I've been wondering about the black squirrel across the street in the park because I hadn't seen him for a while. Today as I pulled out to head to the movie I saw him, partially across the park and it made me smile. I still hope I get to take a picture of him for a memory.
Then on the way home from the movie as I came the "back way" on Fuller Road I checked the big, open area close to Public Works for deer like I always do this time of year. I was thinking it was too early in the day for them to be out (4:00 pm) but I was wrong. I had to pull over to watch them for a few minutes and I counted 12 deer grazing. It was so neat.
When I was at my sis-in-law's a week ago Sunday everyone was talking about the cartoon movie "Up" and how cute it was. Guess what was on last Saturday night on tv - "Up" - so I thought I'd watch it. Ok, the movie was cute but my family forgot to mention that it was slightly sad at the beginning because the elderly wife of the "old man" in the movie had died. Of course that made me emotional and I'm thinking, "crap I'm crying for a cartoon (thinking about Mike)." But the movie was really cute after that part.
And I've been asked if I watched "Marley and Me" Monday night. If you've seen my Facebook wall you already know the answer to that - yes I did. And how many kleenex I went through at the end :) First this is a very good movie but as most dog movies go - the end is horribly sad. One friend told me that when this movie was at the theater, people were crying in their seats and women were leaving before the movie was over. Well, it's a good thing I didn't see it at the theater because when Marley started to have his issues I said something like, "Oh no!" and the wailing began. Owen Wilson did a very good acting performance at the vet's office when he had to put Marley to sleep. He did exactly what I've done when we put Lucy down and I put Milly down. I really looked at them for the last time running my hand over their body, paying special attention to their tail and paws. The only difference was our dogs were on mats on the floor, not on a table so I was down on the floor with both of them, next to their face talking to them and letting them smell me to know I was near them - telling them they were the best dog. When we had to put two of the cats down (Babe and Smokey) I held them in my lap. Anyway, I'm wailing, hugging Butler and going through kleenex left and right at the end of the movie. But at least now I can say I've seen it.
So then I thought of two things I do for Butler. Whenever I leave I put his male wrap aka Speedo on so in case he has an accident while I'm gone, it's contained. Well I used to put a maxi pad inside the Speedo for extra absorbency when one day it hit me - buy Poise instead. Duh - they're made to soak up human urine. Poise is kind of like a NASCAR race car - it doesn't know the gender of the driver driving the car, it just knows it has a driver. Poise doesn't know if it's human urine or dog urine it's absorbing, it just knows it's suppose to absorb urine. But the interesting part is walking through WalMart with the largest, super-duper size of the ultra absorbent WalMart brand of Poise in my cart or arms and think, "these people probably think this is for me and they're not, they're for my dog......"
Doesn't Butler look "happy" to be wearing his Speedo :) And the other thing I do is some times follow him around the living room to put this on him before I leave. Sometimes he stands very patiently for me to put it on him and to duct tape it to him and sometimes he takes off on me. I've gotten pretty good putting the Speedo on and taping "on the run". I duct tape so Butler can't work the Speedo down to "free Willy" and leave me a surprise when I get home.
But the ultimate of Butler love was the other morning when I was letting him in after going out first thing and while waiting for me to open the door up to the kitchen Butler pooped on my foot. Thankfully I had a sock on. So there I am trying to reach over Butler, up three stairs to open the kitchen door and not move my foot so the poo turd doesn't fall off it. Luckily I had a poo bag on the landing we were standing on in the back stairway so once Butler was in the kitchen I could open the bag andhop on one foot to plop the poo turd into it.
So......"We Bought A Zoo" is a definite must see. You'll get caught up in the story of Matt Damon's family as they deal with the zoo they bought and the people that work at the zoo. You'll laugh and you may shed a tear in one part but you leave with a warm fuzzy feeling. And a personal note from me - Matt did a very good job in some scenes that hit very close to home. It was like he had asked for my advice on how he should perform. He's such a good actor.
This is one of my favorite pictures ever. Christmas '65 at Grandma and Grandpa Hill's - me and all my cousins except Gary who wasn't born until '70. Such a simpler time. I love that all the girls are wearing dresses and the whole look/feel of the picture. You just don't see pictures like this any more.
Merry Christmas!
