Tag Archives: dogs

Smiling Through Our Tears

Posted on March 13, 2012 | 25 comments

Good morning Everyone!

One of my favorite pictures of Tyra ever

Last week, Tyra went completely blind in about two days.  You may remember from earlier posts that she was already blind in one eye due to canine glaucoma.  Last week, the retina in her good eye detached.  The name for this is something like Sudden Retinal Detachment Syndrome, which just means that her retina detached and no-one knows why.

The effect, though, is obvious.  Our sweet, loving, smart, obedient Tyra cannot see.  At all.  And while she does not appear to be grieving or upset, rather instead focusing her energy on learning how to get around, the human contingent of our family is quite sad about it, even while we also work on what we need to do to help Tyra and the other two dogs adjust.

This picture, taken in January, shows you her "bad" eye on the right.

The purpose of this post, though, is not to make you sad, either, but to point out that even in sad times you can find things that, if not funny, at least make you smile.

A pastel I did of Tyra

For example, there was my casual observation that while I wouldn’t want this to happen to any of the dogs, at least it happened to the smartest one of the bunch who is able to figure out ways to cope.  If it had been Mandy, she would have spent all weekend in a standoff with a wall.  She doesn’t move for anything she collides with, but rather expects it to move for her.   Convincing her, with her combination basset hound/husky stubbornness  that she would ultimately have to yield for a wall, would be nigh impossible.

Mandy, studying the treadmill

One of the things we have to do is teach Tyra how to find her water bowl, since water is difficult to smell.  After she refused to drink even when we put plain water in a coffee cup in front of her, I suggested we at first give her a glass of sweet tea.  The sweet tea innovation was very popular.

All of the reading I have done about dog behavior and characteristics finally paid off, too, when I remembered that a dog’s sense of smell is a billion times (or something like that) more acute than ours, so we then took the next coffee cup of water and laced it with just a splash of sweet tea, which also was popular with the blind dog contingent of the household.

Tyra laughing at Callaway Gardens this winter.

It is also nice to finally have a use for all of the coffee cups that come with every set of china that we buy beyond those we reserve for visitors.  We don’t drink coffee, so they get very little use.

Mark had Tyra up on the couch beside him Sunday evening, and he was drinking sweet tea in a large class.  She could smell it and started trying to lick the side of the glass, clearly believing that she is now entitled to sweet tea, too.

Kayla and Tyra, 12 days after Kayla came to live with us

She found the water bowl by herself Sunday afternoon, and the whole family stood up and cheered. at least metaphorically.

The vet said that steps would be the one thing that she would have a hard time handling, and since the back yard is only accessible through a steep set of stairs down from the porch, we have been walking her on a leash in the front of the house.  She loves it.  The other two dogs were not happy the first time we took her out on a leash, leaving them inside (and folks, I am just not up to the crazed Hittite charioteer routine two or three times a day), but over the next couple of days they seem to have mellowed out about it.

There has been the pride Mark and I feel as parents in Kayla, who has been as sweet and loving to Tyra as anyone could wish.  The only problem is helping her understand that she can’t keep Tyra 100% safe; Tyra has to be allowed to explore her surroundings, which means she does bump into furniture once in a while, and the other dogs have to be allowed around her so they can adjust.  Kayla  also has been a great help with the other two dogs, giving them extra love and attention to help keep them from feeling left out.

Mandy and Darwin confer

Mandy and Darwin haven’t quite figured things out yet.  I think they know something has changed but they’re not sure what.    They do not harass Tyra in any way, although Darwin got a little confused when Tyra didn’t respond to his play bow Monday morning.  Dr. Mitchell said that one of them eventually will take over as sort of a guide dog for Tyra.  No sign of that so far, but then it is early days yet.

Blind or not, Tyra still expects (and gets) elevator service onto our bed at night.  The only difference is that she also gets lifted back down when it is time for her to get off.

Another favorite picture of Tyra

And then there is Tyra herself.  Dogs can mope just as humans can, but there has been no moping in Tyra.  We can’t explain to her what has happened, but she knows that she can’t see and rather than waste time feeling sorry for herself, she is, instead, working on learning what she needs to learn to carry on.  If she looked miserable or sad all the time, we would be hard pressed not to be ourselves, but she wanders around the house happily, then finds somewhere comfortable to lie down, and as soon as she hears our voices starts to thump that tail of hers.  She follows us when we lead her on the leash with absolute trust, and even got a couple of walks around the neighborhood this weekend which she really enjoyed.   We still see her laugh quite a bit.

It is these small blessings that make adjusting to this new phase for all of us  possible, and we are grateful for them.

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

25 Comments

Posted in dogs, On the Home Front, working mom

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Celebration! Drawing!

Posted on March 8, 2012 | 6 comments

Good morning Everyone!

A big celebration should be accompanied by lots of big balloons, hence the featured image for today and the picture above.  What are we celebrating?  This blog yesterday crossed the threshold of 25000 total views!

Now, whether this is normal for blogs or not, I do not know.  I do know that there are a lot of excellent bloggers who have been writing for a shorter time than I have with many more than 25,000 views; I also know there are many excellent bloggers that have been writing longer than I have that have fewer views.  But, for me, the idea that people have looked at my blog more than 25,000 times in less than a year is pretty mind-boggling.

For those of you not familiar with WordPress statistics, a view is the number of times someone somewhere has clicked on a link and looked at the blog, not the number of separate individuals who have looked at it, so my regular subscribers are a large component of that 25,000, and I am very grateful to all of you.

So what are we going to do to celebrate?  Well, today through Monday, I am giving everyone a chance to enroll in a giveaway drawing, if you wish.  I had the sooty tern picture that I painted with pastels made into notecards that are blank inside.  The notecards are on good quality card stock, with a slightly glossy finish on the outside, and a paper finish on the inside to make writing easy.  They come with envelopes that self-seal.  I am going to give away one set each of 8 notecards to two people in a random drawing between all entries.  If you want to enter, please send an e-mail to workmomad@gmail.com with the subject listed as “Drawing” and with your name, or nickname if you prefer and your e-mail address in the body of the e-mail.  I promise not to use the e-mail addresses for any reason other than the drawing, and will delete them once the drawing is finished.

I will draw two names randomly from the entries on Tuesday, March 12, and ask those people for their addresses to send the cards.  The notecards really are very nice, even if I say so myself.

Have a great day everyone, and again, thank you!

Nancy

P.S.  I wish I could give them away to everyone, but the cost of getting them printed was too high for me to do that.  However, if any of you have a burning desire to have said notecards even if you don’t win the drawing, let me know that in your entry too, or e-mail me after the drawing and tell me how many and I will let you know the price for purchase (shipping and tax is extra) so you can decide if you want to buy them or not.

6 Comments

Posted in working mom, Writing

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Six Words and The-House-Formerly-Known-As-Clean

Posted on March 7, 2012 | 4 comments

Good morning Everyone!

We’ve made it to Wednesday (or at least those of us on my side of the International Date Line have made it to Wednesday; some of you lucky souls out there have already made it to Thursday!), but I’m having one of those weeks when it feels like it should be Friday. It will be kind of depressing when I go into work tomorrow feeling that it is Saturday. That Friday feeling is not helped by the fact that I have today off from work, with intentions of completing several errands and chores, which will push me even further forward, giving me the impression today is Saturday.

I'm so confused!

When I first scheduled today off, I was planning on at least getting the chance to sleep in, but that plan was scotched by 6:40 a.m. Monday, when Kayla started with the words, “Mom, I forgot to tell you…..” Any parent knows two things about those six words: 1) Your blood pressure begins to rise immediately upon them being uttered and 2) They never are followed with things like “my science teacher gave me a 100 on my test and says I could be a physicist some day.” The words “Mom, I forgot to tell you…” are used by children at convenient times of day or night such as 7:00 p.m. the day before a major project is due, or, as in this case, at 6:40 a.m., 10 minutes after she should have already left for school, when the announcement was “I have traffic duty this week, which means I have to be at school by 7:10, so I will have to be a car rider this week.” (“Car rider” is the local elementary school term for children who do not ride a bus or a day care van, but whose parents drive them to school and pick them up from school. In the elementary school world, “car riders” seem to have an elevated status over bus riders and day care riders.) That was doable, but due to the mechanics of when Mark needs to be at work, that meant that I would be dropping her off at school all this week. Hence, the sleeping in this morning, on my day off, was wiped out, for the most part.

What I did NOT get to do this morning!

What little hope of sleeping in at least another 15 or 20 minutes that I had were wiped out by Bad Dog (Mandy) who insisted that I needed to get up and feed her. She kept jumping up on the bed and licking and pawing me to get my attention. She was unable to jump on my hair, because I recently got it cut very short, but she tried every other trick in her arsenal. About the 8th time, I gave up trying to kick her off the bed and get her to leave me alone, and got up. At least she was happy! Darwin and Tyra seemed to appreciate her efforts on their behalf, also.  All three dogs, now, having been fed and let out, are comfortably asleep in their location of choice, but I am not too very bitter!

One sleeping spot, preferred on warmer days.

For the rest of it, I have a full day. One of my tasks is to pick up the-house-formerly-known-as-clean in preparation for my father stopping by this evening on his way through from Florida to Illinois. (Let me hasten to add here that the only homo sapien in our house NOT responsible for its current disheveled state is Mark; it’s Kayla and I that manage to leave little trails of stuff throughout the house, kind of like bread crumbs to help us find our way home.) I also, as part of that same process, have to convert the craft room back to the guest bedroom. That won’t be too bad, although I have since Christmas been a little lax about storing craft materials back up. I don’t think it would be wise to open any closets in my house for a couple of days, though, once I’m finished.

If I finish all that on time, maybe I can sneak in a little nap – but just in case, I intend to consume large quantities of caffeine throughout the day!

Lots of caffeine!

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

4 Comments

Posted in On the Home Front, working mom

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Mondays

Posted on February 13, 2012 | 4 comments

Good morning everyone!

I may have already had a full Monday type Monday morning (you know, the type where everything is discombobulated around you, none of the material you need for everyone to get out of the house in an orderly fashion such as notes for school, book bags, and other such paraphernalia was in the right place, including the precious doctor’s note explaining that Kayla missed Friday at school because she was running a fever and you end up slamming cupboard and closet doors – at least they’re closed!  See, On Cupboard Doors and Closet Shelves ), but the birds outside are completely oblivious.

In the trees at the edge of the court, there is a symphony of song birds greeting the sun.  (I’d be greeting it, too, if I had to sleep outdoors last night; it got down in the 20’s!)  The volume of sound is really astonishing, and if I had more time and it was about 40 more degrees warmer, I’d love to sit down and just listen for a while.

There even is one brave bird sitting on the fence chirping at intermittent intervals.  I think he or she is part of the brave family of birds that nests in the huge rosebush in the back.  Most of the hatchlings, at least three, didn’t make it three years ago, because Mandy and Darwin found them, thought they were really interesting chew toys that squeaked, and Kayla and I couldn’t get out there in time.  After one more year of growth, though, the rose bush was out of the dogs’ reach and some member of the same family (I assume) comes back every year to build its nest.  I really wonder if the principles of natural selection shouldn’t weed this family out (after all, building your nest in the middle of a yard with three dogs who are very interested in sounds, sights and smells is not the safest place) but I’m glad those principles haven’t done so so far.  I like the idea of the sheer stubbornness it takes to come back to a place to claim it as your own even after someone much bigger and larger has tried to chase you away from it.  Now, of course, with the bigger rose bush with corresponding bigger thorns and better height, I believe the nest will be quite safe.

Is there a moral there somewhere?  Probably, but I’m too busy hunting my shoes and my cell phone so I can get out of the door to think through it more deeply – maybe you can come up with one?

Have a great Monday, everyone, or at least a better one than I am having so far!

Nancy

4 Comments

Posted in dogs, Reflection, working mom

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Super Bowl, Dog Delivery, and Helping the Local Humane Shelter

Posted on February 7, 2012 | 6 comments

Hi Everyone!

I hope each of you had a chance to enjoy the Super Bowl Sunday night; it was one of the great ones – down to the wire, with plenty of excitement and great plays.  Some of the commercials were pretty funny, too.

Given my affinity for Volkswagen Beetles, it will not surprise you that the Volkswagen commercial where the golden retriever decided he needed to lose weight so he could chase the Beetle driving down the street was one of my favorites.  The E-trade Baby came through with his usual panache, too.  And for those of us who grew up with “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” the Honda CR-V commercial with Matthew Broderick was pretty funny too.  I’d love to know if any of you had favorite commercials from the game.

In other news, Darwin was falsely accused of chewing last night.  He walked into the den with a piece of paper in his mouth, and Mark was about to scold him for chewing, when Kayla called out from her bedroom that Darwin had been given a note and been bidden to take it to Mark.  Now, I am curious to know if Darwin actually knew to bring it to Mark, or if it was just an accident that the next place he went from Kayla’s room was to Mark.  I may never know, since I am not inclined to tempt Darwin with another such piece of paper.

I got a chance to go back by one of my favorite animal shelters the other day and walk a dog at lunch.  This is a really fun way to help out your local shelter and exercise at the same time.  The dogs that are in the runs waiting to be adopted love the chance to get to stretch their legs, and also the extra attention and petting they get (at least from me) as their walker, and the walker gets exercise while feeling that for that one day he or she has made a difference, at least for that one dog.  It also may help to make more energetic dogs more adoptable by allowing them a chance to burn off a little energy so that they are not quite as hyper when people come to choose a dog from the shelter.  Yesterday, I walked a dog named Blackjack, who answers to the name of Jack.  Jack was the biggest dog I have ever walked, and from the owner of Darwin, who often resembles a small horse, that is saying something.  Jack was not nearly as tall as Darwin, but imagine a cross between a lab and a Newfoundland, and you might begin to get an idea of his size.  Jack was solid muscle, which could have been a problem but wasn’t because he had obedience training and walked like a dream, never pulling on the leash and always listening to me when I told him to come or to keep up.  Quite unlike the twins, Darwin and Mandy, in my house, who make me feel like a crazed Hittite charioteer whenever I have them on the leash and try to exit the house.  Jack hasn’t been there long, though, so it was hard to get him to wag his tail, but he finally started to once I was taking him back to his pen.  I hope to be able to go back tomorrow (Wednesday) and then I will walk someone else.

Well, that’s about all for now.  I hope each of you has a great day!

Nancy

6 Comments

Posted in dogs, Football, Pets, working mom

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The ABC Award

Posted on January 26, 2012 | 7 comments

Good morning everyone!

My friend, Drusilla Mott, in her blog at www.drusillamott.wordpress.com, awarded me the ABC award a couple of days ago.  Like most blogging awards, there are certain rules.  The first is that I need to put the ABC Award Icon on my front page permanently somewhere; I’m still working on that, but I’ll figure it out.  The third requirement is that I nominate other blogs for the award.  I’m thinking through that one, too.  I’d really like to nominate all of the blogs I follow, but some of them don’t care for awards and others may not have time to worry about the second requirement.  The challenging part of the ABC award is the second requirement, which is where you use each word of the alphabet to tell your readers something about you.  That is my challenge for today, so here we go! 

A pastel I did of Tyra

A – Artist

Mandy

B – Boo, one of Mandy’s many nicknames

C – Courage – the courage to continually battle my depression every day

D – Dogs – If you read this blog regularly, this doesn’t need any more explanation!

E – Everyone – I believe that we should have an innate respect for the worth of every human being.

Our Family, Early in 2005

F – Family – My first and primary human priority.

From Print Shop Professional 2.0

G – God – My first and primary priority.  I am so grateful to Him for so many things!

Plastic Canvas Ornaments, in a "folksy" style

H – Hobbies – I have many hobbies besides writing, which is turning into a quasi-profession.  Some of my hobbies are reading, counted cross-stitch and, occasionally, working with the scroll saw.  I’d like to start jewelry making, too.

I – Introvert – You might not guess it from this blog, but I am fairly introverted in person, unless I know you.  Of course, since I am introverted, it takes a while for me to get to know you!

J – Justice – What I hopefully am pursuing in my career as a lawyer.

Kitten

K – Kittens – Yes, they’re cute, but never will we have one in our house!

L – Love – Yet these three remain – faith, hope and love – and the greatest of these is love.

M – Mom – my second most favorite role of the many roles I play in my life.

Darwin aka No-No

N – No-No.  The words most commonly used to admonish Darwin, and hence one of his many nicknames.

O – Oliphant – Something that appears in one of the scenes from one of my favorite sets of books of all time, The Lord of The Rings.  I’m pretty sure I’ve read it over 50 times.

P – Patient.  Most of the time, I am very patient.  Except when my 10-year-old pushes my buttons.  She is the only person who can pierce my patience in three words or less!

Q – Quiet.  (See I – introvert.)

R – Risks.  I am not one normally to take many risks, but the few times in my life when it has really counted, I have taken some big ones.  For example, see my post on why our family celebrates December 15. 

Science

S – Science.  One of my favorite subjects to read about. 

T – Tardy.  My sister says that, unless Mark is in charge of the expedition and she doesn’t count those, I am at least 10 to 15 minutes late to everything.  I’m not always convinced, but sometimes I have a sinking feeling that she may be right!

U – Umbrellas.  I never have an umbrella handy when I need one, and if I have one handy, you can be sure that it will not rain!

A picture from one of our vacations

V – Vacation.  I love vacations!  I love traveling on vacations.  I love staying home on vacations.  I love sleeping in on vacations.  I love eating out on vacations.  I love…. (You get the idea!)

W – Wife – My first favorite role in my life.

X – Xerxes/Xenophon.  (Ha!  Bet you didn’t know how I was going to get around “X”).  This represents my interest in ancient Greek and Roman history, which includes reading English translations of some of the ancient sources, including Thucydides, Herodotus and Xenophon.  And Polybius.  Polybius is way cool!  See my post on my bookshelves.

Y – Yaks.  I don’t really have any particular affinity for yaks, but it was the only “Y” word that popped into my mind. 

A picture from the zoo!

Z – Zoos.  I love to visit zoos.  It’s fun.  

Well, that is it; odds and ends about me from A-Z.  If you’re still awake, I’d love it if you would pick one or two letters and use them to tell me a little bit about yourself, too!

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

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Posted in Just stuff..., working mom

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Heeeerrrrreee’s Tyra!

Posted on January 24, 2012 | 6 comments

Good morning Everyone!

Tyra, on January 20, 2012

Today’s post is about our oldest dog Tyra.  Tyra, whose nicknames include Tyra Belle, Big Dog and occasionally The Saint (refer to the many posts about Mandy and Darwin to understand why), does not exactly receive equal time in this blog so today I wanted to focus on her. 

Tyra, looking up from the love seat

The main reason Tyra doesn’t receive more time on this blog is not that we love her any less than the other two dogs, but simply because she is the best behaved of the three dogs so she often gives me the least to write about.  To be honest, she is the best behaved of all five dogs we have ever owned, and that is saying something!  Tyra’s main goal in life appears to be to please us, while Mandy’s goal in life is to be happy and maintain her excellent self-esteem, and Darwin’s centers somewhere between playing and getting really good back scratches whenever possible.

Tyra, October 1, 2006 in the back yard

Tyra, 10 years old now, is an Australian Shepherd mix, we think, and came to live with us on February 14, 2004, about 10 1/2 months before Kayla came.  She was three when we selected her from the Humane Shelter.  The sign on the run she was sharing with another dog said that she was a Rottweiler mix, but I have lived with this dog for almost eight years now, and there is no Rottweiler in her anywhere.  We weren’t sure what she was until one day when we saw a picture of an Australian Shepherd, which was spot on to what Tyra looks like when we let her hair grow out.

Second Picture, Tyra backyard, October 1, 2006

Tyra was taken to the Humane Shelter by the first family that adopted her and left, the reason being that they had a baby and “didn’t have time to care for her anymore.”  I always have thought that to be incredibly sad for Tyra,even if incredibly lucky for us; I don’t know how you could do that to a dog as loving as she is.  She still has nightmares occasionally, when she will start to moan in her sleep – whether it is about that experience or something else, I don’t know – but a soft touch and just a whisper that everything’s okay and she’s safe with us at home soothes her, even if she doesn’t wake up. 

Woof, Back Yard, October 1, 2006

When we got Tyra, our first dog, Shadow, had been dead for over a year, and I was starting to worry about our second dog, Woof, and how lonely she seemed to be getting.  Mark and I went to the shelter that day to select a dog, and as we were looking over the runs, we came across a pair of medium-sized dogs kenneled together .  One of the signs on the run said, “My name is Tyra, and I can sit!”  Mark said, “Sit,” Tyra sat, and the rest is history.  I haven’t seen her sit on command too many times since then, but bless her heart, the one time in her life it counted, she pulled it off! 

Tyra and Woof Camping in the Travel Trailer

Woof and Tyra had a cordial, not necessarily close relationship.  Or at least that’s what I thought until the day we went camping and I was walking both of them, and Tyra thought another dog was about to attack Woof.  Tyra immediately went into defense mode, and there is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that Tyra would have done anything possible to defend Woof. 

Kayla and Tyra, 12 days after Kayla came to live with us

Tyra and Kayla have a sweet bond.  Kayla took to Tyra almost as soon as Kayla moved in with us.  When Kayla learned that Tyra had only been with us since February, (remember, Kayla came December 1, 2004), something clicked and the two of them have for the most part had a rapport ever since.  Kayla does not boss Tyra around like she does the other two dogs, but is always sweet and gentle with her.  When she plays school, using the dogs to populate her pretend school world, Tyra is never a student.  Once, Tyra was the school nurse; another time, when I was unavailable, Tyra was the principal. 

Kayla's First Visit Ever To Our House With Mark, Tyra and Woof in the Picture

We learned quite by accident that Tyra also is prepared to do whatever it takes to protect Kayla.  One day when Kayla was four, Mark was grilling outside in the back yard and Kayla was with him.  Kayla heard the door bell ring, but Mark didn’t, so she went to open the door.  (That was a whole separate conversation.)  When she opened the door, there was a teenage boy there that she didn’t know, and Kayla got scared and screamed.  Tyra flew from the back yard down the hall to the front door, pushed Kayla to the side, and chased the teenage boy and his three friends (all of whom, bless their souls, were only asking for directions) onto the hood of their car in the 10 seconds it took Mark to realize something had happened and get out there as well. 

Our Family, Early in 2005

Tyra is not, however, without her quirks.  After all, she is only human canine!  She absolutely loves camping, and bananas.  All the dogs like going for a ride, but when we had our travel trailer, she would absolutely lose her mind as soon as she realized that we were going on an expedition.  She would laugh from the time we got in the car until we returned home.  I had never seen anything like it.  As far as bananas go, they appear to be a miracle cure for her for everything from arthritic hips to fatigue.  The mere sight or smell of a banana will start her prancing like a three-year old dog again. 

Why Won't They Give Me My Spot?

Tyra’s evening routine requires that she be given a seat on the couch beside Mark.  We got this picture of her on the sofa recently, when I was on one side, and Kayla was on the other side of Mark.  She does not look happy!

About time!

All was well, though, once she was placed in her favorite spot.

It's all good!

Tyra also gets extra privileges now that she has attained the status of the official geriatric dog in the household.  See, Life with a Geriatric Dog.  These include elevator service onto our bed every night and occasional joy rides in the car with Mark, Kayla and I while the other two dogs are left at home.  She also is indisputably the leader of the three dogs, although they all three of them ultimately defer to Mark.  She is a benevolent leader, fortunately, and we have been amazed at the restraint she has shown towards both Mandy and Darwin.  They really have to work at it to hack her off.

You will notice in some of these pictures that one of Tyra’s eyes is much larger than the other.  That is due to a condition called canine glaucoma.  There is no cure, and both we and our vet believe she can’t see out of that eye any more, but it doesn’t seem to have slowed her down one bit.  I watch her when she play wrestles with Darwin (they have their own version of mouth wrestling; I have yet to figure out any of the rules besides the cardinal rule, which is that Tyra wins.  Always.  No matter what.) and she just seems to look at him out of her other eye with a twinkle that says, “I can still beat you, even with one eye tied behind my back – but I won’t take advantage of you, even so.”

That’s my dog.

Have a great day !

Nancy

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Posted in dogs, Pets, working mom

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Mandy has a brother?!

Posted on January 12, 2012 | 3 comments

Good morning Everyone!

As some of you know from some previous posts, I have long wished that the over 50 people who have searched for variations on the term “husky-basset hound mix” would let me know why they are looking for the information;  I have always thought that Mandy is probably the most unusual dog I will ever come across, both in looks and in personality.  Well, two days ago, I got an e-mail from a woman named Needa in Nashville, who has a dog named Sawyer who is – wait for it – also a husky-basset hound mix.  Pictures were immediately exchanged, and the two do look very much alike, especially when they both have been recently groomed.  Sawyer has a little bit more of the red/brown coloring of a basset hound, while Mandy has picked up more of the silver/white/gray of the husky, but still, the resemblance is amazing.

Guess who is who?

You can see how much alike they look in the two pictures above.  Sawyer’s most obvious difference from Mandy is that he is a male and she a female, but there are other differences.  I think Mandy is a little more solid than Sawyer, although I haven’t yet met Sawyer to have him jump on me with all of his weight concentrated in his front two paws.  Sawyer has two blue eyes, instead of Mandy’s one brown eye with a hint of blue in it and her other completely blue eye.

Sawyer almost in pageant pose

There are a lot of similarities, too.  Sawyer has a “pageant pose” similar to Mandy’s, although Needa and her husband call it the “noble pose,” which makes sense since Sawyer is a boy.  Sawyer likes to chew – Needa says the first day she had him he demolished her digital camera, which made me grateful for Mandy’s preference for light cords – and does so on about the same four-hour schedule that Mandy holds.  Mandy and Sawyer can be trusted alone in the house for about four hours, then they get anxious about their owners being gone and start demolishing something.  At least they have a good reason; Darwin chews sometimes just for the pure joy of it.  To be honest, Mandy chews handkerchiefs for the pure joy of it also, but the more destructive chewing comes after four hours!

Mandy: Caught with a handkerchief

They have somewhat similar nicknames, too.  One of Mandy’s many nicknames, well-earned, is “Bad Dog.”   Sawyer’s nickname, Bitarbriat, was given to him by one of Needa’s uncles.  The word is Persian for “Spoiled Brat.”

Sawyer dives for something

Sawyer does not have to be bossed around by a child of any age, let alone a ten-year old girl – Needa and her husband just got married three weeks ago!  Congratulations to them.  Here is an engagement photo they took with Sawyer in it.

Sawyer's Engagement Photo!

Sawyer was adopted in Huntsville, Alabama at The Ark; someone found him wandering around the roadside there.  Mandy is also an Alabama dog; as you know from a previous post, she was adopted at the Montgomery, Alabama humane shelter, where she had been taken after she had been found digging in the dumpster for McDonald’s.  They both are very independent; I am not sure if that is the basset hound temperament coming out, or if part of that comes from surviving “on the street” for a period of time.

Mandy, awakens from a nap

They both are very loving dogs, too; they just have very high self-esteem.

Sawyer on his dog bed

One day, we hope maybe to get the two of them together, but that won’t happen for a while.  Either way though, welcome to Sawyer as a potential cousin, if not brother of our own Mandy, and thank you to the many friends and relations of Needa who have stopped by this blog in the past two days to look at pictures of Mandy.  I hope you’ve enjoyed your visits!

Sawyer gets ready for the wedding

If anyone out there stumbles by this blog and has a husky-basset hound mix, please let me know.  I’d love to hear about him or her!

Mandy in the kitchen

Have a great day!

Nancy

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My New Office

Posted on January 3, 2012 | 6 comments

Good morning Everyone!

We’ve successfully reached the  3rd day of 2012, and life comes back to normal in our household today, with Mark and I back at work and Kayla back at school.  I know things are back to normal for the following reasons:  1) after repeated assurances that she knew where her book bag was and everything was in order in it, Kayla still had to scramble to find it and get out the door in time, 2) we had a discussion as to how a gym suit jacket is not sufficient to keep you warm in 25 degree weather and 3) after Mark and Kayla left, I heard odd chewing noises in the bedroom and called out, “Darwin, you better not be chewing anything important!” and he happily trotted around the corner out of my bedroom.  (You will be relieved to know that it was nothing more important than a plastic toothbrush holder.) 

Corner Office

I spent a couple of days last week working on setting up my new “office.”  (“Working on” translates to “shopping for.”)   This corner of our bedroom is now the headquarters for all of  my writing, both blogging and the freelance , with the potential to do some art work at it as well, especially with graphite and watercolor pencils. 

Open Desk

Leaving the chair against the wall until I’m ready to write takes up a little less room on a regular basis.  Once I am ready to write, I can just pull the chair over to the open desk, since it’s not very heavy. 

I found both the chair and the desk (I’m really, really proud of the desk!) at a flea market/antique store in Montgomery (my Montgomery friends will know immediately where it is when I tell them I went to EastBrook). 

closeup of desk

 The desk was called a “ladies writing desk” but it is what I have always thought of as a small secretary desk. The ribbon tied to the right hand drawer knob was what the price tag was tied too.  Sooner or later I will cut it off. 

It hasn’t escaped my attention that a new year, 2012, has started, but I have no words of wisdom to offer.  I have had only one New Year’s resolution for about the last five years and that is not to make any New Year’s resolutions!  It’s harder to do than you might think, but I am holding steady so far.

 Have a great day!

Nancy

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The Trashman Cometh and other Post-Christmas Joys!

Posted on December 28, 2011 | 10 comments

Good morning Everyone!

I took a mini-vacation from this blog (three days – Friday, Monday and Tuesday) but it seems like forever since I last was here.  I’m glad to be back with all of you!

Not that kind of vacation - I would still be there!

Yesterday morning, December 27th, brought great joy to our household.  Was it due to Christmas?  No, we had that celebration Sunday.  Was it because it was my birthday?  No, but it was my birthday and we did celebrate it.  Was it because Kayla decided to spontaneously clean her room and throw out all of her junk and put all of the good stuff back neatly just for the fun of it?  Wrong again – I think that would fall under the classification of miracle.

No, the event that brought such joy was the arrival of the post-Christmas trash pickup.  Christmas was, as you know, on Sunday, and Mark spent Monday cleaning out the garage, so by the time trash pickup day got here, our dumpster had floweth over and there were four good size boxes full of trash beside it.  However, just like Santa or the tooth fairy (although with just a bit more noise – the dogs sometimes hear the truck and bark), sometime early in the morning the trashmen came and emptied our dumpster and relieved us of our trash.

This may seem a rather mundane thing to celebrate, but we no longer take trash collection over the holiday season for granted – the first and second years we were in this house, we went without trash collection for two weeks between Christmas and New Years!  Kayla was five and six at the time, and we had even more Christmas left-overs than we have now, so we were in dire straits.  I was considering wandering the streets of our town asking complete strangers at Wal-Mart “Brother, can you spare a trashcan?”  By the time the garbage truck toodled its way down our street that third week, we literally chased it down, and talked to the driver and assistant as fast as we could to keep them there while we deposited trash bags into the truck at rapid speed.  They had originally intended just to empty our dumpster and move on!

That was, however, a different waste disposal company and a different time (our neighborhood was relatively new and we were one of only two houses in it, so I think the replacement/holiday driver just didn’t know we were here), but ever since then we are quite grateful when our trash gets picked up Christmas week!

Mandy

Monday afternoon late, Kayla was outside playing on the porch and the dogs were in the back yard for a while.  Suddenly Kayla opened the door to announce that Mandy, sometimes known as “Bad Dog”, had spent some time rolling in…well, the polite term would be, I think, biological waste products, probably her own.  I was writing at the time, so I told Kayla to wipe it off of Mandy with some paper towels.  I saw Kayla walk out with some paper towels, and then she came back in to say it wasn’t working very well.  I absent-mindedly mumbled that perhaps she should use more water (I had a 14,000 word article on depression I was trying to finish for a client) and didn’t really notice the grim-faced ten year old hauling the long but short white dog across the den into the bathroom.  I did hear the water start running, but since I had also suggested at some point that it would be a good idea for Kayla to take a bath, I thought that was what was happening.

Boy was I wrong!  About fifteen minutes later, the door opened and a clean, wet but not drenched Mandy came tearing out of the bathroom.  When Mark and I asked what happened, Kayla told us that she had given Mandy a shower!  She was very proud of herself for doing so, too.  (In her defense, the house rule is “Do not drag the dog into the bathtub with you because you want a friend to take a bath with.”  Since she was forcing a dog into the bathtub to clean her, I guess she didn’t technically break the rule.)  She said that she had to pop Mandy once on the rear to get her to finish going into the tub, but once she did, Mandy sat down in the bathtub and took her shower with good grace.  Kayla used Dove to clean her off, which I’m pretty sure is not a dog registered product but hopefully just one time won’t do Mandy’s coat any harm.  Kayla even cleaned the tub and shower out afterwards without being told.  Mandy has viewed Kayla with a new respect since then!

Pardon me; I just had to take a break for a minute to retrieve a ball of black yarn from Darwin, which he was tossing around trying to unstring, which brings me to another post-holiday joy – saving Darwin from the batteries.

Darwin

Darwin, also known by the alias “No-No”, loves things that roll that he can chase around the house at will.  Unbeknownst to any of us, he decided to pluck a package of AAA batteries off of the coffee table.  Since the package was open already, 8 triple AAA batteries went rolling off in many directions, and Darwin was in puppy Nirvana.  I did look up once to see him pawing at something under the couch, but, silly me, I thought it was one of his balls or other toys that roll that he was playing with.  It wasn’t until I heard unusual chewing sounds that I went around the corner to discover Darwin happily munching on a AAA battery.  While I have discovered that there are many things that dogs can eat, such as a complete tube of Neosporin, and not suffer any harm, I am pretty sure that AAA batteries are not one of them.  Kayla and I had a fun adventure tracking down all 8 of the batteries to be sure that he hadn’t punctured or ingested any of them.  We found two with teeth marks on them at various places in the house, but fortunately he hadn’t broken the casing, and then found the other six under different objects – one under the love seat, two under the ottoman, one under the coach and two that had rolled underneath dog beds.  We heaved a sigh of relief after we found the last one.  Darwin thought the group participation aspect of the battery play was the best part!

Well, I think I have written more than enough to make up for the three days I missed, so I better stop before I have written the equivalent of a full length novel!  I hope each of you had a very Merry Christmas and post-Christmas adventures at least as exciting as mine!

Have a great day!

Nancy

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