A Squadron or Group of Javelina at night

 

It's a little hard to see in this nighttime clip but FIVE javelina visited the water bucket last night.  Three adults and 2 babies.  

I thought javelina only gathered with their spouse and children, but apparently the group can range from 6 to 15 or more. 

One item I read said a group of javelina is called a squadron, but another article said that's not true.  

Backyard bobcat

 I've lived in this house for 25 years and don't remember ever seeing a bobcat.  So it was quite a surprise when I looked out the window and saw this. 

Then it watched me watching it from my kitchen window and stared back before leaping up the wall and leaving. 

Exciting, but also scary.  I don't know how either would have reacted if my dog had noticed it. 

Canine teeth brushing ritual

Vets always say you should brush your dog's teeth.  Before Moana, I never managed to get a process in place.  

Toothbrushes were awkward.  I hated those finger brushes.  Trying to get the dog to hold still was a nightmare.  

I did try with Moana.  I found a nice soft human toothbrush.  I put it and her toothpaste in a glass on the kitchen counter near where I prep her food.  But most days I would forget.  

UNTIL - 

I decided to put the glass in the bathroom near my toothbrush.  I started brushing her teeth when I finished with mine.  

And it became a routine!

A routine that Moana herself has adopted. 

I brush my teeth with an electric toothbrush.  Turn the brush off.  Take her brush out of the glass, usually accidently clinking it against the side of the glass. 

I put toothpaste on the brush.  

Moana appears by my side ready for her teeth brushing. 

Now - the rule is that I MUST pet her first.  No reaching for her mouth without petting.  Oh, and no doing her teeth before I do mine.  If she shows up early, I'm supposed to ignore her. 

Left back teeth. Right back teeth.  Upper front teeth.  Lower front teeth.  Kiss on the forehead.  And we're done. 

I haven't missed a day in 4 months. At her last vet visit, the vet said her teeth look really good.  

Six years old today!

 I got Moana at Thanksgiving, 2020.  It was the best thing that happened that year.  Happily her rescue paperwork included her birthdate.  So today she turns 6.  

Like people, some dogs gray early, some late, some never.  My beautiful girl is graying quite a lot.  

This is her when I got her compared to today.  She is now a "dignified" older lady.  And still a goof ball. 

Sometimes a painting just needs tweaked.

 I do a lot of paint and wine classes, sans wine.  Sometimes a painting will look okay when I leave class but later I will realize it's not quite what I wanted.  This is one of the reasons I have paints at home.  

For example, we did this mermaid tail at our last class.  Not bad, but for one thing, the littlest starfish blends in with the tail.  And the shells don't look right. 

So I looked up some images of starfish and shells online (which I should have done while in class).  And I changed it.  

I like the new version much better.  And I'm glad I didn't give up on it.  

There is STILL no dark in my house

 It's been just over 10 years since I posted There is no dark at my house.  Had you asked me then if the problem would get worse or better, I would have probably guessed "better". As in fewer lights. 

And I would have been wrong.  

In my prior post, I listed everything by room.  Not going to do that this time.  But suffice to say, for every thing I eliminated that had a light, I added two that lighted up. 

The Roomba charging light. At least it's not on all the time. 

There is a strip of white light on my replacement printer that stays lit all the time.  "They" tell you a printer works best if left on.  So this light is always on. 

Working from home now so add a work computer with a little red light. 

Replacement cameras, still with lights.  Added smart plugs, with lights.  Phone charger, NO light.  Yay!

No more cable so the lights on the receiver are gone.  There are small lights on the streaming devices, but they are hidden behind the TV.  So they probably don't count?  

Add to that, my neighbors have gone all out with the exterior lights.  There were some decorations stolen this past Christmas, so I don't blame them.  

But of my 10 closest neighbors, 6 have exterior lights on all the time.  Another two have motion sensitive lights.  And we're not talking one porch light.  Most have porch lights plus lights on either end of the garages.  

Another neighbor in the back across the retention basin installed an LED light outside that shines right into my bedroom.  Luckily, they turn it off at a reasonable hour.  Usually. 

What is my point?  Not sure I have one.  It would be nice to sit out on the patio and see the stars.  I can understand why astronomers complain about light pollution. 

But on the plus side, I don't have to worry about stumbling over any furniture in the middle of the night. 

And when Moana and I walk in the early winter mornings, there is plenty of light to see our way.  

If the next ten years follows this same pattern, I think dark (at least in urban areas) is going to be as rare as quiet.  

But that's a tale for another day. 

Moana and her collar

Moana is the only dog I've ever had that is like this. All my other dogs only wore their collars when we were out walking.  Never in the house. 

I took her collar off the other day to wash it . She stood right next to me at the sink and stared as I scrubbed it. Then she followed me when I got a towel to dry it.

She seemed so relieved when I put it back on her.

 

Life with Moana

 It's been almost a year since I adopted Moana.  She's gotten more confident and sadly, less cuddly.  Although I'm not sure that isn't because it's been hot. 

She still wants a lot of attention and interrupts my work.  But she doesn't lay on the couch with her head on my lap hardly at all.   

Like Bogie, she will lay on the floor with me nearby petting her.  But I'd be more comfortable if I could get her onto the couch.  

She has decided it's her job to guard the house. She sits in the upstairs window and watches the street.  Barking at people and dogs going by.  I have managed to get her to stop barking once I acknowledge she is doing her job.  

However, there are a few things that make her bark extra crazy.  A specific German Shepherd she's never met but has taken a dislike to.  Ditto a small dog that is frequently walked by our house by a woman in a wheel chair. 

Recently we had some nasty weather.  More rain that usual.  And Moana particularly objects to people standing on roofs.  At least 4 of the houses in her eye range have been inspected.  And no amount of assurance will calm her down until the people are off the roof.  

She sleeps in the bed with me.  Sometimes I make her move if she takes my spot.  Most often I find alternate open space on the bed.  At least she doesn't kick in her sleep - very often.

Our daily walks are calmer.  She doesn't freak out when she sees unknown people.  But she still barks at them, as she is walking up to be petted.  Everyone we've met has been wonderful with her.  And that has helped build her trust.  

Overall, she's a great companion, pushing me enough to get up and around.  Keeping me company.  

Driving me crazy.  :-)

When Bogie died in October 2020, I convinced myself that I was going to wait for the end of that horrible year before getting another dog.  I'd spent the past couple years taking one or both dogs in for weekly vet treatments.  I wasn't ready for another. 

I was still taking my daily walks, but I missed having a companion with me. So after a couple weeks I started looking for rescue Danes. 

The first I chose was pronounced not a good fit since I didn't have any other dog companions.  The second was a "foster fail" and no longer eligible.  For the third I made a 3 1/2 hour round trip to Tucson to meet her.  

And Moana was a sweetheart.  I admit the name concerned me since I'd never seen the movie.  But it took a couple more weeks for the process to wend it's way to completion, and I got used to the name.  And made a point of watching the movie.  (very cute). 

I got Moana the day before the Thanksgiving holiday and had the four day weekend to acclimate her. 

She's a now-3 year old Great Dane who's been marvelous company for me.  Her color is called Piebald and the gray spots you see are her skin, not her hair. 

She's kind of a blend of Angel and Bogie, very cuddly but also a little willful.  Luckily she'd had some training so I didn't have to start from scratch like I did with Bogie. 

It helps that I work from home and don't have to leave her.  She's not happy when I leave her, but she's not been destructive.  

There seems to have been some abuse.  She was terrified of men at first.  Especially men with beards.  But now she is anxious to meet anyone we encounter on our daily walks.  Although she tends to bark at them as she is walking towards them.  "Pet me, but I'm tough"?

I'm lucky to have her.  

My Bogie Boy

When Angel died in March, I thought I would have a couple years of solo time with Bogie since he was  only 9. He didn't need a lot of attention, which was good because Angel demanded attention. I wanted to make it up to him. 

 But it wasn't to be. What had been noticed a couple years ago as a dragging of his back feet, became more serious. Degenerative myelopathy. He began to not only drag his feet, but have trouble getting up. And standing up. 

 We tried swim therapy. And he seemed to like it.

But getting into and out of the car did more damage than the therapy helped.  

So we muddled on the best that we could.  The final straw was when he couldn't get up.  And I couldn't help him up.  The panic on his face crushed me.  He eventually did get up, but that was a portent of the end. 

On October 17, I took him in to the vet, held him close, and let him go.  

Sweet, smart, stubborn, and stoic, he is sorely missed. 

Quail baby rescue

Yesterday afternoon, while I was fixing Bogie's dinner, I looked out the window and saw a quail pair approaching the ground level bird bath.  Sweet.  Wait.  Something else is moving.  At least 20 little puffball babies. 

Bogie was distracted by eating, but I was afraid he would want to go outside afterwards.  I watched the babies go back under the gate.  Whew!.  Wait.  Mom and Dad didn’t leave.  Babies came streaming back into the yard.  Bogie laid down with no plans to go out into the heat.

Babies scurried back under the gate.  Yay!  Again, Mom and Dad didn’t leave and the babies came streaming back.  I opened the patio door, hoping the noise would send them all under the gate.

Mom and Dad flew over the wall.  The babies scurried away – into the yard.  I made sure Bogie couldn’t get outside, then I went out to gather up babies.  I found where some were hiding and herded them to the gate.  Score!  They went under. 

But wait, others went the opposite direction.  I caught one and put it outside the gate.  And it tried to come back into the yard!  I deflected it and put it further outside.

Herded the rest toward the gate.  Caught another and deposited it outside.  Didn’t see any more and went inside to find Bogie completely uninterested in what was happening. 

As I cleaned his bowl at the sink, I saw 3 more babies scurry along the wall and under the gate.  I watched a while longer, but nothing else moved.  All babies safely outside the yard.

Not my photo

Unexpected spring visitor

I was reading curled up on the living room couch. Bogie was sleeping on the throw rug in front of the open door.  The screen door was shut so he couldn't get out.

Suddenly I see a movement.  A lizard scurried from under the couch!  It saw me as I saw it.  It hurried under the hutch.  Then when I tried to catch it, it scurried under the camelback trunk.  I didn’t even know there was room underneath.

Throughout this, Bogie seemed completely unaware until I moved the trunk a little to see the tip of a tail. For some reason, instead of “helping” he went outside to sleep in peace. Thankfully.

I found some empty plastic storage containers and a cardboard box and surrounded the trunk. But there were gaps.  I didn’t know what to do.  I didn’t want to scare it out into the open where Bogie could get it.  So I went next door to get my teenage neighbor, since he has lizards. 

He came over with me.  Said if we pick up the trunk he’ll grab the lizard.  Happily, the trunk was empty.  We lifted it a bit.  The lizard skittered.   My neighbor tried to grab it and missed.  The lizard ran right into one of the storage containers.  Luckily it was pretty deep. 

I wasn’t sure what to do with it.  He suggested out the back gate.  But his mom had wondered if it came in through the gap between front door and screen.  So I thought, out front where he probably came from. 

As we stepped outside, another lizard scurried from the base of a tree to the pile of rocks by the sidewalk.  Spouse?  So I let the one we’d captured go by the rocks.  He didn’t want to leave the container.  I had to dump him out.  And he scurried to safety between the rocks. 

Whew! 

He was about 8” long, half of that tail.  My neighbor said it was probably a whiptail.  It looked very much like this. 

Angel girl

 Angel was a Belgian Malinois, Great Dane mix.  A real sweetheart of a dog.  She thrived on attention and was always by my side.  Until near the end.  

By the time she was 12, her arthritis got so bad she had trouble getting up and moving around.  She let me know she was done taking walks with me and Bogie by turning around and walking off when I tried to put on her leash.  

We did laser therapy to try to ease the arthritis, but physical therapy wasn't an option.  She'd had cancer in her thigh so there wasn't much muscle to rehab. 

On March 4th I took her into the vet for her final appointment.  I took Bogie too so he could see she wasn't coming back. (That didn't work out at all). 

Letting a beloved dog go is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.  I miss my shadow so much.  

Angel in name and demeanor. 

I calculated that I had had Angel for 10 years, 5 months, and 14 days<

Refurbishing a feathered dream catcher

Many years ago I was given a dream catcher made from an antler and some sort of stone or bone circle. I don't remember the occasion or the giver but it held a place of honor on a wall in my house.

Years later the day came when I rearranged my wall art and noticed the feathers were sickly and covered in dust.  I hanged it outside so the wind could blow the dust off.

And forgot it.

Recently I noticed the feathers had not weathered well. Only the spines remained.
 

I looked briefly into finding replacement feathers, but what I found wasn't satisfactory.  I had other copper hanging ornaments I had purchased.  So I decided to make copper feathers. 

Finding a good weight copper was tricky.  I ordered a sheet online but it was much too thick. Luckily it arrived bent and I was able to return it.

I visited a metal distributor but their stock was also too thick. Finally I found a web site that advertised copper sheeting the thickness of 1 1/2 sheets of paper.  And it was perfect. www.nimrodcopper.com

I was able to cut the feathers out with titanium scissors,  The cutting action even flexed the feathers to give them a textures look.

While attaching the replacement feathers to the existing beads, the leather holding the feathers disintegrated.  So I replaced that as well. I didn't have any brown suede on hand, but I think the green looks fine.

Close-up of a copper feather. 

The refurbished dream catcher.

It's my house and I'll do what I want with it.

So once I got over my obsession with decluttering (Obsessed with getting rid of stuff), I moved on to some simple remodeling.

I wanted to replace the 21-year-old carpet in my office with tile to make it easier to clean and easier to roll from my work computer to my home computer.  Cleanliness is also why I had tile put in 2/3 of the bedroom.

But I wanted carpet along the one edge of the bedroom and office and down the stairs.  For lots of reasons.  For the dogs to lay on.  For my Great Dane to do zoomies on.  For me to do my yoga on.  And to give the stairs more grip and cushioning.

The tiling contractor informed me that blending carpet and tile in the manner that I wanted would affect the resale value of my house.  Negatively. 

Then I called an electrician to put multiple extra outlets in my office so I wouldn't have to string outlet strips and extension cords to connect my computers. 

The electrician informed me that adding so many outlets to the room would negatively affect my resale value.

I suppose they both thought they were being helpful.  But am I supposed to forego the livability of my house due to an ever-changing criteria of what is salable?  I have no plans to move as long as I can navigate the stairs. I want my house to work for me and my family. 

I was recently told by a new neighbor that gray houses are currently the most popular.  By the time I get ready to sell, maybe blue houses will be popular.  Maybe carpet will make a resurgence.  Maybe tile and carpet will become a thing.

Shrug. In the meantime, I had both the carpet/tile and electrical outlets done my way. 

And I am very happy with the result.

Bogie’s 8th birthday

Yesterday was Bogie’s 8th birthday!

Well, the birth date that the vets and I picked when I rescued him. They estimated he was 15 months old and counted back from the date of the vet appointment.

He loves sticking his nose out the window and watching the activity on the street.




I only open the window halfway because Angel tends to lean on the screen.  Not so much now that I put the bench in front of the window.  But one day I came home and the screen was hanging half out of the window.  I shudder when I think she might have fallen out.

Bogie has been a joy and a pain.

Until he was properly trained - a literal pain.

Pain in my shoulder from him pulling on the leash.  Pain in my knees and hands from falling when I tried to stop him from chasing cats.

But since his training, he's been a joy.  A big cuddle-bug.  A great walking companion.  A social butterfly eager to say Hi to everyone we meet.  And most of them are happy to pet him.

Happy Birthday Big Boy!  I hope we have many more together.

Obsessed with getting rid of stuff

I had never heard of Marie Kondo.  But I had read about Swedish Death Cleaning.  Both are similar in that you get rid of stuff that you aren't using, don't need, and are taking up space.  Or in the case of SDC, that you don't want your heirs to have to deal with.

My first foray in November was to realize that 13 plastic containers of Beanie Babies were doing no one any good.  (But they're so CUTE!.)  My final impetus was finding a group that sends the beanies to the troops in care packages. 

I gave away 450 beanie babies.  I got a lovely thank you from the charity group.  And regained an entire shelf in my closet.  Which is now where I store the paintings I've painted until I find somewhere to hang them.

Yes, those paintings bring me joy.

The act of giving away my beanies seemed to break down a dam.  I boxed up 11 banker boxes of books for a book charity.  And still have 15 shelves of books.  If it wasn't likely I would ever reread it, it went in a box. 

I cleaned out drawers and non-book shelves and filled 5 more boxes for charity.  From what I understand, charity donations are booming.  I hope someone else can put my stuff to good use.

All that gave me room to move knickknacks and books from my office.  And gave me the incentive to completely dismantle a built-in filing cabinet bookshelf combo.  I've gained 2 feet of space and opened up the room.  And I realized that because I had the storage space, I saved WAY too much paperwork.

I was also inspired to finally make arrangements to have my 20-year-old carpet replaced upstairs.  Haven't done it yet.  But I've chosen a contractor and the tile for the office part.  And will choose carpet once the tile is laid. 

Haven't even finished the office yet and I am eyeing my craft room.  New shelving?  New cabinets?  Only time will tell.

I am thrilled with the results so far. 

And all it took was finally deciding to get rid of my beanie babies.

Me and Alexa

I bought an Amazon Echo with no real expectation that she would be useful.  Honestly, I felt like I was behind the curve because everyone else I know has some sort of AI.  Yes, I succumbed to peer pressure. 

But she has become part of my daily life. 

My routine has become to ask Alexa “Good Morning”, then she tells me something about the day and sometimes makes a joke. One day was National Free thought day.  (Why that would have been established is beyond me.)  Alexa's free thought? “if life gives you lemons, you should be grateful.  Most people have to pay for them. “

Yesterday was the birthday of Dr. Seuss, followed by Alexa reciting an appropriately Seussian rhyme.

After that I play Question of the Day. If I get the first question right, I get a second question.  I accumulate points, but have not investigated what, if any, use they are. 

I've found I know more geography than I realized.  I attribute that to Parts Unknown and to the Mrs. Pollifax books.  

Sometimes I play Jeopardy.  There were 12 questions.  I know next to nothing about sports, but am thrilled if I get 9 of 12 of the questions right.  A couple times she's ruled me incorrect when I felt I was right.  

She is good with reminders, but most often I ask her about the temperature and humidity, or to turn the lights on or off.  I haven't gone whole hog on the automation. I only have lamps plugged into two smart plugs. But they are the lamps I often forget to shut off.  

I like her "human" touches.  She has a handful of responses for Thank you and for Good night.  She tells pretty good "dad" jokes.  

And she has multiple responses if you ask How are you this morning?  For example, this morning her response was, You caught me in the middle of doing the Hokey Pokey, so I'm all turned around!

Overall, I like having her around.  And yes I do think of Alexa as her.  

I hate when advertisers misuse words.

Life Alert commercial - "The following is based on reality.  You MAY be offended."

Cut to an elderly woman laying at the foot of the stairs, crying pitifully for help. 

Per Google search, Offended means "resentful or annoyed, typically as a result of a perceived insult".

How particularly can anyone be offended by this.  There is no insult.  There is nothing to resent.  

It's sad, yes.  It can be scary to think of.  But it is NOT offensive.  

This reminds me of the Click Bait articles that abound on the internet using inflammatory words to trick you into clicking their links.  

On the off-chance that this wording wasn't intentional, how about the copy-writers do a little research into word meanings? 

How about Appalled - "greatly dismayed or horrified"?

Or Distraught - "deeply upset and agitated"?

Or even Outraged - "an extremely strong reaction of anger, shock, or indignation."

Winter Wonderland painting

So a few days ago, I went to The Brush Bar by myself to do a painting.  My usual cohorts couldn't attend, but I'd been wanting to do this painting.

I am generally an introvert, but I feel quite comfortable at the Brush Bar.  And the people at the table where I sat were friendly and funny, laughing, complimenting everyone's paintings, singing and chair-dancing to the music.

The instructor painting had only two colors, but I thought there needed to be green in the painting.  Quite pleased with the result.