More of Mabel (Or At Least More of My Underwear) Than You Ever Wanted to See

As I've mentioned before, when Mabel arrived almost two weeks ago, she was still in the part of her heat cycle during which she discharges blood. And on her first full day here, we decided that we had to do something to keep her from dripping all over as she walked around the house.

Brandi asked if I had any old underwear. I did. I had an old pair that I hadn't worn in a long time in part because I switched to a more comfortable style at some point and in part because the material was torn from the band in one place.

So with some scissors, a bread tie, a menstrual pad, and my unmentionables, we made Mabel a diaper.

She looked ridiculous but, luckily, didn't have to wear the contraption more than a day. I never thought I'd be posting photos of my underwear on the Internet, but I'm sure Mabel never expected to be wearing them either. The poor girl looks humiliated, doesn't she?


(By the way, the makeshift diaper wasn't on quite right in these photos. I fixed it later. And as it turned out, that hole between the fabric and the band was the perfect place for Mabel's tail to stick out.)

Mabel's Debut

Yes, I did it. I gave Mabel her own blog. The posts that first appeared on my Vida blog are now copied here too. I may continue posting her updates on Vida as well, but here, all the Mabel posts will be featured together without interruptions by posts about family, food, environment, or other non-Mabel topics.

The Jingling! The Jingling!

Mabel has a tag now--which must be a first because it completely freaked her out for the first five minutes she was wearing it. She was a dog on high alert as she threw her head about and zoomed around in circles trying to figure out what that jingling was. Where the HELL is that coming from?! said her wide, confused eyes. Twice she gave up and settled down, only to be startled up onto her feet again by her own small movements. It was a tiny bit sad, but also hilarious. I wish I could have captured her reaction on video; still shots don't do it justice. That was a couple days ago. She doesn't even notice it now (the freak-out really did last only a few minutes).

By the way, yes, we've settled on the name Mabel. I still like Maybelle (as in "May beauty") better, but B. doesn't, and Mabel is better than Maybel (Maybull wasn't ever seriously in the running). We hadn't really decided on this, but suddenly, we were purchasing her tag and realized we had to put a name on it--a name, not multiple names separated by slashes. So . . . Mabel. Unless I decide to get her a new tag. ;)