Gertrude (RIP '07)
Tag Archives: postaday2011
1.16.12 12:00: Eating my bad mood for lunch
lulu the day she came to live with us
I was having an OK morning and then something changed and the day seemed to take a nose dive from there. Not exactly sure why, but it got me wondering if dogs have bad days. I don’t seem to have moody dogs. In general they are both pretty happy unless sick. Is there such a thing as a moody dog? I do think dogs have a range of emotions: they get sad (like when they are away from their family for to long or one of their friends die) or they feel scared or anxious and I definitely know they get happy, but do they ever have just a ‘bad day.’ I think sometimes that I would really like to come back in my next life as a dog, but only if it is to some happy person who will love me and honor me the way I deserve. Well, now I feel better just thinking about the dogs. They do make my world brighter. Well, just another DogDaz afternoon at my house. ❤
When Pigs Swim
(via couldeverdreamof)
This picture makes me think of a warm summer day at the beach (with my pig if I had one).
1.15.12 13:05: Don’t make me go out there!!
Colin Ross Jack: Dogwalk Snow Scene
I really do not want to get dressed and walk. Sofie does not mind since she likes to just be out in the yard and run around and bark and do her business but Lulu does not like that idea, she demands her walk. Getting dressed to go outside on a freezing day like today is really not fun. Winter has been very nice in the Mid-Atlantic and I have gotten spoiled not to have to wear my face mask and 27 layers of clothes. I bought Lulu a new sweater last night because I worry about her skinny little body with the single layer of hound hair (of course when I got it home I noticed it was ripped and it was the last one in her size – doesn’t it always happen that way). I am always searching for that perfect dog walking gear for me in freezing weather that won’t cost a million dollars. I have yet to find it. 
My gloves are never good enough. I have tried mittens but they don’t seem to do it either. I tried the ones that let your fingers come through and then have a little pocket that you can move back and forth (what a bother!). I tried liners in my gloves. I must have 20 different types of gloves in my box but none of them make me happy.
I wear this face mask thing called a Balaclava. It keeps me covered except for my eyes. When it is ridiculously cold at night, I even take off my glasses (because they feel like hot steel going into my skin). Those are the times I really have to trust the dogs to lead me. It used to be funny because I would walk blind Sqaush E Bear without my glasses in the dark and he would be my leader: Is that the blind leading the blind? LOL
And, when it is really really really bad, now don’t laugh, I wear my terrycloth bathroom, which is down to the floor, under my coat. That seems to be the only thing that really cuts the sting.
Snowball Smile
Now I love a nice snowy walk so don’t get me wrong and there is nothing like playing in the snow with a pack of dogs, but I don’t have any snow today, just wind and ice. Well, here I go…. It’s just another freezing cold windy DogDaz afternoon at my house. ❤
For my football friends: Go RAVENS!
1.14.12 9:55: Are you a Dog Person?
If you have never shared your life with an animal or had any kind of personal relationship with one, then you just might not understand this post (sorry but you won’t). And to make matters even trickier, if you are a cat person you don’t necessarily understand a dog person, and a dog person may never really get what another person sees in living with a ferret or a snake or an iguana. And then there are some of us who fall in love with a host of different animals. I wonder what makes some people attracted to one kind of pet vs another? (I must admit that I am really not a Rat or reptile person (but I can accept the choice to have one)).
Louie
I always thought of myself as a DOG PERSON. I did not grow up with cats. I met some cats in the neighborhood but I don’t really remember having any significant relationships with one. My sister says we had an outside cat for awhile, Ginger, but I have no recall. The only resident cat I remember is my Aunt Harriet’s big fat mean cat that used to sit on her dining room table and swat at you if you got close. I used to bring kittens home all the time and sneak them into the basement, but ultimately my Dad would find them and ‘take them for a ride’ (I think he took them to the park and left them at the golf course for someone else to find.) So, I did not really know what cats were about. I had the stereotypical view that they didn’t need much from humans, were independent, and kinda mean and scratchy.
Ever since I was little we had a dog: Louis Pierre Andre the 14th of Edgewood (I guess 3 kids could not agree on one name). Louie came to live with us when I was about 5 or 6. We first had a dachshund, named Fraya, but she got hit by a car. Then, if I remember the story at all, some friend of my sister’s owned a pizza parlor and had this French Poodle puppy that was making them crazy. So, that is how we came upon living with a silver miniature poodle. My mother, being the 50’s NY housewife, made sure he was always well clipped and even had silver nail polish to match. Louie was the best dog for a kid. He let me dress him up in little dresses and would tolerate anything I could throw at him. He lived to be about 18 I think. He passed when I was away at college. I was definitely a dog person.
Eddie 1
So, how did I become a cross over? Well, in college I knew that I could never care for a dog but I wanted furry companionship. So the next best thing, I figured, was a cat. First I adopted a little kitten from a guy named ‘Ed.’ She was black and white. I named her ‘Eddie.’ Ed told me that all animals start out named, Ed, and then people gave them their forever names. I did not question that assumption. My dorm allowed pets but my roommate was not happy. And, I knew nothing about what a cat would need and ended up having to give her up at the end of the first semester when I went home and my, ‘we don’t do cats!’ parents, would not let her come home with me. But, I was smitten with the cat bug and from then on I was both a CAT PERSON and a DOG PERSON. I actually had many cats after that before I felt settled and responsible enough to have my own dog.
What about you? How did you fall in love with your non-human companion?
Just another DogDaz morning at our house. ❤
1.13.12 7:32: Do you know The Muffin Man?
The Muffin Man
The Muffin Man says that the dogs are boring and that I should write about him. Muffy, who actually runs the zoo at a ripe old age of 18 or so, is one of those really special cats. You know the kind. The cat that makes you feel like you are the only human in the world and that he adores only you, until he goes sits on someone else’s lap and gives them that same story. The Muffin Man, aka: Muffin, Muffy, Mufasha, Muff, came from the SPCA to live with V and kids when he was maybe a year or so. We don’t know his story really but he picked V out of the line up of humans available that day and decided that this was the family he wanted to come home to (and you thought it was the other way around, didn’t you?). I inherited Muffy when V and I became a family. He, as stated before, wins your heart immediately. At the time, my 2 cats, Gertrude and Alice, were his senior and were very happy with their lives (except for the silly dog Nikki, but they were used to her). They were not thrilled in the least to join a house with 3 other cats (Muffy, Zackary, and Cuddles). Muffy, however, being the cool negotiator he was, managed to get everyone ultimately to tolerate each other well.
Muffy & Gertrude on my desk
Muffin has a heart problem. He used to get EKGs every 6 months (we don’t do that anymore) and has been on heart medicine every day and a baby aspirin 2X a week forever, but, thankfully, he is doing great (obviously, he is 18). Starting about a year ago he begin to get that old cat skinniness that makes them look really haggard. We worry that he is cold and the kids put blankets on him all the time, but I think he knows how to take care of himself (like lying on the floor heating vents).
Muffin likes to help me type and spends a great deal of time on the keyboard and in front of the computer screen with me. He his a fascination with my office phone cord and likes to chew on it just about the time he wants dinner. Oh Yah, over the years, he has chewed through about 1,000 microphone cords, ipod cords, Barbie doll arms, and associated soft plastic things. Not a big sacrifice for the millions of hours of enjoyment he has added to everyone’s life.
Ok Muffy, are you happy now? This post is for you. Just another DogCatDaz morning at our house. ❤
Muffy & Noel in my office window
Muffy
Muffy & Zackary in the kitchen window
1.12.11 11:59: Where’s Sofie?
Where's Sofie?
I have totally lost the battle (and my mind). It snowed the other day. Actually, it slushed (you know that really wet stuff). It came down in big wet flakes for a while. This was Sofie’s first snow. At doggie bed time, I knew that I should just put her on a leash for her final pee because I never can get her to come back in, but oh no, I am the eternal optimist. Well, it took 45 minutes to get that silly mutt (she is a mutt, so I can call her that) to come in. She played with the slush and basically hid and dug (her usual). Louise (my angel dog) comes back in immediately. She goes in her kennel (almost shuts the door by herself), puts her head down and goes right to sleep. But Sofie, oh not Sofie Bear! When I finally got her in, she whined and whined because she wasn’t ready to go to sleep. Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo. ❤
Sofie finally in bed asleep
1.11.12 16:26: “To Sit With A Dog… Is Peace”
To sit with a dog
To sit with a dog on a hillside
on a glorious afternoon
is to be back in Eden,
where doing nothing is not boring –
it is peace.
– Milan Kundera (Czeck novelist & poet, c.1929)
My daughter made this piece for me. It is Louise, Squash, and me down by the river. Squash had his summer shaved coat. He had been blind for a long time by then (due to being an insulin dependent diabetic), but as long as he had me, he was comfortable going anywhere. Lulu had been with us about 2 months by then. The picture of Madison taking care of Lily the blind dog (that I posted this morning) made me think about Squash. When we got Lulu she was very attached to him. I think he liked her too, as much as an old dog likes a puppy. She would try to cuddle with him (like I watch Sofie try to do to her). But mostly, he would go to his usual spot (taking up the whole foyer by the front door) and Lulu would be with me in the office. He loved to be outside in the nice weather and sometimes sleep for hours under ‘his’ tree. I would send Louise out in the yard to find him and lead him back in and she would. She actually takes other dogs leashes and will bring them back to their owners if asked. I always joked that Lulu was Squash’s seeing-eye dog, well, now I know that could be so.
Squash & Lulu in the Snow
Louise watching over Squash
Sniffing together
Besties
I must be honest, not a day goes by that I do not think about big old Squashy. I actually have a large picture of him (with a tuft of his hair tucked in the frame) next to my bed. I have been blessed by many wonderful souls that have passed through my life. (Probably feeling nostalgic since tomorrow is the 11th anniversary of my Mom’s passing.) I am glad Louise was here to play with and help him for a little while (Squash E Bear went to the Big Meadow in the Sky last February). Just another DogDaz afternoon at our zoo. ❤
1.10.11 17:00: “One of these days, you’re gonna miss me honey”
One of these days… you’re gonna miss me honey……
Lulu Belle thinking
I was so busy with work today that I put the dogs in daycare so that they could have some fun, but boy do I miss them. I keep thinking they are just outside and I have to stop myself from going to let them in. After so many years I have gotten used to having dogs and cats around me all the time (and under foot). There isn’t even a cat in the office today (they must be ticked off that I got rid of the dogs, so they are steering clear in case they are next.) I find that when you fill your life with animals it becomes weirdly quiet when they are not around. I can not say that I like it.
Sofie sticking her nose in everything
I know I must be crazy to ship the dogs off to daycare and then sit around missing them. My knees appreciate not having to run up and down the stairs a million times a day, up down, up down, in the door – out the door, in the door – out the door. Truthfully, the dogs are my only form of exercise; up and down the stairs and our 1 mile walk around the neighborhood. I find that the dogs really help me push my body a little because if it wasn’t for them I would not be going outside in freezing weather or the heat of the summer. They are my physical therapy. I am sure my doctor is happy about that.
Come, Sofie! Good Girl.
Well, time to finish work and go get the babies. I love how they have to tell me all about their day at doggie daycare when they get in the car too!. Just another DogDaz afternoon at the zoo. ❤
DogDaz Zoo 