Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Update on Fred the Cat

First of all, Fred the Cat, is just fine. He’s his usual cranky self. In fact he’s so fine that once again I had to have five large screen panels replaced on our patio. He still gets frisky on cool morning and since we have had a whole lot of cool mornings this winter, he has happily destroyed some of the screens. He starts running around the pool at warp speed, leaps up on the ledge and stretches himself up as high as he can reach with his front paws on the screen and then proceeds to sharpen his claws.

He has been told repeatedly to stop and he will if we happen to catch him doing it. All we have to do is open the sliding glass doors and say, “Fred, cut it out”. Trouble is we can’t watch him every minute all day long and he knows it. He may be cranky, but he’s not stupid. Plus he thinks he is so damned cool wearing his collar that has little peace signs all over it.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Martini’s sleepover, not good

Martini’s sleepover at the vet’s didn’t go so well. He didn’t do anything wrong, he just didn’t do anything. He didn’t eat a bite of the two meals he was given of his own food and apparently he didn’t sleep a wink.

When I picked him up Saturday morning he was all wiggles to see us. When we got in the car I asked him if he was hungry. He about jumped out of the seat as he wiggled and whined. When he got home he consumed the amount of food he should have eaten when he was at the vet’s. Then he went outside, pooped, came in, crawled in his bed and slept almost six hours straight.

Unless it’s a dire emergency, he won’t have to experience this again. It wasn’t good for him and I sure as hell missed him too much to leave him again. Dog friendly hotels are popping up all over the state so those places will be our aim, no matter where we go.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Martini goes to Doggie Camp

Tomorrow is the day I wrote about earlier in the week. In the morning I am taking Martini to be boarded at the vet’s boarding facility. I’m taking his bed and a little rug he likes to lay on sometimes. Maybe these things that will smell like home will assure him that we are coming back for him.

I’ll let you know how he does on his first night at doggie camp.

Monday, March 22, 2010

One Night Without My Martini

Friday morning we are going to take Martini to the vet’s office for overnight boarding. I am going on an overnight trip with Mr. Pop and this will be the first time we have been apart from Martini this long. Martini and I have been together every night since we got him a year ago this past February.

I know Martini will be fine and be cared for completely, but I’m just not so sure how I am going to handle this. This is a good test for all of us. There will surly come a time when we will need to board him and this one night will tell us how we all will do.

All this is well and good, but damn I’m pretty sure this is gonna hurt me more than it’s gonna hurt Martini. Just thinking about it makes the tears well up. I’ll probably come closer to being off my food than Martini will.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Spring Cleaning on Steroids

Over the Christmas holidays Mr. Pop took everything out of our garage and did some super sorting and cleaning. He got these pretty black metal shelves and after sorting the stuff into garbage, donations and keepers, he has our garage beautifully organized. Doing this chore was his New Year’s resolution…..for the past five years. Good for him and good for his cleaning spree.

Since then I have done the same thing in this room where the computer and an awful lot of books live. Everything that had accumulated on the desk and in the cubbyholes has been filed or trashed. The room looks proud to be so neat.

Yesterday I took on my closet and the one where I store seasonal clothes. Tomorrow we will be taking a ton of clothes, shoes and purses to the local thrift shop. My closet is all organized and looks so nice. I actually opened the closet door and turned on the light in there this morning as I got up. I just wanted to admire my efforts. Funny how something so simple can make you feel so good.

It’s only a couple of days until Spring arrives and we are way ahead of the game when it comes to cleaning. Now the next task will be to keep things this way.

Monday, March 15, 2010

My Salad Garden

Along with my usual herb garden this year, we are planting a salad garden. Mr. Pop prepared the spot this weekend and next weekend we will get the peppers, cucumbers and lettuce plants. I already have tomato plants growing in a pot on the patio. My goal is to at some point make a salad completely from my little garden. For me, that would be huge since most of my attempts at gardens in the past have been less than bountiful. If nothing else, it will be fun and who can’t use a little fun these days?

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Sweet Silent Suggestion

When we are eating Martini doesn’t beg at the table for food. He isn’t even aware of the concept. But last night while we were eating dinner he silently went into the bedroom, got one of his favorite toys and brought it into the kitchen. We glanced over to one of the area rugs in the kitchen to see this little dog sitting patiently with his toy. It was his silent reminder that we might have more fun if we played with him instead of eating dinner.

Did we play with him and his toy after dinner? We sure did. How could anyone resist such a sweet silent suggestion?

Monday, March 08, 2010

The Perfect Window Decal to Save Birds from Injury

Last week I told you about the bird that flew into our kitchen window and broke its little neck. That wasn’t the first bird to fly into that window but it was the first to lose its life as a result.

I was determined to prevent such a thing from happening again. I Googled a few pertinent words and found just what I wanted. It’s a site called WindowAlert. They have decals that you put on the outside of your windowpane. From the inside they appear to be clear etched glass but from the outside they glow a purplish color that shines as it reflects the ultraviolet light from the sun. There is no way the birds will mistake the reflection in my window anymore. That glowing decal lets them know to turn away.

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Cookie Irony

Everyone talks about the fact that America doesn’t make anything anymore and everything is made in China. I beg to differ. Last week we bought Chinese takeout for dinner. When I began to open the little package that contained my fortune cookie, I discovered something. On that package it said plain as day that they were made in the state of Georgia right here in the USA.

So we know of one thing made in America and not China, it’s Chinese fortune cookies. Kind of ironic isn’t it?

Monday, March 01, 2010

One Little Bird

For the past several weeks a pair of painted buntings along with a pair of indigo buntings have been coming to our bird feeders every day. They are visiting us from up north.

Yesterday the female painted bunting was sitting at the feeder. Out of nowhere a hawk flew into our yard. It startled the little bird and she, in her moment of desperation, flew right into the glass pane of our kitchen window. I went outside to see if she was okay. She wasn’t. She was laying there in the grass with a broken neck.

I picked up her little still warm body and cupped her in my hands. I brought her into the house with tears running down my face. I placed her in a little cardboard box and Mr. Pop buried her later in the day.

It was just a little bird, I know. But I wish she could know that a human being, something she feared her entire life, had cared enough about her to cry due to her loss of life. She’ll never know how many hours I stood at my sink washing dishes and enjoyed watching her through my window as she nibbled on the seeds we placed in the feeder for her. One little bird will be missed.