Feel Like Complaining

I spent the weekend with this girl Ooshie. The actual spelling is Usi but people probably have a hard time pronouncing it. She was rescued from Bosnia and maybe Usi means something, but the only thing I could find for a meaning was a Tongan swear word; fuck you, eat shit. So I doubt that's it. She's 4 years old and needs two walks a day. Thankfully she's very easy to walk and only needs a slip lead. The only thing that makes her a bit difficult to walk is that she is obsessed with squirrels. Whether she hears them in the trees or not, she believes they're there and pulls a bit. But we've had tiny dogs behave much worse around squirrels so it's a nice change.  She lives right by a huge park that I haven't been to in years. I knew I would never make it to see the whole thing, but enjoyed seeing the renovated duck pond. I have put on a good many steps this weekend (partially because I got lost), but she enjoyed it! Other than two walks a day and feeding her, sh...

We've been really busy doing a little home improvements. By WE, I mean we hire people to do things because if it doesn't involve dirt, plants, or weeds, we are not capable. Nothing has been real big but it's just stuff that we could never afford before. I'm embarrassed to say that most of these should have been done 10+ years ago. Used washer/dryer (I'm still thrifty). Replaced back storm door. New garage door jam/knobs/keys. Some plumbing work. New dishwasher (I'm in love). Two new light fixtures downstairs.  I ordered some faux ivy privacy fencing. I'm sure you've seen them online and I had a real bad experience with a dealer from China. It's such a long story I'm not even going to go into it. I found some better stuff and although it was a process to cut and zip tie to our fence, it looks OK. Just OK. Since our house sits higher, when people walk by their little eyeballs are at looking right into our back yard. I'm sure most are admiring m...

This past week I was away sitting for one of my regulars. I haven't seen Pippin and Chloe for a year-and-a-half, right before Covid. They're both starting to show their age. The boy wears a diaper at night and the little girl has lost a lot of weight which makes her even tinier! Her hair is thinning like a sweet lil ol lady and I can see her skin through her fur. She tore her acl jumping off the couch and needs to be carried down/up the stairs to heal better. The only way outside is down those stairs, so at least 8 times a day, away we go. She's still quite spunky though, especially when hunting down poop to eat. I was carrying her up one day and she had something sticking out of the side of her mouth. I thought maybe a stick or leaf, but noooooo, it was a very dry cat turd (I'm assuming). I grabbed it and said 'You must think I'm a dummy to not notice that cigar'. Don't let that innocent face fool you. On Friday Tony and Faith got a new boy, Hendrix, to...

I miss the simplest little things since Mom has passed. First of all FB is not fun anymore. I know many of you either don't like it or have never used it but it was great for our entire family. It was a way of staying connected. I miss sending her funny memes that were not appropriate for FB itself. This is one I found recently and I wanted to send it to her so bad. I used to post several funny memes a day but I might do a few a week now; nothing seems funny anymore. I miss her comments on everything, she didn't miss a beat. My other Sis-in-law drove through on her way from Seattle and picked up all of the things my brother wanted of Mom's. She also agreed that what we posted (pics, updates, etc.) was for Mom's benefit and she loved all of it. It's just so different for all of us. This one actually made me cry; she loved her Cheetos and Fritos and they were usually on her grocery lists for me to buy. She would have loved this. We haven't deleted her account yet;...

This boy Saxon is a 7 y/o Lab/mix and you know what that means B...A...L...L.......! When we met him and his Mom, I asked if he was a good walker. She said he pulls pretty hard so just some ball play in the backyard would suffice while he was here. I didn't realize she meant darn near every second of the day. We set up play time 3xday but other than that he has a ball in his mouth constantly, even while napping. He has destroyed 6 balls in 5 days. The only ones that have stood up is the rubber Chuck-It's. He chews and they squawk, alllllll daaaayyyyyy loooonnnngggggg. We finally got smart and took the ball away in the evening so we can watch TV, but that has made him switch to destroying toys and he's up to at least 6 of those. We still have 6 days to go, so it's off to the store I go! He is so sweet and loving though, and is trained well which makes up for the non stop play. I think we'd have him back, I'd just need to warm up my pitching arm.  His Mom is also ...