Sunday, October 28, 2012

past dog visits

Literature Blogs

When I was a young'un, my little brother and I rode our ponies all over the world. Since there were no cell phones or GPS, our adults never knew exactly where we were. We'd just leave a note on the kitchen table and head out....sometimes things came up and we changed directions and there was basically no way anyone would know (raspberries ripe!?!@? Let's GO!!) There were times when mom would call around the neighborhood and some lady would see us riding by. Either she would yell out the door, or call the next woman on the party line to give us a holler cause our mom wanted us for some reason (prolly in trouble related to the non-accomplishment of one chore or another)

On many of these adventures, a little golden standard Pomeranian would tag along. His name was Sparky, and if he got tired, he would put his paws on my (or my brother's) foot and bum a ride on the pony, with a hike from us and his collar. Then he would scurry around back and stand on the pony's rump with his legs acting like shock absorbers, no matter how fast or rough the horse ran.

Being a farm dog, back in the day was a rough life, full of huge animals, loud machines, poor food and basically no medical attention, but there was a freedom in it that today's pets will never know. That freedom came at a high price and for Sparky, it came with a calamitous but quick end. He was one of many in a long line of hard living dogs that passed beneath our stroking hands, but he was much missed and long remembered.

This week, Sparky's reincarnation arrived at my home in Indianapolis, complete with sex change. We're calling "him" a variety of Sparky derivatives--Spunky, Sprocket, Sparkles, plus Missy and Foxy. Nothing seems to get a response, but she is very affectionate and submissive (although playful) with the other dogs. Took her to the vet's. She's intact and chipless. In some ways, she's also clueless--such as, taking food off my plate as though it belongs to no one...not coming when called, heading straight for Rural St. when she escapes the house. That being said, she's pretty smart....figured out going to the back yard whenever the pack heads out. Has staked out the pillow area of the big bed, so she doesn't get stepped on or rolled over in the snooz-a-thon melee. She also is submissive with the tomcat although Precious still swats her daily for random irritations.

She has glued herself to my side, even though I'm not convinced she should live here. I'm sure she'd have a home the first day on the HSI show room floor. Although Gretchen and she play very nicely and Spark-ette can run circles around her, I still worry. One snap from Gretchen and this small dog would not need a vet. She's a brain oriented dog, not a heart oriented dog. She'd do great at agility if I knew enough to train her. And she's cute as heck. Hubs is all for keeping her, but I feel like she should belong to my younger brother and his kids. Think I'll give him a call.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Over the weekend I went to an Angora Specialty rabbit show in OHio, almost to West Virginia.

But REALLY people, When a man who knows your are going to a bunny show gives you $300 and says have a good time--he should expect you to come back with more bunnies than you had before, should he not? Why act so surprised?

(Rant warning) Blew out a rear tire at 70 mph. Got a tow truck and took me to Wal-Mart. They refused to put an identical tire on my vehicle because of a sticker on the door stated another size tire.....Uhm, these are not original rims. They offered to sell me 4 of the stated size....uhm, these are not original rims. Even called the customer service boss and asked if I could sign some waver--NO YOU CANNOT. So I was towed, possibly over the boarder to West Virginia to a shop that wasn't open, for a really nice guy to come open up and put on a tire for me in the middle of his Saturday morning and only charged me $60 for a used tire that was in better shape than the three on my truck right now...support your local service people...(end of rant)

I got to meet a few people from FaceBook, which was nice. I did buy Lisa's two girl bunnies... they'd already been shown and the one I liked straight away had placed first and the other a fifth, but watching the showing let me know that doesn't mean a hoot, really. (Sorry to the show folks, but you know an 8 week old rabbit will grow into some "perfection standards" and out of others).

I'm thinking of calling them Tabouli and Tahini. I don't know my colors well enough to tell what they are. The paperwork says chocolate aguti for both, but one is a bit tan and the other a bit grey/brown in the under coat. They are little things, under all that fluff, only 8 weeks old. I have them in quarantine in my kitchen pantry. They seem pretty well adapted to rabbit life. What more can you want? They seem about like 8 year-old human girls, sort of giggly and full of questions, all legs and pigtails. Very curious about the world and not afraid of dogs. 

Lisa had never brushed them, to see how mat-prone their wool would be. Tahini had a few more mats, but they were based in veg. matter and pulled apart by finger and comb, no scissors needed. They were starting to shed and the amount of the comb-out was pretty impressive. Since they'd never been brushed, I was very happy with how well they sat still. Even though they weren't happy with being flipped, no blood was drawn.

Hubs is beginning to be resigned to my "new hobby", but really, I think I've shown remarkable restraint....In over a year, I've only gone from 3 rabbits to 6 (now 8), and kept them all on half of the back porch....hasn't he seen my Rabbit Palace floor plan?  He's got to know there's an explosion in the making, right?