It is officially Halloween!

We do not have any pets, at this time, but in October, every year, a black cat hangs around our yard, and likes to groom itself on our car, obviously.

This was my view out the kitchen window this morning.

Happy Halloween everyone!

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Here a deer, there a deer and a yard of rabbits

We live on close to four wooded acres and our large pond is a very popular spot in this drought, for all manner of wildlife.  To keep our garden from becoming the local salad bar for four-legged critters, husband has fashioned a very cheap cage to cover it. It seems to scare most of the wildlife and, when she was alive, Irritating little chihuahua would not go near it.

He found the pattern online but husband is not real knowledgeable about the internet and probably could not find it again. It’s made of chicken wire over a frame of flexible electrical conduit and it has its own screen door and a seat on the outside. We had it near the house but the Brown County Garden Club came out and built us a raised bed garden to fit in it. It weighs next to nothing for about seven of us to lift and put over the new garden.

Frankly, I see two more of these in our future.  And, thank you so much to the kind people and companies who donated their time and supplies to make our garden successful.

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You are never far from home, no matter where you roam.

It is always nice to have a new subscriber, but it is especially cool to find one from a far away land. I believe it helps to remind us just how similar we are. There are jobs we hate to do and then find out how worthwhile they were. There are times we do not realize how much we miss our relatives until we see them again.

If i cannot travel, at least I can read about other places and people. Sanchari is in Delhi, and blogging at, http://sancharib.wordpress.com/. If you scroll down her posts, you will see some great photos of the Jaisalmer Fort.

But, what really brought me home was her November post on cutting down the Mango tree which was just one year older than she is.

When I was growing up, my side yard had a large weeping willow tree. I could crawl under the branches and have an instant play house/fort/whatever I wanted. Many a day was spent eating lunch and playing under that tree. So, when mom and dad moved to a subdivision, they took a start with them and grew a new weeping willow in the backyard.

When I divorced, I moved back home again with my daughters. Super teacher daughter was in kindergarten and was delighted to live with a weeping willow in her very own backyard. It was she now who spent hours eating cookies or sandwiches and playing dolls under her grandparents tree. That is, until one day years later when lightning split the tree and it was taken down.

We had moved out a couple of years before this, but daughter always ran to visit her tree. We did not think to warn her as we got settled in for our visit, until she came back in the house in tears. Her beloved tree was gone.

She never ate mangoes from it but that tree was a wonderful memory for my daughter, as well as Sanchari’s Mango tree was for her.

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Today is not that day!

After my father died, my mother was lost. As much as she loved her freedom, she was lonely without someone there to talk to. She had always wanted a Chihuahua and so another relative gave her half the money to purchase a Chihuahua puppy.

The puppy was adorable, and quiet. Very quiet. She did not bark for months until it got to the point that my mother encouraged her to bark. I do not know what the problem was that mom worried the dog could not bark. Granted, barking is the only way she is going to scare anything away (although I did read about three Chihuahua puppies cornering a coyote in a garage once), this dog is not going to do it alone. She has yet to catch a bird or a rabbit, both of which she used to chase. Never brought a deer home either, but mostly they turn and walk away from her.

Skeeter attacking her favorite toy; a Taco Belle Dog.

Mother is in a senior’s apartment building now and, while she could have the dog with her, the dog has learned to bark. All company must sit before the dog will stop barking. (I guess a bid to bring them more to her eye level, although they would have to lay on the floor, on their stomach for that.) Mom let her dog stay with us, so she did not have complaints about the barking. Now, it is also because mom can no longer move quick enough to let the dog out (out the door, down the hall, down the elevator, through the lobby, and then out.)

Chihuahua puppy is now thirteen years old. She has always had a collapsing larynx, which requires her to stretch out and cough to open it; two slipped discs in her back; and an enlarged heart. It is the enlarged heart that is doing her in.  Some nights she has me awake for a half hour as she coughs and coughs in an effort to get that larynx fully open.  She is not gasping for air though.

When I took her to the vet a couple of weeks ago, he looked very grave and shook his head and told the nurse to put away the rabies shot. He gave her a steroid shot and new heart medicine and said her heart was failing. She threw up for two days and every day, I debated if today was the day to take her back in. I finally quit giving her the new heart medication and went back to the old (which he told me to do if she didn’t tolerate it.) and she was back to herself.

Some days she doesn’t eat, she laps up more water than she ever has, the stairs are tough on her old bones, some days she loves her chicken plate, some days it sits and drys up. Like most of us, who are getting up there, she has her good days and bad days. And, every day, we wonder if today is that day.

Then, she will ask to go out and she will sit in the sun and survey her domain and I’m thinking that as long as she can get joy in the world, and is not in pain, today is NOT the day.  Let her enjoy another day in the sun.

Yesterday, I was petting her and noticed a lump. I’m not sure but her kidneys may be shutting down and one is enlarged.  She is not in pain though, but I know that the day is closer, but not today.

7.2 lbs of Earthquake warning

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Irritating little chihuahua wakes me up.

After informing everyone on Facebook and Twitter that the Geminids meteor shower was at its peak yesterday, I went to bed and forgot all about it.  Senior moment or Alzheimer’s?  Of course we had not seen anything in the sky, but grey and snow for days, so I did not hold out a lot of hope to see them.

When we lived in Wyoming, we had seen everything in the sky.  I remember getting out of the car every night and watching Haley’s comet.  Every rainy season there were double and even triple rainbows in the sky.   Yes, I know, Wyoming does not have rainy seasons.  But, it does have triple rainbows.  One night, I sat curled in a blanket on the front porch, and watched a lunar eclipse.  Another night, all of us went in the back yard, with lawnchairs and sleeping bags, and watched a fantastic comet show.  They sky’s in Wyoming always seemed to have a show.  It was just when that show became fire and smoke that it was not fun.  Three years of having our area burn around us and it just seemed like we were playing Russian Roulette

Last night, at 2:30 am, the dog decided she had to go out.  I slipped on my boots and grabbed a sweater and stood waiting for her.  She has had a problem with her back leg recently and it seems to be cramped up and frozen when she comes in.  She is twelve years old this month and has had bone problems for years.  I keep an eye on her for that and the fact that we have had a coyote walk down our driveway and a fox den in our meadow.  She would make a tasty morsel for a coyote.  Then, I remembered the Geminid meteor showers.

I began looking for them and soon short streaks were random in the sky.  It was two hours after they were to be at their peak, darn!  I think I made it all of fifteen minutes outside and then came in and watched from the window.  I saw a streak every five minutes probably but it was enough to wake me up to all the things that we can still enjoy, sans money.

Sometimes, with all the neat technology upgrading almost daily, I can feel left behind.  We have very basic cell phones and a cheap computer, but the really important things in life are still here for all of us.  Where I live it includes seeing triplet fawns in our yard all summer, and coyotes and fox and blue herron in the pond.

And, to the readership of this blog, who has still checked in, even when I seemed to abandon you and even though I still do not use punctuation properly.  Thanks to all.

Check out the stars tonight and smile.

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If it were space aliens attacking the coast!

To all Sci Fi fans out there.  You better hope there is NO other intelligent life in space.  If there is.  If they find us.  If they come down and begin coating our world with some guey substance so that our wildlife and our ecological system is all mucked up.  Then they sit back on their backsides and wait until we are drowning in this gue.

Well, if that happens, do not expect a speedy response.

You will have to wait for a counter-attack on approval with the state agency, the coastal agency, the federal agency, and those same aliens, before our government does anything to protect us.

Something is so wrong with this picture?

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Ode to the Moon and Vision!

January was the month of cataract surgery.   Now, if you want a rocking good time just try cataract surgery.  Nothing to dull the edge.  Hold your body stiff as a board because, as the doc talks about his latest trip or race or why there is the smell of burning electrical wire in the room, should you move your head a milimeter, just what could the consequences be??

I had no desire to find out.  So, I found that every muscle in my body was rigid as I lay there watching water swirl in my right eye.  Which was the eye that had some pain with the surgery.  After having one eye done, the second eye was well, easier.  No pain.  But, I counted  and confirmed that it did take more than 2 minutes to do the surgery.

That being dwelt on enough in this blog, I am counting off the days till my vision is totally clear.  I am sure the steroid drops, still in one eye, are not helping my vision; which is said to be 20/20 now. 

I did see the moon the other night.  For the first time in my life, I looked up and saw the moon clearly without any glasses.

Now, that was cool!!!

I will be back to posting regularly in about two weeks, when I am done with eye drops and get a pair of reading glasses.  Right now I am using this credit card sized plastic magnifier to read.  Not cool!

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The Flea Freezer of Doom and Flea Wii

This is Irritating little Chihuahua at six weeks, January of 1999.  She is eleven years old this month, and she has her daily exercise routine.

It consists of sleeping, and

going outside and surveying her driveway, from the great sniffing of automobile tires down to the Yucca plant.  I have yet to figure out what is so intriguing about the Yucca, as it does not seem a normal “pee” spot to me, but it is on her daily route. 

It is also on her daily route to debate whether to go on down the driveway to the road.  She will look back, to see if we are watching, go a few trots, stop and look back.  This continues until I rap on the window or yell at her.  Then, she ambles off into the yard as if, “No, I never intended on going down the driveway.  I know my boundry.” 

The rest of the day is taken up with sleeping with nose buried,

and begging for food, and sleeping.  Mostly sleeping. 

Oh, and there is the occasional — jump up and give me a dirty look because she swears I touched her haunches, when she actually has a flea. 

Before I am yelled at, she has a frontline flea application monthly, as well as her heart worm pill.  She has had neurological problems with other flea applications, so Frontline it is.  This was working well for her until the St. Bernard family decided to eat our garbage and deposit their “city of fleas” in our yard.  They DO NOT get flea applications.  Chihuahua  added the garbage cans to her morning run as those St. Bernard’s leave behind all kinds of things, including their fleas. 

The St. Bernard’s eating the lid of the garbage can, to circumvent the ties and boards and anything else we could find to keep them out, finally resulted in putting the garbage cans in my studio (which I rarely use in winter).  The city of fleas resides on the ground yet, as well as the smells do.

Twice a day I comb her with a frozen flea comb, catch the fleas that freeze on it, and put them in the freezer of doom; a disposable container in the freezer.   I know this is wierd, but, yes, I have a container of frozen fleas in my freezer (Try saying that three times fast.).  On top of which, sits her flea comb.  Someday the City of fleas will all die —– I hope.

So, back on topic, the Chihuahua sleeps, eats, poops, and sleeps all day.  For ten minutes, at night, she also plays with her Taco Belle Chihuahua.   Taco Belle Chihuahua has more sewn body parts than you can imagine.  Irritating Chihuahua loves to grab it by the neck and try to knock herself sensless with it.

My fear, the year we had floods, was that our home would be flooded, fall into the pond and the Taco Belle Chihuahua would be history.  I have searched ebay, Good Will and yard sales for a back-up Christmas Taco Belle dog.  Chihuahua has a basket of stuffed toys and will occasionally play with the Turkey Buzzard and rarely with the cat mouse toy.  Taco Belle Chihuahua is her love.

Now, we have found another exercise outlet for Chihuahua: The Wii.

Yes, Gaffer brought a Wii home.  One of the games sounds rather like a bark, so she stands on the couch and barks back at the Wii.  But, bowling drives her nuts.  It took her three hours to figure out they were not throwing food for her.  She loves her Wii.  She does not understand it, but she loves it.

This is Skeeter, trying to communicate with the blue jean leg of the Wii player.  She is either saying, “Okay, where is the treat you have been throwing for three hours?” or “GO TO BED!”

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Hoppin’ possum and other moments of life

1. We are almost having summer here. Summer, with golden red leaves in the trees and brown ones on the ground. 
2. I let Irritating Little Chihuahua out the front door the other night, and both of us got a bit freaked out by the sound of footsteps in the deep crinkling leaves at the back of the house.  She came right back in and I went to face the unknown out the back door, where my flashlight highlighted a possum.  Just how does a possum walk in leaves and make footstep sounds?  Gaffer said it was a hoppin’ possum.
3. It has been raining in Indiana, which means I have problems getting on line and can, yet again, listen in on my neighbors phone calls and they, mine.  Gotta love Indiana.
4. Twenty-three year old, Gaffer, is working now.  In the last months, he has applied for a job in every city within a fifty mile radius.  He got, exactly, one call back.  After two interviews, he began working as a cashier at a Cracker Barrel and is now up for his first raise.  He is delighted.  He is a good worker and in January, he begins his training to take his Master’s Electrician license. 
5. The twenty year old, EMT, was looking for a job.  He has signed his enlistment papers to join the Army and goes to basic in January so thought he would not be able to find a job to fill-in for a couple of months.  He was happy to find a job with NTN in Columbus, IN.  They make drive shafts, I believe.  He starts on Monday.  We have thought, for some time, that would be a good fit for the military.  Will I worry?  Yes!  But, no more than when he was a volunteer fireman or getting his woodland fire fighter certificate. 
6. And, the games continue.  Tonight they are playing Trivial Pursuit.  It is as noisy as Risk.  I do believe they have all realized that life, as it tends to do, will be evolving very soon and are making memories and enjoying each other’s company. 

Gaffer may be here for a year, or more, but once he has his Master’s Electrician License, he will be off to points where there are sets and stages that need electricians.  EMT will be in the Army for four years and Jake, formerly known as JRock and less formerly known as JCountry, will be off to Nashville, TN in a couple of years.  His choice is either Diesel Mechanic and/or guitar/singer. 

Right now, the little ladies who shop in Nashville, Indiana love Jake and are overwhelmed by the depth of his voice, with their claps and a few tips too.

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Irritating Little Chihuahua

Irritating Little Chihuahua is still giving the recliner a wide birth but she is ferocious in her sleep!

OR NOT!

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