“Charlie’s coming!” I exclaimed to Maggie this morning and she jumped up on the couch to look out the window.
It was almost 9am so I felt Charlie would along any moment now. About as soon as I turned around in my computer chair in the den, I heard Maggie yelp.
“Yes!” I said loudly as Maggie barked jubilantly. Tracy also went with me to meet Charlie at the door.
Charlie was holding three biscuits and two large diet Cokes in a drink caddy.
“Is that Maggie?” Charlie incredulously asked. “She looks like a different dog! I didn’t recognize her at first.”
You can actually see Maggie’s face and eyes now without all that hair around them.
Maggie started to bark in earnest yesterday and then there was a very loud knock on the door. This sent Maggie into a greater state of alarm as she barked ever louder and more frenzied.
“It’s the Mormons,” Tracy said stepping into the computer room. “What should I do?”
“Answer it if you want an earful,” I replied.
Tracy was kind, answered the door, and listened to what they had to say. I could hear Tracy say “good luck” as the boys headed down the steps and to the house next door. She then shut the door.
“What did they tell you?” I asked.
“Oh, just some spiel about Jesus coming to the New World,” Tracy told me. “And how it is chronicled in the book of Mormon.”
“Let me tell you one more thing,” Tracy then said fanning her face and smiling devilishly. “Those boys were hot they were so good looking. One looked like a young Tom Cruise.”
I laughed and told her to not be running off with any Mormon boys on me.
Sweet Jeebus! Maggie’s home! Maggie looks like a different dog as well. I didn’t recognize her first when they brought her into the lobby after her grooming. She recognized me, though, immediately ran over to me and started whining. I picked the chunk up and put her in my lap. She was trying to give kisses as well.
They wanted me to bring her in twice a week to be bathed in a special shampoo. I told Dr. Thomas just to give me a bottle of the shampoo and I would bathe her myself. I will never get Maggie out to the Vet’s office twice a week for a few weeks. That would be playing with fire as far as Maggie is concerned.
Sometimes I feel like I am caught in groundhog day – each day repeating itself ad nauseum. The alarm clock once again shrilly rang out at 6:45am. Tracy climbed out of the bed with a moan at being woken so abruptly. I turned off the alarm and escaped to the screened porch to have my first cigarette of the day.
“Just think!” I said excitedly as Tracy dressed. “One more day at work and you have the weekend off.”
“Let’s pray I don’t have to work Saturday until lunch,” Tracy replied.
“It is so strange not having the Magster in the house,” Tracy then told me. “It is too quiet!”
“She’s going to be so mad at me for putting her through all that,” I replied with a weak chuckle.
Maggie should be home around 2pm. She’s getting the “works” including a grooming and teeth cleaning. It is going to take some time to do all they were going to do to her. I keep thinking of her having to sleep on those cold concrete kennel floors. I know she must’ve been uncomfortable last night.
The smell of breakfast is still lingering hours after I cooked this morning. I fried some sausage patties and baked some Mary B’s buttermilk biscuits. It made for some mighty fine sausage biscuits.
Maggie’s watching me on the floor as I type this. It’s a good thing she can’t read as she would shoot out that dog door and not come in until sundown and the coast was clear.
Dad called me this morning and said he would help me get Maggie out to the veterinarian this afternoon. Her tenaciously persistent yeast infection on her chest and neck is back. It worries me deeply. She smells almost like a bakery. She has been scratching constantly lately. It must itch something terrible.
“You’re going to have to drive while I hold her,” I told my father.
“She’s also going to pout with us for a week after doing this,” I added with much caution.
“Be sure to bring a clean towel,” dad replied. “In case she releases her bladder in the car and/or in the lobby.”
My biggest and most deep seated fear is that Maggie will escape us and we can’t catch her. She’s as wild as an Indian when she gets off her leash or her collar comes loose.
My neighbor walked across the street to talk to me yesterday afternoon. I warily looked over Tracy’s car wondering what this was about. They never have been the neighborly types so this shocked me.
“I’ve got five cars that need to be washed,” he said with a big goofy grin and very congenially.
“Five?” I asked incredulously with an exhausted look on my face. “I give out at two.”
He laughed some more and told me to have a good day not before I could tell him I want a ride in his Camaro.
“Let me get it cleaned up and we will go for a ride,” he replied.
I finally found out his name and it was Tony.
I was washing both Tracy’s and my car. It’s a good feeling to look out the den window and see the fruits of my labor and to see them so clean with the tires slicked and wet looking. I went the extra mile a put a coat of Nu Finish car polish on Tracy’s car. It gave it that mirror finish look.
I was pooped when all was said and done. I came inside and collapsed in my recliner for a good hour not wanting to move. My back was giving me fits from all that bending over. (I am getting so very old!)
Papa and Charlie showed up at 9pm with our Sunday evening meal. You had never seen a more happy dog than Maggie. She really put on a grand show last night. She had all the people she most loved in one room all at one time. All this commotion sent Wheezy scurrying for cover, though. Maggie also knows that Charlie and Papa bring chicken strips and she eagerly awaited her meal after they had gone. She was underfoot before I could put them on a paper plate and place them on the floor.
The alarm went off extremely glaringly this morning jolting both Tracy and I awake. I was having the most wonderful dream about Maggie and mom. Maggie would always greet my mother very differently than Charlie and dad. It would be this very, very high pitched squeal of joy. I wonder if Maggie ever worries what happened to her?
“Oh, I don’t want to go to work,” Tracy then whined pitifully. “I wish I could stay home with you all day.”
I put my head on her shoulder as I told her she was lucky to get a lunch break. It broke up the monotony of the day.
“We are getting lasagna to-go from Johnny’s New York Style Pizzeria for lunch,” I told her, hoping to bolster her spirits somewhat.
She said that sounded wonderful and told me thank you.
“Get some of that wonderful garlic bread they have as well,” Tracy urged me.
“I am also getting us a salad with blue cheese dressing.”
“I’ll see you in about four hours,” Tracy then told me and shut the front door behind her.
“Is Charlie coming in weather like this?” Tracy asked me worriedly as we lay in the bed early this morning.
A good storm was raging outside our bedroom windows. Lightning brightly flashed and the thunder rolled loudly.
“I need to get up and put on some clothes on as he will be here soon,” I replied. “Yes, is the answer to your question.”
I by chance looked out the window and there was Charlie getting out of his car as he opened an umbrella. I smiled a broad smile as Maggie went bonkers at his arrival. I had boldly just told Maggie that Charlie would be here soon. She was vigilantly looking out the den window. The sausage biscuit fairy had arrived.
How are Maggie and the cat getting along? Seems like Maggie played a late April fool's prank on you...
Minny, they have an uneasy truce at the moment. I can’t pet Wheezy with Maggie in the room or she gets torn up with jealously. It can be quite comical as Maggie positions herself between me and the cat which sends Wheezy running. Yes, it seems Maggie got my goat so to speak – a late April fool’s joke played on me.
“Where’s the Magster?” Tracy asked as she was getting ready for work this morning.
I was in the kitchen warming us up some sweet cinnamon rolls for breakfast.
“You haven’t seen her this morning?” I asked worriedly.
Tracy said no and went about getting dressed for work. I stood in the doorway and watched like a dirty old man.
“What?” Tracy asked smiling broadly as she pulled on her work scrubs.
“It’s just that you are so beautiful,” I replied. “I am lucky to have you.”
My girl with the curls and the curves.
The house was especially quiet this morning. Wheezy was asleep on the arm of the couch. Well, I panicked and looked everywhere and Maggie wasn’t in the house. My worst thoughts were a gate had gotten left open and Maggie had escaped the confines of the backyard which would prove disastrous. The road down from my house is one very busy thoroughfare. I donned a coat and headed out the back door. Maggie was under the laundry room eating a muddy and grimy chicken tender she had buried Sunday evening. I had never been so relieved in my life.
“Don’t scare me so, girl!” I told her scoldingly with a nervous laugh.
Soon, Maggie came romping through the house and used the rug in the den to clean her muddy face and paws. I sighed, but didn’t get on to her this time. I was just overjoyed she was okay. She was just having her breakfast.
Mom’s birthday was a few days ago. I drove to Waverly about 45 minutes away and put some flowers on her grave today. I still can’t believe she is gone. All this left me in a melancholy mood the past few days. I can’t seem to get motivated to do anything. I keep marveling at the fragility and finiteness of life. My turn to pass will come sooner or later as well.
Maggie got a good bill of health at the veterinarian with just a few nagging problems. Dr. Thomas drained the cyst on her leg which he said was benign and put her on some antibiotics for her eye infection. I also have to put drops in that eye which is no easy feat. I have to catch Maggie unawares as she sleeps on the couch lest she will run out the dog door at the first sign of doctoring. She is so sensitive about such matters.
Spring is fully underway here which brings joy to my melancholy soul. All the trees are leafing out and the azaleas are in full bloom. It got up to 76° degrees today which was really nice.
Maggie’s just not a very touchy feely dog unless when it comes to Tracy or Charlie. She will let them pet her as much as they want. I will try to pet her and she will move to the other end of the couch. Tracy and Maggie were sitting on the couch last night and Tracy was checking her out – giving her a good going over.
“Come feel of this,” Tracy said very alarmed.
I got up out of the recliner and walked over to sit on the couch next to Maggie.
“Maggie’s got some kind of big cyst or lump on her leg,” Tracy said.
I felt of it and it felt nasty – a big, hard lump on Maggie’s left front leg right at the joint. Maggie doesn’t seem to be in pain even when I squeezed the lump. I pray hope she’s not miserable and has no way to convey this to us.
“We need to get her to the vet as soon as possible,” Tracy told me.
I told Tracy I would get her out to see Dr. Thomas on Thursday. Dad is going to help me get her out there. This is all terribly traumatic for Maggie this going to the veterinarian. She has a incorrigible tendency to release her bladder as she sits in your lap on the drive out there. I always have to wrap her in a towel as dad drives.
“Jerry will probably tell us she is dying,” my father sarcastically said on the phone last night.
“Oh, don’t say that!” I replied worriedly.
I wasn’t in the mood for playful banter yesterday evening.
Maggie and I were anxiously waiting in the window for Tracy to get home this evening. Maggie yelped and got so excited at her arrival. It was almost contagious. I wanted to yelp, bark as well, and wag my tail.
“How was your day, Sweetheart?” I asked her when she sat down in the den and took her purse off her shoulder.
“I’ve had a helluva day,” she told me. “A couple brought their Labrador retriever in for grooming. I cut one toenail too close to the “quick” and the dog liked to have never quit bleeding. I felt terrible!”
“Shit happens!” was my best reply.
“Are you hungry?” I then asked her very inquisitively.
“I am absolutely famished and starving!” she replied.
“I am going to treat us tonight and get us some barbecue pork sandwiches from Roger’s Barbecue,” I told her.
I went and called in our order and left to drive across the Chattahoochee and pick up our sandwiches. The lady with the wonky glass eye was there to greet me. I try not to stare, but it’s hard.
Tracy and I were sitting in the den last night when a car pulled up. I was reading a book (Twilight Series) and Tracy was doing needlepoint while the television incessantly droned on. Maggie went absolutely nuts and bonkers so that meant it was either my father or Charlie or both. It was Charlie.
“Come on and ride with me to go get some gas,” Charlie said, feeling lonesome. “Then we will get us a drink off the dollar menu at McDonald’s.”
Charlie said hello to Tracy and turned his attentions to Maggie. Maggie was in ecstasy as Charlie rubbed and petted her.
“Let me get my coat,” I said, jumping at this chance to spend some time with my friend.
I grabbed my coat off the bed in the computer room and headed to the front door.
“We’ll only be gone about an hour,” Charlie told Tracy. “I won’t keep him away from you for long.”
“Y’all go have some fun!” Tracy replied, smiling.
Well, the traveling fair is in town and Charlie slowed way down to look at it and all the pretty lights as we passed on highway 29. A car behind us got to impatiently honking their horn because we were going so slow. Charlie shot them the bird and said, “Go around me assholes!”. Charlie’s driving is mediocre at best and can scare you. He swerved in his lane during all the commotion and I grabbed the “oh shit!” bar as if my life depended upon it.
We stopped and got some gas for the Caprica, not before looking at a few stations for the best price on regular unleaded. Charlie and I got on the subject of my ex-wife as we stood by the pump.
“She wasn’t just Mrs. Perfect either,” Charlie said which made me feel better. “Tracy and you are a much better match! Rachel was just too high strung and wanted to control you.”
Next was McDonald’s just across the street from the gas station. Charlie and I both got us a large dollar diet Coke. Boy, did that Coke taste delicious. We then headed towards home.
“What did you and Tracy eat for supper?” Charlie asked as he drove.
“We had shrimp and broccoli fettuccini,” I replied. “It was pretty good.”
“Well, I had peas and cornbread!” Charlie replied. “I don’t eat shrimp and I don’t think I have ever had a fettuccini.”
“You got the better meal,” I told him honestly. “I would die for some peas and cornbread!”
Janice, Charlie’s wife, cooks like Helen always cooked for us.
The weather got crazy for a few moments this afternoon. We had just torrential and blinding rain for about an hour and then the wind kicked up something fierce. A very large pecan tree limb fell on the corner of my house, but it didn’t damage my roof. I was very lucky. Tracy and I heard it fall with a very loud crack and boom. I will have to get dad’s chainsaw and cut it up tomorrow. A tornado passed just a few miles to our south through Tuskegee and Wedowee. I told Tracy we were getting in the basement if the weather got any worse. The alarm on my weather radio kept going off with tornado warnings. Luckily, it didn’t have to come to that. The rain ended and then the sun decided to peek through the clouds almost miraculously – the proverbial calm after the storm.
Spring has definitely sprung in the South and next comes very cold overnight temperatures. We are supposed to get down to 25 degrees the night after next. I fear all these budding and leafing trees are going to get their buds and tender leaves killed in the process. Weather radio is already warning about it and here my lawn was just starting to get green again. C’est la vie!
Maggie, the proximity alarm, alerted me to their presence. I opened the door and welcomed the dynamic duo inside. Papa and Charlie have just left after bringing pizza and Maggie’s chicken tenders. Christmas comes every Sunday night for Maggie. Charlie upped the ante and got Tracy and I the “extra most bestest” pepperoni pizzas with lots of extra cheese and pepperoni. Charlie has always known how to please a crowd. I was just thrilled they remembered to get Maggie her chicken tenders. I forgot to remind them.
Tracy and I have both been absolute slugs today. Isn’t that what Saturdays are for? I haven’t even had a shower and shave yet and it is after 7pm. Tracy had to go in to work to assist with a surgery for a short while this afternoon, but that’s about all we’ve done today.
Apparently, a young Boston Terrier had swallowed a bunch of smooth river rocks. They had to go into it’s stomach and remove them. I know it sounds strange, but it is true.
“What were they feeding that dog?” I asked incredulously when Tracy arrived back home.
“The owner was a sweet younger lady,” Tracy replied. “She didn’t look like the type that would abuse her dog. She was just worried sick. She said the dog got to retching and couldn’t quit.”
I asked how the surgery went and Tracy said it was straightforward. They removed the rocks and then sutured back up the stomach. Tracy also told me the surgery cost over $2000 as well.Yikes! I looked at Maggie and told her she better not be eating any rocks.
Old Fuss and Feathers cooked a delicious supper tonight. I just had to drive over and pick it up. We had his boneless porkchops and rice, green beans boiled in a beef bullion sauce, and pear salad. The green beans were especially tasty as was the pear salad.
Tracy and I were laying in the bed last night covered by our warm comforter in a chilly house. It was pitch black dark in our bedroom as I felt her warm arm wrap around me and hold me close to her equally warm bosom and chest. I had just been fretting about my father.
“I love you, Andrew,” she said in an airy and quiet voice. “You’re a good and kind man.”
Well, I just melted into a puddle of goo. I’ve been known to be a softie when it comes to romantic affairs.
“Well, you are one fine specimen of a woman,” I replied. “I love you with all my heart.”
I turned over to face her and we kissed passionately as I held her face in my hand. About that time, Maggie barked loudly (our alarm system) in the den and we both laughed as if Maggie knew what was going on.
“That’s my other girlfriend!” I told Tracy. “She’s just a little more demanding than you!”
We both laughed once more and kissed passionately again.
I astutely put on some pajama bottoms and socks before I went to bed last night. I never know what time Charlie will be here in the morning so I was prepared. I hate going to the door in my underwear even though Charlie laughs. Charlie showed up at 9:11am and Tracy and I were still sound asleep. Maggie went bonkers at the knock on the door. Charlie even caught Maggie off guard.
“Oh shit! Charlie is here!” I exclaimed jumping out of the bed and heading to the front door.
Charlie had three sausage biscuits and two large diet drinks.
“Good morning, precious. How are you two love birds doing?” Charlie slyly asked.
I laughed and said we are doing fine.
Tracy ambled into the den in her pajamas. I was putting Maggie’s biscuit on the floor.
“Blink and it will be gone,” I said with a smile.
I showed Tracy the proper way to eat a sausage biscuit in the South as I put a liberal dollop of yellow mustard on my biscuit.
“What time does Charlie and your father get here with supper?” Tracy asked me this evening.
“Between seven and nine,” I replied.
“I better get in the bathroom and put on some makeup and fix my hair,” she responded.
“You look fine, honey,” I told her fruitlessly.
I laughed thinking it was overkill, but it was important to Tracy.
Tracy is getting a box of that KFC Nashville hot chicken. I am getting a chicken sandwich and potato wedges, and Maggie is getting a box of chicken tenders.
“I can move boxes!” my father astutely exclaimed this morning as Charlie and I were about to head out.
Charlie had been down to McDonald’s and gotten all of us sausage biscuits and drinks. Dad jumped in the big U-Haul with us which I had to drive. We did, indeed, need all the help we could get.
We moved my furniture first. The couch, recliner, my bedroom suite, and the entertainment center. All of this went to Charlie’s spare house – the house behind my father’s. This used to be my grandmother’s house. Then we were on the road to Tracy’s apartment and boy, was she glad to see us.
“I thought y’all would never get here!” She said, all smiles.
Dad and Tracy got busy loading boxes into the truck as Charlie and I loaded up furniture. It didn’t take near as long as I thought it would. Soon, we were then headed back to the Valley with Tracy and Wheezy following behind us in her car. Inside my home went Tracy’s much, much nicer furniture.
“I guess I will be bringing three biscuits in the morning,” Charlie said with a chuckle.
Tracy and I profusely thanked Charlie for all the help.
“I owe you a big favor!” I told Charlie, giving him a hug.
The tell-tale point was when Tracy let Wheezy out of her cat carrier. We all held our breaths as she emerged cautiously. Maggie immediately chased her under a bed and barked for a good half hour. Maggie finally relented and left her alone still eyeing her suspiciously. Maggie’s not happy with the arrangement, but I do think she will grow to accept and welcome Wheezy over time. She couldn’t get a more laidback companion.
On a funny note, Tracy put down some cat food in a bowl on the floor and Maggie was like, “Thank You! I was needing a snack!”
“This is not going to work,” Tracy said, stymied.
She moved the bowl to a kitchen table chair and that did the trick. Wheezy jumped up and ate her food.
Tracy is just pleased as punch and is settling in – making my home her home. She is busily unloading boxes in the den as I write this. I am afraid my closet space is going to be zilch or none when all is said and done.
