It is that time

Shows this weekend. Nerves a bit frazzled. "Stuff" to do. Plenty of it.

And there it is. The middle of the night. I am tossing and turning knowing that Ana is whelping; only 38 miles from here, but an hour and a half drive to get there. I reach up to touch my favorite pillow buddy. Rub his wonderful scruff and his oh so soft ears. Then the routine nose stroke brings me off the pillow with a rush of emotions.

Of course. Shows this weekend. No sore feet. No tree sap stuck deep in his coat. His wonderful freckled nose is swollen so big that I can't help but wonder how he can breathe. There is no discharge, so I doubt that he inhaled a seed of some kind, and do a thorough search looking for stingers or a bite mark. He has been very interested in the Bumble Bees that work in the Rhodie blooms as of late. By now, with adrenaline flowing, I must hop to the bathroom and then to the computer. You see Nugget is also "making donations" and I need to verify that an antihistamine is safe for that sort of thing...which it is, so he was given one at 2:00 in the morning. Of course my search of his nose has him itching anyway, so I am delighted that he will soon be feeling some relief and go back to sleep. Me? Not so much. A million things run through my head. Will we make it into the ring? Will he be a dad again? Will I survive doggy adolescence? How is Ana Banana doing? How is Kim's back? I think I will double check shipping procedures and fine tune them...

From there, of course it naturally migrates to Miss Kate and the "sushi nugglets." I give up. I am up. But I am not sure I was ever down.

So I have three sleeping dogs surrounding me now. Media is pulled from the freezer. Labels are printed and the scope is still in place on the table. Lists are scattered about my desk, as my sleepless mind cannot be counted on to remember much today. Gee, my mind is a blank slate many days, sleepless or not. Troubling? No, no time to think about it, but I will put it on one of the lists to consider at a later time.

Oh yeah. Retirement. A time of peaceful bliss that allows one to occasionally stop and smell the flowers...and deal with the aftermath of disturbing workers in the aforementioned flowers.

Welcome to my world. And welcome to the world Ana/Dash babies.