Category Archives: editorial pets

Haiku for Dad

Posted on October 1, 2016 | 1 comment

The kitten found me

Our deaths were not an option

We kept each other warm

 

***

Parents sent me to camp for a week. I hated it. Five mile hikes in the rain and 40 degree weather at night, my lame sleeping bag let me not sleep because of the cold then I had to drink prune juice every morning and use the loo with other girls into a chemical toilet.

My younger sister thrived on this stuff a week earlier. Now I spent my ten cents a day on two Peppermint Patties, wrote a postcard home and awaited my release.

That kitten saved both of us, and that has been a theme for many years and tears. He crawled under my crummy sleeping bag near my feet, I finally slept without freezing and we kept each other warm all night. I freaked out to find out there was a critter, and we checked it out. He was removed and probably killed.

For years I’ve worked for as a volunteer for feral cats and for shelter dogs and cats. He inspired me. The earliest memories are the purest of heart.

I think we should name him. I was just eight years old and thought the camp people were being nice. They were getting rid of vermin. He saved my life from frostbite. To this day I regret his demise.

Nathan and Mickey, I know you’re taking care of him up in the big blue sky. He inspired your unique personalities. At age eight, I did get a sense of what to do but forces were overwhelming and I didn’t have Dad to help. There were no cell phones, even land lines, there.

Paladin, “Pala to me” means character, nobility and courage. He saved my life. Cheers, Dee

 

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Remarkable

Posted on October 1, 2016 | 1 comment

It’s been five days since teeny baby Paisley and her family moved out. We’re down to two dogs on our floor because Huxley, the quiet one, moved to the suburbs. Paisley’s folks will be building a home in the country.

There are seven very nice apartments up here. Our old dog Zoe (90 in “people years”) was the only dog for years and made sure everyone was safe. For a while we had three dogs here. Now it’s just Zoe and her old blind pal, Mr. B.

Imagine that with so few homes we’d have two pregnant ladies! Granted, Paisley’s mom moved. Another bairn (Scots for baby, see “wee bairn” in my Aunt’s, the retired English teacher’s bathroom). I had to find a word, pronounce it correctly, spell it and use it in a sentence every time I used the powder room!

My neighbors with blind Mr. B are due for a blessed event this month. They’re doing great. Over the days I see a number of packages at their door. Some look like flat packs. I see them from down the hall and think of IKEA and other flat pack furniture that comes with a crummy Allen wrench.

Then my mind goes to a couple of years hence when baby boy/girl sees a tricycle and points and says “Mommy, Daddy, I want that!” Then the inevitable happens. Parents buy the tricycle in a flat pack and do what my parents told me decades later.

They stayed up until 4 a.m. (at least Dad did) putting together the metal kitchen for me, assembling the mini car race track for my brother. I always wondered why my parents were so tired at six o’clock Christmas morning.

Soon they started buying us sweaters and socks plus one small special item each, then getting a family gift for the basement (nice big room, windows, fireplace et al) like a ping pong table one year, air hockey the next. As I recall they always said the sweaters et al were from Mom and Dad, the special gift for all was from Santa. All of a sudden, my parents weren’t so tired Christmas morning.

They did start a tradition, however, one worth preserving. Every year Mom went out and got us kids themed ornaments for the tree. She never liked those glass balls that broke into 1,000 pieces except for “filler” on the tree. Often she marked the kid’s initial and year on the back. When we went off to college she gave each one of us a box with our own ornaments to start our own tree.

I do not know where many of my old ornaments are but my husband and I will soon be married 14 years and I try to get us matching ornaments on a theme of where we’ve lived (lassos and bagpipes,snowmen and a moose on a sled, vastly different ornaments, of course). It provides a family history. “Oh, that’s the year were were in ….”

Cheers and help maintain and create traditions, food and more, in your home. Food is sustenance, and family. Dee

ps The racetrack was 8’x15′ and in the basement. Electric, with strips underneath the car to connect to the track. Two cars, one blue, light and fast. One white, a bit heavier and slower. I was always white and always won. When blue tried to beat me it was so light that on the turns it flew off the track and cost time. I went fast on the straightaways and slow around the turns and the tortoise won the race. D

 

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Family, Caring and Rescue

Posted on September 14, 2016 | Leave a comment

We have been planning our first vacation in 14 years. It is a very special one as it is for my father’s 85th birthday. For two months I have been unlucky in finding my dog a place to stay.

She has been vetted at a local cage-free location but has never stayed overnight. Yes, she’s been vetted in Austin, Houston, everywhere. I like her to be at home. She’s my companion, a herder who may be sleeping but will go back to sleep in minutes, at my feet in another room once I move.

I’ve been sick for two days so haven’t checked my email. Two days ago, after sending in a request for a second doggie daycare visit and overnight. That was today. I got her there, she pulled like a donkey not to go in. I should have listened to her. Then I went home and checked my email. Two days ago this company said there were cages. Yesterday, over two phone calls I was told emphatically there were no cages.

I called a lawyer’s referral service for an opinion. This has nothing to do with dogs (except mine), and knew I had to use every means available to rescue my dog.

Complaining about the lying was covered up as “we should have explained it better.” I think their customers are dropping like flies because they want to cut down customer service while keeping up rates and keep numbers of dogs in the dark all night from 7:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. without going to the bathroom. Who knows? When I checked Zoe out (the charge was a pittance against getting our old dog back from the liars) the water bowl behind the admittance desk was empty. Home, Zoe went right for her water and drank two cups. Yes. I immediately took her out.

Then, after my complaint, the lady at the desk with the nose ring said “You’re lucky, you showed up just in time to pay the half-day fee of $18.75. I paid it, got my dog and they are the ones who will not be lucky.

They lie outright to their clients, switch stories. What kind of business is this? One an attorney and the Better Business Bureau would enjoy looking into. Fido, no friends. Overcharging for services not provided, not properly knowing or supervising dogs. I will never place Zoe there again, even to just get her nails trimmed. Yes, I’m always in the room with her as a “tech” and no other dog is present. Yet I still cannot give them any business.

Today, I got there asap and just said “I want my dog.” If they lie to me, they’re lying to her. If they changed the rules they certainly never told any of their customers.

The thing is this company must have turned to cages for a reason, liability. Perhaps a dog was attacked without provocation and with no supervision, let’s check it out. Zoe is once again two feet from my desk chair and calm, sleeping. She’s hydrated once again, relieved, sleeping and calm. Cheers to animal welfare and the end of fraud by any means. Dee

 

 

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Fear

Posted on August 15, 2016 | Leave a comment

What did I fear most as a kid? I was afraid to be smart. Of course I was set aside as smart with another kid and we got to read real books, in the back of the classroom, years earlier than other students older than me.

I do not know what happened to my reading companion after that but we enjoyed studying different books together at the back of the classroom. We were made May Queen and May King for Mayfest in 2nd grade. That was a degree of notoriety I never intended. Reading and understanding and crying at home reading Death Be Not Proud was not something my fellow students wanted to know or learn. They were learning phonics, and S and I had already known how to read for years. We learned to read early and I taught my sister when she was four. Our parents fought ITA, phonics, for smart kids who were already reading 2+ years ahead.

Sitting in the back of the classroom, the new teacher, first day, would butcher my name.  I’d raise my hand and give them my nickname as they were not smart enough to master my given name. They didn’t care, nor did my parents for giving me the name. I did. I was a little kid with a big name. It was scary to raise my hand from the back of the room and say “call me Dee.” I love it now but still everyone calls me Dee.

They always put me in the front of the class, front of the grades until later when… that comes later.

I was always so shy. I did not raise my hand so was called on and always knew the answer. Now the Olympics are on the television and I got to see bits of W0mens’ gymnastic vaults and uneven bars. This was a passion I’ve had since before you were born. Olga Korbut, Nadia the perfect 10.

When my family moved to a new city it was summer and I was 15. I tried out for the gymnastics team before the season/school and made it. Then I was immediately made captain. I had been at an elite public school (ever seen the movie about the trouncing of my alma mater in football by TC Williams? Ask Denzel Washington about it as we were G.C .Marshall.)

I was a much better captain than gymnast. That’s why I like to think young girls like me made a new sport better by caring about it and trying to do better tricks than Olga Korbut could do in the seventies, and even the first ten Nadia who brought down everything in her brilliance.

Now I don’t even understand the scoring mechanisms and new rules but have loved seeing womens’ vault and uneven bars competitions. They are so beautiful, I could cry.

As a captain there are duties, leadership responsibilities, education. Foremost are inspiration, aspiration (life goals) and I believe there is kindness to others. These are high school kids. I’m captain of a ship my younger sister is on who wants me to fail every moment and this is high school.

It was difficult. I led some elite gymnasts and taught others. I taught one team-mate humility after she wanted to leave the State Finals after her own performance. I said her team was there for her, the best gymnast in our school, all along and we deserved her support until the end of the meet.

In the locker room I said unless she did this for her team, as the captain, she’s off the team as of now and I’ll tell our coach and she’ll tell the judges her captain says she’s off the team immediately and she will not win anything.

Guess who was in the stands cheering her team-mates? She won her award. I finally spoke out. These mates have been cheering you on all season. You have to cheer us on as well. She did it.

I know she did not do it for her team as she didn’t have a team except herself. She wanted the award but her team-mates needed to know she was there for them. I made sure that happened for them, not for her.  No-one knew except me and Coach, as I had to ask if I could strip her of her medal, and I hope this helps our old team and coach, and haunts her even now.

After 11 I need to go to bed because I’ll know what I missed and and have been up for nearly 17 hours because of family duties, tomorrow, friends, cheers from Dee

 

 

 

 

 

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Jeremy

Posted on August 8, 2016 | Leave a comment

Oh, Jeremy, where art thou?

You are sorely missed in these environs. I know you’re working your way up in the world and we love you for that, but I miss knowing that you’re here for your mere presence and for old Zoe’s and my safety.

We hope things are doing great with you and your gal. We are not expecting a wedding invitation but would love a note and address so we can send a gift.

You’re the only person who admonished me for going out the back door with Zoe once in the middle of the night, when I heard a homeless person coming up through the brush and we ran in the front door. You said to always go through the front door, you’ll see us and come get us or call 911 if we’re not back in five. Yes, sir! Now, we’re lucky to have some random person there. It’s usually bereft of staff, which is bad because my husband is gone all week and I have Zoe on my own.

Anyway, I enjoyed your presence here, and cooking for you occasionally. All the best to you and hopefully by now, your dear wife. It is a transition but worthwhile, we’ve been together nearly 15 years and things just work out. Even the wedding ring clanking on the dishes…. Did I just break Dad’s hand-made Italian platter he got us as a wedding present? No, it’s just the ring. One gets used to it. Dee

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The Sun Will Come Up

Posted on July 26, 2016 | Leave a comment

today, bet your bottom dollar it’s 4:30, come what may. I need my beauty sleep, so have gone UBD for early morning, come what may. Tomorrow is only a day away.

UBD is our code for under bed dog. She goes under my side of the bed to stay out of the sun (the shades are down) and assure that I cannot go anywhere without her knowledge. I’m in the den now and expect her to be at my feet at any moment. She’s a herder. We’re her pack. Yes, but I’m the morning gal with food and a walk. When he’s in town my husband takes her for long walks and plays ball with her in the house. He’s the fun guy and takes her out at night. I’m the food wench and disciplinarian. And you wonder why we don’t have kids.

We had folks here for spring cleaning yesterday and I was really pleased with the results. Give them high fives, Zoe! 20 minutes after they left I’d brushed out Zoe on a towel and placed the bag with dog fur in the trash and she ambled out to sleep on the living room rug (her beds are still outside) and there was dog fur all along the hallway.

My husband agrees that no matter what I do I cannot win the war against fur, no matter how many times I bathe or brush her out. That’s the way it is,said Walter Cronkite, my favorite news personality. Good morning. She’s not here yet, must be tired as she needs at least 20 hours of sleep per day to look as gorgeous as she is. Dee

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Teach Your Children

Posted on July 2, 2016 | Leave a comment

well, that was the song my tone deaf band sang at age 12, at a concert. Whenever I rose up to do harmony they came up with me. That was my only concert, even though in a huge school we did place second.

It’s after nine a.m. and the dog doesn’t know where to go so I’m thinking of taking her out, again. She loves sleeping on the bed but wants me now as well and I’ve been up for hours. My husband works on the other coast and is looking forward to a long weekend with us. Shhhh, sleep, dear.

I’d like to think the songs of Bob Dylan, CSNY, PPM, Joan Baez and others have made a different life for parents and children. I was too scared of Dylan at age 12 and I’ve only about 12 chords, never enough for Joan Baez even though I sing her music all the time. Dave Mason, I took up guitar again at age fifty and cannot play Joan Baez, I’m a beginner. One of the best musical virtual friends (now deceased) I have is Johnny Cash. I made fun of country/western music as a kid at age 12, just to be cool. A fool, I was.

Johnny Cash is one heck of a teacher even after he’s gone. When I was in private lessons I’d download free lyrics then unpack my mind and new guitar and make up chords to go with it. No primers, no music, or chords. I’d just hear in my mind, and do it.

It was time to quit private lessons as my teacher was rude to me, treating me like a kid, and when we sang a song together and he followed me to harmony he became angry, denigrating me by saying I had perfect pitch. It was American Pie and I did a riff at the end that he liked, practiced all week. He was impressed then did a turnaround.

I told him I never thought of it but Dad and all my music teachers said so. I think he had such talent on instruments that he taught his kids well, I had perfect pitch but nothing like his playing ability so as Dave Mason would say, we agreed to disagree. Dee

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We Have it Easy

Posted on June 30, 2016 | Leave a comment

Our choice of five week-old pup we named Zoe, Greek for life, was a given. When she’s in trouble my husband says “we should have adopted the dumb one,” as she’s intuitive and smart.

He grew up with Border Collies and Shepherds on the ranch, to keep the dairy cows from being attacked. Zoe’s nearly 13 years old now and in good health. She was afraid of two baby female goats years ago, probably because I named them Eleanor (Roosevelt) and Rosa (Parks) for personality, not color.

Last night, every day, I marvel at Zoe. She is so good with kids (kids parents and grandparents set appointments to come to visit in summer), adults and big dogs, little dogs and survives pups who jump up on her. She’s not allowed to be a therapy dog, even at hospice, because she eats raw food.

I’m not looking to add to our family or replace Zoe but was wondering if I’ve a last pet in me and I think I do. I think about Standard Poodles, Portuguese Water Dogs or Wheaten Terriers that do not shed and do not have one or two undercoats that are like tumbling tumbleweeds.

A dog with wash ‘n wear quality would be near to my heart, as Zoe hates a hair dryer and combing/brushing out but loves my massage bath.

Zoe lives indoors. That was a problem 12 years ago when she met my in-laws. They started with a goat pen, no, dear husband, we won’t go. Then they settled for a dog crate they found and cleaned and placed in my husband’s old bedroom. Now she sleeps on the bed and cleans all the crumbs over our five-day Thanksgiving cook-fest and stands on my father-in-law’s perch on the sofa to watch him come back from feeding the cattle. He doesn’t acknowledge her so is dearly loved.

She got me up early for her quick walk and dinner, and is now in the the  office at my feet. As I said yesterday she doesn’t mind fireworks, thunderstorms, the Blue Angels or Coast Guard helicopters. She minds having her “pack” or one may call us her staff, away. Pet your dog today. Wash your hands and make a nice dinner. Dee

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Test Results: Negative

Posted on June 14, 2016 | Leave a comment

That’s always a good thing to hear when you’re ruling things out. Yesterday our dog Zoe went through a number of tests and shots and is still sleeping it off. She was negative for heartworm, intestinal worms, fleas, ticks, you name it. She got her annual panel of shots and after we got the results, heartworm medication/treat. Ivermectin is so tasty. As we both age, it takes longer to bounce back so she’s been sleeping. Yesterday, for an annual exam and all these procedures it cost us $219.00. We can’t have doggie health insurance because Zoe has no hips (she walks fine, just can’t jump up to the bed) but we consider this part of the cost of having a dog, that and food, love and treats.

I  was denied one cent of coverage by our new health insurance company while my eye was bleeding profusely. The hospital completely misdiagnosed my condition, I went to an eye specialist after I stopped bleeding over the weekend and I had a large growth, surgery, multiple eye exams, biopsy, pathology lab and finally two weeks later the words “benign and healed” happened. Test results: negative. Phew! But we’re not out of the woods yet.

None of this happened in the ER. They didn’t care about my eye and what was wrong with it. They are going to charge me $9,000.00 and insurance will not pick up a cent of it. Apparently an eye gushing blood is not a danger to “life and limb” so because I couldn’t see to find  documentation or drive because of all the paper towels on my face to stem the blood, a kind neighbor drove me to the ER. My health insurance refused to allow a bleeding patient one cent on the insurance as it was not “life and limb.”

Oh,  am going to fight this denial with everything in my being. $219 for the dog is nothing. $9K for an unnecessary CT scan, a few bandages and a cursory vision test by a nurse are not worth that in my book. The insurance company won’t deal with them, or me. I haven’t gotten a bill yet but today called several phones and finally got the whopping number.

Now I’m waiting for them to deny me the medical visits, surgery, biopsy and follow-up for what the ER failed to even look for. This is medical malpractice and insurance fraud. The postal carrier, a good guy my dog loves, knows me and will be sure I get the next denial promptly. I think it’s time to sue and change health care companies.

They messed with the wrong person, yes the former state insurance representative. Everybody knows me. More know and love my old dog. It’s been a trip living here but I think it’s time to go. Dee

 

 

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Poop

Posted on June 7, 2016 | Leave a comment

I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch but it has been due to our blog hosts. It’s also been a really bad month with health and death.

Our family has endured loss. I’ve an appointment with a vet next week and she wants poop from our dear old dog Zoe.  I need to know why, then when and how much if I agree to why.

Poop has always been the standard Dog Mom thing. Know what you give her/him to eat, know what comes out. Pick it up in a bag, tie it off and toss it into a bin.

Now I have to bring some, poop, that is. She’s been holding out on me a couple of days per week, because The Fun Guy is unavailable, I only stay with her, feed her, walk her but when he’s off on business she wants him. Same here as he’s lenient. Not even that, he’s eager to let her play off the leash and risk a ticket, court appearance and misdemeanor and losing his job forever. Zoe and I are joined at her non-hips, inseparable.

I know. I worked for leash-free areas for six years and my dog died while I went to nightly community meetings and regular City Council sessions. That demanded a lot of time, meeting with Council staff, collaborators and the enemy, four people that then added another four, my neighbors.

Fifteen years later I feel terrible that my dog didn’t get what she wanted, a leash-free park in our neighborhood. It’ not that she didn’t get it, it’s that I spent more time looking for that for her than I did with her. The priorities were not straight.

Older now, I cherish the times I had with her. She was abused by a deputy sheriff and was afraid of men (especially those in uniform or even a hat) and children.  In the years before she died, all the toddlers in the “tot lot” called out “CHANI” and ran out to pet her when we walked into the park. It was the opposite when we began.

I like to think that the wisdom my friends taught me, the politics, everything I did for my Chani went to good use. It always came back to one premise, if parents have expensive playground equipment paid for by our tax money, dog owners should share a piece of the park pie.

Dog owners without kids are already paying property taxes for schools and all the kids in the neighborhood so why not find a creative solution for people without back yards to let their dogs run free? Yes, six years and a dissertation I cannot find. It was brilliant, made the director of Park and Rec afraid of me and had one of the most powerful people there make me his co-head and VP of development on one park board.

It was severely dysfunctional as a Board of Trustees to I tried to change it, to no avail. I never mentioned or talked about the word dog in my two years there, only about our parks and how to raise awareness and funds.

The kind gents who put me in this situation and others were seeing if I could take the pressure in different venues at the same time. I wish they could do that now as I’m so much wiser over the years. At this time I could only mentor. It would be so difficult to have a recalcitrant student like me.

I spent six years trying to make it legal for my dog to chase a ball in her park. When she died 15 years ago the neighbors got together and bought a tree from the City’s Foundation in her memory. The eight city dog haters got together and banned the tree. It was a legal donation to the Foundation (I was VP) and Park and Rec had already determined type, size and location on their own to which we had all agreed, so the haters were placed aside for this battle. We held a tree-watering ceremony in her memory. There are so many trees that have been planted around it I can barely see it on Google Earth, much less put a cup of water on it myself or leave flowers as I’m many miles away.

Friends, family have taught me a lot about pressure, priorities, and when  to have your “sidearm” at the ready. Oh, there are no sidearms, everything in life is brains and politics. If your kids know how to fight with words, and have an education, they’ll be able to live their lives.

I got a good education throughout college. Some of my mentors were from there, two died recently. Be open and willing to learn, love your family and friends. Think of what the ones you love and loved taught you. Dee

ps And remind me to take Zoe’s poop to the vet!

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