Kacey Steals a Valentine Snack

Before I went out for lunch, I walked Kacey and visually checked the kitchen for food that might be in the dog’s reach. She is taller than I thought. After taking photos of the crime scene, I scolded her, and she slunk down on the floor. She had eaten banana nut bread, which would have been David’s breakfast the next day. She dined in style. Along with the bread, she took a red cleaning cloth for her Valentine napkin.

Morning Stretches in the Closet?

It was an odd place to do stretches, but the dog made me do it. This door is in the bedroom, so I could put the stretching strap over the door and close it without going into the hallway. Why avoid the hall? I would wake Kacey up, and she would demand that grandson David take her outside.

I used the stretching strap over the door between John’s office and the bedroom until last week. Because I didn’t want long dog hairs in the bedroom, I kept the doors shut and stayed in the kitchen area with the dog. For two full weeks she was anxious when no human was with her. Then came the day that I needed to use the computer in the bedroom to do scanning. I built a barrier with a large office chair, an exercise ball, and a mirror. Kacey could see me, but she couldn’t figure out how to get through. I’m not going to dismantle that contraption often, so for the time being I shall stretch in the closet.

Strong Winds

High winds buffeted the house for several hours. I saw a heavy wooden rocking chair on the porch going back and forth without a rider. The roaring on the ridge was impressive, loud and menacing. How quickly one forgets! The next morning I wasn’t looking for damage, but I noticed trees had fallen over the first small stream, Park Branch. I’m glad it didn’t change the tune of the stream.

I smiled when a shiny object on a nearby lawn turned out to be a gazing ball. Normally I see it on its stand near the house, but the wind played with it before rolling it down the hill. It was still fulfilling its function of reflecting sky and objects around it. By then I was looking for wind damage and was slightly disappointed to find none. What was I thinking?? I had to change my attitude to one of thankfulness for very little damage.

Meanwhile, David was walking Kacey at our house. The brake inside the leash broke the day before, and with one strong tug, Kacey caused the whole handle to explode, cutting David’s hand. David is going to get a more expensive one today. Sometimes it doesn’t save money when this miser buys the cheapest item.

Exploded leash

One-a-Day

One-a-Day sounds like a multi-vitamin pill. I’m talking gardening, not supplementing my diet, though gardening could be hard to swallow for a novice. When neighbor Joyce loaned me some of her home gardening books, I learned that there are a number of shrubs that need to be pruned in February. All these years, I’ve wasted the month dreaming of snow, certainly not going out in the garden to trim bushes. Today the thermometer outdid itself, showing 59 F (15C) well before noon. That kind of warmth could not be ignored.

I began my one-a-day plan of trimming a single plant. Knowing I had to use both hands, I took David’s suggestion of nudging Kacey toward her large bone on the porch. She accepted that I wasn’t going back to one-handed gardening and whined occasionally to remind me she would prefer to be getting in the way.

Beginning near the fence between me and the horses, I cut a crepe myrtle, leaving a foot of dry sticks for the plant to dream with. It has had eight years to dream of becoming a tree, but I have kept it from chasing the Wicked Wisteria. So far, so good. We’ll see if snow will get the forecaster’s memo this weekend.

Raking with one Hand

David didn’t have a chance to put the stake for Kacey near the garden, but I had the irresistible urge to get outside and do something useful on a very warm winter day. Using a child’s rake to clear the iris bed seemed reasonable. The bed could have used a heavier hand, but I did what I could while holding the leash. The dog seemed content to watch. It wasn’t until I finished that I found she had tangled the leash in an over-grown bush and couldn’t move. Kudos to her for waiting patiently.

Since raking went fairly well, I came inside for the coffee grounds. We’ve had a resident skunk digging in the front yard, looking for grubs. I read that coffee grounds were not to their liking. I don’t think coffee is much of a deterrent, but it saves us having to take the stuff to the dump. Kacey sniffed every spoonful, making sure there wasn’t a tidbit hidden in there for her.

The temperature continued to go up as the sun reached the middle of the sky. Despite the warmth being one degree below my usual cutoff point, I ate lunch on the porch. It wasn’t quite like summertime. I ate hot clam chowder and wore a heavy sweater. It was not a meal to linger over with good company.

One-handed Gardening

This was my first time to try one-handed gardening. There was nothing physically wrong with me, but I didn’t have the heart to leave a dancing dog inside. As soon as I went near the back door, Kacey began jumping and trying to stand on her hind legs, her usual routine when she wants to go outside. The occasion was a happy one – removing screens that had covered the areas where daughter Lise and brother Bob planted tulip bulbs she bought in the Amsterdam airport. There were several tiny bits of green pushing through the dirt, and I knew I had to remove the protective screens before the first shoots were stunted.

Kacey would go as far as the leash would reach without jerking me off my feet. I was able to move the anchoring stones and the screens with one hand. She went back in the house while I moved the scratchy things into the garage. David plans to put a heavy stake that screws in the ground near the garden so that she will have some freedom when I begin pruning things in February. I’ll admit that gardening is not my favorite pastime, but having doggy company might make it more fun.

David Helps a Horse

When grandson David takes Kacey outside, he generally walks around our property several times. This morning he saw Vixen, a horse in the pasture behind our house, caught in barbed wire. He couldn’t see any way to free her, so he called me on the phone. You might guess, my first thought was to get a photo. He sent it to me, and I shared it with neighbor Joyce., whose property also borders the pasture. I couldn’t see the wires until I put it on the computer screen after the crisis had passed.

While waiting, David took a second shot. Joyce enjoys those horses as much as we do, but she had no contact to call. David said Vixen had one foot on our land.

David called an anonymous neighbor who came right over. He grew up on a farm and is comfortable around big animals. “Anon” persuaded Vixen to back up so that he could untangle the wires. Soon she was free and went to the shed on the hill where she could get hay to eat. “Anon” continued working with the barbed wire, getting it off the ground and reconnected to the rickety gate. His face has been blurred in the photo. He observed that Vixen might have been there for hours, judging by the amount of manure on the ground. We were all relieved that the horse was finally free.

Kasey and the Golf Cart

Neighbor Shawn sat on the porch with grandson David and me. She petted Kasey and spoke words of love to her. The dog lapped it up, of course.

Neighbor Bob drove over in his golf cart, unsettling the dog. David took her toward the cart, but she was very skittish. Finally, when both David and Bob were sitting in the cart, Kacey was willing to approach it.

I liked the video of the neighbors dispersing.

Before going home, Bob gave Kasey a nice run in our yard. The leash is 16 feet long, so you can see that she happily kept up with the cart and was never dragged along.