Diary of a Petsitter Chappie
8/14/05 2:44AM
You know that special kind of dizziness you get when you are awakened in the middle of a deep sleep?
That's what I've got at the moment.
It actually started last night about the same time when the German Short Haired Pointer I petsit for treed a possum.
I didn't know that he had treed a possum, I thought , oh, that the neighbor with the goat farm, aka The Crazy Goat Lady, might have finally gone postal or somesuch.
I don't take well to being wakened. You see, deep uninterrupted sleep has always been hard for me since I reached adolescence. I'll have to check with Mom and Dad for before that.
So the first night, I couldn't imagine going out in the dark - I haven't the foggiest notion of where the owners keep their flashlight, and unlike another client, they don't have floodlights. So I went up on the upper balcony and watched the Perseids for a little bit. They were all but over, but hey, 4 shooting stars mean 4 wishes, and I take what I can get.
That's probably my life's motto or something: I take what I can get, whenever and wherever I can get it.
I've given up believing that shooting star wishes come true. I've been wishing the same wish for, oh, 40 years, and it hasn't come true.
So that night I put in the trusty ear plugs and went back to sleep till 7 at which time I discovered that in fact, he had treed a possum. He came out from under the tree eager for the morning walk up to the mailbox on a leash, so I thought no more of it.
Now I'm thinking more of it.
After walkies, he went and got the unfortunate creature that was gullible enough to come down while we were at the mail box, and carried it out to another clump of bushes/trees dotting my client's 20 acres. Again, I thought nothing of it. Oh, and during our morning walk? He pooped in the exact center of the yellow line, as though he meant to. It was beautiful. If my HP PhotoSmart 850 hadn't gacked exactly 3 minutes after its warranty went out, I'd've taken a picture.
-sigh, there's only enough milk for the morning's coffee. No comforting hot chocolate for me.-
Apparently the creature wasn't dead but stayed in its new tree for the next 19 hours because the barking woke me at 2 am. I rolled over and put in the ear plugs, but that didn't help I could hear his characteristic bark/whine through them. I got dressed and went out with the leash, crouching outside the shrubbery for 20 minutes alternately whistling, cajoling, and commanding him to come out.
Nothing doing.
I'm utterly fascinated by hard-wired behaviors- that it's in his genetic
code to tree a possum and wait all night for it to come down. Like aggression in pit bulls, or the need to raise the alarm in pugs and other small breeds.
I gave up and came home and took a shower. Did I mention that my client has this strange idea that it's in some way better to not leave the water heater on all the time, especially in summer?
He'll be locked in the garage at night for the remainder of the week. The owners can deal with it anyway they wish.
You know that special kind of dizziness you get when you are awakened in the middle of a deep sleep?
That's what I've got at the moment.
It actually started last night about the same time when the German Short Haired Pointer I petsit for treed a possum.
I didn't know that he had treed a possum, I thought , oh, that the neighbor with the goat farm, aka The Crazy Goat Lady, might have finally gone postal or somesuch.
I don't take well to being wakened. You see, deep uninterrupted sleep has always been hard for me since I reached adolescence. I'll have to check with Mom and Dad for before that.
So the first night, I couldn't imagine going out in the dark - I haven't the foggiest notion of where the owners keep their flashlight, and unlike another client, they don't have floodlights. So I went up on the upper balcony and watched the Perseids for a little bit. They were all but over, but hey, 4 shooting stars mean 4 wishes, and I take what I can get.
That's probably my life's motto or something: I take what I can get, whenever and wherever I can get it.
I've given up believing that shooting star wishes come true. I've been wishing the same wish for, oh, 40 years, and it hasn't come true.
So that night I put in the trusty ear plugs and went back to sleep till 7 at which time I discovered that in fact, he had treed a possum. He came out from under the tree eager for the morning walk up to the mailbox on a leash, so I thought no more of it.
Now I'm thinking more of it.
After walkies, he went and got the unfortunate creature that was gullible enough to come down while we were at the mail box, and carried it out to another clump of bushes/trees dotting my client's 20 acres. Again, I thought nothing of it. Oh, and during our morning walk? He pooped in the exact center of the yellow line, as though he meant to. It was beautiful. If my HP PhotoSmart 850 hadn't gacked exactly 3 minutes after its warranty went out, I'd've taken a picture.
-sigh, there's only enough milk for the morning's coffee. No comforting hot chocolate for me.-
Apparently the creature wasn't dead but stayed in its new tree for the next 19 hours because the barking woke me at 2 am. I rolled over and put in the ear plugs, but that didn't help I could hear his characteristic bark/whine through them. I got dressed and went out with the leash, crouching outside the shrubbery for 20 minutes alternately whistling, cajoling, and commanding him to come out.
Nothing doing.
I'm utterly fascinated by hard-wired behaviors- that it's in his genetic
code to tree a possum and wait all night for it to come down. Like aggression in pit bulls, or the need to raise the alarm in pugs and other small breeds.
I gave up and came home and took a shower. Did I mention that my client has this strange idea that it's in some way better to not leave the water heater on all the time, especially in summer?
He'll be locked in the garage at night for the remainder of the week. The owners can deal with it anyway they wish.