Back on Spark!

 

We have really enjoyed the cooler morning walks the past four days.  Ember has taken me round several different loops in the neighborhood.  We have showed off our good manners in giving other dogs and people room, and for the most part avoiding the worst of our enthusiastic greetings, thanks to a mom braced for it and watching the signs.  And holding tight to the leash those few times.

We went nose to nose in greeting with a rescue puppy, 3 months old, saved from Texas by the Beatrice, NE humane society, and adopted by a neighbor.  So cute.  So smart.  We ended the greeting about the time Ember went into a total tail wagging play bow, and I'm sure they would have enjoyed playing, but on the leash is NOT the time for that kind of play.  Gradually, my girl has learned to accept this, but I still have to be watchful.

Besides, a 3-month-old puppy is already a handful for my neighbor, she doesn't need my girl regressing and teaching bad habits to the new puppy when her hu-mom is doing so well!

I got into the new SparkPeople.  Wow!  Have to get myself to bed now, but I can feel the old pull.  It's been rearranged a bit, but I've already found Gloria from the FB group (I think she might be Canadian?)

Tuesday morning, I slept until after 5.  Ember was probably frustrated with me as I was paying attention to Spark stuff, trying to learn my way around the new AI-driven platform before she went to day care.  If anybody wants an invite, I have them.  If I have your e-mail I can send it directly.  I know at least a couple of you are already on it, and I've already put up my first blog over there.  I am now using OKM, instead of the longer version, as my display name.

Ember is now off to day care and I have to avoid getting sucked into an online black hole, because household tasks need attention while she's gone!

I survived my first day on the new Spark, have found a few folks that were in various "life raft" communities, and am slowly re-connecting over there.  I have discovered that international users ARE on the new Spark.  Canadian and UK users located so far.  I figured out what passes for a SparkPage (my Spark) and joined a few user groups, including Sparking with Dogs!

I'll keep on blogging here for a while, just to leave the breadcrumbs if I shift over there.  Also, my Archives from SparkPeople 1.0 of selected saved blogs live on this account.

Life is good.  Spark on!

Woo-Hoo! Lynda is back on blog!

 Collection of snippets from the week between blogs

It was about 2:30 a.m. when the rumbles woke me Tuesday morning (July 28th).  Percussive shakes, I could feel in the timbers of the house.  I flipped on the local TV station, and they didn't have the weather coverage up just yet. By 3, they had a meteorologist in tracking and running the graphics of "Severe Thunderstorm Warning" radar.  It rolled on past our community in about half an hour and I fell back to sleep.  By the time I got up and checked a little after 6, only one deck chair had been overturned by the wind, and it was out in the far-back yard.  Ember was not enthusiastic about going outside right at first but warmed up to the thought when she found out it was 8 degrees cooler than the prior morning!

The indoors was a wreck, born of four days of the heat wave.  When the doggo doesn't want to be outside, she still needs to have mental exercise, and it may have seemed like a whole boxload of toys spilled onto the floor in the x-pen, it wasn't anywhere near her entire supply.  After dropping her at daycare Tuesday morning, I picked up and vacuumed, as usual.  

Wednesday morning the forecast said 80% chance of rain, locally, in the 8 a.m. hour.  The kids and my co-inlaws across town got it, my son got it briefly at his workplace, I got nothing here but a few drops of mist hanging in the air.  All in the same city.  I guess this is what you call "scattered showers".

My bug guys showed up and are doing the outside treatment.  Ember's napping in her crate.  I'm not having them treat inside the house.

Working at cleaning up the storage on my phone.  I've had this phone for several years and I have not good about digital "clean up".  I take photos, I take videos, I used some of them to share, I download some from DIL, etc.  And eventually I get a message that I'm over my storage limit at Amazon photos for videos, etc.  So I searched for help and started clearing some out!

Thursday I was having a "low energy" day, but I made myself feel better by vacuuming out my bedroom and shoving some clutter away.  I indulged in a trip to the library where I checked out a couple more of "The Cat That..." mysteries.  And I took a brief nap after that.  I also puttered with a bit of weeding of the rock bed on the South side of the house since it was "cooler" than it had been over that weekend!

Meanwhile, across town at soccer camp, the foster grandson got an award.  " Jacob Bartlett Sportsmanship Award for showing Team First, Work Ethic, Intelligence and Winning Mentality "

It is a professional team Jersey from the sponsoring Kansas City pro soccer team, signed by the players.  "The kids" (meaning my son and his wife) framing it so FGC can hang it on his bedroom wall.  Quite the honor, and it shows his progress in the nearly two years (in September) he's been with my son and DIL.  You can bet the whole family are busting our buttons over this not-quite 8-year-old kiddo's accomplishments.

I stopped the accumulation of snippets here, because I posted about the day at the fair on Saturday, but... after responding to several comments on that blog, I tripped over Lynda's Sunday morning blog!  She's ba-ack!  And working on her issues, but able to post words at least.

Life's REALLY good!  Spark on!

Fair Day!

 Saturday morning, August 1st, dawned amazingly cool.  As in 61℉.  Ember and I took a nice long leash walk, 1.76 miles.  We were both pretty happy.  The only blotch on the walk was a spot where some truck must have hit a bump and a large collection of manure clods fell into the middle of the street.  This was just too much for Ember... so tempting!  I had to direct traffic while trying to convince her to take me back to a sidewalk... I did not care about which side.  Two very kind drivers stopped and waited for this to happen.

After the furry one went down for her morning nap, I changed into shorts as the day was warming up and drove myself to meet the family group who were going to the County Fair.  Oh, my, it was a classic fair outing.  We found FGC's drawing entry.

We played bingo for cash... The Mythical Son won one game.  I split the pot on another.

We moved on to a bungy jumping ride:  100 jumps for 20 bucks.  DIL picked up the tab for FGC to have a go!  Adult audience, watching kiddo on the bungy jumping thingy.

Then we played with the Kawasaki models of offroad vehicles for a while (don't worry, not enabled for actual driving, and the Mythical Son was riding watch on the kiddo).

Next kiddo was ready for food, he thought, but the vendors were not open yet on the midway.  We settled for donuts and lemonade in the building.  Then went and found the animal exhibits.  The avian fans found one cage of bantams labeled with the name "the Three Bobs".  Which of course merited a photo by the Bob in our group!  I visited the sheep and goats; we even checked out the hogs.  Cattle were in the ring being shown.

Out to the midway as soon as it opened, and it was funnel cakes for Bob, Corn Dogs for the rest of us.  Believe it or not, this was my first ever corn dog.  I never thought that corn meal batter was the appropriate sheath for a hot dog, but turns out, it does actually go together OK.  There was another sour cold drink for kiddo.  And I should explain the kiddo's corn dog was covered in Taki crumbs and cheese.  Spicy!

Next up, the rides.  On the way down the midway, I saw someone I thought I recognized!  My niece and her fiancé!  Of course, there's the off chance it's not them, and I had not met the fiancé in person before, but I took my courage in hand and touched my niece on the shoulder.  It was them!  We chatted for a bit then I had to go find son, DIL and FGC, so we parted ways.

DIL got a big giggle out of FGC on the rides.  He would pick the big scary rides.  Then when they got on them, he would say, "I changed my mind", when they got to the top of the ride!  I'm only sharing one of the ride photos, but there were I think four of them that involved spinning and/or up in the air.  I did not go on any of the rides.  DIL went on most of them with him.  The Mythical Son went on one.  And ONE of them he went on solo (it was the kind that had at one point in both my lifetime and in my DIL's lifetime had made us throw up, so we chose to opt out of that one.)

I ducked out early to come home to Ember, who had been left in her crate.  I had lasted three hours, though.  My toes were feeling cramped. I took off my shoes and socks, which led to a game of chase inside the house, and some extra toe licking.  I think she's only seen me barefoot a handful of times.  I gave her an extra chew stick as a treat for being such a good girl (and giving me back my socks).

I got a message from my DIL that they had found my niece, too, after the rides!  Yay for small worlds!

Oh, and those of you who were predicting Kiddo might get sick from all that fried food followed by that kind of rides?  You were right... after they got home, he got sick, threw up, and pronounced he felt a lot better!  Guess some lessons are learned by experience, eh?

I have not yet heard from Lynda (LEANJEAN6) and I'm hoping she's OK.  I have seen a lot of comments on her most recent blog (with no photos, asking for help with the blog), but she has not called me back.  If her daughter was there, or maybe one of her sons can help.  I think I have an email for her somewhere, and I am a Facebook friend, but I have not seen any new Facebook content since the 24th of July, either.  Prayers, folks!

Life is good!  Keep on Sparking!

The heat wave returns.

 

It's hot outside, folks.  Sunday morning the 26th, 79℉ already!

The Prisoner has his fur fluffed up, to cool himself.

A cooling pad is a good idea, here, mom!

Ember kept her outside trips short today and I did not take her on leash in the neighborhood.

About Ember's supper time, my phone rang with an unfamiliar number, and it turned out to be our old friend Lynda (LEANJEAN6)... I promised I'd say hi for her as she's having issues updating her own blog at this point.

Her daughter is visiting and I hope she's able to help with the computer issues as I tried and was unable to resolve it over the phone with my old "help desk" suggestions.

Reminds me of my own recent printer issues where the "help" points to something that you were asking for help with!

Life is good.  We are keeping cool inside.  Keep Sparking!

Happy Birthday

 

This weekend

The birthday boy opens the card and discovers that his in-laws have given him a gift certificate to the restaurant at which we are celebrating his birthday dinner.  Best smile I've seen on him in a while... down to the crinkly eyes!  He quipped, "Oh, for when I steal the check!"  Which of course he did, as he is notorious for doing.

My co-mum-in-law made it clear to the server at another family outing that the bill was to come to her, but my son snuck off and paid it before it got sent out.  It makes him feel good to be a provider!

We got around it this time by giving him money to pay the bill!  Co-in-laws with a gift certificate, me with a check.  Families have to have those inside jokes, don't we?

Ten Years ago

When you have saved stuff online on Facebook, every so often it reminds you of what you were doing "10 years ago".  I'm going to share this one because it shows that once upon a time I did crazy things!

On my son's birthday, 10 years ago, I was pedaling up a hill talking "hands free" to wish him a happy birthday.  This was during a 50 mile bike ride, which is the longest I ever did.

Sunday has been a peaceful "catch up" kind of day.  It's good and hot outside, so Ember and I went for our neighborhood walk in the morning.  It was still 81℉ by the time we got home.  We went on our coffee run.  When she crated herself for a puppy nap, I came upstairs to shower.

I went down and made my breakfast, then stretched out for a nap on the couch.  When Ember and I got up, we went on a ride to get her doggy treats from the store where she's allowed inside.  First time we've been there when another canine was in the store and she did well.  She did shy back when a nice couple wanted to pet her, but they were experienced dog people and politely gave her space to recover from the startle of a stranger approaching.  She happily downed the dog biscuits the clerk offered.  The clerk had remembered Ember's name!  This trip to the "candy store" has become a routine thing, and she knows what is expected.

We stopped and split a little ice cream cone at the DQ on the way home.  Ember has had a good day.  After she had her supper, she bedded down in her crate for her nap before "last call" and I went to the grocery store before coming upstairs to pay bills.  An accomplished day... still to do, laundry sorting and putting away, which I've been putting off for three days.  Still in their baskets!

Monday July 20th

Forecast to be the hottest day of the year, so far.  Supposed to top the century mark, Fahrenheit.  Ember and I went walking in the morning, when it was already nearly 80 when we started.  She was a very good girl as we were not alone starting early!  We did our coffee run, then during puppy nap #1, I got my shower.  This appears to be the routine for hot days.

Tuesday July 21st

I woke to thunder and rain on the roof.  Ember was very happy to head off to day care.  Since I haven't shoveled out (vacuumed) her x-pen in a full week, I'm happy to have her occupied and no appointments for me, so I can clear it out!

Why does it feel so much better when the room has been cleaned?

Also on Tuesday, went for a haircut.  

Wednesday July 22nd

Mr. Weather man tells me that we will have three relatively cool days in a row, and Wednesday was the first.  Starting with the weekend we'll have another week of "above average" temperatures.  

Taking advantage of the cool, Ember and I went out at about 7:15 Wednesday morning and had a nice mile and a half sniffing adventure.  No big arguments about other people's yards or dead things to roll in, and she was proactive about crossing to the other side of the street and even about giving me a pretty polite sit to wait for cars and people to decide their routes before we chose ours.  

However, two blocks from home, she found a second breakfast, left on the front lawn of somebody else's house.  Looks like maybe another dog didn't digest but regurgitated.  Sigh.  But my little gal decided it was now hers, and there was no convincing her otherwise.

Consequently, I am on watch for any unusual "output" again.  We got home before any predicted showers and went on a coffee run before Ember decided a crate nap was just the ticket, and I came upstairs to update the blog.

Thursday the 23rd

Stapled the underpinnings of the couch fresh.  Ember had started "worrying" at the fraying parts again.  Sigh.  I told her "no" and she stopped, and more and more I'm able to remind her of what's a no-no.  She doesn't go out of her mind like she did as a young pup, but she still uses the no-no activity to get her hu-mom's attention!

I vacuumed out the x-pen, got some recreational reading in, and even took a nap before getting the trash together to put out for Friday morning's collection.  Despite it being one of the cooler days in the forecast, it was humid, and I was sweating for sure.

Friday the 24th

It's raining as I type this!  Ember and I went out at 8 a.m. when it was "on a break".  Did we get rained on?  Lightly.  As in a Summer morning gentle mist, with temperatures in the upper 60's F.  It was lovely!  

Oh, and the output I was watching for since Wednesday morning... yep, we've had soft poos for a couple of days.  "See?" I tell the dog, "This is what happens when you eat stuff you find in other people's yards!"  She just grins up at me, as if to say "Worth it!"

Ember's theme is the same as MOBYCARP's:  Life is Good.

I "borrowed" this from Chris Downie's Facebook page.  He was hinting at a SparkPeople reboot, with AI trainers, no less.  I put myself on the waitlist, but if you look at this image closely, you'll see BROOKLYNBORN, LEANJEAN6, and MOBYCARP, among others.  Gives a body a tidal wave of nostalgia, doesn't it?

Spark on!

Emberville in July

 

Labrador retrievers are known for their odd sleeping positions, but it is rare that I get a photo before she magically flips over and is ready to GO!

Overnight from Friday to Saturday, I was alerted by a bark at about 2 a.m.  Yes, a bark!  My silent dog voiced a concern.  When that happens, I get up and go down to investigate.  Sure enough, she needed to go out.  I found out when I went on poo patrol later in the morning when I discovered the resulting pile, about twice the normal size.  She had demurred on going during last call Friday night... guess there are side effects to shifting meal times?  I had overslept Friday morning, so she got fed late.

I skipped out on Tai Chi Saturday morning the 11th because I've been overpeopling the past couple of weeks.  Ember took me 'round the neighborhood in the cool of the morning, then we went on our coffee run.

Deck time of a Summer evening.  

I have noticed that in the summertime our dog walks are getting longer on average.  We're up to over a mile and a half, sometimes 2 miles.

I "slept in" three mornings over the weekend.  Saturday to Sunday we had a repeat of the 2 a.m. "middle of the night" play time.  Sunday poo patrol showed another similar need that drove the 2 a.m. barking.  Oh, yeah, I had given her a bone on Saturday, that explained that "extra helping".

Sunday night to Monday, Ember did not wake me up.  

Tuesday morning, she was very happy to be back in day care where they have a doggy pool for the hot weather days.  I was feeling lazy and did not vacuum, but I did human laundry and recharged the front doorbell battery (which is a bit of a "process").  

Wednesday morning, Ember decided a bunny was vastly more interesting than keeping Mommy on the sidewalk and dragged me well into "somebody else's yard".  I lectured her the whole way that this was "not our yard" (by then the bunny had completely disappeared).  She was unconvinced and went so close to their house before she found... some other animal's poo.  And yes, sorry to say, she ate it!  Yuck!  At this point, she was willing to be persuaded to take Mommy back to the sidewalk.  She was pretty tuckered out by the conflict, and the rest of the walk was calm.  Sigh.

I survived Thursday.  A breakfast with the financial group.  Followed by my semi-annual dental cleaning.  Ember, thank goodness, was having her usual time with her puppy friends in day care.  I renewed my library book that I haven't been getting to and am about halfway through.  And I took a wee nap!  What got missed?  I did not vacuum and dust.  The x-pen remained cluttered with toys.

Ember came home wet from being out playing in the water in day care's "back yard".  I'm going to have to consider getting the pool out for her at home over the weekend, too, because it's July and the weather is doing what it does this time of year.

Friday morning walk

We got out about 7:30 a.m. as all the commuters are leaving for work.  I was very proud of Ember as we crossed the street in front of oncoming vehicles, not once, but three times, and walked all business straight across, without dawdling in the street.  I was proud of her showing off her pretty, polite sit while waiting for traffic to resolve itself, for people to walk by, or for other dogs and their walkers to decide on their own paths.  She was such a good walker for such a long while.

Then she found something intriguing.  A dead snake on the grass right near the quiet residential street.  Not a big one, but one certainly ripe for rolling in.  She could not resist and rolled to her heart's content to hide her scent from any potential prey.  When she was ready, she led Mom back to the sidewalk, confident and happy.

Oh, well.  It's in the dog prey instinct.  Hard to fight that when the "back brain" takes over.  We walked on, again being the well-behaved girl I know and love.  Until about a block from home when she encountered this:

Can you see it?  Center of the frame, small and pink.  It's a tiny naked baby squirrel that has fallen from its nest.  

What did my young adult female lab do with a baby of another species?  Again, instinct kicks in... she licks it to keep it warm.  She tries to stay right with it.

I'm concerned.  I should not touch the little thing (it's still moving) to avoid having its mother reject it.  I managed to distract Ember into a game of "search for the treat" which I tossed ahead of us on the sidewalk, and we made it safely home.  I'll probably never know what happened to that baby squirrel, but at least my dog did not kill or eat the poor little thing.

Life goes on at the slow heat-driven summer pace.  Life is good.  Keep Sparking!

Line up the July anniversaries in a row

Tuesday the 7th was the 30th anniversary of my mother's passing.  

Wednesday the 8th, the 29th anniversary of a niece's birth.  A year and a day later than Mom's passing.  

Mom used to intone what was probably "urban legend" before that name was invented that a year and a day was how long they left a body in a mausoleum spot in New Orleans before it was considered OK to reuse the slot.  This may just be a twisted childhood ghost of a memory, but it stuck in my brain.  I have a few of those kinds of cobwebs rattling around.

Thursday the 9th, the anniversary of another niece's birth, the first time I became an aunt.  Nowadays I follow that niece's kids on Facebook. 

Friday the 10th, I have surpassed my mother's lifespan by 7 years.  

Monday the 13th will be 7 years since Kevin (MOBYCARP)'s passing.  I still miss him every day.

Life, memory, and dates are an interesting saga.  And cryptic recitations of this sort are what happens when your brain is one of those fixated on numbers! 🤣

Subject change time!

This little critter is an orb weaver spider.  On my deck's drink rail, posing for a photo after I had rudely walked through her web, destroying it.  I am dubbing her "Charlotte" although I have no clue if spiders have sexes and if they do how one can distinguish, but let's honor the children's literature for a bit.

I took this photo on Monday morning.

By Tuesday morning, she was hard at work weaving yet another work of art.  This time she chose the other side of the deck, not the one where I would walk through the web on my way to the backyard.  One day she had it low enough that EMBER walked through it!

Mid-week

Another seasonal day on Wednesday!  Ember and I got out early.  There is this one yard, at the far end of that walk route, that tempts her every time.  The woman who lives there and is sometimes outside when we walk by is very afraid of dogs, but she grows such tempting plants in that yard!

Ember dragged me up to the retaining wall (the lady was not out).  I pleaded with Ember that this is "not our yard", but it took some time to convince her to take me back to the sidewalk.  Yes, a treat tossed to "search" in the grass closer to the sidewalk was involved.

On Thursday morning, completed the "in touch with siblings over the summer" sequence by having coffee with Alicia.  Lots of information dumps beyond blogs, catching up on one another's extended families, as far as we know (we're not an "up in your face" kind of family, so often it's a "no news is good news" kind of assumption).

On Thursday afternoon, Ember was wet coming home from daycare, and we ended the day on the couch with her head on my lap.  Nothing as peaceful as having an animal that trusts you!  You can feel your heart rate and blood pressure settle.

Friday - another week in the books

Large and in charge, we have The Prisoner, still doing OK, even though thinner and feeling a little bonier to his hu-mom.

Ember checks in with the senior pet.  I think these photos are from Thursday morning.  Overnight Wednesday to Thursday one of the deck chairs got picked up by the wind and knocked over into the sliding door.  Ember was a champ, given that her crate is within six feet of that door.  She was fine when I went down in the morning to start our day.  She sniffed I swear every board on that deck to ensure herself that all was well.

Friday morning dawned overcast and humid.  Ember cut our morning walk short, for some reason.  We filled Dexter's gas tank ($21 for six gallons).  Came home with the London Fog and doggy bone, and our weekend has begun.

Life is good.  Keep on Sparking!