Sickies

Ellen's prior owner was an older woman, who as near as we can tell, sat with her all day. In our house, Ellen's main person is Amelia. I wake up before the girls every morning to do some work and drink some coffee.  I let the pups out and many times I find Ellen laying outside Amelia's door waiting for her to wake up.

Especially early Friday morning I woke up to Amelia crawling in bed with us. I was sound asleep and a little out of it, but when I went to rub her back I could feel she was burning up with a fever. Amelia is so rarely sick we were caught a little off guard. John and I both had work obligations that were difficult to reschedule, so Papa came over for a few hours Friday morning.  By Friday afternoon Amelia seemed to be doing better, but her fever came roaring back Friday night. 

Ellen has been a constant companion for her person, both of them sitting together on the couch for most of the last 48 hours.... Ellen's happy place.

The girls had a swim meet Saturday that Amelia was devastated to miss...  She is close to qualifying times in a couple of events and was convinced this would be the day. Ava and I set off to Oskaloosa without her for a meet in an old, small YMCA with a 4 lane pool. 215 swimmers, 4 lanes meant heat after heat for all 103 events. It was an endurance activity for the spectators (me) but Ava had a great day.  She dropped time in all the events she swam and got a nice boost of confidence along the way.

How you know it's a swim meet day....

Ava was coming off a sleep over, then a swim meet, Amelia with a strep throat diagnosis -  we were all pretty much in a puddle by Saturday night. The girls, snuggling up, watching some television.  A nice reminder that they really do love each other and take care of each other.  And, if you look carefully, you can see Ellen's nose in the bottom of the frame, standing watch over her person....