Foster sheltie Claire hanging out with the big guy, our resident greyhound. The angle of the photo is deceptive. Claire weighs 27 lbs. to Cassius’ 72.
Cassius is a gentle giant. He is by far the most mellow greyhound we have had. Even when Claire takes toys from right beside his mouth, he just gives a loud woof. He is so good natured. She on the other hand has no sense of personal boundaries.
The one who is teaching her to back off and respect his space is our 8 lb. cat Morty. If he hisses or growls, she backs up. Though he is tiny, his attitude is fierce.
Every year for the past several years my husband puts on a Valentine’s dinner for the family. He does all the menu planning, shopping, and cooking. My part for the last couple of years has been to procure some type of keepsake dinnerware or drink ware to be used during the meal. Each person then gets to take the item home with them.
This year I planned ahead. Yay,me! I decided to make something individualized for each guest. I purchased white ceramic bowls and ceramic paint pens. Then I created a custom design on each bowl of something I thought would be meaningful to the person. The back has the guest’s name and the date of the dinner.
This is the bowl I made for my husband. (I’m not showing any others at this time because I don’t want to spoil the surprise!) The artwork is two of his favorite dogs, Baxter and Phoebe, along with various hearts because it is Valentine’s Day.
BaxterPhoebe
The project did take me 5 hours to do all the bowls and I still have to bake on the designs, but it was fun. I hope everyone will enjoy their bowl throughout the year and remember the good time we had.
I love this photo. It is of Lacey and Merlin sharing couch time. Both are gone now, but their spirit of peace lives on. Both were strays of a sort.
Lacey came from my family/friends. She was born to an Amish cat that gave birth in their barn. I asked if I could have her because she reminded me of my beloved Grey Cat who had recently passed. Lacey turned out to be nothing like Grey Cat, but she was a great Cat in her own right.
Merlin came running down our dirt road one day and stopped near our driveway. I had recently gone to a large greyhound event and wanted a greyhound. Wish granted! Merlin was probably a greyhound-lurcher. He may have had a bit of hunting dog in his background but he looked like a greyhound that wasn’t quite long enough.
Both were wonderful additions to the family and provided many years of love.
After being a substitute teacher for a room full of second graders yesterday, I decided that I needed a day off. So I stayed home and hung out with dogs. Shelby demonstrated relaxation techniques.
It snowed throughout the day, so in the afternoon, the dogs and I went outside to play and enjoy nature. Even 12 year old Nikki likes to lay down in the snow.
Zekie, foster dog Claire, and Baxter (rear).
Shelby stayed indoors to watch the house, but all the other dogs went outside to play. The preferred game is frisbee.
Cassius prefers a rousing game of jolly ball.
Zekie is a snow dog and will play anything you want to play.
I am recharged. Spending time with dogs always reenergizes me. Next week will bring more subbing adventures and I will be ready!
The freshly laundered, large greyhound size bed has been commandeered by the cat.
This bed takes a few days to wash, reassemble, and get back in service because there are four large cushions in addition to the cover. I thought the dogs would be thrilled when it was back in service. So far, they have not had a chance to use it. The cat has been on it all day.
Orange Kitty does weigh 22 lbs. but that is only bigger than one of our dogs. At least he is appreciative.
In addition to banana time, we also occasionally have orange time at our house. Our dogs love fruit. Well, except for Baxter, which is why he is not in the photo.
Even Claire, the foster girl on the far right, is getting into the act. Dogs cannot manufacture their own vitamin C, so I suppose this is not a bad thing. They only get a slice or two so as not to get upset tummies.
Me, Claire the foster dog, Cassius, and Baxter in front of the pillow.
The preferred activity around our house lately has been watching the Australian Open. For those who don’t know, this is the first of the four major tennis tournaments of the year. The tournament spans two weeks and we watch as many of the matches as we can. It is down to the semi-finals now so we don’t want to miss anything.
So this is how I watch tennis. Claire the foster dog is in my lap. She is very snuggly and this way I know where she is at all times. This saves me from jumping up every few minutes to see where she is and what she is chewing on. So far: the earbuds to my iPhone, underwear, slippers, numerous paper napkins, and a pencil. Usually I get to her before much damage is done. And really it is my fault. Claire tries to be good. Given her past experience before she came to our house, she just doesn’t understand why some things are toys and some things are not. And she looks so heartbroken when I scold her for chewing inappropriate things. It’s as if she is saying, “awww, I got it wrong again.” She is learning now if I tell her no-no that she should put the item down and that will be the end of it. I am at fault for letting her have opportunities to mess up. We will get there.
Cassius lays beside me and puts his head on Claire. He wants to emphasize to us all that Claire may be on my lap, but I am his mommy!
And Baxter is on the couch because we are and, well, the couch is soft.
A better way to watch television is not to be found. Retirement rocks!
Does Zekie still suffer from separation anxiety? I would have to say yes.
This is Zekie waiting for daddy to come home this morning. He was only gone for an hour. To be fair, Zekie didn’t hurt anything. He just waited, and waited…even though I was still home with him.
Zekie doesn’t need to go in his crate if one of us is still home. He just gets forlorn, not destructive as long as someone is there. When he becomes aware that someone will be leaving in a minute, he grabs a bone or toy and tries to entice the person to play instead of going out the door. If that doesn’t work, he can even chomp the bone at you and bark with it in his mouth. You can tell he’s saying, “wouldn’t you rather play with me and have this bone than go away?”
Well, generally, yes we would. But unfortunately, life calls.
This evening is my last night of free yoga. I have been attending these sessions at the local library and they are so much fun. Every Monday evening for the month of January the classes were offered.
It has been a great opportunity to hang out with new people as well as sharing the experience with someone who was a coworker before I retired and remains a friend. I have found yoga to be a time of relaxation, peace, and meditation, as well as exercise.
I always knew that stretching was good for you, but I never realized just how good. My knee that I hurt while hiking last spring, barely hurts at all now. The injury has caused me pain all these months and with just a few weeks of yoga, I rarely notice any pain in my knee.
At the last class they were collecting signatures to ask that the library continue the class. I sincerely hope that they do. It is a wonderful experience. People with different physical capabilities are all at home in the same room. I find it fascinating that there are exercises that I can do, but the person next to me cannot do. A few movements later, I cannot hold the pose, but that same person next to me can do it just fine. We all have different abilities.
I also like the names of the poses. Visualizing them helps me to do the pose more accurately. When I see an actual dog doing “downward dog”, I am able to do downward or upward dog better.
With any luck, the library will extend the free yoga sessions. They have been popular. Most sessions there is barely enough floor space! If not, I already have Yoga On the Courthouse Lawn marked on my schedule for summer.
Sanctuary Acres 