Into the weekend

 

Friday morning my foster grandson had invited "the grandparents" to come on an exploratory outing to a downtown bakery, called "The Rabbit Hole".

A sign inside suggests one should have "Cake for Breakfast".  That's just what we did.  Kiddo typed out a list for himself.  In case the type is too small, it says:

"1 go to rabbit hole bakery

"2 eat good food

"3 have fun

"4 take a picture"

I can't post the picture he took, due to foster care rules, but all four to-dos were accomplished.  

Several times the past week, this foster kiddo, who has some incredibly difficult memories in his past has chirped "I'm happy", unprompted by his care givers.  That of course warms the hearts of all of us who have come to love him.

After I got home, Ember and I went for a nice walk on leash in the neighborhood.  It has been raining off and on today.  Being on a walk did not save us from it.  We got about three blocks of light rain at the end.  Along the way, Ember collected pets from a lawn service guy and a marathon runner I know down the block.  He commented on how big she has become, as my running neighbor met her back when I first got her.  They don't stay little for long, as this man knows, since he has two dogs of his own.

Ember and Bella, an aging yellow lab, approached from opposite directions about mid-walk.  Ember laid down and did not spring up when Bella came up.  They politely touched noses.  Bella's dad commented on how well-behaved Ember has become, compared to the last time we encountered one another on leash.  "She's past two years, now?" he asked.  I affirmed it.  "Same with Bella.  At two, she settled right down.  It was like a different dog."  I shall not disillusion him.  I pray that this remains her adult personality.

Saturday was a calm good day with a long leash walk in the morning.  We had a tentative date to walk with my former co-worker and her dog, but we waved that off, thinking it was probably still too muddy where we normally meet.  As it was, the ground in people's yards was kind of muddy, too.  Still, Ember was allowed to greet one lady who was coming out to work in her yard.  She was so good at first, but at the end, put her muddy paws up on this woman's sweatshirt.  Lady was very accepting of it, but fellow dog-mamas know what I mean... we want our fur-kids to have good manners.

Our grocery trip was also in the morning coolness, so that Ember could stay in the car.  We had a celebrity sighting.  Somebody has clearly put a lot of work into their fandom!  I've seen this vehicle in my grocery parking lot more than once.  I have yet to deduce whether the owner is a shopper or an employee.  

Sunday also started with a long leash walk.  The tree that was down when we walked earlier in the week (photo in Thursday's posted blog) had been all cleared off by Sunday morning.  Ember was a happy and good girl on the walk.  We were certainly far from alone out there.  It was between showers, after all.  We encountered at least four clumps of two or more dogs being walked together.  We were polite, gave them their space, they gave us ours.  I was proud of the whole neighborhood full of dogs, because nobody got out of line.  A couple might have tugged a bit or barked a bit, but they pretty much acted like they knew it was Sunday morning and people might want to be sleeping.  

Sunday afternoon I brought out another new "toy" / "training tool".  This was advertised as a "herding ball".  It's intended to help exercise the herding breeds that might not have access to a field full of sheep or cows.  Ember hasn't quite caught on yet.  She still grabs the cover with her teeth and carts it around.

For the curious, this is a Suisse exercise ball, wrapped up in a tear-resistant cover.  It comes deflated with a foot pump to fill the ball once you insert it in the cover.  Then zip it up, and work on teaching your dog what to do with it.

The ad says your dog won't be able to pop it, but they don't advertise it for labradors.  We shall see how indestructible it is or is not.

Remember that this next week was supposed to be the next great adventure in home maintenance?  The replacement of my deck?

Well, Sunday afternoon brought a phone call from the gentleman in charge of the project.  His builder is running behind (considering the recent weather, this does not surprise me).  So it's not happening this week.  I'll be reshuffling Ember's day care to something closer to "normal" and I will expect a phone call sometime end of the week or beginning of the next week to see where we stand on the schedule.

Oh, well.  Life goes on.  Life is good.  Spark on!

Watching the day get light

Watching and listening.  Feeling and smelling.  Tasting the beginning of a day.  I admit it.  I am a morning person.  Sitting on my deck at 5:30 a.m., mug of coffee at my elbow, dog by my feet, listening to birdsong ... ahhh!

The dog, too, is using all his senses.  He starts to emit a soft growl, so I tell him it's too early to bark and we have to go back inside.  Thus begins Carl's last day with Grandma.

Back up a day.  On Monday, after the last posted blog, in the evening, Carl actually got fairly close to The Prisoner.  Closest I've ever seen the two of them since he was a small pup!

This lasted for a little bit.  Prisoner was acting like he does with Ember, until Carl opened his bass-voiced barking mouth!  At this point, The Prisoner fled, as he generally does when Carl comes to visit.

This encounter was at Ember's "last call".  A bit more excitement than she is used to at bedtime!

Everything stacks up, right?  Ember was quite sensitive to the fact that Carl had been allowed upstairs (where she is gated because of puppyhood behavior destroying carpet).  She was sensitive to Carl being allowed to roam the house, sleep on the big bed and wander downstairs whenever the spirit moved him overnight, during her crate times.  

She staged a small doggie rebellion, refusing to go into her crate after last call.  Mommy stayed up with both dogs to see if she would decide to "go to bed" a little later.  The two dogs played tug in the parlor, destroying the octopus and continuing to deconstruct the crinkly owl.

When they started a game of bitey-mouth on Mommy's lap, I took them outside in the dark to play glow in the dark fetch (Ember plays this one, Carl does not) and tried to wear them out.  

They outlasted the hu-mom!  At about midnight, I left them stretched out on the couch, turned out all the lights and retired to my own bed.  I was up again before 4:30 a.m.

The Prisoner remained scarce on Tuesday but eventually emerged to eat kibble outside of the deck fence.  I left the dogs in the backyard with the sliding door closed.  I walked around and by stages moved The Prisoner back inside to his safe zone in the laundry room.  He stayed there for the remainder of Carl's visit!

Tuesday evening, I didn't even try.  Ember did not even go into her crate for her pre-last-call nap.  Instead, I left them downstairs loose and went up for my own shower.  I came down for a "last call" (which is when I go down to put in my evening eye drops).  I gave her the chance to kennel up.  She declined, and I came up to bed a little after 9.  

Carl decided something was bark-worthy at 1 a.m.  I came down to make sure all was well.  It was.  I did not let either of them out.  No sense disturbing the neighbors!

3:39 a.m., he was barking again.  That was the end of my night's sleep.  That led into the beginning of this blog, waiting for the day to get light.

We spent most of Wednesday napping.  Dogs and human alike. Toward the end, after I fed them supper at 4:15 p.m. both dogs were starting a high-energy playtime.  Outside for that, you two.  The day was quite warm, so there was a lot of opening and closing of the door to the backyard.  They wore each other out a bit, then back to napping.

While the dogs and I were "surviving" that last day of the visit, Carl's people were making the long drive back from Denver.  They planned a late lunch stop at Taste of India, a restaurant that grew up from a truck stop in Overton, Nebraska.  I think it's been featured on 60 Minutes or something, but it's famous.   

The kids got here about 6 p.m. to collect Carl.  Whew!  He was happy to see his humans.  We shuffled the dogs around without having any human/dog tackling.  

When I let Ember back in from the yard after they drove off, she went to the front door, as if to say, "Where did he go?"

Immediately after that, she collapsed on the cool tile floor.  We decompressed for a bit, then Ember decided we were enough back to normal that her pre-last-call nap could be in crate.  She also slept in her crate.  Fairness criteria and routine restored!

Mom slept well and did not wake until the alarm at 5 a.m.

Thursday, I had a day care spot reserved for Ember, but she was so low energy in the morning that I called them and said she's not coming.  Instead, we went on a gentle walk through the neighborhood.

Ember was extremely well-behaved.  At the far corner of our walk, we discovered another tree that had sustained damage over the past few days (besides the neighbor's).

We did some sniffing there, for sure.  Came home and did our usual "mommy and me" things.  Coffee drive-thru, chew-stick, nap.

Four days to decompress before the next craziness.  The deck replacement project is scheduled to being Monday at 6:30 a.m.

Life is good.  Keep on Sparking, but pace yourself, right?

Unofficial Start to Summer

 

Carl's words to get in the kennel are "go to your room".  I used this to check on The Prisoner on Saturday.  I offered The Prisoner safe passage to go outside.

The Prisoner was having none of that and stayed in his "safe zone" until Monday evening, at which point he assented to being let out the front door.  We'll see if I can get him back inside before Carl goes home Wednesday evening!

Ember surprised me Saturday night and went into her crate for sleep time.  Carl came up and snoozed on the big bed with me.  I did not sleep very well Saturday night but napped a bit during the day Sunday to play "catch up".

On Sunday we practiced walking two dogs on two leashes in the back yard, then put both dogs into the car for the coffee run.

We repeated "two dogs in the car" for a quick grocery run before it got too hot Sunday.  Then again for Monday's coffee run, and Monday afternoon when it got good and hot we went to Dairy Queen where we split a small vanilla cone three ways.  Yes, I am spoiling them while I've got them.

Monday morning Carl and Ember had enticed me to get up, with Ember whimpering in the crate downstairs.  So up before 5, downstairs and the dogs out at 5 a.m.  It was very pleasant and I sat out on the deck with my coffee.  Ember sat in the other deck chair, while Carl was "on patrol".  Carl was nice enough not to bark at the squirrels... until 6 a.m., that is.  Then I brought them back inside.

A little later when we went for the coffee car ride we discovered that the neighbor's big tree had lost a branch overnight, and it fell on another neighbor's car.  Yikes!  It had not been stormy, although I'm sure the wind played a part.

At this point I decided we would not do leash walk in the neighborhood on Monday.  It was so warm, I broke out the puppy pool and filled it on the patio for them to splash through.

Meanwhile, in Colorado, the latest family photographer debuted this candid shot of his foster parents!  Sweet.  He grinned and told them to kiss.

This would have been Saturday evening at a little Italian joint called Tony P's... I am not going to overload the blog with photos of the food but it looked scrumptious.  "A piece of old school Denver" per the waiter.

Sunday they spent four hours exploring Meow Wolf.  Even the photos they post speak of sensory overload to me.  I would have been exhausted!

Monday they visited the Red Rocks, which brought back childhood memories for me, not just of visiting them, but of my parents, showing slides from their honeymoon. I wonder what happened to them, especially the one of 19-year-old bride someday to be mom of five, feeding the ground squirrels.  I'm pretty sure my older sister has custody of the slides.

When FGC had enough of the Red Rocks, the little family headed to Denver's Children's Museum, which was also amazing, and took up the rest of their day, with a break for luncheon.  

They are taking full advantage of swimming and hot tub, and FGC, typical 7 year old that he is, intones "Open Sesame" every time they approach the automatic doors at their hotel.  Clearly, they are having a blast kicking off Summer vacation.

Life is full, and good.  Spark on!

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!