"The Shop" and Animals

I tried to get the top picture larger but....It was taken about 1980 or so, my daughter Christy was holding Heavy Dog and JJ was holding Suzie? I think these were poodle border collie mixes bred from years of people WANTING these poodle border collie mixes. Sugar and Spice were the first ones, vicious sisters, tried to kill each other regularly but so sweet to all humans and other dogs.
The next picture was taken about 1984 or 1985? This was by the woodstove in my dad's mechanics shop. He kept EVERYTHING as you can see. Christy, my dad, and JJ. Dogs were Sally (golden retriever/german shepherd/stray from KC MO, named after Sally Rand the stripper, my dads idea)Log(my dog, Sally and the St. Bernard next doors unfortunate but LOYAL offspring, Log looked like a stump when he was a puppy) Oetman (Sally had 13 puppies I got her spayed right after that, didn't think she was old enough, Oetman was/is a preacher)Martin(offspring of an errant Airedale and ??? who came to our house and left shortly after she blessed us with puppies, we had Martin, John and Abraham, John died and yest they were after the song). In JJ's arms Cujo, yes that's Cujo, she's smaller than Dispatch I think, wire haired Terrier. That dog was SPOILED. I made the kids hats that were 6 ft long and were scarves or mufflers too. How lovely. My dad wasn't crippled yet, I think he jumped off of the tractor shortly after this picture was taken (huge tractor and he JUMPED)and had a botched knee operation due to worn out cartilage and had 5 more operations and could barely walk the rest of his life. Oh yes, the cat? Why that's Shop Kitty!! What else did you expect her name to be? We had more dogs @ one point but had a farm and just seemed to collect them.... then we had the sheep that ran with them and thought it was a dog......and yes there were dirty calendars hanging about, it was a mechanics garage you know. Dirty in those days was pretty mild though!! LOL I thought bathrooms were supposed to have those calendars and black lingerie tacked to the wall in them, @ least mens bathrooms?
Today seems like memory day.......I wrote about Florida and art galleries and a hat on Tresa's Blog.

Happy Turkey Day Amigos!

We are back from our trip, see previous post, and the "other" animals blog. I was starting to feel like the crew of the faithful minnow who took a three hour trip, a three hour trip....sorry, it seemed funny to me. We had to stay in a motel for a couple days to get a load back but we did get one back, thanks Tony. BTW I do have my CDL and I will probably be working with my husband a great deal now. (I weighed the pros and cons did I want to ride with him on ice or drive myself to work on ice, ride with him won). Oh and BTW did I ever tell you how I went on this trip? We were cleaning the truck since husband had used it for hauling construction stuff around for 6 months (read dust over everything) and I was playing with the passenger seat, he said it's air ride and I'll fix it if you'll go with me. Anyway I thought husband would have to put a new seat in the truck or @ least take the innards out of this one. Nope, it MIGHT have taken him 5 minutes to fix it. So I'm a truck driver again or a truck passenger part of the time.

I also posted about Thanksgiving and forgiveness on Tresa's Blog if you wish to be more unimpressed with my mental facilities. I'm so tired I was wandering from room to room forgetting what I came into each one for, bathrooom....... check mousetrap, bedroom.........get dog food (I put it in a suitcase, you think I keep the dogfood in the bedroom?)

The picture above? It's an aceo (colored pencil, 2.5"x3.5" painting) I did of Dispatch the Bichon when he was a baby puppy. I'm not sure why I put it on here and the other blog but it's one of my favorite pictures of him. He was a baby on my blue jeaned lap. I'm pretty sure my legs were skinny then?

All the animals are fine. Skeeter is much better. She yodeled when we got home Dispatch screeched like a banshee when she yodeled.

Highlights of the trip?
1. Dispatch tried to take out a border patrol when he stepped up on the truck when the door was open. I told the officer Dispatch was a citizen too. For those of you that haven't been to S TX or other places close to the border they look in trucks @ various inspection stations.

2. Dispatch is convinced the noise the rumble bars on the side of the road make is a monster trying to come through the floor of the truck to get him. This will keep him occupied staring @ the floor from the safety of my lap for about 1/2 hour. Also Dispatch is NOT happy on the dash of the truck but he fits quite nicely when we are sitting still if he's being annoying. He's not sure what the jake brake is but it's not nearly as scary as the rumble bars and if he watches his daddy much more I'm pretty sure he will know the gear pattern.

3. Remember how Dispatch is the terror of the car trip? Rides in a truck like he's been doing it all his life, sleeps on the floor most of the time, looks out whatever window is available, braces for curves etc. Of course he can touch mommy @ all times IF he wants to so that makes a difference. And of course everyone thinks he is so cute and well behaved @ the truck stops and even point and wave as we go down the road, @ least I think they are pointing and waving @ him or I'm having a REALLY bad hair day?

4. Oh yes, the refrigerator in the truck is @ floor level, it didn't take Dispatch long to learn this. He REALLY likes cold cold bottled water. He started telling me he was thirsty or his water was warm (horrors) by going and sitting by the frig.

Anyway I hope everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving without gaining a pound. We are going to my in laws tomorrow along with my sis in law and her family and their families and my daughter and her family and four of husbands kids with their families, intendeds, or intended with families. Anyway I just counted and it's 35 people, I think we had close to 50 here two years ago. Mostly immediate family. I got off lucky this year as far as cooking, my SIL was a caterer (she does everything perfectly, did I say that? hey Elenor, just kidding if you read this) and her two daughters are helping. My daughter is picking up canned sweet potatoes because no one was brining any and we have to have some even if no one eats them and I will fix them over there. She's also bringing dirt cake which is some outrageously rich crumbled oreo concoction or that's usually what she brings. I'm dumping canned fruit in a bowl and calling it good. Only two kids won't be there, my youngest and husbands youngest. One is house/dog sitting and the other is spending the holiday with her mother and her husbands family.

Anyway I'm full of good cheer but need to sleep again, Happy Holidays!!!

A Kitten, A Bichon Frise, And a Ships Captain, Plus Another Dog Blog

I've got a couple pictures of Dispatch my bichon, with his words of wisdom of course down @ the bottom where we talk about dogs. I have semi sad news to report about my "new" kitten. The cat whom I presumed was the kittens mother now hates the kitten and beats up on it @ every opportunity which means the kitten doesn't get down out of tree or off roof much, it will get down if I call it but then the presumed mama cat beats up on it before it can eat (mama cats name is meany and she is living up to it). I've been putting canned cat food in the tree so the other cats can't get it (or they won't because who wants to climb a tree for food when it's so much closer on the cat shelf) I spilled it on myself last night which was cute, have you ever tried to get canned cat food to stick to the top of branches, while on the top of an eight foot step ladder with a fork in the dusk, try it sometime for fun! Tonight I was outside talking on the phone and the kitten followed me around the house on the roof meowing it's pitiful meow so I fed it and gave it some water up there. Hopefully I can catch said kitten tomorrow. Don't know what good that will do but I can probably put it inside to feed it instead of on the roof which looks pretty strange. Said kitten appeared on the day my other dog was put to sleep if you are new here, so I feel kitten MUST stay alive and happy.

Now onto other things I discovered while I was surfing this morning.

This is a really cool link with a story about the ship captain that was held by pirates. LINK NOT what you expect, it's about garbage, neat blog altogether too. The story is about garbage, not the blog, it's a dog blog.

This is a cautionary tale about kids and dogs, well actually about newborns and dogs that are not far from being wolves. LINK

And this is an animal blog that doesn't have many followers that deserves many more and is a wealth of information, it's funny @ times too. LINK

I've been trying to get Dispatch the bichon frise to be shall we say more civilized, before we get a new puppy, IF we get a puppy. So we've started on the crate training again, if nothing else so he can ride in the car in it and all will be fine and we will ride into the sunset (can we say the human is delusional?) He doesn't bother me crawling all over the place (OK I do have buttons for snow or sport mode on the console and he's always pushing them (if he is up front trying to touch MOMMY) but it makes life interesting if the car suddenly lurches, it doesn't really but it does drive differently?) (Oh and he rolls down the windows if I forget to lock them, I swear he knows what he's doing with that one), but I'm thinking if I teach him to stay in the crate and be quiet he will do it in the car too? This is what Dispatch thinks a crate is good for. And yes he is staring out the window, waiting still. BTW the end tables and coffee tables and desks are also good places for a dog to sit or lay or use as a ladder.


















This is the dog saying OK where is the treat now, I'm in the stupid thing, I do get a treat now or I'll quit getting in here.















This is him saying OK I'm in here what more do you want? Is he looking happy? Actually he is much better now. I know the crate is too big but his crate is almost too small, this is Mugseys old crate, he was a tad too big for it. But you can teach an old dog new tricks (I think? unless he's just toying with my emotions which is entirely possible). Have you ever heard the bichon breed is one of the most stubborn? I like to call it determined. Maybe obsessive? I did brush him after these pictures I promise.