You can’t teach an Old Dog about New Doors

Over the weekend, Tim installed a screen door on the door from my dye room to the back porch; there’s been one on the door from my office to the back porch for a while, but he noticed last week when I was furiously dyeing yarn for sock club that even with the windows open to the cool weather and a box fan in the window to help move the air, it was close to a thousand degrees in that room. OK, maybe I exaggerated. But it was over 100, and damp as fuck to boot. So he put in a screen door that opens right next to where I dye yarn, and now it is sooooooooooooo lovely with a nice cross-breeze and cooler temperatures overall. Also, the cats have not moved except for when I shut the main door at night. Screen doors are kitty approved!

However.

And you knew there had to be a however, right?

Before putting the door up, Tim asked me on which side did I want the hinges; I was all, duh, obviously the same side as the inside door, otherwise that would be weird. So Old Dog comes right to the door where she’s gone inside for 14 years, then has to scoot to the side for me to get the new screen door open. Imagine as you look at that picture that I am opening the screen door from the right-hand side of that photo, and she hop-scoots to the left, and to the left again as I keep swinging the door open, and to the left again… and then she gets stuck behind the new screen door and can’t figure out how to turn around or walk around it. It’s funny/sad, in that “I think my dog has Alzheimer’s but at least she’s a happy crazy” kind of way. It didn’t help that for about a day we still had the cooler there from the party the other week, so she got stuck between the door and the cooler. I kept trying not to laugh, but it’s not like she can hear me, so… ;p