Every year Tony takes a trip either for a Parker affair or to see friends/relatives. He is gone now to see his aunt in Baltimore and his friends in New York. That means Dixie and I are flying solo.
I have often written how much I miss Tony during these times. The house is quiet, I don't laugh and there is no food (well, good food, anyway, Tony made sure I had enough to eat....)
Well, this trip is much the same, but this morning I had to get up early to let Dixie out AND handle the garbage. I told Dixie at one point, "your father has a terrible schedule...getting up this early sucks." At which point, Dixie just barked and went to the studio door looking for Tony. I think she agreed.
I have talked to Tony a few times since he left. It sounds like his visit with his aunt went well except for traffic getting into the DC area. He took her for McDonalds pancakes this morning and I'm sure that was a treat for both of them. He took tons of pictures of all of our family and the house with him so his cousins and aunt are updated.
In Dixie news, she made her first "floor to couch" jump last night. I was messing with my phone and she had her paws on the couch cushion where I was sitting. The next thing I knew, there was a dog in my lap. She looked quite pleased with herself. After a while, I put her down (she was taking up more of the couch than I was....!!) but she wasn't happy with this arrangement. She backed up by the coffee table, took a running leap and landed on the couch again. After that, I found that she was able to jump up on my cedar chest in the bedroom. She got into a tube of cortisone I use for the psoriasis on my legs and put at least a dozen puppy bites into the plastic tube. When I squeezed it to see what was left, the cortisone came out of all of the little teeth holes. I watched her to see if she was sick, but she seemed to be OK.
Dixie is not taking Tony's absence as well as I. She spends a great deal of time at the studio door, scratching and barking (I'm only sleeping on his side of the bed and waking up every hour!) She goes to the laundry room and sits by the door to the garage and cries and she is constantly jumping up on the front door to see if Tony is coming home. She will try to jump up on his reclining chair and cries when she is not picked up. She is definitely a daddy's dog. She looks for him in our bedroom and will scratch his closet door and bark to see if he answers.
When he is home, she will go to our bedroom and sleep behind my night stand, since he has been gone, she has been sleeping on his side of the bed in front of his night stand. She really knows that he is gone. It's like she wants to be in a place where he will find her when he gets back.
My interview at the hospital was OK. I'm not getting overly confident since I have been down that road before and have been disappointed. I am going to pick up another volunteer day starting next week--Monday from 8:00 to 12:00, in addition to my regular Wednesday from 12:00 to 4:00. I am also on the Diabetes Awareness Committee and the Birth Card Redesign Committee, so I am staying busy at the hospital while I hold my breath to see if I will be hired.
It has been raining terribly this month, as it did in June. Last night, I thought Noah was going to show up in the arc to pick up Dixie and me. There was lightening and thunder and tons of rain. This morning was "arm pit" weather---sticky, stinky and damp. The road had its say as I was travelling to the hospital--the standing water and heavy down pour kept all of us at 40 miles an hour instead of our regular 65.
Not much else is new. Tony just called to tell me that he arrived in NY despite the weather, so I am glad of that. I will, of course, be happy to have him home, but it also pleases me that he is doing something to make himself happy. He doesn't do that often enough.
Here is Dixie's most common looks since Tony left:
"Daddy, come home....Mommy can't cook....."
"I think I heard Daddy's car....."
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