Jaci Dawn

I kicked back in the lawn chair tonight and Harvey laid his head on my foot. Had this weekend happened without Harvey, it would have been a lonely old evening: Donald packed his gear and headed for the woods for a three or four day fishing and camping trip. I can’t take that many days off right now and I needed to stay home to get our house ready for an onslaught of company next weekend.

And I needed to take care of Harvey.

We have done our very best to keep the two big dogs separated, but inevitably there have been exciting confrontations. No, not dog fights: these two dogs get along. It’s just they get along a bit too well and they are both young and large, and the temptation to rough house has been strong.

I guess I should not have been surprised that Harvey pulled a stitch somehow. It didn’t start bleeding until sometime in the wee hours of Friday night and I noticed it right away in the morning. But it meant an emergency trip to the vet clinic as soon as they opened.

Harvey had to be left at the clinic so they could reopen his wound and restitch it, so we are starting from square one with the healing process. Only this time around, we have three days without Murphy, so Harvey can be a calm dog and maybe heal a little better.

And I paid for the Cone of Shame which he must wear when I am not around to supervise him (like when I am sleeping or he is in his outdoor kennel & I am running errands). He doesn’t like the Cone of Shame.

But he doesn’t have to wear it when I am supervising: a sharp “NO!” discourages him from fussing at the site.

He has convalesced while I have worked my butt off to get the house in some semblance of order before family and friends descend on us for the Fourth of July weekend. We took a couple long walks. And we sat out in the yard, listening to birds, neighborhood sounds of summer, and enjoying the beautiful sunshiny day. I missed Don’s company and getting to talk about life and the day, but… There was Harvey.

Now we are going to log onto Netflix and download a good movie. I’m thinking either a chick flick or an animated movie that my husband would never go for if he was here.

Hope you are enjoying the evening, too.