Spring-like weather, where did you go?
I was starting to remember warmer days,
But now I feel the cold wind blow.
Oh balmy sun, how I miss your rays.
Category Archives: Country Life
A Good Day
It’s been a beautiful day in Northeast Ohio for mid-February. It’s 64 degrees and sunny. Quite the rarity. So we loaded up three of the dogs and headed to Towners Woods for a hike.
As you can see, a good time was had by all. That’s a walk 6 out of the last 7 days for us.
Baxter and Shelby are quite reliable. They can hike the trails off leash. They come back when they are called. Even when they see other dogs, people, or wildlife. And then there is Cassius the greyhound. You will notice that he is NEVER off leash in the pictures, or anywhere for that matter. He’s what we call a flight risk. We know from experience that he is not reliable off lead. Granted we have only had him for six months but given his temperament we realize that he may never be. That’s ok. We still think he’s an awesome dog.
And this is what the dogs are doing after our hike. A tired dog is a good dog!
Soon!
Boy, do I miss these days of lounging on the patio and relaxing. Soon they will come again and the endless, grey days will be but a memory.
I really do like the winter time. But even I am ready for a bit warmer weather, more sun, and green growing things. So here is a photo of one of my favorite early bloomers.
Nothing beats a peony, and especially a whole bed of them. Their fragrance is divine and they are a beauty to behold. So hold on dear ones. Spring is around the corner.
Filling the Void
Life seems to always fill a void. We lost Lacey last month at the ripe old age of 16. Even though I miss her, it was nice not to have to attend to her many daily needs. Well…shortly after that Harley started having dental problems. He does seem to be nearly recovered from them now. Harley is our oldest cat at 15 years of age. He looks great though.
However during the problems he was not able to eat the regular, dry kitty kibble that we feed. We discovered this because he was meowing all the time. Now, he did often tell us when the food bowl was empty so we thought that was the case. But it wasn’t. At first we told him, Harley there is food. This was met with a look of disdain.
Finally one day he got us to follow him to the food bowl by calling us. We told him there was food. So he flung a tiny, fish-shaped piece of kibble at us. Bingo! We noticed at this point that he was thin and apparently not able to chew the food. So now Harley gets canned food two to three times a day. Once he has put enough weight back on we will see about getting him a dental. I am leery of having a cat of his respectable age go under anesthesia until he is fattened up a bit.
In the mean time, he is enjoying this new routine. He gets his canned food in a crate so he can eat at his leisure. He is a cat, how else would he eat? This keeps the five dogs and two other cat from eating it. Harley greets me in the morning with meows of “Food! My food! Starving!” As soon as I open the crate door, he runs into the crate and out, and in and out, making sure to get my attention. As if the meowing wasn’t noticeable. I give him a can of food. He meows “thank you”. When he is finished, he meows again. “Let me out”. Or if I am in another room, he MEOWS! I come to let him out and he again says “thank you”. Harley has always been a polite cat. He has various little purrs and trills that he also uses when he is happy with us.
We go through this again in the afternoon when he gets a snack. I will give him any little bit of canned food left from breakfast or maybe some bites of leftover chicken that I mince up. By evening he is ready for another meal and we go through the routine again, with him getting another can of cat food.
Since he is again looking healthy and happy, I am glad to do these things. At least he doesn’t need medicine and other care. By the way, Harley is short for Harlequin, since he is a black and white cat. Long live Harley Cat.
Lacey’s World
Lacey died a week and a half ago. My life has changed in many ways. She was such a part of my life that I noticed immediately, the first morning after her demise, that my world was forever changed. Here is a list of things that are no longer a part of my day.
1) There is no tiny grey cat running to greet me at the bottom of the stairs in the morning, mewing fiercely to be incarcerated in her little blue crate so she could eat her special food made from whitefish. The other cats do not get this food because it would be pricey to provide for the other three cats as well, so she did her dining in the crate. A small bag lasted tiny Lacey for a long time.
2)There is no tiny grey cat scream/mewling repeatedly that she is finished with her “fish flakes”, as I called them, and is now ready to be released from her crate. How such a big voice came from such a slight little thing I do not know.
3) I no longer need to give Lacey her two different antibiotics that she received twice a day. I could not have survived without my trusty pill gun. Lacey lived on these antibiotics for the past year and half. Every time I tried to wean her off them, she grew a massive infection on her face. She had some tumors that kept her in a weakened state and seemed to harbor infection. In the beginning one antibiotic did the trick but later it took two different kinds.
4) No small grey cat shadows me, meowing to follow her and come fill up the water bowl. She said they were all going to die of thirst if the bowl was not filled right NOW!
5) I do not have to change the newspaper and pee pads that lined the woodbin near the wood burning stove. I did this one to two times per day. Lacey was confused by senility and seemed to think this was the place to pee. Oddly enough, she still did all her other business in the litter box. She had found what she thought was a designated place for most of her peeing and I was not going to argue, because at least it was predictable and some place that I could clean. One day my husband said “so we can’t put wood in the wood bin anymore?” My response was simple. No!
6) I no longer have to preplan if it is safe to leave an item on the dining room table in case Lacey became totally disoriented, as happened once or twice a month, and peed on the table, and hence whatever was on it.
7) We can have dog beds on the floor again because they are not considered by the remaining cats, to be in the “pee zone”. Same with blankets that fall on the floor. I don’t have to run to pick them up immediately.
8) No more need to monitor Lacey’s where abouts to be sure that a dog is not going to sit on her slight body on the couch. Or that I do not jar her as I sit down, causing her to fall off the back of the couch.
In short, my life is an easier but emptier place, for Lacey was a loved part of our world. She was a lover of dogs, my affectionate companion, a compassionate and gentle soul. Easier is not always better. Lacey taught me her lessons and still has an affect on my world.
Lacey of The Silvery Paws
This is Lacey of The Silvery Paws. She was dubbed with this name by one of my daughter’s friends from high school . The name fit her well. Lacey was given to me, at my request, by my sister-in-law and friend. I have had Lacey for about 16 years now.
We always thought that Lacey wasn’t the world’s smartest cat, although maybe we were wrong. She did have a way of always getting what she wanted . She was the one who let us know if the food bowl or the water bowl were empty. And kept letting us know until they were full.
It didn’t matter if she wasn’t the world’s smartest cat because she was the world’s nicest cat. She loved everyone. Dogs, other cats, people . Above is a photo of her when she was only a couple of years old. She was hanging out with our greyhound Merlin, who joined our clan when he ran by our house one day as a stray.
Dogs were admittedly her favorite. Here she snoozes with our dog Baxter, who was dumped in our yard as a pup. See a pattern here?
But her very favorite were the foster dogs. She seemed to sense that they needed the extra comfort and affection. And here she is sleeping under the Christmas tree with our foster dog Maizie a few years ago. Lacey dearly loved Maizie. Even more than all the others. Lacey could be found sleeping by Maizie ‘ s side no matter where she was. She would snuggle right up next to her.
Maizie died a couple years ago. She was in renal failure when she was pulled from the shelter. So she lived her last 18 months here with us. I’m sure Lacey was grateful for this.
Lacey died this morning. She gave the good fight but after battling cancer and infection for a year and a half, her time had come. I buried her earlier today with Maizie ‘ s ashes. It seems fitting that they are together again.
Cassius-Three Months In
We have had Cassius for almost three months now. He’s come a long way since he’s come off the racetrack. For the most part he’s a good dog. He certainly does try. It’s just that he finds our ways to be confusing sometimes.
For instance, what’s with this waiting for food thing? We feed twice a day. Around 9:00 am and again at 6:00 pm. For about two hours before each feeding he is an excellent herder. When we get in the vicinity of the food can (a 32 gallon plastic garbage can with lid, our house was built in 1830, read-keeps mice out!) he tries his best to herd us in the direction of the can. And he herds us better than any of our shelties do. Of course the shelties are not into herding their pack leaders. Much. Cassius is a large dog, around 70 lbs., so he is pretty effective. You have to push him out of the way to walk any where else. We won’t give in to him because we are afraid that he will want fed earlier and earlier and who knows maybe even more often.
Most of his mishaps do seem to center around food. At first his food drive was so intense that it was scary. I discovered that he had a tape worm and after I treated that his food driven lessened to a more bearable level. Woe to anyone who leaves any form of food substances within reach though. This includes the kitchen counter. One week we were on our third loaf of bread because Cassius took up counter surfing. We discovered on the second loaf that he would even reach all the way to the very back of the counter. Another week we lost a three pound bag of apples from the kitchen counter. He took the apples, still in the bag, removed them from the bag, and rather than eating one, took a bite out of each apple. This reminds me of a story of my daughter when she was a wee tot. Dogs and kids can have a lot in common.
But we can’t complain too much about Cassius. He is a dog with an excellent and very tolerant temperament. He never snaps or growls at the other dogs. Even when they are chasing after toys or running over him. He is very accommodating with the cats as well. One time our old, senile cat Lacey fell off the arm of the couch and landed on Cassius while he was sleeping. He did wake up with a growl, but once he recognized Lacey, he put his head back down and went to sleep. We think he is great, and we are never biased!
Now, rest assured that when no humans are home, Cassius does stay in a crate. This is as much to keep him out of trouble with food and safe from other harm, as it is to make sure there is never an incident with the cats. Cassius may one day earn his freedom while we are away, but not any time soon.
Public Service Announcement!
Looks like Baxter is telling Shelby “Hey, did you hear? Dogs must be licensed! This must mean we’re smart, huh?”
The deadline for purchasing your dog license for the year is January 31. The fee is set by the Commissioners of each county. The fee in my county is $15.00 per dog. If you do not purchase by that date, the fee is doubled, unless you just got a new dog or puppy
I am a certified evaluator for a therapy dog organization. As part of testing, I am required to ask to see proof of a Dog License. It is the law to have your dog licensed and of course no group wants to certify a dog that does not meet law requirements.
I thought knowledge of Dog Licenses was a common thing. Apparently I was wrong. On at least three separate occasions, I have asked for proof of licensure, only to have the person tell me they were not aware of it. Despite the fact that the email I send out to everyone before testing mentions that you must bring proof of rabies shot AND dog license. I am not sure what they think this means. Or perhaps they do not read the information I send them. It could be that they were just trying to pull the wool over my eyes and thought I would make an exception. One person seemed truly befuddled by the license concept though, saying she had never heard of such a thing.
It made me wonder. Is this only a local thing? So I did an on-line search. It turns out that nearly all states require you to license your dog. So I am doing my part to make you aware of this. Dog licenses may be purchased at your local Dog Warden’s Office and sometimes at other select locations. Check on-line for a list near you!
One of Those Days
Did you ever have one of those days that did not get off to an auspicious start? Yesterday was such a day for me. One of those days where you think, I should have stayed in bed.
I got up yesterday morning and the house was cold. We finally got fuel oil on Friday but then the boiler would not start. Not quite as dire as it sounds. We also heat with wood and had been doing so throughout the fall. However, on Tuesday morning the fire had gone out overnight because no one got up in the middle of the night to add wood. Also not the worst thing in the world because it’s still warm enough that the house doesn’t cool off very fast.
So I got up, put the dogs out for their morning constitutional, and set about laying the wood and kindling for a new fire. I let the dogs back inside. The new greyhound Cassius came from a racing track in Palm Beach, Florida. He thinks any temperatures below 70 degrees are unbearable and that we are abusive. Never mind the fact that he has a sweatshirt and we cover him with blankets.
I went back to light the aforementioned fire. I was crouched down arranging the kindling and lighting the fire. The end of my robe was trailing on the floor as I worked. Apparently, unbeknownst to me at the time, our senile, 16 year old cat Lacey came along behind me, saw the end of my robe lying on the floor and decided that it was a good place to pee. Lacey does tend to pee in creative places these days because she cannot remember where the litter box is, but this is a first.
I must be making progress in goal of becoming a more calm and peaceful person because I did not even get mad at Lacey at the time. I realized that she is old and senile and we are just happy to still have her with us. However that did not stop me from jumping up to clean up the mess! Now when you stand up after having your garment peed on, the voice of experience here, gravity tends to take effect and you end up with cat urine running on the floor. So… After getting the robe out of the picture, I got paper towels to clean up the mess. I was in the other room disposing of the towels when I heard the smoke alarm going off. We always leave the door on the wood burner open for a bit so the fire can get enough oxygen to get burning good. Then we close the door on the wood burner and the fire starts the fan and the heating process. Well, with running around taking care of “the pee incident” I never got back to close the door and too much smoke came out into the room.
So I grabbed a chair, jumped up, and removed the smoke detector so as not to awaken my sleeping husband. I really did NOT want any witnesses to this whole fiasco. Did I mention that I start work at 6:30 in the morning? So it was quite early when I was having all this fun. In the end, no harm was done. I got the wood burner heating again, the smoke dissipated, and I put the smoke detector back up before I left for work. My robe got washed when I came home from work and we were status quo again.
By the way, the repair company is coming to get our boiler furnace running again today, and I am still glad that we have Lacey to share our lives with. All is right with the world.
The Last Hurrah
We know winter is creeping this way but we still have flowers to enjoy right now. It is so warm that I am sitting on the patio with a book. One of my favorite pass times. I want to make the most of this opportunity.
The snapdragons are still in bloom.
As are the regal trumpet flowers.
A self seeded celosia.
And the mandevillas.
I think this qualifies as the perfect October day. So my friends, my wish for you is that you may have an equally brilliant day.
Sanctuary Acres 