When The Mom Leaves

Xena: Hey Lucy, don’t you wonder what’s in all these bags that Mommy put under the tree? 

Lucy: Um, now that you mention it, I guess I do. Some of them smell good. Hey Xena, look, Dad left the door to the downstairs open while Mom is gone.

a short while later…

Dad: Lucy, Lucy, Lucy, what are you doing?

Lucy: Amph, s mn, ood. 

Dad: Spit it all out, girl. That’s not whatever you think it is. No, no, don’t chew faster, spit it out!

Dad: Lucy, where’s Xena?

Lucy: (with a foaming mouth) I on’t know.

Another short while later Mom arrives home.

Mom: Xena, what did you do!Xena: Uh, I came down looking for you, Mommy, and, umm, a little piece of something was sticking up, and, and, I thought maybe it was food, er, I mean, I wanted to clean the carpet for you Mommy, and..

back upstairs…What happened to all the pressies? 

This is Lucy and Xena Schnauzer Warrior Princess with only Grodd under the tree.

Nature Friday Walk at the Greenway

Hi Friends. This story for Nature Friday is from a walk we took the first Sunday in December. The days leading up to it were very rainy and dreary, and no one would take us for a good walk. OK, so we got to go for a short neighborhood walk one day, but there was no one else out to say hi! Slowly, the weather started to warm up from the 30’s to the 50’s F (-10’s to 10’s C) and then Sunday the sky was a clear blue with temperatures in the mid 70’sF (24’sC).  Mom helped me with the temperature conversion with a new app she downloaded ’cause her old app disappeared when her old phone got dropped in the t…. Oops, Mom is making the cutting motion across her throat so you can just use your imagination as to why she had to break the bank to get a new phone.

Anyhow, that’s why we finally get to participate again in Nature Friday hosted by  Rosy at LLB in Our Backyard

Mom had been complaining nicely telling Dad that he needed to spend more time with her, so when she asked him to go with us for exercise a nice walk at the greenway, Dad –being the smart man he is — said, “Let’s go!” It’s at the same place as the dog park, so I knew right where we were.  Most of the leaves were off the trees and provided a soft walkway for our feet. The trail smelled so good, like squirrels and other dogs!

The trail ran right along South Chickamauga Creek. The creek is usually small enough to wade across (not that Mom ever has let us do that) but that Sunday — after all the hard rain — it looked more like a river.You can see the creek behind us. It was flowing pretty fast, so we stayed on the trail (mostly). There were ginormous puddles on the trail, too, from last week’s rains, and Mom and Xena kept exploring other ways around the trails while Dad plodded along the edge with me.There were some really beautiful areas — at least from Mom’s perspective. Me and Xena mostly had our noses down.  Xena and Mom were following me and Dad, trying to keep up, and Xena kept pulling on her leash. Me and Dad knew this because we walked to a chorus of “Xena, walk pretty,” and “Xena, walk with me,” and “Xena!!” I told Dad we should just lose them so we didn’t have to listen to it, but he said that wouldn’t be nice,” and “Try to be patient.”

We found an old, abandoned two-room cabin with a tin roof, and Mom sat a spell on one of the big wooden rockers on the porch facing the raging creek. There were only two “rooms” with an outdoors area to cook, all very rugged. The “windows” looked like they had been cut out later with no sign of any way to insert glass or screening, and the only door was gone. Mom had decided to take a picture on our way back by, not knowing we would end up at the end of a loop and not need to retrace our steps. Dad walked around evaluating the structure, trying to figure out when it was built. He found modern nails and things called 2 by 4’s that made him decide it was built probably around 1960 and left to ruin when the previous owner of the land donated it all for the South Chickamauga Greenway.

The temperature had risen by about 10 degrees and Mom and Dad were wearing their jackets tied around their waists as we walked back into civilization at the end of a sock-shaped trail. Can you believe it was in the mid-70’s (20’s C) in December?!

We had walked for over an hour and Xena and I, after getting our paws thoroughly wiped,  were very quiet in the back seat of the car on the way home. As soon as we got out of the car Mom threw Xena in the groom tub and washed the dirt and mud off of her until the water ran clear. Between the exercise and the warmth of the sun, we were all sleepy and and jumped – or fell – into the big bed and took a good afternoon nap.

Love and wiggles, Lucy.

Happy Daddy’s Day

Birthday Boy

Hi. guess what day this is. Oh, I gave it away, didn’t I? I had a great day with my Daddy. He made me scrambled eggs for breakfast.

Wow, were they good. What Dad, do I have something stuck in my beard again? Next, my dad took me to the pet store and let me pick out a new toy.

Aunt Amy said I look like a Scottie in this picture and wondered if I had been hanging around Sophie too much. Uncle Jeff, who knows all about picture taking and stuff, said, no, it was just the angle, that I am still a schnauzer.

I heard I am getting a box of presents in the mail from Aunt Amy and Uncle Jeff, but it won’t be here until tomorrow. That means I can have birthday fun for two whole days. It’s my bedtime now, and I think I will give Mom and Dad the puppy eyes so they will let me sleep with them tonight. After all, it is my birthday! *tail wags*

Never a Dull Moment

My days are rarely dull. Sometimes it is hard work to keep them interesting, but I give it my best shot. Historically, I stay home with Dad on Mondays, and I feel like he needs to use that time to interact with me. You know, leave his office and give me treats, let me out, let me in, feed me, give me treats, etcetera. (I just learned that word, etcetera, and think it is pretty nifty.) Unfortunately, Dad disagrees, and so has been begging politely asking Mom to take me with her on Mondays as well. This Monday I thought he was going to fall on his knees and actually beg. “Please, please take her,” he said. Etcetera. So she did. Staff lunch and meeting are on Mondays. Nobody saved me a chair. So I had to sit on the floor and complain. Arrrrr. Arrrr. Arurrr. Etcetera. Each time a little louder. Finally, Mom asked Philip if he was done with his salad. “That dog’s not going to eat salad,” he said with a bit of incredulity in his voice. “Watch,” said Mom. I ate most of it and licked the rest of the lettuce clean and left it on the floor. I guess Mom felt it fit within the limits of my diet. Speaking of diet, I have lost 1.5 pounds. I can’t feel proud of that, since it was through forced starvation. Etcetera.

That was Monday. Tuesday my peeps brother Andrew and Jentry and the boy and also Riley came over and ate pizza with us. Did I mention Jentry and the boy bought a house and moved out, mostly. Well, mostly because I still see them a lot and some of their stuff is still here. Riley came in and gave me a polite nose to nose touch. I didn’t realize at the time it was his way of saying goodbye. He and Andrew are moving to another state called North Carolina.

Wednesday held even more surprises. Mom helped me into the car to go to work – my hip is worse – and I found myself on a fancy-looking new seat cover. Mom said it is to help me not slide around like I do on the leather. The colors are so bright that they reflect on my hair. It was at this point that she also noticed that I needed a bath. Grrrr. Dad commented that he felt like we now owned a Gremlin. Huh?

So off we go to work – or so I thought. Instead, we pulled into the drive through at the drug store where Mom got medicine and I got a milk bone treat. Mom must have forgotten about my diet since she let me have it. Then it was off to work for real. As soon as we got there, Mom opened the pills she had just bought and gave me one tucked into my wet food that she had so thoughtfully brought along.  The adequin shots haven’t helped yet and I can barely put any weight on my back left leg. She explained that the pill was to help with the pain in my hip. Mom texted Dad to inform him that I wouldn’t be driving today since the instructions on the medicine bottle said it could cause drowsiness and to refrain from driving. Dad answered that I shouldn’t be allowed to operate heavy equipment, either. “No problem,” Mom wrote back. “She never does.” Like she ever lets me drive, BOL! Drowsiness…

When I wasn’t engaging in power naps, I felt much more like my old self and ran around with that joie de vivre that marks my life in general. Zzzzzzz. Etcetera.

Two more surprises awaited me when we got home. Dad bought canned green beans just for me. Some of them along with their juice went on my kibble at dinner tonight. Now that’s a diet! Yum! Then I found out that Riley had been here while Andrew packed all his stuff into a big U-Haul truck. My dear little brother left me a goodbye present.

Can you see it, right there in the ray of sunshine on the carpet in the front room? He knows I used to steal them from him, and this time he gave it to me. Maybe he is a good dog after all. *wipes tear*

OH NO, Mom’s got the comb and I just heard the word bath. Gotta’ go!