Both Sides Now...

I know there are those of you out there that remember Joni Mitchell singing her song, "Both Sides Now", and ever since I first heard it there are things and ideas that have visited the little world in my head and the song pops up to remind me to look at both sides of whatever caught my thoughts and made me think of Joni and her song.

Today it was my flannel sheets. It has been colder than usual here in central Oklahoma, as it has in a lot of the U.S., and I had put my flannel sheets on the bed. Not only are they so warm and wonderful to sleep on, despite the little flannel pills, they are so cozy warm that I don't even want to get out of bed. Which is no big deal because I don't usually want to get out of bed anyway but the sheets have made it even more difficult.

So I got to thinking about both sides of this situation... On the one hand I am so thankful to have my wonderful flannel sheets to snuggle into but on the other there are bound to be things I could be doing to make myself feel useful other than holding down the bed. Then I decide that it is a very important job to hold that bed down and I've done an excellent job of not only doing that but also of training my beloved schnauzer babies to help me with this most important job.

Now if I could only train my bladder as well as they have trained theirs we'd have it made... at least until the guilt factor kicked in for mom not getting up and taking them out for a walk.

In the 9 degree F. temperature.

When I put on all the things I can find to put on before I walk them and feel like the little kids all bundled up until they can hardly waddle or bend over and, invariably, decide that maybe I should have gone to the bathroom before I put on the cap, muffler and heavy bright orange coat that I got so people could see me at night when we are out walking.

And wishing that it was easier to pick up poop with gloves so that I could wear gloves for the walk.

And finally to give thanks for living in Oklahoma where I don't have to deal with this kind of cold very often.

Amen.

Simple Joys...

I’ve decided that the only way to break out of the depths of depression is to take back the simple joys of my life. There seem to have been so many things that have ganged up on me in my head that I’ve just been overwhelmed and unable to fight my way out of the shadows.

In looking through my photos trying to inspire some form of emotion I ran across the following photos…









I took this photo when my girls and I were out one beautiful fall day. I don't remember what I was doing, probably putting away garden tools for the winter, but the girls were hunting grasshoppers.














"Aha! I've got one!" says my Chloe... Whereupon she promptly starts trying to rub it out... with her body.












"Got'cha now you ornery little jumping, flying thing!"















"See mom! Right there! I'm a GREAT hunter!"













"You were right, SueSue. This is a great hunting place. Now let's do our break dance to thank the happy grasshopper hunting God..."









"We've got to teach these moves to mom. When she is blue it will make her feel so much better!"















Okay, mom, get down in the grass on your back and WIGGLE!!!"




Meanwhile... in another area of the ponderosa...













Life goes on...













Keep it simple, stupid!

Ever Think About Pet’s Names?

I was reading articles on AOL this morning and one was on talking to vets about things people name their dogs and cats.  I got me to thinking about how in the world do we come up with our critters names? 

Chloe Pearl during a storm.

Chloe “frog-doggin’” as I like to call it.

Who could resist that look?  Probably part of the reason we fight her weight now… 

Back to the subject at hand.  I first saw a picture of Chloe when she was a couple of weeks old.  I had the year before lost my beloved black schnauzer, Sophie (Mae), in a freak accident.  She was only a year and a half old and I didn’t even want to think about another dog.  The fellow that we rented the space for our frames shop had a mini-schnauzer that used to play with Soph and he bred her and he and Carol were trying to talk me into a pup.  I did not even want to see the pups in real life so Carol conspired and gave him my e-mail address and Jerry sent me a picture.  Out of the litter of six pups she was the only little girl, a requirement since I took my dogs to work with me and I couldn’t take the chance of a little boy hiking his leg and peeing on the art work. 

Well, I looked at the photo and immediately told Carol that she looked like a Chloe but then dropped the subject.  About six weeks later Carol had gone to the shop to do some bookkeeping on a Saturday and she called and said Jerry was up trimming up the yard in the strip mall and had the pups and I ought to come see them.  I told her I didn’t think so and went back to working in the yard.  She called again and said I really, really think you need to come see these babies so to stop her from interrupting whatever it was I was doing I ran up to the shop.

Needless to say, from the photos, I came home with Chloe Pearl Gardner.

Several years later I decided Chloe Pearl needed a playmate.  She was tending toward being sedentary (like her mom) and some days I didn’t feel like getting out and playing so now enters SueSue Marie Gardner… or Suess as I sometimes call her or my little blond schnauzer because she can be a ding-a-ling.

Suess sleeping in close proximity to her ball was a portent of things to come.  Like her momma, when I was a baby, my favorite toy was a ball.  Look at those cute little pads on that foot up next to her face…

 This is probably my favorite bonding picture.  Me in my recliner and Chloe and SueSue curled up with me.

Suess also likes to ‘frog-dog’, here on Carol’s wheelchair ramp was one of her favorite places.

SueSues’s name came about because at the time Carol’s mother was living with us.  She had a hard time remembering Chloe’s name so I thought about it and decided to call the baby SueSue. When Carol was growing up they called her by her middle name, Sue, and I have a sister named Sue and I thought doubling the name up to SueSue would make it easier for Mom to remember. SueSue’s middle name is not only my middle name but I thought it was a fun twist on Souix Saint Marie which is in Canada and I have never been there but I heard of it years (and I’m talking many years) ago and the name stuck with me for some reason. 

So that’s how my current furbabies came by their names and while they aren’t as different as some, they aren’t just the plain old run of the mill Cutie or Cuddles or Lucky, which by the way the vet in the article said don’t ever name a dog Lucky because it rarely is.

How about it friends and neighbors… do you have pets and what are their names and is there a special reason for those names?

Share with me… it’s a good diversion from all that is going on in my life right now and inquiring minds want to know.

I promise if my girls fall out laughing I won’t tell a soul.

Let Me Introduce You…

To some of the inhabitants of this wonderful place where I’m now living.

This is Lucky.  He is usually the first one to meet and greet you.

You can kind of see his shorter, smaller right front leg.  He came to the family with that leg.  Carol’s late husband came in carrying a little red fur ball that he found laying on the country road out close to where they lived. Someone had dumped him because of his deformity he thought. Anyway he was “Lucky” that Butch found him. 

Here is a shot of what is fast becoming the “three musketeers”.  Spud, SueSue and Chloe. Actually it’s more Spud and SueSue.  Chloe is more content to hang around the house with my Cuz and myself… us old ladies. Of course if I’m out and about she wants to be right there with me.

Here is the duo. They are probably waiting for me to throw the ball.  Spud is crazier about chasin’ a ball even more than Suess.  I never thought I’d see another dog more crazy about a ball than my baby girl.

He is just so funny about it.  He will lay the ball down and then crouch down in a ready to run mode… and glance up to make sure you know he is waiting on you to pick it up and throw it then go back to the ball stare down.

You can see him assuming the “on the ready mode” just waiting for you to pull the trigger and throw the ball.

Meet Fluffy.  He is the resident cat.  He lives outside but he is not a feral cat.  He loves to be loved on but we are having a bit of difficulty convincing SueSue and Chloe that he belongs here.   They got used to chasing the cats that wandered in on the ponderosa when we lived out south and east of Noble. We have had several introductions with me holding one or the other of the girls in my arms, petting Fluffy with one hand, then sticking it up to their nose so they could smell him, all the while telling them that Fluffy was a baby (not) and you DO NOT HURT THE BABY.  Yes I lied to my girls but they understand about BABIES and that they are not to hurt them.  It just takes a little reinforcing to remind them of  that sometimes.

Yesterday I was out on the porch and Fluffy was on the bench and I was petting him and telling the girls what a good baby boy he was and he was walking back and forth rubbing my leg.  Chloe got to sniff his butt so she is now pretty much disinterested and Fluffy and Suess sniffed noses and all was well with the world for that moment.  As long as I’m there.  And as long as Fluff doesn’t decide to jump off the railing or the bench… then the chase is on once again.  At least with SueSue… but then you all know how she loves to play chase.

I  took this off the front porch toward the setting sun.  And I’m tired so I’m closing for tonight.  The barometric changes with this front rolling in are doing a job on the fibro today.  Bro and I will go to Ft. Worth tomorrow instead of Thursday so I don’t know if I’ll get photos of the guinea hens that stay around here or of some of the cattle that graze in the pasture behind the house and on down the road but that will give me something else to work on after I get back.  I’m still working on my favorite Christmas post so I will have at least one more post before I wish you all a Merry Christmas.

I hope you have all your shopping done and I know most of you will be getting ready to start cooking the Christmas dinner unless you are as lucky as I am and people know that I’m not a good cook so I just get to taste and make sure things are good.  Hang in… I’ll be back.

Yes, Babies, The Grinch Did Steal Christmas…

 

 

Chloe, my most precious darlin’, I will make sure that there is a little something in your stocking no matter where we are living.

And SueSue, my little blond ding-a-ling, you can bet there will be a new ball in your stocking.  Mom wouldn’t ever leave you out. 

But I promise that the best thing, the most important thing about Christmas is that we will be together, wherever we find to live.

And that is the most important thing in the world.  Being with those you love and those who love you.

Schnauzer Sandwich...

I have these two silly, lovable furbabies that like to be touching mom especially at bedtime. They move around sometimes but generally this is how we three end up in the bed.


I just happened to be sitting up reading and looked down and said, "Self... you've got to figure out how to slip out from between these two and reach the camera and document this because people are gonna say no way that they can get this close".






"SueSue's on the left of me, Chloe's on the right, here I am stuck in the middle of you...


My skin is so white except for my farmer's tan that if I dared to expose my midsection it would bring to mind a double stuffed Oreo but I don't want to take a chance on running anyone off screaming into the night.

When we first go play golf in the spring after the winter in long pants my baby brother tells me he's seen darker legs in the chicken section at Winn-Dixie, a grocery chain in Ft. Worth. I guess if I were smartI'd go to the tanning booth before spring but not being a very good golfer I need all the help I can get and I figure if the sun hits my legs just right it will blind whoever I'm playing with and I can maybe pick up a stroke or two.

But that wasn't what I had planned on sharing with you all this evening. Only how nice it is when the weather gets cold to have my own little heaters keeping me warm at night.







Chloe on the right all snugged up warming mom and yet watching over me, thus the butt towards me (she does not get a treat of beans) and the head looking toward the foot of the bed so she can protect me in case anyone tries to creep into my bed (fat chance).








And my darling, dingy, blonde (despite the fact that she's silver)
Suess on the left giving mom all the warm loving I can handle so that maybe when we get up and around tomorrow I'll play ball with her even though it will be ass-freezing cold...
She will talk me into it a time or two during the day and Chloe will just look at us like we've both lost our minds unless there is snow on the ground. If there is snow on the ground, Chloe will buck and cavort like a pup and bite the snow and Suess will bite the snow and chase balls in it and think it is a real treat. And Mom will just shake her head and laugh at them both.

Now you know what a truly exciting life I live, butt to butt to butt...

Ain't love just awesome!

What’s Not To Love…

Thought I’d take a break from posting about our old home. It gets a little hard on me and I’m going to have to get my old computer up and going to try to retrieve photos that I know I took before we sold the house. We thought we had gotten all the pics, but there are some missing…

So let’s switch gears to my girls. You hear me yakking about them but I haven’t posted anything about them in a while.

My beautiful Chloe… she’s 9, going to be 10 on January 1, 2010.

She’s my watchful laid back girl and she doesn’t like 2 legged rug rats.

SueSue is my blond. She loves everybody, even rug rats. She is as ditsy as her mom some days… or maybe ADHD like me.

She is always watching mom to see if it’s time to play ball. She’s my little (almost) firecracker, born on July 2, 2003… 6 years old and still plays like a pup.

I love it when my girls do what I call ‘frog dogging’… All four feet laid stretched out.

The love to chase each other…

Suess likes to sleep on the back of the couch… when we have a couch with a wide back.

And I don’t understand how they can sleep like this… but they can and the do.

Suess is on the back, Chloe is hanging off the front.

But this is when I’m dead meat…

What a baby girl!

Look at those little pads on her feet…

Got an itch!

My girls. Chloe cuddling the Baby Suess and laying with mom on the recliner.

Whatcha doin’ mom?

Okay, folks. I'm closing this with SueSue frogdogging on the ramp in the sunshine. I gotta get back to packing but I hope you have sunshine in your world today because we are sure enjoying sunshine in ours… despite the packing to move.

Later, my friends.

Put Out The Welcome Mat...

Mom, we've got company for dinner.

I was out working in the flower beds one day last summer and my pups were 'helping' me when I noticed that something had caught their attention. I looked around and saw this little kitten diddy-bopping down our drive.

I continued to watch to see what happened, because these two hon-yocks have been know to chase cats. When you live out in the country it seems that you have a number of wanderers, both cats and dogs. And there have been a couple of larger cats that hung around and the girl's would chase them every time they saw 'em.

The girls watched this kitty walk down the drive towards our house, walk under the chicken wire at the bottom of the gate heading right towards me. Even when they went to greet him/her and sniff parts, it just kept on walking to me with the schnauzer escort. Silly thing, it knew who to come to for a little petting and some loving and talking to and was absolutely not afraid of the girls. Chloe decided that the kitty was of no interest to her, but SueSue (in the pink collar) was totally entranced. Everywhere it went, she followed.

I picked him (I figured out) up and took him in the house to show Carol and put him down by the dog dish for a drink of water. Suess stood there, watched him lapping up the water, leaned in and took a drink, stood back and watched. When I took the kitten back outside, with a bowl for him to have some water, and carried him to the goat shed for a bit of food, SueSue was right there.

I found out the next day that he lived at the neighbor's house, so Suess lost her enamorata, but it was fun to watch while it lasted.

Goofy, sweet, blond Suess didn't understand that he was not her's, and we had to have a serious mom-to-pup talk about lost loves in our life and how it is part of the growing up process.

She was not happy about it but seemed to understand that someone else was first in the kittie's heart.

It breaks a mom's heart to have to watch your baby suffer, oh, for all of about 12 minutes... until I found a ball and then the chase was on.

How quickly those teenagers heal.