Eleven!

These two iPups — Sparkle and Tag — are eleven!

Old Dog birthdays are bittersweet because while we celebrate those who are here, we also remember with sorrow the ones who left too soon: George, Nikko, Scarlett, Ava, Kidd, and Tristan.

Always — may their memories be blessings.

Tina shares that Tag is doing well.

He is a Scentwork rock star who loves to work and always has 💚

Thank you, Tina, for Tag’s wonderful — LONG — life and for always staying in touch ❤️ I am so grateful to have one of my beloved puppies in such an amazing home 🙏

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAG!!!

Sparkle was ready to party!

I love this photo of her at two weeks in her birthday glasses.

And today — at age 11. Same glasses. Same perfect girl.

It was a swim party for Sparkle and her friend, Sundance.

Happy Birthday to the one and only SPARKLE!

🩷🩷🦄🎉🎂

Plus Two

The tally grew by two yesterday.

The lupine was especially pretty in mid-afternoon as we drove by — twice — very, very slowly.

I am waiting for someone on our now familiar route to come out with a shotgun and demand to know why we keep driving by their place. I would wonder if I were them!

My co-pilot wants to know if we will ever actually get out of the car.

Yesterday’s showing prep was especially exciting because Nikki Summer Dawn (“NSD”), the more feral of the two young feral cats, disappeared.

NSD

I checked all her usual hiding spots to no avail. Then I remembered that the utility area door had been left open after a showing and I had closed it that morning.

I squeezed past the water heater and ducked to get under the stairs and there she was, flattened into a small corner and looking at if she has completely forgotten that I was the human who saved her life by treating her with expensive drugs — daily for three months! — from the underground FIP treatment network.

Cats are like teenagers — so ungrateful.

Anyway, I managed to get her out and then get myself out (no small feat). All cats were secured, but not before another one had a cat vs. carpet incident that required quick action 😬

To make it even more exciting, I spilled wax from the lemon-scented candle all over the stovetop as I was hurriedly trying to leave.

Note to Self: SLOW.DOWN.

Supposedly, the second offer is coming today and I also have to decide on the first one by 5 pm.

I am never, ever moving again — this is all nutty.

But maybe it is like childbirth and you forget how awful it was — and I do have three kids…

Happy Saturday, Friends ❤️

Another Interesting Life Adventure!

I was going to start off with, “someday this will be funny” but truthfully — it already is.

Selling a house is stressful. You have to allow strangers in your home and the cleaning!!!! Who lives like this in real life?! Not me.

It is like you have to erase all evidence that you exist.

All the things you see in that photo disappear when there is a showing. So does my toothbrush, shampoo, dog water bowel, and any evidence that clothes are worn or towels are used in this house.

Harper B needs rugs to navigate — they all disappear.

In addition to frantic cleaning and general existence erasure, I also have to herd cats — and I mean that literally.

I lost sleep trying to figure out what to do with the cats, which includes two who are feral rescues and never let me forget it. One minute I am slightly acceptable and the next they are hissing at me 🤷🏼‍♀️

Interestingly, managing the cats has been easier than dealing with five excited dogs who think we are going someplace super fun every.single.time when in fact, we just drive on the dirt road at approximately 2.5 mph. So far we have seen a small elk herd, a brand new fawn, and we are tracking these beautiful lupines.

There are good reasons I never, ever take the dogs anyplace together and I am reminded of this every time I have to load them up. One of those reasons is my van isn’t really big enough and so Sparkle gets to be the co-pilot, which is why we drive very slowly and only on the backroads.

Sparkle is enjoying living dangerously 😬

I read someplace that a house is shown between 10 and 25 times before it sells. I decided to be average and so I am thinking I have to show the house 18 times before it sells. I keep track on my white board.

Six frantic showings so far — 13 to go!

As I was trying to leave preceding one of those showings, I knocked over a can of cleaner as I was putting away the window cleaner. Much swearing and speed vacuuming ensued.

Another time I was cleaning the floor downstairs and rePete helpfully threw up on it. That taught me to herd the cats before doing anything else down there.

I have figured out the exact best process for loading dogs for our thrilling backroad adventures — by doing it wrong and having a dog who shall remain shamed but unnamed be so excited that she tore a soft crate.

Hint.

There is an offer and maybe two — but I am not sure it/they will be acceptable. We’ll see — that is my new motto for everything, btw.

There is another showing this afternoon — and so the Big Fun continues 😂

I hope your day is just a wee bit less adventurous ❤️