busy business and raining cats and dogs....

Somewhere along the way, as I was telling Maggie and Katie yesterday over the frosty brews, I went from being an artist with a house full of dogs and cats who never went anywhere and was, you know, a little, how do I describe myself?  WEIRD.

THINGS have changed, as I was telling the wife, jam packed interesting days.  We no longer have a house full of dogs and cats, just one of each, and there are days like yesterday when I end up SQUEEzing the art into the little corners.  Because my sideline gig as a pet sitter?  HAS EXPLODED.
I think it is hysterical!
OK, so yesterday?  I knew I had Scoop the cat (see pics below, more on her later)...but at the last second Yogi the fluffy dog needs me AND Nook the other fluffy dog needs me...plus my own dog and cat.  It went like this, I SWEAR TO GOD:

5am-breakfast!  maple walnut scones, GAWdamn that is good.
then blog, DUH!  First thing after breakfast every day... nearly 7 years of blogging first thing every day, TOP THAT!
6 something-walk Penny the beagle 1 1/4 mile
6 something again:  message: Yogi my neighbor's dog will need me to walk him 3 times, can I do it. "SURE! Of course!"
7 something-SUDDEN surprise message!  I need to see Nook downtown at noon...oh sh!t, how do I work that in?  Well, I DO.
--run a couple miles myself
8-breakfast number 2, a peanut butter sandwich, I am flippin' HUNGRY
8:30 a load of laundry
9:00--dishes, feed Spike who will murder me if I put off his breakfast any more, clean his cat box, make hummus and cucumber salad for our lunch and dinner
9:00 something- 10--luckily, there are only 6 things on the throwing list for the moment...so, some experimental mugs and more elephant gear
10--walk Yogi
10 something-take my own dog out
11--Yogi again!
-11 something--a quick lunch, I am starving....
11:50-in the car, driving to see Nook, 13 minutes away
12:03--celebrating with NOOK!  He always dances and sings when I arrive! Then we walk to the bank...I have to multi-task and combine jobs and errands, right?  So, Nook comes with me into the bank where he gets a treat and a hug from the manager...Nook is well known at the bank....
1:10--tearful goodbyes to Nook, in the car dashing home to
1:23-YOGI!  Whose family needs him ready by 1:45....we walk in the sunshine and I pass him off to his family then....
1:50 feed Spike and Penny, my own pets! And walk Penny a mile...holy CRAP I am suddenly tired...eat an apple and a yogurt, not feeling tired anymore, but it would be understandable if I was tired, right?
2 something--dash off to see SCOOP the kitten! More on that later
4:07--I had told Maggie and Katie, who live on the same block as Scoop that we would be in the 'hood and....well, I would have a box of cookies for them if....and they were like C'mon over !
4:08  crack open a Sam Adams summer ale......my pedometer shows that I have covered nearly ten miles so far.....
5:38--the wife drives us home...Spike is hungry but we ignore him and have dinner on the back deck with the dog....remember the cucumber salad and hummus I made in the morning?  CLEVER .  PLANNING. Tying up the dog so she can't eat our dinner, also clever.
6 feed Spike, walk Penny ....
7:30 GOOD GOLLY finally looking at messages and then
9ish falling asleep

BUT WAIT there's more!
4 am wake up today feeling like a million bucks, take Penny out back, make a cup of coffee, check messages and HOLY CATS there is already a ton of orders...Bronwyn needs a dragon mug, Heidi comes over later for a piggy mug, ship something to San Fran AND Catherine in Germany needs, I swear I am not making this up, 11 items so far (I think) and Paul around the corner from me left a check on his back step, could I bring over an elephant mug? (YES)

Plus Yogi needs 3 walks and Nook needs me at midday AND we need to go to the bank and finish pots and throw more and apply to a show and take pics and put away laundry and make dinner and...
THEN I TIPPED my coffee over onto my filofax....20+ years I have used that filofax calendar and never dumped coffee on it....all my lovely lists.....
we will both be OK :)

OK, Scoop?  Scoop is a new customer, belonging as she does to my best friend Raymundo.  Many times you have seen me and Raymundo  and his skinny legs running together...well, now I am his cat's sometime sitter.
As I told the wife:  "I love Scoop so much, what an easy gig! I hope he asks me to play with her again!" and I'll be darned, Scoop needs me again Saturday....

Scoop was, around this time last spring, the size of a thumb, crying in Ray's yard.  The vet guessed she was from a stray cat mama in Ray's street, about 3 weeks old.  They bottle fed her and named her Scoop because she has HUGE fron paws with extra toes!  She is probably the nicest most fun kitten I have ever met (that is also true of Raymundo--one of the nicest people I have ever met, truly, and I am not just saying that because he has a mancave with a huge home brewing facility and a bar and a Harley motorcycle too...it is one hell of a mancave...).  So, Scoop grew up healthy and loved, and here she is....

Scoop is quite acrobatic..I don't know how she does that sitting up like a human thing...