what's cooking?

Despite what people think, being an empty-nester doesn't count when you have fur babies!  Part of my everyday routine is feeding our darling Pepper and praying that he eats and it stays in his body.  This happens multiple times during  the daylight hours, as I'm vigilant about making sure he has something to gum down.  At 16, we have ceased caring what he eats AS LONG AS HE ACTUALLY EATS!  I also clean his litter boxes at least twice a day.  The girls get fed twice a day.  Everything has to be measured out to the number of kibble and wet food.

Remember, the "big" girl is a mere 10 pounds and I don't want to shorten their lifespan because of obesity.  They also meet up with their "boyfriends". Otherwise known as Schnebley and Mort.  Thanks to my hard work, Lucky usually makes it through the 2-1/2 miles without the need of her stroller.  We still use it to hold water bottles and "poop" bags.

Of course the backyard is Steve's domain for clean-up.  A few times a week he goes out their with his Wal-mart purchased scooper and cleans up.

And then there's the attempt to comb the knots out of Pepper's coat.  He's fairly stiff lately and doesn't move with the grace he once did and keep himself looking sleek.  The girls just shed their extremely short little hairs everywhere.  Mostly on me, but other places as well.

Plus, anyone who is a pet parent will tell you:  dogs are always on the wrong side of the door.  And they love to wait until I'm seated and almost comfy or my hands are covered in protein gunk to make their adamant request to be let out.

We are truly, madly and deeply in love with our fur babies, but sleep isn't any better now than when we were parents to our two legged children.

Here's an example:

Two nights ago, oy vez!  Sunshine woke up needing to potty at 3, then Pepper was teasing/goading her to play so she kept jumping up and down off the bed and chasing him around the house.This included under the bed.  Trouble with that is that Sunshine's legs are mighty long and she doesn't really fit too well and hits the workings of the adjustable base.  A LOT.  When that ended w/ a sneezing fit from Pepper, she settled down.  Less than 15 minutes later-Lucky (who slept through the entire show) came out from the sheet and, for once, waddled over to Steve's side of the bed and puked on him and the sheets.



By the time we took care of that debacle, put up the laundry and laid down-the alarm went off!



Figures, no?