Summer draws to a close?

 If you count the beginning of the school year as the end of Summer, that is.  Air conditioning makes it possible to start school while the weather still says it's Summer, for sure.  But the sun-time is definitely diminishing.  Those of us with pets that go out and get walked notice the daylight regardless of the high and low temperatures.

Thursday morning:  raining.  Ember burrows into her blankie and gnaws on a bone.  She looks like one of those scrap dealers on Tatooine in Star Wars.  Jawas?

It was another day care day for Ember.  I cleaned house, took recycles to the center, and baked a loaf of banana bread.  

FGC played in his first flag football game Thursday evening.  He made the first flag capture, and the final touchdown of the game.  Son posted photos and a video of the touchdown run.  Think he's popping his daddy vest buttons?  Yeah, me, too.

FGC has survived the first two days of school.  Here's hoping for a good year in first grade!

Friday morning, Ember managed to find the a two-day-old burrito that was on the grass beside the street.  On Wednesday I had managed to get her past it without her sniffing at it, but not so on Friday!  She... ate... the... whole... thing!  There was no sense trying to pull her off it or give her cues like "leave it" or "poison" because I could tell she was in no state to pay attention to them.  I just stood there, holding the other end of the leash until she was done and willing to walk on.

She went down for her morning nap early after we got home.  Full belly, exercise done, business taken care of.  Meanwhile, the surprise lily is almost back to vertical.

The surprise lily carried on!  I shall caption this one "resilience".  A few blooms expired, but lifting its head!

What's this?  The start at an attempt to have a "training corner" in the lowest level of the house.  Right now, it's just a stall pad and a rectangle of astroturf, airing out and flattening out.  Ember has been down there a couple of time to check on it.  I had put it down and arranged it while she was in day care on Thursday.  Now my strategy is to just ignore it and get her to do the same, until it becomes "white noise" before I try to do any playing or training on it.

I am trying to "think ahead" to the Winter, after the incident with the thunderstorms.  I still have the family room completely blocked off with X-pen and baby gate.  It has become the graveyard for partially or fully destroyed furniture.

I have ordered new cushions for the couch in there and am thinking about how I might rehabilitate it, eventually.

Saturday morning events of note:

On our morning walk, we encountered (without my notice, but definitely with Ember's) the remains of two baby squirrels.  She sniffed them but she did not pick them up, try to eviscerate them, nor roll on them!  Yay!

We are almost to the end of my antibiotics... 24 hours' worth left.  Ember has two days' worth left on Ember's.  I am following doctor's orders to air the healing wound out a little bit each day, and watching as the scar starts to shape up.  Morning walk on Saturday, it was nearly 80*F, so I did not wear long sleeves.  I figured the sniffing and walking would provide enough distraction that Ember would not fixate on the bandage.  I was right.

The weatherman was right, too.  It got good and hot later in the day.  It got up to 95F, for those of you who can play "can you top this" (I know some of you can)!  I missed the FGC's soccer game as Ember was up and active during the time of the game.  But I did let her nap in the crate while I put in an appearance at the financial outfits "Night at the Ballpark".  I made it through one inning before deciding it would be good to get home.

Once home, I let Ember out for her last call and I snapped one last shot of the surprise lily, as was dying now.  I do love the week or two when this one pops up and progresses through its bloom cycle.

Life is good.  Spark on!

Healing and rebounding

 

Surprise lily, before the storms.

And after the storms.

We shall see if it stands up again, or just continues to bloom horizontally on the patio surface.

Monday morning Ember and I took a long walk that included:

1) Munching on strawberries in somebody's front yard.  No clue if they dropped the groceries or what, but irresistible to Ember.

2) Picking up a Titlist glove from the street (yes, she once again started dragging me toward this prize).  Observing there was no traffic I let her pick it up, then asked her to give it to me for a "thank you" treat, and she did.  I tucked it into my pocket then after we got she was safely inside at home, I returned it to approximately where she picked it up.

3) Trying to jump up on my next door neighbor as he was trying to leave for work.  He was wearing a tie and an ID badge, huge lures for this pup.  Sigh.  I barely got her away with brute strength and a couple of good treats.

I am worried that she's getting too many treats on her walks, based on such incidents.  On the other hand, she must be feeling better from her skin infection, she's certainly full of energy!  On the third hand, not having had a Carl adventure this past weekend and dealing with the two storms may have fed into a bad case of cabin fever!

Misadventures continued at home.  I turned my back to wipe down the shelf in the fridge after breaking out a new milk jug.  There was about a half measuring cup full of milk on the counter, waiting for me to finish filling it from the new half gallon.  Ms. Counter surfer grabbed the half full measuring cup and raced to her x-pen, spewing milk all over the counter, the kitchen floor, and polishing off whatever was left in the cup in her x-pen.  I cleaned that all up, prepared my breakfast and ate it.  Went on poo patrol in the back yard.

When she went down for puppy nap #1, I went back to urgent care, where they changed my dressing.  Doctor pronounced that it looked good, that I would heal well, and sent me home with instructions to drop in again on Wednesday for another dressing change, and then beyond that we can drop to Band-Aids, most likely.

Oh, and if I were to go workout with the trainer on Tuesday, don't add weights to that arm!  I ended up cancelling the trainer, that way I can commit to specific times for foster grandma duty.

By the time I got home, rain had started and was predicted to go on for two hours or more.  It did, and so did indoor misadventures.  Ember tried to go after the couch cushion that started all this, including the bite on Saturday.  I was smarter about my responses this time, though. I broke out some new toys, and when the rain stopped got her outside for some fetch games.  I fenced off the couch. She has now lost her couch privileges for a while.  When she went down for puppy nap #2, I put the couch back together again.  

The surprise lily is rebounding, day by day.

Tuesday was day care day for Ember.  I signed her up for Tuesdays and Thursdays through the end of September.

After I dropped her off at day care, I worked on laundry, vacuumed the x-pen and dust mopped the tile floors.  I headed over to son & DIL's house for my grandma time.  The other set of grandparents stayed and we had a calm afternoon with FGC showing me how his video game worked, showing off his aquarium and we found a snail!  Then two more snail babies.  They must have come in on the plants.  

We ended my portion of the visit with a game of four square (OK 3-square) on the deck with the two grandmas and FGC.  Then I made my exit, picked up Ember and came home.

Wednesday morning, first day of public schools, Ember and I went on a neighborhood walk a few minutes earlier than normal.  We encountered (on the other side of the street) a dad taking "first day of school" photos of his daughters.  For the most part, Ember was good, but she chose to drop and roll on what looked like it might have been a discarded banana peel in the middle of the street.  She does have her ways of elevating her mom's heart rate!  But we got past that, and make it safely home.

After I had my breakfast and Ember went down for her first puppy nap of the day, I took myself back to Urgent Care for a check up and dressing change. 

The doctor pronounced that it was healing well.  I have graduated to a giant Band-Aid protecting the stitches now, four days after the incident.  I'm on my own until the 20th when the stitches will need to be removed.

I have laid in a good supply of yogurt, which of course is a favorite of mine, to replenish the good bacteria. 

My son called me on his way home from work to get "the whole story" of the dog bite.  I laid it all out there, pretty much as I did in the last blog.  So now everybody is up to speed.

Life goes on.  Life is good.  Spark on!

And a visit to Urgent Care ends it

 

Another front comes through.  Before this one hit, Ember and her hu-mom got a walk in, watching the cloud bank approaching.  It held off for a little while longer, as hu-mom prepared and consumed her own breakfast, then Ember put herself into her den, mom gave her a cookie, and we both got a nap as the rumbles went overhead, and the drops fell steadily!

The coolish "Fall preview" appears to be drawing to a close and we'll have a HOT weekend ahead.

Wednesday, we got a second walk in before it got sticky in the afternoon.  We went for a ride in the car to get Dexter (the car) a drink, and a treat for mom and pup.  The puppy napped on Mom's lap giving a warm sense of peace to the house.

Public school starts here tomorrow (August 11th) for some of the kids.  FGC doesn't start until Wednesday.  I will be doing a "grandma visit" to FGC between other things on my schedule, because he'll be hanging out at home while DIL does a work from home day, the last two days before his own school start date.  Other Grandma gets Monday; I get Tuesday for a visit.  It's not really babysitting, because "mom" will be there, but she has work to do, and it gives FGC something to do as well.  I'm thinking let him teach me something, for example, or play a game that he likes.

I did not sleep well Wednesday night.  I planned to nap on Thursday while Ember was in day care, and I did a little, but I also puttered around gathering the trash that goes to the curb Thursday nights.  

Anyway, the challenging weather was not over.  Early Saturday morning (4-5 a.m. hour) we got belted with high winds and rain.  I didn't get up until after 5, and it was still raining in the 8 a.m. hour.  The wind had blown over the patio chairs I have on the deck, blocking the sliding door. It had also blown a trash can down to the street. The chair I had out on the front paver patio got not just blown across the yard but also broken.

As the sun rose, we had "red sky in the morning" (sailors take warning!)  Sirens in the distance accompanied this view to the East.

Center of the city lost power for a while, out here in the suburbs, we had the lights flash but did not lose power even long enough to reset the microwave clock.

Ember was grumpy about the weather but did get out to take care of business during one break.  She was missing her morning walk.  She started getting into mischief while I was fixing my own breakfast.  About 3/4 of the way through my bowl of oatmeal, she started stripping the slip covers off the couch and attaching the "new" couch cushion, and that tripped MY triggers.

I was not able to distract her and made the mistake of trying to intervene and get it away from her.  OUCH!  Managed to get her calmed down, but not before a huge bloodstain was blooming on my left sleeve.  

I got Ember outside and closed the door while I went upstairs to clean the bite and bandage it.  I was amazed at the depth of the wound.  I could see my muscles working under the flap of skin that was torn in a corner shape.  "Fascinating, I get an anatomy lesson right here," floated through my brain, followed by, "this is going to need stitches".  Fast forward to the process of getting Ember calm enough to cooperate in going in the crate.

Aside here:  I don't know how many of you are TikTok followers, but there is one doctor on there whose comic content came to mind.  Dr. Glaucomflecken.  He has a hilarious video about rural medicine and the farmer.  I was that farmer, as before I presented myself at Urgent Care I put the couch back together, and rebuilt the X-Pen around it.  

As I was getting Ember into her crate, my phone had a voice talking at me.  Alicia's voice.  While I was putting the couch back together and getting Ember settled, I had butt-dialed her!  Serendipity, right?  I quickly told her what had happened, and that I was headed for urgent care, so at least one human would know that Ember was alone at home while I sought treatment.

Here's my one handed job of patching it up.  Took the photo while waiting at urgent care.  I didn't bother with photos of the underlying wound, even though it was indeed fascinating.  It was "of medical interest" according to the second doctor who came in just to compare with his stitching job of the morning.  With all the fallen branches and such, Urgent Care was an interesting place Saturday morning.  Guys who got in a hurry with their mini chain saws, shall we say?

The lovely PA who came to treat me started out with "I don't normally suture dog bites, but... in this case..."  8 stitches, in the end.  Prescription for antibiotics.  Instructions for pain management were the normal OTC things.  She numbed the area well before stitching.  That, too, was fascinating to me.  I guess I was mostly just interested in the whole process.

Even though it was a very warm day, I wore long sleeves over the final bandage all day, to avoid having Ember drawn to it!  I took this photo when heading out on my own to try to pick up the prescription for antibiotics (but the pharmacy closed at 5 on Saturday and they texted me at 4:58 that it was ready).  

They did poke me with a tetanus booster, since I could not remember exactly how long ago the last one was.

In the aftermath, I came home, took Ember out for a walk, and we settled in for the day.  Some training "on the fly" related to manners while I'm fixing food.  

We both napped a bit.  Don't you just love that dogs live in the present?  No memory/guilt associated, no grudges... appeasement face that we humans call "she's sorry", but she doesn't wallow in it.

Final outing of the day was to get batteries for the TV remote, so I could put on her puppy calming music for bedtime.  At last call we sat outside on the deck and soaked in the peace before the next round of storms.   

Seeing that the forecast included a storm warning with up to 70 mile an hour gusts, I went back downstairs after tucking Ember in and moved the deck chairs into the garage.  I spent a couple of hours from about 1:30 to 3:30 on the couch watching the weathermen covering the front and the various weather warnings as they swept through.  Saturday night was not as severe as Friday night's storms, but more people lost power.

Got the prescriptions filled Sunday morning.  We get to try Clindamycin, and Cipro, to avoid penicillin family, and we know I'm allergic to.  

I wrapped the dressing in saran wrap and took a shower.  Felt MUCH more human.  I'm on my second dose of Clindamycin now, and will take the third and the first dose of Cipro with supper at 6 p.m.  I put reminders on my phone so I can keep the four times a day and twice a day schedule on track.  It's only for a week!

I have not taken much in the way of pain meds, but I did down one Advil a short while after my first pill, as I had a bit of a headache.  Nothing since.  

Life goes on and is good!  Keep Sparking, friends!

Last minute dog park invite starts the next week

 

It all started with a phone call from FGC's smart watch, inviting me to bring Ember to "Adventure Park" as we refer to the "big" dog park nearby.  The first photo is actually from the middle of the visit, as Carl is giving everyone within arm's distance a shower.

Ember was napping in her crate at the time, but I figured, the conjunction of cool weather and extra people would make it worth waking her up for a brief ride down to join them.

When we got there, Carl rushed up to the fence, and it took some doing to keep Ember moving to the entrance, but as I've said before, she's getting better and better with self-control under distraction, and following Mom's cues to get what she wants most.  We got there!

Before we got to the first photo, Ember raced off with some other dogs and I had to trail back to make sure she could find her "pack" again.  She found me and we started the journey to catch up.  I stopped to pick up poo, and she raced ahead, splashing across the stream at the steppingstones.  Yes, those steppingstones that I stopped attempting to use about two years ago!  

Erosion takes its toll.  They are already slanted, at least some of them, and when they get wet from splashing, and multiple dogs are ignoring them and splashing across... not a safe passage for this particular little old lady.

I waited a while, not having sight of her OR the rest of the pack.  Then I caught a glimpse of the two dogs through the trees.  I could tell she'd crossed back over and found her pack, but here I was "lost in the woods".

Same woods, a few minutes before... a photo sent by my DIL.  Happy campers all.  The dogs nearly dunked FGC into the stream, but he is a pretty good athlete himself and avoided it.

The two photos helped us find one another after a bit.

The Mythical Son (as Google photos insists on calling him, because I have referred to him that way often enough... this is how AI works, people) and I sat down on a bench to watch the dogs play.

We proceeded after a while across the bridge to the agility course, where FGC made use of the tunnel and he and DIL played "hide and seek" with the dogs giving away everyone's hiding places, of course.

After the game of hide and seek started moving back toward the exit, I met a lovely "senior" white lab and her people.  Her name is Helene and she's a retired guide dog, but her humans still care for her and were confident enough to bring her to the dog park.  Now that's a "real job" for a dog... see, Ember?  I tell Ember every time we go on a leash walk that it's her job to keep mom on the sidewalk and to keep me being a "good human".

My son was the last one to "hide" in the movable game, and he tricked FGC into following him all the way to the exit where son went to "hide" in the truck.  Ember was a good girl and patiently let me hook her leash back on.  As we were walking her toward my car... 🤯👀 I discovered my car keys were NOT in my pocket.  A quick strategy session was held, considering how much room there was in the truck and how close my house is to the park.  We left DIL at the dog park while two dogs, FGC, "Mythical" and I migrated back to my house to pick up my spare keys.  Fortunately, there is a coded garage door opener, and the batteries were charged!

Ember went into her crate, they took me back to the dog park, and I started a cursory search for the lost keys.  DIL had done a little searching while we were getting the spares, but I encouraged them to head on home.  I mentioned what I was looking for to various dog handlers as I retraced particular places. Every time I did, three or four extra pairs of eyes helped me look.  Sure enough, the second place I paused was close to where I picked up Ember's poo... there were the keys.  Another dog walker had seen them and mentioned it.  Whew!  I texted the kids that it was a success and drove on home to let Ember out for her supper.

Glad I had other people along, although I'm confident that even had they not been there, the other dog folks would have helped me, and Ember and I would not be "stuck".  Grateful for a lovely adventure.  

Life is good.  Keep Sparking!

T-ball and heat warnings

Freight cars these days... graffiti central.  Some of them are pretty artsy, too.  This was Sunday afternoon on the way to FGC's T-ball game.   

We were under an extreme heat warning Saturday noon through Monday evening.  Ember stayed home in her crate in the A/C.  When she trotted in voluntarily, I checked the schedule and decided I could make it to the game. I got treated to an art show on wheels on the way.

Foster grand kiddo played well, tried hard, hustled a bit, and thus earned his after-game icee!

I came home covered in sweat to let Ember out, then when she got tired enough, I went upstairs to shower off.

Monday was a quiet "mommy and me" day, with a longish "pack migration" walk in the coolest part of the day, and a car ride to get mommy an iced mocha still in the morning, before the heat of the afternoon got to its worst.  Ember is not a fan of the hottest weather, but we managed to get outside for all the usual business!

Tuesday over 80F even at 6 a.m.  Yeah, I know, worse in other places than here, but still!  Hot and muggy.  Ember doesn't even want to go out to do her business, but it is day care day, and she's off to play with her puppy friends.  It went on to be a blisteringly hot day.  I felt for the lawn mowers and noticed they wasted no time in getting the job done Tuesday afternoon.  

I dragged my feet about "last call" as it was 93F even at 7:40 p.m.  But Ember was happy at that point to have some back yard time; at least the sun wasn't beating down on us!

We got a front through about midnight and then the temperatures dropped down to a lovely 70F to start Wednesday morning.  It was still humid, but Ember and I went out and enjoyed our morning "pack migration".  

Puppy nap #1 gave me a chance to pay bills and make The Prisoner's next vet appointment, which will be in August.  He'll have an office visit and his feline lukemia booster.  For an extra fee they will upgrade it to a senior appointment which means they take his blood pressure and offer medication to deal with that if it is the case.  I don't know about some of the more extreme measures for cats.  My older sister the cat person in the family and I discuss this every so often:  how far do we do medical stuff for our animals?  How much would we do them for ourselves, for that matter?  We're getting into that "senior" phase of life, too.

The trainer gave me a heads up that Thursday he won't be working, so I have a full day of "human freedom" while Ember has her day care. As it turned out, I was again pretty worn out and ended up vegging the whole day.

Oh, and my son has gifted the family with Hulu, Disney+, and HBO profiles... and I'm in danger of falling into some black holes of streaming here.  I've already fallen down the rabbit hole of The Gilded Age season 3!  Wednesday through Friday I caught up to where they are releasing them, one a week.  It's like eating ice cream... one just makes me want the next one.  Hulu has The Handmaid's Tale, and I'm at least one season behind on that series, but I'm not sure I have the stomach to watch it anymore.  Dark and violent, not appropriate for dogs or children!

Speaking of the extended family, son took 3 days of leave to have stay-cation time before FGC heads back to school.  Kiddo had a soccer camp, they did a lot of pool time (chilly pool time on Friday!), and several family friendly activities, in addition to t-ball practice.  Thursday's t-ball practice was a game of parents versus kids.  As is normal, the kids smoked the parents!

We are entering the month of August with a week of "cooler than average" temperatures.  

Friday morning "surprise" adventure involved The Prisoner and Ember and the front entry to the house.  The photo shows the wall that screens the porch landing from the street view.  This is an old photo from 2023 when I had brick work done, and it's a "work in progress" photo, not a "finished project" one.

The Prisoner jumped up onto the wall on the right-hand side just as Ember and I were mounting the steps to come back from our morning walk.  Ember sprang at the cat, landing on the other side of the wall.  This left me on the landing, holding one end of her leash, Ember looking around in puzzlement, and the cat skedaddling out of sight into the back yard (Snagglepuss, exit, stage left).  

Thank goodness I was able to lift the leash over the light fixtures and encourage Ember to walk in front of the wall until she could get round the left end, back onto the landing and the steps with me, and on into the house!  Made me laugh.  And it is fortunate for me that she is pretty compliant, more and more these days.

I think that is enough of Ember's week of adventures!  

Life is good.  Spark on!

Recovery week after two dogs

On Sunday we had human stuff planned, my son's birthday luncheon.  Ember was content to have some extra down time, as was Carl.  We went to Red Robin, and let me say, it gave echoes of son's growing up years.  Growing boys can really pack away the food.  I had a grain-burger, and it was very good.  They offer broccoli as a side, and it was cooked to perfection.  We shared a stack of onion rings, and a stack of donuts for dessert.  A very pleasant outing.

After having hid outside the fence for the two days of Carl's visit, The Prisoner came back to gentle greetings from Ember.  Thinking about this, I think it is one of those breed differences.  Ember has that retriever "soft mouth", so in retrospect, I can see why The Prisoner allowed her to groom him.  Carl has that guard dog bark-and-charge attitude toward the cat, so of course Prisoner hides!

Tuesday it was back to "normal", Ember to day care, me to the trainer.   

Wednesday, Ember got her groom on.  No bandana this time, just a clean-smelling, soft-furred dog.

We had "adventures" getting to our grooming appointment, though. A one-car accident happened at the nearest intersection to the vet/groomer/daycare/boarding place.  Pair that with major road construction on one of the streets that meets there, beginning one block away, resulting in "no left turn" for a couple of miles... well, let us say, with free choice drivers, we were a few minutes late.  The news reported the driver was injured but survived.  He did not have a valid driver's license, and experienced a medical episode, leading to the crash.

While Ember was at the groomer I swept, dust-mopped, and mopped the tile floors.  Always gives a great sense of accomplishment!

Thursday, normal day care and trainer again.  I just kind of collapsed in a heap after the trainer.  Worn out.  

Friday... well, it was a rainy day.  Ember contentedly napped and so did I.  We played mental games.  There is one that Susan Garrett refers to as "Vito's game", where you don't talk to your dog, you engage their minds to determine the pattern they have to travel to get you to dispense treats.  It's quite educational for the human, too, as you watch the dog think it out.  This is only the second time I've played this game with her.

Thinking back over the months Ember has been with me, I see what the roadblocks were in training (at least some of them) and how layers of training in Recallers (Susan's online course) make the next game work.  I know more about what Ember likes and doesn't like now, what will be most rewarding to her (and thus a better training reward).  Learning to not rush things, but go at the pace where she's ready, is the biggest lesson for me.

That said, she really doesn't like wet grass to do her business.  All the accidents we have had in the past month have been related to "it's too hot outside, Mom" or "I don't want to get my feet wet, Mom!"  I've had a few successes in getting her to go out with me and do her business, but also some stray failures.  And she's a year and a half old, this next week!

Life is good.  Keep on Sparking!

The cat dined al fresco - Day 2 with two dogs

The cat dined al fresco.  Sounds like a mystery novel to me!  But here's where I set The Prisoner's meal, while the dogs were above on the deck, behind the fence.  This was mid-morning.  Carl wasn't about to let that cat back into the house, and the cat never has overcome his avoidance of Carl.

He and Ember have a mostly peaceful arrangement, but Carl is a bridge too far for The Prisoner.

Saturday morning started early, in the 3 a.m. hour.  Carl was starting to crowd me out of my own bed.  Yes, he slept with Grandma, while Ember kept to her normal schedule in her crate.

We were all up early enough to make "glow in the dark fetch" a reasonable game for the two pups.  Except only one of them retrieves, even semi-reliably!  Carl does not "get" that game.  Just as Ember looks puzzled when Carl chases the squirrels.

Carl continued his bark-y ways, and it did not seem to matter to him that it was dark or early or that humans nearby might be wanting to sleep in.  He barked at the cat, and he barked at the cheeky squirrel that kept flipping its tail at him from the safety of a tree on the other side of the fence.

Ember generously offered to share her "comfort carrot" with Carl.  

The hu-mom spent most of the day refilling water bowls and manning the sliding door to the back yard.  She didn't even try to get the dogs to eat their own food at breakfast, but she went to extremes to force them back onto their specific dietary content at supper time.  Whew!  That was a workout.

In the afternoon, the hypnotic spell of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds music on the TV had the doggos getting sleepy and dropping off... all three of us on the couch.

Such angels when they are sleeping.

Starting as early as it did, Saturday was a loooooong day, leading up to Carl being picked up around 7 p.m.  Ember had one last out of the crate time for her "last call" at that point.

Sunday morning, Ember was one drowsy pup.

I opted to let her just snooze.  We did go on a short around the block leash walk, sniff-a-palooza, before she nodded off again at the usual "puppy nap #1" time.

Hu-mom is trying to time it because it's Birthday lunch for the Mythical Son on Sunday.  Ember will need to stay in her crate for mom to go do that human outing!

I haven't mentioned the kids' adventures one state over, but they did survive their trip.  FGC did get to see his brother and sister, and they had play time both Friday and Saturday, but the overnight potential was interrupted and he ended up getting "rescued" by DS and DIL in the middle of the night, to spend the rest of it with them at the motel.

He had recovered by morning, thus the Saturday playtime.  Son says they will likely take a week to recover from the schedule disruption.  I'm thinking it was worth it, for what they learned in the process.

Life is good.  Keep on Sparking!

Two dog weekend

 

The Prisoner was notified that Carl is coming on Friday and will stay with us for two days.  He took the news OK, but he is making himself as scarce as he normally does when Carl visits.

Carl arrived about 8 Friday morning.  The two dogs started running the energy off one another in what was the cool part of the day.  Both had already had breakfast before the arrival, and Ember had been on a nice leash walk besides, but there is something so exciting about having another dog to chase around with!

Or to play tug with...!

Or to share a bone with...!

All day play, with a couple of check ins from FGS.  He has a new "kid version" smart watch that allows him to call his foster mom, dad, and grandparents, but nobody else.  We've been working on phone etiquette, and now can have short conversations, that normally consist of him asking what the dogs are doing.

Got some nice messages from DIL, including photos of FGS with his brother and sister, jumping on a trampoline.  They look so happy.  Little sister asked DIL to give Carl a hug for her.  Big brother got birthday gifts.  Seems that son and DIL, while they cannot take in all three of these siblings, are making a good effort to make sure the children see one another socially.  We will see where this journey takes FGS, and his siblings.  Praying for it to be a good place!

Does anyone remember the last time I kept the two dogs overnight?  Remember that they ate one another's food?  That aspect has not changed.

Carl wolfed down Ember's salmon and sweet potato, chicken and rice, and green beans.  

Ember did not seem to be slowed down much by Carl's slow-feeder dish.  She happily consumed all of his kibble.  Both belong to the clean bowl club.

After supper, Ember got her probiotic chew, and Carl got his dental chew.  Ember went into her crate for her pre-last call time.  She complained about it, loudly, but she's the one that put herself in there, wanting her kennel cookie.

Meanwhile, I enticed Carl upstairs and he's chilling on my bed for a while, and I'm doing my dental hygiene routine.  Ember quieted down after a bit and it seems calm for the moment.

Would you believe they managed to both squeeze onto my lap?  

Life is Good.  Spark on!

Suburban life and memories of a quarter century back

 

I had enough energy, and the weather was mild enough, so I pulled some weeds out of the river rock bed in the past week.

I also acquired a couple chairs to add to the outdoor space.  This one went on the front "paver patio", along with "Stoney" the labrador gardening bench.  Stoney got relocated to the front last year because Ember was knocking him over and chewing on him.

Ember got her monthly shipment of toys, and this month it included a teething toy in the shape of a pizza slice.  It's curvy and rocks, so she had a good time tossing it around in her x-pan.

We had a bit of regression over the weekend when I forgot my own learning and tried to introduce too many changes.  I was dragging one of her big branches around, rearranging the back yard and she decided she needed to participate, but she chose my arm to drag and that started a wrestling match that resulted in bandages for me. 

Haven't had that kind of episode in quite a while.  What I noticed was that both she and I have learned better skills for ending such an unfortunate thing.  We both said "I'm sorry" in our species appropriate ways.  

We really do have to make changes gradually, one step at a time in this house.  It is mom who gets in a hurry!  Bottom line, though, is that we recover, mend our relationship fences, and move on. 

We will be tested this coming weekend with a Carl visit.  Son and DIL will be transporting foster kiddo a state over to visit his aunt and siblings.  This is part of the process of letting him help make his own decisions about where and with whom he wants to live.  He might even stay the night with them, but son and daughter in law will be there in town for that night. 

Tuesday morning, we had our own chapter of "Make Room for Ducklings" right on our own corner.  I lost count of how many adolescent mallards were in this flock, this is only about half of them.  Adult male and female followed along after.

Ember and I watched them from our back deck.  

I have been appreciating how much just having this dog in my life keeps me enjoying the simple things like being outside during her early morning outings and at "last call".  Both are at a time when the temperatures are moderate, this time of year.

Meanwhile, halfway across the continent, back in the little village where my son was raised:  Sunday brought 5 inches of rain in 3 hours, resulting in flash flooding.  I thought my older sister was mistaken when she messaged me that she'd seen the village on the morning news program she watches, Monday morning.  This sent me to Google and to Facebook to find videos, and sure enough, the roads that were part of our daily lives were turned into rivers!

Photo is at the corner with the only traffic light in the village.  Off to the right would be the library and the post office and the town hall.  Down the road to the left would be where the creek is supposed to be, a bridge over it leading to the village residential area, including what used to be our house during my son's growing up years.  There wasn't a whole lot of news time captured by this event, because no one got hurt, but there was a lot of property damage and it's going to take time for it to all get cleaned up.  Local area first responders, a motorcycle club, and a church were all involved in helping folks affected get shelter for the night, food, water and supplies.  The local consolidated high school opened its doors to provide shelter.

It is not that the area had never known flooding.  I mean, any small hamlet with "Valley" in its name, probably has a reason for that moniker.  Back when I lived there and commuted out of town for work, there was one weekend when I could not make it from the airport to home because of flooding when an unusual warm spell melted all of the snow at once.  But this is the worst anyone remembers it being.

Prayers for all those around the world experiencing weather challenges, whether it be fires or floods, earthquakes or volcanoes.  Hopefully these things remain rare, and we have time between events to clean up and put things back into a livable state to carry on.

Life is good.  Keep Sparking!

How to turn a puppy into a pretzel

 Begin this process with a windfall tree branch that has lots of twists and turns in it.

Starting point, June 21, 2025.

Allow the puppy to strip smaller twigs and bark from the branch.  Then let the puppy play with it.  

Note the step-by-step process of the puppy trying to relocate the branch and shake its neck.  This demonstration was put together by Ember the evening of July 9th, 2025.

Grasp toward one end.

Step over with one rear paw and one front paw, so that the branch weaves under your belly.

Twist your body to try to grab it behind your right hind quarter.

You may have to go under that right hind leg to grasp the branch.  Ooops!

You have now become a puppy-flavored pretzel, as you flop onto your butt!

This is such a great exercise tool... wonder how much I can sell them for?  What do you mean the tree only produced ONE, and it's only for me?

Life is good!  Keep on Sparking!