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!

The Call of The Wild...

It was a beautiful day outside today. The humidity went away, the temperature dropped and the breeze picked up. It felt almost like spring, rather than summer, outside.

It was definitely a welcome change from the stifling heat. I don't think it's just me who's been feeling the heat; I noticed the puppies have been a little sluggish- more so when the air is thick and hot outside. Today, they had a lot more energy than they have which they spent chasing each other around the garden.

They're getting so big. I looked at a picture of Sookie which was taken by the people from whom I got her. It was a cute enough picture that I pretty much dropped everything and decided she would be my puppy. She's so tiny compared to how she is now. In a way, it makes me sad that she's growing up so fast but it's one of those things you don't even notice until you look back at a picture and realize how tiny she really was.

Lately, Sookie and Rory's favourite activity in the world is Bunny Hunting. We have two rabbits that like to sit in my vegetable patch. Since they've consumed everything they seem to find tasty- including, but not limited to swiss chard, corn, sunflowers and eggplants- fortunately they seem to be doing no more damage than sitting on my plants.

Rory and Sookie try to take care of my rabbit problem. Now, when I let them out of their crate, they go, excitedly, to the back door where they proceed to jump very high as they they think they can turn the handle themselves. The minute I open the door, they tear at full speed to the vegetable garden. You can practically see the skid marks.

Nine times out of ten, the blasted rabbits are there. They're fast, I'll give them that. What I don't understand is that the big bunnies seem able to shrink to the point that they can squeeze through a tiny hole in the fence. It drives the puppies a little crazy because they can't even fit their nose through the same hole. Believe me, they try. I've seen them lying down on the ground with their noses pushed through the holes in the fence, desperately trying to get to the rabbit.

The rabbit, being a bit of an evil bunny, has taken to sitting about four feet away from the bunnies and just casually eating the grass in Possibly-Joe's yard, just behind the fence at the bottom of our garden. It sits there, defiantly watching the puppies as it slowly chews. The puppies bark. Then they try to dig. No matter how furious they try to unearth the secret way to the bunny, they're not successful.

Now the original bunny has brought a friend and the two of them have taken to sitting there, lazily watching the puppies as they furiously bark. It's as though they're just out for an evening jaunt and they're having one of those lazy conversations two friends do when they're just sitting together, sprawled out in the sun. Or, more likely, they're just making fun of the puppies in their secret bunny way.

Poor Rory and Sookie try so hard to get to the rabbit but it seems to be in vain. To make matters worse, we seem to have an angry squirrel that has taken residence in the sapling that's just way too tall for the puppies to reach but low enough that they can see it. It's taken to making peculiar squirrel noises at them which sounds like a cross between yelling, spitting and squealing.

Naturally, the puppies try to get the squirrel but, fortunately for me, they can't climb trees. I'm quite glad about that.

Sometimes I wonder if there's some kind of communication system between the neighbourhood wildlife as to whose gardens are the best to inhabit for a) safety, b) yummy snacks and c) entertainment value. I'd say we have the last two, at the very least. We don't see the same sort of creatures in the Dog Whisperer's garden.

Last week, as I was driving to work, I saw a racoon ambling along the road. It was a skinny, ragged thing and I seriously think it gave me a dirty look as I watched it. It slowly hunched its way across the road and down into a storm drain. I'm actually waiting for it to get the word that our garden is fun for creatures of most types, as long as they can outrun two little dachshund puppies. I have a feeling that the racoon might be in trouble there but I wouldn't be surprise if it tried.

For now, as long as the puppies can't dig their way out and the rabbits leave my zucchini, asparagus, cucumbers and tomatoes alone, I think I can live with the wildlife whether it's sadistical bunnies, shouting squirrels or crotchety old racoons.

You'd never believe I live in a city, would you?

Happy Wednesday!