Merlin Explores: A Photo Essay

In the house Merlin must stay locked in the laundry room until we're sure he has nothing nasty to share with Bradley and to get Bradley used to the idea of the new family member.  They are already talking to each other through the door.

I went down several times today to cuddle, play, and brush Mers.  Then just after lunch I decided to wipe him down with a wet rag.  When he was sick last month he had not been grooming and though he has been now for a couple of weeks he is still playing catchup.  I knew from experience I can't get him near a sink or basin of water but he will sometimes allow me to use a sopping wet rag on him and then he'll groom off the water.

Once I'd done that though I hated leaving him on the cold cement floor so I put on his leash and harness and took him outside where he spent the next hour exploring Mom's front yard.

Digging and rolling in the dirt totally undid his 'bath'.

He was completely obsessed with the laurel hedge surrounding our neighbor's yard and almost went down the four foot drop off into the thicket of branches before I tugged hard on the leash to turn him around.

Out on the sidewalk his attention is split back and forth between the hedge and the cars going by.

For several minutes he conducted a torrid affair with the sidewalk

The lawnmower had him enchanted for awhile. I think he wanted the grass he could smell

The porch was next.  I'd taken out a book, notebook and crochet along with my coffee thinking we's just hang quietly like we did at home.  But I never got to do more than sip the coffee a couple of times he kept me so busy chasing after him and tugging his leash to get him out of spots he should be.  There was no relaxing for either of us.

He would have jumped off the back of the porch if I'd not kept the line taut.  The drop off to the back yard is over my head.