Molly

How can you not love a face like this...

This is Molly, a 10 week old, minature, red daple daschund that my wife just purchased for us. My wife didn't think our lives were complicated enough so she went out and bought a new dog. My daughter must share the blame because she went out and found the dog for her and then called me on the phone, reporting her find, hoping against hope that I would be excited. When I wasn't they just ignored my "lack of excitment" and turned it into a positve response from me and thereby getting my "stamp of approval" on their project. A Dachund I, reportedly, said it was OK to buy, was our new family pet. We had two before and they were truly great pets but we didn't need another pet. I'm old and have enough to do without another pet in the house and now we have three.

Below, Molly meets her competition, 1 year old Bridget

Above, Molly lounges on our grandson Sam's back. Life goes on!

Bridget

You will notice, by the photoon on top, that we have a new addition to the family. This one is a she and her name is Bridget. ½ Yorkshire and ½ Shiatsu and there is absolutely

nothing she can do. Scarred to death of her shadow and every noise that there is. We have her enrolled in “Puppy Kindergarten” and she has been to four classes and can’t do even one trick. Talk about throwing good money after bad. Her one redeeming quality is that she hassles Purrsey, the cat, on a constant basis.

You will notice, by the bottom photo that she has changed a bit in the past 6 1/2 months. Today she can do a few more tricks. She knows "sit" and "stay". It was us that failed out of puppy kindergarten. She still hassles Purrsey, the cat. They now play well together and about every morning they wrestle. We have become very close buddies because I'm the one that feeds her, takes outside, walks her and now she goes with me in my truck.

Worth a second look

My wife and I are cleaning out our basement and some of the items we "find" are hauled upstairs to the porch for temporary storage. Today is a foul weather day and as I passed through the porch today I had to do a double-take trying to figure out what was in the chair. Once I figured it out I hollard for my wife to take a look and grabbed my camera. This is what I found. Not a real happy camper at being discovered. Certainly worth a second look.

Magee

This is my last pet story for a while. I have to get by the damn pets and get on with my life. The picture you are seeing here is what my computer screen looks like when I go to check my mail in the morning. Kinda scary and eye opening isn't it? Well that is Magee from a picture that Georgette sent me a while back and I keep it on my computer so that I start my day off right. We dog sat for Georgette when she went on vacation a while ago and Magee really was a trip. With our dogs and Magee and Bridget and Purrsey the cat, our house was a real zoo but a laugh a minute. We really liked Magee and grew very fond of her. We eagerly await a return visit.

This second photo is our Bridgette and Magee getting to know each other, I think?

The third photo is the real Magee smiling for the camera. You can see why I like her so much!

Boomer and Bernie

This next story is too good for me not to post it. My lifelong friend, Signa Jean, forwarded it to me today. It is a window into the world I left behind 25 years ago. Signa Jean and her family have been our best friends for 40 years and all are now part of the family because their son married our daughter and the happy twosome live a few blocks away. We were part of that cowboy community in South Dakota, when we left for greener pastures 27 years ago. We made a brief stop in Odessa Texas, for two years and then on to New England for the rest of our lives. This story was from Cowboy Historian and Poet Baxter Black and I am sure he is a friend of Sig and her husband Dale. I've become a bit of a stuffed shirt since moving to NE and this story brought a bit of it, The cowboy life, back to me. Enjoy!


Boomer and Bernie
There's been a gradual change in the way we cowboys do things. It's come over a period of years and coincides with anti-smoking regulations, a healthier diet, mandatory seat belts, bull riders wearing helmets, gentle horse training, improved cattle handling techniques, and now allowing our dogs free run of the pickup bed when we go to town.

It was a long time before I conceded that chaining my dog in the back was the right thing to do. It was about the time I quit speeding, chewing Copenhagen and started taking an aspirin a day. As the loss of my individual freedoms began piling up, I felt less need to let my dog enjoy one of his favorite things: riding unfettered in the back of the pickup.

Bernie, too, had faced the same decisions to do what is begrudgingly safer, but usually not as much fun. In his case, he lets his good cow-dog Boomer ride in the front of the cab with him. Boomer liked it as long as he could have his window down far enough to hang out his head. One fine New Mexico morning they were driving down the Dexter highway, Bernie on the cell phone and Boomer taking in the scenery. Traffic was busy and Bernie was smack dab in the ;middle of a verbal therapy session with his banker. Suddenly the cab filled with a blizzard of old receipts, magazine scraps, ear tags, Maalox pills and a roll of survey tape.

His first thought was that Boomer had hit the electric window all the way open at 45 mph! But no, Boomer's hindquarters from the neck down ws a furious flailing of limbs scattering everything on the seat and dashboard into the air! He realized immediately that Boomer had stepped on the electric window button, but he had closed it on his neck! Bernie fought for control of his vehicle, the cellphone and the mad dog amidst the hurricane of trash that filled the air!

Then, Boomer lost control of his bowels. Digested dog chow, in several stages of viscosity joined the airborne contents in the dog blender. Swerving on the shoulder, Bernie jumped out, raced around and jerked open the door. Boomer was still attached and smacked him on the face! As Boomer dangled momentarily, a passing motorist screamed "Dog abuser!" and made an obscene gesture.

Well, Boomer got saved and Bernie now chains him in the back. He bought a gross of air fresheners to hang on the rearview mirror that smells like cooking broccoli and he is a changed man. Kinder and gentler, but more practical. Yet, the profound question that lingers in his mind every time he climbs into the pickup is, "Why didn't I lower the window from the driver's side?" Maybe it was some deep man-animal bonding conflict, or perhaps simply his vision was blurred.

More Hair

It is amazing how much mileage you can get out of a little hair growth. I start most conversations with “Have I told you that I am growing new hair?” and it seems to get an interesting conversation off and running. My wife is getting tired of hearing it but she did suggest “Lets ‘spike’ your hair for a different look and I’ve got some hair gel upstairs that you can use.” I was all for it. I told my grandson Sam that “when it gets long enough I’m going to wear it in a pony tail”. “no you won’t”, he intones before glancing up from his ‘Game-Boy. “What makes you so sure?” I ask. Shaking his head in disgust, he coolly responds as he goes back to his game-boy, “Because your from South Dakota”.

Went to my Dentist yesterday because I was getting some false teeth fitted and he said that he would be more interested, in my story, if I found a way to grow teeth. Looking at my mouth it was pretty obvious that I hadn’t found a way yet. I don’t like false teeth but I will admit that it looks better than no teeth. I’m only missing three in front but I need to have them adjusted because they hurt a little bit. Guess I will have to get out my Dremel tool and go after them.

You will notice, by the photo, that we have a new addition to the family. This one is a she and her name is Bridget. ½ Yorkshire and ½ Shiatsu and there is absolutely nothing she can do. Scarred to death of her shadow and every noise that there is. We have her enrolled in “Puppy Kindergarten” and she has been to four classes and can’t do even one trick. Talk about throwing good money after bad. Her one redeeming quality is that she hassles Purrsey, the cat, on a constant basis.

Rudely Awoke

This morning at 6am I found myself napping on my recliner in the living room. Normally I am up at 5 for the day but today I woke as normal and decided to catch a few more hours of sleep. I didn't need to do things until 8am and a few extra hours wouldn't hurt me. I covered myself with a blanket that my daughter had given me for Christmas. Suddenly a dog landed on my stomach and it was Maggie. Well isn't that cute, she wants to sleep with me? I slid over, in the chair, to make room for her as I petted her. It was at this time that she went "eurppp" and threw-up on me and the chair and my blanket. She then jumped down (wise choice) and threw up on the floor. I retrieved a roll of paper towels from the kitchen and started the clean up process. I heard a noise and looked over at the couch and there was Maggie, curled up in a ball, sound asleep and snoring.

If you look back at a couple of earlier posting you will know that Maggie is not ours but a friend's who is vacationing in Arizona. The dog is a little bit different and has been fun. She wears a full dog collar and still doesn't really like it so as she wears it she shakes a lot trying to get rid of it. She starts with a slow roll to the left and then a slow roll to the right, it is almost like she is winding up to shake. Then shakes so hard she sometimes falls over. Funny! Since she has been here she has learned to get along with the cat, Purrcy or is that the cat has decided to let her live. Anyway the two like to chase each other. This picture is a chase photo as the cat is stalking the dog and as I took the photo the cat attacked batting the dog in the head about 10 times before the dog could respond and then the chase was on. Time to come back and claim your dog Georgette.

Maggie is back for a while

Maggie is back for a while. His Mom left on vacation for a couple of weeks and we are providing an alternative to the Kennel. Simon likes the new arrangements but Purrsey is being a bit standoffish. Purrsey has taken up residence at the top of the stairs where he can survey his kingdom even if it means flashy red eyes while on Maggie watch.

Simon has done much better sharing things. The next photo shows the two greeting each other again. Went OK as no one got hurt. This new dog is spending her time searching the house, looking for Mom, I would judge, all the while letting out little yelps. {Sorry Georgette} She will get over it by tomorrow and start settling in. When she normally travels around the house she makes more noise than three dogs snorting, yelping and breathing hard. The only problem we have seen so far is that she constantly travels in a cloud of gas. Anyway, welcome Maggie, if you get too lonesome or restless we can always take you down to Sam, Mike and Ellen's house to spend the day with Randy and Boo.

Buddies

Just waiting for some action outside so that they can start barking, meowing and scratching to go out!

Bench and Turkey

My friend T.F.Stern from T F Stern's Rantings left me a comment yesterday on my Jerky posting and I thought I could elaborate on it a bit.
T. F. Stern said...
"Ted, Just noticed that the piece of furniture is nearly identical to one we have. My folks gave it to us when they sold their Houston house and went to Florida."
7:27 PM

I decided to include a photo, sans the destroyed goodies, so readers would know what we were talking about.


This is what we call a New England bench and they are all basically the same except they are all hand painted so each is different. I don't know if there is another name for these benches. We were dropping clothing and some furniture off at our local Salvation Army store and decided to stroll around a bit, as we did. We frequently drop things off there but never go inside as I guess we were embarrassed to be seen shopping there or something. Glad we did as we picked up the bench for $25 or $30 and then we found 6 stools at $5 each for our eating bar in the kitchen. We had been looking for a long time for the right stools and there they were. I also found a goose down vest for work at about $3. We ring the bell for them at Christmas and through various fund raisers we work with, The Salvation Army is always on the top of the list. The Salvation Army provides screening services for recipients of Christmas presents our groups give. The Salvation Army provides screening services for us for food and financial help to the needy. By purchasing items from their store we provide working capital for paying the clerks and management to keep the store open. It is a win-win situation.

T.R.Stern, by having that bench just might prove that you are really displaced "Snow Bunnies" hiding out in Houston. Just an observation that the ex-cop, in me, brings out from time to time. Sorry.

They came back!

Our daughter, husband and grandson are out of their house and back with their two big Dogs Boo and Randy. I don't want to make it sound like they got evicted or anything but they had Asbestos Abaters at their house removing the nasty stuff from their old water boiler in preparation of receiving a new one. It was an old H.B.Smith coal boiler. A brief sidelight is in order at this juncture as HB Smith boilers were built here in Westfield and they were the top of the line, sold all over the world. If you have an old boiler it just might be and HB Smith. Recently the company was sold and the site is now a modern Supermarket. The Smith brothers owned the company in the 1850's and early 1900's and they and their respective families are buried in our cemetery, Pine Hill. One had a daughter who was the 1st child buried in this cemetery and we recently buried the last of the original family line, Edwin Smith who was in our church, a friend of ours and a member of our Board of Directors. Back to my story. Their particular boiler had been converted to gas but was highly inefficient. Their heating bill last year was $5,000. Time for a change so they have opted for a new, modern, high efficiency boiler. They left the house because of the asbestos removal being underway and their heat had been turned over for about 36 hours.

The two dogs would be much to much for our little Simon and Purrsey so we removed them to our office, next to the house and hoped they wouldn't rebel very much and cause very much damage. Boo and Randy arrived with a flourish and took over the house as they searched for the dog and cat. One of them even pooped in the dining room. At one point they started circling inside our house in a game of tag and my wife was standing at the kitchen counter as the two came charging by. They almost broke her in half at the knees. The next morning they exited as they had came, in a flourish. Most of the time they were here Boo cried because it was his first time away from home [except the night he spent in jail].

I let our dog and cat out from their temporary quarters and Simon rushed to the house to find all of the possible odors the two interlopers may have left. Purrsey treated it as a military mission and slunk all of the way to the house. Smelling, hiding, waiting. It had to take him 10 minutes to get over the threshold. It was a little traumatic for them but not nearly as much had we left them in the house to put up with the two monsters. It has been an interesting few hours.

Straighten up because I'm coming to visit for a few weeks!

Puppy playdate.

Thought I would never be uttering those words. I don't like the term when used referring to kids and absolutely never when referring to pets. We never took our daughter to a "playdate" and my wife and I never had a "playdate" when we were kids. It is this new generation of parents that have coined that phrase and now Websters will want to make a new word out of it, if they haven't already done it. I suppose it will be political incorrect should I say "Sam is over next door playing with Tim" but I will need to be saying Sam is having a "Playdate" with Tim????? What happens to me if I refuse to use the word "Playdate"? Do I get censured by Merriman-Webster or something. Do the word police come and get me?

Sorry but I went off on that word a little bit. We had a puppy playdate today because GG is bringing her dog Maggie over to live with us sometime after the 1st of the year, for a while while she heads to Arizona to visit some friends and family. This 1st picture is Maggie in all her Pug glory.












Next picture is our Simon with Maggie as the two "Explore" each other.












The third picture is Maggie getting to know Purrsey over at the shop. That is Purrsey's back and hair standing straight up. Purrsey is not very impressed. When he got back to the house he immediately went upstairs and hid. seems he isn't quite ready for another dog in his life. When Maggie got into the house she went right to the middle of the living room floor and pooped. Probably trying to establish herself as Alpha pet or something.
Dec 26th Mike, Ellen and Sam are moving over here for a day and night as the asbestos removers go to their house removing the stuff as they are getting a new furnace. They are bringing their two dogs, Boo and Randy, with them. Boo is a Black Lab and Randy a Golden Doodle. Both love to play rowdy and rough and destroy anything in their way. You might remember that Randy ate two pair of my glasses and a couple of bags of apples. This should be enough material for a posting or two.

I need to update this posting because when I went upstairs to change clothes I found that the damn cat had peed on our bed. Probably the cat was upset because the little Pug chased him upstairs that he relieved himself on our bed. Seems he's making a little bit of a play at being Alpha pet. He better find another way of doing that, mabey kicking some butt or something, otherwise he is going to be working on Alpha Pet out in the shop at night.

Another cat posting

Think I will start back out with a cat posting. I have got to do some reading to catch up on this super silent Diesel Sub the Chinese have developed because I am sure I will have something to say about that. I have also got some old bicycle stories , a story, with pictures, of my sister-in-law’s latest tattoo, a couple of cop stories and one or two submarine stories. I might even venture back to the 1950’s and see if I can remember times when I was 10 years old. Alas I get away from my Purrsey story.

The picture says it best as Simon is bracing for yet another attack from the cat. Purrsey managed to escape to the outside world, a couple of months ago and has become a part time resident there. Simon insists on following him until he gets too far away. Simon will bark at him if he goes where he shouldn’t. It has become a rather fun match to watch. They wrestle and run until Simon runs out of steam and lays down for a cat nap and sometimes the cat will lay with him. If the cat is still out at bedtime Simon will not settle down until the cat comes in. I have had to keep a ladder close because Purrsey can get up on things but just can’t get back down. The worst incident was going up a tree, probably because of the neighborhood dogs, and spending three days up there until we found him. He sure was hungry when he got down. The nice thing about his moving outside is that the world in now his litter box and the house smells a whole lot better.

The cat usually wants outside at 4 AM and I foolishly oblige him. I have found that the constant meow’s go away when you oblige him and those meows can drive you insane if you fail or move to slowly. You certainly can’t sleep through them and the only other solution available would be killing the cat and that would make the wife unhappy. Therefore I get up at 4 and let the cat out.
This morning I let the cat out at 4 and then the dog wanted out at 5. At 5:30 I was having coffee when I heard a rather loud commotion on our side porch. I opened the door and Purrsey flew in the door. I noticed Simon, all agitated and patrolling the driveway outside the porch, back and forth. Off in the distance I could see our local, gray, neighborhood Tom, swaggering slowly to the South and home. I am sure he had just delivered a dose of “Who’s top cat in the neighborhood” to Purrsey and Purrsey’s hero Simon broke up the action chasing the villain away. “Good boy Simon”! Purrsey has had his butt kicked a couple of times now. He’ll eventually learn.

Cat purrfect day

Purrsey thought he would define the words "Getting Comfortable". To top it all off, that is the dogs bed.

Wife went to 6 Flags today with the kids so I spent the day doing a couple of projects and then cleaning the house. Wife usually takes care of the cats litter box and I thought I would give her a break and do it. Spilled a full litter box on the living room carpet. Boy did that stink. When I went to fill the box I dropped the bag of clean litter because the bag slipped as I was filling the box and I have a bad bicep muscle from an injury and now I have a very bad bicep muscle. I then went and took a nap.