It is a brisk 43 degrees this morning. The skies and blue and clear. While there are plenty of leaves on the ground the trees have not really started turning colors yet. It has been a challenging few weeks emotionally as we made the decision to re-home both of our dogs. Buckley’s jealousy of Carli and Carli’s jealously of Craig and displeasure that I was not available to sit with her all the time were not getting any better. She did do better the week that Craig had her when I was traveling but gradually deteriorated when I was around. After multiple failed attempts at providing the consistent feedback to Carli necessary to modify her behavior, I realized it was just not “in me”. We were very fortunate that Buckley’s previous owners were willing to take him back and so far it seems that now that he is older the pet incompatibility issues in that home are better. James and Natalie decided to take Carli. I am very grateful.
Buckley left midday on Monday so Carli had the afternoon to roam around without the fear of Buckley’s playfulness. She came with me to cut branches off of fallen trees in the Magic Forest part of the neighboring cow pasture and had a moment with a cow. She did not bark.
I dropped her off with James on Tuesday. James and Natalie now have the couch that was in my living room where Carli and I spent a year snuggling so that is familiar to her. She will be well cared for and loved.
This week I kept busy cutting branches off fallen trees, loading them in a wagon and burning them. I was able to work through much of my sadness. There is something oddly therapeutic about using a chain saw. I don’t have any good “before” pictures but imagine each of the trunks full of branches. The cedar trees are the worst. One might wonder why I am spending time in the neighbor’s pasture. I thought it was nutty until I started doing it and realized how much better the view was from our kitchen window and back deck. I like the think the cow’s appreciate having more space to roam as well.
Yesterday I mowed the entire property without any assistance. I can comfortably maneuver the lawnmower around all of the trees and managed not to destroy any of the baby trees.
I have also been assisting Craig with the installation of a hydraulic vehicle lift. It is amazing what he can do with wenches and scaffolding. While I have been able to provide some lifting assistance, my main contribution has been scraping orange paint from one of the posts and washing the various pieces – we can’t have a dirty car lift.
With this lift and this door, we can get almost anything up in the air for maintenance. The installation should be done today and I look forward to riding up and down on it.
Tamara Unleashed 