Wrong Side of Bed Days

Today was one of those days where I woke up in a bad mood and it didn’t get better. As a child on days like this, my mother would say I got out on the wrong side of a bed. I was a bit literal as a child and would be a bit baffled by this because for many years, my bed was against a wall and thus there was only one side on which I could exit but, as I got older, I realized it wasn’t a literal phrase.

Still, I do try to get out on the same side of the bed every day anyway. This isn’t always easy when the pups are splayed out and I have to climb over them. Since Sookie has taken to sleeping on my legs, this is rather difficult.

Nevertheless, I do feel like I got out of bed on the wrong side. I’ve just felt crabby all day. Work isn’t going fabulously lately. I feel like I’m doing a lot of work but nothing is happening and I’m stuck in a rut. I’m hoping it’s just a phase again and that things will pick up but I do prefer it when I have a lot of things happening.

The problem with work is that even when I don’t mind going, it ends up being the recipient of my bad mood. This is the problem with spending 8+ hours a day in the same place. Even when it’s not work causing the bad mood, I take the bad mood with me.

Still, for a bad moody kind of day, it went pretty quickly. I don’t feel like I got anything accomplished but that’s because it was one of those days where I had a lot going on but nothing to show for it at the end of the day.

On the plus side, it’s a beautiful evening. The sun is shining and the humidity is low. Since it’s July, days like this will become rarer so I am taking the time to appreciate it while I can. This includes mowing the lawn which is a necessary evil. I’m sure I’ll get to relax outside afterwards but, for now, lawn mowing has become less of the bane of my existence and, instead, I actually quite like it. I find it relaxing. Well, I should say, I mostly find it relaxing. It’s not so relaxing when there are three beasts in Dog Whisperer’s yard trying to yap themselves to death as I mow but, generally speaking, I’ve found that if I yell at them, Dog Whisperer comes out, throws me a dirty look and brings them inside. I’m not fond of having to yell, honestly. I’d prefer that Dog Whisperer actually noticed that his dogs were close to apoplexy in their loud, shrill annoying barking but, alas, he rarely does. If I yell, I think he hears that, especially as it’s generally, “SHUT UP!” I don’t think he likes me shouting at his beasts but someone has to do it, I think.

I’m finding that in addition to the fact that the dogs are rather annoying with their frantic barking, my dogs are often blamed as being the noisy dogs. This is because I walk the girls every day and I get out and about. People like to stop and greet us and several times, I’ve had comments such as “Are these the ones that like to make all the noise?”

I have to politely explain that while Rory and Sookie do have a yip on occasion, they are not constantly yipping at everything that moves. I don’t like them getting blamed unfairly. I do confess that lately, Rory has been quite…vocal…outside but it’s by far a different type of vocal that the cacophony of demented barking that comes from next door.

Rory’s barking is more of a summons. When Sookie and I sit down in the evenings or if I’m blogging and on the computer, Rory has taken to going and sitting outside the back door on the grass. Then, without fail, she sends up a couple of barks. Her bark isn’t a woof…it’s more an indignant cry. It seriously sounds like she’s yipping: “Come out here! I’m bored!” And she keeps making the sound until either I or Sookie goes out to see her. Usually it’s me. Rory proceeds to get excited to see me and follows me back inside. If I dare start emailing or blogging, the whole process starts over. Only am I ready to sit down and watch her play with her toys, perhaps joining in, does she settle down.

Yes, my dogs are needy. I probably shouldn’t indulge them but I do. I have to admit that I quite enjoy it. They have personalities and that makes life more fun.

Also, they somehow manage to drive the bad moods right out of me when I get home from work and there’s a lot to be said for that.

If only I could take them to work.

Happy Wednesday and thanks for reading!

Manageable Mondays and Sewer Drain Mysteries

I’m happy. My Monday was not too Mondayish today, after all. I’d like to salute the power of positive thinking for that. It could have been a bad Monday. After all, when you wake up at your normal time and it’s still dark, that’s not a great incentive to get out of bed.

I don’t do well with Daylight Savings time. I’ve mentioned that before. As I said yesterday, you can change the clocks all your like but my internal clock KNOWS it’s all a big, fat, mean trick. I think I’d prefer it if, perhaps, we got to spring forward with the clocks at a more appropriate time than 2 a.m. on a Sunday morning. For example, how about we do it, say, at 3 p.m. on a Monday? Wouldn’t that be nice? One minute it’s 3 p.m. and you’re dragging but you still have 2 hours to go and then, boom!, the clocks skip forward and it’s 4 p.m. and there’s only an hour left!
You may wonder why I don’t say it should happen at 4 p.m. so that the 9-5’ers can just leave but, well, in my odd way of thinking, I think it might be harder for supervisors to just let you leave. If you do it at 3 p.m., it gives everyone an hour of looking at the clock, cheerfully counting down that final hour and it’s not so…sudden.

Hey, it makes sense in my head and that’s what’s important, right? Of course, since this won’t ever happen, it’s all theoretical anyway which means we’re stuck with the cruel trick of losing an hour ON A WEEKEND and then being abruptly awoken by our alarms on a Monday only to discover it’s still nighttime outside but we still have to get up.

It didn’t help this morning that I had two dogs that also did not want to get up and couldn’t understand why that horrible alarm clock went off so early and interrupted their sleep. Believe me, Rory and her Moaning Myrtle impersonation let me know that it was quite rude to disturb her and she did NOT want to get up.

But we did. I’m glad we did. The day, as such, has not been too bad for a Monday. It’s not sunny but it’s also not gloomy outside. It’s just grey with a side of brightness. My day has actually been busy which is rather nice on a Monday. It means that the day went by quickly and I didn’t have time to sit at my desk in a funk, wondering if the phone was going to ring.

Of course, I did sit in a bit of a funk. I felt like I didn’t really wake up all morning. I moved in slow motion and had trouble focusing for the first part of the day . However, thanks to far too much tea, coffee and Sprite Zero, by lunchtime I was mostly awake just in time to run home to spend 30 minutes with the dogs.

It’s nice to have a doggy diversion in the middle of the day. When I finished up my lunch, I went outside to see what the girls were up too. Sookie came bounding towards me in greeting which is always a lovely thing. Rory, however, was riveted to our storm drain.

I’m a little perplexed by this. She’s become absolutely fascinated not only with our storm drain but all of the storm drains along our street. It’s a little disturbing. Sometimes, after it rains, there is an odd banging from the drain in our garden and I can see why she and Sookie might want to investigate. Today, however, the drain was quite quiet. Yet Rory stood there, looking into it. When I went to see if I could see/hear anything, I couldn’t hear anything but I did notice that Rory was trembling.

This, of course, alarmed me. What was she seeing/hearing/smelling that had her rooted to the spot and afraid? I coaxed her too me and she backed up so that she could press herself into my bent knee for comfort but she still stared down into the drain.

I never did figure out what she was waiting for in that drain. With my vivid imagination, I confess I was a little alarmed in case Pennywise the Clown appeared. Yes, I’ve read/watched Stephen King’s It one too many times. Given that Rory is a) a dog, b) can’t read and c) has no comprehension of who Pennywise the Clown is, I don’t think that could possibly be that which fascinated her but I’m still curious.

My non-Pennywise theory is that there may have been a creature down there at some point. I’ve seen an elderly raccoon amble its way across the street and disappear down a storm drain so it wouldn’t surprise me at all if it tried to get up into our yard. I’m glad it didn’t. I have a feeling Sookie and Rory would like to think they could take on a raccoon but having had quite a bit of experience with raccoons in my life, those things can be quite vicious and I think it’d give the girls a run for their money.

I did finally manage to distract Rory away from the sewer. I’m sure that when we go for our evening walk, she’ll once again pull me towards each drain along our route but since she’s on a leash and can’t actually go down the drains, I’m not too worried.

When I went back to work after lunch, the afternoon passed quickly. We’re supposed to have heavy rain later on tonight so tomorrow is likely to be grey and soggy. I’m just glad that it held off today. Wet Mondays are not fun, they elude the power of positive thinking which is hard to get going on a Monday anyway.

Although, today it worked. Phew!

Happy Tuesday!

Happy "Puppiversary" to Us!

I did not dream of zombies last night. I was actually quite pleased about this although I did have rather a detailed dream about work which I’m not sure if it was much of an improvement. If I’d have still been at my old job, I could have argued that it was actually still about zombies due to the rather uninspired atmosphere at that place.

The rain has stopped. It’s now snowing. I sometimes forget that the seasons are a little schizophrenic in the Midwest and that even though it’s 60 degrees one day, the next it can be 30 degrees and snowy. I don’t know how I actually forget this but I do.

It definitely keeps things interesting, at least. You never quite know what the weather will do next. I still make the mistake of listening to Mr. Weatherman in the mornings but that doesn’t exactly help. He’s wrong at least 50% of the time.

Even with the rather varied weather we’ve had, this week has actually gone quite quickly. I can’t actually believe it’s Friday tomorrow which is a bit of an usual thing. I’m definitely not complaining that it’s Friday tomorrow. I’m a big fan of Fridays. I like Fridays as much as I dislike Mondays.

This Friday- tomorrow- is actually a significant Friday for me. It marks that day that, one year ago, I picked up a little puppy named Sookie and took her home. On Saturday, it’s the anniversary of the day that I went and picked up her sister, Rory, because it seemed so cruel to separate them. Also, Rory’s big, sweet eyes that seemed to say, “Pick Me! Choose Me!” when I got to choose between her and Sookie made me feel guilty because I didn’t pick her at first.

I remember being a little nervous as my mother and I went to Walmart to get some supplies for Sookie when she came home. When we went to get Sookie, it was a little unnerving to go down the muddy, unfinished driveway of the house where she lived and discover that she was living at an unofficial ‘dog shelter.’ There was a pack of scary dogs that roamed loose on the property of the old farmhouse and who chased my car down the drive, trying to bite my tires. I remember being nervous as I got out the car in case the dogs were vicious but they weren’t…they were just unruly. Then, when I went inside, I discovered that not only was there a Sookie but she had a sister and I got to choose which one I took home. I picked Sookie because she came to me and let me pick her up whereas Rory was easily distracted by the Maltese puppy in the room. At the time, I knew I was going to feel bad about separating the pair which was evidenced by my calling later that night after Sookie was home to find out if Rory was still there. She was but she’d been promised to someone else.

I was sad but Sookie and my first night together was nice enough. I had a writer’s conference the next day and I hated leaving my new puppy with her ‘grandparents’ but I’d already made the commitment to a friend that I’d go with her to the conference. While the conference was a bit of a waste of time, I got a phone call in the middle of a session that made it worthwhile: Rory’s new owners didn’t show up to pick her up and, if I was still interested, she could be mine.

I needed no further enticement. Back to the scary, dog-infested farmhouse I went and Rory came home with me. Now I can’t imagine every just having one puppy.

Now, one year later, they’re not really puppies anymore even though I still think of them as such. I can’t believe that I was worried about the responsibility of having a dog. I remember that even though I was excited about getting a puppy, I was also afraid that it would not only tie me down but that I would be a horrible pet parent.

I’ve found that one year later, I don’t feel tied down at all. Instead, I have these lovely, furry, snuggly additions to my life that have just become…part of my life. They’re as part of me and my daily routine as eating and drinking are. I wake up with at least one of them under the covers, head snuggled under my chin every day. I go home at lunch each day to let them out and, each time, when I come home from somewhere…anywhere, there they are, tails wagging, jumping up and down as if to say, “Where have you BEEN? We MISSED you!”

It’s nice to be missed and to come home to see those bright eyes and wagging tails. Even on the worst of days, having a dog to lick you on the nose and sit on your lap makes everything better.

My fear about being a horrible pet parent seems to have been a little paranoid. Since they’re both healthy, seemingly happy and alive after a year, I must have done something right.

Also, they seem to really like me so I figure that’s a good sign.

I feel like I should do something this weekend to celebrate our ‘puppiversary’. Maybe we’ll go for a long walk over the woods to check out the floods. Last time we went, it was pretty bad but with all the rain we’ve had, I’m sure it’s going to be worse now. Of course, they won’t know what we’re celebrating but I don’t suppose that matters. A walk will make us all happy and give us time to spend together and, honestly, what better way to celebrate is that?

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

The Comfort of a Rainy Day

Today it has been a very rainy day. The pups and I went to bed last night to the sound of pouring rain and…woke up to the sound of pouring rain. Somewhere in between there, I dreamed again about zombies- (note to self: STOP watching “The Walking Dead” before bed!) and got up to let the dogs out in the night.

The problem with it being rainy is that it’s also muddy. This means that when the dogs come in from outside, they’re wet and either must be dried with a towel or go back to bed muddy.

We’re having a lot of rain in these parts lately. All of the rivers are swollen and nearing flood stage. My garden is a bit of a bog. There’s usually one area that floods when it rains but the ground is so saturated, it’s looking rather like wetlands out there.

I actually don’t mind the rain though. I find it soothing, particularly when it comes down heavily. It’s just that it seems a little unbalanced that we have so much rain at this time of year but, come August, we’re having a drought and praying for rain to satiate the parched garden.

Yet for now, the rain is nice. I like to see it splashing down outside. Perhaps it’s growing up on the rainy isle of Britain but whenever it’s murky outside and the windows are covered with raindrops, part of me just sighs with contentment that this is the way it should be at times. I like being driven inside by the wetness and I really like it at night when you can see the rain in the headlights of cars as they sloshily drive along the streets .

The rain appeals to my ‘inside girl’ nature. While working outside in the garden is lovely as is taking a long walk outside on a nice day, as I’ve said many a time, I am not an outdoorsy sort. My favourite activities have always been quiet, indoor activities. Even when the weather is nice, I find that I simply go outside to do the indoor activities such as reading and writing.

I’m actually looking forward to the weather being nice enough to sit outside and read. Last year, I found one of my very favourite things to do was sit outside after I’d mown the lawn in the evening with a cool glass of wine, a good book and the puppies chasing each other nearby.

Still, I’m not looking to the future because I’m not happy with the present. The rainy night means I can hibernate inside, pull the curtains early and spend the evening curled up with the pups even though it means we won’t get to take our evening walk. I’m finding that not only is the walking good to exercise Sookie and Rory but it’s also a good way for me to get exercise. I finally mapped out our normal route and discovered we walk over a mile each night. This is not bad going for a stroll around the neighbourhoods.

On these strolls, I’ve become a very nosy neighbour. I love to look at people’s gardens and houses and to get ideas for how I can landscape my own garden or add some detail to my house. We’ve walked so much that certain houses become landmarks- there’s the one that belongs to someone who is clearly a hippie or identifies with them as the house not only always has a VW bug parked outside but also a sign on the door that says “Hippies go around back.” There’s the house with the cute little statue of puppies underneath a garden bench. There’s the house with the good landscaping, tidy mulch and painstakingly-cared for garden.

Then there are the squirrel houses. These are the places where we almost inevitably find squirrels on our walk. The girls and I have decided that squirrels are dirty rotten cheaters. They come down from their trees, sit on the street as if daring my twin dachshunds to ‘come and get them’ and then they run. We chase them and the girls get excited. Then the squirrel goes up a tree and…game over because my dogs can’t climb the trees. We are of the firm belief that if a squirrel wants to taunt, it shouldn’t be allowed an easy out. However, squirrels appear to have their own rules including not being eaten.

Our evening walks are a great way to relax. This time of year, we don’t see too many neighbours. It’s usually just me, the girls and whatever dog barks at us from behind their fences.
It’s nice to live in a neighbourhood where it’s not only safe to walk but we have a nice route as well. Even though it’s not nice enough to walk every night- particularly nights like tonight when it’s rainy- it’s a lovely feeling to know that as the days get longer and the nights shorter, there will be more and more chances to get out, discover new things about the area and meet new neighbours.

For now, however, I’m just going to enjoy the rain.

Happy Thursday!

Home Improvement Freedom

It's another Sunday evening after a fun weekend and, as always, I'm wishing I had an extra day off.

I even had a long weekend this time around. I took Friday off to just have a day off. I ended up spending a large portion of it at the car dealership getting my car serviced and also finding out that I desperately needed new tires but, even so, it was nice to have the day off.

The pups and I headed up to my parents for the weekend after the car dealership finally released me. We hadn't been up to Indiana for a while and I thought it'd be nice to have a low-key weekend with my parents. It turned out to be a fun weekend. We went to the Home and Garden Show which I thought was fun. It was a little crowded but it was the first time I've been to a show like that since I've owned a house. It's fun to realize that if I wanted new windows, I could get them someday or if I wanted to re-landscape my garden, I have the freedom to do that.

It was an interesting exposition. I didn't buy much although I did snag some Blue Spruce trees for a very good price. My dad purchased two rubber brooms which he likes to use to clean the snow off his and my mother's car in the winter. He gave one to me to carry around the show so I felt much like that man in the American Gothic painting who's standing next to his wife holding the rake. I held the broom like the rake in that picture. My dad and I got a lot of comments about our broom. Apparently, not everyone carries rubber brooms around an entire Home and Garden show. To make matters more amusing, my mother bought one of those microfiber broom/mop things so by the time we were finished, all three of us had a broom of some sort. I feel like we should have done some type of Mary Poppins "Chim Chimeree" dance or something.

After the show, I had the luxury of spending the evening with my sister. We decided to have a girls night out, something we literally haven't done in years. We've gone to dinner a couple of times but never really out to do more than that. We decided to do dinner and a movie. We saw "Just Go With It"- the Adam Sandler/Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy. It turned out to be much more amusing and sweet than I thought.

It's nice to get to hang out with my sister. She recently graduated from nursing school and she has a four-year-old daughter so she hasn't had a lot of time to be social. Thus, it was nice to be able to liberate her for the evening.

All in all, it was a nice, relaxing, family-filled weekend. The dogs, of course, had the greatest time at their 'grandparents'. Sookie and Rory adore their garden- it's huge and there's a ton of nooks and crannies to explore. They're also very fond of my parents so it's nice to be able to reunite dog and human once in a while.

It was also a productive weekend. I've decided exactly how to redecorate my hideous 1970's style family room in Tuscan Villa style and, in addition, I had a rather productive trip to Lowe's with my dad who helped me figure out the mysteries of bathroom remodeling. I think if I do it slowly, I can get my bathroom looking just how I like.

It's so nice to be able to have the freedom to redecorate and remodel. I dwelt in apartments long enough to feel the frustration of not being able to change the minor little annoyance and the big ones. My last apartment in L.A. had an absolutely terrible water leakage problem when it rained. Most of the time in L.A., it doesn't rain so it wasn't too much of a problem for a while. Then, when the rainy season hit and we had torrential rain, I began to notice my bedroom carpet was getting rather wet. It turned out that the water was seeping up through the ground and by the time it was done, my closet and bedroom became very mildewed, smelly and disgusting. Our landlord's solution was to throw a few sandbags in front of the leak and put some Killz mildew killer on the walls.

Also, in the same apartment, the ceiling above my roommate's shower ended up caving in, The landlord never did finish patching it up. We were glad it didn't happen while my roommate was in the shower.

The same apartment had terrible ant infestations when it got hot. You can see why it got annoying. We fixed as many of the small things that went wrong as we could but unfortunately, we had to rely on the landlord for many repairs.

So, having my own home seems like quite a lovely thing. Granted, it means I'm financially responsible for everything that goes wrong/needs to be replaced/needs an upgrade but it also means it's mine to fix/replace/upgrade. I like that feeling. I like to be able to paint the walls, get rid of the mustard yellow carpet and change the faucets.

I also like being able to simply wander around Home and Garden Shows and Lowes and know that I have the complete freedom to do what I like to my home if I have the finances and resources.

I love that feeling and much as I love weekends and the nice thing is that even if the weekend is over, that feeling will stay.

Maybe that will help fight of the Mondays a little. We'll see.

Happy Monday!

Unplanned Weekends.....

As I always say, weekends fly by too quickly. It's always nice when they arrive and they lay ahead, wide open for the taking.

Then Sunday evening arrives and you realize that you didn't do half the things you planned and it's almost time to get ready to go back to work.

Still, I'm not complaining. Regardless of their swift progression, I love weekends. I find they're nicest when you don't have anything really planned and just play it by ear.

My weekend was just like that. I had no idea what I was going to do. I'd originally planned on taking my car to the dealership to get a long-overdue service. Unfortunately, when you schedule an appointment at my dealership, you need to not only have your car's VIN on hand but also the license plate number. By the time I managed to have these bits of info on hand to schedule my appointment, the dealership no longer had any appointment times available. Alas, such is life. My car will have to wait a couple more weeks.

Instead, I decided to explore a new grocery store near Dayton, Ohio. This may sound a little weird but I adore grocery stores and find them as fun as some people find amusement parks. Thus, I'd heard a lot about Dorothy Lane Markets which is a local Dayton chain. The reviews I read compared it favourably to Jungle Jims and if you've ever read my blog, you'll know I'm a devotee of Jungle Jim's.

So I made the 35 minute soujourn. Well, while I enjoyed my trip to the market, I have to say at the risk of offending many a Daytonian but, well, it's really not THAT much different to Whole Foods. Sure, it had some more personal touches but as far as the selection of everything went, both the prices and merchandise were rather similar. Still, it was definitely not a wasted journey. I found some crumpets as well as some spices I needed. It was fun to explore the store. If I'm ever in the area again, I'd definitely go back but I'm not so sure I'd make a special trip there.

Still, being in that area gave me an excuse to go to a Vietnamese restaurant that was nearby. I developed a love for Vietnamese pho when I lived in L.A. It's been hard to find in this area but I finally found some on Saturday. It was like getting to hang out with an old friend and I enjoyed every minute.

The rest of my weekend was spent cleaning my house. The few days of spring sunshine we've had made me realize how dusty my house was. I hate dusting but I decided to do some dusting. This somehow led to a reorganization/inventory of my spice cupboard and an organizing of my dresser drawers. It's nice to be organized, even if it takes a while.

And, of course, there were the walks with the pups. Due to some expected sunshine and warmth today, we took a spontanous walk to the park. We had fun although I realized that, once again, in the nature vs. nurture argument debate with dogs, nature wins every time. You see, dachshunds were bred to go down rabbit holes and other underground dwelling spots for prey. Thus, they have long, narrow bodies. You'd think that two dogs like Sookie and Rory who've been raised in suburbia, sleep in a human bed and eat high end dog food would have no clue about this part of their nature.

They do. It's intrinsic. Every time they find anything remotely like a hole be it a sewer tunnel, drainage ditch or general...hole...they try to burrow into it. Today, I almost lost Rory as she ascended quite quickly under a footbridge before I could tug her leash backwards. She wasn't happy at being deterred on her hunt. I, however, was happy to deter her.

We still managed to have a lovely walk. The park was busy with other dog-walkers, runners and strollers. We managed to get our exercise and enjoy the sun before the clouds arrived again and the sun disappeared. Now it's raining outside and the puppies have fallen asleep, exhausted, on the couch.

For the rest of my Sunday, I plan on watching the Oscars. I've seen almost all of the nominated Best Picture films. My favourite was "The Kings Speech." I greatly disliked "True Grit." I know. I'm one of the few who did. However, just like I said with "There Will Be Blood," I prefer my movies with less mumbling, less long periods of silence and...more plot. Also, I couldn't understand half of what Jeff Bridges said because he mumbled.

Still, who knows what will win? This time tomorrow, we'll know. For now, I'll wait and see. Chances are it'll much at the end of the Oscars which means I'll be up late tonight because even though I'll tell myself I should wait and find out tomorrow, I won't.

Nevertheless, even if the Oscars go on longer than they should, it's a nice way to end the weekend, particularly a weekend in which I had nothing planned and had a lovely time anyway.

It's nice to play it by ear sometimes. You never know what will happen.

Happy Monday!

Wet and Soggy Days

It’s a very wet and cold day out there today. From the time I got up to right now, it has done nothing but rain steadily.

It’s the type of rain that his heavily against the windows and steams them up. It’s soothing to hear it and see it dance off the puddles as it cascades down.

It’s also the type of rain that makes you want to go home, make soup for dinner and curl up with two puppies. Of course, the problem with it being wet means that the puppies are also wet. They don’t like to spend too much time outside when it’s raining this hard. It doesn’t help that our back yard floods a lot when we get heavy rain. The storm drain in my neighbour’s garden overflows constantly which means my lovely vegetable garden floods in the summer, drowning my produce. I’ve complained about it to the city but so far, nothing has been done. In winter, however, it just means that we have rather large oceans of puddles in the grass as well as in the mud patches that will eventually evolve back into a vegetable garden.

It’s interesting to watch the puppies. They definitely don’t like to get their feet wet so they avoid the massive puddles. Rory, Mistress of Mayhem, is surprisingly dainty for such a mischief-making canine. She steps cautiously out, looking for the driest spots and seems to tiptoe to where she’s not going to get too wet. Sookie, on the other hand, just stomps out and then stops and looks about as if to say, “dude! What’s all this wet stuff?”

Needless to say, they don’t spend much time outside during heavy rain. It means we can’t take our evening walk either. This means I have bored pups on my hands. When Sookie is bored, she sleeps. When Rory is bored she lies on the floor, glaring at me and Sookie and, finally, begins to “arrrff” at us. This means, “Entertain me!”

It’s hard to entertain a dog for too long. I went to Petsmart on Sunday to see if I could find a toy for them that involved a little bit of a challenge. I ended up with something called an Occupi. This is a rubber device in which you can insert little treats, insert big treats or coat with some type of edible gel. I bypassed the gel because there were only two flavours- Chicken Liverr, which sounded revolting and Peanut butter which neither of the girls particularly like. I did buy the little treats to go inside. Unfortunately, the toy must be smarter than me because there’s nothing to hold them in there. Theoretically, the dog is supposed to roll it and try to get the tiny treats out through the little holes in the side. However, I’ve found that since there’s no stopper on the bottom, they pretty much cascade right out. This is rather silly. Thus, I’ve taken to inserting a healthy treat that’s long and skinny into the toy. It’s hard to get out. Also, it’s fun to watch Rory get a bit stroppy when she can’t get to it. She’ll figure it out eventually but, for now, she’s puzzled. Puzzled Rory=occupied Rory.

For me, I don’t need rubber toys. I just need a good book or something nice on TV with which I can curl up. The book is the best option because it means I can listen to the drum of the raindrops on the window. There’s nothing nicer than that on a chilly night unless it’s lying in bed and hearing the rain.

It’s supposed to get colder later tonight which means the rain will turn to snow. As much as I love snow, I’m hoping it doesn’t stick around. I’m ready for spring now. Target is starting to get their garden décor and supplies in and I’m already planning my landscaping attempts.

However, if it does stick around, it won’t bother me either. After all, there’s not too many weeks left where snow is an option and I’ll miss it when it goes so a few more encounters might not be a bad thing. Either way, snow or rain, I’m happy. It means I get to stay inside and enjoy the warmth and comfort of a cozy home with two (wet) puppies beside me.

Happy Tuesday!

Homemade Gnocchi on a Home Made Weekend....

As I always say, weekends fly by far too quickly.

Tomorrow is, technically, a holiday. Unfortunately, it's not one that my company gives so I will be at work as usual. I'd complain but the alternative would be my old job- one that made me miserable and sad and bitter.

So, I'll take a two day weekend from a job I love vs. a three day weekend from a job I despised.

Besides, it's not like I haven't had a good weekend.

Like most unplanned weekends, this one was nice. Saturday was a gorgeous day. I got up early hoping to run my errands- a trip to Jungle Jim's and Costco- early. This is my usual trick- not only do I get things done early but also, I normally beat the crowds.

Not so much this weekend. It turned out that I wasn't the only one who thought an early trip to Jungle Jim's was in order. It seemed that half of Cincinnati had the same idea. Still, I did get my shopping done early even if I did have to navigate around people who were gawking in the aisles at the vast supply of hot sauces and the plethora of international ingredients available.

I shouldn't complain. I always have to remind myself that I used to be one of those gawkers before I became a 'local'. Of course, I don't usually expect so many gawkers at 9 a.m. but, well, I got my shopping done and that's what counts.

After the required shopping was done, I decided that the pups and I should take advantage of the beautiful day by taking a jaunt over to the park. We had a long, leisurely walk though the woods that lasted a couple of hours. I think by the time the day was done, the pups and I must have walked at least four miles together and that doesn't count my separate trip to Jungle Jim's which feels like a mile unto itself.

Needless to say, we were all a little tired by the evening. We took it easy and just enjoyed the quiet time.

Sunday turned out to be the opposite of Saturday. We woke to the sound of pouring rain. When I finally got out of bed due the fact that Sookie had become a living scarf on my neck and Rory a hat that was licking my ear in a desperate attempt to get me to let her outside to do her business, the temperature had dropped a little and there were big fat fluffy snowflakes mixed with the rain.

That didn't last for long and the rain ended up staying as rain but for most of the day, the pups and I were confined inside except for their odd trip outside and our twice-daily walks around the neighbourhood which were cold, damp and chilly but good exercise nonetheless.

I filled my day by watching some TV, doing my taxes, making some gnocchi and doing some laundry. That's a good Sunday, if you ask me. I was going to go to H&R Block for my taxes like I did last year but it turned out that their online site is less expensive and much easier. Thus, I'm now done with my taxes. It's a nice feeling. I'm not sure about the gnocchi yet. It looks like gnocchi but I've yet to cook it.

Gnocchi is one of those things that I see almost every week on Top Chef. I've had premade gnocchi and restaurant gnocchi but never made my own. I decided to give it a go. It was slightly easier than pasta but working with potatoes tends to leave a bit of a starchy, gluey coating on everything. My next experiment I'm hoping will be a souffle. I've decided to make it my mission in life to cook everything that appeals at least once. Hence, the gnocchi. If I attempt a souffle, I'll let you know.

Now, Sunday is wrapping up. I have two drowsy puppies on the sofa next to me. My beef short ribs to go with my gnocchi are simmering in the crockpot and I'm ready to finish up this nice and relaxing weekend by curling up with the pups, watching some TV and enjoying the fact that on this damp, cold February night, we don't have to go anywhere. Even if I do have to work tomorrow, it doesn't get much better than that.

As I always say, it's the simple things in life that make you happy. It's nice to be happy.

Happy President's Day to those that have it off and Happy Monday to those that don't!

Concrete Pig and Other Walking Adventures

This has felt like quite a long week. I don’t know if it’s because the weather has been so much like spring and I’m feeling more trapped indoors than usual or it has, in fact, been a long week.

Still it’s Friday tomorrow and that means that the reset button will be pushed and work won’t begin again for two days. There are far worse things in life than a weekend.

So far, my weekend is wide open. It’s supposed to be beautiful on Saturday and rainy on Sunday. Of course, today’s forecast was for it to be near 70 degrees and sunny when, in actually, the thermometer is lurking right around the 58 degree mark and it’s gloomy and rainy looking out there.

I’m hoping it doesn’t rain. It’s been nice to be able to walk the pups around the neighbourhood each night when I get home from work. For a while, we seem to have been the lone walkers and though we might run into the odd neighbour or squirrel, there haven’t been many dogs and their owners walking. Last night, that changed. The weather was lovely so it must have seemed like a good walking opportunity for everyone else in the neighbourhood. Thus our normally peaceful soujourn around the ‘hood turned into a case of “dodge the other dogs.”

With Rory, that’s easy. She’s a peaceful little soul, happy to sniff the path on which we walk, wag her tail at squirrels and to check and make sure I’m still behind her at certain intervals. Sookie, it’s not so easy. Sookie has become far more worried about other dogs over the winter. Before, she used to get a little worried as we passed other dogs on leashes. Now, she gets very upset and barks and tries to chase them.

It’s a little stressful as a dog owner. I know the correct response is not to yank her back on the leash but, instead, condition her to look at me instead of at the other dogs. However, we’re at the beginning of that training so at the moment, she’s going a little ballistic.

I’m noticing that a lot of dog owners and their canines are crossing the street before they pass us so we don’t have an up-close-and-personal growling and lunging encounter. I choose not to take this personally because I’m noticing that the other dogs are going just as crazy as Sookie when they see not only my girls but any other dogs in the neighbourhood. This does not even include the dogs that are home as we walk by.

My neighbourhood can only be described as “dog friendly.” For every three houses, there seems to be at least one dog. We have come to recognize the house where the giant, angry German shephards live and we’ve come to expect that they’ll hurl themselves against the fence to try to get out to chase us. We know where our friend, the beagle with the mournful bark, lives. We say hi to him because he’s sweet and friendly and we can tell he’s just saying hello when he barks. The big black dog of unknown parentage is another story. He is mean. He can also jump rather high. I’m a little worried about him because his growl and bark is definitely very hostile. Sookie, who somehow is ok with the confined dogs, does not like him. As soon as he hurls himself at the gate as though to jump over and get us, she looks up at me, her ears go flat and she growls in defense.

We walk by that house quickly.

We’ve also taken to walking quickly by the house with the concrete pig. It’s a cute lawn statue that’s not quite life-sized but still a substantially sized pig. Sookie does not like this pig. She has decided that Concrete Pig is her enemy. She is not afraid of Concrete Pig but she does try to go after it the same way she does with the broom when I’m sweeping the floor at home. That is to say, she bravely lunges at it when it’s not moving but as soon as I start sweeping, she runs away in fear. With Concrete Pig, she edges close to it and barks her “I’m not afraid of you,” woof but if I so much as say “Oink!” in response, she’s backed away quicker than if you can say, well, “Oink.”

The one lady I will always make sure we don’t encounter too closely is the lady who, at first, I thought was a professional dog walker. She has five large dogs and one small one that she somehow manages to guide around the block quite regularly. It turns out…they’re all hers. They’re rather angry dogs and I’ve seen her get pulled along behind them as they spot some prey down the street. Thus, we make sure to make her walk easier by getting out of her way as well as making it less terrifying for the pups.

Mostly, our neighbourhood dogs are friendly so it’s not a huge problem. I’d just like to be the pet parent with the well-behaved dogs, not the growler who doesn’t play well with others.

In short, the warm weather is nice but it’s made our solitary walks a little less solitary. I suppose with the warmer weather, that’s to be expected. It’s just something we’ll have to get used to. I’m hoping Sookie gets used to the company too. She tends to be ok when we go over the park after we’ve passed by a certain number of dogs. She settles down. Thus, I know it’s possible. It’s just going to take a little training, that’s all.

Sometimes, I really wish I lived next door to the real Dog Whisperer. That would make life easy. Also, it’d make life much quieter because it would mean there weren’t three yappy dogs next door.

Still, if life was that easy, it wouldn’t be much fun…would it?

It might be a little quieter though!

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Puppy Love on Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine’s Day. That’s pretty much the extent of my acknowledgment. It’s a day where there are lots of pink hearts, red roses and love in the air.

My two valentines are furry, black and have four legs. They can’t send a card nor send me flowers but in their own puppy way, they can tell me they love me. It can be as simple as the lifting of the blankets in the night and feeling the little warm body curl up next to mine so that when I wake up, there’s a puppy nose only inches from mine. It’s in the wagging tails and excited greetings I get when I get home at night. It’s sitting on the sofa on a cold winter night and having two dogs sleeping splayed on their backs, feet in the air and letting me know they trust me absolutely.

I’ve never been much of a Valentines girl. We never really did the card exchange in school in England the way that kids here in the States do it. We occasionally used to make heart cards for our mums and dads but that was it. When I got older, it was always whispering and giggling to see if anyone would get a Valentines card. There were maybe a couple of girls who did but that was about it.

In high school when I moved to the states, it was all about carnations. For $1, you could choose a white carnation (meaning friendship), a pink carnation (indicating someone liked you) or a red one to say that someone loved you. I got white ones. I think I even got a pink one once. That was exciting. Granted it was from my boyfriend at the time but it was still quite nice to get a carnation even if I didn’t like the boy much. College was nice because I did have a boyfriend for a couple of Valentines’ Days. He was generous and always got me roses or a CD or something he knew I’d like. But…that was it. I think I went through the embittered period of resenting the holiday because I didn’t have anyone to share it with. It was a Hallmark holiday, designed for people to spend money.

I don’t think like that anymore. I’m not sure when it happened. I think even last year, I was wistful and a little sad that, yet again, I didn’t have a real Valentine.

This year…I don’t really mind at all. It’s a nice holiday for those that celebrate it romantically. It’s also a nice holiday to just celebrate love in general. Granted, we shouldn’t need a holiday for that but, well, we have one. It’s just like when people say we shouldn’t have to wait until Christmas to give gifts. I agree with that which is why I, personally, accept gifts year-round. However, I also think it’s rather nice to have a day that’s slightly different from every other day, a day which is dedicated to something.

It’s like birthdays, really. Why choose to celebrate the day as a particular anniversary, to say, “I have been on this earth X years!?. Sure, that’s nice but we can do that every day, right? I mean, today, I can say, “Today, I have been on this planet for 36 years, 1 month and 4 days!” Of course, they don’t make cards for that. It’d take up a lot more room that “Happy 30th birthday!” wouldn’t it?

So, regardless of whether you think we need a holiday to celebrate love, we have one. It’s called Valentine’s Day. I know there’s that whole “Sweetest Day” thingy too but that one is completely made up by Hallmark and doesn’t really exist. It’s not even on the calendar. Most people don’t really know when that day is. I’m sure almost everyone knows that today is Valentine’s Day.

I’m not planning on doing much to commemorate the day. I’ll probably give the puppies a cuddle but I’d do that anyway. They don’t know the difference between today and any other day so, to them, it’s just business as usual. This means foraging in the garden for treasures, sniffing for bunnies and digging the odd hole in the ground which is finally starting to thaw. It also means squabbling about who gets to sit on my lap (if it’s Rory, this means Sookie will sit away from us, staring balefully at me as though I’ve wronged her. Whereas if Sookie gets to sit on my lap, Rory grabs a toy, starts grumbling at it and nipping it.)

But I can’t complain. It’s nice to be squabbled over, even if it is by my four legged friends. It makes me feel very loved and when you feel that way, who needs a card or flowers to prove it?

Happy Valentine’s Day! (And Happy Tuesday too!)

A Preview of Spring

This weekend, here in Cincinnati, we had a preview of spring. As much as I love snow and the permitted indoorness of winter, I can't say I minded the preview at all.

It was in the 50's for the first time since, I think, November. By some climate's standards, that's not warm at all but for us Midwestern folk, after weeks of below zero temperatures, it felt balmy, warm and just plain wonderful.

I took advantage of the weather and made sure that the puppies and I went for as many long walks as possible. We took the one mile route around our neighbourhood twice on Saturday- once the regular way and the other in reverse.

Then, today, we went over to the park for the first time since the beginning of
November. We clearly weren't the only ones with the same idea because it was very busy with runners, walkers and dogs.

We had a lovely walk. The paved part of our walk was nice. The pups had the best time walking on the grass which, until this weekend, has mostly been hidden by snow.

It was actually interesting to see that the lakes and ponds in the park were still frozen over. Given the warmth of the day, it felt surreal to see a winterscape in an other wise springlike day. The boathouse was abandoned and the boats outside it were stuck solid in a bed of ice. I suppose I always thought that once winter fell upon the land, the days of going to the park was over. Being an indoor kind of Monkeypants, it never occurs to me that there are things to do outside in the frigid temperatures. Yet everywhere there were signs that activities had continued in the park during the icy times. The lakes had signs on them warning people to stay off the ice. There were places for 'designated ice activities.'. I suppose I should have known but it was still somewhat of a surprise.

It seems that people also continue to take their dogs to the park in the winter. I walked the pups outside when it was doable. I did think about taking them over to the park but it seemed a little daft in the snow and ice.

Yet, clearly, it wasn't daft to some people. The evidence of their winter activities was everywhere. Clearly, people don't feel the need to pick up after their dog when the weather isn't great.

Well, actually, in my experience at the park, it doesn't really matter about the weather. There are responsible dog owners who do clean up their dog's poop and then there are the ones who just don't care.

It's annoying. As disgusting as it is, dogs like to smell other dogs' poop. When there are mounds and mounds of it along a trail, it's a little irritating to constantly have to watch where Rory and Sookie are heading. I had to yank them back quite a few times. I also had to watch where I was stepping because it was all on the paved trail as well as on the grass.

I don't get it. I take several grocery bags every time I walk the pups. I use one as a 'glove' and one as a recepticle for the poop. Then, when it's done, I drop the bag in the nearest trashbin and use my handy dandy hand-sanitizer to clean my hands. It takes less than five minutes. The park even provides bags for dog owners to clean up after their animals. So why is it some people think it's ok to let their dog make a mess in a public area and then leave it?

Ok. Rant over. Once we were past the main part of the trail, we got into the more wooded area. I had expected it to be muddy but I hadn't considered that it'd still be snowy and icy. I should have realized because much of the trail was in the shade but in the giddiness of finally having a nice warm day, my brain hadn't considered that it was actually still winter.

Still, the puppies and I navigated the ice and mud quite well. The puppies, having four legs, managed better than me. I had to make them slow down a few times so I didn't slide on the ice. Fortunately, I never fell which was quite an accomplishment. The puppies had a field day exploring the mud and grass and smelling the smells of the winter.

By the time we were done, the pups looked like they'd been off-road trucking. They had a coat of mud all over them. They didn't seem to mind. By the time we made it back to the car, they were wet, muddy and covered with debris from the trail. Yet their tails were wagging and their eyes were bright.

We went for another walk this evening, just to appreciate the fact that the day wasn't yet over. Even though I'm certain winter will be back to reclaim her season a few more times, I think spring is definitely starting to let us know it's her time soon. I saw the first shoot of a daffodil as we walked this evening and the first teeny buds of spring on the trees.

No matter how much winter fights it, I have a feeling she will lose and before we know it, spring will have her hold. I don't know about you but I'm ready for it.

Although I wouldn't argue if we had one more snowfall first.

Hey, I can't help it. I love snow.

Happy Monday!

Lovely Lazy Weekends

It's been a very grey sort of weekend. The sun peeked out for a few moments today but, aside from that, it's been grey and rather angry looking out there. We were supposed to have some snow on Saturday but although we had a heavy snow shower, it ended up alternating between rain, snow and greyness. In the end, the tiny bit of snow we had melted and it turned into a mushy world outside.

I'm not complaining though. I took advantage of the greyness and decided to have a very lazy and relaxing weekend. Even though I did useful things like laundry, grocery shopping and cleaning, I also made sure to watch some dvd's, do a jigsaw and generally just take advantage of the fact that I didn't have to do anything.

It's been a while since I had a weekend like this. During the summer, it's harder because I feel like I should be outside doing something productive. In the autumn, there's still enough warm days that I try to take advantage of them by being outside. When spring rolls around and the weather gets a little warmer, I tend to feel like I should get outside and get some fresh air because the winter makes us feel cooped up.

Thus, winter is the only season where it's mostly acceptable to pass a day with the TV on, a puppy in your lap and a jigsaw in front of you. Certainly, there are more productive things that I could be doing but there's nothing pressing. Granted, I probably should be taking advantage of being inside by writing but between books, I like to have a hiatus to recharge my creativity and mind and I'm still on that hiatus after finishing "Emmy Goes to Hell." I'll probably pick up with a new novel in a couple of weeks but, for now, I'm allowing myself a mental vacation. These are necessary, I think. They help avoid writers' block. They help make sure that the new book is 'fresh' and not writing on the waves of the one I just finished. Also, they help my brain just get back to a place where it's open to all new ideas.

So, I didn't write. I simply enjoyed the greyness of the day by being inside, warm and cosy in my house. I cooked because what's relaxation without a little cooking? I made soups- butternut squash on Saturday and the Olive Garden's zuppa toscana recipe for dinner tonight. For me, soups are my very favourite comfort food. Thus, having a comfortable weekend requires soup.

The only problem I'm having is that the dogs seem to be feeling cooped up. I did walk them even though it's been cold but Rory especially seems...bored. Sookie will curl up the sofa to sleep but Rory will sit on the floor, watching us. Then she'll start barking to let me know I should be paying attention. Or, she'll bark at Sookie because she wants her to play. I've been playing a lot more with her but it still doesn't stop her from sitting on the floor and sighing. It's a little...perplexing. She and Sookie still go outside and play but the garden seems to lack the excitement it usually does. They don't seem interested in their usual activities of hole digging, bird/squirrel/bunny hunting and chasing or their favourite game of tearing around the garden running after one another and then rolling around in the grass.

Since they're both eating and playing at times, I know nothing is physically wrong. I can only assume that they're feeling a little trapped by the greyness of winter. There's no snow to burrow under, only soggy flat grass which makes their paws wet, muddy and cold. The squirrels aren't out much. The bunny is mostly hibernating. They still chase birds but they fly away and then they're bored again.

The problem is...they're dogs. They're not like little children with cabin fever who you can take out to a movie or the mall or the circus or something. You can't sit down with a dachshund and do crafts to engage their minds- they'd just eat the paper and glue and be done with it. I play tug of war and "hide the squeaky" toy but this does not last long.

Thus, I think we'll just have to find activities. I'm making sure to take them on walks so they're at least getting exercise and I don't feel like they're sleeping the day away. I just wish, sometimes, they could talk and they could tell me what they wanted to do.

Ah well, half the fun is trying to figure it out. I tried to show Sookie my jigsaw but she tried to eat the pieces. Rory is having quite a lot of fun attempting to sit on my head whenever I sit on the sofa. She jumps up and sits on the back of it and then, lo and behold, I'm wearing a dachshund hat.

Still, in a few weeks, spring will be nearer and the days will be longer, the ground will dry out a little and outside will be filled with the first signs of spring. I'm sure this will bring new bunnies, squirrels and birds for them to hunt and chase.

In the meantime, it's still winter and I'm planning on taking advantage of the comfort of having to stay indoors.

Now, if I can just convince the pups of that. I'll keep working on it.

Happy Monday!

Monkey Massacre!

So, as is the nature of life, today was the complete opposite of yesterday at work. This is to say things were rather slow in the office. It also didn’t help that our boss is currently taking a few days’ vacation. Even when you really like your boss, there’s something rather nice about it when he’s gone. Things become more relaxed.

This is actually quite a feat for us. Generally, on most days, we’re quite relaxed in the office anyway. However, when he’s gone we’re even more relaxed. After the busyness of the past few days, I admit it was quite nice to have a breather. I clearly wasn’t the only one who felt this way because by 4 p.m., we were all gathered around our coworkers desk looking up each other’s addresses on Google maps so we could see each other’s houses.

In addition, our daily meeting was also more relaxed. This is probably why we all shared what we’d had for dinner last night. This stemmed from a description of our coworkers dream in which we were all at some mystery wedding and one of our salesmen was trying to convince the bride and groom that they wanted fish sticks at their reception.

As I said, things are more relaxed when the boss is gone.

It’s fun to work in an office where everyone gets along and there aren’t any awkward politics. There’s no one sucking up to the boss to try to climb to the top of the corporate ladder and there are no cliques. It’s a refreshing change of pace from my last office which was a mess of tangled politics and loyalties, not to mention the alliances and cliques.

Since I still keep in touch with some of my former coworkers, I do hear about some of the things that are going on in my old office. Suffice to say when someone mentions the name of the product you used to have to work on and you get a shudder running down your spine, you know you made the right decision to leave.

I’m very thankful that I found this job. While there are some days where I feel like banging my head against the keyboard because no one is returning calls or emails and I’m not getting anywhere, there are days like yesterday where good things keep happening and you actually feel exhilaration at your accomplishment.

And then there are days like today where even though no one is answering my phone calls and all the resumes I’m getting in response to my job postings are completely unsuitable, it’s ok because I’m having fun.

I’ve learned, by the way, why it is that I get the resumes I do. I did not realize that when some folks are at a certain level of their unemployment compensation that they are required to apply for a certain amount of jobs per week. Now I know this, it explains why Mitch the forklift driver from Idaho is applying for Java developer position in Cincinnati. While I have compassion for Mitch, it’s rather tiresome to have to wade through the large pile of completely unsuitable resumes to find the ones that are actually from people who genuinely are interested in the job I have posted.

Still, you learn something new every day. Today was no exception. Today’s lesson was actually not at work but, rather, at home.

It was this: Never leave two playful dachshunds home alone with a one legged monkey.
You might think this sounds strange. It makes perfect sense. You see, Rory and Sookie have a favourite toy. We call him Monkey for that is his name. This is actually Monkey 2.0. Monkey 1.0 met an untimely death because Rory and Sookie had a tug of war with him. I felt bad for the pups since they really loved their monkey. So I found another one at Petsmart.

Monkey 2.0 lasted a good three months. Then, early this week, I looked out the window at the snow-covered backyard and noticed a small blue thing lying there. Curious, I investigated to discover it was one of Monkey 2.0’s legs. Since it was frozen and stiff, I brought the limb inside and put it somewhere safe so that I could stitch it back on when it was a)defrosted and b)I had time.

Alas, that time never came. When I came home at lunch today, I discovered poor Monkey 2.0 disemboweled on the living room floor surrounded by the polyfill that used to be inside him. In my absence, the puppies had their own private Monkey Massacre.

It was my fault. I should either have confiscated Monkey 2.0 or stitched his leg on in a more timely fashion. I could have saved that little blue monkey but, alas, he is no more. I laid him to rest in the rubbish bin. His time of death is estimated to have been between 8:10 am. and 12:20 p.m. No autopsy will be necessary.

Now I’m trying to decide if we should think about a Monkey 3.0 or we should find something a little more durable. It’s just that the puppies clearly favour Monkey above all their other toys. It’s fun to watch them share him as they trot outside, each one carrying a limb in their mouth as trot off proudly.

Of course, this is probably why I find little monkey limbs outside in the snow on occasion.

Ah well. Like I said, you learn something new every day. My lesson today was that perhaps Monkey is not the best toy for two dachshunds who love to play tug of war and can grip an object very tightly in their teeth for ages. Sookie, especially, is very determined and when she sets her mind to holding onto her toy, she’s not letting go for anything.

This time, it was poor Monkey 2.0 who paid the price. I vow to not let it happen if there should be a Monkey 3.0.

Monkey Massacres are no fun to clean up.

Poor Monkey. May Monkey 2.0 rest in peace.

Happy Friday!

Notes for Bad Winter Drivers...

I've come to the conclusion that it's quite impossible to have a weekend that doesn't fly by. It's just a fact of life that time moves much more quickly on weekends and during vacations than it does during a regular workday.

My weekend is already drawing to a close. On the plus side, Rory and Sookie are home and I'm ridiculously glad to have them back. I think they had a lovely 'holiday' with their 'grandparents' but they, too, seem to be quite happy to be home. They're currently sitting on the back of the sofa, watching out the window to see if any interlopers come by our house. This is Sookie's favourite hobby. At my parents, she sits on the back of the couch and looks out at their back yard. She enjoys bird watching there.

Now we're all home, there's a sense of completion about the house. I've had the dogs for almost a year now but it's hard to remember life without them. It certainly was far quieter, that's for sure.

I think for the next few weeks, we're all going to stay home. I've had a great December/January spending time with my family over the holidays and visiting for my birthday and dropping the dogs off/picking them up but my house is in desperate need of some attention and I'm going to make sure it gets it over the next few weeks.

I'm also quite grateful to not have to drive for a while. I'm actually a big fan of driving in general. I love the alone time and listening to music or an audiobook. I'm just not quite such a fan in the winter. While I love snow, I'm definitely not a fan of it blowing on the roads or the ice that follows the snow after the sun's been on it all day and it refreezes at night.

Nevertheless, even when the roads are bad, they're manageable. The only thing that makes them really bad are the other drivers.

I've written blogs before about bad drivers. Nevertheless, bad drivers in the winter are a lot different from bad drivers in the summer. Thus, I have been gathering a list of complaints towards some of the Midwestern drivers on the roads in the winter.

1) If it snows, please clean off the roof of your car. While I know that it takes time and is a lot of effort, it's severely annoying to get stuck behind you and constantly be pelted with rather large chunks of snow because you simply couldn't be bothered to take a broom and brush off your roof. Yes, I know I can say that because I have a garage but even if I park outside and snow accumulates, I brush it off because it's annoying to other drivers. Also, it's dangerous to you because it also slides forwards and temporarily blocks your vision.

2) If you're on a two lane highway and there's five cars in front of you all stuck behind someone who is going 45 miles an hour, it doesn't do any good to ride my bumper. You see, I'm only one car ahead of you and I'm also stuck. It's not going to make me go any faster because I can't. I'm stuck. Just like you. When you're so close I can no longer see your headlights, that's just stupid. If there's a little snow on the road and you're still doing that, it's just plain moronic. Get off my back.

3) If the road is covered with snow and the only road visible in in tracks made by other tires, I'm going to go quite slowly. I have a Toyota Corolla. You may pass me in your big old SUV if you like but when you fishtail and swerve as you pass me, I'm going to laugh at you. I sincerely hope you don't hit the ditch but, if you do, the mean girl in me's first reaction is, "Uh, that'll teach you, won't it?" There's a reason I'm going slow. You see, I value my life and those of my dogs. I'm going to take it as slow as I need to in order to make it safely to my destination.

4) If you have salt on your window, I feel your pain. I have it too. However, if you're in front of me on a windy day, I don't appreciate you cleaning your windows as you go 60 miles an hour because your windshield fluid blows back and freezes on my windshield. I don't like that very much. Wait until you get to a light. Please.

5) If it's snowy and the roads are not nice, please don't talk on your cell phone while you drive. Please do not talk on your cell phone and make a left turn to pull out onto a highway without paying attention so that you end up cutting someone off. It's not easy to slam on your breaks when the roads are slick and it's dangerous. Put the stupid phone away. Please.

I'm sure I could come up with a whole list more but in the past few weeks, all of the above have occured on my drive. The cell phone talkers are the worst. I had a lady run a red light today to turn left and it had been left for a while. Fortunately the roads weren't bad and I was able to avoid her but do you think she even noticed? Nope. She just carried on talking into her phone.

Ah well, I made it safe and sound. I've just learned the art of defensive driving. With my precious canine cargo in the backseat, I've found I'm even more cautious than before.

Now we're home, thankfully. The heat is on, the pups are relaxing and it's time to let the weekend draw to a close in my favourite way: Snuggling on the sofa with two dachshunds, a blanket and a glass of wine.

The ending of a weekend isn't so bad, after all.

Happy Monday!

Being Grateful for the Good Things...

We're having rather a huge snow storm out there. Since early this afternoon, the snow has been coming down so fast, the plows can't keep up with it and the roads are covered.

Naturally, being the snow-loving Monkeypants I am, I'm not unhappy about it. I am, in fact, rather grateful. If this snow had come one day sooner, I would be stuck in Chicago, thinking about how much I wished I was home, snowed in and enjoying the snowfall.

So, here I am, somewhat snowed in and loving every minute of the snowfall. I had to shovel my drive when I got home from work and, unfortunately, chances are, by the morning, I shall have to shovel again but for now, I'm comfy in my house.

The only bad part about the snow is that it's going to be a bit of a nuisance for weekend travel. I need to go get my pups from my parent's house and with the snow being as bad as it is, it looks like I won't get to go tomorrow evening as planned. I'm hoping it'll be safe by Saturday. Last weekend when I left to drop off the pups, I thought the roads would be fine. However, it got quite windy and the highway that I was on for ten miles before I got to my parents' had blown over with snow and you couldn't tell the road from the ditch.

Needless to say, it was rather scary. It took every ounce of focus to make sure I stayed on the road.

Thus, I don't really want to have to do that again. I'll just have to play it by ear. I have this secret fear that my dogs will no longer want me when I pick them up, that they'll have had such a great time with their 'grandparents' that they won't like me anymore. Either that or they'll be so furious that I 'ditched' them for a week that they'll have disowned me.

I hope I'm just being silly.

I miss the girls being here and watching them run and play in the snow. It feels strange not to have to get up and open the back door for them every five minutes or have them come in, their bellies saturated with packed snow and their noses covered with the white stuff from where they've been digging.

We're creatures of snow, my dachshunds and I. I take so much pleasure in the fact that they enjoy it and don't have any qualms about running out into it, even when the drifts are as deep as they are. They boldly try to stand on top of them but slowly, their legs start to sink and, with enormous effort, they dolphin their way across to the next drift. It's adorable and it makes me smile because they're so determined.

Tonight, they really would have to have been determined. I think they would have had a hard time getting through the snow. Not only is it deep but it's still coming down, fast and furious. My boss let everyone leave early today. He's nice like that and I appreciate it. It was a little sticky to drive home on and shovelling my driveway took time but there's something tremendously satisfying when you drive into the safety of the garage and know that you're done for the evening and you don't have to go out anymore.

I'm just glad that I'm home, not stuck at an airport wondering when I might be able to get home. It just goes to show, as I said yesterday, that even under unpleasant circumstances, things can always be worse. I find if I look at things that way, it makes me incredibly grateful when good things happen.

I could be stuck at an airport, getting angry because my flight is delayed, delayed, delayed and then...cancelled. I could be on the phone at the airport, venting to my mother about how frustrated I am. I could be having to find a hotel room because there's no way I'm landing in Cincinnati tonight.

But I'm not. I'm home, in my comfy sweats, appreciating the snow. I'm very grateful for that.

Happy Friday!

A Puppy-less House for the Week

My house seems very quiet tonight. Without the two little warm bodies of my puppies running around, I'm feeling rather alone.

Sookie and Rory will be spending the week with their 'grandparents'. I have to go to Chicago tomorrow for a business trip and won't be back until Wednesday night. My parents are kind enough to pup-sit for me which means I don't have to stress about finding a boarding kennel and leaving them with strangers.

Nevertheless, I still had to leave them. I'm glad they're in safe hands but I've never left them overnight before and I'm feeling the quiet already. I think I'm going to feel it especially when I go to bed and I don't have a dachshund curled up under the covers on either side of me.

Ah well, distance makes the heart grow fonder...right?

And I do get to go to Chicago. I find it rather amusing that I've been at this job three months and I'm already getting to go somewhere. I never got to go anywhere for my last job. While my former coworker got to go to meetings all over the state of Ohio, I was left alone at my desk, staring at a computer screen.

So, naturally, I'm rather excited to fly somewhere. Well, I'm not actually excited about the flying part. I'm so over flying anywhere. I'm jaded and I've had some horrible travel experiences. I'm now waiting for teleportation to become an option.

I get to stay in a hotel which is always rather fun. I get to go out to a nice dinner. I get to meet coworkers from other branch offices. I get to sit in on some training sessions.

So, puppy-seperation anxiety aside, this is going to be an interesting week, I think. Business trips are always fun because you're getting to travel and you don't have to pay a penny for it. I used to have a job where I travelled a lot. That job took me to London, New York, San Diego and Los Angeles when I was still living in Indiana. That was a lot of fun. Well, except for the fact that I worked for a crazy lady, it was fun. The crazy lady was generous though and would always take us out to super fancy restaurants. It's just that you had to deal with her and she was a bit of a drinker. Several times when I travelled with her, I had to take the keys from her rental car and navigate us back to our hotel because she'd had several glasses of wine too many.

There will be no driving on this trip. We get to be 'chauffered' around. I have a strong feeling there will be some drinking although not too much from me. No matter how relaxed I feel around coworkers, I have a little rule about making sure I don't drink too much because I still have to go into the office. I'm not the type to be standing on top of a copy machine waving my underwear around after having a few cocktails.

Perhaps life would be more interesting if I was that type. I'm not sure I'd want to be, however. For one thing, my underwear isn't very exciting and, two, I don't really like waving it around in the air. It's bad enough when Rory gets hold of a pair of my underwear from the laundry and drags it outside to the back yard. I'm not likely to be tossing any of mine around in near future. At least, I don't plan on it.

No, I have a feeling this business trip won't be that wild. If it is, I shall be a spectator rather than a participant. We do get to play and inter-branch game of "Family Feud" during our meeting on Wednesday. I have to admit, the nerd in me is quite looking forward to that. I'm rather competitive and I really enjoy board games and trivia types of games. That's the sort of thing I think makes meetings fun.

So, for me, tomorrow, it's off to Chicago. In the meantime, I'm trying to keep myself busy so I don't miss my pups too much. Even though I've had them for less than a year, I can't remember life in my house without them. I've already taken the opportunity to clean the house a little bit. It's nice to be able to run the vacuum cleaner without them cowering on the sofa or, when she's feeling brave, watching Sookie run after it, boldly giving a yip as though she's going to attack it but then running off every time it moves even the slightest bit nearer.

Yet even that makes me miss them. Ah well, it's only five nights that I'm away from them. I'm sure they'll be ok without me.

I just hope I'm ok without them!

Happy Monday!

Confessions of a Chronic Worrier

One thing I’m learning in my job is that no two days are alike. Yesterday was one of the slowest days ever. No one was returning calls or emails and I sat at my desk waiting for something to happen to give me a lead. Instead, I hit dead ends time after time. I blamed the bad weather- a lot of companies shut down yesterday because of the snow.

Today was a different story. People called me back. I was able to talk to candidates and submit them for positions. It felt like something was going right. Now all I have to do is wait to see what happens next. Ideally, the companies to where we submit our candidates will like the resumes and want to schedule interviews. That would be a nice thing.

My boss likes to give us incentives to get people in jobs. He’s very good like that. Sometimes it’s a monetary bonus. Sometimes it’s taking us all out to dinner. This month, if we meet his quota, he’s taking us all out to Benihana. Most of you probably know what that is but for those of you that don’t, it’s one of those Japanese steakhouses where the chefs cook at your table and use fancy showmanship. They even flip veggies in your mouth. I’ve been to one of those places exactly once. It was interesting but I don’t particularly like having veggies flipped into my mouth so that I catch them. Mostly, it’s because I’m horribly coordinated and I can’t catch. However, I also have a fear of swallowing the object whole and choking.

I know, it’s not likely but one of my special gifts is being able to find something to worry about. It’s not a good thing, believe me. However, if you ever want someone to come up with a worst case scenario, just ask me. I’m good at thinking of bad things that can happen while doing everyday things. This is one of the reasons my car has wind down windows. I have this irrational fear of driving into a lake and not being to get out of my car. At least with a wind-down window, I’d have the chance of getting it to work without having to worry about the electrics shorting out.

I also worry about my puppies. Each day when I leave, I utilize my own slight case of obsessive-compulsive disorder and make sure that the bathroom door is shut so that the puppies don’t break the lids off my cleaners and accidentally drink bleach and whatever else I have in there. I also double-check that the back door is securely latched behind me. This is in case the puppies find a way to open the door and escape because I’ve left the garage door open. This, naturally, leads me to triple check that the garage door closes behind me. I confess that I’ve driven around the block to pass by my house just to make sure it’s shut.

I know. This is all rather irrational. After all, the puppies don’t have thumbs. They can’t open doors or break the tops off bottles but it’s hard to tell my over-worrying mind that because it’s already imagined it and, therefore, it could happen.

I’m a worrier. I admit it. It’s my nature. I have a friend that tells me not to worry so much about everything but that’s rather like telling someone with an addiction not to be addicted. It’s just not that easy. There are ways I control it. I laugh at myself; that’s the easiest way to stop me from going too far with my worrying.

But I still worry. Sometimes, it’s about silly things. Currently, it’s bedbugs. Here in the Midwest, there seems to be a problem with bed bugs. My coworker is obsessed with them and is always afraid she’s going to bring them home from some public place. Thus, I, too, began to worry and found myself going home to check to make sure I didn’t have bed bugs at home.

You’ll be happy to know I don’t. I didn’t really think I did but I had to check. It’s just one of those things. Just like when I lose something and I become completely obsessed with finding it. I can’t focus on anything until I a) either find the lost object or b) finally resign myself to the fact that it’s lost and I stop looking but begin obsessing about when I last saw it and where it could possibly have gone.

That obsession is not my fault. It comes from my parents. My mother does the same thing. I think my dad probably would too but his solution is to blame my mother for losing it and so she feels compelled to look for it. I think it’s my dad’s lazy way of not having to look for it himself. My older brother does the same thing. It’s just a weird family thing. Rather like the obsessions.

I’m sure my worrying/panicking is actually not that unusual. I’m sure I’m not the only one with imaginary worst case scenario's in my head. The way I look at it is as long as they stay in my head and I don’t let them really get in the way of my living my life, it’s ok. As soon as the worry become debilitating, I’ll…start to worry.

It’s a vicious cycle.

Happy Thursday!

Snowy Sort of Days...

It snowed a lot today. It started right before I got up and hasn’t stopped since then. Driving to work wasn’t too bad because the snow hadn’t been falling that long. Driving home from work was another story but I’m fortunate to live only a short distance away so at least I didn’t have to have white-knuckles for too long.

Unfortunately, the bad weather meant that I couldn’t make it home to the puppies at lunch. I left them uncrated all day because I had a feeling I’d get stuck. I hate not being home to let them outside but I think it’s far better for them to be stuck inside without being stuck in a crate for outside. They were very good, considering the length of time I had to leave them.

Of course, I think they were more perturbed to have been stuck inside all day because they were missing out on the snowfall. Before work, they spent almost the entire time it took me to get ready gallivanting out in the snow. They came in covered with snowflakes and as happy as larks.

Rory, in particular, enjoys snow. For some strange reason, she can often be found rolling in the snow. I’m not just talking a casual roll- I’m talking a full on, writing on the ground with joy and loving every minute of it roll. You can almost see the grin on her face as she does it. Her other favourite hobby is ice chewing. She particularly likes it when I knock the icicles of the roof and toss them away so she can go get them. Generally they’re too heavy to actually carry but she tries. She can also often be found lying on her tummy, contentedly trying to chomp away at a mound of ice on the frozen ground. Sookie enjoys the snow too but in a different way. Being my little huntress, Sookie enjoys the clear landscape for birdhunting that snow provides. Without too many objects to disguise her prey, she enjoys the tease of running up to birds as they land briefly. She hasn’t caught one yet but she’s trying. She’ll bound across the garden from one side to another in order to catch a bird. Of course, when the snow is deep enough, she tends to swim across the garden but she doesn’t seem to mind too much.

The trouble with dachshunds is that they’re low to the ground. This means even with a shallow fall of snow, the undersides of their tummies catch the icy substance and they come inside dripping underneath. There’s nothing that gets you on your toes quite as much as a dachshund who comes in from outside and jumps on your lap, dripping with snow.

Still, I’m pleased that my girls like snow. It means when I go outside, they come with me instead of shivering and quivering inside, afraid of the cold. Instead, they frolic as long as they can outside, come inside to warm up and then proceed to go back out. I tried putting their coats on them but they just get them soaking wet which defeats the purpose.

I enjoy the snow too. I don’t particularly like to drive on it as I’ve mentioned before but once I’m home or when the roads are clear, I find it rather a treat to have the world surrounding me be a blanket of white.

The only part I don’t like is that while kids in snowy areas get snow-days from school, the adults around them still have to go to work. It’s not that I can’t get to work when it’s snowy. It’s more that I want to stay home and pretend I’m snowed in. There’s something wonderfully liberating about not being able to drive far. It forces you to stay inside and do things like puzzles or sewing or cooking or reading. Since I enjoy all these things, snow days are definitely for me. I just don’t get them very often. Actually, unless it snows on a weekend, I don’t really get them at all.

Still, even when I’m not truly stuck inside because of the snow, winter allows us the time to relax and not feel like we have to do very much at all. Or, if we do, it’s not at the busier pace of the other seasons when there’s things to be done outside. Also, the snow is covering my lawn which means for the next few months, it won’t grow which means I won’t be able to mow. Since I dislike mowing rather a lot, this makes me happy.

Ah, snow….I love you! Happy Wednesday.

Naughty Pups and Fast-Flying Weekends

It's another one of those weekends that flew by too quickly. I'm having trouble believing that it's Sunday evening again. I was talking to my mother this weekend and we were talking about how time moves so much more quickly when you're an adult. As a child, it's measured by school days, vacations and weekend. A day seems much longer when you don't have any obligations other than school.

For adults, at least adults who work, time is measured by evenings and weekends. It becomes blocks of time. The blocks must account for errands and responsibilities as well as relaxation time. For every free evening, there's laundry to be done, groceries to be bought, dogs to be walked. I'm sure with children, there's even less time.

Weekends just fly by...that's all there is to it though, I suppose, when I was in school they always went by too quickly so I suppose some things don't change that much when you become an adult.

Still, I can't complain. I had a nice weekend. I went back to my parents just so I didn't have to spend the weekend by myself. My parents took me out to eat on Saturday. Unfortunately, it was one of those bad server experiences where our waitress forgot to put in our order. Thus, we ended up waiting almost 30 minutes for our entrees to arrive. In the end, we got our meal for free which was very kind of them but after you've sat there for 30 minutes getting more and more frustrated, the food never tastes as nice as it would have normally.

The pups always enjoy a trip back to my parents or their 'grandparents' as I refer to them. Sookie, especially, enjoys her visits. My parents have three dogs of their own. My dad has always taken pleasure in disturbing the dogs peace by winding them up and getting them excited by chasing them and playing with them. One of my parents' dogs, Oscar, a yorkie, is a yapper. He barks at EVERYTHING. My dad takes great pleasure in getting Oscar to "shout" at him which basically means Oscar chases him around and barks. A lot.

My dad has recently been playing with Sookie. She's always been a bit more vocal that Rory but it seems that thanks to my dad, Sookie has discovered her bark. She absolutely loves it when my dad winds her up and gets her to woof her little heart out. It's fun to watch because Sookie has so much fun.

The only problem is that it's very hard to get Sookie to turn off her bark. Thus, when we come back home, Sookie likes to continue to woof. She's starting to join in the chorus of the Dog Whisperer's beasts. She now barks anytime anyone walks by the house. She's just enjoying the sound of her bark.

It's hard to tell my dad not to play with her because it's clearly something Sookie loves and I love to see my dogs happy. It's just a little hard to find a way to get a dachshund to understand that it's not so ok to bark at her own house.

I'm going to have to figure out a way to do that. Either that, or curtail granddad's habit of getting her wound up and barking.

She's not my only problem child. My number one, mayhem-maker, is Rory. As I've mentioned whenever one of the pups is doing something she shouldn't, it's always Rory. Rory's the one who wriggles under the toolshed to catch a bunny when she can squeeze through a gap. Rory's the one who squeezes through the tiniest gap in my parents' fence to go running out in the field next door. Rory's the one who burys her head in the snow, comes out looking like an eskimo-dog and then gets an ear infection. She's the one with mud on her nose, leaves attached to her underbelly and cobwebs on her ears.

Now, Rory has taken to ice-skating. My parents have two fish ponds out back, connected by a deck and with a waterfall. My dad took the time to put nets over the ponds to deter the puppies from walking on the frozen surface. Unfortunately, Rory doesn't care about nets and if you don't watch her, she's found to be standing on the frozen pond edging closer and closer to the unfrozen part near the waterfall.

I don't think it's likely the ice will give way. She's only 13 pounds and the ice is pretty solid. More, I'm worried she'll skid or fall and end up falling into the unfrozen part of the pond. Thus, my new hobby has become watching-Rory-When-She's-Outside-To-Make-Sure-She's-Not-Up-To-No-Good.

Rory is often up to no good. It's in her nature. She's just that kind of dog. She doesn't mean to be naughty. She just is. It's just her personality.


She's currently asleep on the couch. Sookie is curled up next to her. It's times like this that I realize that for all the trouble she causes, I wouldn't trade her for the world. It's those big brown eyes and the tilt of her head that gets me; she looks like she's actually listening when I talk to her, even if I'm telling her off.

Of course, she currently has a huge splodge of mud on her nose but, well, if she didn't, I'd probably be worried.

Happy Monday

A Cold and Snowy Evening...

Here I am again on a Sunday evening, wondering how the weekend managed to go quite so fast. It's currently snowing hard outside, the wind is blowing and I'm glad I get to be inside and appreciate winter's beauty from inside. As much as I love snow, it's nice, sometimes, to curl up and enjoy it as part of the landscape rather than get too up close and personal with it.

I did get a little up close and personal with it this morning. I went to my parent's house for the weekend. I got to do some Christmas shopping with my mother and just have a nice relaxing weekend. As I mentioned on Friday, I knew it was supposed to snow today so I'd already planned on leaving their house much earlier than usual so I could make it home before the snowstorm hit.

I did leave early but I still managed to run into some tricky driving conditions. I forget that Indiana is a little less reluctant to salt/plow their roads as Ohio. As a result, I spent an hour and a half of white-knuckled driving going 35 miles an hour instead of the posted 55 mph limit. The road was snow covered and icy so I had to be careful to stay in the tracks other cars had made.

By the time I crossed over from Indiana to Ohio, I was exhausted. Driving that carefully and alertly makes for a stressful time especially with two puppies in the backseat.

Fortunately, the roads in Ohio were merely wet rather than snowy and it was a much more relaxed drive the rest of the way home. It was snowing but not very heavily- just wet, small flakes.

I hadn't been home more than an hour when it began to really snow. I'm talking the thick, fluffy flakes that accumulate really quickly. The wind began to blow and the snow seemed to be falling sideways. Needless to say, I was extremely relieved I hadn't stayed any longer at my parents.

The puppies are enjoying the snow. They've been running around in it for a while now. It's deep enough that their little tummies keep getting soaked. Dachshunds, with their short legs are very low to the ground for a dog and so it's comical to watch them bound through the snow, almost seeming to dive between steps. They don't mind. They run around and chase each other just as they do when there's no cold, pretty white stuff on the ground.

Sookie even gets excited when we do the snow dance. We did it last night. This means it's probably our fault that it snowed. I probably could have timed that a little better but given that we made it home before it started coming down fast and furiously, we also could have timed it worse.

The nice thing about snow is it makes you feel a little less guilty if you're dreadfully lazy. For example, this afternoon once the stress of driving had worn off, I spent the afternoon with two puppies curled up on my lap, drinking a mug of peppermint hot chocolate and watching "Meet Me in St. Lous." I think there could be worse ways to spend a snowy Sunday afternoon. There are probably more productive ways too but every now and again, it's just a luxury to be lazy.

I plan on continuing that tradition for the rest of the evening. I've decided this is my 'snow day' and I'm going to appreciate it. Every last minute of it even as time goes by as quickly as it always does during the last hours of a weekend.

Still, even if time does move fast, on a cold, snowy night, it's nice to be home to appreciate the minutes, fast as they might move.

Happy Monday!