Category Archives: Pet

True Grit

Yes, Kim Darby, John Wayne and Glen Campbell. I haven’t researched it but it must have been the breakout film for one of my favorite actors, Robert Duvall. He can also carry a tune.

It was my first time on a plane and first trip to The Big Apple. We went to see True Grit the day it opened on a big screen in Radio City Music Hall. During intermission my sister and I sat in the men’s room “lounge” until I figured out there were all men in there. We were waiting for Dad. Oops.

I saw a bit of it today and remember that trip as if it was yesterday. The big screen was amazing, as are flat screens and we don’t have a big one but do have HD, today.

Two rooms. Overlooking other rooms in a cheap Howard Johnsons near Times Square that was crime central. Three single beds for me, my younger sister, age 8, and brother, age three. He ordered hot chocolate on the plane and took a big gulp. Yes, it was hot so he spewed it all over the place.

It gets better. We lived in a village of 400 people, perhaps 1,000 when college was in session. In NYC my mother was visibly pregnant with my youngest sister. She was taking us on our first subway to see the sights while Dad was working. My brother asked about the “chocolate people” on the subway. Actually, they laughed and gave my mother a seat. We had never seen a Black person and I knew at age ten not to ask. My brother did.

True Grit. Radio City Music Hall. This was 1969. Dad bought my brother, age three, a Brooks Brothers navy suit. We walked by St. Patrick’s Cathedral and my brother told me everyone was looking at him. There were two lesbians 20′ in front of us kissing passionately.

I asked if anyone was staring at them. “No,” he said. “Then why would they be staring at you?”

It was an adventure in all senses, first plane, and True Grit was not age-appropriate for ages ten, eight and three but this trip is remembered and loved. With cheers from Dee.

ps Oh, we’ll have a neighbor joining me and Zoe tonight for a week or so and I’ll need to set up for Zoe’s little “sister,” as they do act like sisters. New dual leash to set up and we tested it last weekend and made modifications in terms of adding binder clips to keep Zoe from taking two thirds of the leash. Our guest has been here several times before so I’ve got the food routine down, if the new dual leash works and I tweak it according to their needs (so they serpentine on a swivel ahead of me, with each other rather than going around me) all will be well. D

pps I usually awaken to a song, in my head. Today it was The Wichita Lineman, thank you Glen Campbell and thanks for True Grit.

Zoe is 12

Our pup lived a filthy existence before she left her “home” for the shelter before she should have been weaned, or spayed. We met her and asked for her and she had a hold at the shelter by someone else. We met other dogs but no-one like her.

The next morning we were called with a lift on the hold so she could be ours. She had an unfortunate name I’d gone to lengths to correct after we finally adopted her, she jumped out of the box at just six weeks and sat on my lap in the car and looked out the window.

Coccidia, hookworms, done asap, then double hip dysplasia several months later and she had to go through six months of surgery and rehabilitation. Before surgery she would roll down the hill if she felt threatened and just give up her tummy. No-one took it. She is a sweet, beta girl.

We have a herder. She’s still a pup in our eyes. I gave her three little glusamine/chondriotin/sea cucumber bits yesterday atop her food.

Yesterday our Zoe, Greek for life, turned 12 years old. She’s still great with adults, kids and other dogs. Kids call on her. She loves being in my car, and has a 4″ orthopedic bed in there with a net and dog bowls et al. On the highway she sleeps, and only pops her head up at an off-ramp or street light.

We’re going on 14 years of marriage and Zoe took a lot of work but turned into a really great dog. January is always a great month to say what we are grateful for. Dee

 

 

Gibbs

Mark Harmon. Gibbs, NCIS. It’s taken a while for me to figure out this dilemma. I’ve been watching a marathon about your rules.

It’s a dollop of Gibbs and a jigger of McGee and that is my husband of 12 years. Add a splash of Abby and that’s him. My love, the physicist, software engineer and someone who would love Abby’s lab, that’s what I’m talking about.

I don’t know all Gibbs’ rules, only mine, and ours. If my husband is in danger I can turn to and would learn to be Ziva to protect him and our old dog Zoe, who has now taken my place on the bed. Gibbs, do you have a rule number for an old dog taking your place on the bed? If so, I hope it deals with love. Dee

Friends and Tech

For a few years we’ve been invited to an intimate event with friends who are still neighbors albeit a few blocks away. We enjoy these New Years dinners with the hosts, family and friends.

Last year at another dinner here everyone had their cell phone out on the coffee table, and they laughed at mine, which was seven years old when I turned it in for something very new and swank. That was two weeks ago and I don’t even know how to access it or put in my password or thumb print. But their phones will not laugh at me anymore. Now the phone’s owners can laugh with me on how inept I am right now.

I already know what they want for dessert, trifle, so will change it up a bit and see what German goodies my Dad sent to me and make it a trifle or a bread pudding. We’ll see where my culinary goodness comes in.

Their dog Jake was a dog worth working for ’til the end. I took him out from time to time and his family, even after his death, has embraced me and my husband. I poured water over his favorite tree in the park and said a prayer. My old dog and I pass that tree every day and I think of our times together.

Now they’ve a new pup I’ve yet to meet. We miss the old ones but always look forward to the new pups. Tradition, and life. That’s it, folks. Dee

ps I always place water on that tree for Wurli as well. He was a sweet old dog. D

 

Headstrong

The pup I cared for yesterday, and my husband, display similar qualities and differences. First I must say that several hours with the pup sent me to nap from dinner-time until 1:00 in the morning! I laid down for a few minutes, my husband came in and placed a blanket over me and I crashed for hours.

He also is perfecting spaghetti with meat sauce. Yes, this from a guy who can’t make a grilled cheese sandwich. It’s pasta from a box, good sauce from a jar and lately summer sausage, He is called the Human Tornado because of the mess he makes everywhere he goes. But after puppy terror he learned to do the dishes, wipe up, and even run the dishwasher, first time in 14 years! Thanks, pup!

I do have great hopes for Mr. H, the pup. He has potential to be a fantastic dog if his folks take a firm hand and turn his headstrong nature to learning and being useful. One year our old Zoe was barking at a female parking attendant below our loft. We got her a backpack and my husband had it tailored for her unique frame. Then we loaded it with 8 oz. water bottles and walked out to the parking lot attendant and gave her a bottle of water. Three days in a row. Zoe never barked at her again. She is a herder. We gave her a job.

Learning from errors. Hard-headedness has its place, so does the ability to learn new ways and learn from mistakes. He ruined my new sweater. Can I take these teeny bandages off the needle-teeth marks now? H is going to be nearly twice the size of Zoe, who is now her “great Aunt,” and needs a firm hand (leash control and responding to NO) and training so he doesn’t pull his owners around the block when he’s 50 lbs.

That’s all from Camp Dee, Canine Station 101. Dee

ps Thanks to the miracle workers at Nature’s Miracle. No, they don’t give me anything but are wonderful for occasional pet clean-ups. I only use it on the bed for Zoe every couple of years when she eats something icky from the sidewalk, but five pees in four hours was amazing as H kept looking at where he’d gone before and couldn’t smell it. Perhaps he was just marking territory and I kept erasing it……

I Pick at Her

My husband gave our old dog Zoe a bath today in our bathroom, without telling me. I ended up doing the bath because it’s more like a spa day rather than “Daddy twisted me every which way to wash and rinse for 20 minutes as is his methodical persuasion.”

That’s Zoe. She’s our little Aussie runty shelter mutt. She’s smart. Forget the letters b-a-l-l, she even knows what spherical device means so when we’re told to go get it, we do as it’ll keep her quiet then she’ll sleep.

We go out 4-5 times together every day. If my husband is in town, she gets a long walk after her dinner so I can cook ours. Of late, she’s been shedding like crazy. I pull out tufts when we’re outdoors on walks so that the birds and squirrels can line their nests for a cold winter.

Zoe’s, then my husband’s shower made me clean the bathroom twice and do two loads of laundry. And husband didn’t ask if I had that in my plan, just did it. He is a kind person, means well and I love him dearly.

Hours, 24. That’s for Zoe to mostly air dry. I won’t take her to a groomer or allow several hair dryers to beat on her while she is in a crate. She hates any vacuum cleaner and is a wash & wear gal, like me. Those tufts are coming out like crazy and I want to pull them but need to let her dry.

Zoe needs a winter coat, and shouldn’t be shedding summer so if we get rid of the undercoat, she can always grow another. She only sheds 365 days a year! Tumbling tumbleweeds.

Tomorrow I guess I get to wash towels and sheets….. Cheerily, Dee

 

Big Dog Bowls and Absent-Minded Professors

A few weeks ago I ordered dog bowls for Zoe. They turned out to be cat-sized bowls and the company didn’t even want them back. I gave them to a friend.

There are always new worlds out there. Zoe’s first adult collar broke after ten years. Now, her first puppy dish set has rusted throughout after nearly 12 years. I’m now using handmade silk Martingale collars with a leather leash. They give her comfort and me control and there’s really nothing to break as she won’t be with us another 15-20 years.

Yes, we like to keep them pups. Her new bowls are larger (former are saved, stainless, and in the car for trips). It has a stand for water and food. She’ll be 12 in late January and deserved an alternative to the rusty bowl holder, and to have something a few inches up so that as she ages, she doesn’t have to bend down so much for her food. That’s what dog mom’s do.

***

The absent-minded professor has been away for most of two years for work. He borrowed my car yesterday evening for a business meeting. We pay for designated parking spaces. He left home for two hours, returned at 8 p.m.

This morning I got a call. He parked in someone else’s spot. Similar space, wrong floor. So if you remember the old game Clue, the parking space stealer was the absent-minded professor, the crime was done in the garage with the wife’s car keys.

And I hit a pole trying to get out of this space that can probably hold a Mini-Cooper, not a mid-sized SUV. Hurt my bumper, just a scratch to remember this mishap. No, my husband does not drink. Only Dr. Pepper. He was just thinking of other things. That’s what he does when life is bothering him. I’d rather he think things through in the shower than in our garage. With my car, the only car our dog Zoe is allowed to be in with her orthopedic bed and cargo net.

I did send a “sorry” note through channels to whomever owns that space, as parking is precious here. I sent it on a card I bought in Florence, Florentine paper and envelope. Hope that’s enough. He made a mistake. Others have taken our parking spots in the past and that was malice, not error.

Cheerily? Dee

Shame

It’s OK in a human who might find himself/herself in a pickle, like a murder of passion or robbery or such.

To see a dog not come to the door to greet me when I return with nice-smelling groceries is an affront to me, as they are the most transparent creatures. We’ve had our dog Zoe nearly 12 years and she’s never lied. If she needs to go out, she needs to go out. Is she sneaky? Yes. She got an entire aged steak off our counter, but to her credit it was good for this hipless wonder to stretch her new legs for the first time and she was licking her paws, letting us know she stole it. All we could do is laugh.

This is our guest, Miss L. She wouldn’t come see me and stayed away from me. She pooped in my office. Easy to clean. Came right up and I cleaned the carpet with the doggie magic stuff. I took her out alone for a long walk to go last night and she did. She wouldn’t go this morning even though Zoe did and I praised Zoe in front of Miss L. We walked for a while and she still wouldn’t go. She couldn’t help what she did while I was gone running errands for 30 minutes.

I feel really bad for Miss L because she’s not even near me now and she and Zoe never leave my side. She’s exiled herself to the living room (on Zoe’s bed) so I think we need to go for a quick walk to snap her out of this. When I found the poop I found L, and told her she’s not in trouble. We can deal with this. People and their pets don’t call me Aunt Dee for nothing! Cheers, Dee

The Dynamic Duo

I’ve a new name for our repeat canine guest, Miss L, and our Zoe. Sighthound and Chowhound. Yesterday I split a jerkey treat L’s “mom” brought over and Zoe ate it in 30 seconds. L delicately held it in her paws and spent nearly eight minutes on it.

Mom bought me (not the other kids as I was the eldest and an example) multiple etiquette books and made me learn how to set tables, fold napkins and walk with a dictionary on my head. I also had to take ballet, piano and violin lessons. Come Spring I’d take off my shoes and go barefoot down cliffs to a creek and catch crayfish and the neighbor boys would throw snakes at us, me and my little sister.

The first night with guest L, she slept on our bed with her spine against my legs all night. Zoe slept on her cushy bed on the floor. Last night it reversed. But we were watching a show last night on an L-shaped sofa. I was in the middle. They were sound asleep in the same position on either side of me, each with their head on a down pillow. Sisters of a sort, though mine is 80 in people years and L is about 15.

Our walks have been eventful. Luckily both girls have the same Martingale collars and leather leashes so other dogs have not been that big an issue. Winter is on its way so the squirrels are brazen and stand five feet away before jumping up a tree. I had to take them separately for “last chance” last night because Zoe only needed a quick one, L needed a good walk.

Indoors, they chase or play keep-away with Zoe’s favorite toy, or they play-fight with fake growls and running.Then they settle down after 10-15 minutes together and sleep.

It takes Zoe under two minutes to eat her food then I place her and her water in another room. It’s taking Miss L nearly 15 minutes now, to eat her dinner. She is so delicate. Well, not that much as she likes to pick it up, drop it on the floor then eat it. That’s why I’ve a bath mat under her water and food dishes!

Miss L is dressing up for Halloween. Her mom’s flying home to dress her and promised to bring her by for admiration and a treat. I think she has a handmade costume to be fitted. Something about a creature with eight arms……

As soon as I moved to my office at 6 a.m. they awakened and are awaiting a walk. I just have to check the temp and wind and dress appropriately and we’ll go. Here’s to a dognacious day. Dee

Toes

They’re essential. I broke my fourth toe the other day on the wooden post that sits up our sofa. I think I broke a few bones but do not want even an air cast because that would be useless. Ice packs and a bit of OTC pain reliever has brought it from a sharp pain to a dull ache but stepping on it is problematic.

Don’t worry, Zoe’s going out as my husband is home for a week or two and she loves going out with him.

Not much cooking going on but before the swelling I did make some nice St. Louis style ribs with a rub and sauce. I then placed the remaining three ribs in the oven yesterday in foil, in a dish for about 40 minutes while cooking par-boiled potatoes and making a salad. That’s the least I could do. Today we had frozen pizza for dinner. It was good.

I wanted to talk about doing things and being unable to do things as I get older. This is definitely one of my five-year “klutz weeks” where I injure myself in mysterious ways. It was certainly not my intention to break my little toe.

Years ago I was a long-term volunteer at an animal shelter every Friday. I awakened one morning and could not move my neck. After seeing the doc I found that I had a congenital malfunction since pre-birth so was given drugs and a neck collar and told not to go volunteer with the dogs and cats.

When I got home I called the volunteer coordinator and told her I would not be able to resume my regular duties for a few weeks but if it’s OK I’d like to sit in her kennel with Chani because she needs me. Chani had been abused by an officer for a year then left in the shelter for another. We started there the same day and became close. We just sat with my neck brace, and talked. Soon a fellow volunteer turned staffer told me they had a meeting about her and as one of the first no-kill shelters put off a decision to euthanize for a week.

Apparently she presented a danger to men (especially in uniform) and children, who used to throw rocks at her over the fence. That was in her file. The next day I adopted her and took her home for ten years where she learned to love me, me jumping over her instead of kicking her, every child and even men in uniform. The neighborhood donated a tree to the city in her memory and I can see it on Google.earth. It is doing well and has a great view!

Change is the theme. My first kitten was flown across country by my brother at my sister’s request. Burmese mix, a talker. He was five weeks old and didn’t know how to drink water. I gave him milk and it was so hot (no A/C) that it curdled while I was at work. He watched PBS and the nature channel at night which were the only channels available while we tried to wire the city.

Nathan became a really cool cat. He was named for Kevin Kline’s character in Sophie’s Choice and the hot dog empire. He learned to walk on a leash and love my dog and never let me get the last word until the very last moment.

I like to learn something new every day, also to give back. Passion, compassion, Dee