what are you doing right now?

[chiver78]

screw cleaning today. I got stuck in gnarly traffic trying to get on Cape. the voc tech HS right on the canal is having their annual craft fair this weekend. it felt like a summer Saturday trying to get over the bridge, instead of a rainy November one. ugh. 

anyway, so I asked M if she was up for visitors and we spent an hour or so there before heading home across the other bridge. I made a couple stops along the way and finally got home after 2pm. I just now finished my breakfast and am being lazy watching tv. I found the first in-person interview with Casey Anthony since her acquittal 12 years ago. I'm not sure what I'm going to think by the end, but I feel like I need to watch it. 

[weltz]

I went to the best neurosurgeon in Montreal yesterday. He took a look at the MRI results and told me "Wow! You need a new back!   When do you want to schedule your surgery for?' 
Never. I've had many surgeries but this back surgery scares the crap out of me.

[TheOtherMe]

Nov 18, 2023 14:41:59 GMT -5 weltz said:

Nov 18, 2023 12:19:48 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I bought the cats Christmas presents off Etsy.  I knew what I wanted and they were going live this morning.

Those fish that flop around? I'd like to buy one for Sushi, but he  has no interest in playing.

No these are catnip filled kickers.  They will have their names on them.  I'm interested in seeing if they play with the one with their name.  

They love the catnip toys this woman makes and play with them so it's not money wasted.  

[CCL]

Survived Costco... barely. Now I'm off to Sam's Club. Really busy out here.

[jerseygirl]

Having pecan Sandy cookies with tea. Yummy haven’t had these for years

[minnesotapaintlady]

Nov 18, 2023 15:46:06 GMT -5 CCL said:

Survived Costco... barely. Now I'm off to Sam's Club. Really busy out here.

I don't think I could ever do both of those in one day.

[weltz]

Nov 18, 2023 15:38:25 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Nov 18, 2023 14:41:59 GMT -5 weltz said:

Those fish that flop around? I'd like to buy one for Sushi, but he  has no interest in playing.

No these are catnip filled kickers.  They will have their names on them.  I'm interested in seeing if they play with the one with their name.  

They love the catnip toys this woman makes and play with them so it's not money wasted.  

Sushi isn't affected by catnip at all.
I was thinking about the fish that flop around, but knowing him, he'll come over and sniff it, and go back to bed.

[susana1954]

I got my calendar made last night, proofed it this morning, and ordered my first one today to go to my cousin in SC.  I got the new Christmas stockings finished.  I hung a picture in the bathroom.  And I walked Penny several times because she gets so demanding when I am home.  I swear we are both better off when I go to work.  That's true even if it is working around the house.  If I am seated, I am supposed to be paying attention to her.

As soon as the jeans get dry enough to hang up to finish, I need to go to the grocery store.  I am in the mood for a bbq salad tonight and have everything but the lettuce.  For those that don't know, it is just pork on top of a regular salad, but I add pears, too.  There is no bbq sauce.

[NastyWoman]

Nov 18, 2023 15:46:06 GMT -5 CCL said:

Survived Costco... barely. Now I'm off to Sam's Club. Really busy out here.

I was there too this morning for the final (minimal) adjustments to my hearing aids. Holy Shopping Carts Batman.   I have never seen anything like it. It was worse then 3/13/20, the day we were all send home to go into lockdown. There is a Costco right on my way home so I stopped to stock up on a few last necessities. Good thing I needed to be there right when the store opened and I decided that putzing on my phone for half an hour was better than circling the parking lot. By the time I left, after picking up the last few items I needed this year the backup was not just in the (humongous) parking lot but stretched out for several blocks of the access roads.

I'll be back early February after my return from Europe. Until then I will stay far away from any of the four Costcos within a ten mile radius of my home

[Pink Cashmere]

I have still been looking at houses for sale in areas I think I would feel somewhat safe living in. I guess that says more about where I am, than anything else. It is very discouraging. It was never my plan to have a mortgage payment in my retirement, and for several reasons, I really do need to retire sooner, rather than later.

Laterbloomer said in a prior post that when she was feeling financially insecure, her partner couldn’t even breathe right. That is not the issue here, Mister really has been an asshole in a few ways. He’s not done anything else since I got really mad at him, but I am still stuck on being upset, and so far he’s not done anything to change that, since like I said before, trying to lovebomb me doesn’t move me. That is all I can see that he is doing. Has he made an appointment with his therapist? Nope. Has he initiated any conversations about the issues? Nope. Trying to be affectionate now just doesn’t cut it, that should’ve been happening all along anyway.

I have so much shit on my mind that it’s not surprising that I can’t sleep. I don’t remember how I slept Wednesday night, but I have not had even 4 hours of sleep since I got up Thursday morning. I keep trying to put all of the emotional shit and problems to the side, and just focus on the practical stuff I need to do for myself, but it isn’t working out so well, because I can’t sleep. Even if I try to deal with the stomach issues that are back in full force, and other physical issues, the fact is that I really need some sleep and the lack of it just makes everything so much worse.

I will call my gyn Monday to see if I need an appointment for her to refill the prescription I had for Lunesta. She seems to be okay with prescribing it for me, and although it’s not guaranteed to always work either, it’s been my best bet over the years that I’ve been wrestling with insomnia, when it gets really bad. When my retired PCP first prescribed it for me, was during the worst years of my life, and I showed up in her office after having been awake for 3 days, and so miserable that at that point I didn’t care if somebody just hit me hard enough to knock me unconscious. For real. Besides the fact that I hate needing a chemical crutch to do something so basic as sleeping, I am mindful of the fact that my retired PCP said that it has been linked to dementia, especially given that dementia seems to run on the maternal side of my family. I am less concerned about my “new” PCP not wanting to prescribe it because she says that it is addictive, since I’ve taken it off and on for years and never abused it, and have in fact gone a year or 2 at times, without taking it at all, even when I was stressed during those times.

My apologies for rambling, I’m just pretty much an exhausted and miserable mess right now.

[cooper88]

Nov 18, 2023 15:46:20 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Having pecan Sandy cookies with tea. Yummy haven’t had these for years

I just bought some the other day. I also haven't had them in a long time. They didn't last long!

[azucena]

Nov 18, 2023 15:52:06 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Nov 18, 2023 15:46:06 GMT -5 CCL said:

Survived Costco... barely. Now I'm off to Sam's Club. Really busy out here.

I don't think I could ever do both of those in one day.

I know my bank account couldn't.

[notagain]

I had Lorna doone cookies the other day. I forgot how good they were.

[Sharon]

Nov 18, 2023 16:15:30 GMT -5 Pink Cashmere said:

I have still been looking at houses for sale in areas I think I would feel somewhat safe living in. I guess that says more about where I am, than anything else. It is very discouraging. It was never my plan to have a mortgage payment in my retirement, and for several reasons, I really do need to retire sooner, rather than later.

Laterbloomer said in a prior post that when she was feeling financially insecure, her partner couldn’t even breathe right. That is not the issue here, Mister really has been an asshole in a few ways. He’s not done anything else since I got really mad at him, but I am still stuck on being upset, and so far he’s not done anything to change that, since like I said before, trying to lovebomb me doesn’t move me. That is all I can see that he is doing. Has he made an appointment with his therapist? Nope. Has he initiated any conversations about the issues? Nope. Trying to be affectionate now just doesn’t cut it, that should’ve been happening all along anyway.

I have so much shit on my mind that it’s not surprising that I can’t sleep. I don’t remember how I slept Wednesday night, but I have not had even 4 hours of sleep since I got up Thursday morning. I keep trying to put all of the emotional shit and problems to the side, and just focus on the practical stuff I need to do for myself, but it isn’t working out so well, because I can’t sleep. Even if I try to deal with the stomach issues that are back in full force, and other physical issues, the fact is that I really need some sleep and the lack of it just makes everything so much worse.

I will call my gyn Monday to see if I need an appointment for her to refill the prescription I had for Lunesta. She seems to be okay with prescribing it for me, and although it’s not guaranteed to always work either, it’s been my best bet over the years that I’ve been wrestling with insomnia, when it gets really bad. When my retired PCP first prescribed it for me, was during the worst years of my life, and I showed up in her office after having been awake for 3 days, and so miserable that at that point I didn’t care if somebody just hit me hard enough to knock me unconscious. For real. Besides the fact that I hate needing a chemical crutch to do something so basic as sleeping, I am mindful of the fact that my retired PCP said that it has been linked to dementia, especially given that dementia seems to run on the maternal side of my family. I am less concerned about my “new” PCP not wanting to prescribe it because she says that it is addictive, since I’ve taken it off and on for years and never abused it, and have in fact gone a year or 2 at times, without taking it at all, even when I was stressed during those times.

My apologies for rambling, I’m just pretty much an exhausted and miserable mess right now.

Pink Cashmere I came across this quote a couple of days ago by Maya Angelou and have been thinking about it a lot.  Hoping, just maybe, that it will help you even a little to get to the other side of your current issues.

[weltz]

Nov 18, 2023 16:08:51 GMT -5 NastyWoman said:

Nov 18, 2023 15:46:06 GMT -5 CCL said:

Survived Costco... barely. Now I'm off to Sam's Club. Really busy out here.

I was there too this morning for the final (minimal) adjustments to my hearing aids. Holy Shopping Carts Batman.   I have never seen anything like it. It was worse then 3/13/20, the day we were all send home to go into lockdown. There is a Costco right on my way home so I stopped to stock up on a few last necessities. Good thing I needed to be there right when the store opened and I decided that putzing on my phone for half an hour was better than circling the parking lot. By the time I left, after picking up the last few items I needed this year the backup was not just in the (humongous) parking lot but stretched out for several blocks of the access roads.

I'll be back early February after my return from Europe. Until then I will stay far away from any of the four Costcos within a ten mile radius of my home

I never shop at Costco. This is why...

In 2019, farmers began raising chickens for a new Costco-owned slaughterhouse in Nebraska. One year later, Mercy For Animals investigators uncovered the horrible truth of what happens to Costco chickens behind closed doors.



Crowded, filthy barns. Chickens struggling to walk under their own unnatural weight. Bodies burned bare from ammonia-laden litter. Dead days-old chicks. Piles of rotting birds. This is Costco Chicken.


costcoexposed.com/#:~:text=In%202019%2C%20farmers%20began%20raising,under%20their%20own%20unnatural%20weight.

[Pink Cashmere]

Nov 18, 2023 17:04:15 GMT -5 Sharon said:

Nov 18, 2023 16:15:30 GMT -5 Pink Cashmere said:

I have still been looking at houses for sale in areas I think I would feel somewhat safe living in. I guess that says more about where I am, than anything else. It is very discouraging. It was never my plan to have a mortgage payment in my retirement, and for several reasons, I really do need to retire sooner, rather than later.

Laterbloomer said in a prior post that when she was feeling financially insecure, her partner couldn’t even breathe right. That is not the issue here, Mister really has been an asshole in a few ways. He’s not done anything else since I got really mad at him, but I am still stuck on being upset, and so far he’s not done anything to change that, since like I said before, trying to lovebomb me doesn’t move me. That is all I can see that he is doing. Has he made an appointment with his therapist? Nope. Has he initiated any conversations about the issues? Nope. Trying to be affectionate now just doesn’t cut it, that should’ve been happening all along anyway.

I have so much shit on my mind that it’s not surprising that I can’t sleep. I don’t remember how I slept Wednesday night, but I have not had even 4 hours of sleep since I got up Thursday morning. I keep trying to put all of the emotional shit and problems to the side, and just focus on the practical stuff I need to do for myself, but it isn’t working out so well, because I can’t sleep. Even if I try to deal with the stomach issues that are back in full force, and other physical issues, the fact is that I really need some sleep and the lack of it just makes everything so much worse.

I will call my gyn Monday to see if I need an appointment for her to refill the prescription I had for Lunesta. She seems to be okay with prescribing it for me, and although it’s not guaranteed to always work either, it’s been my best bet over the years that I’ve been wrestling with insomnia, when it gets really bad. When my retired PCP first prescribed it for me, was during the worst years of my life, and I showed up in her office after having been awake for 3 days, and so miserable that at that point I didn’t care if somebody just hit me hard enough to knock me unconscious. For real. Besides the fact that I hate needing a chemical crutch to do something so basic as sleeping, I am mindful of the fact that my retired PCP said that it has been linked to dementia, especially given that dementia seems to run on the maternal side of my family. I am less concerned about my “new” PCP not wanting to prescribe it because she says that it is addictive, since I’ve taken it off and on for years and never abused it, and have in fact gone a year or 2 at times, without taking it at all, even when I was stressed during those times.

My apologies for rambling, I’m just pretty much an exhausted and miserable mess right now.

Pink Cashmere I came across this quote a couple of days ago by Maya Angelou and have been thinking about it a lot.  Hoping, just maybe, that it will help you even a little to get to the other side of your current issues.

I literally just saw that quite earlier today on FB. Thank you!

[daisylu]

Fundraiser went well. Ended up with 30 themed baskets for raffle and had a donation bake sale. Raised almost $2,000.

A lot of volunteers dropped out after setting up, so I ended up peopling all day instead of directing. 9 HOURS. I'd climb in bed now but the sheets were still washing when I left this morning, so I'm waiting on them to dry. I could use a different set but I'd still have to wait on these to dry to fold.

[susana1954]

Nov 18, 2023 17:53:42 GMT -5 daisylu said:

Fundraiser went well. Ended up with 30 themed baskets for raffle and had a donation bake sale. Raised almost $2,000.

A lot of volunteers dropped out after setting up, so I ended up peopling all day instead of directing. 9 HOURS. I'd climb in bed now but the sheets were still washing when I left this morning, so I'm waiting on them to dry. I could use a different set but I'd still have to wait on these to dry to fold.

It's volunteers like you that make fundraisers like this a success.  Thank you!

I have 2 or 3 sets of sheets, but I end up putting back on the set I just washed.  I hate folding fitted sheets.  Yes, there is a way to do it; my sister does them perfectly.  I love her anyway.

[Opti]

Nov 18, 2023 16:20:51 GMT -5 cooper88 said:

Nov 18, 2023 15:46:20 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Having pecan Sandy cookies with tea. Yummy haven’t had these for years

I just bought some the other day. I also haven't had them in a long time. They didn't last long!

I am going to miss my old job now that Christmas season is almost here. I love eating all the good festive nut cookies whether they are dusted with powdered sugar or not. I love pecan sandies too. Not the best version, but I think the Walmart ones aren't bad. However, since I never get back to the Midwest anymore no bakery butter cookies with pecans or other nuts. 

Fresh cookies were a downfall of mine many years ago when I worked at that bakery.

[Opti]

Maybe I should see what kind of cookies are in my area. Sadly, probably not much on the bus line. Lifted the pic, but it looks like one of my faves might no longer be produced. The turtle is fantastic freshly iced and the pecan crescents were one of my favorites.

[Opti]

Pretty cupcakes etc. for all the recent birthday peeps.

[CCL]

Nov 18, 2023 15:52:06 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Nov 18, 2023 15:46:06 GMT -5 CCL said:

Survived Costco... barely. Now I'm off to Sam's Club. Really busy out here.

I don't think I could ever do both of those in one day.

We do both every week. Hubby was busy, so I was on my own this time. Still not sure how I managed to spend $400 on groceries for 2 people lol.

Sam's was just as busy, but they've got Scan & Go, so at least I didn't have to wait in line like at Costco.

[Pink Cashmere]

Nov 18, 2023 7:59:49 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

Nov 18, 2023 3:25:46 GMT -5 Pink Cashmere said:

This is ridiculous. I didn’t sleep but a couple of hours Thursday night and felt like crap all day yesterday. I went to bed early tonight, just to lay in bed and not necessarily go to sleep. Dozed off around 8 for about 30 minutes and have been awake since then. I have been through my list of tips and tricks, including guided sleep meditations, thunderstorm sounds that help sometimes, and getting out of bed briefly. Yet here I am, still looking crazy.

One time I got out of bed and I guess Boy forgot I wasn’t in the room or something. When he heard me coming coming from the den, he came flying down the hall, snarling and barking. When he turned the corner in the hall, where we could see each other, I said “heyyy, it’s me”. He stopped, wagged his tail, turned around and trotted back to the bedroom and went back to bed.

His bark sounds like it comes from a bigger dog than he really is, and he sounded so ferocious, it actually unnerved me a little when I heard him coming. He does bark when he hears something, but that’s the first time I know of that he’s actually run like that toward whatever he heard, and he sounded like he meant business. 

I don’t think Newbie even opened her eyes.

Sounds like you got a pretty good guard dog. Bear has a bark like that. He's an aussie, so not very scary to look at. When you hear him bark, you'd think he was a 200 pound dog. Hope you get some sleep.

I meant to respond to this earlier. That whole episode reminded me of how when I had a black chow chow, she would come growling and running toward the door if she didn’t know it was me, and in the dark, you could only see her teeth. Not something I would want to encounter if I was somewhere I shouldn’t be. The same with Boy last night. If I hadn’t been sure he would stop when he realized it was me, I might’ve fainted for the first time in my life. Especially since I was a bit unnerved even though I am not afraid of him at all. He was the exact opposite of the cuddly, goofy PEST I know, but I was still confident he wouldn’t actually attack me, it was just that I’d never seen or heard him be sound like that and run toward something he perceived as a threat. 

I asked Mister today if he heard Boy, and he vaguely remembers him making all that noise. I guess the fact that Boy quickly realized it was me and quieted down, made it not wake Mister up enough for it to be a real memory. But when I mentioned it today, Mister reminded me that if it had really been an intruder, Boy can jump high enough to be nose to nose with Mister. Which I know is true, because I’ve seen it. It’s not that Boy is so big, he is just very agile and able to jump higher than it seems possible, and so is Newbie when she wants to be. 

To illustrate the point about their agility, a week or so ago, they were playing with the spring pole hanging from the tree in the back yard. Mister was ready for them to to stop, and come inside, and he ended up grabbing the spring pole himself to shoo them away from it. Newbie jumped high enough to grab it above Mister’s hands, and Boy literally scrambled up Mister’s back to grab it even higher than where Newbie was hanging off it. They both like to just hold on and swing on it. It was all a lot of disobedience that needs to be addressed, but it was also something we’d never seen before, that they are capable of as far as agility.

Given all of that, if Boy is as protective of his home and his people as he seemed to be last night, he could be very bad for an intruder. YD came home unexpectedly just now, and he was happy to see her. Of course, she is not an intruder, she is family and belongs here. But I think that we need to be even more careful now with how things work in our household, since Mister and I are the only 2 constants that are here every single day, and normally, nobody is moving around in our house after we’ve gone to bed. Which is why Boy barks when he hears something in the middle of the night. The other times I got up last night, when I headed to the back of the house again, I said softly “Boy, it’s me”, not because I was afraid, but just so he knew it was me and didn’t get riled up again. When I got back to the bedroom those times, he was awake and looking at me, but he didn’t get up and went back to sleep after I got back in bed. I might be being overly cautious thinking about how we need to handle our children and our grandchildren who might be up and about after we’ve gone to bed when they are here, and there is the fact that our bedroom door is closed at night when any of them are here, and Boy can’t run out like he did last night, but I’d just rather think about it beforehand, and be safe rather than sorry. 

[soupandstew]

Nov 18, 2023 19:21:10 GMT -5 Pink Cashmere said:

Nov 18, 2023 7:59:49 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

Sounds like you got a pretty good guard dog. Bear has a bark like that. He's an aussie, so not very scary to look at. When you hear him bark, you'd think he was a 200 pound dog. Hope you get some sleep.

I meant to respond to this earlier. That whole episode reminded me of how when I had a black chow chow, she would come growling and running toward the door if she didn’t know it was me, and in the dark, you could only see her teeth. Not something I would want to encounter if I was somewhere I shouldn’t be. The same with Boy last night. If I hadn’t been sure he would stop when he realized it was me, I might’ve fainted for the first time in my life. Especially since I was a bit unnerved even though I am not afraid of him at all. He was the exact opposite of the cuddly, goofy PEST I know, but I was still confident he wouldn’t actually attack me, it was just that I’d never seen or heard him be sound like that and run toward something he perceived as a threat. 

I asked Mister today if he heard Boy, and he vaguely remembers him making all that noise. I guess the fact that Boy quickly realized it was me and quieted down, made it not wake Mister up enough for it to be a real memory. But when I mentioned it today, Mister reminded me that if it had really been an intruder, Boy can jump high enough to be nose to nose with Mister. Which I know is true, because I’ve seen it. It’s not that Boy is so big, he is just very agile and able to jump higher than it seems possible, and so is Newbie when she wants to be. 

To illustrate the point about their agility, a week or so ago, they were playing with the spring pole hanging from the tree in the back yard. Mister was ready for them to to stop, and come inside, and he ended up grabbing the spring pole himself to shoo them away from it. Newbie jumped high enough to grab it above Mister’s hands, and Boy literally scrambled up Mister’s back to grab it even higher than where Newbie was hanging off it. They both like to just hold on and swing on it. It was all a lot of disobedience that needs to be addressed, but it was also something we’d never seen before, that they are capable of as far as agility.

Given all of that, if Boy is as protective of his home and his people as he seemed to be last night, he could be very bad for an intruder. YD came home unexpectedly just now, and he was happy to see her. Of course, she is not an intruder, she is family and belongs here. But I think that we need to be even more careful now with how things work in our household, since Mister and I are the only 2 constants that are here every single day, and normally, nobody is moving around in our house after we’ve gone to bed. Which is why Boy barks when he hears something in the middle of the night. The other times I got up last night, when I headed to the back of the house again, I said softly “Boy, it’s me”, not because I was afraid, but just so he knew it was me and didn’t get riled up again. When I got back to the bedroom those times, he was awake and looking at me, but he didn’t get up and went back to sleep after I got back in bed. I might be being overly cautious thinking about how we need to handle our children and our grandchildren who might be up and about after we’ve gone to bed when they are here, and there is the fact that our bedroom door is closed at night when any of them are here, and Boy can’t run out like he did last night, but I’d just rather think about it beforehand, and be safe rather than sorry. 

Boy is a true guardian, but thankfully has a brain and recognizes who is his if they speak or he can catch their scent.  Anyone else will be in the deep stuff, and probably dead.  I was surprised that Boy tolerated Mr. Messy's middle-of-the-night roaming but he obviously knew Mr. Messy was one of his pack.  Some fools think pitties are clumsy.  They aren't

[toomuchreality]

Nov 18, 2023 15:06:20 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

Nov 18, 2023 13:33:57 GMT -5 toomuchreality said:

I should be doing laundry also. But I'm not. I've been watching THE KENNEDYS. It's a L O N G movie. And it's so weird, everyone has the correct name, of the character they're playing. But they named JFK, Jack. I don't know why and it took me a long time to figure it out, because I was trying to make sense of what I knew/had learned and what I was seeing on TV.
I think it started at 6AM (maybe 7AM) and it ends at noon.
It is broken up into 1 hr segments, shown one right after the other.

um, he went by Jack. that, or Jake, were very common nicknames for John back in those days. my grandfather (b. 1919) was a Jake. 

I didn't know that. But never once, through the whole movie, was the name John used. Not when he ran for president, or won. Never. It was odd. Everyone just called him Jack. Even Lyndon B. Johnson, when he was making arrangements to take over the office of President. But truly, I appreciate the info, because I'd never heard that. It wasn't a common practice in my area. When he came to SLC, my FIL was part of his motorcade. I've never heard him called anything, but John. (Mister President).

[Opti]

I agree better safe than sorry and I am not surprised dogs made mostly of muscle can do those things. Not sure what Moonshadow could do, except for squeak for all he's worth. 

[Opti]

I think I'll heat up some lentil soup although I wish I could have this without the cheese. (Last pic of the night ... I hope.  )

[chiver78]

Nov 18, 2023 19:28:37 GMT -5 toomuchreality said:

Nov 18, 2023 15:06:20 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

um, he went by Jack. that, or Jake, were very common nicknames for John back in those days. my grandfather (b. 1919) was a Jake. 

I didn't know that. But never once, through the whole movie, was the name John used. Not when he ran for president, or won. Never. It was odd. Everyone just called him Jack. Even Lyndon B. Johnson, when he was making arrangements to take over the office of President. But truly, I appreciate the info, because I'd never heard that. It wasn't a common practice in my area. When he came to SLC, my FIL was part of his motorcade. I've never heard him called anything, but John. (Mister President).

cheers, if I didn't grow up with it, I'd think it odd as well. like, why would you need a nickname for a four-letter proper name? lol... but, if you were to look up "Jack Kennedy" one of the first search results is John Kennedy, 35th US President. 

and here concludes your history and linguistics lesson for the weekend.  

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

laughing at myself. I thought I'd found an excellent solution for ordering 20 folding chairs. then I figured out that the shipping costs were as much as the chairs. 

[Pink Cashmere]

Nov 18, 2023 19:26:26 GMT -5 soupandstew said:

Nov 18, 2023 19:21:10 GMT -5 Pink Cashmere said:

I meant to respond to this earlier. That whole episode reminded me of how when I had a black chow chow, she would come growling and running toward the door if she didn’t know it was me, and in the dark, you could only see her teeth. Not something I would want to encounter if I was somewhere I shouldn’t be. The same with Boy last night. If I hadn’t been sure he would stop when he realized it was me, I might’ve fainted for the first time in my life. Especially since I was a bit unnerved even though I am not afraid of him at all. He was the exact opposite of the cuddly, goofy PEST I know, but I was still confident he wouldn’t actually attack me, it was just that I’d never seen or heard him be sound like that and run toward something he perceived as a threat. 

I asked Mister today if he heard Boy, and he vaguely remembers him making all that noise. I guess the fact that Boy quickly realized it was me and quieted down, made it not wake Mister up enough for it to be a real memory. But when I mentioned it today, Mister reminded me that if it had really been an intruder, Boy can jump high enough to be nose to nose with Mister. Which I know is true, because I’ve seen it. It’s not that Boy is so big, he is just very agile and able to jump higher than it seems possible, and so is Newbie when she wants to be. 

To illustrate the point about their agility, a week or so ago, they were playing with the spring pole hanging from the tree in the back yard. Mister was ready for them to to stop, and come inside, and he ended up grabbing the spring pole himself to shoo them away from it. Newbie jumped high enough to grab it above Mister’s hands, and Boy literally scrambled up Mister’s back to grab it even higher than where Newbie was hanging off it. They both like to just hold on and swing on it. It was all a lot of disobedience that needs to be addressed, but it was also something we’d never seen before, that they are capable of as far as agility.

Given all of that, if Boy is as protective of his home and his people as he seemed to be last night, he could be very bad for an intruder. YD came home unexpectedly just now, and he was happy to see her. Of course, she is not an intruder, she is family and belongs here. But I think that we need to be even more careful now with how things work in our household, since Mister and I are the only 2 constants that are here every single day, and normally, nobody is moving around in our house after we’ve gone to bed. Which is why Boy barks when he hears something in the middle of the night. The other times I got up last night, when I headed to the back of the house again, I said softly “Boy, it’s me”, not because I was afraid, but just so he knew it was me and didn’t get riled up again. When I got back to the bedroom those times, he was awake and looking at me, but he didn’t get up and went back to sleep after I got back in bed. I might be being overly cautious thinking about how we need to handle our children and our grandchildren who might be up and about after we’ve gone to bed when they are here, and there is the fact that our bedroom door is closed at night when any of them are here, and Boy can’t run out like he did last night, but I’d just rather think about it beforehand, and be safe rather than sorry. 

Boy is a true guardian, but thankfully has a brain and recognizes who is his if they speak or he can catch their scent.  Anyone else will be in the deep stuff, and probably dead.  I was surprised that Boy tolerated Mr. Messy's middle-of-the-night roaming but he obviously knew Mr. Messy was one of his pack.  Some fools think pitties are clumsy.  They aren't

Boy did bark when Mr. Messy would roam the house in the middle of the night. But our bedroom door was always closed. Nor did he bark and snarl and sound so scary, like he did last night. There was also the night some months ago that I mentioned here, when he woke us up barking, because YD unexpectedly came here around 1am. That was one of the nights Mister and I were sleeping in separate bedrooms, but we both got up to see why Boy was barking. And YD was appalled that she saw her Dad’s nekkid ass. Well ma’am, there’s no telling what you might see if nobody has an idea that you might pop up. Seeing your Dad’s nekkid ass is the least that might happen if you randomly pop up at that time of night after not having been here for a while. 

Boy is 16mo old now, and I think his real personality is starting to show and give us glimpses of the fully adult dog he will be. I am good with the protective and guard dog behaviors he is starting to display, I just think we need to make sure he understands the boundaries. My children and grandchildren haven’t spent the night here in some months, and when they did, as much as Boy is attached to Mister, he preferred being and sleeping where my children and grandchildren slept, if he was allowed to. I don’t know if that is still true, because he seems to be changing. He is still the happy go lucky dog that loves people, but I need to make sure that he is still at ease with them in the same way, now that he seems to be maturing. 

OAN, even before now, Boy has seemed to be a protector, even with people that he doesn’t know well enough to be “his” people. I think it was Memorial Day that it became apparent. DS has a tiny dog that barks and tries to appear to be aggressive with people he doesn’t know. That evening, my children, grandchildren and I, were on the deck when Mister’s brother came out there to say goodbye, on his way to his car. DS’s dog started barking and growling at Brother, and Boy got between them and growled at DS’s dog, as if to say sitchoassdown!, then escorted Brother down the steps, to the gate of the fence. He was very clearly protecting Brother from DS’s dog (and DS’s dog got the message and sat his ass down lol) even though Brother has not been around enough for Boy to bond with him. 

Newbie is definitely the weirdest dog I’ve ever had. She is loveable, but also very nonchalant, and in some ways acts more like a cat than a dog lol, so I just let her be her weird self and love her anyway…… and Boy is very loveable and cuddly, but he is still also goofy and a PEST. To me, that just means they have their own personalities, and I am okay with that. Even as recent as 10 years ago, I would’ve never even entertained the thought of having either of them as members of my household, because even though in my mind they are both mutts, (and they are, since they are both the result of haphazard or unintentional breeding) they are both what many people consider to be pit bulls, even though their physical characteristics don’t necessarily fit the descriptions of any of the “true” breeds. And even with all of my love for dogs, “pit bulls” were always one breed I said I’d never “own”. But now, here I am, unable to imagine life without either of them.