Gerbil Neglect

There's something about waking up, stretching out and knowing that I have absolutley nothing to do during the day I just found myself in that makes me grin as if I was eight and it was the first day of summer vacation. Well, nothing minus the usual routine when house-sitting. I.e. walk the dog and feed the cat. But these tasks are minimal in the grand scheme of things and could even be looked on in this instance as a treat!

Walking the dog is never a particularly bad experience, but today it had whole new meaning. I dragged myself from under the comforter of the basement guest bed, walked upstairs wincing at the humidity, coaxed the dog from his basement lair (I couldn't blame him for wanting to stay down there in the dark and cool) and with a heavy (but not quite emo) sigh, I opened the door to face the glaring heat.

In an instant the summer morning sun had shot past me into the mudroom and made the dog shine. The grass was shimmering with the mist it had gathered overnight and the leaves were dancing with light. The flowers too had been sprinkled with water the night before, and now bravely cupped what was left with their purple and yellow petals. Everything was lush, green and glowing. It's a shame I didn't remember my camera until the dew was gone.

I took a leisurely walk, or as leisurely as you can get with a bouncy berner at your heels one minute and tripping himself in front of you the next, up to the chicken house and down the road a little ways. Finally the sun was a bit too much so early in the day and the dog looked hungry. 'Hungry... Hmm... I'm kind of hungry too, and there's something about that...' I pondered a moment. 'Oh well. Time to feed the pooch.' And down I went to the house.

Now, neither of the animals that live in the house have simple eating habits. Everything has to be done a special way. This morning I had forgotten Owen's special way, so I called Mom for a refresher.

Ok, full scoop of kibble and some water mixed in. Got it. We talked for a minute about her mini-break, and about the weather, and about how nice it is in our basement (which stays nice and cool even with no AC in the house) and how nice it is to sleep down there. Just talking about it made me sleepy. "I think I'm actually gonna go back to bed when I'm done on the phone with you." I said, blinking hard and rubbing my eyes. It had been a long movie night with much ice cream, soda and candy. Sleeping hadn't been a big part of it. "But I thought you were going to meet Gerbil this morning for breakfast?"

>_<

DOH!

I bet the ice cream was laced with some intense forgetting drug. Today was the first time I not only slept late, but completely forgot I was meeting my favorite boy. I got off the phone with her and gave my Gerbil a call. He was OK with the whole thing (thank goodness for easygoing young men). He was in G-town already and waiting. I was still pretty much fresh from the covers and not in any fit state to be seen, so I told him to come up to the house for breakfast since by the time I got ready and got down there he'd need to be at work anyway. Once off the phone ran to get spruced up at breakneck speed.

We had a really nice breakfast even in spite of my tidying up before, during and after the meal. I made some pretty descent eggs for once (which I make all the time, but an audience always spells disaster for some reason) and some coffee. I get a serious bit of satisfaction sending Gerbil off to work with a full stomach. Something about the mental picture I get of a fat fluffy rodent makes me snicker. And maybe offering him dinner tonight with my parents will make up for the forgetfulness of the morning.

Otherwise today has been relaxed in the extreme. I spent the rest of the morning watching Planet Earth which is narrated by David Attenborough and snuggling with my very content cat. (Honestly I was sucking up to him from earlier in the day when he happened to place his paw square in the middle of one of my eggs and was banned from the table for the rest of the meal. He is a very sensitive beast and needs uber amounts of affection to make up for any affront. And you'd be amazed at just what counts as an affront.) Next on my agenda is watching some of these Alfred Hitchcock movies I got last night. It's a pack of 20 movies for six dollars. How could I resist?

Later!