Here, kitty, kitty

Today the Belgians and I went to visit my mom and aunt and the kittens who moved into their kitchen in January. Mom had said they were not bringing cats in the house. Karene had said they were not bringing cats in the house.

Now they have cats in the house. The kittens were from a late fall litter and around here, that never means a very good outlook for survival. Mom and Karene felt sorry for them and now they're living in the kitchen.

The calico is named Brindle. The black is named Little Black. I think there's a Big Black somewhere in the collection of Mom's outside farm cats. Probably a relative. You know how these things go.

Seriously, could you leave this outside in an Iowa winter? 

Yeah, they couldn't either. 

I don't know how they get anything done 

except playing with kittens all day.

Brindle and Little Black are just like puppies, 

PLAY, PLAY, PLAY!

Only they don't shred their toys.

I could SO have taken Little Black home with me. This kitten was a total nut case. He was obsessed with the dogs' water bowl and spent all morning putting various paws in it. Yes, while it was full. At one point he had all four legs in it and I think it was on purpose. He can already do four feet in a box and is apparently started on water work! He was completely mental and totally sweet.

The dogs spent some time in the house while the kittens were safely in a crate. Jamie pretty much ignored them. Phoenix was, well, let's just say it would take a lot more cat therapy before he could deal with two kittens bouncing around.

As it was, he sat and stared at the kittens and was quiet and did not lunge or click his teeth and got lots of treats. LOTS of treats. Like probably several meals. I was extremely pleased he could be that close to soft, furry, fast-moving, prey animals and not have a complete meltdown.

Maybe when he's 10 Phoenix can have his own cat. Maybe.

Let the furlough begin

Okay, technically my furlough doesn't start until Monday. But I woke up this morning and realized that for the next 9 days, I don't have to go to work, don't have to think about work, don't have to worry about work and don't have to deal with co-workers. Really, it doesn't get much better.

I spent the morning cleaning house, which apparently no one had done since the last time I did it. Silly me. I keep expecting someone to wander in off the streets and clean my house for me. Never works. But a girl can dream.

The Belgians helped all morning. They were a tremendous help. They helped so much they wore themselves out.

Poor Phoenix. He was so exhausted he couldn't even get his hind legs on the bed before he collapsed.

Then I made obedience trial entries for April: DeWitt, ICDOC and ABMC nationals. Yep, threw caution to the wind and entered Nix in Utility 6 times. He's green but he's got a grip on the basics and I'm not expecting 200s at this point. 

Every Utility journey is different: Jess NQ'd for a couple of months (including a few shows where he NQ'd every single exercise), then went 3 in a row to finish. Connor finished in 4 trials. Over achiever. Jamie . . . oh dear . . . I showed him for a couple of disastrous months then pulled him out of the ring for nearly a year. When I started showing him again, he Q'd 3 in a row like he'd never had a problem with any of it.

Today is the Farmer's birthday. We talked about going out to paint the town tonight but decided to stay home instead. That's the kind of wild, uninhibited people we are. I'm going to cook a big supper - smoked pork chops, mashed potatoes, corn, dinner rolls and birthday cake.

Actually I made the cake last night. I'm embarrassed to admit how much is gone already. We keep testing it to see if the next piece is as good as the last. So far, so good but you can't take these things for granted.

We have a gift certificate for Iowa River Power in Iowa City, courtesy of the neighbor's daughter, so that will probably be our "night out" some time soon. When we had that blizzard about a month ago, she got her car stuck and the Farmer pulled her out. Thanks, Kate!

I have a staggering to-do list for the coming week. The next item: curl up in recliner with blanket and book.

Happy news

Jamie was able to lower his prednisone dosage again. Since the middle of January, he's gone from 25 mg twice a day to 25 mg once a day to 25 mg every other day to 20 mg every other day. This might not seem like a big deal but it is. He's been able to step down without any symptoms recurring. Since he is doing so well the vet feels he might eventually be able to get off the pred totally and manage his IBD with diet alone.

I am cautiously optimistic. Since the IBD diagnosis and starting treatment, he has been awesome. No more vomiting, no refusing to eat, no diarrhea, no blood where it shouldn't be. He's happy, sparkly and has re-gained the weight he lost. It's like last November, December and January never happened.

*****

This morning I went to our local Chevy dealer and looked at an Equinox. This translates to "crawled around and measured the cargo area." Funny, the sales woman (who sold us C3P0) automatically put the back seats down without having to be asked. I think I have her trained!

I'm thinking strongly about trading vehicles (3P0 has some issues) but not sure when it's going to happen. I really like the Equinox (32 mpg, what's not to like!) but to be honest, I'm not sure it has enough room. Sue said I could take it home and "try it on." Is that generous or what! I told her I'd take her up on that offer but not until the weather warmed up a little bit. I hope she realizes it will be mud-coated when I bring it back, since our gravel road is missing most of its gravel.

The Equinox has a lot of nice features but the back seats do not fold as flat as they do in 3P0. I would have to come up with a way to level the crates. Plus the crates would take up pretty much all available room, no space left over for "junk." Which begs the question, how much of my "junk" is necessary and could I downsize?

I can say without reservation it would be an excellent vehicle for a person with one malinois- or Tervuren-sized dog or anything smaller.

*****

I'm on furlough (again) next week and I'm looking forward to it! Not the whole filing for unemployment and only getting a fraction of my regular income for that week part but definitely the having a week to myself part. Personally, I think Gannett has gotten a little too fond of furloughing workers, but, repeat after me, I still have my job.

The weekend weather sounds a bit dicey but maybe that will make me stay home for at least a day and clean out the basement. Ugh. How can two people get a basement so dirty? And where's that house elf! He is such a slacker.

The Oregon odyssey

Four years ago today, Michele and I flew out of the Eastern Iowa Airport to meet baby Phoenix and his breeder, Catherine Shields, Carousel Malinois, in Woodburn, Ore. Michele agreed to go with me because apparently she didn’t have anything better to do. We planned to stay in Oregon for a couple of days, meet some other mal folks and maybe do a little sight-seeing, a comfortable 3-4 day trip.

It didn’t quite work out that way.

Our flight to Oregon was uneventful, a good thing since I hadn't been on an airplane since 1984. Seriously. We arrived at Catherine’s house just as she was getting ready to take the Wild litter for their CERF checks. She handed me Phoenix and away we went, Michele and I in our rental car, following Catherine and Laurie with the rest of the litter.

Phoenix was a wiggly, squirmy, chewy, bite-y handful. He kept trying to eat the gear shift in the rental car. I finally pried his mouth off it and holding him up, laughing, said, “You can’t do that!”

He looked me straight in the eye with a “Yeah, right, lady” look. That’s when I fell totally in love with him. It took about five minutes. And I've become very familiar with that look over the years.

That night we went out to supper with Catherine, Laurie and CJ. Then back to Catherine’s to play with puppies and make plans for the coming days. Michele and I both tried some clickering to get Phoenix comfortable with going in his Sherpa bag. I can’t remember if Michele actually had a clicker with her (wouldn’t surprise me, she’s the “go to” woman on all our trips because she always has everything anyone might need) or if we borrowed it from Catherine. Either way, it didn’t do much good. The contrary little beast was not interested in going in the bag without all his littermates. Actually, the contrary little beast was most interested in biting things and eating. (Four years later, not much has changed.)

Here's the Wild litter all snug in the Sherpa bag
I'd sent out to Catherine earlier.
Dunno exactly who the puppy in the front is,
but apparently the whole litter made it a point to go in the bag.

The next morning, friend and fellow weather watcher Rilda called from home with the weather report. An approaching storm was forecast to bring 1” ice accumulations and 40-50 mph winds. The storm was predicted to hit the same day we planned to arrive home.

Michele, who did a lovely job as travel agent, immediately called the airlines to see if we could change our tickets and get an earlier return flight. We were afraid if we didn’t beat the storm home and things got as bad as predicted, airport closings and flight delays might leave us stranded in Oregon much longer than we’d planned. Not that that would have been a bad thing - I had taken the following week off work - but Michele needed to get back to her job.

Now, the irony was neither Michele’s husband nor mine (collectively known as The Jeffs) had bothered to call and let us know about the weather. Apparently they did not care if we got home or not. We still hold that over their heads from time to time.

The airline cooperated and we were able to change our tickets to fly out later that morning, pretty much two whole days earlier than we had planned. But we had to leave NOW! I was disappointed we didn't get to spent much time with Catherine and the other Carousel folks.

First Phoenix had to go to the vet to get his health certificate. That little document cost me $50 and nobody at the airport even looked at it even though I had it clenched in my teeth through most of the security check-in process. If you thought checking through security with having to take off your shoes, show your ID and put all your belongings in those little trays was a pain in the butt, try doing it while carrying a wiggly, squirmy, chewy, bite-y puppy.

Our flight from Portland back to Minneapolis, about 4 hours, was uneventful. Phoenix slept snug in his Sherpa bag. He was more relaxed than I was. So far, we were beating the storm. We landed and spent the next hour in the ladies room trying to get Phoenix to pee on the newspaper I had carefully brought along for the occasion. He didn’t want to pee. He wanted to visit total strangers and chase luggage wheels. Who has time to pee when all those people want to pet you? After living with Jamie’s “stranger danger” outlook on life for 7 years, this was a delightful change.

Then the trouble started. Our 9 p.m. flight was delayed until 10 p.m., then 11 p.m., then 11:30 p.m. I wondered what it would be like to spend the night in an airport with a wiggly, squirmy, chewy, bite-y puppy. (He was actually a doll for the entire trip home.) We finally boarded at midnight. It took about 45 minutes to de-ice the plane. It took 40 minutes to fly to Cedar Rapids and there was so much turbulence the “unfasten seatbelts” light never came on.

Several of the same people who had been on our flight from Portland were on our "puddle jumper" flight from Minneapolis to Cedar Rapids. One gal in particular asked often how Phoenix was doing, was he okay, how did he feel, etc. How nice of her. The crazy puppy was sound asleep and oblivious. I was the one who was having little freak-outs and thinking it might be another 20 years before I flew again.

Michele’s husband met us at the airport to pick her up and give me a road report. Freezing drizzle was already coating the secondary roads. My relatively short hop, skip and a jump “back roads” route to our house from the airport was out of the question. The “long way” home was the safest.

Ice accumulation on my van's windshield was starting to out-pace my defroster as I pulled into our garage shortly before 2 a.m., wired from adrenaline and the white knuckle drive home. Our total trip time from start to finish was 26 hours.

Phoenix and I went into the house and found out the Farmer did not share my agitated state of mind and was snoring peacefully. Connor and Jamie were staying with a friend, in anticipation of our extended stay in Oregon. The house was dark and quiet. It didn’t stay that way long, since Phoenix took a dim view of being put in a crate, no matter how warm and soft it was nor how many toys-that-weren’t-littermates were tucked in with him. I slept on the floor in front of his crate, fingers stuck through the wires for comfort. Or mauling.

About six hours later, ice-laden tree limbs and electric lines started snapping and our power went out. It stayed out for six days. With no electricity to run the well pump (this was in our pre-rural water days), we didn't have running water, either. Even with our generator, which we didn’t run all the time, the temp in our house stayed around 40 degrees. Phoenix probably wondered what kind of backward place he was living in: no heat, no running water, only candles and camping lanterns at night. He slept in bed with us at night, under the blankets. He must have heard the Farmer’s ominous warning, “He’ll pee the bed,” because he never did. Connor and Jamie had come home by then and we got up once each night and went outdoors for a group pee (the dogs, not me).

It was a very stressful week and certainly not the conditions I'd envisioned bringing a new puppy home to. I spent the week in my insulated bib coveralls and stocking cap, sitting on the kitchen floor and playing with Phoenix. If we got too cold, I put all the dogs in the van and we drove to pick up some fast food at a nearby restaurant that had power. I cooked a pizza on our gas grill and heated water for minimal washing in an antique coffee boiler atop the grill as well. In the evenings, we listened to the radio and I read by lantern light. It was an adventure, like camping but not quite as much fun. By day #4, I loaded up the dogs and we drove down to my folks so I could shower and do laundry.

Eventually, the power company got things put back together and the lights came back on. Phoenix learned to be quiet in a crate. Sort of. Jamie adored his new baby brother. Connor wondered WTF I'd brought home. I think the Farmer did, too, although today the sun rises and sets on Phoenix, according to him.

Where have four years gone?

Random thoughts on Sunday evening

Yes! Our snow IS gone! Amazing what a week of seriously above normal temperatures will do. The big drifts along the roads are still there but it's lovely brown grass everywhere else. And mud. 

We had our first thunderstorm of the spring (dare I say spring?) this morning about 4:30 a.m. One dazzling flash of lightning and a big clap of thunder and Jamie launched onto the bed. Phoenix followed him because darned if he was staying on the floor while everyone else was on the bed. We need a bigger bed.

Had a great obedience workout Saturday morning with Michele and Sharon. I had Michele video me and Phoenix doing some random heeling. Geez, it felt like we heeled FOREVER. It was less than 2 minutes. 

Then we had a discussion about where to carry your hand while heeling. We decided the easiest way to keep your hand "centered in the vicinity of your waist" was to stick your index finger in your belly button. Or grab the button on your jeans.  This keeps your hand from creeping up. I swear, some female exhibitors who heel with their left hand up carry it so high they look like they're holding up their boobs. 

Not that I would ever have that problem.

I always wore a belt with a buckle so I could hold the buckle and keep my hand centered. Then somewhere along the line all my jeans shrunk and I can't tuck my shirts in any more so wearing a belt is pointless.

Speaking of winter weight, the Skinny Little Dog has pudged up a little bit over the last few months. He's nowhere near fat but finally doesn't look like a bag of bones in a malinois suit.

Jamie has finally put on a few pounds, too, thank heaven. He's the only critter in this house who NEEDED to gain weight.

It was 4 years ago this week that Michele and I flew out to Oregon to pick up baby Phoenix. What a trip that was - Cedar Rapids to Minneapolis to Portland and back in 24 hours. NOT the original plan! That would be good blog fodder for later in the week.

Today, I am very thankful for my dog friends. They are the best-est.

Spring fever

It was 65 degrees yesterday afternoon, so the dogs and I went out to play with the flippy after work. Isn't all the dead brown grass lovely?

Note proximity of teeth to fingers. This is probably not safe.
But no camera person was harmed in the process.

The flippy makes a great fashion statement. Worn over the eyes, it increases the likelihood of doing something really stupid when you're running amuck. Note Jamie is wise enough to stay BEHIND and safely out of stupidity range.

If positioned correctly, the flippy-as-head-gear allows just enough vision to to be returned to the flippy thrower. Flippy fetcher is not responsible for crashes incurred in the return process. Again, Jamie shows who has the brains in this outfit.

For more dramatic effect, place flippy over eyes and run directly into the late afternoon sun. Don't worry, someone will yell before you run into them.

You can change up your fashion look by reversing the flippy.

Things to celebrate!

There's lots of stuff to celebrate! Here we go, not in any particular order:

• It's supposed to be nearly 60 degrees here today!

• The snow is melting, revealing lovely dead brown grass and a lot of mud!

• I love mud! (Well, not really but I'm soooooo tired of being frozen half to death.)

• The Dairy Queen in Coralville is open again!

• They have Mini Blizzards now!


Last weekend was exceptionally great for a lot of my dog friends.

• Renee and Blast finished their OTCh. with with 199 in Open B and also went High In Trial! They are a wonderful team who worked their butts off together to achieve this.

• SueAnn's Disco got his final major to finish his Ch.! His Handsom-ness is now focusing on a performance career.

• Jill and Kina got their final CDX leg! Kina and Phoenix took the same (dim) view of group exercises. On to Utility!

• Michele and Cider got back in the Open/Utility rings after about 10 months off for a torn ACL, surgery and a difficult rehab. Hurray for them! They're pursuing that final UDX leg.

What are you celebrating today?