Ah, well, the tide has turned. James is going back to 40 hours next week. We have been thankful for unemployment payments for filling in the gaps.

For now, however, we needed to stock the fridge while we have the funds, so part of the weekend was darting from grocery store to grocery store, Wednesday it was Lidl for French bread, cheese rolls, and eggs (and we found a nice steak to grill for Independence Day), Publix for the recent dearth of BOGO items and more whole wheat bread, Kroger for milk and low-salt mushrooms. Thursday we went to Patak's [the butcher] for cheap meats; the man behind us had a full cart and told me he was stocking up for a big cookout for his friends. We had lunch after shopping, and then went up to the Barnes & Noble on Dallas Highway. Damn, it looks like a toy store in there: rows and rows of games, stuffed animals, puzzles, and a bunch of other crap. If I wanted to go to Toys'r'Us, I would have shopped there previously. You are a bookstore: add more books!

On Friday we had to make a stop at Publix to pick up stuff we forgot (we always forget something). Then we could finally relax, pick up some lunch from Dragon 168, and come home and eat in the cool. Didn't do much more than shelve some books for the rest of the day, and we watched some Perry Mason.

Independence Day was a lazy day. James grilled the nice sirloin tip steak from Lidl (marinated in Island Soyaki from Trader Joe's), and we had it with tater tots, onion rings, and corn on the cob, with double chocolate gelato for dessert. We watched 1776 as always and mostly I read until it was time for the Boston Pops concert. They showed clips from previous shows, plus some new segments filmed with orchestra members playing from home and carefully edited together to sound as if they were playing together on stage. The fireworks were too short. 😁

We were trying to keep things low-key because Tucker has been becoming more and more nervous all week. When we first adopted him he was wary about fireworks, but after the first year he started to freak out more and more. He's now at the point where fireworks render him nearly powerless. He sits between James' feet or under my feet, trembling in every limb, to the point where his ears are vibrating, his jaws wet from drool. To take him out before bedtime, I have to lead him down the stairs and manipulate him into his harness, and coax him along, just to get him to pee.

Last weekend we bought him a Thundershirt, which we have avoided in the past because they were just so expensive and no one could promise it would work, and it has ended up working pretty well. At the beginning of the week, when there were just firecrackers and little poppers, it definitely improved his mood. He trotted up the sidewalk as if he owned it, just as always. Alas, on Friday and Saturday, things were still dicey. Friday night even with the shirt Tucker was still trembling, although I did get him outside for a little bit. They have relaxed the fireworks permits here in the last couple of years so that they can sell bigger and louder fireworks, including Roman candles. Well, the folks off the main street sure went for the big ones. There would have been a great sky show to enjoy if poor Tucker wasn't so miserable. Saturday I took him out before dark, so it went better, but during the evening he was wedged firmly between either James or I.

So I guess it has worked adequately, but no, it hasn't solved the entire problem. Poor Tucker will just have to go on believing he's being shot at.

Labels: books, dogs, food, holidays, Independence Day, pets, shopping, work

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:35:00 PM

Comments: Post a Comment