The Things I Do For Love

I was thinking it had been a while - a long while - since I'd made fishbiscuits for the dogs and little fishbits for the cats. I picked up a couple cans of salmon a few weeks back when it was on sale, and I had an unopened bag of rice flour in my pantry, so I decided I'd make fishbiscuits today. Salmon, eggs, oil, garlic, and a splash of water get pureed in the food processor, then I add the rice flour until it's sugar cookie-dough consistency. I rolled it out and used my medium dog bone-shaped cookie cutter to do 2.5 dozen biscuits for the dogs, then mashed the remainder together, rolled it out, and cut it into small squares with a pizza cutter. Got them in the oven about 20 minutes ago, and now I remember why I make these so seldom even though everyone here goes nuts for them - my house stinks to high heaven. Garlic and fish, it's enough to gag me. I had to open a window; I'm glad it's near 60 here today so I can do that without heating the outdoors! It's going to be another long while before I make fishbiscuits again!

I called yesterday and scheduled Dudley for his neuter. The first opening at the low-cost clinic is two weeks from Thursday, so it's going to have to wait until then. I'm going to start feeding cats in my wired-open trap, hopefully they'll be so used to going in there to eat that I'll be able to trap Roo the day before the appointment so I can get her in to be spayed at the same time. (She's very tough to get hold of, which is why she's still not spayed.) I need to go introduce myself to my neighbor to the south and ask her if any of the cats that are hanging around belong to her. If not, I'm going to see what I can do to trap one or two of them and get them in, too. This clinic does ferals for free, so as long as I've got to make the drive down there to get Dudley done anyway, I might as well get as many cats spayed/neutered as possible at the same time.

Speaking of Dudley, I've been having a blast training him. My clicker technique is improving rapidly, and Duds is learning quickly. Sit, watch me, down, and wait are all almost perfect, and he's learning to "be tall" (stand on his hind legs) and "ask nicely" (sit up and beg). He's such a hoot and he fits in here so well. I still haven't decided whether or not he's staying, but I'd like to keep him if possible.

I've got one boarder dog coming for a week over the Christmas holidays - an adolescent Newfoundland pup. I'm hoping to get one or two more boarders - or even three or four, depending on size - over the holidays. I love having canine company, I love the opportunity to work with different dogs, and it's a nice little income for doing what I like to do. I need to get either a permanent-installation pet gate or an old, solid-wood door I can cut to size and make a dutch door out of, to put between the kitchen and the front hallway, so I can divide the house in two. That will allow boarders to have the family room and the long hallway and my own dogs can have the living room, dining room, and kitchen. And the pet gate, or a small pet door in a solid dutch door, will allow the cats to come and go between areas as they please. I'll have to make a "wanted" post on the freecycle list, see if anyone's got a door I can have.

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Sleep, Little Bulbs, and Dream of Spring

Last spring, as the snow melted and the sun began to shine, I was delighted to discover crocuses coming up in my front lawn. By the time the grass grew long enough to need mowing the crocuses were finished blooming, so I was able to mow without hurting them. I promised myself then that I'd plant more crocuses this fall. My sis brought, and planted for me, a couple dozen mixed daffodil bulbs for my birthday a few weeks ago, but I hadn't had time or money to get more crocus bulbs until today. I had to make a trip down to where I used to live, and I had $10 to indulge myself, so I stopped at Home Depot to pick up some more crocus bulbs. Since it is so late in the season, all their bulbs were on sale for 75% off. My measly $10 bought me 4 dozen bulbs. A dozen crocuses, a dozen anemones, a dozen miniature irises, and a dozen hyacinths. All but the hyacinths are early and very early spring bloomers, the hyacinths bloom mid-spring.

I split the crocus bulbs into two groups, and planted those in the lawn between the northern tree and the bird feeder - right outside my window here. Between the bird feeder and the southern tree, I planted all the anemone bulbs in a group. Those should eventually spread outward and become an early-spring blanket in the middle of the lawn. Out toward the road a little more, I planted the miniature irises in another grouping. I love the idea of having a lawnful of early spring flowers; I'll probably continue to add groupings of bulbs each fall, filling in the gaps. I planted half the hyacinths along the walkway to the front door, and the other half in the front flower bed with the grape hyacinths and hostas. Next to that bed is a small half-barrel planter, my sis planted some of the daffodils in there, so there should be a nice display of spring flowers along the front of the house, too. The nice thing about having hyacinths right underneath the windows is that during their flowering season there are usually some days warm enough to open windows a little, and I'll be able to smell the hyacinths on the breeze.

The scent of hyacinth is one of my favorites and has been since I was a child. It is a promise of warmth and sunshine and light. My maternal grandmother always bought my mother a potted hyacinth or lily for Easter; the scent of hyacinth returns me instantly to my childhood. I feel the closeness of my family, and the excitement of new spring coats and hats, a new Easter dress, and a new pair of white patent leather shoes. I don't know what Mom did with the lilies once they were spent, but she used to plant the hyacinths in the flower bed that ran along the back of our house. Many of those hyacinth plants were right under my bedroom window, and would "double my pleasure" each spring - the scent of the hyacinths in the pot on a cabinet in the living room, and the scent of hyacinths wafting into my bedroom on a soft, sunny spring breeze.

Deep in January, when the wind is bitter and the ground shrouded in white, I will smile when I think of my little bulbs slumbering snug in the ground, waiting for spring to rouse them from their beds.