The Halloween Decorating Police Game

I can’t believe it’s almost Halloween already. I mean that in more of a figurative way than a literal way. If I meant it literally, I’d be lying because the Halloween decorations began creeping into stores in early September and my neighbourhood has slowly become one long string of “who has the best fake cemetery” and “Who can hang the most ghosts, zombies, skeletons and Frankenstein’s Monsters from their porch.”

Also, there are the giant inflatables. I remember when they started popping up. It used to be just for Christmas. The first one I saw was pretty nifty- it was a giant snowglobe with a polar bear in it and a fan blew the snow around. Then they became more popular and there were trains with waving penguins and santas, reindeer popping out of presents and variations on the giant snowglobe theme.

Then, of course, they stopped being just for Christmas and giant Easter bunnies began cropping up. There were giant turkeys for Thanksgiving and, of course, the Halloween versions. The Halloween versions are actually exactly the same as the Christmas versions except there are ghosts and pumpkins instead of santas and reindeer. Oh, and they’re orange and black instead of green and red. I even saw the “Halloween on a train” inflatable yesterday. Do ghosts and ghouls really ride trains and wave at people? I think not.

I prefer the more gruesome Halloween decorations myself. Someone in my neighbourhood has decorated their cemetery as a crime scene. There are fake evidence numbers scattered around bloody body parts which seem to stick out of the ground. Naturally, I find this quite funny. Hey, if you haven’t figured out I’m a little dark and twisted yet, you clearly haven’t read enough of my blogs. I especially appreciate the touch that they have a decaying corpse watching over the entire scene and he looks disturbingly real.

I enjoy this time of year. It makes walking the pups in the evening even more fun. Our neighbourhood is clustered into batches. There are Those Who Decorate and Those Who Do Not Decorate. If one house decorates, those around it tend to at least place some token decorations outside. Then we’ll walk for a stretch into an area of Those Who Do Not Decorate. These are the boring houses. As daft as it sounds, I like to mentally grade houses on their efforts. It serves no purpose other than to allow myself a little extra amusement while the pups sniff and scamper their way on our walks.

My grading system is easy. A house gets points for efforts. If it’s a really well done decorating job, they get top marks. If they’ve at least made an effort, we take that into consideration. If not effort is made, they FAIL. Nothing much happens except I whisper to the pups that “We have a FAIL on our hands, girls!” They pay no attention to me because there are squirrels to chase and, frankly, when there are squirrels to be chased, a quirky ‘mother’/’owner’ is really not important enough to merit paying any attention.

I’m very generous with my points though. Even if a house has a mere single pumpkin on the porch, they get to scrape a ‘pass’ from me. I mean it’s something. We do take chrysanthemums into consideration too since they are a traditional autumn flower. If a house has a spectacular display of mums that was clearly planted with love and attention, we give them a pass. If they have a token dying chrysanthemum in their flower garden that’s clearly an afterthought, they don’t necessarily pass.

It’s a silly game but I enjoy it. One of my favourite houses is the one where the little old lady has a toy cat in the window and she dresses it in little outfits for the seasons. It has Easter bunny ears, an Uncle Sam hat and now it has a witches hat and cape. She also has a lovely display of Jack o’ Lanterns and some pretty mums. She gets high marks. It’s all about the effort and there’s bonus points for cuteness. I’m not a cat person but I adore her stuffed toy cat because you can tell she has fun with it and what’s life if you can’t have a little fun with it?

I also play the game at Christmas too although it’s usually a little colder and harder to linger. I like to grade the Christmas displays. I know that’s not politically correct because not everyone celebrates and there may be a reason there isn’t a shimmering display of Christmas lights out front but this is why I only grade the houses that do participate. Also, we grade on indoor decorations too so if there’s a particularly pretty tree inside the house but no outdoor decorations, it’s pretty obvious they’re celebrators of Chrismas and it’s ok to grade them.

I am aware that this is probably a peculiar habit and there’s absolutely no point at all. I have visualized forming a squad of Decorating Police but I think I’d be the only member and it would be rather odd to walk up to people and say, “By the way, your scarecrows are dirty and leaking straw. I think it’s time to get some new ones. Also, you have too many ghosts and not enough zombies.” It would be sort of entertaining but as I always say, I do like to keep up some attempt of normalcy with my neighbours.

Halloween is only the beginning. There will be some giant inflatable turkeys popping up over the next few weeks and they will soon be succeeded by all manner of holiday inflatables and lights. I have to admit, I’m looking forward to it. Walking with the dogs is always a nice way to get out and about but it’s even more fun when I can play Undercover Decorating Police.

Happy Wednesday!

Outdoor Sort of Weekends...

This has been a beautiful autumn weekend. The weather has been warm with a cool wind and the sun has been shining. It's the kind of weather that makes you feel guilty for staying indoors.

Thus, I tried not to stay indoors. I spent much of the time with the girls outside. I took them for a long walk on Saturday over the park. We haven't been there since the spring- our last visit was after we'd had floods and it was a wet soggy mess. Soon after, the weather got too hot to walk for too long outside and so this was our first trip back for a while.

It was the perfect time for walking. I've found that the woods where we walk (aka, the park) is far less busy on Saturdays than Sundays. I think this is because most people use Saturdays for productivity and Sundays for relaxation.

Thus, we had the woods mostly to ourselves. We did our usual trek. It was a wonderful hike- the leaves were thick enough to crunch under our feet but the ground was dry enough that we didn't slip at all. Autumn was all around us as we walked.

I was a little apprehensive because Rory has become a little, uh, lazy since the spring. As I've mentioned, she has a penchant for sitting down when she's had enough. Still, since the weather has cooled, she hasn't sat down for a while so I was hopeful.

Well, we made it 3/4 of the way through our trek and then she dug her heels in and didn't want to walk anymore. Sookie was fine. After trying to coax her to keep moving, I eventually gave in and ended up carrying her for a little way. This seemed to appease her and shortly after, she began walking again, albeit a little more slowly.

By the time we were done, both dogs and I were all rather tired but happy. It was a windy day and there's nothing more refreshing than a long walk on a breezy autumn day.

As for today, I spent the majority of the day outside. It's coming time to winterize the garden and though many of my flowers are still in bloom, I decided to clean out my shed and clear off the patio. It's a little sad but it's also nice to know that I've accomplished something. I spent the rest of the afternoon weeding and trimming back the overgrown areas. In a couple of weeks, I'll start pulling up the flowers as they die back but for now, it's nice to see that the flowers aren't ready to give up yet.

I love weekends like this where I have no set agenda but have a flexible 'to do' list. I think since it is such a lovely day, I shall try to finish it off outside. The days are already getting shorter so I'll try to catch the sunshine while it's there.

Even though it's back to work tomorrow, I'm still forever grateful that we get two days a week away from the normal drudgery of the work day. I even like my job and I'm still happy to get away for a couple of days. This week, especially, is a big week for me as it's the year anniversary of when I left my old job that made me unhappy and started this one which has been significantly better. Obviously, no job is perfect but I'm pretty pleased with mine.

Still, before the work week starts all over, there's a few more hours of my autumnal weekend to enjoy. The breeze is still blowing and the sun is still shining...I've said it before and I'll say it again. I love Autumn!

Thanks, as always for reading and Happy Monday!

Really Random Musings...

There are times in life when you are engaged in activities that allow for a form of meditation. I’m not talking about the ‘Zen’ type of meditation or any other type of spiritual meditation. I’m talking about the type that happens when you’re doing something like, say, driving or even tiling a floor that requires concentration but also allows you to empty your brain and let the thoughts flow.

Since I had a lot of time this weekend to ‘mediate’ while tiling a floor as well as on my short drive to work each day, I realized I had quite a few random thoughts that tended to occupy my mind. Since this blog is called ‘random musings’, I figured that I might as well share them with you because making lists is sort of fun. Please don’t judge me for some of them. We all know I’m a little odd at times.

Things that popped into my mind either while I was tiling the floor or driving to work:

1) Why some songs just get stuck in your brain for no reason. I currently have that annoying “Keep on Keeping On” jingle from Chase Bank in my head. It keeps going around and around. I don’t even bank at Chase. Grr.

2) Why there are vans for FedEx with FedEx Express printed on them. Does that mean it’s a Federal Express Express van? Why the repetition?

3) HBO’s Game of Thrones. For a show based on a book I’ve never read, it certainly does take up a lot of my brainpower. When I was tiling this weekend, it pretty much kept cropping up. It’s like my brain is trying to solve a mystery that I don’t think really exists. Most odd.

4) Why does one side of my lawn grow much faster than the other? It’s weird. I mow the whole thing to keep it even but it’s only one side that really needs it.
5) Why does Rory Gilmore, my somewhat active dachshund, suddenly decide to plop herself down on the grass and refuse to move when we’re on a walk whereas Sookie wants to keep moving?

6) Why does Mrs. Enormous Trousers insist on telling me everything when I step outside to walk the dogs? Last night, I learned that her daughter thought she needed to wear a better bra, that Mr. Enormous Trousers had to buy new pants and that he got a haircut. All of this while it’s 93 degrees out and the dogs clearly aren’t in the mood to stand around.

7) Why Son of Dog Whisperer is surprised when he falls of his bike because he’s riding around, trying to do it no handed with his eyes closed while wearing no shirt or shoes and resembling a lobster because clearly he didn’t have any sunscreen on all day.

8) Why Canadian geese will decide to settle and nest in the most random places. Also, why is their feces green and why is it so messy?

9) Why I despise Gordon Ramsey so much. I tried to give “Masterchef” a go last night and it made me cringe. He’s so clearly acting up for the cameras with his drama of “TRUFFLE OIL OFFENCE! YOU SHOULD BE SHOT” and his dramatic fingers to his mouth exclamations of “Damn” when he clearly is disappointed in a contestant. Also, these are HOME COOKS- they may not know that in the cheffing world, Truffle Oil is the Oil of the Devil. Perhaps, if you stopped gagging and exclaiming over how offensive and wrong it is, you might politely TEACH her something.

10) I can’t stand fishlips on people. This is a mean and horrible thing today but there are people- mostly men- who have these tiny little lips in enormous chins and they give me the icks. The large judge on “Masterchef” has fishlips and I find them just…unpleasant.

11) Worms. After our last major rainstorm a couple of weeks ago, there was a huge population of worms writing on the sidewalks. Then when it got hot, they dried up and died. Why didn’t they wriggle to safety? Also, I really wish Rory would not try to eat these dried up worms on our walks. People will think I don’t feed her properly when, in fact, I feed her a little TOO well.

12) Squirrels…I’m not a fan but I’m amazed at their ability to climb a tree while holding onto a large object. In recent months, I’ve seen squirrels race up a tree holding a drink can, a near-empty can of Busch’s baked beans, a whole slice of pizza and a bunch of grapes. I’m not sure where the grapes came from.

13) Weeds. Why didn’t my seeds grow but weeds have no problem propagating and multiplying in the same soil?

14) Food. I think about food a lot. Usually I plan my dinner ahead of time. Yesterday, I planned on arroz con pollo tacos for dinner and since I used the tomato juice for the marinade, I had leftover tomatoes in a can so tonight, I’m having gnocchi with roasted red pepper and tomato sauce. Tomorrow, I’ll probably do something with asparagus, gnocchi and white wine. Yes, I’m obsessed. However, healthy good cooking takes some planning and creativity.

15) Why I lost my love for going to the cinema to watch a movie. Aside from “Harry Potter,” there’s nothing on my summer “Must See” list. A couple of years ago, I saw most of the major releases in a theatre. It might have something to do with the fact that ticket prices seem to creep up 50 cents more each time I go.

16) Is a movie in 2011 that is #1 at the box office really breaking records or is it that ticket prices are almost double what they were ten years ago and it just looks like movies are making more money?

17) Where are my hubcaps going? I’m now missing two. I have no idea where one of them went. One, I suspect, was pilfered when I left my car overnight in a train station car park a couple of years ago. The other one…it was just gone.

18) What do those Magnum ice-cream bars taste like? Since I’m trying to be healthy and watch my calorie intake, chances are one of those things would either have to be consumed by me on a ‘cheat day’ when I’m allowed to eat what I want or as an entire meal on a normal day. They look yummy but is it worth the calorie expenditure?

19) Chewing tobacco. That stuff is nasty. My coworker chews it and has a cup in his car that he spits in. He knows it’s vile but he does it anyway. What possesses someone to start doing it in the first place? Smoking…well, not that I’m a fan but it seems to make more sense. Why not chew Big League chew or something?

20) Writing. I still do it although I’m currently waiting for my proof of “Emmy goes to Hell” to arrive so I can move on to a new project. Is it worth writing a new novel or should I consider retiring into the oblivion in which I feel that I belong?

21) What should I do with my bathroom? It’s hideous. My dad has plans to help me remodel but while I think it’s lovely of him to help and he will eventually get it done, his timetable always needs to have a couple more weeks or even months added to it. Since it involves taking out my only bath/shower, I’m a wee bit worried about how long it’d take to replace them. Also, since his plan includes taking out wallboard and sawing the bath in half, methinks a weekend will NOT be enough to get it done.

22) Why do I like Target so much and why is it impossible to leave there without getting at least double the amount of stuff I planned to buy?

23) Will teleportation ever exist? It’d be nifty to get somewhere distant without hopping on a plane.

24) When the pups and I were walking the other day, there was a sock lying in the street several blocks away. I’ve been missing one of those socks for a while and I bought them in the wholesale district of Los Angeles a couple of years ago. What is the likelihood that it was actually my sock and, if so, how on earth did it get there?

25) Why don’t they make seasonal summer pencils? I like to write with pencils and I have pencils that reflect the major upcoming events (Christmas, Halloween, Easter, Valentines’ Day…). Why can’t I find pencils that reflect summer. It’s not fun to write with a boring pencil or one that’s out of season.

Thanks for reading!

Happy Wednesday!

Beautiful Weather for a Busy Weekend

This was one of those weekends when I didn't have anything planned but it ended up being a blur of business anyway.

It helped that Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day. Having had snow only two days before, it was unexpected but it ended up being almost 60 degrees, sunny, blue skies...perfect. It was the type of day where you feel guilty for staying inside.

Thus, I spent the majority of the day outside, clearing the autumn and winter debris from the garden and sprucing it up, ready to start planting/landscaping when spring genuinally arrives. I had planned on taking the girls for a walk over the park but instead, they spent the time happily playing outside in the garden while I worked. We compensated by walking around the neighbourhood twice. It was a busy walk due to the weather. We saw Larry-the-Potential-Serial-Killer for the first time since the autumn. He was very friendly. The pups and I have actually had to avoid his house for the past few days due to a very Dead Squirrel that was laying on the edge of his property.

Dead Squirrel posed a problem because the girls could smell it and desperately wanted to claim it as their prize. The first day we discovered Dead Squirrel, I was just glad the leashes I walk the girls on were strong. Sookie and Rory both whined and wimpered desperately to be allowed to go get Dead Squirrel but, alas, I had to play the mean mum card and say "No." Also, it violates our Squirrel Rules anyway: Sookie and Rory may claim any squirrel that they personally catch. Squirrel must be in full health when caught. Already Dead Squirrels do not count and thus will not be claimed.

We really do have Squirrel Rules. I like to pretend the girls understand them even though I know they don't care. Squirrels to dachshunds are a little like crack to an addict: They desperately want the squirrel, they need the squirrel. Nothing else counts but getting the squirrel.

Fortunately, squirrels are too fast for the girls and they can climb trees. This, however, never prevents a chase anyway.

I had to explain to Larry-the-Potential-Serial-Killer why we were avoiding his property. He said he'd take care of Dead Squirrel for us so we could walk by. He's actually very nice like that. Also, I'm sure he didn't really want a decaying rodent on his lawn, anyway.

Dead Squirrel was gone by Sunday. Unfortunately, so was the nice weather. We woke up to a grey day that was almost 20 degrees cooler than the day before. Also, it didn't help that I completely forgot about Daylight Savings Time. I actually knew that it was happening this weekend but completely forgot to change the clocks before I went to bed lst night. Thus, when I woke up this morning, my alarm clock read 8:40 a.m. Then when we got up, I looked at my cell phone and was shocked to see it said it was almost 10 a.m. Thus, the lightbulb in my brain went on and I figured it out. Still, I'm not a fan of the time change. Falling back is ok, I suppose but it's the springing forward I don't like. We lose an hour of sleep and it's not that easy to tell our body clock that it's seven p.m. when we know it's really only 6 p.m. It'll take a couple of weeks before it starts feeling natural.

Even with the clock change surprise this morning, I still had a productive day. I finally got my paint picked out for my family room so I spent the day cleaning the room, taping the edges and taking down curtain rods. All that's left is to actually paint it which I forsee happening next weekend. Hopefully it well be slightly easier than the cranberry paint debacle of 2009.

All in all, working in the garden, working around the house and walking 2.5 miles each day with the dogs has made for a busy weekend. It's the type of weekend that makes me feel like I need a hot bath to soothe my aching muscles but also that it's good to have aching muscles.

Tomorrow it'll be back to work. It's another Monday. As we all know, I'm not particularly a fan of those but I'm bound and determined to make sure tomorrow is a good Monday. After all, I've had a lovely weekend with lots of puppy time as well as time to appreciate being a homeowner as well as some much needed fresh air. It really doesn't get much better than that.

Thus, I will make sure to carry that feeling forward, no matter how grey and gloomy Monday tries to be. Although, if it wanted to be sunny, warm and pretty outside, that would definitely help.

Fingers crossed!

Happy Monday.

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!

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!

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!

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!

The Mystery of Penguins at Christmas...

I got my wish today. I woke up just as daylight was starting to creep in only to see that it was snowing.

Needless to say, this made me quite happy. It didn't please the pups quite so much, however. I made them wear their little pink coats since it was cold out and they didn't like that very much. They went out but then they came in and sat still, sulking until I took them off. They promptly ran outside again. I'm hoping they get used to them since it was cold today but not as cold as it's lightly to get.

As the day past, the snow fell a little faster and a little heavier. I had at least three people ask me if I'd done the snow dance with Sookie or worn my snowflake necklace. The answer was, in fact, yes. Hey, it's December. Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance for snow.

It was good snow. It fell enough to put the thinnest coating on the ground but not enough that the naysayers could complain that the snow was a problem. It was nice to come out of work, turn my face up to the sky and let the flakes fall.

It's still snowing a little out there. When I came home from work, I decided that even though it was cold, the puppies and I were going to celebrate the first official snowfall of winter by going for our walk. This time, I made them wear their coats. I think they look adorable. They have twin mock-Burberry pink fleece coats that cover their middles which, being dachshunds, are quite long. They walk side by side down the street and it's just plain fun to watch.

They didn't seem to mind the cold although it occurred that their feet might be cold. The pavement had to be pretty frigit. Yet, does that bother dogs? I don't have a clue. I know they make shoes for dogs but to me they've always seemed like a vanity thing rather than a practical thing. I mean, there are some dogs like huskies that are made for cold climates and you don't see them wearing boots or shoes. So I'm hoping that the puppies feet acclimate to the colder temperatures. I don't fancy putting shoes on each of their four feet. It's hard enough velcro-ing Rory's coat closed as she wriggles around.

Still, we enjoyed our walk. With my gloves, comfy shoes and coat, I stayed warm except for my ears. The puppies didn't seem to get too cold. They liked to sniff at the little dollops of snow that had accumulated on the raked piles of leaves. This time of year, it's nice to walk because everyone's putting their Christmas lights up. I like to see whose decorations I think are the best. I am not, sadly, a fan of the giant inflatable...anything. It might be a giant train with penguins on it, a giant snowglobe with blowing snow and penguins in it, a tree with a mini Santa hanging from it, blowing in the breeze...I don't care. I find giant inflatable holiday decor to be, uh, tacky.

Also, I find much of it involves penguins. Why is that? I mean, I rather like penguins. They're cute. They're comical when you watch them at Seaworld and the zoo. They're fun to watch on the nature channel.

But why are they really associated with Christmas and the holidays? I mean, ok, so they live in a snowy climate and, Christmas, typically, in this hemisphere is often associated with snow. However, there are also other creatures that live in the artic...walruses for example. Do you see giant inflatable walruses? How about musk oxen? Wolverines? Whales? (yes, I googled "arctic creatures" in case you were wondering.) Do you see giant inflatable musk oxen? Nope. So why penguins?

So, these are actually the things I ponder as I walk the puppies and look at the Christmas decorations. The puppies are a little puzzled by the giant inflatables anyway because their air pump thingies make a strange whirring noise. Also, if they flap in the breeze, that tends to make the puppies jump.

We prefer the classically decorated houses with their lights, wreathes, pine, bows and snowmen. There are a few on our street that are beautiful. It's nice to walk by and see them up close because it's never quite the same when you drive by.

On nights like this, with the Christmas lights and snow, it makes me happy I moved back to the midwest. California for all it's balminess and prettiness was never the same in the winter. I could never get used to the palm trees being decorated with Christmas lights.

Never mind it never snowing. That...I could never get used to for all the years I lived out there. Snow, how I've missed you. Welcome back!

Happy Wednesday!

The Dichotomy of Seasons in the Neighbourhood...

This has been another very quick weekend. I've discovered that even when you like your job, weekends fly by and you're ready to head back to work before you know it.

Still, I can't complain. This has been a beautiful weekend. Today, especially, was just a stunning autumn day. It was the type of day where I got up with a 'to do' list in my head. It included yard work, cooking, writing, cleaning and doing laundry. I also had to go on a mad early morning dash to Target for their pre-Black Friday sale on behalf of my sister who's in search of this thing for my niece for Christmas called a "LaLaLoopsy Doll" or something to that effect. Unfortunately, Target did not have said doll nor did Walmart. I think this means my sister and I might have a quest for Christmas.

Still, when I got home from my pre-Black Friday shopping trip, I realized that it was far too nice of a day to waste and so I took the pups for a long nature hike over the woods.

It was a wise choise. There was a cool breeze but the day was otherwise sunny and balmy. The woods were a myriad of autumn colours and we had fun chasing nature. That is to say the puppies had fun chasing nature in the form of a woodpecker, squirrel, herron and a flock of Canadian geese whereas I just ran along behind them, enjoying the exercise.

It was a great day for a walk. The air woke my tired brain up and made me appreciate that it's less than a week until Thanksgiving and I could still get by in light jacket and t-shirt without being cold.

I wore the puppies out which is not something I was too unhappy to see. By the time they got home, it was nap time for them while I did some more of my errands. When they woke up, they joined me in the garden as I winterized it- chopping down the dead plants and putting leaves around the roots of the plants that are sensitive to cold.

The day remained pretty and so later this evening, on a break from writing, the pups and I went for another walk- this time on our regular neighbourhood romp.

We discovered that while we had been walking over the woods, enjoying the balmy sunnyness of autumn, many of our neighbours were taking advantage of the good weather and putting their Christmas decorations up outside. While it's still a little early for my tastes, I couldn't blame them. If I were going to do more than put some lights over my bushes, I'd probably have thought about it too.

However, we also noticed that it wasn't just outdoor decorations that had gone up. As the sun set and we continued our walk we noticed more than one house in which a tree stood proudly in the window.

It's still too early for my tastes but it's nice to see the lights, at least. In addition, it's quite fun to see the transition in lawn decorations from autumn/Halloween to Christmas. There are still some houses, like mine, with scarecrows and autumn leaves decorating them. Then there are the Christmas folk with their red and green displays, their multicoloured lights and their icicles hanging from the roofs.

To me, this shows the transition of the season, even if I'm not ready to make the transition yet.

We had fun on our walk this evening. It turned out to be quite a windy day so the leaves had gathered in thick carpets all the way around the neighbourhood. Even those people who had painstakingly raked their leaves and cleared their lawns were back to needing to rake again.

Personally, I only rake leaves when they pose a nuisance such as being trod into the house. otherwise, I leave them. This time of year, there's such a pretty display of reds, oranges, browns and yellows in the fallen leaves that it seems a shame to ruin the cover on the ground. It's like nature is giving us a carpet of colour. Why rake it? When it rots and turns brown, the snow will come and offer a cleansing cover of white. Then the snow will melt and the green of spring will be peeking through. I say let the leaves lie...they're prettier that way.

The puppies, however, don't mind the raked piles of leaves. Rory continues to 'splat' on ever pile she sees while Sookie watches her, bemused. They don't seem bothered by the dichotomy of Halloween meets Christmas that we see as we walk. They're too busy looking for squirrels.

It's nice to still be able to walk. Then again, I'm hoping we can still walk, even if it snows. I'm curious to see the neighbourhood in yet another transition. I hope the puppies aren't opposed.

We'll see how that goes.

Happy Monday!

The Impossibility of Explaining Daylight Saving Time to a Couple of Puppies...

It was feeling a lot less like Christmas today.

Even though we woke up to a lightly frosted world, the day warmed up so much that a jacket wasn't necessary. I'd say this was odd given that it was pouring down with snow on Friday night but this is the Midwest where you can have an 80 degree day in December and a 30 degree day in May.

It was nice that it was so warm outside. It made walking the puppies more pleasant. Lately, it's been so chilly, I've started to think gloves might be necessary. The puppies don't seem to mind. I haven't put their winter coats on them yet but when the temperature drops again, it'll be time.

They won't like it but there's a lot of things they don't like. There are things they don't understand...like daylight saving's time.

It's very hard to try to explain to little furry creatures- albeit cute little furry creatures- about daylight savings time. When their basic understanding of the human vocabulary can be boiled down into several meaningful words ("Rory", "Sookie," "Biscuit?", "Outside?" and "Walk"), explaining the concept of why it's dark at 6:15 p.m. and why it's now light when we get up is sort of impossible.

They don't care. They are waking up an hour earlier than the clocks read. Yes, we as humans try to adapt to the fact that 6 a.m. was 7 a.m. when, a few days ago, 7 a.m. was 7 a.m.

When I got home this evening at 5:30 p.m., it was already getting dark. In their crates, they stared at me accusingly as if to say, "MOTHER! It's late! Where HAVE you BEEN?"

They don't understand that it's not late. It is, in fact, the usual time that I get home from work.

When we walked this evening, it was by twilight. There were no sparkly vampires, thankfully, only a weirdly hovering Larry who was standing by his car as if waiting for something but I couldn't figure out what. For some reason, in the half-light of day/night, he couldn't seem to figure out who I was even though it wasn't that dark and there's no one else in the neighbourhood that I know of who has two twin black and tan dachshunds and takes the route we do. I left Larry to his own devices and decided that making conversation was probably not the best idea.

The puppies seemed to enjoy their twilit walk though. We saw a couple of bunnies which, of course, sent them into jubilant attempts at trying to catch the bunnies. We saw a couple of squirrels. Rory dived in a large pile of leaves. She also investigated a pile of tree branches that had been trimmed and left for pickup and managed to get tangled up in them and toppled the pile. We attempted to tidy it up but we walked away quickly.

Now, even though it's not very late, the puppies seem confused as though they don't understand why I'm not nested on the couch ready to watch TV so they can cuddle with me and warm their chilly noses. A week ago, I would have been ready but this week, it's an hour earlier.

I've tried to explain it to them. The only problem is that honestly, I have a bit of trouble explaining it to myself. I know it was a method of saving energy back in wartimes or whatever but, really, do we need it to be getting dark as we're coming out of work? Couldn't we, you know, just let 5 p.m. be 5 p.m. instead of 4 p.m.?

It's all rather befuddling, I find. No wonder the puppies are confused.

Ah well, they're get the hang of it soon enough.

I hope.

Happy Tuesday!

Indecisive Autumn

We are having a very peculiar Autumn so far. It's usual to have an Indian Summer during the earlier part of the season. It gets cold and then, suddenly, it gets warm for a while. In our case, we're having our Indian Summer all over the place. A few nights ago, it was frosty outside. The days were chilly enough that a jacket was necessary for going out in the morning. Even during the day, it was nice to have an extra layer. When it's like this, it's too cold to sleep with the windows open and the body heat of two little puppies is rather nice to have at night.

Then it gets warm. It's done this a few times now. Yesterday, it was a warm, almost hot day. The night temperature got down to 63 degrees. For us, this is considered rather hot for a night in October. It means you wake up at 2 a.m. sweating because you've put the thicker comforter on the bed and the puppies are still burrowing under it, adding more heat to the situation.

We also haven't had any rain. When I say no rain, I mean literally no rain. We're almost 8 inches short for the year. We were supposed to get some rain today. Alas, no rain. Tomorrow, we're supposed to have heavy rain. I'm hoping this is true.

The thing is, while it's nice to have a variety of temperatures, it makes it a little hard to plan things like Autumn meals. For example, silly me listened to Frank Marzullo and the Fox 19 Storm Tracker Weather and I believed him when he said it was supposed to be cold and rainy on the Sunday of this past weekend. It ended up being almost 80 degrees and partly sunny. I had planned a nice warm Autumn meal- my mother's 'mincemeat' recipe with noodles and lettuce salad. I still made it. It was still tasty. Yet it wasn't the warm, comfort food of a chilly, rainy Autumn night. It was the rather overly heavy meal on a balmy Indian Summer night.

Tonight, we're trying for something a little less comfort food and a little more fun. Gorganzola mashed potatoes, grilled steaks with red wine-braised mushrooms and haricot vert beans with herbs. It sounds fancy but I'm just using up things I have on hand. The nice thing is that now I've mostly learned to cook, I can make a pretty good meal out of a few ingredients. It's all rather fun.

The other thing about this peculiar Autumn is walking the dogs. Some evenings, I need a jacket. Some evenings, I don't. It's hard to tell sometimes. Tonight, there was a slight breeze but not enough to require a jacket. It was enough to scatter the carefully raked piles of leaves that are sitting in heaps by the curb. I don't have enough leaves to do much raking. That's the nice thing about not having my own trees. The puppies would probably like some leaf piles but considering the mess they make with the few leaves we have in the garden, I think I'm ok with them having a nose in the leaf piles we pass as we walk.

Tonight, there were lots of people out raking. Larry the Potential Serial Killer was one. We haven't seen him since he stalked us in his car and I had this horrible feeling I was going to get trapped. Fortunately, Mike (he of the very large backyard and also the recipient of my unwanted pampas grass) saved us by being out for a stroll and stopping to chat to Larry not long before the puppies and I had no choice but to pass by. Thus, Larry was preoccupied and couldn't stop for one of his up-close-and-personal chats without being rude to Mike. He did, however, make an overly enthusiastic suggestion that I join him for a bonfire in his garden sometime soon.

We'll see about that. Given that I call Larry a potential serial killer, it's probably not likely to happen. He does make me a little uncomfortable. Maybe he can invite Mike instead. They both seem quite lonely. They're both unmarried men in their mid-to-late forties. They could have a famous time together!

Still, he's not the only one contemplating leaf fires. Someone had just started one as the pups and I continued our sojourn. While the smell of leaf fires is appealing, this particular one was a little smokier than the normal fire and the smoke was a little much. It was bad enough for us as we passed by. I can't imagine being the one standing over the fire.

Nevertheless, the fire made the air smell Autumnal. It would have been just a little nicer had it been crisper in temperature but it was still nice. I'm hoping it's not the last leaf fire we see/smell this year.

Although I think I'll pass on Larry's.

Happy Tuesday!

Hunting Geese on an Autumn Day

I'm on my last Sunday evening before I start my new job. This is the last Sunday I'll have, I hope, where I remember that I have to go to work the next day and I feel that a grey cloud is settling over me.

I've had bad jobs before where I've been unhappy. This job is unusual in that I didn't realize how unhappy I've been until I decided to leave. It shouldn't have been hard to figure out. If I go back and read my blogs from the past two years, it's pretty obvious that I've felt trapped and discontented. It's just that it wasn't until I decided to make a change that I realized I've been unhappy with the way things have been.

I have no idea if my new job will make me happy but I have an inkling that it might. I'm excited to start the job. Ever since I decided to take it, I've felt a metaphorical weight being shifted off my shoulders.

It's made life fun again. It's made things seem more real, like I'm not stuck in my rut anymore. It's making me appreciate the world I have around me. This weekend, for example, it's been beautiful outside. I'm not sure if it's too early or not to declare it but it seems as though we're having an indian summer. The temperatures have been in the high 80's during the day but dropping down to a delicious crisp low at night.

I decided that the best way to appreciate such a gorgeous day was to take the pups for a long walk. We actually ended up having two of them. As is my habit on weekends, I've taken to letting the puppies play outside when they wake up at 7:30 a.m. and I go back to bed and doze until they've had enough frolicking outside and come inside to find me. This morning, however, I was awoken by a furious yipping from the girls. Last time one of them yipped like that, it turned out Sookie had escaped the yard and was squirrel hunting in the street. Thus, I got up with a start to see what the barking was about.

Well, it turned out that one of the pups' "friends" had come to visit. Our neighbourhood is full of dogs. As we go for our evening walks, there are several dogs who always come to their fence to exchange a friendly bark with the puppies. I call these the girls' "friends." This particular 'friend' was a large, yellow mutt from down the street. I'm not sure if he'd escaped or his owner was walking him without a leash but by the time I was outside and dressed, the dog had gone. I was a little worried that he'd escaped and, putting myself in his owner's shoes, thought it might be a worry. So, I put the girls' harnesses and leashes on and we went for a walk in the neighbourhood.

We never did see the dog again but it was a nice day for an 8 a.m. walk. That time of day is interesting. There isn't much traffic on the roads, the squirrels are out in full force and the smell of bacon drifts out from a few houses.

Even though we had a walk first thing in the morning, I decided that we'd still go over to the woods for what is becoming a semi-regular Sunday walk. This week, I hoped that we wouldn't stumble upon a sponsored walk. All I have to do now is say, "Walk?" to the puppies and they go and sit by the front door, their tails wagging in anticipation. So, we headed to the park.

We got there by around 10 a.m. and it was still pretty quiet. There were quite a few joggers. There were one pair who were a little perplexing. They appeared to be communicating through bluetooth, even though they were not that far apart. When we pulled into the parking lot, they were walking haphazardly around the picnic benches in the parking area. Then, as we began to walk along the trail, they crossed our path again. This time, they were about 20 feet apart, still communicating via bluetooth and walking the opposite direction from us. I know they were communicating with each other because it was like they were having a conversation...only they were 20 feet apart. It was peculiar. What was more annoying is that the male was making really unpleasant comments about "The amount of damn dogs on the trail," and, as he passed us, he gave the puppies a rather threatening look. This, obviously, did not make me happy. The trail is about ten feet wide. My dogs are small and they were happily trotting side by side far away from the man. While I can understand being annoyed at dogs if they're either not supposed to be there or they are actually bothering you by getting in your way, I didn't understand his animosity.

Still, we shrugged it off and kept going. It was an amazing day for a walk. Autumn is fully here now and the sheer grandeur of the colours of the leaves is seriously breathtaking. There are bright golds, reds, oranges and greens all blended together. It's just stunning to take them all in at once. We stopped a few times so that the pups could have a drink and rest for a minute. Then we got to our favourite area of our walk- it's the area where we go 'off trail' and run around in the leaves while the puppies get to sniff out their prey.

Today's prey didn't need to be sniffed out, it was pretty visible. There, where we normally spend some time while the puppies have some leisurely sniffing time was a flock of Canadian geese.

This may not seem like anything unusual but for Sookie, this was a dream come true. She's fascinated by the things. They often fly over our house, honking loudly. No matter what Sookie is doing, as soon as she hears that honk, she's looking upwards, trying to find it's source. For many months, I believe she has longed for her very own Canadian goose.

Thus, today, her dreams were almost realized. She and Rory, upon seeing the flock, got very excited and pulled their leashes taut, trying to move towards them. Knowing that geese can be mean, I held back for a while but then decided that it wouldn't hurt to let them go closer. If the geese pecked them, well, then, maybe they'd be less enthusiastic in the future.

We moved among the flock. Sookie was beside herself with excitement. She got close to one and then...it flew away and landed gracefully in the small lake nearby. She got close to another and that one flew away. Each time she got close, the silly geese flew away.

Still, she didn't seem discouraged. Rory was very enthusiastic also. She'll jump into the thick of anything without a moment's hesitation. She joined her sister in attempted to herd the geese into a corner so that they could pounce. Unfortunately, neither pup can fly and so after a while, they were discouraged.

I finally pulled them away and distracted them by leading them to a large pile of leaves. They promptly dove into the leaves and happily forgot the geese. We walked on. We came to the area where we can either go home or loop back around the lake again. I wasn't sure how tired the pups were so I let them lead me where they wanted to go which turned out to be looping around the lake.

This of course put us right back into the thicket of geese. It was once more into the breach, we went. Once more into the breach.

Sookie joyfully tried once more to catch herself a goose. Rory also gave it her best effort. Neither pup had yet learned to fly and they were thusly thwarted in their attempts to catch a goose.

I pulled them away. We moved beyond the geese back to the grass that would lead to the car. Sookie and Rory promptly sat down, clearly exhausted. My attempts to tire them out so they would sleep had worked. They were just working a little too soon.

I ended up plopping down on the ground so they could rest for ten minutes. At the distank honk from the geese, Sookie had an energy burst but as soon as I attempted to use that burst to my advantage and walk them to the car, she promptly laid down again.

Finally, they had the energy to walk and we made it back to the car. Their energy burst returned as soon as we got home and they spent much of the afternoon running around the garden. This means that they'll probably climb up on the couch this evening and won't move until bedtime and they won't stir again until morning.

It was a beautiful day for a walk/geese chasing. I feel like I got to appreciate nature with a fresh pair of eyes. With my freedom from my current job approaching and the hope of fresh possibility at my new job looming brightly, I think I'm finally shaking off the cobwebs of frustration. It's a beautiful world of autumn out there and it's nice to it share with with two puppies, a flock of geese and the other intrepid walkers we passed on our morning jaunt.

I'm just glad they didn't catch their goose.

Happy Monday!

De-Leafing Puppies and Adventures in Sponsored Walking

Here we are again on a Sunday evening after another whirlwind weekend. It's a dreary Sunday night. It's been cloudy all day with the vague threat of rain. It actually just started raining but it's that slow type of rain that just dampens the world outside rather than make it wet. The leaves are falling a little quicker as they're weighted down with the dampness.

It means that the wet leaves will be easier to tread inside, especially when puppies are involved. Given that I spent the day cleaning my house from top to bottom, it's Murphy's Law that we get this rain that will allow my pups to bring the outside indoors merely by running around the garden.

Of my two puppies, it's Rory who I affectionately refer to as my "messy little sod." If there's a puddle, Rory will be the one in the middle of it. If there's a pile of leaves, Rory will dive. If there's a place to dig, Rory will be the one with dirt covering her from head to toe. Sookie is one of the perpetually tidy dogs. Even when she digs, the dirt doesn't stick to her. She doesn't get the leaves trapped in her coat the way Rory does and while she doesn't mind getting a little wet, she doesn't stick her head in my parents' fish pond the way Rory does.

Today, we decided to take an autumn walk over at the park we went to before. It briefly was sunny this morning and blue sky peeked through. It was at this time I decided we should take the walk. Naturally, by the time we got to the park, the sun had gone, the blue sky had vanished and the murky threat of rain loomed overhead.

Still, we walked. For a few moments. Then we suddenly saw crowds and crowds of people walking towards us. I'm talking hundreds of people, snaking their way along our trail. It turns out we had decided to take our walk on the same day there was some type of massive, multiple charity sponsored walk.

We bravely kept walking. It wasn't terribly fun. One of the reasons I take the girls to the park is because I'm trying to socialize them slowly with other dogs and other people. Sookie tends to be rather skittish around strangers and barks a lot when she's nervous. Today was a bad day to try to slowly socialize the girls. It was like being thrown in the deep end and hoping not to drown. At first, Sookie panicked. She woofed and ran around, frightened and worried. By the time we were embedded in the crowd, both she and Rory were clearly just trying to keep their heads above water. I'm all for charity and sponsored walks but it was a little frustrating because the trail is divided into two paths, one for people coming one way and one for the people coming the other. We were walking against the crowd but we were frequently bumped off the path of the trail so that we had somewhere to walk because at times there were up to seven people all trying to walk side by side.

Rory and Sookie were very popular. I can't count the amount of people who exclaimed, "Aw, look at the weiner dogs!" or "AWWWWWWWWW!". It was good for the girls' egos except I think they were just trying not to go mad in the throng of the crowds.

We finally got to the place we found last time we walked there. It's an outcropping over the lake that is a detour from the trail. I took the girls there and, thankfully, we were alone. I sat the girls down, made a fuss of them and gave them some treats and water. It seemed to really help calm them down. We waited until the passing crowd had thinned out and we started back up. We were lapped by some of the same people who'd already passed us but it was much easier after that. By the time we got to the girls' favourite area which is another trail bypass, we were back to being alone in our walk. Their favourite area is by another small lake. There's an actual walking path but we prefer to ignore that and, instead, cut through the trees and explore.

The girls were in heaven then. They found piles and piles of leaves in which to dive. There's a dried up stream that's full of rocks. We normally walk around but today, the pups had scented something and were on the hunt. They wanted to ford the dry stream so I let them. It's much easier for a puppy than a human, it seems. I had a bit of trouble on the rocks but we made it through.

Then Rory decided to dive into yet another pile of leaves. Sookie followed. Rory emerged covered head to tail with burrs. They clung to her ears, her tail and her belly. Sookie emerged...burrless. I tried to pick the burrs off Rory but a couple of them were tangled in the long hair of her ears and there was no way to get them off without cutting them out.

Still, by the time we were done, the puppies seemed happy. Their eyes gleamed with the thrill of the hunt and my own cheeks were red from the wind and the effort. It turned out to be a lovely walk in the end even if it was a bit of a nightmare in the beginning.

When I got home, I attended to Rory's burrs. I also untangled the leaves from her fur. Sookie, of course, had no such issues.

Now we're home on a wet Sunday evening. It's a perfect stay-at-home type of night. It's the type of night in which you want to curl up with two puppies, watch some TV and enjoy the fact that it's Fall.

Of course, I'll have to inspect Rory first to make sure she's not carrying any debris before we curl up. Oh, my messy little sod.

I wouldn't swap her for the world.

Happy Monday

Autumn Walks

It's different walking the dogs in the autumn. It's a whole different world out there to the world of the summer that was here just a couple of weeks ago.

The streets look different in their covering of leaves. Now that the calendar has officially changed seasons and Summer has decided to take a step back from her steady heat, hot sun and dry earth, the leaves are falling with a vengeance. The pavement is covered with them and as we walk along, the crisp crunch sounds under our feet.

The puppies, of course, are in heaven. They like to stick their nose in a pile of leaves and then lift it back up vigorously and with a tilt. This sends the leaves flying in all directions. Better yet, Rory has taken to divebombing piles of leaves if she has the space and the speed. It's rather cute. She usually manages to shake off the leaves that are clinging to her fur after a few steps down the street.

Sookie tends to be more thoughtful about it. She waits for Rory to explore leave piles first and then when Rory's done her thing, Sookie has a good sniff.

Autumn also means that people are spending a little less time outside in the evenings. It gets dark much earlier now and so we have to walk earlier. There are still some people outside, starting the process of clearing the dried up flowers from summer or sweeping their driveways free from leaves but, mostly, it's a lot quieter than it was during the summer.

We still see a few neighbours but not as many as we did. It's been ages since I saw Larry the Potential Serial Killer. I don't mind too much because he was always a bit odd but it makes our walks a little more solitary when we don't see anyone.

What we are seeing is squirrels. There are squirrels galore on our walk. Our favourite spot to see them is what I have deemed the "Mothership." This is a giant oak tree in someone's garden in which at least a couple of squirrels can be found gathering their acorns for the winter. The ground beneath the oak is messy with squashed and flattened acorns, whole acorns, twigs and leaves. There are even the leavings of squirrels who clearly decided to sample the wears before gathering food for the winter storage.

Naturally, Rory and Sookie go balistic at the sight of the squirrels. They still have yet to figure out that dogs can't climb trees, even when said dog is in pursuit of a squirrel. I'm just glad I have sturdy leashes and harnesses on the hounds because otherwise, I'd have lost them to the Mothership days ago.

The other thing that's different is that the neighbourhood is starting to look decidedly adorned for Halloween. Ghosts, witches and black cats are popping up all over the place. They hang from porches, lampposts, shepherd's crooks. There's a problem with the black cats, I'm finding. While my puppies are adorable and can be quite crafty and sneaky, they're not always the brightest. Thus, they have yet to figure out that the black cats aren't actually alive. The worst are in a garden just down the street. They're just the silhouettes of the cat. They're lifesized. To a human, they're clearly not real. To a puppy well...I imagine since they haven't had that much interaction with cats, they do look real. They clearly look real enough to merit my dogs going into hunting mode. This means that the leash suddenly goes taut, their ears go up and they're poised, ready to make a dash for it. This has now happened several times. They've yet to learn that they're not real.

I don't really mind. It makes the walk fun and I quite like having a pattern. I do like seeing all the decorations popping up. I have yet to wind my own garland of silk autumn leaves around my little lamppost in the front garden and my little scarecrows aren't outside yet. This weekend I hope to add my own festive display to the others in the neighbourhood.

I think I'll avoid black cats though. I can only imagine the constant chaos if the puppies were to see them.

It's bad enough with the squirrels.

Happy Thursday!

Runaway Sookie!

Well...the weekend is almost gone...again. I hate that it goes so fast but I know I'm not the only one who feels that way.

As a whole, the weekend was quite nice. There were moments of stress and panic but, for the most part, things went well.

Weather-wise, it was mostly a beautiful weekend. We had a bit of rain on Saturday morning. It was enough rain to send the garage-salers under shelter but it lasted maybe ten minutes at most. When it was done...it was done. The sun came out, the ground swallowed the fallen precipitation and it was as if it never happened.

Sadly, my garden is not happy about this. My garden is thirsty. I water it bi-nightly with a hose/watering can but it's not enough. It's crying out for a rain that doesn't want to fall. When it does fall, the ground is so dehydrated that there's not enough moisture to satiate it.

We still wait for our rain, even with the meager shower we got yesterday.

Still, as far as garage sale-ing goes, it was a pretty good morning. I didn't buy too much but I did manage to score a set of four salad plates, new in the box ($1) and a set of four dinner plates, new in the box ($2) by designer Tracy Porter. I estimate I got at least $50 worth of plates there. They're also really pretty so I will use them rather than e-Bay them. I was pleased, to say the least. I also got a garden gnome ($2), a Julia Childs cookbook ($.25) and some Avon pumpkin spice bubble bath from my Avon-Lady-Who-Is-Also-My-Next-Door-Neighbour. All in all, it was a good garage sale day.

As a whole, though, the day was not as relaxing as I'd have liked.

I was woken up by Ms. Rory Wrigglebottom at 4 a.m. She needed to go out. I humoured her. We went back to bed. At our normal weekday 6:03 a.m. wakeup, Rory woke me again. I ignored her until 6:45 a.m.

By this time, she'd progress from gently nudging me with her face to full-on, sitting on my head and bathing my ear with her tongue. This meant she really needed to go out. I finally sighed and let her and Sookie outside. Since this tends to happen every weekend, I've got into the habit of cracking open the back door, letting the pups out and then going back to bed to doze until they're ready to a) come back to bed or b) to have me get up with them at a reasonable hour.

This didn't happen. Instead, I went back to bed, as normal. Then I heard Rory yipping. Normally, it's Sookie who yips so I was a little surprised. I gave her a few minutes to settle down. Still she yipped. Concerned, I got up to see if she was ok.

Well, it turned out that Ms. Sookie had found her way under the garden gate and was running in the road, trying to find squirrels. Needless to say, I was no longer sleepy. I threw on some clothes and went to try to catch her. By this time, she was quietly waiting by the gate, ready to come in.

I was furious but also relieved. I knew, deep down, that all she wanted was a bit more freedom but I couldn't help being upset that she'd 'run away.' Also, I was relieved that no cars had come down the street.

After that, I spent quite some time securing the gap under the gate so a repeat escape wouldn't be feasible.

Silly Captain Monkeypants.

I came home from garage sale-ing, let the pups out only to hear Rory barking. Again.

Yep. Sookie was out. Again.

This time, I was both furious and upset. I managed to catch her and bring her in, much to the bemusement of the neighbours.

Why is it that it's so upsetting to have a scene like this witnessed? To my neighbours, it was an amusing scene of escaped dog. To me, it was a completely relieved scene of me managing to coax my dog to safety before one of the many bargain-hunting garage sale-ers didn't see her in the road.

Needless to say, I went to Lowe's, bought a few paving stones and finally succeeded in securing the escape routes.

It was not a fun day. I'm just glad Sookie is fine. I'm sure I over-reacted but, at the same time, she's a sheltered pup who doesn't know the danger of a high-speed motorist.

Sunday was better. There were no escape attempts. In my efforts to try to entertain Sookie in case she was trying to escape out of boredom, I took her to the local state park. She, Rory and I walked 2 miles around a pretty lake on a beautiful autumnal day. It doesn't get much better than that.

I think the walk worked. Since then, the pups have been fighting sleepiness. I think that tonight, they might sleep well. I know I will.

It's been a busy weekend. As always, it wasn't quite what I planned. But I can't complain.

It was still a weekend.

Happy Monday!

Near-Autumn Walks and Such

Today was a busy day at work. These are good days because not only do I feel like I'm actually doing something and serving a genuine, actual purpose but it also makes the day go by very quickly. It's nice to look at the clock and realize that a couple of hours have passed instead of, as on a normal day, glancing up very frequently and wondering why barely any time has passed.

In addition to it being a nice busy day, it's also another, cool autumn-day. Last night, I slept with my bedroom windows open and I woke up chilly under my light bedcovers. If I knew the coolness was going to stick around, I'd add another blanket to my bed but I know it's supposed to warm up again. Besides, I have two dachshunds on my bed who provide me with a little extra warmth so I really don't need it.

Of course, I'm aware that I'm actually the one providing the warmth to the dogs. I'm not that delusional that I think they're trying to do me a favour. This can be evidenced by Rory burrowing under the covers after having a little groan.

Rory groans a lot when she's sleeping. If you so much as touch her while she's in 'sleep-mode', she makes this rather adorable groaning sound. If she stirs in the night, she groans. If she's annoyed about being disturbed, she groans. You get the idea.

Thus, last night, I half-heard her groan in my own sleepy state and then I felt her try to find a way under the covers. She couldn't seem to find a way in and she started to get upset so I ended up lifting the covers up so she could warm up. Sookie, meanwhile, rather cutely just snuggles up with me so that we woke up almost nose to nose. There is a reason why I call her my 'teddy bear dog.'

Since it's cooled down, it means the weather is highly amenable to taking walks with the dogs. They've started actually responding to the word "Walk" and so when I say it, they sit by the door, waiting. They didn't used to do this. They used to hide. That was when I used to put on their adorable but rather fiddly and complex little pink harnesses. Now they're bigger, those harnesses don't fit and they have much more comfortable ones that require a mere slipping over the head and stepping into it in order to get it on.

We try to take our walk before Larry-the-Potential-Serial-Killer comes home from work. It's riskier to walk by his house on nice evenings. It's also harder to get away if he does entrap us in conversation because I can't necessarily use the, "I need to take the pups home because they need to drink water," excuse that I use when it gets hot.

Still, we haven't seen Larry in a while. Well, we haven't seen him to talk to him. We did walk and see him in his garden but, fortunately, he was engrossed in picking tomatoes and he didn't see us. It probably helps that I walk very quickly and I also try to remain very, very quiet so he doesn't hear us. I'd like to think the puppies know we're avoiding him because they certainly seem to walk faster.

For the most part, walking with the pups in the evenings is a pleasure. It's beautiful weather, I'm getting exercise and we can explore the neighbourhood. The only part that isn't so much of a pleasure is the squirrels. I can always tell when Rory and Sookie see a squirrel because suddenly, my arm feels as though it's trying to be disconnected from its socket and the leash goes very, very taut. I'm trying to teach the girls that they cannot, in fact, climb trees and follow the squirrel but they still attempt to do so until I remind them who's the boss by giving them a stern tug on their leash.

Squirrels are their new bunnies. We have quite a few around our back yard. Having discovered the source of the hickory nuts- which is a tree in Possibly-Joe's front yard- I'm no longer alarmed at finding hickory nuts around my house. The girls like to try to chew them but the nuts are so tough, they can't break the shell. The squirrels, however, have taken to sitting on the fence or up in the trees and chewing on the nuts. You can hear the "tchhk tchkk tchukk" of their teeth as they chomp the encasement for the nuts. It falls to the ground and leaves quite a mess, rather like a human who throws their trash all over the place and doesn't pick it up.The puppies have learned to recognize the "tchhk tchkk tchukk" sound. The minute they hear it, they go into obsessive-crack-junkie-mode and they attempt to locate the source. The squirrels are far craftier than the rabbits though. They can climb trees for one thing and they're also much quicker. The puppies have been thwarted on more than one occasion as they attempt to catch a squirrel for playtime.

There's no doubt about it, with the chill of the night air and the increased number of nut-harvesting squirrels, autumn is almost upon us. Give it a couple of weeks and we'll start calling the hot days "Indian Summer". For now, as summer is losing her hold and giving way to autumn, we're in that pleasant transition between seasons where you never know what each day will bring. While I'd rather it stayed cooler, there's something about not knowing which show itself tomorrow that's rather nice.

It's just nice to be surprised sometimes.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Neighbourhood Dangers!

It has come to my attention that walking in my neighbourhood with puppies is actually relatively dangerous.

The most usual common danger is usually minor. It's just more inconvenient than anything else. It's usually just Larry-the-Potential-Serial-Killer laying in wait for the girls and I as we round out our walk by trying to dash past his house with some trepidation. He lives on a corner, you see. I've actually tried to avoid his corner by taking a different route home but my little puppies can be rather stubborn. They don't like to go in a different direction to what we're used to. Either that or the smell of squirrel isn't strong enough in the new way for them to feel like going that direction.

So, usually, I resort to walking by Larry-the-Potential-Serial-Killer's house at a bit more of a rapid pace than usual in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, we won't be spotted.

Nine times out of ten, we're spotted. It looks like Larry isn't home. His garage door is closed. His car is not in the drive. His back door is closed. I heave a sigh of relief and start to tell the girls that 'yay! we made it!' in a quiet whisper and..then…

Larry-the-Potential-Serial-Killer appears. Out of nowhere.

Well, actually it's from his back yard but that doesn't sound so dramatic. Either way, unless we want to look horribly rude which, as an Englishwoman, is not something I like to do, I usually have to at least say a polite hello.

Unfortunately, it's never just a polite hello. I try to keep walking and he's there in his usual up-too-close-and-personal manner, wanting to either talk about the Dog Whisperer's beasts or ask me about a plant or something. Silly me made the mistake of joining in a discussion with him about his yard which revealed I had Gardening Knowledge. I usually get my Gardening Knowledge from my mother. But I do have some.

Larry, it seems, does not have Gardening Knowledge. Or, if he does, he pretends he doesn't just so he has an excuse to talk. Last time, it was his shrub rose-bush. He didn't know it was rose. Or he pretended not to, anyway. Personally, the presence of roses and thorns should have tipped him off but what do I know? Maybe in Larry's world, roses aren't the same as the roses I know. I didn’t ask. It would have taken too long to get an answer. Larry is rather detailed, you see.

So, normally, we try to skip talking to Larry since it usually results in the puppies getting bored and restless. Actually, it results in all of us getting bored and restless but, not being a cute puppy, I can't exactly lie down on the ground and pretend to sleep like they do.

Yet, Larry isn't the only danger in the neighbourhood. Now it seems we have to look out for mad male dachshunds.

Last night, you see, we decided to leave The Odious One in peace for a while and go for a walk. Well, I should say, I decided to give him some peace. Rory and Sookie are attempting to be good but they still can't resist giving Odie an enthusiastic greeting every time he moves. Giving that Odie won't sit still and enjoys either following me everywhere or trying to find an escape route, he's making himself a moving target.

So, I decided he'd be fine if I left him home alone and took the girls for a walk.

Well, he was fine. The girls, however…well they had a scare.

It began after I decided to extend our normal walk to the longer version which is three blocks instead of one. The girls like walking now, ever in search of bunnies and squirrels, so they don’t mind the extra distance.

We met a new neighbour last night. He was sitting on his front lawn, just relaxing. He was very nice and very excited to see my pups. It turns out, he, too, has black-and-tan, sibling dachshunds, just like me. He wanted his dog to meet my girls so he brought out Odin, the male sibling. Odin has quite a story. He escaped not too long ago and went missing. The owner put up fliers all over the area and advertised in the newspaper. Odin was missing for three weeks and then, one day, his owners got a call that his dog had been picked up by a repairman in a van and rescued. Apparently, Odin had two rows of puncture wounds in his side and a deep gash on his throat. The repairman found out that Odin was missing and he was able to reunite owner and dog.

Odin's owner took him to the vet for the puncture wounds and the vet told him that he'd actually been picked up by a bird of prey. The punctures were talon marks and the gash was from the beak. Obviously, Odin had been too long and bulky to go far but the attempt had been made.

I was fascinated. Who doesn't like a good "Dog gets Lost and Makes it Back Home" story? It's even better when a ferocious and ambitious villain such as a hawk is involved.

The trouble is that Odin didn't appear to be a very nice dog. Rather than greet my girls nicely, he immediately tried to bite them. His owner scooped him up but Odin did NOT want to be held. He wanted to snarl. His owner finally put him in the house. I was glad. I was happy that Odin had found his way home but rather glad Odin was not my dog.

We went on our way. All of a sudden, after we were halfway down the street, I hear the shout of "Odin, No!"

Odin was running towards us, having escaped again. At first, he seemed to be friendly, as if curious about my pups. Then he started to growl and before I knew it, he was lunging for Rory. His owner, not far behind, was yelling. I stupidly reacted from instinct and grabbed his collar. I know that's a no-no for breaking up a dog fight but, fortunately, I didn't get bitten. I did, however, managed to hold off Odin from Rory and Sookie who were now whimpering and terrified.

His owner caught up and was clearly mortified and upset. He was extremely apologetic. He finally took Odin and left us in peace. I managed to pick up each puppy and cuddle them which seemed to settle them down. I think, in the end, I was more alarmed than they were.

We managed to finish our walk and even avoid Larry which was definitely welcome after such a traumatic interlude. Rory and Sookie seemed recovered by the time we got home. I, however, find that I'm more wary of male dachshunds than ever. It doesn't help that Possibly-Joe the plumber's girlfriend also has an older male dachshund and he sometimes brings him to our shared fence to meet the girls. This dog inevitably snarls at my pups and snaps at them. Combined with the rather scary violence of Sausage, I think I'll definitely stick with female dogs. My puppies are very sweet and have great temperaments which is why I don't understand why the two other dachshunds they've met have been so rude to them.

All in all, I think for now, we'll be a little more careful around the neighbourhood, just in case Odin the Mad Male Dachshund gets out again. Perhaps I'll take my little squirt bottle with me next time, just in case.

Hmm….I wonder if that would work on Larry.

Happy Wednesday!