Day 30 - Today I am Thankful...

Today I told FB I'm thankful for service people who put up with the little old lady version of me.  This is because of the ability to laugh at myself on these phone calls to handyman / carpentry folks about making space for the new stove.  They ask questions to which I don't have the ghost of a clue how to answer!

Ember is about 9 1/2 months old.  She may weigh in at 75 pounds but look at those paws!  She hasn't grown into them yet.  Look at the stuffed toy and the towel and how she snuggles.  Change the thought of size, and she still looks like a puppy!  She also acts like one.

In any case, Ember put herself to bed about 8 a.m. and I'm hoping that she lasts through the visit from Jake the handyman!  I really do love that she views the wire crate as her safe and valuable space to go when she's sleepy and she knows "it's time".

In the dark of the morning, when it was 37℉, Ember and I had "discussions" again about Mommy's hat.  This time I was bending over to pick up one of the glow in the dark balls we'd been getting her exercise with, and she jumped me from behind.

Yikes.  I actually went down, this time, phone falling out of the pocket.  I reached for the phone, Ember reached for my stocking cap, and off she went joyfully playing "keep away".  I picked myself the rest of the way up and let her run off with it, declaring that Mommy was done playing.

She took the hat into her X-Pen, and I shut the gate and left her there while I put myself back together again, physically and emotionally.  I got the dog laundry out of the dryer and folded it in her sight while I narrated the rules to her.  I doubt she understands the words, but if not for her, for me, I had to repeat the "no hat, no walk" lesson.  I did not allow the walk to start until Ember gave me back my hat.  I put the hat on, then I did a few "test" scenarios, bending down to attach the leash, etc., to cement the idea that the hat is a part of mommy.  She did not take it again.  This time.  I am grateful.

Two steps forward... 

Life is good.  Keep on Sparking!

Days 28 and 29... today I am thankful.

For anyone who was wondering, yesterday's post about hunting dogs was a bonus blog.  It was not part of the gratitude sequence. 

Yesterday's gratitude was for this Thanksgiving to Thanksgiving tradition of posting gratitude, and how it keeps me grounded in the positive.

Today's gratitude is the classic Veterans Day... For those few who raise their hands to serve.

Status on the appliance replacement:  panicked over the whole "carpentry project" aspect of this, but I accept it just has to be done.  I Googled local carpenter services, picked one, and have a guy coming out Tuesday morning to look at the project (remove old stove and make space for the new), and give me a time and cost estimate.  Here I go again!

I already called the appliance dealer and put the stove and fridge delivery "on hold" until I get the carpentry scheduled.  Projects, projects.  And I canceled the personal trainer session for Tuesday because of the timing.

Oven mitt in the trash after "somebody" swiped it off the counter and eviscerated it.

Replacement oven mitt.  She's probably going to think this one is a toy, too, so I have to be in "protect" mode for it.

Meanwhile, it was chilly enough on Veteran's Day morning that I got out the Winter Coat.  We were doing OK until I tried to take for granted that Ember knew it was me out there picking up her glow in the dark ball.  Oops, tackled by dog with teeth out.  Shut her outside, brought her back in for "desensitizing" lessons (round two or three for coats).  We've kind of got it about gloves now, but we are doing a keep away game with mom's stocking cap.  Today she tried to swipe it when we were getting ready to go out for her walk, and I turned on my heel and said, "no hat, no walk".  She let me have the hat back then, and we went for our walk.

Life is good.  Keep Sparking.

Hunting dogs

What is it that makes a peaceful person like me swell with pride over a hunting dog?  Is it that the hunting breeds were our first partners in survival?  Is it their strength, grace, loyalty?  Their intelligence and independence? 

Whatever it is, maybe all the Lassie and RinTinTin shows I took in as a kid (herding breeds, not hunting, but big dogs nonetheless), I have been a dog lover my whole remembered life.  We never had dogs in the home I grew up in, but there was a dog on the farm where I spent time during my 4th year while my own mom was out of circulation in a hospital.  My uncle always had a farm dog, and it was always named Spotty.  My mother often talked about her dog Deuce.  Deuce of course stayed with her parents when she married, and Deuce (named for the two spots on his eye and ear, respectively) crossed the rainbow bridge that same year.

When I married, we acquired a fluffy white cockapoo mix, who already with a name, Lilly.  She was our "first child".  While we were both crazy about her, she wasn't really my kind of dog.  My kind of dog came along a few years after Lilly left us for soft breezes across the rainbow bridge.  

The dog of my dreams was a purebred German Shorthair puppy, and my son named her Diamond Dot, for the shape of the coloring on the top of her head, a diamond shaped white patch with a liver "dot" in the middle of it.  We immediately shortened it to Diamond.

Diamond was nominally my son's dog, but she bonded with me, egged on by my husband's spinning her up to greet me when I came home from work.  At the time she joined the family, I was a traveling worker, flying out on Mondays, and coming home on Fridays.  Diamond had to greet me outside when she was a puppy because she was so excited that she leaked.

I loved watching her run across the fields, and she loved running through long grass.  She loved everyone, but she glued herself to me.  When she crossed over, 13 years ago, it was with me holding her head as they gave her the final shot that took away the pain she was trying so hard to flee from.  She was 14 or 15 years old, the memory fades and I keep doing my grandmother's "associate this with that" date math.

Ember is a Labrador Retriever, of the Charcoal variety.  She, too, has that noble look of a hunter, and that somehow tugs at my heart.  So much that I sometimes lapse and call her Diamond in conversation.

Saturday afternoon, in the blustery, cloudy air, Ember sniffed the breeze, and my heart swelled as it used to do when I watched Diamond run.

Life is Good.  Spark on!

Day 27 - Today I am thankful...

 

Today I am thankful for "black November" sales.  Remember the leaking dishwasher?  The one I had repaired?  Well, the repair didn't stick, and it's leaking again.  It's 24 years old, and I'm ready to stop nickel and diming it along.

Friday I took advantage of puppy nap #2 to go visit my local appliance store and found such deals happening.

The stove has been limping along for the past 18 years, with one heating element in the oven not working, and I'm on the third set of drip pans and the second set of knobs.  The fridge/freezer, I had repaired last year.  It's still percolating along, and probably could become a "garage fridge" if I wanted to.  18 years ago when the oven started glitching I was told they no longer make drop-in stoves.  I have just lived with the limitations for all that time.

I had initially thought I would replace them one by one, but the sale prices make a trifecta possible for me this year.  If I thought this year's "home improvement" spending was over, I was wrong.  With a little bit of logistical luck, the pumpkin pie will be baked in a new appliance in a couple of weeks!

Life is good.  Keep on Sparking!

Day 26 - Today I am thankful...

 I told the Facebook world that I'm grateful for dreams today.

Dreams are the part of sleep that tries to resolve things and solve life's problems.  Last night (early this morning) I dreamed that I worked at Disney World.  I was new to the job and trying to "fix" a plumbing issue.  But I was lost.  I kept getting stuck at dead ends in a maze.  The layout looked amazingly similar to a mall I frequented in my childhood and teen years.  At places where there was more than one path to choose, I had trouble picking which way would take me back to my car, where I assume my tools were stored, or to the swimming pool, which apparently was where the problem needed to be fixed.  It was a doozy.  I woke up before solving the problem, as is often the case.

Keep Sparking!

Speaking of sparking, my "alarm weight" the lower limit, the one at which I go into panic mode of "I have to gain a couple of pounds here, for insurance" appears to have ticked up 10 pounds in the past ten years.  When I was actively running in endurance events, I would panic when the scale dipped to 113.  Now I seem to do so at 123.

As a consequence, I have a quart of Egg Nog in my fridge, and a pound of butter in anticipation of baking.  It's hard to bake with a dog in the house, but Thanksgiving is coming, and they expect my pumpkin pie to be available.

Holidays, something to look forward to!

Life is good.

Day 25 - Today I am thankful...

Today I am thankful for "catch-up" sleep.  After the past couple of weeks, between the schedule for the surgery, the disruption of normal routines for the puppy, her side-trip through the vet, my sleeping on the couch, and then of course the "fall back" time change and the election, waking from time to time to see the progress of the count... it felt good to have a couple of "normal" nights to sleep.  And a few short naps, too!

I am thankful for a couple of sunshine hours yesterday, between the cloudy and drippy ones.

Ember got some new toys recently.  I'm starting to learn which ones will be hits and which ones misses.  The one in the photo is a crinkly one.  The strap is like unto a leash, providing a "Mommy end" and the crinkle fleece is the "Puppy end".  We don't exactly "tug", I flirt with her, she chases the flirt, catches it, and chews.  Slowly, she and I develop our own little routines.

Oh, and my kid sis Alicia started training Ember to "shake".  This is something that I never got her to do much.  However, it has come in very handy in administering the medicated wipes on her paws.  Another small thing to be grateful for.

Life is good.  Spark on!

Day 24 - Today I am thankful...

Today I am thankful that the political ads are going to be gone for a while!

I am thankful that dogs are not political.  I have rewarded mine with a fresh new beef center bone to chew on while I write this.

This morning, as I circled the block on "mommy's end of the leash" we watched people getting into their cars and driving off to their jobs.  The world has not ended, whether the election went my way or not (some did and some did not...)

There will be some mourning on the part of people who were emotionally vested in this election, and then there will be survival.  If we are praying folk, we will still pray.  If we are volunteers, we will still volunteer.  If we are compassionate people, we will still be compassionate people.

I for one, choose not to hate anyone.  It's one of the reasons I liked the yard sign that said "Dogs 2024".  I may truly hate/detest some of the words and actions that people take.  But I don't hate the people.  I may truly hate the expression of hatred in political speech that leads some people to violence "on behalf of" what they believe is a righteous cause.  But I still do not hate the people.  I hate the actions.

Remember this as we move forward... be kind to those who may be fearful.  

Life is still good, even when it changes and becomes darker.  We live through grief.  Use your disappointment as motivation to do better, to not return hate with hate.  Choose to heal one another.  Find a plan B.  Survive, and thrive, even in its face.

Spark on!  

p.s. YOU are loved!