Boo as a family member - Oct. 13, 2007 -> May 5th, 2012

                                          family vacation fall of  '08 #066

    Saturday I awoke to very overcast sky's and dreariness. I knew the rain that came, was coming. What I had no clue too, was the news I would be given that day.
    Brian had a peculiar expression on his face as he came in from work and knelt in front of my chair. His eyes told me he had unhappy news to tell me. My instinct was that he was going to tell me he was no longer employed at his main job. While I knew that would make our current circumstances even more challenging, I also knew that we would make it. We'd been that route a few too many times before. Not easy, but via God's help, we'd survive.
    Late that night, I told him that my heart really wished that was what he had told me. I truly think I would have handled that TONS better. Instead, he told me that he'd gotten a text from Brent. Boo had broke his hip and they had to put him down. With a loud "No-o-o.." I started crying. Bawling actually. Tears were running down Brian's cheek as well. Just typing this starts the tears again.
    Back HERE on our first blog, I had told you about Boo joining our family. Many of you know about how at first it was very touch and go with him. He had been abused by his previous owners. We don't know how much, but we're pretty sure they tried to make him the stereotype of mean pit bull. He was part pit bull, as well as black lab, and probably something else as well. Their abuse made him have an extreme hatred of black leather, even if he knew and liked the person wearing it. And we're pretty darn sure that their mistreatment of him, was the cause of his leg injuries.
     Sometimes after or during hard running, he'd be limping on the one leg, or even holding it up and hopping on the other three. The vet had diagnosed him as having severely pulled tendons in that leg. And from the feel of things and the way Boo responded, he'd had them since he was very young. Certain activities and or weather conditions, made them more prominent.
    And at one point in time, it went from just pulled tendons, to his having put his knee cap out. They were able to manually slip it back in place. He was just sore and on med's for awhile.
    But none of that had ever sunk Boo's spirit. He had so-o much personality! He cracked us up on a regular basis. In the past I've shared many of his tales with you. I will probably be sharing some more in the near future. Things that I had meant to post about, but hadn't yet.... My mind keeps remembering them. My heart aces for more of them.
    Later, Brent filled us in on more of what had happened. The night before, they had taken the dogs to a park. Boo had happily started to run. But he only made it about ten feet before he pulled up totally lame and whining in pain. They went back home. The next morning they were all sitting on the couch, Boo across Brent's lap. Kayla said he was wearing the saddest of faces and his eyes showed how much pain he was in, so she had bent forward and teased him about it. He snapped at her. Brent said he figured it was like a "leave me alone" thing, but he'd never allowed it before and he wasn't going to start allowing it now, so he had swatted him and told him to get down. Boo had jumped down and started towards their bedroom. Brent figured he was headed to the safety and softness of their bed. Suddenly, while crossing the linoleum of their kitchen floor, it was like he tripped and went down. And he started crying in pain.
     They loaded him up and took him to the Humane Society. The place that Brent originally adopted him from. The vet wasn't open on a Sat. morning. The doctor there could tell by feel, that Boo's hip was badly broke. They could do surgery and hope things came out okay. But they didn't know what all they'd find once they got in there, what with Boo's previous other leg problems. And after surgery, he'd need to be kept completely off the leg for a bit, what with the previously injured tendons and all. And probably need physical therapy. A-n-d... There were too many 'if's'.
     For awhile now, we'd known Boo's leg injury (injuries?) were really hurting him. We could see it in his eyes. Oh sometimes there would still be ever so much love shining forth out of them, or even laughter, but way too often they looked like this -

                                          See the pain in them?

     Boo no longer feels pain. But man does my heart feel it. Yes, technically Boo was Brent's dog. And Boo never forgot who it was that had rescued him. He HATED it when somebody, especially Brent, took his collar off. He would get so sad looking, and keep pawing at you wanting it back on. To him, it seemed to symbolize that he belonged to us. 
    But he also seemed to remember who it was that had loved him into being a real family member. Sometimes even after they had been here a couple of hours and we had long since done all of our welcoming greetings, he'd climb back up on me and fervently kiss me, and press his forehead hard against mine, and sometimes even wrap his paws around my shoulders while laying his head beside mine. Hugs! Oh Lord, I want another Boo hug!
     Boo hadn't come to us as an innocent puppy, who automatically gives you unconditional love. We had both earned the others love. As he had with the rest of the family. And love him we did! And still do! And he loved us through and through.
     These are the last pictures we had taken off him. Brent, Kayla and I sitting on the couch with Boo and Daisy on top.
     In this one, Kayla had just given Daisy a kiss, Boo didn't want left out ;->

          All of us on the couch -

            Boo getting a kiss from Brent -

              (the darkness under my eyes, show that my vertigo symptoms were high right then.)

            Brent and Boo - in love till the end!

    I mentioned my vertigo. I had always hoped that I would get over this darn stuff and be able to dance with Boo again. We both use to enjoy that so-o-o much. Or wrestle with a rope. Or....  I  STILL  WANT  TO!!! 

    Miss Analyse sure is gonna miss him when she gets back here next week....

     Big sigh.... deep breath ....

   Yes, I have been thanking the Lord that he allowed us the blessing of our Boo in our lives. Blessed indeed! He added a lot of joy, laughter and LOVE to our little family!!!

Wedding Weekend - Fri. night

    As you would imagine, I have LOTS of things to tell you about from this past weekend. After all, our out of state kids were in town. And Brent and Kayla got married. A-n-d Sunday afternoon we held a get together for family members, so they could visit with our out of state kids. But of course, that's not all that happened. But you knew that would be the case, didn't you? Mercy.
    So, instead of trying to tell you about everything in one posting, who's length would rival War and Peace, I'm breaking it all down into various postings.
    The out of state kids arrived Friday afternoon. I LOVE the fact that 2 year old Analyse totally knows who we are and is excited to see us when they get here!!! Us and "BOO!!!" ;-p.
    We had lunch and then tried putting Analyse down for her nap. That was a total no-go.
    After lunch, the guys had ran out to the mall to do some account switching around with everyone's cell phones. Brian, Brandon and I had been on Byron and Cyndi's plan. Benson had been on Brent and Kayla's. It is now set up so that there are three plans, and everybody living in a house, is on that houses plan. And since we most often always go through the same manager/sales rep. - he turned things over with out extra charges for doing so. Nice!
    Early Fri. evening, all of us, along with Kayla, her mom and sister, met up at the church to decorate it. That went really smoothly. Thanks Karen Bur. and Jewels for loaning us "stuff"! Oh, and those items that I had mentioned picking up at the Goodwill store - they worked fantastically!!! (Thanks Lord!)  No, I'm not showing you pictures yet. We're waiting to give a disk of the pictures (Benson was their photographer) to Brent and Kayla, before we post any of them anywhere.
    The 'plan' became that we were all going out to a specific pizza place, once the church was done. But then... and then ... and then Ms. Analyse was showing definite signs that due to having not had a nap, she wouldn't be up to much for very long. So I stated that as long as they called and had a small pizza delivered to our house, I would stay at home with Analyse and Elliot, and let all of them go really enjoy their time together. It ended up that it was Brian and all of our 'kids' at the restaurant. He said that was rather nice. ;->
    With Analyse watching Elmo(R) while sitting in her highchair eating her pizza, and me eating pizza and feeding Elliot his bottle, and Boo hoping somebody would drop something,  things progressed rather smoothly. That is, until the Elmo(R) DVD was done, and I was washing Analyse off and getting ready to put her in her pajamas. That's when I spotted it. Flying mad circles around our kitchen. I called Brian. "Please come home NOW!!! There's a bat flying around in the kitchen. small shriek. Now it's zooming back and forth through the main floor!!! HURRY!!!"
     He told me to take everybody upstairs and wait in a bedroom. Sounded good. But by this time, Ms. Analyse was watching me like she was trying to decide whether she should continue to be intrigued by this thing zooming back and forth and dipping here and there, or whether she should panic. After all, Grandma didn't sound any too happy...
     I took a big breath, said a prayer (or twenty, on top of one another) and decided that if a 2 year old could stay calm, so could I. (But I did keep praying! o;-p)
     Boo had growled, super deep down inside type of a growl. But then he had moved so he was sitting right up pressing on to my leg. I had taken hold of his collar. Did NOT want him jumping up and catching that thing, and getting bit...
    Thankfully, I had washed Analyse up, but not yet gotten her out of her chair. And Elliot was asleep in his seat. I put a blanket over the top of Elliot, very firmly told Boo to stay! and while telling Analyse just a minute, I went and propped the front screen door open.
     I never did see the bat again. My prayer is, that while I was looking else where, he did swoop out that open front door. I didn't see him, but I left the front door open for about ten minutes just in case...
     As I was in the midst of getting Analyse into her sleeper, growling low, Boo darted towards the front door. My eyes are scanning the air for the bat, as I'm instructing him to stay inside. He did stay, just barely inside the front door. When I got to it, I spotted a very anxious lady trying to hurry her two small dogs up the street. I felt so bad! I called out an apology and said that I had the door open, hoping the bat in our house would fly out of it. She didn't respond. I'm pretty sure she thought I was kook-koo - the front door propped open with moths buzzing about, a big dog growling scarily, and the shrill voice of a young child yelling "Boo STAY!!!" I shrugged, knowing she was probably right. o;-p
     I got Ms. Analyse down with out any incident and Brian finally arrived home. I didn't say anything about how long it seemed to have taken him. Later, totally of his own accord, he started telling me how he had instantly slid his debit card to Brent and headed out, only to run into construction - every single route he tried to take! You could not simply drive home from Plainfield and Four Mile. Mercy! Figures.
    We had settled into couches in the living room. Relaxed. Talking everything about the weekend, etc. over, when suddenly we heard Analyse putting up a ruckus.
     My first thought was that the bat was in her room. Then my mind reassured me that her door had been shut until I opened it to put her in there. When I got to her, she was sweating something fierce. The sleeper had been too warm for that room that night. So I changed her to a large T-shirt. But by then she had had an hour and a half nap, and was rearing to go. And then Elliot too woke up and decided it was time for his evening fussy spell. And then our adult kids arrived home. Byron and Cyndi to find both of their kids wide awake. What could I say? (insert eye roll here).
     Fin-a-lly everybody went down for the night. Whew! 

Two - change that to three things to tell you about -

   My 'plan' for this morning, was to tell you about a couple of recent rather comical 'Ms. Vertigo' related instances. But ya know how my 'plans' usually take turns... Yup. I got online and found out something about a friend, that I thought I would share with you too. I know ya won't mind.

   So, first incident -
    Shortly after dusk one evening last week, I was up laying cross wise across our bed. I just needed to rest my head and eyes, and was enjoying the wonderful slightly cool breezes while doing so. At the time, it wasn't raining. But you could tell another front was approaching, rather quickly even.
    At one point, as I was looking out the window, a bat suddenly swooped around the side of one tree, twisting and swooping between the branches of another tree, headed towards the house. The outside of the tree isn't even six feet from the side of the house. He got within maybe two inches of the outside of my window screen, then quickly turned and swooped off down the side of our house.GOODNESS!
    I don't mind bats. In-fact, I rather like them. As long as they are NOT inside my house, mind you. Why do I rather like bats? The way they fly is just so cool. Besides the fact of course, that I HATE mosquitoes.
   So seeing a bat that up close and personal didn't 'freak me out' or anything, after all he WAS outside. But oh the number he did on my already aching eyes. MERCY!
   Bat - 1 'Ms. Vertigo' - Yikes!  ;-p

   On to the second incident -
    Benson took Boo on a l-o-n-g *perambulation **along the river yesterday afternoon.
  (*perambulation - around here you can no longer use the word which has the letters w-a-l-k in it. Well, you can, as long as you don't mind Boo going instantaneously hipper with excitement on you. And as long as you DO plan to take him on one - immediately even!)
  ( **along the river - most people refer to the area as a p-a-r-k. But that too is a word which gets Boo ever so excited.)
  (and for the record - it has gotten to the point that if you use the word s-t-r-o-l-l, he cocks his head sideways, his ears start twitching back and forth, as though he's checking his antennas to make sure they really are tuned in right, he puts on a very happy expression, and oh is that tail a-wagging! We're pretty sure he's got that word figured out too. ;-p)
  When they got back, and after Boo had drank and drank and drank from his water bowl (it was a muggy type of hot here yesterday), he went in and started trying to scratch the top of his head against the couch. And then he sat down and scratched his back, but couldn't seem to hit all the spots he wanted, so he got up and started running his back against the edge of a couch. I took pity on the poor guy and gave him a good scratching. All over his back. And then on the top of his head. Usually, he will only tolerate that for a moment or two. That time, man oh man was I hitting the right spots. Silly dog.
    Once he let me stop, I got up and started out of the room. I decided to bend over and pick a couple things up off the floor, that belonged in the trash. Boo came forward to sniff what I was doing.  A-typical, not a problem. I had just started to straighten back up, when Boo, who was then not even a full two inches from my nose, decided to shake out all of the hair I had misplaced while scratching him. OH MY GOODNESS!!! That kind of motion, that close to me, while I was bent like that. YIKES!!! I ended up backing up and sitting back down. For awhile.
    Boo - itch taken care of, all hair in place, had adequate disbursement of energy = oh so happy dog. 'Ms. Vertigo' - "could somebody slow the room down please?!!". ;-p

  And now for the 'turn' (;-p) -
    My friend Karen Bek. announced via Face-book, that she has opened her own Etsy shop. Karen is a VERY talented seamstress! And her husband Rick is quite the carpenter. So I am sure that between the two of them, all types of beautifully crafted items might appear in that shop over time.
   But for now, Karen has listed a quilt she made. Machine stitched together, hand quilted. And it's beautiful!  Here's a link so you can go see it (and perhaps order it) for yourself --> Karen's Etsy Shop. (http://www.etsy.com/listing/75088212/cheerful-blue-yellow-hand-quilted-twin?utm_source=OpenGraph&utm_medium=PageTools&utm_campaign=Share)

  That's all for now folks -
   Wait, for those of you who get these postings via email - go to our site and look at the new 'Seasonal Smiles' now on our site ;->
   O-kay, I 'think' that's all .... o;-p

complimentary phone call ;-)

    When Byron called the other day, he had sounded really groggy and out of it. In what I thought was the background, I could hear Analyse making sounds. Then Byron's voice informed me I was on speaker phone. I took the cue and started talking to Analyse. "Hi Analyse, How's grandma's sweetheart? What ya doing?" That kind of stuff.
    Suddenly while I was talking to her, Boo started going ballistic at somebody he could see out our front window. "Boo!!!" "Hush! I'm trying to talk to Analyse."  That seemed to get his attention, because he instantly came over and with his head cocked sideways, gave me a ever so quizzical look. I tried holding the phone up to his ear while loudly telling Analyse to talk to Boo. Boo was not in favor of the phone next to his head, but the sudden motion of his ears and the change in his expression told me he had heard her voice. His then pawing at my leg, was full indication that I was suppose to pull her through that phone! :-)
    I went back to talking to Analyse for a bit, asking her if she was having fun with her dolly, etc., and for a short bit, she answered me. Then I heard her happy chatter fading away and knew she had headed into another room, to tell her mommy all about everything. ;-) Cyndi was being told about "gaa--ma" and "Boo" and other things I couldn't quite make out. ;->
    Suddenly Byron's still groggy voice is saying, "thanks mom, I'll talk to you later."
    ??!??
    "Wait, Byron, what did you originally call me about?"
    "To see if you could cheer Analyse up. She's been kind of whiny and cranky lately, and I thought maybe you could cheer her up. You did. THANKS! Now maybe I can get some sleep and she won't drive Cyndi crazy. Thanks again Mom!!! Love you. Bye."  click.

    Well all-righty then. :-D   So glad I could be of service!!! ;->  What a thrilling phone call, from this grandma's perspective! :-]

Cute Doggie Tales ;->

    Brent and Kayla had brought Daisy over for most of the day a week ago Saturday. None of us can say which of the two dogs gets the most excited upon seeing the other - Boo or Daisy. There had originally been some concern about their getting along, due to their size difference. The totally comical part is, while Boo is a good sized dog, he thinks he is a small lap dog; and while Daisy can easily curl into your lap, she thinks she is big and tough. So watching the two of them interact together, can be very comical!!!

     A couple of different things happened that particular Sunday which I found ever so amusing.
    Story #1 -  Brent and Kayla had decided they were going to watch a movie in the living room. I was in on the computer. The others were scattered around the house. Kayla had fallen asleep before the movie had even actually started, and when I had glanced in a bit later, Brent was struggling to stay awake.
    A while later Boo came in urgently wanting to be let out. I was rather curious about his urgency. Usually he lets me know, and if I don't respond quickly enough, comes back and reminds me. But that time he was most urgent in his notifying me.
    As I stood and turned towards the dining room, I spotted Ms. Daisy. She was under the dining room table, sniffing, then starting to squat, then with a glance towards Boo she'd move and sniff someplace else, then again start to squat. I caught onto Boo's urgency! Especially once I entered the kitchen. There I found a good size puddle. Big brother Boo knew that peeing in the kitchen wasn't good, but pooping on the carpeting in the dining room would be disastrous!!!
   I hastily called Daisy and ushered them both out the back door, thanking Boo for being such a good big brother and letting me know!!! :->

   (Story #2 - )I went to the bathroom, got a drink, etc., when suddenly Ms. Daisy started barking for all she was worth. She seldom barks. What in the world?!?  I listened closer, Boo was not making a sound, what was he doing to her?!!!
   I walked over and put the shade up on the side porch window. Boo was sitting on the top porch step, craning his neck looking back and forth trying to figure out what it was that Ms. Daisy was barking so furiously at the side fence gate about.
   He had heard me open the shade. He quickly glanced at me and then went back to trying to figure out what she was barking about. A minute latter, he looks back at me and I swear that dog shrugged his shoulders!!! ;-p!! He had no clue what all of her commotion was about! Comical!!!

   Story # 3 - It was cold and wet here this now past Sunday. A v-e-r-y cold rain! Boo does not like rain. Period. Daisy on the other hand didn't seem to mind it in the least. She'd go scooting out every chance she got, sniffing every inch of our back yard. I figured, let her. I had no idea just how cold her paws were getting.
    Boo has always had a cold nose. To the degree that when he touches you with it, it will chill your bones. But I've never really noticed him having cold paws. At one point after coming back in Sunday afternoon, Daisy jumped up to snuggle between Kayla and I on one of the little couches. I had bare feet. And I was sitting with one of my feet tucked up underneath me. Suddenly, in a split instant, my foot was froze!! All due to Daisy resting her ever so cold paw on my bare foot. Oh my goodness was her paw cold!!! Silly dog.

    (Maybe I can sneak out behind Benson while they go get the stuff out of the vehicle.)
   Story #4 - At one point Sunday afternoon Daisy was jumping at the back door, she needed out to go potty. At that point in time, it was both hailing and sleeting outside. She darted out the door and down the first step, only to come to a screeching halt. In the mean time, Boo had taken one look out and sat himself down in the door frame. ;-p Daisy backed up and shook her head, not only to shake off the wetness, but as though she was questioning what in the world that stuff was, and where it had come from. So-o cute. But she HAD to pee, so she timidly ventured forth again, then again, then... I left the door propped open and went back in. She must have eventually done so, because we never found any puddles. Boo on the other hand held his for several hours. HE was not venturing out in that stuff! The wisdom of age. ;-)

     I've been trying to get good pictures of them playing. Seems that being Ms. Vertigo and quickly playing moving dogs is not a good picture getting combination - even with the camera on the sports setting. I went ahead and shared a couple anyways. Just because.

Introducing ...

   our newest family member -
   
   Her name is Daisy.
   She is a three month old Chihuahua / Beagle / Lab mix.
   Kayla deemed her birthday to be January 1st.
   They got her through "Puppy Breath Rescue". Here is what their site said about her -
   "She has had 1st and 2 nd vaccintaions, Has been dewormed 3 times, Treated for Tape worms and has been vet checked! Her adoption fee is 50.00 with a spay agreement."
[They can hook you up with a place that 'fixes' dogs for $40.]

   Here is Brent's Boo, ever so eager to meet his new sister.

   [PLEASE ignore the adornments currently all over our yard. Thanks!]

                          They got along really well!!!

                                A picture of the 'family-to-be'. :-)

   If you too are interested in adopting a puppy, and aren't interested in the $120 price tag at the pound, then check out "Puppy Breath Rescue".
   HERE is their Face-book page.
   And  HERE is their regular official web site.
   They are located out between Allendale and Grand Haven, Michigan.

Boo :->

     In honor of it being Boo's birthday today*, I decided it was the perfect day to do the "directory of postings about Boo" which I had been thinking on doing. All of the herein listed postings, will be ones from our old blog. He has become such a character!! And what a different dog he is now from when Brent first brought him home!! Majorly different! In so many good ways!!
    About the * , technically we don't know Boo's precise birthday. The pound had told Brent that they could tell he was 'this many months old' when he was brought to them, thus meaning he had been born in Feb.. Feb. 14th was then chosen as his birthday, due to it being an easy to remember date ;-p.

   "Directory of postings about Boo - his arrival --> 2009"

   October 14th, 2008 - "new family member"

   February 8th, 2008 - "Our house is used on a time share basis . . ."
        by both the humans and the pets  

   March 25th, 2008 - posting
       second "~" - Boo and the pizza delivery
       fifth "~" - Boo won the wrestling match :-P !

   May 6th, 2008 - Help for extreme Boo drooling
       or any dog, for that matter

   May 23rd, 2009 - "Animals in Heaven"
      nothing directly pertaining to Boo - but fitting never the less

   May 26th, 2008 - Boo the guard dog :-D

   July 19th, 2009 - "Yesterday"
     part of it is about Brent working in the basement and carpeting the basement steps :-p!

  August 30th, 2009 - "Boo and the doorbell"

  October 1st, 2009 - "Boo and the Gatorade bottle"

  November 10th, 2009 - "Another Boo Story"
       his response to my suitcase :-p!

  November 19th, 2009 - "Stories about our "boys" ;-} "
       First one is about Brent, Boo and the bed blankets :-p
       the last one is about Brent, Boo and "Welcome to parent hood ;-p

  December 15th, 2009 - "Another Boo Story"
       Boo and the TV remote control :-p!

  December 23rd, 2009 -  "Analyse and Boo ;-} "
      funny story about Analyse and Boo and kissing :-p !!!"

   You've given us many smiles "boo-boy"!! :-D

Boo's Comical Response ;-b

    The mass majority of the time, if I go in to use the toilet, Boo either follows me in there, or appears shortly after I get in there. Yes, I could make sure the door is shut tighter, it's just that his coming in really doesn't bother me. He seems to come in for two reasons. One is a combination of verifying that that really is where I am and what I'm doing. And the second is because he absolutely loves to have his back and hind quarters scratched. Seriously, he LOVES it!! I will start scratching and he will move so that I am scratching what ever area he's wants scratched most right then. Then he will turn his head and give me the most loving look. :-)
    Yes, I could scratch him when I'm sitting on one of the living room couches. But honestly, it's harder to do in the living room. I either have to lean way forward to do so, or scootch forward. In the bathroom, the toilet is the perfect height. And trust me, it's not wise to scootch forward on it's seat. o;-p
    Yesterday he didn't want scratched much. And one time, after verifying where I was, he didn't wait to be scratched at all. He just turned around, walked over and started sniffing the dirty laundry. He's a dog. He does that often too.
    But this time, as I'm watching him sniff around, he suddenly snaps his head back real quick like, and then shakes it side to side a bit. Then wearing the most disgusted of expressions, he sort of tentatively bends forward, looking, lightly sniffing, at the area he had snapped back from. He again draws back quickly while shaking his head a little. He shoots me this most disgusted of looks before turning and leaving the bathroom.
    By that time, I was laughing. Hard. So I wasn't sure if his disgusted look was about me laughing at him, or about the smell he had encountered. But that did not stop my laughing. See, from my view point, the area he had been sniffing was a variety of colors, until he had gotten to one white spot. A sock. The smell of the sock was what he'd found so revolting. That's funny! And the fact that he'd found it offensive enough to not want to sniff anywhere else, highly comical!!!
    I had tried to re-assure him. In between laughs that is. "I know Boo. Sometimes that's the same response I get, when I come upon some of their socks in the dirty laundry. And I don't even sniff them that close up."  Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle...  ;-p
   For the rest of the day, he still entered the bathroom, but he never sniffed near the dirty laundry again!! Funny dog!!!

(Be-lated) Nov. 28th - "I'm Thankful for: "

    Our "creatures" whom give us 'comfort'.
    In the Nov. 7th posting about "the 'modern conveniences'" type of 'creature comforts' that we have in our home (such as stoves, refrigerators, etc.), I told you about how after I had posted the Nov. 3rd posting, about our homes 'creature comforts' (such as having a furnace, and running water, and electricity, etc.), Jill Roed. had sent us a comment saying, that when she had read the words 'creature comforts', she had thought I was going to be writing about our pets. ;-p
    Jill (and every one else) this one IS about our pets. ;->
    The very first pet our little family had, was a gerbil. We named him "Shreddaskal" (combination of shredder and rascal). Yes, he had originally been one of our sons (Benson to be precise) classroom pets, that came home with us during one of the breaks, and then permanently once the school year ended.
    He loved to interact with us! If we were up close to the cage talking to him, he would play hide-n-seek through the different holes in the McDonalds type, cardboard beverage carry trays, which he absolutely loved to climb all over and then shred up. Or if we had given him an empty cardboard toilet paper or paper towel roll, he would charge through them, we swore he was racing his own time speeds! Eventually, they too would get shredded.
    There were even times when HE would tap on the glass trying to get us to pay attention to him. Comical!!! ;-p

    Our next pet also came via one of Benson's classrooms. This time it was a Guinea pig, which we named "fluffy". Oh how Fluffy could squeak with excitement! ;-p!  Like the times, after all of the boys were down for the night, that dad would take him out of his cage and allow him to run back and forth along the back of the couch between us. Silly critter!  Or the times that he was allowed to roam free and play on the front porch with Benson, while Benson was out there taking over the whole porch building cities. Fluffy didn't always stay on his assigned paths to navigate - and then he heard about it! ;-b Or when Brian would bring the left over salad home from a catering job, and we slowly fed it to Fluffy. You know those hard sections most of us don't like to find in our salads? He squealed in delight over them!!! Fluffy never realized that he was "only" a guinea pig!  And that made him fun!

    I'm pretty sure that our fish bowl and contents originally came via a classroom too, but I'm not positive on that one. But we did have fish. And we did buy fish. Several times. And then we caught on to the fact that the reason so many of the fish we bought kept disappearing, was due to one of the now large sized gold fish eating them. Gee-sh! We also learned that the algae eaters were well worth their cost!!! That is, until they too evaporated. But thankfully they did manage to survive for a long time.
    While we did not allow the fish to be removed from the bowl/tank ( something the now humongous gold fish must have had problems with, seeings how after a few years of tank living, he jumped out one night ....) the boys did find them entertaining anyways.

    And for eighteen years Rascal was a part of our lives. Very much so! He always considered himself more of a puppy than an A-typical cat. He loved to inter-act with us. He insisted that we not 'ignore' him!!! And when we had been gone for what he considered to long of a period of time, he would cling to the leg of his chosen capture (usually Benson, but not always) thus assuring himself of at least one person staying home.
    We had gotten his front claws removed after the time while we were sitting at the table eating and Brandon had suddenly started howling and trying to stand, and howling.... Rascal had chosen his bare leg (due to wearing shorts) to try to climb to get up where he could be with us (which was NOT allowed!).
    And we had had him neutered. Brian had carried him into the vets. A fact which Rascal took a l-o-n-g time to forgive!! ;-p
    When we had brought him home from the barn, he was barely old enough to leave his mother, and he was so small he fit in one of Brian's hands. But he grew. And he grew! At his end, his head kind of over filled Brian's hand. And to the end, he lived up to his name. He was a Rascal!!! We still miss him!

    Two years ago Brent added Boo to our lives. Boo is a dog. A mix of a black lab and a Rottweiler. And before he'd been taken to the pound, his previous owners had abused him. So he entered our lives at the age of eight months old, with a LOT of meanness showing! Every day Brent got warned that we weren't sure if we were going to allow him to keep Boo.
    My brother Craig (along with others) claims that Boo is a huge case in point of what a difference loving and nurturing a dog can make!!! He is so-o-o different than he was when we originally got him. (Excuse me, when Brent originally got him o;-p) He's such a cutie! And a charmer! And so full of character! Oh man is he! He gets us laughing so hard, so often!!! Silly dog! ;-b

     I am indeed thankful for our 'creature comforts' called pets!

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You might also enjoy these postings (from our old blog site) about our pets.
{ For previous postings from this blog site - check our archives list, under "Boo" and "Rascal".}
[And yes, there are probably more (actually a lot more) postings back there about our pets .... someday I'll track them all down.]

Aug. 21st, '05 - Night vision - Rascal, yes, Mom, no. (the first section of that posting)

Feb. 8th, '08 - Our house was used on a time share basis between Rascal and Boo.

Feb. 11th - '08 - (the very last paragraph of that posting) the lump under our covers .

March 25th, '08 - at the second  "~"  Boo and our pizza delivery.
                         at the fifth "~" Boo playing with Brent ;-p

May 26th, '08 - Boo and the 'beggar' at our door

Dec. 15th, '09 - (first section of that posting) Boo and the TV remote control

Dec. 23rd, '09 - Analyse and Boo ;-p


The 2010 "I'm Thankful for: " Challenge   - if you don't know what this is, follow the lead on our side bar.

the back yard project -

       When Brent had told us that he was enlisting in the Navy*, Brian told him that yes, we would keep Boo while he was away, but that Brent was going to have to enclose the backyard for us. Boo is a very active, very strong dog. Keeping him on a relatively short leash in the backyard (so that he can't quite reach the alley or the neighbors driveway) was not really being fair to Boo. Also, we had had to replace said leash on different occasions due to his having broken it. Brent totally agreed with the whole idea and set his tax refund check aside for that plan.
     ( * it now looks as though Brent will not be able to join the Navy due to his medical condition. As some of you know, back in the 4th grade he got hit by a car. Due to the hole in his lungs and rip in his spleen, they were not able to tape up his ribs. Consequently, his ribs did not heal quite right. Most of the time they don't really bother him. But in high school wrestling, they affected him to the point that both his Dr. and the coach removed him from the team. The Navy thinks they would probably end up giving him a medical discharge ...).
     The weekend of the fourth of July, we had dubbed 'do the backyard' weekend. After much discussion, and figuring, and scouting out pricing, etc., it had been decided to put in a tall wooden fence most of the way around the yard. The only area not to have said fencing, would be along the neighbors yard where there was already chain link fencing in place (behind the overgrown trees, flowers, etc.).
     While all of that might sound easy enough, there were of course a few projects that had to be done first. Things such as removing most all of the extremely overgrown bushes and 'trees' that were along part of the alley side of the yard. And digging the holes for the fence posts in ground that is overflowing with rocks, large stones and boulders, besides root systems from years ago.
     The 'plan' was to take out all of the bushes, etc. Friday night, put the fence in on Sat., attack the rest of the overgrowth on Sunday, and lallygag on Monday. R-i-g-h-t ... .
      I forgot to take a picture of everything before Brent got started, but this picture shows about 1/3rd of the bushes removed.

             First they attached the brush with chain saws.

               And sword.

Which is better, the sword or the chain saw? Dueling brothers ... (nobody got hurt :-) )

      Next came using shovels and axes to loosen the dirt around the roots.

      Then they tied a chain around the roots and pulled them out with a truck. Easy, right? Another 'yeah, right!'! One root system was so far in there, that it actually pulled the truck sideways! Eek!

     All of the brush was then stacked in the borrowed trailer to be hauled away. 'The boys' then stomped it down so more could be added. And then stomped again. We took full advantage of the fact that it was a dump trailer, thus meaning we wouldn't have to pull all of it back out of there ourselves!  ;-)  (Thanks for the loan of your trailer Don R.!!!)

     It had also been decided that spending money to rent an auger to dig the post holes, would be worth it considering the elements/makeup of our yard. That became known as an understatement!!!  That was money more than well spent, and were we ever glad we went with the two person type!!!  The guys muscles were still tested mightily!

    

       Finally the holes were dug, and one by one, a post was inserted, dry cement poured in and the water was added. Whew, part two was now completed.

    [our neighbor Jim couldn't stay away ;-p]

         The suggestion was made to start on the trimming of the other side of the yard while waiting for the posts to set, but by then the guys were so-o-o tired, and I was weaving (vertigo), and it was late...getting this far had taken till about 8:00 Sat. evening! And then that night it rained ... so they took a break, after all, things did need to dry a bit first.
    Sunday afternoon they were back at it. And bit by bit the fencing went up. See, the alley runs along a hill, making leveling everything more than a bit challenging. 

         By Monday night, 90% of the fencing was in place. It took another week and a half for the rest of it and the two gates to go up, because of course Brian started working ten hour days and manditory Sat.'s (which the checks from have been ever so helpful, but there went the list of projects we were tackling ...), and Brent was having vehical issues, and Brandon was helping the catereer... and while Benson was good at helping dig, or hold up fence sections, etc., this type of work is not his strong suit. So yeah, life.
     So all of the fencing and the gates are in place,

          and it's so nice to be able to open the door and just let Boo (who of course was grand overseer of the whole project ;-p) out.

 We still hope to do more of the work out there ... I'll post about it if we do ;-)

WELCOME home!!! ;-)

    Brent had proceeded me through the back door last Wed. morning when we had arrived back from Byron and Cyndi's. A very sleepy eyed Boo had come to greet him. Man was he a sleepy eyed dog! And his tails usual THUMP THUMP THUMP against the fridge sounded muted! ;-p Then again, it was 2:30 a.m..
    He was watching Brent, waiting for Brent to get his shoes off and greet him. He sort of glanced once behind Brent and saw me waiting in the doorway, then turned right back to Brent. But then I saw his eyes snap fully open, a smile broke all over his face, his tail no longer sounded muted, and his head snapped back my direction. "Mommy" was home!!!!! 'Priceless!' !!!
    Thankfully the over sized cooler we had used for the weekend was still sitting in the kitchen. I stumbled over to it and after sitting started greeting Boo. He was comical! He could not seem to decide which he wanted more, mutual hugs and kisses, or me scratching his hind quarters. Goodness. I was already very done in from the road trip home, and now I had a dog whom kept spinning end to end in front of me. Yikes!!!!
    And yet his enthusiasm and love was so precious and yet comical .... silly dog ;-p
    By the time that Brent exited the bathroom and called Boo to head upstairs with him, I had a handful of Boo hair, and there was quite the scattered mess of it on the floor! Yup, he's still shedding. I scooped it all up, put it in the trash, used the bathroom myself and went up to a real bed and a glad to pull me close husband ;-). Nice!
    Since Rascal's passing, Boo has taken to joining me on my bed in the mornings. Sometimes he waits till Brent gets up, but often he does as soon as he hears Brian get up. Usually I feel him jump up on the bed, he comes and sniffs the heck out of my ear (dogs are so weird that way!!!), and then turns a couple of circles and lays down. The next morning I felt him jump up on the bed and sniff my ear, but this time he didn't just lay down. Instead he started tapping my shoulder. ;-p He needed some verbal greeting, hugs and kisses before he laid down and sighed ever so contentedly. I felt so-o loved!!!
     I have 'homes' in two different cities/states where I get the warmest welcomes :-} WONDERFUL!!!

the world moves in circles

      Okay, so, I have always known that the world moves in circles. Okay, wait. I do not claim to have been born with such knowledge, therefore I should change that statement. Um mmm, While I have forgotten lots of things I learned in school (such as where in the heck some of the countries these Olympic athletics are from, are actually located) I have never had problems remembering that in actuality, it's not the sun and moon moving in the sky, it's actually that the world that we live on is rotating and thus we are the ones 'moving'.
      Another way to put that, is that the earth continually rotates in a circle. I KNOW that. And at it's basis, I've always KNOWN the rest of this too, I'm just not sure it's ever all dawned on me / been made ever so apparent to me all at the same time / to such a high degree as this, before.
       Our earth rotates in a circle.
        Most all of the Olympics winter activities either involve going in varying sizes of circles, or weaving of some sort.
        [Brian and I had been attempting to watch them the other evening. He REALLY enjoys them. I really don't mind them. But man oh man, I was getting ever so dizzy while sitting perfectly still, all by myself, on a couch. Yikes!!! It must have showed, because after looking long and hard at me at one point, Brian switched channels. "Oh, this is a good movie, and they say it's absolutely amazing with surround sound!" The beginning music was very pretty!! But it turned out the movie was about NASCAR racing. Yup, driving in circles. Geesh! He changed the channel yet again. I felt so bad!!!]
       Dogs usually turn in circles at least a couple of times before laying down.
       [Usually Boo only does so one or two times. Lately of course, it can take him six or seven times. And yes, I close my eyes, but if he has chosen to lay beside me on the couch, I can FEEL his going in circles!! :-/ And he hasn't a clue why what he's doing is suddenly bothering me so!!]
      In order to load the dishwasher, you turn back and forth, from the sink to the dishwasher, and back to the sink, and back ....
      [and I'm feeling off kilter just thinking about the process ;-/ ]
      To hand wash dishes, you turn slightly to get the next thing from the dirty side of the sink, you wash the item [which usually involves moving your wash cloth in circles inside the serving bowls or your pans], turn a bit to rinse the item in your other sink, turn even more to put the item on the drying towel, and then turn way the opposite direction to get something else off of the dirty side [while sometimes hesitating a moment and clinging to the sink reassuring your brain that you are not spinning].
      The toilet didn't flush right, so you flush it again and watch to make sure it doesn't decide to rise too high [HELP!!!!!!!].
      Getting things out of the fridge, and the pantry, and putting everything on the counter so you can start prepping a meal, involves oh my goodness so many 'circles' and weaving!
      To get from your table at the restaurant, where your husband treated you to a nice steak dinner for Valentines, involves weaving through crowds of people, and sometimes brushing shoulders with them (didn't previously realize that could cause such a tilt a world effect), and walking a straight path is no where near possible, and people make the strangest faces at you, and whisper the rudest little comments when you suddenly just stop because you are absolutely sure your going to take them all out due to how hard your spinning.
      o/~ The wheels on the bus go round and round o/~ thus it's best not to watch traffic while your going down the road. [No, I have not driven in weeks!!]
      Washing your hair and taking showers is usually pretty much a stand basically still process. But it also involves scrubbing your head (Yowsa!!!), and washing your body [who doesn't wash their main torso by going in circles?!!!], and closing your eyes while standing under water which is cascading down your body .... [No wonder they so often include shower scenes in horror movies ;-p]

      And I've listed enough examples that now I am not only feeling very off kilter, but also getting nausea, so I'm going to end this posting.
     Brian says that a way he's been explaining it, which people seem to get the most, is that your brain is like a battery. Usually, both of your inner ears feed the battery 100 % voltage and thus equal balance is maintained. However, as last weeks testing showed (I did not actually post all of that information, just sent it out to some in an email. If you did not recieve the information, but would like to, just ask ;-]) my right ears inner ear is only producing about 40% voltage. Thus the brain is getting 100 % voltage from one side and 40 % from the other, so it tries to compensate. But then my eyes send their own information that I am not actually spinning, or tilting, and the brain isn't sure what it should do. [At least that's how I think he put it. If it doesn't make sense, let me know, and I'll have him type it up and post it.]

      I'm headed back up to bed, to lay on my right side, and hopefully settle everything down again.
      No, I have not heard back from my own doctors office yet. Could be that they are waiting for my actual doctor to get back in tomarrow. He has been on a missions trip to Africa. One of the other doctors in the office granted me the refills on the perscription and referred me to the specialist/clinic. My docor or his office will have to schedule the CAT scan, and perscribe any new medications, etc..


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from Monday -

      My doctor's office called on Monday, to let me know that not only had they been able to make me an appointment with the Vertigo clinic, but due to the clinic having just received a cancellation, they were able to make me one for next week Tuesday. :-}
     "And by the way, while they do deal with Vertigo, they are actually a "Balance Clinic". You (I) will be seeing several different doctors / specialists whom will all do their own specialty's tests, the end result of which will help them determine if you are well balanced."
 
    Go ahead. I know that most of you are just bursting with some wise comment to make. "If I'm well balanced". ... ... ... ... ... This defense knows better than to even try and present any arguments.

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     I had the TV remote sitting on my lap early Monday evening as we were watching TV. (Did you notice that I said I had the remote, and yet 'we' were watching TV. Rare occurrence indeed o;-p) Boo walked up to me, flopped his head down on my lap, effectively turning off the TV. Oh my goodness dog! Chuckle, chuckle.
    Brian and Benson were both amused. Boo does not understand how 'mommies' playing with Boo makes her way dizzier. :-{ I feel so bad!
    Not an hour later, he managed to turn the TV off again. And that time the remote was in my hand. "D O G!!!"
    Brian piped up with, "You thought it was cute when he did it to Brent. You even wrote about it on your blog." grumble, sheesh, sigh, ... Man I hope this all goes away soon (the vertigo that is).
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Boo scores again

     As you by now know, Boo loves to play. Play as in the interactive type. The interactive type as he desires more than just a little bit of your attention a-n-d he wants to (ab)use a whole lot of your energy. And he is VERY persistent in pursuing play time when he wants it!!! Oh yeah!!
     Last evening he wanted to play. And he had come to me in pursuit of play time. Often he comes to me knowing I cave into him easier than others do. And currently he has also been coming with questioning sad eyes, 'why won't you really play with me anymore'? Hard to explain Vertigo to a dog, and how tug of war with him makes me all kinds of dizzy and spinning and while I really do enjoy playing with him, right now I just can't handle doing so. Yeah, hard to explain to a dog.
     So after quite a few of his repeated attempts to get me to play last evening, I said, "Brent's here, go get him." He did turn his head and glance Brent's direction, but then just looked back at me. Bother. This happens a LOT! And very often ends up going no where. But I tried again anyways. "Brent's home tonight, make him play with you Boo!!". Benson was also encouraging Boo likewise.
     Boo then glanced Benson's direction, then back at me, and then with a couple of big lopes, rounded the end table trunk and sprung onto the couch beside Brent, putting his face right into Brent's. :-p The rest of us started laughing!! Brent said, "What do you want, huh?!" and sort of pushed Boo away. The thing is, that is often Brent's opening line to wrestling with Boo.
     But instead of backing off and growling at Brent as he usually does, with a big leap Boo lounged forward, landing with his feet firmly planted in Brent's lap, his face facing me, and his tail whacking Brent in the head ;-b. Our laughter definitely increased in volume!!!
     Boo won! Brent could not still watch the show with Boo attacking him such ;-p He's such a smart dog :-D

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another Boo story ~

     We all know that animals communicate with one another. Both in-species*, like dog to dog, as well as inter-species**, such as cat to dog. And we also know that animals communicate to humans***. But have you ever wondered about what an animal in a movie**** is actually saying?
       An example of in-species* is how you hear your dog bark at the neighbor's dog, and that dog barks back, responding. Or how you hear some dog in the distance bark, and then you hear a closer sounding dog bark, and then your dog barks, which is followed by a dog barking in the other direction from whence the original barks came, and then a bark even further away in the new direction barks, and you shudder because your sure that means Corella De-ville is back in town (;-p).
      An example of inter-species** is vividly played out in our house via Rascal continuing to hiss at Boo, as well as doing stunts such as walking less than an inch from Boo, yet crying hideously when Boo turns and approaches him to investigate/sniff/ try to coax Rascal to play, thus attempting to place all blame on Boo. On a couple of occasions, Boo has turned and low in his throat, said something which has usually sent Rascal scampering either up the stairs or under the table.
     Many people 'swear' their animal/pet(s) talks to them***. Rascal will sit at the top of the steps and start saying "H-E-LL-O?!?!!!", repeatedly, rising in volume till he either gets a response, or continuing till he gets the response he is after. MOST annoying at two a.m.!!! 8-/ . The 'Funniest Home Videos' TV show is continually featuring peoples pets talking or singing to them. Some are cute. Others, well, pass.
     We know that the animals which play roles in TV shows and movies**** are trained to bark/meow/whinny/whatever at particular times. But I've often wondered just what exactly it is the animal chooses to say during those times. I mean, are they actually saying something in their animal language that other animals can understand?
     Rascal will occasionally look up at the TV when there is a meowing cat on it, other times, he can't be bothered. (yeah, typical cat). Boo on the other hand usually does at least cock an ear in the direction of the TV when another dog is on it. Sometimes he starts barking madly straight at the TV, as though he is arguing with the one on it. There have been times that after hearing a dog on the screen start barking, he madly rushed towards a door, loudly informing us there is a problem. We're always curious just what exactly the TV dog has declared. But the other night, well, it was amusing!
     Everybody except the pets and I had left the house. Balance and dizziness were still HUGE issues for me (they are now down to frustrating issues). I was tired of laying on my right side in bed. I was tired of laying on the couch. I was tired of weaving while standing. Yeah, I was tired of all of it!
     I decided to go up to bed, try propping myself up with pillows, and watch a movie. Yes, I could do that from the couch, but then Boo couldn't easily sit beside me. And he was making it clear that was his desired place!!!
     Since I couldn't decide which of my movies I wanted to watch, I chose a two dollar rental fee one off of U-Verse. I settled down, Boo cuddled in, Rascal left the room, all was calm and good.
     The movie had a dog which appeared frequently in it. A large sized dog. Always appearing to be all wound up due to one of the human characters activities. The first couple of times, Boo started to rise while looking at the screen with a concerned expression. {Yes, this dog of 'ours' definitely does expressions!!! Very much so!!!} But after a brief moment, Boo would sigh and cuddle down again. After that, he barely even moved his ear when the dog was barking. But then, quite a ways into the movie, after the TV dog had been on numerous times, yet been totally ignored by Boo, the dog was on again.
     This time however, Boo responded. He sat straight up looking at the TV. Boo cocked his head one way, then the other. His ears were tilting every which way, like he was trying hard to adjust his antenna to better pick up what was being broadcast. After what seemed like a couple of minutes of this, he sat still, with his head tilted to one side, his ears standing tall, but wearing the most comical of bemused expressions! After a moment, he turned and looked back at me with the most confused / quizzical expression on his face. I replied, "I don't know". He gave me kind of a little scowl, then returned to the exact same position and expression as he had had while facing the TV. Whatever the dog in the movie had been saying, had made totally no sense to Boo what-so-ever!!!! I found it v-e-r-y funny!! My laughter made Boo even more confused. That in turn made it even more comical to me.
      I'd like to insert a tip here. Do NOT let your head move while laughing when you have Vertigo. Seriously!!!! Takes the fun right out of it!!! 8-/
     Thankfully, Boo very willingly forgives you if you pull him close and start cooing at him while petting him :-D (that's a bonus tip in case you ever have cause to need it ;-p).
      I am still curious though as to what exactly the dog in the movie had been saying at that particular point in the script. Curious indeed!
 
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