THE GRUMPY OLD MAN TURNS ELEVEN

Today Blue turned ELEVEN!
I took this photo just before leaving the house this morning.
I used a couple of apps to make it more like a painting-

Yep, He's eleven and he is a grumpy old man.

The grumpiness has been building.
The occasional ROAR of irritation when someone is in his way
or laying his spot.

He's just low on patience.
He'll do that bark growl that sends the other dogs into a tizzy.
They jump up and bark at him
and he storms through the herd of them like an angry bull.

If anyone really gets in his face,
he'll grab ahold of them and slam them to the floor and hold them there
until they stop fighting and are totally submissive.

Years ago when Jimmy Chew was very young, he challenged Blue
and Blue body slammed him to the ground and held him by the throat.
Jimmy was so terrified that his anal glands expressed themselves.
Jimmy was fine, just wet with saliva but he never challenged him again.

Sometimes when Blue is really in a mood and is stomping around roaring
I can tell that Jimmy thinks he needs to protect me.
He doesn't, I'm the Alpha dog
but Jimmy will stand in front of me and face-off with Blue.
He will  bark with all his might as his whole body trembles in fear.
Yep, Jimmy can push my buttons and sometimes really frustrate the Hell out of me
but I know he's got my back.

Lately though, Blue's fuse has been super short.
The other day as the little ones ran through the kitchen for the laundry room to get their dinner,
Blue decided to walk out of the kitchen and into the living room.
I always feed Blue first, so it wasn't like he was hungry but
all the little dogs rushing past him, must have annoyed him
because I heard that ROAR
and then a horrible little scream.

It was my little Poppy.

She doesn't even weigh a full 5 pounds
and he had her down.
Now if it was one of the bigger dogs it would have just been a moment
of catch and release
but in this case, he caught her head and left a little small cut above her eye from his tooth.
I was there in a second
and of course I couldn't yell at him to STOP!
because he's deaf.
But I grabbed ahold of his head and neck and pulled him away
and he instantly ran and hid up the kitchen table.
He always hides there when he gets into trouble
because no one can see him there....

or so he thinks.

I realize that he's just being a cranky ass because if
he really meant business, she'd be dead.
But... it has me on hyper alert now.

I talked with Doc and because we just ran all sorts of blood-work tests
and did x-rays and everything on Blue when he was so ill,
we know there's nothing physically wrong with him except as Doc says -
He's a grumpy old man. That's what happens to us, we get grumpy."
I told him about Poppy and Doc said, "She's just a mouthful!"
and then he just shook his head and said "that's what can happen with a pack".

Without going into extreme detail about pack mentality,
I'll just say that I'm aware of that and that wasn't it.
It wasn't the group of them in some sort of frenzy
or them trying to weed out the weak
or one or more trying to take over the group.
They know I'm the leader.
There's no doubt of that.
Even Blue knows, that's why he hightails it to under the kitchen table.

Nope, it's just Blue doesn't really care about the other dogs.
They just mostly annoy him.
He's a people dog.
And if he sees Lily or my sister he jumps up and down in excitement.

Yep, I think I'm living with a "Lion" (who I love with all my heart)
and a houseful of "Lemurs" who like to run around and play
and get in the way of the Lion who just wants to sleep.

So I'm making sure to keep the lines of visual communication open with Blue and me.
That's always worked before.
He has always watched me to see what to do and not to do.
I just have to stay very attentive to him when he gets up and moves about.

As I type out this post, he's at my feet.
Not on the dog bed
or my BIG chair that he loves but on the wood floor.
I do adore this grumpy dog.
I brought birthday cupcakes in his honor to work

and wrote on the medical board for all to see that today was his Eleventh birthday
and I thanked everyone who made that possible!

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRUMPY OLD MAN!
I love you with all my heart
and I hope all the little ones just stay out of your way.

FUNK

I'm in a funk.
I thought I had pulled myself out but... truth be told, no.
It's not because of Squeak, although his passing didn't help.
It's just...............

I need a change.
Or maybe just some sleep.
Or maybe just a new approach to life.

I seem to remember an episode of Seinfeld where George, whose life was always a major fail, decided to do the opposite of his natural instincts and suddenly everything started working for him.
Although I can't remember how it ultimately turned out for him, something must have gone wrong as he was back to his never-do-well life by the next episode.

But...
Yesterday when I got home from work it started to storm.
Really high winds, over 50 miles an hour and then hail.
The weather people on TV were intense.
They had their jackets off and their sleeves rolled up and they were showing diagrams on where to seek shelter in your home.
Last year we had a tornado in our region, something rather rare here
and they told us to seek a safe place.
At that time, I went to the basement door and walked down a couple of steps and sat there, holding 2 of my little dogs, Poppy and Ping.

I had motioned Blue to the doorway, I knew he'd never go down the steps, so he sat there along with Nora and Jimmy. I called to the others, I called to my cats...but mostly I called my cats Harry and Ghost.
Strange how I made my Sophie's Choice....
I remember that I had thought if I heard a "train" noise as they predict, I would just set the two little ones down on the icky basement floor and tug Blue as far down the stairs as I could.
I would think if I did that, some of the others would follow him down too.

But last night, curled up in my big chair covered in critters,
I watched the Tornado Warnings and thought about my Dad.
When there would be storms, he liked to open the garage door and sit in his lawn chair and watch.
He never ever was concerned. He never told us to go downstairs.
Of course, the downstairs in my childhood home was nicer than the whole of my home is now.
And MY current downstairs is dark, damp with cinder block walls and it's filled with stuff.
Stuff being old furniture, cat carriers, Rubbermaid containers full of more stuff.
I really didn't want to go down there.
So I pulled up my ottoman and stretched out my legs and more little ones crawled on top of me.
Blue was laying on the sofa

and Nora was pacing.
Nora was the only one that seemed concerned so I called for her to lay down next to the chair.
I figured we'd just wait and see.
I was so tired that I started to drift off to sleep.
I remember thinking just before I drifted off that I hoped the hail didn't dent my car
and that if nothing happened to us, that I needed to pitched the stuff in the basement
and repaint the walls, maybe put down a piece of sheet vinyl flooring...

So, I woke up and the threat had passed.
Apparently 5 tornadoes had touched down in several areas.
Down on the far end of my street, a tree had come down and brought down power lines and people were trapped inside a restaurant.
I was lucky that we still had power in my section of town.
I got up and threw a load of laundry into the washer.
I let the dogs out to potty and the night sky seemed eerie.
They hurried back in and we all went to bed.

I got up this morning and went to work and I cried.
Nothing big really happened or anything but I just cried.
I don't think I'm alone though.
Many people that I work with feel the same way.
And there's other people I know, outside of work, that feel like crying too.
About different things
Maybe it's just the time of year.

Maybe it's that I get home and only have a couple of hours
to clean the house, sort through and get rid of the clutter,
do the laundry, feed the dogs, groom the dogs,

scoop the poop and clean the litter boxes,
read the blogs and the books I want to read and
oh, create Art
and I need to get to bed and get some sleep.
Seems like I never have time to do what I want or the energy.
Maybe it's just that I feel overwhelmed.

Do you feel like that too?
Is it the weather? The time of year?
The horrible things in the News and on social media?
See,  I told you I was in a funk.
Sorry.

YESTERDAY

was Poppy's birthday.

She's six.

She's been mine for..two or is it three years?

I don't really care how long she's been here,

I prefer not to even think about that except to wish she had been here her whole life.

It was hard for me to imagine anyone giving her away. I know I could never do it.

But when she was given to me, her then mom said she was a very picky eater and most times just wouldn't eat.

She also said that Poppy refused to come out her kennel and be with their family.

She said she'd take her out and she would run right back in and just sit there.

Hmmm.

She eats just fine here. In fact she runs up to me and gives me one or two tiny little "barks" in the morning

and then again in the evening, that clearly says "Where's my food?"

I used to put her in her kennel to eat and she would hurry so fast and then bark to be let out, that sometimes she would throw up.

Now she just waits for her turn to eat in the laundry room.

I feed Blue first, by himself.

And then I feed Jimmy and Nora.

Then the rest of the little ones

and lastly, Poppy, Claude and ancient blind Rosie.

They get the "special" little teeny tiny dog bites food.

Those three eat very very slow, so that's the reason they eat last.

Poppy likes to take a piece of kibble out one at a time and place it on the floor, look at it and then place another and another.

She's like a kid with M & M's, sorting them out by color.

She does it at every meal and then she goes back and eats them.

Sometimes Rosie will stumble upon one and eat it and Poppy will stand there and just look at her, kinda stunned

and then she will hurry and go get another piece.

And Claude? He tiptoes between the girls, takes a mouthful and backwards away and munchies.

Back and forth he goes

It's like a well choreographed little dance.

And the thing that really gets me about Poppy is how, somehow...

by some miracle, she has helped heal my heart after my Ruby's passing.

Just looking at her little face or feeling her tiny little body pressed against my shoulder as I drift off to sleep,

suddenly makes it very clear why she didn't fit into her previous home

and was meant to come live with me.

Doppelgänger

Meg Ryan, Poppy

COINKYDINK

Yesterday on Facebook an artist that I Follow, Tascha Parkinson, posted that everyone was welcome to post a photo of their cute pet and she would pick one and do a sketch of them.

She said that she would then send the sketch to the pets owner.

I thought about posting Blue but "cute" isn't the proper word to describe him.

Then I thought about Jimmy, but the words funny, zany or goofy came to mind instead.

Cute? OK, it had to be Poppy.

So I posted Poppy's photo.

I signed on to FB this morning and there was a message that she had picked her!

and the sketch:

I was SO Happy!

What a great surprise.

Later in the day at work I was checking my email and noticed that I got one from work.

Actually it was a "Reminder".

I have all my pets register so that I get notices (reminders) when they are due for any vaccines, medical procedures and/or whatever.

So I opened the email and...

It's Poppy's birthday today!

She's 5!

and her photo gets picked on her birthday!

What a coinkydink!

THE BATTLE OF THE SOFA and also MY UGLY FLOOR

First, I want to say, spontaneous photos reveal a lot.

Like what a slob I am.

OK...I hope this isn't too hard to follow,

I'm going to try to do two story lines at one time.

So here we go!

"MOM! He's in my SPOT!"

"Sorry, Poppy, but I'm not waking him up."

The turquoise thing is a 2-tier cat bed with a Target bag sitting on the top tier.

The dilemma of my ugly floor -

After pulling up carpet and having them sanded and refinished (several YEARS ago)

I was left with water-marked floors (I hope it was water)

Someone told me they look "rustic", I think not.

If it was various planks that were darker, maybe, but not box shaped marks.

I am probably going to put down tile....

but there still is an INSANE voice in my head telling me to paint them WHITE.

but so far....I've done nothing.

"Oh, you are BRAVE today Poppy!"

yep, that's dog hair on the floor and a "duck" dog toy.

I walk out of the room only to return and find this...

"How did you do that Poppy?"

Dog toys everywhere...

Yes, the buttons on the sofa need to be replaced

but luckily I can take spare ones off of the damaged love-seat...more on that, in a later post.

"Wow, you must be in a good mood today Blue."

"Hey! What's going on here?"

"Well played Jimmy. Well played."

SUNDAY DRIVES

I've been thinking about my Mom lately.

She passed when I was 14 after a horrible battle with cancer.

Back then you didn't talk about cancer or about people who had died.

You kinda pretended it never happened.

Or at least that's what you did in my family.

But now, decades later I'm thinking about her and allowing myself the memories.

I'm thinking about how superstitious she was, about everything.

Everything caused a consequence, and you can bet it wasn't good.

So the other day when I was having a frenzied dog-mom day I said something that immediately made me look over my shoulder.

All the dogs were being rowdy and just getting on my least nerve.

I had the backdoor open leading to the patio area but someone still just had to go poop on the potty pad.

Just a few more steps but no! they had to do it in the house!

Then someone was walking down the sidewalk in front of the house and a couple of the dogs noticed from the window and started a chorus of barking.

I tried to quiet them down and then I noticed Jimmy running after Poppy.
She was scurrying away, dodging back and forth under furniture.

Jimmy was trying to grab her and do the humping thing.

He doesn't do that as a mating goal but more as a dominance thing.

He used to do it to Griffin but now that Griff is gone, he seeks out the weakest link.

and Poppy is tiny and weighs less than 5 lbs.

Yes, Rosie is just as small and OLD, she's almost 14 but she gets in his face and barks at him.

"Get the HELL out of here!" she snaps, so he goes after Poppy. 

I scooped her up and yelled at him.

I held and gave her a kiss and told her
"Don't worry, someday it will be just you and me"

GASP! 

I can't believe I said that!

WHY did I say that?
Yes, she is one of my youngest dogs and the smaller the dog, the longer they tend to live, but...
I looked around and immediately wanted to take it back.

I suppose mothers feel like that sometimes. They just wish their kids were grown up and out of their hair.

But that doesn't happen with pets...
and I DO love my fur kids with all my heart.

I looked over at Blue and almost started crying.

I didn't mean it.

Yeah, that made me think my mom again. She would have had me throw salt or spit or something

but I don't remember....

Then the other day I was scanning the real estate listings on my lunch hour.

It's a habit now, even though I have decided I'm happy with my home.

I'm in a nice neighborhood, a very safe one as far as that goes.

If someone was going to rob anyone, they probably wouldn't pick my house.

It's too visible on a main street and also the fact I'm surrounded by much nicer bigger homes.

That, and the fact that the dogs  are ready and set to sound an alarm.

Then I thought about my mom again as I clicked on listings.

She loved her home.

I knew that she came from very humble beginnings and was so proud of the fact that my dad had built their home.

Yep, Mid-Century, maybe that's why I still love the style.

When you came in the front door the first thing in front of you was the fireplace and then when you walked around into the living room, there was the other side of it.
The back of the house was a big picture window and then a jalousie porch ...all glass.

Yes, it was nice, but almost every Sunday afternoon she would make us all go on a Sunday drive.

A drive through neighborhoods to look at houses.

(I suppose if she were here now, she'd be scanning listings on the Internet too.)

She would have my dad drive really slow and they would make comments and observations.

Me and my sister would be bored to tears and sometimes I would see kids from my school playing in their yards and I would slink down.

"Hurry up! Drive faster" I was so embarrassed. I mean, what was the purpose of this?

One of her favorite places to drive to was the old rich neighborhood in the most wooded section of town up on the hill.

source

It used to be very elite, but now it's older and the homes considered smaller

and on the other side of town is the NEW mega mansions.

source

In my town, you want to live up on the hill. Anywhere ON the hill.

But that was THE hill on our drives.

Sure there are some beautiful homes down below, but not the safest.

source

and now... my sister lives in that Hill neighborhood.

I wonder if somehow all those Sunday drives worked their magic into her brain?

She used to drive  out of her way and through that area on her way home from work on some mornings and one day, there was a house for sale that was HER house.

That's what she said. She knew it was her house.

Anyway, another place my mom adored was a high-rise built into the middle of town.

Now people call it high-rise condominiums.

The tallest building in the city.

She used to talk about maybe moving there too.

So the other day at lunch as I'm scrolling through listings, I see that one of them is for sale!

source

I excitedly clicked on it. 

OMG!!!  Heaven.

I went up front (the office is very quiet usually over the lunch hour) so I showed the girls the listing.

They all immediately agreed, it was totally me.

What with all the white, how could it be more perfect?

(except I'd like different counter-tops, most likely marble and get rid of the green and a new faucet)

and they said,"But what about all your pets?"

and I waved them on and said, "NO! not NOW!
I'd like it when I'm older, and I have all my bills paid and
it's just me and Poppy."

CRAP! I said it again!

WTH?

I don't mean it.  Really I don't!

and yet I now feel like something is going to reach out and smite me.

and once again.

I'm thinking of my mom.