Cloud Time

I was looking at a large white cloud the other day hanging suspended on a canvas of blue. It was a rare sight since we’ve had some funky weather of late, but as I was looking at the cloud, I realized that time sort of stopped. Sure, the cloud was moving, albeit ever so slowly and the clock was ticking, but standing there watching the cloud, it was if time didn’t exist. Frozen in a happy sort of way. Of course, then I realized that time hasn’t stopped at all — it’s FLYING! Here it is almost the end of October and the last time I posted a blog was back in August.

I guess I’ve been staring at the cloud in the blue sky for a long time.

In many ways I feel guilty about not writing, but Gretchen told me not to stress too much about it. Our lives have been busy. We’ve taken on a few more dog walking clients, added some pet sitters, Gretchen’s been working more at the pool, Momma Ann’s been busy with gardening work, tutoring, substitute teaching, and both of them have been studying for their respective tests — Gretchen’s in animal acupressure and Ann’s in horticulture.

I’m happy to report they both passed their (grueling) tests and while Gretchen has one more to take (her National Boards) the hard hard work is pretty much behind them. Now it’s time to establish themselves as an animal acupressurist and a professional horticulturist.

But in between the dog walking, the pet sitting, the studying and all the other responsibilities we all have around this house, there hasn’t been a moment to write. Every time I sit down to hammer out a blog, I’m interrupted by a duty I must perform — be a study dog for Gretchen (which I don’t mind in the least), go on another walk with my pals/clients, share my bed(s) with a boarder, or wait patiently for someone to come home from their busy schedules so I can have computer time (I’m not allowed to be on the computer unsupervised).

Of course now, after cloud watching (or so it’s felt that way), there’s so much to talk about in this blog that I haven’t a clue where to begin. Trust me, the lure of staring at the cloud for a few more weeks is hard to resist, but I know I must carve out the time and reestablish my blogging habit or I will never be able to do it again. But Cloud Time (as I’ve come to refer to it) is mesmerizing and even though my head knows that time is ticking away, my soul would rather just watch the clouds and not worry about time or deadlines or responsibilities.

But enough of that…I’ll just start where I start.

New dog walking clients:

Maizy and Zizou! Man oh man, what a pair of goofballs! They are siblings who we walk every morning. The adore me, but mostly they just tumble all over each other making our walks rather comical.

Then there’s Joey. He’s still a puppy so you can imagine what kind of handful he is, but he’s very respectful and I appreciate that! It’s taken us a bit to figure out how to play, but in the meantime he’s played with all the dogs we bring over for a visit. His favorite new friend is Theo and as you can see, they spin circles around me.

And most recently, Mabel. A beauty of a girl, Mabel hasn’t figured out that she’s 100 pounds of energy. When I first met her, I barked loudly. But once I’ve gotten to know her, I realized she was just a wiggly puppy in a gorilla suit. I think we’re going to have fun getting to know each other.

Sort of new dog walking clients:

Awhile back we took on two other clients. The first is Sonny. He’s an older guy with some back issues so our walks are what we call Walkabouts since Sonny doesn’t walk too quickly.

 

 

 

 

Dora is an occasional client and she is a rescue who is learning to be around other dogs. She likes me but is a bit more nervous with other dogs we bring by for a walk. Still, she’s doing really well! I’m very proud of her.

Pet Sitting Dogs

We do a lot of pet sitting these days. In fact, we’re almost completely booked through March! Yikes! Here are some of the boarders since August.

Albert: He’s a doodle like me and over the summer he stayed with us and we taught him how to swim.

 

When he stayed with us in the fall, we took him to my grandparents’ house and he loved that almost as much as swimming. We went walking on my favorite trails and visited the fairgrounds. Albert is now a good pal.

Scout: I also took my girlfriend, Scout swimming when she stayed with us this summer. Or, I should say, she took me swimming. Love her!

Tip and Marcus: These are the dogs who live next door and Gretchen took care of them on one of the wettest weekends of the year. They are beautiful Scottish Deerhounds who weren’t very fond of the rain, but they were very fond of Gretchen who took them on long albeit wet walks.

Maizy and Zizou: They stayed with us too and LOVED our big backyard. Of course, they pretty much love everything!

Henri and Bella: We see these guys at least once a month so we’ve had lots of opportunities to pal around while they’ve stayed with us. They look a lot alike, but let me tell you they are as different as night and day.

 

Rosie and Tyson: Gretchen usually stays at their house when it’s time for pet sitting. They do much better in their own home but sometimes I get to stay their too.

Dog Walking

And then there’s been all the rest of them — our dog walking clients.

Monty: Best friend a Doodle could ever have.

Rosie and Tyson: One serious, one beyond goofy.

Chief: Steady as he goes, it’s always nice to meander the parks with this big fella.

 

 

Kali and Carter: She’s nervous. He’s not. She likes to walk close by me. He wants to chase bicycles. Always a good time with these two!

Henri and Bella: She’s busy and he tries to keep up! (With Duke…who came to visit while H and B were staying with us!)

Theo: Who is by far the biggest character in the bunch!

And all the rest of them (see above) — Mabel, Maizy, Zizou, Joey, Sonny, and Dora.

Vacation? And we even went on vacation sort of. Gretchen had to take the final courses for her acupressure certification in Hood River, Oregon so we headed south, camped, hiked, and studied. I even got to be the “demo dog” and if I do say so myself, I was pretty good at it. And Gretchen got to work with some interesting dogs, like Winter the blind pit bull (Thanks Tim for the photos!)

 

I even fell in love — with my study buddy, Amy! She lives in California so I really miss her, but luckily we talk about every week and that’s good because I adore her!

Yes, we’ve been busy and perhaps that should be my excuse for not keeping up with the blog, but really it’s that I’ve just been watching the cloud in the sky and I had no realization that time was passing me by faster than expected.

Please forgive me.

Rubin