If the morning is a prognosticator, today will not be a good day. Gracie is herself but refuses to go down the back stairs. I totally understand as she fell down some of those stairs the other day so yesterday I had a solution. I opened the back gate so she could get into the yard, but she went right up the stairs into the house. I then started taking her out front, and that was fine until this morning. We have been out six times, and she has yet to go. The outside world grabs her attention and she is far more interested in the smell of the air and the grass and what might just happen down the street. I stand there begging her to go, but she doesn’t hear me, which I prefer to the idea I’m being ignored.
Today is the big day, Super Bowl Sunday. My friends and I are getting together to watch the game. We are making two appetizers each. I am falling back on the traditional queso but adding sausage and jalapenos. My next appetizer is a naan pizza with honey-caramelized red onion, feta, ricotta and blueberries. We are, of course, rooting for our Pats.
Maddie is among the missing. She isn’t on her chair and doesn’t come when I call. Now I have to go hunting for her. She was down earlier, had a snack then I lost track. These animals will be the death of me. They rule the roost (perfect animal metaphor).
My mind belies my body, mostly. I do forget some things, but they always pop up later when I don’t need them. My body doesn’t rebound. My back is till complaining about my having lifted Gracie. I haven’t even been able to bring her dry food from the car to the house. The 14 pounds seems daunting.
Maddie is back and sleeping on the chair. Gracie finally went the bathroom on trip number eight and is now asleep on the couch. I am the only one awake. I am about to immerse myself in Warbirds, a science fiction movie, and from the sound of it, a bad science fiction movie. “During World War II, an all-female flying squad and a platoon of male American soldiers land on an island and battle dinosaurs.” By the start of it, I suspect they will also be battling Japanese soldiers who have unearthed the dinosaur. Can it get worse? Yes, it can. As the flight commander leaves the plane to check in at Pearl she has some parting words for her crew. “If the brass drops by, Girls, remember, chest out because that’s what Uncle Sam wants to see.”
