Saturday evening already!

As I mentioned earlier, this past Thursday evening I put a shirt on Joey to see if he would leave it alone, and had a heck of time getting him to let me put his legs through the sleeves.  But once it was on, he seemed perfectly okay with it.  So I left it on him all night until time to leave for therapy Friday.  Then last night, I dug out a stretchy green t-shirt that I originally bought for Pete to wear to the Mardi Gras dog parade ("Mardi Paws") clear back in 2002!  

Mark and Pete at the Mardi Paws parade in 2002.

The shirt is too big on Joey, of course, but no doubt it's also a lot more comfy than that "dress shirt" he had on the night before last.  He definitely seems to like this one a lot better.  I slipped it over his head and he picked up his foot and stuck it through the sleeve without me even having to lift it, let alone struggle with him over it!  It amazed me after having to battle with him for a good five minutes to get that other shirt on him! 

Once it was on, he sat down and looked at me for a minute, then casually strolled over and laid down in one of the beds.  Then I let Rocky back in from outside and he ran over and checked it out.

But after just a minute he laid down near Joey, just as he usually does.  I went over and pulled Joey's  blanket up over his rear since the shirt didn't come down that far and he seemed quite happy with that.  He stretched out then and went to sleep.

Glad I ordered him those "jackets."  He  seems much happier wearing something warm.

Okay.  That was last night.  Then this morning they got me up at the standard 6 AM instead of letting me sleep in as planned.  Good grief!  I thought I'd get up and let everyone out and then get everyone fed, then go back to bed, but that never happened.  By the time I got all that done I was wide awake.  Still didn't accomplish much today, though.

I did go out and trim the oak trees in the back dog  yard -- again.  Seems like I do that about every other month!  But the branches keep getting lower and lower and I want to be able to see out into the pasture to see the horses, so as they get lower, I cut them off.  Again.  And again.  And again.  (Plus Mark wants to be able to ride the lawnmower past those trees without getting his head knocked off.)

There's a third oak just on the other side of the fence in the back pasture.  At least it's supposed to be a live oak just like the other two. But it seems to grow straighter and narrower than the ones in the dog yard for some reason.  And I never have to trim off lower branches -- not sure if that 's because it's actually a different type of tree -- or if the horses keep it trimmed!  One thing I did find out today.  Duke is apparently NOT the only one who enjoys eating acorns.  That's what Bug is doing there in the picture below.  Sigh.

The whole time I was out in back trimming the trees and spreading ant poison -- probably a good hour -- there was a big white "ball" back in the back corner of the pasture.  So once I finished, I walked out there to see what it was.  (I was afraid one of the feral cats might have passed away for some reason.)  

 Turns out it WAS one of the white cats.  But once I got about 10 feet away, it jumped up and moved off into the woods.  Guess it was just sound asleep back there for a good long time!  Sorry I woke her up.

Walking back up toward the house, I took this picture of the barn from the back.  See that railing on the right in the picture below -- Mark took down that piece of plywood that used to be across that side of the porch and put up that railing, as well as the siding there behind the railing the last time he was home.  Nice.  Now Duke can come up to that railing and visit with anyone who comes over to the barn.   

And of course, as soon as he saw me walking up from the back, he came over to meet me.   You know, if I didn't know him well he might actually be scary.  He comes over to anyone he sees -- and if he sees you in his pasture, he RUNS toward you.  Of course he always stops and would never actually "run over" anyone.  But anyone who doesn't know him wouldn't necessarily understand that!  

Here he comes.  What a sweetheart.

Well anyway . . . the day is over and it's time for bed.  Tomorrow I need to groom all the horses, then continue to work on the office.  I DID manage to find my desk yesterday -- and fill up a giant trash can.  Tomorrow I plan to try and clear off the 7-foot table on the other side of the room.  THEN -- once that's done -- I want to try and rearrange all the furniture up here (which means disconnecting a couple dozen cords and then trying to remember what gets plugged in where - moving furniture in the office is never a simple matter).  But once everything is moved and started up again, THEN I need to get in touch with the computer guy and have him come out and get the wireless network working so we can  work on our laptops somewhere OTHER than in the office for a change.  We've tried to set that thing up for several YEARS but we've never been able to get it to work.  Can't WAIT for someone to fix that so it will be possible to use my laptop in front of the fireplace or even out in the barn!  

But first things first.  And first I need to spend a while tomorrow (HOURS, actually) clearing out outdated papers all over the office.  

YUK!