liza thinks

What a difference a little light makes

I am so pleased with the low voltage lightingI installed the other day. I just fed the dogs in the pitch dark only it wasn't. I could see what I was doing, didn't trip on anythingor step in anything. Very civilized. Now, if I could just figure out why Gander is barkinghis fool head off, I'd be a happy camper indeed.

A Job Well Done

For MONTHS I have been wanting to go out and fix my low-voltage light system in the backyard. Last year, I tripped out there and broke my toe (it still hurts several times a week). Since then, the system was working but several bulbs burned out and it has just been more and more of an annoyance. Yesterday, I went out to do a bunch of dogrelated chores. Clean the runs, put down pine shavings in the runs and doghouses, get rid of Rosie's stinky old bed that was waterlogged and wet, and fix the low voltage lights. What a treat! The dogs were so happy last night -- no barking! They were warm and snuggly in their pine filled doghouses. And, I knew that when I went out to feed them I could see what I was doing. What a relief! I came in wet, cold, and tired but filled with satisfaction. I changed into my new jammies, curled up in my favorite readingchair with a good book (Red Lily by Nora Roberts) under my new down throw, and I read for hours. I even made Mr Wonderful get the kids and himself dinner! Wheee!

Add in that I took a 1 mile walk yesterday and I slept like a baby sure in the knowledge that I'd done good work yesterday.

Today, I tackle the messy hellhole that I call a bedroom. Imag ine how well I'll sleep tonight! Yeeee-haw!

-llm.

Bad morning. . .

Not having a good morning. Woke up with a bad headache (went to bed with it too) and feeling sick to my stomach -- too much time near a now sick child? I know that M went home on Wednesday with a bad headache. Lovely. My classroom is NOT ready for me to be out sick so I have to try and get thruogh it. Darn. Also, Gander had a seizure this morning. Went to get the dogs up and at 'em this morning and he couldn't get out of his crate. So sad. He wasn't howling, thank goodness. But, he was in his crate, rigid, scared, drooling. I just put Rose out and then sat and petted him and told him it would be okay and wiped his chin. He seemed calmer when I was there and after a few minutes, he was able to walk again. Poor guy. I sure do hate this.

I know what Mr Wonderfulwill tell me. That we can't deal with this and that he needs to be in a different home. He's right -- I know that but it feels like such a failure to let go of him. I need to just do it though. Poor guy. He shouldn't be out in the cold all day now. This whole being a grownup thing is rough.

Well, hopefully, my coffee will sit well. I've got to get through the morning at least -- I can cancel Math Club and come home and go to bed if I need to. Heck, I can just read in bed and get caught up on my schoolwork that way.

-llm., wondering what this world has come to that I'm wishingI were sick!

You really do . . .

. . . learn somethingnew everyday. And, now you can learn it too. [Click!]

Yes, our little bunny friend is doinggreat. She got out again -- naughty bunny. She REALLY wants to run loose in the yard. Again, she was easy to corral again.

All the animals were hot today so they all got misted which they mostly enjoyed. Rosie is sheddingwildly. I took the sheddingblade to her and I think I can build a new animal with the fur in the yard. Amazing.

Otherwise, I worked for Mr Wonderful all day today. 9 hours. Time I can ill afford to give up but it needed doing.

Now, I'm off to play Toontown for awhile! Wheeeeeee!

Reward for work well done.

Poor Rosie!

Poor old girl. She hasn't been in the house much lately because we discovered she'd been peeing in the hallway -- we're still working to get the stench out of the carpet. So, when we're not able to watch her carefully, she's outside at night. Last night, Mr Wonderful and I were playingToontown late. We heard her bark in the backyard and then we smelled it. Skunk. Poor girl got sprayed. So, needless to say, she slept in the yard. It's still smelly back there today. I'm off shortly to get the ing redients for the De-Skunk Solution so she can be allowed near us again. Poor thing. Life in the country!

In other news, we got a TON of work done in the backyard on our storage shed. The foundation is in and the first layer of gravel is too. Hurrah! We celebrated by taking the kids over to R&J's for a cool down swim. Very nice!

Today is about work. I've got so much to do -- after I bathe an old stinky dog, that is!

The Story of Hopper and

The Story of Hopper and the Birthday Cake

When I was younger, before I had children, I was actively showing dogs
in conformation shows (beauty pageants for the uninitiated). Our big
show for Labradors -- my breed -- usually fell on the weekend after my
birthday. This particular year, my mother-in-law made my favorite cake
. . . chocolate rum cake. It's a decadant and yummy bundt cake with
icingdrizzled over the top that is made from rum and sugar. The cake
is delish and gives you a nice warm feeling from all the rum. Well,
she sent the leftover cake home with me and I planned to take it to the
dogshow. Now, dog shows are early affairs. I typically get the car
loaded and packed the night before and lay out my clothes so all I have
to do -- in the pre-dawn dark -- is get dressed and load my dogs in the
car. I did leave the cake on the kitchen counter this time to carry
out as well.

Hopper was a beautiful black Labrador who was rescued from the pound
and came to live with me to keep my obnoxious young male company. It
worked beautifully except that Hopper was about five years old and had
no house manners at all (ie. she wasn't house broken and didn't
understand about keepingoff the furniture -- you know, like the dining
room table! She got her name when I watched her "hop" right up there
for a quick peek out the window). She tried to be good but didn't
always manage it.

So, it shouldn't have come as a great surprise when I crept out to the
kitchen to load up my cake and hit the road that things in the kitchen
were not as they should be. Near as I can tell, Hopper dumped the cake
on the ground and ate it . . . all of it. Then, she -- evidently
feeling the rum a bit -- knocked several other items down off the
counter including the glass butter dish. There wasn't a smidge of
butter left on the shards of glass which gave me the willies. Then, in
a fit of overindulgence in both boozey cake and butter, she peed on the
kitchen floor (she was quite well housebroken by this time in her life,
mind you). So, that's the scene that greets me . . . chocolate cake
and glass shards in a pool of dog pee on my kitchen floor as I'm trying
to sneak out of the house at 4:30 am. Lovely. And, I just couldn't
leave it for my husband to find as he loves the dogs and loves me and
indulges me by letting me have so many so I had to stop -- dressed in a
nice dress, hose, and full makeup -- and clean up this gawdawful mess.

The only thing I wish was that I could have seen the hangover that must
have followed. Wretched girl.

Hopper has been gone for 2 years now and she was the best dog I've ever
had -- so far :) I miss her dreadfully -- even though this wasn't the
ONLY time she trashed my house. But that's a story for another time
and at least, poor dear, she wasn't the one intoxicated in that one.