We did a quick Thursday to Sunday get away at a pet-friendly cabin at a state park in southern Ohio.
We didn’t have anything that we had to do there so our plan was to just chill. Nemo didn’t quite get the message though. Wednesday night I came home from work and he was in his feelings. He had seen the husband pack a bag. I tried to feed him dinner and he started vomiting. He had to have his anti-nausea medicine and then get a tie on to feel better. (Ties used to mean getting fancy to go see Grandma. Now it is dog shorthand for “Yes, you are coming with us.)
We drove down Thursday afternoon. The cabin we stay in is not roughing it. It is a two bedroom with a kitchen and living room. There are three tvs, for god’s sake. Every time we left Nemo alone he acted like, “No Mommy! Don’t force me into the cage again!!” I told him he had a whole house to himself and that we’d be right back. Also, remember how you didn’t want to stay home?
See how he was suffering? He had blankets and pillows on leather benches and couches eventually. How did he go on?
We went swimming the first two days in the indoor pool – cruelly abandoning a dog to his fate. We took all our own food but ended up eating in the restaurant for the first two dinners. We also drove out to a college town about 20 miles away for a lunch on Saturday. I would have been fine eating what I brought but the husband can’t ever stick with the plan.
Every morning we spent a few hours in the main lodge reading. (Say it with me – cruelly abandoning a dog!) But can you blame us?
We sat in comfy chairs on the side of the room and drank coffee from the free coffee bar. The first day I hadn’t brought headphones because I was reading, not listening to my audiobook. I immediately regretted this when a group sat down on those couches in the middle and a lady started talking about a recent trip.
“We went to Washington, D.C. and saw the Reflecting Pool after it was renovated but before it was damaged. It was so nice. There was National Guard everywhere. It was so good to see that. They were in their full uniforms. We had the best time talking to them.”
Ma’am, ma’am, the military occupation of our nation’s capital isn’t one of the tourist attractions.
Then they changed topics. “What do you do about grandkids who want to transition?”
Other lady – “I just tell them that cats can’t go to school.”
At this point I bounced up and decided to go get drink refills so I was away from the stupid for a bit. After that I brought headphones every day and listened to ambient noise videos from Miracle Forest so I couldn’t hear what was going on around me in the room.
It rained some so the hiking trails were muddy. We didn’t have a good way to wash a dog so we stuck to mostly paved areas.
On Saturday there was a Halloween event that promised me an owl. I went to that by myself and met this fine fella.
He’s a young Barred Owl from another park who is nonreleaseable after a car accident. He has a bad wing, is blind in one eye, and has some neurological issues.
I followed that up with watching Tennessee beat Alabama which is always a highlight of the football season, especially when it is totally unexpected. Mind you, I was laying on a couch with a dog for the whole game and one after that but he’d probably tell you that he was still horribly neglected.
I needed long blocks of reading time to finished up They Stole a City which was a 5 star read but long, dense, and due back at the library soon. Here’s what all I was reading.
