About three weeks ago my 10 month old Zorro started stealing my white sneaker socks out of my laundry basket so he could play with them. Well, this would be OK, but he then takes them to the kitchen and dunks them, one by one, in his water bowl. I’ve observed him submerging each sock with his paw until it is completely soaked. Most of the wet socks, then, end up in my bed! Such a nice surprise each morning to roll over onto wet socks!

I thought I’d be clever one night and place all the socks on the bottom of the basket and pack the other dirty clothes on top. Surely this would keep him from pulling out the socks, right? WRONG! He moved the other clothes during the night and pulled out the socks, soaked them and deposited seven of them in my bed.

So, most of my white sneaker socks were hanging on the shower curtain rod to dry.  The little stinker figured out a way to get at them by hopping up onto the window ledge and then reaching up and knocking the socks down. He deserves credit for persistence! I chased after him and got my socks back (again).

I’ve now relocated the laundry basket inside a closet that has a latching door.

Zorro is now on to bigger and better adventures: dumping out the bathroom trash can. UGGGH!

I mentioned in my post on July 5th that my friend Keith had lost one of his beloved four dogs. Well, as it turns out, the unthinkable happened.

In an apparent reaction to witnessing the home burial of the first dog, the smallest dog, ChaCha, became critically ill, had to be hospitalized and eventually had to be put down two days later. They were both 14 and they lived long, happy lives, but the timing was a lot to bear.

I babysat for these four dogs quite a number of times when Keith was out on the road for the ministry or on vacation, staying at his house round the clock for a week or more at a time to let them out every couple of hours and to allow the continuance of their own routine (or as close as I possibly could get).

For ChiChi, I was upset and I cried a few tears but somehow I was able to accept the fact that she had been ill for quite a while and it was truly her time to go. The loss of ChaCha crushed my heart, and I cried buckets of tears.

ChiChi and ChaCha both reached age 14, and I can tell you that they were well cared for, pampered and loved.

Zorro turned 9 months old this week and is almost the same size as Kelli who’s almost 10 yo. I think Kelli still outweighs him by about two pounds. She’s still my “fat-bottomed girl!” (Remember that song?) They have both settled into their new home and love the hard tile floors without carpet. It makes playing Tag and sliding much easier as they run from room to room to room. Also, with one whack their plastic jingly balls fly across the floor and into the next room. They miss their huge scratching post that we left in storage in Houston. (Or is it me who misses it?) My little heathens scratch anything they feel like until I chase them off of it. We “play” this game several times per hour.

I just got word from my friend, Keith, that he buried one of his dogs, ChiChi, today. I’m extremely saddened by this. I’ve stayed at his house several different weeks caring for his four dogs while Keith was out on the road with the ministry and/or gone on vacation. Needless to say, I grew very close to his dogs and will miss ChiChi very much.

I took Kelli on a road trip to Corinth a few weeks ago when I had to go up to Walgreens for prescription refills. I thought she was going to burn out her purr motor. On the way up she looked out the window and stood up on the dash to make sure she didn’t miss anything. She still doesn’t like it when I step on the brakes or take a hard right turn. She seems to have softened a bit over the years regarding semi trucks. On the way back, she curled up on the seat but sniffed the air as we passed by each farm or small neighborhood. When we got back to town I called my friend, Jimmy, and we decided to meet at the Huddle House for a late night dinner. Kelli slept in the car with the windows cracked just a bit. Thank goodness for cool evenings back then. Now, it’s way too hot for her to stay in the car more than 5 minutes, so she’ll probably have to wait several months before another trip.

Zorro experienced his first fireworks last night, and he was not amused! Kelli was basically unimpressed and curled up on the end of my bed. Zorro eventually curled up with her with his head on her backside and his paws hugging her. She seemed to understand his fears and allowed it. I kept waiting for the screamed “Get off of me!” but it never came. They both fell asleep.