Conversation with Rainy

Me: What's this sticky outy thing on the side of your face?

Rainy: Scritch mah nose lady!

Me: Oh it's fur and skin hanging off your face! You are 10 years old! What the hell are you doing? How are you shredding the flesh on your cheek? You need to be more careful and act your age!

Rainy: Where are da cookies?


 

Daily Post: Superpower

I only have interest in one superpower. Imagine what I could do with the ability to eradicate stupid from this world. Someone who could do this would never be bored! That's a lifetime of work. At least once a day I'm shaking my head at the stupid that surrounds me. Within the past week I have had 9 separate interactions with the Delaware Unemployment Office. I cannot even begin to describe that level of stupid. Why are logic and common sense to hard to find these days?

This must be why I get along much better with animals. Even the girls think that stupid is exhausting.



 

No No Bad Dog?

I used to get so upset at the thought that any dog was yelled at enough that they thought their name was No, No, Bad Dog. What kind of life is that? Dog should be nurtured and loved. If they are doing something that wrong, the human has an issue, not the dog! Why are humans so awful to other creatures? This really bothered me.

Then I brought home Sunshine. This dog lives to get into trouble. She will tip toe up to you steal a flip flop out from under your nose, and tip toe away without you even noticing. She's like a little 4 legged ninja! You can holler at her and all she does is blink at you. She is not put on this earth to be a good perfect dog.

It took me a long time to finally realize why she was brought into my life. Sunshine was brought into my life to teach me all about a shy dog. To totally debunk the whole dominance theory that was still rattling in the back of my head. To make me a better advocate at the Vet's office. She made sure that I didn't sweat the small stuff. Learned to laugh at the disasters that don't really matter in the long run.  Houses were meant to be redecorated with stuffy fluff. Flip flops, hats, and used wash clothes taste really yummy and help with itchy teeth. A few holes eaten in the wall can just be spackled and sanded. I learned how to clean up corn oil off the kitchen floor along with the rest of the trash can contents. Did you know that fish food is irresistible?

One of my favorite memories is when BF caught her eating his slippers. He yelled at her, took them away from her, and banished Sunshine to the bedroom. I was reading in the bedroom. I watched while she walked in with him following her to make sure she got to the bedroom. Then he turned to stalk back out in a huff. Sunshine proceeded to tip toe follow him. I have never seen a dog tip toe before and I may have peed a little trying to only silently laugh... BF turned around to make sure she was staying in the room and Sunshine instantly froze with a paw midair. He corrected her again and sent her to her bed on the other side of the room. Turned to walk out and the exact same thing happened. By this time I was howling with laughter and he couldn't keep a straight face anymore.

Then there was the first time I left Sunshine at a close friend's house for the weekend. She's a shy nervous dog so we weren't really sure how it was going to go. It was a house where she had visited often and she was comfy with the people there. We expected her to be a little stressed. Well no one yelled at her the entire weekend, they just laughed at her and that egged her on. I gather that it all started when she cried a little in her crate at night. She was immediately let out of the crate and it all was party time from there! She started out by stealing tissue boxes and escalated, to jumping up and knocking the breath out of people, to stealing toilet paper, and jumping on top of dressers! She didn't stop running around the entire weekend. Oh the naughtiness!

It's amazing how time and experience changes your thoughts and opinions. Sunshine embraces the No, No, Bad Dog title. She's quite proud of it. I now have this proudly displayed on my minivan

Jetpack testing...

Trying to use a new auto posting tool. Testing 1 2 3...

Daily Post: One Question

Another one from the Daily Post. If you had to come up with one question, the answer to which would determine whether or not you could be friends with a person you've just met, what would it be? What would the right answer be?

This is an easy one today! It hold true for any type of relationship. "Do you hate my dogs?" I'm okay if you're not in love with them, but you need to at least tolerate them in my life. This is probably the time to note that I have very well behaved dogs. When we have visitors over they basically greet, get their pets, and go sleep for a few hours on their ridiculously expensive dog beds.

Rainy reads people really well. If you ignore her, she ignores you right back. If you baby talk to her she rushes up for a perfect pet lover greeting. If you are terrified of dogs, especially big dogs, she will ignore you. People who are scared of dogs generally stand there for 20 minutes while we talk, then they get brave enough to just risk a teeny touch with a single finger. Rainy will stand stock still and not startle them at all. She's such a wise pupper!

The second question would be "Do my dogs like you?" Sunshine is not fond of strangers. She generally tried to avoid them at all costs. She only ever gone after one person in all her years with me. The person stopped behind me to talk to third person and Sunshine was not having it. I have no idea why this one person triggered this reaction, but to this day I don't trust that person and try to avoid them. I have no problem listening to what my dogs are telling me. Of course over the recent years there have been some stories that have surfaced that makes me not too fond of this person, but Sunshine knew first.

Sunshine's communication works the other way too. Back when the current BF was a brand new stranger, we were sitting at a picnic table at a park talking. Sunshine went to his side of the picnic table and laid down! Usually she would stand and hover behind me to be invisible. Now this didn't mean she instantly loved him, she was just making sure I knew he was a good egg.

Both girls made him work really hard to be accepted into our family. That was not expected from Rainy. I think back and laugh about the time Rainy started barking at BF when he got up to read a poem that was hanging on the wall. I was in the bathroom and the poem was across the hall from the door. This dog won't even bark at a doorbell or knock at the door! Anytime BF would ask Rainy to do something, she would slowly blink at him, then roll her eyes to where I was. She would make eye contact in a clear communication of "Do I have to listen to this guy?"  Sunshine wouldn't let him touch her for many months. I still don't know how he got her collared and leashed up that day he decided to take them out for their potty walk. I asked about it and all I was told was "It wasn't easy."



 

 

Daily Post: Flash Talk

The below topic is compliments of the Daily Post.

You're about to enter a room full of strangers, where you will have exactly four minutes to tell a story that would convey who you really are. What's your story?

The safe version of this talk would be my elevator pitch. I've had this memorized for 6 months now. "Hello I'm Jessica. I'm the most flexible and adaptable employee you will ever encounter. I was with my last company for 9 years. Started out in Customer Service, quickly moved to Underwriting. Then to Operations Management and was tasked with setting up a mirror sister company. I then moved into a Compliance role. I would love to discuss how my skills will benefit your company." So far this elevator pitch hasn't brought much luck!

If I were to write a painfully honest elevator pitch it would look a bit different. "Hello I'm Jessica. I'm going through an early midlife crisis. I'm a worrier, a planner, someone who loves predictability, routine, and safety. My personal life has finally leveled out into reliability and peace, but my professional career is in pieces. In some ways I enjoyed my time in corporate america. It sure has its perks and would be so much easier. I'm hesitant that I won't be able to find the correct place for me. I thrive with smaller companies and there seem to be a flood of large corporations in this area. I took a leap of faith and am trying to wiggle a career change into dog grooming. I actually really enjoy it. There is much less money at least for the first few years. It's a terrifying switch! I'm still not sure about it working out. Just yesterday I was seriously looking at job postings for other office places. I need any advice I can get at this point. I am lost."

To be honest I'm not sure I like this write daily thing... Posting cute puppy pictures was much easier!



 

Daily Post: Brevity

“I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.” — Blaise Pascal
Where do you fall on the brevity/verbosity spectrum?

I tend to be very verbose in my rough draft. Then delete everything as I'm reading back through. Just because I can babble doesn't mean it will make sense to my readers. Most times you can make a much more effective point by being short and to the point. No one has time to read a 1000 word post! Brevity is the name of the game! Now if I can just keep that consistent in my personal life...

Daily Post: Delayed Contact

How would you get along with your sibling(s), if you only met them for the first time today?

Well this is an interesting question! I almost skipped this writing topic and wrote a rant about the level of stupid in this world. I was immersed in plenty of stupid yesterday. But it's an awkward question to answer so I'm going to jump right in! I don't really have a relationship with my siblings.

My brother made some interesting life choices, I made my opinion known, big shocker there. May have made a few threats to his baby's mamma to get my point across and that wasn't taken very well. We haven't really talked since. The up side of this blow up is that it accomplished what needed to be done right at that time.  It fixed more things compared to the number of new things that became broken. If things were left alone there would have been some funerals to attend. I wish I was being dramatic about that statement. I always wonder if we will reconnect in another couple decades. I guess only time will tell.

I have absolutely no idea why my sister and I don't talk. We have seen each other in passing and are always able to make awkward conversation. I imagine it has something to do with the brother situation, but I really have no idea. I do know she's mad at me about something. Exactly what, no idea! BF thinks it comes from a graduation dinner that I was only invited to 25 minutes prior, but I think it started way before that.

So I guess if I met them both for the first time today, we would get along fantastically! Kind of depressing to think about. Only late 2013 was I able to put the internal unrest to bed and accepted the situation for what it was. Nothing can be changed now. I've gotten much better at limiting the amount of crazy in my life. I no longer have to constantly remind myself to take an emotional step back away from the situation. I only have to remind myself once every couple months.

Wow this is a depressing post! I'm going to go hug a pup now. Maybe I should invite my sister over for dinner this next week...? Or maybe I'll just stick my hand inside a viper's cage at feeding time.

Daily Post: Motivation

Since I can only control so much in life, which is an awful thing for a control freak to understand. I'm going to have two goals each day.

The first one is to run every day. I was so good about this past year until I was injured. Maybe I'll be able to do the Jingle Bell 5k this year? Either way, I'm going to go at least a mile every day. Rain or shine or using the elliptical.  So far I've been dragging a greyhound with me each morning. My distance has expanded enough that Rainy can't really go the distance. Sunshine is so over it! I had to cut things short today. Guess I'm heading out solo tomorrow. Tough having lazy greyhounds. I should take our husky visitor out with me each morning, but my run time has been my peaceful alone time. Not sure I want to ruin it.

The second goal is to write at least a little bit every day. I'm going to use the Daily Post to help with writing ideas. Today I'm only supposed to write for 10 minutes. Not sure what to do with my extra time, but maybe I'll jump on the elliptical to make up for that short run. Looks like my 10 minutes is up!

Do you feel safe?

It baffles me that people can be so out of touch with their animals. They don't understand, or take the time, to build a close relationship. Animal desires aren't that different. They want to understand the rules, to be successful, and to be safe.

All species want rules. For humans this would be social norms. Imagine if there were no societal rules. How stressful would your daily life be? If you were to show up at work and not be given any structure or tasks. Not knowing what to do until you did something wrong and were punished for it? Have you ever been frustrated at work when the rules changed and you weren't advised? All other animals are the same way. Clear rules help them relax and not have any unfair surprises. Rules cannot change from week to weekend, from at home to traveling.

In order to be successful, there has to be an understanding of the rules. Which is another reason the rules need to be consistent. How can your pet successfully play the game if the rules keep changing? There should always be rewards for the correct choices. You get a paycheck or bonus when things run well at work. Animals are no different. If they are laying quietly across the room not begging, that's when popcorn should magically start flying their direction!

All of this helps an animal feel safe. Mentally and physically safe and secure. I value my dogs' feeling safe above all else. I try to minimize the stress in their lives. Safety always starts with fair clear rules. It makes me smile each day when I see my totally relaxed snoozing pets. Feeling safe is such an important thing in life.

How do you make sure your pets or children feel safe?

Mah feets ah fallings off!

Mommy made me run a mile and a half with her today. I'm dying I tell you! DYING! I need more cookies!

Wordless Wednesday

DIY Worm Farm!

How have I not made a DIY tag for this blog yet? This week's project was a worm farm! Rufus, the larger oscar fish is getting bigger and he's been a bit picky about his pellets. Plus those fish food pellets are expensive! So my idea is to breed Red Wigglers to keep his belly full. I still have to go find worms. So far I'm thinking that Ebay is the cheapest place to acquire these.



First I found an old plastic aquarium that we had laying in the attic. It had a crack in it so was going to be used to hold any water in the near future. I drilled holes in the bottom for drainage and all sides for air holes. Aparently the more air and drainage holes you have the more less likely this thing will smell icky. 


Next I rummaged up a bin to place the work farm into. We don't want it draining onto the floor! I used some old aquarium stones to line the bottom with. Hopefully the moisture will drain right through the holes and filter down through the stones, then evaporate. 

Doesn't look half bad.

Next you are supposed to shred up and soak newspaper for the worm bedding. I chopped and wet down the shreds.

I squeezed all the water out of the newspaper and fluffed it into the worm bin. I was only supposed to fill 3-4 inches with it, but I got a little carried away with my cutting. Maybe the worms will like the extra cushy bedding?

Now the worm bin is supposed to be dark and not see through. Lucky we forgot to put the trash out last week, so I was able to dumpster dive in our recycling container. Hopefully this will make it dark enough for the little guys.

They are supposed to have a little dirt for their digestion, so I tossed a couple handfuls on top.

Then I crushed up some stale veggie chips and will use that as some food. I also tossed some used tea bags in there later in the evening, but didn't take another picture.
I put the farm in the downstairs bathroom. it's the coolest part of the house and stays the darkest. Sorry to all my houseguest. Yes you now have to share the bathroom with worms! LOL

 

Meet Bozo

We welcomed a new little oscar into our home this week. Little Bozo is so teeny tiny and beautifully colored.

















And here is Rufus, the Oscar that we've had for over a year. He's in a neighboring tank.

Wordless Wednesday

2014 Pooluza Pics

Pic from our annual girls weekend trip to a friend's house!