Tag Archives: Blazer

Surprise!

4 Mar

We woke up this morning to about an inch of snow! It’s been well above 40-F for the last few days, so it really didn’t amount to much, other than looking pretty on the trees and grass for a while. It was all gone by noon. Blazer thought it was lovely! The last snow we had was so deep he was buried, but this was just enough to “snovel” around and kick up his heels. Mind you, it’ll be Spring in two weeks, but the weather will do as it pleases.

Speaking of things doing as they please, Local Grandson called to tell us he and his wife are expecting a baby in early October. His mom’s birthday is the 5th, and that was the original due date, but now the doctor says it will probably be a bit later. I reminded him that babies, like the weather, and the economy, will do as they please. Apparently twins run in his wife’s family because he said he kept asking the doctor, “You’re sure there’s only one in there?” So now, we have four great-grandchildren, plus two-thirds and one-third.

Which doesn’t quite add up to a whole baby. Yet.

We’ve gotten two coats of paint on the ceiling, and it really looks good. We also put a coat on the trim.  I think that will look better done in gloss, but at least it has a base coat. I got some samples of green paint, and we sloshed those on the wall to see which one we liked best. The jury is still out on that. We have a lot more of that blasted textured paint to scrape off yet before we can get too involved in that part of the project.

The Structural Engineer recommended putting extra posts under the dormer, and The Squire took care of that Tuesday and Wednesday. Where there were three, there are now seven posts; I feel as if I’m looking through the bars of the Folsom County jail, and the dog has gotten his rope wrapped around them a couple of times, but the SE felt part of the problem with the wall under the window was the extra weight of the second floor, and this certainly ought to relieve that. The good news is that because all we are doing is making repairs and not new construction, we don’t need a permit. Thanks Be To God. This place wouldn’t pass any sort of inspection; there are no footers, and there’s not a square corner or level floor in the entire place.

The Squire had an MRI of his head a few days ago, and he spoke with the GP today. Apparently, he has an effusion of the mastoid on the right side. Haven’t a clue what that means, frankly, but MRI does show a lot of “stuff” on the right side of his head. He has an appointment with the ENT on the 17th, so maybe we’ll get some sort of answers. I told him he needed to look for zebras. If there’s something odd, either The Squire or I will have it.

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We Are Still Here

25 Jan

Eldest daughter is working on finding somebody to plow the drive, and she thinks he can be here tomorrow. Of course, tomorrow is supposed to be around 45 degrees so we may not need him after all.

I tried to slog out to the barn and feed the outside critters – you can smell “fox” all around the house – but I got about two-thirds of the way before I quit, and just tossed the kibble across the snow. The Squire and I have done quite a bit of shoveling, mostly so we can get to the bird feeders, and our time spent at the gym has made that pretty easy.

However.

Walking, plodding, staggering through knee deep snow can be deadly. I honestly didn’t think I was going to get back to the house. The Squire was just getting ready to come look for me when I staggered onto the patio. He said Blazer was barking at the back door, and sounded very concerned. He said he expected to find me face down someplace.

Last night, the dog thought he heard something out back that “needed barking at” so I let him go without the lead. He took one flying leap into the snow, which was about up to his ears, spun around in midair, and raced back to the door. I guess he figured I wasn’t safe out there either, and he ought to let Poppa know.

This photo was lifted from the Baltimore Sun. When the plows get stuck, you’re in big trouble.

Capture

Back when I was still working for Blue Cross, my car pool rider didn’t want to come down Route 7 in the snow, so she dumped me at the shopping center about a mile and a half from the house. I didn’t even have boots. By the grace of God, a friend had stopped at the grocery store for cigarettes on his way home and saw me standing on the median strip, trying not to cry. I’d venture to say that pack of cigarettes saved my life. Thanks, Hugh!

Ironically, Rt. 7 is a state highway and is always plowed, and she would have gotten home herself more quickly if she’d come this way, instead of staying on US 40, which had not been plowed.

 

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Jonas

23 Jan

Well, how many ways can you say “it’s snowing”? It started yesterday around 4PM, and has not slowed down. About midnight last night, with the wind blowing a gale and visibility down to a few feet, some obliviots were racing up and down Rt. 7 on ATVs. Darwin candidates.

We had just a foot of snow when we got up this morning and now (almost 7PM) it is over two feet, with no sign of stopping. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

We did see one lonely squirrel this morning. Heaven knows how he managed to get to the feeder in all this mess.  Mostly, we have had “vultures” – red-winged black birds,

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grackles, starlings… I know they are God’s creatures and need to eat, but Lawsy, they are a pain. They will eat just about everything in sight, including the cheap bird seed we purchase at the grocery for emergencies.

The Squire shoveled a path around the house, from the carport to the front door. Twice. I went out and cleared a “pooping place” for Blazer, as the snow is too deep for him to walk, never mind doing anything else. He made quick work of it this morning, but he has refused to do anything else the rest of the day. Well, he can’t walk around with his legs crossed forever, so I suppose he’ll decide to go eventually. Mind you, with over two feet of snow and blowing between 35 and 50 MPH I can’t exactly blame him.

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It’s a shame he can’t manage the litter box.

How deep is it? Well, the picture of the chair is not mine (I “borrowed” it from Twitter), but that is Eddie, looking out the den window this evening.  7PM and still coming down.

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chair in snow

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Happy New Year!

1 Jan

I worked the 18th and 21th, plus the four days this week, and I think it will take me a week to catch up on my sleep. I get home at 6:00, and the Squire has dinner ready, but if I don’t post this before 7, it shows up as the next day, so it doesn’t get done.

We went to bed around 10:30 last night; I was vaguely aware of noise at midnight, but not the sort of full-scale blowout we used to have before the sheriff moved in across the street. The Squire got up this morning at 7 AM, but I didn’t wander down until 9:30. While I was waiting for the kettle to boil, I went out to feed the squirrels, and The Squire followed me out. He joked that I needed to watch out for the “mad squirrel”; he’d brought out some stale muffins and while he was breaking them up to toss across the yard a squirrel had come over, climbed up his pants leg, and grabbed a hunk of muffin right out of his hand, and ran off with it.

“Oh! Did you already fill the feeders, then?”

Blank look. “I never thought of it.” Sometimes I wonder about that man…

By Wednesday, the dog had gotten used to the fact that I wasn’t home during the day, but he was waiting at the kitchen door every night when I came in. We normally feed him three small meals a day, at the end of the dining room table, and he won’t start eating until we have said grace. This evening, we ate at the computer desk, catching up on things that had been done and left undone during the last week or so. Blazer wandered in with his dish in his mouth, so I went out and fed him, then sat back down at the desk. A few moments later, he was back in the den, without the dish, but pawing at our chairs. Once he’d gotten our attention, he went back out and sat at the end of the table, next to his dish, looking back and forth between us and his food.

The Squire turned around and looked at the dog, then raised his hand in blessing, and said, “Lord bless this food to the dog’s use. Amen”

And Blazer settled down to eat.

 

 

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The Bishop is Coming!

20 Dec

Easier said than done, sometimes. Keep Calm

Yesterday, about a half dozen of us from the Altar Guild met at church in the morning and did as much as we could to make the place look festive for the bishop, and still not break the tradition of not decorating the church before Christmas.

We also made swags to be hung from the sconces and roping for here and there, and laid them outside the back door, in the cool air, ready to put up as soon as the coast was clear.

Blazer didn’t get to go, because one of our members is simply terrified of dogs.  I called home before I left the church, to ask if anything needed to be picked up at the store. Since I was not in the house, when The Squire answered the phone, Blazer came into the den, presumably to see if I was calling him. The Squire turned around and told him, “That was Momma. She’s coming home”, and the poor dog immediately raced to the back door and sat there, expectantly, staring at the doorknob. Silly mutt.

Our Altar Guild chair is not any older than I am, but she has numerous health problems and her husband is very ill. I don’t know how she keeps going, I really don’t. She was running the vacuum cleaner around the altar and had to stop and lean against it to catch her breath, she was wheezing so badly. We finally chased her out of the building with a broom, and she was still too ill to come to church this morning. She did show up after the bishop had left, “ready to work”, she said, but we all agreed that we will meet on Tuesday at 4:30 to do what needs to be done.

She had been training somebody else to take over for her, but that person moved away, so we’re back to square one. I used to be head of the Altar Guild, back in the 80s, but somehow I can’t see M+ offering me the job.

So – Bishop Sutton baptized one adult, and confirmed or received five people, including the aforementioned adult. Not bad for such a small parish. Bishop Sutton is a delight. Fantastic sense of humor, and uses it to make his point. He spoke about the word “Behold”, which is not in any of the new translations of the Bible, nor is it used in Rite II. Either the word “see” is substituted, or the thing is ignored completely. This really diminishes the importance of what is being said. The angel told the shepherds, “Behold! I bring you glad tidings”, which is a lot more impressive than “See, this is what happened in Bethlehem”.

There was a couple in the back of the church who had come for the sake of the one of the confirmands and he, at least, was down-home Baptist. It took him a little while to realize that while Episcopalians do laugh in church (especially when Sutton is the celebrant), we don’t generally shout “Preach it, brother”!

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Where Was I?

15 Dec

The Squire and I held our annual Open House on Sunday, the 13th. We’ve done this every year but one since we got married, and that was after Hurricane Floyd dropped a tree on the house.

The Godson came over on Thursday and Saturday to help swing a dust cloth and then acted as our head chef on Sunday.  I baked like a mad woman, gluten-free stuff first and then my more traditional things. The Godson has been helping us for the last four years, so he knows his way around our kitchen, and doesn’t have to be reminded to keep an eye on the trays and so forth. He’s considering a career in culinary arts, so he really enjoys doing this for us.

In between all this, we had a cookie exchange at church and a Christmas dinner with the Daughters of the British Empire, both on Saturday.

Last night I went up to bed at 9:45 and staggered downstairs at 9:30 this morning.  I not only never got out of my robe, but I also took a nap in the afternoon.  Tired? Not a bit.

The Open House was not quite as well attended as it has been in other years, but it was nice. We had a chance to move around and visit with guests, and the weather was warm enough (70!) that we didn’t light the fire.  Eldest daughter came down, bearing oatmeal cookies and crackers; she uses my recipe, but hers are always so much better, and The Squire seemed to think one box of Wheat Thins was enough for the crowd. Sometimes I wonder about that man.  Both of the local grandchildren and their spouses came down, and brought the Little One, who charmed all the guests with her smiles and curly hair.  Blazer wandered from place to place, looking for a handout or a belly rub. We, of course, never feed him, or pay any attention to him.

Somehow, the conversation turned to unwanted phone calls. I don’t answer calls where the name or number is “not available”. If you’re not available, then neither am I. I also don’t speak to entire cities. If I do answer a call with a number I don’t know, I speak Cherokee. One of the guests is from Tanzania and she laughed. “I use Swahili, and just keep saying “no English, no English”.  We have another lady at church who is from Denmark, and she does same thing. Never use French or German, and Heaven forbid you should try Spanish!

The weather here has been incredibly warm. It was 70 on Sunday, and 72 on Thanksgiving day. The cherry blossoms are starting to bloom in Washington D.C., and our forsythia has little buds along the branches. The Squire was joking about  possibly mowing the lawn on more time.  Well, the weatherman is saying we may have snow flurries on Friday.

They were claiming we’d have a hard winter. When it comes, it should be a doozy.

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Verrry Mysterious

25 Nov

Several nights ago, Blazer became extremely agitated when we he went out with me to feed the “critters”, running back and forth, nose down, snuffling, and muttering under his breath for all he was worth. The next night was when he managed to pull the run out of the tree.

This evening, when I took out the fox food, I couldn’t find the dish. I asked The Squire about it, and he said he couldn’t find it last night, and wondered if I had moved it for some reason.

Now, said food dish is about the size of a dinner plate, and slightly over two inches deep. It is stainless steel, with a non-skid rubber bottom, and it weighed a lot. (I must have thought Blazer was a Great Dane when I purchased it.) Whatever carried it away was not a fox. Back in May (see May 3) we had a mama fox come down to the house in the morning, and she was considerably smaller than the dog. If Blazer couldn’t move that dish, if certainly wasn’t a fox that dragged it off, and I really doubt a raccoon could have moved it either.

Eldest Daughter has a motion activated game camera, and we may borrow it from her, just to see what on Earth is back there.

Oh. You nearly lost your faithful correspondent this evening. While I was looking around for the dish, I went to peer over the end of the stream bank, caught my foot on a branch under the leaves, and sprawled face down, landing far, far too close to the edge of the bank for comfort. I’ll take a picture in the morning and post it here. Too dark now.

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Helping

22 Nov

Yesterday, The Squire and The Godson spent the afternoon raking leaves into piles and hauling most of them to the compost heap.  This afternoon, Blazer and I spent a good fifteen minutes burying ourselves in the pile and scattering them around.

We were much more efficient than they were.

But I’ll tell you, fifteen minutes of racing and chasing is a lot for an old lady. Wore me out.

 

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The Year of the Goat, The Week of the Dog

20 Nov

At the rate we are going, El Destructo is going to tear down the house by the end of the week.

This latest escapade is entirely the fault of the humans around here. Blazer’s run is between two large trees in the back yard. If the tie rope is not on the outside of the trees, it will not allow the pulley to slide along the run. Instead the dog comes to a crashing halt when he gets to the end of the rope. Depending upon his speed, this can result in the dog simply doing a summersault (probably painful), slipping the collar over his head, snapping the hook off the end of the rope, or yanking the run out of the tree.

Wednesday afternoon, whichever of us brought him in did not make sure he was on the proper side of the tree. All we have to do is wave our arm to the left and tell him to “go around”, but that command wasn’t given, and the dog’s not an engineer. When I let him out before bedtime, I couldn’t see in the dark that the rope was around the tree, so he went racing out – something needed barking at – and pulled the run out of the tree, which resulted in the rope (and the pulley) sliding off the end of the run, and Blazer taking off after whatever was crashing through the woods.

A deer, probably. At least, I hope it was only a deer.

A couple of weeks ago I had purchased a strap that attaches to the dog’s collar. It’s about seven inches long, and has an LED light which can be turned to solid red, blinking, or off. It is called Niteize*  and cost about $12 (I had a coupon) and is worth its weight in gold, as I was able to locate the dog immediately by the blinking light. The Rudolph effect.   Reaching him, through the mud and the briars was another story, but I managed to get him back to the house. I left the pulley in the dog dish, on the counter, so there was no way The Squire could claim he didn’t see it.

In addition to selective hearing, I’ve noticed he also suffers from selective vision.

Thursday morning he took the dog for a ramble – Blazer doesn’t go far on an empty stomach. He did repair the run, but managed – heaven only knows how – to break the hook that attaches the rope to the run.    Instead, he tied the rope around a post on the carport.

This morning, all I saw was the rope sprawled across the concrete, and simply hooked up the dog. Well, when you have 75 pounds of pit bull/greyhound mix on a fairly short rope (30 feet), it can be messy. The dog took off at top speed, carport post cracked, and the dog managed to break his collar. He pulled the ring that holds his tags and the hook, out of the collar. He ripped the stitching that holds the ring in place; dog collars are constructed of the same material as seatbelts. We’re talking some sort of force and speed, here, folks. The rope snapped back and got caught in a tree branch, and The Squire came dashing downstairs – barefoot. The “boom” was enough to wake him up, and he thought a tree had fallen on the house.

He went off to the grocery store to get a new collar, but the largest they had was for a twenty-five pound dog, so scratch that. We will have to stop at the pet store again tomorrow and purchase a new, and slightly larger, collar.

And see what other mischief Blazer can get into before the month is out.

 

*Unsolicited testimonial here. These little lights are phenomenal. They come in the strap type, which attaches to the collar, and several sizes of “fobs” for small dogs and cats. The fobs don’t blink, but they are very bright.

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Pushing the Envelope

19 Nov

Back in January, Blazer decided he has enough seniority around here to take over the recliner in the living room. Neither The Squire nor I were exactly delighted with this arrangement, but the chair keeps him off the draughty floor in the winter and close to the a/c in the summer. I got a cover for the chair, which is some help, although the dog much prefers it rumpled into a ball, rather than spread over the back and sides to protect the upholstery.

For as long as we have had him, Blazer has slept outside the bedroom door until I get out of bed, even when I take my afternoon nap. This morning, The Squire glanced up the stairs to see if there was any sign of my floating to the surface, and realized the dog wasn’t in the hallway. When he came up to investigate, he discovered that Blazer has decided to wait for me in the arm chair in the TV room, rather than sleep on the floor!

This did not sit well with The Squire.

Mind you, this is a dog who refuses to eat in the kitchen, and waits until we have said grace before he eats his own meals, but I think he’s about reached the limit.

No matter how hard you push the envelope, it’s still stationary.

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