Month: March 2015

YOLO

A tattoo. I’ve been fighting getting one for a long time. The urge began to occur when I would visit the beach each year.  Something about that feeling of freedom you get down at the shore gave me that lofty feeling that I might like to get a work of art permently inscribed on my body. 

For years I talked about it. Years. I had a boyfriend in the mid 90’s who had a few tattoos.  I never told him about my desire to get one I don’t think. He may have actually taken me to get one. I wasn’t ready for that! 

Right about that time I had a love for Dolphins and for a few years I kept telling myself I would get a dolphin on my side. Or maybe dog paws. I talked myself out of it though. I never had set foot in a tattoo shop. It was just a dream. One year on the boardwalk in Wildwood  NJ I got a henna tattoo at a boardwalk surf shop. But that wore off in a couple weeks. My husbands name across my left wrist slowly disappeared with each shower. There wasn’t a real commitment with henna. 

A few years ago I was gathering up the courage to get a tattoo and I actually popped into a local shop in my town just to check it out. I can’t recall the conversation. I think I was taking the place in. I kind of liked it. But it scared me some too. I never went back to get a tattoo. 

It wasn’t the pain I worried about. It was just a general anxiety and also the fear of buyers remorse. We weren’t talking about a mural here but to me I was scared I would regret the permanence of the thing. Or maybe I worried what others would think of me.  A thing I’ve tried to break free from for much of my life. 

In late 2013 when I got cAncer the feeling I wanted a tattoo really began nudging me more and more. I even designed a tattoo I thought I wanted and again went into another shop in our small town for a chat.  This shop had been recommended by someone so i felt more comfortable going in.  I had a nice chat with the owner but again I never went back. 

Something kept holding me back. Until a couple weeks ago when my daughter who will be 17 in a few weeks asked me if she could get a belly piercing. I concurred as long as she paid for it. Then I thought -Hmm I’d be in a tattoo place (bc that’s where those types of piercings have to be done) so maybe it’s time for me to take the plunge. 

I have to admit that I am glad I didn’t get the tattoo I designed when I was going through the cAncer journey.  I wouldn’t have wanted it long term. It was too much a reminder and for me it turns out that’s not what I want to see on my body each day. 

I really had to get past what others would think and I had to make sure the permanence was going to be ok. So when I was out one night at a nearby restaurant I noticed they gave away temporary tattoos of their mascot-a bulldog. So I applied that to my arm and lived with it.  I quite liked it. It never made me feel like I wanted to remove it when I saw it. And I realized I didn’t care of anyone else saw it. So I began to figure out exactly what I wanted on my left arm. 

I had some ideas and armed with Pinterest I began saving ideas In a folder. I really never committed to getting a tattoo by making an appt. though. The anticipation would be too much. Yesterday I contacted a tattoo parlor where a piercing artist that had been recommended to us was working. I asked about an appointment for my daughter and then quickly asked if they maybe had an opening for a quick tattoo. They didn’t. Oh well guess it wasn’t meant to be. 

We drove our daughter  to get her piercing. The piercer wasnt there and was running late. Bummer. I looked around at the odd paintings in the place. Heavy metal was blaring. It was pretty surreal.  People were coming in and out of rooms. I asked guy at the desk if anyone had a cancellation and could squeeze me in for a really quick tattoo. He went to check. Why did I ask that? Did I ask that? Holy crap this might be happening! My heart began to race.  I wanted to run.  Another guy came out and asked who the walk-in was.  I could have run out. I didn’t have to do this.  But I heard myself say “I am”. Crap crap crap.! 

So fifteen minutes later I was sitting in a chair getting a tattoo. My entire family was watching. Kevin came to hold my hand. I was so nervous. A little about the pain but mostly just anxious about the entire thing. The tattoo overload of the place, the antiseptic smell(a good thing), the blaring music it was so out of my realm. 

But I did it! I chose a tattoo that meant something to me. And I had it placed upside down on my arm according to my tattoo artist Anthony. But it was for me so it was turned for me to see. 

As far as pain. It wasn’t really painful at all. Scratching is how I would describe it. I was expecting much, much worse. Buyers remorse? None. I’m happy I’ve done it. I like it a lot. 

My daughter wants us to get our birthday date. We share the 22nd as a date. Hmm maybe. Maybe a symbol for Joy too. 

Like I told Anthony when I sat down to get my very first tattoo at age 51 “You only live once.”

And living is what intend to do. 

Thanks for reading….

Ps- my tattoo means faith, hope, and love. Things that mean a lot to me.  

   

 

Little Visitor

We have a visitor on the farm…or perhaps a new resident.  I have only seen he or she from afar- like an aberration. Little tail sticking up…little body skittering about. The likes of which looks like a black and white kitten.

I have not been able to get a clear photo. This kitty is stealth. I am assuming this is a feral kitty because of it’s evasive behavior but comfort around other animals. I have seen the little bit hanging near the chicken coop – I went out to it check and it was gone as if nothing had been there- nothing responded when I called “kitty kitty” (except the chickens). My husband had seen this kitten the other day very quickly. He was close enough that he swore the cat didn’t have any ears. (maybe a genetic thing? There is a breed called a Scottish Fold that has folded ears.)

Scottish Fold

Then the other night he was sitting with our other cat, Mango, by the barn door. Horses nearby and my dogs barking like crazy on the other side of the fence did not seem to bother him. I watched in the low light (could not grab a picture it was all blurry) as he followed Mango to the little opening in the the barn door made at one time for goats. Mango disappeared inside and the kitten stayed outside for about 30 seconds trying to decide whether to head inside or not. But in he went and I haven’t seen him since. There is a big feeder in the barn full of cat food so he may be head deep in cat chow!

I had been secretly wishing (well not so secret since I voiced the wish) for a kitten. I knew we really could not afford to get one- even from the feral cat people. It would require extra money for donations and such that we really can’t afford now. But I felt like Mango might like a friend. We had three cats not long ago but the life of a barn cat can easily be cut short early on. One of ours just left one day and had been at one neighbors hanging out -another neighbor thinks he may have died in her shed – he had been known to venture into sheds. I choose to believe he is living happily at another home!  The other one had a terrible virus and we let her go last spring. Mango was the lone cat left. Mango is shy but not feral. Once she knows you she wants you to pet her when she chooses to share her presence with you. She is one of those cats that bites and scratches you when you stop petting her. So she has to be pet quickly- she will beg for affection and then she zaps you! Maybe she needs a kitty friend to keep her company. I was glad to see our new visitor sitting with her. They seemed content. So we will see- or maybe we won’t! This little kitten may stay under human radar. I will try to have a proper meeting but I have a feeling it will take a while if it is to happen at all.

I decided our new friend needed a name and a versatile one – one that can morph into a male or female name.(In the event I ever can get close enough to determine it’s sex.). So I chose Will Feral – or Wilma if needed. I will report more on Will if I see him! I sure hope I do because I want to see if he has ears!

Thanks for reading…

3-25-15- We had a sighting! Ran out of the barn around to coop and then turned around and ran back into the barn. My husband saw ears this time! and Will has black with white paws – like my cat Mittens from my childhood. I hope Will will begin to surface when we are in there but it might be a while!

….the 4 mile challenge…take that monkey….

What is a four mile challenge?  This challenge is simple. Take your camera and drive four miles then stop and take a picture of what is there. The challenge was tossed out by fellow blogger Glen Curtis. (Must read this blog..photography and food). Today after working and getting  in a funk about my touchy laptop and then not having the correct paper in the printer and more -I decided I needed to get out of the house and go take some pictures.

There was a time not long ago that I could not have made this trek. My anxiety disorder aka monkey on my back- has plagued me since I got my first panic attack at age 14. I have spent a lot of years with that monkey and have learned a lot about anxiety. One thing I learned when I developed a driving phobia about 5 or 6 years ago was that anxiety will show up in different ways. You conquer one phobia or thing that makes you anxious and the monkey pops itself someplace else. I am much better now but at one point I can remember going out to drive alone and my legs were just shaking and shaking. It was hard to drive and perhaps I should not have been doing so. But I was determined to beat the fear. On that trek which was just in a large circle near my kids school I hit traffic and was stuck in a line waiting for some construction to move. I remember breathing and trying not to freak out. It was awful but I didn’t freak out and I kept driving. Battle won.

I often took one of my dogs with me so I felt less alone. If I got nervous I called someone and chatted on the speaker phone. Eventually I broke free of the driving fear – mostly. But its not all the way gone. I still have anxiety if I need to drive far from home. The definition of far for me might be 20 miles one day.. 10 the next- it changes. Though over the summer I drove pretty far north to take my daughter to field hockey.

When I had cancer much of my anxiety (yes I have it with other things too) was somewhat gone. I guess facing a serious illness in reality didn’t cause panic like it might for some “normal” people. The monkey didn’t know what to do with a real thing. I was already scared as crap and determined to face what came my way. It is the unknown non-real things that the monkey whispers in my ear that drag me down. Now post cancer treatments and being cancer free I find that old monkey jumping on my back over different things. He whispers to me at night. Tries to make me feel less than and he tries to make me feel afraid of things that aren’t there or I cannot control . I hate that freaking monkey. Sometimes he wins but much of the time he loses.

Me on my way...to mile 4 or was it 8?

Me on my way…to mile 4 or was it 8?

When I read about the 4 mile challenge I thought I want to try this. So I got my gear ready to go. I decided to drive in a direction I was least comfortable with. North. Rudy and I jumped into the car. I felt some anxiety but I ignored it. Once in the car and on the road I was feeling pretty darn good. I had the trip odometer set and was kind of hoping at the 4 mile mark I would see something cool. I hoped it was this hardscape business up that way- it always has piles of rocks that are neat.  But it wasn’t that place – it was a house. I drove past

Rudy as co-pilot

Rudy as co-pilot

it and kept driving. I was realizing I picked a bad road to stop on…a major north/south thoroughfare that runs from Germantown MD all the way to PA. And it was getting close to rush hour. There was a lot of traffic. I drove on and finally found a place to stop and turn around. I had driven well past the four mile mark and I was feeling good. On the way back I thought I would stop and take a picture of the house at mile 4 but I had seen a kid get off a bus and head into the house and I felt creepy stopping to take a picture…so I did a drive by with my cell phone.

IMG_9013

MILE 4 – More dashboard than anything but the house is the gray one in the photo.Cell phone drive by.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DSC_0512gravel

The gravel mounds I had hoped would be at the 4 mile mark.

DSC_0514 sand

More gravel!

 

I went on my way and decided to go back south to the 2 mile mark and turn east and go 2 miles and take a picture there. The math was off a but I did slow down at the second mile 4 and took a shot. Then I just decided to drive around and hopefully find pictures of good stuff. For me good stuff is mostly farms. I love the country. I was riding around and saying to Rudy that I wonder how I will live at the crowded beach in a few years(bc I need the beach). I will miss the open space. If somehow we could get the best of both worlds–beach/country– I would be so lucky!

I must be honest this might have been the photo at the second mile 4 but I really have forgotten!

I must be honest this might have been the photo at the second mile 4 but I really have forgotten!

I found that on this drive I could not really exit the car. Every inch of side road was soaking and I feared making tracks on the grass of someones property or sliding into a gully. So I simply was able to stop in the middle of the road and take my pictures out the windows. Rudy thought it was funny and he wanted to help me on a few occasions. We veered off onto a road I had not travelled before and I found a number of farms along that route to photograph. The day was pretty cloudy and the light flat but I managed to grab a few decent shots.

I over expposed the silo in PS - I liked it like that.

I over exposed the silo in PS – I liked it like that. Geez I made my name huge on this photo!

I think at one point Rudy was worried we might be lost- he began whining- it was close to chow time- and he is very serious about chow time. I assured him I knew where we were going. I had no idea where we were but I have good navigation skills and of course I had GPS if I got really turned around. Anyone who lives in the country knows that roads wind around through a valley and you can get pretty turned around and of course if a country road is any country road it has to change names right in the middle. I was on Arthur Shipley and I saw a sign that said it went to the right – like a right turn- but I thought the sign was wrong – that it was turned or something. But sure enough by staying on Arthur Shipley and not turning right at the sign that said Arthur Shipley I ended up on Bushey road. “Good to know.” -I said to myself.  Bushey Road led me back to a main road I knew well and I assured Rudy we could go home for chow. He was pretty stoked about that.

This farm was so awesome- all white buildings with no green scape yet. The pond still defrosting. I might go take another shot in the spring.

This farm was so awesome- all white buildings with no green scape yet. The pond still defrosting. I might go take another shot in the spring.

Once home I realized that I didn’t really do the four mile challenge I think it may have been the 4, 8,10,11,14 mile challenge. But as I am learning in life it really is about the journey not the destination..and I also realized that that son of a gun of a monkey had stayed home.

Thanks for reading…

I really like the barn but not the photo as much.

I really like the barn but not the photo as much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amongst the pack – Lemon -Part 2- the bully?

IMG_1389We left our last post about Lemon with a to be continued...the post just got too long! So we were discussing Lemon and the fact that she can turn her on a dime with other dogs. This has become and issue. Since my first post she has attacked Reese again the only remnants on him were the vinegar water I sprayed on them to break it up. No spit or blood. But what does this mean? I will give some of the history of her antics…Read on….

Lemon can play very well with other dogs but we have had our fair share of her fighting with our other dogs as well. It kind of comes out of nowhere but it’s not always a tussle that goes anywhere it’s more of a warning. But then we have the other times.  The other times have me wondering about her. Thankfully these other times have not drawn blood but they are continuos and mean. I know there is something to them -something she senses. Maybe she has a sixth sense. I will explain: When Lemon was a puppy we had a greyhound Libby. Libby never liked Lemon.  She did her best to ignore her and wouldn’t engage in play. Most often she bared her teeth at Lemon- and Lemon who exhibits (still) this odd submission behavior would crawl across the floor practically curling over herself trying to get Libby to like her. But it didn’t work and it was always the aloof Libby and loudmouth Lemon living separately in peace. Until one day.  It may have begun before we moved here to our farm I can’t quite recall but Lemon went after Libby. It was a lot of barking in her face and Libby tried to ignore it. But that just made it worse. When we moved here Lemon decided it was ok to go at Libby in this way and the more Libby ignored the more Lemon came at her. Eventually Lemon was biting at Libby’s sides and I began to see a chink in Libby’s armor. She was scared.  We reprimanded Lemon. Used all the tactics I knew of and some others suggested. I knew a big fight would be terrible for my greyhound. Greyhounds rip open so easily. I have had five and lived through a lot of suturing from various accidents.  I was not letting that happen. So Libby began living in our bedroom. We knew she was happy there. An old greyhound and a comfy bed. That worked for her. We developed a way to make it so they rarely interacted. It was a pain but we got used to it. One day, Libby went outside alone and when I went to let her in she was standing at the bottom of our deck stairs and she had a very swollen leg. I knew it was broken. And it was. After a misdiagnosis by our vet and guilt trips about how we should fix the break and  as we refuse thousand of dollars in surgery( we have since changed vets) we found out from a different vet (now or current vet!) that Libby had Osteosarcoma (bone cancer) in her leg.  I had seen it before in another greyhound I had -why hadn’t I suspected it?  So it was a matter of time before Libby would be leaving us.

Shortly after that Lemon began to get after our big Chessie mix Riley. She began the same stuff. Barking and lunging at him. She would sometimes bite at his neck but upon inspection there was no wetness. Almost like she was nuzzling him. They had been thick as thieves since she was a puppy. Riley was way bigger then she was and I wasn’t as fearful she’d hurt him but he was slowing down some so I watched. Over months she would growl at him and jump in his face. She sometimes would watch him or sniff him as he went by. I corrected her and she’d stop for a while. But she’d begin again. Then Riley really slowed down and one day he wouldn’t eat. We went to the vet. Tumor on the spleen. We said goodbye to him right there. Libby had died five months prior.

I began to wonder if Lemon wasn’t sensing the tumors in them. Or sensing something. We also lost another old dog during that time. Coach fell to old age mostly and Lemon never tried her antics with him. So it wasn’t the weak being forced out of the pack -and I had my OES Dave then too who was 15. He did have a spleen tumor at the very end and she only avoided him. She never went for him. So my theory of a tumor sniffing dog didn’t hold true 100% of the time. Then I got cAncer and I don’t recall her acting odd with me. She certainly wasn’t aggressive. She didn’t sniff me in any weird way. So I kind of tabled the idea that she might be sensing an illness. The old dogs had all passed away and we had two new dogs she seemed to like. Until she didn’t.

Over the last few weeks she has been doing the same odd barking and lunging at and even scuffing with Reese our pit/viszla mix. He is a sweet goofy one yr old guy. He thinks she playing. But I can tell she’s not. They have gotten into a tussle and though there’s not even spit on him after the fact, I think she means some kind of business. He has fought back some. I was hoping they’d work it out if I didn’t intervene but I’ve had to break it up a couple time when it seemed to be escalating.

I have watched her and I’ve watched Reese. I am not seeing any provocation or body language by Reese that should invite this aggressive behavior. Today I noticed him being very cautious near her.  She’s odd. She will lick his mouth one minute and later in the day she might become aggressive with him. She seems to do this more when humans are around. I’ve seen them outdoors together and she’s fine with him. This is much like it was with Libby.

Is  Reese sick you might wonder?  Well, he has had a number of bouts of vomiting but he eats a lot of poop. He had a bad bout of it a few weeks ago and the vet gave him antibiotics. We almost had them X-ray to see if there was any shadows of concern on the film. He is thin but we feed him well. Many of my young dogs stay thin and then pick up weight around age 2.  Ask Lemon she is a fatty now and I couldn’t keep weight in her a couple years ago. We didn’t get the X-ray even though we told the vet about Lemons odd behaviors in the past. She didn’t think it was needed. Reese is acting fine. But Lemon who used to play and play with him doesn’t seem to like him anymore. I’ve seen my dogs posture and change buddies. But it is often silent. Pierce and Rudy have had their issues where they ignored each other for a while. Then Pierce might try to be dominant with Rudy and eventually they silently worked out their differences and they play like fools now. These dances continue all the time in a pack but Lemons actions towards Reese have me wondering. Does she have a sixth sense? Is she just a dominant dog? I will keep watching the dynamics and see. We sometimes think maybe she’s just a bully and maybe she should be in a home without other dogs. But that’s not what I see entirely. She is bossy but there’s more to this than a bully dog. Plus we love her. We met her when she was 3 weeks old. We don’t want to lose her. We just want her to behave.

We don’t always know what is going on in a dog’s mind. We can observe and if you know some about body language of a dog you can read some things. But we never really know what is going on for sure. So I don’t know why Lemon behaves this way. Is she just a bully? Does she smell or sense illness- specifically tumors? I have read about the use of dogs to detect cancers. Is that what is happening? I guess I wont know until we know if Reese has something really wrong. And we aren’t jumping into testing – we don’t have the money to test a dog that acts healthy.

Lemon has always been one to keep us on our toes. She is one of those dogs who can rattle a pack – and her humans. So that’s the short (long) story of our Lemon. Bully or Psychic? She is a pain sometimes..a lot…but we love her.

Thanks for reading.

 

Little pieces of me…

The Who was playing on the radio while I was driving the other day. I had Ozzy with me and a load of groceries in the car. The song took me back- I mean really took me back. I had this flashback for a minute or a nano-second – some form of time. It wasn’t a flashback of a memory but of a feeling. Have you ever had those? Like you might feel for a split second the way you felt when you were ten and you were at the pool swimming for hours, or when you were at your first rock concert in high school (Bruce Springsteen baby!), or you were sitting next to your boyfriend in the car.

I used to wear rose perfume in high school. ALOT of rose perfume.  If I happen to smell rose perfume now its like a vortex grabs me and tries to take me back to 1979. Ditto for Ralph Lauren Polo(all the guys wore it)- early 80’s in college. I am not sure if I can explain this feeling but if you’ve felt it you know. Music and smells seem to do it to me. Its like some past is trying to crawl out from your brain. For me those feelings are usually good – sometimes they are bad. But I feel like something more wants to pop forward. Maybe a full blown memory pictures and all.

Anyway the Who was blasting out a song (and I can’t even recall which one) and I had that feeling. This time I tried to pull it up from inside but it was gone as fast as it popped up. I tried and tried but nah it was gone. But it left me with something good. A good feeling – a lighter sense of me. There was a comfort in it.

More and more over this crazy winter I have felt something lifting.  I have spent the last year in a funk after my cancer treatments and other events of life. I felt a little pummeled, a little shell shocked. Something was missing.  I was down sometimes and inert others – so many things overwhelmed me. And they still do sometimes if I let them. But I feel lighter lately. I can manage better. Now I feel less like I am just floating under the surface and more like I am above it. The days don’t seem so hard.

I have begun making plans for spring and summer. I am not as worried about committing to things and I feel excited about taking a road trip up north in June. I got an email the other day from the caring committee at church asking if I could make a meal for a family this week. At first I balked- it seemed too much. But I stared at the email and thought about it. How many meals had been delivered to my family when I was sick? I had asked to be on the committee so I could give back. It was time. I replied yes to that email and then the old me was back. Planning a meal and looking forward to helping someone else. And it felt darn good- good to help and good to feel like I could.

When I hear those old songs- I get a little feeling of the girl I was in my past – there is a comfort there somehow. Those are parts of me that make up who I am today. I may not be able to conjure up the full memory but the comfort is still there. Slowly but surely I am getting little pieces of me back. They are the parts of me that make me feel balanced and comfortable with who I am.  There is such a relief in that feeling – kind of like the feeling you get if you suddenly can’t see your child on the playground and for a second you are panicked but then you see him coming down the slide and your get that relief and sense that everything is ok and balanced again. That’s how I feel …every time I find a little piece of myself. It’s like a puzzle coming together- the puzzle just is not complete without all it’s pieces. I might not be quite there but I am getting there one piece at a time.

Thanks for reading–

Lets crank up the Who!

Amongst the pack – Lemon…psychic or bully (part 1)

Do not mistake this cute face as belonging to a wonderful, perfect dog. No! While Lemon has her moments of sweetness she can be quite bad. So bad that one of her nicknames is Badness (dogs get a lot of nicknames around here – come to think of it most living beings get nicknamed around here). Lemon is badness personified.

Lemon’s badness began when she was a mere mite of a puppy. She learned early on to climb up on our patio table and bark her head off until she could get what she wanted. Sometimes it was the desire to come inside and other times it was to play with another of her dogs friends or get their attention. At that time we were living in a neighborhood and we tried to hide five dogs on 1/3 of an acre. Until Lemon joined us we had been quite successful. But when her barking rampages began we were outed. My neighbors behind us told me they actually went out and yelled at her one day to shut up. Uh Oh- not good. I did not need the question “How many dogs do you have?” There was an HOA limit of three. There were a few of us crazies with more but we tried to stay underground.  We tried a collar on Lemon that emits a low pitched beep when the barking begins. Didn’t work. I had her in a bark collar- that jus made it worse. I just got trained so that when I did let her out in the yard I would coax her In at the first sign of barking. We moved soon after that complaint. It was time for more space!

When we got to our small farm we still had neighbors not far away. Our dog yard was much bigger than the old one and she loves to romp and play out there. But it comes with barking. If we toss the frisbee to her she barks as soon as she returns it to you. I ignore her until she stops and only when it is silent do I toss it. You would think she’d learn to just shut her yap. But no! She isn’t dumb -she’s bossy.  Our neighbor complained once but thankfully she is older and told me she has become quite hard of hearing.  I’m rather glad for her hearing impediment because I don’t want my dogs to be a bother to anyone. My neighbor on the other side has five dogs and we just co-exist amongst the barks from both camps. Her only complaint has been my chickens and ducks which we quickly enclosed in a big area. No more hens picking on her hostas.

Lemon’s terror doesn’t begin and end with barking she also steals.  Kind of like Marley of the famous “Marley and Me”. She will take something and run away with it. She learned early on if she steals something you will give her a treat for its safe return. She trained us well. She steals stuff just to get a treat. She steals all the dogs bowls in the house and collects them in the family room. She steals toys of the kids (when they were little) and she still steals all dog toys so no other dog can play with them. We have resorted to private toy time -where each dog gets private time with a toy. This ensures that no fights will begin.

When we first moved here we put up a dog fence. I thought four feet high would be fine. At that point I had older dogs here and our fence had been the same height at our old home with no breakouts.  We lived here for about 6 weeks before the fence was installed and we had to walk each dog outside on a leash 4-5 times a day to do their business while we waited for the fence company to get started. So you can imagine the pent up energy of five dogs who haven’t run much in weeks! So when that fence was up we released the hounds! Within thirty seconds Lemon was up and over that fence chasing our barn cat she had spotted. The next day my husband had to add a wireless fence around the wood fence and Lemon was given a collar to correct her if she got too close to the fence.  I wondered if it would even work but she is smart and decided getting buzzed wasn’t that great so she stayed back.

Lemon is very loving and maybe a tad over-exuberant to humans. As she has aged she has gotten sweeter and she steals less. It is sweetness on her terms but still sweet. She won’t let you pet her unless she allows it and she doesn’t follow you around much unless you have food. But she loves my son Luke and she sleeps in his room almost nightly. She finally has graduated from having to be crated when we are out to being allowed to lay in the house. She graduated to this at age five (her age now). Rudy graduated to this at age one. There is a big difference in personality. Lemon will still try to open the garbage drawer we had specially made to keep her out. She learned how to open it in a day so we had to put a baby lock on it. She can open our pantry if it’s left ajar just a bit. I’ve come home to remnants of cookie packaging and cracker boxes strewn all about. We rubber band the pantry closed (until we fix the pantry so it closes properly.).

But we have a problem in Lemon land. She loves her fellow dogs generally- she is bossy to them but will exhibit proper playing with them for the most part but then there are the times she doesn’t – she can turn on a dime into a fierce bit*h! And thats when the problems begin … (to be continued..)

Thanks for reading.

IMG_5786