie cannot see water. He cannot see the rain falling from the sky but he knows, yes he does.

In the morning when I wake up, it's like I have a blind furry weatherman lying on my bed. If it is wet outside, Louie will not get up. He will not get up when Snorp asks to go out. He will not get up when the cats jump on him and he will not get up when I am getting ready to leave. How does he know? I think he can smell it. He can hear it. He can taste it. If you close your eyes and think about it, you can feel dampness in the air. In the spring time it's like a clean, fresh smell. You can hear the sound of the rain on the roof, or when it's windy, against the window pane. You don't need eyes to guess what the weather is like outside. You also don't need to get your ass out of bed apparently either.

So Louie's day consisted of sleeping in as long as possible. Running out the front door and up the set of steps to his grandparents house to have breakfast. Then napping on their new fluffy dog bed they got for Budde the puppy. Louie is happy to help break that new bed in. After a nap he ran outside to the closest corner of grass to pee, so fast and hard that is splashed up onto his front feet. Louie then ran back to his house for phase two of the rainy day nap. He lays down near the front door. Listening to the rain. If I open the door for him and ask him if he wants to go outside, he just turns his head and 'looks' at me: "You're kidding right?"





Saturday, April 20, 2013

Nip & Tuck: Budde's 5 Months Old

Good sit and stay with Blind Louie.
4/13/13
Budde the Puppy is five months old!
Budde is officially five months old and he is crazy. Goodbye docile puppy that sleeps 20 hours a day. Hello crazy, rabid, clumsy giant-pawed creature that's running full speed through the mud to jump up on me as I'm about to leave for work in my favorite white with black polka dot dress. No stopping Budde now.

Poor Snorp is taking the brunt of it. It seems like Budde has confused Snorp for a moving couch or maybe a horse that he should be riding on, because he won't stop jumping up on him. Snorp tries diligently to knock him down again and again, it looks exhausting. Snorp runs, and there is Budde, running with only his back two feet as his front are up on Snorp. Wheel barrow!

Budde's 5month Birthday, he shows of his lay down and stay skills.
And then there's the humping. That's right, I'll admit it. We have a humper on our hands, dang it. If Snorp is too tired to fight him off, Budde will stand with his front paws on Snorp's shoulders and start rocking his hips back and forth. It's still innocent, he's not, (ahem) aroused or anything. He's not even facing the right direction. It's actually pretty hilarious, BUT DON'T LAUGH! You're just encouraging him, this is BAD puppy behavior.

The look on Budde's face when he starts humping Snorp is priceless. He tilts his head back, nose in the air. His eyes relax and close partially. He just gets this smug, satisfied look on his face. He looks relaxed and proud of himself... and then we knock him down. Oh, Budde. Bad dog. (snicker).

That brings us around to the next part of the story. Budde went in for surgery Monday April 15th. Neuter time! I took him in on my way to work. I dropped him, unsuspectingly, off at the vet. The surgery went so well I was able to pick him up before 3:00 that same day. I was standing in the lobby at the receptionists desk paying for the procedure and waiting for the nurse to bring him out. From down the hall I heard a knocking sound and somebody said "Wow, watch out for that tail!". It was Budde. Running down the hall like a drunken sailor, slamming his wagging tail into the wall as he went. He was so happy to see me. It was like nothing had happened, except he was a little wobbly on his feet.

The 'tiny' puppy snuggles with his Papa after surgery
We hopped in the car to head home. I was going to surprise my dad by bringing him home early, he didn't think I would be back until after 6:00. I opened the door quietly. My dad was sitting in his armchair facing away from the door I entered in. I let Budde go first. Dad didn't know we were there until Budde was right at his feet asking to get on his lap. My dad was so excited!

I left them for a little while, when I came back a few hours later to check on them, Budde was in his favorite spot. My dad said about his groggy, drugged up puppy "I wish he would just stay like this for a while." As he held him and kissed his head. I told him to cherish it because when he woke up all hell would brake loose. and it did. But I'll save that story for another time.





Saturday, April 6, 2013

Finally the Big News

There has been a void on the Louie blog. Posts have had more time in between. I have been snapping fewer photographs and sleeping a lot more instead. There is some big news in Blind Louie land and our family farm. We will soon be adding to our happy gaggle of animals. This time it won't be another pig, or a chicken or even a puppy. This time we're going to have a baby!

Louie doesn't know yet. I've told him, but he doesn't understand. He just tilts his head from side to side, 'staring' at me. "Louie, are you going to be a big brother? You going to have a new baby in the house?" He eagerly wags his tail. What a good boy. He has no idea that our world and routine is about to be turned upside down.

My husband Paul and I knew we wanted to be parents 'someday'. If you always say someday, then someday may never come. Sometimes you just have to let go and see what happens. Like when I brought Louie home. I knew I wanted to get a puppy someday, but my house wasn't perfect, I worked a lot, I had crappy roommates. But then my friend's wonderful dogs had puppies and I knew they all needed a responsible home. I had love to give, attention and responsibility. I couldn't help them all but I picked one out and took them home. I put a lot of hard work and care into raising Louie and it was worth every second. Even when I'm cleaning dog diarrhea off the carpet, I love him.

I think that is what it will mean to be a mom. I will have love, I am caring and I am
responsible enough to take this on. This time, going into this I also have an amazing partner. I was a single mom for the first three years of Louie's life. I did it, it was hard but I did it. Now I will have a baby, it will be twice as hard and complicated as raising a puppy but now I have someone to share the responsibility with. Someone truly amazing. Paul is much more patient than me, much more gentle. His sense of humor keeps me laughing even through life's difficult moments. This is what we will need to live a happy, healthy life.

So this blog has taken a backseat to my new blog, a humorous pregnancy blog I've created to document this crazy journey (My Uterus is Magic). Now that I've told everyone that we are expecting, it will easier to write for Life with Blind Louie too. A lot of what I'm thinking about is how a blind dog and a baby will learn to live together. Louie is very trainable, a day old baby, not so much. Life with Blind Louie will be a place I can brainstorm training ideas, and then after the baby is here, a place where I can share stories. I know Louie will continue to amaze us with his adaptability and is intelligence, his kindness and his clumsiness. Stick around, things will get interesting.

Check out my new blog at www.myuterusismagic.blogspot.com !!