Snickering at Snickers

Heh, heh, heh. Mr. Untouchable is thisclose to being a lap cat. I said he'd be there by Christmas. One morning this week he snuggled up behind me and rested the top half of his body on my hip - butt on the bed, elbows on my hip with his belly up against my tush. So I revised the timeline and said he'd be a lap cat by Thanksgiving, but now I think he'll be there by Halloween. Maybe even Columbus Day.

I was lying in bed this morning, listening to Meet The Press and dozing on and off, snuggling cats when I was awake. One of the times I woke up I was lying on my side, and there was a very heavy weight on top of my leg, from my knee to my hip. I turned my head to look and saw Snickers. I couldn't believe he was actually on me. All of him. And he was looking at me, waiting for me to open my eyes, so he could let me know he wanted some petting. I gave him a good 5-minute head/chin/neck/chest rub and when I stopped, he inched even further up the side of my leg/hip so his nose was up to my waist. Apparently I'm not only not a threat when I'm lying down in bed, but I'm safe enough to actually lie on and pester for petting.

I am just so darn tickled at his progress over the last 6 months. Such a silly boy, now that he knows what he's been missing, he's doing his best to make up for 6 years of not having it. I'm betting that he sits or lies on top of me in bed again at least one morning in the next week, maybe more. And I think once he's doing that regularly, it's just a matter of time before he jumps up on my lap when I'm sitting in my recliner. He looks like he wants to come up on my lap, but he's not quite sure it's safe. It is, Big Bubbacat.

Spot is growing like a weed - he's doubled in size. He's such a sweet boy. High energy and full of the dickens, but sweet. He's learning to speak Dog, and Friday I put him out in the yard with Dudley, Penny, Tansy, Nellie, and Simon for the first time. He's been going out with that shift for the last week, but coming right back to me when he'd taken care of business. Sometimes he didn't even want to go out at all unless I went out with him. But Friday I sat on my patio for a while - it was cool here, but the sun shining on the patio roof makes it 5-10 degrees warmer under there - and I put him out in the main yard with the others. After fretting for a couple of minutes because he couldn't get back into the patio to be with me, he became aware of the fun going on behind him out in the yard and decided he'd like to participate. Yesterday I let him stay out for a couple of hours with Nellie, Simon, and Tansy. (Dudley can't stay out because he barks at everything, and he'd rather be inside with me and Penny anyway. And Penny won't stay outside unless I'm out there with her, she just stands at the gate and barks and barks and barks and barks for me to come let her in.) Spot had a great time. Simon, bless his sweet, tolerant little heart, was more than happy to play with Spot as long as he wanted to play. Spot would launch himself at Simon, and Simon would flop to the ground as if Spot had physically overpowered him. Letting the baby win and teaching him gentle play at the same time. Letting Spot win boosts his self-confidence, and developing good play/social skills will stand Spot in good stead the rest of his life.

I really love Simon. Such a nice, nice, nice dog. Sweet tempered, gentle, affectionate, patient, tolerant, easy-going, happy, submissive. I like my dogs a little smarter, but with smarts comes independence and its associated behaviors. Even the nicest smart dogs can be a challenge to deal with. Simon's not stupid, he's just a little dim. *smile* I'm sure the right family is out there looking for him, I just need to find them. He deserves to be an only dog, with a passel of kids to shower him with attention.

When I take the auction kittens in to the vet for FeLV testing the beginning of October, I'm going to ask them to write the letter Petfinder requires to approve rescues that are not 501(c)(3) organizations. I'll also have to submit a copy of my adoption contract. But if I can get approved for Petfinder, it should make it a lot easier for me to find homes for my rescues. I think the local rescue will let me bring Simon and some kittens to their adoption event next Saturday, and the Saturday after that. I just need to confirm with them.

I washed windows yesterday, I can't believe how grimy they get. Well, actually, I can. Dust adhering to dog and cat noseprints. Did a few loads of laundry, ran to the grocery store, spent some time with the Auction Girls after I got their "room" cleaned. (I can't believe how fast young kittens can get a floor dirty. *sigh*) Went out just before dark and threw sheets over my tomato plants; there was a scattered frost advisory for my area for last night, and I wanted to save the tomatoes so they'll have time to ripen in the 80-degree weather we're supposed to have all week. I was worried about my pumpkins, but I just don't have enough sheets to cover all the vines. I was glad to see the leaves unwilted this morning. If we had frost here overnight, it was very, very light. I've got three beautiful jack-o-lantern pumpkins growing. Actually there might be more, I haven't looked too closely at a couple of the vines. The pumpkins are the taller, oblong-shaped kind, and they're about half-grown. All 3 are almost perfectly-shaped. They're going to be beautiful when they're ripe.

I've been having a nice, lazy day so far. I treated myself to a pot of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. Chris gave me a pound of it, along with my thermos decanter, for Christmas last year. I've been using it sparingly, usually only on a Sunday morning when I have the time to relax and savor the whole pot. But I've got one cup left, and then my lazy day's over with. I've got too much more to do to laze the whole day away. At least I don't have to cook today. I put a pot roast in the crockpot before bed last night, so I'll have that when I'm ready for dinner. I do have to bake a couple of loaves of zucchini bread this afternoon, but that'll make a great snack for later and will do for breakfast all week long.

Another Giant Leap

Snickers came up on the bed for cuddles this morning.

One morning last week I was doing the wake-up kitty-cuddle routine, I looked over to see him sitting on the floor meowing at me to reach over and pet him, so I did. This was new - I'm safe if I'm sitting in my computer chair, and I'm safe if I'm sitting in my recliner, but I'm a potential threat if I'm anywhere else, especially if I'm on my feet. But he'd decided I was safe when I was lying in bed too, and he might as well get his share of the attention. I looked for him each morning after that, but he didn't show up. This morning I was lying on one side cuddling kittens when I looked over to see him sitting on a rubbermaid tub full of clothes I have sitting by one side of the bed to make it easier for both Dudley and Penny to get up on my slightly-elevated bed. I greeted him with a cheery "Good Morning, sweetheart, are you going to come up here for some cuddles this morning?" and, to my amazement, he hopped up onto the bed. He made his way down to the end of the bed and around my feet to come up behind me. Then he stuck his head out toward me. So I reached over and skritched him. He stuck around for about 10 minutes getting occasional skritches. At one point, he even relaxed enough to lie down and lean up against my hip. Tickled the heck out of me. I bet he's back for more before the end of the week. I'd also bet that he'll be a lap cuddler before the end of the year.

The morning cuddle is getting longer by the day. Not only are all the kittens coming for morning cuddles now, but Irenie and Isis are regulars now, too. The only cats who don't come for morning cuddles are Ivy and Onyx, but Onyx is working her way toward it. I found her sleeping on my bed one day last week; to my knowledge, that's the first time she's been in my bedroom. I see her regularly in the kitchen and dining room now, and she's appearing more frequently in the living room. Gertie doesn't come for morning cuddles every day, but she comes a couple of times a week. (Her idea of an insurance premium, so I'll keep feeding her. She doesn't need me for much more than that. lol!!)

The weatherman lied again. He said it was going to be cloudy but dry today. It's not dry, it's spitting. Just enough that dogs don't want to be outside. I hope it's not enough to delay/postpone the baseball game tonight; yesterday was an off day and I'm already in baseball withdrawal.

Five-Dollar Kittens

Just got this through a freecycle list:

Ready September 18th, pick out the one you want now, Can take a pics in a few day and email for they are only a day old now and i want to wait for their eyes to open to take a picture. 2 tiger, 1 pure black unknown sex at this time. They will be raised around dogs, and very young kids. Will ask $5.00 for each kitten. I know kittens are usually free but i want to ensure they are going to go to a good home and not to someone who wants to pick up a free kitten just to torcher.

*sigh* Five dollars, to ensure they're going to a good home at 6 weeks of age.

Overwhelmed

I'm so discouraged about the stray/feral cat population here. It's a lot bigger than I thought it was. I recently acquired a Tru-catch trap; the first two nights I baited it I caught two males I'd never seen before. I was hoping to catch the dilute calico, her kittens would have been plenty old enough to manage without her for a few days, and I wanted to catch her before she got pregnant again. This morning I looked out my front window to see her dead on the side of the road. I'm going to the s/n clinic tomorrow with Irenie and family and I try to take a feral - or even two - with me when I go down there, but I couldn't have afforded anyone else with tomorrow's trip anyway. I don't know how I'm ever going to get them all TNR'd. By the time I get around to getting them all fixed, they'll have had more kittens. I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't; I don't think I can stand to see another one smashed on the road.

I'm worried about placing Irenie's babies, too. So far all inquiries have either flaked out or haven't met my requirements: no declawing, inside only, other pets in the home spayed or neutered. They're only going to be adorable little kittens for a short time, it's going to get harder to place them as time passes. I've put up flyers all over the place, but since I'm charging an adoption fee, it's hard to compete with the "free kittens" that are already advertised in every place I put a flyer. I don't think $75 is unreasonable for an altered, tested, wormed, healthy kitten (or $120 for a pair of kittens) - having a male cat neutered runs a minimum of $90, not to mention FeLV/FIV testing, worming, etc.

I had to go see my doc this past week, to get new prescriptions. I complained that the prescription Claritin wasn't working so well any more, and when she examined me she discovered I had a sinus infection. So she prescribed antibiotics (that make me dizzy) and a different antihistimine - one of the older antihistiamines that make me so drowsy I walk around in a zombie-like state. I don't know which is worse - having a heavy head from congestion, or having a heavy head from the antihistimine. Add the dizziness from the antibiotics and the dizziness on standing caused by a drop in blood pressure, and I'm really out of it. I ran a whole bunch of errands yesterday, was in and out of the car a dozen times, and each time I had to stand next to the car for a minute or two until the dizziness passed.

I'm tired, sick, discouraged, and now I've got to go scrape a cat off the road. I'd really like a week's vacation from my life. Starting right now.

Quislings, Misanthropes, and Narcissistic Personality Disorder

First, let's start with a few definitions:

Quisling: traitor. Traitor: one who betrays another's trust or is false to an obligation or duty. (Source: Merriam-Webster Online)

Misanthrope: a person who hates or distrusts humankind (Source: Merriam-Webster Online)

Narcissistic Personality Disorder: A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

1. has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
   
2. is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
   
3. believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)
   
4. requires excessive admiration
   
5. has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations
   
6. is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends
   
7. lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
   
8. is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her
   
9. shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes

(Source: American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)

The Quisling. Laws are for the protection of society in general, and written contracts are for business dealings. In social groups, however - and particularly in closed social groups - laws and contracts do not apply. The binding agent in such a social group is honor, a commitment and a tacit promise not to violate the trust which holds the group together. It is dishonorable - indeed, it is morally bankrupt - to breech that trust, to break that tacit promise. Someone who breaks their word - whether given directly or tacitly - should expect consequences for such an act. Anger. Distrust. Loss of esteem and good will. The more egregious the group perceives the breech to be, the more long-lasting and widespread the consequences are likely to be.

The Misanthrope. It is no wonder the misanthrope finds herself on the fringes of society. The unwavering hatred for human beings (clearly evident in attitude and in unfailing incivility), and the belief that any and every animal - even one that's clearly a threat to the safety and well-being of humans - is superior to humans, does not engender admiration, respect, or even liking from those humans. Someone who neither likes nor respects other human beings should not expect liking or respect in return. Someone who speaks to other people with vitriol should not be surprised when they are responded to in kind.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder needs no further elaboration. I leave you to your own observations and conclusions. (It's really rather fascinating, when one can observe it objectively.)

I truly admire those who can turn the other cheek, even when directly and repeatedly beset. Unwavering pacifism, however, is not one of my virtues. I am but an imperfect human; I neither claim, nor aspire to, sainthood. Does that demonstrate weakness? Perhaps. A low reactivity threshhold? Certainly. Poke me, I poke back. That is both an acknowledgement and a promise.

The Death of the Compassionate Response

Compassion: sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it. (source: Merriam-Webster Online)

When did it become acceptable to kick someone when they're down? It's not like it hasn't happened before, it has. For years there have been some people who've taken the opportunity of someone's loss to take them to task for how that loss happened - or didn't happen soon enough, in some cases - or how they responded to it, or how they feel about it. But those displays of a total absence of empathy came from people we knew were empathetically-impaired, from people who are unable to see things from any perspective other than their own, and they didn't happen all that often. Today, it happens frequently, and it makes me angry.

What's the purpose in telling someone with a dead kitten what they should have done? Especially someone who's not stupid, who learns from everything she reads and experiences and who retains that knowledge, who is perfectly capable of administering competent first aid, who is perfectly capable of making sound decisions for the animals in her care, and who has done some pretty amazing things with the very limited resources available to her. Someone who's saved a lot more lives than she's lost. How does telling her what one thinks she should have done, castigating her for not doing it, express empathy or even sympathy in any way? How could anyone consider such a response to be compassionate?

Whatever happened to a simple "I'm so sorry for your loss"? Why is that so difficult, if not impossible, for some people to say? Where is their compassion for another human being's pain? (Though I seriously wonder, sometimes, if some of those people ever had any compassion in the first place.) When did it become more important to beat someone up for the circumstances of a loss than to express sympathy for the loss itself, and the accompanying grief?

(And let's not even get started on someone who'll jump into something because they see it as a platform to advance their own agenda. They're the lowest of the low, in my opinion.)

Strong, knowledgeable, compassionate voices have been stilled by such behavior. They've left the community rather than suffer repeated ill treatment. The loss of that knowledge and compassion has been huge, the void unfillable, not only for the remaining community members themselves but for the animals in their lives. It's a damn shame.

Grow, Little Plants, Grow!

For better or worse, the garden's basically done. I finished planting seedlings tonight - the rest of the peppers, the three yellow bean plants, the sugar baby watermelons - and planted seeds for the rest of the vegetables. Green beans, Lima Beans, Zucchini, curly lettuce, Bibb lettuce (I put the lettuces in the shadier spots), regular cukes and lots of pickling cukes. I have some room left along the fence in a couple of places, I'll plant dill there, some marigolds, and some straw flowers if there's room. I've got basil to plant in among the tomatoes. That should just about do it for the garden proper. (Oh! I forgot! I need to get pumpkin seeds! I can get those in the morning.)

If it's still cool and not rainy when I get home from dropping Simon off to be neutered, I'll get the weeds pulled from the raised bed and plant some flower seeds in there. Snapdragons in the middle, some Bachelor Buttons, and I'll have to see what else I have, I've got packets and packets of flower seeds that I either picked up 10/$1 or even 25/$1 plus a bunch that were given to me. I need to finish up the planters, too, and I should be able to get those done tomorrow. I have to remember to put my morning glory seeds in a dish to soak overnight tomorrow, and Thursday I'll plant them on the outside of the pool fencing. Those, plus the plastic tarp on the inside of that fence, ought to make a pretty decent privacy screen.

It's supposed to get very warm again, starting tomorrow. At least the heavy work is done, and after I get the raised bed planted tomorrow I can do just about everything else in the shade. That includes cleaning up my poor messy, dirt-y patio, and getting the party lights hung up. I bought a very cool pink paper globe shade on clearance over the winter, and I picked up an extension cord and a couple of bulbs for it on Saturday, so I want to get that hung up. And I have two sets of string lights that have pink, burgundy, and white paper globe shades that I want to hang along the front edge of the patio roof. I put one set together and stapled it up there, but I missed with one of the staples and it punctured the wire, so I need to splice that first, and then put the second set together. And this time I'm going to make little "tags" out of strips of duct tape and I'll staple the duct tape to the wood instead of the wire itself this time.

I want to get my pool up, too. You know, by the time I get everything finished, it's going to be the 4th of July.

I was standing out on the patio one day last week when a male ruby-throated hummer flew up and hovered a couple of feet in front of me; I figured maybe he didn't know about the feeder out front so I picked up another hummingbird feeder on Saturday to replace the one that goes in the back. I ran over it in my garage this winter (it fell off a shelf) and smashed it to smithereens. The one I got to replace it has the same feeder base as the one in front, but it's got a purple tulip-shaped reservoir instead of a red trumpet-shaped one. I got it cleaned, filled, and hung out this afternoon. Both feeders were seeing action this evening. I love the little hummers!

Lily Goes Home

I was sitting here when my doorbell rang, and when I looked out the window it was John who used to live next door. When I opened the door he said "I'm here to get my dog!"

I had told him to ask his new landlord about letting them keep the dog. I told him to tell the landlord that she's quiet, she's kept inside when they're gone, and she's always crated when left alone. To tell the landlord that Lily's a really good girl, and not going to do any property damage or cause any problems with the neighbors. I'm glad he finally worked up the fortitude to do it.

She was so excited to see him she couldn't stop spinning. She did stop briefly, though, turning to me and coming up on her hind feet - which she never does, I taught her to sit for me when she was just a little stinker and she's been very good about never jumping on me - to give me a kiss and let me give her a big hug.

Oh! I'm so happy Lily gets to go home to her family!

And I'm glad to have one less dog here, and one less dog to worry about having altered. Simon's going in tomorrow; once he's done, everyone will be fixed and vaccinated for rabies and my pocket will get a break.

Now, if the damn county would just get around to returning my spay/neuter deposits, I'd be a happy woman. They've had the paperwork on Toby for 5 weeks already and I still haven't seen a check. I'll be turning in the paperwork on Nellie, Lacey, and Simon tomorrow. That'll be $200 they owe me.

An Open Letter To My Brother

I wish you'd reconsider your decision to declaw Lucy. She is already using her mouth - whether in play, or to make a point. Amputating her toes, removing her defenses, may very well result in Lucy becoming an aggressive biter. Quite apart from my feelings about the issue, I think declawing this particular cat is a big mistake, that it's going to result in aggressive biting. I hope not, but my instinct (and people pay for my instinct, both as an experienced owner/rescuer and as an animal communicator) tells me that it's going to have that result with Lucy. Will you then have her teeth pulled?

A few facts:

• cats are digitigrade, meaning they walk on their toes. Toes go down first, then the back of the foot. Removing the last digit of their toes permanently alters the way they walk and can lead to severe arthritis when they're older.
  
• declawing is considered inhumane, and is illegal in much of Europe, South America, and in Australia. And a growing number of cities in the U.S. are making it illegal, too.
  
• laser surgery merely limits bleeding and inflammation at the time of surgery, the long-term consequences of toe amputation remain the same
  
• Declawing is so painful that drug companies testing the effectiveness of pain killers use declawed cats as subjects.

When there are so many alternatives available to eliminate scratching as a problem - Soft Paws (plastic nail caps, Lucy would look pretty cool with hot pink or purple toes!), keeping the claws blunt (takes less than a minute to clip a cat's claws), training, Sticky Paws (double-sided sticky tape sheets), or even a Scat Mat or Scat Strip (electrified mat or strip you put where you don't want the cat walking or scratching, gives them a little shock, like static electricity) - declawing is strictly for owner convenience. Unlike spaying, or neutering, there is no benefit to the cat.

Would you have a dog declawed? Why not, what's the difference? Would you fail to train a dog to stop engaging in unwanted behaviors? They why would you fail to train your cat?

With all the clawed cats in this house, there's only one spot where they scratch inappropriately (i.e. not on one of their many scratching posts, boards, poles, pads, etc.) - one arm of my already cosmetically-challenged sofa. The reason they still scratch in that spot is because I've done nothing to discourage it. If I'd put a scratching post in front of that sofa arm, or covered it with Sticky Paws, they'd have learned not to scratch there, too. A Scat Mat or Scat Strip would have worked, too. (Oh yeah, they shredded the edges of a plastic table cloth that hung over the table. They sat on the chair seats under the table and batted at the table cloth. Big whoop.)

Please take the time to read this article: http://declaw.lisaviolet.com/declawdrjean2.html It's not by some crazy cat lady, it's by Dr. Jean V. Hofve DVM, a cat-only vet who's very well-known and very well-respected in the feline fancy. And please re-think your decision to have Lucy declawed.

Hah! Gotcha!

I looked up from the computer to see Snickers sitting about 3 feet away, watching me. Looking up at Spooky lounging on the table, then looking back at me. So I coaxed Spooky off the table onto the floor for skritches and Snickers came right up. I skritched Spooky's head then moved my hand over to Snickers and started petting. Spooky jumped back up on the table, Snickers stayed on the floor. Under my hand. Turning around and coming back for more. Tilting his head so I had better access to under his chin. Standing rock still while I reached underneath and tickled his tummy. None of his "I know you're touching me but I'm pretending you're not" schtick today, in his wary way he was actually asking for petting. He stayed for probably 5 minutes, without his "beard", who was back up on the table having a snack.

Heh. Heh, heh, heh. Hah, hah, hah! Gotcha!! Bwahahahahahaha!!!!

Slowly But Surely

My planting is coming along slowly but surely. I picked up 3 more cubic yards of a lightweight potting mix and one cubic yard of Miracle Gro garden soil this afternoon. I mixed some of the MG garden soil into the potting mix, we'll see if that makes any difference. I also picked up 9 small wastebaskets and 4 16"-diameter grey plastic buckets to use as planters. I had two 3-cell packs of peppers and two 4-cell packs of peppers - jalapenos, habaneros, red and green sweet peppers - so I planted all but one of each variety into 6 of the wastebaskets and 4 laundry-detergent-bottle planters from last summer. The remaining 4 plants, one of each variety, will go into the garden Monday. I had four 4-cell packs of red and white petunias, I planted 4 in each of two of the plastic buckets and 4 in a pot I had that was basically the same size, then planted 2 each into two more of the wastebaskets. I have one small wastebasket left, I'll probably plant some Verbena in that. I also have two buckets left - more verbena. I also picked up 4 more fence hangars for 6" pots, and the last 4 begonias will go into them and all 8 begonias (4 white, 4 pink) will hang on the patio fence on the inside where the dogs won't get them. I did a bigger pot with 4 begonias in it, that's out front by the light pole. I still have some impatiens to plant, those are going on my patio shelf and in hanging baskets. And I have the rest of the verbena, I'm not sure yet where I'm going to plant them.

I picked up the last of my tomatoes today. I wanted another Cherokee Purple, because I didn't start seeds indoors this year using seeds I saved from last year. I may try starting one directly in a "pot" (probably a wastebasket) and see if it can catch up, but maybe not. I picked up two Red Brandywines (heirlooms), something called a Sunset (orangey-red on the top fading down to yellow on the bottom of the tomato) and an Early Girl (fruit in 51-60 days, a whole month before the others). I got all 4 of those into the garden this evening. The lumberyard was closed, I'll have to wait until Monday to get the cages for them. (I'm not going to fiddle around with staking this year, I'm going to get re-usable wire cages for $1.69 each.)

I also got the hanging pole for my hanging tomatoes - went to Lowe's and got a 10' length of 3/4" galvanized pipe, had them cut it to 8'. Tomorrow, I'm going to work on building the two uprights that'll hold the pipe. I'm short a few 3" wood screws so I won't be able to finish it until the lumberyard opens again on Monday, but then I should be able to finish it and hang the buckets. When it's all done I'll take pics.

While I was sitting here having coffee this morning, Spooky walked up and asked to be petted. Right behind him came Snickers. He looked up at me, then walked up to headbutt Spooky while casually placing his body where I could reach it. So I reached over and started to skritch, which he thoroughly enjoyed. We played this game for 10 minutes, Snickers pretending he didn't know I was petting him but coming back again and again for more. He was so transparent I had to bite my cheek to keep from laughing out loud. I suspect he's going to be a major lover one of these days, but I'm going to have to play by his rules to get him there. That's OK, I can't even tell you how thrilled I am that he's giving me these opportunities to pet him, and I'm willing to be patient and wait for the day he actually asks to be touched.

Irenie's a terrific mom. She's doing such a good job that I cuddle the babies a couple of times a day so they get handled, but I haven't had to spend much time in there with them. I make time for a couple of cuddle sessions with Irenie, too, and tell her how proud I am that she's doing such a good job. This little window of quiet time will be coming to an end shortly, though; they'll be a week old tomorrow and they should start opening their eyes soon. Then the fun starts!

Plugging Along

12:30 am:

Well, I worked in the garden tonight and made some real progress. I'm probably halfway done with the cultivating, and the rest should be easier because it's just weeds, not wheat. Yes, wheat. Last year I used straw to cover the walkways in the garden to prevent weeds from growing. The problem is that there was still some seed attached to that straw, and I had wheatgrass-covered walkways in the garden last year. It didn't get real tall because I kept walking on it, and it didn't appear to be interfering with anything I was deliberately growing, so I left it alone. This spring, the remaining wheat sprouted and started to grow and it's already a couple of feet tall with almost mature seed heads. It really clings to the dirt, it's very hard to uproot. But I've gotten most of it out of there now and the weeds that are left have shallow roots and will be easy to pull out.

I got 4 tomato plants into the ground, duplicates of the ones I planted in the buckets to hang upside down. The 4 varieties are Bonny's Best (which produces a deep red, 1/2 pound fruit), Lemon Boy (deep yellow fruit), Pik Red (4 oz. fruits), and a Roma. I also put one of each variety into pint-sized cardboard ice cream containers so they'd have a little more root room and will last until Tammy can take them home and plant them. Yesterday I cut out one cell of each of the 4 varieties and then put those cells into an empty 4-cell seedling pot and took them to a woman I met in my Wednesday class (which finished, for me, last Wednesday); I'd offered my extras to my classmates and this woman said she'd appreciate them. So I'm done with tomatoes. For now. Got a couple of less-urgent seedlings that can wait until Saturday or Sunday.

I didn't do the watermelon, beans, or extra peppers tonight. I'm going to try to get them in tomorrow morning before it gets too warm to work comfortably. (I was half blind from sweat dripping onto my glasses and into my eyes tonight, I ended up having to push my glasses down on my nose and look over the top of them to make sure I'd done what I thought I'd done while peering through what felt like gallons of sweat. Yecch.) I did get some variegated deep orchid and white impatiens into the little half-barrel planter in the middle of the front of the house, on what used to be the front stoop, as I passed it on my trips from the garden to the seedlings or the water. And I'll do some more container planting tomorrow morning too, I can sit in the shade on my patio.

Then I'll have a shower and a quick lunch, catch Dudley, and head off to Mom's and, from there, off to my sis's for my brother's 50th birthday dinner.

I planted one pot of purple and white Alyssum for my mom when I did a hanging basket with the same combination for me. I'm not sure the spot where she wants it will get enough sun, though, so I'm going to plant another pot the same size with Impatiens and take them both to her tomorrow. I'll be able to check the amount of light that spot gets and put the appropriate pot there and find a good spot (either shadier or sunnier, depending) for the other one. I've also done one hanging basket with a smaller variety of white Verbena, and two with just white impatiens of a variety that likes a little more sun than most impatiens. I put the Verbena out front with the Alyssum basket, and the two white Impatiens on the hooks on the light pole in the back yard, one on the yard side of the fence and one on the pool enclosure side of the fence. (I'm planning on getting my pool up early next week, too.) I still have a couple more hanging baskets of Impatiens to do, both the sun-loving white and the shade-loving variegated, and I'll have a few left over for the patio shelf. I still have to pot the Begonias (to hang from the inside of the patio fence), and the red-and-white petunias and the rest of the Verbena in the raised bed.

Speaking of the raised bed, I've got a German Chamomile hedge in there now! From organic seeds I planted there last year that never grew. They were the first non-bulb plant to break ground this spring, and now I've got a very thick row of them along the front of the raised flower bed. They're dense, and they're loaded with flower buds, some just beginning to open. Go figure. Now I can't tell if the other green things in the raised bed are weeds, or more Lazarus stuff from last year's seeds that didn't grow. I think one of those 'weeds' might be the organic Tarragon I planted last year. I'll have to go look up pictures and compare, before I go pulling stuff out.

Wow, The End of May Already!

I can't believe it's the end of May already. I'm so far behind on my outdoor work. *sigh* But now that the babies are here and Irenie has settled into being an excellent mother, I can take advantage of the next kitten-care free 10-12 days to get everything squared around. I did manage to get some of my hanging baskets and the hanging tomatoes planted, but I've barely gotten 1/4 of the garden proper cultivated so I can get seedlings into the ground. I need to get that finished as soon as possible, but it's been very hot and very humid and airless here, making it almost impossible to work outside for more than a few minutes at a time. I'm going to try to get at least the front half of it - the area with the longest period of full sun - finished late this evening when it's shaded again and the wind is expected to rise a little ahead of an approaching low-pressure system. If I can do that, and get the 4 remaining tomato plants and maybe the 4 sugar-baby watermelons into the ground, the beans and extra pepper plants can wait until Monday when the temperature is supposed to be 15 degrees cooler and dry. But the tomato plants need to go in the ground today, come hell or high water, and I'd like to get the watermelons in too, so both will get the benefit of the off-and-on rain that's predicted for tomorrow afternoon through Sunday.

I was out on my patio just before lunchtime, switching out a couple of dogs in the yard, and I looked up to see all 4 kingbird babies sitting on the edge of the nest. As I puttered around with some potting stuff out there, they took to the air and zoomed off. So, another successful reproductive cycle for the kingbird pair this year. I'm glad. I hope they all keep coming back to raise their clutches near here, they do a good job of reducing the flying insect population. I wish mom and dad would pick a spot with a little more shade than they do, I thought this clutch got baked to death like the first clutch did last year. At least this clutch had the benefit of shade directly over the nest from that plastic foot-square table top I put on top of my patio roof last year for that purpose. Maybe that helped.

I'm sure one of the reasons they pick that beam under the patio roof is that, in addition to being sheltered, it's warmer than the open air when the weather is still cool. The translucent green corrugated fiberglas roof over the patio allows heat to build up under there and it's almost always 10 degrees warmer on the patio than it is in the open. That's an advantage when the weather is cool because they can leave the nest untended for longer periods of time to search for food. Both mama and daddy can forage at the same time instead of alternating, so their babies get fed very well.

My mom called this morning. My brother and his girlfriend are going up to where my sis and BIL are building their current vacation, and future retirement, home for a few days. (My sis and BIL are on vacation this week.) My brother's girlfriend called mom this morning and asked if she and I would like to come up there for dinner tomorrow, she wants to surprise my brother for his birthday. Maaaaan...... I really don't want to leave for that long. It's a 45-minute drive to mom's, a 2-hour drive from there to my sis's. So I'd be on the road for 6 hours. And probably gone from the house for 9-10 hours. And that doesn't thrill me at all. So my immediate response was "I don't want to be away from home that long." But mom won't go if I don't go along and do the driving and I know she'd really enjoy it. And it's his 50th birthday, so it's a special one. Guilt won out; I called her back and told her I'd go. *sigh*

I'm taking Dudley with me. He doesn't like riding in the car but he loves Daisy and she'll be going along, he loves my mom and he adores my sis, and this will be a good opportunity to continue his socialization. They'll all be willing to do what I ask them to do as far as interacting with him goes, this should be a very successful experience for him. If I can't be doing things here tomorrow, at least I can still get something accomplished.

Babies, At Last!

Irenie finally had her babies late this morning. There were 8 born, but only 7 survived. There was nothing wrong with the one that didn't make it, but he was born in a flurry of 4 births and neither Irenie or I saw him until it was too late to revive him. I had to tear the sack open for 3 of the kittens, but other than that Irenie did the job all by herself.

She's exhausted. I'm pretty tired myself. I think we're both going to have a nice long nap this afternoon!

Here's a link to a video of the newborns and their mama: http://www.noofies-zoo.com/ireniesbabies/irenieandfamily.avi

Cautiously Optomistic

2:30 am. I had a little chat with Irenie about 12:30 am. At 1:30 am she hopped into the nest box and settled down. A few minutes later she was out of the box and on my lap again. BUT........ as of 2:15 am, unless I'm misinterpreting what my fingers are telling me, she's having contractions. Mild, not enough to even interrupt her breathing yet, but contractions. Will update when there's something else to report!

A Walking Spectacle

This weekend is the annual Springfest in my little village. It's a weekend full of activities that started yesterday and ends on Monday afternoon. This afternoon was the antique car show, they close off half a mile of the road through town - which is a major annoyance to those who are using the state highway to travel north or south through town! - and park the cars along the closed road. I took Ten with me last year, he'd been with me a month and I figured he was ready for his big debut. (He'd been timid, never been off the farm, when I got him, but after a month he trusted me enough to believe that I wouldn't take him anywhere he'd be hurt or scared.) He had a blast, and was very well-behaved.

I took him back again today. And I took Lacey Jane with me, too. She's such a polite little girl, walks along nicely and doesn't yaw all over the place, so I put her on a thin braided leash and tied it through my beltloop so I'd have both hands for managing Ten. A baggie of chicken in my pocket, and we were off. OMG, you'd think I never took him anywhere! He was so excited. All the people! All the other dogs! The ponies at the pony ride! The dropped food on the street! All the children! He had a blast. But he was not very well-behaved. He wasn't horrible, he just was too distracted to "listen". And I had the wrong leash; I thought my 1"-wide leather leash was in the car but it wasn't, so I had to take him on a 1/2" leash. Not nearly as easy to control him with the thinner leash, and it hurt my hands. (Now I know never to take him on anything other than the 1" leash. I can easily control anyone else on the thinner lead, but not Ten. Gad, he's strong!)

People got a big kick out of seeing the huge white dog on my left and the tiny black dog on my right, so both of them got all the attention they wanted. They were both in seventh heaven. Lacy is such a social little thing, and she loves people of all ages and sizes. She was just as happy to meet toddlers as she was to meet adults, and she was very patient with their awkward petting. One little boy, maybe 5-6, spent 10 minutes on his knees petting her, stroking her under the chin, and letting her give him kisses on the nose, while his parents did the same with Ten. Lacy was in love with that little boy, she probably would have followed him home if she could have. Ten gave out lots of kisses, too, and got lots of the hearty petting he really enjoys. He enjoyed the attention of one man so much he sat on the guy's foot, leaned against him, and was groaning in almost-orgasmic pleasure at having his head, neck, chest, and shoulders rubbed and thumped. People watching were all laughing at him.

But the outing did me in. My hands ache, my back aches, and I'm worn out with the physical effort of keeping him under control with that thin leash. I'm probably going to be one sore pup tomorrow, but I bet I sleep well tonight!

I really hate to even suggest this, but I think tonight might be the night for Irenie. Her belly is taut and lumpy, the babies are kicking hard, and she's been digging in the nest box quite a bit. And I think she's as tired of waiting for them to be ready to come into the world as I am.

Oh Heck, What's One More?

The tomato snitcher's family moved last weekend. Last night around 9 pm my phone rang, it was the mom. "We moved, and we're not allowed to have dogs here. We took Lily (a treeing walker coonhound mix) to one of John's brothers' houses, and she was growling at them and howling. They took her to one of John's other brothers, but she doesn't get along with his female dog. John's out of town working and won't be home until Sunday morning, and I don't know what he's going to do about her, but she can't stay where she is. Can she come stay with you until John gets back? It would have to be tonight, she's got to go tonight."

*Sigh*. I'll make you a deal, I'll hang onto Lily until John makes other arrangements for her if he'll cut my grass. (I can cut my grass, I just can't pull the starter rope to get the mower started in the first place!) Shelly thought that was a fair trade, so she brought Lily over last night. I expect John to come Sunday afternoon or Monday to cut my grass.

He's probably not going to be able to find a placement for her, I'm probably going to end up trying to place her. Which means one more spay I've got to find funds for. *sigh again* And Lily needs some work before she's placeable, just basic obedience and socializing, but it's going to take a while. So I've got her all set up out in the family room, next to Simon. At least they'll have each other for company, and they're far enough away that any barking/howling during the night won't keep me awake.

Irenie's still pregnant. Still lounging around, grooming herself, napping, asking for belly rubs. She hasn't eaten much in the last 48 hours, only about 1/4 of the dry food she'd have normally eaten in 48 hours, plus some yogurt (twice) and about 1/4 can of wet food. The kittens are either sleeping or jumping around like crazy. They're going to kick their way right out of there if she doesn't go into labor soon!

I had to run out to the store and the lumber yard briefly this morning, on my way back I stopped at a yard sale. Bought a small deco-style glass-shaded lamp ($3), a nice size rectangular tupperware container (25 cents) and - the jackpot - 14 melamine bread plates, the whole lot for a quarter. They're the perfect size for a can of cat food, they're unbreakable, they're dishwasher-safe, they won't blow away easily, and they're disinfect-able (unlike plastic dishes). It's a pretty sad state of affairs when I get such a kick out of acquiring some used melamine plates.

Happy Homeowner Day, Tammy! Congratulations on owning your first home, I wish you many happy years and scads of pleasant memories to come!

Babies, Babies, Everywhere

As I was sitting in the bathroom with Irenie I looked out onto the patio and saw a baby bird doing little hops in place on the dirt right at the edge of the concrete slab of the covered area. It was one of the kingbird babies and he'd fallen out of the nest. I flew through the house and out onto the patio, because I knew Nellie was there, she jumps the fence from the yard into the patio. I don't know how she missed him, except to guess that she was sleeping when he fell out and didn't hear him. As soon as I opened the door she woke up and I barely beat her to him. As I grabbed her he flutter-hopped away. I snatched him up, opened the step stool, climbed up to put him back in the nest. He wouldn't let me put him all the way in, he perched on the edge, but he had a good grip and I figured he'd be OK. His wings are fully feathered, he's just missing the longer feathers at the tip of the wing and on his tail to be able to fly. They'll be ready to leave the nest within a week or so, I think.

Mama kingbird was sitting on the fence, watching the rescue. Apparently she didn't mind that her baby smelled like me; she flew to the nest and fed him, so I guess he's going to be OK. Then she flew over to the phone cable by the kitchen window and 'talked' to me. I don't know whether she was thanking me for saving her baby, or scolding me for touching him. Cheeky little thing.

TG for DWTS

I had a mostly rotten night. I've been uncomfortable about one of the dogs in my class. She's a mutt, no way to know for sure what component breeds might be in her make-up, but I'd bet that one of them is Basenji. Maybe Shepherd/Basenji? Very smart dog, learns very quickly. But if the payoff isn't exciting enough, she just blows people off. Her handler is an 11-year old girl. The mother came to class and observed - and did some practice with the dog, at home - but the handler in class was very young. She, too, is very smart and learns quickly, but she just doesn't have the presence and physical strength to manage this dog. The dog's been learning and doing well on most things but it's all a game to her and when she gets bored, she does whatever she darn well pleases and screw you.

I've been concerned because whenever she doesn't like what she's being asked to do, she gets aggressive. It's a timid aggressiveness, but that's only because she's only 10 months old. As she matures, and gains the confidence of maturity, I think she could be a real threat. A few weeks ago I tried to check her teeth. It's a non-threatening thing, it's not painful, most dogs don't have previous bad experiences with having their mouths touched (they way they can with having their feet touched, nails quicked, etc.). It's OK for a dog to object, it's OK for a dog to pull away, but they shouldn't respond with their mouths. She didn't like it, she let me do it, then snapped at me - and connected, but didn't break skin - as I took my hand away. "I held still and let you do it, but you didn't get away with it." I had been thinking I'd have to have a talk with the mom, tell her I didn't think the dog was a safe dog, especially in a home with children whose friends come to visit. But it's hard to convince someone their dog is dangerous before the dog actually does something to prove it to them.

She got me tonight. We were practicing the grooming/handling section of the CGC test, in which the dog must allow the evaluator to brush/comb them and touch each front foot. She wasn't happy about me touching her feet, she growled and threatened. As I removed my hands from her she snapped at me. I ringed her snout with my thumb and index finger and said "oh no, I don't like that, not one little bit!" I removed my hand and started to stand up and she flew up into my face. Thank heavens she didn't break skin or I'd have lost half my upper lip. As it is, I've got a bruised lip and a bruised cheekbone. I'm probably going to have a shiner tomorrow.

So I had to have a talk with the mother. I told her I was going to say something to her tonight, anyway, but now any doubts I'd had about the need to do so were gone. I told her I didn't think the dog was safe, would not only not get better but only continue to get worse, and that I would euthanize her if she was my dog. I explained that she couldn't re-home the dog herself, that even if she didn't tell rescue groups about the dog's problem they'd discover it during a temperament test and they wouldn't take her. That the only really responsible thing to do would be to euthanize her themselves.

I gave her some reading suggestions (Jean Donaldson's books), and I also suggested she call Chris, and have Chris temperament test the dog. I told her that Chris is a well-respected expert in dog behavior, someone who knows the difference between fixable and non-fixable problems, and would give her an objective opinion, so she'd have as much information as possible in making her decision about what to do with the dog.

I don't know what they'll decide to do. It's a hard decision, especially since the dog belongs to the 11-year old, because everybody loves her. Sadly, sometimes love just isn't enough.

Of course, the rest of the class was shaken by the incident. I explained that if a dog is doing to have a dominance issue, I'm the one they're going to have it with. Same with Chris. A dog that's been able to dominate everyone s/he has ever met takes one look at me and knows right off the bat I'm claiming the pack leader position. That's when they say "oh, no you don't, bitch," and have a go at me.

(The un-rotten part of my night was Raven, my star pupil. Some dogs are fixable, Raven was one of them. He improves by leaps and bounds, the difference from week to week is clear. He flew through my obstacle course tonight, did everything he refused to do last term. Every last one of them. He's confident, poised, relaxed, and an eager worker, a completely different dog than he was just 3.5 months ago. Warms the cockles of my heart to see a basically good dog overcome an early lack of socialization and become the dog nature intended them to be. Makes me proud to have had a part in that.)

I was so grateful to have the tape of tonight's Dancing With The Stars to watch when I got home. All the brilliant performances tonight really lifted my spirits. For the first time, it's hard to pick a favorite to win based on dancing ability. I hate to see any of the remaining four couples lose.

Today, Maybe?

Irenie's got to produce those babies in the next 24-48 hours. I don't know how she could possibly hang onto them any longer than that. The other day her hindquarters were damp and I thought she must have lost the mucus plug, but I guess it must just have been damp from a post-potty cleanup. She's had a lot of gas and diarrhea and there's an odd odor to it, I'm guessing she has giardia. We're both going to have to suffer with it until the kittens are 8 weeks old, she can't be given metronidazole until the kittens are mostly weaned.

But last night she did lose the mucus plug. I'll spare you the details of how I know that for sure, but I do. And she has clearly "dropped", so I think things are moving into place. The babies sure are an active crew. I hate to disappoint any of the pool participants who guessed a low number of kittens, but I've felt at least 5 different kittens moving and I'm guessing there are more than that. There's one little (?) guy (actually, he feels pretty big) just below her last right rib down toward the bottom of her belly who's been very, very active, I can feel the separate movements of all 4 legs. I think he's been practicing his litterbox digging technique. There's another one - a little quieter - right on top of him, but up under the rib a little. I feel that one kicking when I put my hand on Irenie's back from the top. There's another closer to the rear than the first one. That one feels like it has littler feet, and feels more toward the middle than the right side like the others. Probably going to be the first one born. And there are at least 2 on the left side, too. At one point, I felt all of them move within a few seconds of each other, so I was sure nobody had relocated during that brief period.

Irenie likes me to hold her in my arms and support her belly. She puts her front legs across the crook of my elbow and I close my left arm around her putting my palm along her side. I put my right arm through her back legs (which she then relaxes and lets dangle), hold her belly in my palm, and hold her close to my chest/stomach so my body helps support her. I can feel the babies moving not only with the palms and fingers of both hands, I can feel them on my chest/stomach where Irenie's belly is resting on me. It tickles, and it's hard not to giggle.

With my luck, she'll have them while I'm gone to my obedience class tonight (this is the last class of this term) and I'll miss the whole thing. But I know she likes having me with her, so maybe not. Maybe she'll wait for me to get home.

On my way home from class I've got to remember to stop at Meijers. They sell bulk rawhide in chips, rolls, bones, and rings, every day price $4.99/pound (sale price $2.99/pound) and I'm starting to run low on "pacifiers" for the big dogs. (I still have a whole bunch of the little twist sticks for the little guys.) A big bag of Kitten Chow for Irenie, some multi-packs of canned food, too. I also need to pick up a big bag of the Meijer store brand dry cat food, there's been an increase in the amount of food being consumed at the outdoor dish (despite the increased availability of live food outdoors) and I need to stock up on "feral food". (The ingredients are about equivalent to the Friskies or Whiskas dry foods, and it's only $7 for a 20-pound bag. If it's on sale, it's only $5/bag.) I need birdseed for the feeder, too. Yogurt for Irenie, half and half for me.

Now...... who do I take to class with me tonight? Tonight is split into two sections - Fun and Games, and a CGC practice run after the break. In the Fun and Games part, I talk about dog sport, trick training, and then I set up an "obstacle" course. What looks like a fun obstacle course to them is actually a course of traps and triggers, designed to ferret out how each dog will react to the kinds of things they may encounter on walks out in public. At the beginning of the course are two "traffic" cones, the task is to walk the dog in a figure-8 around them. Next comes a low jump. (A broom handle held up at either end by the low railing at the back of a couple of folding chairs, maybe 4" off the ground.) Another cone, where they are to sit, down, and stay. Next is group of 6 cardboard blueprint tubes separated by 3-4", the task is to walk the dog over/through the tubes. (Awareness of foot placement, simulates something like tree branches across a path.) Next, heel past a flock of "ducks". (Some wicker duck and turkey baskets, I want to get some plastic decoys to use instead, but it's surprising how many dogs bark at those baskets!) Another jump. Another down/stay. An 8' length of plastic floor runner to walk across (unusual texture underfoot). A hula hoop on the floor, get the dog inside the hoop and do a sit-to-down. A low plastic storage tub, walk the dog through the box. (This one is really tough for a lot of dogs, even without water in it.) I need a tunnel, and I need it to fit into my little car for transporting, I'm still trying to figure something out.

People are always amazed at their dogs' reaction to the obstacle course, at what the dogs handle with aplomb and what they react unexpectedly to. (I usually know ahead of time which dogs are going to have problems and which aren't, but they catch me off-guard at times, too.) By the time they've been through the course twice, they'll have a good idea what sorts of things their dogs might react to so they can work on those areas.

After that I talk about agility, flyball, formal obedience, therapy dog work, rally obedience, whatever I think might be satisfying to each dog and handler, and give them some suggestions for local trainers/classes for those things. I demonstrate and explain clicker training. Then a short potty break, and the CGC run-throughs.

I've got one student whose sweet chunky little pug/beagle mix is just about ready to take the test; he and his handler have come so far in the last 6 weeks and she's really pleased. Those are the students that make teaching fun. After I run her and Benny through the test and tell her what needs to be polished before he's ready, I'll give her Chris's number and tell her she should call Chris when Benny's ready, and Chris will test him. (I'm not an AKC CGC evaluator, Chris is.)

I've also got the big Malinois boy Raven, who is close to being ready to take the test too. His handler hasn't started moving away from him on a 'stay' yet, but once he's got a good 'stay' he'll be ready. This is Raven's second term with me. His handler is perfectly capable of teaching him the basic obedience stuff (sit, down, stay, come, leave-it, off, etc.), but he was extremely timid and spooky - and highly reactive - when he first came to class. He desperately needed socialization. I'm so pleased with how he's progressed. He's a totally different dog than he was when I met him the beginning of February. I was a little afraid of him then, but I'm very comfortable with him now. When I met him I had to be very careful not to even appear to be leaning over him, now I can bend over him, wrap my arms around him, and hug him. The first time I touched his leg just below his shoulder, he snapped at the air next to my ear. Now I can pick up both front feet and play with them and he doesn't protest. If he were a rescue dog I wouldn't place him with the general public, I couldn't trust that he wouldn't bite if he felt insecure. But his owner is aware of his issues and committed to, and capable of, managing them, and I feel confident she'll be able to handle him so he's safe.

It'll be nice to be able to stay home on Monday nights for the next few weeks.

Still Waiting......

I sat up with Irenie until 4:30 this morning, I was sure she was getting ready to queen. Nothing happening, so I finally went to bed.

She hasn't eaten since late yesterday afternoon. Isn't even interested in the food dish.

It really can't be very long now. I can't stand waiting!

Tonight's the Night?

Well, at least I think it is. Irenie's appetite disappeared this afternoon. This evening she's lying on the cool bathroom floor purring like crazy and grunting softly from time to time. She'd rather be on the floor getting petted than be on my lap getting petted. I checked her bottom, she's swollen and it sure looks like something's going to happen soon.

She's too rotund to reach her bottom, so I'm going to have to keep a close watch on her in case I have to help out with the first few.

If something happens I'll update this post later.

Getting To Know You.....

It's always fun to get to know a new dog, to discover the temperament and personality of the dog behind the initial impression. I'm enjoying my new girl, very much. As I was on my way back to the pound yesterday to get her, the name "Tansy" came into my head. "Eh," I thought, "we'll see." When I discovered she was full of "dreadlocks", Jamaica popped into my head. Then I remembered a friend and co-worker from... gosh, about 20 years ago already. She was Jamaican, and her name was Pansy. Tansy, Pansy, close enough for me! So yesterday I was calling my new girl Pansy. But it just doesn't sit right, and Tansy does. So now she's Tansy. Tansy T. Nannydog.

She's very gentle. And she loves kids. She enjoyed visiting with the tomato-snitcher and her little brother yesterday evening. This morning when I let her out, the tomato-snitcher came flying over to the fence. Tansy's head and tail both came up, her tail started to wag, and she ran right over to the fence and sat down to be petted. I love dogs that love kids! And it's going to be a strong asset in matching her with a good home.

She let me cut out some more mats today, I've gotten all the mats that ringed her neck around her collar. She's lots more comfortable. There are still some mats on her flanks and rear, but she's touchier about me messing with those so I'll just work on them a little bit at a time. I did manage to clip her front feet this afternoon; when I held her foot she yelped and tried to pull away but, when she realized I wasn't going to let go (I was just calmly but firmly holding her foot and waiting for her to settle down) she tucked her head under my arm and let me clip. That's got to feel better, too, I took off at least half an inch of nail and now her feet are flat on the floor, instead of having the toes twisted sideways by the long nails. I'll work on the rear feet tomorrow.

She moves pretty good for a fat girl. She really covers some ground when she trots, and she's graceful despite her bulk. She's very easygoing and inoffensive, and she's very well-behaved in the house. She's been loose in the house since this morning, except for half an hour when I fed her earlier, I think I probably won't even crate her at night after a week or so. (Maybe sooner. Might just move the Springer boy into Tansy's crate when I bring him home on Weds.)

Tonight, I discovered Tansy already knows how to sit when asked. I'll have to see what else she knows. She takes treats very gently, and does not resource guard - I was able to take a rawhide chip out of her mouth without the least sign of protest. I'll wait to place her, and I'll test her in different situations to be sure, but I'm thinking she could go to a home with even young children.

When I woke up this morning, I was lying on my left side and Ivy was tucked into the back of my knees. I just reached down and started petting her, she rolled onto her back and stretched while I skritched her tummy, then she curled back up and nudged my hand with her head, so I rubbed and massaged her head and ears for almost 5 minutes. She's such a funny little thing, most of the time she's really spooky and I have to sneak to pet her, but not this morning! Watch, she'll go back to being aloof now.

Irenie's enormous, and she's eating close to 3 cups of kitten food every day. I'm starting to think she's carrying a litter of Great Dane pups.

I'm a klutz. Thursday, I slipped on a plastic bag on the floor in the garage and ended up doing the splits. Nice to know I'm still flexible enough to do them, but a little stretch and warm-up first would have been nice. I pulled the muscles in my left thigh and my left hamstring, and overstretched the muscle in my right inner thigh. Probably because I was sore and moving a little stiffly yesterday, I tripped over the Springer boy when I was at the pound and went sprawling on the concrete floor. Banged my right knee, pulled my back. By last night I hurt so bad I couldn't sit comfortably, anywhere. I'm still sore today but it's dulled a little from yesterday and at least I'm not as stiff as I was last night. Another good night's sleep and I should be feeling lots better.

Yes, I'm going back to the pound on Wednesday to get Simon. The Springer/BC mix. (I don't know where 'Simon' came from, but that's his name.) When I get him cleaned up, I'll get some good pics of both him and Nellie and get bios of them off to BC rescue, who'll do a courtesy listing for them on their site. I'm also going to contact the local rescue group. I met one of their volunteers at the pound yesterday, same woman I met the day I pulled Nellie. I know she liked Tansy and wished she could have taken her. I'm hoping they'll be willing to do courtesy listings for me, too. I'll do an 8-1/2 X 11 ad with pic and "bio" for Tansy and post it on the tackboard at my mom's grocery store. I think she'll appeal to the population in that area, and I just feel that's where I'm going to find the right home for her.

You know who Tansy would be a really good match for? Bobbie. But I'm not going to ask her, and the logistics of a transport would be tough anyway.

The Hummers are Back!

As I sat here looking out the window and thinking, a little dark blur darted up to the feeder outside the window. First one. Little guy looked thin, I'm glad the feeder was there to refresh him after his long journey. I love these little guys, I'm so glad they're back!

Snickers is getting easier. He let me pet him yesterday afternoon. He saw my hand coming and not only didn't move away but stood still and elevator-butted so I could skritch at the base of his tail. Then he came and curled up on the floor about a foot away from my feet. I think, I hope, he's going to be a big-time cuddler some day.

Ivy let me pet her yesterday, too. That means the only cat I won't be able to Frontline this year is Roo. I'll have to be sneaky with Snickers and Ivy but it's doable. It's not, with Roo.

Tap....Tap....Tap....Tap....

We're still waiting. Irenie's so big that her belly's gotten taut. She's not lactating, so she's not quite ready to pop yet, but I don't think it's going to be much longer. She usually enjoys me rubbing her belly; today, it irritates her. I had her out on my lap, and on the bookcase behind the cat tree where she likes to lie, for a little while earlier today, but then she wanted back in the bathroom. First time she's wanted in instead of out. And when I popped in there half an hour later she was curled up in the box, instead of on top of the carrier where she usually hangs out. 24 hours? 48 hours? With my luck, she'll have them when I'm gone to class tomorrow afternoon/evening.

Nellie has learned to leave the cats alone. Mostly. She still needs a verbal reminder to "leave it!" once in a while, and only when Dudley or Ten get her fired up by chasing Flint. Nellie doesn't understand that Duds, Flint, and Ten play like that, and it isn't a hunt. Other than that, she's a very good girl. She can entertain herself, which is an unusual trait in Border Collies or mixes. When she has "Nellie only" house time (Penny and the little dogs are loose in the house all the time, the others rotate, usually in pairs but one at a time, sometimes) she goes and finds herself a hoof or bone to chew on, then settles down and works on it for an hour. She's very social, but is less demanding of personal attention than most other youngsters her age I've fostered. Ten and Dudley love her, she's a great playmate.



I sleep with a bedful of little dogs, now. Lacey Jane likes to be under the covers. She's taken over the spot on my left side that Dudley used to occupy, so now he sleeps on my right side down by my knees, or even down by my feet. Penny sleeps on the bottom half of the bed, Toby either sleeps just above her, next to her, or up by my shoulder. I also have the bedcats with me. (Or on me.) Getting up in the middle of the night is tough; getting back into bed is tougher. Mornings are fun. Dudley wants cuddles, Lacey wants cuddles, Toby wants cuddles, Ellie and Doobie want cuddles. I could use a couple extra pair of arms/hands.

The bulbs I planted last fall have been a mixed success. Some of the crocuses came up but not all, but then the ones that were already here didn't all come up either. The miniature irises came up and were pretty, but they got buried beneath the snow we had and didn't recover well when it melted. The narcissus bulbs my sis planted did very well, three different color varieties that bloom sequentially rather than concurrently. And I have some rose-with-white-edges tulips in the south side flower bed, so my sis must have sneaked those in there when she was planting narcissus. All the hyacinth bulbs I planted came up. There were 10 of them, 6 were purple. One is white, one is pale pink, and the other two haven't blossomed yet (I didn't check on them today, though) but it looks like they're going to be deep pink. They smell heavenly. Here's the pale pink one:

I'm waiting for my hummingbirds to return. The feeder's been out for a week and I haven't seen one yet. But I remember last year I didn't see any until a couple of weeks after they were first spotted in my area (according to the migration map: http://www.hummingbirds.net/map.html ) so it shouldn't be long before I see some action.

I had to stop at the dollar store last week, and while I was there I browsed some of their windcatchers/windchimes. The twirly purple one I had last year didn't make it through the winter, so I was looking for something to replace it. I found a nylon wind spiral with a pink flamingo at the top and the swirl in hot pink, purple, green, and yellow. It was so lightweight that it didn't spin right, but I used a paperclip to attach a penny to the bottom of it and now it spins beautifully. I'll have to get a pic of it. This winter I was in the lighting section at Meijer looking for either a clamp-on light reflector or a clamp-on swing-arm reading lamp and, after I got that, I checked out the clearance shelf. They had strings of little paper lampshade globes that fit over the (provided) white christmas-type lights on clearance. Well, I had to have 'em. The shades are white, hot pink, and burgundy and they're beautiful. I bought one set and hung it up in here, and bought two sets for the patio. I also bought a larger paper globe shade in the same hot pink; it fits over a regular lightbulb (40W max), so I think I'm going to put that out on the patio, too, over the seating area. If I put a compact fluorescent bulb in there it'll only cost pennies to have on in the evenings over the summer. I'll take pics when I get it all set up.

I've switched almost all the bulbs in my house to compact fluorescents. They're great, even brighter than incandescents and they're so much more energy efficient! The added bonus is that they're guaranteed for anywhere between 7 and 10 years (depending on the brand/type) so I don't have to worry about changing light bulbs for years to come. I've still got a couple of places that have round, decorative incandescent bulbs (over the bathroom and kitchen sinks), but I'll be replacing those with round, decorative fluorescents as the budget allows.

Time to Buy Cigars?

I think Irenie's closer to queening than I thought just a couple of days ago. She has gotten a lot bigger in just the 6 days she's been here, especially in the last couple of days. And I think she may be "dropping"; either that, or there's no more room to get rounder and her belly's just elongating.

I put a nesting box into the bathroom last night. Irenie's too big to use the bottom of a large cat carrier, which is what I usually use. But one of the cardboard boxes Kass sent my crate back in is a generous size and I think it'll work well. I lined it first with a quarter of a heavy fleece blanket to pad it, then put a towel down on top of that. I didn't think I was going to have to worry about it for another week or so, but now I'm starting to think it'll get used in pretty short order.

Irenie is a doll. Ultra-affectionate and cuddly. I hope she passes that on to her babies!

The Bigger They Are, The Harder They Fall

It seems that Snickers has a new crush - Lumi. Now that he's been spending more time out and about, Snickers has decided that Lumi's OK. When Lumi's lying on the floor near my computer chair, Snickers is lying under one of the dining room chairs, no more than a couple feet away from Lumi. He has approached Lumi on more than one occasion to have a good sniff. Last night, Lumi was standing perpendicular to me with his tush next to my thigh, and Snickers was winding around Lumi's legs headbutting him. I sneaked in a couple of strokes, he knew it wasn't Lumi touching him but didn't appear too worried that it was probably me.

The cats have always liked Lumi, once they've spent some time observing him. I'm tickled that Snickers has apparently fallen for the big guy; Lumi likes to be close to me, and I'll be able to sneak in more petting when Snickers comes to headbutt him. Hmmm..... I wonder if the reassurance of both of his buddies on the bed would be inducement enough to get Snickers to come up and sleep on the bed the way Ivy (another buddy) does. She comes up on the bed after she thinks I'm asleep and curls up against my ankle/foot. She sleeps down there all night, but the instant she realizes I'm awake in the morning she's off and gone.

Got another odd couple becoming ever closer - Amalie and Onyx. They're both black, both about the same size (though Onyx is much cobbier), and lately they've been joined at the hip. Sometimes they stand side by side, touching each other; they look like a very odd pair of conjoined twins. *snrk* From the time I brought Mena's cats inside, Onyx has preferred to hang out in the laundry room. The laundry room door is a pocket door; I've attached an eye bolt to the edge of the door and another to the door frame, and I use a double snap-bolt to keep the door open wide enough for the cats to come and go but narrow enough to keep out the dogs. (Dudley fits through there, though. Little stinker.) The laundry room is right off the doorway to the kitchen, cats hanging out in there are able to keep an ear on what's going on in the rest of the house. It's a quiet spot, with lots of soft places to nap, and Amalie likes to sleep on the pile of crate blankets on the counter.

Apparently Amalie and Onyx made friends in the laundry room. Onyx has been gradually getting braver, coming in to the kitchen in the evening looking for me to come pet her. And her new hangout spot is in the family room. Last weekend my sis helped me carry the old sofa from there out to the pole barn (seating for the training room) and carry in the twin box spring, mattress, and brass head and footboards. I got it assembled and put it where the sofa used to be. When I let the dogs out in the evening, while I'm waiting for them to get finished in the yard and come back to the door, I flop down on the bed and kitties come out of the woodwork for cuddles. Onyx is one of the first ones there, and I'm pretty sure she's hanging out under the bed in there instead of in the laundry room. That's good, she'll have much more company out there than she had in the laundry room, and I think she'll be happier.

I'm crazy about Toby. Absolutely crazy about him. He is such a sweet, cheerful little charmer. (Oh! And there's the third new odd couple! Toby loves Ellie! He ignores the rest of the cats, but he follows Ellie when she's out and about, and insists on sleeping next to her on the bed. If she moves, he moves to stay close to her. I don't think she's terribly impressed with her suitor, but she doesn't appear to mind him.) Anyway, he's simply adorable. I'm going to have to find him a very special home. Gee.... Lacey likes him a lot, I wonder if her new mommy might be interested in two dogs......

By the time Lacey's new mom comes to get her, I should have some kittens for her to play with. The lovely, large, long-haired dilute tortie in the bathroom - Irenie - is definitely pregnant. She's still carrying them "high", but she's quite well-rounded so I don't think it'll be more than a couple of weeks, if that. This cat is so not feral! She can't get enough snuggling. (She can't get enough food, either, she's eating me out of house and home.) Last year my neighbors mentioned something about a cat having kittens under the skirt of the mobile home on the other side of them, I was wondering if it was Irenie. But I asked John about it and he said that no, Irenie was probably one of those kittens, the mother cat was a calico. So Irenie's still pretty young. It'll be interesting to see what color(s) the kittens are, and it'll be fun to have babies around.

I filled the front hummingbird feeder for the first time today, I can't wait for my little buddies to come back. I never got around to removing the kingbirds' nest from last year; I noticed earlier in the week it's been refurbished with some new fluff (probably dryer lint I put out for the birds) and mama's sitting on the nest. I hope we don't get any unseasonably hot weather this year....

Ten's Gotcha Day is coming up in a week. Hard to believe that scared-of-everything little guy grew into my big, beautiful, confident boy. He's still puppy-crazy at times, which can take a physical toll when he's bouncing around. I'd forgotten how physically demanding Dogo youngsters can be. When Blizz was Ten's age I often said, "I hope we both live through her adolescence"; I hope both Ten and I live through his. I don't know if I'll ever have another young Dogo, I'm not sure my aging body could handle the three-year maturation process of another. All that said, I wouldn't trade Ten for anything. He's a wonderful, loving fellow, I couldn't ask for anything more in terms of temperament.

Gotta get my seeds planted tomorrow. I'm two weeks late.