Prickly things

I only reduced this one in size a bit, so you could see close up the sharp points and the cobwebs. This one was shot at the lake on the 19th. I did get a spider, but he didn't stay exposed for very long.

Life is prickly around here. Juggling much. Friday should be a really fun day. Or, Friday night should be. My daughter is having all four wisdom teeth removed and the pups get neutered. Fun City. Anybody want to come over and help to keep me sane? Hah.

I watched Valkyrie. With all the German names, it was hard to keep track of who was who. Of course we know who Tom plays. The other names were hard to keep straight. And with the uniforms all the men tend to blend together. I was relieved to see that they did not go after his family.

Tomorrow is October already. Wow. I plan to go to the festival on Sunday. There is a car show on that day. It is the busiest day, but we had to arrange for sisters to make it. Weather looks a bit iffy. I've been there before when it rains. It is a mess and we were miserable.

evil imp

Big breath. I will not choke Chong, I will not choke Chong, I will NOT choke Chong!

Oh, I hate this day! I have not had a day like today in years and I hope I never do again.

C'est la vie!

Really! Must you?

Slade gives me the weary-look.

The cons to having the boxer back.

I have to walk him and walk him and walk him.

The positive spin - I need to walk more. 'Nuff said.

The increased vet bills.

The positive spin - hopefully they will be fewer as he settles in.

More mess in the house.

The positive spin - actually he is much cleaner than the pups. They are the messy ones.

Separation Anxiety.

The positive spin - at least he has the pups and Sable to help with this anxiety. It is better than him being completely alone.

My daughter said that when she talked to the couple that kept him for 11 days, they told her that he ripped up a cage when the attempted to cage him. That may be how he got the wounds. Heck, Sable tore up cages too. But she has big thick fur on her.

The leg tremors during the night only happened the first night. He is much more settled and I am going to be keeping him for as long as I can stand it. He needs security. He needs stability. That is what I am going to give him. I do know one thing for sure. He is a fussy-butt when doing his business. I believe he counts steps. He has to take so many steps before he will go. I swear he is counting. I was using plastic bags when we went for walks. Now, I am trying paper towels and lunch bags. I am trying to be greener. I can fit five or six brown lunch bags into one plastic bag.

My sister says "He needs a name!"

They called him Brutus. We call him Slade. I said "How about Blade?" Nobody liked it.

Oh well. Back to the drawing board. How about Pickles? Hee hee.

Oh, rats. He is whining again. He looks up at me and whines. "What do you want?" He wants to go outside. He always wants to go outside.

We have let him run loose in the yard a couple of times. He pretty much sticks close by. Can he ever run! Pure muscle. I'll try to get a movie of him. But, I am very cautious about letting him run loose. I can't trust him completely, yet.

He is REALLY whining now. Gotta go.

The reunion is bittersweet

My baby has been brought back to me, but .... he is wounded

They tried with him. It was the separation anxiety. They tried to put him in their garage and he cut himself up. I didn't see the complete damage until just a few minutes ago.

I came home from work when they dropped him off. I tucked him into the house and I went back to work. I came home, and walked him. He ate a full bowl of food and then snuggled on the couch. I got my glasses and the Neosporin and turned my brightest living room lamp on. He was calm and snoozing away.

I gently applied some here and there. Each look I became more horrified. I blocked out his privates in the photo. The sore you don't see is on the inside of the other leg. I lifted the top leg and applied some ointment on it. He jumped. I jumped. I wanted to cry. I made him as comfortable as I could and he rested his head on my arm.

We sat like that for a long time.

The puppies were ecstatic. They were a little harsh around the hind legs where the wounds were, though. He didn't seem to mind a bit. Even Sable seemed happy to see her friend. With him back in the house, the pups will probably leave her alone.

They had him inoculated for rabies and a years' worth of heart worm and flea medicine. They renamed him Brutus. I don't know. I tried to call him Brutus, but it didn't feel right. I slipped back to Slade.

The Fisherman

Do you suppose he knew he was being photographed?

I watched a couple of interesting movies. One was titled "A Little Romance". It was recommended on my Netflix list. I loved Laurence Olivier in it. The story line was a little too young for me. It was made in 1979, and the hair on that Diane Lane! Wow!

"The Assassination of Richard Nixon" with Sean Penn.

"Georgia O'Keeffe".

"Little Fish".

And, "Chinese Box".

I still won't say much

Yeah, I miss him. I think of him less and less, though. When I do think of him I get a bit teary-eyed so I don't want to talk too much about him. It was his eyes mostly I think. He wouldn't look at me directly just sort of glance sideways at me. He had the most soft, liquid eyes. I probably didn't do him any favors by getting so attached to him before sending him away to strangers.

So! Monday morning I get up for work. I walk to the back door (6 a.m.) to let the pups outside and I hear the dryer running in the basement. What!?!? My daughter wasn't up that early washing clothes. What!?!? I rush downstairs and open the door to the dryer. Still there is heat. The timer did not move. My towels are very dry. They are now the right size for doll house towels, but they are dry. What?!?! I cringe. 10 hours. 10 hours! No wonder my electric bill has been so high lately. Good grief!

This week-end I am replacing the batteries in my smoke detectors. Just in case. It is about the time for that anyway. 10 hours! I know, I know. I am very lucky the damn thing didn't catch on fire. Oh, the horror! The horror!

Stopped at the lake

Taken yesterday at the lake

I shoot straight into the sun. I love pictures where the sun distorts the images. I switched this one over to B&W because first there was a huge blue spot in the water from the sun or the camera and second because there wasn't much color after the sun washed it all out anyway.

I stopped here late in the afternoon after my genealogy class. I did stop to get some of my favorite pizza. I bought a tray because my brother and I have this deal. When either of us travel down "home" and we get our favorite childhood pizza we get some for the other one and call them. I called and he might be able to pick it up tonight. I'll freeze it if he doesn't get by. If I don't, sure as shootin' - I'll eat it.

I already am in a carbohydrate induced coma.

Not sure where the phrase "sure as shootin'" originated, but it could be a part of the phrase "sure as shootin' in a barrel full of fish?"

On the way home I got stopped at a DUI checkpoint. The officer laughed and wanted to know if I was trying to bribe him with that pizza. A tray is 28 square pieces and this pizza shop had put it all into one gigantic flat box. It was sitting on the front seat next to me. I told him that my family would not let me into the house without it! He asked me if I had been drinking (not because of my conduct, because he has to). I told him just Pepsi. He laughed and said "Oh, the hard stuff." Yeah.

But 25 years ago, dude? It would have been a whole other ballgame, I am sorry to say.

Just freaky

This scares the bejesus out of me

Most of you know by now that I am using my daughter's camera to take pictures. The pups are growing so fast, I don't want to miss the photo opportunities. I didn't want to delete anything on the memory card of my daughter's until I saved it all off to my hard drive. I stumbled across the above photo taken underwater in a swimming pool sometime over the summer.

It is one of my daughter's friends. It freaks me out.

I am off to a Genealogy class today. I hope I learn something useful. I want to do more with the web site and adding information about our family history. I have been reading about the ACLU and it's involvement in saving the authenticity of the 4th amendment. There is plenty to think about.

Looks like we are set for a beautiful day here in T-Valley, Ohio. I'll probably spend most of mine on the road and inside a library. Ah well. If I time it right, I can get my favorite childhood pizza and bring it home. Yum!

We do it while she is busy reading email see.....

They are plotting against me, now. This morning while reading my emails, Cheech came over and was being all coy and shy and lovable. I bend down and I say "Oh such a sweet puppy!" Usually I only get one sentence out before the other pup (they are always jealous of one another) comes bounding over to steal the attention. But, Chong did not show. I enjoyed the moment with Cheech. And then it hit me. The cat food! Aha! I ran to the kitchen. Chong was already scampering away. I picked up the cat dish laughing. You little devils! Plotting against me already!

On second thought, it was probably the fact that Cheech knew Chong was doing something wrong and he comes over to me to show me "See? I am the good puppy!" Yeah. That's probably more like what happened. He didn't want the wrath of Mom on him again.

Right this second Cheech is pulling Chong around the living room floor by his ear. By his ear! Probably telling him "You are going to get us into trouble again!"

I attended a "Constitution Day" speech last evening. This one had a speaker from the ACLU speaking about technology and the 4th amendment. I am going to be reading more on FISA and illegal search and seizure. DNA is a big controversy right now. The speaker asked us if we thought it was necessary for them to collect our DNA for any little arrest or reason. They must have suspicion. It isn't like fingerprints, you know. DNA can have some powerful pieces of information connected to it.

Speedracer

Cheech and Sable chase Chong around the yard.

I am trying to get used to my daughter's camera. It is an Olympus Stylus 720 SW. Having a heck of a time keeping my finger out of the shots. The battery is lame. Lame! It conks out after twenty minutes or so of shooting.

My schedule is beginning to ease up. I am slowly coming out of the "summer of a hundred doctors' appointments". What a ride. I should finish the foot one up today. A follow up. The insert and the new shoes have been helping. I am experiencing times with little or no pain in my heel. I feel like I am wearing cement blocks on my feet. I have to wear shoes that lace up and tie. Yuck. I am a "slip-on a pair of loafers" type gal. Or slip into some low-heeled pumps. I am having a hard time wearing sneakers to work with casual dress clothes. I am glad I don't have to really dress up. I still have to crawl around on the floor from time to time to connect technical equipment and wires, so I wear casual and comfortable.

For meetings I like to dress a little better, though. Sigh.

Our county fair begins on Monday. Not sure if I will go this year. I skipped it last year, I might skip it this year.

Daughter can't stand her classes at school. Groan. I try to listen. The griping is constant. She gripes about her boyfriend, she gripes about her classes and her teachers and she gripes about traffic and other drivers. Double groan. I am her sounding board, I guess.

Meanwhile, family is beginning to plan week-ends in October. Fall festival is on the 4th! Break's over!

Chong sits for the camera

Aren't they just growing up? I had them both to the vet last evening for their third round of booster shots and their rabies shots. This rascal is coming in at 12 1/2 pounds. His brother is 12 and 1/4. You should see them run. Chong is the fastest with Cheech chasing him and even Sable getting in on the action.

Good-bye big boy

Things just are not going right for me. The family that first wanted him came over Sunday. Well, the grandparents did. They wanted Slade. They paid me for the vet bills. I handed him over with the leash and his worming medicine and his ear medicine.

I am just sick about it. I've had a headache all day and even Sable snapped at the little pups.

I don't want to talk about it anymore.

Are you trying to tell me something?

From one of the fairs at a neighboring county

I think the turkey is trying to convey a message here. And I am not certain I want to know what that message is. When I lived with my brother back in the late 80's/early 90's he had this device he used when he went turkey hunting. It looked like a four inch by four inch black chalkboard called a turkey caller slate. You scratched a wooden device over it and it made a female turkey noise. I got pretty good at imitating it and at fairs I make that noise. Folks around us think I am nuts and my family usually leave when I do this. Sometimes it gets the turkeys all honking and making noises. That is the noise I made to get the reaction out of the turkey in the photo above.

I was reminded yesterday of why I don't clean very often. I used the mold & mildew spray on my downstairs shower. The smell of bleach was so overwhelming I became sick to my stomach and wrestled with a stupid headache the rest of the day. Even walks outside didn't help me. It ruins my day. I can still smell it this morning and I have to return downstairs to finish washing clothes. Ugh.

I am always running fans in my house and the weather is nice enough to have all the doors and windows open. The smell lingers in my memory or somehow. It is nauseating.

One of the two pups have diarrhea. He starts going on the pet bathroom pad, but more times than not he finishes with it off the mat. Fun stuff. Another smell that is making me sick. Then I clean the rug and spray pet deodorizer. Another smell! It is turning into a real Funday Sunday. It will be a minor miracle if I don't end up having to swallow a migraine pill before this is all over with.

For some unknown reason one of the pups have started to urinate in the kitchen. I have solid tile in there. The first time I wasn't paying attention and I had my knock-off "Croc" shoes on and I slid halfway across the floor. I thought I was ice skating. Which I have never done before. I also thought my feet were going to go out from under me. I am very careful now (especially since most of the time I am in my bare feet) and check the floor out before I walk on it. I also put a puppy pad in there, but they will urinate and then turn the pad over onto itself trying to cover it up or something. Then it is just as slippery.

I'm probably going slowly insane here. What a nut job. They are all sleeping peacefully now. The two pups at my feet so that when I get up to get a fresh cup of coffee I have to make sure I don't step on them. The boxer over in my chair. Sable at her usual post by the back door. Cats on the back of the couch. The two that will come upstairs, that is. I did see Moose for the first time in 2 weeks yesterday. I caught a glimpse of her when I went downstairs to switch the clothes over. She looked fine. I feed them (Moose, Mr. Tibbs and Teton) and give them water. It disappears so I know they are getting to it. Casper and Jasper stay upstairs and give the boxer an "in your face" stance. They don't scare off so easily. He ignores them, now.

I watched "Push" last night. It was okay. I have some trouble following the movies a lot. I have to run closed-caption all the time now. I miss so much if I don't. I can't turn the volume up really loud because of the action scenes. They come in so loud with a boom it is an instant headache. I keep the volume to a normal level and run close caption. I am a fast reader so I can pretty much read and see the scene before it moves on. I like the main character. He played in "Cellular" and I liked that movie, too. And, Dakota Fanning. What a resume on that girl.

Pink clover

From September 2007. Going back into my photo archives again because, well... you know. I lost my camera's battery charger. Is anyone keeping count? A half dozen times? Very unorganized. I used to be very organized. What happened? Oh, yeah. Life happened. I added people, animals and stuff to my life and it is all getting away from me. I am just holding on tight these days and enjoying the ride.

Speaking of animals. My zoo is messy. It bothers me at times but anymore I just roll with it. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. I am stressing a bit about the veterinarian bills and the dog food. I am a firm believer in purchasing the dog food where the first ingredient is NOT corn. A filler. Waste. And my cats get the food that keeps hairballs to a minimum. It does work. I have not seen a hairball in weeks. But that could also mean the pups are cleaning them up. I know, gross.

A meme from Tabor. Pick up the book closest to you. Turn to page 161 and copy the fifth sentence. Here it is:


"But Julie is too sincere and thoughtful to mean it in anything other than an appreciative way."

The book is "Adventures with Ari" by Kathryn Miles. A book about a dog. Imagine that!

It is Saturday. Shhhh. I don't want anybody to hear this. I have nothing planned this week-end. Nothing! I have two days to myself! I am giddy. I can read all day. Watch movies. Well, after I do some cleaning. I have to do a little work or I will feel guilty as hell. But, not too much. I'm not going to go all Mr. Clean on you. I am more the Erma Bombeck type. Humor and a messy house. Which reminds me of a joke I read years ago. The first is a letter from Martha Stewart to Erma Bombeck. The second is from Erma back to Martha. I love it.

Hi Erma,

This perfectly delightful note is being sent on paper I made myself to tell you what I have been up to. Since it snowed last night, I got up early and made a sled with old barn wood and a glue gun. I hand painted it in gold leaf, got out my loom and made a blanket in peaches and mauves.

Then, to make the sled complete, I made a white horse to pull it from DNA that I had just sitting around in my craft room. By then, it was time to start making the place mats and napkins for my 20 breakfast guests. I'm serving the old standard Stewart twelve-course breakfast, but I'll let you in on a little secret: I didn't have time to make the tables and chairs this morning, so I used the ones I had on hand.

Before I moved the table into the dining room I decided to add just a touch of the holidays. So I repainted the room in pinks and stenciled gold stars on the ceiling.

While the homemade bread was rising, I took antique candle molds and made the dishes (exactly the same shade of pink) to use for breakfast. These were made from Hungarian clay, which you can get at almost any Hungarian craft store.

Well, I must run. I need to finish the hand-sewn buttonholes on the dress I'm wearing for breakfast. I'll get out the sled and drive this note to the post office as soon as the glue dries on the envelope I'll be making.

Hope my breakfast guests don't stay too long. I have 40,000 cranberries to string with bay leaves before my speaking engagement at noon. It's a good thing.

Love, Martha

P.S. When I made the ribbon for this typewriter, I used 1/8-inch gold gauze. I soaked the gauze in a mixture of white grapes and blackberries which I grew, picked, and crushed last week just for fun.

---

Dear Martha:

I'm writing this on the back of an old shopping list. Pay no attention to the coffee and jelly stains.

I'm 20 minutes late getting my daughter off for school, packing a lunch with one hand-on the phone with the dog pound, seems old Ruff needs bailing out again.

Burnt my arm on the curling iron when I was trying to make those cute curly fries, how DO they do that?

Still can't find the scissors to cut out some snowflakes, tried using an old disposable razor . . . trashed the tablecloth.

Tried that cranberry thing; frozen cranberries mushed up after I defrosted them in the microwave. Oh, and don't use Fruity Pebbles as a substitute in that Rice Krispies snowball recipe unless you like food that resembles puke!

Smoke alarm is going off, talk to ya later.

Love, Erma

Here, in color

Same photo, but in color

It is September 11th. I am thinking. I am thinking of what it would be like to go to work in my normal way on a normal day and in an hour or so have it all come to a screeching halt. A cowardly (and I repeat, cowardly) attack from an enemy that we let into our world.

I am thinking of loved ones left behind. My brother is a fireman and an EMT. He would have jumped right into it. He would have run up those stairs (perhaps with fear) but with a determination to save lives. To help those in need.

Where have we progressed since then? Have we progressed? Or are we just sitting ducks until the next sinister attack from out of the blue?

There will always be hate and greed. I'm not so keen on fighting in the name of religion. I don't know if we will ever understand one another.

I do know this. We cannot live in fear. They win if we live in fear. I will walk tall today. I am an American. There is much blood soaked into this country's soil. It is strong enough to hold all of us up and above the ugliness that the world rains down upon us.

I seriously doubt that they are finished. Besides. If it isn't one group it will be another.

Two barns

Still have not found my battery charger for my camera, so I am digging back into my archives. I made this photo a b&w and smudged the edges. Still have the boxer. He went to the vet tonight for a check-up. He does not have heart worm. He is now supplied with medicine for every month (just like we do with the others). He will return for shots when the pocketbook has time to recoup. Puppies are set for their 3rd round of boosters and rabies shots next week. Then it will be back to Slade for his round of shots. This vet guessed him at 1 year old. He is only 63 pounds. I could have sworn he was 90. He is one strong canine.

Not to forget Sable, she has a cough. The vet was kind enough to prescribe medicine for her without seeing her. The pharmacy she sent me to (Giant Eagle) will give us her antibiotic free. How cool is that?

Life is on Tilt

Taken from a road trip September 2007

My life is still on tilt shift. Still have the boxer. Not one call for him. I am thinking that family number 2 was just notified today about him being available. We shall see what the week brings.

I am now battling a sore throat, aches and pains and fatigue. I am headed for bed.

Welcome September

Jeff County Fair August 2009

Leaving August and moving into September. Labor Day week-end is just about over. I still have Slade. Ho, ho, ho. I have contacted possible family number 2 to come and get him. I've given up on family number one with the eight year old boy. I have heard nothing from them. My telephone with the answering machine is broken. I do have caller i.d. on the other phone. No calls.

I grilled chicken, hamburgers and hotdogs today. Potato salad and baked beans. Finished up with lemon pudding cake and vanilla ice cream. The cake was store bought. I am very tired.

We watched "Race to Witch Mountain." I feel this movie was much better than Dwayne's "The Game Plan" but nothing close to "The Rundown."

Yep, I'm gonna miss him

The Boxer poses for my camera

I just gave up on calling him Slade. It never did roll off the tongue. If the family that are interested come to get him this week-end the boy wants to call him Tank. I just decided to go with "The Boxer" like the Simon & Garfunkel song. Like "The Boxer" he leaves his family and finds himself in the company of strangers, runnin' scared.

I called them yesterday afternoon and told them they could come to get him any evening after five, or Saturday morning, or wait until Sunday/Monday. Personally, if I want a dog, I'd have been right there that evening at 5:15 to pick him up. No call. What if they changed their mind? Could they do that to their 8-year-old boy? I don't know.

They will probably come get him this week-end. Get him settled in over the long holiday week-end. If not, I have another family interested. I couldn't sleep last night. He has been sleeping by my bed and he keeps jumping up into my bed. I don't discourage this. If it were long term, he'd be sleeping out in the living room with Sable. He has chased most of the cats down to the basement and they are not showing their faces.

And, I do this every time. When I need to get pictures, I can't find my battery charger. Both batteries are dead and I can fire off one or two pics before I have to shut the camera down. I figure I have hours left with him and I want to get as many memories of him as I can. Early this morning (since I couldn't sleep) I looked at him in the moonlight. He seemed so lost and needy.

I wished all good things for him. I hope his new family takes him to the vet and ensures that he his healthy and well taken care of. It sure is hard to let go.

Foot warmers

Chong chewing

I have two of the most adorable foot warmers wrapped around my feet as I sit at my computer. They do not need electricity or batteries to warm my feet. They are manufacturing their own heat. Sleeping. Ahhh.

No more incidents from poor Chong. At least I know what to do, now. It is funny with the boxer. He is sleeping on the couch. Every once in a while he will snort. Our big (alpha) cat, Casper just sits in amazement and watches him. I am not entirely sure what he is thinking.

I did catch him rub up against the boxer yesterday in the kitchen. Mmm Hmm. Yeah, Casper. I saw you!

I had advertised the boxer on 'Craig's list'. I received a very nice e-mail from a person who loves boxers. They warned me of the "puppy flippers". They had recently lost a boxer to cancer and have a new one that is four months old and if I couldn't find the real owners and could not keep him for myself that they would take him. They also told me of the health issues that plague this breed.

Friday evening I will call the interested family and give them the opportunity to come and get him. I will stipulate that if for any reason they don't want him or can't keep him that they are to return him to me. No questions asked.