I have no one to blame but myself.......

I realize I have only myself to blame as it is just me and the damn dogs here at the house; you would have thought I would have learned from the day before, that they are hellions and not to be trusted as they trashed the place yesterday.   I did not learn because I  am at the computer in the basement and they are running a muck through the house doing hell knows what. I get upstairs and they ate my Easter Hyacinth and then one of them pood on the mess. I don't even see signs of the pink flowers anywhere I guess it will show up tomorrow, I just hope it is outside. The red dogs are leading the pack and my pack doesn't need help they are already Damn Dogs. It truly days like this I miss the kids.

Seriously! I was only gone 20 minutes...

I am at home alone with the Damn dogs and went to the basement was gone 20 minutes and they tore the place up. It's worse than having 10 two year old running around.

 

 Seriously get out of there I can see both of you.

When I die, Seriously?

I must say I never knew putting on a necklace could be so confusing. I have seen my daughter put her necklace on, behind her head and over her hair. Then she pulls her hair out. I was quite shocked the first time I saw her do it and quickly told her she would break the chain. Then I saw her do it again some time later and warned her she would break the chain.  I showed her how to put the necklace on and that seemed to be the end of it.  Now that was way over a year or so ago but have not seen her putting on any jewelry since. The other night we were talking again about who gets what when I die (yes it can be quite a conversation when it gets going). Now mostly I am just sarcastic and say things like I am leaving everything to the dogs and their care taker. That usually gets it really going. Jewelry got thrown in because my Mom loves jewelry and has lots. Now most of it is costume jewelry but she takes such good care of it you'd think it was the crown jewels. The girls know gold is a good thing but could not tell the difference between gold and tin spray painted gold. The conversation then turns to how do you know if something is real gold. My smart remark was if it's not gold you will turn green after you wear it for a while. That sent them all to the mirrors to check for green. Now no one was green so they all thought they had the real deal around there neck. I let them believe they were the proud owners of white gold and not surgical stainless steal. The oldest then runs to her room and brings back a necklace I gave her in secret a couple of years ago. It was a necklace I had with my birthstone in it which is green in color and her favorite color. I swore her to secrecy as I did not want the other to feel left out or hurt. She showed it to all and ask "is this real gold"? I said yes and then one said "Were did you get it"? She looked at me and said "I bought it", "NO, mom gave it to you". No I didn't! Mom do you think I am stupid? No, and stop saying that word, no one is stupid we may do some things that are stupid but no one is stupid. Then the oldest puts the necklace on behind her head and over her hair. I sucked in air and started in, I keep telling you that you'll break it if you keep doing that. Okay, how do I put it on? Then the show and tell starts, and it was not going very well when one of the girls yells, you are so unsmart. Now that brought the house down and then conversation got real unsmart as we started to laugh like a bunch of teenage girls.

What's your dogs name?????

Whats in a name? This the question I often ask myself as one dog after another pass through my home and life.  I do not give the dogs there name but ofter will change the dogs name to something I like. As time has passed I have learned with my kids that giving my dogs a name I like does not mean that they will know how to pronounce it and say it with out killing it. My dogs came by their names in many ways but to cut down on all the bla bla bla I will stick to the ones that often get slaughtered, Cabot was picked up from the shelter an hour or so before he was to be put down. As I road home with this scared little guy in my lap his grey crest, black ears and these two evenly match streaks of tan on either side of his mouth, giving him the look of side burns, reminded me of an old actor named Sebastian Cabot.  The more I looked at him the more he reminded me of the actor. Two hours in the car and I thought, Cabot, was a fitting name for him and that was his new name.  Now the kids think they hear me say cabbage. So the girls call him Cabbage. In times of hyper drama that teenage girls often experience and express the name then become Cab Bitch, They can slaughter most words and I never know what the hell they are talking about fart, f u c k, often one and the same. Taxes, Texas and so on. These mix ups can cause total chaos depending on the mood, conversation or question at that time.  So as every dog comes here the girls often have problems with names.  Buster is called Bastard. Gideon is idiot, and the worst part is the dogs come to these names. What the hell they can understand slaughtered English better than me. The new dog Blade came and they were having the worst time, so I looked at the first girl and said "can you say Oscar"?  She pronounce it fairly well and I looked at the second girl and said "can you say Oscar"?  Not bad, then the third girl was ask to do the same. Good! I now pronounce you Oscar for no other reason than every one in the house can say it.  I don't necessarily even like the name.

How do we know about death?

This week my 85 year old Uncle passed away. The girls went to the funeral, can we all say new experience, I did not think they could ask so many questions. The first question that started the trip out to the funeral parlor "Mom who do we call if you die"?  911  "What do I say"? My mom died and the address. "What do I do with you"?  Plant me in the back yard with the dogs, but I am sure the EMT will take me." How do we take you to the big house"?  You don't they do. "How do they know"?  Those were before we left the drive way. By the time we got there I had to tell them who everyone was and how they were related to me.  The girls have met many of the extended family but they only remember one. My Aunt Bonnie who has to stand tall to measure 4'9. My youngest is just taken by the fact she is old and shorter than her. She says she is the only one in America that is shorter than her. Now by the time I explain every relative and how they are related then connect the dots to make them see the whole picture, I am ready for a nap. Now the question of why the body does not stink? Do they burn or bury? It was a military funeral because he fought in the Koren war. So I had to explain all the traditional ceremonial things involved in a military funeral and the guns being shot into the air. One girl was shocked that we shot rifles at funeral and will they shoot people. What was inside the flag? One of them thought the body's ashes where in it. NO it is folded that way and given to the family. The body will go into the ground. Now I am not sure how I should talk about these kinds of things as I have never had to explain the ceremony surrounding the death of a human in America. I don't even remember it being explained to me. I just know it. But at some point I lean toward humor and sarcasm to get through it. But at the Wake one of the relatives has a seizure and the room erupts into a structured chaos. Phones are pulled out and others are yanking tables and chairs out of the way a nurse amongst us  goes into action. As the EMT are taking her to the hospital my girls are stunned as they have never witnessed this sort of thing and I am having a hard time explaining that it is not life threatening and it just looks bad to see someone have one. Now we are all worried about my Mom as she is the oldest Matriarch in the family and it was her brother that passed. It was a very long day and I have not recovered completely from it. Now I have to plan Easter, and then write down every family member and phone number so my kids can know who they should call when I die. It sort of feels like I am planning my own long sleep. The things we never think of but must.        

Are you committed?

My Archie who is 17 and is not sick just extremely old. I thought he would pass by Christmas and here it is almost April and he is still going. I am happy that I have had such an unimaginable length of time with him.  He was a rescue dog and my first Chinese Crested. He was sent to rescue as his owner did not want him anymore. The family was moving and did not want to take him, he was a marker but I see old age took that out of him. Archie looks ghastly his body is racked with arthritis and yet he is not sick. His body is deteriorating and he cannot move his tail it is permanently cured under him and he pee’s and poo’s on it. He does still have control of his body function as he will get up and go into the corner or away from his bed and relieve himself.  Then when he goes back to bed it is then smeared all over his bed and cloths. He loves to eat but never puts on any weight. He has no muscle tone his skin is just stretched over bones.  I have to watch him eat as the other dogs will take his food.  He eats slowly now, he still has teeth but I don’t think he uses them because I can actually see the kibble moving down his throat. It’s one kibble at a time moving along with another right behind it.  It does bother me to see it because it is so strange to watch food moving through the dog’s neck. I feel so blessed that I have been given all this time with him.  He is making messes all over the living room and cleanup is all day long. I feel as if this must be what it is like to take care of a bed ridden person, except he can still get around and does.  He has one eye and it is now blind and his hearing is pretty much gone.  He wakes up and barks now because he does not know if anyone is at home.  All it takes is one of us to go touch him and he stops and goes back to sleep or gets up and walks around. He still wants human contact and I try not to pick him up too much as I don’t want to cause any undo pain. Everything I see in him tells me he wants to live. He stinks and I cannot keep him clean enough because the baths are getting more stressful for him.  Baby wipes can only do so much.  I am beside myself with the work that comes with having an aging dog, but this dog wants to live. He is a blessing and I want to use his life to show folks what it means to take the responsibility of a dog to the very end and that is the end the dog chooses, not us. Weekly I get the call or e-mail asking me to take the dog or dogs that are no long wanted, and young and old.  I have no idea what folks are thinking when they ask rescue to take there 13 year old dog because they don’t want it any more.  I am sure they are clearing there conscience because they dumped there problem on someone else and they do not have to deal with the dog anymore and putting it to sleep would somehow make them a horrid individual. I hope those folks do not have family members that feel the same. Because unlike a dog humans can linger for a very long time in a state of constant needs.  I do not point fingers but I will bring this out to light. To all those who think of dog as disposable, I am here to say they are not. You may think of me a sappy old dog lady but the only thing I can control in my life is my words and my commitments, I believe that when you take on a responsibility you must follow through to the end, I am using Archie to show that what may seem like the end is not always. He is not sick, does not take meds and has not seen the vet in over two years; he still does all the things he used to do just slower. He still has many teeth just chooses to swallow his food. He has always enjoyed licking his legs and the other dogs he still does this. He has always circled many times before he lays down he still does this. He loves food and gets fed any time he goes to the kitchen which just upset the other dogs to no end.  He knows this and makes many trips to the kitchen looking for a hand out.  He eats whatever he wants and because he can no longer can open the cupboards he cannot get to the garbage that he so enjoyed.  His counter surfing days are behind him and he still chases off any dog, except the puppy Gideon, which gets in front of the heat duck. Gideon and Archie have bonded and Gideon shows real concern for Archie; when Gideon is not at play he cuddles with Archie in front of the heat vent. I have no unrealistic control because I want my dog to live longer. I am a firm believer in not letting an animal suffer. If he showed signs of pain and unhappiness I would do the right thing by him. But he wants to live and shows me every day in every way that he is not ready for a long sleep. So be horrified by his looks and clumsiness but know this dog will live till he tells me otherwise.  I committed to take care of him till the end his end not the one I choose for him.  He is truly my blessing.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yod65czbbiU

Happy St Patrick's Day

Whats at the end of your rainbow ?

Happy St Patrick's day.