Category Archives: Pets

Updates: Roadkill, Rites of Spring (I) and Grumpy

Posted on April 15, 2011 | 2 comments

Hi Everyone!

Sorry this is a little late, but I am having problems with my internet access at my house.  I thought I would update you on previous posts today.

Darwin and Mandy

  • Roadkill

I’ll start with the dogs.  You may remember the stuffed animal toys that had been keeping Darwin and Mandy out of trouble for at least a week?  Well, the two of them finally discovered both the stuffing and the squeakers in the animals and in the space of about three days managed to remove both.  We haven’t (although we probably should) thrown any of them out yet; even though a deflated stuffed dog toy looks a lot like roadkill, Darwin still really loves them and I hate to take them away from him yet.  On the other hand, Mandy’s consumption rate on handkerchiefs and other items has started to climb back up.  The other night I didn’t get the kitchen cleaned in time, and before we knew it, she had helped herself to left-over steak and fries for a hearty night-time snack.  Once we caught her at it, she came trotting back over to the den, but she wasn’t particularly sorry about what she’d done, either. 

Tyra is slowing down a little bit, which isn’t unusual for a dog her age.  Part of her problem is the canine glaucoma she has in her left eye; I don’t think she sees very well out of it anymore, so to go anywhere in the house she circles around the long way so she can see where she’s going through her other eye.  She ended up sulking last night, which I have never seen her do before. 

Tyra in the Kitchen (Mandy and Darwin are in the background)

Mark likes to play the piano.  She likes to stand beside him while he plays and expects him to play one-handed every so often so she can get petted while he plays.  Last night, however, he didn’t stop to pet her.  After about 20 minutes of that, Tyra walked over to Mandy’s carrier and went and sat inside it with her face pointing away from Mark at the piano.  The only explanation was that she was sulking.  When he finished, he went over to the carrier and coaxed her back out.  

  • Rites of Spring (I)

The Way My Garden Groweth (NOT!)

In my March 23 post, “Spring, Roosters & Butterflies”, http://wp.me/p1mXHZ-4U, I mentioned that the first rite of spring was going into a trance at a garden center and walking out with all kinds of spring flowers.  That was three weeks ago.  As of today, the pansies that I bought are still alive outside, but have not been transplanted into the planters on the porch (I have instead hidden the normal planters and left the pansies in the pots they came in), and the grass seed, caladium, gladioli and lily bulbs still remain in the trunk.  Hopefully I will get a chance to work on it Saturday! 

  • Grumpy

While yesterday morning, sweet child made an appearance, this morning saw the arrival of grumpy, crying child.  The first cry came over the fact that she had “nothing to wear.”  For those of you who don’t know us personally, trust me – the child has plenty to wear.  For some reason, she didn’t appreciate it when I proved this fact to her by pulling out a pair of shorts and a shirt for her.  The second cry came while she was brushing her hair in the bathroom; when I went in to investigate, I discovered her brushing her hair so hard with the hairbrush that it almost amounted to her hitting her head with the hairbrush.  Further inquiry established that the problem was that neither her bangs, nor a section of hair would lie down flat.  Although my suggestion that she use some “no tangle” spray on the rebellious sections was scorned at first, I noticed that the problem was fixed exactly the way I had suggested.  When she finally came out of the bathroom, she announced she was not going to have breakfast at home because she was sure they were going to have cheese grits for breakfast at school.  The third sulk (not a cry, because Mark was out in the great room by then, too) was over the fact that I refused to let her take ginger ale in a thermos to school.  School rules specifically state that soft drinks are not allowed, so we made her pour it out.  She decided to take lemon-lime Gatorade instead, but absolutely insisted on pouring into a thermos.  When I asked why, she said that all her friends drank their drinks in cool containers like that, and she wanted to do likewise.  She chose to take the thermos we purchased the one time we took her on an overnight cruise, so I suspect she will be the only child at school drinking her drink from a Royal Caribbean insulated tumbler.

Mark finally managed to cheer her up before they left, but we were definitely having a Monday morning on Friday!

Kaylas Spring School Picture (Age 9)

Have a great day and weekend everyone!

Nancy

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Posted in dogs, On the Home Front, Out of the mouths of babes...., Pets, When things don't go as expected, working mom

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The Twins of Trouble and Easter Allergies

Posted on April 7, 2011 | 2 comments

Good morning!  
 

Mandy (aka "Bad Dog")

 

Darwin (a/k/a "No-No")

  • No-No and Bad Dog at Bay

For those of you who have been wondering about No-No and Bad Dog, they are still alive and well. 

On Saturday we bought a four pack of stuffed animal chew toys, and so this week the Twins of Trouble’s (they look like twins, don’t they?) chewing efforts have been focused on the three of the four toys we went ahead and put out. 

I am glad the dogs like the toys, and even more amazed that they have lasted for a week!  Usually, it takes about a day, and then the stuffing has been released and strown all over everywhere. 

We still come across the occasional handkerchief lying on the floor in odd places, or the occasional shredded napkin or paper towel scattered somewhere far away from its point of origin or hear the occasional scrape of paws as they slide off of the kitchen counter, having ascertained that nothing is available for retrieval, but we haven’t caught either of them red-handed for a while. 

Most of the time, you see Darwin running by with a stuffed toy in his mouth, and Mandy in hot pursuit, or vice versa.  Occasionally, they are each holding one end of the same toy and running around the room in tandem.  One toy has been put carefully aside by Tyra, who doesn’t chew hers; her chew toy is a treasured doll that she doesn’t allow anyone else to mess with.  The other two toys appear to be interchangeable.  When we got home yesterday, and I was trying to let the dogs out to the back yard, Darwin, with one of them in his mouth, took a spectacular running start toward the back door, until he realized he was going to run out of floor much faster than he expected.  At that point he put on the brakes, sliding five feet plus on the wood floor and only stopping once his momentum took him underneath Mandy, pushing both of them outside.  I’m not sure Mandy knew what hit her; she is so low to the ground that this may be the first time anything has managed to slide under her. 

  • Easter and Allergies

Wednesday is our busiest day.  Not only do we have the regular activities of school and work, but Kayla has dance after school, and then we go to our church for Wednesday evening choir practice.  Currently, the adult choir is getting ready for our Easter performance, which is a beautiful musical arrangement entitled “A Hill Too Far Away.”  It has a great message and I am looking forward to our performance on the 17th, but it is a fairly demanding work, at least from the alto standpoint, with notes ranging from a low G up to the D that is an octave away from middle C.  When the choir finished practicing one particularly demanding song last night, we burst out into so many coughs that we sounded like a tuberculosis ward.  We couldn’t help it – all of us laughed. 

I have long known that God has a sense of humor; why else make sure that Easter and allergy season always coincide?  Maybe He just wants us to remember who actually gives us the ability to sing.  I also, however, have a sneaking suspicion that He laughed along with us when He heard all the coughing at the end of practice.

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

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Posted in dogs, Just stuff..., Pets, working mom

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Kayla’s Day Off

Posted on April 1, 2011 | 2 comments

Good morning everyone! 

Isn’t it great that we have made it to Friday?  I am so looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow, at least as much as Mandy will let me! 

Kayla, as you may have guessed from my entry “Morning Interrupted,” could not go to school yesterday, but toward the afternoon she was feeling much better and was able to eat, for which I am thankful.  I had a conference call I had to take between 2 and 3, so she suggested that I turn on the WII so she could play games.  We almost got into a fuss then, because she asked me to help her get the right game on the machine, then got mad when I tried to hold the WII control so I could make the right selections.  Since neither one of us relinquishes control gladly (although I do get to pull rank, which usually guarantees a win, although often accompanied by high drama), it was dicey for just a moment, but we slid past the awkward moment.  Right as things were about to get rough, the WII put itself on the right game, in the right place, where she could start playing, and my phone started to ring with the conference call at the same time. 

The WII entertained her for about a half hour, then she decided to follow the dogs around and take their pictures.  She did a good job, too.

Here are some of her photos.  (She told me I could use them for my blog.)  I am not sure, and probably am better off not knowing, what she bribed them with in order to get them to sit still for some of the shots.  I have a suspicion that paper, which is not to be used as a dog treat, was involved.

Close-up of Darwin

Tyra in the Kitchen (Mandy and Darwin are in the background)

All Three Dogs Entering the Kitchen to Investigate the Crinkling Paper

Mandy Lying in State in the Kitchen

Five minutes before the end of the conference call, Kayla re-entered my bedroom to ask me if she could take out the trash.  In whispers I asked why and she told me that she was cleaning so that we could “paint together” when I finished.  I had housework to do when I finished my call, but what is a mother to do when her daughter asks that way?  The upshot is we painted some wooden and plaster-of- paris Christmas ornaments for about 2 hours.  (To work:  I early in the day had realized this day with her was going to have to count as a vacation day.)  Here is what we ended up with:

Our ornaments

She painted all of them except the train engine in the lower right corner, which I did.

This morning, Kayla is awake and well, with that “bounce-back” happy quality kids have once they are better from an illness.  She wanted to skip breakfast, but Mark and I insisted on at least a piece of toast.  When the toast was ready to be buttered, she came to stand by me and the toaster oven, and while she was waiting, she announced:  “Mom, I smell something spicy.”  She paused for a second and then said, “Oh.  I am standing by the spice drawer.”  I allowed as how that would make things smell spicy, and she laughed and said, “The aroma [yes, she really did use the word aroma – pretty good for a third grader!] is coming up here!”  She opened the drawer to make sure, I guess on the theory that if the drawer wasn’t what she was smelling she was going to refuse to eat the toast, but the drawer checked out, so the toast got eaten!

Have a great weekend everyone!  Talk to you Monday.

Nancy

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Morning Interrupted and A Splash of Color

Posted on March 30, 2011 | 2 comments

Good morning (or good afternoon in the Central U.S. Time Zone and those points further east) everyone!
  • Morning Interrupted

Today’s title, “Morning Interrupted,” was far more prophetic than I ever intended it to be.  Not only was my early morning (i.e., pre 6:30 a.m.) routine left in shambles but my mid-morning schedule has been disrupted as well. 

Powerful Spark (From Print Shop 2.0 Deluxe)

 Mark was out of town last night, so of course a round of thunderstorms chose to rumble in around 4:00 a.m.  Kayla is very afraid of thunderstorms, so she came padding into our bedroom around 4, and I let her go ahead and crawl up into the bed on Mark’s side.  Those negotiations taking a little time, Mandy and Darwin viewed them as a sign that it was time to get up, so they started jumping on and off the bed in great excitement.  You really haven’t lived until all four paws of a 55 or 60 pound dog hit you squarely on the chest at 4:00 a.m. in the morning!

I threw them outside into the thunderstorm to do whatever they felt they needed to. (Tyra knew better than to wake up.  Besides, she is not going into a thunderstorm unless she is thrown out into it, so she got to stay inside and asleep at the foot of the bed.) 

Once they came back in, around 4:10 or so, my only hope of getting any more rest before 5:30 was to separate Darwin and Mandy, so I put Darwin up in his carrier (he usually sleeps there or in the den at night – he only got to sleep in the bedroom last night because Mark wasn’t home and our routine was disrupted anyhow) and kept Mandy in the bedroom with me.  Mandy settled back down, but Darwin felt it was his sworn duty to bark with his loud “intruder alert” bark every time a strong thunder clap sounded over the house.  This practice guaranteed that even if Kayla could get to sleep, she was going to wake back up once he started to bark, which further ensured that I wasn’t getting back to sleep either.

After about 45 minutes of that, Kayla got up and ran into the bathroom and started to be sick.  I got her settled back down and we finally got maybe an extra half-hour before we had to get up.  After we got up, I took her temperature, and she was in that no-man’s land between 98.6 and 100 (at 99.3), so I gave her a choice on whether to go to school or not. 

She elected to go because the school is doing the Stanford Achievement Tests and she was going to try to finish the test (this is the second, and last, day of testing).  I let her off at school at 7:15 with a wish and a prayer, and toodled my way to work, where I hoped to have an uneventful, but fruitful, day. 

Alas, as you probably suspect, that was not to be!  About 9:45 the school called and said that she had left the test, with the principal at her side, saying that she was too sick to keep taking it.  I asked the nurse about her temperature, and she was still in that no-man’s land, although a little higher at 99.7, and hadn’t gotten sick again. Even though I wasn’t sure that she was any worse than she had been when I dropped her off, I left work and traveled back to our home town to pick her up.  It was a good thing I did; as soon as we got home, she was sick again, and then when I took her temperature, it was up around 101.6!  Fortunately, our doctor can see her at 2, and right now she is asleep on the couch, in which state I hope she stays for a couple  hours, since sleep is the best thing for her. 

I would like to go to sleep, too, but as every mother knows, your child will never get sick on a day when you are fairly caught up, so I have a project I get to work on for a while here at the house.  However, as I have said before, I am very grateful to the people I work with for their understanding about family and priorities and I am grateful that I can work on a project at the house to keep caught up.

All of which is a long way of saying nothing this morning, so far, has gone according to plan, but maybe the new improved plan will have better luck!

  • A Splash of Color

Even though a sick child is something every parent can sympathize with, I hate to end my blog on such a damp note, so instead I am finishing this entry off with a few pictures of some of the flowers around Key West that Mark and I enjoyed seeing.  This is a very small sample compared with what is avaible to see down there, but I hope it brightens your day.

Picture of a house taken from the Conch Train

 

Tubebuia Tree, Key West

Bougainvillea

Tabebuia Tree Flowers, Key West

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

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Dog Rules

Posted on March 29, 2011 | 9 comments

Good morning everyone!

Sunrise - Borrowed from "Five Acres with a View" on WordPress

 I found this sunset picture on the WordPress Blog “Five Acres with a View.”  Isn’t it beautiful?  I would have put in one of my own, but I usually am not up early enough to take one.  I am definitely NOT a morning person!

  • Thursday

Today, for some odd reason, feels like Thursday.  How disappointed I will be when Saturday comes and it is only Thursday! 

  • Dog Rules

Researchers tell us that dogs that live together create their own hierarchy.  The ideal hierarchy for human families with many dogs (like three!) is for the dogs to understand that the humans are primary and then they fall in line after that.  I know my dogs view Mark as the Alpha pack member, but I am curious as to how they view me.  If I put enough authority behind my voice (the command tone, which I am not very good at unless speaking to 9 year old girls who have ignored my last two requests), then they will listen to me, but most of the time I believe my title with the pack is She-Who-Feeds-Us-Every-Morning.  This title at least grants me instant popularity, if not authority. 

One area where their hierarchy demonstrates itself is feeding time.  Mandy and Tyra are fed together in the kitchen/breakfast area but in two separate bowls, while Darwin is fed separately in the bedroom.  (He has an unfortunate tendency to want to wander by other dog’s food bowls and say “Hi!” while they are eating.  After he says “Hi!”, he then wants to share their food, which is not a popular option with either of the other two dogs!)   

Tyra and Darwin eath both speedily and well, but Mandy simply refuses to eat until one of two things happens:  a) a human sits on the floor and hand feeds her every piece (not happening, at least not by me – Kayla has caved a time or two), or b) Tyra has completely finished her food.  However, Mandy is an exceptionally slow eater, so the designated human (me) ends up sitting at the kitchen table for at least 20 minutes, if not more, waiting for her to finish eating.  (And here some of you have been admiring me for finding time to write this blog – it is not diligence, simply an urge to keep from being bored out of my mind while Mandy dines!) 

 I have to stay by the two of them in any event because Tyra, whose behavior is normally impeccable, has been known to saunter over to Mandy’s food bowl occassionally and start to eat from it, even though Tyra still has food of her own to eat.  Mandy simply steps aside without so much as a whimper and lets Tyra eat.  However, heaven help Darwin if he even breathes as he walks by Mandy’s food bowl on the way to the water bowl.  She is quick to lets him know that her food is not his, and there will be no sharing!

The hierarchy between Tyra and Mandy is also demonstrated at night.  Because I go to sleep before Mark, Tyra and Mandy come into our bedroom with me at bed time, while Darwin stays with Mark in the den.  Tyra insists on jumping onto (or being picked up and put on, now that she is not quite as spry as she used to be) the bed and staying at its foot on Mark’s side until he comes to bed.  (It’s like having a hot water bottle for your feet, only better, Mark says.)  However, even if Mandy jumps onto the bed, she is off of it again before lights out.  Basically, as middle junior dog, she is allowed to visit, but not allowed to stay!   

Well it’s time to go – No-No (Darwin) has just sauntered out of the bedroom with a handkerchief, and Bad Dog (Mandy) is trying to get him to play tug of war with it, so duty calls! 

 Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

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Spring!, Roosters and Butterfly Farm

Posted on March 23, 2011 | 2 comments

Good morning everyone!  We have made it to Wednesday, and the weekend is in sight. 

  • Spring!

The same thing happens to me every spring – no, I don’t mean allergies.  At some point in the spring, I find myself wandering through the garden section of  the local Wal-Mart or Home Depot, looking at all of the flowers and vegetables that are available.  Even though I know any flower I plant has a less than 40% chance of survival (it’s the whole watering thing that gets me), visions of luscious gardens on a par with those at Calloway Gardens or Bellingrath gardens dance through my head, causing me to fall into some kind of a trance.  I wake up from the trance headed toward the car with a buggy full of flowers to plant that probably will die since they are not cacti and can’t live without watering.  Sigh.  I did manage to restrain myself somewhat this year; I got two big pots of peonies for the front porch (last year I managed to keep two similar pots alive through about June), some grass seed and fertilizer to use on bare spots in the back yard, and then caladium, lily and gladioli bulbs for two specific (small) areas in the front.  I envy all of you out there who are great gardeners!

  • Roosters

On to the roosters – here are two pictures Mark took for me of a rooster in Key West.

The most unusual thing about the roosters of Key West is the fact that is it not unusual to see one – they (and the hens and chicks) wander the streets freely and are protected from any harm by a city ordinance.  I never did quite figure out why there are so many of them and why they are allowed the run of the city streets, but they don’t bother anyone  and their colors are striking.  We not only saw a lot of roosters, but a couple of hens with their chicks following them at various places.   I was trying to imagine what it would be like for our family to live in Key West, and couldn’t get much past the image of No-no (Mandy) and Bad Dog (Darwin) repeatedly escaping from our yard to chase the roosters, and being brought back by the Key West police with multiple citations for us to deal with!

  • Butterfly Farm

For those of you who were wondering where Kayla was in the middle of all of this, she was having a great time with her Grandma Dottie.  One day, for example, they went to the butterfly farm, where no less than three butterflies landed on her! 

Mom said that Kayla sat still as long as this butterfly was sitting on her foot, and that that was several minutes!  One of the attendants was kind enough to take their picture together.

You have to look really close at Kayla to see it, but there is another butterfly on the foot that is toward the front, which is why she is standing so still. 

Kayla likes a lot of insects.  About the only ones she doesn’t like, and won’t handle or come near, are stinging insects like bees and wasps, spiders and cockroaches.  I have learned how to kill spiders if called upon to do so (revolutionary though that is to those who knew me in my youth) but I still won’t do cockroaches.  Mark has to be called in for a job like that.  Fortunately, we have only had one to kill the four years plus we have been in this house, and it conveniently appeared on a night when Mark was home!

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

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Why did the Chicken Cross the Road? (The 5 year old version) and Wanting a Friend in the Tub

Posted on March 16, 2011 | Leave a comment

Continuing my trips this week down memory lane, I came across the following incidents memorialized in e-mails.  These incidents were really funny and just the kind of adventure that pops up for a working mom when she least expects it!

Kayla, age 5

  • Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

One day, driving home from work and school when Kayla was 5 (she rode with me for about an hour each way that year to go to a pre-school near where I worked), she and I had the following conversation:

Kayla:   Why did the chicken cross the road?

 Mom ( promptly):            To get to the other side.

Kayla:  No, to go play in the mud.  

Kayla:   Why did the pig cross the road?

Mom:    To go play in the mud?

Kayla:   No, because his mother was calling him.

Kayla:   Why did the turkey cross the road?

Mom:    I don’t know.

Kayla:   Yes, you do.

Mom:    To get to the other side?

Kayla (proud to have gotten another one over on Mom): No, to go play with his friends.

Kayla:   Why did the horse cross the road?

Mom (firmly):     I don’t know.  

Kayla:   To go eat. 

Mom:    That’s nice.

Kayla:   Why did the chicken cross the road?

Mom:    To go play in the mud.

Kayla:   No, to go get dressed……

And so it went! 

  • A Friend in the Bathtub

Woof, around age 13

About a month before that,  due to a mishap in the kitchen one evening, I had to mop the floor, so I popped Kayla into the bathtub to take her bath while I did it.  Kayla was just at the age where she could take a bath without me being in the bathroom with her, but I would leave the door open to be sure I could hear noise from the bathroom. 

I heard her calling Woof (our oldest dog then; our only other dog at that time was Tyra) over and over, but didn’t think anything about it until after a while Kayla called for me to come in – “Mom, you have to see this!”  (Never a good sign!).  Upon entering the bathroom, I discovered a tub containing one (very unhappy) 13 year old dog and one (ecstatic) five year old daughter, who explained to me that she wanted Woof in the tub with her because she “wanted a friend with her while she took her bath.”  I removed the dog from the tub, dried the dog, removed the child from the tub but did not dry her, cleaned the tub, re-ran the water, popped the child back in the tub (with strict instructions that the dog was NOT to be pulled back in again), cleaned up the copious amounts of water on the floor from the dog and child removal (hey, at least I had the mop out already, right:?), and went back into the den (making sure both dogs were with me – this wasn’t a problem, as Woof was walking very near to me, close to a nervous breakdown) and laughed silently until Mark got home and I could tell him.

Have a great day everyone!

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The Day Mandy Came Home

Posted on March 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

Before we had three dogs, we had two dogs:  Tyra, whom you already know about, and an older dog whose full name was J.P. Wooflesnort (which stood for “Just Plain Wooflesnort”).  Most of the time, though, we just called her Woof.  I called her my kitchen dog, because no matter what I was doing, whether it was cleaning the kitchen after everyone else had gone to the other room, or sewing or just reading in a room by myself, she always stayed with me. 

Woof ended up being the most flexible geriatric dog I have known.  Not only did she adjust to the death of our first dog, Shadow (who was a character in her own right), but she also adjusted to the adoption of Tyra, the adoption of Kayla, a move to a new home and the adoption of Mandy – all after the age of 9! 

Shortly before her birthday one year, Kayla started lobbying for a dog of her own – she said that Mark had Tyra as his dog, I had Woof as my dog, and so she wanted a dog that was hers.  In a fit of madness, I decided to help her in her lobbying efforts, and, because he loves us, ultimately Mark told us we could go to the Humane Society one Sunday to see if we could find a lab or golden retriever to adopt. 

Before he could change his mind, I loaded Kayla, Tyra and Woof into our Chevy Tahoe and headed off to the Humane Society.  I didn’t take time to change, so I was in my church dress and heels.  When we got there, I took Kayla with me, and left Tyra and Woof in the car.  We went in, filled out a form, then I told a very nice young man that I needed a dog that was child friendly, other dog friendly, and housebroken.  He brought Mandy out to us.

Kayla loved her immediately, and even though I did notice that she did not particularly resemble either a lab or a retriever, she seemed to have a good temperament, so I told the shelter I would like to take her for a walk with my dogs.  So, shortly thereafter, I took Mandy out on a leash from the shelter and walked her with Woof and then Tyra.  That went swimmingly, so Kayla and I finished filling out the paperwork and paid the adoption fee, then went to put Mandy in the truck.

Because she didn’t come with a collar, I purchased one for her from the shelter, put it on her and tried to walk her out to the truck (which I had running to keep the air conditioner on for the other two dogs.)  Because the collar was too big, as I lifted her up into the truck, she started to struggle, slipped out of her collar and ran away towards the back side of the shelter.  I started to fly after her as best I could, and was helped by the fact that she stopped to watch a couple playing with their new puppy.  They held her for me until I could get there, then I carried her back and tried to put her in the truck a second time.  I don’t suppose she had ever been in a car or truck before, because she immediately slipped out of her collar for the second time, tore around the building and stopped at the same couple, who were still helpful, but couldn’t help but be amused at the sight of me flying back around the building in heels and a dress for the second time chasing after my new, ungainly dog.  The third time, as always, proved the charm; that time I held on tight enough to make sure she got safely into the truck, slammed the door shut, rushed over to my side of the car, pushed her back onto the passenger’s side to prevent her running out the driver’s side, and we headed towards home. 

However, Kayla and I decided on the way that we had to get Mandy a collar that fit her, so we stopped at Pet Smart before we got back to the house to try to find the right size collar.  We knew we couldn’t walk her in there on a leash, because she would run away again, but she is a very heavy dog to carry, and we had had to park at the back of the parking lot, so I had the bright idea that we would wheel her into Pet Smart in a grocery cart, thinking that she would not be able to jump over the edge, given that she was so short.  Mandy quickly proved me wrong, teaching me the important lesson that body length can make up for short legs, and sailed out of the grocery cart, running pell mell for the door of Pet Smart across the parking lot, completely oblivious to all cars coming her way and giving me my third run for the day in a dress and heels.

I knew in an instant that rather than have obtained a special present for my little girl, I was about to scar her for life by having her see her dog hit by a car, but Mandy was born under a lucky star, and cruised safely to the door of the Pet Smart, where another kind person held her for me until I could get to her.  I ended up carrying a fifty-five pound dog through Pet Smart in search of a small enough collar with a little girl beside me eager to share the story of the afternoon with everyone we met.  I can promise you that the collar we picked out definitely fit! 

Once we finished that purchase, we hauled Mandy back to the car on a leash, where the other two dogs were patiently waiting, then returned to the house where Mark was waiting to see the labrador or golden retriever we were bringing home.  Instead, he saw this:

He looked at her carefully, looked at Kayla and me, and just asked, “Were they out of retrievers at the kennel?” 

Have a good day everyone!

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Dance Picture Day, No-No and Bad Dog Strike Again and The Light Bulb Conspiracy Continues

Posted on March 10, 2011 | 2 comments

Picture, if you will, a rectangular room with echoing acoustics and a hard cement floor, populated by around a dozen mothers who have established squatters’ rights at various positions along the wall, each surrounded by a plethora of paraphenalia, including hair materials, anywhere from three to five costumes, make-up and shoes, along with at least 15 3rd and 4th grade girls, who make enough noise for at least thirty, and one brave dance teacher trying to shepherd the 15 girls through group and individual pictures in each of the three to five costumes.  That picture will give you a pretty good idea of the annual event at Kayla’s dance studio known as picture day, which happened yesterday.  The noisiest picture is the one taken of the girls in their tap costume.  At that point, the 15 girls talking at a decibel of 30 girls geometrically expands to a noise volume somewhere around 90 girls, since the sound of their talking increases to cover the noise of the tap shoes.  The picture above is one I took of Kayla in her tap dance costume.  

Here is Kayla in her ballerina costume.  I think it is really pretty.  This was the second or third photo for the girls, and while I can’t show you the expressions on the mom’s faces, while the girls still are having a good time, most of us are starting to reflect on the uncomfortable aspects of the hard cement floor, although we are having a good time visiting with the other mothers and learning that our children are not unique in the foibles and follies they display to us every day.

The last costume for Kayla was her gymnastics costume, so she decided to do a back bend for me.  I am really impressed; I have never been that flexible.  Since it was the last picture for the day, all of the mothers still remaining were cheering the gymnastics picture taking process on, and most of us were calculating how we were going to drive straight home without doing any errands so that we wouldn’t have to wait for our child to change before we left.  Every time the photo room door would open and a girl scurry out, our hopes would rise that they were done, only to be dashed as each girl explained something to her particular mother and scurried back into the photo room.  Kayla came out three times because she wanted to update me on her progress and I came within an inch of telling her the last time that under no circumstances was she to come out of the photo room again until they were completely done.  I didn’t though, because she truly was just trying to help.

Once the gymnastics photos were done, it didn’t take long for most of us to clear out of there.  

Kayla’s dance teacher constantly amazes me with how calm she can remain in the midst of the necessary chaos, and still steer everyone to where they need to be and answer about fifty questions being shot at her in every direction.  She goes through this every day this week, with dancers ranging from age three up to age 17 or 18! 

  • No-No and Bad Dog Strike Again

After a couple of quiet days, No-No and Bad Dog reemerged yesterday to remove from my bedroom one Merrell and one sneaker and a handkerchief.  I am guessing that No-No (Darwin) scored the shoes because they were not in a dilapidated state but instead just plopped down in the middle of the den floor in the hopes that I would notice.  I am certain that Mandy scored the handkerchief because I caught her red-handed with the handkerchief in her mouth and a mournful expression on her face when she realized that she had been caught.  The mournful expression was not because she was sorry for anything she had done, but because she knew that the handkerchief was about to be taken from her.

 This morning, the intrepid duo managed to score a cheap ring from a McDonald’s Happy Meal.  I removed it from Bad Dog as she was chewing it.  No-No was staring at it and Mandy, simply waiting his turn.  A second ago, while I was writing this, my Merrell just got dropped in the den again by No-No, who is puzzled as to why this troubles me!

  • The Light Bulb Conspiracy Continues

As I told you in an earlier post, we have light bulbs that tend to go out in clusters, and, being tired of that, we put in light bulbs that are supposed to last two years in each of the flood lights in the den.  The other light bulbs in the house have now escalated their attack.  In two days, we have had four bulbs blow in various parts of the house.  The first was the end light over the breakfast bar.  Mark went ahead and replaced it that night, even though I asked him if he wanted to wait until we saw which other lights chose to go out.  The next morning, the middle light on the breakfast bar, a flood light in the bedroom and a bulb over my vanity all went out within ten minutes of each other.  I guess the bulbs feel like they have to make up for the ground they have lost in the den!

Have a good day everyone!

Nancy

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Posted in dogs, Just stuff..., Pets, working mom

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Three Hour Naps, Three Jello Snacks and Three Things I Didn’t Need to Know

Posted on March 7, 2011 | 3 comments

Good morning everyone!  I hope each of you had a good weekend.  We did.

This picture has nothing to do with anything else I am writing about today; I just like it.  It is from a trip to Gatlinburg in 2008.

  • Three Hour Naps

Even though we had a lot we wanted to get done this weekend, we still found time for naps on Saturday and Sunday.  Usually I end up taking about an hour and a half to two hours, and then I’m up, but for the first time in a while I took three hour naps both days.  Mark slept even longer.  Even Kayla (reportedly – with Kayla doing the reporting) slept two hours on Sunday.  At least we should be caught up on our rest!  Kayla used the time when we were napping and she wasn’t to paint pictures with watercolors for Mark and I.  Since I have the prerogatives of a proud parent, here is a photograph of her pictures:

For anyone in need of interpretative guidance, the top picture on the left is of the woods, with a stream running through it, the top center picture is of a golf green,  and the top right picture is a picture of the house, with our red brick as best as she could render with the water colors at her disposal, and the rose bushes in front.  If you look closely, there is a door and a door bell, but I am not sure my photograph is good enough for you to see that.  The bottom row is pretty self explanatory!  On top of painting these pictures, she managed to keep both No-No and Bad Dog quiet in her bedroom under their alter-egos of Mandy and Darwin (although one of the two if not both reverted to form since something  plastic and bright pink was rended to shreds; however, it doesn’t seem to have been anything important).

Kayla and Darwin This Morning

Kayla and Darwin This Morning

  • Three Jello Snacks

When we come home from school every day, Kayla and I have the same discussion – whether or not she is going to “get some snack.”    Most of the time it depends on how long it will take to fix supper and when the three of us will be able to sit down and eat it together.  If it looks like we are going to be eating a little later, I will let her have something. 

On Friday, Kayla asked if she could have a little cup of orange jello.  I told her yes, and didn’t think anything more about it.  To both Mark’s and my surprise at supper, she didn’t want to eat much.  We do not force her to clear her plate, but a certain threshold of food consumption is required before she can have dessert.   That threshold had not been reached, but she decided to stop eating anyhow.  I was a little concerned about this, since she normally eats very well, but right before she left the table, she looked at me with a mischievous grin and announced that she had had three orange jello cups.  She must have been operating on the principle that it is better to beg pardon then ask permission, but she wasn’t really begging for pardon either!

  • Three Things I Didn’t Need to Know

Over the course of my adult life, I have compiled a list of things that I learned that I didn’t really need to know.  These include tidbits of information like “if you leave the oven on at 350 degrees overnight, you  will NOT burn the house down,” a dog can eat a tube of neosporin ointment and not get sick,” and “Indian Hawthorn may be poisonous, but Darwin and Mandy chew on it all the time and are all right.”  I added three things to that list this weekend.

1)    Blue eyeshadow will rinse easily out of a tub.  And lest you accuse her unnecessarily, it was not Kayla’s fault that the blue eyeshadow ended up in the tub, but mine.  I got trigger happy in putting up my makeup containers, and picked up the big case in which I carry all my blush and eyeshadow to put it up without realizing that it wasn’t latched.  Voila, the blue eyeshadow in the bathtub.  Several other items slipped out also.  I leave it to your imagination as to whether I said at the moment everything spilled, “Verily, verily, I hath spilt my make-up case” or something stronger!

2)   If you leave a wooden clothespin on the vent of the toaster oven for two days, it will not ignite. 

  3) And the last thing I learned this weekend needs little explanation – If you are looking for your glasses while you are wearing them, it takes a while to find them!   

No one took me up on explaining “lie” v. “lay” on Friday.  If anyone can explain a quick way to tell the difference, along the lines of “your prinicipal is your pal”, please leave a comment.  An explanation as to whether the “.” comes before and after the parentheses would be welcome, too.  Otherwise, I will have to look the answers up myself! Have a great Monday everyone!

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Posted in dogs, Out of the mouths of babes...., Pets, working mom