The House and more about Abby

I need to say a little more about Abby, Elaina’s dog.  She is such a character.  Elaina got her from a shelter in 29 Palms when she worked there.  She was a scared, nervous, big puppy.  It took a while for her to trust Elaina and me.  When Elaina lived in California, Abby used to come and visit at the house and my mom loved seeing Abby run around the backyard and chase a plastic water bottle, or an apple around the yard.  Abby would actually throw them up in the air and then go chase them.  My mom got the biggest kick out of watching Abby be a clown.  Now that I’m here, living with her, Abby thinks Elaina and I should be in the same room all the time.  When we are in the same room, Abby thinks it’s the most wonderful thing.  If I am in my room and Elaina is in the kitchen and calls to me, Abby trots to my room to get me as if to say, “Come on, you’re needed in here.”   If we are in different rooms, Abby comes to visit me to say hello, then goes back out.  Elaina works during the week and comes home around 5p.m.  Just before 5, Abby goes to the living room and waits for Elaina’s car to drive up the driveway.  As soon as she sees it, she runs to me wherever I am to say, “Come on, Mom’s home, mom’s home!”  Then she runs back to wait at the door.  She keeps me laughing all the time.

About this house.  It definitely feels like a cabin in the woods.   It’s on a brick foundation and takes 5-6  steps to get up to the front door.  It’s one level, but because it’s on the brick foundation, it feels like it’s upstairs.  Walking across the floor, it creaks, like upstairs rooms floor’s creak.  The major problem with this house is the ability of salamanders/lizards to suddenly appear in the living room near the windows on the side of the house.  We see them climbing on the windows, then before we know it, there’s one inside.  Very freaky.  Elaina has found dead lizards and frogs in her bedroom.  And it’s not Abby that brings them in.  Yuck.  At least those are dead.  My first few days here I was stung by a wasp that was flying around the living room.  Haven’t seen those since the weather got cold.  Salamanders are very common here in North Carolina I discovered.  Maybe because there’s so much water and swamps, they find it quite accommodating.