Work Party at Rachel's

I'd like to think there was some higher motive, but, really, I just love the animules and it suits me to take care of them. And sometimes it's just nice to be able to self-righteously wag your finger at somebody who is driving too fast. LOL

Heaven knows that it's not always easy to know if you're doing the right thing, so it feels so good to have the power of conviction behind you. I just wish I'd been able to see the OTHER dog home.

Way to step up, Kathy! Someone has to watch out for the furbabies of the world ~ thank you for doing so. When we first moved to Arizona in 1998, I had been raising golden retrievers for ten years or so and still had three. DH began building the fence for their yard when an across-the-street neighbor came over to inquire as to what we were building. When we told them it was a fence to contain our dogs, he very innocently stated "Why don't you just let them run like everyone else does?" I thought he was being facetious but, alas, no ~ he was quite serious. And he was one of the worse offenders. Unfortunately, small town comes with small town mentality as well and we were never able to do anything about any of them. Quite a few went to furbaby heaven but no one seemed to be too upset when it happened...they'd just go get another one. HATED IT!

Ewwww. I wouldn't have liked that, either. One of these days I'm gonna get punched for sticking my nose in (like last weekend when I suggested positive training, rather than negative to the guy whose little French bulldog was sitting outside the Starbucks with a huge battery-collar on). But I guess I think it's worth it.

I think those who use e-collars should have to wear one themselves for at least a day!

LOL. I felt so bad having to employ and electrically-charged scat mat to keep my cats off the counter (them being up there didn't bother me so much as having them decided to mark up there). It worked like a charm - the difference is, of course, that they are in charge of whether they feel the negative stimulus.

Anyway, I still keep it on the counter-top and am now so used to it that I often forget and lean on it while I'm cooking. Eek! They have learned to avoid the little shock, but apparently it's not enough of a negative impulse to change my behavior. LOL

You are so funny Katie

Pix,
People are welcome to show up anytime after 9 a.m. I'm sure that Scrappy would love to sail but first I must buy him a PFD. He has big plans to go fishing with us as soon as the weather warms up (late April or so.) We go to the boaters swap meet in Olympia every spring and someone is usually selling a doggie PFD or two or three that thier furbaby has outgrown so that is where we will look first. So tell Mike that Scrappy just may give him a ring this summer for sailing lessons! :0) Rach

Scrappy on the phone having long funny conversations with Mike, don't you just love the image!

Katie, I am giving you yet another commendation! Lets see Order of the royal doggieloveyness - yes that will do nicely - degreed! stamped! approved. You now have the right to wag that finger at all doggie-not-nicenesses. Wag with impunity! Crown off. Anyone else want a go? Its fun.

Oh, and just incase any of you want to do a little celebratorial dance with me - I have just worked my very last Thursday at workwork! (Little buzzing bee dance going on here). Yup - have rearranged my week, shoved the thurs hours into the other three days - and now am the proud owner of a 4 day gardening week! Hurrah and buzzingbee dancing all round!



This message was edited Mar 7, 2008 7:07 AM

OMG Laurie. I am so jealous. Doing the jealousy dance right here. You go girl. Gotta have an awesome summer with that.

And thanks for the commendation. Doin' my best for my little furry friends.

Thank you Katie!

I just can't quite believe it yet - going to really try it out next week when I come home a day earlier. But I just keep picturing the summer with that extra day - weeds be scared, be very scared! What if I actually get on top of the weeding so well, that I actually managed to sit in a chair and not keep jumping up to get 'one more'. Well, okay, what if I exhaust myself so deliciously with the extra day, that when I sit in a chair I am incapable of jumping up and get just 'one more'. Oh, I am looking forward to this!

Good for you Laurie!

Here is a great way to look at life, this is how my mom got my dad to retire. Figure out how old you think you will live to be (be honest with yourself, take into consideration family history, personal health, etc.) Now take a tape measure and stretch it out to this number and lock the tape in place. Take a pencil and place it vertically on the number that represents your current physical age. Anything from the number 1 to where the pencil sits is history. You can't rewrite it, so, no going back, only moving forward! Now look at the area between the pencil and where you locked the tape into place. Is it a long or short area? Is the area that is history longer than what is the future? Now decide what you are going to do with that space between the pencil and the last number that show's, because baby it's what you've got left! Make the most of it!!!!

Hum a bum buzz buzz!! Kudos to Laurie for cutting back her workweek!! I am so proud! You have done it and now , just in time for spring gardening! Your priorities are completely correct. Stamp and approved yourself for us, will you? I am doing my best to get everyone scheduled in clusters so that I have entire days free. It is working most of the time. And I am taking more days off. It is complete bliss to have an entire day to myself. Comprendez vous?

Must correct one thing: my dh is not in the least shy. Believe me when I say that we have sort of 'traded places' in the 26 years, almost, that we've been married. This is the man who will approach people in a restaurant and begin a conversation. He is unafraid of parties. This is role reversal par excellence. I am the avoider now. He looks at me like I am crazy. I think it's because I spend all day talking to people. No matter how much I enjoy it, enough is enough when it comes to talking.

Katie, just keep protecting those animals!! More people who love animals are needed on the streets, so glad you're out there. We took Fran to the vet tonight thinking we needed to get her teeth cleaned. The vet checked her out and said she was in awesome shape for a dog her age. Perfect weight, teeth excellent and no need for cleaning. Hips excellent. Just normal slowing down for a 12 year old dog. yea! She'll be with us for awhile longer.

Good to hear that Fran got a clean bill of health! Have you informed Skip that she is going to be around for quite awhile and he will just have to suck it up and wait patiently to be crowned alpha dog?

Thank you thank you Hum a bum buzz buzz - I love the tune! I will now stamp and approve myself, (can a queen do that, this is going to be a contortionist's trick!) Sta(u)mp approved!

Nice way to get Papa to think about time, Rach, yup like your parents too - stamp approved along with Katie's.

Now, it is a quarter to 8 and I am going out to do a day's digging! STamp approved! Catch up later.

Dig to your hearts content my friend!

Dig indeed, but don't use your body for leverage - those shovel handles have a nasty bite! (BTW, my breathing is back to normal, but I find it necessary to wear a bra even at home - those poor old saggy things pull on the rib cage . . . I thought of an ace bandage, but again, those poor old saggy things were a problem - got in the way of the ace bandage . . . I don't mind - even enjoy - most things that come with age . . . BUT poor old saggy things are not one of them!)

Quickly catching up this morning before an unusual Friday workwork day *sigh*. WAY TO GO ~ lau-RIE...lau-RIE...lau-RIE. What an absolutely PERFECT schedule. I can own up to being a tad jealous about it, though I normally have a 3-day weekend every week, which is better than two! To the weeds in Laurie's garden ~ Be afraid. Be VERY afraid. Supergardener is about to descend up all the havoc you wreak. YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED!!!!!!

Rachel. . .I think your parents came up with a great idea, but I think I would be disinclined to look at it now. Maybe when I was 30 or even 40, but now I don't want to be reminded of any potential limitations on my time here. . .what I don't know doesn't hurt me!

Murmur ~ I'm totally with you on the poor old saggy things. Dagnabbit, why can't the buggers get perkier with age? One of my favorite little visual jokes is to say "Hey...wanna see my b**bies?" Then gently lift my pants at the knees and expose my ankles! Sometimes that's how it feels!

Outta, that made me laugh laugh laugh (and it hurt my ribs - lol - but worth it!!!!)

Mur and OUtta - husband is going to look in and say 'DG' - I am laughing sooooooo hard! That is just so funny!

Amen to that. It is funny and it is true. At 69 I can tell you stories. Won't though.

I can hardly keep up with all the posts and threads lately. Fabulous image of Laurie as Supergardener. Very amusing.

I am already feeling mournful that I cannot come to Rachel's place tomorrow to haul soil with the team. It better be a worthwhile class I am attending (Science teaching methods- so it has a chance) , or it will be twice as hard to sit through. I am certain you will all have a great time and get a ton load of things accomplished. :o)

So crazy thing . . . about the dogs being out.

I thought to myself yesterday, "Odd that there are so many dogs out this morning - wonder if we're going to have an earthquake. I've heard about Jim Berkland, the seismologist who predicts earthquakes by watching the paper for lost pet ads and the cycles of the moon. It seems very intuitively attractive a theory to me.

But imagine my surprise when I was watching the news last night and they said that we've been having quake since Monday that may continue through next week. It's the Nisqually fault (keep your heads down, Rach and Pixy) and it's 25 miles down, which explains why we're not all feeling it.

Here's an article:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12205178/#storyContinued

Coinkeedink? I'm not sure sure . . . .

Of course my dogs haven't noticed. They can stand under fireworks and not even notice. LOL

Mine have been a bit uberexuberant for the past few days, and we have had our share of "odd" patients at workwork. I heard today about the quake and concluded that it is, in fact, the reason for it all. My furboys will run outside and "boof" occasionally when the neighbor behind comes outside, but they have been a lot more "boofy" lately. I vote for the quake as the reason.

Is it a full moon tonight?

I'm not sure if it's a full moon? Will have to check, to many clouds to see it right now.

My calendar says it is, if I'm reading it correctly (the little circle representing the phase of the moon is completely darkened). Can't see much in the sky here, either. But I'm guessing that's why it's warmer than it has been.

My calendar says new moon, with a full moon on the 21st.

:-) Thanks, Sue. I wasn't sure if the darkened circle meant full moon or new moon. Guess it's the opposite of what I was thinking.

Yup. Full moon on Good Friday. Sounds nice to me.

I've got it easy this year-my calendar actually says "New Moon"... ;)

Pagan festivities under the moon on Good Friday? Just contrary enough to suit me. :-)

Clearly that's the kind of calendar I need. Don't forget to spring forward on Saturday night, everybody. I absolutely hate this. Losing an hour of sleep and an hour of daylight in the evening. Such trauma.

Kathy ~ the festivities work for me. . .being a "druish princess" and all (g-grandpa is from Wales).

We crossed in the mail, but yes...I hate it, too. It was the one good thing about living in Arizona. No daylight savings time. Confusing though because half the year we were in synch with California and the other half with New Mexico. Made trips to the airport in Albuquerque challenging because of the time change/no change confusion. Just put the clocks somewhere and leave them for Pete's sake! (who is Pete, anyway?)

Although I hate losing the hour, I adore being able to work outside later . . . so all in all, I am a big fan of daylight savings (don't know why we don't just keep it that way all year, though).

No . . . wait, I'm always confused about how this works. Seems I spend a lot of time thinking about it each year. So we get more daylight at night? Very cool. I was thinking it was the other way around. I'm totally okay with losing the hour of sleep.

Okay, Sunday morning I won't be okay with it, but that will pass. LOL

Right back at you, princess. My mom's family is from Scotland (although a couple more generations diluted than yours). The sound of the pipes makes me weep every time. And I loved Liam Neeson in Rob Roy. I know he's Irish, but Celtic is Celtic. I can listen to him forever.

Fabulous (not). My son is going to be taking the Sophomore year WASL tests next week, when all the kids are groggy from having to get up an hour earlier. He's always been a night owl rather than a morning person also, so the 7:30 start of classes is difficult as it is.

I will enjoy the chance to do a little gardening when I get home in the evening after work, though. It will be the getting up in the dark again that will be hard.

This message was edited Mar 7, 2008 9:27 PM

MHF, isn't your son at the age when they say their natural circadian rhthym indicates that they should stay up late and get up late? I know there are high schools in the midwest who have changed their hours to try to accommodate this.

Katie, Spring Forward, Fall Back. That's how it goes. So the days will actually get 'longer' now. I look forward to this all year, and it's actually several weeks earlier than it used to be thanks to our illustrious leader.

I am beyond expecting science to be able to document things like dogs being able to predict earthquakes. They will never catch up. Just let them do all their studies and get all their statistics. We know our dogs. Mine, living almost directly on top of the Nisqually fault and, more to the point, very close to Fort Lewis, are accustomed to the earth shaking and the windows rattling. They do not seem to notice. I'm sure they would notice, however, if it were out of the ordinary around here.

Actually, I thought I did feel the earth move the other day and then thought it was just my imagination. How about that? ( I hear all of your laughing. I didn't mean it that way!)

Ah, my son is on the airplane flying far away. I hope he has fun! I didn't even shed a tear! Surprised even myself.

Hey Rachel what do you go fishing for. We love fishing. From July on we work try to quickly water the nursery and fish till dark. Last year we caught probable over 200 salmon it was a great year. Who knows about this year..

Sounds like if you go in April maybe you go trout fishing. We have a lake close to out house with nice trout in it and Dave you to have a squeaky reel and at dusk the bats used to dive bomb him. Heidi