Simplicity and the Bucket List

So it turns out I have a rather simplistic bucket list, things like training a dog for agility and showing successfully in a trial (done),

 training a dog for therapy dog work, getting them nationally certified and doing therapy dog visits (done),

riding again after blowing out my knee (done), but one that had escaped me for all these years is having spring flowers from fall bulbs in my yard, somehow I'm never able to find bulbs to buy at the right time, and this house didn't have any in the front yard (a few daffodils in the back)......so last fall I planted about 80 (no kidding).....and the first of them are blooming, and the later ones starting to peep above ground......and it makes me really really happy

.....and happiness should be shared.... 

The Saga of the "Bed"

For today's amusement we finally have proof that Halle B (Blackcat) Berry is positive that she is a dog......Hope's crate ended up in the living room (long story not important), and so Halle goes in this morning, kneads the bed a few times, and settles in....

the door is open....

And her dog sister, the one whose bed it really is????   Somebody mentioned 

recently, or asked if Hope was 'spoiled'......well my thought was not......

 because she has for the most part taken her 


obedience lessons to heart.....and unfortunately this adorable pic was 

made possible by the suggestions that she 'get in her bed' 

(crate=bed) and 'stay'......door to the 'bed' was still open......

and the 'torture' only lasted long enough to snap the pic....

Ya know that thing, where one sibling doesn't want something til the other

 sibling takes it????.....

well guess where the cool place to hang out is now....door is still open.....

 Post Script:   Several days later......it's still the place to be, and the best place to take a kitty bath.........

What?

More in the world's oddest dogs file......so, Hope loves absolutely loves our regular mailman....Terry......

she hates and will act like the world's fiercest watchdog with anyone else delivering our mail......

if he comes and doesn't tap on the window to say hi, or she misses getting to see him, she looks and me and whines.....actually it's more like she carries on an extended conversation with me about how sad she is that he didn't say hello (it of course is always, his fault in her mind)......

today he tapped on the window at her, and she was beside herself with happiness...she then came over to me and for the first time since I've had her....smiled......it was hysterical.....all her little front teeth showing.....

.isn't puppy love great?

Pink Hope

So little Miss Hope loves pink toys.   Here she is with several of them, and her discarded non pink duck toy in the background.  She arranges them herself and often has them grouped by color.

 So for Christmas a friend, her Auntie Maurine, sent her these two little balls.  Christmas evening I realized that she was only playing with one of them, even though they were both put in the same spot for her to play with after 'unwrapping them'.   Guess which one she was playing with........

If you guessed the one on the right (the one with 'pink'), you are correct!   What a hoot it is to live with her.

The not so fun part has been that she has had intermittent bouts of really terrible tummy troubles.   We have spent the better part of the past year trying to figure it out.  It isn't her regular diet, but we thought it might be something she was getting infrequently like treats for training.  So now she gets only her regular diet, no treats of any kind.

Which brings me back to Christmas, Auntie Maurine knew of the tummy issue so didn't sent any treats.  Not for Hope or for Halle B (Black Cat) Berry.   She did send a green (yes, Halle prefers green toys), rabbit fur mouse for Halle.   I saw it and thought hm, I hope that Hope doesn't try to eat it, but didn't act on that thought by putting it out of her reach.

Yesterday I found this

Yes, it is the little green mouse that was Halle's present, minus its tail, the 'fur' on it's head and part of its head and body.   I had shared the picture with another of Hope's aunties, Auntie Val, and said isn't it odd that she left the ears.  Val's reply?   Not odd at all, they are pink.

Oh right, we can't destroy the mousy ears, because they are pink! 

Priorities,  life is about priorities ......

and 

Pink.

Oh Dear, or what a difference a week makes.....

So this is Oklahoma and we have seasons, and weather, but it seems that we really get winter in odd numbered years (as in the ice storm of 07, the blizzard of 09, and the really big snow storm of 11).  Thus far this winter we've had about 6 inches of snow in one snow at my house (parts of the city got less, I think of it as the 'river effect snow'.)  And here is a lovely Christmasy picture of my little pine tree in the snow with its decorations of red and green..... 

So then a couple of weeks later we get freezing rain, which translates into 'ice', which is not nice like snow.  Ice does really bad things to trees, and power lines, and can make us all powerless in a heartbeat.   It also really crushed my little pine tree.   I posted about it on Facebook, while battling the sick feeling in my stomach that seeing my tree like this did to me.  I realized that I grew up in a family that loved its trees almost as we loved out pets, and we really really loved our pets.

Many friends posted that pines are quite flexible and resilient.  I quickly realized this was a good lesson for me, flexibility in the face of adversity.   But I was really afraid for my tree.  Especially after driving around town and seeing massive pines just destroyed by the ice.  Several people posted suggestions, like knocking the ice off the tree, except it continued to rain, the lovely freezing rain for about 12 hours, dawn to dark.

And it occurred to me that another truism from my life is that when I try to 'fix' things rather than letting them fix themselves, things often get worse.   So I left it alone.   I did ponder getting out my hair dryer and melting the ice, but I left it alone.

So that brings us to this, 4 days later (it took that long to get above freezing).

 I figure a few days with our wonderful strong south winds (see previous post on the advantages of my little house), and it will be right as rain, or as good as it was before.

A lesson learned.....flexibility in the face of adversity can save a tree, or a person.......

So many helpful things about my house that were not known when I bought it.

 It faces East, and we have not much east of us, or South of us, and so the prevailing North, and South winds keep the yard pretty free of leaves, (the rest I mulch).

 Then there's the porch protected from the winds on both ends, making a nice resting spot for the neighbor's cat, 

He is Hope's BFF (don't tell Halle). I call him Fluffums.....He would love to move into the house (although I think my neighbor, his owner does let him in her house), 

 Ms. Halle the killer cat will have none of it......

If the front porch doesn't work for him, and he can't get into his owners house, there is always the 'cat shelter' in the backyard.  It is in a little alcove with the house again blocking the wind from the North, it's raised above ground with a nice pink blanket........

Ancestor Pride

So this is my great grandmother, Margaret June Lyons Geyer, known later in life as Jenny Geyer.   She was 100% Irish, with both parents having come to this country from Ireland in the mid 1800's.

She married George Geyer, who was 100% German, with both parents coming from Germany in the mid 1800's.  Growing up, and during my lifetime until the death of my father, what I heard about in terms of family history was my dad's mom's family, the Rosses, and my dad's dad's German heritage.  No mention was ever made of the fact that my dad's grandmother was as Irish as his Grandfather was German.

Even when I showed an affinity for all things Celtic, but particularly music, my dad didn't share the story of his grandmother.   I'm not sure why, I don't know if he wasn't aware that she was Irish, or if again it was another example of the prejudices held toward people of Irish descent.

The funny thing is that my dad resembles her more than his father, or mother's side of the family, or his grandfather.

As do I

And did even more so before I cut my hair........

I guess we will never know why she was lost in the family history, or why her family or heritage was lost.....my father was an only child, and his cousins and he not close enough for me to still be in contact with any of them, or their children.

But it has been a joyous finding for me, finding Great Grandmother Jenny, and being able to claim my Irish for real......