The joys of having a retriever in the house

 

It's not just pumpkins that they might decide to "retrieve".  This stuffed toy, a shark, was on the parking by the sidewalk when we walked on Monday.  That day Ember sniffed but left it ("somebody else's toy," her Hu-Mom intones).  But Wednesday morning, she decided to pick it up and carry it toward home.  We got two and a half blocks before something else distracted her and she dropped it.

HuMom of course put her into the car, and we drove back to replace the shark in its original spot, then took its photo and posted on the NextDoor app in case anyone is looking for their child's "woobie".  Could have been there for any number of reasons.

This is the second time in a week.  On Sunday it was a wiffle ball that she picked up from in front of someone else's yard.  I had to go return that, too.  She's always so proud of the trophies she picks up and carries.  Just like when as a puppy she would pick up the biggest stick she could find and parade it through the neighborhood.

Last November's target item.  She broke the stem off.  The neighbor lady recognized her pumpkin in the photo I posted and she was most gracious.

She's also retrieved work gloves, one of which I put up on the mailbox next to where she picked it up from the ground.  The other time I brought it home and posted about it, but no one spoke up to claim it, so I've just continued with the return to where she snatched it strategy.

Springtime, 2025?  Summer, maybe?  Windfall branches brought home.

Thursday is Ember's last day care day before Carl comes to visit, so most of my own efforts are in prepping for that:  make sure all the human laundry gets done.  Vacuum out the X-pen one last time.  

Friday victory

I had just the fullest heart Friday, after Ember and I went to the TSC to pick up chew sticks for her.  It was noonish, between bouts of rain.  The store was quite busy, lots of people, but not horribly crowded.  Ember came in with me, on her leash, as they do a good job as a dog-welcoming store.  She was so good!  She did not jump up on anyone, kept her paws down for calm greetings with other people.  She sniffed at everything, of course, but did not lick or mouth the merchandise (if she had I would have felt obligated to purchase it!)  When we had to wait in line to check out, she stayed calmly by my side and went into a nice polite sit.  When the line moved two steps, so did she, then sat again.  What a good girl!  Mommy was so happy!  Then the check-out clerk asked if she could give her a milk bone, and of course I said yes... she earned it.  And she slipped me a second one for a bribe to get into the car, but as it turned out I didn't need it.  I just put the bag of treats in the car and she followed it.

The beginning of the two-dog chaos

I did not sleep well Friday night.  Part of it was anticipation of Saturday's arrival of the chaos of two dogs.  Ember and I got up to a fairly normal start to the day, down to the coffee drive-thru, before Carl burst onto the scene.

As anticipated, Carl is nutso over the squirrels.  Ember remains silent over them. Carl barks at everything.

The squirrels are in that overhanging evergreen.

Anyway, the kids have made it to their hotel in Denver.  They are planning on taking FGC to Meowwolf (sp), an artsy/techy incredible place that's a chain of locations around the country (maybe the world).  Son and DIL went to the Denver one on their honeymoon, and have been to a couple of others, but they figure this one's OK for the kiddo.

Not dog friendly, though, so I get the twosome.

They share everything... in this case a stuffed crinkly owl toy.  They tug better with each other than they do with me!

Here they are sharing a bone, each chewing on one end.

Here they are sharing my lap.

When we took a collective afternoon nap, Ember claimed the prize spot behind my legs and Carl stretch out on the floor beside.

And we did a test run of putting on harnesses and loading up into the car to get Dexter (said car) a very expensive drink of gasoline.

Over 25 bucks for under seven gallons of gas.  And that's with the grocery store loyalty program 40 cent a gallon discount!

Oh, well, at least this is a fuel efficient little car.

I anticipated this:  they swapped meals.  Ember ate Carl's, Carl ate Ember's, but then interrupted his chow to go bark at a UPS truck.  Ember chowed down on the green beans, which was what he had left.

We were calming on the couch, and I asked Ember if she wanted her cookie, which she did, and went into the crate at her normal time for "until last call" which is when I come up and brush my teeth and get ready for the night.  However, Carl got to come upstairs with me, and Ember is not very happy about that, and is raising a ruckus in her crate as I type.  I will go ahead and brush my teeth and wait for her to quiet down before I go let her out for last call.  I doubt she'll want to go back in the crate after that, so I'm planning on a night on the couch for myself.

Life is good.  Spark on, y'all!

Past Present and Future

Past: 

Photo from May 16, 2022:  2022 was the year before our son got married for the second time.  It was during a road trip to introduce his then fiancé (now wife) to his dad.  

The date is of interest. It was the 41st anniversary of the wedding of DXH and me.  Friday was the 45th anniversary of it.  We have been divorced three years longer than we were married.

I still care about the man.  Being me, I tend to fuzz out the bad parts and paint the good ones with a pink cloud filter.  

Travel and weather (sort of Present):

My son's in-laws (DIL's parents) went off on a family adventure.  I think a nephew or niece's wedding, two states away.  Son, DIL, and FGC were bird-sitting the parakeets while they were away.  While they were gone, and on the day they drove home (Monday), tornado alley set up shop around here.

Ember experienced her first "real" tornado warning with sirens ablare Sunday evening.  I don't think it hurt that we did a tornado drill a few weeks ago, where the test sirens were a cue to go down and kennel up in the lowest level of the house.  During the warning, I brought a kitchen chair down and sat next to her crate.  It was her normal sleep time anyway, so she just curled up and did just that in a different spot.  What a good girl!

Those are my knees under the blankie.  After the front had passed and they were warning Iowa and Wisconsin, we went back upstairs to her regular crate for the remainder of the night.

DIL's parents got home safely early Monday afternoon, before that day's storms started in.

Future:

The birds (all four of them, DIL's cockatiels and her parents' parakeets) will go stay with her parents at some point this week.  Because Carl serves as my son's PTSD security blanket, they will bring him over "at the last minute" before they leave town.  He'll stay with Ember and me.  The younger generation folks (including FGC) will go road-tripping for five days.  I'm actually looking forward to the dog-chaos, saving up my energy for it.

I gave the neighbor on the other side of my fence fair warning of the upcoming "barky dog" visit.  

Speaking of the barky dog, the things that drive him totally nuts are the squirrels.  The squirrels in my yard are pretty doggone cheeky.  On Saturday, one of them was honest to gosh ON MY DECK, drinking out of the dog's water bowl!  I did not have time to take a photo, because I slid the door open and the silent chasing pup (Ember) took over.  No more squirrel on the deck.  Maybe Carl will teach them to be a little less cheeky.  But I kind of doubt it.

I also gave the neighbor heads up about the upcoming deck project.  When I took Ember to day care on Tuesday morning (today), I changed her reservation to NOT go to day care next Tuesday.  I also booked her in for Monday through Thursday starting June 1.  

There it is, past, present, and future!  Life is good.  Keep on Sparking, my friends!

I pulled an old paper journal off the shelf

I pulled an old paper journal off the shelf

In it, I discovered the reason why we journal (those of us who do).  I found entries that described dreams I had forgotten about.  I discovered large gaps in time.  My last entry in this particular volume was in 2018, before my brother passed.  I had started it in 2011, before I retired, and in the initial entries, I dedicated it to discovering myself.

"Every time I have an interaction with another person, it contributes to my cumulative concept of myself.

"Did my behavior in that interaction live up to that concept?  Or did it reveal something about me that will alter that concept?"  May 29, 2011

From a timeline perspective, this would be the end of the month of my first half marathon.  I was clearly (from the writings) working on the food side of the health equation, working on abstinence from overeating / binge eating.  I talked of living in accordance with one's values to achieve inner peace.

I labeled these as my values:

• kindness
• tolerance
• intelligence
• health
• preparedness
• planning

Then I added a couple that I marked as one I felt I "ought" to value, but that my behavior was not supporting

• organization
• order

I'm not sure why I put these down, but I labeled them as "Primary"

• independence
• Not being a burden

Another couple unlabeled:

• safety
• comfort

The next few entries reminded me this was between my son's two deployments.  As I flipped through the pages, I noted entries related to my older sister's breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, so now I have that placed in my memory timeline between the deployments.  It is interesting to me how memory and association of memories encapsulate my sense of time passing.  I am turning into my grandmother.

My sister-in-law was diagnosed with ALS came that same year, later.  The last "regular" entry was Christmas eve 2012.  Then the big gaps began.  On Christmas eve I recorded the news that my son told me via IM that he'd been award a combat action badge, rare for service members with his MOS (military occupational specialty).  It implies that he was involved in a firefight (several months prior) and performed satisfactorily in accordance with the rules of engagement.  After that entry, I went silent until the following April.

Each entry following a "gap" I tried to play catch-up.  During the gap between Christmas eve, 2012 and April 2, 2013, that sister-in-law passed away, my son came home from deployment, and he and his first wife were in process of buying the home he still lives in now.

I only continued entries through April that year and stopped after the Boston Marathon bombing.  The next gap lasted until April 2017... a four-year gap!

Interesting, a time-travel through the paper journal.  I didn't do a very good job filling in that gap.  The four years would have included my brother's passing, my son's divorce, the pandemic, and meeting and marrying my current daughter in law.  It would include their deciding to apply to be foster parents and the arrival of their first "respite" visits.  

I have now started writing a few of my recent "odd" dreams in it.  We shall see whether it becomes an active paper journal again!

Life is still good.  Keep on Sparking!

Ten days later...

 

Going backwards through time, here.  This photo is from the Mothers' Day outing on Saturday.  FGC was with, but as usual, he's being left out of photographic evidence for program reasons.

Said FGC was behind the camera, taking the photo of foster mom and foster grandmas (both of us).

One of the appetizers that we shared around was called Tot-chos, a tater tots version of nachos.  It was really pretty good.  Other offerings were flatbread pizzas and chicken and shrimp on sticks.  Nonalcoholic "fancy drinks" work for both FGC and for me.  One was a strawberry concoction, and we both had that.  There was also one called something like misty dew.  Son was avoiding alcohol for his own reasons that evening and he said it tasted rather like lemon meringue pie.

This has been our mothers' day outing for two years now, with a child involved, so it's kind of locked in as tradition.  The bar has outdoor seating on a balcony on the 6th floor and you can see a whole lot of the University campus from that roof spot.

Saturday morning Ember and I met a former co-worker of mine and her dog Zoe to have the two canines meet and try a parallel leash walk at a nearby park (neutral ground for both dogs).  It went pretty well, for a first meeting between dogs that don't know each other.  As is generally the case, they take their cues from their humans and once they both figured the two humans were OK with each other, they would be OK with the other dog, too.  We will try it again next Saturday, weather permitting.

Back up a day from that and we have Friday May 8th.  Ember and I started off as usual, with our morning rituals, down to poo patrol and the coffee run.  

Then a message popped up from DIL.  My son was headed for the ER.  Didn't matter that it was probably a small thing, just needed attention sooner, rather than later, mom genes kick in.  I spent a couple of hours keeping him company while he languished in triage.  The good thing about boring ER visits is it means the big scary things have been ruled out.  DIL showed up shortly after I did.  She could not concentrate on work.  In the end, they discharged him, sent DIL off to the pharmacy, and the day continued for me in a more normal fashion.

Ember and I went on a longer than usual walk when I got home, then she was ready to collapse in a puddle of warm puppy.  

Backing up to the middle of the week, and we have the setting of a start date for the deck work.  First week in June is the plan.  The contractor would have been OK with starting on the 18th of May, but since I will be getting Carl for a two-dog weekend plus on the 23rd, I did not want to risk something going wrong (bad weather, delivery delay, or any number of things that can happen with house projects) and not having access to my back yard by a simple opening of the door to the deck during my two-dog time!

Also mid-week:  a new fitness watch arrived, and I got it all set up.  I had been wearing the new "cheaper" smart watch for about a month. I have decided the integration of systems does mean something to me. I traded in my Google watch for the new Google 4 version.  The trade-in process was pretty smooth.  They sent packaging, and as is normal these days, there are YouTube videos showing step by step what to do.

Now we get to the "just for fun" photos:

Lap Kitty.

Google Assistant fail.  It got activated accidentally.  It volunteered to "take a selfie".  I spotted the countdown on the screen, 4... 3.. 2, and started to say "Nooooo!"

I thought it was a funny shot, so did not erase it at once, and now it's your giggle for the day!

It would not be an Emberville post without a glamor shot of the star.

Life is good.  Keep on Sparking!

Medicalizing and other stuff

Happy May Day, everyone!

Springtime is deck time at our house.  You can see these are about a week old, because of the lack of leafing out on the branches... just starting in the photos.  There are many more fully leafed-out by posting day.

Remember back when I said I needed to live in the body I now have for six weeks before the next medical test appointment?  Time was ups up on Tuesday the 28th of April. I dropped Ember at daycare, did a few things around the house, then drove to Omaha for the scheduled medical test.  No snow on this drive.  On the way back I got rain.

I go back in mid-May for the next step, which is a solution for the problem (we hope).  Going with the least objectionable option to me.  I'm not a big fan of drugs or surgery.  Fortunately, there is a third option that I think I can live with.  Or at least test out before deciding on medication or surgery.

I was concerned that I would be late collecting Ember, but the doctor was running early, and I was only about half an hour later than usual.  Long day.  

Wednesday Ember and I went on an explore walk, on a couple of different blocks, ones she hadn't been down since she was much younger.  I was very disappointed when we got home and I discovered that RunKeeper had not been tracking.  It turned off when I poked the phone in my pocket, 4 seconds into the walk!  Oh, well, the body keeps its own counts.

Thursday was "financializing" day.  It was also "fight with the tech" day.  I did not get the communication problem between the printer and my router resolved, I suspect it may be a security issue, and I don't know how to fix it.  My printer doesn't have a screen, just icons on the panel. It has to be controlled by software on another device.  It can print out directions as "help" but they are vague enough to be worthless.  The other device software wants printer to already be connected to same router/network as device.  Chicken/egg anyone?

The router, by the way, also does not have local controls, but expects you to log in on a website, with password and user id, and even then, same issues, wants to have the printer already connected.  Sigh and sad.  May have to go old school and get a direct connection style printer!

In the meantime, this meant meeting with the financial guy with hand-scratched notes and a copy of my tax return.  I got the backup dude this time, but he had been in on the last meeting with the original guy.  Seems we had the same discussion that has been ongoing for several years, but in the end, it was "stay the course".  From the financial perspective, it's "wait and see".  Funny, that's sort of the same as the medical perspective!  Try this and see.  Wait and see.

Ember and the squirrel (on the fence post to the right). This is a beat before I said, "Go get him!" and she did, silently.  She charged at the fence, chased the squirrel two posts along, until squirrel wisely crossed over to the other side of the fence and out of Ember's line of sight.  At this point, my retriever decided to go off and find something more interesting to do.  I mean, after all, she did as mom asked, and told the squirrel that he didn't belong there, but after he's doing squirrel things in somebody else's yard, not her problem.

My sole news comment of the week?  I've always been a bit of an Anglophile.  I enjoyed the sanity, diplomacy, and humor that King Charles III brought to his state visit to the US.  Not that I want ANY king, but as kings go, this guy is a good 'un.  Our legal heritage is an extension of the limits the nobility put on the kings in the country that became the United Kingdom.

End of May, I will have two dogs for a week or so.  Carl and Ember will have another chance to corrupt each other.  Maybe Carl will teach Ember about sleeping in a puppy pile.  Maybe he will teach her the joys of barking at squirrels.  Or maybe she will teach him the effectiveness of the silent (non-barking anyway) chase.  Just like people, they all have their own personalities.

I forget which day care day The Prisoner curled up on the couch, but here he is.  Proof of continued life!  Life is good.  Keep on keeping on, i.e. Sparking!

It's Springtime (go ahead and sing along...)

 

Springtime brings storm fronts, sometimes hail, sometimes rain, sometimes tornados.  This was Thursday the 23rd of April 2026, from my front porch, looking west.  Front coming through.  A couple of seconds after I snapped this one, a gust knocked over my patio chair, so I put it away in the garage.

I went out to take the photo because across town, "the kids" were having quarter sized hail.  To their east (my north), DIL's parents got a slew of tiny hailstones (pea sized).  I got... a few splotchy raindrops that evaporated.  And that wind.  A little while later, some rain that wet down the deck and the street but did not last very long.

It's been a busy week and a bit since I last posted.  In the meantime, I submitted my primary ballot.  I signed a couple of petitions to get issues on the ballot for November.  Returned two library books and switched authors since the next book by the same author wasn't on the shelf.

I did usual errands:  fill tank with gas.  Buy groceries.  Walk the dog.  Accept delivery of softener salt for the house.  The bug guys called to set their next appointment for Tuesday the 28th.

A few seasonal items:  the lawn guy came out to inspect and turn on the sprinkler system.

Took Dexter the car in for his semi-annual oil change and while they were at it, had them check the A/C and repair if needed.  $$$ later, I have nice cooling air in the car.  Ember will appreciate this as the weather heats up, I'm certain.

Watched TV coverage of the Boston Marathon (tradition) on Monday the 20th.  I get nostalgic vibes of my brother.  Part of my honoring ritual to watch that race, and for certain landmarks along the route.

The day before that we had a family luncheon in honor of "the kids" 3rd Wedding Anniversary (which was really on Tuesday, but we lunched on Sunday).  Mourned that the original date of Arbor Day (April 22nd) was used as "Earth Day".  I've never got over that and grip every year!  However, they did turn Arbor Day into a local 3-day holiday so Friday the 24th was observed in Nebraska as Arbor Day.

Dog hair cleanup, Tuesday April 14th, 2026.  This was under Ember's crate.  Ember came home sweet smelling and soft.  She has done her best to roll in foul smelling stuff ever since, of course!

Crate corner, after mopping the floor, before putting the crate back.  Enjoy it while I can, the hair will be back in a flash!

The Prisoner in Springtime, 2026.

The doggo always wins when you play tug with her favorite hunting / retrieving dummy.  She will drop it for a treat, though.

Life goes on.  Life is good.  Keep Sparking, my friends!

Life goes on

Brief comment about the news of late:  I'm sorry, but I'm tired of this S***!  I shall ignore the state of the wider world for the remainder of this entry.  This, I am told, is a symptom of privilege.

Thinking of the Artemis II and ISS crews when I snapped this photo.  I had listened to the respectful communications between the two crews out there beyond Earth's atmosphere and that is an uplifting thought.  The expression that we would "always come home to earth" is a hope that we treat each other and the planet well, so that it can remain a home for humanity.

The week wandered to its routine end, with dog-walks and nice days, and human errands and rides in the car.  I think it was Monday the 13th when I had one of those moments when I considered just never blogging again!

I held off on writing a "goodbye" kind of post, though, because I know myself well enough to know I would write again.  It's how I process all the loose ends of life.  

Sure enough, here I am, ten days after the last time I clicked on "Publish", consolidating three half begun posts into one.  

Because it's Emberville, we have to put this part in

Ember shook me up with a couple of behaviors that I was not prepared for.  The first involved jumping up on a fellow dog-mom as said human came out the door from dropping her own pooch at day-care.  Ember is always full of herself on Tuesday mornings.  I should have seen it coming but I wasn't in position and didn't have my pup under control.  My fault.  Fellow dog-mom was very gracious about it, BUT!  Don't want that to happen again.   

The next morning at the end of our neighborhood leash-walk, Ember and I were coming across our own front lawn.  This is a relatively recent modification to how we end the walk.  It all depends on the route we have taken.

Bella (an older yellow lab) was walking across the front of the property (with her dad on leash).  Again, I wasn't prepared for what Ember was going to do.  We've been so good lately!  Ember was so excited to see Bella. She did a big play-bow, so I should have known she would pull toward her friend.  I was at the top of the lawn that sweeps down toward the street.  When she started to move toward Bella, I felt myself starting to tip, and instinctively dropped my end of the leash.

Both dogs were excitedly greeting, now one on leash (Bella) and the other dragging hers (Ember). Thankfully, Bella's dad is an experienced dog owner.  He told Ember to "go home" in a firm voice, while telling Bella to settle down.  Unfortunately, I don't think Ember knows "go home" as a cue.

Bella's dad also took the opportunity to pick up the human end of Ember's leash.  Like I said, experienced dog dude.  Meanwhile, I walked about 10 more steps to enter the code to open the garage door.  I dropped a treat on the driveway to distract Bella.  Bella's dad transferred Ember's leash to me.  I proceeded to open the car door and she jumped in, anticipating our normal after walk car ride.  Bella and her dad continued their walk.  Took a while to get my own heart calmed down.

Bottom line, Ember and I have a way to go on the "calm greetings" manners!  Her cousin Carl (now six years old) has never learned "calm" when it comes to greeting Grandma, if that's any predictor of success in this endeavor.

Keeping the economy moving, one project at a time

Every year as Spring rolls around all the "need to take care of this" projects around the house and yard crop up.  Spending money becomes the big thing.  But with inflation going on, it gets more painful than usual.

I made a list (who among my readers does not make lists and tick them off?)  On Tuesday the 14th, I started working my way down that list making phone calls.  I think I have blogged in the past (maybe all the way back when the platform was SparkPeople) that I really don't like making phone calls.  When I pull all my energy together and make myself do it, I feel both accomplished and exhausted.  I second guess everything I said.  That goes without saying, right?

I scheduled a Handyman to come out and look at three or four items I'd been dragging my feet on.  He came on Wednesday, painted a couple of spots on the house, helped me take apart the camera doorbell and plug it in to charge, and made a recommendation about the on-again off-again light in the bathroom off the master bedroom.

You can't really see the crack in the pane in this photo.  This was before the handy dude went off to find a piece of acrylic to replace it.

Turns out the pane that cracked was real glass, so that's now in the trash.  Ember was pretty good through all of this, as the handyman was here for a couple of hours, and she had to be contained, so as to avoid putting her nose in places it's not safe for a puppy to be.  Part of the time she was in crate, part of the time on leash with me, and part of the time she lounged in Dexter (the car)'s backseat.

All fixed, reflecting the neighboring house.

Before Scott the Handyman came, I contacted the gent who did my son's deck.  He came to look at mine and give me an idea of how much it would cost to replace it.  We discussed a couple of design options, and he sent me the estimate.  I am still working on navigating how one signs contracts and makes it happen in this new "gig economy" world, because after the initial estimate came, I had second thoughts about the design.  I know that will make the cost go up.  I don't want to sign "accept" on the initial estimate without knowing how much more the final is going to be.  

I made an appointment for the car's Spring servicing, and for the annual house A/C check.  I called the lawn guys to leave a message about them coming to turn on my sprinkler system.  The only folks I didn't call were the bug guys, because they normally come in May, and depending on when the deck work takes place, I want them after that is done.

Now maybe I can have calm and smooth and boring and repetitive for a while, and Ember won't rile me up... 

Life is good.  Keep on Sparking!