nanke's stuff

Friday morning we are leaving for Nashville to visit our son Ben, our dil Sarah, and Clyde, our wonderful grandson who is 1. Clyde is our only grandchild, and of course, we think he's just the best! We think that because He Is the best!!! We drive (about 9.5 hours), stay for the weekend, and then drive back on Monday. It's an easy and pretty drive, and pit stops and gas are the only reasons we stop. We take food (always the same - sliced apples, peanut butter, sliced cheddar cheese, crackers, chocolate, cookies and water) and eat while we drive. We usually listen to an audio book (this trip will be "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle", by David Wroblewski). I'm very excited about going, as you can imagine, but there is just one wee thing that gives me a slight pang. Her name is Abby.

Abby is our old Springer Spaniel. We don't know how old she is since she is a rescue dog, but the vet thinks she's probably around 13. She's very active, curious, and busy when she's outside. Inside the house all she really wants to do is be adored - she wants to sit on your lap (she doesn't know she isn't really lap dog sized), be petted, and be fed dog cookies at every opportunity. We don't take her with us to Nashville for several reasons, so that means we put her in a kennel while we're gone. The one she goes to (Brady Kennel in Fowlerville, Michigan) is wonderful. The people are really nice, the facility is very nice, and they clearly love dogs. We tell Abby she's going to camp and that we'll miss her, but I don't think she really buys the story. Her things are all packed in the trunk of the car, and I'll take her tomorrow morning. She'll probably throw up in the car. We finally got her accustomed to the car and she stopped doing that for years, but for some reason she started doing it again about 2 months ago. ..... that's probably a part of the story you didn't need to hear, right? So, I'll drop her off, then I'll go on about my business, and when I come back home the house will feel entirely different. It won't even look the same to me - it's so strange how that works! Fortunately my son has a really cute little dog (Monkey) that I keep threatening to kidnap - I love that girl, that's for sure! Here's a drawing of Abby sleeping in my studio without a wee clue that she's about to be taken to camp .... poor baby!