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

ESPRESSO IS MY FRIEND

Last night I tucked the dogs into bed between 10 and 10:30, letting everyone out to pee and etc., and getting Nigel settled.

At midnight, Cooper came in and wanted out, so I got up and let him out.
At 2:30. Cooper came in and said his tummy hurt and he needed out so I got up and let him out. He was out about 15 minutes.
At 3 a.m. Llewis came in and said he really really needed to go out so I got up and let him out and let Conley out as well. They were out about 15 minutes.
At 4:30, right on time, Nigel insisted it was time to get up, time to eat, time to pee, time to sleep on my bed. And so I got up and fed them, and let them out, and made my bed (padding for Nigel) and did his morning ablutions and by then it was 5:30 and I might as well just do the damn laundry.

This is why I say, Espresso is my friend. Coffee doesn't even come close.

Espresso_still_life.jpg

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photo from Google

EXCITING DAY

Yesterday was such an exciting day for the dogs. John ran errands and I stayed home.

Nigel had distinct ideas on what one should do on a day when the sky is grey and the weather motley.

Llewis and Conley went out to "play" which consisted of Llewis cleaning Conley's face and then wandering around the back yard hoping to find a dead squirrel.

Nigel continued his vigil in the house, ever alert for intruders. AND waiting for the Treat Master to return from errands.

Llewis and Cooper went out but didn't go much further than just outside the door. In case something really neat happened inside, like me dropping an entire steak on the floor.

Conley went outside also, but apparently wanted in again.
That's it.
That was our day.

A GRUMPY LOOK AT WEATHER

It is almost Christmas. It is not cold here yet, altho we have had a sprinkling of snow. I know many people love cold weather, like to ski and sled and run around dressed so they appear to be variations of the Michelin Tire Man, but I am not one of them.

I prefer the warmer climes, and I know that the worst is yet to come.Someone said we are halfway through winter. Humbug. We are no such thing. Here in the midwest winter may not start on schedule but it can hang on like a cat on a screen door. April blizzards are not April Showers. And I know that shortly I will be longing for robins and green grass and going outside without spending 45 minutes looking for my other glove so my hand does not freeze to the steering wheel.
I will be tired of foggy eyeglasses, snotty noses, tracking snow into the kitchen and then slipping on the wet floor.

I like the idea that the seasons change. I just wish winter were like maybe two weeks long.

So, with that in mind I have gathered warm and comforting images of warmer weather--- some of it so warm that clothing sticks and rivulets of sweat dribble between shoulder blades.
Nevertheless, I prefer that to spicules of frozen hair when I go out after a shower....

Petunias. Actually I hate petunias, but they do evoke warmth, sun, a growing season, green grass....pollen.

BEACHES!!! I love beaches. I love hot sand and the surf. I love trying to get the sand off my wet butt and discovering I am the only woman on the beach who weighs more than 75 pounds...

Florida sun. Florida birds. This one was stalking the causeway between the mainland and Sanibel Island. We were there (oh so long ago) in May so it wasn't scorching.

I love Pelicans. The Pelicans are like freighters. They lumber, but they can do amazing things. The Ospreys come in like fighter jets, but the Pelicans have staying power.

Summer fun in the dust and heat and broiling sun. There is, actually, a cow in that dust someplace, and the horse knows where it is even if the rider doesn't have a clue. With these horses you hang on and pray and let the horse do what he is bred to do. Which is, catch the cow. (More or less, of course.)

August. The Iowa State Fair. This is the Industrial Arts building, and all the people are mostly in this building to see the life-sized, refrigerated butter cow. Yes indeed, made entirely of butter....

At the Fair everyone gets involved in the horse shows. How did they get the stirrups  up that short and WHERE did the find the hat???

And then there are the adults....

I like summer. I love bumble bees. They look cuddly. Probably they aren't. Oh well.
Come back some day when the wind is howling and the snow is piled against the cabin door and you still have to go out and chop more wood.....

BUYING FOR THE MOTIONALLY CHALLENGED

This is a Motionally Challenged Basset Hound. As you know if you read this now and then. This is Nigel.
It sounds so simple when you are suddenly made aware that you have a dog whose life can be saved if you shell out for a cart, or can get one someone is no longer using, or one is given to you. The dog will be in the cart, he can move around again. Problem solved.
BWAAAAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA
Joke's on you.
First of all there is the problem of incontinence. Maybe you are lucky lucky and your dog has not lost that aspect of his nervous system.
Nigel is kind of half and half. He clearly has sensation. He knows when he needs to poop, for instance (if he is awake) but he cannot control doing it.
While he leaks urine when scooting about, he is capable of stopping at a tree and deliberately marking. So clearly, he has some ability there. It doesn't take a lot of dribbling to stink up a rug, lemme tell you. Or a dog.
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[tip of the year from DWinchester:
 A half-half spray of Listerine and water on the affected Basset, towel dry and add Bond's medicated powder. Not the best but by far better than stale urine.]
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So you get a Belly Band. And pads. (Remember to tell your husbands that the pad has a sticky strip on the back to keep it from falling out of the belly band. Some of us learn the hard way.)
And you struggle to put it on because the dog cannot, of course, stand up.

Please note that in the ads for the Belly Bands, the dogs are standing.

And when the dog with paralyzed back limbs scoots, he scoots right out of the belly band. And dribbles onward....

And scooting causes abrasions-- rug burns-- on the back legs and in our case a scrotum. So you look around on the internet and find what is called a "drag bag". But most of them are made for small dogs.
So you spend more money and find a big one. And when it comes you discover that it not only requires two strong people to put it on, but the zipper zips the dog's back and it takes two hands just to hold the top shut.
What is more, once it is on, the dog refuses to move, believing that you have made him look like a real fool and besides it feels funny and where would he go, anyway, dressed in a shiny blue bag with a huge collar? And inside it, the belly band comes off.

Then you see an ad for a thing to lift the hindquarters, and you think this will keep me out of the orthopedists office for a bit longer, since hauling this dog around with a towel has not helped YOUR back any.
And it is expensive but after all, this is Nigel, so you buy it and when it arrives you read the instructions which inform you that it is NON RETURNABLE and that you cannot lift the dog's legs off the ground.
Ok so I let them drag? What damn good is it? Did it say that in the ad? It did not. (The drag bag is also non-returnable.)

And today I notice one wheel on the cart is canted at a slightly different angle than the other, so all the set screws had to be tightened. Which my uncomplaining husband did before he even had his coffee.

Now there is some snow on the ground and I am not sure what this means for my walks with Nigel. I hope we can continue them.