Somehow, these past two weeks have been filled with commitments, appointments, and reasons to go into town. With the weather alternating between cold rain and slushy snow, I don’t like to put Emma out in her kennel. She has a doghouse inside that fenced “playpen” and she’s quite safe in there, but it’s chilly when you don’t have a chance to run around much to stay warm.

So, we keep her in the house while we’re gone. She mostly sleeps on her dog bed until we get home again, but after leaving her for the third time within several days, I was feeling bad for her. She’s always so happy when we come home, so I know she gets lonely.

Today when I came home from an appointment, she met me at the door as usual, and I asked her where my slippers were. She always brings them to me when I come in from outside and I usually don’t even have to ask her for them.

But she brought me one of the Captain’s shoes so I went looking for my slippers and here is what I found.

A stash of six shoes on her bed! She must have gone up and down the stairs six times to bring them all to her bed upstairs so she could snuggle into them while we were away.

 

When the people go away,

No one knows how long they’ll stay.

Sure they leave me warm and fed,

And I curl up on my bed.

 

But the house can be so still,

Many quiet hours to fill,

Though my dog bed is all right,

Hope they come back before night.

 

Maybe I can find some shoes

And feel better while I snooze,

Into them I stick my snout,

The aroma knocks me out.

 

Extra lonely time today

Means I need those shoes for play,

Up and down the stairs each time,

With a shoe for every climb.

 

Six times down and six times up,

Six brown shoes  for lonely pup,

Tired now, I’ll snooze and wait,

Hope the people won’t be late.

 

Emma says, “I suppose I could always pass the time by reading one of Anneli’s books. They’re still on for only 99 cents until December 31st. Check them out on Anneli’s blog post https://wordsfromanneli.com/2021/11/21/book-bargains/”

“They’re great books if you want entertainment for a tiny price.”

“And did you know that Anneli has another blog for writers and readers? It’s called annelisplace. You can find it here. https://annelisplace.wordpress.com/”