So Benny and I had quite a day yesterday!

On Thursdays, I have to go out to the Maryland location of our doggy daycare for a management meeting. Afterwards, I go to the Virginia location, where I keep an office, to take a photo of the following week’s “Dog of the Week” and work there till close.

Because Danny has to leave our home office to go to his data center at a moment’s notice, and Benny can’t be left alone for more than a couple hours, I had to take him with me. It felt like I had a baby with me… I had the big mommy bag with his blanket, toys, lunch, carpet cleaner, paper towels, and poop bags.

Benny was a little whiny on the 45 minute drive to Maryland. He is still getting used to riding in the back of my station wagon. He eventually fell asleep. During the meeting, he did laps around the conference table in full Puppy Zoom™ mode. He almost peed in there, but I snatched him up and took him to the fenced-in outdoor area for a break.

When I was coming back in from one of his breaks, I slipped going down 6 linoleum and metal stairs. It felt like slow motion. I remember thinking it wasn’t going to be good when I hit the stairs. I was carrying Benny in my left arm (because he can’t go down stairs yet). I have been clumsy all my life and have gotten good at falling without doing sserious damage. Had I not had Benny, I’d just have bruises/scrapes on my lower back and bum. But, in order to protect my cargo, I locked my arm so he wouldn’t go flying. My elbow got one hell of a jolt. Ow. It didn’t take long for it to swell up and become immobile. My other injuries were minor… scrapes/lumps on my lower back and upper butt cheek. I will have some fancy bruises in a couple days (poke me and I bruise instantly; wallop me and it takes a couple days for it to show up). My right palm, which was holding the metal railing, had a shiny line running diagonal across it where the palm print was rubbed off and I tried to slow my fall.

I made it to the Virginia daycare in one piece by 4 pm, though I had to scoot the driver’s seat up so I could reach the turn signal with my bum arm (probably not necessary, seeing how I was in MD and MD drivers never use signals anyway! 😛 ). However, I quickly discovered that I couldn’t position my arm in a way to use my keyboard. So I wrapped the elbow in an ace bandage and took Benny up to the lobby with me. The evening was super busy, so it ended up working out for me to help up front. I had promised a lot of the parents that I would have Benny there to meet them till close, so I didn’t want to leave early. Benny got to meet a bunch of the doggies as they came out of the playrooms to go home (he can’t go into the playrooms until hehas his second set of shots, but I had his bordatella done so he can meet doggies in the lobby). A lot of the dogs weren’t interested in him and wanted to go steal toys from the boutique area instead, much to the dismay of their parents, who wanted to see some cute puppy-playing action. Benny was a little shy, but I expected that since I specifically picked a dog that has a little bit of submissiveness to him. He didn’t try to hide under the bench like Tuesday, and gave kisses to a few of the goldens he met.

Benny’s day was so long, that after a little burst of post-dinner hyperness, he slept from 10 pm until 6:45 am!! There was a little bit of whining, but all I had to do was “sshhh” him and show him I was right there beside him, and he’d lay back down and go to sleep.

Today I am super sore. It is still super cold out, so I’m not enjoying having to walk two dogs seperately so often. I feel gross – like I inhaled allergens all night. I prolly did – Chian was laying on my pillow yesterday morning.

Okay! Lunch (oatmeal) is over. Time to get working again.