Toes & Holes

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Last night we locked the kids inside.

4 cats with no access to their kitty flap as the 4th of July holiday didn't seem like a good night to let them wander in the yards on Blackberry Drive.

I woke up regretting that decision just a little.

I also regretted the decision to bring Penny pooch to bed with us.

5 animals in the bedroom turned into quite a sleepless evening for the man and myself.

All night I heard hisses from cats playing too rough.  Thumps and thuds from cats chasing one another up and down the stairs.... and down and up.... and up... and down...

And then somewhere between 3 a.m. and 4 o'nnoyed I heard Penny whimpering.

This pooch has quite the tolerance for pain (lest I need to remind you we found her half dead on a busy road...).  So her whimpering warranted attention.

And in that dark fuzzy night I saw her limp toward me from the foot of the bed.  She cried along the way.

I silently scolded my cats, certain they had gone all Karate Kid and swept the leg.

But no.  As she moved and whimpered I could see her foot sadly tangled in our blanket.

I then wondered if her foot had fallen asleep.

Does that happen to animals?  Because certainly when my foot falls asleep I, too, whimper like a dog as I fall on twisted ankle.

And as she neared I saw the source of her woes. 

As I squinted in that dark room I saw her toenail had caught into one of the tiny holes of our summer blanket.

Blasted.

I comforted her as my husband groaned and stomped over to the bedroom light.

Between cats thumping, using their scratching post and this dog whimpering he wasn't getting any rest. 

He retrieved the scissors while Penny helplessly threw herself into my arms as if saying "fix me".

One tiny woven hole became a dime-sized hole hastily cut to expose her tiny toenail.  I fell back asleep while rubbing her paw's pain away, and the sound and heat of her happy panting into my face.  I think I even got a little tongue action on my cheek. 

I could have done without her gratitude.

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