Thursday Things

When my first husband left in 1982 (at my invitation), my kids and I adopted a dog. The neighborhood dog had pups. She was a Spaniel of some kind. All her pups were black or yellow lab mixes. Ours was smaller than the rest and looked more like a black golden retriever. She had a sad look in her brown eyes. The kids named her “Shadow.” We had her for 16 1/2 years. The Babe and I took her for her final vet visit a couple months after we got married. He cried just as hard as I did. The kids, all adults, opted out.

After that, the Babe decided daughter Becky and I needed a puppy; We got a brownish black mutt and named her “Mocho.” She looked mocha colored, but the Babe called her mocho instead. The name stuck. She was a good girl. Becky took her out of her kennel and let her sleep in her bed to keep her from whining.

When I went on LTD, the Babe knew I suffered from depression and felt worthless because I was only 48. He told me to go look at the Humane Society to see if they had any puppies. I found a lab/shepherd mix, tricolor coloring, and the sweetest disposition. She was the runt of that litter. We went back and adopted her the next day. Mocho acted as her Mama and Mollie was such a sweet girl. Mocho became the alpha dog and Mollie the quiet one.

We got to have them in our lives for 12 1/2 (Mollie) and 14 1/2 (Mocho) years. We let them cross the Rainbow Bridge together. Hardest thing we’ve ever done. Mollie was lost without Mocho. They were ready. We thought we were. People never are. Even when you know you’re doing the right things for your loved fur babies.

We went nearly two years with no dogs. The Babe retired, we traveled some. When we returned from Puerto Rico in June, 2014, we visited a vet who had some pups only 4 weeks old. Their mom was sick; weaned the day before. They had a bug of some type. The vet compounded a concoction that killed the bug. Good companions. Cannot recommend adopting sisters. Two females, even spayed, were never friends. They battled each other. Yet, when Roxie died (by car) two years ago, Lexie mourned so hard. She exhibited signs of depression, slept a lot, and never left our sides. She wailed at the door to the garage. Broke my heart.

In October that year, the Babe had a heart cath and the wound didn’t heal. The skin was paper thin, and he had a wound vac for a month to get the incision to heal. What a mess for him. Amid this challenge, we adopted Goldie. The Babe needed her and her sweet way with him. Best buds. After two years, Lexie is no longer jealous of her. They have accepted each other now and peacefully coexist. Time heals a lot.

These stories bring me to this morning. We didn’t get smacked with the snow predicted. It’s overcast, cold, and bleak looking outside. The Babe left early for the Post and funeral detail. The dogs were antsy. I played with Goldie, and we had a great time. Then she laid down, happy. What does this have to do with life today?

Maybe we need to take a lesson from our fur babies. It takes very little to thrill a dog. Everything makes them happy. Play is everything to them. They adore you and let you know it. They waggle their butts and squeal with delight. Yes, squeal sometimes. It’s hilarious. Live with the joy a dog shows. Every day is the best day ever. Let’s all mimic that! Have a beautiful evening. We’ll see each other tomorrow.

Monday Morning

What a beautiful sight outside! I still love fluffy snow. It looks wonderful, magical, and almost romantic. The wonders of nature amaze me every day. Every day I live, I try to find something that is wondrous, beautiful, and majestic. My God is that way.

Later today, we’re going to our daughter’s home for dinner with family. Our son from DC will be in town, it’ll be nice to see him. It’s been over a year since we saw him and his family. They will remain home, quarantining and distance learning. President Trump will do a stopover at the airport tomorrow, so they must prepare things for him. He won’t stay long, just speak and leave. That’s fine. Unsure if Blake will leave tomorrow or Wednesday. Family is everything, and we make the most of the times like these. Sending hugs to those who couldn’t be here.

I’m really dug into reading Kaye Gibbons’ book, Emma Foster. It’s a sad but very good story. A young girl overcomes terrible circumstances to rise above her plight in life. Her father, a terrible alcoholic, her mother dies, the estranged grandmother interferes every way she can, and the little girl, Emma, matter-of-factly handles everything. She is brutally honest. It is amazing how mature she is. She has to be. It speaks to how people can rise above their circumstances. Something told this little girl how to stay safe from her father. He was a beast. She often wished him dead. She thought of killing him, as if that were her only way out of this terrible situation. It resolved itself, thanks to her teachers noticing how Emma came to school after her mother’s death. She had bruises on her, and she told exactly how they happened. She hid from her father often and had little to eat.

The story takes place in the South, and the usual white attitudes exist in her mind about “colored” people. She questions the segregation, as her best friend is a black girl. The girls’ family is kind to her. She wonders why she shouldn’t “mix” with them. They are good people. I hope to finish it this afternoon and start its sequel, “All the Life Around Me, by Ellen Foster.” The writing takes you away. I want to learn how to do that. Excellent advice from Sam, my writing coach.

Only one of my to be read piles

Over the winter, I hope to find some bookcases I like for our family room. I have not unpacked my books from the move four years ago. I will donate many, such as quilt books I’ll never use, novels I doubt I’d read again. Even donating things like these will free up space and make me more settled. We rarely use the boxes of toys for the grandkids. They’re all outgrown.

I have a mat for the floor, which looks like a little town. Kayla will receive that, and I’ll probably send her a few little cars for it. Gavin used to set it on our coffee table, and pay with it. Roxie used to steal a car from it and run. Gavin called her SWIPER. He laughed once he decided he couldn’t get her to stop. She let him have the car. She just wanted a little adventure, I guess.

Yes, time is fleeing too quickly. One personal mission is for me to make more time in the day. I need to find time to get more things accomplished. Most people waste some time. The mindset is, “I can do whatever I want, I’m retired.” True, but will you finish things you want to? Will you explore all the nooks and crannies of the earth you want to see? If not, better get started. I’d hate to have you miss it, too. Let’s move forward, even if we are retired!

Thank you for reading today. There will be more tales tomorrow, and I hope to see you here then. Don’t eat any yellow snow! Just be careful out there. Don’t break anything. Please. Be Kind. Be Safe. Be Thoughtful.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Snowy Sunday

We’ve been out for a little today. The Babe has me copy spreadsheets over to use for subsequent months. I know Excel better than he does, so it’s maybe 1/2 hour at the most. I like to help him out so he doesn’t have to be away from home long. It may be a selfish motive, but I hate to see him struggle with something that wouldn’t take me too long. We’ve done a lot of those days together. One of our old friends from the VFW Post mentioned one time the Quartermaster job “takes a lot of time, and it helps that your wife is helping with other things, instead of complaining you’re gone all the time.” Bless your heart, Bob Fenton, you were a man among men, and I miss you terribly.

Photo by Simon Matzinger on Pexels.com

The Kansas City – Denver football game today is sort of fun to watch. It’s snowing in Denver. They allowed seven and a half percent of capacity for a crowd today. Will the cold kill the virus? Not sure, but it looks cold. Hoping they enjoy themselves. And drinking beer in a snowstorm? Never tried it, but at least there shouldn’t be a terribly long line for the ladies’ room. What a plus!

Our deck is looking shiny, and the wrought-iron fence has ice on it. I don’t think it will be too long before it is snowing flakes. We are snuggly with the fireplace ablaze. How I love a gas fireplace! Whatever the weather does, it’ll get warm again anyhow. Not too big of a deal. Complaining won’t change it. This (below) is nice for a stock photo.

Photo by Taryn Elliott on Pexels.com

Tomorrow, it’s back to working in the mornings, and reading/relaxing in the afternoon. I don’t care for working so late in my day. I have another deadline one week from today. I’m rapidly approaching the end of my time with Sam, my book coach, for this year. Only two or three more sessions, then we take December off. It’s been money well spent. I need to branch out and see how I can do fewer sessions and hope to remember what I’ve learned.

Yes, that’s a plan for 2021. If we plan for it, it means we still have spirit and determination to face whatever happens next in this soap opera of a life we’ve had this year. As I review what I believed what I would do with my writing career this year, I see by now I thought I’d have a novel published and two or three children’s books printed. Lots of things occurred this year that were unforeseen. I like my novel more, since it’s a distinct part of the story of Katie Fitzgibbons. It’s backstory to what comes in “These Walls Do Talk.” Backstory can be too heavy to share while a different story is going on. Yes, it’s nice to know the who, what, when, where, and why characters are as they are while a plot thickens. Sometimes, it has nothing at all to do with the story being told. That’s when it needs to go. And mine needed to go. I’m glad it did, I’m doing much better work than before.

I hope you have a nice evening, at least what we have left of it. It’s been very restful. How nice! Hope yours was, too. Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you again tomorrow. Be Safe out there. Be Kind. Be Courteous. Be Understanding of others. We’re all living a very different life than we thought would be a year ago. Wear your mask, stay well.

Friday Facts, Just for Fun

The week is nearly over. It’s been a strange one. I’ve had a second COVID test, it’s negative. I’ve had swollen glands in my neck that turned into nothing, just a weird viral infection. Glad for that. We’ve had a couple of socially distanced dates this week, and they were nice. Tonight, we’re meeting up with the kids and grandkids for dinner to reconnect. Since Gavin got his own puppy, he’s been pretty busy caring for Josie instead of coming to visit Goldie and Lexie. We miss him, too! And Addison.

Cross Country is now over, so it’s back to picking our girl up from school to help out Mom and Dad. We love it. She’s full of stories to tell. I should think back to those ancient times and remember what it’s like. Your priorities are certainly different, that’s for sure.

This is 10,000 % TRUE!

There have been massive attempts this week to hack my FB page, my Twitter Account, my Instagram Account, and my email. I think it’s a coincidence. In the process of changing passwords 8,392 times, I got a little jammed up and the blog didn’t post Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week. I believe it’s been fixed now, and I re-posted to keep up. I couldn’t believe my stats went from 60 readers on Monday to 0 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Technology can be a real bugger when it’s misbehaving. In case you missed them, here they are again: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

I am reading “Charms for the Easy Life,” by Kaye Gibbons. I picked it up at the used book store last time I took Mom. It’s a beautiful story, about three Southern women, who have their own family, with no men. The men folk left their women behind. Took off and never showed back up again. The Grandmother reacted very differently to the situation. She is a homeopathic healer, herbalist, and the like. She is very clear, however, she does not practice voodoo. And she will not use the power to maim anyone. She is a rock, the whole area in walking distance depends on her. It’s a fascinating story.

I’ve read 122 pages of the 254 in the book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And I sort of forgot to see how the scenes took place in only one place at a time, the characters were solidified through dialogue for backstory (boy, were they!), and I can’t wait to see how the second and third generations handle being left by the men in their lives who are supposed to be reliable, steadfast, and kind. The grandfather and father of the girl telling the story were totally opposite of those characteristics.

The author uses a phrase to define the matriarch, “who is a self taught healer, treating everything from broken bones to broken hearts. They are protected by the eccentric wisdom and muscular love of the remarkable matriarch Charlie Kate, a solid, uncompromising,” I love the phrase muscular love. It sounds unbreakable, solid, and something you can count on always. We all need that kind of love in our lives. Unconditional love is like this.

It makes me appreciate my dad so much. He never wavered in working and taking care of his family. He loosened up and enjoyed his oldest grandson Frankie a lot. He took him on excursions to Hobby Town, to shop for used cars, and Frankie adored him. I think it was hardest on my 17 year old son when Dad died. I didn’t think anyone could hurt any more than I did, but I was probably wrong.

This morning, I’m feeling nostalgic. I’m listening to Glen Campbell’s last album, “Adios.” I knew it was a Jimmy Webb song, and previously heard Linda Ronstadt sing it. Linda makes every song lovely. When Glen Campbell sang it, knowing he had Alzheimer’s, it took on a new meaning. He really was telling his fans goodbye. It was beautiful. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if anyone with the disease could say goodbye? Usually it’s too late for that by the time a diagnosis takes place. We don’t get to choose how we go or when. It’s the biggest risk there is in life, is to live every day. Don’t count on doing it tomorrow. You never know what will happen. You need to lead your life as each day is the last. Always let your words with someone be positive. Regrets do no one any good.

The rest of the day? One thing I’m adding to the TO DO list is rewrite my “about” paragraphs. The one I wrote first is ok, but it needs some telling about me. That’s hard for me to do. Really. I don’t talk a lot about myself, believe it or not, because I had never thought I was that noteworthy. That’s not a lack of confidence, at least I don’t think it is. What do you say? What would you say about me, if you’ve been following me very long. Seriously, add it in the comments below. Maybe you can help me with ideas I need that are better than the ones I have. Thanks, it’ll be fun reading them.

If you don’t wish to add it in the comments below, add it in the FB comments under the blog when it’s posted. I’d love some ideas. Thanks. And thanks for reading today. Hope you get caught up with the other blogs through the links above. So writing the bio, doing a little writing, and finishing reading my book today are going to happen around Raabe Ranch this afternoon. I appreciate you reading, and will see you again tomorrow!

Happy National Dog Day!

This is a day we crazy humans invented to give us a day among others to celebrate our best friends. I’m sure a marketing person somewhere must have had a hand in it, but why not? Just in the 68 years I’ve been on this earth, I have seen a tremendous change in how we treat our pets.

Nine out of ten people from a large family or a farm will tell you the dogs were pets, but weren’t allowed in the house. When we did have a dog, it lived in the basement. She walked outside through the kitchen, and that was it. Those who had pets didn’t visit the vet with them unless something might be really wrong, and if it was terminal, often they took them to the woods and did away with them. I never understood that. But people I know did that. I suppose the expense was an issue? I can’t say. I didn’t like to hear of it.

And then, there was the issue of dogs roaming neighborhoods. They did when I was growing up. Our neighbor, two houses away, had a beautiful Black Doberman Pinscher. Susie was a beautiful dog, but I was scared to death of her. She was so big, and I was afraid of being bitten by any of the loose dogs. I’m glad dogs don’t do that anymore, I was even afraid of stray dogs while walking my babies in the stroller. They would run up and I had nightmares of them mauling my child in the stroller before I could intervene. My ex husband was a letter carrier, and the only dog bite he “suffered” was from a little dog, a bite to the calf. I believe he brought it on himself, but that’s another story.

We had a dog briefly, and it was on a chain tied up, inside our fence, because our mom feared her jumping over the fence and biting a neighbor kid who teased her constantly. One day, she broke the chain, and wouldn’t come in the house. I finally got her in, put her in the basement, Mom called the Humane Society and they came to pick her up. Dutchess, a beautiful German Shepherd, was no longer our dog. I’m sure she was euthanized. Mom had an elaborate ruse she would go to the Army and be a Military Dog in Vietnam. I doubt that happened.

Fast forward a few years, and one day, when Mom went to pick up my brother from work at our uncle’s Auto Parts Yard, Tom came to the car with a puppy in his shirt. Someone brought the pup in, and we were supposed to raise the dog until he reached full size, then give him back to the Auto Parts Yard. He would be one of the Junk Yard Dogs.

Our dad named him Charlie Brown. I didn’t like the dog. I acted like Lucy does with Snoopy. My dad loved him. Since it was a male, he did what male dogs did, and I liked him even less. Ugh! He reached full size alright. About six inches off the ground. Although he was touted as a Collie/German Shepherd mix, they forgot to mention there must have been some Beagle in him. He howled like one. Looked like a Collie, but had Beagle legs, was six inches off the ground. I never bonded with him.

After that, I left home, got married at 18, we bought a house, and I still wasn’t a dog fan. Once my husband left when I was 30, the kids wanted a dog. The neighbor’s dog had pups. Best $10 I ever spent. They had a new responsibility, and they loved Shadow. She lived 16 1/2 years. Just after the Babe and I married, we had to put her down. It wasn’t a month later, the Babe decided my daughter Becky and I needed a dog. We adopted Mocho.

Two years later, in 2000, I became disabled, and we got Mollie. They lived long and were my quilting buddies. They loved my basement studio at our old house. I did too, but it had no window. No good! They were with us until about 2013. Wet then were dog-less until the summer of 2014. Adopted Lexie and Roxie. They had a difficult time, as we were engaged in a lot of health problems with the Babe. They were pretty untamed. Our fault. They still were pretty good pets. They loved moving here to Gretna, where they have a huge yard, fenced-in. I have dubbed it “Raabe Ranch.”

How skinny and little they were at 4 weeks. Mom was sick, so we took them early.

We’ve lost our beloved Roxie, and now keep out gates locked to make the yard more secure for Lexie and our beautiful Goldie. Lexie suffered greatly when Roxie was killed by a car. It was unbearable. Despite another health issue, the Babe decided Lexie needed a companion this time. Goldie is now a year old, and such delightful dog. She’s a handful, but we needed her. She brings a lot of joy. The header photo are a family of wild turkeys who passed through the neighbors yard this morning. Our purebred, Yellow Lab Retriever, stood behind me on the deck and barked. She’s one heckuva bird dog, folks! Worth every cent!

Goldie, like me, loves the Babe to pieces. I, however, do not lick his chin. Just sayin’.

So while we continue our love of man’s and woman’s best friends, join us to be happy with our furry friends. It just gets you outside of yourself to care for a pet. I’m happy to watch our girls love their home and Raabe Ranch, and for little Josie to make her mark on Addison’s and Gavin’s hearts. It’s the best experience when they’re healthy, and the worst experience when you lose them. No one, not even your mom can love you that unconditionally their whole life. Let’s hear it for our best friends!

Thank you for reading and celebrating with me today. I appreciate it so much. Keep the mask up, the hand washing continuous, and be kind, courteous, and helpful to everyone around you. We will get through all of this. We need each other. Be careful out there! See you tomorrow.