Thanks and Tails from the Rescue Pets

You guys! Your comments on the last post were like a big warm hug. I have missed you! And I'd forgotten how much internet connections can still be true, genuine connections. I got a smile with every comment that popped up in my inbox and it made yesterday such a better day than so many similar ones before it, so thank you so much for the warm return.

I think I needed the break in posting- the kids are bigger and their lives belong largely to themselves, there aren't many stories to share from a life I largely live in my bedroom, the few I might have all involve line drawing on how you interact with the world in a pandemic and everyone has an opinion on that, plus mostly I've just been working so much and I'm in front of my monitors all day without the breaks that used to be built in, like commuting and getting lunch and driving home at certain times because of other commitments, and now there are none of those things and no commutes and no one has conflicts with anything so we email all day and keeping my evenings computer free became a necessity.

this inbox has eyes

But so is connection, and occasionally actually uploading the pictures on my phone (93% of which are of The Rescue Pets, my stalwart coworking companions), and sharing stories, and I'd like to do it more often again.

So, given that I have no other stories to share, let me take you through a few days in the life of the Rescue Pets.

Moose and Maggie remain best friends, partners in crime, and the best/worst coworkers a lonely lawyer working in her bedroom all day could possibly have.

We start our day early, at about 7:30 a.m. Moose always wants to know what calls we have for the morning and Maggie tries to remember if she was already fed her breakfast (yes).

Maggie takes her first morning nap about 7:40 and Moose pops in to let me know I made a typo in that email I just sent.

When Moose is ready to play, he'll walk over and gently bat at Maggie's tongue or face wrinkles to get her to wake up and come play with him.

Sometimes Maggie wakes up, sometimes she doesn't, but eventually, there is always playing.

I'm not sure Maggie really understands how to play- there's a lot of squishing her brother, but Moose is much faster and wilier and doesn't have to put up with anything he doesn't want to, so clearly he's having a good time. At some point, it's time for chase and Moose takes off. Maggie, totally pumped, gets a big bulldog smile and takes off too. She can be very fast over short distances.

Somehow she always gets lost midway through their bathroom-to-closet loop and Moose has to slow down to let her catch up. They do this a lot of times. Maggie has no brakes or ability to turn and crashes into all sorts of things along the way.

Sometimes Moose hides in my clothes hanging in the closet and Maggie crashes into those, sending hangers flying. She smiles the whole time.

At some point in the chasing, Maggie either gets tired and trots off or Moose cheats and jumps on the bed so Maggie has to give up. Moose finds my characterization of his winning move to be offensive.

There are naps. Lots and lots of them. Sometimes it makes me very jealous.

I always forget that Moose can hear me, so when I exclaim over how cute they are all cuddled up together, Moose always cracks an eye to let me know I've disturbed and annoyed him.

But Maggie, who only hears me in her heart, is smiling at me in her sleep I'm sure.

On one particularly chilly morning, when Maggie was wearing her fuzzy footie pj's and I decided to turn on the fire while I drank my first cup of tea, Maggie got to introduce Moose to the wondors of the fireplace.

"It's a magical place you see. Sometimes, if you're really lucky, a fire appears and it is made of warmth and love."

We had a week or two of finding the girls' stuffed animals all around the house. I was getting a little annoyed at them until I looked up from my computer one day and saw Moose trotting across my bedroom with a dead beanie baby in his mouth. When he saw me looking, he dropped his kill and attempted to look both nonchalant and defensive.

Now Maggie occasionally chews on the stuffed animals Moose has killed for her. It's clear she doesn't know why she's doing it, but she knows it's part of being in his pack.

Similarly, Moose has taken up squirrel watching. It's a huge part of his day and if I'm late in lifting the blinds in my bedroom office he lets me know immediately. Then he sit/stands for hours, ready to pounce on the squirrels in the world acquarium before him.

Today, Maggie joined him in his vigil. Again, she clearly didn't know what they were doing and never saw any of the squirrels who taunted our dynamic duo, but she was here for it. Standing by her alpha cat's side, ready to do whatever it was they were doing.

Later, job well done, they napped in the sun for a while.

I enjoy them so much. Truly, they are the only variance in my day and they have so much personality and so much genuine affection between them. One time I was on a video call and there was a loud crash in the bathroom- it was my bulldog sliding into my bathtub because she can't make sharp turns. Later, she snored so loud I had to mute my phone while I kicked her out of the room. She is the greatest and one of the only things I will truly miss when we get to reenter the real world.

And Maggie will likely need some intensive therapy when we are separated. We are never more than 12" apart these days and her anxiety when I close the bathroom door compels her to run into the door until it opens itself and we are reunited. Then she does her tippy taps of joy, demands pets, and then feels secure enough to trot off for a nap to recover from expending all that emotional energy.

But, I have at least a few more months until I need to worry about Maggie's separation anxiety and until then, I will soak up all the smiles these funny, furry little creatures bring my way.

And note, in this time of holiday giving, that I am forever thankful for the amazing people at Lonestar Bulldog Club Rescue, who took in a starved, infected, absolute mess of a puppy mill mama bulldog, paid for 6 weeks of surgeries and live-in vet bills, and then fostered her until she could join our family, and for Saving Hope, which rescued a tiny scraggly kitten in an overcrowded Laredo shelter and transported him here, where Claire and Cora's music teacher fostered him and now he lives in our house where he plays with a bulldog and sleeps under the covers with a teenage boy who sings him songs.

Life is good and my heart and in-home legal office are very full.