Not A Good Steward

I have to admit that I was glad that Bacall was going outside. Her litter box smells worse than any litter box I've ever smelled. and it had been in the hall since Tulip arrived in late June. And I hoped she'd begin to use the great outdoors. And, besides, she longed to go out.

So, I did call her when she didn't come back. Often. From the back porch. But not going all around the neighborhood shouting her name. And I didn't worry enough. I seem to have become dulled. It's harder and harder to find enough energy to worry a lot.

But I was glad when she called out when I was walking the dogs on Thanksgiving night. And that she walked ahead of us back to the house. And that she drank lots of water. And that she could eat. And now, except for the right side of her mouth which will never recover, she's recovered in the last week. She eats dry food along with wet, she stretches, her tail is occasionally almost as high as it was and she looks about the same if you don't look too closely. And she won't ever be an outdoor cat again. (I am not even that unhappy about her pooping behind the bathtub....Krissy cleaned it up when I couldn't reach it....and maybe she knows the new place for her litter box.)
Tulip's quite a fine little dog, and what would a person expect rescuing her over the internet? I wanted a dog with hair, rather than fur. And she looked sufficiently peculiar, tongue lolling. But I didn't know that one of her areas of trauma would be the tangles, that she'd bite if I tried to cut her bangs. And she's not much better when I try to cut out other knots that appear here and there, not so close to her face. She'll need to go to a vet who will prescribe some sedative and then to a groomer who will work on a flattened dog. I just don't have the energy for that right now. But Tulip doesn't seem to mind the visual obstruction.

Tulip is not like Bogie, the consummate gentleman who would never poop in the house unless he was terribly sick and I wasn't home. Tulip is perfectly capable of peeing and pooping if she needs to, if I haven't responded to her tiny signal, but I may have that under control since she now gets walked three times a day. The time change did her in, or did me in.
Bogie needs a grooming. And we were on our way. But yesterday it rained early. And my power steering has begun to act up if I drive through puddles. Chris has taken the car to the shop twice, but they can't find out what it is unless it actually happens when it's on the lot. I was smart enough to decide how stupid it would be to drive a car that doesn't turn a corner when it doesn't want to after it refused to turn into the bank parking lot. Next Friday for the groomer. What to do about the car...... The place I've been going to, run by an incredibly pleasant, super talkative guy, costs me $1,300 just to walk into it. I can't keep going there.