UGH

Roxy Nightingale. 

I've been down with a bug.

Does that imply that quitting smoking is bad for your health?

The man was called back to work.

Yay!  Yay!  Yay!

I immediately became ill.

Because that is the way it goes...

when I need someone to take care of me...

I am left alone.

Sniffle.

I was only feeling sort of crappy when he left for work the first night back.

As soon as I was back inside and checked the door locks

and turned off any lights...

Roxy and I looked at each other and raced to the bedroom.

Not that I'm glad to be alone in the bedroom 

except for foxy Roxy.

But because it is the warmest room in the house.

And because Roxy doesn't get to sleep in there when the man is home.

She was extra psyched.

I just wanted to get warm again.

By morning I felt way beyond crappy.

The man came home to nothing done and no diner.

Poor man.

I felt no remorse at all over my lack of activity.

And I was prepared to be spoiled rotten.

Yeah... that did not happen.

Not to blame the man.

He was back at work and needed to sleep.

He did fix his own meals, ran all the errands, etc.

and checked on me now and then...

as he came and went.

 

 

Those days are a bit of a blur.

I mostly slept.

My stomach hurt so much that I did not think of food.

Yet there was no puking involved.

My joints and bones ached.

A fever came and went.

I had a case of the dreadfuls.

What I do recall is that silly dog up there...

Roxy never left my side.

As I moved from room to room 

for whatever reason...

Roxy padded along and waited until I was 

safely back under the covers again.

Then she would sit next to the sofa

or my bed and lay her big hard head next to me.

I would pet her and scritch her ears.

When I fell asleep...

she would creep to her blanket and lay down.

But if I moved...

she was right back there to poke me with her cold nose.

Just to make sure that I was okay.

Dogs are so funny.

She knew when I was sick.

And she knew as soon as I wasn't.

This morning when I woke up feeling good again...

she took off outside to lay in a sunny spot in the yard.

She's back to coming in and out as she pleases

and growling at squirrels and cats in the yard through the window.

Roxy is still on the job.

Doesn't matter if its as nurse or guard dog.

Whatever the day calls for...

she's right there.