so today . . . our doggies were at the vet. all day. they had their teeth cleaned...
i know, this sounds crazy. we've never had any of our dogs' teeth cleaned. ever. but milo has really, really bad breath. and we can't trim mia's nails, which are getting dangerously long. and both pups need their shots because it is time to renew their licenses. so when we got a sale flyer from the vet just down the street from us advertising a doggie dental special, we decided to take advantage of it.
our dogs don't have a regular vet. they are healthy beasts, and usually i just take them to petco for their shots. but they are getting older, and when we moved to within a mile of a pet hospital, it seemed like a good idea to find a doctor for our pups. because as they get older, if they have health problems, it would be nice to be able to take them to someone who knows them. so taking them in to get their teeth cleaned was really only an excuse. we needed a doggie doctor.
when i called last week to get an appointment, i was informed that before the dental procedure could be performed, our pups needed a pre-op appointment. ok, i could understand that. they were going to go under a general anesthesia, so it made sense that the vet wanted to be sure that they were in good general health first. since the facility is only 3/4 of a mile from our house, we decided to walk the pups to their appointment. our hope was that they would be relaxed and a little bit tired when we got them there.
it didn't work.
milo took two steps into the waiting room and hit the brakes. i mean, he HIT THE BRAKES! i have never seen him do that before. one second he was walking happily along, and the next second his claws were spread out, his rear end was in the air and his head and shoulders were planted on the floor. he was not budging! i called. i coaxed. i pulled on his leash. he didn't move. i finally had to pick him up and carry him in...
mia, on the other hand, walked in and immediately went into panic mode. she shook. her tail was so far forward between her legs that it almost reached her neck! she was panting. she jumped up in rollie's lap and down on the floor and up in my lap and down on the floor. she paced. she panted some more. she wanted to be held, but she didn't want to be held.
and this went on for half an hour, because it didn't take us nearly as long to walk 3/4 of a mile as we thought it would, so we were early. of course.
once i got milo into the waiting room, he was fine. there was another small dog waiting for their appointment, wearing the 'cone of shame.' as soon as milo saw her, he started wagging his tail and whining. suddenly he was mr. personality. and then a big dog walked in, and milo went into 'who do you think you are? get out of my waiting room!' mode. he went on point. his tail stood straight up. his hackles raised. he barked! repeatedly!! and this obnoxious behavior continued with every big dog that walked in. i finally took him outside. which made mia even more nervous!
we couldn't win...
at last they called our name. we walked into the exam room and met our new vet, dr. marchand. he was very nice, and milo warmed up fairly quickly. but mia was having none of it! her tail was still between her legs. she was still panting. she had one eye on the door and one eye on the vet. after a few minutes, he decided to complete milo's exam and then took him down the hall for his shots. but mia was... let's just say, very resistant to any contact. at all. he finally managed to do a quick exam to make sure that she could undergo the dental procedure, and then said that maybe it would be best to just give her her shots while she was out for the surgery. and then he gave us some tranquilizers for her.
a smart move on his part :)
rollie had to get up at 5:45 this morning to give mia her tranquilizer, because today was dental procedure day. the tranquilizer was supposed to relax her so that she wouldn't be so anxious. and on a normal dog, it probably would have worked, but mia is not normal. mia likes to be in control and on alert. rollie gave her 1 1/2 tablets, but she fought off that tranquilizer like her life depended on it. and so, at 8:00 this morning we sat in the vet's office with a repeat performance of our first visit.
and then they came and took our pups. i cried. i cried! i never cry. and i knew they were going to be fine, and i knew this was something that needed to be done, but when i watched them walk through that door back to the surgery area all alone, i cried. there was no way they could understand what was about to happen to them. i was especially worried about mia, because we got her from the pound, so she had spent at least a few days in a cage, and i was worried that she would think we had sent her away, back to a cage. and then there is milo... who just needs a face to lick and a lap to sit it. he is always so happy and loveable. he was not going to understand being all alone in a cage.
our dogs don't go anywhere. they are always at home. together. free! when we go on vacation, we find someone to come and stay at home with them. so i knew they weren't going to understand why they were all alone in a strange place. i hoped that the vet gave them something to make them sleep all day... although seeing how mia fought the tranquilizers, i wasn't sure they had enough drugs in the whole place to make her sleep...
it was a long day. i kept watching the clock and my phone. i knew they wouldn't do the procedure until about 11:00, and dr. marchand said he would call when they started to wake up around 3:30, and so i waited and watched.
at 3:30 my phone rang. the puppies were fine. well, mia was fine. milo had to have 6 teeth removed and was going to have to have an antibiotic for a week, but he had survived. their teeth were clean, their shots had been given, and their nails were trimmed. we went to pick them up and mia was sooo ready to go home! milo just kept looking at me like, "don't ever try that again!"
my only hope is that their little doggie brains will forget today's ordeal. because i know this is not their last trip to see the vet. i know they are going to have to go back. they will need shots again. they will need their nails trimmed again. and it is possible that they will need their teeth cleaned again...
maybe next time rollie and i should take the tranquilizers...
Showing posts with label dogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dogs. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Monday, October 17, 2011
dog walkers
so today . . . we walked the dogs. and i cooked. i'm pretty sure they are passing out coats and mittens in hell...
things have kind of gotten out of control around here. (is gotten even a word? i mean, i know i don't use capital letters when i blog. and i've totally butchered all the grammatical rules of sentence structure and paragraph formation. by choice. for effect. but i think i draw the line at using words like 'wanna' and 'gonna.' i'm just not sure if gotten fits into that category...) we have been busy. we have no consistency or predictability to our schedules. when we come home from work, there is always something that needs to be done. and on those rare times when nothing is demanding our immediate attention, we sort of just want to sit. we don't want to go change into our sneakers and walk the dogs. or cook. i know these are two separate issues, but for some strange reason, in my mind they are connected...
i know we need to walk the dogs--mia needs to expend some of her excess energy, which she usually reserves so that she can bark at whatever happens to walk past our house, and milo... well, milo is chubby. exceptionally chubby. i worry about milo's weight. and mine, just a little bit, because i have noticed that i can no longer eat a dozen chocolate chip cookies from del taco all by myself in one day and still comfortably get into my jeans. and i'm not buying bigger jeans! at least, not yet...
i've been planning to walk the dogs for quite some time now. in fact, it has been one of my new year's resolutions for the past few years. but since i keep making the same resolution over and over and over again, you can probably figure out that my follow through is not all that good. i've read that to be consistent with exercise, you need to "buddy up" with someone. of course the logical someone for me to buddy up with is rollie. i've brought it up a few times, but he always scoffs and sneers and looks at me like, "what?!? do i LOOK like a little old lady?? walking isn't REAL exercise. REAL exercise requires a ball and rules and a referee. besides, you would never be able to keep up with me. i would have to walk so slowly to stay with you, that it wouldn't do any good at all."
(i feel i should just point out here that rollie never actually said any of those words. that is just the conversation that happened in my head when i said, "maybe you should walk with me," and he looked at me with an expression of confusion and disbelief. i don't recall he ever actually said any words. but i could read it all in his face...)
and truthfully, i didn't really push it. because if he walked with me then i couldn't listen to my ipod--i would be forced to have a conversation. not that i don't like to talk to my husband, it's just that i never get to listen to my ipod, and walking is the perfect opportunity. plus, if rollie decided he wanted to walk with me, then i couldn't wimp out. i would have to go. every day. and while one part of my brain really wants that, another part just wants to watch tv and drink soda pop. and so, it has been several months since i walked the dogs...
and then, a couple of weeks ago, rollie came home from a meeting and said, "i think we should start walking the dogs together."
whaaaat?!?!?! seriously?!?!??!? because as i said, every time i brought it up, his expression pretty much said, "walking is sissy exercise!" but instead of reminding him of that, i just said, "thank you Jesus!" and listened to his plan. he had apparently heard a speaker talk about stress and health and how walking was probably the best daily exercise to do--it can be done anywhere, any time, it doesn't require any special equipment or a gym membership, and half an hour a day is adequate. rollie, of course, thought we should walk an hour. because, you know, if half an hour is adequate, then an hour would be better! so last monday, we walked the dogs...
the first obstacle was getting them leashed up. they are used to wearing collars, but when we walk them, they need harnesses. because mia thinks she is a contender for the kentucky derby, and milo thinks he is a big dog, capable of taking down any cat or rotweiller we happen to encounter. yes, they can be a little hard to control... rollie, bless his little pink heart, was going to walk mia. he thought she should sit and stay while he put her harness on, and then walk calmly beside him. silly boy! clearly he has never walked mia. she gets so excited to go for a walk that she can't stop wiggling and jumping around. and the more he said, "mia! sit!" the more excited she got! and then, there's milo. he is perpetual motion. and trying to get his harness snapped around his chubby little body is always a challenge. but we finally managed to get the harnesses on and the leashes clipped and headed out the door into our new neighborhood. with our dogs. for the first time. together...
since our dogs are different sizes--as are rollie and i--finding a pace we can all live with isn't that easy. we all start out really fast, but milo fades first. when milo fades, we all slow down. the first day we walked, he didn't even make it half way around the block. and when i say he didn't make it, what i mean is he just stopped walking. he stopped. he wouldn't budge. he plopped his 18 pound body down and refused to move. he was done. so, i picked him up and carried him the rest of the way. mia was glad to pull rollie along, and since we had only been walking for about five minutes, i just kept going... carrying our 18 pound chihuahua.
that was day one. on day two, milo made it quite a bit further. on day three, he did pretty good again, but still needed to be carried about half of the way home. rollie had seen me carry milo the previous two days, me with my scrawny little arms, and so he thought he would be nice and give me a break. he took milo in his arms and gave me mia's leash. we hadn't gone far when he said, "this dog is heavy! i don't know how you carried him so long!!" i know he was thinking, "i don't know how you carried him so long with those scrawny little arms," but he didn't say it. he didn't say it, because my scrawny little arms had carried that fat, little dog longer than his big muscular arms had. "it's the mom in me," i said. "moms have to be able to carry at least 20 pounds around. think about how much toddlers weigh!" i don't really mind carrying milo while we finish walking. i've seen people walk with hand held weights for increased exercise benefits--my extra 20 pounds is just furry and cute! but we do get some funny looks...
our neighborhood is pretty quiet. it is a walled community. walled, not gated. which means that anyone can get in, but why would they? there is no place to go! the only traffic at 5:00 at night are people coming home from work who live here. this is great for us, because we have to walk our unruly pets in the street...
we have to walk our unruly pets in the street for a couple of reasons. first of all, the sidewalk isn't wide enough for all four of us, which makes talking impossible. and secondly, milo feels the need to mark every vertical surface he passes. and some horizontal ones too! if we walk on the sidewalk, it takes us FOREVER to get around the block. so we walk in the street, which doesn't completely deter milo from marking the whole neighborhood as his territory--he just looks for car tires, garbage cans, the occasional random pine cone, the CURB... milo doesn't so much walk for the exercise as he walks for the opportunity to do his business someplace other than his own yard.
the first day we walked, i forgot to take a plastic bag in case he pooped. i say 'in case,' but it is not so much a possibility as an inevitability. milo always poops when we walk. always. but since it has been a while since we walked, i forgot to take a bag. and sure enough, halfway around the block, he stopped. i knew what was about to happen. he was going to make a doggie bomb right there in front of God and everybody... including the two neighbors that just happened to be in their front yards. and i didn't have a bag! this was not good, not good at all. i tried to keep him moving. i thought if i could just keep him walking, maybe he could wait...
he couldn't.
and there is was. right in the middle of the street in front of the entrance to our neighborhood. and we had no bag. we were in deep and serious you know what... we couldn't just walk on like nothing had happened! people had seen us!! and there was physical evidence! so rollie and i had this loud conversation about how, oh no, we had forgotten to bring a bag but it was ok, we would just go home and get one and walk around the block again and pick up milo's little gift the next time we came by...
i'm pretty sure those neighbors went into their houses and watched for us to return. they probably had their phones in hand, ready to dial the city poop police if we didn't come back and clean up after our pup. which, of course, we did. talking loudly again, just so that everyone within earshot would know that we are NOT the kind of people who walk our dogs and let them poop wherever they want to and then just walk off and leave it! no sir! we are the kind of people who will go out of our way to make sure our streets are safe for people to walk on after dark without fear of, well, you know...
it's stressful being the new kids on the block...
things have kind of gotten out of control around here. (is gotten even a word? i mean, i know i don't use capital letters when i blog. and i've totally butchered all the grammatical rules of sentence structure and paragraph formation. by choice. for effect. but i think i draw the line at using words like 'wanna' and 'gonna.' i'm just not sure if gotten fits into that category...) we have been busy. we have no consistency or predictability to our schedules. when we come home from work, there is always something that needs to be done. and on those rare times when nothing is demanding our immediate attention, we sort of just want to sit. we don't want to go change into our sneakers and walk the dogs. or cook. i know these are two separate issues, but for some strange reason, in my mind they are connected...
i know we need to walk the dogs--mia needs to expend some of her excess energy, which she usually reserves so that she can bark at whatever happens to walk past our house, and milo... well, milo is chubby. exceptionally chubby. i worry about milo's weight. and mine, just a little bit, because i have noticed that i can no longer eat a dozen chocolate chip cookies from del taco all by myself in one day and still comfortably get into my jeans. and i'm not buying bigger jeans! at least, not yet...
i've been planning to walk the dogs for quite some time now. in fact, it has been one of my new year's resolutions for the past few years. but since i keep making the same resolution over and over and over again, you can probably figure out that my follow through is not all that good. i've read that to be consistent with exercise, you need to "buddy up" with someone. of course the logical someone for me to buddy up with is rollie. i've brought it up a few times, but he always scoffs and sneers and looks at me like, "what?!? do i LOOK like a little old lady?? walking isn't REAL exercise. REAL exercise requires a ball and rules and a referee. besides, you would never be able to keep up with me. i would have to walk so slowly to stay with you, that it wouldn't do any good at all."
(i feel i should just point out here that rollie never actually said any of those words. that is just the conversation that happened in my head when i said, "maybe you should walk with me," and he looked at me with an expression of confusion and disbelief. i don't recall he ever actually said any words. but i could read it all in his face...)
and truthfully, i didn't really push it. because if he walked with me then i couldn't listen to my ipod--i would be forced to have a conversation. not that i don't like to talk to my husband, it's just that i never get to listen to my ipod, and walking is the perfect opportunity. plus, if rollie decided he wanted to walk with me, then i couldn't wimp out. i would have to go. every day. and while one part of my brain really wants that, another part just wants to watch tv and drink soda pop. and so, it has been several months since i walked the dogs...
and then, a couple of weeks ago, rollie came home from a meeting and said, "i think we should start walking the dogs together."
whaaaat?!?!?! seriously?!?!??!? because as i said, every time i brought it up, his expression pretty much said, "walking is sissy exercise!" but instead of reminding him of that, i just said, "thank you Jesus!" and listened to his plan. he had apparently heard a speaker talk about stress and health and how walking was probably the best daily exercise to do--it can be done anywhere, any time, it doesn't require any special equipment or a gym membership, and half an hour a day is adequate. rollie, of course, thought we should walk an hour. because, you know, if half an hour is adequate, then an hour would be better! so last monday, we walked the dogs...
the first obstacle was getting them leashed up. they are used to wearing collars, but when we walk them, they need harnesses. because mia thinks she is a contender for the kentucky derby, and milo thinks he is a big dog, capable of taking down any cat or rotweiller we happen to encounter. yes, they can be a little hard to control... rollie, bless his little pink heart, was going to walk mia. he thought she should sit and stay while he put her harness on, and then walk calmly beside him. silly boy! clearly he has never walked mia. she gets so excited to go for a walk that she can't stop wiggling and jumping around. and the more he said, "mia! sit!" the more excited she got! and then, there's milo. he is perpetual motion. and trying to get his harness snapped around his chubby little body is always a challenge. but we finally managed to get the harnesses on and the leashes clipped and headed out the door into our new neighborhood. with our dogs. for the first time. together...
since our dogs are different sizes--as are rollie and i--finding a pace we can all live with isn't that easy. we all start out really fast, but milo fades first. when milo fades, we all slow down. the first day we walked, he didn't even make it half way around the block. and when i say he didn't make it, what i mean is he just stopped walking. he stopped. he wouldn't budge. he plopped his 18 pound body down and refused to move. he was done. so, i picked him up and carried him the rest of the way. mia was glad to pull rollie along, and since we had only been walking for about five minutes, i just kept going... carrying our 18 pound chihuahua.
that was day one. on day two, milo made it quite a bit further. on day three, he did pretty good again, but still needed to be carried about half of the way home. rollie had seen me carry milo the previous two days, me with my scrawny little arms, and so he thought he would be nice and give me a break. he took milo in his arms and gave me mia's leash. we hadn't gone far when he said, "this dog is heavy! i don't know how you carried him so long!!" i know he was thinking, "i don't know how you carried him so long with those scrawny little arms," but he didn't say it. he didn't say it, because my scrawny little arms had carried that fat, little dog longer than his big muscular arms had. "it's the mom in me," i said. "moms have to be able to carry at least 20 pounds around. think about how much toddlers weigh!" i don't really mind carrying milo while we finish walking. i've seen people walk with hand held weights for increased exercise benefits--my extra 20 pounds is just furry and cute! but we do get some funny looks...
our neighborhood is pretty quiet. it is a walled community. walled, not gated. which means that anyone can get in, but why would they? there is no place to go! the only traffic at 5:00 at night are people coming home from work who live here. this is great for us, because we have to walk our unruly pets in the street...
we have to walk our unruly pets in the street for a couple of reasons. first of all, the sidewalk isn't wide enough for all four of us, which makes talking impossible. and secondly, milo feels the need to mark every vertical surface he passes. and some horizontal ones too! if we walk on the sidewalk, it takes us FOREVER to get around the block. so we walk in the street, which doesn't completely deter milo from marking the whole neighborhood as his territory--he just looks for car tires, garbage cans, the occasional random pine cone, the CURB... milo doesn't so much walk for the exercise as he walks for the opportunity to do his business someplace other than his own yard.
the first day we walked, i forgot to take a plastic bag in case he pooped. i say 'in case,' but it is not so much a possibility as an inevitability. milo always poops when we walk. always. but since it has been a while since we walked, i forgot to take a bag. and sure enough, halfway around the block, he stopped. i knew what was about to happen. he was going to make a doggie bomb right there in front of God and everybody... including the two neighbors that just happened to be in their front yards. and i didn't have a bag! this was not good, not good at all. i tried to keep him moving. i thought if i could just keep him walking, maybe he could wait...
he couldn't.
and there is was. right in the middle of the street in front of the entrance to our neighborhood. and we had no bag. we were in deep and serious you know what... we couldn't just walk on like nothing had happened! people had seen us!! and there was physical evidence! so rollie and i had this loud conversation about how, oh no, we had forgotten to bring a bag but it was ok, we would just go home and get one and walk around the block again and pick up milo's little gift the next time we came by...
i'm pretty sure those neighbors went into their houses and watched for us to return. they probably had their phones in hand, ready to dial the city poop police if we didn't come back and clean up after our pup. which, of course, we did. talking loudly again, just so that everyone within earshot would know that we are NOT the kind of people who walk our dogs and let them poop wherever they want to and then just walk off and leave it! no sir! we are the kind of people who will go out of our way to make sure our streets are safe for people to walk on after dark without fear of, well, you know...
it's stressful being the new kids on the block...
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
our dogs + rain = you don't want to know...
so today . . . it rained again.
i promised myself i was not going to blog about the rain today. i know some of you get as tired of my weather blogs as you do of my food blogs. but here are the cold, hard facts, people: food and the weather pretty much rule my days. i go to bed thinking about what the weather will be like the next day and deciding what to wear. because if i have to make clothing decisions at 7:00 in the morning, it is not going to be pretty--or i am going to be late. and even after i get dressed, i have to decide if i should wear a coat... or a sweater... or wonder if a scarf around my neck would keep me warm enough... because it may start out cool, but by 11:30 when we are out on the playground it might be hot! but by the time i leave to come home, it might be cool again. or really hot!! you just never know...
and the awful truth is, i think about food all day. what will i eat for breakfast? do i have time to run by mcdonald's and get cinnamon melts? or should i be good and just eat my usual hard boiled egg. will the lunch at school be something delicious like macaroni and cheese? or will it be that noodle-y stuff... or will i even eat at school?!? i could go to jack in the box... or 7-11 for a salad and a brownie... or now that i have an hour for lunch, i could even go home... of course then i would have to actually make something to eat, which would reduce my actual eating time, so maybe it is better to go to jack in the box instead. or 7-11...
and what about dinner?
you see, no matter what else happens during the day, food and the weather are always on my mind. and today it rained. real rain, not that sissy socal stuff. i even had to wear a coat. with a hood. and the only coat i have with a hood is a long, down-filled puffy coat with fur around the hood. i bought it a few years ago just before we headed to oregon for christmas, because they were expecting a big snowstorm. so yes, considering we were just having rain today, it was maybe overkill... but i don't like to carry an umbrella. or get wet. so i left the house looking like nanook of the north... in southern california... in october...
and then i spent the next hour telling parents to take the tiny, colorful umbrellas that they let their children bring to school, home with them. because what am i going to do with 15 drippy hello kitty angry birds spiderman dora the explorer umbrellas in my classroom all day?!?!? i've got my hands full with tiny hello kitty angry birds spiderman dora the explorer coats and boots! WET coats and boots...
rollie worked at home today, so once again i braved the rain to meet him for lunch. he said mia had spent the morning sitting on the floor next to his chair with her front paw on his leg. this is her signal for "can i please sit in your lap? please?? please?????" mia is not really a lap dog--she is all pointy elbows and paws. but she tries. especially if it is raining, because mia does not like the rain. at all. milo, on the other hand, had come in soaking wet... i saw this as real progress, because when milo first came to live with us, he would not go out in the rain unless i carried him out and stood over him with an umbrella. thank goodness it only rains two or three times a year here...
by the time i left school to come home for the day, it had pretty much stopped raining. as soon as i walked into the house, rollie said, "did you see the garage door??" well, yes, i thought, i had to open it to get my car into the garage. but i hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary... so when he took me back out to the garage to show me what he was talking about, it was clear that i was looking at the wrong garage door.
"when i got home from lunch today, mia was soaking wet!" he said. "she was so wet i had to dry her off with a towel. and then i saw this!" yes, our precious pooch had frantically clawed her way clear through the door!
in all fairness, this door was damaged when we moved into the house. we aren't really sure what happened here before we moved in, but there were some violence issues, and the side door into the garage was one of the casualties. it had been repaired with wood putty, i think, and our painters did a great job of trying to make it look good, but it was still damaged. we knew we were going to have to replace it, we just hadn't done it yet.
i think we will be doing it soon.
because for some strange reason, when rollie left to meet me for lunch today, mia went outside. in the rain of which she is so deathly afraid. and apparently she tried to get back into the house... through the side garage door. i don't know why she would do that! she can go in and out of the house whenever she wants to--we had a doggie door specially constructed to fit next to the french doors so she and milo could go in and out even when we aren't home. but clearly something spooked her. she must have really panicked! she was only home alone for an hour...
as we were sitting in the family room talking about it, i happened to glance out the french doors, and this is what i saw...
i'm pretty sure milo is the culprit in this situation. again, i don't understand it. our patio overhang covers about three feet of grass next to the patio. and he had clearly been out in the rain earlier in the day! i guess i should appreciate that he got as close to the grass as he could without actually going on the grass...but come on!!
this was a rough day for our pups.
they are california dogs. they don't do rain.
but thankfully we've now had our two days of precipitation for the fall. sunshine is back in the forecast for tomorrow... right where it belongs!
maybe tomorrow's blog won't be about the weather...
i promised myself i was not going to blog about the rain today. i know some of you get as tired of my weather blogs as you do of my food blogs. but here are the cold, hard facts, people: food and the weather pretty much rule my days. i go to bed thinking about what the weather will be like the next day and deciding what to wear. because if i have to make clothing decisions at 7:00 in the morning, it is not going to be pretty--or i am going to be late. and even after i get dressed, i have to decide if i should wear a coat... or a sweater... or wonder if a scarf around my neck would keep me warm enough... because it may start out cool, but by 11:30 when we are out on the playground it might be hot! but by the time i leave to come home, it might be cool again. or really hot!! you just never know...
and the awful truth is, i think about food all day. what will i eat for breakfast? do i have time to run by mcdonald's and get cinnamon melts? or should i be good and just eat my usual hard boiled egg. will the lunch at school be something delicious like macaroni and cheese? or will it be that noodle-y stuff... or will i even eat at school?!? i could go to jack in the box... or 7-11 for a salad and a brownie... or now that i have an hour for lunch, i could even go home... of course then i would have to actually make something to eat, which would reduce my actual eating time, so maybe it is better to go to jack in the box instead. or 7-11...
and what about dinner?
you see, no matter what else happens during the day, food and the weather are always on my mind. and today it rained. real rain, not that sissy socal stuff. i even had to wear a coat. with a hood. and the only coat i have with a hood is a long, down-filled puffy coat with fur around the hood. i bought it a few years ago just before we headed to oregon for christmas, because they were expecting a big snowstorm. so yes, considering we were just having rain today, it was maybe overkill... but i don't like to carry an umbrella. or get wet. so i left the house looking like nanook of the north... in southern california... in october...
and then i spent the next hour telling parents to take the tiny, colorful umbrellas that they let their children bring to school, home with them. because what am i going to do with 15 drippy hello kitty angry birds spiderman dora the explorer umbrellas in my classroom all day?!?!? i've got my hands full with tiny hello kitty angry birds spiderman dora the explorer coats and boots! WET coats and boots...
rollie worked at home today, so once again i braved the rain to meet him for lunch. he said mia had spent the morning sitting on the floor next to his chair with her front paw on his leg. this is her signal for "can i please sit in your lap? please?? please?????" mia is not really a lap dog--she is all pointy elbows and paws. but she tries. especially if it is raining, because mia does not like the rain. at all. milo, on the other hand, had come in soaking wet... i saw this as real progress, because when milo first came to live with us, he would not go out in the rain unless i carried him out and stood over him with an umbrella. thank goodness it only rains two or three times a year here...
by the time i left school to come home for the day, it had pretty much stopped raining. as soon as i walked into the house, rollie said, "did you see the garage door??" well, yes, i thought, i had to open it to get my car into the garage. but i hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary... so when he took me back out to the garage to show me what he was talking about, it was clear that i was looking at the wrong garage door.
"when i got home from lunch today, mia was soaking wet!" he said. "she was so wet i had to dry her off with a towel. and then i saw this!" yes, our precious pooch had frantically clawed her way clear through the door!in all fairness, this door was damaged when we moved into the house. we aren't really sure what happened here before we moved in, but there were some violence issues, and the side door into the garage was one of the casualties. it had been repaired with wood putty, i think, and our painters did a great job of trying to make it look good, but it was still damaged. we knew we were going to have to replace it, we just hadn't done it yet.
i think we will be doing it soon.
because for some strange reason, when rollie left to meet me for lunch today, mia went outside. in the rain of which she is so deathly afraid. and apparently she tried to get back into the house... through the side garage door. i don't know why she would do that! she can go in and out of the house whenever she wants to--we had a doggie door specially constructed to fit next to the french doors so she and milo could go in and out even when we aren't home. but clearly something spooked her. she must have really panicked! she was only home alone for an hour...
as we were sitting in the family room talking about it, i happened to glance out the french doors, and this is what i saw...
i'm pretty sure milo is the culprit in this situation. again, i don't understand it. our patio overhang covers about three feet of grass next to the patio. and he had clearly been out in the rain earlier in the day! i guess i should appreciate that he got as close to the grass as he could without actually going on the grass...but come on!!this was a rough day for our pups.
they are california dogs. they don't do rain.but thankfully we've now had our two days of precipitation for the fall. sunshine is back in the forecast for tomorrow... right where it belongs!
maybe tomorrow's blog won't be about the weather...
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
maybe i need a plan...
so today . . . i've been restless and lethargic all at one time.
you might think these two things are mutually exclusive, but they are not. and it is miserable to experience both at once! should i take a nap or take a walk? should i clean out my closet or go to the mall? should i eat a brownie (which is just sitting there in a package waiting for me to devour it) or a salad (which requires preparation.) it is unsettling...
i texted my dilemma to rollie. he is in illinois. he said i should forget about trying to accomplish anything and just do whatever i felt like doing. which was good advice, except i didn't know what i felt like doing. i wanted to work on my photo scanning project, but i couldn't find the big, rectangular folding table to set everything up on.
yes, apparently i have misplaced a table!!! i am thinking it must be the innocent victim of my perpetual rearranging of things, because it isn't where i left it and i know i didn't get rid of it. at least, i think i know i didn't get rid of it. but i can't imagine where i would have rearranged it to! i mean, there aren't that many places it could be... the one place i know it is not, is in the family room, ready to hold my computer and scanner and dvd drive and hard drive and photo albums!
so i decided to work on cleaning out my closet instead. i started that project yesterday, but then it got dark. i don't like to be in my bedroom after dark--it is not well lit, so it is very shadowy and i feel like i can't see anything. which is why i decided i should go in there today while it was still daylight. i thought i would watch tv while i worked, but unless you want to watch talk shows or judge shows, the choices are quite limited. no problem for me, though--we have netflix!!
i say we, but after scrolling through the choices, i realized it is mostly rollie and diandra that have netflix. because unless i wanted to watch the x-files, lost, dirty jobs, future weapons, survivorman, man vs. wild, deadliest catch, friday night lights, the hills, or various science fiction movies, i was in trouble. (i quickly logged onto netflix and downloaded a season of a show called miami ink--it is about a tattoo parlor. i can't wait to see what kind of reaction i get when rollie thinks i am really going to watch it--yes, i am easily amused! in fact, i might even actually watch it...) i finally found a couple of movies to watch and proceeded to try on every. single. thing. in my closet.
that might sound like fun. you know, kind of like playing dress up. but it was NOT fun. the whole point was to get rid of stuff, but i like everything in my closet. obviously!! i mean, i spent time and money to put each item in there, so getting rid of things was not all that much fun. i am beginning to think that i should just wear black or white and get rid of everything else, because it takes up a lot of space to have tank tops and t-shirts and sweaters in every shade of the rainbow... not to mention jackets and dresses! and shoes!!
as darkness approached, i headed to the family room (where there are decent lights!) and my computer. after checking to see what had been happening on facebook all day, i was thinking it might be time to indulge my restlessness and get out of the house. i was thinking maybe a movie and a hot dog at the cheap theater. so i checked the listings and found that iron man 2 is still playing! yesssss!! but only at 4:45 and 9:30. bummer!! it was 8:00 which meant i would have to go to the 9:30 show, and i was pretty sure i was too tired for that tonight. so then i thought i would go get my hair cut. i took it out of the ponytail where it has resided for most of the summer and decided maybe it looked ok.
so i ate an ice cream bar, and tried to blog.
but milo would not leave me alone!! the dogs get weird when we are not all at home. he was trying to get into my lap (where my computer was,) and licking my face, and pawing my hands. and when that didn't work, he rolled over on his back and waved his paws at me. and when that didn't work, he squirmed around to try to make upside down eye contact with me...
...and fell off the couch.
yes, we have had quite a full day. tomorrow, i think i will go out...
you might think these two things are mutually exclusive, but they are not. and it is miserable to experience both at once! should i take a nap or take a walk? should i clean out my closet or go to the mall? should i eat a brownie (which is just sitting there in a package waiting for me to devour it) or a salad (which requires preparation.) it is unsettling...
i texted my dilemma to rollie. he is in illinois. he said i should forget about trying to accomplish anything and just do whatever i felt like doing. which was good advice, except i didn't know what i felt like doing. i wanted to work on my photo scanning project, but i couldn't find the big, rectangular folding table to set everything up on.
yes, apparently i have misplaced a table!!! i am thinking it must be the innocent victim of my perpetual rearranging of things, because it isn't where i left it and i know i didn't get rid of it. at least, i think i know i didn't get rid of it. but i can't imagine where i would have rearranged it to! i mean, there aren't that many places it could be... the one place i know it is not, is in the family room, ready to hold my computer and scanner and dvd drive and hard drive and photo albums!
so i decided to work on cleaning out my closet instead. i started that project yesterday, but then it got dark. i don't like to be in my bedroom after dark--it is not well lit, so it is very shadowy and i feel like i can't see anything. which is why i decided i should go in there today while it was still daylight. i thought i would watch tv while i worked, but unless you want to watch talk shows or judge shows, the choices are quite limited. no problem for me, though--we have netflix!!
i say we, but after scrolling through the choices, i realized it is mostly rollie and diandra that have netflix. because unless i wanted to watch the x-files, lost, dirty jobs, future weapons, survivorman, man vs. wild, deadliest catch, friday night lights, the hills, or various science fiction movies, i was in trouble. (i quickly logged onto netflix and downloaded a season of a show called miami ink--it is about a tattoo parlor. i can't wait to see what kind of reaction i get when rollie thinks i am really going to watch it--yes, i am easily amused! in fact, i might even actually watch it...) i finally found a couple of movies to watch and proceeded to try on every. single. thing. in my closet.
that might sound like fun. you know, kind of like playing dress up. but it was NOT fun. the whole point was to get rid of stuff, but i like everything in my closet. obviously!! i mean, i spent time and money to put each item in there, so getting rid of things was not all that much fun. i am beginning to think that i should just wear black or white and get rid of everything else, because it takes up a lot of space to have tank tops and t-shirts and sweaters in every shade of the rainbow... not to mention jackets and dresses! and shoes!!
as darkness approached, i headed to the family room (where there are decent lights!) and my computer. after checking to see what had been happening on facebook all day, i was thinking it might be time to indulge my restlessness and get out of the house. i was thinking maybe a movie and a hot dog at the cheap theater. so i checked the listings and found that iron man 2 is still playing! yesssss!! but only at 4:45 and 9:30. bummer!! it was 8:00 which meant i would have to go to the 9:30 show, and i was pretty sure i was too tired for that tonight. so then i thought i would go get my hair cut. i took it out of the ponytail where it has resided for most of the summer and decided maybe it looked ok.
so i ate an ice cream bar, and tried to blog.
but milo would not leave me alone!! the dogs get weird when we are not all at home. he was trying to get into my lap (where my computer was,) and licking my face, and pawing my hands. and when that didn't work, he rolled over on his back and waved his paws at me. and when that didn't work, he squirmed around to try to make upside down eye contact with me...
...and fell off the couch.
yes, we have had quite a full day. tomorrow, i think i will go out...
Saturday, May 15, 2010
another day at the o.c. swap meet
so today . . . we went to the orange county swap meet.
at our first stop there were hairclips, earrings, headbands on sale at 3/$5. diandra found two pair of earrings and i found a hairclip. as diandra was pulling out her money to pay, i opened my bag and said, "i think i have a dollar in here . . . no, wait. i guess i left my dollar in my other purse!" diandra looked and me, and then she laughed. "you left your dollar in your other purse?!?" for some reason, she found this to be hilarious . . . maybe because i did have birthday and mother's day money to spend. but i didn't have a single dollar!
diandra soon decided she might want a sparkly cell phone cover. she considered having the crystals applied directly to the phone, but eventually decided on a jewelled snap-on cover.
we moved on. and i saw this:
(i petted her, but she refused to bite me. which is kind of too bad, because i could use three million dollars.)
i was still thinking about daisy in the stroller, when i saw this:
rollie's quest for a belt started out a little rocky. at first all we could find were studded and embellished belts,
and after seeing these sunglasses,
i was a little worried about finding what i was looking for too!
and that is good news, because it means that we will have to go back to the o.c. swap meet again. of course, we will have to wait for those pesky planets to align . . .
the planets have to align in just the right way in order for us to make this happen, because usually our family scatters on saturday mornings--rollie plays basketball, diandra usually has plans, and i generally sleep in.
but today, rollie did not play basketball, because they are laying new carpeting in the gym. and diandra was home, because there were no weddings and javier is training in kansas. and i, well, i agreed to get up at 7:30 so we could go to the swap meet!
we had a time deadline today, so we skipped mcdonald's and headed straight to the fairgrounds. once again, we each had goals--rollie needed a new belt, some folding scissors, and maybe some cherries. i was looking for the ever elusive perfect handbag and some sunglasses. and diandra? well, i am not sure what she was looking for . . .
at our first stop there were hairclips, earrings, headbands on sale at 3/$5. diandra found two pair of earrings and i found a hairclip. as diandra was pulling out her money to pay, i opened my bag and said, "i think i have a dollar in here . . . no, wait. i guess i left my dollar in my other purse!" diandra looked and me, and then she laughed. "you left your dollar in your other purse?!?" for some reason, she found this to be hilarious . . . maybe because i did have birthday and mother's day money to spend. but i didn't have a single dollar!
diandra soon decided she might want a sparkly cell phone cover. she considered having the crystals applied directly to the phone, but eventually decided on a jewelled snap-on cover.
we moved on. and i saw this:
this is daisy. you never know what to expect at the swap meet, but a dog in a stroller was definitely a surprise! i've seen dogs in handbags and back packs and front packs, but this was my first sighting of a dog in a stroller. and if ever you wanted to be bitten by a dog, you want to be bitten by this dog. this dog has a $3,000,000 liability insurance policy. yes, you read that right. three million dollars. daisy is a therapy dog for a local hospital. and the reason she is in a stroller is that they have to be very careful where she walks. she could pick something up on her feet that would be toxic to the patients she visits. so when she goes to the swap meet, daisy rides.
(i petted her, but she refused to bite me. which is kind of too bad, because i could use three million dollars.)
i was still thinking about daisy in the stroller, when i saw this:
yes, those are doggie sunglasses. and while they are currently on a fake dog, they were being sold to people for their real, live pets! i don't have a problem with dogs wearing sunglasses, but i'm pretty sure my dogs are not going to wait to go outside until i position their shades correctly . . . and, if my dogs are going to wear sunglasses, they are going to have to come up with something a little less goggle-like . . .
and speaking of dogs, look at this hat!
really? who would put this on a child?!? it looks like the husky is having diandra for lunch! (well, it would if she had tied the thing under her chin. but doesn't she look cute? even with a dog on her head?? she is such a good sport when we are at the swap meet, and i say "stand there! hold that! put this on your head!")
i had to backtrack to the bathrooms, because even though we didn't stop at mcdonald's this morning, i did bring a drink . . . and when i got back to rollie and diandra, they were standing just where i had left them--in front of a cookie stand! and they were both holding bags which i soon discovered held cookies and fruit. for some reason, we were going backwards today and had started with the food row, which is where we usually end our day. they looked pretty happy about it. sadly, i did not take a picture . . .
rollie's quest for a belt started out a little rocky. at first all we could find were studded and embellished belts,
and after seeing these sunglasses, i was a little worried about finding what i was looking for too!but we continued on. rollie got sidetracked at a booth with stuff for laker fans, and diandra was trying to discourage him from making a purchase. we told the vendor that we were blazer fans, because you can take the girls out of oregon, but you can't make them cheer for the enemy. rollie gave the vendor his most heart-wrenching "see what i have to put up with" look as he was eyeing the beverage containers. diandra pulled him away and said, "dad! those are beer mugs!" to which rollie replied, "no, it is just a mug. it isn't a beer mug unless you put beer in it."
as all this was going on, i was still looking for that perfect handbag. after our search last week, i think diandra had sort of given up on me finding one and had just given me money for mother's day. so i had cash, and there were several booths with lots of choices . . . you would think it would be easy. but it was not. there were so many choices!
and it isn't like you can buy a bag, take it home and put your stuff in it, and then return it if you change your mind. so we looked, and discussed, and looked some more . . .
as all this was going on, i was still looking for that perfect handbag. after our search last week, i think diandra had sort of given up on me finding one and had just given me money for mother's day. so i had cash, and there were several booths with lots of choices . . . you would think it would be easy. but it was not. there were so many choices!
and it isn't like you can buy a bag, take it home and put your stuff in it, and then return it if you change your mind. so we looked, and discussed, and looked some more . . .rollie said, "why don't they ever put the places selling couches next to the places selling purses!" 
i think he was maybe getting a little tired of standing around while we debated the merits of one strap or two, zippered openings or magnetic, colorful or neutral . . .
i think he was maybe getting a little tired of standing around while we debated the merits of one strap or two, zippered openings or magnetic, colorful or neutral . . .but rollie was finally rewarded when he found the splatting tomatoes.
and yes, i have video, but you know i am having trouble getting my videos to post. maybe tomorrow i can make it happen.
as is usually the case, rollie finished up before diandra and i did, but we weren't too far behind him. all of us had found some of the things we were hoping to find, and we had a great time together. on the way to the car, i made diandra pose for one last picture in front of some beautiful bougainvilla plants.
the sun finally came out, and it turned out to be a beautiful day. we went home with some treasures, but the good news is, we didn't find everything we were looking for.
and that is good news, because it means that we will have to go back to the o.c. swap meet again. of course, we will have to wait for those pesky planets to align . . .
Thursday, May 13, 2010
maybe the boy has a dog . . .
so today . . . i handed out the seatwork to my kindergarten students, and then went back to my desk to give them time to do a little bit of work before we started reading groups. soon eugene was standing in front of me with one of his papers. "yes?" i asked him. "can i help you?"
"this is weird," he said. "why is he wearing shoes in the house?"
huh? "i don't understand. what do you mean? who?"
"look! he is wearing shoes in the house!" so i looked at the paper he was holding, and sure enough, the little boy was wearing shoes. in the house.
this is the seventh year i have taught kindergarten at my current school using this particular curriculum, and this is the first time anyone has noticed that the boy is wearing shoes in the house--probably because that really isn't the focus of the picture. we have had discussions about his choice of toys, we have had discussions about him smiling while picking up his toys, we have even had discussions about if they should use crayons or markers to color it. but no one has ever noticed the shoe thing before.
"yes he is," i said. "some people do."
eugene persisted--"but why?" so i replied with the only logical answer i could think of. "to keep their feet warm," i said. eugene thought for a minute and then told me, "we don't--do you?"
now i am not quite sure what to say. because we do wear our shoes in the house, but clearly at eugene's house they don't, and that seems normal to him. if i tell him that i keep my shoes on when i am inside, will it be the beginning of a rebellion in his five year old mind? will he go home and refuse to remove his shoes, because "teacher ms. julie wears her shoes in the house."
(you may think i have a somewhat inflated view of my importance, but trust me, i don't. it is almost scary how these kids remember things that i have said, and then act on them. i try to use my powers only for good--like telling them that i don't watch scary movies and that peas are delicious and that i always feel better after i take a nap--implying that they should avoid scary movies, eat their peas, and sleep during naptime. but they seem to be more influenced by the fact that my favorite color changes every day, and that i like taylor swift songs, and that i wear skechers.)
so i sort of hedge my bets--"yes, i wear shoes in my house, but i have dogs."
eugene has fish, not dogs, so he accepts that explanation and heads back to his seat.
the truth is, we tried the shoes off thing after we had our carpets cleaned last time. we have really light cream colored carpeting in our house, and when they were done cleaning it, it looked so good! so we decided that if we would just take off our shoes in the house, it would stay nice looking longer. which may be true, but we didn't find out. because it wasn't long until we were back to wearing our shoes again. for us, it was just too much of a hassle. it seemed like usually when we came into the house, we were carrying books or computers or food. and that made it hard to stop and take off our shoes. and if we did, then we had to carry them upstairs to put them away, and then carry them back downstairs to put them on. and then we realized that the dogs weren't wiping their feet before they came in. and while their feet are small, between the two of them they have eight--and yes, there are more dog feet than people feet here!! so eventually we just stopped doing it.
i think if you have dogs, you have to wear your shoes in the house--especially if you also have a doggie door--because you never know what surprises may be lurking just around the corner. and there are some things you just don't want to find with your bare foot--even if it is wearing a sock! there are sticks. and leaves. and the water splashes from their water bowl. and milk bone crumbs. and bits of chewed up toilet paper tube. and plastic eyeballs they have removed from their stuffed animals. and the stuffing from the stuffed animals. and the occasional, but inevitable result of eating grass. and sometimes, when milo is really stressed, we will even find a dirty sock that he has liberated through the mesh of the laundry basket.
and then, of course, there is the dog hair.
times two!!
i am guessing that if you have fish, you do not have these issues. and so at eugene's house, they don't wear their shoes inside.
but i do. because unexpectedly stepping on a soggy chewed up toilet paper tube in your bare feet is not something you want to experience more than once. or ever!
trust me.
"this is weird," he said. "why is he wearing shoes in the house?"
huh? "i don't understand. what do you mean? who?"
"look! he is wearing shoes in the house!" so i looked at the paper he was holding, and sure enough, the little boy was wearing shoes. in the house.
this is the seventh year i have taught kindergarten at my current school using this particular curriculum, and this is the first time anyone has noticed that the boy is wearing shoes in the house--probably because that really isn't the focus of the picture. we have had discussions about his choice of toys, we have had discussions about him smiling while picking up his toys, we have even had discussions about if they should use crayons or markers to color it. but no one has ever noticed the shoe thing before.
"yes he is," i said. "some people do."
eugene persisted--"but why?" so i replied with the only logical answer i could think of. "to keep their feet warm," i said. eugene thought for a minute and then told me, "we don't--do you?"
now i am not quite sure what to say. because we do wear our shoes in the house, but clearly at eugene's house they don't, and that seems normal to him. if i tell him that i keep my shoes on when i am inside, will it be the beginning of a rebellion in his five year old mind? will he go home and refuse to remove his shoes, because "teacher ms. julie wears her shoes in the house."
(you may think i have a somewhat inflated view of my importance, but trust me, i don't. it is almost scary how these kids remember things that i have said, and then act on them. i try to use my powers only for good--like telling them that i don't watch scary movies and that peas are delicious and that i always feel better after i take a nap--implying that they should avoid scary movies, eat their peas, and sleep during naptime. but they seem to be more influenced by the fact that my favorite color changes every day, and that i like taylor swift songs, and that i wear skechers.)
so i sort of hedge my bets--"yes, i wear shoes in my house, but i have dogs."
eugene has fish, not dogs, so he accepts that explanation and heads back to his seat.
the truth is, we tried the shoes off thing after we had our carpets cleaned last time. we have really light cream colored carpeting in our house, and when they were done cleaning it, it looked so good! so we decided that if we would just take off our shoes in the house, it would stay nice looking longer. which may be true, but we didn't find out. because it wasn't long until we were back to wearing our shoes again. for us, it was just too much of a hassle. it seemed like usually when we came into the house, we were carrying books or computers or food. and that made it hard to stop and take off our shoes. and if we did, then we had to carry them upstairs to put them away, and then carry them back downstairs to put them on. and then we realized that the dogs weren't wiping their feet before they came in. and while their feet are small, between the two of them they have eight--and yes, there are more dog feet than people feet here!! so eventually we just stopped doing it.
i think if you have dogs, you have to wear your shoes in the house--especially if you also have a doggie door--because you never know what surprises may be lurking just around the corner. and there are some things you just don't want to find with your bare foot--even if it is wearing a sock! there are sticks. and leaves. and the water splashes from their water bowl. and milk bone crumbs. and bits of chewed up toilet paper tube. and plastic eyeballs they have removed from their stuffed animals. and the stuffing from the stuffed animals. and the occasional, but inevitable result of eating grass. and sometimes, when milo is really stressed, we will even find a dirty sock that he has liberated through the mesh of the laundry basket.
and then, of course, there is the dog hair.
times two!!
i am guessing that if you have fish, you do not have these issues. and so at eugene's house, they don't wear their shoes inside.
but i do. because unexpectedly stepping on a soggy chewed up toilet paper tube in your bare feet is not something you want to experience more than once. or ever!
trust me.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
doggie children vs human children--the controversy begins . . .
so today . . . i've been thinking about the difference between having dogs and having children.
we love our pups. we have had a dog for most of our married life. when we lost our last dog to cancer a few years ago, it was just before christmas--the middle of winter. and as anyone who has ever house-trained a dog knows, that is not the very best time for a puppy. so our plan was to wait until summer, when i would be out of school, to add another furry friend to our household . . .
. . . we had another dog by the end of january.
i guess we are just dog people. we have had four dogs in the last 30 years, counting the two who currently call us mom and dad. our dogs are part of our family. they live in the house. they have their own access to the back yard. they get up on the furniture--in fact one is currently scrunched up against me. and they sleep with us. yes, they even root their way under the covers when it is cold. (this is why we have to have a king-sized bed!)
i was reading a blog yesterday about a friend of ours who is currently in new zealand, and she is missing her darling dog, who had to stay home (i am guessing he is staying with "grandma and grandpa.") and it got me to thinking about the differences between having doggie children and human children. so, risking the wrath of my human daughter (who i really do love more than the furry children,) i am going to offer up a TOP TEN LIST OF WHY SOME PEOPLE PREFER DOGS TO CHILDREN.
10. you can leave them home alone while you go to work or the movies or the mall. have you priced babysitters lately?? sheesh!
9. you don't have to think about what to serve them for dinner. they don't need variety. in fact, my mom's vet said you should always feed your dog the same food. otherwise they can get finicky about what they will eat. maybe that is why kids are picky about their food. maybe if we just fed them peanut butter sandwiches for every meal, they would be happier.
8. you don't have to worry about where they are or what they are doing, because they can't go anywhere without you. i still remember the call i got from diandra at 10:30 p.m. on a friday night from the long beach town center when she was sixteen, "mom? don't panic, but the police are here . . . " yeah, tell a mother not to panic, followed by "but the police are here!" thankfully it turned out to be a funny story, but still . . .
7. no clothing budget. ok, having said that, i know that some of you do buy clothes for your dogs. maybe, just maybe some dogs in cold climates might need a sweater when they go for a walk, but they really don't need a whole wardrobe. and even if you are one of those people who feel the need to dress your dog up, at least they don't require a bigger size every year, and they don't have an opinion about whether you bought it at target or at nordstrom.
6. they don't argue with you. they may not always obey instantly, but at least you don't have to have a big, long discussion about why. when they hear you say "NO!" they know that you mean it.
5. they can't roll their eyes at you. if you have teenagers, this needs no explanation. if you don't have teenagers, just wait--soon this will be a regular part of your day . . .
4. they sleep 20 hours a day. and when they are not sleeping, they can keep themselves occupied--they don't have to be constantly entertained. if nothing else presents itself, they can at least chew on their feet . . . or their tail . . . or the other dog's ears . . . or your favorite shoes . . .
3. they don't say embarassing things when you have company. when diandra was about three, someone from our church dropped by one evening--briefly. or so we thought. their "i just need to talk to you for a minute" visit grew into half an hour. diandra wanted a chocolate chip cookie, and i whispered to her that she could have one when the company left. a couple of minutes later, she walked over to the poor guy, looked straight into his eyes and said, "when are you going home?"
2. there are no "balloon payments" when they grow up. a car? college? a wedding? no! don't be silly!! they are dogs. they are happy with a milk bone.
and the number one reason why some people prefer dog children to human children . . .
1. they have tails to wag. and wag and wag and wag.
how can you not smile when faced with that!
we love our pups. we have had a dog for most of our married life. when we lost our last dog to cancer a few years ago, it was just before christmas--the middle of winter. and as anyone who has ever house-trained a dog knows, that is not the very best time for a puppy. so our plan was to wait until summer, when i would be out of school, to add another furry friend to our household . . .
. . . we had another dog by the end of january.
i guess we are just dog people. we have had four dogs in the last 30 years, counting the two who currently call us mom and dad. our dogs are part of our family. they live in the house. they have their own access to the back yard. they get up on the furniture--in fact one is currently scrunched up against me. and they sleep with us. yes, they even root their way under the covers when it is cold. (this is why we have to have a king-sized bed!)
i was reading a blog yesterday about a friend of ours who is currently in new zealand, and she is missing her darling dog, who had to stay home (i am guessing he is staying with "grandma and grandpa.") and it got me to thinking about the differences between having doggie children and human children. so, risking the wrath of my human daughter (who i really do love more than the furry children,) i am going to offer up a TOP TEN LIST OF WHY SOME PEOPLE PREFER DOGS TO CHILDREN.10. you can leave them home alone while you go to work or the movies or the mall. have you priced babysitters lately?? sheesh!
9. you don't have to think about what to serve them for dinner. they don't need variety. in fact, my mom's vet said you should always feed your dog the same food. otherwise they can get finicky about what they will eat. maybe that is why kids are picky about their food. maybe if we just fed them peanut butter sandwiches for every meal, they would be happier.
8. you don't have to worry about where they are or what they are doing, because they can't go anywhere without you. i still remember the call i got from diandra at 10:30 p.m. on a friday night from the long beach town center when she was sixteen, "mom? don't panic, but the police are here . . . " yeah, tell a mother not to panic, followed by "but the police are here!" thankfully it turned out to be a funny story, but still . . .
7. no clothing budget. ok, having said that, i know that some of you do buy clothes for your dogs. maybe, just maybe some dogs in cold climates might need a sweater when they go for a walk, but they really don't need a whole wardrobe. and even if you are one of those people who feel the need to dress your dog up, at least they don't require a bigger size every year, and they don't have an opinion about whether you bought it at target or at nordstrom.
6. they don't argue with you. they may not always obey instantly, but at least you don't have to have a big, long discussion about why. when they hear you say "NO!" they know that you mean it.
5. they can't roll their eyes at you. if you have teenagers, this needs no explanation. if you don't have teenagers, just wait--soon this will be a regular part of your day . . .
4. they sleep 20 hours a day. and when they are not sleeping, they can keep themselves occupied--they don't have to be constantly entertained. if nothing else presents itself, they can at least chew on their feet . . . or their tail . . . or the other dog's ears . . . or your favorite shoes . . .
3. they don't say embarassing things when you have company. when diandra was about three, someone from our church dropped by one evening--briefly. or so we thought. their "i just need to talk to you for a minute" visit grew into half an hour. diandra wanted a chocolate chip cookie, and i whispered to her that she could have one when the company left. a couple of minutes later, she walked over to the poor guy, looked straight into his eyes and said, "when are you going home?"2. there are no "balloon payments" when they grow up. a car? college? a wedding? no! don't be silly!! they are dogs. they are happy with a milk bone.
and the number one reason why some people prefer dog children to human children . . .
1. they have tails to wag. and wag and wag and wag.
how can you not smile when faced with that!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
that's what alarms and barking dogs are for!
so today . . . we are back home. normally i would say we are back home in sunny southern california. but today we are back home in wet and slightly rainy southern california.
i don't know what happened to the sunshine! it was here when we left a week ago--and now it is gone. i blame the oregon ducks fans. they are all on their way down here for the rose bowl--and by the profusion of car flags and decals and pompoms sticking out of their trunks, they are darn proud of it!! but you know, ducks need rain . . .
anyway, we are home. i always hate to come home after being gone. i'm not sure exactly why, but i think it has something to do with unpacking. as much as i hate to pack, unpacking is even worse . . .
but our dogs were so glad to see us! they had a somewhat harrowing experience while we were gone, which probably scarred them for life. it all began with some barking . . .
. . . on sunday i got a call from our neighbor just checking to be sure we were ok. she said the dogs had been barking quite a lot, and she was worried that maybe something was wrong. she didn't know that we were out of town, and i am guessing that she was picturing us passed out and dying on the bathroom floor. i assured her that we were fine--just out of town. then i called the person who was checking in on our pets and suggested that maybe he should close the doggie door and leave the pups inside when he wasn't there. that way, even if they barked, it wouldn't disturb the neighborhood. there. problem solved.
i thought.
the next day i got another phone call from the neighbor, and her side of the conversation went something like this: "another neighbor was out walking and we got to talking about how your dogs had been barking a couple of days ago. and so we took it upon ourselves to go into your back yard to see if they were ok. and the little one came right out to us, but the bigger one wouldn't come out! so we looked in the window, and we could see her running up and down the stairs. and we were worried that something was wrong, so we tried to open the patio door. but that set off the alarm. so we called the sheriff."
wait a minute. what??
"well the bigger dog kept running up and down the stairs, and we thought maybe she was trying to tell us something." yes, i am sure she was. she was trying to say, "who are you, and why are you trying to get into my house!"
"so we thought we should go in and check it out." but how did they think they were going to get in? we were out of town, and of course all the doors were locked!
"and so then the alarm went off, so we called the sheriff." there it was again. they had called the sheriff. this was not going to be the first time that the sheriff had been to our house . . .
i'm not quite sure why, but all i could think of was that i had to get someone to go get that alarm turned off because it upsets milo and he howls. and i had to get someone to call the alarm company and tell them it was a false alarm so they wouldn't send the police. oh wait. the police were probably already on their way, because OUR NEIGHBOR HAD CALLED THEM!!
so i did the only thing i could think of to do. i called rollie.
rollie was out with diandra. he was being a good dad and had taken her to the mall, even though it was only two days after christmas. (yes, he is up for sainthood.) at the exact moment that i was getting the neighbor's story, rollie was getting phone calls from both the alarm company and the police. but he didn't know that it was just the neighbors trying to get into our house--he thought there might really be intruders! (the last pastor who lived in this house was robbed more than once.) so he called the friend who was checking on the dogs, and asked him to go over to the house and see if everything was ok. and then he got my frantic phone call telling him about the neighbors attempt to get into the house . . . and all of this was happening while he was just trying to have a few quiet moments in the men's room at the mall . . .
after talking to rollie, i called the neighbor back to tell her that he had taken care of everything, only to hear this: "well, there is a man in your house, but his name is not ernie, and you said you were going to call ernie to come take care of the alarm, so we think maybe he shouldn't be in there."
and then the sheriff drove up.
the guy in the house was the friend we had called. he had a key, which is how he got into the house. he knew the alarm code and was able to get it turned off. as i was trying to explain this to her, she was telling her story to the sheriff who was busy checking our friend's identification.
"give me the phone," the sheriff said to the neighbor. "are you the homeowner?" he asked me.
ok, technically we do not own this house. the church owns it. but most people don't understand how that works, and i didn't think this was the time to muddy the water with facts, so i just said, "yes" and hoped he would believe me.
"and did you give someone permission to come and feed your dogs while you were away?" he asked.
"yes."
"and what is that person's name?" i told him, and he seemed satisfied and handed the neighbor's phone back to her. i wanted to explain a few more things, but i heard my neighbor say, "well she has hung up, but . . . " and then the phone went dead.
WAIT!! I HAVE MORE TO SAY! THERE ARE STILL A FEW THINGS THAT NEED TO BE CLEARED UP!! but i found myself talking to a dial tone. i tried to call her back, but only got her voice mail. i am guessing that she didn't think it would be prudent to ignore the sheriff and answer her cell phone--especially since there was apparently some discussion as to why she was trying to get into our house through the patio door when she knew we were out of town . . .
my only consolation during this whole ordeal was the thought that maybe, just maybe this was the same sheriff who had responded to our false alarm last summer. because this time, my house was clean!
i don't know what happened to the sunshine! it was here when we left a week ago--and now it is gone. i blame the oregon ducks fans. they are all on their way down here for the rose bowl--and by the profusion of car flags and decals and pompoms sticking out of their trunks, they are darn proud of it!! but you know, ducks need rain . . .
anyway, we are home. i always hate to come home after being gone. i'm not sure exactly why, but i think it has something to do with unpacking. as much as i hate to pack, unpacking is even worse . . .
but our dogs were so glad to see us! they had a somewhat harrowing experience while we were gone, which probably scarred them for life. it all began with some barking . . .
. . . on sunday i got a call from our neighbor just checking to be sure we were ok. she said the dogs had been barking quite a lot, and she was worried that maybe something was wrong. she didn't know that we were out of town, and i am guessing that she was picturing us passed out and dying on the bathroom floor. i assured her that we were fine--just out of town. then i called the person who was checking in on our pets and suggested that maybe he should close the doggie door and leave the pups inside when he wasn't there. that way, even if they barked, it wouldn't disturb the neighborhood. there. problem solved.
i thought.
the next day i got another phone call from the neighbor, and her side of the conversation went something like this: "another neighbor was out walking and we got to talking about how your dogs had been barking a couple of days ago. and so we took it upon ourselves to go into your back yard to see if they were ok. and the little one came right out to us, but the bigger one wouldn't come out! so we looked in the window, and we could see her running up and down the stairs. and we were worried that something was wrong, so we tried to open the patio door. but that set off the alarm. so we called the sheriff."
wait a minute. what??
"well the bigger dog kept running up and down the stairs, and we thought maybe she was trying to tell us something." yes, i am sure she was. she was trying to say, "who are you, and why are you trying to get into my house!"
"so we thought we should go in and check it out." but how did they think they were going to get in? we were out of town, and of course all the doors were locked!
"and so then the alarm went off, so we called the sheriff." there it was again. they had called the sheriff. this was not going to be the first time that the sheriff had been to our house . . .
i'm not quite sure why, but all i could think of was that i had to get someone to go get that alarm turned off because it upsets milo and he howls. and i had to get someone to call the alarm company and tell them it was a false alarm so they wouldn't send the police. oh wait. the police were probably already on their way, because OUR NEIGHBOR HAD CALLED THEM!!
so i did the only thing i could think of to do. i called rollie.
rollie was out with diandra. he was being a good dad and had taken her to the mall, even though it was only two days after christmas. (yes, he is up for sainthood.) at the exact moment that i was getting the neighbor's story, rollie was getting phone calls from both the alarm company and the police. but he didn't know that it was just the neighbors trying to get into our house--he thought there might really be intruders! (the last pastor who lived in this house was robbed more than once.) so he called the friend who was checking on the dogs, and asked him to go over to the house and see if everything was ok. and then he got my frantic phone call telling him about the neighbors attempt to get into the house . . . and all of this was happening while he was just trying to have a few quiet moments in the men's room at the mall . . .
after talking to rollie, i called the neighbor back to tell her that he had taken care of everything, only to hear this: "well, there is a man in your house, but his name is not ernie, and you said you were going to call ernie to come take care of the alarm, so we think maybe he shouldn't be in there."
and then the sheriff drove up.
the guy in the house was the friend we had called. he had a key, which is how he got into the house. he knew the alarm code and was able to get it turned off. as i was trying to explain this to her, she was telling her story to the sheriff who was busy checking our friend's identification.
"give me the phone," the sheriff said to the neighbor. "are you the homeowner?" he asked me.
ok, technically we do not own this house. the church owns it. but most people don't understand how that works, and i didn't think this was the time to muddy the water with facts, so i just said, "yes" and hoped he would believe me.
"and did you give someone permission to come and feed your dogs while you were away?" he asked.
"yes."
"and what is that person's name?" i told him, and he seemed satisfied and handed the neighbor's phone back to her. i wanted to explain a few more things, but i heard my neighbor say, "well she has hung up, but . . . " and then the phone went dead.
WAIT!! I HAVE MORE TO SAY! THERE ARE STILL A FEW THINGS THAT NEED TO BE CLEARED UP!! but i found myself talking to a dial tone. i tried to call her back, but only got her voice mail. i am guessing that she didn't think it would be prudent to ignore the sheriff and answer her cell phone--especially since there was apparently some discussion as to why she was trying to get into our house through the patio door when she knew we were out of town . . .
my only consolation during this whole ordeal was the thought that maybe, just maybe this was the same sheriff who had responded to our false alarm last summer. because this time, my house was clean!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
sleeping in~
so today . . . i planned to sleep in. i woke up at 6:42. a.m.
i've been kind of sick since the middle of september. i've been to see three different doctors. i've taken five different kinds of medications. i've kept warm. and still i cough. the one thing i haven't done is rest. so that was my plan for the weekend, and rollie decided i should start doing it today. he called me in sick last night, and then said, "tomorrow you are going to sleep."
so i did--at least, i tried.
at 6:42 this morning my brain started humming. i laid there thinking, "go back to sleep, go back to sleep, i wonder what time it is, no, wait, go back to sleep . . . " finally, just to shut my brain up, i looked at the clock.
let me just say that on a normal school day i set my alarm for 7:00 and am not able to pry my eyes open until usually 7:20 at which time i drag myself to the shower, throw myself under the water for 10 minutes, and then race around trying to dry my hair, dress myself, dust my face with makeup, grab something that can be eaten with one hand for breakfast, and fly out the door, hoping against hope that i will beat the time clock. and all the while this is going on, my brain is saying, "just a little bit more sleep . . . "
but today, when i could have slept until noon, my brain woke me up at 6:42 a.m.
determined to take advantage of this sick day, i snapped my eyes shut after their brief glance at the clock. i thought restful thoughts. i counted backwards from 100. i started to go to my happy place, and then i felt a dog start slowly creeping up toward my head. i knew what that meant--it meant that any moment milo was going to start licking my face. still trying to stay in the sleep zone, i decided that my best defense was a good offense, so i grabbed milo with the intent to pull him up next to me and nestle him in beside me, facing away from me but with all four feet in the air, allowing me to mindlessly pet his stomach, which i knew would put him right back to sleep. i'm sure this would have worked.
except it wasn't milo--it was mia. all 35 pounds of her.
it was impossible to nestle her medium sized body next to me in the recliner, and besides, mia wouldn't be caught dead laying on her back with all four feet in the air. however, she would apparently not mind climbing onto my prone body, putting one front paw on each side of my head, and licking me until i woke up. which is what she did when i briefly opened my eyes to see why i couldn't move milo . . .
just keep your eyes closed. she will stop in a minute, and you can go back to sleep. don't open your eyes. don't open your eyes. she's a dog. she can't tell you aren't really asleep . . .
without the encouragement of my open eyes, mia soon decided i was a lost cause and figured out her own way to snuggle in next to me. this sounds cute, but i knew that her real agenda was claiming me as her territory before milo showed his fat little face.
we settled in, and i started drifting off, and then mia woofed. it was a soft woof, but i knew something was about to happen. and sure enough, it wasn't long before milo was in my face. i kept my eyes closed, thinking that maybe he would wiggle in to a spot and we could all go back to sleep. which he did. so i started thinking sleepy thoughts once again and was headed toward unconsciousness . . .
and then one of the neighbors started revving the engine on their car. over and over and over again. mia, ever on alert, jumped up and started barking. so milo jumped up and started barking. and then they started barking at each other. and then the "fight" was on to determine who really owned mommy and the chair and the fuzzy blanket . . .
i got up and headed for the kitchen and some hot water for peppermint tea.
some days the odds are just against me . . .
i've been kind of sick since the middle of september. i've been to see three different doctors. i've taken five different kinds of medications. i've kept warm. and still i cough. the one thing i haven't done is rest. so that was my plan for the weekend, and rollie decided i should start doing it today. he called me in sick last night, and then said, "tomorrow you are going to sleep."
so i did--at least, i tried.
at 6:42 this morning my brain started humming. i laid there thinking, "go back to sleep, go back to sleep, i wonder what time it is, no, wait, go back to sleep . . . " finally, just to shut my brain up, i looked at the clock.
let me just say that on a normal school day i set my alarm for 7:00 and am not able to pry my eyes open until usually 7:20 at which time i drag myself to the shower, throw myself under the water for 10 minutes, and then race around trying to dry my hair, dress myself, dust my face with makeup, grab something that can be eaten with one hand for breakfast, and fly out the door, hoping against hope that i will beat the time clock. and all the while this is going on, my brain is saying, "just a little bit more sleep . . . "
but today, when i could have slept until noon, my brain woke me up at 6:42 a.m.
determined to take advantage of this sick day, i snapped my eyes shut after their brief glance at the clock. i thought restful thoughts. i counted backwards from 100. i started to go to my happy place, and then i felt a dog start slowly creeping up toward my head. i knew what that meant--it meant that any moment milo was going to start licking my face. still trying to stay in the sleep zone, i decided that my best defense was a good offense, so i grabbed milo with the intent to pull him up next to me and nestle him in beside me, facing away from me but with all four feet in the air, allowing me to mindlessly pet his stomach, which i knew would put him right back to sleep. i'm sure this would have worked.
except it wasn't milo--it was mia. all 35 pounds of her.
it was impossible to nestle her medium sized body next to me in the recliner, and besides, mia wouldn't be caught dead laying on her back with all four feet in the air. however, she would apparently not mind climbing onto my prone body, putting one front paw on each side of my head, and licking me until i woke up. which is what she did when i briefly opened my eyes to see why i couldn't move milo . . .
just keep your eyes closed. she will stop in a minute, and you can go back to sleep. don't open your eyes. don't open your eyes. she's a dog. she can't tell you aren't really asleep . . .
without the encouragement of my open eyes, mia soon decided i was a lost cause and figured out her own way to snuggle in next to me. this sounds cute, but i knew that her real agenda was claiming me as her territory before milo showed his fat little face.
we settled in, and i started drifting off, and then mia woofed. it was a soft woof, but i knew something was about to happen. and sure enough, it wasn't long before milo was in my face. i kept my eyes closed, thinking that maybe he would wiggle in to a spot and we could all go back to sleep. which he did. so i started thinking sleepy thoughts once again and was headed toward unconsciousness . . .
and then one of the neighbors started revving the engine on their car. over and over and over again. mia, ever on alert, jumped up and started barking. so milo jumped up and started barking. and then they started barking at each other. and then the "fight" was on to determine who really owned mommy and the chair and the fuzzy blanket . . .
i got up and headed for the kitchen and some hot water for peppermint tea.
some days the odds are just against me . . .
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
petco: is it wal-mart for dogs?
so today . . . i had to go buy dog food. i hate to buy dog food.
you wouldn't think it was such a big deal--just go to petco, grab the biggest bag of food i can carry, pay, and head home. but it is so much more complicated than that . . .
i think our dogs have intestinal issues. they are both prone to passing gas--extremely aromatic gas. it must be connected with what they eat, but it took me a while to catch on. so it was several months before i found a brand of food they could eat that didn't result in a not-so-lovely smell occasionally invading our space. i was so glad to finally solve the problem--until i went to the store after they had finished the first bag and tried to get another one!
there are more brands of dog food than there are kinds of cola! and the packaging on some is very similar. i walked up and down those aisles trying to remember what the right bag looked like . . . but there were just too many choices. i finally picked one that looked like the right color to me, bought the 35 pound bag (because it is cheaper that way, and we have two dogs,) wrestled the thing into my tiny car, and went home.
it wasn't long before i knew i had purchased the wrong kind of food. how did i know, you ask? let me just say that soon our precious pets were adding their own special scent to the air. and we just had to live with it for a while, because i had bought a 35 pound bag of food!! and i was too cheap to just throw it away. and they liked it . . . but you can be sure that i made a beeline for the trash can in the garage to see what the other dog food bag looked like. and then i pulled out my phone and took a picture. because those dastardly dog food companies sometimes change their packaging, and i don't ever want to come home with the wrong food again!
choosing the right bag of food is only the beginning. i always buy the big bag, and for some reason petco puts the big bags on the bottom shelves and the smaller bags on the higher shelves. this makes no sense to me at all--probably because i am a small person. a little bag is easy to lift and carry--a 35 pound bag is not! i always count my blessings that i've never been caught on video trying to get that bag of food into my cart, because i am sure the youtube crowd would get quite a giggle out of it. first i have to drag the bag far enough off the BOTTOM shelf that i can get my arms around it. then i have to fling it into the air toward my shopping cart and hope it lands on the edge so that i can tip in on over into the cart. and THEN after i pay for it and wheel it outside to my car, i have to throw the top half of my body down into the cart, grabbing the bag around the middle before i fall backwards pulling the bag out with me, again aiming it to land near the trunk of my car. if i get anywhere close, i can then push, shove, and roll the bag into the trunk. if i don't get anywhere close . . . ? i don't even want to think about that!
and now you know why i hate to buy dog food.
today after i had successfully trapped the bag of dog food in my cart and was standing there catching my breath, something caught my eye.
i just stood there staring at this gruesome dog toy that had been packaged in such a way as to make it look like fun for your dog. i mean, it is a cute pink pig, right? no, it is a cardboard cutout of a cute pink pig with two fur-covered squeaky rubber legs attached. so when you get this item home, you remove the furry legs and let your pet pretend that all that's left of the pig is it's legs--and now they are his to play with. and if that weren't disgusting enough, let's just try another version . . .
seriously!!! do you really want furry chicken legs with rubber feet laying around your house?!?! do you want to have to throw that and then listen to it squeak when your dog grabs it in his sharp little teeth?? do you want to have to explain to the children where the rest of the chicken is?!?! who thought this was a good idea?!?!?!?!?!? oh yeah, there were also cute little white bunny legs too . . .
and then, when i turned away, this is what i saw.
thirteen dollars and 49 cents (plus tax) for little blue baggies to pick up doggie poop? i know all about picking up doggie poop, but really, if you pick it up with a tissue and deposit in a regular baggie, you can get the job done practically for free! although, then you don't have a cute little blue bag to swing around to let all the neighbors know that yes, you did clean up after your delightful doggie. i can just imagine telling milo, "no milo, we can't go for a walk today. i am all out of cute little blue bags for your poop. so you will just have to wait until i can get more." sheesh!
i admit i took several more pictures of silly things people buy for their dogs on my way out of the store, but i need to wrap this up, so let me leave you with this.
yes, doggie raincoats. in southern california. i have no words . . .
you wouldn't think it was such a big deal--just go to petco, grab the biggest bag of food i can carry, pay, and head home. but it is so much more complicated than that . . .
i think our dogs have intestinal issues. they are both prone to passing gas--extremely aromatic gas. it must be connected with what they eat, but it took me a while to catch on. so it was several months before i found a brand of food they could eat that didn't result in a not-so-lovely smell occasionally invading our space. i was so glad to finally solve the problem--until i went to the store after they had finished the first bag and tried to get another one!
there are more brands of dog food than there are kinds of cola! and the packaging on some is very similar. i walked up and down those aisles trying to remember what the right bag looked like . . . but there were just too many choices. i finally picked one that looked like the right color to me, bought the 35 pound bag (because it is cheaper that way, and we have two dogs,) wrestled the thing into my tiny car, and went home.
it wasn't long before i knew i had purchased the wrong kind of food. how did i know, you ask? let me just say that soon our precious pets were adding their own special scent to the air. and we just had to live with it for a while, because i had bought a 35 pound bag of food!! and i was too cheap to just throw it away. and they liked it . . . but you can be sure that i made a beeline for the trash can in the garage to see what the other dog food bag looked like. and then i pulled out my phone and took a picture. because those dastardly dog food companies sometimes change their packaging, and i don't ever want to come home with the wrong food again!
choosing the right bag of food is only the beginning. i always buy the big bag, and for some reason petco puts the big bags on the bottom shelves and the smaller bags on the higher shelves. this makes no sense to me at all--probably because i am a small person. a little bag is easy to lift and carry--a 35 pound bag is not! i always count my blessings that i've never been caught on video trying to get that bag of food into my cart, because i am sure the youtube crowd would get quite a giggle out of it. first i have to drag the bag far enough off the BOTTOM shelf that i can get my arms around it. then i have to fling it into the air toward my shopping cart and hope it lands on the edge so that i can tip in on over into the cart. and THEN after i pay for it and wheel it outside to my car, i have to throw the top half of my body down into the cart, grabbing the bag around the middle before i fall backwards pulling the bag out with me, again aiming it to land near the trunk of my car. if i get anywhere close, i can then push, shove, and roll the bag into the trunk. if i don't get anywhere close . . . ? i don't even want to think about that!
and now you know why i hate to buy dog food.
today after i had successfully trapped the bag of dog food in my cart and was standing there catching my breath, something caught my eye.
i just stood there staring at this gruesome dog toy that had been packaged in such a way as to make it look like fun for your dog. i mean, it is a cute pink pig, right? no, it is a cardboard cutout of a cute pink pig with two fur-covered squeaky rubber legs attached. so when you get this item home, you remove the furry legs and let your pet pretend that all that's left of the pig is it's legs--and now they are his to play with. and if that weren't disgusting enough, let's just try another version . . .
seriously!!! do you really want furry chicken legs with rubber feet laying around your house?!?! do you want to have to throw that and then listen to it squeak when your dog grabs it in his sharp little teeth?? do you want to have to explain to the children where the rest of the chicken is?!?! who thought this was a good idea?!?!?!?!?!? oh yeah, there were also cute little white bunny legs too . . .and then, when i turned away, this is what i saw.
thirteen dollars and 49 cents (plus tax) for little blue baggies to pick up doggie poop? i know all about picking up doggie poop, but really, if you pick it up with a tissue and deposit in a regular baggie, you can get the job done practically for free! although, then you don't have a cute little blue bag to swing around to let all the neighbors know that yes, you did clean up after your delightful doggie. i can just imagine telling milo, "no milo, we can't go for a walk today. i am all out of cute little blue bags for your poop. so you will just have to wait until i can get more." sheesh!i admit i took several more pictures of silly things people buy for their dogs on my way out of the store, but i need to wrap this up, so let me leave you with this.
yes, doggie raincoats. in southern california. i have no words . . .
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
the battle for the bed . . .
so today . . . i've been dealing with the aftermath in the garage from defrosting the freezer out there--you know, the running water? the pile of wet towels? the toppled boxes? but i had to take a couple of breaks. ok, i actually took a lot of breaks, and every time i sat down, milo was all over me--he is so needy today.
last night the dogs were so funny. i went to bed really late, as i usually do in the summer. i don't know where milo was, but mia immediately jumped up and laid down right next to me--and i mean RIGHT NEXT TO ME. she was scrunched up as close as she could get--on top of the covers, of course.
this particular spot has become the most desired place on the bed if you are furry and four legged. i'm not quite sure why, since both dogs seem to prefer the alpha male in the house. but he is not quite so accommodating when it comes to sharing his sleeping space with two furry bodies. mia very quickly learned that it was much easier to snuggle up next to the girl person, since i am too polite to make the dogs move. but milo clearly prefers rollie's side.
if he would quietly sneak over there, i think he could get away with it, but milo is not so good at sneaking. his approach generally starts with jumping up on the bed (with the aid of a cardboard box that makes a pretty loud noise when all 15 pounds of him hits it,) tromping over the top of me (which generally results in some sort of sound, like "OOF" escaping from between my lips,) and then attacking rollie's face and head with his front feet and tongue. actually he tries to lick rollie's face off while holding it down with his front feet. this usually results in rollie waking up abruptly, and turning over out of milo's reach. at which point milo plops his fat little behind down between our pillows and looks around like, "what was that about?" then he walks above my head, and lays down RIGHT NEXT TO MIA, who can't take it, and gets up and goes to the foot of the bed--still on top of the covers. then milo settles down in the preferred spot--on top of the covers--and goes to sleep. this is what happens almost every night . . .
but last night was a little different. rollie was in bed, i was in bed, and mia was settled in her spot next to me. i heard four little feet approach the bed and then scramble up. and stop. milo surveyed the situation from the foot of the bed before making a decision about where to go. (sometimes i think that milo thinks the bed belongs to him--i mean, he sleeps on it most of the day--
so maybe he thinks we are all in his space!) rollie must have been sleeping on his stomach, which limits the amount of face exposed for licking. so milo decided to skip that part of the process and came and laid down next to me, but not quite touching mia. they were positioned like ying and yang. and i went to sleep.
well i tried to go to sleep. but i got hot--too many covers for a night that turned out to be warmer than we anticipated. i tried to rid myself of the quilt, but there was 50 pounds of furry flesh anchoring it down. i turned over. i got really close to them and pushed, just a little bit. neither dog would budge.
i tend to be polite, sometimes to a fault. i don't think that is a bad thing, but sometimes it makes it hard to get what i want. and last night i wanted those dogs to move! but i was too polite to wake them up and make them get down. finally i thought, if i could just get the quilt out from under them . . . so i started gently pulling, but i soon realized that gently was not going to do the trick. so i pulled a bit more vigorously. still no good. finally i yanked hard enough that mia got up and looked at me like, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!" i moved the quilt quickly and tried to settle her back down, but she would have none of it. she walked to the foot of the bed, sighed heavily, and flopped down.
as all of this was happening, milo was laying quietly in the next best spot. he didn't budge, but his eyes were open and watching every thing that happened. as soon as mia moved, he sort of s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d out toward me. and then he wiggled a little closer. and before i knew it, there he was--laying right next to me, on top of the quilt . . .
milo weighs less than mia when they are awake, but when they are sleeping, i am telling you, he weighs twice as much. that fat little body of his is like a bag of cement! and he doesn't read social cues very well, so i figured my chances of getting him to move were pretty slim.
i decided to go for broke! i lifted up his back end and pulled out both the quilt and the sheet. and then i lifted up his front end and pulled out both the quilt and the sheet. finally! i was free of unwanted covers!!
and it was a good thing, because there was a very warm, furry body snuggled up right next to me, showing no signs of moving any time soon . . .
i'm glad somebody was getting a good night's sleep!
last night the dogs were so funny. i went to bed really late, as i usually do in the summer. i don't know where milo was, but mia immediately jumped up and laid down right next to me--and i mean RIGHT NEXT TO ME. she was scrunched up as close as she could get--on top of the covers, of course.
this particular spot has become the most desired place on the bed if you are furry and four legged. i'm not quite sure why, since both dogs seem to prefer the alpha male in the house. but he is not quite so accommodating when it comes to sharing his sleeping space with two furry bodies. mia very quickly learned that it was much easier to snuggle up next to the girl person, since i am too polite to make the dogs move. but milo clearly prefers rollie's side.
if he would quietly sneak over there, i think he could get away with it, but milo is not so good at sneaking. his approach generally starts with jumping up on the bed (with the aid of a cardboard box that makes a pretty loud noise when all 15 pounds of him hits it,) tromping over the top of me (which generally results in some sort of sound, like "OOF" escaping from between my lips,) and then attacking rollie's face and head with his front feet and tongue. actually he tries to lick rollie's face off while holding it down with his front feet. this usually results in rollie waking up abruptly, and turning over out of milo's reach. at which point milo plops his fat little behind down between our pillows and looks around like, "what was that about?" then he walks above my head, and lays down RIGHT NEXT TO MIA, who can't take it, and gets up and goes to the foot of the bed--still on top of the covers. then milo settles down in the preferred spot--on top of the covers--and goes to sleep. this is what happens almost every night . . . but last night was a little different. rollie was in bed, i was in bed, and mia was settled in her spot next to me. i heard four little feet approach the bed and then scramble up. and stop. milo surveyed the situation from the foot of the bed before making a decision about where to go. (sometimes i think that milo thinks the bed belongs to him--i mean, he sleeps on it most of the day--
so maybe he thinks we are all in his space!) rollie must have been sleeping on his stomach, which limits the amount of face exposed for licking. so milo decided to skip that part of the process and came and laid down next to me, but not quite touching mia. they were positioned like ying and yang. and i went to sleep.well i tried to go to sleep. but i got hot--too many covers for a night that turned out to be warmer than we anticipated. i tried to rid myself of the quilt, but there was 50 pounds of furry flesh anchoring it down. i turned over. i got really close to them and pushed, just a little bit. neither dog would budge.
i tend to be polite, sometimes to a fault. i don't think that is a bad thing, but sometimes it makes it hard to get what i want. and last night i wanted those dogs to move! but i was too polite to wake them up and make them get down. finally i thought, if i could just get the quilt out from under them . . . so i started gently pulling, but i soon realized that gently was not going to do the trick. so i pulled a bit more vigorously. still no good. finally i yanked hard enough that mia got up and looked at me like, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!" i moved the quilt quickly and tried to settle her back down, but she would have none of it. she walked to the foot of the bed, sighed heavily, and flopped down.
as all of this was happening, milo was laying quietly in the next best spot. he didn't budge, but his eyes were open and watching every thing that happened. as soon as mia moved, he sort of s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d out toward me. and then he wiggled a little closer. and before i knew it, there he was--laying right next to me, on top of the quilt . . .
milo weighs less than mia when they are awake, but when they are sleeping, i am telling you, he weighs twice as much. that fat little body of his is like a bag of cement! and he doesn't read social cues very well, so i figured my chances of getting him to move were pretty slim.
i decided to go for broke! i lifted up his back end and pulled out both the quilt and the sheet. and then i lifted up his front end and pulled out both the quilt and the sheet. finally! i was free of unwanted covers!!
and it was a good thing, because there was a very warm, furry body snuggled up right next to me, showing no signs of moving any time soon . . .
i'm glad somebody was getting a good night's sleep!
Monday, July 27, 2009
timing is everything . . .
so today . . . i am horrified!
yesterday, just as i was about to start leading worship--i mean really ready to start, we were on the stage, the boys were ready to play and i had just opened my mouth to begin--when diandra came running up to tell me something. she was trying to be discreet and was helped by the fact that it was dark except for the stage lighting. but the problem was, she was talking quietly. and you know my hearing. i said "what?" twice, before i heard her say, "the alarm is going off at the house and i have to go check it out."
ok.
of all the times for our security alarm to go off, sunday morning is the absolute worst time. all three of us are busy at church, which makes it hard for the alarm company to contact us, because we have our phones on silent, if they are even within reach. and it isn't like we can just drop what we are doing and leave! but it is also the very best time for someone to burgle our house, because if they have been "casing the joint," they know that there is no one in the house from about 8:45 a.m. until we get home from lunch at about 1:00 every single sunday.
before we moved in several years ago, this house was robbed two or three times. we live in a really nice neighborhood in probably the safest part of the los angeles metropolitan area. we don't have gangs. we don't have graffiti. we don't have homeless people. we DO have lots and lots of police officers. so it really isn't the smartest place for a burglar to strike. (maybe they think in such a nice part of town, there will be lots of good stuff to take . . . ) however, since we have moved in, no one has tried to break in--at least that we know of. i think it is the presence of our two vicious dogs--they are pretty loud, and mia can look like she will eat you if you cross her.
anyway, the alarm company finally reached someone on the church staff who came and got diandra--because she was the only one of us not on stage at that particular moment (rollie was playing his bass with the band in the sanctuary.) that is when she came and told me she was leaving, so that i could cover for her. she had the sense to take ernie (the guy who got the message) with her, and off they went.
when they got here, they were met by several police officers. diandra came in and turned off the alarm, and they discovered that one of the sensors had fallen off one of the doors . . .
yeah.
we had been dealing with that dumb sensor all weekend. rollie had tried hot glue--that didn't hold. i tried tacky--it still fell off. so saturday, rollie stuck it on with that double-sided foam tape. we thought for sure that would stay put. i mean, have you ever tried to get that off of a surface?!? it is impossible! and really, if i had thought about it, i would not have set the alarm that morning until we were sure that it would hold. but i didn't think about it, so i had set the alarm and gone off to church . . .
and that is all i knew. until today.
today it was hot again, so when rollie got home from work this afternoon, we just sort of collapsed in front of the fan (because the only guy who can work the magic that is needed on our a/c is out of town!) we were just hanging out, and the dogs were fighting over us, and rollie started talking to milo who was trying to lick rollie's nose off his face. "yes," he said, "you are so vicious." ( i soon found out that this was sarcasm.) "when those police officers came in the house, you just went right over and sat on their feet."
wait a minute. what? the police officers came into the house? WHAT????
so rollie said, well, yes they had to come in first and clear the house. WHAT?!?!?! YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT POLICE OFFICERS CAME INTO THE HOUSE? AND WENT INTO EVERY ROOM?? AND CHECKED THE CLOSETS AND THE SHOWER??????
now i am horrified.
remember when your mom used to tell you to wear clean underwear in case you were ever in an accident and had to go to the hospital? maybe she should have saved her breath and instead said don't go to church while you are in the process of cleaning out the scary room.
yes, remember what i am doing?
the only room in the house that currently looks neat and clean is--you guessed it--the man room. every other room in the house is somehow involved in the scary room project. so now the whole house is scary. this is a temporary state--there is a charity coming to pick stuff up next tuesday--but still, those police officers didn't know that.
they looked around and asked diandra if she could tell if anything was missing. and she (my darling precious daughter) looked around and said, no, she couldn't tell.
just kill me now.
my mom talks about how she hates it when my dad is working in the garage, because he leaves the garage door up and all the neighbors can see inside (remember i get my pack-ratiness from my dad--his garage is full of stuff.) she says she thinks they might think the whole house looks like that. i always say to her, "oh no. everybody's garage has stuff in it. it is not a reflection of the rest of your house. don't worry about it." but now i know how she feels. my house does not always look like this, but those police officers don't know that. every time they drive by (and they drive by often enough) they are going to see the inside of my house as it was yesterday.
i'm thinking of staging another alarm malfunction in a couple of weeks when everything is cleaned up. maybe even on a sunday morning. what are the odds that those same police officers would respond . . . ?
yesterday, just as i was about to start leading worship--i mean really ready to start, we were on the stage, the boys were ready to play and i had just opened my mouth to begin--when diandra came running up to tell me something. she was trying to be discreet and was helped by the fact that it was dark except for the stage lighting. but the problem was, she was talking quietly. and you know my hearing. i said "what?" twice, before i heard her say, "the alarm is going off at the house and i have to go check it out."
ok.
of all the times for our security alarm to go off, sunday morning is the absolute worst time. all three of us are busy at church, which makes it hard for the alarm company to contact us, because we have our phones on silent, if they are even within reach. and it isn't like we can just drop what we are doing and leave! but it is also the very best time for someone to burgle our house, because if they have been "casing the joint," they know that there is no one in the house from about 8:45 a.m. until we get home from lunch at about 1:00 every single sunday.
before we moved in several years ago, this house was robbed two or three times. we live in a really nice neighborhood in probably the safest part of the los angeles metropolitan area. we don't have gangs. we don't have graffiti. we don't have homeless people. we DO have lots and lots of police officers. so it really isn't the smartest place for a burglar to strike. (maybe they think in such a nice part of town, there will be lots of good stuff to take . . . ) however, since we have moved in, no one has tried to break in--at least that we know of. i think it is the presence of our two vicious dogs--they are pretty loud, and mia can look like she will eat you if you cross her.
anyway, the alarm company finally reached someone on the church staff who came and got diandra--because she was the only one of us not on stage at that particular moment (rollie was playing his bass with the band in the sanctuary.) that is when she came and told me she was leaving, so that i could cover for her. she had the sense to take ernie (the guy who got the message) with her, and off they went.
when they got here, they were met by several police officers. diandra came in and turned off the alarm, and they discovered that one of the sensors had fallen off one of the doors . . .
yeah.
we had been dealing with that dumb sensor all weekend. rollie had tried hot glue--that didn't hold. i tried tacky--it still fell off. so saturday, rollie stuck it on with that double-sided foam tape. we thought for sure that would stay put. i mean, have you ever tried to get that off of a surface?!? it is impossible! and really, if i had thought about it, i would not have set the alarm that morning until we were sure that it would hold. but i didn't think about it, so i had set the alarm and gone off to church . . .
and that is all i knew. until today.
today it was hot again, so when rollie got home from work this afternoon, we just sort of collapsed in front of the fan (because the only guy who can work the magic that is needed on our a/c is out of town!) we were just hanging out, and the dogs were fighting over us, and rollie started talking to milo who was trying to lick rollie's nose off his face. "yes," he said, "you are so vicious." ( i soon found out that this was sarcasm.) "when those police officers came in the house, you just went right over and sat on their feet."
wait a minute. what? the police officers came into the house? WHAT????
so rollie said, well, yes they had to come in first and clear the house. WHAT?!?!?! YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT POLICE OFFICERS CAME INTO THE HOUSE? AND WENT INTO EVERY ROOM?? AND CHECKED THE CLOSETS AND THE SHOWER??????
now i am horrified.
remember when your mom used to tell you to wear clean underwear in case you were ever in an accident and had to go to the hospital? maybe she should have saved her breath and instead said don't go to church while you are in the process of cleaning out the scary room.
yes, remember what i am doing?
the only room in the house that currently looks neat and clean is--you guessed it--the man room. every other room in the house is somehow involved in the scary room project. so now the whole house is scary. this is a temporary state--there is a charity coming to pick stuff up next tuesday--but still, those police officers didn't know that.
they looked around and asked diandra if she could tell if anything was missing. and she (my darling precious daughter) looked around and said, no, she couldn't tell.
just kill me now.
my mom talks about how she hates it when my dad is working in the garage, because he leaves the garage door up and all the neighbors can see inside (remember i get my pack-ratiness from my dad--his garage is full of stuff.) she says she thinks they might think the whole house looks like that. i always say to her, "oh no. everybody's garage has stuff in it. it is not a reflection of the rest of your house. don't worry about it." but now i know how she feels. my house does not always look like this, but those police officers don't know that. every time they drive by (and they drive by often enough) they are going to see the inside of my house as it was yesterday.
i'm thinking of staging another alarm malfunction in a couple of weeks when everything is cleaned up. maybe even on a sunday morning. what are the odds that those same police officers would respond . . . ?
Friday, July 17, 2009
better to be hot?!?
so today . . . it was hot. really hot, like 100 degrees hot.
i know, i spent most of last week complaining about being cold--well, maybe not to YOU, because i didn't blog much while i was on vacation. but believe me, my mom and daughter heard plenty of complaining about the freezing cold (hey, when you live in socal, 65 degrees IS freezing cold.) i knew it would be warm when we got home, but this is ridiculous! and yet i kind of feel like i can't complain about it, because at least i'm not cold . . .
yesterday, i didn't complain about the heat. but today is another story. yesterday i was glad not to be cold. today i was thinking maybe the cold wasn't all that bad . . .
in this kind of heat, keeping cool becomes the focus of the day. it starts the night before when i open up the sliding glass doors downstairs. the air cools off fairly early, but we have no wind to blow the cool air through the house, and i can't leave the doors open when i go to bed, because of burglars. really. i mean, i have never actually SEEN a burglar in our neighborhood, but they are out there. i think they are just afraid of our dogs. but once our dogs go to sleep, they are totally useless as watchdogs. in fact, one night the alarm did go off. rollie leapt out of bed, grabbed something to use as a weapon and cautiously started downstairs. diandra ran out of her room and stood watch in the upstairs hallway. i slept through it all. and when rollie came back to bed, he said the dogs were both under the covers. so you see, we have to close up the house at night when we go to bed. or there might be burglars. and that means i have to stay up late enough to cool the house down.
thankfully i can farm . . . or blog.
then, the next morning we have to monitor the outdoor temperature, and close the upstairs windows as soon as it starts to warm up and turn the air conditioner back on. the indoor temperature slowly climbs all day long, and so we move slower and slower. the dogs turn into furry puddles on the floor. the level in the iced tea jar gets lower and lower. and not much is accomplished.
(this does not bode well for my plans for next week--i have a huge job scheduled, which will require lots of time in the garage. and if it is this hot, i fear i may not be too productive.)
anyway, today our plan was to go to the movies in the afternoon. movie theaters are notoriously cold--usually i take my polar fleece blanket when i go, even in the summer--and we thought it might be a good way to beat the heat. but when it came time to go, i just couldn't face going outside. instead, i opted to sit on the couch with a cold drink and watch tivo. i am so much fun!
one of the things i love about living here is our moderate weather. it is usually like the baby bear's porridge--not too hot, not too cold. but we do have a few days of extreme weather to deal with, and today was one of those days.
it was hot, but we made it through the day. rollie braved the heat to bring home pizza. we watched two episodes of "i survived a japanese gameshow"--majide--which is always good for a laugh or two. copious amounts of liquid were consumed. and when it just got too hot, we sat in front of the fan.
and then rollie said, "maybe when i have time off in august, we should go to las vegas for a few days." las vegas in AUGUST?!?! doesn't he know las vegas is in the DESERT?!?!? which is HOT in august?!? i mean like FRY AN EGG ON THE SIDEWALK HOT??? i'm afraid that when he ventured out to get pizza, the heat got to him. either that, or i didn't complain about the heat nearly enough . . .
i know, i spent most of last week complaining about being cold--well, maybe not to YOU, because i didn't blog much while i was on vacation. but believe me, my mom and daughter heard plenty of complaining about the freezing cold (hey, when you live in socal, 65 degrees IS freezing cold.) i knew it would be warm when we got home, but this is ridiculous! and yet i kind of feel like i can't complain about it, because at least i'm not cold . . .
yesterday, i didn't complain about the heat. but today is another story. yesterday i was glad not to be cold. today i was thinking maybe the cold wasn't all that bad . . .
in this kind of heat, keeping cool becomes the focus of the day. it starts the night before when i open up the sliding glass doors downstairs. the air cools off fairly early, but we have no wind to blow the cool air through the house, and i can't leave the doors open when i go to bed, because of burglars. really. i mean, i have never actually SEEN a burglar in our neighborhood, but they are out there. i think they are just afraid of our dogs. but once our dogs go to sleep, they are totally useless as watchdogs. in fact, one night the alarm did go off. rollie leapt out of bed, grabbed something to use as a weapon and cautiously started downstairs. diandra ran out of her room and stood watch in the upstairs hallway. i slept through it all. and when rollie came back to bed, he said the dogs were both under the covers. so you see, we have to close up the house at night when we go to bed. or there might be burglars. and that means i have to stay up late enough to cool the house down.
thankfully i can farm . . . or blog.
then, the next morning we have to monitor the outdoor temperature, and close the upstairs windows as soon as it starts to warm up and turn the air conditioner back on. the indoor temperature slowly climbs all day long, and so we move slower and slower. the dogs turn into furry puddles on the floor. the level in the iced tea jar gets lower and lower. and not much is accomplished.
(this does not bode well for my plans for next week--i have a huge job scheduled, which will require lots of time in the garage. and if it is this hot, i fear i may not be too productive.)
anyway, today our plan was to go to the movies in the afternoon. movie theaters are notoriously cold--usually i take my polar fleece blanket when i go, even in the summer--and we thought it might be a good way to beat the heat. but when it came time to go, i just couldn't face going outside. instead, i opted to sit on the couch with a cold drink and watch tivo. i am so much fun!
one of the things i love about living here is our moderate weather. it is usually like the baby bear's porridge--not too hot, not too cold. but we do have a few days of extreme weather to deal with, and today was one of those days.
it was hot, but we made it through the day. rollie braved the heat to bring home pizza. we watched two episodes of "i survived a japanese gameshow"--majide--which is always good for a laugh or two. copious amounts of liquid were consumed. and when it just got too hot, we sat in front of the fan.
and then rollie said, "maybe when i have time off in august, we should go to las vegas for a few days." las vegas in AUGUST?!?! doesn't he know las vegas is in the DESERT?!?!? which is HOT in august?!? i mean like FRY AN EGG ON THE SIDEWALK HOT??? i'm afraid that when he ventured out to get pizza, the heat got to him. either that, or i didn't complain about the heat nearly enough . . .
Saturday, June 6, 2009
top ten reasons why it shouldn’t rain in southern california
so today . . . something unexpected came up. i had a plan for today, and it was going along pretty well, until i got the phone call. it wasn't a big deal, just something i needed to do. but of course nothing is ever easy, and there were complications. so a job that should have taken about 45 minutes, ended up eating three hours of my time--time i had planned to use for other things, including blogging.
so, you are going to get a myspace repost. the good news is, this is one of my favorites. i have been waiting for just the right time to use it, and today is the day.
for the last week our weather has been strange here. rollie watches the news (i do not,) so he explained it to me today--something about a low pressure system sitting off the coast spinning around. and because it isn't moving or dissipating, our weather is somewhat unpredictable. a slight change in the direction of the wind brings us either warm sunshine, cool clouds, or light rain.
i've been waiting for a rainy day to repost this blog, but it could be weeks before we get a really good rainy day. and besides, even if it is raining here, it might not be raining where you live. so i've just decided that it's close enough--there were some sprinkles today . . .
this was originally posted on monday, february 04, 2008
we have had quite a lot of rain lately--more in the last couple of weeks than we had all of last year! and it is beginning to annoy me
so i have been inspired to write the following list!
top ten reasons why it shouldn't rain in southern california
10--they don't close the schools
9--the roads get slick and accidents happen (although accidents also happen when the roads are dry)
8--we have to go outside, in the rain, with our dogs to get them to do their business, but
7--i can't take the kids outside for recess!
6--our suede shoes and jackets get ruined (unless they are uggs--then they are supposed to look like that)
5--the birds don't sing
4--it dominates the news, taking time away from such important matters as who went into rehab or got arrested
3--my hair goes flat (now i know why it always had to be shorter in oregon!)
2--at night you can't see the lines on the roads, which is kind of dangerous and the number one reason why it shouldn't rain in southern california:
I CAN'T DRIVE MY CAR WITH THE TOP DOWN
ok, now this is for wendy:
top ten reasons why snow is better than rain
10--snow is beautiful; rain is gloomy
9--snow makes everything it touches more beautiful; rain makes everything it touches wet
8--in snow you can ski, snowboard, or sled; in the rain you can . . . play professional football, i guess
7--a walk in the snow is peaceful; a walk in the rain is just wet!
6--in the snow you can build a snowman or a snow fort or throw snowballs; in the rain you can build . . well, it's hard to form rain into anything--it just won't hold it's shape
5--when it snows we send the kids out to enjoy it; when it rains we keep them in where it is dry
4--in the snow you might get some adorable photos of your dog or your daughter; do you even want to take your camera out in the rain?!?!?
3--when it rains, people still have to go out and do the stuff they normally do, but when it snows people stay home where it is warm and safe, so
2--when it snows you can use your four wheel drive to go shopping (at the mall of course) or go to the movies without the crowds
and the number one reason snow is better than rain
THEY CLOSE SCHOOL FOR IT!
(which means a day off for us--WOOHOO!)
anyway, whatever your weather is today, i hope you find a way to enjoy it. for me, if i can't drive my car with the top down, then a large diet pepsi and dark chocolate M&Ms will have to do the trick!
so, you are going to get a myspace repost. the good news is, this is one of my favorites. i have been waiting for just the right time to use it, and today is the day.
for the last week our weather has been strange here. rollie watches the news (i do not,) so he explained it to me today--something about a low pressure system sitting off the coast spinning around. and because it isn't moving or dissipating, our weather is somewhat unpredictable. a slight change in the direction of the wind brings us either warm sunshine, cool clouds, or light rain.
i've been waiting for a rainy day to repost this blog, but it could be weeks before we get a really good rainy day. and besides, even if it is raining here, it might not be raining where you live. so i've just decided that it's close enough--there were some sprinkles today . . .
this was originally posted on monday, february 04, 2008
we have had quite a lot of rain lately--more in the last couple of weeks than we had all of last year! and it is beginning to annoy me
so i have been inspired to write the following list!top ten reasons why it shouldn't rain in southern california
10--they don't close the schools
9--the roads get slick and accidents happen (although accidents also happen when the roads are dry)
8--we have to go outside, in the rain, with our dogs to get them to do their business, but7--i can't take the kids outside for recess!
6--our suede shoes and jackets get ruined (unless they are uggs--then they are supposed to look like that)
5--the birds don't sing
4--it dominates the news, taking time away from such important matters as who went into rehab or got arrested
3--my hair goes flat (now i know why it always had to be shorter in oregon!)
2--at night you can't see the lines on the roads, which is kind of dangerous and the number one reason why it shouldn't rain in southern california:
I CAN'T DRIVE MY CAR WITH THE TOP DOWN
ok, now this is for wendy:
top ten reasons why snow is better than rain
10--snow is beautiful; rain is gloomy
9--snow makes everything it touches more beautiful; rain makes everything it touches wet
8--in snow you can ski, snowboard, or sled; in the rain you can . . . play professional football, i guess
7--a walk in the snow is peaceful; a walk in the rain is just wet!
6--in the snow you can build a snowman or a snow fort or throw snowballs; in the rain you can build . . well, it's hard to form rain into anything--it just won't hold it's shape
5--when it snows we send the kids out to enjoy it; when it rains we keep them in where it is dry
4--in the snow you might get some adorable photos of your dog or your daughter; do you even want to take your camera out in the rain?!?!?
3--when it rains, people still have to go out and do the stuff they normally do, but when it snows people stay home where it is warm and safe, so
2--when it snows you can use your four wheel drive to go shopping (at the mall of course) or go to the movies without the crowds
and the number one reason snow is better than rain
THEY CLOSE SCHOOL FOR IT!
(which means a day off for us--WOOHOO!) anyway, whatever your weather is today, i hope you find a way to enjoy it. for me, if i can't drive my car with the top down, then a large diet pepsi and dark chocolate M&Ms will have to do the trick!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
sigh . . . ? or scream . . . !!!
so today . . . i have no profound thoughts to share. or even mindless, random ones . . .
it's been a day of frustrations--nothing major, just a lot of little stuff. i hate that, because it makes me feel edgy all day. and since i tend to be non-confrontational, this means a day of just swallowing the words that crowd my mind, and trying not to compound things by telling everyone just what i think! that's why i have no thoughts to share--my brain has been so busy controlling my reactions that it hasn't had time to wander into territory that would make for interesting reading . . .
i've had several days like this lately, and it is bothering me. this is not the way i want to live my life, but it seems to be what's going on right now. maybe i am just ready for summer vacation--but that is still almost a month away! maybe i need therapy to learn how to deal with these frustrations more positively. maybe, like one of my friends, i just need pharmaceutical aid. i don't know.
all i know is, today i am glad for my dogs (who think i am the second best person on the planet,) and facebook farm town (which gives me the illusion of being in control--even though my animals are running wild!)
it's been a day of frustrations--nothing major, just a lot of little stuff. i hate that, because it makes me feel edgy all day. and since i tend to be non-confrontational, this means a day of just swallowing the words that crowd my mind, and trying not to compound things by telling everyone just what i think! that's why i have no thoughts to share--my brain has been so busy controlling my reactions that it hasn't had time to wander into territory that would make for interesting reading . . .
i've had several days like this lately, and it is bothering me. this is not the way i want to live my life, but it seems to be what's going on right now. maybe i am just ready for summer vacation--but that is still almost a month away! maybe i need therapy to learn how to deal with these frustrations more positively. maybe, like one of my friends, i just need pharmaceutical aid. i don't know.
all i know is, today i am glad for my dogs (who think i am the second best person on the planet,) and facebook farm town (which gives me the illusion of being in control--even though my animals are running wild!)
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