DIM LIGHT

It is 3:47. In the morning.
Cooper came and got me up because he had to go out. As much as I love my Bassets, Cooper holds my heart in his unkempt black paws. Even at that hour, usually, he makes me smile. There he is, his one front leg on the bed, peering down into my face with his teeth showing, as if to tear my throat out: but he is smiling. "Good morning;" he says. "I'm sorry but I need to go pee. Don't you?" Yes, but not in the same place, thank you.

And so I roll out of bed and let him out and in and do my own thing and crawl back into bed and he crawls into bed with me. This is our time. And I scratch all his secret spots: the very back of his head and neck, his legpit, all down his chest and the inside of his thighs, the base of his tail, right beneath his ears, and he stretches his full length out, almost as long as the bed, and moans and purrs, and always the teeth, lips pulled back, every white and ghostly tooth gleaming in the dim light. This is MY dog.

No Basset makes me smile the way this dog does. Ok well, maybe sometimes Conley. And I know that since Nigel has become sick, Conley feels displaced, lost and ignored. He who used to sleep at my back at night now is in a crate. My sleep is broken as it is, with Nigel needing to be cleaned, now to be taken out. Conley watches helplessly from his crate, his dark eyes hooded, while I lover-up his
only serious rival: Cooper.

And my heart breaks. I tell Cooper to get down and he does. And I open the crate and Conley falls into my arms. He gets on the bed not with the grace of Cooper but with a thunk that makes the entire bed shake. On his back:"Belly rubs! Get my ears, kiss me, sweet talk me, love me like you used to. Am I still your Best Boy?" Ahh Conley, my love for you is undiminished but by necessity there is less time for it.

He burrows under the blanket. He is hopeful I will let him stay but now Nigel stirs, and begins his relentless whine. He has pooped, or needs to poop, or needs to pee and now requires my full attention.

So the lights go on and I get a coat and a towel, and carrying the cute little lantern John bought in my teeth (God don't let these damn dentures fall out now!) I  open the pen and towel Nigel outside where we spent a frustrating ten minutes peeing and stopping, peeing and stopping. Am I doing this right? I MUST be missing the bladder--oop there he goes nope, stopped again. He doesn't want to stand in one spot. Slowly inch by inch we go forward, me placing his back wobbly legs just so to support the weight and squeezing, grabbing the lantern with one hand so I can see: is he going? Start, stop start stop. And he curls around to look at me--he is done.

Cooper has come out and is watching this curiously, never in the way. He escorts us, towel, lantern and hobbly dog back into the house. Everyone gets a cookie.

Nigel goes into his clean pen and immediately is  asleep. Cooper is by my bed. Conley standing in his crate: he needs out and here comes Llewis: early to bed and late to rise makes a boy healthy and a  slow poke. I let Conley out and he rushes for the door. Llewis briefly acknowledges me as he follows Conley. I sit down now and look at the thermometer. Oh how glad I am I didn't look earlier. Fourteen degrees. Gee, why can't I get rid of this cold?

I am now thinking about bed. Seriously. The boys are back at the door. Everyone gets several biscuits. Llewis repairs to his chair in the living room. Conley returns to his crate, momentarily satisfied that he is still my best boy, Cooper notwithstanding. Cooper takes his treat and knowing what will happen next eats it sloppily on my pillow. Ack. I wash my hands. It is now 4:08. My left arm, which I have done something to the elbow part of (English Major, 1966) is throbbing horribly and so is my left knee.

I take four aspirin with a diet Coke. John is still in bed. He would have gotten up if I had asked, never complaining, stumbling out to help me with Nigel. But why? I can DO it. By the end of the day I need help, but not the beginning. What am I saying! That 4:08 is the beginning of my day??
Yes. Alas. I believe it is.

Cooper has the bed anyway. I smile. I know where everyone is and I know they are fine for now. Day 2 of my diet. But for the dogs, every morning is the start of a whole new life. It may be the same as the day before but it is new. Think like a dog and you'll make it through anything. They are warm, fed and loved desperately. What could be better? How lucky am I to start my day with them.

All my Boys

MY BIRFDAY I BE FOUR by CONLEY

Mom say I git to rite my own blug taday cuz it be my forth birfday I be fore taday. Years ole. I before be three now before. Ha ha Llewis, I be FOUR see I do nose how to spellit.
Enyways dis whut I dun so far.
Got lotsa goodies, xtra wons.
Got turnkey in my brefass an lunch. Now da toikey all gone gone get uh...chikie. Mom Say Chickie inna dinner.
Got hole buncha peeterchips. Pieterchips. Pita chips while Mom gib da odder maleman not da reglar maleman but Steve da maleman we usta hab before Rich da maleman now but sumtime still git Steve when da odder MalemanRich he on vacashun she gibbin Steve he Cwissmuss card (It got dem green peeces ob paper init cuz alla time we libbin in dat oder place he an Rich (da reglar maleman) see we gets are male ebberday.) she leeb a whole goba piter chips onna desk BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. I getem befour she git back. Liddel Basset pun dere.
Den heer sum pixchures me helpin Dad do he crossedworts. Dat Nigel on he lap but IT MY BIRFDAY so I gets da place ob honor. Dat so yes it is.
Almoss time for dinnr gotta go heer da pichurs.

See I gots da bess spot. Nigel he gotta reed ebberfing upsiderdown.

Dis look da same but Ise tappin Dad wif my liddel dellycut footie. (He pretenning I not.)

Whass dat one dere? Dat 1 down:  six ledders for "pest" beginnin
BASSE?

Naw naw cant be DAT, hey you nose you got a liddel mustart on you lip? Hey lemme help you wif dat here....

Ok I all grownup I gib Nigel a chance at dat mustart two. Dis be Conley goin ta get dinner at four years ole!!

Lub an Hugs ebberbuddy.

MOMPERSON HERE TO CORRECT MY MATH. CONLEY IS 3, NOT 4.
OY

UP & DOWN

It has been a strange day. Up and down. At first I got up early hours and tried to take Nigel out to express his bladder. DOWN. He is heavy. He didn't WANT  to go out. I couldn't see. Have you ever tried to see if your Basset is peeing in the dark? Even with a flashlight: how do you hold the dog up, express his bladder, and hold the flashlight? Suggestions welcome.
So I puff puff puffed into the house, tucked everyone back in and went back to sleep.

When I got up my montly stipend had landed in my bank account. UP. I immediately ordered 2 CDs and a DVD. Fed the dogs, cleaned the kitchen, took my shower and headed out shortly after John had left for his day of volunteering.UP. I went to Michael's and did not find what I was looking for. Canvases were 40% off and every one I looked at was warped. DOWN.

Went on to HobbyLobby only getting lost once. Called GPS system aka "John", or Husband. Got directions. Got to HL. Found exactly what I needed for twice what I had hoped it would be: DOWN/UP.
Spent more than I wanted but when I got home and went over what I had it was fine.UP.

Started cutting the first print block. It came out exactly as I had hoped and I printed it and was delighted. UP. Got the news that  Teddy Basset had passed away and that Bazzle had as well. Major DOWN.

Cut the second block. It sucked. DOWN.
Heard Beth Hinchcliff was out of surgery and going home a in couple of days, MAJOR UP UP.

Did another sketch and happier with it, cut it. Happy with the cut but have not printed it yet. With luck it will be a good partner to print number one. UP? (Won't know until later.)

First print: Part one.

             There is more to this. Much more. I hope. UPDOWN.

SOME DAYS YOU JUST SHOULD STAY IN BED

When we moved back into the house in September the first thing that went wrong was the water. I did a load of laundry and the washing machine unloaded into the utility room tub, the toilet and the bathtub. Remember that? And it was days of work and they finally had to dig up the whole front yard and replace the pipe and it cost a lot of money.

So last night, very late I decided to do a laundry of dog stuff so John would have clean things for today while I was at the Gallery, and then this morning, I put some of MY clothes in and did a laundry, and as I was standing there doing something else  noticed that the water was backing up into the utility sink. I instantly turned off the washer as I heard John scream at the same moment: TURN IT OFF!! It had backed up filling the toilet and working on the bathtub.

WHAT????WTF????? AGAIN????THAT WAS FIXED!!!!!!!!!

No, no, apparently no it wasn't.
So here I sit, no bathroom, no washer, dogs whining and crying and howling and barking and snarking, Nigel doing his continual whine, which makes me want to kill him at the best of times. Cooper wanting out (run, Forrest, run!) and if I go get the wine bottle now, at not quite noon, John is sure to notice.

DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS

It is the day after Christmas. Actually now it is the night after. Everyone is gone but the dogs are still in high gear, more or less. They have been restless, agitated, up and down, in and out....
Anyway the house looks...
And I am......

"It's morning. Why isn't she doing something? Why is she just wandering around the house? Why doesn't she settle down?"

"Good grief she's been in and out of that kitchen a thousand times. What on earth is she doing?Doesn't she know we're trying to sleep?"

"She's thinking about running away. I know she is. I hope she takes me with her..."

"She didn't even make the bed right. Look at this mess! Oh well I'll just make the best of it."

This is my dining room table. It is actually fairly cleaned off. My good crystal still has to be hand washed. Actually everything does as my dishwasher no longer works.

My kitchen with the FIRST load of dishes done. It is waiting for me to put away the dry dishes and do the next ioad.

These are partially done. They need to be put away but I can't do that until the rest are done and of course i can't (heh heh) cook until these are put away.

This is my fridge crammed with leftovers. Never the biggest fridge to start with, it has a lot to do to stay cold right now. This was this morning. It is amazing how fast leftovers go in this house.

And in case anyone is worried, this is the treat box for the dogs. Please note it is overflowing. The dogs have noticed that, you bet.

Hope you had a good Christmas, too.

CHRISTMAS DAY OFF

Instead of trying to clean,(I didn't get it done) cook, entertain and write I thought I would just put out some photos I happen to like. And Happy Holidays to you, too.

                                        Mitchell (pup)

              Who knows? Looks like Mitchell's collar, however.

                                   Rescued Llama

The Mama Raccoon who raised her children and havoc in our attic one year. Eventually they were "removed" by a Pro. She is on top of our roof in this photo.

One of my most favorite International Kennel Club show photos.

Quiller pretending he really wanted to go swimming in Lake Michigan with me. (He hated every second of it, but was a good sport.)

                           Keeneland Race Track at dawn.

                                  A chicken. If you needed
the written information, consider getting your eyes checked soon.

Polar Bear with Ball. There is an entire series of him in the pool with the ball and trying to get it out of the water.

                What a Happy Quiller looked like, in his prime.

"Uh hi, I just moved in next door and was wondering if I could borrow a few of your sheep?" (A stray BCollie at work.)

   Quiller, puppy. He never let go of that leash as long as he lived.

                          Quiller at Gettysburg Battlefield

    The Park Forest Aqua Center. Must have been a slow Day.

                                           Llama

"Hey could you open the book to the Chickadee page?" Little Beemr, putting in some time studying in case she ever gets out the door.

Happy Holidays to everyone.

WHILE THE REST OF YOU CLEAN AND COOK

Today I start cleaning and cooking. Mostly cleaning. My bed is not even made because I have been working on a painting and wanted to finish it, one little detail I have had to change, altho if I did it over(and I may--this is on paper canvas and I may re-do it on the real stuff)and so the first thing this morning, I was up and squeezing paint onto my paper plate palette...
The subject, instead of my usual landscapes, are horses: a team of Percherons in the farm classes, altho these two were clearly used in the hitch classes as well, spotless, manes roached, hooves polished---

This is the photo I took. And this is the painting I wanted to do. That they lost in translation is a given. I am disappointed that the tremendous power of these two gorgeous animals was somewhat down-sized. Something about them defied my brush. Also I did the painting at home, in home lighting, which is very poor, I admit. This was the first rendition:

As you can readily see, a grave difference. Looking at them the next day I had a horsie thought: why is one wearing blinders and the other is not? At the horse show itself I took hundreds of photos and set them up to run on the computer in a loop, so that the handlers and owners coming into the Hospitality Suite could see their horses on the screen. One handler stared a long time at a pair of farm team horses and then said "Why does he have a crupper  on one of them and not the other?" This is the kind of detail horse people see-- a crupper is a piece that runs from the harness under and around the tail. No one had an answer of course, but I felt the same way looking at my painting. I looked at the photo:

Because, obviously, I had left out the second set of blinders. DUH.
So in they went.

 Then a REAL artist looked at it and noted that the throat latch wasn't quite right, and so this morning, I changed that. Now I think I am done but maybe not. Paintings are so often works in progress and sometimes the progress extends for years....I have known artists to see one of their paintings in a show and correct something the next day when no one was around. Hardly anyone notices except the painter.

Fini I think altho making the far horse a little darker might not hurt.
It was fun