Month: January 2017

Originally, this blog wasn’t supposed to be just about the Big Important Things that happened to Da Buddies and us.  It was supposed to be about the everyday interactions that made our lives together meaningful and our love for each other strong.  Or, more often, it was supposed to be about the stuff so silly or weird that we couldn’t possibly make this stuff up.

 The thing is, this is not Cooper’s default setting.  More often than not, Cooper sleeps in the living room on one of his toys, or on a piece of furniture in the living room, or, if he’s really feeling close to us, the top of the dresser in our bedroom.  It makes me sad sometimes that he’s not really “into” cuddling, but I also understand that he’s doing what he wants to do–playing, having fun, being close to us, but not necessarily glued right to us all the time.  He’s being Cooper.

So it was a gratifying suprise last night when I woke up to find him in the position above again.  He was sleeping on my head and had one paw slung casually across my throat.  He was purring softly, so I must have woken him up when I woke up.  I skritched him on the head, smiled, and went back to sleep.  I woke up a few more times and he was still there–he had shifted around a few times but was still on my pillow, still purring, still cuddling.

Meanwhile, Reggie decided to get into the action.  He carefully arranged himself on my right side, put his head on my chest and also slung an arm over protectively.  I couldn’t believe my good fortune.  It was a most decidedly cuddly love nest.  

As with all good things, it had to come to an end when I had to get up for a minute.  I went to look for Zelda, who was asleep in the chair outside our bedroom door.  I pressed my luck by picking up her sleepy little body and bringing her in to sleep with us, too.  She’d had a rough day because we’d had overnight guests in the house and she’d spent the whole day hiding in the closet.  I wanted her to feel like she was part of our snuggle-pile.  Unfortunately, as soon as I brought her to the bed, Cooper decided he’d had enough and marched off the bed via the headboard.  

It was still a double cuddle for the record books.  Somehow it’s even sweeter because it’s not something that happens every day.  I guess sometimes even Cooper needs to cuddle up to his Big Buddy Girl.  At least I still have Reggie for the day-to-day cuddle fixes.  Here’s hoping we get to keep him (and them all) for a really long time.

Oops.  You know how sometimes you’re in crisis mode, and then suddenly the crisis passes and then you forget that you ever were in crisis mode and then you forget that you left your blog-followers hanging by not telling them the end of the story?  No?  

Maybe it’s just me.

Okay, sorry about that.  So yes, our crisis was averted.  We got home and nary a tree had fallen on our house.  There was a big tree in our driveway which missed our garage by thismuch but everything else was fine.  Not even any water in the house.  Okay, there were a few dribbles of water that had come in through the bedroom window, but I will definitely, decidedly take it.  

Some of our friends weren’t so lucky.  It looked like a tornado had gone through.  The primary reason for that was that…a tornado had gone through.  Actually, multiple tornadoes had gone through.  I’m pretty sure that one of said tornadoes went through the empty lot next to our house, uprooting the tree that very nearly smashed our garage and all its contents (but mercifully, didn’t).  Suffice it to say that there were several folks who were unable to return to their homes due to damage, and others who were living with the damage with the ubiquitous blue tarps on top of their roofs until they could get them repaired.  We were very, very lucky.

Our good friends, the Esches, were nice enough to put us up for several days so that we could have a little break from the Days Inn.  We were thrilled to get to spend some time with them, and the cats got to experience their dogs (and of course, the other way around).  We tried to keep them separated as much as possible, to avoid any unnecessary stress, and for the most part, we succeeded.  We very much appreciated their hospitality in our time of need.  We are truly fortunate to have such great friends.  

After that, everything else is a blur.  

I may not have mentioned earlier that we made the life-changing decision last year (i.e. 2016) to open our own Wild Birds Unlimited store.  As a result of that, things got pretty intense both before and after the storm.  Since we got home, I went to training in Lexington Park, Maryland with the fabulous Barb and Chip Whipkey, we got our blueprints approved for our buildout (after only seven-and-a-half weeks) and we survived the election and the holidays.  It’s been a busy last few months.  

The buddies have been getting along just fine.  Reggie has been on prednisone for his newly diagnosed asthma (yes, him too).  Zelda had to have a dental and some extractions, and came out of it swimmingly, and Cooper is just having fun, as per usual.  I’m sure that the days of forced vacation in the Days Inn have become a distant memory to them, and probably not one they necessarily want to relive.  At least now we know we can survive it if we need do, which is always a valuable thing to learn.