The B Word

As in doggy bath!

A badly needed doggy bath after what transpired this morning. First off it has been stinking hot here lately, but when we went out this morning for Millie's front yard time, time that I use to drink my coffee and sometimes do a little crocheting, time that she uses to first run madly about the yard in search of cats that might be hiding under the daisy bushes, then a more calm walk around to sniff everything, then an even calmer lets lay in the grass and watch the world go by, it seemed a little cooler and much more pleasant outside. We do the front yard time every day and she knows what 'go outside' means and gets very excited waiting for me to open the front door. She has been really good about staying inside her boundaries but still likes to warn people off with a bark if they get to close to her front yard. Anyway, since it didn't seem quite so hot I decided today would be a good day to get some much needed yard work done.

I had been wanting to take out part of the star jasmine vine that has been growing alongside the garage for quite a few years, the star jasmine vine that will overnight sprout new tendrils that tend you grab you as you walk up the sidewalk, the star jasmine vine that started out as a very small plant and grew to cover two large trellises. It had gotten so heavy on the second trellis that it has been leaning way over and really annoying me. Because I like things straight. Pictures hanging crooked drive me nuts and so does a leaning over trellis.

So, lots of chopping and lopping and I got the trellis that didn't actually have a plant growing beneath it, just branches from the original plant, all cleaned up and the branches removed, then trimmed the actual plant on the other trellis way way back. No more grabbing at me when I least expect it!

Then I cleaned out the overgrown African daisies out of one side of the front flower bed, they were starting to look half dead and maybe it's time to freshen things up out there. The front flower bed is also always full of leaves from the camphor tree so a lot of raking was also done. I went into the back yard to get the broom and when I came back out Millie was enthusiastically digging a big hole in the nice damp dirt that my raking of leaves had uncovered. Her paws were covered in mud, so after an unsuccessful attempt to wipe the mud off decided that today would be bath day.

I did a little weed whacking of the small patch of grass (weeds) that grows near the street side flower bed, the rest of the yard being basically dead because we don't water those weeds, only the ones near the flower beds that get watered when we're doing the flowers, then brought Millie inside for her bath.

She looks much cleaner now, as does the yard. I have to be in the right mood to do yard work, sometimes I wish we lived in an apartment or someplace without a yard to take care of, but when I'm finished I do feel like I really accomplished something.

Front flower bed where the hole was dug.

And star jasmine and empty trellis.

I've been doing lots of crochet while sitting in the air conditioned house and am getting a little obsessed with it. It's very relaxing and I've been doing things that get finished quickly like blanket blocks and drink coasters. I was thinking about putting the coasters in my Etsy shop but still haven't decided for sure on that. I've looked around at some other crochet type shops and it doesn't seem like they sell all that well, but it might be worth a try. I haven't made anything new for my shop in a long time, I've almost gotten to where I don't really enjoy doing the shop all that much anymore. I do like the little bit of extra money though, so I'm hesitant to completely give it up.

I am not going to show you my most recent crochet since I'm working on Christmas gifts and if I showed you that would ruin the surprise.

My Poor Neglected Blog

It's not that I've been too busy to post here, it's more like I am too lazy and/or have absolutely nothing to post about, ha ha. We are definitely living up to our reputation for being extremely boring and not doing much of anything at all. Other than cleaning up after animals of course.

It's been an odd couple of weeks on our block, first the Diesel the Dog's family moved away so Millie is a bit confused over where her little energetic friend went. She likes to go out front multiple times a day, getting all excited and dancing around by the front door when you say do you want to go outside. YES I DO want to go outside and hurry up about opening that door already! She runs out and chases off any birds that might be lurking near the bird feeder then goes and checks under the daisy bush for the cat that likes to sleep under there. Then she sniffs around for a while and eventually lays down in the yard to enjoy the sunshine and birds singing. But where is my little friend Diesel?

Then this past week the guy across the street packed up and moved back to Florida and then 2 days later the neighbors next door moved back to Visalia. It's like everyone is jumping ship around here, lots of houses up for sale in the neighborhood and it seems like you see another U-Haul truck going down the street every week.

I drink my coffee on the porch while Millie is in the yard early in the day and lately have been bringing some crochet out to work on. It's not too hot yet in the mornings to where you can't sit outside but I do look for a shady spot under the tree. We had a heat wave a week or so ago where it was over 100 each day for about 8 days, the worst day getting up to 108. We are back to the normal high 80s low 90s for a while which after the 108 day seems absolutely balmy.

Millie guarding the yard here.

I have been re-learning how to crochet, not having done any of that type of needlework in probably 25 years, but it's kind of like riding a bike, you get back on and pedal away. I did a few dishcloths but those got boring real quick so have been doing variations on granny squares and a real easy medallion pattern that I found in an old crochet book I picked up at the used book store. I have about 3 projects going because hello, boredom, I'm tired of working on this pattern and need something else for a while! This is what I'm currently working on, it is about 1/3 of the way done and will eventually be an afghan/bedspread type thing. I'm sure the cats will really enjoy it when it's spread out on the bed. That is not who I'm actually making this for but anything is fair play when it comes to a cat. Or a dog for that matter.

 

I went to the colonoscopy doctor for my follow up and while I have no weird cancers and only had one polyp that they removed, my pancreas is not working right so he prescribed digestive enzymes and gave me some samples of them. I'm having a hard time remembering to take them, which you are supposed to do every time you eat, but hopefully will get into the habit of reaching for that pill bottle before meals soon. I read the paperwork that comes with the pills and was a bit taken aback to find out that they are made out of pig pancreases.

I've gotten a little hooked on the home remodel shows on HGTV lately. I've been crocheting and 'watching' while I crochet and really like a few of the shows, they have some really good ideas on fixing up your house. Unfortunately we don't have any money to implement some of those ideas much as I'd like to. Things like tiling in your shower and updating your kitchen counters and cabinets. Also flooring, they are real big on the laminate floors that look like wood and that is what I want in this house instead of the nasty cheap carpet that we have. Someday we will get our new floors but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for them. I probably shouldn't watch those shows in the meantime because it's like going to see a model home in a new neighborhood and then coming home to your old house where it seems even smaller and older and you wish you could afford that shiny new house.

Keith is on vacation next week but I don't think we will be going anywhere except maybe out to dinner for his birthday on the 16th. He has lots of projects that he needs to work on, projects that have been waiting to be finished for years, but he started fixing the falling down fence between our house and the now vacant one so that will probably take up most of his energy for fixing things.

I am just hoping that we don't end the vacation week by strangling each other, we aren't used to so much 'together' time these days and do tend to drive each other crazy sometimes.

Millie and the Hedgehog

When I get tired of chewing on my squeaky hedgehog.

I use it as a handy pillow for my chin!

I took Miss Millie on a little walk to drop some packages off at Office Depot this morning. She was laying on the desk by the front window looking somewhat sad since Keith left yesterday morning so I thought a walk might cheer her up a little. She is doing better on her walks, not pulling as much on the leash and not barking as much at trucks, bikes, etc. I only let her walk through Office Depot if she has taken her poo on the way over, I don't want a repeat of that time she pood in Petco (but what more appropriate place to take a poo?) and if she hasn't taken a poo, carrying it is.

I keep her on a very short leash while walking through the store because she does have a tendency to sniff at people's ankles with her wet little nose and we don't want any startled shoppers. She likes to sniff at the close to the floor displays as we are quickly walking by, especially the ones that have candy in them, those big bags of M&Ms probably smell pretty good to a dog despite the fact that chocolate is very very bad for them.

Later today we will have our afternoon sit in the front yard if it is not too hot. It's been warming up here and we've actually had to turn the a/c on a few times late in the day. Summer starts early up here!

Is That a Homeless Guy Sleeping in the Grass?

This morning Keith got home from work and while I ran a few errands he said he would take Millie for a walk. She knows what the word 'walk' means and you seriously have to spell it out in front of her so she doesn't get all excited. You can't say walk and then not do it RIGHT THAT MINUTE! So not fair.

She also knows the word 'outside' and that it means we get to go out in the front yard for an hour or so. She has been behaving herself really well while out front, if she starts to wander into the neighbor's yard she will reluctantly come back after a 'Millie' and a point to where she is supposed to be. We have a few stray cats that like to sleep under our big daisy bushes so the first thing she does when she goes 'outside' is to go stick her nose into those daisy bushes to see if there is an OMG! KITTY CAT! under one of them. There sometimes is and the cat goes running and Millie is very good about just watching it go instead of chasing after it after a few times of getting in trouble for doing just that. It's funny that seeing a cat in the yard from inside the house sets her off in a tizzy of barking and growling but if she is outside then she doesn't go as nuts about the whole cats in the yard thing.

Anyway, while I was gone Keith took her for a walk and his idea of a walk is no leash around the neighborhood then a carry across the street and over to the big grassy area behind the Home Depot store. He watches her very carefully and she knows that when he whistles it's time to go to papa.

I ran my errands and then drove back home along the street by the big grassy area, thinking I might see the two of them. I saw a man laying in the grass and at first thought it was a homeless guy taking a nap and then realized that wait a minute, that is not a homeless man, that is Keith laying there and there is Millie wandering about by him.

I swung around and went down the alley between the grass and Home Depot, thinking they might want a ride home, which they did. I was glad he took her for a little outing, she gets a little sad each time he leaves for work and seems to miss him a lot.

Stinky Dog

This past week Millie has not been coming to sleep with me on the nights that Keith was at work, instead she stayed on his bed either on a shirt that he left laying there or on his pillow. I didn't really mind not having a dog in the bed with me, a dog that somehow manages to get herself right in the middle of the bed so that I wake up and have to scoot her over. I felt bad for her because I knew she was wondering if he was Ever Coming Home! but I tried a couple of times to bring her to bed with me and no, she wanted to be in his bed whether he was there or not. Well, okay then.

Last night she came to bed with me and I did indeed wake up a couple of times and had to scoot her over and in the scooting over I realized that it was bath time again. She was under the covers and as I lifted the covers to do the scooting I could smell that not so fresh doggy smell coming from her.

We are a bit lazy about bathing her on any kind of regular schedule especially in the winter when it's cold outside. She doesn't really enjoy her baths, but when we notice the stink then I guess it's time! I do need to buy a hair dryer, something I don't use myself, but it takes her a long time to get dry and she runs around the house trying to dry off on the furniture, so tomorrow I'll go to Target and see what they have. I don't think the noise will bother her since she isn't afraid of the vacuum cleaner and will sit right in its path while I'm trying to clean. We will see though, and hopefully the hair dryer won't be a waste of money since neither of us uses one, we just run around trying to dry off on the furniture, ha ha!

Speaking of wasting money, we haven't done much of that lately, only going out to eat once in the past few weeks and hey, you gotta eat anyway right? The way to not spend money is to just stay home (and don't get online, too many shopping temptations!) which makes us even more boring than usual. As you can probably tell since I'm writing a post about how stinky the dog is.

Where did the Focaccia Bread Come From?

Yesterday Millie spent most of her day napping with Keith. He had gotten in from a late shift sometime after I went to bed then woke me up with weird cooking smells coming from the kitchen about 2am. He was wanting to watch a DVD and couldn't figure out how to work the new DVD player that we had gotten along with our TV and that we really don't use since we have Netflix (yay!) now. I had to go get my glasses so I could see what I was doing and show him how to play his DVD and then went back to bed but couldn't get back to sleep.

I got back out of bed and was up until his movie was over with, trying to read my book and make myself sleepy enough to go back to bed. About 4am his movie was over with and we both went to bed. I woke up a little later than my usual time and Millie of course stayed in bed with Keith. She won't get up if he is in bed no matter what time of day it is. I did get her to come and eat her breakfast but then she went right back to bed with him.

He finally woke up in the early afternoon so Millie went outside for a bit and we were in the bedroom, me doing something on the computer while we were talking about whatever it was we were talking about. As I was coming out of the bedroom I see Millie in the front room laying on the floor by her little bed and as I wondered why she was laying by her bed and not in it I see something in her bed that at first looks like a toasted english muffin but was in fact part of a triangular piece of focaccia bread about 4" in size.

What the heck? We don't eat focaccia bread ever and even if we did she isn't tall enough to get into the trash where a piece of focaccia bread might be. Did we leave the gate open and she found it on the street? No, the gate was shut so she must have found it in our yard, but who's been eating focaccia bread in our back yard?

We finally figured out that someone next door may have tossed it over the fence for her, maybe to get her to shut her yapping when they were taking the trash out. She yaps the entire time the poor homeowners get anywhere near their trash cans, which are in their side yard right next to our side yard.

Needless to say I did not let her eat her focaccia bread.

Keith has been able to work yard jobs this past week but is fully expecting being bumped by someone with more seniority any minute now. We did find out that if he has to go on furlough the health insurance does stay in effect for 3 months, so that's a relief considering we have lots of appointments coming up and I still need to see someone about my digestive issues. The MRI showed nothing that would be causing it, no inflammation or diverticulitis, so next step is to make an appointment with a gastro doctor, which I'm going to put off until after I see my regular doctor in a couple of weeks.

We also found out that the railroad unemployment actually pays more than we thought, we kept hearing a figure of $500.00, which we thought was for 2 weeks, but actually for one, so he would get enough to at least keep the house payment and most of the bills paid. So, we should be able to squeak by. The company guys seem to think this slowdown is going to last for quite a while what with stock markets crashing and China doing whatever China is doing and oil prices down so low and election years and all that other stuff that makes economies go into slumps. You know something is really wrong when big companies like Walmart and Target start closing down stores.

The New Year So Far

Has been kind of expensive, actually.

One of my 'resolutions' ha ha, was to save more money this year, no more spending on food we don't eat, limiting our eating out to occasional instead of frequent because I don't feel like cooking and nothing sounds good anyway, no buying unneccessaries and getting our savings account built back up.

It hasn't started out too well, even before New Year's day Keith became very ill and had to go to the doctor, ding ding ding, and also lost out on a few days pay since they don't have such a thing as sick pay. Then we hear that layoffs are coming soon, a few guys already getting cut off on the 1st and a Happy New Year to them! Keith thought he was safe but rumor is that more cuts are coming so we are nervously waiting to see what happens with that. He only has 8 people under him so if they cut more than 8 then there he goes.

Oh, and the day Keith got sick we had just gone to the grocery store together, which is always a mistake because he is quite the impulse buyer when it comes to grocery stores, so there went about $200.00 and then he was too sick to eat the food that he bought. He is feeling better and has gone back to work but may not have work to go to next week.

Then yesterday we had to take the dog to the vet. Keith had gotten home late the night before and woke up in the morning to Millie shaking her head and scratching at her ear like something was in it. She had thrown up the day before but I had given her a different brand of dog food that I thought was the reason for the upchucking but Keith said she had thrown up a few days before that. So, off to the vet where it turns out she may have pancreatitis since she has been sneaking into the cat food and cat food in small dogs can be quite toxic. I knew it wasn't good for them and would shoo her away if I caught her snacking in the cat food bowl but I had no idea that it could be quite so serious. I feel like a terrible dog parent and am keeping all the cat food up on counters and tables from now on.

The vet recommended bloodwork and such and while we were waiting in the room Millie pooped on the floor. He said her poo was very oily which was also a sign of pancreatitis so she got bloodwork and shots and meds to take home, all to the tune of $500.00. Very expensive lesson learned here.

I'm am hoping she will be okay, she is on a diet of boiled chicken and rice for a while and is feeling a little less energetic than usual, I'm assuming the meds make her a little sleepy. She was looking around for the cat food yesterday and found a few crumbs by where their bowls were and before I could stop her gobbled them up. Agh.

Oh, nothing was wrong with her ear except for a few stray hairs that might have been irritating her.

Kind Of Like a Pack Mule

I really felt like one Monday morning when I got ready to take the weekend's worth of Etsy orders over to Office Depot to drop them off in the mail. And I'm so happy that I can just go over to Office Depot to drop things off instead of having to drive 7 miles one way to the post office, which is hard to do when you don't always have a car available.

I had 15 orders to go out and had a tote bag full to go into the bike basket and then instead of trying to hang another tote bag full from the handlebars decided to cram them into my backpack. So, basket full and backpack full and on my back and then purse hanging from my shoulder off I went. And yes indeed I did feel like a pack mule and it's a good thing the bike ride only takes a few minutes.

It was a busy weekend filling those orders, not that I'm complaining about lots of orders, and then a busy day yesterday filling 5 more orders, one of which was for 60 paper ornaments, like these ones below, which take a while to make what with gluing the ribbon hangers on the back and then covering the glued on ribbon with paper and 60 of them did take all afternoon and then some. I like to pack my orders the night before since I never know if I will be able to get on the computer first thing in the morning, like this morning when Keith was still sleeping. The 60 ornament order finally got packed up and shipping label printed about 10pm.

And today no orders so far and I'm kind of glad because I'm kind of tired.

I went to bed last night and then got woken up about 2am with Millie squeaking her squeak toy because Keith had come home and was playing with her. Then Millie got back into bed with me but Mimi wanted in too and Millie snarled and growled at her because how dare she try to get in bed too. Also because the two of them kind of got into it yesterday and Millie is now a little scared of Mimi. I think she jumped on the bed yesterday afternoon and either jumped on Mimi or startled her and Mimi started snarling and hissing and Millie started yelping and then went and hid under the bed.

Then about 4:30 Millie starts barking so I look out the window and see a cat crossing the yard and see another cat on the sidewalk. I rapped on the window to scare the cat off but it just turned around and looked at me and then I'm like hey, that cat looks familiar, is that Buddy out there and if so what in the world is he doing out front?

I go to the door and yes, it's Buddy and Millie is all excited ready to rush out the door so I have to keep her back while letting Buddy in since I don't want to have to chase Millie back into the house at 4:30 am.

Then it takes me a long time to get back to sleep and between working all day yesterday and my sleep getting disturbed last night I am tired.

Millie also grossed me out some the other day when I went into the bedroom and found her sitting near the litter box with three poo balls on the floor near her, poo balls that I can only surmise she dug out of the litter box and I was so hoping she hadn't eaten any because ICK. I know dogs do that all the time but still, ICK! Doggy tootsie rolls!

She knew she was in a little trouble but is trying to look oh so innocent here.

Going For A Walk

I've been really lazy about taking Millie out for her walks. It's not like it's a huge chore, she is a small dog with short little legs so really doesn't need a long walk. Just up the street and back but being the lazy person that I am I really have to force myself to get up and go.

But I did this morning and will try to do it most mornings from now on.

For such a small dog she is very strong and pulls on the leash because she wants to go as fast as possible. That is the part that I don't like, the leash pulling, and I suppose I could take her to a learn how to walk on a leash doggy class, but the laziness comes into play here plus the fact that she is so aggressive with other dogs that she would just bark and growl and probably get suspended from school. I could hire a personal trainer, but here comes lazy again and I guess I'll just put up with the leash pulling for now.

She is so funny, when you put her harness on she knows she is going for a walk but doesn't run to the door like a normal dog would, instead she freezes and stands there so I have to pick her up and take her to the door. Once the door is open off she goes, but she hates the harness and has to stop four or five times and shake herself in the hopes that the harness will come off.

Then up to the main street outside the neighborhood, after having a few showdowns with other dogs inside the neighborhood, dogs that were in garages or front yards that Millie started barking and growling at, I've found that the outside street is much less distracting for her. Now that she has gotten used to car noises she doesn't bark at vehicles as much, just the occasional bus and if a motorcycle goes by then she HAS to bark at that.

She walks fast but then stops to sniff at things and tinkle on things and of course take a poo. She didn't like turning around when it was time to head back so I've figured out a way to trick her. There is an intersection at the street up by the school with a 3 way stop, so we cross the street there at the top crosswalk, then the side crosswalk, then the bottom and back to where we were but she doesn't realize that we are turning around, hence no sitting and refusing to move.

I didn't put her jacket on this morning since it wasn't all that cold. I had my jacket on but after walking fast with her, was really ready to take it off by the time we got home, I was getting hot!

Adult Diaper Time?

One of the really *fun* things about getting older is that when you cough or sneeze unexpectedly sometimes you pee your pants. Like yesterday evening. I had taken my shower and was in my nightgown getting ready to relax on the couch with some TV watching when COUGH! and oh my god I have to run down the hallway to the bathroom RIGHT NOW! And then trying to run down the hallway and coughing again and more peeing as I'm running and maybe I need those Tena pads or some Depends!

Then it happened again this morning. I didn't think I needed to pee but when I coughed suddenly it was time to run down the hallway again.

Just one of the perks of being (ack) 60 I guess.

We have not done a whole lot around here lately but we are enjoying the weather finally getting cool enough to not have to run the air conditioner anymore knock on wood. Our fall comes late, the leaves have barely started turning on the trees while I see pictures on people's blogs of trees in full fall mode and people buying pumpkins all bundled up in sweaters and gloves. The people, not the pumpkins. We are still in our t-shirts here and still have the ceiling fans going all day (and night). I do like having the windows and doors open except when all the gardeners come all at once and start mowing and leaf blowing, then I have to go shut everything again because it gets so loud. We don't have a gardener, being too cheap to pay for one and also no grass growing right now because we don't waste water on the (dead) grass.

Millie is currently laying on the shorts that Keith left on top of his unmade bed when he went off to work last night, she misses him when he is gone.

Sad little puppy face.

Millie Malone

Keeping the world safe from tiny bird feathers since 2015.

This morning I'm trying to feed cats and get my coffee going and Millie is out in the side yard barking and barking and barking. She has a rather high pitched yappy bark and I know it's annoying for our neighbors so I try to go out and see what she is barking at within a minute or two.

She was doing her 'I'm kind of scared but I'm also brave' barking thing at something by the gate and that something was a bird feather about 1" long. So scary!

She's barked at tiny bird feathers quite a few times so I should be used to it by now, but it always makes me laugh that first, she finds the tiny bird feather in all the leaves and dirt and other stuff in the back yard, and second, she is so very frightened by them. I'll usually show her that it's just a tiny bird feather but then she wants to eat it, so...into the trash it goes and out of sight out of mind. Tiny doggy mind.

 She is jumping up trying to eat the feather and save me from it here.

Funny dog.

We actually had a little bit of rain this week and for us that is a monumental event. It was quite exciting and we had a couple of very damp cats that either enjoyed the rain too much to come inside or were just too stupid to come inside. Or a little of both.

Millie is Keeping Us All Safe!

From stray bits of cat hair fuzz.

I was trying to clean bathrooms and such this morning and Millie was yap yap yapping in the back yard. I usually go out there to see what's up pretty quickly, but was busy so waited until I was finished, cringing with each yap because there is nothing worse than a dog owner ignoring their dog out there yapping. Sorry, neighbors!

I go out and there she is yapping at a bit of fuzzy cat fur on the patio. Bad cat fuzz!

Grrrr!

The World's Most Expensive Doggy Bed

New love seat? Check. New recliner? Check. Dog jumping up into new love seat and new recliner because she can? Check.

Here it is, Millie's new doggy bed. She is only allowed to sit on the side where I've put the blanket. We will see how long that lasts.

I went to Target and found a throw for the recliner after it was delivered yesterday afternoon. Keith suggested putting something over the back of it when he's napping so that he doesn't get the new chair all stained with sweat or whatever the old sofa got stained with so badly. I said, you mean an antimacassar? A what? So I had to show him pictures of crocheted antimacassars and he was like NO, no crochet. No antimacassar, which you can buy a few styles of on Amazon. So I found a nice soft plush type throw for $14.99 and that will have to do for our antimacassar.

Because this is just too too creepy.

The other day I went out back for a bit and I could hear a far away sounding MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW, a bit of a distress type meow, so I started looking around the yard for whoever was meowing, didn't see Buddy anywhere, so looked on top of the patio cover since he'd gotten himself stuck up there once, but no Buddy up there. Then I checked the shed since a few cats have gotten locked in there, but no Buddy. I'm hearing the distress meow over and over again while I'm looking around the yard, and as I'm looking behind the shed see a glimpse of movement on the other side of the fence.

And there is Buddy in our neighbor's yard and how he got over there I'll never know because he has never before attempted to climb the fence. I went and knocked on the neighbor's door but nobody home and her side gate was locked, so good thing Keith was home. I woke him up from his nap to come rescue Buddy. You can't climb the fence because the wood is so old and rotting that it won't hold someone trying to climb over it, so Keith got his trusty drill and unscrewed one of the boards so that Buddy could slip through to our side of the fence. He immediately headed for the water bowl, all that meowing made him very thirsty and who knows how long he'd been meowing before I heard him.

Keith said that he had been out front with him when he'd had the garage door open earlier in the day, so all we can think is that something scared Buddy enough to run and climb over the fence, unfortunately the wrong fence where he ended up in the wrong yard.  Buddy acts tough, but he is just a big old pussy and scares easily. Hence the hiding in the garage each week when the trash truck comes up the street. Also hiding in the garage if the doorbell rings.

It's A Good Thing

That Millie doesn't tinkle when she gets excited like a lot of dogs do. Otherwise there would have been tinkle all over the house when Keith got home yesterday. She gets SO happy when he walks in the door and jumps all over him, runs around the house like a maniac, grabs her toys and shakes them, then runs around some more and then jumps on him some more. He played with her for a while and then took her for a walk, me still not feeling well from my cold and with no energy to go out walking. Then, they were both tired so onto the couch for a nap.

She was laying next to him with her head hanging off the couch, which didn't look all that comfortable to me, so I tried to rearrange her body just a bit.

I got a book on chihuahuas and how to train them (which sounds like a whole lot of work) but it was interesting to read about their temperament and learn a little more about our little doggy. She is not all chihuahua, having that dachshund mom or dad in there, but I figured part chihuahua means chihuahua traits and the book might be helpful. It came with a training video that I haven't watched yet but will soon. Chihuahuas are small but fearless so you really have to keep an eye on them when they are out where dangers might lurk, like other bigger dogs. You also have to watch that you don't step on them, which has happened a few times already, me and Keith both having stepped on her paws. Yelp! They are very playful and energetic (no kidding!) and very protective of their people.

Mimi Sitting on Things Again

Mimi and Buddy both don't like the dog all that much, maybe because Millie has barked and snarled at the both of them when they've tried to get up on the bed when one of us was already in it and she was feeling extra protective. Buddy will hiss at her and then go somewhere else when she is around. She has no problem at all with the other three indoor cats and the two cats outside. Harri sleeps at the foot of my bed most nights and Millie crawls under the covers and they both get along just fine all night. Pepper just kind of ignores Millie but Bear is quite curious although a little intimidated. Millie likes Bear and will come right up to her and sniff her and Bear will just sit there. If Millie is on the couch next to me Bear is not afraid to get up on the arm of the couch and sit there to be petted.

I took Millie for her walk this morning, hoping the promised rain would hold off until after the walk, and so far it has, hours later now. Keith did call from Barstow and said it had started raining there, so hopefully we will get some here sometime today. It's been chilly the past few days and I'm glad I didn't get rid of the well worn winter clothes just yet, I almost did thinking that it wasn't going to get cold again what with all the warm days we've been having lately. Sorry, rest of the country, I know your weather is ridiculously unbearable right now with no end in sight. Anyway, Millie the little yappy dog is still kind of a pain to take for a walk what with her pulling on the leash and getting all the dogs in the neighborhood to bark as we go by. We were coming down the sidewalk and a couple with two small dogs were coming the other way and knowing what Millie does when other dogs come along, I stepped to the side and crouched down to hold her still while she barked furiously at the other dogs. She kind of wants to go check them out but is also doing her protection thing. I'm beginning to think I need to call a dog trainer or something. They do have a dog class that I see every Saturday walking the well behaved dogs around behind the pet store, but I think they are the advanced class and all she would do is bark and lunge. Bark and lunge. Plus, they do their class really early in the morning and I'm just not that ambitious first thing in the morning. We will see, I did pick her up and carried her a couple of times this morning when she got too excited and strained too much at the leash, maybe if I don't let her walk when she's acting like that she will get the message.

She also really likes motorcycles and when they go by gets very excited and barky and tries to run after them.

I have not been feeling like doing much of anything lately, yesterday Keith was sleeping most of the day so I read books until I almost had to take a nap from all the inactivity. I did get the vacuum cleaner out this morning and did the front bedroom and hallway, then wheeled it into the living room where it is still sitting. Mimi has a thing for the coiled up cord and really likes to sit on it.

Silly, silly kitty.

Hunks of Meat and Flowers Blooming

The other day Keith got home from work early in the morning and decided to go do some shopping, then decided he wanted to invite Joe and Elizabeth over for some barbecue dinner. He spent a bunch of money on pork tri-tips and whole chickens then had to do more shopping to get the things you stick the chicken on to roast them in the barbecue, then spent the afternoon in the back yard drinking beer and cooking meat. He thought everything was cooked, the outsides of the chickens and pork tri-tips (which I didn't even know there was such a cut of pork) were crispy and delicious looking but when he started cutting into it all, blood blood and more blood. Gag.

So, as the kids got here for dinner, the chicken and pork got cut up and put in the oven to finish cooking.

When we finally sat down to eat, Keith gave Millie some big chunks of pork, which she grabbed up in her little mouth and then took to the flower bed to bury. I checked Keith's work lineup after we finished eating and it looked like he'd be going out in the middle of the night, so he went to bed early and the kids went on home. Then later as I was watching TV Millie wanted to go outside and I let her, thinking she needed to do her business.

Her business was digging up the previously buried pork meat rather than taking a tinkle, which I found out when she came to the door to be let back in and she had a big chunk of it in her mouth. Before I could grab her to get it out of her mouth, she was running down the hall with it, presumably to re-bury it in some bed pillows or a laundry basket. I did catch up with her and took the meat away, much to her dismay.

Then later we repeated the whole digging up the meat thing with the second piece being brought into the house, but this time I caught her at the door.

She wasn't real happy with me taking the meat away so I made her a plate of some of the chicken and some cottage cheese which seemed to appease her.

She has gone back to one of the burying spots a few times, looking for more treasure.

As we were sitting in the backyard waiting for food to cook, I noticed that our non-flowering plum tree is flowering. Yeah, that doesn't make sense, it flowers but no fruit so I guess that's the non-flowering part. Just a few blooms so far, but give it a few days and it will be covered in flowers.

We've been letting the cats go out and enjoy the weather quite a bit these past few weeks, Buddy has really been enjoying it to the point where he was outside almost all day yesterday and well into the evening. He was laying in wait under the bird feeder hoping for a fat juicy bird which I'm sure he wouldn't know what to do with if he caught one, other than play with it.

So What Do You Call a Bunch of Cats?

I know it's a herd of deer or cattle, a gaggle of geese, a murder of crows, a flock of birds, a pride of lions, but what do you call a gathering of cats? They don't normally travel in packs, so maybe there is no name for a bunch of cats hanging around together. A pitter patter of cats? A nuisance of cats? A gang  of cats? A felicity of felines?

This is definitely a gang going on across the street, ready to rumble and up to no good. The cat I so unaffectionately call the black and white bastard appears to be the ringleader. Lately I've seen these cats running in a pack around the neighborhood and spending lots of time in the yard across the street, the owner rarely being at home because of his work. I don't know where all these cats are coming from, but our one neighbor has been trapping and spaying or neutering them and then returning them to the neighborhood. At least some of them anyway, the kittens born in her back yard. I'm thinking a couple of these cats are from those litters.

It's a little hard to tell, but there is the one white cat, the black and white cat and a black cat all nonchalantly sitting there.

This morning I took Millie for her first walk since her spay and in front of the neutering lady's house there were 5 or 6 cats under a truck and of course Millie wanted to get at those cats! Then on our way back the truck they were under was gone and they were now under another truck. And Millie still wanted to get at them.

Our evenings have been interrupted by the sound of yowling and fighting cats and let's not even talk about the stench of cat urine by our front walkway where they like to spray.

We've always had a problem with strays in this neighborhood but at least they are cats and not dogs like some neighborhoods in this town where packs of dogs run loose all day.

Anyway.

Millie enjoyed her walk this morning, I didn't take her far since she is just done recuperating from her operation. Yesterday I took her in the car to drop a package at Office Depot and get her a new bigger harness at Petco. She couldn't quite figure out why we weren't going for a walk since her leash was on but she did pretty well except that she pooped in the aisle at Petco. I did clean it up and we did get her a bigger harness and yet another new toy.

Napping And Nothing Much Else

I took Millie's doughnut collar off this morning after checking her spay incision to make sure it's healed up enough to withstand a dog's tongue licking away at it. Yes, it is, and yes, she is relieved to have that thing off of her neck. We'll get back to our daily walks in another few days, I'm sure she will be more than ready for that. It's supposed to rain over the weekend so as soon as that stops long enough, out we go!

When Keith gets home she is so excited to see him, jumping and wriggling around, and her next favorite thing to do is take a nap with him.

It's been fairly quiet around here this week, really nothing much going on. The weather has been really nice, warm enough to have the windows open and I noticed that the asian pear trees on the main street outside our neighborhood are already starting to bloom. Seems weird when they do that every February as we are seeing reports of devastating snow storms elsewhere in the country and here we are with trees blooming already. Our little oak tree is starting to bud, so leaves on that pretty soon.

Last night Keith almost set the kitchen on fire, something I've done a time or two when I've gotten distracted and forgot that the stove was on. He was cooking some kielbasa to add to some dirty rice mix to take on the road with him and went into the bedroom to do something on the computer. Next thing I know I'm smelling burning food in the pan that he left on very high heat and the kitchen is filling up with smoke. Which of course made the smoke alarm go off, a new smoke alarm that fortunately is not as ear piercing as the old ones we had but still plenty loud. The pan may be ruined, I left it filled with soapy water overnight and haven't felt like seeing if it's salvageable yet. It's an old pan, so replacing it wouldn't bother me too much. The house did stink the rest of the night despite the two Febreeze candles I had going. When I went to bed hours later I could still smell it in the bedroom.

I hope he enjoys his kielbasa and dirty rice because he won't be able to eat rice anymore. His lab work came back and he is definitely in the diabetic range right along with me and rice is a big no-no. So is pasta, bread, and potatoes. And anything else that is fun to eat, like doughnuts. Even bananas have too much sugar. We did have a healthy dinner last night, grilled pork chops, sauteed zucchini and salad. All eaten in a house that smelled like burned food.

Dog Spay and Yard Clean Up

Yesterday I mowed and weed whacked the front yard while Keith napped and then finally came out to help spray weed killer around the front patio where weeds had come up between the bricks. We have had such a small amount of rain so far this winter but that little bit of rain sure got those weeds growing. We won't even talk about the back yard except to say that the mixture of weeds and grass is about 2 feet high in some places. The dog and the cats kind of like it though, they like to eat the grass and also hide in it. Keith was supposed to clean all that up. Someday maybe he will get to it.

Anyway, he forgot to shut the gate after he put the weed killer away and when Millie went out late in the afternoon to take care of business she of course discovered the open gate. I was sitting in the back yard and heard her barking but the barking sounded like it was coming from further away than usual, so inside I went to look out front since I didn't have my shoes on and didn't want to walk through all the sort of muddy dirt in the side yard to check on things.

Sure enough, there she is in the front yard barking away. Freedom! I grabbed my shoes and some doggy treats for luring purposes and by the time I got out the front door she was across the street at our neighbor Colby's front door. He has a little blind weenie dog (can't remember how to spell dachsund) that Millie probably heard barking when his doggy care lady came to feed him. Colby works a job that has him on the road much of the time so he has a pet sitting service that comes twice a day to check on the dog. The stray cats also love his front door and sit there quite frequently and also pee there quite frequently. His front door probably smells even worse than ours from the stray cats spraying the doors. He has a little stone dog statue by his door and when I got across the street Millie had discovered it and was growling at it. Thinking it was a real dog I'm assuming. I got her picked up and back across the street. Bad Girl!

She had her spay done last week and has been much quieter than usual while she heals. I've been kind of surprised at how quiet she has been, I thought it might be an issue trying to keep her calm, remembering kitten spay and neuters where they acted just like they did before, especially Buddy who had his cone of shame off within a few hours and was ready to play at like 3 am. We did take her inflatable collar off for a bit the other day but that was a mistake because lick, lick, lick, and her incision was all irritated looking. I've been cleaning it twice a day with peroxide and putting neosporin on it like the doctor said and after we put her collar back on it's looking pretty good. She actually grabbed her Lamb Chop toy this morning, but other than that has not even played with any toys. Lots of sleeping and just resting going on.

If you ever have a dog or cat that has surgery, by all means get the inflatable collar, so much more comfortable for them that those horrible plastic things.

Last night I was cleaning the cat box and Mimi decided my bent over body looked like a good thing to climb on.

It's a little difficult to walk around with a cat on your neck.

We're Sick And Some Dog Antics

Keith came home a few weeks ago with what he calls the Barstow Crud. Coughing, achy, sore throat, unable to sleep because of all the coughing. I got it about a week ago (thanks a lot!) and now I'm coughing and achy and have a sore throat. Also unable to sleep because of the coughing.

Apparently everyone is getting it this winter and it's just something you have to let run its course, drinking lots of fluids and taking lots of medicine in the meantime. I haven't had a cold in a few years now and wish I hadn't caught this one.

I made Keith take the dog for her walk this morning, yesterday I took her on two walks, a long one in the morning when we went to Petco for a new toy and a shorter one early in the evening. She is such a barker, she barked at every single person while walking along in front of the stores in the shopping center where Petco is, and then barking at three little kids in a shopping cart while in line to pay for her toy and some cat food. Then last night Joe and Elizabeth came by for a bit and she sat on my lap growling at them. She finally calmed down and realized they were not a threat to her or me. Very protective little dog with that little dog with a big bark thing going on.

Her new toy is already missing a bow and part of an ear. It is a pirate monkey named Scurvy. Odd to name a toy after a terrible disease but catchy all the same. Here she is enjoying her new toy in the back yard.

And here is Scurvy minus his bow.

She curled up in Keith's laundry basket the other day. All nice and smelly dirty clothes to lay on.

Other than dog stuff, nothing much else going on. I haven't had a whole lot of energy to do much other than the basics that you need to do every day. I did make some soup a few days ago, I had bought a can of Wolfgang Puck's chicken and wild rice soup and couldn't eat most of it because the chicken and carrots that they use in soups are really kind of gross and it wasn't all that good, sorry Wolfgang, but your canned soup is not all that.

I wanted to make my own chicken and wild rice soup so I found an easy enough recipe online and made my soup. Instead of expensive wild rice I used a boxed wild and white rice mix without the seasoning for the rice and left out the mushrooms that the recipe had in there (gag). It also called for slivered almonds which sounded odd and really didn't go with a creamy type soup. Creamy then crunchy is not my idea of soothing chicken and rice soup. Keith liked the almonds which surprised me because he usually doesn't like almonds in his food. Next time I make it I will leave the almonds as a topping instead of in the soup.