This is Dozer. He's just about the happiest dog I know. I take that back. He IS the happiest dog I know. Dozer is in love with life. He loves everything. He loves..... us, his breakfast, his dinner, his bed, car rides, playing fetch.....and his toys. Oh, how he loves his toys. Here's one. It's a seat belt from an old car. It's pretty tough. I gave this to him a few weeks ago, and look at what good shape it's in!
I'm still amazed it hasn't been loved to death. Sort of like his stuffed animals. Dozer's current stuffed animal is a little orange fuzzy bear. Well, it used to be fuzzy. Now it's caked with dried slobber. And it's kind of a brownish/orange color now. With no face. And minus half of a leg. But Dozer still really, really likes it.
Yeah, it's true love. Puppy style.
After all, doesn't love make the world go 'round? Even Puppy Love.
Happy Thanksgiving! I thought to be different, I'd give a sort of, "Fly On The Wall" perspective on some of the things said before, during, and after our feast. Do other folks do this kind of thing, or is it just us???
My father-in-law, talking about answering a complaint before he retired, whether or not to spray for mosquitoes. "Well, Ma'am, I won't be spraying. I've checked for mosquitoes, and you don't have any."
"Oh?? Well then would you tell me what these things are that keep biting me?"
"Those are midges, Ma'am, not mosquitoes."
"Aagh! They're flying, and bugging me. That makes them mosquitoes!"
Fast forward an hour, sitting at the dinner table. A little moth was flying just above my mother-in-law's plate. I bring it to her attention.
"Nedra, there's a mosquito flying in your plate!"
My father-in-law looks at it, then tells Nedra, "That's not a mosquito, that's a moth."
"No, it's flying and bugging me, that makes it a mosquito!"
"A short pencil is better than a good memory"
"What does that mean?"
"A good memory still isn't as good as just writing it down right then."
"Not necessarily, I know there are people with photographic memories! And if they memorize it, then they don't have to worry about anything happening to a piece of paper. What if they forget where they put it? Or somebody throws it away. Or the dog eats it. Or their house could burn down!"
.....fast forward, again!
"Hey Mom, I'm going to let the dogs in"
"That's fine, but you might want to pick up your dessert plate from the rocking chair." (To keep the puppy with a good nose out of trouble.)
"Oh, come on Mom, what's the worst that could happen?"
"The puppy could jump up onto the chair, knock the plate down, breaking it in the process, then he'd step onto the broken glass, cut a main artery in his paws, and bleed to death before we got to the emergency vet. And then, we'd turn around, go home, but before we got there, get into an accident, and die."
Who needs any other entertainment?
I was looking through some of my old pictures lately, and ran across a few that I would share. These were taken a few years ago. My two boys were trying out a duck cart before hunting season opened. These carts are made to carry heavy or bulky things along a trail in the outdoors.
But this particular afternoon, it wasn't hauling anything in the outdoors. It was in our driveway. Empty. And sad. And forlorn. Maybe even lonely!
Ahhh, but not for long! My kids, being the ingenious people that they are, were re-purposing this cart into an afternoon of fun. I love boys! They're so full of life. And imagination! Just think of what they can do with some spare time, a duck cart, and a nice, big, empty driveway!
Boys are made for having fun. Unfortunately, duck carts aren't.
Tuesday, after work, I planted 3 bags of onion sets. One bag each of white onions, red, and one bag of yellow. We went into the garden, just me, the dog, and three bags of onions. Things were progressing nicely until I got over halfway through the last bag, and then I straightened up, only to have a sharp pain in my lower back. I finished the onions, and went inside, figuring it would go away soon enough. Ha! Not so! Since then, I've been hobbling around, not really able to straighten up, moving like a total freadazoid, and probably making weird noises. But, it's not all bad! There's a silver lining to this little cloud. Today, in an effort to help my back feel better, I've been spending a boatload of time in my recliner, shelling out walnuts. I've cracked out 7 lbs of meat! Wow! Ok, when I put it in writing, 7 lbs. doesn't really sound like alot, but it's taken me a long time, so I'm still going to be excited for myself. Anyway, you want to know something? As I'm cracking these things, I keep thinking about my mom's candied walnuts she used to make. They had this dark almost hard candy coating, and she would cook them on the stove, then pour it all onto a cookie sheet to cool, then break them apart. Funny that I haven't thought of that in years. I wonder if I can find her recipe?
I got a phone call Wednesday night from our oldest son, Michael. It was well after dark, and he didn't have school the next day, so I wasn't surprised to find he'd decided to go hunting the next day. Here's the gist of our conversation:
"Hi Mom, guess what? I just killed a deer!"
"When? Where? I didn't know you went hunting today."
"Like, not even 5 minutes ago, right here South of town, and I wasn't hunting. I was driving!"
"What??"
"I wasn't hunting! I hit it with the truck! "
Oh, let me tell you, anybody with children knows the feeling I had when my son told me that he'd hit a full grown deer, broadside. But the only thing that happened, well, aside from him killing the deer, was a caved in bumper and a busted headlight.
New headlight - $20. Friends helping pull bumper back out - $0. Nothing wrong with my son - priceless.
I know we live outside of a small town, and we have animals, and cut our own firewood, and everything else that goes along with that. But in all reality, my guys are geeks. My family lives for the computer, and the information it gives us. We love fast internet searches for a quirky recipe, or the odd tidbit of information. To say nothing about my hubby actually making a living with his knowledge using a computer. Of course, my youngest son is no different. No, he doesn't make a living using a computer, although at 19, that would be nice! What I'm saying is, David is a total geek. To prove my point? I just got a text from him, (he's at Walmart.) "Holy crap! I just found a 16g flash drive!" Ahhh, I can see it now, the newest, biggest, most beautiful flash drive, as a centerfold in PC magazine!
- I've been trying to catch raccoons for a year.
- They've eaten three dozen of my chickens.
- It makes me sad.
- Very sad.
- We put up a hot wire, and added smaller wire around the whole chicken yard, but it still wasn't good enough.
- I bought a trap.
- The only thing I ever caught was our cats.
- Our cats aren't smart. I caught each of them many times.
- This is my tripped trap I found on my way out yesterday morning.
- I thought it was one of our cats. Again.
And look what I found under the cardboard!
Finally, after a year of trying, off and on, I caught a raccoon!
After all, doesn't love make the world go 'round? Even Puppy Love.
