Can one live a simple life if one is not given to making the occasional walk rather than drive to the mailboxes? I think not! Thankfully, cooler weather is making its way to south Texas and walking can become a consideration once more. Assuming you stick to early morning, at least for now. I made a trek to the mailboxes myself a bit ago. I can hear the cardio doc applauding in my head...can you hear it?
There is not a lot going on in our village this time of day. People are working, kids are schooling...not much to see but a plethora of dogs. We are, by all visible and auditory evidence, a village of dog lovers. In our home alone we are out numbered two to one.
I avoided any hullabaloo from my own canines by exiting out the front door. This is my writing time of day so they are sequestered in their respective doggy yard and/or puppy daycare for the duration. I made a clean get-away. Of course, half way down the driveway, our neighbor's penned canines started alerting their cronies I was on the move. And so it began...
Though we reside in the country, it is still a country neighborhood, and the 1/2 mile trek to the mailboxes passes yards and fences of many a neighboring dog; all of which were compelled to extol their (assumed) joy at my passing by. My first sighting of a live person was almost at the top of the hill to the main road (huff, puff) and he was kind enough to call his rather large and loud canine friend to his side as I passed by their open gate. We are not supposed to have free roaming animals in the village but try telling that to the dogs, they do not care. We waved a cheery 'hello', mine full of gratitude, his in acknowledgment.
Finally at the mailboxes, I deposited my envelop, my mission complete. We have a friendly man in the village that lives across from the mailboxes and he greeted me as he waited for his 'bus' that takes him to the Senior Center for his daily visits. He's a little 'slow' but always waves, you have to love that. The mailbox corral was being thoroughly investigated by a teen-aged pup that looked like a chocolate lab mix with beautiful green eyes. He was eager to make my acquaintance and sniffed me accordingly. I was found suitable, in spite of the lingering smell of our dogs...or maybe because of the lingering smell of our dogs...and the pup proceeded to walk me home. In spite of my many efforts to shoo him away, he would not be deterred. At one point along the road, he wandered in an open gate and I hoped he would be intrigued long enough for me to get out of sight and mind but, as soon as I thought I had made my escape, he came galloping up behind me.
We were approaching the driveway of my friend, Mina; I hoped she was home, so I could duck into her house for a bit, long enough for a some girl talk and for the pup to forget all about me. Alas, she was not home. Admittedly, although I do not believe in 'drop-in' company, I was hoping to rest at her house because ...well, her house was closer than mine!
Additional efforts to shoo away the pup proved just as fruitless as the first and he rankled the vocal chords of every dog between the mailboxes and my driveway. I knew he would be most unwelcome by our hounds and they picked up on him without even seeing him. Thus began the mournful howl that inspired my term of endearment, 'the hounds', in the first place.
Curiously enough, it was the fearful dashing of kittens that scared him as he approached the steps to our front deck. These are the progeny of the feral cat that graces us with her presence...as long as we do not try to get too close. It amused me that this obviously delightful and enthusiastic pup was deterred, not by any of the barking or shooing, by two little kittens running as if their tails were on fire. So much for loyalty!
Showing posts with label Puppy Love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Puppy Love. Show all posts
Friday, October 1, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Day 43 - **SIGH**
Sometimes in my quest for the Simple Life I feel I am making leaps and bounds....not so today. It feels more like two steps forward and three steps back. If you recall, a few days ago I was excited about my new found realization about breakfast with Nina, the puppy. I made the adjustments needed to accomodate her need to see me as she eats and made it work for me in a positive way. That was a good thing.
Then last night I had to go out and by pet food. We have four indoor dogs and nine outside feral cats (three adults and six food-eating sized kittens, none of which we can touch)...that's a lot of pet food! I called my Honey while I was at the store to see if we needed more doggy treats. We have them trained to go to bed (their kennels) at 8pm and we give each a treat when they happily rush to the bed. Here's the thing....the four dogs each get a different treat based on their size, age and preference. Chelsie gets the large, hard doggie cookies. She loves them, the little ones struggle with those. Pan Dulce gets the meat flavored little bone-shaped biscuits. Nikos prefers the marrow-filled treats and the baby, Nina gets the softer chicken flavored strips we use in training. Four different treat varieties. Then there is the actual dog food. Until we weighted Nikos last week, all of the older dogs ate the same food. Nikos is a little too heavy, so we have now put him on a diet, he gets the Healthy Weight version. The puppy Nina is still on the super-duper nutritional puppy food. The cats all get the same food we now have to buy in the extra large bag. They do not get treats. As I loaded all this into my cart, the big picture started to emerge.
Then came this mornings feeding time. Pre-kennel release, I prepared Nina's puppy food dish in her room and set Nikos' new weight control food in a dish in his new eating area apart form the others. This required the arrangement of baby gates for separation and blocking in. EGAD! For all my cleverness in the new arrangements, I totally freaked the dogs out because they usually rush from their indoor kennels out to potty. I had blocked them in with the gates! So much for planning ahead. They were confused and bounced all over the place. If it were not so annoying, it might have been amusing but dogs and Mommy alike were starting to feel a little stressed.
Finally got everyone where they were supposed to be and sat down to have my breakfast with Nina again. She did not want to eat. Fine! I finished my food and headed back to the kitchen where Nikos was sequestered with his new food. He did not want to eat either, this was just too new and unnerving for him. FINE!! To no surprise, Chelsie and Pan Dulce were on a food strike as well. FINE!! Mommy does not seem to be handling this as well as she perhaps could.
On to feed the cats. I take a large container of food out for the crowd and the kittens dash about as if I was Jack the Kitty Ripper...this is an everyday - twice a day - event, you might think they would get used to the person that supplies their every need, but NOOOO, they run like their tails were on fire. Run, you little ingrates, run!! I didn't want to pet you anyway! Who needs your love? Not me!.....That's a total lie, I want to love on them so badly my finger ache!
Nothing 'simple' about any of this. I realize we are to blame for this situation and it will be up to us...and when I say 'us' I know it means 'me'...to straighten it out. Pets are supposed to enhance and enrich our lives, not make them crazy. Our pets are animals tho we treat them as if they were four-legged kids. All we require from them is unconditional love and simple obedience. The love they freely give, the obedience we had to work on.
I will give some thought to finding a better, more streamline system to give each one that which bests suits their needs but not right now. For now, I am focusing on regaining a sense of calm, order and clear-mindedness. All the baby gates are down but the one that keeps Nina in the house while allowing the others access to the doggy door. The buzzer just went off reminding me it is time to hang a load of clothes out on the line. That's good for soothing the savage beast within. It also helps remind me that I am, indeed, making a little progress in living the simple life on Hacienda Hill. Today, I need every bit of encouragement I can scrape up.**sigh**
Then last night I had to go out and by pet food. We have four indoor dogs and nine outside feral cats (three adults and six food-eating sized kittens, none of which we can touch)...that's a lot of pet food! I called my Honey while I was at the store to see if we needed more doggy treats. We have them trained to go to bed (their kennels) at 8pm and we give each a treat when they happily rush to the bed. Here's the thing....the four dogs each get a different treat based on their size, age and preference. Chelsie gets the large, hard doggie cookies. She loves them, the little ones struggle with those. Pan Dulce gets the meat flavored little bone-shaped biscuits. Nikos prefers the marrow-filled treats and the baby, Nina gets the softer chicken flavored strips we use in training. Four different treat varieties. Then there is the actual dog food. Until we weighted Nikos last week, all of the older dogs ate the same food. Nikos is a little too heavy, so we have now put him on a diet, he gets the Healthy Weight version. The puppy Nina is still on the super-duper nutritional puppy food. The cats all get the same food we now have to buy in the extra large bag. They do not get treats. As I loaded all this into my cart, the big picture started to emerge.
Then came this mornings feeding time. Pre-kennel release, I prepared Nina's puppy food dish in her room and set Nikos' new weight control food in a dish in his new eating area apart form the others. This required the arrangement of baby gates for separation and blocking in. EGAD! For all my cleverness in the new arrangements, I totally freaked the dogs out because they usually rush from their indoor kennels out to potty. I had blocked them in with the gates! So much for planning ahead. They were confused and bounced all over the place. If it were not so annoying, it might have been amusing but dogs and Mommy alike were starting to feel a little stressed.
Finally got everyone where they were supposed to be and sat down to have my breakfast with Nina again. She did not want to eat. Fine! I finished my food and headed back to the kitchen where Nikos was sequestered with his new food. He did not want to eat either, this was just too new and unnerving for him. FINE!! To no surprise, Chelsie and Pan Dulce were on a food strike as well. FINE!! Mommy does not seem to be handling this as well as she perhaps could.
On to feed the cats. I take a large container of food out for the crowd and the kittens dash about as if I was Jack the Kitty Ripper...this is an everyday - twice a day - event, you might think they would get used to the person that supplies their every need, but NOOOO, they run like their tails were on fire. Run, you little ingrates, run!! I didn't want to pet you anyway! Who needs your love? Not me!.....That's a total lie, I want to love on them so badly my finger ache!
Nothing 'simple' about any of this. I realize we are to blame for this situation and it will be up to us...and when I say 'us' I know it means 'me'...to straighten it out. Pets are supposed to enhance and enrich our lives, not make them crazy. Our pets are animals tho we treat them as if they were four-legged kids. All we require from them is unconditional love and simple obedience. The love they freely give, the obedience we had to work on.
I will give some thought to finding a better, more streamline system to give each one that which bests suits their needs but not right now. For now, I am focusing on regaining a sense of calm, order and clear-mindedness. All the baby gates are down but the one that keeps Nina in the house while allowing the others access to the doggy door. The buzzer just went off reminding me it is time to hang a load of clothes out on the line. That's good for soothing the savage beast within. It also helps remind me that I am, indeed, making a little progress in living the simple life on Hacienda Hill. Today, I need every bit of encouragement I can scrape up.**sigh**
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Day 41 - It's the Little Things
I had an exciting moment this morning when I realized I had incorporated a 'Simple Life' principle into my life without having to even think about it. That means my mind and subconscious are actually absorbing and utilizing the Simple Life mentality on its own....this is a good thing!
This came about in the care and nurturing of our new puppy, Nina. All of our canine critters have their own 'kennel' in which they sleep. Usually, my morning starts well before theirs, so I have to stop writing to let them all out when they wake up and announce it is time. Since baby Nina struggles with abandonment issues as a result of her orphan time alone in the wilderness, I have been sitting with her as she eats every morning. She has to see me. Typically, I have not been so excited about this because my mind is on my unattended work waiting at the computer.
This morning, like every morning, I prepared her food and water before letting her out. I also filled a coffee cup and prepared a bowl of hot steel-cut oats I had cooked overnight and took them into her 'room' prior to releasing the hounds. Nina and I had breakfast together! This turned a frustration into a time of enjoyment. She was happy and I was happy rather than frustrated. A win-win deal.
As I sat with bowl and coffee cup in hand watching her eat, I marveled at the changes in her little body. You can still see a faint outline of her ribs as she breathes but her hips joints are no longer protruding and she has blossomed into a content little girl puppy where she was once scared, starved and confused.
My quest for a simple life where I control my environment rather than it controlling me also means taking the time to enjoy simple pleasures, like breakfast with a puppy, over the demands of a self-imposed work schedule. I did not plan it, it just evolved on its own but it filled me with excitement to realize what had happened. Yes, I know...I amuse easily but isn't that also a giant step forward in living a simple life on Hacienda Hill? I hope so!
This came about in the care and nurturing of our new puppy, Nina. All of our canine critters have their own 'kennel' in which they sleep. Usually, my morning starts well before theirs, so I have to stop writing to let them all out when they wake up and announce it is time. Since baby Nina struggles with abandonment issues as a result of her orphan time alone in the wilderness, I have been sitting with her as she eats every morning. She has to see me. Typically, I have not been so excited about this because my mind is on my unattended work waiting at the computer.
This morning, like every morning, I prepared her food and water before letting her out. I also filled a coffee cup and prepared a bowl of hot steel-cut oats I had cooked overnight and took them into her 'room' prior to releasing the hounds. Nina and I had breakfast together! This turned a frustration into a time of enjoyment. She was happy and I was happy rather than frustrated. A win-win deal.
As I sat with bowl and coffee cup in hand watching her eat, I marveled at the changes in her little body. You can still see a faint outline of her ribs as she breathes but her hips joints are no longer protruding and she has blossomed into a content little girl puppy where she was once scared, starved and confused.
My quest for a simple life where I control my environment rather than it controlling me also means taking the time to enjoy simple pleasures, like breakfast with a puppy, over the demands of a self-imposed work schedule. I did not plan it, it just evolved on its own but it filled me with excitement to realize what had happened. Yes, I know...I amuse easily but isn't that also a giant step forward in living a simple life on Hacienda Hill? I hope so!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)