Closing in on the Big Day

Just two days and a couple of hours until baby and me get to meet in person.  I'm so nervous, I can hardly sleep at night.  Naturally I'm coming down with a cold - can you spell massive doses of vitamin C and eating lots of protein.  Also in the last twenty-four hours have cracked my shin on a metal grate (dang that hurts) and have slammed a door shut on my thumb (the nail is turning a lovely shade of bluish-purplish-black).  Right now I'm trying to concentrate on taking my time and focusing on the task at hand (or shin, as the case may be).

Things are coming along.  I'm at that place in my 'puppy preparation to do' list where I'm down to just a million and twelve little tasks.  For me larger projects are easier to do and the little ones just annoy me, so I avoid them.  I don't know if that is part of the Adult ADD thing or what.  But clearly am down to the wire, so I'll have to bite the bullet and get them done anyway.

Meanwhile a tale about living with old dogs.  Recently Michael has been very snarky with sister Meaggi and mostly in situations where I thought it was inappropriate for him to behave that way.  Its been escalating as I've been trying to sort it out.  Then, quite by accident I discovered the cause - Meaggi's eyesight is becoming a problem for her in dim lighting. 

Since her hearing is less than normal, she can't really detect when he's giving verbal warning of impending snark and has to rely on being able to see him and read his face.  And he's just a real pain about not liking her to even bump him.  Think of a pair of 5 and 6 year olds in the back seat of the car, screaming, "Mom Timmy is looking at me", "But, she looked at me first," and you'll get the drift. 

I started by placing a divider in the under-the-computer-desk space, so they each have their own share of the space (which, c'mon, is really big enough for four dogs).  But Meaggi was very uncertain about going in there with that "thing" in there.  So I bought her a tap light and placed it within reach of my foot.  When I sit down to the computer, I tap the light on and when they settle in, I tap it off.  One problem solved.  Meanwhile I'm making a conscious effort to turn lights on and off in a sequence that doesn't leave her trying to move about and potentially bumping into you-know-who. 

Once again I'm learning the lesson of watching the old kids and making accommodations for their senior citizen problems as they crop up.  Usually it comes on so gradually, then one day you think, "Oh dear, how did I not notice before..."