3 hours ago
Showing posts with label dogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dogs. Show all posts
A Quote
"The woods are so human that to know them one must live with them. An occasional saunter through them, keeping to the well-trodden paths, will never admit us to their intimacy, If we wish to be friends, we must seek them out and win them by frequent, reverent visits at all hours, by morning, by noon, and by night; and at all seasons, in spring, in summer, in autumn, in winter...They have their own effective way of keeping aliens at a distance and shutting their hearts to mere casual sightseers. It is no use to seek the woods from any motive except sheer love of them; they will find us out at once and hide all their sweet, old-world secrets from us. But if they know we come to them because we love them, they will be very kind to us and give us such treasures of beauty and delight as are not bought or sold in any marketplace."
- Lucy Maud Montgomery, The Blue Castle
A little anthropomorphizing of the woods for you this morning, ha! I always like L. M Montgomery's fanciful descriptions in her books though, and this one was sweet and a little true, I thought.
A Book
So, I started reading Little Women, which I've never actually read. You are all welcome to be shocked now.
A Bit Of Nature
If you wake up early enough, and keep an eye out, there is a five minute window when the light coming up over the mountains is just gorgeous.
A Recommendation
So, I thought I'd give you a couple recommendations that were given to me this week. One is this pumpkin chili recipe. I had friends over for a book chat this week, and the conversation turned to different chili recipes. Pumpkin chili sounds interesting, so I think I'm going to have to try it one of these days!
The other recommendation was Wick Wish Candle Co - this company makes "literary and fandom" candles. One of the girls brought over a couple of hers on our book chat night, so we could smell them, and they were so cool! And weirdly they did smell like the books they were representing. I want one now (maybe for Christmas). The ones I smelled were "Jane Austen", "Anne Shirley", and "Little Women" and they were so good.
A Moment Of Happiness
This one is going to double as one more recommendation - if you have the room, you should consider a big dog. Maybe a bloodhound mutt, like our Harvey.
(Harvey, crashing the pictures I was trying to take for the Stitchfix post that I keep forgetting to share!)
As I was doing my devotions this morning, our big 'ole dog came over to me and stuck his nose on top my lap, and while it can be a little annoying at times, I love how sweetly he gets his message across. I scratched his ears and let him outside, and now he is back in, snoring behind me as I type this. The sound makes me smile.
I love having a big dog, because whenever the kids are outside I know he is keeping an eye on them and will alert me if any strangers or questionable wildlife come too close. And when Derek has to be gone for work trips, I honestly don't know what I'd do without Harvey - he sleeps at the foot of the stairs and makes me feel safe. I'm really grateful for him. He started out a little like the puppy in Marley And Me, but just like in that movie, he is a better and better dog with each year.
(If you want to join me for your own "Wednesday Five", feel free!)
Do people publish blog posts on Saturdays? Is that done? Well, I guess I'm doing it.
Currently...
Reading...A Serial Killer's Daughter by Kerri Rawson. Why do I get sucked into these true crime stories? This one is a little different because it's actually less about the crimes and more about the daughter's own experience finding out what her dad had done. It's a Christian publisher, so I'm hoping there will be some hope from her perspective, because I imagine that would be pretty traumatizing. Why am I reading this book again? It is interesting though.
Worrying...About Harvey. If you didn't know, Harvey is our dog that we got before any of the kids were even on the way. We found out last week that he had a tumor, which we initially thought was a simple skin tumor that would most likely be benign. Turns out it was bigger than anticipated, so the prognosis is not looking as good now. But we don't know what it is yet.
It's hard sometimes to be a pet owner. You love your pets, they bring so much fun to your life, but you will almost certainly outlive them. I had an engagement present Yorkie, Ralphie, that died a few years back after an attack, and I never could bring myself to write about it here. I have a hard time knowing what to say, or if I even want to write about grief or worry related to dogs. Every time one of my pets gets sick or dies, I experience a weird mix of grieving for the dog I'm going to lose, but also gratefulness that my children and husband are all healthy and happy. Maybe that's just what experiencing death so close does, at least for me, and perhaps because it is a dog and not a person. I'm sad for what I might lose and grateful for what I have.
And I honestly just try not to think about it too much in the meantime. Hopefully it's not too aggressive and we have a couple years left with our clumsy, lovable mutt.
Frightened by...Mice! Why are mice so scary? I think it's partly the surprise, and partly germophobia. When we moved we realized we had mice in this house, and after some trial and error, we figured out they were coming in through a gap in the subfloor beneath our stove. Derek taped it up to seal it, which solved the problem for a while. But then when we were gone in New Orleans my mom saw a mouse in our house. She laid out some traps and caught 2.5 mice while we were gone! Yuck! We then realized the little varmints had torn down the tape that Derek put up. He fixed it, and we haven't caught any others, but still. Yuck.
Awakened by...Woodpeckers. Every morning. One that does slow, exploratory pecks on the wall right above my head. And another one that does a jackhammer peck on the metal flue that goes up from our laundry room, which causes an obnoxious echo through our entire house. (It's metal, bird! Give it up!) We would pull out the BB gun, but apparently woodpeckers are protected under some migratory bird law or something. So we just yell and hit the walls first thing in the morning. Great way to start the day, right? So far the birds are not taking the hint.
Puzzled by...The lack of flowering trees this spring. I have seen a few in town, but not many, and not at their best. I'm genuinely disappointed by this. The flowering trees in town are the main thing that redeems this muddy mess of a season for me.
Itching...To do some spring cleaning. I haven't had a chance or the motivation yet to clean out the closets and organize things in preparation for summer. You would think out house wouldn't be too cluttered since we just moved in October, but you would be wrong. That's what five kids and Christmas will do to you.
Excited about...Jury duty! My entire adult life I've wished I would get called for jury duty so I could participate in the civil process, do my civic duty, all that. I got called once 12 years ago, but the trial got cancelled. I finally got called again! This is my chance! I'm pretty sure they are going to dismiss me on the first day, but I'm still interested to see how it all works firsthand.
Planning...For all the summer fun. I know it's still spring, but I am ready to be in full summer mode. I bought all the kids summer clothes a couple weeks ago. (I feel like I didn't do too well price-wise, even though I shopped secondhand - is it just because my kids are getting bigger?) I'm thinking ahead to an August vacation (not sure where we're going yet). I am planning for little outings I could do with the kids, and day trips we can take as a family on the weekends. I'm dreaming of afternoons spent reading on the porch in the sunshine while the kids play outside. One more month and our summer break is on!
Looking forward to...Taking my girls out for some girly fun today! Derek and his dad are big fans of the local college football team, and they decided to take the boys to spring practice. The girls would probably enjoy going too, but this is kind of their guy thing, so we're going to let them have their time. We are going to a Mommy-And-Me Mermaid Tea Party. Yes, apparently there are such things. It should be crazy keeping Georgie out of the paint (did I mention there is paint?), interesting to see what a Mermaid Tea Party is, and impossibly cute for obvious reasons.
What are you up to this fine Saturday?
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