#18, What was the Dog Chasing?

I was walking past the office when I heard someone say the dog chased _________.  I didn't hear the last word.  Chasing who or what, my mind tried to make sense of the sentence.  Was it a stray chasing __________?   People didn't seem alarmed.  So not a stray chasing kids.  My mind still tried to sort out the meaning.  Finally I asked, what dog?

Jane said, "the dog across the street".

Not as much information as I wanted.   He's a sweet Spaniel and not barky.   "What was he chasing?"

"The deer. They're gone now."

I stepped into the principal's office to get a better look through her window.  Then I saw them going through someone else's yard, several more houses down the street.

I rarely see them.  One of the neighbors sees them going through the alley as she leaves for work about 6:00 am.  Tom said he thinks they sometimes bed down under the lilacs outside our fence.  When I was talking to Ida about them she told me they often come to her daughters yard to drink from the fish pond.

It hard for me to wrap my head around a herd of deer living in the middle of our city.  Up in the heights there are antelope that stay around some of the schools.  I've been to Helena, our state capitol and you can go to some of the old historic homes and see deer laying in people's yards.  I guess the deer really enjoy the city gardens.  I'm not sure the gardners are thrilled with the deer, but I enjoyed seeing them.

Have you ever seen such beautiful chompers?

Baby Fritzy has been in rare form this week. It was not a gold star week.  Right after we got her and discovered her penchant for chewing, Terri suggested keeping a calendar and putting a gold star up each day that was free of unwanted chewing. I should have started the calendar then.  But the image stayed in my mind and at times I refer to it.

She grabbed the roll of paper towels from the dining room table.  Took it outside.  Chewed the roll up as she papered the yard.  I found her eating a piece of wood.  I grew nervous when I realized it had been stained and had nail holes in it.  Finally discovered that she had chewed a piece off the bench that the dogs sit on to look out the window.

Tom our renter brought in a pair of my shoes from outside.  She ate part of one side.  I guess I should have left them on top of the TV.

Tom was using the drill and came inside to charge it.  He told me he had just plugged the battery in when he heard a loud thump.  He went out to investigate and the drill already sported teeth marks.  He said he yelled at her and she took off.  Later she tried to make up to him.  Laying at his feet and looking so contrite with her big puppy eyes.

I bought a loaf of banana bread and we had eaten most of it.  I had left it in a zip lock bag on top of the stove.  I made sure I had pushed it way back.  I found an empty zip lock bag in the yard.  I realized what had been in it when I went to cut a piece of banana bread for Dan and it wasn't there.  The banana bread was really good.

Wednesday evening there was an outdoor concert downtown. The dogs all wanted to go for a ride so we loaded them all up. Parked and listened to the music for awhile.  When we got home Dan backed into the drive way. Tom heard us and opened the front door. Dan and I stood on either side of the end gate opened the back up and stood out of the way of the stampeding herd.  Our traveling circus was home.

The Pet Blogger Hop

I just found the Pet Blogger Hop yesterday.  This looks like great fun.  Thought I would introduce my family to everyone.  Dan and I just celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary but we have been dating since 2001.

Dan has two adult kids - Joe and Peggy, one granddaughter Hailey. We are pet parents to 4 dogs - Max, Lady, Sammi, and Baby Fritzzy - and 1 duck.

From Left to Right "Baby Fritzzy"- Black Lab Pup; Sammi Great Dane Black Lab Cross (probably); Lady Chocolate Lab; Max Boxer Cross

They are a handful.  They keep us well entertained especially the pup.

Thunderstorm Equals a Four Dog Night

There had been many an early morning when Baby fussed and Sammi or Max would come get me up to go take care of her.  I often wondered if they did it because they couldn't sleep or if they were worried about her.  I had my answer when Sammi, scared from the thunder insisted on me getting Baby from her crate before she settled down between us.

Sammi, our Great Dane/Lab cross, is afraid of thunderstorms and fireworks.  Monday night we had the first thunderstorm of the year.  I heard Baby fussing in her crate, but didn’t quite wake all the way up.  Sammi came into the bedroom all upset.  She nudged me and whimpered, jumped on the bed and kept trying to get me up.  As I got up she jumped around and barked her deep throaty barks.  She barked because I wasn't moving fast enough.  She wanted me to get Baby out of the crate now.

Once I released Baby from the crate, Sammi and Baby headed for the bedroom and jumped up on the bed.  Sammi settled down between Dan and me on our shrinking king size bed.  Baby lay below Sammi; Lady lay at my feet and Max was curled up by Dan.

The thunderstorm continued to rumble outside, punctuated by Sammi’s occasional whimpers. As the storm receded we could hear the thunder going from pounding, pulsing percussion to a quiet so smooth that you hardly noticed it happen.

Wrote this on Gather.com April 18, 2010

Storm Warnings

News breaks in showing the path of the approaching storm. Sammi comes to me whimpering and I know the storm will be here soon. I go to get the naturopathic drops for anxiety that a friend sent. Giving the drops to Sammi turns interesting. Baby jumps up and tries to put her mouth between the drops and Sammi’s mouth. The TV drones about funnel clouds and the moving Thunderstorms.

The sky darkens and sheets of water come cascading down. The branches bend and dance before the window shaking off water falling from the dark foreboding sky. Sheets of water cascade as I watch. Sammi tries to climb into my lap as I sit working at the computer. Baby is nibbling trying to figure out why big dog is upset. I massage Sammi’s ears while typing with one hand trying to keep her calm. The lightning is striking closer as I turn off the computer - unplugging it. I’m not a fan of fried mother boards.

Sammi whimpers and paces. As I put the gentle leader on her - she begins to calm. I continue to massage her ears from the area close to her skull down to the tips. I watch the rain buffeted by the wind as it pours from the sky punctuated by illuminating lightning.

The news gave warning of the approaching storm outside. Who will give warning of the storm that even now builds within me?