Fireworks ~ Sitting ~ And Something "Interesting"

 

Well, the adventures of where Cruz' toys end up continues.  I was excited when I found the small square tile piece the other day on the landing in the back stairway because it had been missing from my living room windowsill for a while.  I went to super glue it back in place...and realized there were TWO small square tile pieces missing from my windowsill.......

 

Foxing standing on his head in the back stairway.

Evidently Cruz has decided she wants to design her own rubber mats because "store bought" just isn't cutting it with her.

 



Through the window of the door to my basement looking into the downstairs hallway.  The black Army bag in the foreground and the white plastic cosmetic bag in the back right both sit on the flowered carry on bag under the shelving unit.  That's good, old Wubba sitting right in front of the flowered carry on.

 

Wubba is a downstairs/main level of the house toy but evidently the other morning while I was taking my shower before work, Cruz decided Wubba needed to visit the upstairs.

 



I honestly have no clue - maybe Cruz thought Foxy was hungry or thirsty?  The rubber toy on the mat is her Kong bone that I fill with peanut butter before I leave.

 

 

I thought Cruz was "playing me" the other day on our walk so I wanted to make sure this was for real - she is "sitting" fairly well on her own, or all I have to do is move my hand toward her muzzle and she sits during our walks.  There are no words to describe how I felt when I realized we had this break through - I was such a proud Mommy.  Now we are working on "stay" and "free" this week.  Baby steps......

 

 

Thursday and Friday morning before my alarm went off Cruz did something really interesting.  There are times I can sense something looking at me and when I open my eyes - yep - there she is sitting on the floor next to my side of the bed staring at me.  When this would happen I'd pet her and talk to her for a second and then try to go back to sleep.  Well, Thursday and Friday morning Cruz started to walk up and down the length of my side of the bed - never done this before.  I let my hand glide along her body as she did this, and then she would turn her head back and take my hand gently in her mouth to kind of get me in place to rub her side as she went the other way.  This went on for like five minutes each morning.  If she would stop - she would sniff my hand and lick it - then back to walking along the side of the bed with my hand gliding along her side.  I think this is good???

 

I had planned to go to a craft show today after church with a friend but due to another friend having visitiation today for her husband that passed away on Wednesday - I headed to the craft show on my own Saturday.  I bought a few things with one being a Bible cover made out of material with dogs on it.  The German Shepherd in the material made me think of Cruz.  Another neat thing I bought was a photo of a little fox kit (or are they cubs) sitting in the hollow end of a tree trunk looking out.  Right next to where I bought the picture, a kid had made frames out of sticks and tree bark - I found a neat frame from him for my fox picture.  Now...his grandfather was working the booth too - I think both of them make the frames.  Grandpa handed me an envelope with their business card and told me to turn the envelope over - it was stamped with a rattlesnake on it.  I'm like "no thank you" and tried to hand the envelope back to him - nothing doing.  He made me open the envelope and it had the rubber band and washer deal in it that sounded like a rattlesnake rattling its tail.  I of course screamed and threw the envelope into the middle of their display - and then gave grandpa the eye.  He told me I was a good jumper - I didn't say what I wanted to tell him that he was :)

 

Last night Cruz and I headed out to watch fireworks.  The City of WDM had their Illumifest event this weekend and to end it last night was fireworks being lit over by City Hall.  I drove to the back of Southwoods 9th Grade/Freshman school on the hill up from City Hall to watch the fireworks with Cruz.  I wasn't sure how she would do and she was a little leery of the few people that ended up with us.  But then the fireworks started and I was too close because she could hear the boom when they were shot off - and that wasn't sitting good with her.  She was ready to go.  I was like, "man....I really want to watch the fireworks".  I'd only seen one deal of fireworks since Mike died and this would be my first time to watch them by myself.  So I put Cruz in the back seat of the car - moved the car over to a better location in the parking lot and stood outside her back door - with her window down with me watching the fireworks and my hand inside the car petting her.  She's such a goober....



Before the fireworks.

Today was another awesome fall day in Iowa and after driving by this bunch of trees after church I turned around to take the next picture.  What a great bunch of colors!

The next two trees are in the parking lot of Stilwell Jr High in West Des Moines.

Across the street from Stilwell Jr High.  Even though these two trees have "black" leaves - they are still beautiful because there is a touch of a deep red in their color.

 

 

T -4 days until I get my tattoo for Butler.................................................

 

Isn't this the cutest thing you have ever seen?  It's one of my cousin's dogs after being given a bath.  My cousin is once again my age today.  She gives me a hard time for being "older" than her - by 9 days.

I went to the visitation for a friend of mine that her husband passed away Wednesday.  When I read the email letting several of us know of Bob's passing I just cried - because I know the road Sandy has started to go down.  I know exactly how she will feel at times - and I just hurt for her.  This was the poem in Bob's program.  I think it's awesome.

You can shed tears that he is gone,
Or you can smile because he has lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that he'll come back,
Or you can open your eyes and see all that he has left.
Your heart can be empty because you can't see him,
Or you can be full of the love you shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,
Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember him and only that he's gone,
Or you can cherish his memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back,
Or you can do what he'd want:
SMILE, OPEN YOUR EYES, LOVE AND GO ON.

Today at church we sang "It Is Well With My Soul" and that song always gets to me.  It's been an "interesting" two and a half years but I can definitely say It is well with my soul.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Another First ~ Birthday ~ And Of Course....Cruz

 

Here's Miss Innocent......check out the bright, green basket in the upper left corner of the pic - that's where I put her upstairs toys.

 



 

This week I decided to take some pix of where I find Cruz' toys when I get home from being away.  All her downstairs toys start with her in her crate when I leave.....  The first pic is of Foxy (a stuffingless toy) waiting to greet me in my kitchen on the floor.

 

 

This is her Kong bone that I fill with peanut butter - laying by my front door.

 

Squirrel, another stuffingless toy, is the grey "road kill" in the foreground on the left.  The blue thing on the right side of my living room floor is a Wubba toy (a Kong ball wrapped with super, duper material).  Wubba has really made the rounds.

Because this is Wubba on my window sill in the living room next to Cruz' crate - you can see through the window onto my enclosed front porch.  And I've found Wubba on top of Cruz' crate.

This picture is from this morning in my bedroom.  Cruz has NEVER reacted to a tennis ball when I toss it toward her in the back yard.  Guess when the lights go out - she's decided it's ok to play with her tennis ball (yellow ball on the left side of the picture).  And the pink/blue striped ball is another tennis ball tied to a piece of material to be a pull toy.  This is where I found them this morning when I woke up.  They were both in Cruz' green basket when it was lights out last night.

And to use a "Mad About You" phrase to what I came home to after church - "this is new".  Wubba was in my kitchen sink.  No idea if Cruz just tossed Wubba in the air and this is where it landed or if she actually got on her back legs and put Wubba in the sink...for a bath???

 

The candle below is from the PartyLite party I went to a couple of Sundays ago.  You can put both votive candles and tea light candles in the holder behind the dog's head.

Cruz - where do I begin......

• We had a break through moment Thursday morning.  Normally when we are upstairs she lays on the floor on the other side of my bed where I can't see her unless I'm sitting on the bed.  Thursday she came over and laid on the floor a couple of feet from the bathroom to watch me get ready.
• Thursday we walked down to Valley Junction's Farmer's Market and she let me take her all the way to the end of 5th Street again.  There were more people at the market than last week so I think this was a positive thing.
• We are working on the command "sit" in the backyard and also during walks.  In the backyard whenever I stop walking to either work on "sit" or "come" - she lays down on the ground and will NOT move.  So I've mainly worked on "sit" during our walks.  When we started to learn "sit" she would not let me move her head slightly back and up to force her to sit on her back legs - she is so stubborn.  Toward the end of the week she would "sit" fairly ok - but not on command - only if I moved her head back and up.
• The cyst on her back leg is getting better I guess - at least it's not getting any worse and she still lets me put ointment on it twice a day.
• She also gloms down the piece of cheese she is given twice a day with a Benedryl hidden inside to help with her allergies/stratching.
• I filed her first medical claim this week for our vet visit last Saturday and the medication - I'll see a percentage of the exam reimbursed in a few weeks.
• The ultimate was yesterday when I walked in to Menards with my kitchen baseboard in hand asking if they had something to match I could buy to replace what was in my hand - because my dog had ripped the baseboard off.  Everyone that tried to help me made sure I realized I had a very determined dog - really - I hadn't noticed......
• I also bought some grey two-part stuff that I broke off a piece, rubbed it in my hand to activate it and put on her crate in the two places where she broke the joints on the front - I think it might actually hold.  It's supposed to plug leaks on pipe and be fairly indestructible.

I had a very nice surprise in the mail earlier this week - a card letting me know that my cousin and her family (husband and four-legged kids) had made a donation in Butler's name to the Humane Society of the USA.  I thought that was so sweet and an awesome way to honor Butler.

Friday was my birthday and now I can say "I'm in my 50's"...................  While there were a few bittersweet moments during the day - I had a very good birthday.  Bittersweet because it was my third one without Mike, my second without Mom and Milly and my first without Butler.  And Butler was my buddy that saw me through so many things in the past two and a half years - and now he was gone.  I got a call from the guard's desk at work that I had something to pick up and the picture below shows some flowers I was given by some great friends from church - and their two little ones.  Victoria drew a picture of me blowing out my candles on a cake with "51" drawn on the cake and Noah had made "his mark" on the card too (he's not two yet).  This was only the second time I'd had flowers given to me since Mike died - and Mike was so good to get me flowers.  So when I saw the flowers at the guard's desk I did get teary-eyed.

The day was good though - I lost count of the birthday wishes on my Facebook wall, I got a few emails, some cards, a text or two and a phone call.  And a friend at work bought me some M&M cookies from the cafeteria.  I had found a group that was meeting that night for Jive dancing so thought I'd go.  This was HUGE for me - and it didn't start until 8:00 pm.  Usually I plan on going to something but then talk myself out of it.  While it was weird dancing with men that weren't Mike - I did get into the swing of things (no pun intended) after a dance or two.  I danced with the guy that was a pretty good jive dancer - I danced with the guy that had NO rhythm what-so-ever and it was a challenge to keep HIM on the beat - and I danced with the instructor.  Then I sat for a few songs.  The one young guy that didn't ask me to dance - when he went over and asked the female of a couple to dance (her husband was in the restroom), that didn't set too well with me.  He knew I had been dancing, he knew I was by myself (like three other ladies) and he knew I had been sitting a while - but he picked the lady that had come with her husband.  Okey doke.  I was not going to ask the guy with no rhythm to dance again (yes I asked him to dance after we had done a couple of dances earlier).  But when the instructor asked the older lady to dance that had been dancing more than me - and I was sitting right next to her - I thought to myself, "hmmmm...this is my birthday.  I came to dance, I danced and some were pretty fun, but I'm tired of sitting - so....I'm outta here" and I got up and walked out.

Yesterday was another "first" - time to renew my driver's license.  Mike and I used to renew our licenses together one of the weekends between our birthdays.  So I got to the DOT building in Ankeny at 8:05 and didn't even get inside - the line was that long - and it was chilly out.  I walked out at 9:10 with my temporary, paper license - what is up with that?  Everyone got a temporary, paper license and our official, plastic license will be mailed to us within a month.  At least this time my hair isn't either really short or really long - and then in real life my hair would be the opposite of my picture the last few years my license was valid.  I'd get tired of hearing either something about my hair being so short in my picture when I had long hair or vice versa whenever my I.D. was asked for.  My hair is an inbetween length this time :)  I knew going in that I wouldn't be able to smile for my picture due to facial recognition software not being able to recognize terrorists if they smiled - so I dreaded what I'd look like.  Then I heard the lady taking the photos tell someone they could smile - but don't show any teeth - okey doke I liked that.  But when I got my lightly printed, temporary paper license I couldn't tell what my smile (without teeth showing) looked like.  Guess I'll have to wait for my "real" plastic license....

This morning I took Cruz for a walk really early and she was squirrely - running, jumping, leaping, bowing all over the place while we walked.  So I gave up trying to keep her next to me and ran, jumped, leaped and bowed along with her.  While that was fun at the time - I'm not sure if that was the right thing to do.

After church I decided since it was so nice out it would be a good day to take Cruz to "daddy's" bench at Raccoon River Park.  She hears me talk about daddy all the time but she doesn't know who daddy is - which makes me sad.  And I took some of Butler along with me that I sprinkled on the ground around Mike's bench - so I have both my boys with me there.  I sat and talked to Mike for a while telling him about Cruz and then that I'd had another birthday without him - and I started to cry a little.  But I got myself under control and told him that while I've had some rough spots - they aren't as rough as they had been and they are getting further between.  Then I got up to take Cruz for a little walk around the park and she was a squirrel pulling on the leash continually.  I hope this isn't a new habit with her....................

Tomorrow night - Dancing With The Stars starts a new season.  That means Makx is back!

Parties and Cruz (of course)

 

I promise, one of these days I will do a new Church Chuckle on my blog home page, but with Cruz laying on the floor in front of the drawer in my nightstand where I keep my "chuckles" it's not worth moving her.  I just need to remember to move the "chuckles" to another place.

 

 

Not too much excitement this week.  Cruz continues to open my kitchen door (with the child proof dealie still on the door knob) and get stuck in the downstairs hallway while I'm at work - goober.

 

 

Monday night when I walked into my living room this is what I saw.  All the brown things are stuffing from the teal pillow with the white polk-a-dots in the background.  While we took our nightly walk I figured I'd have to get a trash bag to put all this in and throw the pillow away but then I thought "nope, just stuff all that stuffing back inside that pillow and Duct tape it closed" and I did.

 

Close up of Monday night's hole in the pillow.

 

 

So Tuesday night this is what I saw on my living room floor............with the Duct tape I had used on the pillow in its own little pile on the floor.  The pillow was pretty much ripped in half - so it did end up in a trash bag in my trash bin.  Poor pillow.  And if you look really close in Cruz' crate in the right background - guess who you see sitting so innocently..............

Thursday night when we took our walk I thought I'd see if she would actually let me walk her down the blocks of Valley Junction's Farmers Market.  Normally when I do this on Thursday nights we get to the end of the block right before the farmer's market and Cruz starts pulling wanting to go a different direction.  Well Thursday was a little cool and it had rained earlier in the day - so the crowd was really small - but Cruz let me walk her clear down to the park at the end of 4th and 5th Street where the band plays music during farmer's market!  I was so proud of her. 

And it amazed me to no end how many "dumb" people walk the face of the earth.  If you see someone walking a dog that is walking toward you - and the person with the dog is making a pointed effort to put themself between you and their dog - MOVE OVER!  Do not continue walking straight at the person with the dog - or worse yet just stop in front of the person with the dog and stare at them.  I had to actually tell one lady that stopped in front of me that I was putting myself between her and my dog so she could walk past us............yowie.

Yesterday morning was a free scrap metal and appliance drop off at WDM Public Works so I finally got rid of the snow blower blade that had been in my basement ever since Mike died - and who knows how long he had it in the basement before that.  I also stopped at True Value to buy some clamps to help me super glue Cruz' crate together where she has broken it in a couple of places on the front panel....didn't work.  Evidently super glue and clamps are no match for Cruz' destruction of her crate.

I had noticed the night before during our walk a light pink spot on Cruz' right back paw so I called the vet about it Saturday and at 10:40 we went to see the vet about what was going on.  Cruz has a cyst on her paw - I've never had a dog have one of these before - so twice a day I put ointment on it.  And because I wanted them to look on the under side of her back legs to make sure she wasn't scratching too much to make some "hot spots" we decided it would be best to soft muzzle Cruz for her examination.  I put the muzzle on without any problems but she wasn't too excited about the vet technician and vet moving around her in the room.  I was sitting on the floor with her, with my arms around her and then she became a bucking bronco when the vet sat down next to her.  I'm still not sure how it happened but Cruz ended up in my lap and that's where she stayed the whole time the vet was checking everything out.  I had my arms around her "protecting" her evidently.  I also experienced something I've never had happen before - in the midst of the bucking bronco issue Cruz expressed her anal glands........on the floor........and me.  I just thought she had peed a little until the smell arrived - wow.  After my vet was done looking at Cruz I asked if she could try to get my cell phone to take a picture of Cruz in my lap.  When she made her first move away from Cruz, Cruz was all done being in my lap....oh well........

I did get a kick out of the vet tech wanting to "bribe" Cruz to be ok with them looking at her.  I told the tech that Cruz doesn't eat hard treats (Milk Bones, etc.), so they tried crackers - nope.  Pretzels - nope.  Cat food - nope.  I said that Cruz liked peanut butter and they thought they had a stash of peanut butter - but it was gone.  Then they tried butter and Cruz licked the butter off the tongue depresser - didn't make her any more "ok" with the vet tech though :)  My Cruzie - she's a goober all right.

Then last night I didn't have just one party to go to - I had two!!  That never happens.  The first was a surprise birthday party for one of the guys in my small group at church.  Well, he's not really into surprises and goofed things up timewise for when he and his wife were suppose to leave their house to go eat supper - and all of us sneak into their house.  We had way too much time on our hands and with my pastor helping instigate - we found all the toilet paper they had in their house and t.p.ed their trees in front.  I was in heaven - I hadn't t.p.ed for a very long time and was out of practice throwing rolls of toilet paper in the air into trees - but I got the hang of it after a toss or two. 

The second party last night was a Quinceanera celebration for my friend's niece who turned 15.  In the Mexican community when a girl turns 15 they throw a HUGE party and pull out ALL the stops for it.  I asked Rigo if they did the same when a boy turns 15 - nope.  So here I am, this old white/American lady walking into a building with hundreds of Mexican family members for this young lady.  I'm looking for Heather - Rigo's wife who is American like me thinking it shouldn't be too hard to find her right - it actually was.  We finally hooked up at their table and Rigo explained everything that went on with the celebration.  There was food, cake, beverages and not just a D.J. - but a band too.  And not just a band like us Americans would have - they had an accordian, tuba, clarinet, trumpet and more in this band.  It was awesome.  When it was time to dance - EVERYONE danced.  None of this American men deal where they don't want to dance - the Mexican men were dancing fools.  The first song was a line dance to............Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus and I'll admit - hearing that song in Spanish made me chuckle to myself.  Heather was busy taking pictures for the family so Rigo got me out on the dance floor for two songs and I'm tellin' ya.  The songs were llll--oooo---nnn---gggg!  Like 5+ minutes each.  Maybe even 10 minutes - I'm not kidding.  It was the first time I danced since January 2010 - which was the last time Mike and I danced together.  So while it was slightly emotional and weird dancing with someone that wasn't Mike - it was fun.  And it was awesome to see how important family, tradition and all is for Mexicans.  Us Americans don't do this - our families don't stay close together geographically to be there for each other - we spread out and don't have this tight bond and it's actually kind of sad.

After church today a gal pal went with me through Valley Junction's Art Fest and we had a great time together looking at neat things and eating walking tacos.  It was another gorgeous day for an event like this on 5th Street.

I debated on whether to mow or not - I really don't like doing things like this on Sundays - the day of rest.  But in reality sometimes I have to.  So after the Art Fest I relaxed (that means I took a nap - and I'll say it was because I was still a little pooped from all my partying last night).  Got up, took Cruz for her walk and then decided I'd mow.  I went to put the 20' tie out chain on Cruz so she could be in the back yard with me and that didn't work so well.  She just wouldn't get close enough for me to hook the chain to her collar.  I thought if I got her on my enclosed back porch maybe I could hook it.  Well.........I don't think Cruz likes chains...........at all.  She really reacted to the sound of the chain being drug across the cement floor of my back porch and when I tried to reach down to hook it to her collar.........she snapped at me.  She's not done that before.  I stood up big and tall and "bahhed" at her and tried again.  She got really small and I could see the whites of her eyes and I thought "maybe I won't do this".  Who knows....maybe this is why she got away from the first family that adopted her - maybe the chained her a lot.............  So Cruz stayed inside while Mommy mowed....goober.

Pictures that wouldn't upload to yesterday's blog!!!

 

So here are the pictures I wanted to upload to my blog last night.

 



Cruz enjoying watching Mommy water the lawn, fill snake holes and pick up sticks....turd.

 Cruz caught-in-the-act of being in the downstairs hallway - which means the child proof door knob dealie didn't work.

And here's what Cruz thought of me putting aluminum foil on the door knob to stop her.

Child proof door knob dealie #2.

Stick with four blooms at one time!

So tonight this is what I came home to.  I had stopped to do something in the basement this morning when I left and heard a noise upstairs.  I thought, "no way Cruz has gotten the kitchen door open", especially since I had poured Tabasco sauce onto the dealie.  So I look in the downstairs hallway - no Cruz.  I go around the corner to go up the steps and the kitchen door was OPEN - and it only took her minutes to do this.  I promptly closed the door again and when I got home it was still closed - but this was on my living room floor.  So I stuffed the stuffing back in and Duct taped the pillow closed.

My good friend Lynn gave this to me yesterday at church :)

All my "pretties" in one pic - annual hibiscus in teal pots, butterfly bush (between annuals and Stick leaning toward the right by my patio) and Stick.

White amazes me.  Sometimes its blooms are truly, pure white and other times they look like this.

Oh my - how did this picture get uploaded?!?!  This is my small group leader "nailing" me trying to get photographic proof that he can actually move (although it's small movement) while singing.  This was during our opening time yesterday at church with Waves and Dive! kiddos.

"Putting in" on our canoe trip Saturday.  See how low the DSM River is.  That's our driver from Sleepy Hollow where we got the canoes, getting them ready to go into the river.

I had the most important job being in the front - and Chrisy would say she had the most important job being in the back.  I think all Chrissy did was take pictures honestly :)

Neat, old tree trunk on a support of the railroad bridge - Chrissy's pic.

Neat tree in the midst of all the trees - Chrissy's pic.

 

Some of the "Iowa wild life" we were promised to see on our canoe trip.

After the trip was over.  We had another couple go out the same time with us but they were quicker than us and got to the landing ramp five minutes ahead of us.

And here's the short bus ready to take us and the canoes back to Sleepy Hollow where our cars were.

Cruz and the childproof doorknob quest ~ Canoe Trip ~ and More!

Well, I've tried twice now to upload pictures to this blog and I get an error message - so this blog may be photoless.

I've still been dealing with some "fallout" of my urinary tract infection and the "other female, icky, blicky" infection from a couple of weeks ago.  Let me just say one of the meds I was put on, my doctor told me to be sure to not drink any alcohol with it because it really would make me sick.  Not even a glass of wine - which some ladies do each day for medicinal purposes.  I said that wouldn't be a problem.  I then go to the pharmacist and he tells me to not even use mouth wash or cough syrup because the alcohol in those wash would make me sick!  And both said it wouldn't kind of make me sick - I would be really sick mixing any type of alcohol and this medication - and I can't use my mouth rinse for seven days - yes seven days - until after I've been off that medicine.  Yowie kazowie.

Yesterday my niece and I were able to take our rescheduled two and a half hour canoe trip down the DSM River - photos can be seen on my Facebook wall :)  I laughed because between Chrissy and me we took 67 pictures for a two and a half hour canoe trip down the DES MOINES RIVER and my sis-in-law (her stepmom) maybe took 67 pictures for her week+ riverboat trip in Amsterdam a couple of years ago.  It was an awesome morning to be on the water - and we put in at the boat ramp that I see each time I drive to and from church if I take the freeway to East 14th to get to River Woods Elementary (or vice versa).  We learned to "read the river" aka meaning watch out for rocks and/or sandbars that we could get hung up on.  At least we didn't have to portage the canoe over any of them (meaning get out of the canoe and carry it over our heads to put the canoe back into deeper water on the other side of the sandbar).  The only scream was by me when a fish snuck up next to me, on the right side of the canoe.  Now remember - Iowa river water is brown and you can't see anything - that's why I no longer swim in it. So one minute nothing was next to the canoe and the next this big fish that totally took me by surprise and I screamed - it's a wonder we didn't tip the canoe over :)  We were told that there were a couple of nesting eagles on the section we would travel and we think we saw them flying from a distance.

After the canoe trip I had errands to run which included going to the 411 Safety store on 5th Street in WDM to see what type of childproof doorknob dealies they had to put on the kitchen door.  On Thursday I had put good, old aluminum foil on the doorknob thinking that wouldn't feel good to Cruz to bite on and try to open that door - she either has a high tolerance for pain in her mouth or she doesn't care because she was in the downstairs hallway waiting for me when I got home that night.  The store did have a different childproof dealie than what I had bought at WalMart so I thought I'd give it a try - more on that later.

My hibiscus have really been blooming like crazy this week.  Stick had four blooms at one time and that's never happened before.

Last Sunday I spent a little time in the back yard picking up sticks, filling possible snake holes and watering some of my lawn.  Cruz just laid down and enjoyed watching me.  The Bark Buster gal came Friday night for our second lesson and she was really pleased to see a change in Cruz personalitywise.  I told her that Cruz loves going for walks, tries to play with me when we start our walk, and doesn't seem to care if joggers run by us or people pass us now when we walk - that would not have happened a couple of weeks ago.  We have our assignment to now work on "come" and "sit".

Wednesday or Thursday night was a bad night when I got home (I can't remember which night it was now) - everything that could go wrong did.  Cruz had gotten herself trapped in the downstairs hallway because the kitchen door had shut behind her - and I have no idea how long she was trapped.  Because of that, she pooped on the back stairway - I couldn't blame her.  When I got into the kitchen there was dust all over the kitchen and living room floor and I couldn't figure out what that was.....until I saw the bag.  The bag that had what was left of Butler's ashes!  Cruz must have either wanted to "play" with Butler one more time - or she was letting me know that I was taking too long to do something with all his ashes.  So I swept and vacuumed Butler up - putting as much of him into another baggie as I could - taking out some dust bunnies along the way.

Well, I wasn't feeling too good with dealing with my health issues and my stomach not feeling right all week - Cruz had gotten the kitchen door open - and then Butler was scattered all over my floor.  When I let Cruz out to go potty in the back yard I popped her on the butt as she passed me - wrong thing to do.  I know you need to discipline an animal right when they do something but everything aligned wrong and I'd had it.  Immediately after popping Cruz on the butt she turned on me, barking like mad, growling, lunging at me and all the time I'm seeing "fangy teeth" (like wolves do).  I was momentarily concerned (not scared but concerned) that she might actually try to bite me.  I stood up really tall, walked over to her, stood over her and told her "bahhhhh" and then let her outside.  A while later we were able to go for a walk and she was her old, playful self.

This morning I thought I should take her for a walk before church since I knew when I left around 9:00 I wouldn't be back until 3:00 or later.  It was a beautiful morning and Cruz was really jumping and bowing the first block wanting to play on our walk.  I saw that the vendors were setting up for the Fall Antique Jamboree on 5th Street so thought I'd see how she would do around all those people.  I've tried to walk her down to the Valley Junction Farmer's Market on Thursday nights but when we get to the end of the block before the actual market - Cruz is pulling wanting to go the other way.  I was able to walk Cruz down by all the vendors setting up their wares while they were talking and making some noise - and I even got to walk up to a couple of items to check out their prices without Cruz really reacting much at all - awesome!

I headed to church to help with the check-in table for our K-5th children's groups - today we started a new format for how all that worked.  We are having parents drop off their kids before service instead of dismissing them during our song service.  And we are using a different cirriculum that all you need for the whole quarter is "in the box" except for paper and pencils.  I wanted to stay with the Waves group today since I'm teaching next Sunday, to see how the format worked and it was a success!

After a good fellowship/membership meeting I headed to actually walk through the Valley Junction Fall Antique Jamboree and got a walking taco for lunch - what weather!!!  Then I headed to a friend's for her Partylite party.

I was curious to know if the second childproof doorknob dealie had worked when I got home.  I walk through the basement, look through the windows in the door going into the downstairs hallway and no Cruz!  Then.....I go around the corner to go up the stairs and see that the kitchen door was open.....

Random Things ~ Cruz ~ Black Squirrel ~ Flowers

 

Not much going on this week really.  I was really happy to see the black squirrel Wed or Thurs night when I was standing in my driveway talking to my neighbor.  The little guy ran across the street into the park.  I have no idea how long a squirrel lives but this little guy has been around over a year now.  I'm not sure where he's going to live this winter - in the park - or my neighbor's tree :)

 

I posted on Facebook how my pastor made a big deal of saying how August birthdays "rule" last Sunday in church - and I wanted everyone to know that in fact, September birthdays "rule".  It's fun to see the comments to that post on Facebook.  And yes, in 19 days I'll be another year older.  Sometimes I think that with a heavy sigh and other times I think it's just a number.  One thing I would like to do is finally get a personalized license plate for my car - a Central College plate.  Central's license is white on red and I didn't think it would look good with my blue car but now that I have a black car - it should look pretty awesome.  Now to come up with what I want it to say - that's almost as hard for me as deciding on what I wanted for my first tattoo :)

 

I mowed Friday night after work and while mowing saw how badly my lawn is cracking in some places because it's been so dry.  And some of those cracks and holes could be potential snake holes - in both front and back yard.  I'm like "not happening" and off I go to grab my little rubbermade tote of potting soil to start filling in some of the cracks and holes.  Then I looked at my front planter closer and realized my handy guy had missed filling in some of those holes that snakes like to slither into in my front yard.  So inside I go to get my expanding foam filler and it didn't work.........grrrrr.  Up to True Value I headed to buy a new container and prayed as I got down close to the three large holes, that as I started to spray the foam in the holes - nothing came rushing back out at me - except the expanding foam.

 

It's been a busy holiday weekend for me - no clue why I couldn't sleep late yesterday morning but I couldn't.  So I was up at 6:00 am really cleaning my living room, kitchen and dining area's floor.  It hadn't had a good cleaning in a while.  And I really cleaned out the car.  I have a seat cover for Cruz for the back seat that is really a hammock dog seat - it hooks over the head rests in the back seat and also the two front bucket seats.  So while there is some fur in the feet areas of the back seat - the backside of the front seats don't have fur.  I also got to spend some quality time with a gal pal yesterday afternoon at the Dairy Queen :)

 

I hadn't rented any movies for a while so I got "The Help" and "Big Miracle" to watch last night.  Both were really good movies but when something happened in "Big Miracle" I think I totally over reacted because I just bawled.  I decided after-the-fact those were my tears for Butler because I didn't really cry after he was put down.  Now I cried like crazy in the vet's office before he was put down.....

 

Cruz is making baby step progress.  She actually lapped up the milk from my Special K breakfast bowl this morning - first time for that.  I make it a game to put all her toys in her crate with her before leaving to see where all the toys end up when I get home.  Some are clear in the kitchen and one time one toy ended up on top of her crate.  She does really well on walks with staying next to me.  A couple of times she got to jumping up and down in the driveway before going on the walk and smiling - it cracked me up.  Friday night after mowing I was pooped but I knew I had to take her on a walk, so after our walk before going in the house, I watered some of my back yard.  Now there have been times when we've gone for walks when it was in the 90's and Cruz would be panting like a maniac when we'd get home and I'd try to get her to drink water - nope.  Friday night it wasn't that bad - maybe a little humid.  I filled my solar fountain with water and then started watering my lawn - and I hear "lap, lap, lap".  I turn around and Cruz is drinking water out of my fountain bowl like it's going out of style - I just started to laugh.

 

Tomorrow I actually have plans on a holiday!  I've blogged before how Memorial Day, the 4th of July and Labor Day are horrid holidays for me - I'll take Thanksgiving and Christmas any day over those now that Mike's gone.  It's because Mike and I would do things spur-of-the-moment on those three holidays and we'd really enjoy our day together.  If it was nice out - off for a long drive to see where we'd end up.  If it was rainy - we'd rent movies or maybe even go to a movie.  Tomorrow I'm going to some friend's house for a lunch bbq with another family - I'm really looking forward to it!

 

My hibiscus all seem to have gotten their second wind and are blooming like crazy - even Stick which I thought was done for the summer is blooming those huge, dinner-plate size blooms.  Check out some pictures of my pretties below.

 

 

That is my white hibiscus and I think red one.  I love having a white hibiscus - have never seen one in all the years I've been buying them at Home Depot, Lowe's or Earl May.

 

One day it seemed like all of them were blooming (or like White - getting ready to bloom).  And Yellow was blooming like crazy.

And this is one of Stick's blooms - they are huge!

 

Now I never thought I'd have a child-proof door knob - ever.  The kids were past this stage when they came to live with us and unfortunately all the grandkids live too far away for me to worry about things like this.  But there's Cruz - who evidently can open my kitchen door and explore my basement hallway when I'm gone.  Every time I leave, I stand on the other side of that door, and pull on it like crazy to make sure it's latched tight.  The door would pass my test - but then Cruz does whatever she does and gets it open.  So at WalMart I find this and think it will do the trick to keep Cruz from getting in the downstairs hallway when I'm gone.  Well.............it doesn't work.  Some how Cruz can still open the door because when I got home from church she met me in the basement hallway........she's such a goober.

 

The next three sayings I reposted from seeing them on friends' Facebook walls.  They are very true for me.

 



With all I've been through since 4.27.10 - I have had to say this several times.

 

This saying fit Mike to a "T".  He would do all this and more for me.  I reposted it on my Facebook wall in honor of him.

 

And lastly - this saying has really become true for me.  Dad is my closest blood relative - in Pella.  Then my next blood relative is my Aunt in Bloomfield, Iowa - and then the few blood relatives I have spread out from there.  I am very fortunate to have so many people I now call "family".  From my sis-in-law, to my niece, to my LWF family - this saying fits all them to a "T" :)