Since I’m blogging about domestic activities this morning, here’s the note I’m leaving for our friends Ed & Gail, who’ll be watching our house and critters while we’re away:
I fed Schatzi & Chewie this morning.
I left Schatzi’s food on the counter. The little scoop contains the right amount of dry food for her evening meal. She gets that much every morning and evening. If you feel merciful you can give her a couple of tablespoons of wet food from the can in the fridge with her evening meal, but cut the amount of dry food by half if you do. Dry food only in the morning, and it won’t kill her to have dry food only in the evening too.
Chewie’s not on a diet, so just make sure she always has some dry food in her bowl by the microwave. I give her a couple of tablespoons of wet food when I give Schatzi her evening meal. The can’s in the fridge. Both animals drink out of the water bowl on the floor, which I rinse out and refill every morning.
Schatzi’s harness & leash are on the phone by the kitchen door. Her poop bags are on the counter by the microwave. Her treats are on the kitchen counter near the coffeepot. Her toys are everywhere, so be careful where you step. I look inside the pool pump enclosure every morning to check the traps behind the pool heater. If you catch a mouse, pack rat, or ground squirrel, you may turn it over to Schatzi. I put the trap on the ground by the flagstones near the hot tub, open the doors, and let Schatzi do her thing . . . she knows exactly what to do because she’s a GOOD DOG! Afterward I pitch the little corpses over the fence.
Oh, you ask, where are Chewie’s treats & toys & mice? Fuck her.
Ha ha, just kidding. Unfortunately I am not kidding about the hot tub being broken. I hoped Brian would be able to get to it before we left, but it doesn’t look that that’s going to happen, though he may come to fix it while we’re gone. I hope he does. He also comes every Monday morning to service the pool, and lets himself in & out of the back yard, so don’t shoot.
Please feel free to use our computers; just turn them off overnight. Call us if you can’t remember how to play DVDs . . . it’s complicated but I can talk you through it (provided you are slightly more patient than Donna, who’ll be right up the creek, movie-wise, if I croak on her).
We don’t know how to work the new microwave either, so we left the instruction book out for you. Maybe you can check us out on it when we get back.
Thank you so much for watching the critters, and for being such good friends!