Kolorful Koi

It has been a gray day.  Not exactly cold -- but not warm either -- and very gray.  Low-lying clouds brought in by the advancing cold front (or perhaps from the advancing warm front coming up from the Gulf of Mexico) hung in the air, depositing a fine mist upon everything.  Not enough to work the windshield wipers, but enough to be noticed, and felt upon the skin.

I worked this morning in the church office, as I do on every Monday (except when I declare myself a holiday.)  I finished and mailed the year-end required reports to the state withheld tax division and to the Internal Revenue Service, calculated and prepared the January payroll checks, and remitted the withheld federal taxes to the appropriate governmental agency.  It's all done online now, which in someways makes it easier, and in other ways more difficult.  I've worked with payroll, and relevant taxes, for over 40 years, but it takes this old dog a bit longer to learn new tricks.  I frequently have to refer to the several pages of paperwork received from the IRS last fall to be sure I'm doing it properly.

After leaving the church, I made a quick run by Gardening Daughter's home. She, hubby and the youngest child are in Texas visiting their son, who is stationed (oh, so sad...not!) at the Coast Guard Station on South Padre Island, leaving the care of the home in the hands of their daughters, aged 23 and 17.  Older daughter has a job nearby and the 17 yr old is a junior in high school.  Grandma, that would be me, makes  two or three runs to the house during the hours they are both away to allow the dogs (Buddy and Snuggles) to roam the large fenced yard for ten or fifteen minutes.  I don't mind this small duty at all.  I'm just delighted that last year, after seven years of living in the house, they finally fenced the yard. I used to have to walk the dogs on leashes to let them do their business.  That's OK in warm, dry weather, not so thrilling when it's cold and damp.

When I got home, I felt the need for a bit of color. First, I made a flowery greeting card for a far away friend who needs a special hug.  We stampers like to say that "A handmade card is a hug with a fold in the middle."   I got the card in the mail and, still seeking some color, I started looking  through some of my old computer files containing photos I took a couple of years ago. Lots and lots of flowers, but they were not what I wanted.  Then I came across the one above.  It was just what I was looking for.  And, this one:

 

These photos were taken at a local garden nursery which I visited in the company of Gardening Daughter and my then 4 yr old granddaughter. I was captivated by the nursery's beautiful Koi pond, and took several photographs of it that afternoon.  I learned from reading the Wikipedia article (the link provided above) that Koi are among the longest-living vertebrates on Earth, some surviving for over 200 years!

I feel quite uplifted by these splashes of color!

More, later. Tomorrow is also a day.

Bits and Pieces

Not a whole lot going on since the last post. It's rained, off and on, during the last couple of days, so the yardening has been curtailed. I did manage a walk around between showers and noticed that my newly planted canna lilies seem to have settled in. There's new growth on several of them, as evidenced by the tightly curled shoot shown below.

I'm baby sitting my gardening daughter's dogs, Snuggles and Buddy, while she is away for a few days. Snuggles, about whom I wrote a couple of times last year while she being adopted and undergoing treatment for heartworms, has made a full recovery and is a sweet, sweet dog. True to her name, she does like to snuggle, and nearly pushed me off my side of the bed last night. Of course, the dogs sleep with me! The cats don't like it much, although Squeak did nest down on my other side sometime during the early morning hours.

Snuggles


Buddy

Raccoons, again: Just before dark last night, I watched two raccoons crawl up my back fence from the drainage ditch that runs behind my lot. They hoisted themselves into the Japanese Weeping Cherry tree (some of the branches overhang the fence)and except for shaking and trembling of leaves, they became invisible to me --- but not to Buddy. I almost could not get him to come back into the house. He paced the fence line, tried to climb the Cherry tree, barked (of course), and did his own sort of grid-search across the back quadrant of the yard. I eventually just let him wear himself out and decide on his own when he was ready to come back inside. I did later see one of the raccoons walk across the top of the fence from the Cherry toward my fig tree; s/he may have supped on green figs. I don't know if the raccoons camped out in my yard overnight, or went on to greener pastures. There is an unfenced garden next door with some tomato and squash plants, just waiting to be munched upon.

That's about it. It's cooler today, but the humidity is still high, making for not too pleasant walking around outside, and the mosquitos are very pesky!

More, later.

What IS That?

I awoke this morning to see something strange, alien, foreign, peeping through my bedroom window! The apparition startled me into a fully awakened state. What IS that?

Sunlight!!!

Unfortunately, this break in the weather is temporary. There is another storm front headed this way, with more heavy rain, thunderstorms and potentially severe weather.


Ah, well. Until it gets here, I'm going to enjoy the sunshine! If it holds through this afternoon, my four year old granddaughter, the dogs and I will play outside for a change. Her mother has been called to jury duty, and I am her afternoon care giver for a few days. Pray for me! "Sweetie Pie's" energy level is enough to wear the horns off a brass billygoat!

Speaking of dogs: Snuggles, my granddaughter's adopted Sheltie, about whom I wrote here, and here, is doing just fine. She survived the potentially fatal treatment for heartworms and has been given a clean bill of health. She can now cavort and play without restrictions.

Update on Snuggles, and Brrrr!

I had a brief visit with Snuggles this afternoon. She seemed glad to see me and wagged her pretty, bushy tail as I spoke with her. She's hanging in there, but has developed a cough, one of the symptoms (details omitted) following the treatment. She is confined to her large indoor kennel except for brief, gentle walks outside as may be necessary. She must be kept from excessive exercise for some time. Still keeping my fingers and toes crossed that she's going to survive the cure.

I think it's colder than a well-digger's boot here today (19 this morning), but I'm really very grateful that I don't live in Iowa, Nebraska or the other states that are suffering from the 40 (or more) degrees below zero temperatures I have read about on blogs from those areas. The older I get, the more sensitive I am to temperature extremes; I dislike both. I had to make a run to the local warehouse store this morning to buy supplies for this coming Sunday's annual church meeting. When I left the house, I looked like Nanook of the North; layers of clothing underneath a heavy coat, a fuzzy hat pulled over my ears, and gloves -- and I was still cold.

Ah, well. This, too, shall pass, and I'll be wishing for a bit of this cold weather when the thermometer hits 110 degrees in the shade this summer.

I'm Still Here

A sincere thank you to friends who have been missing me here in Blogland. You are appreciated.

Well, so much for my resolve to post every day. Real life has reared its head, again, putting the best-laid blogging plans of this mouse on hold.

To answer the most important questions first: Snuggles received her first heart worm treatment, a painful shot, yesterday. She made it through that OK, but will be administered oral medication this afternoon which could be fatal. So.... we still don't know if she's going to make it. I've asked my daughter to keep me posted (so I can keep you posted) on her progress, or lack thereof. I'm a praying person, and Snuggles is in my prayers. I got really attached to her during the few days she was in my care.

It's been a busy and sad week. I learned early Monday morning that my friend C.J., the wonderful woman who told me the story I titled "Booze in the Window," (Post 13, May 4, 2008) died in her sleep on Sunday night. All of us who knew her are in shock. C.J. was only 59 years old. She had some health problems, but nothing that anyone thought was life-threatening. Monday, Tuesday and part of today have been filled with activities surrounding C.J.'s funeral, which was at 10 this morning.

That's it. That's what I've been doing instead of posting. I've had about all this sort of stuff I can stand. I hope everyone I know and love stays healthy.

More, later.

The Continuing Story of Snuggles

My daughter's family has had a dog, Buddy, a male rat terrier, for several years. Buddy is a pretty nice dog. He gets along great with the cats, my daughter and son-in-law, the teen-aged children and almost everyone else (Buddy loves me; I call him my grand-dog.) He's a good watch dog and alerts the family to the impending arrival of friend and stranger. In the eyes of his people-family, Buddy has only one major failing; he turns a bared-teeth growl toward the one person in the family who wants to cuddle him most, my 4 year old granddaughter, Juliana. He has never bitten her (that would send him to doggy heaven right quickly, I fear), but is so unfriendly toward her that she has finally learned to leave him alone.


Starting at about age three, Juliana has repeatedly asked for her own puppy, a dog she could love and which would love her, too. The response from her parents has always been that as long as Buddy is alive, there won't be another dog in the household. About two months ago, she figured out exactly what they were saying and changed her approach. Her puppy-requests are now prefaced by "When is Buddy going to die? I want a puppy."

Once over the initial shock of this question, our response has been that we don't know, Buddy will probably live a long time. She turns away in disgust, muttering "I want a puppy."

So-- where does Snuggles come in? I'm getting there! [for photo of Snuggles, see yesterday's post]

My daughter loves to be outside in her yard. She's always got some project going. Since the older children are in school, Juliana goes along to "help." The back part of the lot shares a fence with two houses on the next street. In one of the fenced yards, there lived a sweet little Sheltie. The dog and Juliana fell in love with each other. My daughter would see Juliana pressed up against the fence, talking sweetly to the dog with her fingers stuck through the chain link and the little dog licking on them with great joy.

Now, it so happened that this past Friday the owners of the dog were in their back yard and struck up a conversation with my daughter. They were moving, and were not taking the dog with them; little Sheltie was slated to go the the animal shelter! No! No! NO! Tender-hearted daughter could not see that happen. Juliana was going to be heart broken if "her puppy" disappeared. You already know what happened, don't you?

As of this past Saturday, the Sheltie now resides at my daughter's home. Juliana is overjoyed, to say the least, and told her mother that the dog's name was Snuggles, because she could snuggle it!

Buddy has accepted having another dog in the house pretty well -- he just ignores and avoids her. The cats are cool, except Arthur (see Camera Critters post from last Saturday) who tends to stalk Snuggles then hiss when they get about 2 feet apart. It's early days yet; I expect a truce in the near future.

Unfortunately, Snuggles' future is a bit uncertain (I've saved the bad news for last). When daughter took Snuggles to the veterinarian on Monday, it was discovered that Snuggles has heart worms (the result of being left outside in mosquito country and without preventive medicine.) Treatment is available, but is not always successful in this breed (read: can cause death.) Daughter and her husband will decide what to do when they return from a family funeral.

I'm hoping for the best. Snuggles is a sweet little dog, and Juliana will be inconsolable if she loses her.

Snuggles - The New Dog in the House

This is Snuggles, a female Sheltie or Sheltie mix, who is the latest addition to my daughter's menagerie. How Snuggles got her name and became a member of the family is a slightly involved story, which I will have to write about tomorrow.

I seem to not be able to upload photos from my son-in-law's computer. I came by my house on the way to church this evening, to see to my kitties, and to make this brief post. Perhaps this will make up for the very long one I had yesterday.

Ta! for now.