A Mop Comes to Visit

Murphy is staying with us this week.  He is some type of Lhasa/Shih Tzu mix, otherwise known as a mop.  Murphy is a rescue that Kristen and her family adopted about 6 months ago.  His family went out of town so he gets to stay here.  Rigby stays with them when I travel, so they have already met a few times.  It’s been a fun visit so far but having two dogs is hard!

When he first arrived, Murphy was a little unsure.  He’s never been here before so he stayed inside his house for a little while, warming up to everything.

I had kept Rigby outside while he settled, but she whined and cried at the door, begging to come in.  She was so excited, she almost crawled into the crate with him.

She REALLY wanted him to come out and play.
  
After a few minutes, she got tired of waiting, so took a break in HIS tiny bed.  

 
Finally he came out of his house after much coaxing and a few false starts when Rigby pounced on him and he scurried back in.

We went out for some exploring.

 
 
Whenever I separate them whether it be for feeding, sending one or the other outside, or bedtime, when Rigby sees him, it’s like she forgot he was here and is seeing him for the very first time, ever.  She’s so big and bouncy – like Tigger -and he’s little and timid.  He wants to play, but she scares him just a little.
When he’s had enough, he takes refuge where he can – under the chairs, in his house, or under the bed.  Rigby waits as close as she possibly can, willing him to come out and playl
Neither Rigby nor Murphy are piggy eaters with their food.  They’re both more like grazers unless of course the other one’s food is down.  I separate them to eat and they barely eat a thing while separated.  But as soon as I put them back together they REALLY each other’s food.

Making either one of them mind is a challenge.  Rigby minds commands very well, but with the little one around, she’s having some trouble. I tell her to sit/stay in order to call Murphy to me.  But when I call him, Rigby comes which defeats the purpose because she bounds over, scares him, and he hides.  Getting them in and out of the backyard and their wet feet cleaned feels a little bit like an “I Love Lucy” episode…Crazy!

We went for a walk tonight.  Rigby and I walk all the time, and she’s well trained on the leash.  Murphy is still learning so the walk was very chaotic.  He ran this way and that way, crossing leashes and tripping up both Rigby and me.  His little legs ran and ran, but after a mile he was beat.  He finally just stopped, flopped down on his belly, and wouldn’t move.  I had to carry him back and drop him off before continuing the rest of the walk. 

I’ve been debating the pros and cons of getting another dog.  I’d love to have a playmate for Rigby because she has so much energy.  But having a second dog is double the work.  We’ll enjoy our visit with Murphy this week, but I’ll have to continue the debate for now.

Pink and Sparkly

My friend Tami asked me to make invitations for her daughter’s 4th birthday party.  It’ll be a princess-themed party.  I just finished them this afternoon.
I want to make pink, sparkly, pretty-princess cards all the time.  So fun!

That’s a Man’s Job

This past weekend a mutilated bunny appeared in my backyard.  I’m not sure if Rigby caught one of the many that hop through the neighborhood or if another animal – neighbor’s cat, coyote, hawk, raven – is to blame.  Anyhow, the poor little bunny was torn and broken.  I could barely even look at it.  It gave me the heebie jeebies. 

For Saturday night and all day Sunday I thought about ways to get it out of the backyard.  But everything I came up with would make me have to look at it, which I couldn’t do. 

I’ve never been as much of a chicken when it comes to bugs and spiders.  Even though I whimper or scream the entire time, I am able to remove unwanted ones.  When it comes to bigger animals like birds or mammals, well that’s where the line is drawn.  Sitting near the mountains, my neighborhood is inundated with local wildlife, so this is not the first time I’ve had to deal with a dead animal.  There were a few years when I first moved in that I was afraid I’d be called the “animal killer” for as much dead wildlife I had in the front and back yards.  And I love animals! 

Once there was a giant dead rat in the street in front of my house.  Luckily, my friend Mike (who had to park right next to it) was over and graciously offered to remove it for me.  I’ve also had various baby birds fall from their nests and many small rodents left scattered about.  Between various guys I know and the gardeners, they were cleaned up as well without too much trouble on my part.

So this weekend, I could have called a friend to help, but I hate to call them for help with stupid stuff like this – things I’m physically capable of doing, but not mentally.  I then remembered someone once telling me that the city’s animal control services that kind of thing.  Before asking any friends, I waited through the weekend – not being able to put the dog in the yard – and called animal control on Monday morning, just to see what they’d say.  The operator I spoke with took all my information and was very helpful.  She said someone would be out by the end of the day.  That was great.  They would send out some man to clean it up, and I wouldn’t have to use one of my friend cards. 

Mid afternoon, I heard the truck arrive and then the doorbell rang.  I was relieved they had arrived.  However, I was surprised when I opened the door and…they had sent a woman!  That’s right, animal control sent a woman to clean up the dead bunny at the home of a woman who was too chicken to clean it up.  My relief of having the thing removed was somewhat overpowered by my embarrassment for being too much of a baby to have taken care of it myself.  It’s kind of hard to play the helpless-woman-thing with another woman.

I smiled politely the whole time and thanked her profusely.  “I just couldn’t even look at it,” I kept saying.  She nodded on her way out and said, “Ya, it’s pretty gross,” before she left.  Which probably meant, “Next time put on your big-girl pants princess!”

While sharing my tale, I was told a story about a guy I know who had to ask the next-door neighbor lady to take a mouse nest out of his garage.  He wasn’t able to stomach it.

I would say I’m a fairly modern woman, and know we are perfectly capable of doing things without a man’s help, but isn’t it funny that I just assumed the person coming to clean up the dead animal would be a man.  Asking a woman friend to help with a dead animal would never have occurred to me assuming they’d be as grossed out by it as I was, and I’d assume that a man would be perfectly fine completing that task.  Clearly, I was incorrect on both accounts.

Happy 2013!

Truly, were there less days in 2012 than usual?  It went by SO fast.  As much as I like making the calendar pages in my journal, they seem to make the months fly by more quickly.  This is my second year participating in The Kathryn Wheel’s Calendar Challenge.  Each month, I find it a bit more difficult to create something interesting or new, but I plan on participating in 2013 again.  My most recent pages, December's, are first.  Below those is the rest of the year in reverse order.

It was fun looking back through the year, rereading everything I had recorded.

I leave you with this quote which I’m letting inspire me in the year to come…
I must learn to love the fool in me--the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries. It alone protects me against that utterly self-controlled, masterful tyrant whom I also harbor and who would rob me of my human aliveness, humility, and dignity but for my Fool.
-Theodore Isaac Rubin

Happy New Year!

Another Trip to Kona

As the end of another even-numbered year nears, it was my turn to head to Hawaii for Christmas again.  Hawaii is not my favorite travel destination.  I've been so often that it's not really new and exciting - with only about 200 miles to travel around the entire island I've seen and done most of it in the many years I've been going, plus the weather makes is seem very un-Christmas-like.  With that being said, this year's visit has been very nice.  Fortunately for me, (unfortunately for the island) it's been a fairly dry winter so the 80 degree weather is comfortable with the much lower than normal humidity.  It's been nice getting out of the shower without feeling like I need another shower.

I could pretty much post the same post every other year because each time I visit I take the exact same pictures of the exact same landscapes - which are admittedly so very beautiful.  I did however try to take some shots from a different point of view this time...

Here's my mom's house.

Some sights on my morning walk.

A visit to Hawi, Kapaau, and Makapala

And some sunsets from the lanai

My trip is coming to an end. With just one more full day, I return to So. Cal. on Friday.

Saturday Nine - Happy Holidays

1. Some children are reluctant to climb into Jolly Old St. Nick's lap. Did you enjoy the tradition or were you shy? I don't remember my actual feelings but from the pictures I've seen I was ok with it as a baby, but as a toddler I'd scream bloody murder on Santa's lap. Which would probably be my current take on waiting in line to sit on any stranger's lap actually.

2. Are you currently on the Naughty or Nice list? How did you get there? Oh, a little bit of both I think.

3. Did you ship any gifts to friends and family this year? If so, which one traveled the farthest? I shipped all my mom's gifts to Hawaii. Luckily all my other gifts stayed local.

4. Did you buy yourself a gift this year? No, I mean I've bought stuff, but nothing more than usual.

5. What's your favorite holiday-themed movie? For the longest time it's been "The Christmas Story" which still makes me laugh out loud. I have enjoyed "Love Actually" showing up on TV during the holidays over the last couple of years. Two different kinds of movies, so equally my favorite. Oh and "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is my favorite animated Christmas movie.

6. Thinking of movies, Christmas is lucrative for Hollywood. Have you ever gone to a movie theater on Christmas Day? On the first Christmas after my dad died over 7 years ago my mom and I decided rather than spend the early afternoon, before heading out to Christmas dinner with family, just staring at each other being sad to go to the movies. We were actually surprised to find that it was packed! We've since made it something of a tradition. We do our Christmas morning together, go to the movies early afternoon, and then to dinner with friends or family.

7. Have you ever suffered an embarrassing moment at the company Christmas party? No, our work parties are always fun, but embarrassing free for me. However I once was embarrassed for a friend of mine. About 5 years ago we decided to have an ugly Christmas sweater staff party. My friend Cori showed up wearing a gaudy sweater she had jokingly purchased from Target. Shortly after her arrival an aid, who was quite a bit older than our fairly young staff, came to the party wearing the same sweater. When Cori joked about buying it for the ugly sweater contest, the woman politely answered that she hadn't realized it was supposed to be an ugly sweater contest. She had just worn it since it was her regular Christmas sweater. Probably not the typical embarrassing staff party story you were looking for but, we all felt SO bad afterwards.

8. What's your favorite beverage in cold weather? Caramel Latte from Coffee Bean - these days a decaf though.

9. What will you remember most about 2012? I'm not very good with thinking about the whole year and remembering what was good and what was bad. I love the posts where people do those at the end of each year, but I find that so difficult for some reason. Unfortunately though, with the school shooting last week, I've got that running through the back of my mind each and every day I go to what I've always considered a pretty safe job. That rattled me a bit. I'll also remember how frustrated this year was with all the Dems vs Rep nonsense that we've been hearing about ALL YEAR leading up to the election and now, even after the election is over, we are still hearing about it because the two can't get it together enough to solve the financial issues we face at the end of the year.

How Is It Possible

That today is ONLY Tuesday?!?!
  That’s all…