Saturday, August 20, 2011

PALS





Gummie and Lucy are best buddies and are almost always together.....so much so that I can hardly get a picture of one of them alone. If I take all of them out for a walk I have to put the two of them together or Lucy pitches a fit. Their personalities are very different but Lucy adores him and Gummie, well he loves everybody, especially Lucy.
Lucy is wary of new people and dogs and I'm hoping Gummie will help her get over it. Her hair is starting to grow and she is looking more beautiful every day. We all love her....EXCEPT....Kissie. The boys all learned early on to pay homage to the queen of the manor but Lucy, not so much. Kissie will eventually win..........she always wins.
One day last week, she smacked Lucy and chased her up the stairs(Lucy barks right in her face)..... Gummie came running to her the second he heard her yelp....and then today Gummie got his paw stuck in some netting and started whining when he couldn't get it out .........Lucy ran over to him and licked his face.
I'm thinking they are BFF's..... we should all be so lucky!
e

Monday, August 15, 2011

DAY OFF


This morning Brogie didn't come down for his breakfast, but he has done that before ...nothing to worry about. I pretty much let him determine his own schedule...I think he's earned that. I had a meeting to go to and didn't get back until the middle of the afternoon.
My good friend drove up right behind me .........she had a calico kitten she had just adopted. We went inside and we all ooohed and ahhhed at how cute the kitten was. Gummie was in love with it. They left and I realized Brogie was not there......went upstairs and found him on his pad next to the bed......I couldn't wake him up...... but I was sure he was still breathing though it was very slow. I tried not to get upset but I guess I was thinking maybe it was his time.....and aIl of a sudden I started to cry.......I am not a crier.......never have been, but looking at that sweet boy and thinking maybe this was the end broke my heart. I sat down on the floor next to him and was immediately surrounded by Zeke, Gummie and Lucy......they were soooo sweet and I thought maybe I'd take him over to the vet so I got up and Lucy let out a big bark. It startled me................AND Brogie. He opened his eyes, stood up and started wagging. He was happy and alert...and wanting some attention. Maybe he just decided to take the day off.
We all went downstairs and he went outside to take care of business.......then back in for some rubbing and some lunch. I don't know why I was so emotional.....but I was, and I felt a little silly about it.
They just get into your heart......... and that's that.
e

Friday, August 12, 2011

RATS- PART TWO

My friend "d" sent this update on THE RAT PACK.

So, after the last rat story, the numbers have increased substantially. We had to go to extremes to remedy the problem. The rat poison is working. We placed the pellets in the front yard far away from inquisitive canines. They are dropping like flies (the rats of course) which is a good thing for health and safety reasons, but why they have to die in our backyard is beyond me. I am not talking about cute little pet rat types. Theses are Tree Rats the size of a small cat with verrrrry long tails and small beady eyes. I am thinking it must be some sort of karmic punishment for taking a life. Consistent with the lack of bravery Cooper, Savannah, and Jackson have shown, little Ollie is the first one in the bushes hunting the fresh kill. At least he has refrained from prancing around with them in his mouth and just sounds the barking alert. Well, last week, I was getting ready for work. I was just finishing up my shower when I heard Ollie frenetically barking in the bedroom. That is not so unusual as he is typically very playful at that time of day and egging Savannah on with some sort of game. So I poked my head out to see why he was escalating. Then I saw Ollie on his haunches with his butt high in the air, nose to the ground. Jackson, Savannah, and Cooper, who never climbs the stairs with his bad hips, were there too just starring under the bed. I took a closer look....mind you it is dark under the bed at 6:30 AM. I saw one of their toys and went to pick it up to stop all the commotion. It was wet and slimy. I drew my hand back quickly and took a closer look. IT WAS NOT A TOY!!!!! It was a very dead rat. And, I touched it, ewwwe. I let out a blood curdling scream, cause I hate rats. Bruce came running up the stairs thinking the worst. Of course he disposed of the thing immediately chuckling quietly as he excited the room. I failed to see any humor in it all. It has been a week now, and I have not let Ollie lick me on the face even once. I now associate his sloppy puppy kisses with rodent slime. I have been truly traumatized. Hmmm, I wonder if that equates to a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? Early retirement perhaps, or better yet a few weeks' vacation in an all inclusive Cancun resort I'm sure would do the trick. I might even consider a wet kiss on the face from our rogue Cavalier.
d






Wednesday, August 10, 2011

NEEDY

When I was a little girl I was in love with a real "dreamboat" .......Ricky Nelson. He was on a TV show and had a band. Later on he had a song that was semi popular ........GARDEN PARTY. I always liked that song and recently I lived it.
A friend invited me to be her escort to a party she was attending. I was hesitant .......come on it's summer....a garden party? The heat and humidity here are unbearable during the afternoon and there I was at 4pm walking into a garden full of people. It was a sea of pastel linen draped over sweating bodies....... ambling around gorgeous foliage that was besieged with butterflies and bumble bees. It was magnificent .....but the sweat was running down my face and pooling in my bra.....miserable!!
Mercifully, we were guided to a path that led to a huge tent on the other side of the house. It was air conditioned!!!! They had those portable air conditioners and the inside was beautifully decorated and as cool as my house. I was a happy camper.
Our hostess greeted us warmly and my friend told her that I was a dog lover too.......and that I was the one who had four dogs. That was it.....I was in. We left her guests to go into her house to meet her dogs.
They were tall, thin, angular creatures.....Russian something or others.......and she spent more time telling us about the breed than anything about her dogs. It was ......it was boring. The dogs were well behaved......they really didn't move............just stared at us....creepy. For twenty minutes she gave us the 411 about the breed......at the ten minute mark I was zoned out. I started looking back at Czar, Czar II, Alexandria, and Romanoff. They were undeniably beautiful dogs.............totally well behaved............and yet, oddly, I felt sorry for them.
As we were walking back to the tent, she asked me what kind of dogs I had and when I told her she said..........they're nice dogs. I think if she had left it at that I would have kept my thoughts to myself.............but she immediately followed with.............but they're so needy!
I was almost whispering so she leaned in to hear me say..........I think maybe I'M the needy one. Every day I need to look into those big brown eyes.........I need to scratch behind those long floppy ears.......I need to feel those wagging tails hitting my leg .......I need the feeling I get when they come running when I call them.
We walked the rest of the way in silence but we all enjoyed the party.......and on the ride home I thought about handsome Ricky Nelson and his garden party song........you can't please everyone so you need to please yourself ........I think the " dreamboat" was right.
e




Saturday, August 6, 2011

PASSAGE

The first house that we built was on a dead end street that was not paved......it was on the intracoastal waterway and had not been discovered by tourists yet. It was a great little neighborhood and our neighbors had children just about the same ages. The children freely roamed from one house to the next.......somehow they more often than not ended up at our house. It was loud, frenzied, irritating, and .......wonderful.
Daughter Leslie was the youngest..........she will be 27 in a few weeks. Next door neighbor, Jay, celebrated his 30th birthday last month............and today, I went to his funeral...........and afterwards we all got on a boat and went out on the sound where his mama gently floated a wreath of magnolia leaves that cradled his ashes. We watched it float........and then it slowly sank and his ashes scattered across the surface just before the water engulfed them.....and it was done.
On the way back we were serenaded by a string quartet..........we laughed, we cried, we hugged and we cried some more. We sang some favorite songs and we celebrated while we mourned.
When I got home I was emotionally and physically whupped.....yep, I was whupped!!!!!!
I opened the door and a flood of cavaliers swooshed by me. I wanted to nap and they wanted to play.......guess who won. They were soooo happy to see me...how lucky am I to be greeted like that EVERY TIME. I played ball with Gummie and Lucy and rubbed Zeke and Brogie and they were all very happy......
I wanted to be happy too.........but I think I'll have to save that for another day.
e