September 20, 2018

Just Once

Melvin sat watching me.  He watched my every move, from when I came in to when I sat down.  He never moved, other than his eyes as he watched.  Now and then his tongue would dart out or an ear would twitch as the door opened and someone either came or went.

I figured I’d be safe this time.  I’d be able to walk into the room when it was my turn without any issue.  Melvin, however, had other ideas.  As I got up, gathered my belongs, he started to slowly move into an upright position.  Before I had a chance to walk by him, he was already puffing out and doing that fast twitch of the tail that cats do.

The four-footed one, upon noticing him, naturally had to bark and lunge for him as I tried to get her into the back room to see the vet.  Just once, just one time, I’d love to be able to have the same experience everyone else has when they come to the vet with their dogs.  Just one time.  Is that asking to one much?  I know if you ask the four-footed one, she’d tell you yes, it is too much.

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September 19, 2018

Just A Little Nuts

The four-footed chased a squirrel today.  Not for the sake of chasing a squirrel as per say.  Instead she chased the squirrel for what it had in its paws.  The treasure?  A peanut.

Now the four-footed one isn’t supposed to eat peanuts and I certainly don’t give them to her.  She is enamoured with them because she likes how they taste.  And how does she know how they taste if I don’t feed them to her?  (No Beloved doesn’t give them to her either.)  you see dear fends, I have a neighbor who adores birds.  Adores them so much he leaves peanuts out for them.

The amount  of peanuts left out on a daily basis is mind-boggling to me.  Naturally the birds take the peanuts, but they don’t eat all of them.  They drop some.  And those dropped peanut so are a siren song to the four-footed one,or at least her nose.

Not only are the birds fed, but the squirrels have discovered the peanuts.  And they have set up a highway of squirrel runs from various trees and such.  Like the birds, they too drop some peanut.  And the four-footed one happily munches on those if she is allowed.

She has also learned that if the squirrels have peanuts and she chases them, they tend to drop their treasures.  And that’s her idea of fast food, or at least a snack.  The whole thing has left me, well, feeling a little nuts trying to keep the dog away from the peanuts.

 

September 18, 2018

Sweet Peace

The door closed with a soft snick, letting the sounds remain outside.  As peace descended again  in the house, I realized how large silence can be.  How it can fill a room with a comfortable blanket.  How it can wrap itself around you and weave itself into all the spaces.

I also realized just how noisy it was outside between the neighbor cutting wood and his wife running a leaf blower.  Oh and let us not forget the toddler screeching happily in time with the chain saw and the leaf blower.  It was all a bit much.

Unfortunately, closing the door meant closing out the sunlight too.  But there was no way to keep the sun and not have the noise around.  And after an hour of noise, which truly seemed like forever, we had enough.  So we closed the door, let the silence settle down peacefully around us and decided to ignore how dark it was now.

Instead we enjoyed the peace.  We sat there, book in hand for one of us, head on paws for the other of one of us, just enjoying the sound of nothing while our ears relaxed.  Until a bird decided to tease us, then one of us barked.  And the silence was broken.  Probably for good.

September 17, 2018

Too Quiet On The Bedroom Front

The four-footed one had gone off somewhere in the house while I was cooking.  I wasn’t worried because there isn’t much for her to get into that is harmful or she can harm.  Shes even come to a truce with the plants she thought she needed to fight before.

But like most people, when a smaller entity in your house is exceedingly quiet, I needed to see where she was.  Before I found her, she let me know she was in my room.  When I walked in there, she had plopped herself on my bed.  Right in the center.

I should point out that the bed is covered in white.  Because the bed is covered in white, the dog isn’t allowed on the bed until I out her purple blanket on the bed.  And naturally since she jumped on the bed, a first that I know of, without me knowing, there was no purple protective blanket.

So there she was, curled up comfortably in the center of the white comforter, barking for me to find her.  Probably because she expected me to be proud of her.  I was, instead, speechless.  And would remain so for a few minutes as I realized that while she can jump on the bed she cannot jump off it.  Oh and let us not forget that before she got off the bed, she ran al over it.

There is something to be sad about peace and quiet.  There is something to be said about the dog who is too quiet.

September 16, 2018

Awkward Pretzel Moments

A massage, I was assured would be just thing to ease pain from cramped muscles.  Cramped muscles that had given up being cramped, and now just hurt.  A light massage, with stretching.  Thinking a mild form of Thai massage.

With medical blessing I gave it a go.  Mostly out of curiosity.  Except the small lady who was to do my massage told me that mild wouldn’t solve the problem.  Oh no, much stretching and pushing would be required to get rid of the “badness” she said with a confident nod. Not really sure if this was a good idea, I decided since I was already there I should give it a go.

I was stretched, kneaded, twisted and turned.  I was chopped and pushed until I no longer knew what was happening.  Thumbs, elbows, for all I know knees, were pushed against painful areas on my body.  Rest assured the pushing was painful.

The twisting left me feeling like an awkward pretzel. The kneading left me feeling as though I had been pummelled by an angry army of children,  for all I know feet may have been used.

And now hours later, hours after the torture, some of the tightness and pain from cramps has faded.  Did the tiny lady with all that strength manage to do the unthinkable?  Or did she inflict just enough pain to take my mind off the other pain?  Who knows.  For now, I will just keep checking for bruises.

September 15, 2018

Hands Inside

With everyone back from summer vacations and what have you, my world is suddenly more filled with people. People who have germs and such.  People who may want to share their germs.  Germs I would rather not have.  So I avoid people where I can.

It isn’t that I have something against the people, and I’ve not always been someone who is, well, scared of germs.  But I am now.  Because I have lupus.  Normally this wouldn’t be an issue with germs. Lupus is your immune system in overdrive. Which, in theory, means germs do not stand a chance.  But my immune system also attacked my health cells.  This is, in practice, a very bad thing.  So I take medications to knock down my immune system.  And sometimes they do such a great job that germs happily find my body.

And those germs that manage to get into a flagging body whose immune system is not doing well, tend to enjoy their stay.  They make themselves at home.  They romp and play. They set up villages and suddenly the germs that made someone mildly sick, make me super sick.  Viruses do the same thing.

And so I tend to keep my distance.  Not because you have body odor, or bad breath.  But because you may have germs or viruses that I’d rather no have.  So please, keep your hands inside at all times and do not touch me.  Thank you!

September 14, 2018

A Flower Child Of Sorts

The four-footed one decided we needed flowers in the house today.  I’m not sure how she came to that conclusion, or how she figured out which ones to bring in the house.  All I know is that today, I had flowers, from my neighbor’s garden no less left on the floor in the house.

Muddy paw prints did not help the four-footed one hide either. They showed her exact path to hiding under the bed in the guest room.  The floor, by the way, is a light, off-white colored carpet. Now adorned with dancing, muddy paw prints going into the room, around the far side of the bed, to the other side of the bed and back to the far side before disappearing under the bed.

Now when she carried out this act of giving away something that wasn’t hers to share is beyond me.  All I know is that one minute she was outside enjoying herself and the next minute I had come into a series of red flowers on the porch, the mud room, the kitchen floor and one sad one all by itself in the hallway.  And tiny little, dirty, paw prints gave away who the secret flower giver was.

A chat with my neighbor, more an apology from me to my neighbor, gave me some insight into how my four-footed one managed to carry out the feat as she never left my yard.  Instead she apparently dug under a low spot in the fence to dig up/out the flowers.  My neighbor only noticed the missing flowers because she had been planning to go out and cut them off later on. She noticed that there was a larger hole under one spot in the fence.  Some paw prints near the hole.

The rest is pretty much history.  The mud will be removed from the carpet, the flowers have been given back to my neighbor as she wanted to press them and thought they’d still be in good shape for that. As for the four-footed one, she is proud of herself!