Thank You, Max and Anne!

A few weeks ago, we got a very thoughtful gift in the mail, and I have been remiss in sending out our thanks. Max knows about Lilac and her tender toenails and he sent us her own emergency kit for when those pesky nails break off. They also sent a very nice winter hat that no doubt will keep her ears quite toasty this winter. I haven't mentioned it here on the blog before, but Lilac hates to have her ears cold. She sends many thank roos to them for their generosity!

Things That Go Bang In The Morning

This will be another story about the joys of living in a small town. As I have mentioned, I am on a break right now, since the school where I work is on a year round schedule. I really enjoy sleeping in a bit on the three weeks we have off, however, it is not to be. If it's not my, oh so charming neighbor kids (yes, that was a hint of sarcasm in my voice) slamming their door right outside our bedroom window hard enough to shatter the glass (yes, this has actually happened), or my husband tromping through the house to get ready for work (I love him, but I swear that it requires about ten times more noise for him to get ready when I'm not going to work), then it is the fall bane of our existance. By that I mean, the local high school marching band and their outdoor practice. Every morning at eight o'clock, they begin to practice. When I say that they begin to practice, I mean that they parade past our house, trumpets blaring and drums crashing. Now that it's cold enough that we've starting sleeping with the windows closed, this shouldn't be a big deal. However, I'm not the only person in this one horse town (yes, someone really rides a horse past our house regularly) who is disturbed by the marchers.

Bunny is also not fond of the band. When I say she's not a fan, I don't mean that she's going to avoid their concerts and won't be picking up their albums. I mean that when they march past our house, she becomes a leaf-shaking mass of nerves. She will crawl up on the couch between Blueberry and me, but her body still trembles enough that I feel it through her whole body.

I'm not sure what it is about it that bothers her so. Thunderstorms roll through and she doesn't even flinch. The Fourth of July wasn't even a blip on her radar, while Lilac exiled herself to the basement to celebrate in peace. Backfiring cars barely get an ear twitch. However, something about those bass drums booming past gives her the heebie jeebies. It's one of those mysteries of life, I suppose. Nothing else in the world seems to phase her in the slightest, but for now, we both just have to suffer through the enthusiasm of the high school marching band, I suppose. Maybe we can both invest in earmuffs!

Until then, I guess we'll both just spend our vacation as early risers on the couch together and watching the world go by.

Wordless Wednesday 10/7 -- When Squirrels Attack

Don't Even Think About It

The greyhounds at our house are all very mellow and easy going. We rarely have any problems with them or between them. However, there is one little issue that we do have to watch. I'm going to be one of those bad people who exposes her dog's dirty little secret here now. Three of our hounds are very laid back about food, and then there's Blueberry.

Blueberry is a food hound.

When the dogs come back in after turn out, they all go to their food bowls and start to eat. All of them except Madame Blueberry. She marches straight to the living room where she rubs herself up and down the length of the couch before going over and flopping down on a dog bed where she can see the kitchen. If another dog even looks at her bowl, there is one loud woof and then she rushes into the kitchen and checks to make sure that her food is still there. Then she will come back to the living room and lay down. About forty five minutes after everyone else has eaten, she will go in the kitchen. She makes the rounds, inspecting to see if everyone else ate their food. If anybody has any leftovers, she eats that first. Then she ambles over to her bowl. She'll take a mouthful of food and carry it in to her favorite dog bed in the living room.

Inevitably, at this point, Hawk decides that he needs a drink and so he gets up and moseys to the water bowl, which, of course, takes him past Blue's dog food hidden in her bed. This elicits another woof from her which I have to confess I am surprised hasn't killed poor Hawk of a heart attack yet. Sometimes it even scares me a little. I or my husband yell at her and she hunkers down with her food, eating it as fast as she can so she can rush into the kitchen and get another mouth full. Hawk staggers back to bed and lays down and all is right in the world again.

We have noticed a trend lately with the food. After the dogs were so sick from the canned food incident, we were cooking some meatballs for them to encourage them to eat again. All of the dogs think that we should keep cooking the meatballs and now anytime either of us is in the kitchen, we are stalked in hopes of getting meatballs. Blueberry has decided that she shouldn't have to eat if we don't cook something for her, and that anything we cook should be for her. She's always been very motivated by food. However, now she prefers to keep her plain kibble in her bowl while she pines away for whatever we are eating. If nothing better materializes, then she will go back to eat her food eventually. Trust me on this, she isn't starving!

Today, we reached a new level, however. As the weather has turned to fall, we've been cooking inside, as opposed to the summer when almost everything is cooked outside on the grill. Today I decided to cook some Salsa Chicken Soup to warm us up and stick to our ribs. I went to the kitchen to start cooking a short while after the hounds were finished eating. Well, all of them except Blueberry. When I entered the kitchen, she came barreling in there. I turned and looked at her. She glared back at me.

Me: Blueberry, I am not going to steal your food! I need to fix supper.

Blueberry: You're alone in the kitchen with my food. You are highly suspect.

Me: Trust me, I have better things to eat than your kibble! We haven't gotten that hard up yet!

Blueberry: Well, if you've got something better, why aren't you sharing that?!

Me: Because it's for people! You have a bowl of perfectly good food there that you haven't even touched. I don't think you even sniffed it until just now when I came in here.

Blueberry: I wanted to be sure you didn't try to take any. I'd have smelled your stink on it if you had! And I'll eat it when I'm good and ready.

Me: Yes, I am aware.

Blueberry: Was that chicken broth you just poured in that pot?

Me: As a matter of fact it was. It's part of the soup we're having.

Blueberry: I think you meant to pour a little of that in my bowl...

Me: No, I need it all for the soup!

Blueberry: And I thought you loved me! I'm going in to lay on the couch with Dad! He really loves me! He'd have given me some, I just know it!

After I finished the soup, sure enough, there was Blueberry sleeping on the couch, her head on my husband's leg. They were nice enough to save me a cushion at the other end of the couch to sit on. Husband and I both sat down with a large bowl of soup and Blueberry circled her wagon around to the front of where my husband sat. She did her prettiest sit. She batted her outrageous eyelashes at him. Her slender head wobbled in excitement. To her great shock and surprise, he ate all his soup and didn't give her any. After a disgusted sigh, she marched back to the kitchen and ate her food. Sometimes greyhound retirement isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Sometimes It's Better To Be A Dog!

About a week ago, we noticed that the water seemed to be running down the sidewalk in front of our house. We waited for the town water department to come and look at it. They did come out and inspect it, and then delivered the news that the water leak appeared to be on the pipe on our side of the shut off instead of theirs and that we'd have to replace the pipe ourselves. That was not the news we were hoping for, but we called around and finally found a contractor willing to come out and take care of the problem. Yesterday was the day when they were finally able to work on the pipe.

It started out simply enough. They used a large saw and cut through the sidewalk so they could lift it out. Then the scary part came for me. They went in our basement and cut a hole in the foundation of our house near the water meter. Surprisingly, the dogs were mildly curious when he came in the house, but after the disappointment of not being petted, they returned to the living room and went back to their regularly scheduled naps. The hounds were completely unconcerned by the fact that the water was now shut off. I was less calm about this fact than they were as I went into the bathroom and realized that they'd shut the water off before lunch and I'd used the last flush of the toilet. Still, I told myself that things would be alright.


My husband arrived home for lunch and he and Bunny went out to inspect the hole they'd dug. Bunny was pretty curious about what was going on. We had lunch and tried to go about life as usual. I will say that it's very easy to forget how easy we have it with running water most of the time. It's something that you take for granted. Still, I was hopeful that we'd simply have a few hours of inconvenience and then be ready to move on with life. The men returned to work after they had lunch and the dogs blissfully slept through the noise and commotion. That surprised me a bit, to be honest. People tramping in and out the back door, drills and saws going off, a backhoe running outside and they were all chasing rabbits in their sleep. The only thing that roused them all day was the sound of the doorbell ringing, but that proved to be merely a minor inconvenience to them. As soon as they realized it wasn't someone delivering stuff for them, they were completely uninterested. I no longer hold any delusions that they will put up even a token effort to defend me should we become victims of robbers or other nefarious criminal types. In his younger days, Hawk might have stood up for me, but he's too old to be too concerned with heroism now. Bunny couldn't even dream about being ferocious. Lilac could scare someone with her deep bark, but wouldn't go to the trouble. Blueberry might notice that they came in, but she'd soon get distracted by fluffing a dog bed and forget about it. So, I now know with certainty that I'll be on my own if the time ever comes.

As the afternoon wore on, I began to really appreciate the convenience of modern bathrooms as well as really missing having my own in working order. Maybe having a spare outhouse wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I remember how ticked off Treat was that she didn't have a special place to go inside when it rained and I wondered if somehow this was some cosmic joke of hers. In due time, Hawk and Lilac came over to let me know that it was time for turn out as I sat holding my bladder on the couch.

Me: Just hold on a little bit, guys!

Hawk: No, this is urgent!

Me: You think it's urgent five minutes after you just went out!

Lilac: We're old and we aren't going to hold it for you, or anybody!

Me: Guys, you really want me to walk all the way out to the pens in this condition?

Blueberry: You're kidding right? We have to go out there in snow, sleet, rain and heat! My Gosh, the heat! Suck it up, will ya?

Me: If you really loved me, you'd wait until I can get in the bathroom!

Bunny: I'll share the dog pen with you if you let me sniff your butt!

Me: Fine! You guys have it so easy!

And so, I realized that sometimes it really might be better just to live the simple life of a canine. Most of the time, I enjoy being a human, but sometimes I experience a pang of envy as I see them all camped out, enjoying the morning sunshine as I go off to work. They really do have it made, even if they don't have indoor plumbing!

At the end of the afternoon, the contractor rang the doorbell and informed me that they'd done their work. The pipe on our end was replaced and the hole in the basement was mortared in. The city came by and realized that the pipe on their side of the shut off was bad, too, so the joy is that now we have orange cones and sawhorses in front of our house along with a piece of plywood over the gaping hole. And we get to do the whole thing all over again when the city decides to fix their side of the pipe.