Short Arms and Old Dogs

My car is so old I do not have built-in Sirius Radio.
I have one that sits on my dash.
My old one died and they sent me a newer model.
What they didn't do is have all the parts in the box.

In my professional terms, we are missing an important Thingy that goes inside the knob in the back which stops it from spinning around and holding still on my dash.  

We called Sirius but no one understands my language so we got nowhere. We tried 3x and each was worse the one before. 
Apparently, Rick decided to jerry-rig the damn thing himself without the proper Thingy that was missing.
He put tape of some sort to hold it in place.
He did this with his 6'2 arms. It was perfect for him. 
He never told me he did this.

I got in my car today with Izzy to run to the post office.  I went to change the channel and I was snapped back by my seat belt and I couldn't reach the numbers. He has it turned too far facing the passenger side.  
I had to take off my seat belt to move forward enough to reach the buttons. I had to laugh. He always forgets about my height.
Remember our first selfie where he got his face and only my forehead?
It's a classic photo if you ask me of us. Goofy and not quite right. 

He always teases me about my T-Rex arms and then he did this again to me.
I know he was trying to do something nice for me but I so wish he'd consult me first. After 33 yrs you'd think he'd remember that I am more than a foot shorter than him.

In the meantime, I was belted in and had to listen to horrible music until I could stop the car and remove my seatbelt. Oh no the world will end!
Seriously I had a good laugh in the car and talked to Izzy in the back seat like she understood. I told her Daddy was goofy and look what he does to mommy all the time.  She sat up and was smiling. I swear this damn dog understands me.

Here is the thing with Izzy. 
She wants something, we know the drill. If she just tries to herd you to the door she wants to sit on the stoop. If she herds you with her bumper and she keeps coming back to get you she wants to go swimming. If she has to go to the bathroom, she will stare at you. Oh the sign language we have had to learn.

We will say, "Want to go for a walk"  She shakes her head no. Where did she learn this? We will say, Want to go swimming - she grabs her bumper and runs to the door if that is what she wants.  We will ask, "Want to sit on the stoop, she grabs her stuffed bear and runs to the door. She knows what each of those is. If she wants to sit on the stoop as she did last night and neither of us wanted to I might add, she will wait until you get to the right phrase.

Rick was standing in the kitchen and he knew she wanted to go sit out front.
He played with her. Want to go for a ride, she shakes. Want to go for a walk? She sighs and lays on the floor. Want to go sit on the stoop? She gets up and grabs her bear and runs to the door? Seriously she is crazy.

On Saturdays, she goes to doggie daycare from 10 - 5pm. Not every Saturday but enough that she knows. We have always said, "c'mon Iz let's go play with puppies" So she knows what that means.  I open the front door and she runs to our car.
This past Saturday she did indeed go to doggie daycare for a fun swim day they were having. I was sitting when I asked, "hey Izzy want to go to play with puppies?"  She runs to the door and turns around and sees I'm not moving. She comes over to me all excited, tail going like a windshield wiper, and then she rubs her face on my thigh and tries to get me to stand up and go. (she will herd me like a cattle dog) 
I laughed and said, "okay okay we're going"  and by that time she was at the door waiting. 

This past weekend she was sleeping or so we thought by the snoring. 
Rick and I were at the patio table on the patio. She was by my feet sleeping. 
Rick and I are just having a normal conversation and the word swimming was said. Not Izzy swimming. Just talking about a friend and a pool. 
She heard the word swimming and she jumped up and went crazy because she thought we were going swimming. So now we have to spell. For the love of God, I thought I'd only have to do this with children, not fur babies.

Everyone here in our development knows her. 
I don't know how to be honest.
We drive to the pond daily to let her go swimming. We know if we walk there she will drag us there on every stinkin' walk. So we drive so she doesn't know where this is. How pathetic and manipulative are we? 

At the pond, the people who live across the street always wave to us.
They say they enjoy watching her swim and dive for fish.
Well, this past weekend they were talking to some friends apparently and we heard everything. Oh, that dog is here every day. She gets mad at her owner when he wants to go home she actually acts and sounds like she's talking to him. (I've shared those videos) It is so funny and entertaining. Someone asked," she doesn't run off being off-leash?"  Someone else was heard saying," Oh no, that's Izzy she is awesome. She just follows the fish or her owner." True.   

Rick and I were howling. Izzy is very well known around here and we find out this all the time in different ways every week. It cracks us up. When we sit outside with her as she likes strangers say, "Oh my gosh is this Izzy?"  Yes. And we think, who the hell are you?  Because Izzy likes to greet the kids every afternoon when they got off the bus (pre-pandemic) all the kids know her. I think they tell their parents because during this pandemic a father was on his bike with his son and his son pointed over at us and said Dad that is Izzy. (Same thing happened with a young girl)
On their way back the father asked if they could pet her. Sure and the son said, "she likes when you do this dad, as he rubbed behind her ears" It was cute.
The father said he's been hearing about our dog for years. Sorry, we hear that a lot. 

Some days I think if Izzy had thumbs we'd all be in trouble.
Remember I had to change all my door handles from lever to knobs because she was letting herself out before she was 1 yr old. She is a smart quirky character who has really really slowed down. 
I know what is coming and I fear it. Sometimes watching her breaks my heart.
She is larger than life around these parts and her not being around will be huge.
She is 11.5 and limping and taking meds for arthritis and CBD's. Swimming is honestly the only thing she enjoys anymore. Walking she would prefer to never do again. I miss the long walks. Now they are short ones. She also at times seems confused. I wonder if that is senility. Do dogs get dementia? 

Lately, she is a different dog. Still funny and smart but different. Some of her senses seem dulled. I guess that is all part of aging for dogs as well as humans.
Aging seems to suck for us both.